Open Lake Horatio Innocent Exploring

[Caelynn Thia]

It had been some time since Caelynn actually had been by herself and taking in all the beautiful scenery that Terrasphere had to offer. If only the real world had such beauty as the game did. In some ways it did but it traveling made it hard. Traveling in the game was a different story. It wasn't exhausting but thrilling. She never knew who she'd meet that day in the rather it was another player or some wildlife. After all her character was all about being in touch and in tune with nature. She always did love animals especially in the real world. Living in the city the only up close encounters were called the zoo. That wasn't all that exciting. Yes the chance to see some animals always had excitement rolling in her.

The elf looked up at the trees and smiled. They were beautiful with their own stories to tell of what they've seen and heard. Perhaps they were just pixels in a system connected to a virtual headset but right now they were real trees. Caelynn smiled and spun around as her long pink hair followed her getting stuck on her pointed ears before she fixed her appearance. It was peaceful and beautiful filled with magic in a sense. She walked over to a trunk of a tree and pressed her hand against it. It felt strong and sturdy like it had been standing since the dawn of time.

She felt so very much alive in this area of Lake Horatio. In fact she had come here to see the land and the lake itself. Laughing, she covered her eyes to look up at the tall trees. "No falling out of trees today. I'll make a bet with you. I can only fall out of trees if there's somebody around to catch me okay?" Did she look silly talking to a tree? Possibly but who cares. Right now she was by herself unless some unexpected visitors were to come wondering by.

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

'Uneventful' is the only way she could describe these hard-working days spent mowing down tree after tree for the precious wood she needed. Picking which to cut, however, was harder said than done, specially since she had to replant them for the future. Bringing down these old oaks is the easy part in comparison-- Fortunately, Fiora didn't come to Lake Horatio with an axe but an harpoon and a hamper stuffed full of provisions, as per planned.

It took her longer than it should to catch up on the noise of a silly pinkette who decided to make friends with the trees. What she gets for being down to one eye and ear. It created a blindspot on her left side she's still not used to, and only when the corner of her gaze saw something different to the dull browns and greens did she set sights upon the laughing long-eared gremlin. Experience told her to be wary of good-looking pinkettes, if only because they turned out to be the opposite of good, yet that would be like shooting at her own foot if she were to look at a mirror outside of the game.

So instead she made the most sensible decision and approached with her harpoon pointed to the floor and a monotone expression of usual.

"I hope you ain't planning to climb up a tree right now. Got my hands a little busy at the moment." Fiora said, spreading her arms just a little to show the basket under her forearm and the pointy tool on the opposite hand. "But maybe if you say it again a prince might come to your rescue. Lake Horatio used to be a popular spot to lay down and rest. Not many predators come around here because of that, and the fishing's pretty good." She explained, gesturing over to her right, where the crystaline waters of the lake were at. "Well, used to..."

@Caelynn Thia

 

[Caelynn Thia]

The Pinkette turned with a shocked facial expression not knowing someone else was there. Caelynn felt her cheeks blush slightly for the simple fact she hadn't really observed the area to see if she were truly alone or not. Of course talking to a tree wasn't all that bad as it was considered a living thing. That was what schooling had taught her. A tree in a game is most likely a different story. It's a source of wood building things. It did provide shade from the artificial sunshine but even then she wasn't sure that it actually shaded anyone that stood under it. Trees also made for good decoration of the lands. This place was no exception as everywhere looked absolutely glorious.

Caelynn gave a confused look before she turned to look up at the tree before meeting the newcomer once more. "No, no! I was just....Just making small talk with a tree so it seems." She laughed and stepped to the side for them and gestured to the tree. "It's all yours to do what pleases you." Her ears perked up as the female spoke about a prince jumping out to her aid. "I will admit that I think it would be a pleasant experience to date within Terrasphere. The other players here are probably way better than whoever is out there in the real world." Having not thinking about her words, Caelynn didn't realize that she'd rather fall for a lie and a virtual person made up of pixels and coding instead of a real person in the real world.

"Used to...?" The pinkette turned and looked over her shoulder at the glistening water of the lake. It was beautiful and quite flawless looking. Breathtaking. "What do you mean by used to? If you don't mind sharing more with me of what you know."

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

Fiora decided to play along once her fellow elf proved to either lack in care, or simply a case of being blinded by her infatuation with a tree to bother checking around. Granted, it would be mean of her to think so, given she paid notice of the tree-whisperer no more than a few seconds ago.

"Small talk with a tree, I see. Did it share something interesting?" She jested, of course, but tried to at least smile a little to make it obvious, gotten self-aware of how her jokes usually fly over people's heads, stepping closer towards it once the pinkette offered. "I already dealt with my fair share of trees as of late. Besides, I rather not cut down your friend. Got enough lumber at home for today." There wasn't such a thing as enough, but regardless, Fiora gave her a little shrug. If she were any more naive she might have gotten worried by how quick this woman was to simply disregard the outside world in favour of meeting up on Terrasphere. But that's just how it is for anyone who plays a death game in the first place.

"I'd say that if you meet someone you like in the game, then you'd probably like them out of it too. You would be surprised how immersed people are." She commented, but without any expectations behind her two cents. "Just need to be careful with who you meet, there's enough power-tripping jerks in this game to power up a city." Unironically the truth, given how Finweald- Or what remains of it- is led by said idiots.

