Open - A Grizzly Situation

Coming up with a name was probably the hardest part. She had her ideal look decided on within a couple of minutes--cat! She could be a cat! That was a no-brainer, who wouldn't become a cat?--but that little blinking box where she was supposed to input her name in-game still eluded her.

In the end, she just couldn't decide on a cool-enough fantasy name for her cute cat-looking person. Taking bits of her actual name and tagging on some random letters would have to do for now.

But who cared? She was done! She could start playing!

Hitting the submit button, Valeria smiled behind her borrowed VR headset and got ready for the journey of a lifetime.

--

Valerie- wait, no, her name was Valdrada now. Valdrada blinked, watching the world materialize around her. Whoa. This was so cool! There was grass beneath her feet, the warm sun shining above even though she knew it was cloudy out that day, she could hear little birds somewhere, and-

-and... roaring?

She let out a quiet yelp, instantly spinning around to glance for whatever was making that loud noise. And- oh, that was weird how the two feline ears on top of her head twitched and wiggled, oh that was really, really weird.

She didn't see anything yet, but lying on the ground in front of her were a small pointy sword and a round shield. That must be hers, right? She said she wanted to know how to use a sword and shield. And with whatever it was that was roaring out and about, she needed to be able to keep herself safe. Valdrada picked them up, shakily strapping the shield to her arm and adjusting the grip of the sword in her hand. They felt flimsy, but it wasn't like she had anything better.

And she couldn't be picky when she heard something loud slam against the trees, causing the branches to shake menacingly. Whatever it was roared again. It sounded... very large. And very angry.

Gulping, Valdrada quivered where she stood. She could do this! This was supposed to be a super awesome game! She wouldn't run!

...Not even from the enormous red bear that crashed through the trees, its angry gaze focused right on her.

Uh oh.

 

_____Kaede was still lost, but least now she was lost in thought, plans for the future and herself, AND location wise so guess it was just a day for her to be lost and wandering around thinking. The good news Kaede never minded the forest so she was happy to walk around in the beginning area just trying to find her way out like the first time she had logged in. Then again she met an extremely rude male, but a lovely young lady who seemed to put up with him so overall was not outright bad. However the sound of something roaring did draw the slight veteran to focus on things.

_____Moving with little trouble into the trees before using the higher ground to both move with lower sight chance and ease, walking or running was still not as good as her ability to hop around or flip as she tried to rush to see what was going on. Slowing down as she overlooked the bear and girl felis from behind she could only sigh. Either it was a new player with some real bad luck, or someone who was trying to bite off more than they could handle. Either way Kaede slowly waved her hands and began chanting.

______After a few moments of chanting that she hoped the girl could defend until she was done her help would lash out. The ground around the bear’s feet starting to turn to sand before it simply gave way under the weight and acted as instant quicksand trapping the bear until only his head was free from the sand and Kaede moved to sit calmly in the three whistling to get the girl’s attention. Crimson orbs glowing as she tried to smile happily before she spoke up while kicking the air calmly.

”Either you got some real bad luck little kitten or you are trying to show off to all of nobody.~ Though I got to say, normally those types of bears only show up in other places from what I know. I’m Kaede by the way, and unless you want to fight the bear we might want to move before the sand spits it back out.”

 

"As fate adheres to its charge, death grips its prey. Sticky Mine!”

An arcane mark stamped itself in glowing fiery symbols on the side of the bear.

”Seconds irritate the waiting inferno. If prey wanders let destruction find them. Remote!”

The mark exploded like a landmine.

"BOOM! NICE SHOT ME!"

Backfire power-walked out of the forest foliage.

"Nice quicksand or whatever, but I killed the bear so the remains are mine. I can give you 10% of the bear as a finders fee I guess. You can take a claw and make a necklace. I think that's about 10%?

Backfire B-lined it for the bear carcass.

"Anyway, release your sand so I can drag it out. "

She turned to the cat girl.

You, kitty girl. Make yourself useful and help me drag this bear out. I'll give you a claw as payment. No one said I wasn't fair unless they stepped on one of my landmines. Probably not the fairest way to fight. That's their own faults though, the idiots, why would I fight fair? Blow yourself to hell for all I care, you dumbass. You two agree right? Yeah, you two get it."

