Forging a Bond [Completed]

Even the noise and bustle of Stokbon couldn't distract Felicitas now. Surely now she would get her first look at her chosen craft, and maybe even a quest of some sort. At the very least, she could as to be pointed in the direction of a forge she could use to make whatever armor she could now, and maybe somewhere to buy materials with which to do so. Maybe she could even find a starter weapon of some sort?
Felicitas barely noticed as Aaron said his farewells, as she threaded her way carefully through the crowd toward the sound of hammers and the smell of hot metal.
As she drew closer, she began to sweat, the heat of the forge enveloping her in welcome. It seemed she could only see the hot red metal, which seemed to be becoming a basic dagger.
This was why she signed up. She had no clue who in this city was a player and who was an npc, and this blacksmith was no different. She grinned, and came closer.

@Aaron Marone

 

Sera spun slowly, taking in the sight of the town. Players and NPCs roaming around, mostly NPCs, in such a realistic representation of life. She inhaled deeply, letting the smells assail her senses. If she hadn't very clearly remembered logging into this, she might not believe that she was in a game world and not the real one. She supposed that must be how the NPCs felt. She smirked. Maybe not this town, but somewhere, she would find a place where she could rule over a group of NPCs like this. Maybe even get a harem in the process.

But for now, she was going to start small. She had chosen to take weaponsmithing skills in an effort to give her a way to make some income, but currently, she knew no crafting recipes nor had any materials to make any weapons even if she did know their recipes. As such, she was in the market area where the blacksmiths worked. The sounds of a hammer striking metal drew her attention, and before long, she found herself watching a blacksmith shape a dagger.

She noticed a tall, white haired girl getting awfully close to the blacksmith. She eyed her up and began to grin. "You know, I think you're hot enough without getting that close to hot metal," she said to the girl. She motioned toward the blacksmith. "Give me just over a day, tops, and I'll be doing what he's doing right there. I assume, based on your interest, you plan on doing something similar?" she asked with a smile.
@Felicitas Hellewege

 

Felicitas quickly became enraptured, trying to determine if she could see specific hammer marks on the red metal, or if it was just following a preset graphic as the dagger formed. SHe figured she would have to experiment on her own to figure that out. It did seem that actual effort was needed to form the metal, though, and not just a few hammer blows. She was glad. Anything else would have frustrated her, especially with how much work armor surely took in the real world.

It took Felicitas a couple seconds to realize that the woman was speaking to her, and she looked at her slowly, not wanting to look away from the blacksmith, and stared, the moment drawing closer and closer to awkward.

"Sorry," She replied loudly, "Could you repeat that? I couldn't quite hear you. It is... kinda loud here."

As she waited, she looked the woman over slowly. She seemed to be a beginner nearly as new as herself. Felicitas sighed slightly, finally, someone she wouldn't immediately feel inferior to. Although, she probably looked a bit stupid, so engrossed in watching a craftsman that she didn't even notice someone trying to start a conversation. Oh, well. She wasn't necessarily here to make friends yet. There was a lot to learn first.

 

Sera chuckled when she noticed the girl hadn't heard her because of how engrossed she was in watching the dagger be formed. That would be pretty useful information, that she might be able to use to her advantage later. "I said, I think you're hot enough without having to throw yourself into a forge and get so close to hot metal." She smiled at the girl. "Then, I said that I was a blacksmith myself, or will be soon enough, and asked if you were also planning on doing forging of your own, since you seem so interested in it."

The height difference between the two didn't bother Sera that much - she was used to being shorter than people, since she made herself the same height as she was in real life. "My name is Sera, Sera Phim. What's your name?" she asked the girl, extending her hand out toward her.

"So you know, as cool as watching someone forge something is, I think it's a lot more fun to forge something yourself. From what I gather, there's a lot of little things that players can do to get money to buy materials for crafting. What say we try to tackle something like that, you and I? It could be fun!"