When prompted to elaborate, Fiora eyed her up and down, humming outloud before her gaze fell upon the lake once again. "You are either a newcomer or someone whose been disconnected of everything going on as of late. Eitherway, how about you help me out? I plan to start fishing on the edge of the lake, and I got plenty of sandwiches in here." She lifted her right arm to gesture at the basket she held onto.

"How about you prepare some for us while I explain? It's a bit of a long story, depending on how much you missed." Free food and a story should be a good enough deal as is, offering the hamper to her partner for this evening. "Between a full-scale war, demonic bugs and oppressive kingdoms I think you got enough options to pick. The first and last are the reason why not many come around here."

@Caelynn Thia

 

[Caelynn Thia]

Caelynn blinked at the newcomer for a moment and then looked up at the tree. The pinkette smiled and laughed a little bit. She shook her head before moving some of her long pink locks out of her face and behind her pointed ear. "Perhaps this tree does have a story to tell. We don't know how long its been standing here." She was talking like the tree was in fact a real thing and not just coding and an image in a game. "Anyway I guess you could say I was just making small talk from past experiences. I have a tendency of falling out of trees. It's a weird thing." She shrugged her shoulders and laughed a little bit. "The tree thanks you for giving it another day to just stand there and look pretty."

"Power tripping jerks?" Her mind immediately started thinking of a certain male that came up with the nickname of Cruellie for her. "Hmm good point. I'm not at all interested in dating at the moment. But I'm sure there's a successful romance that formed in Terrasphere at some point. I just think it's romantic and cute." There would always be those cute stories of two players that met in a game and met in real life and eventually fell in love with each other. Was Caelynn wishing for something like that to happen with her? Yes but for now she was just dipping her feet into Terrasphere.

Her ears perked up at the mention of food as she looked down at the basket hanging from her arm. The deal was indeed a good deal to have. A story and free food. "You've hit the head on the nail. I'm a newcomer rejoining Terrasphere. I've really missed this place." Walking forward, she reached for the basket and took it from her. "My name is Caelynn Thia. If you couldn't tell I'm in love with nature especially in here." She looked over the basket and then looked over at the lake. "I don't mind making sandwiches for you and I."

"Would you be able to teach me how to go fishing while I share my story with you?"

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

"I'll assume that said tendency also comes with someone nearby saving you." She mused outloud. But perhaps this girl finally broke the curse, given they are not playing out that cliche scenario right now, her ear flickering a little as she went back over the pink elf's words. It was intriguing, given how little they seemed to know, that they talked to the tree like it were more than just code. "If trees can talk I sure don't want to know what the ones I cut down think about me." She added.

She shook off these thoughts once her present company pointed out the positives of romantic shenanigans in Terrasphere, feeling a little targetted given how accurate herself and a certain magia fit that type of cute little story, forming a warm smile on her lips. "A bit tragic too. The game seems to try and translate everything into a language we can understand, so if you meet your special someone out of the game and it turns out you two don't have one in common... Tough luck." She pointed it, thankful that this wasn't the case for herself, at least. "Although if you enjoy romantic hotspots, Lake Cosmos in Solvale is where you want to go. At night, the entire bottom of the lake glows thanks to a special type of algae down there. It looks like a starfield." No matter how stonefaced she was forced to be, the fondness for that memory always made her eye glitter a little.

"You've hit the head on the nail.-"

That line didn't break it but certainly made it budge a little. Such a dumb pun catching her off guard, but it did confirm a few things for her once Caelynn introduced herself. "Figured. Not many would talk about trees in Arcia as if they were real. You either really love this game, or been around long enough to question if it's actually real or not." She nodded, far more understanding than condemning for it. This was a common symptom across players that got deep into the game, much like herself.

Once the basket - and her offer - got an approval out of the pinkette, Fiora nodded in direction to the lake and turned over towards that direction as she begun to walk closer to the edge. "Name's Fiora, and I'm sure I can try and teach you a few things. I do have a fishing rod made out of magitech that I don't use, but it's the closest to a real experience as it gets." She added, stabbing the harpoon on the grass once they had gotten close enough they could dip their feet into the water if they wanted, having taken a spot with a little bit of shade from their friendly neighbor trees to protect them from the sun, punishing as it is today.

Within the basket, Caelynn would find practically everything she needed. The sliced bread was obviously different to the one processed outside of the game, but the ingredients remain the same no matter what universe they are at: beef, cucumbers, pepper, cheese and tomatoes aswell as lettuce. The key difference would be on how fresh they all were, as if taken straight out of a farm rather than your local supermarket. Salted beef was nestled inside, yet to be chopped into smaller portions.

"I thought you wanted me to share a story though? But I don't mind hearing you out, it wouldn't be fun if only one of us gets to play listener." Fiora pointed out, closing her fist to pull up her UI, fidgeting over her inventory for just a few moments, eye peering over to where the rod's icon was at, and once she pulled it out and pixels begun to manifest it, the first thing Caelynn could tell is how unnatural it looked for a fishing rod, almost as if it made no sense to exist within Terrasphere in the first place. Too advanced for that.

"I'll assume Magitech is a word you haven't heard of that much before. All you need to know is that technology's a thing, just very scarce and if you find anything like it while you travel you should be careful." A bit of a warning, that followed the elf extending over her arm to hand over the seemingly deadly apparatus to the pinkette. "Except this one, this is just a fishing rod built by a player. No worries." Fiora smirked back at her, before pulling off the harpoon from the floor and tying up the rope around her palm and wrist.

