Complete Eastern Brisshal Art of Fighting

[Crimson Ruby]

"Now that's a good mindset." Ruby swayed her tail, satisfied to hear Bluebird's point of view regarding the practice. Taking a few steps back, Ruby gave her friend plenty of space that she could work with, watching intently as she announced her intention, making Ruby nod sagely. "Sounds like a good idea, go for it!" Ruby encouraged her, staying aware of any potential accident that could happen and ready to rescue Bluebird at any moment she needed.

"So basically using your flight as a long jump rather than an actual flying? That's a smart way to use it. Somewhat like how I use my dynamism." If anything, it was actually extremely similar, but perhaps Bluebird meant something else.

Waiting for her to finally do the flying, Ruby remained attentive and rushed to the rescue as soon as Bluebird seemed to lose her balance, getting right under her.

But as soon as Ruby thought Bluebird would completely fall, she simply started dangling upside down, with their eyes meeting and Ruby laughing heartily at the scene. "Oh god, what you doing, Birdie!" She giggled, opening her arms. "Need help to get back to the ground, or do you want to go up again?" Ruby asked, ready to catch Bluebird if she decided to land. If not, she would give her friend some space to work with.

@Bluebird

 

[Bluebird]

"I, ah..." Bluebird just blinks down at Ruby, looking utterly baffled by her position. "I think I can get up...?"

She whistles a few times, buffeting herself with the wing. But as she does, a spark of fear flares in her stomach, and she instinctively digs her claws deeper into the branch and negates her entire effort. This happens a few times, Bluebird swinging like a pendulum, before she finally stops.

"I. I think I have to let go," she says, voice quavering as she looks down at Ruby. If she lets go, she'll be caught. But there's that part of her that thinks "what if she doesn't?", the part that causes her to grip tight enough that the branch cracks beneath the pressure.

There's a creaking noise, and then a series of cracks as the branch finally gives in to Bluebird's abuse. It snaps free, and she yells as she falls. "Ruby, look out-!"

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

"If you can, it is worth a try!" Ruby said, deciding to stay beneath Bluebird just in case something went wrong. Swaying her tail, Ruby mostly paid attention to Bluebird's claws sinking in the branch, not really paying much attention to the branch itself, which was slowly and subtly cracking and losing its resilience, especially with the weight of a whole beastfolk hanging on it.

When Bluebird did her first attempt, Ruby watched a bit worriedly, noticing her hesitation and bracing herself in case she needed to hold her.

"If you need to let it go, just do it, I will catch you!" Ruby said, just waiting for Bluebird to let it go.

She noticed her sinking her claws deeper into the branch once again, making Ruby drop her guard for a second-- Second that was enough for the branch to break.

Nearly stumbling, Ruby widened her eyes and hurriedly tried to get on holding position again, jumping to try to hold Bluebird before her fall gained too much speed, and holding her tightly. The height wasn't too much, thanks to the lack of preparation, not giving time for Ruby to teleport back to the ground, and falling instead.

She coughed, feeling the air escaping from her lungs as she, but keeping Bluebird safe in her arms, blinking twice while seeing everything doubling in her vision.

@Bluebird

 

[Bluebird]

Fwump!

It's fortunate that Bluebird herself isn't particularly heavy, even without magical manipulation. Still, the fall briefly knocks the breath out of her, and stares dazedly at the canopy. Her feet hurt in that numb way the game renders pain. Her hair is full of twigs and leaves. But she isn't badly hurt. She's lying on something soft that fortunately caught her fall.

And then the thing she's lying on coughs, and she realizes that she didn't land on soft grass or a pile of leaves, but @Crimson Ruby.

"O-oh... oh! Ruby!" She blinks rapidly before rolling off to the side. She pushes herself on her knees, ignoring the vague tingle of splinters in her talons as she frantically searches her friend for any signs of injuries. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fall on you! Are you okay?"

She's about as puffed up as she can get, her hair and feathers making her look like a bright blue cotton ball as she half-murmurs a song of healing over Ruby.

 

[Crimson Ruby]

One, two, three Bluebirds.

Ruby's eyes didn't seem to focus for a while, hearing the coughs of her friend as she tried to sit when Bluebird rolled away from top of her.

Twitching her ears, Ruby held her head, squeezing her eyes shut and opening them to try and focus them once again, eventually succeeding and glancing at Bluebird with a faint smile. "B-Birdie! Yeah... I am okay, and you, how are you? Are you hurt?" She asked, looking at her and noticing that she was already singing a healing tune, already making the cat girl reinvigorate slightly.

