It was a a day or two ago. Zane stood in the middle of a bird dispatch center in Hargeon, a place meant for people looking to get letters delivered by way of eagles. Apparently these birds were quite well trained, though Zane didn't totally understand the process. "I don't know about this Zane. I feel like you're getting scammed - I doubt these bird brains would have any idea who to fly to." Beelzebub remarked, skeptical of the fee that was being requested. Zane stood in line, crossing his arms as he passed the time by arguing with the voice inside of his head. "I don't think it's the weird. Birds are pretty smart, you know. I mean, storks deliver babies, man. That takes a lot of work. Have you held a child?" Zane then considered the fact that Beelzebub was a demon and quickly decided he didn't want to know how the hell demons raised kids. "On second thought don't tell me. Besides, the fee isn't THAT big. If this place can manage to find a way to contact Vivi it'll be worth it."

That was the purpose of this visit after all: to contact Vivi. Zane hadn't really kept in touch with many of the Eternal Nightmare members these past few months. He had thought about contacting Odin but figured he was too busy. He had thought about contacting Venus but figured he'd somehow end up bumping into her randomly - a common occurrence among the two of them. There was no way in hell he would want to contact Genevieve since Asmodeus only seemed to cause problems. Vivi was different however. For some reason or another Zane had come to think of himself as a mentor figure to Vivi, though most of this relationship was almost entirely in his head. There was no denying she was definitely the person in the guild he got along the most with though, and so he desired to see her and enlist her help in doing something for the guild. He didn't exactly know what that was just yet, but he'd figure something out. All he knew is that he wanted it to be at the lighthouse. Lighthouses were cool. And dramatic!

Finally making his way to the counter, Zane paid the fee and brought the pen to the page, writing the letter he intended to send to Vivi.

Zane wrote:To Vivi, my dear protege

Hello Vivi, it is Zane. I am sending you this letter to tell you that I wish for the two of us to meet up in Hargeon Lighthouse this Saturday at sundown. On a side note I really hope this letter finds you before then, and I will be super pissed if this bird delivery service isn't actually legitimate. The eagles are pretty cute however. Anyways, basically I wish to meet you there so that we can work together to not only strengthen the guild but also to strengthen our bond. Wear something pretty, and make sure to bring a snack for me and the page I'm writing on is running out of space now and we only get one so goodby

The letter ended there, Zane not having enough room on the page to finish the last word. Oh well!

____________________________________

Zane sat at the top of the Hargeon lighthouse. He was kinda surprised it wasn't guarded, but he also supposed not many people just randomly went to lighthouses in the middle of the night anyways. The stairs on the way up were a real bitch to climb though. He still felt out of breath. "That's what all those donuts will do to you." Beelzebub snarkily remarked, purposefully excluding the fact that Zane was eating all of those donuts on Beelzebub's request. Sighing and standing up from the small bench that was in the top room, Zane moved towards the ledges, looking out towards the sea. "Hopefully she got the message. And that she brings the snacks."

"Hah, I doubt she'd show up even if she did."

When Vivi had received Zane's letter some part of her thought it was a prank. Just from the way Zane spoke it was like he'd been hit on the head after he had been drinking before he wrote it. She really had thought it was a joke, especially after she had read the portion regarding how she should "wear something pretty". There was also the bit about her being his protege which she was more than certain she had never agreed to or even heard of before. He really must just be messing with her, she thought. Nothing else made much sense. But she had made plans to go to Hargeon anyway. She couldn't see the harm in humoring him a bit, and it didn't seem like there was anything ill intentioned behind it. Really, it just seemed like it was Zane being Zane again. She did, however, consider it rather odd that she was becoming so accustomed to this kind of thing from him. Maybe she should see a doctor about that to make sure it wasn't infectious.

She had arrived in Hargeon that morning and had spent much of her time sightseeing. She had never been to the quaint port before, but it did rather suit her. A little brighter, a little more lively, yet somehow still quiet. It did seem a nice place to live, honestly. Out of the way and less populated than the larger cities around Fiore. She could appreciate the kind of life one could get up to in a place like Hargeon, but it wasn't particularly a life that she intended to have for herself. She had her own goals in mind and they didn't really allow for the kind of quiet life that one could find in Hargeon. So sightseeing was all she did. Well, sightseeing and grabbing a bit of food.

