[Rina]

( TheSpatialWeeg )

Things were aptly busy as ever down at the lobby, being the main hub of gatherings. How many new people were coming and going here, Schezo wondered. It's been a while since he took a passing of this place, mainly huddling up at his resident quarters. In fact, the last time he was here, it was when he first showed up. It took a lot of courage for Schezo to open up to Corrin like that, as many of the people he allies with just seem to come and go. But...something about Corrin made Schezo want to learn more of him. He doesn't meet many of the dragon's blood, much less half. Much, much less being able to change form at will. Maybe this is an opportunity to truly have a close connection with.

As per arrangements, Schezo waited for him at the Lobby, taking a seat at one of the tables distant from the crowd. It isn't to just avoid the vocal cacophony of chit-chat, no. Sifting through that crowd would probably be a pain, even if Schezo's distinct hair color stood out. By his table, two sets of drinks were laid out, some tea. It's simple, but it's something to talk over.

At least Schezo is patient. Having to walk out on this meet-up would be rather rude, especially since Schezo wanted this to happen.

[TheSpatialWeeg]

The Busy Bee Lobby was a place Corrin admittedly wanted to visit for a while.

And now, there it was, in its usual busy state. Lots of people from all over Li and many Outrealms in this one spot. Truly, a spectacle for one who was forced to live a bunch of his life stuck in his household. Despite his awe, Corrin made sure not to stall and meet up with Schezo. 

The half-dragon boy took almost no time at spotting the other silver-haired swordsman, sitting at a table away from the masses. He walked towards him and greeted the other, simultaneously announcing his arrival. "Have I kept you waiting for too long?" Corrin asked, sitting on the other side of the table, now facing toward the Dark Wizard. It was there that he noticed a cup of tea next to him. "Oh! You've ordered tea as well? Thank you, Schezo." He said to the other, taking upon himself to sweeten his drink with a tidbit of sugar before going for a sip.

[Rina]

Would you look at that! A punctual arrival! Schezo waved to greet Corrin coming by to the table.

"Not at all. The tea is still fresh."

Schezo's eyes wandered to Corrin's tea cup, watching him sweetening it a tad. Huh, with how kind yet dignified he is, he didn't expect that. Schezo prefers to to have his plain. There seems to be an underlying warmth to him that he doesn't know about... He's here now, might as well try and get a conversation sparked...one of Schezo's shortcomings. You know, now that he thought about it. There were never any proper introductions between these two. It was a simple name state and abilities, and that was it. Off to the mission. Now that they're here on their own accord without much to worry about, Schezo can properly introduce himself.

"If I may, I'd like to introduce myself from the beginning. The weight of outside ventures leave little to such pleasantries. My name is Schezo. Schezo Wegey, the dark wizard."

[TheSpatialWeeg]

Another sip of the tea before Schezo introduced himself once again. He had his reasons, of course, and really, who was Corrin to neglect a proper introduction of the other? Once Schezo finished, Corrin went on to do his own proper introduction.

"You've got a point. In that case, I am Corrin, a prince born in Hoshido, but raised in Nohr. Wielder of the divine blade Yato, and current King of Valla. I would appreciate if you could just call me by my name, however. I do believe I said this before, but it's a pleasure to meet you, Schezo."

Another sip of his tea and the dragon boy's attention would come to the other's clothes. While the style was not exactly common on his land, the overall colors of the outfit definitely screamed Nohr. Schezo'd fit like a glove in there, no doubt. That did end up sparking an interesting question on his head, at the very least from Corrin's perspective.

"If I may I ask...what kingdom do you hail from? I'd tell you my share first, but I do believe I have a larger ground to cover since I technically came from two kingdoms."

[Rina]

The little details that were told of in the past probably were forgotten, which is why he opted for a re-introduction. He took a sip of his tea, listening to Corrin intently.

...Huh. It slipped his mind that Corrin was a prince. A king even. He does speak with a balance of kindness and conviction, though his appearance does somewhat betray Schezo's expectations in terms of appearance. Then again, Schezo has rarely ever met royalty, and tales depicting them tend to romanticize their image. One royalty he does remember to recent memory was a certain freeloading pink fish. He had the typical image of a prince, but the attitude was a far cry of what he should be. There was also Princess Peach during First to Fall, but he barely knows her.

The kingdom...he hails from...? IS his home land ruled by monarchy...? History has a stark lack of records of his home land, so he can't seem to answer that question properly.

"The kingdom I hail from...I'm afraid I cannot answer that even if I wanted to. As my humble home is so recluse, it has been long forgotten in the records of history. If I were to establish a reference in time, Rana, an imperial capital which formerly ruled my home land, has long since fallen over 300 years ago to this day. By the time I learn of Rana in school, it was already in ruins."

