Open Pormont Caring for Caravans

[Juniper Lockton]

Never had Juniper expected that tagging along for a caravan guard mission would take so long. There were plenty of them for her to feel safe, especially after she'd done more training. She felt and looked more confident than she had only weeks prior, but she'd also put full-time job levels of hours into this game, sometimes with overtime.

It was that good of an escape.

And as Brutus had said, it counted for a full night of sleep still if she spent her sleeping hours playing.

As hours passed, it came time to make camp for the night and assign who would be on guard for first shift. They were already in pairs for the day shift, but shuffled it up for nights based on drawing straws.

First was her and someone else she didn't recognize. She hoped they would become fast friends with her, like so many others had so far.

 

[Aroda]

Aroda didn't always have time to sit - or rather lay - down and play this game, and when she did, she usually just spent her time however she liked, exploring, wandering, learning, and talking to strangers and passersby, whether they were players or not.

This time though, she'd decided to put some time in on a simple job. Couldn't hurt, as long as she was in the area already, right? And there'd be more than her there, so she wouldn't be alone for her first taste of this sort of 'adventure'. That helped a lot. It wouldn't be anyone she already knew, of course, but she had yet to run into anyone here she couldn't get along with. Well, except that one guy. He seemed like an outlier in...every way, though.

As the loose group started to settle down for a night of rest, and Aroda started getting ready for part of a night of vigilance, she glances over at her paired companion in this endeavor. Nobody had really spoken much to each other so far, at least in any meaningful way, but it couldn't hurt to strike something up. As long as they weren't too loud. Since people were resting, and all.

"The stars in this place are so pretty, aren't they?"

She asks, softly, as she looks over at the other girl.

@Juniper Lockton

 

[Juniper Lockton]

"Oh I love the stars, I even have a constellation in my freckles on my arm. The big dipper, but you can't see it right now. Something I kept from my real life form." She replied, then smiled over at her companion,

"I'm Juniper, by the way. You can call me Juni if you like." Offering a hand over to her, she leaned to shake her hand then leaned back.

"Didn't think a caravan job would take this long, should have looked at the details closer. At least it pays pretty well and seems safe so far. I just hope it stays that way. But while we have plenty of time, what kind of masteries do you have? I went with a witchy magic vibe, astramancy and geomancy and aeromancy all tied into weapon arts." She pulled out her spheres, little artifacts that had themes around each element she could channel through them.

@Aroda

 

[Aroda]

Aroda hesitates a bit before offering a hand, but she does accept the shake, extending her metallic hand and gripping the other girl's hand lightly, just to be safe. Didn't wanna squash any soft, delicate hands.

"Nice to meet you, Juni. I'm Aroda. Not really sure how you can shorten that, hah."

The magia was a bit surprised at how suddenly talkative the girl had become from one comment, but it wasn't really a bad thing. More conversation couldn't hurt, but it was a wonder how things had been so quiet until now.

"My masteries...? Well, I guess, I started with something practical...ranged weapons,"

She says as her main weapon thus far, a fantasy rifle, materialized in her hand by her side.

"Since I figured, guns are easy to use, and they're used more than swords nowadays for a reason, you know? Then I just picked things that sounded interesting...so I have magitech, and aeromancy."

Once she's said all that, she kind of chuckles to herself a bit.

"Guess I made a pretty out of place character. I mean, I haven't even met anyone else who uses magitech...and I haven't met another magia, either."

@Juniper Lockton

 

[Juniper Lockton]

"I'd shorten it to Aro, like Arrow. Pretty, but yours is already cute." She shrugged, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

The explanation about why she picked guns made sense, but with the auto-assist she wasn't sure that complexity should have mattered really. Oh well, to each their own.

"I went with a witchy sort of vibe. I still want a better outfit to really make it make sense, though." She just didn't feel complete without a big hat, but she'd yet to find one, "I control elements, even picked up astramancy along with geo and aero. Weapon arts I picked up to get foci in the form of these spheres here." And just like that, they appeared and floated around her, practically juggling themselves at her command, "Aeromancy is my fav, though. Can't get enough of lightning combos."

"Oh, I've met another magia before! Usually pretty interesting. Though, every player I've met so far is really interesting. It's crazy how far apart we all are but how close we feel in game. All the way down to our situations being similar. Or at least, our struggles."

@Aroda

 

[Aroda]

"Right, a 'witchy' vibe...maybe you'll be able to get a more fitting hat in one of the bigger cities around here? Once I was done checking around these less populated areas, I was probably gonna try the capital. Sure to be lots more cool stuff there."

She posits her idea to the excitable, witchy-vibing girl, before crossing her arms as she thinks on the masteries things.

"Personally, I didn't really have a plan for my character or anything, but I think I landed on something interesting. Aeromancy really is pretty fun...and most of the other magics seem kind of interesting, too, but none of them really call out to me, either."

