Discontinued Private Eastern Brisshal Helping out

[Fina Drago]

While Fina usually played solo or with close friends, she was trying out something new today. Namely, she got inspired by @Cleo Looker, who often found herself helping newer players get acquainted with the strange new world (Which included helping the feline herself). Now, the girl wanted to do the same. However, now knowing how to go about things more naturally, she just kept her eye on people who requested help with quests. As long as they weren't above her own level, she'd do her best to help.

It didn't take too long to find herself a presumed newbie who requested assistance with a combat-based quest. Like most beginner quests, it was to take place in Eastern Brisshal, and the two would meet in Honeyhome, the city that served as a base for many new players. Sitting down on a bench with one leg crossed over the other, she would let out a sigh and wait. Obviously, she didn't know the person she was meeting with today, but she figured that they would stand out enough to find one another. Or at least Fina would, given her adventure-y vibe and appearance.

@Flowing Willowwhistle

 

[Flowing Willowwhistle]

Flowing stood out, but in a different way. She wasn't in that starter character default adventure gear no more. She looked like she might have belonged to the Knight of the Four Winds if not for the fact the faction is not a player joinable faction. A shame, Flowing would look like a great knight. However, she was on a quest today. The faerin that, with her support oriented kit, perhaps it would be best to go questing with a partner, to help ease up her play time rust. Muscle memory and legacy knowledge can only get her so far after all.

Using the game's inspection mode, she finally found her partner of the day. A silver... lavender haired Beastkin? A less defining color unlike @Bjorn Aegirrson, who got her out and back to Falderen, he lowkey looked like Santa Claus. Hair color aside, Flowing was sure that she was her partner. Turning it off, she pulls out the quest from her inventory and approaches Fina. The regal air of a uniform that Flowing wore contrasted the more barbarian fur and skin clothes of her companion. If she had to guess, maybe the person before her built towards reckless damage.

A bow and Flowing would give a smile. "Hello there, are you perhaps Fina Drago?" Once identities were confirmed, she would continue. "A pleasure to meet you, I'm Flowing Willowwhistle, I appreciate your assistance on the matter. So, shall we get going?"

@Fina Drago

 

[Fina Drago]

Fina thankfully didn't have to wait long for her companion to show up. As she heard the voice call out, she would quickly be on her feet. It'd be rude to stay sitting on the bench when someone approached her. Though she paused for a moment when she actually saw the other woman. "Oh! Small…" Quickly bringing one of her hands to her mouth and coughing her comment away, the feline tried to present herself a bit more professionally. It was actually interesting how few faerins she met until now and how she was not used to their size.

"Y-yes, that's me. The pleasure is mine." She gave a slight bow back before eyeing the other woman again. She was honestly expecting someone more… ragged-looking. Not that Flowing's clothes necessarily meant that she wasn't new. Perhaps she just managed to get herself a sponsor, just as Fina managed in her first couple of days of playing? No matter, they were here to do some questing! "Mm, you're welcome. I'll follow right behind. Though it wouldn't hurt if you let me know what you specialize in as we walk." That way, they could cooperate better without stepping on each other's toes while fighting. That was about the last thing they should be doing.

@Flowing Willowwhistle

 

[Flowing Willowwhistle]

Flowing will pretend not to hear the 'small' comment. It's a pretty common comment, player or non-player. Though, Flowing did not exactly remember the distaste towards the Faerin. Times do change things perhaps. Maybe she should look up her race's story on the Terrasphere Wiki when she has the time. However now isn't the time, she should be doing correspondence with Fina.

"Right, let's do what we need to do then, the task is pretty simple actually, just clear out some wolves that have gotten too close to Honeyhome," Flowing beckoned and walked while she stashed the quest away. With how Terrasphere is, Flowing wondered the relative safety of Honeyhome is simply because people keep picking up quests that basically help keep Honeyhome protected. A simple cycle that keeps players happy and having fun in the game.

"So I'll be helping out as Support, which is mainly why I asked for some help," Flowing explained herself as they made their way through the woods. A path created by countless adventurers before them. Maybe because the trees had a natural clearing to them, subconsciously making player choose to walk this path or simply coincidence built upon itself into history. "I'll be sure to watch your flanks and keep you protected."

