A drink...(closed)

Xanthus walked to the outdoor bar and ordered himself some red wine. He was dressed in his matrix gear, as was becoming his normal attire. Long trench coat, shades, long sleeve shirt, slacks, gloves, boots and a tie formed the outfit. Everything he wore was black, except for the tie, which was its usual white color. His dual bladed sword hung on his back, ready to be drawn at a moment’s notice. Basically, the Ishvalan was dressed to impress the masses of people who saw him.

Carrying his newly acquired bottle of red wine in one hand and a drinking glass in the other, Xan started looking around for a table to sit down and drink.

He saw a woman sitting down drinking some red wine; the same kind that Xan about to drink, in fact. With a small sigh, Xan walked over to the woman.

Excuse me, but do you mind if I have a seat at your table?

Xan thanked the woman and sat down. He poured himself a glass of the red wine, simultaneously analyzing the woman. She was quite pretty, probably a little bit older than he was, and like a certain child that Xan had met before, blind. Xan finished pouring the wine and took a cautious sip. The liquid was exquisite, like a subtle explosion of flavor touched his tongue and continued down his throat.

Setting his glass back down and enjoying the breeze, Xan looked at the woman. She seemed to be just like the boy he had met in more ways than one. They were both blind, and they both also used their canes to sense where things were.

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Xanthus Icarus, but most people call me Xan. What might your name be?

While he waited for an answer, Xan took another sip of wine, and once again felt the explosion of flavor. Red wine truly was some great stuff.

Xan thought about Ilona’s name. Had he heard it before? No, or else he would have remembered it. The Ishvalan took another sip of the exquisite red wine while he thought to himself about the name. Deciding that he had never heard of Ilona, Xan started to examine her again. She looked as though she were brooding, but trying to hide the fact.

In pain, but trying to hide the pain from the outside world? Perhaps suppressing an image or a feeling that caused the very pain that she was trying to hide? Oh well, it was not really Xan’s business to pry into the affairs of others. However, to just leave others to depressing thoughts wouldn’t sit right with Xan either. The Ishvalan decided to at least ask what was bothering Ilona.

Xan took yet another sip, emptying his glass. As he refilled it, he looked at Ilona.

Is something bothering you, Ms. Ilona Szilagyi?

Ilona. Xan sat for a while thinking about how interesting that name sounded. The Ishvalan snapped his fingers quietly. Now he remembered where he had heard that name. This woman in front of him was 2nd Lieutenant Ilona Szilagyi, an alchemist like he was, albeit with totally different powers. Oh well, that little revelation was almost irrelevant at this point. Just because he now knew the lady’s rank and titles from her records in the military did not really help this situation.

Xan lightly shook himself out of his thoughts so that he could focus on Ilona again. He had finished refilling his glass of wine, and he now took another sip. He was not one who got drunk easily, if ever, so he could sit outside drinking and talking to Ilona all day.

Just thinking about someone huh? I do not mean to pry, but….I mean, if it’s okay with you, can you tell me more about this person whom you are thinking about?

Hmm…Well, that revealed yet another interesting fact about Ilona. She was engaged to a man who had disappeared, quite recently if Xan had to guess. The new Iron Blood alchemist picked up a hard candy and popped it into her mouth. Xan did the same. He did not feel the flavor rush because both the candy and the wine that he had been drinking had the same basic taste.
Xan took another sip of wine. It was still good, but its flavor seemed to be a bit dulled, as though the conversation’s depressing tone had watered down the flavor by a tiny amount. Xan tried to choose his next words carefully, after all, a crying woman was not something that he liked to see.

Hmm..an alchemist you say? Was he perhaps a State Alchemist? Or was he a normal alchemist? I assume that he was in the military?

The Ishvalan hoped that Ilona didn’t cry at memories of her fiancée.

Ilona’s words confused Xan, but he did not let it show on his face, as that could be considered rude. She was this man’s fiancée, yet she did not know what he did for a living, and even said that she was still trying to get to know him better?

Xan shook his head at such foolishness. Then thought about it, and decided that the situation was not foolish after all. There was such a thing as love at first sight, after all. Chuckling darkly, Xan sipped more of the intoxicating wine.

Did it have any effect on him? No, it did not, even after he had drank quite a bit of it, it wouldn’t affect him in the slightest.

Hmm…let us change the subject shall we? I assume that speaking of your lost beloved must be significantly painful for you. Or do you need to vent out some emotions? If you need to talk about anything, here I am.

Xan noticed Ilona stop drinking, so he stopped drinking his wine too. Hmm…this situation was interesting. Somewhat depressing, yes. Made Xan think unpleasant thoughts, definitely. But, Xan couldn’t quite leave himself to simply get up and leave the table. That would not be chivalrous of him at all. However, he himself desired to end the conversation about the fiancée who was missing, and move onto a different topic. Perhaps one that both of them could relate to?

The Ishvalan asked Ilona how exactly she had become an alchemist. He asked her questions that pertained to her past, such as what made her become what she was today and things of that nature.

While he asked the questions, Xan popped another hard candy into his mouth, this time savoring the taste a bit more. Without the wine, the candy had a much better impact. At least, that was what Xan thought.

Xan wondered if Ilona was insane, really calm, or like him, meaning somewhere in the middle. Genius and insanity were two sides of the same coin, or so Xan had been told. For him, the theory went more like this:

Genius and insanity were two landmasses divided by a river. One could be on either landmass, or just float along in the river of neutrality, having the good aspects of both, without the negative aspects of either. Very few people managed to find this happy medium, but those who did were rewarded greatly and most often became great individuals.

Returning his thoughts to Ilona, Xan noted how the woman did not really tell him much about her past. Just little hints, clues, slips of information that he wouldn’t be able to piece together to form very much of anything useful. So, it seemed that Ilona was not fond of talking about her past. With the way that the summary sounded, Xan understood completely.
The Ishvalan asked Ilona if she had any questions for him.

Ilona shook her head and stood up. She left a few dollar bills on the table to pay for the bill. As Ilona was about to leave, she grabbed a handful of candy and popped them in her pocket.
"Well Xan, thank you for your company. I hope we bump into eachother again."She said smiling. Ilona then tapped her cane onto the ground and recieved an image of the maze of streets and people and started to walk, eventually disppearing into the crowd.
This conversation made her realise that she can't wait on someone forever but still held a little shard of hope in her heart, wishing that she would bump into him on the street like they did the first time they met in central...

[Topic exit]

Xanthus watched Ilona walk away, feeling like he may or may not have done her some good. He sure hoped that he had. It did not do for such a pretty woman to be miserable, for it dampened the beauty somewhat and made Xan feel bad.

Xan noted that he still had the wine bottle in front of him. He took the bottle, and poured himself another glass of wine. Raising it to his lips, Xan began to think of the meaning of love. About what makes it good, and what makes it painful.

The Ishvalan decided that it was better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all. In his mind, he said:

I'll drink to that.

And right before the drink touched his lips, he said:

Cheers.

Xan drank the contents of the glass, then stood up. He handed the still more than halfway full bottle to someone who looked like they needed it more than he did, then walked away to contemplate love and research water alchemy while he was at it.

[topic exit]