Private Eastern Brisshal One Cool Cat With a Hot Dog

[Nobody]

"Uhm... well..." Sai wasn't exactly sure how to answer that. Schedules weren't exactly consistent: being heavily dependent on the interest in concerts, interviews, and other such things. "You could say it's a day off, I guess," he nodded pensively. "I don't really 'work overtime,' it's more like I'm working all day, or not at all."

Hopefully that was a fairly satisfying answer. "Hm? What?" Sai followed Tenshi's finger, struggling to find the tracks even as they were literally pointed out to him. Eventually, he did manage to recognize the patterns in the dirt, though.

What on Earth was an M. H. World?

"Aha, I see~!" he grinned. Maybe he should've picked Hypersense earlier. It was kinda embarrassing to have Tenshi point things out when he was meant to be the super sharp-eyed 'Snipey-boi.'

Sai followed close after Tenshi, completely undoing any sort of stealth she was aiming for by practically marching through the woods. He was in a pretty good mood, all things considered, and it seemed to show via his footsteps. Luckily, the giant bear that'd made that tracks wasn't one to run away from anything...

Giant Bear

DC: 50 RETAL: 10​

❰ 2 / 2 ❱

This bear is unusually large and has a thick hide (DC increased to 50).

[actioncard=Giant Bear][speech=https://terrarp.com/db/bestiary/Bears.webp][CENTER][fa]fas fa-shield-halved[/fa] DC: 50 [fa]fas fa-axe[/fa] RETAL: 10[/CENTER][enemyhp=2]2[/enemyhp][/speech]

An experienced hunter, upon seeing the giant beast, might've known to approach (or leave) carefully, not wanting to spook it into aggressive. Sai, on the other hand...

"AAAAA, BEEEEAAAARRRR!!" ...did that. Turned to fight or flight mode, Sai chose flight, running back to a safe distance and only returning once he'd confirmed the bear wasn't in immediate persuit.


@Tenshi

 

[Tenshi]

105 / 125

-20 HP Retal
Vulnerable

As Tenshi laid eyes on her first opponent, she had some second thoughts about keeping the option for pain receptors enabled. That was a pretty big bear. Maybe she could-

"AAAAA, BEEEEAAAARRRR!!"

... Well, so much for that. If nothing else, at least her excitement to try out the game's combat system had her prepared for this, and instead of waiting for the bear to finish its mighty roar and charge them, she sprinted right at it as Sai ran further away. With Auto-Assist turned on, she was just ready to see if she was going to be as cool as she hoped.

Both of her hands morphed into tiger claws as she sprinted at the bear--also wow, she didn't think they could get this big--and just a couple meters away from it she leapt into the air and spun around twice. Her tail made a circle around her as it followed suit in a smooth arc, adding a pinch of grace to the brutal end result as the palm of her right paw bashed the bear in the face with two loud CRACKs.

"Ow, son of a-" She shook out her palm then held it with her other hand. "Sai, it's stunned! Get it!" Punching a bear's face seemed like a pretty good idea until she got nabbed by a couple of its teeth. It hurt a lot more than she thought it would, but somehow also less. Tenshi thought about it for a moment and realized something that put a frown on her face for a moment even in the heat of battle. She absolutely couldn't let Sai get hit, ever.

Rolls

Ultra Hinder
2d100 (42 + 27) + 0 + 0 = 35 (Total halved)
You can choose to deal either 69 damage to only HP, only SP, or 35 to both. Gain the Vulnerable state
Metamorph | Tenshi | 1092C1 | Alter Hinder

Tenshi's First Character Sheet

@Sai

 

[Nobody]

100 / 100

Retal diverted by Tenshi
Vulnerable

Sai peeked out from the side of a distant tree, watching as Tenshi suddenly grew giant claws and literally facepalmed a bear which was at least four times her size!

… It really made him feel kinda pathetic. He certainly wouldn’t go for a guy who acted the way he was… uhh… in real life, of course. In here… well, maybe he’d rather not go there just yet… or ever. Point was: GET YOUR BUTT BACK IN COMBAT, SAI!

"R-righto!!" he called over, sheepishly closing the distance slightly with his magitech pistol in hand. It was stunned, and there was still loads of distance between them! Just take the shot already!

BANG! — "Yipes!"

