The difference was immediately felt - as the wispy young man leapt to and from stone to stone sticking out of one of the hills. He grinned - he'd had every realism setting turned on. He wanted to be immersed, and so far it was working. Prince's face had a wide, beaming grin as he eyed a tree...ready to try his hand at something he hadn't done since he was a lad. The young man took a running leap from the rock and with a great amount of grace and agility grabbed onto a branch. "Perfect." The self-styled phantom thief stood on the branch, surveying the area...taking a moment to cross his arms with a proud gleam in his eye. It was his time, now - time for him to really lose himself in this life, for as long as he could do so. "Prince De Lapin, the royalty of bandits, cannot be defeated! There's nothing in this world safe from the phantom's grasp." Almost as if a challenge to the world, and all within it. To take it for all it had - in a flashy manner. That kind of attitude would quickly bring people ready to test those words. Sometimes, even immediately. @Doru
And as if in response to the challenge, the peaceful atmosphere was torn by a sudden, echoing squeal. A cacophony of crashing followed shortly after, growing louder and closer with each passing second. It meant he had plenty of warning that something was coming, but what it was? Well, he didn't have to wait long to find out. With another echoing squeal, a dire boar charged beneath his perch, its frantic hoof beats shaking the ground. It was an ancient creature, at least by the standards of Brisshal with its horde of novice adventurers. Its hide was covered in old scars and peppered with broken arrow shafts. Its massive tusks had been the end of more than a few foolhardy newbies, and many more common people beside. It was strong. It was proud. It was... running for its life. Much of the boar's face was tangled up in some kind of net, coarsely woven from hemp and thorny bramble, so that it clung to the creature's face despite its frantic efforts to shake it free. A keen eye or a keener ear would have noticed the small bells attached to the net, clattering with each movement. It paused for a moment under @Prince De Lapin, shaking its head and grumbling fruitlessly, before turning to face the direction it came. Here it would make its stand, rather than exhaust itself with the running. Then another sound filled the air - this one unmistakably a person. "HEY! YOU! GET BACK HERE!" And, without much celebration, Doru burst out from the brush, panting heavily, spear being used as much as a crutch as a weapon to wave. He was exhausted, but it was tied up in exhilaration and anticipation - he'd been hunting this boar for what felt like an hour! "Yeah, that's right," he said, a wide grin on his face as he readied his spear. "You aren't running anymore!"
Prince had been anticipating a fight after the first sign of danger, he did want to strut his stuff. He had almost gotten excited at the look of a tough enemy - he was rather proud of his choice of tactics and magical expertise. However, a challenger appeared. That, he was not happy about. In fact...he had half a mind to- He'd go through with it. "Then the game's afoot." The phantom thief took a deep breath on a silver-sapphire pipe...his focus for his magic. He blew out a deep blue smoke, sparkling here and there. The smoke billowed under his cape. He wouldn't let himself be outdone. He leaps down, using the aeromancy-conjured smoke to carry him a bit gentler....looking like he was gliding on the cape with the smoke under his arms. His acrobatic skill made it look graceful as he landed...tucking and rolling before taking a pose on the ground, crouched. He puffed at his pipe, looking out from under the brim of his visor. "It's unwise to disturb a burglar, and less so to dangle prey in his eyes before making a grab to snatch it away." He gives a puff of that blue smoke from his lips, staring at @Doru with eyes of sapphire, similar to his pipe.
Doru was more than ready to make a final strike. Several oozing wounds already littered the boar flanks, shallow, desperate blows made when his cunningly designed net trap completely failed to hold it still. He'd earned this kill! So for some... some... fancy fop to suddenly float down in front of him and lay claim to his rightful prey? That was intolerable! "What! No! No killstealing!" Petulant was probably the best word for his tone as he glowered at @Prince De Lapin. He looked just about as ready to leap into combat with the other player as he was with the boar - but the dire creature had no interest in waiting for them to settle things like mob rights. With a final snort it ripped the barbed net free, allowing it to open its mouth for a full-throated bellow. "Oh!" He promptly disregarded Prince entirely, darting past him at a speed much faster than his four feet (and one inch!) of height should have allowed. Suddenly, what had started as a simple hunt felt like a race - especially if this other guy was trying to kill it too! His wooden spear afforded more than enough reach as he danced around its tusks, lunging and retreating and always, always looking for that one chance to land a final, deadly blow. I'm not letting this chance get away from me!
"Swiper no swiping, is it? You'll have to try a little better than that, Dora." With a flair of his cape he took a drag on his pipe. With almost a "Blowing a kiss" gesture he breathed out more of the sapphire-dust mist into the air....forming a small cloud. "I thank you for granting me the opportunity." A grin at that as he spins his silvery pipe in his hands, waving it like a conductor's baton - the cloud following the movements. With each movement there seemed to be sparks building in the cloud, before the man gave a dramatic wave of the pipe at the bellowing boar. A bolt out of the blue (smoke) crashed from the cloud into its open mouth, a deep almost "evil" laughter from the thief as it did - right before @Doru 's eyes.
