Complete Eastern Brisshal Blade Dance

[Crimson Ruby]

The Illusion accelerated the thrusts the more Fina managed to avoid them, trying to get the maximum of what dynamism it could use to offer against the other girl.

Fierce, the attacks tried to go past her defenses, but the way the girl creatively made her way out of the Illusion's reach made Ruby feel vaguely satisfied if anything. Fina was going to be tougher to deal with than she expected. Even if there was no blade dancing involved, the other girl was quick and knew how to improvise with what she had.

The weapons continued to dance, and the Illusion nearly decided to try and chase her, but soon a counter-attack came and it was extremely intense.

With a magical burst erupting spikes from everywhere, the Illusion would soon have a spike piercing its arm, making the Illusion falter for a moment as it tried to roll its way out of the hazardous zone.

Looking up at Fina, the Illusion tilted its head, still surprised by the quick thinking.

"Smart!"

@Fina Drago

 

[Fina Drago]

So far, things were going pretty well. However, blade dancing might have transformed into a thought exercise about how to use Arcanamancy constructs. Although, that in itself might have been the goal, in a way. The feline wasn't exactly cut out for dancing; she knew that much before any of this even started. So instead of mimicking Ruby and trying to do the same thing, she was better off getting inspired by blade dancing to create something of her own.

Even as she heard the praise, she would not stop. She wanted to show what she could do with her newfound inspiration. All of the daggers that did not shatter on impact when Fina hopped up on them circled around the field, getting behind the illusion. For good measure, the girl created a few extra ones as well. Literal blade dancing as they discussed before… the multitude of weapons would indeed start dancing all around Ruby's illusion, almost creating a dome of shredding pain if she wanted to get out.

The suggestion before was that Fina could use such a technique for defense and utility, to protect herself better as weapons would dance around her. But what if she made the enemy the center of such a dance? As the bladed weapons would draw closer, the room to maneuver would grow smaller and smaller until Fina was reasonably confident that regardless of what her opponent would do, they would take damage either from her attack or the dome of dancing blades.

Conjuring a second spear in her head, she would toss it right at the illusion at full force, eager to see if such a technique would actually work at trapping an enemy in one place.

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

Things soon developed in a way Ruby didn't expect. The blades continued to dance as her Illusion swiftly tried to dodged them and tried to keep find openings to attack Fina, who was going but better than expected.

But what Ruby didn't think of, was that at some point she wouldn't have room to evade anymore.

In a death trap created by the blade dome, her Illusion found itself enclosed in a situation it couldn't really escape, with the blades narrowing in, nearly touching its skin.

Were Ruby a tank or someone based on blocking and enduring attacks rather than parrying and dodging them, she would've been in a comfortable position to brute force her way through.

But she wasn't, and while she could try to teleport her way out, the arcanamancy interference could cause an issue even greater.

At that point, if it was a real situation she would need someone to rescue her.

Instead of being minced to death, the Illusion instead found a different fate, having no room to dodge the spear that thrusted it and made it disappear in a crimson mist.

Ruby gasped, finally snapping out of her meditation and breathing heavily for a moment, seeing her HP and SP bar taking a bit of damage thanks to that antic.

She looked up at Fina, smiling tiredly in approval.

"Your blade dancing... It is really cool." She allowed herself to fall buttfirst on the ground. "And to use it leave no room for me to move, it is smart against someone that needs mobility and is fragile like me." She said.

@Fina Drago

 

[Fina Drago]

Playing it smart seemed to have worked out pretty well this time around. As she threw the spear, Fina watched as it would pierce the illusion and break it apart, leaving behind only a little bit of a mist and the mess of her arcane constructs floating around. But seeing how sharply that threw Ruby herself off, the silver-maned feline had quickly found a different kind of concern than keeping up her mastery.

With all of the mana-based weapons shattering into nothingness, Fina herself leaped from her perch and dashed over to the fallen girl, stopping right in front of her and nearly falling to her knees in a hurry to gain momentum and then immediately stop it. "Hey, hey, are you okay? I just kinda went all out since it was just an illusion, I didn't think destroying it would actually affect your real body as well!"

Fina was nothing short of terrified that she somehow managed to hurt the other girl, which was about the furthest thing she wanted out of this whole ordeal. Although it didn't seem to be anything serious if Ruby was still talking and praising the way Fina managed to develop her own form of 'blade dancing'. "Can you stand? I can help!"