"If you've known Vintergard, the bad news is that the city is in ruins. Completely. A literal flying ship fell from the sky and destroyed the entire capital. Good news is, Finweald's the capital to replace it." She turned around, kneeling down to start unlacing her boots one at a time to step out of them. "Bad news, that one is also destroyed now, just not as badly. The flying ship was full of corrupted androids called 'magia', and they launched a full scale assault against players." And that was glancing over way too many topics, but starting slow felt appropiate to test out how much this girl actually knew. And to get a fair share from her in that matter.

@Caelynn Thia

 

[Caelynn Thia]

"Pfft! Did I say my story? Sorry! So sorry! I did mean to want to hear your story to tell." Perhaps she got a little too excited to talk to anyone that would talk to her. After all a game of Terrasphere could change at any moment. None of this really happened in real life. Well it could if she put the effort into it. Going out and making friends or starting casual conversations wasn't her thing. It seems she was a little bit of an air head in the game which had some what become a trait for her. Unless she was around @CamusVaric then it completely brought out the worst in her. She did laugh at the other's comment about if the trees could talk. "Just to be clear I know that trees can't talk and that they're just in a game made of letters and numbers. I didn't think anybody was around and was just sort of....Being weird I guess."

Caelynn made a mental note in her mind about Lake Cosmos and to go explore it and check it out. Yes, she was actively searching for a boyfriend and maybe she'd find someone and maybe not. Time would only tell and how good she was at playing the game. "From the way you described that place you mentioned it sounds beautiful, I'll have to check it out. Maybe I'll see if a certain @Thousand Swords would like to go with me?" She shrugged her shoulders. Although it may not be his thing either. She sighed and continued looking down in the basket going over what she saw. It looked great and would probably make for good sandwiches. She noted that she'd have to do a bit of cutting to get some of the condiments as well as the main portion into smaller portions.

When Fiora handed her the fishing pole, she looked it over. It did look rather life like. "Whoa..." She hadn't seen an item like this before. "What did you say it was? Magitech? I can't say I've heard of it before." Walking towards the lake, Caelynn put down the basket beside in between them and kneeled down on the grass looking at the water. It was shining and sparkling from the sun shining down on the lake. "Flying ships carrying an army of androids? It sounds like something close to War of the Worlds mixed with Terminator. It sounds terrifying." She spoke sitting back on her bottom now fully intrigued by the others. Her ears perked up eager to hear more of what she had to say.

"I had heard the rumors that if you die in the game a couple or so times then you die in real life. Please tell me it's just a rumor made up to scare the other players?" Caelynn looked down. "I was only around a little while before the game got banned and all the years passed before it returned. I am still really fairly new. To everything. Please enlighten me."

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

When apologies started to come her way, Fiora waved a hand dismissively at her. "No need to apologize. Besides, I am now intrigued on what you experienced in the game before it got shut down." She would have to leave that for after she shared some. And that didn't got any rest from her mind, given Caelynn went as far as to point out what most newcomers would- Fresh newcomers, not people coming back to the game. "...Don't be so sure. I actually fought a giant, talking white tree with a group of players. If you do find a talking tree, I hope it's not that one." These were far from pleasant memories, but hilariously connected to what the pinkette was ready to disregard- Well, at least for this one particular tree she was right.

Fiora's ear flickered and her golden eye met hers once again as a familiar name peaked her curiosity for a moment. She tried hard to think about it, narrowing her gaze a little. "Sounds like someone I met long ago. Pretty short interaction if I'm not mistaken." She nodded, a little more sure this time. That was back in her early days inside Terrasphere, if memory served her right. "I can take you there if you ever need a guide, Lake Cosmos is also fairly well known for being a fishing spot, and I enjoy the peace and quiet." Something she could benefit from, given fish oil is always in demand for potioncrafting.

"Magitech is exactly what you think it is: Technology powered with magic. It came along with the magia, but apparently there were sources of it prior to the Dragonship crashing into Vintergard." Fiora elaborated, this time pushing a hand into her jacket's right pocket, pulling out a small, wet purse. From within, Fiora pulled a pair of earthworms and offered them back to Caelynn. "Bait. Can't fish without it." A little interruption, but a necessary one regardless. Both to keep her mind fresh with the current topic that did nothing but make old wounds sting.

"Even worse, imagine Terminator but players who picked the Magia race can get mind-controlled by Skynet." She corrected, if only to keep the spirit of the joke alive, but the elephant of the room got addressed shortly after pinkie sat down. A frown crossed Fiora's face just then, slowly sitting down with a grip over the harpoon before finally letting go of it. Clearly, they wouldn't be able to get any fishing done with a mind full of doubts and questions. But she wouldn't sugarcoat reality for her.

"It's the truth. If you die three times, you are stuck here forever. The UI won't respond to you anymore and Investigation Mode will stop working. If you die a fourth time without someone to revive you, then you are done for." It was a death game, plain and simple. Her mannerisms didn't give away a single bit of doubt on it. Fiora couldn't afford her to become careless and throw her life away.

"This might be a game to you, but to many players this is their new home after they got stuck here. They live along the natives known as Landers, who call us 'Starcalled'." She continued before realization could sink in. "When the Magia woke up, they begun to attack us, and a war broke between Astoreans and the Dragonship magia. Their leader, Szofrit, corrupted a few magia Starcalled and sent them to destroy Finweald." A hand reached to the combat knife she kept strapped against her thigh, offering it back to Caelynn by the handle. "Can't cut the bread or cheese without it. Be careful though, it's sharp." She added, if only to give some respite from too much information, for a few seconds at least. "Fishing is all about patience and relaxing. Can't do that with an empty stomach or a busy mind."