Backfire kept speaking as she tugged on the bear.

"I can see by the looks on your faces that you're both thinking, now who the hell is this chick that just blew up a bear like it was nothing.

Backfire gave a small grunt as she continued trying to drag the bear out.

"I'm Backfire. Demolitionist. Also maybe hunter and fisher. Not officially, the hunting and fishing is more just like a hobby."

Backfire shot Kaede a smile.

I blow things up is what I'm getting at. Honestly, I enjoy it a little more than I probably should. It's pretty great to see though, isn't it? With all the 'BOOM' and the fire?

...and threw Valdrada a wink.

"I can blow up most things. Buildings, walls, bad guys. Really whatever as long as I get paid for it. Yep, money makea the world go 'round, right? This is a good size bear... yep! Gonna get top dollar for a bear like this!"

Backfire looked at the other two.

"Well?! Come on! You two going to help or not?!"

 

Okay. Okay. She could do this. She could totally do this! Valdrada's grip tightened on the sword and shield as she stood her ground as the giant bear marched closer. It was just a game, and her brother was always beating up stuff like dragons and giant space monsters in his games! So a bear should be no problem.

No matter how big... and angry... and big that bear was...

Valdrada shut her eyes, hoped for the best, and shoved the pointy bit of the sword in the general direction of the bear's face. And it definitely, definitely hit something, if the loud angry roar was any indication.

She risked opening an eye. Ohhhh no, that was a very angry bear. Oh no.

Just as Valdrada was about to shriek and run, the bear abruptly lost a few inches of height. And then a few more. And then the bear, confused and with blood gushing from its snout, sunk halfway into the ground, as the dirt beneath its feet abruptly turned to liquid-esque sand.

Eyes wide, Valdrada stared at the bear, who seemed just as confused as she was, until a whistle caught her attention. She looked up to see a red-haired woman sitting on a tree branch, happily looking down at her.

Embarrassed, she scowled and insisted, "I wasn't showing off! I just got here!"

But at any rate, running sounded like a good idea. The bear still looked upset. Just as she was backing up though, it... it blew up. And Valdrada really did shriek this time as she was pelted with globs of blood and burnt fur and flesh. The other woman stepping out of the forest confidently stepped over to the half-sunken--and half-demolished--bear and tugging at its body.

And now the brown-haired lady was telling her to pull the bear out of the sand? And for one of its icky claws? No way! Nope! Valdrada continued staring at the explosive lady with wide eyes and backed away slowly, shaking her head.

@Kaede Hoshi @Backfire

 

_____Kaede had dated a number of girls, some like this person who chose to call herself ‘backfire’ but waving her right hand the sand began to shake before it shot the bear out and aimed mostly to topple the girl trying to get it free unless she moved out of the way. This was mostly because the girl claimed the kill when it was more a team effort. That and she talked a lot and Kaede did not always like talkative girls even after she started trying to find her own person after years of faking it.

”You can have the whole bear if you want, to be honest I have killed things worth a lot more without much help and don’t exactly need the pay with my restaurant almost open finally.”

_____Kaede would wave her hand to dismiss the girl’s offer for the claw before she would check to see if she needed help getting free. Chanting slowly as the grass around the area began to move before wind picked the bear up so she could get free if it had pinned her. If not the whole spell would not be cast and Kaede would move her focus to the new player reaching a hand out to her.

”Since the game does not give you a welcome, welcome to terrasphere. Though you joined at not the best time I’d have to say… The NPCs and players have this war brewing so you're better going north to try and find Dormont. If you need a guide I can help, but my ability to stay focused is very bad. Ha-ha~”

_____Kaede would playfully laugh as she moved her hand back to wait for the girl to reply. To be honest Kaede felt that maybe if she was trying to help a girl out she might be able to stay focused on that task and get back to town. Worst case she could just whistle and wave her hand a few times to see if she gets a reply from something. Or look for moss on trees. She honestly did not know.
@Valdrada | @Backfire

 

"QUICK BURST"

Backfire boosted backward to avoid getting hit by the bear erupting from the sandpit, and also to avoid it landing on her.

