A gloved hand reached up to wipe the sweat onto the back of his hand. The tangleweaves were humid, and hot, and practicing all day hitting a testing dummy and sparring with Creature exacerbated the collecting heat on his skin. He stepped away from his friend to drink from some water, resting from the fight of fire and speed, trying to outmaneuver the man's massive shield and sword, and failing at it this time. He'd just need to keep getting better. Another day at Camp Nisus, Zelrius wondered what it was he was going to do as the morning waned, and the afternoon began to dawn on the encampment and fortification. There was always monsters encroaching and running around wildly that needed take care of. Or perhaps he could try and mediate, and bridge the gaps that were created by the Fever. It brought his mind away, thinking about Moonsong, and how moody she was the day before. Something
had changed about the ashen skinned woman. She was different, more irritable, more down putting. That wasn't who he had met. The tying thought being that for a moment, the red-haired man had thought that perhaps it had been connected to Red Fever. A lingering scar to whatever damage it had done.
He dumped the water onto his head, soaking his hair and washing away any lingering sweat, whipping his gaze back and forth to shake it off and cool himself off. That was enough to be done here for now, it was time to get on with his day. A small wave to his sparring partner before the man turned and melted deeper into the camp, weaving by boxes and makeshift 'buildings' as well as those going about their days. The light footsteps running behind him were heard first, his ears immediately pulling back at the intention of the feet. Neck wheeled, the man pivoted on his ankle just in time to have his chest ran into with a small
pat of force, her hitting him, though barely enough to do anymore than make the adventurer knee-jerk react with a single step back. Instinctively, his hands went up to meet her elbows and balance the two of them, stopping either from stumbling or moving around more.
He blinked, amazed by the way the impressively dressed stranger-elf had wasted no time in getting to the point, meeting him all with grin, pointed hat, and a rhyme to her sentence. It was, charming and the man couldn't help but return the friendly energy, already infected by her peppy, bubbly demeanor. His hands let go, letting her take a step of separation and go on, even though Zelrius was more than ready to agree as was, but she went on to explain. More rhymes followed, making every sentence a sort of fun riddle, though confirming that she wasn't just trying to get his attention with it - this is actually how the woman talked. "Protection...?" He wondered out loud with a lifted eyebrow, blue eyes staring at the girl. He wasn't going to teach her by just throwing her into the deep end, especially not as an all E Rank. A note that told him that she was a traveler, though that in itself was surprising, since the woman seemed very Landerish.
That thought was shaken away, Zelrius nodding in agreement and taking another step back so that there was room to show. "You want to learn about Dynamism, huh? I suppose you haven't used it at all?" A venture to guess, by the way she hadn't used it to catch up with him. Did this chick even have
any masteries? "It's... kinda tough to explain. When I first started, I kind of just let the auto-assist take over when I wanted to activate it. But since then, I have learned a few neat tricks. He braced back, letting the ball of bone and muscle at the front of his feet do the heavy lifting, his left heel finding a box behind him to flatten itself on. "The main trick is to focus on the movement itself, but not to think about it too hard. You have to
want the agility that comes with it. No different than if you were trying to win a race, or catch up to someone." Teasing about the way she had ran up to and crashed into him. The truth was, everyone did it differently, and Zelrius's own use of Dynamism came from a total unwillingness to hesitate. To let life and oppurtunity pass him by. Someone who was motionless mentally, and whose body wouldn't stand for it physically in this world.
The demonstration came in a moment after he was done speaking, pressing off from the box and using the momentum to leap up onto the side of one of the make shift buildings nearby, a column of fire lashing out from the point where his foot made contact and trying its best to keep up, propelling him forward with speed that would a flash of lightning to characters who went with other Alters. And then letting himself slide back down the structure to hit ground level. "Alters are enhancements, they're difficult to use on their own. You might be able to run fast, jump higher for a bit, but it is so much easier if you have something to give that extra kick to. For me, it's Pyromancy, but something else might match you differently." Trying to explain the difficulty of using an Alter Mastery by itself, with nothing to
Alter but your own limitations. "Try it for yourself, if you're feeling good about that small lesson!"
She seemed to get it, the woman who he was now investing in called
Jester. Rearing back and being able to dash forward the way that he had. And then another try, and she had done the same leap he had, jumping nearly four feet up, and back down. He couldn't help but clap with a loud "Yeah! Like that." Excited for her, happy that his teaching was awful, and she seemed to get the hang of the idea. Though, how that'd manifest down the line as her alter and personality would be interesting to see.
He turned away, gesturing her to come along, and making note to point over her shoulder to the stick in her possession. "You'll want something with a bit more force than that. I can lend you one of my swords, or maybe you could find a bo-staff like that with a metal core. So that it doesn't break on you on the first hit. I can take you out to fight some Myconids. Or maybe the Jade Jaguars." He thought for a moment, wondering which would be better. See Jester agree, they parted ways, Zelrius headed back to the mushroom through a string of alleys to grab another one of the papers. Zigzagging through before another distraction made itself known.
This one he knew the name of, and so far had been getting to know quite well. Ambushed by the way Kyra, the foxgirl that ripped apart her own soul to help and heal others. His heart sank seeing her in light of that, yet - she was nothing but sweet to him, and so it made it hard to fight back the twinge of fondness. "Hey Kyra!" He waved back, taking a step back as she got closer. "No, no extra care needed. That really isn't necessary!" His voice picked up the way she brazenly reached up to pull aside his dark coat and white undershirt, light and airy as it was. Easy to pull the sleeves up on, or see under the collar of with the one button undone. He could feel the heat in his face rising, hands snapping to her wrist to try and stop the insistent support in her endeavor. "Your healing was great, it's
you who was banged up after the last adventure." The pyromancy protested, trying to fight the urge to just pick her up and move her away.
The situation was made worse,
another distraction made itself from the wood work. a monotone woman, suggesting that they shouldn't copulate. She was right about one thing, this was neither the time nor the place, and - Wait! "That's not where we're doing. I promise she's just weird." He called out jokingly, still trying to separate from Kyra. "What is it that either of you want anyway? Why are you still here Kyra?" And the other one didn't seem to be much in combat ready, though maybe she was a mage type. Anything to distract from the situation at hand. His eyes looked past Alice (who he didn't know the name of) and found Jester, who seemed to find him back.
He reached a hand up to wave to her. "Hey! You ready for some Jaguars? I need to get the hell out of camp." Trying his best to not make either the foxgirl or the not-a-robot feel bad, but needing
some fucking way out of this whole situation, and to stop being sidetracked.
@Kyra Vashtana @Alice @Jester