A hand reached for her own temples, a sigh pushing past her lips before she resumed the tale. "...We took the fight to the ship, rescued the corrupted players and fought Szofrit. She planned to end this world somehow, but we didn't stick around to find out. We defeated her, and as it turns out, she was corrupted by 'Dissonance', a different can of worms entirely. The truth is, they should have killed her. She's too dangerous to be kept alive, but a number of people decided against what the landers wanted." Her voice held contempt behind these last words. It made her wounds ache, phantom pain coming back from her missing eye.

"So, the Landers left behind Finweald and Astorea, who now see Starcalled as a plague thanks to that decision done in the heat of the moment. They are keeping Szofrit within the capital in hopes of finding something to stop the corruption originating from Dissonance, but if you ask me, this is only gonna put a very dangerous world boss in the hands of people who should not have that kind of power." If the so-called experts didn't solve this puzzle years ago with a larger source, something told her they wouldn't do so now. "The real problem comes from the other kingdoms: Falderen's soldiers are now harassing players who spawn fresh into the game, and Magia players get arrested or worse."

Yet that called for a different question, her gaze dead centered on Caelynn now. "Let's have a lunch break. I want to know if you still plan to play the game before I say anything else. Is it worth it risking your life for it, Cay?"

@Caelynn Thia

 

[Caelynn Thia]

Caelynn listened intently to the other girl's story that she told of what had happened. It sounded horrific. How could a game turn deadly so quickly? In fact now that she thought about it, she might of been a little unsettled by the information she had just learned. Usually in a game if you die a few times it was okay. You could just keep trying until you passed the level and finally succeed. Not the case in Terrasphere. If you die a total of three times then you were done. Especially since she lived alone she wouldn't have a clue of what would happen to her body. Perhaps it would slowly decay if nobody ever found her after death.

When Fiora called for a lunch break, she reeled in her line and set the fishing pole off to the side to lay it on the ground. Her eyes looked serious as she stared at Fiora wondering about what sort of answer she was expecting to hear. She sighed and took out all the ingredients needed to make the sandwiches. Taking the beef, she put it on the top lid of the basket so that she had somewhat of a surface to cut on. "Let me know how much beef you want." The food looked just as good as real life but it was yet another reminder that it was a game. Caelynn made one sandwich with all the fixings and put it forward wondering if she wanted the first sandwich instead of waiting on a custom made one.

"To be honest, my real life isn't anything to ride home about. In fact I hate my real life." She smiled and looked down but her smile was sad. "I've gotten separated from my brother and he was pretty much my only family. Mom and dad really weren't considered parents. To make a long story short, Terrasphere is my escape. I'm not the girl with a broken smile in here. I'm somebody else entirely." Now she was just making another sandwich nonchalantly. "I know it sounds rather selfish and greedy of me. I want to run away and escape while others are trapped here forever after meeting an untimely ending."

It wasn't fair at all for the victims trapped inside the game. They might of had lead a really good and loving life. They probably had people missing them every day. Perhaps some even may have entered the game just to find them looking for a chance to talk to them again. "Is it worth playing a game and risking your life?" She asked repeating the question directed at her. "Things aren't good for me in real life but they're not all that bad either. I've done well surviving on my own up until now. Even when I was without Terrasphere for a long, long time I survived." Her eyes looked up to Fiora as she finished making another sandwhich now having atleast five made and making a sixth. "I do not intend to risk my life in here. I'll play it safe. However with that being said if something does happen and I end up getting trapped in here, I'll just look at it as my time in the real world has ended. And it'll be Caelynn's life that I'll focus on."

She looked down and her eyes widened at how many sandwiches she had made in such a short amount of time. Each looking delicious and ready to be eaten. "Whoops~! I guess I got a little carried away. Oh! I can still make you a custom sandwich too if you like." She put down the knife and tilted her head laughing and smiling at what happened. "So I guess all that's left is to dig in!"

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

She had grown used to such flare dying off this quickly. The life and charisma Caelynn carried herself with replaced for a dreadful seriousness. It was hard for Fiora not to pay notice of it, until her voice snapped her out of these thoughts once inquired about the beef, already laid on top of the basket's lid.

"This much." She let her finger trace on about 1/4 of the beef, vertically rather than horizontally. The plan was to use it as emergency bait, but given the situation, complying with the pinkette felt like the only thing right to do, and that turned specially true once Caelynn shared the tragedy behind her smiles. By now Fiora accepted that everyone was broken one way or another, because only people them could really come over to Terrasphere in search of whatever drives the little fragments left on their hearts. She kept her cool in spite of it with an unflinching face, as pity is the last the elf wanted to give her when sharing a topic this private, and yet, that 'girl with a broken smile' found a way to leak into this virtual reality, against what her words suggested.

"I got a bottomless stomach anyways." Fiora reached out for the sandwiches, pulling three of them to her side of the lid and leaving the remaining ones for Cay. "There ain't many ways to preserve food, so eat to your heart's content while it's fresh." Mannerisms poured out of the board, Fiora pulled the stacked meal up to her lips and dug her fangs into the bread, chewing on a portion of it and letting her pleased hums fill the silence between them.

