Private Eastern Brisshal Second-Time Newcomer

[Juniper Lockton]

The praise accompanying a pat on the head froze her whole world for a moment. She blushed, heartrate picking up momentarily before her ears flattened and she pulled away, embarrassed. It felt too good and she wasn't comfortable with him like that just yet. It was her first time, though, and that was to be expected from such an experience. Eventually, she'd warm up to it, but not now. Looking away, she nodded,

"Thanks." She took a sandwich and sat down on the stool offered to her, putting her legs together politely and taking a bite of her sandwich. Yep, that was a ham and cheese. Even here, they nailed the taste super accurately. All the way down to the way the bread and the cheese became a weird mush against the roof of your mouth sometimes.

"That sounds fun, sure. Makes me a little nervous, but that's the point, right? To get rid of the nervousness?" She asked before another bite, nodding, "It all makes perfect sense." She said after chewing quickly.

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"They say that the only thing to fear is fear itself." Brutus would interject between bites of his sandwich. "But also, you cannot be a brave hero if you aren't brave, and you cannot be brave if you are not at least a little bit afraid. It's all a matter of learning how to get to through the nerves." He would finish his sandwich and banish it to his inventory before rising and stretching whilst the woman finished her meal. Once she was done and they both had time to stretch out, he would guide her onto the patrol.

"So there are about three main roads into the Town of Honeyhome. One north, one south, and one heading to the west to Astorea. From each of those roads you can dip off into the Woods of Brisshal, where we are. There's a whole lattice of trails and whatnot back here, all sorts of cool shit to find and see. That also means that there's also sorts of nasty critters lurking around to."

He would motion wildly with his free hand while he lectured, the other cradled his canon, which was a massive siege weapon that he hefted like it might be the easiest thing in the world. "Around here it's mostly goblins and wolves, though occasionally you get something really spooky lurking about, so be on your toes."

@Juniper Lockton

 

[Juniper Lockton]

"I suppose that is true. So training in this case is kind of for desensitizing, right?" She didn't really like the way she phrased that, but it was true all the same. That was the same for the military, where boot camp was meant to put you through hell so that when you encountered hell on the battlefield, with people dying and everything going to shit, you'd be at least somewhat prepared. Mentally, anyway.

She listened intently as she ate, or tried to, to information about the surrounding area. She zoned out, unfortunately, about halfway through, eyes focusing on him as he spoke but words bouncing off of her ears. Instead, she thought about him being a hero and what he looked like on the field. And in the sheets...

She blinked out of that thought and came back to the present in time to hear him say that there were nasty critters around. Where had that come from? She smiled through her light blush, nodding, "I'll be careful, definitely, but with you around I think we'll be okay no matter what."

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"Of course we will." His tail would swish idly as he shot her an award winning grin. "When I'm around evil quakes in its boots and calls a raincheck on any foul plans. And when they are stupid enough to pick a fight." He would give his canon a waggle. "I'm packing enough heat to blow them to kingdom come or smash them straight into hell."

His sensitive ears, heightened by a mix of his racial traits and his Hyper Sense mastery, picked up her elevated heartrate. Couple that with her blush and it didn't take an ace detective to put two and two together, but for now he would spare teasing her about it.

That sort of thing was reserved for someone else in his life.

Keeping his pace up through the woods, he would keep his ears at the ready. Filtering through the ambiance of birds chirping, wind rustling leaves, and squirrels chattering there was a lot to take in. Clumsy critters thrashing about could easily alert him to their presence before they'd even spotted him, which gave him a superior advantage when it came to the game of rocket tag.

"So far so good, but just a bit further up is a bit of a hot spot for goblin activity, so we'll give it a once over for any fresh tracks."

@Juniper Lockton

 

[Juniper Lockton]

His confidence and bravado earned him a giggle that implied her newly formed slight crush, amplified by his choice of words like 'smash' and 'packing'. He was fun. As he started to move she followed after him, keeping to his trail exactly and trying to limit their tracks. It was something she'd picked up from media, but it was probably a good idea for others to think they were only one person instead of two, right?

Then he talked about goblin tracks, and she nodded, "I've never been hunting, but I've always wanted to learn how to track. Seems like a really useful skill, and I wanna be really useful to others during my time here." She said with some passion bubbling underneath. She was being honest, wholeheartedly meaning it when she said she wanted to be useful. It was part of of her desire to help others and serve those in need.

"What's the most important part of tracking?"