Private - Training and Training

It had been a week since Lucia had first met Luna, going to great lengths to help the girl find something in the game to inspire her, she spent the whole day watching over the girl as she tried to learn about a simple slime. While it had been productive in lighting a fire under the girl, it was still no doubt hard for her to approach the wild alone. Even if not everything was hostile, one couldn't simply hide from and befriend everything. There were things like bandits, villains savage and blood thirsty beasts, even other undead that Lucia didn't pull under her own wing. There were a myriad of threats out there that made her sigh heavily. As much as she wanted Luna to get experience on her own, she wasn't quite at a point where she was ready for that sort of thing.

Instead, during the week she'd spent with Luna, most of the time had been spent getting Luna used to how handsy she was. By nature Lucia had some problems understanding people, so she often greeted them physically rather then socially. Training the girl not to panic or be flustered by her hands was Lucia's first step into making sure Luna warmed up to her. Exactly how well the girl was able to adjust to her strangeness though, Lucia had no idea, she could only hope Luna would be able to smile and accept her strangeness contently. Beyond that, Lucia had taught her a few methods of detecting those bad eggs, sensing aggro, understanding when monsters were hateful or when they were nervous. She took Luna around from place to place showing her different creatures, letting her understand and empathize with them to better understand how to interpret their natures. She wanted Luna to be able to tell whether or not something was mean or evil with a glance rather then having to hurt herself with their aggression to find out.

Like usual when Luna first met with Lucia, she spent some time just clinging to the other girl, hands wandering as they always did as she spoke with a humming tone. "Now, I know you probably wanted to go out and have more adventures with me today, but I think it's about time, you know, even though i love spending time with you, I can't be looking over your shoulder all the time you know?" Lucia explained with a heavy sigh, squeezing and playing with Luna more vigorously as if trying to squeeze away that frustration with gentle hands. It was fun hanging out with Luna, but she couldn't let the girl be completely dependent on her as much as she really wanted that, that wasn't something someone who truly cared should be okay with. "You have to be prepared to deal with the outside world, which is why i've set this up." Lucia explained with a firm nod.

She'd called Luna out to a small river side today to help her understand and get more experienced with combat scenarios. The set up she was referring to was a simple collection of monsters Lucia had made, ranging from zombies to skeletons to twisted flesh abominations with wiggling fleshy tendrils. They were all manner of creature, but they only totaled at around five. Waiting patiently for some kind of order or role to be given, they stood blankly staring off into space as if dazed. Though the sounds of the gentle water following near by weren't strong, it made for a good boundary line making it so Luna couldn't simply 'flee' in the other direction when a creature tried to 'attack' her. "You've seen Alice a few times, so these ones shouldn't be as weird. I'll let you get used to them for a bit before we start okay?" She explained with Luna in her lap and a sweet smile on her own face.

 

Luna could say that she'd definitely enjoyed the week that she'd known Lucia for, though she'd also have to admit that it had been one of the strangest experiences of her life so far. She'd started to get used to how much Lucia liked to touch, though she'd be lying if she said that she was totally comfortable with it right now. She was far better than she had been when they'd first met, heck she practically sat in the woman's lap all of the time that they spent together, which she'd have never done with any other woman right now. In their time together, Lucia had honestly taught her a lot and they'd sure as heck done a lot of touching.

Like now, for example, she found herself sat in the lap of Lucia with the woman's hands firmly on her chest, squeezing and moving, wandering across the rest of her body as the woman tended to do, almost seeming like she was just stroking a dog she seemed so casual about the whole thing. It was honestly helping Luna adapt to it, the fact that Lucia didn't make a big deal out of it. It must've just been something that the woman did to everybody and it wasn't anything too bad, so that meant it was fine to let it continue. Beyond slowly adjusting to the touch of the woman's hands, she'd also learned a lot about being perceptive and spotting danger without actually being under attack, but that was neither here nor there. Today, she had a strange feeling that something different was happening.

