Private - Lost and Found

Stokbon's massive size and ever-present growth meant the sights never ceased to impress Comet who made way through Terrasphere, mapping the world with her mind like a camera, without much else being as memorable to her as the bustling hub of the city. Bulky boots lazily scuffed along the ground, a light breeze removing pink strands of hair from her face; in the moment such a peace settled in Comet's world that the outside seemed irrelevant. Blue eyes admired the architecture, faces passing by, and her own choice to get a feel for Stokbon once more. Last time she'd spent an eventful day within the city. This time, she decided, would consist of no problems of the sorts. A rare moment or day of Comet's soul taking a rest from the relentless pressure placed upon it due to a life-long problem with perfectionism and a dose of envy mixed with greed.

Unfortunately, Terrasphere's escape - provided to get away from life on the outside - had its own issues to throw in the direction of unsuspecting players; Both NPC and real.

A young woman fell before Comet, who stumbled to catch her feet. The strange woman had her face twisted into a sour expression and gave off desperation through her gasps and quick, mumbled words hardly audibly if distinguishable at all. Her head drooped, long hair covering her face, tears dripping from hidden cheeks to the ground below. Excitement consumed all signs of the woman - obviously in need of assistance - who, to others, was just another obstacle in their way. Only Comet, who furrowed her brows in confusion and held a frown, decided to acknowledge the event. "What's going on?" she bent down to gently brush hair from the other's face. Holding a calm, composed demeanor proved difficult while within Comet felt completely baffled both towards the situation and how to handle it. Her blue eyes skimmed the crowd, hoping someone else would notice her troubles and join to ease the weight her thin shoulders now carried.

"I can't..." the woman pushed Comet away but not to much effect for she felt too weak with emotion to use much energy. Backing up, the sour expression turned into fear while tears continued to flow as if waterfalls. "I need help. Please! Tell me who I am! Where I am!?" hands colder, trembling even more than Comet's could manage in a day. The newfound sobs emitting from the stranger grew loud and attracted attention from passerbys who would pause, shrug, and continue moving on. Some appeared to feel sympathy but otherwise distracted by their own lives. She needed someone who would care enough to aid the bewildered bluenette now clutching to Comet's arms as well. Not that she cared much, the woman had been the cause of the situation and effect of the archer deciding to take action albeit somewhat regretting the decision shortly afterwards.

@Luna Avalbane

 

Boy, was Luna glad that there was a setting to keep your default appearance even with gear equipped, because as she'd found out when trying her newly bought hide gear on, her new armor wasn't exactly most modest of equipment. Though then again, she wasn't exactly sure what she'd been expecting from armor made from animal hide in the first place. She was honestly just glad for the extra protection that it offered her from attacks, even if she'd barely even fought anybody or anything yet. Mostly she'd been doing a lot of exploring, which was how she'd managed to find her way to the city she was currently wandering through, glancing around with childlike wonder at every new little thing that passed her by or that she passed by on her walk.

She hadn't long arrived, really, before a sudden commotion broke out and a crowd started gathering around something, though from where she was she couldn't see what everything was about. She wasn't normally a naturally curious person, if she were totally honest, though she was the type to try to help somebody if they needed it. In games like this, weren't gathering crowds usually the sign that somebody needed help or something? Maybe a quest was opening up?

She slowly weaved her way through the gathering crowds, finally making it to the front, now able to actually see what was happening. There was a woman, clutching a sobbing bluenette in her arms, glancing around wildly with an expression on her face that Luna honestly couldn't recognize. Was it annoyance? Was it an expression that cried for help? Honestly, she'd never really seen an expression like it in her entire sheltered, teenage life. But something told her she had to at least see if she could help, if only to get a better understanding of the situation. And seeing people crying never did any good for her fragile soul.

She slowly stepped forward out of the crowd, her right hand brushing the flower over her right eye to ease the urge to twitch nervously, making her way closer to the pair with a somewhat awkward expression on her face. This was it, her next act as a 'brave adventurer' in this world. "U-umm, e-excuse me? I-is there something wrong? C-can I help in any way?" She asked, crouching low with the softest smile she could possibly muster up pasted across her face.

@Comet

 

A relieved breath escaped through flared nostrils. The woman lifted her head, wide-eyed, before leaping to her feet. Comet jumped in surprise and mimicked the NPC's actions in order to instinctively preserve a dignity most likely unimportant to those who passed by without much care. "Where are we? Who are you?" the panicky bluenette managed questions in between shaky, deep breaths. Her words were laced with worry and confusion and a need. Comet hardly knew what to assume had happened to the poor woman and her eyes reflected these thoughts. "You should sit down somewhere," she lifted her arms to grab the stranger but in a swift motion had been neglected the opportunity to soothe her. It seemed that the bluenette hardly wanted to be touched let alone knew why she should trust complete strangers. The pink-haired woman shrugged in the direction of the other - a female with a peculiar look the stood out among the crowd - and lowered arms that hardly knew what to do next.