Even so, Schezo lived under humble circumstances. He wasn't even close to the throne, if any, but his upbringing was held by lasting tradition.

"My home, instead, is defined by tradition. A quiet town that honors the heroes of the past. While my mother is the magician, my father was the swordsman. Boys that came of age would be taught swordsmanship, to have the memories of heroes' past live on through our blades, myself being one of such upbringing. As I am of at least 180 years, I would not be surprised if my home land underwent grand changes. But...that would also mean the home I once knew is nigh unrecognizable to me."

Oops, he made himself slightly sad thinking about that.

[TheSpatialWeeg]

Corrin listened intently to Schezo's answer, and, well let's say he found himself regretting asking that. Must've been a hard revisit for the other. "...I see. My condolences. And my apologies as well, I thought it'd be an interesting topic to discuss." Corrin felt the need to comment. He couldn't deny that it was very interesting to know of the other's home realm, though maybe it was best to refrain to comment on anything else related to it for now.

Well...whatever the case was, now it was his turn.

"Well, the Kingdom of Nohr I'm only a bit more familiar than Hoshido, because even if I grew up there, I spent most of my years sheltered in a fortress where I was prohibited to go outside unless King Garon said otherwise.
...In Nohr, sunlight is very rare to see, and some places can get pretty cold and crops often lack because of it. The place I once called home..it was kind of gloomy, looking back. King Garon, the man who kidnapped and raised me and then ruler of Nohr, would stop at nothing to have both kingdoms at his tyrannical grasp. My Nohrian siblings and I were but pawns to him. He, however, has perished, my older Nohrian brother Xander taking his place."

He takes a moment to draw breath and sip tea for a moment or two.

"If I were to quickly describe Hoshido, on the other hand, I'd call it Nohr's polar opposite. It's almost always sunny, crops are abundant, and they were led by my mother, Queen Mikoto, who sought to maintain peace above all else. She, unfortunately, fell as well, and before I had a chance to properly reconcile with her, no less. My brother Ryoma took the lead of Hoshido since then, and both him and Xander have agreed to maintain peace between the two kingdoms."

[Rina]

"It's...it's okay. I sometimes need a reminder of who I am."

Heavy as it sounds, Schezo has lost his way several times, losing count as the years passed. Something this dark doesn't seem right to discuss on a day like this, however. Moving away from the heavy air of Schezo's response, he got to listen to Corrin's background, and how he became who he is now. Hearing his tale intently, it feels like his own stories greatly overshadow the dark wizard's. Schezo's tale felt more grounded than Corrin's. Exciting, yes, but having to live through such a tale sounds like another layer of hell he'd have to go through. Born in one kingdom and then raised in another for less-than-savory reasons... Almost like getting dragged into Rana to be groomed into the dark wizard life he's trying to change. It was a long story, but at least there was an end to the strife.

"Seems quite the tale. Born of one, raised in another... If I knew how to harness the ability to traverse worlds, I'd like to visit your home lands."

Schezo took a sip of his drink, then began to tell his own stories...

"Ah- traveling other worlds. I still have yet to properly harness it, but it has led me to meet many others such as you. It was a time ago, but I was playing a Puyo battle among company. I do not know the circumstances, but a rift was formed amidst that battle, taking me to the land known as Primp Town during its tournament. My first impressions were...something. That same incident, however, led me to meet Arle once again after she disappeared a time prior. Primp is quite colorful and full of life from my time there, even in spite of the time a black shadow invoked a rift from taking control of a demon prince for his power. I've also been to the town of Suzuran, and the multi-elemental island of Pwurp."

[TheSpatialWeeg]

So, Schezo could travel between worlds as well? By the sound of it, restriction on usage was out of the window, but at the cost of such a freedom, it happened without much of a prompt or knowing the destination. Despite the lack of control, it has lead to some nice surprises stored by fate. Overall, it sounded pleasant, though at the same time, being yanked from your homeworld without any consent...he could relate to that. "Back in my land, we also have a way to travel to other worlds. It's called the Outrealm Gate. Unlike your realm's variation of the sort, the gate is the only way we can travel to other realms far from ours, as far as my knowledge goes. Such gate was also the reason I came here, though not exactly by my own volition either...I'm unsure why that happened since it usually does not do that..." Corrin commented.

"I have had my share of Outrealm visits as well! I remember entering a competition for some rare and valuable weapons at the Interrealm Museum, fended off ghosts...or ghost-like soldiers that tried to steal gold, visiting a haunted mountain to fight powerful mountains to train...I also got a ticket to a so-called 'paradisic' beach, but I decided not to go." Corrin continued. "I figured my retainers would probably not like me going there by myself, despite how peaceful the place is supposed to be."

[Rina]

"That Gate is rather fascinating. Distant worlds known for their leisure...and I can understand the protective nature of your retainers."

