Complete Vintergard Dragon Horizon

[Crimson Ruby]

On the horizon, the gargantuan draconic silhouette was outlined, taking place as the receptacle of the beautiful sunset, that reddened the sky with its deep warm color that bathed clouds and land alike.

Ruby slipped a sigh, swaying her tail. The dragon was so big it could be seen, but it was still a few days away... A few, if there were no obstacles in their path. The truth was that their path would be filled with obstacles unless they wanted to hug death. Ruby twitched her ears, taking her map to glance at it and stretching her tail before turning to Erick.

"I think we should get ready to call it a day... Tomorrow we should get to the outskirts, and I've heard it is when things start to get dangerous." Ruby said, tilting her head and smiling.

"It is our last peaceful night until we are done with this." She said.

Granted, they could log off whenever they were done with the exploration for the day, at any point. It was one of the advantages of being a player after all.

@Erick Styker

 

[Erick Stryker]

"Yeah, I'm with you," Erick said as he glanced out at the burnt-out husks of buildings that littered the landscape. They offered a relative degree of shelter, but on the other side of that coin, they presented a multitude of opportunities of enemies to lay in wait for them. Mountains of discarded shrapnel and large sheets of metal that were melted down to obscurity and far too heavy to remove created a labyrinthine maze that spiraled the way into Vintergard.

Yet still, they were so close and so far all at once.

They hadn't even reached the outskirts proper. Ruby knew much more about this area that he did, but from what he had gleaned up to this point, this was once the great capital of Astorea and some cataclysmic event- involving the strange, massive ship that blotted out the sun- had laid waste to it. That was why Finweald cropped up and became relevant.

While Finweald was the final destination on his journey, he wasn't about to let Ruby go into the unknown by herself. Especially not with nothing to go on but a map. "I'll take a look around and see if there's any safe spots to make camp," he told the beastwoman. She was smiling, but Erick had some reservations.

When she said "last peaceful night," he blinked. "well that's ominous," He moved toward one of the intact buildings, a two story, and stepped through the ashen frame. With one hand, he stroked the aether and sought to test the integrity of the second floor, which served as the only semblance of roofing left. It shook as he altered the gravity only slightly, and he intensified the weight more.

It shivered, but held.

With a sigh of relief, he turned to call back to @Crimson Ruby . "This should hold, as long as we don't go tap-dancing on the top floor," Theo offered her a smile of his own. "I can go grab some firewood, if you want?" he offered.

 

[Crimson Ruby]

Ruby nodded at Erick's plan, waiting for him to go ahead first, being fairly quick to soon find a building they could rest on.

She crossed her arms, twitching her ears and widening her eyes slightly at the spellwork. That still impressed her, no matter how many times she saw it.

"No dancing?" Ruby turned to him, pretending to be insulted. "I bet that's just an excuse to not dance with me. You are just like my friends, good grief!" She pouted playfully before letting out a chuckle, swaying her tails to let the bells on them gently ring.

"I will behave today then. Luckily I have other things to entertain myself with." She opened her UI, accessing the inventory to materialize her liuqin, wrapped just next to the bag on her back.

Her ears twitched at his suggestion, and she nodded while standing back on her feet.

"I will try to see if I can snatch something to eat then. I am tired of beef jerky stew and dry fruits." Ruby said. As much as those travelling rations were practical, at some point they got boring.

With each darting off to their own tasks, Ruby would have to admit that her hunting wasn't as incredible as the previous times. Be it for the danger of the area or just because the day was ending, she only managed to snatch one unlucky rabbit that was going back to its den way too late.

Even then, it wasn't a big rabbit. It would need to do though.

Eventually, Ruby returned with the small animal on hands. "Not much, but better than nothing, I guess."

@Erick Styker

 

[Erick Stryker]

"Oh! No not at all, I'd absolutely dance with you," Erick laughed back, shaking his head, "can't say as I'd be any good at it or that I wouldn't cramp your style, but we can dance. Just, y'know..." he gestured to the floor above. "Not up there."