"I-I woke up and now I'm here... things are not okay!" the woman clutched at her dress nervously before turning and pointing. Her finger lead to an alleyway between two buildings nearby. "I came from there. Please, can either of you tell me what's going on? Or maybe even what my name might be? That could help, right?" words were slowed down from their previous quick pace but the onslaught of unanswerable question annoyed Comet who already had gone out of her way to help this woman, and felt extremely uncomfortable. "We don't know who you are. But we can find out. Are you sticking around?" with a flip of the hair she turned to the third female of the group once more, an expression of no choice but to help solve the situation painting Comet's face. Running away would be an option worse case scenario. But for now? She'd remain out of a curiosity as to what the hell went on with the strange, "lost" woman before her memory failed. "Take us back to that alley," she nodded towards the location that'd been pointed out for them. "maybe that'll be a decent start. But no promises, lady, we aren't magicians."

 

The woman, the one with blue hair and the confused expression on her face, she seemed damn near distraught at whatever was happening, which Luna was learning was a fairly serious, if extremely baffling situation in its own right? She didn't have any real experience dealing with people that couldn't remember things, let alone not being able to remember their own names and simple things like that. How did you go about helping somebody through that sort of issue without the correct sort of training, or in this case, some sort of magical ability to see the past? She wasn't too excited about the whole being noticed thing, but she couldn't exactly leave the poor woman alone in the hands of another woman who seemed to be struggling to cope with being the only one helping the bluenette, hence her decision to even step in in the first place.

She hummed, waving as gently as she could when eyes fell on her, doing her best to plaster a sweet smile across her face in an attempt to try to help the women relax just a little bit more, though things seemed to begin to progress without her as the amnesiac woman pointed out an alleyway she'd come from, the other woman seeming to nod towards it in a manner that suggested that was where they were heading. She hadn't really been addressed yet, but Luna was fairly certain that backing out now probably wasn't an option if she didn't want to be a pretty awful person. She nodded, raising a hand to nervously toy with the flower covering her right eye, glancing around at the rapidly dispersing crowd that had lost much of their interest once the woman had calmed down. Had none of them recognized the bluenette? She shrugged, allowing the woman to lead them over to the alleyway, not really sure what she should expect to find.

 

The white-haired woman failing to speak, even if abnormally, gave Comet less hope regarding the situation thrust upon them. It seemed she would run away at a moment's notice if the glare of glossy eyes left her therefore the pink-haired woman escorted the victim, but remained vigilant to ensure she would have help in the long run. Dealing with such a large problem all alone would certainly be an awful mess. Though the shy appearance and faint pink dusted over pale cheeks and a blooming flower emerging a concealed eye had Comet guessing her new companion would stick around. An aura of innocence cleansed the selfish, tense atmosphere around the three of them as they made way for the alley - one of the very limited amount of clues given thus far - and most worries were pushed towards the bluenette instead. Azure iris' matched the mop of disheveled hair upon the lost stranger's head; They shifted back and forth: hopeful, searching, trying so hard to remember what her memory couldn't. "I can't see her name..." Comet muttered in the ear of, who she found to be named @Luna Avalbane, after deactivating Investigation Mode. "must be an NPC or something. Damn random quests," she made sure her voice and annoyed tone weren't made known by the bluenette despite her hunches that the stranger actually was an NPC and that by helping they'd activated some sort of mystery adventure. After all, the game could do that. It could do anything. Right now that "thing" happened to be masking the bluenette's name - loss of another potential aid leading to disappointment.

Moving away from Luna, Comet paced towards the other to lay a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. NPC or not an ounce of care remained within the pink-haired woman's soul. "I'm sorry we can't catch anything. I can start tracking if you want," she trailed off but crouched down and began to foot-print process anyways. An answer wouldn't be needed since assumptions were that any little action taken could possibly become important. Her eyes landed on Luna. "What Masteries do you have?" remaining observant and attentive to the task at hand she avoided further staring, but thin brows remained raised in curiosity about the white-haired woman's choices. Already an intriguing - and arguably one of the most beautiful - appearance gave appeal to Luna's character overall. She felt no shame in openly asking while working, as the bluenette shuffled about in a consistent panic and worry and softly spoke soothing words to herself. Though, as Comet summoned her companion over to explain that she'd found an odd trail of footsteps that ended abruptly, the pink-haired woman felt a sharp pain in her side. Upon turning she noticed that their amnesiac - the lost, scared woman - had all but disappeared, a dart stuck in her neck. One would strike Luna too, from the rooftops above the alley where the bluenette caught Comet's shocked gaze before her body slumped over. Without hesitation her arm moved to remove the dart. The attempt was futile seeing as the two victims of trickery and deceit would find out all senses failed to work properly, as well as limbs.

 

Luna was content to just follow along with the woman and the bluenette that they were going to be helping, more than just slightly worried for what they might find in the alleyway when they got there. What could cause a person to lose all of their memories and then wake up later in a panic? Maybe it was some kind of horrific spell that somebody had hit the woman with? She didn't even have a way to know if the girl was an NPC or not until she looked with the game's display active, though she felt like doing that usually ruined the immersion of such an amazing and realistic game. Still, it seemed her new partner wasn't too against doing such a thing, after she leaned towards Luna to whisper that the woman hadn't had a name above her head and that she must be an NPC. Luna nodded gently. "I-I-I think so, s-s-still, i-it's not h-helpful for figuring out who she is..." She whispered in response, looking around at the alleyway and wishing that she'd invested in some more helpful Masteries than what she had at the moment. Maybe acrobatics would help her get to the rooftops to search those if she needed to, but that was just about all that she could do.