"There's nothing selfish about wanting a better life. The people who got locked in here had plenty of warnings both in and out of the game, and many decided to play in spite of that, so no reason to feel any sort of pity for them. They died because they chose to." Despite being a little cold, it was nothing short of the truth. Even when informed, people still decide to play, no matter how much proof they get. "Not everything is grim though, even if there is plenty of bad stuff going on. I suppose it's the nice things what keeps me and others around, despite how dark it can get." She closed her eye, going quiet as she gave another large bite over to her sandwich. The flavors were well balanced, and care was put on making sure each ingredient would get a place on her taste buds. Good design, good sandwich, best sentence to describe it.

"With that said, you want to play safe-" She repeated with intrigue, her hand tapping against the basket, twice before landing on the second of her sandwiches. "Did you pick your masteries yet? It would be good to look into them and see what you can do. Aside of fighting monsters, you can make some profit with these, and you best believe me you don't want to sleep under a tree in these woods, no matter how pretty they are."

@Caelynn Thia

 

[Caelynn Thia]

Caelynn smiled as she watched the other female bite into the sandwich and looked like she had enjoyed it. Then again how hard was it to screw up making a sandwich? Somehow during her talking she had made more than what she had been planning. The elf laughed as she pulled the other three to her side. Caelynn made another sandwich for Fiora with the right amount of beef that she stated that she had wanted. Once that was done, she put away whatever was left back into the basket assuming they had enough food to ingest. As she munched on her sandwich and Fiora spoke about not showing pity towards the other players, she did nod slightly. If they were given a proper warning and knew of the consequences then it was their own fault.

"Mmmh. I definitely plan on playing it safe." The pinkette laughed a little bit before looking up at Fiora when asked about her Mastery's. She raised her hand and brought down her menu so that she could see what she had so that she could mention it to the other player. "Oh right! I have Nature Magic, Beast Arts and Ranged Weapons. I've been wanting to try my hand with a long bow." Then her eyes moved over and she looked up at her traits that she personally picked along with her Mastey's. "I also have something called Dreamshare and share emotion."

The pinkette smiled and shrugged her shoulders before closing her menu and placing down her hand. "So what do you think? I definitely made this character with a Ranger class in mind." It was nice to know what others thought. "I think I can buy one more Mastery but I haven't a clue of what it should be."

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

The way Caelynn just laughed away made her ear perk, turning her face to the side only to notice yet another sandwich coming her way, and this one with some beef in it, in the literal sense of the word. "...I feel spoiled now." A hasty comment, as she didn't want to waste another second to switch sandwiches and play favourites with her meal, leaving a half-munched delicacy over her side of the lid as soon as the pinkette packed everything back inside of the basket. "Feel free to make more if you still hungry. Your UI keeps track of your thirst and food meters, so top them off whenever you can." Fiora pointed out, but besides explaining she couldn't do much showcase of it, given how each interface was only visible to it's owner.

Soon after she crossed her legs, adjusting her stance just a little to get comfortable as Cay shared her options, a chill ran up her spine and straightened it once the similarities begun to match with a different ranger she once met, both in traits and weapon of choice, giving a nod of approval regardless of it when asked about it, and pulling up her own inventory once again. "Balanced. I haven't seen many actually do what Beast Arts suggests. Beats me, it's like not many played Pokemon." A sigh escaped her lips, closing the ui after the impossible turned out to be just that.

"The only thing I don't carry in my inventory. A bow. Ranged weapons in particular aren't my style, but if you ain't proficient with a weapon, you can't really use it." Taking a large bite from her meal, she stopped to swallow before continuing. "Dreamshare and Share Emotion, these are 'traits' that define a race. You get to pick one for starters, and after that they just develop with time. I know of an elf who is quite sensitive to others's emotions, for instance. And you can also learn something like...-" Her voice trailed off on purpose, index and middle finger resting over her temples as she locked her gaze on Caelynn, and let Mindsend do the rest.

{ -This. Talk to other people inside their heads. But only an elf who knows it can do the same. }

"Share emotion... Be careful with it. It's very intrusive, but useful depending how you feeling." Her brows lowered a little, as the idea of showcasing wouldn't be given a chance to come, her hands lowering back at her sides before dropping her sandwich on top of the last, stacking them together. "There are special masteries one can pick only once. Usually they are stronger than the ones you have, but they serve as a compliment to them and sometimes as a complete addition of it's own. Hyper-Sense is one of them." A finger pointed back to her eye. "It lets you do more than just 'sense' things better though. You could cast magic with a glance, and there's little you can't react to with it."

Her attention drifted back to the food though, picking up where she left and biting off the last of the beef & bread away. "You can also just let it wait until you feel like it, but the more you have the better. They all have some form of benefit to them, be it physical or magical." Her head turned a little, scouting the emerald green that surrounded them until she spotted a rock between blades of grass and dirt. She stretched herself backwards, reaching out for the stone that didn't fit her palm entirely, before taking aim towards the lake, yet moreso up to the sky, before throwing it.

'Throwing' would be an understatement, given the rock was as fast as a missile and simply disappeared from their line of sight once it got far away to turn into a speck against the constrating clouds.

"I have proficiency with blunt weapons, but this also comes with super strength. If you wanted to swing trees like baseball bat, you could do it too with the right mastery. But you should try and pick what you think suits you best." Which bears the question... "What do you want to be, beyond just a ranger? Do you want to tame beasts? Turn into one? Make trees and roots come out of the ground- And yes I know I'm using trees in all my examples, but they are your thing now-" She made sure to make that as a disclaimer note, with a shallow smile on her face . "-Or is there something else you are after?"

