Days after the incredulous encounter with the... beast that plagued the western borders of the player-made country, rumors about its possible source began to spread amongst the common folk. Some referred to its unknown origins with a prophecy she had never heard of before, while others claimed the creature to be the work of some wizard or powerful sorceress who had gone mad. The usual any would think of a medieval setting like this. So, whatever had happened for the little warrior to turn her attention to the task at hand? Nothing more than a group of villagers she overheard on a tavern, whispering to one another as if what they were about to say held all the importance in the world. According to their accounts, many groups of new adventurers had gone deep into the forest the days after confronting the threat that appeared on the Canyon, only to never make the journey back to their respective cities. And with a few words, subtle glances cast over her shoulders and the messed up appearances to make anyone question these people's hygiene, her interest was piqued. But she was no fool. For the first time in a long while, she decided not to be reckless about this one journey and instead chose to prepare beforehand, setting up pamphlets on every quest board and even sending messages through the game's global communication channel to request some aid. ''Thank you for accompanying me. After all the horrors I've been a witness to, it's safe to assume no one should wander on their own until this whole issue is cleared,'' the woman said with quite the neutral tone to her voice, clasping both of her hands in front of herself before offering the one person who had come to her assistance a small bow of her head. Next, with a swift motion on her end, both weapons reappeared at their respective places, the gauntlets now covering her hands and the runestone floating behind her waiting to be put to use. ''Shall we?'' There would be enough information offered to the female should she request it, but the aid request from the villagers couldn't wait any longer. Should any tragedy befall them just as it happened with those she visited on her way to Naryu Canyon, they would be held responsible for it. With a sigh and half a mind to cancel the mission should it prove to be boring or unsatisfying, she addressed the Felis with a gesture of her hand and started walking. @Cherish
As Sabrina has been merely wandering the world of Terrasphere as her in-game character - Cherish - , she came upon a request. Located upon the request board of a town she was traveling through, she was intrigued. The request had been for someone to aid the requester in an investigating rumors around Naryu Canyon. A few days later, here she stood, facing the person in need of assistance, a young woman with Stark white hair. "Oh, there's no need to thank me, really." Cherish grins at the woman. "I'm thankful as is that you're offering me the chance to check out this region. I missed the chance to go with everyone else." As a show of her thanks, Cherish steps towards the - slightly - shorter girl and gives her a quick hug before letting go. To be honest though, I probably would have gone there on my own. Cherish watched as some great appeared on and around the woman. Ooo, fancy. Glancing down at the simple axe holstered on her hip, Cherish shrugged; she didn't need anything fancy to kill an enemy. "Yeah, sure! I'll just follow you around, Miss..." Cherish pauses a moment trying recall a name. "Oh, I'm sorry. I don't recall seeing your name on the flyer I had seen." Cherish gives a small embarrassed smile to the woman. "I also didn't tell you mine, I'm Cherish!"
Did she just...? Was she just hugged...? She brought both arms closer to her chest as the person who she'd just met moved in to initiate physical contact, creating chaos and confusion inside her own mind as to what was exactly going on. However, and as much as she currently disliked their situation due to her lack of expertise in such matters, she allowed none of it to show, preferring that it was kept hidden behind a face of sheer neutrality. As she advanced more and more into the forest the rumors were a home to, the woman made a mental note to keep her eyes open for anything that might be of use to their investigation. Portia lifted both her arms high above her head and stretched for a little while before reassuming their march on the unknown territory, rustling around in her satchel before she came back with a map of the area in her hand. ''Portia Ahrens, my apologies for such a rude introduction,'' said the white-haired youth without so much as a glance in the Felis' direction, clearly focused on completing the task that had been self-assigned to the duo of adventurers. The forest the group was waltzing into was supposed to be filled with beasts of all kinds, but as their steps took them even further and further into the game's designed environment, the group would notice the amount of silence that surrounded the two, daring them to interrupt it with whatever noise they could.