Took me long enough to get this damn spell down, but it is sure as hell is worth knowing. All that time I spent trying not to fall on my ass using it has finally paid off! Look at me go! Dodging bears flying out of quick sand. Damn, this is going to be awesome to combo in with some sexy Kung Fu reflexes once I get some training in for that! haha!

Backfire tried to play off her smooth boost spell like it was nothing while watching the bear to see where it would land.

"If you don't need any of the bear, fine by me. I'm guessing you don't speak for the kitty though. Or are you her parent or something? One of those 'throw the cub down the mountain' mothers making her fight bears in the woods? I'm not judging, just saying maybe she should have started off with..."

Backfire looked the tiny catgirl up and down, sizing her up.

"...a hampster? Well, she stood up to it so she's earned a piece of bear."

The bear landed with a thud and Backfire walked over to examine.

"Did you say restaurant? Would have thought you would need MORE money after paying to open a restaurant. Like, what I'm saying is, if something like opening a restaurant puts you into debt, wouldn't you want to try and make up that debt somewhere? That way, you're back to zero if the restaurant fails? Heh, not that I'm saying your restaurant would fail. I mean, as long as you're not serving SANDwhichs! Get it? It's because you would get sand all over the food, just you like did my damn bear. Whatever. Now let's get a better look at this bear!"

Backfire began brushing off the sand from this bear and examining the explosion.

"Yep. That's a grade A explosion. Take a look, you can see where it took a clean chunk out of the side of him. Maybe I will take up hunting sometime. This is actually kind of fun. No one gets pissed if you're just blowing up dangerous animals in the woods. Also, why are you welcoming me? I'm not new here? Though I guess I'm not exactly old either.

Backfire looked up and saw that the sand woman was talking to the Kitten.

"Oh, her! She's new? Well, welcome to terrasphere, kid! Hell of a start you got! Hahaha! Alright, Kitty what part of this you want? Oh, and you two, give me some names unless you want me to just call you Kitty... and..."

Backfire smiled.

"...Sandy."

 

W-war? That didn't sound good. What kind of game was this, that people were getting into wars and stuff? So, all right, Valdrada had her pride. But if things really weren't looking so good, maybe she should accept the red-haired woman's offer?

She slowly reached out to shake the woman's hand, and cringed as some blood dripped off the end of her fingers. "...Thanks. Um. I-if you don't mind, could you show me to that 'Dormant' place you were talking about?"

There was an interruption from the other woman, the one who made things blow up. "I-I don't want bear parts!" Who would want bits of meat and fur or whatever other body parts from that mess? Definitely not her!

She growled a bit and felt her ears--her actual kitty ears on top of her head, wow, that felt so weird--move around, pointing upwards. "My name is Val- Valdrada!" Whew. She almost gave away her real name. And that was one thing her brother really warned her about, not giving your name away to strangers online.

Now that Val had made herself very clear where she stood on the bear parts harvesting issue, Valdrada moved a bit closer to the red-haired lady. Of the two grownups here, Val definitely knew which one she preferred at this moment.

@Kaede Hoshi @Backfire

 

”Kaede, pleasure to meet you.~ I wish you luck hauling YOUR bear back to town then, oh I should note those bears… well if I think it’s the same as the ones I met before, they love to work like a wolf pack.”

_____Kaede was both trying to warn, but also get back at the girl for what she had called her and said about her restaurant. Moving to wave for Valdrada to follow before she started to walk away from backfire. If the girl wanted Kaede would offer a hand out to her to make the walk a bit less odd, or maybe make it odd depending on how you would view it.

”Sorry, sometimes the game can be rather cruel, first time a bear went that far south though… Seems things have been changing a lot recently…”

_____Kaede would move her focus back for a moment to check on backfire, she did not feel fully ok with leaving the girl to move the bear alone but she also wanted to teach her a lesson to maybe not be so cold or commanding with her words. Maybe also give her a lesson in thinking a bit before she spoke and not calling people names. Moving her focus back she would gently smile to the younger girl and keep leading them towards dormont.