When night fell, she followed Zane's instructions. Curious to find the lighthouse unguarded but she supposed there were more important things to be guarding in the middle of the night. So she climbed up, listening and looking for the utterly strange man she was set to meet. When she finally made it to the top, she found him there. Alone. Which struck her as odd but she didn't question it much. "You look very sad up here by yourself," She deadpanned. Walking over to him, she held out a brown paper bag. It's full of fries. She thought it would be a good joke like comparing him to a seagull.

"Oh god!" Zane jumped a bit as his train of thought was interrupted by Vivi's sudden arrival, his feet losing balance and sending the upper half of his body tumbling backwards into the interior of the lighthouse. Zane managed to stop himself before his back hit the ground luckily enough. Catching his breath and standing up straight once again, Zane grasped his chest a little. "Do you have to sneak up on me every time? And how the hell does somehow as tall and muscular as you manage to be so quiet anyways?" Zane was just a little bit jealous of Vivi's stealth. "Maybe you should become her 'protégé' instead."

Zane's eyes were directed to the paper bag that Vivi carried, recognizing it off the appearance and smell as french fries. A small smile came upon on his face. "Oh, you brought a snack as well. Didn't wear something pretty though..." Zane wasn't exactly surprised that she didn't adhere to that request. "One of two isn't bad though! The fries are a good choice too. We had fries the night we met, didn't we?"" Zane did seem to recall ordering french fries for the two of them at the pumpkin bowling alley in Samhain - he couldn't help but wonder if that was part of the reason she chose the snack. "I don't think anybody would remember meeting you fondly enough to want to reference it." Beelzebub snarkily remarked, seemingly enjoying his peanut gallery duties more than usual tonight.

"We'll save those for later though." Zane gestured his right hand towards a nearby seat in which the fries could be easily placed. His eyes then went back out towards the ocean, standing near the same balcony he was at earlier. Both of his hands soon rested upon it, a sigh coming out from his mouth as he felt the chilly wind of the night on his face. He had to think of something deep to say. He had been brainstorming for a while now about what it was he was even inviting her up here for, but he still couldn't think of anything. "Do you ever think about life, Vivi?" Zane asked, picking perhaps the most absolutely generic and overused 'deep' subject. "Actually, wait... ahh, I don't wanna talk about that." A very deep sigh came out of Zane this time. Perhaps Vivi was right about him seeming rather sad up here. Was he just down in the dumps tonight or something?

Still, he had to think of something to say. He had made her come all the way out to a lighthouse in the middle of the night after all. Maybe he could ask her something about herself? Zane didn't feel he knew as much about Vivi as most people. "You talked a lot about strength the last time we met, right Vivi?" Zane recalled their conversation about strength, the nature of strength in society and Eternal Nightmare's plans the first time the two met in Samhain. "Tell me what else you care about. Besides strength, that is. There must be some other things you really love, correct?" Zane stared out the balcony for a moment before remembering that he was trying to play the part of seeming like he had something important to do and/or say. "Err, this is all for your training of course! It's very important that I understand you. And you understand yourself as well!" He'd add.

Vivi snorted. "I'm not quiet," She countered. "You just don't pay enough attention when I am around. Is it possible you are simply distracted?" She put the fries down on the seat beside him before choosing her own. She hopped up onto the railing of the balcony and swung her legs over the edge so she could look out to the ocean. She'd only seen the sight a few times before but never at night. The way the moon and the stars reflect off the unending ocean blue is simply stunning. She wondered for a brief moment what exactly was waiting out there across the sea. What kind of people lived across the ocean? What kind of lives did they live? She'd like to see them one day.

But she turned her thoughts back to Zane when he started talking again. As ever, he continued to pester her. Of course she didn't wear anything nice, she didn't own anything aside from just another exact copy of the outfit she always wore. It wasn't as if she was made of jewels, she was always on a budget. She almost felt the need to just jump from the balcony down into the ocean in order to escape the conversation; especially when he turned it to some nonsense philosophy. It would be better to get wet and swim to shore than it would be to entertain that particular line of questioning. She wasn't even sure how she was going to answer a question like that, but thankfully he turned the conversation to a more productive place.