And sure enough, beyond the customary greeting of hands roaming all over her form and grabbing at her, the woman mentioned that they were doing something to make it so that she didn't have to rely on Lucia or something, before giving an extra hard squeeze or two that had Luna squirming in the woman's lap, biting her lip to bury a moan before it could slip past. She wasn't sure, but she had a feeling that the woman didn't even know what her touch was even doing. But that was fine! It was actually a really nice trait, for somebody to be so brave that they just touched their friend so casually.

She had to admit, the skeletons, zombies and strange tentacled creatures were slightly scary, but Lucia was right in that they didn't hold a candle to Alice. She gulped, squirming slightly in her 'seat' before nodding to herself. "S-s-s-so I-I-I'm um, w-w-what? F-f-fighting them?"

 

Lucia nodded her head. Among her summoned familiars, the typical undead weren't exactly a threat, at least not in these low numbers. Those few undead monsters that she summoned that were as vicious as Alice needed other methods of being called. Naturally, those summons who were common garden variety undead, whether her knights or otherwise weren't too hard to deal with. It was for that reason, Lucia had thought to use a small amount to train Luna on how to move in combat, how to stay aware of the situation around her at all times. With a small smile, Lucia began to explain bluntly. "You're not very good at confrontation, meeting things head on isn't easy for you at least. You can't always wait until someone is dying to step forward you know? It's better to be pro-active and fight those dangers before they can cause harm rather then waiting for the harm to be done and then reacting to it." Lucia lectured as kindly as she could, it was a trait of Luna that caused the most danger to the girl's own goals. Waiting for someone to be hurt to be courageous was just counter productive to helping them.

"That's why I'll teach you about combat and alertness. Right now, it's not quite dinner time, so you'll fight these guys until it's time to eat. They'll attack you pretty seriously, but I made sure they won't hurt you-- Instead, every time you get hit though, I'll make you take off another piece of clothes." She teased giving Luna a playful wink needing there to be some motivation for Luna to try. "Also, if you try to escape and end up jumping into the river-- Well, you're just going to have to continue soaking wet, okay?" Lucia added feeling that Luna might just resort to escaping and fleeing again if given the chance, that was what the river was for. She wouldn't just let Luna run from this problem. She had to at least learn how to protect herself a little. Finally letting the girl go, she gave her butt a soft pet to get her going towards the creatures as she continued. "We'll start now, if you do good and manage to beat them all, I've brought a nice dessert for you." She promised with a gentle smile, training after all required a carrot and stick, something to motivate them and deter them. When Lucia was training Luna to accept her hands, she'd done so by playfully squeezing her when she was too restless and being gentle when she was calm.

"I'll get started on boiling the water, so the clock starts now~" She spoke, snapping her fingers lightly, but that sound seemed to turn on the minds of those dazed creatures that had been gathered by Lucia. Once alert, they were slowly gathering themselves back together. Zombies picking up tree branches, skeletons lifting up reeds to use as weapons. The strange twisted fleshy monsters didn't take anything, instead resembling monsters more then anything else they fought with tooth and claw. As if oblivious to that small army that was beginning to surround Luna, Lucia began filling their dinner pot with water, considering exactly what to make that would be most helpful for Luna's energy once the training was over.

 

Luna nodded along to Lucia's assessment of how she dealt with confrontation, not finding anything to refute besides maybe the idea that she waited for people to be hurt before jumping in to help them. That wasn't really true, but seeing somebody hurt always managed to get her to push aside her fear for a moment or two. Still, she couldn't exactly refute it since it also wasn't technically false. She just wasn't a confrontational person by nature and fighting was just physically arguing with another person if she wanted to boil it down to something quite so adolescent. "Y-y-y-you're right, I-I-I d-d-d-do s-s-struggle t-t-to make m-myself m-meet a ch-challenge head on..." Any time a fight was even slightly looking like it could occur, she was usually one of the first to be looking for other solutions or trying to make her escape and as nice as it was for Lucia to try to break her of that, she couldn't help but worry.