She turned again to the other woman as she was asked what Masteries she had, looking down at her hands before answering. "U-umm, I-I have Arcanamancy....A-Acrobat a-and Beast T-Taming..." She listed off, looking apologetic that she didn't have anything better when it came to detective work. "S-s-sorry if t-they aren't m-much help..." Though, she couldn't help but notice the woman taking in her attire and look, so she shifted a little subconsciously, a little awkward at being looked at. She still couldn't get over the mental image that her attire apparently gave some people, since they were just a little skimpier than she'd thought when she was picking them. She was half prepared to ask what was wrong, before she saw Comet jolt, a dart sticking from her neck, collapsing as she started to reach for it. Luna started to sprint over, but a pain in the back of her neck cut through her entire being and everything felt sluggish, her arms and legs feeling heavy as she missed a step and fell to the floor, wide eyes staring at Comet desperately before they slowly started to drift closed and she slipped into unconsciousness.

 

Blue flashed before her eyes. The expression on the stranger's face, so malicious. Hungry. Comet remembered every bit of the woman's figure. Underneath a shabby dress and boots happened to be a tight-fitting suit. A suit for getting places quickly, and with ease. Discarded clothes fell from the rooftop. The amnesiac's lips curled into a disgusting smirk. Comet would've cringed if her body hadn't succumbed to the poisonous dart. Thickly lashed lids jerked open; as opposed to the usual fluttering, and innocent awakening.

The pink-haired woman felt groggy. Out of place. Jittery. Her limbs wouldn't stop their trembling. An immediate desire to flee hit her along with such a strong churning of the gut she had to swallow hard to avoid letting go whatever food remained in her small stomach. An attempt to stand failed, as well as trying to pull both strained arms up to deal with messy locks of disheveled hair. Emerald eyes scanned the area. Comet knew the situation, of course. She'd been kidnapped by a person pretending to be lost.

"Tha-" her sentence was cut short by the burning of her throat. Her meters were most likely nearing the middle point, she assumed, when senses like thirst would begin feeling more and more realistic. That panicked her more. An already rapid heartbeat picked up. Getting out of the mysterious location, taking care of the meters, and returning to safety in order to log out were most important. That and...there was responsibility for ensuring Luna got out too. After all, she'd practically dragged the other along for the ride. A groan would've escaped the pink-haired woman's lips if they weren't so dry. The other female in the room, tied up as well, would only serve as a distraction. More trouble. The shy demeanor and skillset - aside from acrobatic ability - hardly impressed Comet. At least the submissive nature meant a helping hand: she comforted herself with this idea.

"Luna. Wake up. Luna Avalbane," her glare settled on the white-haired woman across the damp, darkened room with only a small window and mold and a high ceiling that strange liquids dripped from. Her voice echoed, remaining low and scratchy. Bony, throbbing wrists nearly slipped from the restrains. Comet would wait for an answer before ordering, "You're small. Yank your hands out or something. Be useful."

 

With a start, Luna jerked awake and alert, coughing up fluid of some kind as she glanced around, eyes darting rapidly to every corner of her vision as she craned her neck to look around as much as she could. She hadn't even seen the people that had darted her, she'd barely had enough time to notice Comet get darted before she herself had fallen to that same knockout drug, whatever the heck it had been. There wasn't much use in figuring that out now, considering that she was already captured.

Her body hurt like hell, her HP was down not unnoticeably. They must have dropped her or something whilst they'd been moving her to wherever the hell they'd taken her. Eyes clenched shut as she groaned, hearing the rather disdainful voice of the woman that had forced her to help in the first place, trying to command her to do something. Normally Luna wasn't the type to get mad or upset, but where did this woman get the idea that she could treat her like some kind of disposable soldier?

"J-just shut up..." She groaned, testing her restraints. They were too tight to slip out of. "You m-must be more d-dazed than I am if you t-think they wouldn't n-notice my restraints being too loose." She gave another experimental tug, frowning when she couldn't quite slip out of them. Tugging more just hurt her wrists, there was no way she was going to be able to just slip out of them like the pinkette seemed to suggest. "P-plan B it is then..." She focused, falling completely still for a moment, before suddenly her skin began to glow purple, a bright light escaping her before her restraints were blown apart by raw Arcane energy.

She stumbled, climbing to her feet and rubbing her sore wrists, looking around. Their gear was nowhere nearby. "I-is that useful enough for you, Comet?" She frowned, reading the woman's name using her UI. Comet, pretty and bright, but it burned apart and vanished as soon as it got too close. Fitting, wasn't it? She was of half a mind to leave the woman here for whatever purposes. She frowned, firing a blast of arcane energy at one of the woman's restraints, before a second blast freed her completely.