”So, what do you play for?”

_____Kaede was curious why she joined the game, maybe that would lead to why there was a bear there as if the game reacting to their intents. It seemed to align as such so far from what Kaede could tell but there was still some exceptions, shrugging her shoulders at her train of thought before she focused on the girls items. Sword and shield, an odd mix in Kaede’s book but she was more to her Japanese heritage. Katana, Naginata, Throwing stars, the sort.

”Wanted to be a knight in shining armor? Does not exactly fit with felis features, seems a waste if you just plan to hide them with armor ha-ha.” Kaede would move her hair to show her Yladian ears a bit more to prove her point.
@Backfire | @Valdrada

 

"No bear parts for either Valdrada or Kaede, huh? Well, that's fine by me. Your loss. Probably make some really cool bear claw necklaces, or... I don't know... bear pajamas? Probably a lot of things, now that I think about it."

Backfire looked back down to her bear.

How the hell am I going to carry this thing back? Wait, did she say they hunt in packs? Like, I can get more bears for killing the one? That makes for some easy prey...

"You say they hunt in packs like wolves? GOOD! JUST MEANS MORE BEAR PARTS FOR MY BUSINESS, RIGHT? HAHAHA! Thanks for the tip!"

Well, now I know that hunting bears probably won't take much effort if I ever want to do this again. Though, This bear might be a bit too big for me to lug back by myself. I should just buy a damn cart. Or, I guess learn some magic that would let me levitate big loads like this bear? Probably not a fire spell that could do that, right? Like, I'm not going to fly this bear like a rocket. Or... maybe I could. What if I controlled the fire to be around but not on the bear, then shot it off like a rocket back to town. Well... no telling where it would land though. If it lands in someone's house or worse yet toilet, that's going to be a lot of wasted effort. What was I talking about? Oh! getting the bear out of here. Okay, focus. How am I going to lug this bear home... I don't have a sword... wait... can blow torches cut things that aren't metal? I feel like I read that they totally can... I mean they should be able to, it's just melting whatever is in its path. I can probably do that.

"Wrap my fists in a cremating blaze. Torch!"

A blowtorch-like flame engulfed Backfire's hand. Holding her hand as if she were going to chop.

I feel like this is going to get pretty gross.

Backfire dropped down to a knee, then applied her flaming-chop hand to the middle of the bear. Slowly and carefully she began to cut through it. It smelt horrible, but the wound was instantly cauterizing so there wasn't too much of a mess.

Backfire held her nose with her free hand.

"God damn... there has to be a better way to do this... ughhhh...."

Backfire continued not paying any heed to the other two. After working her way through the bear, and groaning the whole way, she finally succeeded in cutting it in half. Wiping some sweat from her forehead on her arm, Backfire stood up and checked out her handy work.

"Well, what do you know?! It worked!"

Backfire was proud of herself. This had taken some ingenuity, she thought as she fanned the smell of burnt hair and flesh away from her nose. Sure, this method wasn't perfect. Maybe it wasn't even good, but it was good enough and that's all that really matters anyway.

Backfire turned back to the other two.

"Pretty cool, huh? Just thought of it. Well, if you don't want any bear, that's fine. But I'm leaving the back of it. If I get a few more push-ups into my day-to-day, I'd probably be able to carry it, but right now it would take a bit too much effort. Backside has more meat I think, so maybe you can eat it if you want. Or do nothing and leave it. I don't really care. HAH! The front side has the brains, which is what I'm really after. Heard some rumors that if you eat bear brains in this world, you gain their intellect. Nah, I'm lying. That was a joke. Bears are idiots anyway, what are you going to learn by eating their brains? How to forage? I don't need foraging I'm a person, a person with funds. Anyway, I just wanted the teeth. Bear teeth make great magic charms."

Or at least charms that look magical, that way I can sell them to idiots.

Backfire bent down and grabbed the bear's front paw, then began casually dragging it behind her back into the forest towards town. As she left, Backfire gave out a wave without turning around.

"Take it easy!"