After all, this was the part in movies or cartoons where the character's teacher would give them the test that had a chance of killing them, right? She knew that Lucia didn't want to hurt her, but it was a surefire way to make sure she made progress, right?

Apparently not! She blushed, turning her head to gape at the woman due to the shocking nature of exactly how this training was going to go down. Remove a piece of clothing every time she got hit? She'd be naked within the next half an hour! Surely she was joking right? Apparently not. And jumping into the river didn't sound all that appealing either, considering how cold it could get around here and the fact that she didn't have any clothes to change into to avoid getting sick, if you could even get sick in the game. Could you? She'd never seen a player with a cold and stuff. The prospect of dessert was interesting though. What could Lucia have brought with her that would be a dessert?

Luna stood, dusting herself off as the creatures began to move, mentally going through a checklist for one of the spells she'd decided to learn, though she had no real confidence that she was any good with it yet. Arcanamancy was intricate, yet at the same time it was all about raw power, she'd learned. She glanced around, noticing that she was being surrounded. "U-u-u-um! A-a-a-am I s-s-supposed t-t-t-to attack them!? O-o-or d-d-do you just w-w-want me t-t-to dodge?"

 

Lucia nodded back with a warm smile, knowing Luna would struggle with confrontation at the very least. When things came to an impasse it wasn't good to just lay down and die, instead, Lucia had to provoke the girl to at least become able to face her struggle a little more readily. "Do whatever you like~ But know that if you don't attack them, it will just keep getting harder. You'll have to fight back eventually." Lucia explained with a small smile knowing that even if her summons didn't kill, their blows might still hurt, just taking a beating went against human nature. Eventually Luna would have to learn that just dodging and fleeing wouldn't solve the problem. There were just things out there that one couldn't run from, specially if hey had a goal in mind they had to advance towards.

During Luna's questioning though, one of the zombies suddenly swung it's reed, the plant lashing at Luna's back making Lucia giggle. The girl hadn't paid much attention, dazed and confused, not aware that things had already started. There were no time outs when things got dangerous after all. "That's one hit, you have to take something off~ You have to stay aware dear, things aren't going to stop just because you're not ready yet. A big part of combat is decided before anyone even swings." She lectured shaking a hand. Naturally the undead would freeze up, every time that Lucia had to tell Luna to take something off, they would stop, giving her just enough time before trying to swing down at her again and chase her around the little arena they had formed.

While they weren't incredibly fast or strong, they were hard to kill, resilient even, unless Luna genuinely tried with all her might taking one down might be difficult, specially with all of them lumbering towards her. Fortunately in the starter stage they simply rushed after her like a disorderly mob, with very little intelligence, it wouldn't have been too hard to navigate around them or find a means of taking advantage of their mindless pursuits. It was an easy mode Lucia felt Luna should be able to handle reasonably enough. When Lucia first started the game as an archer, this was a type of mob she could take down without even having to retreat, just standing still and shooting them down until they stopped. She didn't expect that same precision and skill from Luna though, instead she just hoped the girl would learn how to deal with just being in the thick of things, being chased, deal with threat in general. It was a very easy warm up in Lucia's mind outside of the initial shock of being unaware of it starting with no time outs.