She swayed her tail cheerfully. "Hey, thanks-" She said, feeling that the throbbing on her muscles was now mostly numb and fading.

Rubbing her arms and then her head, twitching her ears once again, and then looking over Bluebird, soon noticing her talons.

"A-AH! They are all hurt, Birdie, are you feeling nothing?" She frowned. Just how good was her pain tolerance? To manage to sing while having those prickling woods sinking in her flesh.

@Bluebird

 

[Bluebird]

"I'm fine, thanks to you," Bluebird says, wings fluttering. "I was too afraid to let go... I forgot that I have talons, and not simply feet in this world." She taps her chin. "Strange, to forget such a thing..."

Speaking of talons... as Ruby points out the splinters in her feet, Bluebird looks at them with a look of surprise. Now that she's aware, the tingling almost-pain is far more obvious.

"Ah, I didn't realize. Someone showed me how to turn on pain reduction, so they just felt a little numb." She shifts her position so she has better access to her feet. "They aren't very deep, and the skin on my feet is thick, so it isn't too bad!"

And then, with a cheerful little hum, she starts prying the splinters out of her feet like it's nothing.

"I suppose it might be a little dangerous to keep walking on them, though. I don't have anything sharp to dig the smaller ones out" She smooths over the little bleeding pinpricks with magic as she goes, until they're mostly clean. She squints down, head tilting this way and that as she examines it. "Later, I'll check and see if any are left, but..."

She looks up at the sky, looking thoughtfully in the direction of the sun. Then the shadows on the ground. "...yes, I think it's almost time for me to log out." She sounds disappointed as she rises gingerly to her feet. "But I think today was very fruitful! Thank you for coming out with me, Ruby, and thank you for catching me."

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

Ruby nodded briefly at Bluebird's words, rubbing her neck. "Yeah, at some point we just get used to the body in this game, hehe-" She blinked, tilting her head and looking at her friend. "Almost like it is our own," Ruby said, and for a moment felt a tingle in her chest, with her ears twitching as she felt vague anxiety that just as quickly as it appeared, settled down.

She cast a glance behind her back, wondering if there was any creature triggering that sense of impending doom, but soon she turned to Bluebird to look at her eyes, and suddenly that feeling was gone again.

"Oh, so you use pain limiter, that makes sense." Ruby smiled. "I think it is fine to you since your build isn't too mobile, so your body movements aren't too important." She pondered. It was really hard to move around in auto-assist and pain limiter.

She watched Bluebird plucking the splinters out with a wince at every time she managed one out, averting her eyes for a moment and then having her ears dropping slightly when she was told Bluebird was going to leave. "You are welcome like I would ever let you fall." She giggled faintly, smiling warmly. "See you next time then, I will keep playing for a bit." She swayed her tail.

@Bluebird

 

[Bluebird]

Bluebird nods. "It is rather like that, isn't it? Though the... body I have here, the shape I made, isn't too different from who I am in reality." She reaches up and tugs one blue wing. "It is not too hard to guess what is different, though!"

As Ruby continues to mention to pain limiter, she hesitates at the reference to the auto-assist. "Well, only the pain limiter. I tried the 'auto-assist' feature..." She tried it once, but that feeling of losing control, of something else moving her limbs for her, lifting her voice for her... It had terrified her in a way she'd never imagined.

...in fact, it had been the same for the pain limiter, which was also off. The cloudy, disconnected sensation held a terror she didn't have a word for. But she'd seen Ruby's worry, and... well, a little lie to soothe her heart wasn't a bad one, right?

"...it was uncomfortable to use. Fortunately, the song is not difficult, and the motions for my spells seem to be very simple." Her wings close slightly, the only sign of her discomfort with the subject. "If I had to pick up a weapon, it might be very different..."

She shakes her head. "But I do carry on so. Thank you for coming with me, Ruby - and for catching me when I fell. Perhaps one day, I can be the one that does the same for you." She raises a hand in farewell. "Take care, Ruby, and I'll see you again!"

Bluebird sleeps. Mira awakens.

The young woman sets aside the headset, taking a moment to readjust. The phantom of pain leaves a twinge in her... her feet. She flexes them until the sensation fades, then sighs as she checks the time. It's later than she expected - her phone shows a missed call from her manager, probably wondering why she isn't in the lobby yet. She'll have to call her back and speed through her preparations. The humdrum of daily life looms above her once more...

...but she thinks back to her time in Terrasphere, and smiles. It had been so long that she'd forgotten how much a friend makes such tedium easier.

End​