"Of course I like other things," She said. "I like plenty of things. I don't just exist to get stronger, there are other things in my life that matter." She turned her head to look at him. "I like things that are baked. Like bread and cake. And I like music and playing instruments. I play the viola." She raised an eyebrow. "Why are you asking? It doesn't seem like it matters much in the grand scheme of things. It certainly doesn't seem like anything that is going to further your goals, whatever those are."

"Oh." Zane replied, honest to god surprised that Vivi was into other things. He paced around the room with his hand on his chin as she listed off what was actually a rather elegant array of hobbies - it definitely wasn't what he was anticipating. "My, she's got quite the lineup! Meanwhile your hobbies are limited to throwing away your self respect to women and desperately trying to scam people. If anything you're the brute here!" Beelzebub cackled, Zane trying his best to turn the demon's internal volume down to avoid a headache. Zane stroked his chin lightly, trying to think of anything he could use here in his attempts to train Vivi. Music? Probably not - her voice wasn't deep enough to perform the Eternal Nightmare theme song he had written up a week ago. Baking? Maybe later, actually... Nothing that could be done in the lighthouse though. Bummer. "I think I'm just gonna tell her the truth, Beelzebub." Beelzebub raised a figurative eyebrow in place of a literal one. "Like in the movies? That doesn't work in the real world, fool! Only lies can truly get you where you want to be."

Zane sighed, his pacing coming to a sudden halt as he turned to face Vivi who was currently on the opposite side of the lighthouse' top room. "Look, here's the deal. I want you... to become my apprentice." Zane pointed his fingers at Vivi with a smile, awaiting what he was hoping to be a hyped reaction. Even he had a feeling it was unlikely. "You know, like... I could teach you to be just like me! To have the same skillset, same way of thinking! And you could look up to me, and you could call me 'senpai' and..." Beelzebub interrupted Zane. "Senpai?! That does not at all portray a pupil-master relationship! She would have to call you sensei instead! Gah, you cultureless oaf..." Zane had almost forgotten Beelzebub's extreme interest in Joyan culture. The demon hadn't mentioned it for a while - much to Zane's delight. Hearing him go on and on about the comics from there got tiring. "... or sensei. That works too. Either way, I have a feeling that you'll gain a lot out of it. And the reason I brought you to this lighthouse is..." Zane's eyes scanned the room, a glimmer in his eyes showing that he had formed an idea.

Moving to one of the balconies closer to Vivi, Zane began to lift himself up onto it, his hands gripping the side of the wall as he got balanced. "Our first lesson - a trust exercise! I'm going to jump out of here. You just have to catch me. Easy enough, right?" Zane shuffled his feet on the balcony so that he could turn to face Vivi, now only holding the wall with his left hand. "The danger is certainly real though, so if you'd like to profess your love for me I'd recommend doing it now - just in case." Zane put his free hand over his chest while saying that in an attempt to be overly dramatic. On the other hand, Beelzebub was panicking. "This isn't a good idea Zane! We could actually die, you know!" A sense of fear could be sensed in Beelzebub's voice - certainly an uncommon occurrence. "Relax!" Zane assured. "We can just transform and fly if things don't go the right way."

Taking a deep breath, Zane readied himself for his fall. "Zane, that is not high enough a drop for us to both transform AND cast a spell! We will die! Zane! Are you listening?! Zane was in fact not listening, but rather saying what could potentially be his final words to Vivi. "Well, here goes! 3, 2, 1..." Zane let go of the wall, his feet bringing him backwards.

Zane began his fall.

Vivi stood mostly stunned into silence while she listened to Zane ramble on. For the most part, she couldn't understand what he was saying to her. It was a jumbled mess of half-coherent words that she really wasn't able to parse meaningfully. In all honesty, it felt like she was only getting half of the conversation that she was supposed to. The other half was just floating in the air somewhere that she wasn't able to see. That annoyed her. She didn't like being left in the dark, especially considering it was clear he was trying to convince her of...something. She really wasn't sure what. She could understand the part where he wanted to take her under his wing, but beyond that she really couldn't figure out exactly what his motive was. Even when she watched him climb onto the balcony railing, she really just thought it was all some show being put on for an audience that was standing behind her, and also one that was invisible. But the more he talked the more she realized that he was being entirely serious with her. He was actually going to take the plunge off the side of the building.

