His words caught her off guard. Half of her was flustered, taking it as praise- but somehow, he sounded more confused than she was. "Um, that's a good thing normally, isn't it? My kendo instructor always said, 'think of your weapon like an extension of your self'. But um...Is it bad?" With her free hand, she scratched at her neck, trying to calm the hairs that raised from her concerns that she was off somehow. "New to it or not, you seem to already know your stuff pretty well, don't you think? I'd guess you practiced swordplay offline too if I didn't know any better!"
"I did take a small bit of tae kwon do when I was younger, but I'm mostly self-taught," Sean explained. "I usually use a balloon in the shape of a sword to think of new techniques safely." He stared into the forest. "I think I hear something," he exclaimed as he hid behind a tree and poked his head out.
Joining him in hiding, she found a separate tree not far from his, her stance cautious yet a bit forced. "I never took Tae-Kwon-Do. Maybe I should get you to show me sometime. But for now..." Seeing a small bear, she gulped some air. "Oh great...If there's a cub, the mom can't be close by. This might be bad...Think you can fight it? I can probably take it on, but definitely not alone."
"Well, this might be suicide, but I'm up for fighting it." Sean chuckled a bit in a serious tone. "I say we find the mother and take her out first, then get the cub. Therefore, the cub will have no protection." He seemed oddly confident about himself despite just have said 'this might be suicide'. "Let's move in, using the trees as cover," he explained as he dashed from tree to tree.
"If you die there'll be major repercussions, so let's avoid that as much as possible okay? My death affliction automatically jumps when someone dies near me, particularly an ally. And, well, let's just say your blood won't be the worst of the stains." Sure, she had a martyr complex before her first death deep in the womb of the wurm lair ages ago now, but she actually was affected far more by it in the game when it was an affliction. After all, it not only added to her personality's trouble point- it gave her some notable buffs and debuffs, and a general inability to see anything around her while it was in progress. "Okay, so...The question isn't our plan, but how to find that mother. We have to wait for it to come out, don't we? Or do you have an idea where it is? I have no hunting skills. I'm generally a healer. A healing swordsman."
"Oh, right... We have to find the mother..." Sean started to ponder how one would lure out a bear. "Maybe we can harm the cub from afar so the mother rushes to the cub?" Sean tossed out a random idea. "I may have a way to do it, but it's not that effective yet." Sean suddenly got a semi-sadistic smirk.
:His idea was pretty sound. She felt a bit bad, but the bears around here were known to cause trouble for travelers, so it was better to deal with them anyway. The gods would surely forgive them, right? This was part of their mission in this world! "What's your plan exactly to do that...? If you can't, I'm adept at illumancy, and that doesn't just mean I can heal. I can use light magic to attack, too. Or, if nothing else, blind them. If you want, I can just blind them for a moment so you can easily get an attack in while they're trying to regain sight. You'd have to close your eyes though."
"Just watch me." Sean raised his left arm to shoulder height, supported by his right hand. "BURN!" He suddenly shouted, a small burst of fire to shooting out of the palm of his hand and completely missing the cub. "Uh... Should probably work on my control, but that might draw out the mother." He turned to Solaria and shrugged.
Well, it did do something at least. The cub had been startled by it, although perhaps the elf was too. Jumping slightly sideways, she was clutching to the tree. His sudden shout had caught even her off guard- and she wasn't quite sure which part had startled the baby bear, either. Still, the mother came out, and so she pointed her sword towards it as a beacon. "Follow the light into the future!" Her words were a symbol of what she sought from the light, which began to glow at the base of her sword and became a beam shot towards the larger bear. It hit an arm and paw, or rather, a claw? She couldn't tell, but she saw some blood. "That bear is kind of quick, but I think we can take it. It looks confused, at least, too!"
"Ah, so it worked!" Sean turned towards where the mother now was and took out his sword. "Let's dance," he smirked, running in. As if anticipating an attack, he stopped for a split second before finishing his engagement. As he reached the bear, he performed the vertical slash technique he was just teaching Solaria. Using the momentum from the vertical slash, he jumped into the air and performed a downward slash before backing away.
Relieved primarily that she hadn't accidentally hit Sean when he rushed in, the impulsive elf was swift to take a roundabout run to the back of the bear in question. While Sean used his technique he'd shown Solaria for a frontal attack, Solaria used her own traditional methods to attack the bear from behind. Her sword swung over her head and down in a swift slice, hitting her target straight on the head. She'd shouted something hard to make out as she did so, a 'power cry' she'd learned to use when attacking at a young age. The bear went down oddly quick in her mind, but as she looked for the baby, she noticed it had gotten away in their battle. "Crap...I hope they're not looking for reinforcements...But at least our double team worked, right?"
"At least we could take one on," Sean replied gleefully. "Maybe we should get away from this location in case the cub IS going to get reinforcements." He checked. "Wait, where do we go, then?" He quickly gave up trying to see any civilization and sat with his back to a tree.
"Well, we'll probably be alright, it's just a concern I tend to have in the woods. You never know if there are more bears around. I don't think most roam together, but...While it's realistic, this is still a game, and the woods are still plenty dangerous. Let's be on guard, no matter what we opt to do." Smiling, she held a hand out to the man as she sat at the tree, eyes cast to keep steady upon his form, seemingly trying to watch his breathing pattern or some other strange puzzle that made people what they physically appeared. "You did some good work back there. Just keep training steadily, and you'll do great things. If I'm lucky, I'll get to see some of 'em myself."
Taking Solaria's hand, Sean rose from the ground. "Well, we should still find civilization, no matter if we're in danger or not." Sean started to look around once more before pointing in a random direction. "I think there's civlization that way! Don't worry, I'll keep my guard up!" he shouted before running off in the direction he pointed.
"Hey, wait a sec!" As the man rushed towards where he believed civilization was from their spot, she felt a pang of guilt in her chest before rushing after him. While there was a small village slightly near it, she wasn't aware of anything actually close-by that way. Just woods, woods and more woods. Racing after him with the best speed she could pull off, she continued to call out toward him. "Come on, Sean, hold on!" If Solaria was known for being impulsive...What was her new friend considered, anyhow?