 

Once the woman had her attention, Felicitas began to notice that she was quite attractive. Her long hair fell around her shoulders in a way that suggested she was styled, but her lack of equipment made her seem less so.
Right, she remembered, this is a game. The girl would have styled herself, everything from the confident curve of her lips to the light wave of her hair.
The compliment startled a chuckle out of her, and Felicitas was annoyed at the realistic feeling of the light blush that arose in her cheeks. She inwardly cursed her immediate, embarrassing reaction to any positive attention ever.
"You're a blacksmith, too?" She said excitedly, "Are you doing weaponsmithing or armorsmithing? Do you have any MP sunk into it yet? An acquaintance gave me money to buy recipes just recently, and I made him a set of armor in exchange!"
It was, however, quite weird for Felicitas to be the taller person, and her neck actually felt quite weird looking down at a person as she was used to the opposite.
"My name is Felicitas, Felicitas Hellewege," She grinned as she said it allowed again, already embarrassed as she felt the next bit slipping out, "It's, uh, it's... German."
She had spent nearly three hours researching the etymology of various name in various languages until she found one that fit both her hope for her character and the masteries she had chosen.
"I would love to find a task together, maybe we can find one that's tailored to crafting or even blacksmithing, and maybe we'll get materials or recipes out of it!"
She resisted the urge to bounce on her heels, forcibly composing herself. It wouldn't do to have people think she was flighty and immature, even if she was. sometimes a reputation was everything, especially in a game.

 

Sera laughed when she saw a red tinge appear in the girl's face. "Hey, you know, the red on your face and the white of your hair look pretty good together. So why did you go with white, huh? I mean, I'm not complaining, I like it. It's just not the most common choice."

She laughed again when the girl asked her about her own crafting. "Oh, no, I've not been able to put anything into it yet. I'm gonna be making weapons, though. I want to buy land, when I get the chance, and making weapons seems like a good way to get some money to do that. I actually only just joined the game, anyway."

"Felicitas Hellewege? Hmm... like the sound of Felicitas. Kind of fun to say," she said with a wink.

At the girl's second outburst of excitement, Sera kept herself from laughing. She didn't wanna laugh at or with the girl three times in such a short time. She did like how excited this girl got about things. Her energy was nice and refreshing. "Well then, sounds like we're going on a bit of a date, then," Sera said with a smile.

She put her hands on her hips, would would possibly look a little comical due to her stature. "Right then. The way I figure, we could look around the town, waste time trying to find someone who may or may not need any help, or we could just go kill some beginner monsters like wolves or something in the woods. While a specifically crafting related task would be nice... easier to start basic, you know? Besides, what we really need is some money, to buy materials. That way, we can practice all we want. So then, once we get a bit of money, we come back here, buy some materials, and we have a bit of a crafting competition. How does that sound to you?" She asked.

 

She managed not to blush, this time, jut nodding at the reference to her hair color, "It just seemed dramatic, I guess. Almost ethereal? I was originally gonna focus on paladin related masteries, but I figured I wanted to do crafting enough that I woule get bored being combat focused until late game. I liked the look, though, and kept it."

She did chuckle at the way the girl- Sera, Sera Phim, she reminded herself- said her name, like it was a toy, "I mean your name is Seraphim. Pretty fun, and kinda cute, in my opinion. I do love being able to choose a name, though, and decide what kind of focus you have even from that."
Felicitas smiled back, "You could call it that, if you like, though we have just met, and you dont even know who I am, honestly. I could be some 60 year old man for all you know."

Felicitas couldnt help but smile at the image Sera created, such a short girl, with such attitude. It reminded her of who she would have liked to have been in real life.
"It does seem like more use, and we would get used to cmbat before any events start happening. Do you have any offensive skills that don't require a weapon? I have pyromancy, but I've only tried one spell, and it seems kinda sad so far," She frowned, It would be so much easier if the game had some starting equipment, but easy wasn't really the point. Felicitas decided she preferred the realism, and would remind herself of that every time she got frustrated. Real life, in a fantasy world, was why she was here. She let a smile slip onto her face, thinking of the proposed crafting competition.
"I think a competition is a great idea, Sera, though well have to arrange the stakes, and maybe find a judge, then."
She smiled widely, turning back to see the blacksmith heat treat and quench the blade of what was definitely a dagger, now. Her heart pounded with excitement, both at the prospect of trying combat, and of continuing her craft.