He heard the bells before he realized that her tail...(s?) were swaying, and his eyes moved to follow the small, chiming objects. Ohhh, right. I forgot there are people in this world who had animal traits. Even though he had seen them before, it still held his attention for a moment before she spoke up again.

"I will try to see if I can snatch something to eat then. I am tired of beef jerky stew and dry fruits."

"Oh no yeah for sure," Erick agreed, though she hurried off in a different direction. He turned his attention toward the dried out and blackened trees on the edge of the desolate town. Upon closer inspection, they were dried out, ashen, already burned. Not ideal for catching fire.

However...

Erick began breaking off chunks of sooty wood, a simple task by rights. The tree he was pulling from gave no resistance. Once he had a respectable amount, he carried it back to the campsite. After another quick check of the area to be sure nothing had set in during their absence and compromised their safety, he turned toward the wood and began winding its time back.

At first, it turned white, then gray, and finally it started to smolder. Too soon and it would burn back into uselessness... but if he timed it just right...

The fire raged for a moment as it combusted in reverse. It burned, but outside time, backward. Just a few more seconds...

Erick released his hold on the pile of wood's timeline just in time for the fire to begin burning steadily.

"There."

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

Ruby perked her ears up when Erick said he would dance with her, with the smirk on her lips and the glint in her eyes warning that she would take him up on that, simply nodding at the condition of it not being on the second floor. It wasn't like Ruby wanted to get both of them stuck on fallen structures and walls.

As she went back to the building, Ruby blinked surprised when seeing the fire was ready.

"You are fast at that. Do you camp in real life?" She wondered, not remembering him using any sort of fire spell, so certainly he couldn't 'cheat' his way through.

She sat down next to the flame, resting the rabbit aside before drawing a sharp dagger. It wasn't the best choice to skin the creature, but she had to make it do.

"You know... the bad thing of having a food meter is that you have to keep eating just like in real life to not die off in here. It is an annoying mechanic." She twitched her ears, glancing to Erick.

"The good part is that it is so tasty-" She said.

Getting the fur out, it was finally possible to stick the rabbit above the fire, letting it do its job. The dripping fat erupted a bit more fire, brushing the exposed flesh a few times.

@Erick Styker (For OOC reference of the two tails, here is a full pic)

 

[Erick Stryker]

"I have a few times," he answered honestly, "but I wasn't like an Eagle Scout or anything. I'm one of those people who would rather enjoy the air conditioning and other benefits of electricity than try to 'live like my forefathers did.' They invented the stuff we had now for a reason, after all." The grin on his face as he worked his way through that last bit made it evident that he found his joke to be hilarious.

"But, if we're being honest, I kiiinda cheated." He pointed outside, toward the edge of the abandoned settlement. If she strained, she might notice other blackened, broken, lifeless trees. They stood silent sentinel over the threshold between the plains and the approach to the outskirts of Vintergard. "I didn't have any flint or tinder to make fire, I'm not a pyromancer, and that wood is already spent. All of the combustible materials burned through at some point."

He waved his fingers in front of him for a moment. "But, like I said... spacetime is my wheelhouse. I turned back the clock of the wood I gathered to a point while it was still burning."

"You know... the bad thing of having a food meter is that you have to keep eating just like in real life to not die off in here. It is an annoying mechanic."

He listened as she mused over the annoyance at having to eat in the game, and couldn't help but to agree. There was definitely such a thing as too much realism, and to be frank, extra ways to die were completely unnecessary. The game already had a creative and extensive number of ways to handle that.

"The good part is that it is so tasty-"

He smiled when she looked his way, and then glanced down at the way the small creature cooked, fat drooling from its corpse and flame licking the meat and sinew. "Hunting is a big thing where I'm from," he revealed, "so I'm used to gamey meat like rabbit and venison, but I've never had much taste for it."

He glanced toward the skyline outside, noting the darkness that finally encroached. "It's amazing how hunger can make even things you don't like taste good." Erick turned back to offer another smile to Ruby.