Right, he forgot how much kickback these things had (that was the term, right?). A blast of magical energy shot out from the barrel and struck the bear on its side, leaving a burning hole in its hide. And yet, it still wasn’t enough: it was still going strong!

… And now it was looking his way.

…

"AaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Sai yelled as he bolted around in circles, darting through the narrowest trees in the hopes of losing the bear which was charging after him. "Tenshiiii! Kill it kill it kill it!!!" he shouted, holding the gun behind him and haphazardly firing it in the bear’s (and worse: Tenshi’s!) general vicinity.

Giant Bear

DC: 50 RETAL: 10

❰ 1 / 2 ❱

Rolls

Reckless Attack
2d100 (46 + 31) + 0 + 0 = 77
77 damage
Gain the Vulnerable state
Ranged Weapons | Sai | 1092C1

xXSnipeyboi42Xx’s Thingymajig

@Tenshi

 

[Tenshi]

85 / 125

-20 HP Retal
Vulnerable

The tigress could only sigh as she watched in awe at the embodiment of cowardice and his display after firing a high power weapon at a bear. In his defense, it was a pretty big bear. Even Tenshi thought Sai's shot would put the bear down. Alas, that was where the realism seemed to be lacking in Terrasphere (in Tenshi's opinion anyway), since combat in MMORPGs was still... well, combat in MMORPGS.

She watched as the far angrier bear started charging off towards Sai and began to chase it down in turn. It was amazing how much faster she could run than out in the real world, much less how little trouble she was having not tripping over foliage and forest debris. "Sai! Just keep running!"

If only there was some way to make this thing go after me...

She snapped her fingers, scratching herself a little. Oh come on! With little time to waste with the bear closing in on Sai, she went for another attempt at crowd control, this time with Taunt activated.

"Over here you store brand Freddy Fazbear!" After that, she leapt, and Auto-Assist took over for her. She hooked her claws into the bear's leg to immobilize it.

Taunting (taunt)

"SAIII!" She called with little instruction this time around as the bear began attacking her with claws she swore were sharper than her own. How unfair.

Giant Bear -STUNNED-

DC: 50 RETAL: 10​

❰ 1 / 2 ❱

Rolls

Ultra Hinder
2d100 (95 + 58) + 0 + 0 = 77 (Total halved)
153 damage to SP. Gain the Vulnerable state
Metamorph | Tenshi | 1092C2 | Alter Hinder

Tenshi's First Character Sheet

@Sai

 

[Nobody]

100 / 100

Retal diverted by Tenshi
Vulnerable

Sai could feel his heart racing in a way even the most vigorous dance routine in the real world could never approach. A frantic sprint for his life away from those giant jaws of death!

A blast from his gun struck a tree and left a scorch mark. Another shot hit a smaller, toppling it and nearly smacking Tenshi on the way down. Most of the others lifelessly ended up in the branches or on the ground. It wasn’t until he heard Tenshi call his name that he turned to see the stunned bear ripe for a shot to the face.

"Got it!" he smirked, turning on his heels and aiming down the sights with both hands. One shot: perfectly aimed! The blast struck the bear right on the head, and it collapsed lifeless on the ground a second later.

"Whew… what a relief…" Sai sighed, catching his breath and slowly wandering back over to Tenshi. "Nice work, my gal! Teamwork ho~!" Flashing a thumbs up, he continued on, "I’d say that was a major success!"

Giant Bear

DC: 50 RETAL: 10

❰ 0 / 2 ❱

Rolls

Reckless Attack
2d100 (99 + 62) + 0 + 0 = 161
161 damage
Gain the Vulnerable state
Ranged Weapons | Sai | 1092C1

xXSnipeyboi42Xx’s Thingymajig

@Tenshi

 

[Tenshi]

With the bear felled, Tenshi held her breath for a few seconds unconsciously just to make sure it wasn't still breathing or anything. Finally she let it all out with a sigh as her partner in crime approached. As Sai declared their first combat a major success, she looked down at the slash wounds on her arms and midriff, and even a stray one that ended up going down her lower right leg somehow. She glanced at her UI.