@Caelynn Thia

 

[Caelynn Thia]

"I once took Archery in my gym class. I quite enjoyed it. Of course, it took time to even get a bullseye. But the school only gave us a limited amount of time to sort of play Archery I guess you could say. So I'm willing looking forward to using a bow." Caelynn could only imagine herself like the finest elves in the fantasy movies that looked amazing and had a good shot. How cool it would be to be in a battle and take down a monster with a single arrow blow to its little body or head. Yes she wasn't starting out with something big because that may be a bit too much for a beginner. "According to the Mastery I'm already proficient in long ranged and mid ranged weapons." She nodded biting into her sandwich before looking up at Fiora who continued speaking to her. Occasionally she would nod to her here and there.

She wasn't sure how dream shared worked. Reading it over carefully once more it seemed easy to understand. If she fell asleep somewhere, she could share her dreams with someone nearby. No perhaps she couldn't share her dreams with anyone. Maybe she could only look into the dreams of others around her. The cool thing for her is that it would give her the power to remember absolutely everything down to the littlest detail. That would be something worth trying. Which came to the next question of how sleep even worked in the game? A question to ask a bit later.

When Fiora put an index finger to her lips and she heard her voice in her mind, Caelynn's eyes widened. "Oh! So that's what Mindsend is! I had read that trait and wondered how it worked." Her eyes became excited after seeing the example that Fiora showed her. Perhaps if she's able to pick another trait or trade one in Mindsend might be worth getting. "That was so cool what you just did! Definitely would help if I didn't want someone to hear what I want to say." She laughed a little bit.

Caelynn was taking mental notes. She was so thankful to have run into another elf like herself who knew the ins and outs of the race and all the different things that came with it. She nodded heeding the warning of being careful of sharing emotion. If it was truly that intrusive like Fiora had said then why would it be aloud. It couldn't be like mind control could it? Nobody could ever want to be told how to feel and what to think. That wasn't free will.

"As of right now, I'm not sure what I want to do. Perhaps just playing around with plants and animals is enough with the occasional shotting of the arrows from a safe distance away? I don't really know." Her shoulders shrugged. "You know so much and you're so informative. How long have you been playing for that you were able to master everything in time?"

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

"Archery at school? Wish I had some of that, might have been fun instead of having to try and draw perfect circles for arts..." A 'tsk!' sound followed. To this day it amused her to think she would never get to make one of these no matter how hard a teacher tried. "As for Ranged Weapons, yeah, you are not only proficient with it but you are better than you think you are. The masteries sort of 'give' this knowledge. Your body will simply know what to do." Fiora looked back at Caelynn and tapped at her own forehead. "Same with knowledge. Things like 'Alchemy' will come to you. But probably not what each plant does until you find out by yourself." Certain limitations applied, but it shouldn't be an obstacle for the pinkette. Giving her another look up and down, the girl had determination and a passion for nature to top it off.

A smirk crossed her features once excitement glittered on Cay's eyes at the simplest of tricks a trait could pull off. "I had conversations with other elves entirely through our minds. Sometimes you laugh and the other grins and people around you get curious." Fiora shrugged, letting one hand rest against the patch of grass behind her while the other picked up the last of her meals. "But yes, it's a life saver when you need to talk to someone without making noise. You can do more if you are creative." She added. Pulling pranks, or make someone believe there's a ghost in their head if they didn't know of the trait in the first place. Plenty of possibilities for a trickster.

"There's no hurry, so you should make a choice when you see fit. If you find your style flawed, you can always try and turn that weakness into a strength through a mastery. An appropiate beast at your side could make the difference, too." The potential Cay had was practically limitless in her eyes. To tame any beast you want, and bend nature to your will is terrifying on it's own.

Fiora took the opportunity to push herself up to her feet, rising a curious brow at the question. A thoughtful frown resting on her expression as she tried to recall an answer. "A year almost. But everything goes slow when trouble finds you." Her words turned distant, her mind taking it's sweet time to go through little memories of each 'episode' she's been a part of in Terrasphere. It felt compact in comparison. "There were times I would spend days inside a wagon full of players and landers. The players would take turns to log out and do what we had to. Bathroom break, Lunch or dinner, or going to work, before logging back on to continue our journey. Compared to other games where traveling is a matter of minutes, here it's hours. Days."

There's also the threat of dying within the game. But Fiora doubted Cay wanted to hear more negatives than she already did. Death is enough of a minus to pile with old stories, however fantastical they could be on surface level.

"Now that the sour mood's over, I think we can start to do some fishing." She nodded, pointing out to the hook and the earthworms attached to it. "So now that you got your bait, try throwing the line as far as you can and we wait for one to 'bite the bait'" She instructed, but quickly followed her pause: "Be careful with the hook, don't want to catch your clothes and leave a tear on them." She warned with a little wag from her finger, before folding her arms under her bossom.

"By the way. Terrasphere isn't a game you want to play alone unless you know what you doing. People will be more than ready to help you, just be careful with the creeps that look like they haven't gotten out of their emo phase." Her hand closed and opened once again, pulling back up her UI before turning to fully face the pinkette, while her eye scouted through the some of the social options and...

Notice

@Fiora Di Angelo sent you a Friend Request.

@Caelynn Thia

 

[Caelynn Thia]

Fiora was so informative that now Caelynn was absolutely ecstatic to have met her. It's one thing to read over everything and learn as you go, but it does help to have someone else who is way more experienced. She hadn't seen her friend Lorelei for a few days which meant her real life must of been very busy and time consuming. That could happen too. Sometimes real life didn't care you were playing a game and trying to have fun. If real things came up then it had to be done. Hopefully she'd log in sometime in the next few days. One could hope for that anyway.