An adorable cat-girl was working hard at making a meal for the two of them. He wasn't going to be rude and decline the offer. Especially not when he was in the same predicament as she was in terms of a need for sustenance.

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

Ruby swayed her tails. "How about the best of the two worlds? Routine is the easy, air conditioning way, and the break of routine is-" She opened quotes. "- The forefather's did way" She closed quotes, crossing her legs and rotating the rabbit slowly, allowing the fire to heat it thoughtfully and keeping a good consistency

When he revealed the truth behind his campfire techniques, Ruby frowned her lips and nodded in a gesture that almost said 'not bad' as she glanced around to see the long burned trees. "Campfire making was the last thing that I was expecting from spacetime magic. I guess you have way too many creative ways to work with it." Ruby crossed her arms, tilting her head while pondering about her own magic masteries.

Aside from Harmonic magic, she hasn't used many of the others, except Spirit magic to help to forge her sword. And even then it was four years ago.

Her ears then twitched, leaning in with curiosity. "It is common? Where are you from?" She wondered.

@Erick Styker

 

[Erick Stryker]

He tilted his head as Ruby spoke about routine and a dichotomy of worlds. It was an interesting way to consider things. At the very least, he wouldn't have considered that perspective on his own. Erick watched as she evenly cooked the rabbit and considered the woman carefully. She must have learned how to do these kinds of things at some point. It didn't appear to be something she picked up inside the game.

"Campfire making was the last thing that I was expecting from spacetime magic. I guess you have way too many creative ways to work with it."

"Well, I put together that if your magic is limited only by your relative strength and your imagination, then as long as you tinker within those limits, you can do pretty much anything," he explained. "Sure, I can't completely restore the tree to a state before its destruction, nor can I rewrite its ultimate fate, but within those constraints, returning it to a point in the timeline when it existed in a specific state of matter was... doable."

He said doable, because the pinpoint accuracy was anything but "easy." To that point, however, it had become easier with practice. Erick was more able to perform various feats than he could at first.

"It is common? Where are you from?"

"Oh, uh," he blinked. He had invited that kind of question, he supposed, but he never expected someone to ask it. They were supposed to play with personal information pretty close to their chest. He decided to give her a vague response, just to be safe. "Midwestern USA," he disclosed. That was more specific than he could have chosen to be, but it was a show of good faith. He didn't think she was going to doxx him to VRSA.

"How about you?" he asked.

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

Ruby listened to the explanation interested, waving her tails and having a glint of admiration in her eyes.

"Maybe I should get some magic lessons from you. The only one I'm actually good at is the harmonics, and it is only because my real-life skills get into play in it." It was much easier to work with something that was actually possible to do outside of the game than only inside of it.

As he answered vaguely and then returned his question, Ruby showed less restraint on telling where she was from.

"I am from Zhejiang, China." Ruby answered, smiling faintly. "I mean, it is probably obvious from my accent. And I don't really live there anymore, I'm living in New York." She explained. It was two completely different places, and getting used to the cultural shock took a few years, but it was worth it- After all, learning about other cultures was one of the things Ruby loved the most.

Meanwhile, she had finally decided to let the rabbit settle in a specific position, waiting for it to brown first.

@Erick Styker

 

[Erick Stryker]

He blushed a bit when she mentioned getting lessons from him. "Oh, uh, sure," he recalled helping Toko figure out her own Astramancy, but there had been some degree of overlap between their abilities. He wasn't sure that he could do anything to help Ruby with her Harmonics. The fact that it played off her skills from outside the game, though? Now, that was something he had not considered.

Was there any inherent bonus involved with abilities that drew on things you were skilled at in the real world? That was a fascinating concept. Toko did mention having trained in Martial Arts...

"I wouldn't mind running through some theorycraft with you, but I don't think we share any Masteries, so I don't know that I can offer you any truly helpful hints." He reached up and scratched at the back of his head. "Still, I'll try my best."