It was what should have been a moment of triumph. Doru's first big kill, something he could look back at as a milestone when he was higher level and trouncing things like this with a graze. The dire boar roared wide, spittle flying, and Doru prepared to plunge his spear up and into the creature's brain... ...only for lightning to lance past him and into the creature's mouth. The boar seized, mid roar, and fell to the ground. There the creature twitched, breathed one last, shuddering gasp, and finally died. Doru stared in mute horror. The mute part didn't last. He whirled about, eyes flashing with frustration as he stormed up to @Prince De Lapin. "Why would you do that? That was obviously my kill!" He pushed a hand through his hair, his frustrating muttering filling the space around him like a cloud, and then without warning he pointed the tip of his spear towards Prince. "You! Me! Let's fight, right now! Then I might forgive you for this!"
Prince's eyes glimmered for a moment, and a bemused smirk crossed his face. He spun the pipe around in his hands a bit before taking a draw on the pipe again. "If you'd been quicker or more decisive, it WOULD have been your kill...I was just sitting here enjoying the scenery when a wounded monster happened on by. It might as well have been served up on a silver plate, and it disturbed me when I was attempting to get my bearings. If that upsets you, then of course - you can try and take your retribution. But..." The thief flared his cape with the smoke billowing the cape at his back - his attire chosen almost like he was dressed for an opera. The smoke then flooded around Prince, obscuring him in blue - only a shadow in the cloud. His eyes were somehow alit... @Doru may not have been aware he had already started to work his illusionary magic, the shadow in the cloud and glowing eyes mere smoke and mirrors. "The rabbit is a bit trickier of a prey than the boar. "
"Just because you can doesn't mean you should! It's bad game etiquette, and... ugh!" He shook his head, and swung his spear forward. The cloud of smoke was already beginning to form, but Doru wasn't discouraged. People were always going to have their tricky magic, and this was just a test of that. "We can talk about social contacts later! Let's go!" And with that, Doru lunged, spear aiming right towards the center of the cloud, just below where the eyes continued to shine out... ...and hit nothing but empty air. He ran straight through the cloud, and stood blinking at the other side. He turned back to the space, and with a gesture activated investigation mode - the cloud was empty. @Prince De Lapin had certainly pulled a great escape - but Doru had his own tricks. He was a hunter, after all, and what were humans but faster, more dangerous game? "Pretty smart..." Through the lens of investigation mode, the footprints left behind shone like beacons, tracing the trickster's path through the forest. Doru grinned, and dropped his hand. He knew where Prince had gone... now the challenge was to surprise the other player in return. After a moment of thought, he decided to take the high road, climbing up a tree with surprising speed and resting for a moment in the branches. Another quick check to make sure he hadn't lost the footprints and Doru was off, jumping from branch to branch like an oversized squirrel.
Hector, stepping outside of himself for a minute, considered if that was too rude of an introduction. The guy did some somewhat actually upset about it, beyond anything in-character...but it was a game, and it was completely in-line with the Phantom Thief Prince de Lapin, the arrogant and proud man, to do something like that just to show his superiority. He was playing a role, and he wouldn't be served well by getting too wrapped up in it as if this body and life were his own completely. Better to become the mask. The Prince of Rabbits took a breath, taking out something from his inventory he hadn't used yet. A walking stick, in actuality his magical rod, using it as he sprinted along...He had spent enough time in the wilderness, he thought. It was time to find some civilization and get his feet wet in simply how much he could advance in this thief's facade. A grin at the idea. He had no idea, despite his otherwise clean break, that he was leaving tracks. It would be a simple matter for @Doru to catch up to him, especially when the thief reached what looked like a road to a nearby town.
There probably wasn't anything Doru loved more than fighting things, especially in a video game where he didn't have to worry about little things like legal issues or getting suspended. However, the ability to silently stalk thing before actually jumping them, to get that moment of surprise when a target realized they hadn't actually lost him was getting pretty close. Was that creepy? Doru paused. Yeah that was... probably kind of creepy. Good thing this was a video game, where that was just a normal thing you did! He hopped branch to branch, occasionally pausing to check the trail. The footprints @Prince De Lapin left behind were nearly clear enough to see unaided - clearly, he hadn't expected to be followed this far. But Doru was nothing if not determined! The closer to the road they got, the thinner the forest became, until Doru had to drop from the canopy and back to the ground to continue his hunt. What would he do once he found the guy, he wondered... challenge him to a duel as well? Maybe have a good debate, instead? Get him to add him to a friends list? Rivalry and friendship were basically the same thing, right? Lost in his thoughts, and without the cover of the forest to hide him, it wouldn't be strange for his stealth to slip.