"Be careful though, things will keep getting a little harder. I'm pretty skilled at this sort of thing, so you shouldn't expect it to be too easy." Lucia lectured Luna after a long while. While such a disorderly mob was easy to escape, Lucia wouldn't just let Luna experience that sort of silly play time combat. If Luna managed to shoot or gun any down in the chaos of their mindless chasing, Lucia would lazily gesture with a hand towards the soil until new ones suddenly stretched arms up from the ground breaking the surface to replace those that had died. At this point the next phase began, upping the difficulty, she didn't add any more then the first time, but what was once a disorderly mob turned into a coordinated effort. The undead all spread out, trying to cage Luna in, from various sides they tried to strike with long reaching weapons. It wasn't so hard to escape the encirclement though, there were only 5 or 6 of them at any given time, and they weren't very stable. Blowing one down with a strike to make some breathing room wouldn't be hard even if it didn't die. She had to teach Luna how to adapt, how to delay, buy time by limiting how many could strike her at once. It got a bit harder, this sort of fight was the one Lucia was most experienced with in her earlier stages. The kind that made her forehead moist and made her breathing a little ragged.

"Just be careful, if you're naked those reeds and branches are gonna sting a lot more~" She taunted playfully knowing that there were still ways of making this a little more difficult. If Luna had been having trouble up til now, Lucia wouldn't stop pushing her at least a little. If Luna wasn't already nude, she'd have to deal with new skeletons suddenly rising up from the soil as well. The numbers were still 5 or 6 at a time, but their make up was different. Some had shields, some had longer branches to reach her from behind other zombies. Others had bows and blunted arrows. This was the kind of Squad Lucia would have had to have run from in her earlier years. She couldn't fight this sort of make up and would instead need to resort to gorilla tactics, cheating and cunning. This was no doubt not something that your average newbie would fail at, but something that they should strive to overcome. Being able to take on a small troop of well equipped and coordinated individuals would be difficult no matter how you slice it unless you were overwhelmingly powerful. It took knowing how to take advantage of your opponent's weapons and skills to create your own safe places and blind spots, skills that Luna likely didn't possess yet. Instead the reason for exposing her to this harsh style of training was because Luna would be able to see and notice as it went on, exactly where those safe places might be, to know how it felt to be overwhelmed with no escape and how to deal with it. It was frightening yes, but at the same time there were flickers of hope.

All in all, Lucia would wait for Luna to give up, if she seemed hesitant, she'd encourage her or give her advice in the form of a demand or command with a firm voice. She didn't want Luna to simply sit down and take any kind of abuse, the girl was just too important to her, she didn't want to see it. This was necessary though to firm up and resolve her to face the blades and weapons that would aim at her in the future.

 

Right, that made sense. Of course if she didn't ever attack them, the problem wouldn't go away, just like running away from her problems wouldn't really get rid of them in an actual fight for her life. Running was good if it was an option, but when it wasn't she couldn't just sit there and take her lumps or try to duck and weave around every single attack that was thrown her way. She nodded, preparing to turn around to start the fight again, only for a sudden strike to lash across her back, causing her to yell out in what was probably more shock than any sort of actual pain. It'd stung a little bit, but the creatures really didn't seem to hit all that hard. Still, that wasn't fair! She hadn't been ready! "B-but....but...!" She wanted to argue, but sighed, slowly peeling away one of her bridal gloves. Lucia hadn't said it had to be a set of clothing, right? One glove would suffice.

She turned, hopping backwards as the creature that had hit her made a second swing, before hopping to the side to avoid another swing from a different creature. There was no real rhyme or reason to the way they were attacking her, no sort of coordination. It really wasn't hard to avoid them, she barely had to dip into her acrobatics skill set yet in order to make sure that none of the blows actually hit her. She focused, spinning to dodge a swing before ducking low and rolling under a horizontal slash that one of the strange tentacle monsters had made. She really didn't want to be hit by one of those. She'd been on the internet before!

She listened to Lucia say something about being careful, though she'd split her attention too much and suffered for it as she mistimed a duck, a stick being slapped against the side of her head as the result. She sighed, peeling off her other glove, though she hadn't checked to see if Lucia would demand that she take something else off if she'd meant clothing sets. Her boots would probably go next, no matter what.