"I am from Zhejiang, China. I mean, it is probably obvious from my accent."

Erick blinked. He had never met anyone from China- or at least, if he had, it was in passing. He didn't know what exactly a "Chinese accent" sounded like- just "this is generally how people of Asian origin sound," and at that, there was a great deal of social stigma involved given where he grew up. He didn't want to come off as insensitive or bigoted by voicing that fact, though.

"I'm living in New York."

And just like that, Erick became envious. His opportunities were severely limited by how utterly far away from civilization he lived. The coasts where were people went to chase their dreams, not rural South Dakota. "Aw man!" he said. "I wish I lived in New York. I've always wanted to go. You could say it's like... a dream I used to have," his voice became much softer. "Used to," he repeated, reminding himself.

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

"It is theorycraft and some practice actually... I mean, I don't really know how to use axe, but I've helped a girl to learn how to use it." Ruby said with a small shrug. "Of course, the specifics would need to be on me, but there are probably some similarities on how they work." Ruby wondered, crossing her arms and considering if what she was saying made any sense.

Her head then tilted at the way his face shifted when she mentioned her being chinese, but soon the attention returned to the place she was living, and she couldn't help but let out a puff of laugh at his reaction

"Oh, oh no, you probably don't really know which New York I'm talking about." She placed a hand above her mouth, letting out a giggle and shaking her head. "I've seen this reaction before... Uhm... I'm not from New York City. That's like... Four hours away driving in good traffic. I only go there when I have to work there or solve anything." Ruby corrected him.

Unless...

"... Or is it that bad where you live?" She twitched her ears, leaning in, curious about how that place was.

He did say hunting was common, so she was expecting him to live in some sort of wood cottage in the middle of a forest, considering how he was speaking.

@Erick Styker

 

[Erick Stryker]

"Well, if you think I can, I'm definitely willing to help."

It was nice to be able to meet new people and try new things, and if someone could take something from the experience, Erick thought that was even better. At the same time, he always thought about how cool it would be to see a faraway place or meet someone who came from one, but here he was meeting someone from far away, and he couldn't help but feel bad. He knew the kind of people who lived in small towns in the US were closed-minded, and they liked and disliked what they did, and not much could be done to change their minds. What made it so much worse was how nice Ruby was.

Erick felt uncomfortable, but not because of anything this woman said or did or even the fact that she said she was Chinese. He felt uncomfortable because his whole life, people around him had diminished an entire culture- millions of individuals they did not know, could not possibly know- to fit their worldview. Now that he could see for himself, he wanted to make every single one of them apologize to this catgirl.

His mother would have laughed in his face.

"Any place is better than where I live," he chuckled bitterly, but the smile he offered next was genuine. "The Midwest is spread out, rural, lots of agriculture," he explained, "lots of manufacturing. Plenty of work, but not a lot of opportunity to do much beyond that. We're basically trained from the time we're very young to aspire to be manual laborers, and not expected to amount to anything greater than that."

He laughed a bit harder when he listened to the words coming out of his mouth. For years he was told that the best thing a man could do was work hard to put food on the table and protect his family. He didn't think that there was anything wrong with that, or that it wasn't noble; but to think that it was the greatest possible feat a man could attain?

Erick shook his head. "Sorry, its just... I guess I'm a little bitter. My dad was a farmhand all his life til he managed to get some property of his own and started raising cattle. He wanted me to inherit the farm, but I grew up in a generation where I didn't need to work the way he did. I didn't want to settle for that." That was when real life punched him in the face, and it hadn't stop punching.

"I can't say I know much about the rest of New York outside the city, but there's not a lot of opportunity here. I envy people who live near the coast, because the big cities are cultural meccas. You can meet people from all over the world, all the time. If just one new person moves into town here, its a pretty big deal and everyone's talking about it for days," he explained.

He looked at her and tilted his head. She mentioned her work briefly, something about solving problems. Erick found himself interested. "But hey, I'm talking a lot- what about you? What do you do for work?"