-EXIT THREAD-

 

Even as Valdrada moved over to @Kaede Hoshi, she wondered if it really was okay to leaving Backfire out on her own with a dead exploded bear. She really didn't know much about bears, but what Kaede said sounded kind of right, about bears hunting in packs. Sure she did take out that bear--as the blood slowly drying out all over Val's face handily proved--but that was with this one bear sunk halfway into the sand. Would she really be okay handling a pack of bears?

Of course, that was when Backfire started laughing and talking about how a pack of bears was actually a good thing, and okay, nope, that was definitely enough for her.

She followed after Kaede into the forest, trying to wipe the blood off her face. It smelled awful, and with both her hands kind of occupied with the sword and the shield, all she really did was smear it around her face some more. Which, ewww.

At Kaede's question, she just shrugged. "My mom and dad don't let me play games. But my brother said I could play his games. I just wanna have fun." Though so far, it wasn't really as cool as that commercial made it out to be.

She looked down at the shield. "I dunno. Is this the kind of stuff that heroes have? Like 'hah!' and 'whoosh!'" She tried making a stabbing motion with the sword and waving her shield around. Not that she really knew what she was doing, but, you know.

 

_____Listenting to the girl and watching her try to clean the blood she could only feel like a big sister at that moment. Hand moving to bring her sleeve to her lips before she took a bite into the fabric and ripped it free from the rest of her outfit. Moving to open her UI to get out her bottle of water and started to soak the fabric before slowing down and cutting in front of the younger girl. Moving to ring out the cloth before started to wipe the girl’s face clean and then moved to her hands until she got most the blood off her and smiled gently.

”That is one of the downsides to the game I guess. Can’t always stay clean if you go out adventuring with explosive magic users. But just a note, a hero is not defined by their tools~ It is the heart and the reason they fight that defines a hero from a good person.~ Or so I like to think ha-ha.”

_____Kaede would smile as she held the improvised rag at her side and got back up and resumed walking. Hands wringing it out to the other side so it was not near the girl who sadly was covering by it before chanting a light spells to heat dry the fabric until she could pass a spot of sand to discard it and set it ablaze to make sure no creep took it or anything. Staying slightly longer to make sure it did not spread before she kept walking.

”Slightly sad you did not ask why I played.~”

____Kaede would playfully pout as she faced the girl before she smiled and focused on where she was walking. Eyes watching a deer some distance ahead as she slowed down to calmly point and smile.

”Don’t get to see those often in the cities I have been to…”
@Valdrada

 

She'd opted to train in the woods outside dormont again, finding it fun to play in the forest and practice her mind control of the wild animals. Because she'd gotten fairly strong in nature magic, she could now control some of the bigger animals, so long as she had their trust- for example, a deer, which she possessed and used to trot around the forest without needing the roads so badly.

She was on her way back to her body to check on it while still in the body of the deer, when she noticed two people: one a familiar figure, the other a stranger coated in blood. Eyeing the woman that had looked at her, she was glad the deer's body refused to blush- but it wasn't hard to run with it, wanting to avoid the bloodied body, at least for now.

Returning to her unconscious form that sat beside a tall oak, the deer nuzzled her cheek when it was still by her side. She laughed timidly, standing with little energy left to use, and hugged onto it for a moment for balance, before watching it trot off into the wild to find its family. "I'm glad it's heading home."

She found her way quickly to the people she'd seen, appearing as if from nowhere out of the brush, still unbalanced from a rather notable lack of mana. "Kaede! What happened to your friend? Need some help?" She smiled, though her eyes were a bit vacant as she waved. She found herself running up to them and hugging onto the crimson-haired girl, using her partially for balance, and partially doing it just because she was happy.

"I'm Harveste," she noted, peeking at the Felis coated in blood. "It's not much, but I can give you some healing herbs... Or grow them for you, I mean. Naturamancy is considered a support skill, too, and you look fairly hurt... What happened to you...?"