"Well... A third of my health is missing, but I'm glad you didn't get hurt!" She let out a playful chuckle. "Though I'd appreciate it if next time we could stop and turn off Pain Receptors before we start fighting." She poked at one of the slash marks on her forearm and rubbed the resulting red between her fingers. Yep, that was blood, and it felt real, too. "Jeez, this hurts. I hope there's out of combat healing..."

"Ahhh well. You wanna fight a couple more?"

@Sai

 

[Nobody]

Sai visibly winced as he noticed the wounds all over Tenshi's body, secretly glad it was her on the front lines and not him! Or maybe not-so-secretly, considering how overtly he'd screamed and run away. And to think he was considering making a melee fighter before that good sense kicked in. Yikes.

"Wait, so it actually feels like a bear ripping you apart!?" he confirmed with her. Turning off pain receptors had come majorly recommended by the game (and the steely-eyed girl who'd given him the download code). Sure, it made the ears and everything feel crazy real, so he understood the appeal there, but at the cost of realistic bear maulings...? Might need to reconsider that one.

"Erm... are you sure you're good to keep going...?" Sai asked, half out of sheer cowardice, and half out of genuine concern. What kind of pain tolerance did this girl have, to get smacked around by a bear and want MORE!? "W-we can always stop and get some rest... if you need to, I mean. Otherwise, yeah... we can keep going..."


@Tenshi

 

[Tenshi]

"Mhm! Well, probably not as bad as it would in real life. Here in Terrasphere, it'd make sense to assume we're made of tougher stuff!" She pounded her fist against her chest as she said that, then winced and lurched forward halfway as a whole different kind of pain shot through her momentarily. The tigress recovered as quickly as possible and gave a nervous laugh, scared she had given away the only secret she wanted to keep.

"A-Anyways, I'm pretty much good!..." She watched and even listened as she came to the realization that Sai being so scared and meek probably wasn't just a one-off incident, and to be honest she wasn't even sure anymore if he was being concerned for her sake or scared for his own. Somewhere deep in fantasy land in the confines of her mind, she had this hopeful longing to meet someone in this game who would volunteer to protect her and take care of her. Not really even for the reasons one might expect of her, but just because she already had to solely rely on herself for everything. Tenshi had to schedule her own doctors' appointments while she was bedridden. Tenshi had to fix her own kitchen drain when it was stopped up so she could finish doing her own dishes. Tenshi had to bike to work to make money to pay her own bills.

Yet the tigress had to admit, giving this wolf boy another once-over, that he wasn't going to be her escape from that. Disappointed as she was by that, she smiled at him. At the very least, it still made her glad whenever she could be of assistance to people, and she was assisting Sai right now.

"I got to try out what I wanted to. If you'd rather go hang out and do something else, I'm all for it."

@Sai

 

[Nobody]

Sai died inside a little as Tenshi cut off his out! Surely, such a major injury would suggest it's time for a break from the giant bear maulings! Alas, it did not.

... Did she just...? That was a weird way to test. Also one that made him instinctively press a hand to his own chest. Weird, weird, and more weird!

Thankfully, Tenshi seemed to notice his hesitation and threw him an out. The only question was: should he take it? He'd come here to learn to be a little more relaxed, and certainly chasing giant bears wasn't a very relaxing activity, but there was more to it than that. It wasn't like Sai was incapable of relaxing outside Terrasphere. It was more the uptight attitude he wanted to take a break from: the idea that it was my way or the highway. The idea that one had to look like X, say Y, and appear to be Z.

"You know what, let's keep going then!" Sai insisted with a nod. Wait, no... "I mean, yeah, you know... whatever works for you, my gal. Ahem... really, though, I'm good with whatever you want to do." Hopefully that was sufficiently chillax.


@Tenshi

 

[Tenshi]

The man was hard to read. Tenshi couldn't tell if he was just being courteous, or if he changed his mind, or even if he was trying to make himself do something he didn't want to. That last one was a pretty familiar vibe to tiger girl over here. "I mean... Really, I got to try out my claws." She only now realized that her hands were still tiger paws, making her dismiss them moments later with a sheepish grin. Actual human fingers. That was more like it!

"What if we go back and pick up a quest that's more about exploring or doing something fun? And less painful?" She offered with a palm up in a half shrug to her right and an inviting smirk-smile.