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

Fina's worries were appreciated by Ruby, who couldn't help but giggle faintly and have her cheeks rosy at the way Fina was trying to make sure she was fine. Swaying her tail and raising a hand in a sign to 'calm down', her ears twitched and she followed with an explanation:

"I connected myself with my Illusion to control it with as much fidelity as possible... It is helpful to train." Ruby said, then opened her arms widely. "As you can see though, I'm mostly unharmed. If that was the real deal, you would've killed me right there, I was completely helpless." Sincerely, maybe Fina's desire to not fight Ruby directly was what allowed Fina to go all out while Ruby wouldn't get herself killed in the process.

"I can stand, but I think I will stay like this for a bit." She said, resting her hands on the ground and supporting herself on them, continuing to look up at Fina.

"So... What did you think about these new techniques you tried?"

@Fina Drago

 

[Fina Drago]

The fact that Ruby was fine, for to most part, was very relieving. This whole impromptu training was quite the strange experience, and if it had ended in a disaster, Fina would have likely developed some kind of averse to interacting with strangers. Still, there was clearly at least some damage done. Leaning lower, Fina would suddenly go in and grab the other girl's cheek, pinching them lightly. "And that's why I was against us fighting one another! Also, the way you said that made it seem like I'm some kind of a monster."

All ended well, so the feline soon retracted her hands, shuffling to the side and sitting down next to Ruby. She wasn't necessarily tired physically, but perhaps mentally. Having to figure out the enemy's movements and adapt to them, she was still having some trouble with it when it came to more agile and unpredictable opponents. And even if this was just training, the illusion came at her pretty hard, so the stress from a real fight was still there.

"They were something, alright. Not very practical with how much mana they consumed, but as a finisher… not too bad. I guess it really did turn into a deadly kind of blade dancing in the end, huh..?" She was spec'd toward damage, so it made sense. She simply fated herself to be a beast that could do little more than harm others. "Probably not what you imagined when you went to this place, huh… this whole thing."

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

"Wueeh-" Ruby puffed the cheek that wasn't pinched, letting out a quiet sigh when she was released, gently rubbing her pinched cheek.

"It is fine. Do you think I would just get us fighting without having any way to avoid one of us getting killed? I'm not crazy." Ruby said, swaying her tails.

"The way you attacked made you seem like you are kind of a monster, you could make someone turn into minced meat with your blade dancing," Ruby said with a small smirk, thinking that it was a rather dreadful situation to be in. Even if it was a practice and it was her illusion, Ruby couldn't help but feel a tingle of despair seeing those blades completely locking every path she had to run away and inching closer at every second.

When she questioned about the unexpected training they had, Ruby paused, averting her eyes while pondering before turning to the girl sitting next to her.

"Yeah, not what I imagined." Ruby glanced at Fina, leaning closer to nudge her. "... But sometimes we are surprised with things that make our days even better, right?" She winked.

@Fina Drago

 

[Fina Drago]

"Not crazy? Could have fooled me on a few occasions." Fina retaliated in a half-joking manner. In a way, every single person who chose to play a game like this must have been crazy on some level. But that was neither here nor there.

The fact that she seemed like a monster to another person was also slightly concerning, making the feline sigh. "Haah, I already have trouble interacting with strangers, if I come across as a monster when fighting, then I'll end up having to do everything solo…" There was already quite a bit she was forced to do by herself, be it due to time zone differences or just the fact that she didn't fit into team composition. DPS role was the most common one, after all.

"And I'm not sure experiencing a spear impale me would make my day much better." She glanced back at Ruby and smiled. Hopefully, that whole thing wasn't too painful, since Fina had no idea how much the other girl could feel when controlling the illusion. If all sensations were transferred, well… that would be quite unfortunate.

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

She pouted at Fina's words. "Hey, I am not that bad!" Ruby protested playfully, whipping Fina's back softly with her tails twice.

Ruby laughed and shook her head. "That's why friends exist, so we don't do things solo when strangers thinks we are weird." She said, making some gestures with her hands while looking at nowhere in particular before suddenly a window would pop up in front of Fina.

Notice

Crimson Ruby has sent you a friendship request.

To think that when the game had returned, making this sort of thing was hard for Ruby, yet nowadays she could do it almost with ease. The power of becoming social, it seemed... At least as long as there weren't more than three people around.

Her ear then twitched, turning to sideglance Fina and being a bit more straightforward.

"I didn't mean that made my day better, I mean meeting you did." She said.

"Of course feeling a spear impaling me wasn't that much fun, but the sparring was very nice." Ruby admitted.