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

The giggles and smile from Ruby's lips slowly faded as Erick spoke, revealing a lot that she didn't really expect. Perhaps she had slipped the wrong question because it didn't take any mind reader to see how uncomfortable she was. Her ears flattened against her head for a moment, but she never averted her eyes from him. "... I feel that. It was such a mess when I first came to New York. I became the topic of the town I live in for a long time, and I still hear comments from anyone that moves in and get surprised for my existing in there. It is almost like I'm eternally not really part of there." Ruby's expressions didn't falter at that. She was already pretty used to it, as much as she shouldn't.

"You don't need to apologize." She leaned closer, placing a hand on his and smiling. "I think you did it right on not inheriting anything. Your dream is your dream, your father's dream is for him to achieve, not you." Ruby said, letting go of his hand before averting her eyes to the flames of the campfire.

"Basically I work with music. Well, music, dancing. Entertaining things." Ruby said with a small shrug. "Back in China, I worked in my parents temple, I worked in festivals and all sort of things, making presentations since I was very young... And it was my passion, I promise. But I needed to know more, everything was too limiting." She said.

"I needed to know what else the world had to offer... So I decided to come here, even if against my parents approval." Ruby glanced at Erick. "They told me I wouldn't fare well here, and they aren't entirely wrong... What I am expertise in is too niche, aside from one or another event in a Chinatown, who wants a presentation of Shaoxing opera? A liuqin or pipa play? Maybe in a subway, someone would find it exotic enough to give a few dollars." She giggled at it, not very fond of the idea, but still.

"So I mostly work with a bit of everything. I do presentations or small concerts when there is the opportunity, I work online as a music editor and producer, something that isn't too hard to find on the internet. I even compose a few things... It would be easier if I was in the metropolitan area, but it is too expensive for me to handle by myself." Ruby said with a brief sigh. Not one of defeat, but rather of acceptance that this was her current situation... Something she could change, however.

"... I do hope you can achieve what you are trying to achieve. And that you can someday move to a bigger city, where you can be what you want to." She smiled warmly at the thought.

"Talking about that..." Ruby peered at the still heating rabbit before reaching for her liuqin, tugging it to her lap, and starting to tune it for a moment. "... I happen to know the music that is fitting for all of this." She smiled faintly, with her eyes tracing the strings on her liuqin's neck.

@Erick Styker

 

[Erick Stryker]

He frowned slightly when she mentioned how her neighbors spoke about her when they thought she wasn't looking. It seemed like that kind of thing was inescapable, regardless of where anyone went. Hate transcended state lines. "I'm sorry you have to go through that," he murmured in a low voice, embarrassed for those people who lacked the grace and intelligence to be embarrassed for themselves.

When she placed her hand on his, the surprise pulled him back to reality. He never expected that response, or for that matter, how warm her hand felt. It was like they were right there, even though they had just established that several hundred miles lay between their actual locations. But the words she said were words that he ached to hear, from anyone, for so long.

"Your dream is your dream, your father's dream is for him to achieve, not you."

"...thank you, Ruby," he said in a softer voice, his nerves subsided for the moment. "That means a lot. It does."

When she revealed more of her story, he watched her quietly. Despite the way her parents had told her that it was foolish, despite constant naysaying, and without any support from the people who were supposed to be closest to her... she had left not just her hometown, but the entire country. She had traveled across the world in an attempt to chase her dreams.

She had done something that Erick had been too afraid to do. He was no longer envious. He now genuinely admired her.

He looked when she mentioned music and brought the instrument to the ready. "If there are words, would you teach me?" he asked. "...I have vocal training," he admitted, something he had told himself that he wanted to come to this world in order to forget about. After all that failure, here he was, inspired. "I wanted to be a voice actor. I'd be honored if you would let me sing with you."

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

Ruby shook her head slightly, looking up at Erick with a faint smile. "You shouldn't be. They should, but they won't, so it is nothing we should dwell over, right?" Seeing that expression on his face was making her feel bad. Making him embarrassed or ashamed was far from her intentions.