 

Sera chuckled at the girl's admittance of why she chose the color hair she did. "Dramatic and ethereal, as good of a reason to do something as any!" She said with a smile. "Glad you veered away from the whole 'paladin' thing though. Holy do-gooders usually have to take chastity vows, you know," she said with a wink. "And those are always pretty boring."

Sera gave an over dramatic, yet still only a slight, bow when the girl repeated her name. She chuckled when the girl said she could be a sixty year old man though. "Well, what's life without a bit of risk?" She asked with a sparkle in her eye. Then, she shook her head. "No, I don't think you are some old dude. If that was the case, you'd be a busty blonde. Instead, you're six feet tall with white hair. So... I'm gonna guess you're one of two things - you're either tall in real life, and so wanted to stick with what you know. Or, you're a short girl, who's tired of always being known as just the short girl. Things always being out of your reach, people holding things above your heard, stuff like that. So you figured, enough was enough, here you could be anything you wanted, so you're gonna be tall, damn it." Sera grinned. "You don't have to tell me which of those is right, unless you want to. For real though, which of us is more likely to be a creepy old dude? Tall white haired girl, or girl who's name is a synonym for angel? Or, a type of angel, I guess." Sera laughed.

"Hmm." The girl had a good point when she mentioned offensive capabilities. "You do have a point, our early magic might not be super useful. My only combat based mastery is astramancy, which from my understanding, boils down to the magic of weird stuff. I thought it sounded fun, haven't really had the chance to try it out yet. But hey! What's the worst that could happen, am I right?"

"Excellent, it's decided then. We go on our little adventure, then we come back and we each craft an item. Since I can't really use any weapons myself, maybe I'll make you one. What sort of weapon do you think you might like?" She asked the girl. "I noticed you eying up that dagger, but it doesn't really seem your style. You seem like the type to want something big, maybe a broadsword or a hammer? Or did you take just a one handed mastery so that your off hand could be free for magic? I could make a smaller hammer or sword, I suppose in that case. We can figure out the stakes later."

With all that out of the way, Sera would turn in place a bit. "Well then, shall we be off?" She asked.

 

Felicitas grinned at the mention of chastity vows, blushing ever so slightly again, "That would be pretty boring, wouldn't it. Stuck in this fantasy world, and no way to let out your... fantasies." She wiggled her eyebrows comically, laughing quietly.
She laughed again as Sera bowed, and grinned as shecame back up.
"You're right, I'm such a short person outside of here. But really, the height is for the same reason as the hair. I wanted to stand out and be imposing. I think the stand out will work once I have armor and a weapon, but imposing I'm gonna have to work on."
She frowned in agreement, "Maybe we can find some, like, slime level creatures, or some slow ones, and do the run away while you deal damage thing. We'll have to practice some, if we can. Do you know what rate energy regens at? My basic fire spell doesn't seem too costly, but it also isn't very effective..."

"I'm excited to really start going. I chose one handed bludgeon, so a one handed hammer or something similar will probably be useful. I did decide to keep a hand free for magic, especially for when I start really putting points into the masteries, then I can deal a lot of damage."

Felicitas nodded decisively, stepping up to meet her, "We shall!" She laughed as they started walking, her blood dancing in her veins at the prospect of finally, finally, seeing what she could do, and just how dangerous this new world was.

 

Sera giggled when the girl talked about fantasies. "We all have a few of those. And while some might involve belts, not that kind of belt."

She grimaced when the girl suggested hunting slimes. "Ew, gross, no. Let's just see if we can find anything in the nearby forest. That seems like a starter area."

She laughed when Felicitas confirmed that she intended to use a hammer. "Look at me, maybe I'm psychic!" She said with a smile. "I called both that and the size thing." She shook her head when the girl asked about energy regeneration. "No, I haven't experimented with that yet."

When the girl agreed to be off, Sera would overdramatically turn in the direction of the forest. "Well then, my fair lady. We shall depart at once!"