@Fina Drago

 

[Fina Drago]

"I suppose so." Fina simply responded with a smile. Friends seemed like precious things. It was still quite strange to have people be so friendly toward her, to want to be called friends rather than just acquaintances. The feline saw the gestures before the notice popped up in her UI from the corner of her eye. "Ah—"

She honestly did not expect something like this. But, well… things always had to start somewhere. Moving her hand slowly, she would press the button and close the small window as a new name was added to the girl's friends list. Surely the two of them could find something to do together in the future. Hopefully, also something better than trying to kill each other, even if it wasn't for real.

"I know, I know. I was just joking~" She replied before letting her hands give out, her back soon hitting the grass as she lay down on the ground, looking up at the skies. "It was fun when I wasn't nervous about getting hurt or hurting you. I'd still rather not fight any other players if I can help it. But I think what I learned will also be useful against mobs."

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

Ruby's tails swayed seeing Fina's reaction to her friendship request. It wasn't too different from hoe Ruby reacted to her first few ones. She wondered if the two of them weren't too different, after all.

"Next time I will figure out a way to just puppet something for you. I do promise we will never hurt each other again though." Ruby smiled. She honestly didn't feel too bad about getting hit, especially since it was mostly an illusion. However she could understand where the hesitation and discomfort was in Fina's reasoning.

She followed the girl's motion, laying next to her and feeling the fresh grass giving some refreshment to her warmed up muscles.

"Or we could do something else if you ever want. This game has so many fun things to do." Ruby said with brimming eyes, reaching her arms and hands upwards, as if trying to touch the sky.

@Fina Drago

 

[Fina Drago]

Fina remained quiet for a brief moment. What Ruby said might have been the most unexpected of all the things she didn't expect today. She figured people would call her a crybaby or a coward before agreeing with her sentiment. "T-thanks." Her eyes fixated on the other girl, watching as she would lie down in the grass as well. It was comfortable.

Turning to lay on her side, the silver-maned feline was that bit closer and facing the other girl directly. 'Why does this feel strangely romantic..?' As she questioned herself in her own mind, Ruby spoke, causing one of Fina's ears to twitch briefly. "Something fun would be nice. Trying to dance once before aside… I feel like I've done nothing but learning how to fight ever since I started playing."

She closed her eyes as fleeting memories of past events flew by. She was probably a better person for it, and ultimately, moving freely was her primary objective. What use would that be if she didn't go on adventures? Still, she wanted to learn what more this world had to offer. "I don't want to impose anything on you, though…"

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

Ruby hummed. "No need to thank me, there is no point in doing something you dislike, right?" She said, side glancing at the other girl and mimicking her movement, turning to lay on her side to be eye to eye with her. It made things feel a bit more personal as if they were both exchanging secrets with each other, creating their own little world that only the wind could see and hear.

"It is easy to lose yourself in fighting when being in this game. I remember when I saw a newbie questioning me if fighting was the only thing people did in here, and... Well. Far from it, there is a lot of good things to do." She chuckled, looking at Fina for a moment, wondering what she would like to do before deciding to voice the question.

"Is there anything you'd like to try? I am sure there is something you've been wondering about, or maybe a place you'd like to visit. Not everything needs to be something learned, after all." She shrugged.

@Fina Drago

 

[Fina Drago]

In a strange way, Fina was already doing something she didn't want to. That was putting herself in danger when fighting. Unfortunately, it was a necessary part of the thing she actually wanted to do. This conflict was what left her feeling confused and lost at first. But after going through some dangerous events and emerging with her life still in her hands, she grew more courageous and simply accepted the risks as something unavoidable and to be faced head on.

"I'm... not really sure. I started playing this game so I could move around, feel the grass with my bare feet, to live..." It probably sounded mighty strange, not knowing the feline's circumstances. Yet, it was exactly how it was. A goal easy to accompany while doing justice about anything. However, the girl quickly found that just existing was not enough for her. Terrasphere was a game meant to be played! "What do you normally do? Aside from dancing and fighting"

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

"So you could move around and live?" Ruby muttered with a puzzled expression. "... What do you mean?" She asked, wondering if the girl lived in a terrible place, or if it was an enigmatic way to say she had a limitation like Ruby used to have when she lived with her parents, being a puppet of what they wanted her to be and do.

That sort of thing was more common than it should.

The question got Ruby thinking for a moment, and she looked at Fina with a warm smile. "I meet wonderful people. I eat nice food that can't be found in the real world, I run freely with my dynamism that lets me reach speeds I would never dream to reach with my real body." She started, then reached for the whistle that was laying on the grass, attached to her neck by a string.

"I explore wonderful places too, I'm a Whistle, after all." She said, looking at the whistle fondly and then back at the other girl's eyes.