Schezo only ever knew the protective air of his bloody family, not retainers. He's known Arle and Rulue for a long time, but...somewhere in the back of his mind, he simply cannot bring himself to accept them as friends still. He does refer to them as his friends, but it's so faint, he couldn't bring himself to say it without choking on his own words. What was it liked having beloved people...? He felt like he's never had such a sensation. He wanted to know.

"If it isn't too personal, tell me...Who do you consider to be your family? What is it like having companions you can trust? I feel as if I'm unworthy to be a confidant to anyone but myself."

[TheSpatialWeeg]

...Oh, now they're diving into someplace more serious, hmm? Well, hopefully, things'll go down just fine regardless. "Hmm...I do find myself considering my siblings of both kingdoms as a family, whether they have blood relations to me or not. They've treated me as one of their own, which I'm always thankful for." Corrin replied. "Having people you can cherish and trust...hehe...how can I say this without sounding rather sappy? They give me a reason to seize a tomorrow all of us can share and look forward to. They give me the strength to fight battles. They give me...happiness."

A brief moment of silence. "I'm aware that this may sound out of place or perhaps silly to you, but if there's someone out there that trusts you, I feel like that makes you already worthy of being a confidant to someone." 

[Rina]

Family, huh? Schezo feels rather jealous he has people he considers family. What little family Schezo had was long gone at his age. Mother, father, even the one step-brother he had when his mother remarried, all of them were gone to time. The last statement Corrin gave, Schezo mused on that thought for a moment, wondering how he would have lived life without letting darkness in. He would've lived normally, just another student of a magic school. He was rather recluse, lonely, but just bookish by nature. Conversely... he considered the people he's encountered because of the path he chose...

"...If they wanted me gone, then they should've cut me out of their life sooner. Yet they didn't."

...There's a niggling feeling he's kept around to be Arle and Rulue's punching bag, but nowadays, he hasn't done a single thing to garner warranted beatdowns lately. Or at all, really. Maybe him trying to be more pleasant has left a better impression than he is led to believe. There IS that whole sword thing he promised a time ago, but when is Arle open for that...

"Come to think of it, I never would have been able to offer a practice session with Arle..."

[TheSpatialWeeg]

"Do you see this? I think that you've just realized, even if a little bit, that you're more worth than you initially imagined you were."

Corrin had seen this type of ally before. One who, for whichever past occurrence, doesn't value themselves as much as a normal person would. Self-worth was as important to the dragon king as was humility. In other words, it was very, very important. He found himself at a mild impasse. Ever the kind hearted warrior, Corrin wanted to help. In fact, he felt he needed to help. But therapy wasn't exactly his forte. He remember tripping (psychologically I mean) a good chunk of times when he tried to help someone...

Eh, never know what'll happen until you try, won't you?

"Schezo...to me, being able to recognize your worth as a person is just as important as eating. Not to say that your past experiences don't hold any weight. Nay, they shaped who you are, and from what I've seen, you're a very skilled swordsman and an ally people can trust." Corrin spoke. "Your heart follows what you find to be right, and I find it to be an admirable quality."

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[Rina]

An extended silence came from him as his eyes drifted from contact. Self worth...following the heart...He doesn't know or remember when he went astray, having at one point lost count of his own age.

"...Haha, maybe you're right. As years pass, though, it gets harder to see that..."

Schezo took out a Magical Timepiece, its arms revolving to dictate his age by the magic flowing into the clockwork. 180. That's how many years his soul has survived. Years of fighting, conflict, and simply emotional strain. How he doesn't simply give up on life eluded him...but he didn't need to find an answer to that question. He let out a wistful smile, putting the watch away.

"But knowing that I still have a place to be friends, it does give me reason to stay. A reason to stay, even after living for over a hundred years."

[TheSpatialWeeg]

Corrin showed no restraint on his smile after Schezo finished talking. “I am glad you think so.” He said, with a tone hinting at pride over the other. “I myself have much longer to live, due to my blood being part dragon.” There's a bit of silence from the king of Valla after that. That tidbit seemed to pull to shift his thoughts to somewhere else...if he had to be honest, he wasn't too sure how his life would end up going, being a half-dragon. How long would he live? Would he fall into madness, just like his father? Or perhaps, he'd get lucky and just live as long as a human?

“It's possible that I'll live for hundreds, if not thousands of years more. The horror of possibly outliving even my youngest siblings lingers on the back of my mind yet. All the smae, that's why I try to make the best out of the time I have with them.” Corrin commented. "It's strange, isn't it? Usually, one thinks they have more than enough time to talk to people, but when they're faced with the prospect of living much longer..."

A sip of his cup of tea. “My apologies of I sound a bit too dramatic, I tend to do this when I get...invested onto something.” He chuckles, sounding a bit embarrassed.