"Thank you, for coming all the way to Vintergard with me, and for being ready to risk being shot down by magitech robots" She said, slipping a small joke to ease the emotions, even if she wasn't really amazing at jokes in any form or shape.

His request, however, caught her by surprise and her eyes grew slightly wide. "... Really? You really want to sing? And... You have vocal training?" Ruby was surprised at the reveal, perking her ears up and looking at him. That was unexpected, but she should've known by the way he spoke.

She was going to take a mental note of it for now.

"Well, it is a bit silly... But if you've watched Disney things, you should know this one... It is Reflection..." Ruby said sheepishly but slowly introduced him to the lyrics, strumming the instrument to give them some tempo to follow while reciting, not singing, the lyrics for him.

Spoiler: Reflection - Lyrics

Look at me
You may think you see
Who I really am
But you'll never know me

Every day
It's as if I play a part
Now I see
If I wear a mask
I can fool the world
But I cannot fool my heart

Who is that one I see
Staring straight back at me?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?

I am now
In a world where I
Have to hide my heart
And what I believe in

But somehow
I will show the world
What's inside my heart
And be loved for who I am

Who is that one I see
Staring straight back at me?
Why is my reflection
Someone I don't know?
Must I pretend that I'm
Someone else for all time?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?

There's a heart that must be
Free to fly
That burns with a need to know
The reason why

Why must we all conceal
What we think, how we feel?
Must there be a secret me
I'm forced to hide?
I won't pretend that I'm
Someone else for all time
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?

When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?
Inside
Who I am inside

As she finished reciting everything, allowing him to try and record everything, she tilted her head. "So- What do you think? Can you try it?" Her tails swayed.

@Erick Styker

 

[Erick Stryker]

She was right and he knew it. No matter how many times he could apologize for the bigotry or the xenophobic behaviors of his kin and those around them, it was ultimately their choice to give in to those things. And they would continue whether or not his kindness ran counter to their actions. For now, she was right. They were better off not dwelling on it.

"I'm just glad you don't have to go it alone," he gave her a thumbs up when she thanked him. "That sounds way too dangerous for one person."

He gave her a nod. He had not sung anything in more than a few months. Not since his last audition. Still, it seemed like a better time than any, and this was a much less stressful situation. No one was going to be judging him, or determining whether or not he got a job. There was no possibility of failure.

There was only his voice. The one skill he prided himself in, and the one thing he truly loved to do.

When she named the song, he nodded.

"Nothing silly about that," he reassured her.

That was something that many households across the United States had in common- a love of Disney and its magic. When she started to go through the words, he caught on to the tune quickly. He listened to how every syllable went with each note, and he began to sway with the music. His eyes closed, and he motioned for her to continue playing when she asked if he would try it. Erick gave a slow nod, took a deep breath, and then he seamlessly introduced his sound to her own.

Spoiler: Reflection

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

"It is the way of the Whistle," Ruby responded with a grin, right now far unaware of how much those words were going to haunt her, even if she should already expect them judging from her encounter with the bandits.

She looked at Erick starting to prepare himself, feeling rather curious about what would come out... And as he nodded for her to start playing, what were just strums and a pseudo metronome, soon started to become notes, merging together to start the introduction of the song for a moment before his voice was released.

Surprised once again, Ruby's ears perked up at the voice even if her playing didn't falter, instead, it only grew more excited.

Her sharp and resilient nail was exposed in the place of a pick, and it quickly started dancing on the strings, carefully picking on each of them repeatedly, bringing out a rapid tremolo that was usual of the instrument. However, it didn't break the harmony between the voice and the instrument, never going too far from the tempo of the music.

Closing her eyes, Ruby swayed her tails rhythmically, making the bells tied to them give detail to the instrumental that backed up Erick's singing, which Ruby took her time to appreciate despite being occupied being part of it herself.

Spoiler: Reflection - Liuqin Cover

As the music slowly reached an end, Ruby swayed her tails, opening her eyes to sideglance at Erick with a warm smile.