"There are just as many things to do in here as there are in real life. We aren't limited here like the other games... In fact, we have more freedom here than out there. If we want to climb the highest of the mountains we can, if we want to seek the farthest of the islands, we can." She giggled. "As long as we have the right company to make it even more fun, that is."

@Fina Drago

 

[Fina Drago]

Yeah, her wording definitely caused some confusion. Which meant that Fina now had a decision to make. She had never actually told anyone about her situation outside of the game. Not even the players she was with most often. Not necessarily because she didn't want to, although she definitely felt apprehensive about even the idea alone at first. Now? She was unsure. Should she tell someone she had met just today? What harm could it even do?

"I..." She hesitated for a moment. Ruby seemed like a nice person, so surely she wouldn't have any unpleasant moments. "I'm dependent on a wheelchair out there, outside of the game. There are other games that can give me working legs, but none that can make me feel them, pain and all." She paused, letting Ruby take it all in. "That's why I joined." Well, it was out now, so what would happen would.

The things Ruby had mentioned as examples of things to do sounded nice, too. "Doing everything you can't in the physical world, huh..." She could probably come up with something. Though, of course, she already tried things like dancing.

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

The reveal got Ruby surprised for a moment, for a lot of reasons. One that she never realized that a game like Terrasphere could give this kind of opportunity for someone like... The person behind Fina. The other was mostly a pure surprise, not ever expecting the other girl to be in such conditions.

"I see... So it is... Complicated for you." She muttered, lowering her eyes to Fina's legs, then up to her eyes.

For a moment, she didn't know how to react or what to say. Which was probably when she realized there wasn't much to really say about it.

"Yes, this game is almost no different from a another life." Ruby said, looking at Fina and approaching a bit more, with her tail swaying and tapping the grass as it got excited.

"In this case, why don't we explore this world together?" Ruby said. "When exploring, we find stuff to do. We see a lot of wonderful places, it is a lot of adventure, camping, beach visiting too, everything that it is too hard for you to do out of here. I promise it will be fun!"

@Fina Drago

 

[Fina Drago]

Ruby really was a nice person. Fina, or rather, Bianca, had come to expect a variety of responses from people. Disgust of having to talk to someone lesser. Hollow sympathy. And many more. She grew far too used to it all. However, Ruby didn't display any of that and simply accepted it as a fact. It surprised Fina a bit. Especially when the other feline got even closer and offered that the two of them could explore this strange fantastic world together.

Fina got up into a sitting position, looking down at Ruby in disbelief. "D-do you mean that?" In a short moment, tears started forming in her eyes. Somehow, she just realized that no matter what had happened, people were still so kind to her. Not knowing much about such things in the physical world, it suddenly felt so overwhelming. "I- I'm sorry! Looking like this in front of others..." Has she ever cried in front of someone like this? It she did, she couldn't remember.

"Aah... are you really, really sure? I wouldn't want to impose..." She felt like she would only drag the other girl down if they really did do things together.

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

Fina took a sitting position, and the change of her tone got Ruby worried for a moment. The stutter of words, those eyes becoming glassy for a moment. Fina was certainly having a flow of emotions that could only be expressed in a way, and that made Ruby rush to sit herself.

"Of course I mean it!" Ruby's eyes had a hint of concern in them, just like her ears that went flat against her head. She had no idea why Fina was suddenly having tears in her eyes, nor if those were good or bad ones, but she kept her smile firm on her lips.

"Stop that, you don't have to apologize-" Ruby said, reaching for Fina's hands and holding them together, squeezing softly.

"You aren't imposing anything. I am." She corrected Fina. "Come see the world with me!" Ruby's ears perked up with challenging eyes, looking at the girl's eyes expectantly, with her tails swaying even more than before.

@Fina Drago

 

[Fina Drago]

Fina gladly accepted Ruby's hands after she was done using her own to rub the tears out of her eyes. Her eyes were a bit red after, but at least she didn't break into a full on crying. Instead, she managed to get back to her smiling self. "Okay... thank you." Having someone to reassure her that she was doing fine was nice.

Not only that, Ruby changed her request into a demand to show just how serious she was about it. It made Fina squeeze Ruby's hands right back. "Okay... okay, yeah! I will see the world with you!" It would appear that the friend request was warranted after all.

The influence of Fina's friends also made itself known as the feline suddenly blushed a bit. "H-hey... could I hug you?" The girl honestly didn't know if that was an appropriate thing to ask. But she just felt like hugging the crimson cat after all that just happened.

@Crimson Ruby