Flowing did not exactly look like the kind of tank that would protect people. She did not have a shield, wore medium armor and was not exactly the shining example of a video game tank character, but then again, maybe it was simply female armor that made her look this way. Flowing paused for a moment, before pointing towards her left.

"Our targets are that way, let's be careful okay Fina?"

@Fina Drago

 

[Fina Drago]

"Yeah, sounds easy enough." While the request wasn't anything complicated, and their opponents would likely be relatively weak, there was still no reason to underestimate things. Mobs in Eastern Brisshal might have been tweaked to suit the power of players who just started with the game, for the most part, but they were also quite plentiful. If they were to run into a bigger pack, it could spell trouble nonetheless.

Flowing also classified herself as a support, so the whole request for assistance made sense. "Support, huh? Okay, I'll keep you protected as much as I'll be able to." Fina wasn't exactly a tank, either. She never really thought about centering her masteries around a specific role, instead picking what seemed interesting based on her goals when she first started playing. But by sheer luck, she managed to put together something that would most definitely be classified as a pure DPS. She had a few extra tricks up her sleeve as well, but those were generally weaker than just defaulting to bashing things around.

As they left the town's safety, the feline's ears twitched a few times. "Appreciated. That said, I should be able to hear or see them coming once we get close enough. Beasts without the same level of intellect as players generally cannot move quietly enough to fool my ears." It was a nice trait to have. However, it also had some downsides, as she discovered during the finale of the Red Fever event. That was an experience she did not wish to relive, writing on the ground deafened and blinded on account of being too close to something already plenty loud and bright.

@Flowing Willowwhistle

 

[Flowing Willowwhistle]

Flowing thinks they are hitting it off pretty well so far. They both seemed to understand what they were doing so, Flowing was a bit joyful that her partner was not a blundering newbie who might end up making a situation worse. Regardless, safety makes her happy, and it seems to make her companion happy too.

As they made their way through the foliage, Flowing can't help but be a little distracted by the large tail in front of her. It did not catch her attention before, but when her Hyper Sense activated, its constant movement was one big fluffy cute eye magnet.

"Um... If it isn't awkward to ask, but what is it like having a tail?" Flowing asked as she pushed through the bushes, trying to track their lupus prey. Their targets were on the move and Flowing was checking that the wolves in question did not move too deep into the forest. The amount of trouble for two people would be a pain in the virtual behind.

"Like, how do you clean the dirt? Does it get in the way of wearing pants? Do you ever step on it by accident? Do you hug it like a body length pillow when you sleep? Honestly it sounds adorable if you do hahaha," Flowing rattled on with questions, but soon kept her mouth shut, realizing she might have prattled on too much with the questions.

@Fina Drago

 

[Fina Drago]

So far, so good. No sparks of hostility were immediately present, and that was honestly all Fina could ask for. As long as her partner cooperated, they could find some way to end the quest and get their reward, then move on. Pairing up with a complete strange like this could have ended pretty badly, after all.

It was pretty surprising, then, when Flowing started small talk. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that she had fixated on the feline's tail and started asking about it with an unexpected level of passion. "Ah-um—" The fact that the silver-maned cat was caught off-guard by this was not that surprising.

"Err—" She stumbled over her words for a bit as her brain struggled to come up with a good enough explanation, eventually giving up and going with the only way she could. "I'm not really sure I can put it into words. It's just kind of there, the same way my hands and legs are there. It moved mostly on its own at first, but I can exercise control over it now too." Though for the most part, it moved on its own. Almost like when a person would sit down and then start tapping their foot without realizing it, the tail just moved.

"Shampoo and water work well enough. I guess it could get in the way of pants, but my shorts are fine. It's not long enough for me to step on it. And I don't really sleep in the game, and I just have my body dematerialize when logging out…" There, she answered all of the questions just as rapid-fire as they were asked. Though now that she answered so much, she had a question of her own. "Did you never talk to another beastfolk or something?" It kinda felt that way, given all the questions. Surely Flowing would have already asked them someone else if she had interacted with a beastfolk before, right?

@Flowing Willowwhistle

 

[Flowing Willowwhistle]

Flowing had a look of fascination on her face, soaking in every detail about what Fina said about her extra appendage, almost like she had a passion for such personal topics. With each statement her companion gave, Flowing made sure to do her best to remember.