Eventually, she looked down, then off to the left as she put her right fist on her hip. "So like, also... I hope you don't mind me saying something all... weird like this, right?" Actually, she looked pretty much anywhere that wasn't directly at Sai. "But I'm sure we're all playing this sort of game to get away from something in reality, so even if I don't know what that would be in your case... Well, if I can help you with anything, just let me know. Okay?"

She started walking off some direction, probably back towards town. She wasn't really paying attention to that right now.

@Sai

 

[Nobody]

Sai sighed. She was still seeing him as uptight, wasn't she? How could he properly explain that he was truly willing and ready to do "whatever," even if it involved large... potentially painful, furry animals. "Well, if that's what you'd rather do, I'm all down for it, yeah," he forced another thumbs up. "Honestly, though, I had some fun testing out these skills... or well... the one skill." The skill of shoot. "I bet once we get some practice, bears will be more afraid of us than the other way around!"

That was certainly a goal to work towards anyway. That level of competence was like a dream: where you had no need to even fear anything, because you were top of the food chain. An essential stepping stone on the road to ultimate chill!

And speaking of, the conversation got pretty rocky all of a sudden! The real world... Sai would rather avoid giving up his identity. An essential part of the whole relaxation idea was having the two completely separate: Sai and Angel, two totally distinct reputations. Sai ran after Tenshi, shrugging.

"It's nothing too serious in my case, I just wanted a way to relax, and a friend introduced me to this game. Speaking of which, if you ever see a girl with long blonde hair and blue eyes, let me know." He pondered that for a second before shaking his head. "Uhm... never mind. In hindsight, maybe that's a little too vague. I'll have to ask her for more specifics later..."


@Tenshi

 

[Tenshi]

"Yeah, I'll be sure to send you every girl with blonde hair and blue eyes I come across until then." She smiled over at him. "So pretty much the reason anyone would play an MMO. I suppose you must have a really hard time relaxing if you're playing the most illegal game ever made." She glanced up in thought for a few moments. "But I'm thinking, since it's a lot more realistic than most games, you would want to come do something that's actually relaxing, and not something that'd usually be terrifying like hunting bears. You might be a bit less wound up if you do that."

"The question is, what to do...?" She tapped her chin with the finger that she had gotten blood on earlier, painting it red. The tigress glanced over at Sai for a few seconds, then away. She couldn't suggest things she usually did, because aside from playing video games, she would sometimes go places with co-workers that were considered close enough to be something resembling a friend, and that was usually out to eat. Too bad they already ate. That hunger gauge really didn't go down at all for her.

"What do you usually do? Maybe we can avoid doing anything like that. Be all new about it, ya know?"

@Sai

 

[Nobody]

"Okay, in my defense, it seemed like a much bigger tell coming from a girl that looked nothing like that…" Sai murmured, pouting a bit. He nodded slowly as Tenshi continued, noting a correction that would need to be made after he handled the immediate question.

"Uhm… well, I like cruises when I have the time; those can be pretty relaxing. I don’t think Terrasphere has anything like that, though…" Plus, he was basically a nobody with no money, so getting a yacht seemed pretty far off the table. "Visiting local landmarks is also fun. Also shopping for new clothes, and—" Oh. He was dangerously close to leaving way more hints than he reasonably should.

"A-anyway, when I said relax, I didn’t mean it like that. More like… learn to be more socially relaxed? If that makes sense? So, in other words, uhm… pick the activity and I’m in it to win it, ya know? Whatever ya want~" Sai offered a casual wink. "…Or something."


@Tenshi

 

[Tenshi]

What was probably a casual wink in Sai's player's opinion struck Tenshi a bit differently as she stared at his eye curiously for a moment. Then she looked away. "Y-Yeah, sure." She took a deep breath. "That makes sense. I'm terrible at socializing. I pretty much just put on my best customer service face when I'm not alone. Granted, that's not why I'm playing, so you've probably got it worse. I'm sorry, dude."

Back to back, she made two mistakes, internally chastising herself. Firstly, she wasn't supposed to bring attention to her reason for playing, and secondly saying 'dude' was too obvious. Then again, Sai probably wouldn't notice if he couldn't dwell on it. On to something else.

"S-... So! Cruises, huh?" The tigress chuckled a bit. "Actually, my neighbors go on cruises a lot. It's tempting to try for myself, but... I don't really have the money, hahaha!" She glanced over to the side, then yawned as she brought up her arm to cover it.