@Valdrada @Kaede Hoshi

 

Okay! That was embarrassing! Even though she wasn't having much luck in cleaning herself off, she had her pride! And her pride--as well as the fuzzy ears on top of her head--bristled at being cleaned up like she was a messy toddler. Scowling, Valdrada fidgeted until @Kaede Hoshi stopped.

When that mortifying ordeal was over and done with, and the cloth burned, they continued on. Oh. Well. Okay then, Val could ask that. "Why are you playing?"

She couldn't get much of an answer, though, as suddenly a short purple-haired girl ran up to them! Letting out a surprised sound, Valdrada took a few steps back and reflexively raised both her arms up in front of her. She'd forgotten about the weapon and shield she was carrying though, so it made for quite the intimidating picture. Or so she would like to think. There were probably a lot more things more intimidating than a gangly little kid holding up flimsy weapons that she didn't know how to use.

But it looked like the new person knew Kaede? They were hugging, after all. Warily putting her hands down, Valdrada looked between the newcomer @Harveste and Kaede as if looking for confirmation.

"I'm not hurt," she said, when the subject was brought up. "There was a weird lady who made a bear explode." Oh no, and now as she said it, she could remember the sensation of meat hitting her skin, blood splashing onto her forehead and running down her face... Eughhhh. "It was gross."

And wasn't that an understatement.

But anyway, Valdrada looked back between Harveste and Kaede. "Why are you out here?" she asked the small girl. Were there a lot of kids around? Maybe she'd be able to find some people her own age, and not grown ups.

 

_____Kaede could tell Harveste was not in the best state even when the girl was just poking out from the bushes. Moving to help support the girl more then she was trying to hug her not worrying about any dirty thoughts since worry was sort of keeping her out from the gutter. Moving gently to make sure Harveste was supported and she simply listened to the two talking and did not feel it was her right to interrupt the chatter. Moving after they finished to pick Harveste up and give the small faerin girl a piggyback ride without even saying her reason, the worried look in her eyes the only clue to the girl before she was lifted.

”I play to meet new people, and for once live a life without hiding behind a mask or dealing with a lot of real world issues and interruptions. Not to mention I got to meet a special someone from playing the game so I can’t exactly stop myself from enjoying even the simple things.~”

_____Kaede would keep her hands civil, clearly Vladrada was a younger player and as much as she would enjoy teasing the girl to see where her age exactly was she was not wanting to do that with a exhausted girl already on her back. Moving forward again as Kaede moved one hand free to check the map and smile happily, for once she had not gotten lost after a short time walking, most times she ended up going rather off from her target by now.

”Lets hope we don’t encounter any more dangers along the way since we will be crossing into Astorea in a few moments. Honestly though… maybe taking you through there before you even had some training would be a bad idea… I’m sure I can hold off a decent number of foes, but not enjoying the idea of taking somewhere there who might have to fight worst case…”
@Harveste | @Valdrada

 

She hated to admit that she was relieved upon Kaede's back, but it was warm and far less uncomfortable than her own two feet at the time. The woman's words had impact, though, and still left her red and hiding her face, the natural glimmer of hope in her mind that she was who the redhead meant.

She wasn't sure where they'd been, but Valdrada had made it clear it wasn't a place she'd have wanted to be. Focusing on the question she'd been asked, she smiled faintly. "I'm a naturamancer... I come out to the woods a lot to practice working with plants and animals. To be honest..." She sighed, having let the words start to escape her before even being able to scold herself internally. Why was she so bad at lying? Rather, she really never could hold back the truth.

"That deer you were watching... I'd been playing with it for a while. Then, when we were getting along, I tried a spell I can use as a naturamancer to get into it's head for a while... For a bit, I was in its body. That's why I knew there'd be a path here- and people, too. It ran off because I was getting tired and ran back to my own body. It wasn't a total possession, mind you- it knew you were there, too, and was pretty happy you were so excited to see it."

Since the truth had already left her lips, she smiled faintly at the memory of the deer's joy flooding her as if she had an uncontrolled skill in empathy, too. "I've always liked deer. We used to see them a lot near me, but they're not easy to find anymore. I'm glad I was able to become friends with it... The animals and such in this game can be really nice."

@Valdrada | @Kaede Hoshi