It would have been better if the girl - Portia - had shown... any emotion, really. But instead, she had just stood there, with a neutral face as Cherish tried to show her gratitude. It felt sort of like Cherish was hugging a sack of potatoes, not that she or Sabrina had any experience in that. All in all, it was a pretty bad hug, and Cherish was hoping that there would be emotion later on. Not that she voiced these opinion to Portia, either that would just be rude. Instead, Cherish chooses to just follow Portia. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Portia." Cherish slows her walking for a second, trying to think of what she was going to ask. Realizing it, she quickly catches up to Portia, continuing alongside her. "Oh, I did have a question actually. What are we actually investigating? I'd like to know what we're going up against." As much as the unknown enticed her, Cherish knew it would probably be best if had at least a general idea of what they were doing. Other than the few times Cherish spoke during the walk through the forest, it was silent. Not just silence from them, but from the entire forest. No avian calls or sounds of wings from above. No rustling of foliage as the as tiny four-legged creatures skittered away from the comparatively huge players that walked the path. There was only silence. Cold and dead. Wait, there's something. Cherish's ears perk up and she moves ahead of Portia straining to try and hear the sound. Whatever it is, the sound is headed towards them. Suddenly it's upon the two, a strong wind that whips through the tree trunks and along the path they walk, rustling the foliage all around them as is makes its way. As it hits Cherish, the blast of cold air blows both her skirt and hair upwards in a frenzy. As soon as Cherish realizes this she emits some sort of "eep" noise, her hands moving down to try and keep the skirt down. That seemed to be the only gust of wind, and things quickly return to silence. Cherish turns back towards Portia, a slight blush on her face as she - almost frantically - smooths out her skirt and tries to get her hair back to the way it was. "Well, that sure was something." Cherish laughs awkwardly, the red color becoming more prominent as she realizes that Portia was behind her.
The Felis tasked in accompanying her for this particular adventure jumped out of her position behind the brawler and assumed a defensive stance as she stood in front of her as if she were guarding her against an unknown foe. Portia had yet to hear anything but she trusted her partner's instinct, and as she gave a quick look to her ears, she realized it might be better to trust her until the threat passed. So Portia also adopted an offensive stance, drawing the claws from her gauntlets that immediately sank into the palms of her clenched fists, forcing a smirk upon the paleness of her features at the prospect of finding something rewarding. The smirk only widened as their opponent suddenly made an appearance on the ''battlefield'', revealing to be nothing more than the passing of a strong current of wind that had put both girls on edge before anything really interesting happened. Portia raised her gauntlets to cover her face from getting any dirt on her eyes or being hit by leaves, branches, small rocks that flew in the air with what had just happened, only removing them in time to see Cherish's outfit greatly influenced by the wind that passed by them. The girl felt her cheeks heat up almost instantly, staining the porcelain of her skin with a pink that couldn't be mistaken for anything other than the sheer embarrassment caused by the moment. ''Ah... I do not know what exactly your masteries are, neither if you are willing to share that information,'' she started, turning around to allow her companion enough time to gather her thoughts in an orderly manner while she simply crossed her arms over her chest. ''But wouldn't you have benefited from using a light armored set of attire that took into consideration the mobility needs we would encounter?'' Maybe not everyone shared her taste in armor, something visible on the way she almost dressed as a boy dressed in her suit. She would always consider agility above all, and being the martial artist she was inside the game, the adaptability of her clothing. ''Ah, do tell me when we can continue! I won't tell anyone of what I saw if that'll make you feel better.''
"Eh-heh, well, it's never really come up before that I would something different than the skirt. So I guess I never changed it." The flushed color upon Cherish's cheeks slowly begins to recede as she speaks. Cherish's silvery gaze remained towards the ground as she finishes straightening out the situation with her clothing. Her skirt had really been the only thing that had actually been affected, her jacket and the scarf around her neck we of a heavier material. Having smoothed out her skirt, Cherish raises her head back up. Even from this angle, she could see the red blush that contrasted heavily with Portia's pale skin. Cherish hoped she wasn't so embarrassed that she would ask her to leave or something "I'm done now, you turn around, Portia." Cherish stood a few feet from Portia, her ears pressed sideways against her head, upon which an embarrassed expression showed. Every few seconds, Cherish's tail would swing back and forth. After a few moments of silence, Cherish moves towards Portia. "Come on, let's get going. I've still got to help you find whatever this is, right?" Cherish had grabbed Portia's wrist and was now urging her to move along the path. The rosy color that had graced her cheeks a mere minutes ago had now faded, to a light pink color. To her, it seemed like the talking had helped to calm her a little bit - as strange as that might seem to Cherish - so she continued. "Since you did mention masteries, I guess I should tell you what I have. As you probably already gathered from my weapon..." Cherish quickly gestures to the axe hanging at her hip as they continue down the path. "... I took cleave as my main mastery. Other than that, I just have Acrobatics and Berserk" She looked over to Portia for a second. "What about you?"