"Alright let's go fishing!" Having talked about everything her race could do and the perks of her mastery's it really made Caelynn wonder. Should she be support and heal the injured in the party she joined or should she use her powers for fighting? Reading up on Beast Arts sounded very interesting. She would have to go looking for a companion that could travel with her and form a bond with. Not to mention be there to give out attacks and possibly a little damage to keep her from harm. Of course healing the furry friend when it was needed. Watching Fiora's hand gestures, she tilted her head and watched as a friend request was sent to her.

Looking it over the pinkette made a face that she was thinking about it. "Just kidding!" She laughed and quickly pressed the checkmark button accepting the friend request. Then it showed on the corner that officially said:

You and @Fiora Di Angelo are Friends.

Caelynn beamed with happiness as she copied the other's instructions and casted out her line far enough from hers as to not tangle them up. Then she sat down holding the fishing rod in her hands. "Is fishing the same as it is in the real world? I know it can be a game of quiet and patience." She never really fished in the real world. It wasn't her thing. Yes she loved animals and plants but she was not a nature freak like she was in the game. Nope in the real world she preferred ghosts and the paranormal. That was her job anyway with whatever part time job she could find because just paranormal investigating alone wasn't enough to pay the bills.

"So you've been around for quite awhile. Should I call you Senpai?" She looked over at Fiora with a playful smile on her lips. "I really am to have met you. I think we'll make good friends and have incredible adventures together."

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

Just when they were getting ready to do some fishing, and Cay decides to make a fishy look once the friend request got sent. Did she not know how it worked? Fiora rised a brow, her lips parting as she was just about to give an explanation only to be hit by a laugh, letting out a sigh instead. "You got me. I thought you didn't know how to use the UI, that would be troublesome." She admitted while scratching her nape.

"Good throw." Not too far and not too close, perfectly set for their (maybe) future meal, moments before questioned about the realism out of the hobby. Fiora nodded: "You are safe to assume anything you can do in real life you can do it in here. Sleep is the only different thing I would say. You can log out and leave your body behind or make it disappear." She paused, hoping the safest option were apparent to the girl, given the implications of leaving your body exposed to an attack meant... Well, death. "That also means you need to be careful if something bites. Not sure how strong fishes are, but you don't want to get pulled into the lake or fall face first on the dirt." She said, and her little smile almost betrayed her words, as the sight would be quite funny but wouldn't be something she would openly admit about.

Yet fishing took time. Just looking at the lake would let Caelynn tell apart the fishes that were swimming below the surface, at least their obscure forms and the way the water moved allowed one to tell that much, in a way that made it clear it was far from normal- The boons of being essentially super humans inside of the game, one could guess.

"Senpai?" The word made her head crank in Cay's direction, gauging it for a moment before finally shrugging at the pinkette. "Alright. But if you call me Senpai, I'll call you Pinkie." She threatened with a dull yet harmless tone on her voice before pointing out over to the lake. "Here's our first adventure, Pinkie: Capture that fish." Something had begun to yank lightly from the line, and no sooner than that, it begun to pull with great ferocity.

"Don't let go of the rod! Keep it pointed towards the fish but don't reel in just yet." Fiora instructed, falling on one knee next to the pinkette and keeping her arms close should to stop her should she really get dragged by the force of whatever game they have caught with the bait. "Wait until it slows down and carefully reel it in. Once it's close enough, pull the rod up but don't reel, then slowly lower it while you reel."

@Caelynn Thia

 

[Caelynn Thia]

"I got you good didn't I? I'm not that helpless!" The elf laughed having fun with her small joke towards the other elf. She smiled at the small praise of casting out her line. That was probably the easiest part of all the steps. Luckily she got it far enough so that her line wouldn't entangle with Fiora's. Taking a hand and shielding her eyes so that she could look out across the lake to see her hook just bobbing there in the water. "Hmmm." She started hearing about how unsure the other was with the strength of the fish. "Well there must be different types of fish and not just one species right? They all must vary in rank from easy to hard right? Typically that's how things work."

The new Terrasphere had updated different things and changed things around from the first game. So really it was just remembering how different things work and experimenting with new things. Caelynn smiled as Fiora caught on to her nickname for her. She laughed and shook her head as her pink hair shifted slightly. "I'm only calling you Senpai for now cause you've been teaching me the basics. Once I'm not so much a noob anymore, I'll most likely either think of a different name or just call you by your display name...Fiora. Which by the way is a really pretty name might I add."

"Capture that-?" Her words got caught off and the pinkette squealed with a surprised expression feeling her line move. "I got one? I got a fish?!" She had to calm down and listen to Fiora's instructions as she was the most experienced of the two. Assuming she had her fair share of fishing in the game plenty of times over. It didn't seem that hard of a fight until Caelynn felt a hard tug on the line. "Whoa!! Easy fish! Stay fish!" She pull up on the rod and followed her instructions the best she could.

It seemed to be a bit stronger than she thought it would be. "Ugh! He or she is a strong one!" Caelynn reeled in a little at a time but tried her best. "I-I'm not really the strong type unfortunately but I won't give up!"

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

Fiora scratched away at her hairs just as this pink gremlin laughed at her expense thanks to that prank. But something told her karma would bite her back for it one day...