"I didn't expect to have a gem like that next to me! You should've told me you sang that well before." Ruby said with sparkly eyes, suppressing a pout for not being able to know it since the start.

@Erick Styker (Let me know if I should backstep a bit if you wanted to do anything during the play!)

 

[Erick Stryker]

After the music faded, he stood there for a moment in silence. He forgot how good it felt, how exhilarating it was to use his voice to entertain others. Even if he was the only one who could hear it, knowing that there was a possibility that it could reach someone had always given him hope. Erick felt a warmth in his chest, like a small flame had flickered back to life even if only for an instant. When Ruby spoke up again, it seemed to stoke that flame even hotter.

"I wasn't planning on mentioning it at all," he admitted. When he logged into Terrasphere, it was under the pretense that he was someone else entirely. His skills, his traits, anything left over in the other world would remain there. This life was supposed to be isolated from that one. But that wasn't how life worked, was it?

Even in an augmented reality, it was impossible to fully escape from oneself.

"But thank you," he added quickly, "you instrument, the music you played- it wasn't the same experience as a guitar or piano. It was beautiful, the way the trill of the strings matched harmonically with my vibrato. I don't think I've head anything like it before."

He took a seat next to her. "You have a real skill there, you know?" he affirmed for her, whether or not she knew it already. "I'm glad you stayed true to yourself and picked music to specialize in," Erick smiled without turning to face her. "In this world and on the outside. I wouldn't have been able to hear that if you hadn't. I wouldn't have been able to sing together with you."

He hadn't picked music, or anything to do with his voice. Erick had wanted nothing to do with his failure. Now, faced with someone who had been given a similar choice and chose differently, he felt almost guilty. His voice had been as much a victim as he had. He had only robbed himself of the ability to do what he loved.

But this wasn't the time or the place to focus on that.

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

Nobody ever planned to tell anything about their real selves in an illegal online game, yes, that was very fair.

She was very confident of her skills, but that didn't stop her cheeks to grow rosy because of his compliment. "I am glad you think so. I practice a lot." She said with a sheepish smile. "Every instrument has their own experience... And it is nice to hear my liuqin is a good one to you." She said, looking at his eyes as he went on about her choices. And honestly about his as well.

"We also only sang together because you trained your voice, a very pretty one. It is hard to find someone that can impose it like that... I think you should give the path another shot if you can." Ruby twitched her ears.

"And this is far from being the last time we will sing or do music things then." Ruby said with a gentle expression, swaying her tail before perking her ears up and smiling a bit more smugly.

"Not even the last time tonight, you still owe me a dance!" Ruby said with a grin, looking at Erick.

@Erick Styker

 

[Erick Stryker]

He had to hand it to her, the display of humility was admirable. With a skill like hers, he might have had a chance in some kind of entertainment, like the orchestra or something. Instruments were always sought after by musicians and companies, especially lesser known or traditional ones. It had opened doors for her, for work in New York, and even with some tangential skills in editing and composing. "I really appreciate your kind words," he told her. Coming from someone like her, who had accomplished something, that was very meaningful to him.

He wasn't entirely sure that his singing voice would be able to carry him, though.

"Maybe one day," he said honestly. It seemed more possible now than it had before, but he still was far from ready to face his fear of failure again. With more time, with more positivity infused into his outlook, something that was impossible today might be less so tomorrow. "But when I do, I'll make sure that you hear about it." He winked.

"And this is far from being the last time we will sing or do music things then." Ruby said with a gentle expression, swaying her tail before perking her ears up and smiling a bit more smugly.

The way she smiled caught him off guard. Her words were enticing, honestly, because he enjoyed singing together with her music. "Oh yeah?" he replied with a wry smirk.

"Not even the last time tonight, you still owe me a dance!"

"Bet," he said as he quickly stood again and extended a hand out toward her. "You got some kind of fancy magic that'll give us something to dance to?"

@Crimson Ruby