Out of dire respect for her fellow female adventurer, she didn't turn around until she gave the signal, humming along with her every response without even trying to steal a glance in her general direction. The last thing she wanted was to summon the anger of the Felis, and she hadn't come ready to fight another player. They could be more experienced than her and wipe the floor with her if it came down to a fight, or maybe it would be the other way around if the other player proved to be less experienced in the game than what she currently was. When Cherish gave the order for Portia to turn around, she did, allowing a chuckle to escape her lips at the embarrassed expression the adventurer showed. ''Martial Arts is my main method of combat, with the occasional assistance of the Arcanamancy mastery... And yes, for the extra movement, I took Acrobatics. It'd seem we both aspire to become great physical fighters, don't you think?'' Whatever she could say, whatever comment she could muster out of seemingly nowhere that would help Cherish to forget about her earlier embarrassment, she wouldn't hesitate to pronounce it. On a scouting mission where your companion couldn't be trusted to have a certain of level of concentration, many, many things were bound to end wrong. After all the failures she'd witnessed on her many adventures, she wasn't sure she would endure another one, or if she was up to the task at hand. Setting all these doubts, all these complicated thoughts aside, the pair continued on their way to the origin of the magical disturbances. Somewhere along their little walk, the woman jerked her hand away from Cherish's, assuring the girl that she could walk on her own and keep up with the pace she set. But when she let go of her, she suddenly felt something hit her, knocking the air out of her lungs for a few seconds while the strange sensation assaulted her senses in quick succession. It was like being hit over and over by invisible waves of energy, an energy that came from the opposite end of the path they were walking through, to the west. Portia waited for her uneven breathing to regain its normal rhythm, enough for her to start running towards the source of the magical energy waves she'd just felt. Knowing her partner was perfectly capable of catching up since they had a mobility mastery in common, she shouted and called out to her, unable to look behind her as she ran to an unknown location. ''This way!''
After having let go of Portia's wrist, Cherish continued along at a slower pace. Instead of Portia catching up to Cherish so that she could take the lead again - Like Cherish had expected - she heard strange sounds from behind her. The first noise was some sort of gasping, the sort someone would make if they were out of breath. That gasping, however, was quickly followed by the sound of a person crashing through bushes and other foliage. Cherish spun her head around as fast as she could, just in time to see her partner disappear through the trees. "H-huh?!" Cherish's thoughts were almost immediately dominated by any and all of the possible explanations for why Portia had just took off running. Has she suddenly lost her mind? Did she hear something that I didn't? Is she being controlled by some sort of psychic enemy? There was one thought that stayed in the forefront of her mind, however. Did she catch a glimpse again while I was pulling her and now she's too embarrassed to be near me? Cherish stood there for a few moments before her mind kicked back into action, stealing herself from the wild thoughts that were bouncing around inside her head. Her mission was to assist this girl in finding whatever is out here, and Cherish wasn't going to just leave her out here when she runs off on her own. Cherish took off running after Portia as fast as her legs and/or the game would let her go. Cherish crashed through bushes and leaped over roots and fallen tree trunks as she made her way to the running figure she could make out through the trees. Somehow, someway, Cherish was able to catch up to Portia. In a last-second burst of speed, she grabs Portia's arm halfway between the cuff of her gauntlet and the elbow before holding tightly and bringing the girl to a stop. Cherish tries her best to not break or dislocate Portia's arm as she slows her down. Once they had stopped, Cherish places her hands on the other girl's shoulders; keeping her where she now stood. "Hey, Portia, where the fuck are you running off to?! A-are you crazy? Would you mind actually telling me what's going on before we run off in some random direction?" Cherish breathed in and out heavily. that all out sprint had certainly taken a bit of a toll, and now she was out of breath.