When the topic of 'fish difficulty' popped up, she promptly shook her head. "Caelynn, forget anything you know about games when playing Terrasphere." Assertive, Fiora glanced over to the lake for a moment before her eye focused on the pinkette once again. "There is barely any indicator of a difficulty here, and this goes from enemies to fish. There's no easy or hard fish. Just fish. If you are good enough, no fish should be a problem for you, but that comes from experience." She gave her a nod, as any proper 'senpai' would on this little tutorial section they had. Of course, speaking all wise and the like while talking about fish made a comical contrast with the seriousness within her voice, but it wasn't an option she could toggle off.

"You learn to stop being a newbie real quick. Don't do the same mistakes I did and focus on getting smarter rather than stronger." She commented once Caelynn brought up the basics and what a 'noob' meant to be. In Terrasphere, that definition changed a lot. "Being cute and smart surely will take you to places." Fiora responded indirectly to her compliments with one of her own, putting her own fishing rod aside and dragging the line with one pull back to the edge of the lake.

Her right hand went straight to her lips as a laughter almost got through, muffled down as she watched the pink elf struggle with whatever prey she had caught. Both fish and girl alike were determined on their struggle, a fanged smile on her mouth cherished for the both of them and none at the same time.

"Didn't you say you weren't helpless? Tell me this easy fish isn't about to best you." Fiora found the opportunity to taunt, her eye squinting back over to the reel as it dug into the lake and kept trying to escape from the hook, before surfacing again as Caelynn begun to reel it. From here, the shiny scales reflecting on the sunlight gave away it's rarity as the confusing yet beautiful pattern on it could barely be glanced at, obscured thanks to the thrashing and splashing it did. "I suggest you stand up before you lose your balance. You need to hold your ground now." Fiora pointed out before doing exactly just that.

The more she reeled, the closer the fish got and gave them a better look at it. A beautiful specimen, and clearly a strong one as Caelynn deducted just from it's voluminous size and the ever-changing greens upon it's rather exotic shape that gave away the fact this was nowhere near a basic fish. Probably the best definition for a 'rare medium difficulty fish' as one could get.

"Don't let it submerge, aim the rod to the sky and hold, you almost got it." She quickly warned just as the fish begun to try and do exactly that, like any fish would on such a desperate situation, specially when it got this close to the borders of the lake, where it would have no room to swim away.

@Caelynn Thia

 

[Caelynn Thia]

The pinkette had to put in the hours of gaming and working on improving herself in the game. "Yeah? And I'm not helpless!" While its true that Terrasphere was way different than regular games. This game in particular was different in different ways. She turned to look at the other elf as she continued fighting with the fish. It shouldn't of been this hard but just like Fiora mentioned things would get better with practice. She didn't have the practice. First time catching a fish would be an accomplishment within itself. Something to brag about a little later despite being a simple skill. She was always one to be excited over the small things.

As the fish came close to the surface and she caught sight of the scales, her eyes widened slightly. That was when she suddenly stood up listening to instruction and moving the rod a certain way and reeling in. She was most curious to see what the fish truly looked like out of the water. Locking her knees, she tugged up on the rod and out came the fish dangling on the line and flapping around. "I did it! I caught the fish!" The fish flapped hard in which Caelynn lost her balance and fell backwards on to her butt. Thankfully the line had locked and the fish temporarily met the lake water but stayed on the line.

"Phew! What a workout..." She wiped her forehead and then looked at Fiora. "I mean...Pfft that was so easy!" She laughed even she wouldn't believe herself too much. "Wow you're so pretty." Gently she reached out to touch the scaley fish and could feel how it felt cold and almost slimy from living in the water all of its life. "Wow you are really pretty. Much prettier than the regular fish in the real world. Some of them are down right ugly and not to mention smelly. In fact fishing itself is smelly and kind of gross." The pinkette then turned to Firoa with a questionable look.

"Probably not something you would hear from an Elf that loves nature in the game." She then tilted her head and held tight to the top of the line. "The question is now how to get you off the line and so you don't hop away back into the water. Wait...Unless we're doing a catch and release type thing? Whatever we do I just want to make sure I do it right you know?"

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

"Prove it." She doubled down on daring Caelynn as she watched her fight over the fish. The sea creature put up a fight and it shows, but ultimately after enough of a struggle and with the right directions, the pinkette managed to pull it out from it's abode, at the cost of her own balance in exchange of it.

A light smile curved her lips, falling on a squatting position as she inspected Cay's prey, scanning over the shimmering scales that, were the sunlight reaching them, would certainly shine brighter. Surprisingly here on the shadows cast by the trees they had a faint, eye-catching glow.

"Good. It was meant to be easy. Next step, you'll learn how to fish with a javelin and your barehands." Fiora replied with a sly, fanged smile, wiped out quick enough for a more neutral look on her features as Cay made mention of regular fish, a little puzzled about it. "These are also smelly fish. There's no difference between real fishes and this, other than being 'magical' or simply a bit 'different'. But if you don't believe me, go ahead and put your nose on it." She said, giving her an encouraging wave from her hand, with well-hidden yet obvious sarcasm.

Shrugging, Fiora stood back up to full height, the mention of nature-loving elves didn't seem completely wrong for Terrasphere, and yet- "I don't know how well it applies for Terrasphere. I doubt every elf around here is all about nature, but as for the fish..." Folding her arms under her bust, the greenette shook her head when inquired, locking her eye onto Caelynn's "Your catch, your call. If you want to cook it, I can help you for your first time, if you can assist me with something. You can let it go too, that's up to you." Fiora explained, handing over the options but nothing much aside of that.

@Caelynn Thia