"Wah... Just noticed my rest meter's kinda low. To be fair, it's pretty late for me. It's kind of surreal to think I can feel sleepy in-game. If only sleeping in Terrasphere counted as sleep in real life!"

@Sai

 

[Nobody]

"Haha, maybe. Thanks, my dudette!" Sai replied back with a grin, unable to focus on the topic before Tenshi moved on (and he was fairly thankful for that, actually). "Really? I didn’t think they were that expensive…" he offered a pity-filled glance, evidently concluding Tenshi was rather poor in the real world. Then again, Angel never paid for those cruises. If anything, they usually paid her to show up. Maybe Sai would have to look that up later.

Once again, Sai was thankful to move away from that rather revealing topic. "Ah, same actually," he remarked. "I was kind of hoping playing the game would count as sleep, but I guess the brain doesn’t work like that…" And he certainly felt like the last several minutes were anything but restful.

"Well, I should have some time to play in… hm… I guess I’d have to check my schedule, but I think there’s a spot a few days from now. If you’re around then, I’d love to partner up again, my gal!"


@Tenshi

 

[Tenshi]

Sai didn't think a cruise was expensive. Oh no, was he spoiled? The poor guy... and yet, good for him. Tenshi gave an incredulous smile after what the wolf howled, but looked away soon after. "Hah, you'll have to pay for me to go sometime, then!" She joked, sort of.

"Maybe if you sleep in-game, you'll be rested in real life. Think I should try it out?" She half-joked yet again, trying to keep the outro to the intro to this new friendship of hers as positive as possible. Too many times she had added people and never played with them again.

Her ears perked up when the wolf boy laid down that last line. Seriously, how could he talk like that so casually? The poor thing was probably spoiled and sheltered. "U-Uhmm..." She scratched the side of her head as she looked away. "Yeah, I... should always be free around this time. I'll keep an eye out for you when I'm on."

The duo neared Honeyhome, almost free to log out in a town, as was preferable in any MMO Tenshi could think of.

@Sai

 

[Nobody]

"W-well, I’d have to get to know you a bit more first, I think, but ya never know…" Sai answered, scratching the side of his head. Yikes: yep, he’d definitely given out way too much of that real-life info. He’d have to be way more careful of that moving forward if he really wanted to keep Angel and Sai totally separate.

"Ahaha, well I read it actually does do something kinda similar, though I guess you can also have your character sleep automatically while your off at work or something." The smell of honey and bread reached Sai’s nostrils and he took a deep breath. "Woah, someone must be baking something really nice! To be honest, I‘m already kinda hungry again…"

Something to worry about later though. Sai threw Tenshi a weird look as something he’d said had seemingly made her a but sheepish, but he couldn’t quite but his finger on what it was. Weird.

"Anyway, I guess I’ll be logging off now that I’m in a safe spot…" Sai glanced down at Tenshi‘s head as she turned away. No way no way, that would be so awkward and… AND CHILL! It would be CHILL, and… they were right there! He had to…!

Pat pat.

"OkayI’llseeyalatermygalbye," he logged off before she could protest.


@Tenshi

 

[Tenshi]

While Sai was contemplating his evil scheme, Tenshi gave the air a sniff or two herself. "Hungry again already? Yeesh, I'm really glad that I picked Cold Metabolism instead." She chuckled, then muttered her thoughts aloud. "Though it does make sense that a place called Honeyhome would smell like honey and stuff..."

A chill ran down her spine, multiple times, as her head was oh so rudely and pleasantly assaulted by the warmest chill bro of all time. Her tail stiffened down and out, and her ears momentarily pointed in two slightly different directions. By the time she turned to him to try and catch the nonverbal tone of what had just happened...

"OkayI'llseeyalatermygalbye!" And he was gone.

The tigress stood dumfounded for a bit longer before taking a deep breath in and letting out a big, long sigh.

"That... weirdo..." As she opened the UI to log off, she stopped to think for a minute.

Well I read it actually does do something kinda similar.

She was off work tomorrow. Maybe it could bear some testing! With one last thing on her to-do list, the tigress strolled into town, working on her solo act while looking for a place to sleep for a little while.

@Sai