"Fascinating! As if the tail is just a natural part of your body," Flowing nods as she comes to that conclusion. Was the VR simulation so good that even limbs that don't exist on a person can be simulated to almost be a natural extension. Flowing would however be caught off guard by the follow up.

"Oh! You definitely aren't the first, in fact the first player I've met after a while was one. Though, his animal of choice definitely did not have a big fluffy tail like yours, I think... Polar bear was his choice?" Flowing recalled before pausing. She was sure Fina has sensed it too. The wolves were nearby. A quick check of her map, and she confirmed their location relative to Honeyhome. These were the right pack. A group of 4, with a large wolf with silvering fur clearly acting as alpha.

"So... How do we approach? Splinter attack? Rush in? I'm open to ideas," Flowing squats down, trying to gauge the strength of the pack they were hunting.

@Fina Drago

 

[Fina Drago]

Fina would have liked to have said that this was the first time someone had been so strangely obsessed with her animal features, but somehow, it was not. Did non-beastfolk players have some kind of regret that manifested as them wanting to inquire and/or pet the girl's ears and tail? Or was she really so reminiscent of a pet cat that they just couldn't help themselves because they were animal lovers? Either way, the feline sighed internally but continued to indulge the fae.

"W-well, yeah. We are playing a hyper-realistic game, after all. If the system can make you a completely different build or even gender than your real self, then why would it not make a tail seem like an extra appendage that was there the whole time?" The developers behind Terrasphere were just as mysterious as the game itself sometimes, but they must have been a squad of proper geniuses if they could make something like this.

"I see. Well, even if his tail weren't nearly as long, he would have probably told you the same. There's not much else to it." It was kind of like trying to explain to someone how you could move your hands or legs. You just could because it was something so natural to existing that you wouldn't be able to come up with an explanation.

It didn't take too long for them to arrive at their destination after that. A refreshing short trip compared to the hiking sprees she had to go through for half of these quests spread all across Falderen. Kneeling down next to Flowing, Fina's golden eyes observed the animals through the many layers of foliage that separated them. "We should wait a bit before we attack to make sure that really is all of them. Wouldn't want fangs that sharp in my behind if there were more in the area."

@Flowing Willowwhistle

 

[Flowing Willowwhistle]

"Then allow me," Flowing closed her eyes for a moment and took a small breath. Reopening them, her eyes begun to glow. Her senses spiked in sensitivity. The brushing of leaves, the twitching of fleas in the fur of the wolves, even the dust that moved in the wind, Flowing captured every moment in an overwhelming flood of information. Yet she sorted through them, managing what came in like a sorting algorithm. Quietly, she closes her eyes.

"None, that's all the wolves that seem to belong to this pack... There is a bear about... Say... 300 meters? Won't matter to us though, unless you throw a wolf into it or something," Flowing shuddered at the thought. She heard bears were much tougher than wolves by a long shot. Last thing she wanted so one big angry one trying to bite her and her beastkin friend here like salmon in a river.

"Are you versed in Arcanamancy?" Flowing would suddenly ask. The faerin had been trying to ignore the sound of what she presumed to be akin to sparkling and jingling. It evoked imagery of the stars however Flowing believed there was no "star" or "space" type magic in Terrasphere so, whatever it was, the closest she can think about is the magic of creation, Arcanamancy,

@Fina Drago

 

[Fina Drago]

Fina waited when Flowing prompted her to, unsure of what exactly was going on. There was no indication of anything happening, but the feline figured there was no reason why they would just wait for nothing. It took a short moment, but her companion soon explained things. Or perhaps, rather than explaining, she simply noted that there were no other wolves to be afraid of, with a small exception of a bear some distance away. "I-I see."

It was a little weird. Fina had enhanced senses, but even she could not identify the details of her surroundings that accurately. She never heard of a faerin having an ability like that, either. Unless she was using a mastery for it, which would explain it a whole lot more. However, she then went ahead and asked about whether Fina had arcanamancy, which made the entire situation a whole lot weirder.

"Y-yeah, I am. Do you have an idea how to approach the wolves using that mastery or something?" She questioned Flowing briefly. It seemed like a logical train of thought, given the question and their situation. But she also had to ask about everything else. "So, um… how did you know that? Also, how could you pinpoint animals in the area so accurately?"

@Flowing Willowwhistle