Aroda puts her gun away, finally, and looks up at the sky. The skies really were quite nice here, especially at night. In the real world, in a city, it was rare to see a night sky full of stars, like this.

"I can definitely agree the people here are interesting, though. I've yet to meet anyone that wasn't on the, colorful side. Actually, if you know any magia - or especially anyone who does magitech - maybe you could introduce me, or point me their way? I've been looking for any like minds since I got here."

@Juniper Lockton

 

[Juniper Lockton]

"The capital, yea, that'd be a good idea." One that she should have thought of, but didn't. Either way, it wasn't a big deal. She needed the gold to be able to buy such things anyway, and that was why she was doing this.

"I kind of based my character idea on a class from another game, but I really like the mechanics here and the way the combos line up. The overall aesthetic is cuter, too. I just really like this game. I have never really been able to be myself until playing it and it just kinda...feels like home now." It really did. She had a hard time imagining or thinking of anywhere else where she would be or had been as accepted as in Terra.

"There is one named Alice who I enjoyed talking to. I'd say she's kind of like you, sort of matter-of-fact but nice about it. I can try to get in contact with her and hook you two up, if you'd like, no problem!" She seemed excited about the idea, tail wagging slowly behind her as she awaited a response. A 'yes' almost always meant more rapid wags, while a 'no' might make it flop repeatedly, sadly 'pwop'ping itself against the ground.

@Aroda

 

[Aroda]

"I haven't played a ton of games...but I do agree. This game is really something else."

Aroda's eyes slowly drift toward the foxy beastfolk's foxy fox tail, noting how it moves...and she cracks a smile. This beastfolk race sure was endearing. She didn't necessarily regret choosing to be something strange, like a robot, but she did lament that she didn't have any inhuman features that were 'cute'. At best her arms and legs just looked 'cool', or at worst, 'kinda weird'. Oh well.

She quickly redirects her gaze before she's stared for too long. She definitely didn't want to make things weird...or make people think she was weird. She was already weird enough just for being a robot, apparently.

"This err, Alice you said, right? That does sound like a meeting I'd like to have. If she's your friend, I wouldn't mind having you there, either. We can meet up somewhere, or I can just go with you...I don't really have a plan or, a destination in mind. Like, most of the time."

The robot finishes her speech with a slight shrug. The pros of not having a plan...you can just do whatever, whenever it suits you.

@Juniper Lockton

 

[Juniper Lockton]

"That sounds good!" She offered, excitedly, at the prospect of meeting up with Alice with her new friend. Alice had invited her to live with her, so they were a bit more than just friends now, but all the same she wanted to introduce the two and see if they hit it off as well. She forgot to elaborate on which part of it sounded good, though, and followed up, "Yea, after we're done here I'll contact her and set us up a place to have dinner or something and we can all enjoy a good meal together."

"Nothing quite like a good, hot meal shared with good company to form a bond, right?" Her energy and her tone were so warm that it was like sitting around a campfire in itself, "And if you don't have plans, that makes planning things with new friends easy. It's when you start getting too many friends that it's a problem." A good problem to have, but a problem nonetheless.

"So stick with me and we'll find plenty of stuff to do together, okay?" If one couldn't tell, Juniper loved making new friends, even if she sometimes was a bit too affable and greedy in collecting them.

 

[Aroda]

"Ah...dinner? Yeah, that sounds great."

Aroda answers with a smile and a nod, keeping her tone cordial, not wanting to drag the mood down or anything with her own thoughts that dinner is pretty uneventful for a magia. At the least, she could still eat, so going out to a restaurant or something to hang out...it still made sense. She just didn't have any good food or drinks to look forward to.

"It is nice, in a lot of ways, not having many plans. You can just, always do what you want, kinda. Though, on that 'not having plans' topic..."

She pauses to cross her arms a moment, thinking about her 'schedule', which she mostly didn't have. But there was always one thing.

"I also don't usually know too far ahead of time what days I'll actually have time to be online. I actually stay pretty active out there. But if you hit me up, I can try and make sure I have time for doing...whatever."

And finally, she gives a sudden sigh while she leans back lazily.

"And speaking of doing stuff...this caravan business isn't very exciting, huh?"

@Juniper Lockton

 

[Juniper Lockton]

"Good!" And with that, she made notes on her HUD to remind her to get Aro and Alice to meet over dinner, though she was certain how that conversation might dry up like a freshly-dammed river. That was okay! She could facilitate conversation if needed.

"That's okay. I have faith that the timing will work on when it is meant to." Her religious parents hadn't instilled much in her that was worth anything to her, but so far having faith in luck and universal cogs moving of their own volition had made sense to her in a way she couldn't quite explain.

"Nah, but that's why they have guards. It's to defend the caravan, sure, but most of our work is done in just being here, deterring those who want to try. They see someone like me or you and they tend to know better, or they're dumb enough to try anyways. Still caravan work isn't my favorite, but it pays well! Free food, too."

@Aroda