Her eyes widened in surprise as he started to step off the railing. He was going to fall, and from that height he'd probably crack his skull wide open. There'd be nothing to cushion him but all the rocks below on the shoreline, it'd be certain death down there for sure.

She lunged forcefully, the railing buckling under her weight as she hurled herself against it. Reaching out for Zane, she grabbed him roughly by the collar as he started to go down in earnest. Any further and he'd have been out of her reach, and any later and she'd have just been clutching a few strands of hair. She held onto him tight, grimacing as she puts the strain on herself. Half bent over the railing and hanging onto him for his dear life, she shouted over the wind, "Are you out of your mind?!"

Roughly, she started to yank him back up, pulling him inch by inch back over the railing. "Of all the stupid things I have seen...no! Of all the stupid people I have met, you take the dumb ass cake! What in the world are you trying to do? I could have let you fall, I could have missed you, I could have been too slow. Then what would have happened? I'd have had to watch as the surf took your corpse out to see so the fish could feed on it. Are you entirely insane?! My arm is going to be sore for at least three days after you nearly popped it out of its socket!"

She pulled him back and over, finally. Dropping him as soon as his weight was over the railing, she grimaced. "You better start to explain yourself right now," She said as she rolled her shoulder. "No more games. No more jokes. Explain."

For a mere moment Zane's life truly did flash before his eyes. While his rather insane tendencies often made him forget the reality of death, the sensation of knowing he was a second away from dying felt even greater than he imagined. He immediately tensed up, remaining completely quiet for a few moments - even after Vivi started to pull him back up. "I..." Zane tried to make one of his nonchalant and humorous comments again, but the words just wouldn't come to mind. He almost died. All he could think about was that feeling. Zane could hear every last word of Vivi's scolding. While he certainly understood all of it, his thoughts still focused on the rocks below him.

Vivi dropped Zane, his body making a loud thud onto the lighthouse floor. Zane attempted to sit up, his body and mind still in shock from what he just did. Zane could tell Beelzebub was probably yelling at him at the top of his lungs somewhere in his mind, but the state that he was in made it all sound like empty noise. "I... am insane. Probably." Zane let out a humongous sigh, putting his hands on his head as he finally gained the strength to sit up. "That was too dramatic, even for me." He admitted. Zane stared up at Vivi for a short moment, gathering himself just a little more before speaking. While just saying a bunch of random nonsense certainly came to mind, Zane decided against doing so. This woman genuinely saved his life - he owed it to her to speak the truth.

"You want the truth?" Zane asked. "The truth is that I'm insecure." It was something that Zane had never admitted to anybody else in the world. Within the past year he had come to realize just how insignificant he was, just how much better everyone else around him was. "My eyepatch is just an attempt to look cool and mysterious. Joining Eternal Nightmare is just an attempt to seem intimidating and powerful." Zane's arm landed itself against the wall of the lighthouse as he propped himself up, standing on his own two feet after a moment. It seemed like he was finally starting to recover from the shock of what he just did. Zane looked Vivi in the eye, continuing to admit all the things he'd never dare tell anybody. "I invited you here because I want to be your mentor. As you can guess, I just want to be your mentor in an attempt to look cool. There you go." Zane didn't speak in his usual tone full of eccentric inflections and upbeat pitch. This was both too serious and too somber. A sad look prominently displayed itself in Zane's eyes, making it extremely apparent that he was ashamed of how he acted all the time. "There you are. The truth. You're the only one in the world who's heard it, you know." Zane looked straight at Vivi, wondering just what her reaction to it all would be. Knowing how obsessed with strength this woman was, Zane figured she'd probably loathe him for all of it.

"No games, no jokes. To be honest I wish it was: the truth is pretty lame, isn't it?"

Vivi crossed her arms and listened. She didn't lose her angry expression, one of the few times she wore a single look for so long. She wasn't the type to really express her emotions so visually, but after the stunt Zane had just pulled, well, she felt like it was warranted. She was unbelievably frustrated with him, and his reason for putting himself in danger was not making her attitude ease up at all. If anything, she felt even angrier at him. If it had been a slightly less idiotic reason then she might feel less furious, but she really could not believe what was coming out of his mouth. It made her bristle with annoyance and she actually felt like she might just take the opportunity to walk away. After all, he may very well be insane after trying to do what he just did. She just could not believe what she had just been forced to be party to.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, she turned away from Zane and let out a sigh. She walked back over to the railing and leaned over it. She wanted to hit him, which probably would not go in her favor considering the gap she knew was between them in terms of actual power. So she gave herself a moment to cool off. She just needed to breathe for a moment and then she would be fine.

"I am not going to feel pity for you for even a moment," She said without looking at him. Her voice was back to normal too. "The fact that everything about your act was a sham was rather obvious. I genuinely thought you were even aware of that and were simply putting on this face just to have fun. But if you are so ingrained in a desire to look cool that you would put your life in danger then you are truly lost in some sort of delusion." She finally looked over her shoulder at him. "Do you think I wanted to watch you plummet to your death? You could have died. Then what? I would have had to watch a friend crack his skull open on the rocks for nothing. I would kill you myself for that if it weren't impossible." She turned away again. "The notion that I would care whether or not you were 'cool' offends me."

Zane still couldn't quite hear Beelzebub, but that was fine by him. He owed it to Vivi to listen to what she had to say without any sort of peanut gallery chiming in. Her words definitely touched upon something or another in Zane's heart. Turning to face the ground, a small bit of embarrassment crept up onto his face. So she never did care about how he appeared, huh? "A friend crack his skull open, huh?" Zane replied after a few moments of thinking on her words, a small chuckle emerging from his lips shortly after. "To tell the truth I've never considered the possibility that you think of me as a friend." Lifting his head up Zane would begin pacing around the rather small circumference of the lighthouse's tallest floor. "Perhaps that's also something my delusions have meddled my perception on. I've always been thinking about enemies, or fans, or lovers, or rivals or other dramatic things like that." Zane sighed, a genuine laugh following it. It seemed somewhat different than just about every laugh he had exhibited before. It sounded much more pure.

"The fact that you can use that word to describe me is definitely surprising considering that I just caused you an immense level of stress for no real reason." By now Zane had done the full loop around the circular top floor, now facing from the other side. He showed a warm smile to her, one that was much less showboaty than usual. "It means a lot to me. Between that and the fact you just saved my life I can't help but very much think of you as a friend as well." Zane's hand reached towards his eye, pulling off the eyepatch that he wore all the time. Looking down at it, he took a deep breath in as he considered Vivi's words. His eyes brought themselves towards the window once again, staring down at the balcony that he just jumped off a minute ago. After a moment's hesitation Zane painfully threw the eyepatch off the cliff, the small piece of black fabric eventually fading out of sight as it got lost in the sea. Now with both of his eyes open and visible, Zane looked back towards Vivi, now able to look her in the eye in full. "I suppose I could probably do without that now. Everyone tells me I look more handsome without it anyways." Zane moved forwards towards Vivi while moving his arms to give a hug, but stopped about halfway through. "Oh. I never realize how tall and muscular you are until you're about this close." Zane definitely wasn't sure how he felt about the way that he had to look up at Vivi all the time. "...If I hug you, will you end up crushing me?"

After a while Zane ended up leaving.

EXIT

"This is exactly why I did not say it before," She hissed. "Because I knew you would act like this. Like it was something to be talked about at length. But it is not. It is just another fact of life and nothing more." She hung her head and breathed a dejected sigh. This was not what she wanted to be dealing with. "I am not telling you this so that you can start changing your attitude towards me. I am explaining why your actions are so infuriating to me. You are someone that has been kind to be and you are the reason that I am even in this guild. You should have known by now how I consider you, but it is like you were so far consumed by your delusion that you didn't even bother to notice." Then she looked at him with a sudden snap in her posture. She held up a hand. "Do not even think about hugging me right now. I am genuinely upset with you, more than I have ever been upset with anyone I think. Why would you ever think what you just did was going to be the smart idea? Why did you even think it was an idea it all? You. Could. Have. Died. Is that even sinking in? And on top of that, what that tells me is that you never even considered the companionship that we have. You just behaved like a fool because you thought it would impress me, selfishly thinking instead of just talking to me. Why couldn't you just talk to me like a normal friend would?" She folded her arms in a huff. "Can you even talk to me normally right now?"