Suddenly, the way that the creatures fought seemed to shift and they began timing with each other, swinging in ways that left her with few options to escape and she was hesitant to fight back. She yelped, rolling between the legs of a skeleton and spinning, cartweeling out of the way of a collection of strikes, which caused her dress to ride up before a tentacle ripped her arms out from beneath her. She sighed. That probably counted as a hit. She stripped her boots off, before leaping backwards. She didn't have enough time to cast a spell from the menu! This wasn't going to end well, especially as more skeletons started to crawl out of the ground.

She backtracked heavily, almost slipping into the river as she was at the river bank, before a blunted arrow slammed into her cheek and she was sent tumbling backwards into the river, landing with a loud splash. She gasped as she stood again, crawling back up the bank and peeling off her socks, tossing them to the side as she charged forward through the group before they had time to prepare to attack her.

Inwardly, she was almost crying. She was doing awfully! She hadn't even seen an opening to open the spell menu and cast one! She could try to recite or use one from memory, but if it failed then she'd be in even more danger! She ducked under an arrow, letting herself keep falling to avoid the swing of a branch before she was blindsided by another skeleton, hit in the side. This brought a certain dilemma. She didn't exactly have much else to strip off. She climbed to her feet, blushing as she peeled off her underwear beneath her dress and let them fall to her feet. They were soaked anyway.

She ducked, hopping backwards before jumping due to sheer instinct, or pure luck, backflipping over a skeleton in a move she'd NEVER manage in reality, which also would give Lucia a really nice show. "I don't think I can do this!" The situation didn't give her a chance to stutter, as she rolled away from another strike, batting aside a stick with her bare hands to protect herself. "I don't have time to cast!"

 

Lucia couldn't help chuckling a little as the girl initially was very miffed about the sneaky start. It was after all a lesson learned though. The more Luna fought, Lucia wasn't bothered by just how far the girl tried to stretch her clothing, in the end she likely wouldn't be able to keep it all regardless, so letting her wrack her mind on how to buy more time would only be beneficial. The last stage was after all equipping the skeletons well, it was a point where Lucia couldn't make a stronger practice without some elements of danger, it was one that Luna just wasn't ready for. Instead, Lucia watched on with a content smile, recording portions for posterity... and surely no other reason she assured herself in her own mind. She waited until the creatures totally wore her out, giving some advice when necessary but it seemed useless at this point, the girl was just far too inexperienced.

By the time she was finally fully undressed, Lucia exhaled a soft refreshed sigh, shaking her head gesturing to the undead to stop them from pursuing the poor girl who seemed on the verge of tears. Reaching hands out, she approached Luna gently giving her a reassuring hug to the best of her abilities. For once her hands wandering for a good reason believing Luna was likely cold and shivering. Trying to lend Luna a bit of her warmth, Lucia spoke to her in a sweet tone. "You don't have a lot of confidence. You didn't try to fight back, not only just trying to cast spells, let alone trying to flail back at them." She explained with a soft tone, stroking the girl's moist hair as she continued trying to recognize her issues. Slowly offering her a blanket to warm up in, Lucia wrapped her up gingerly, the fabric smelled strongly of Lucia, the smell of warm lilacs likely tickling Luna's nose with warmth.

"In truth, that's an exercise that can be done without moving. I'll show you, just a little... but the important part to take away is that your spells and skills are already in you somewhere-- if you're worried, it's surely because you haven't used them enough." Lucia lectured letting Luna go briefly. Turning towards her small horde, she doubled their numbers with a quick snap of her fingers, creating ten skeletons and undead monsters to chase her as they had Luna. Lucia didn't have the benefit of Acrobatics that Luna did, but she was well aware of her own skills and how to use them in a dire situation. "Mindless enemies is simple, tying them up is no big deal, after taking out the first one, the others will struggle to climb over, if you ever lose yourself, just try to buy more time." She spoke, using hand gestures for casting rather then the menu or incantations. With every few movements of her fingers a black inky blob would dart forward splashing against one of their legs or bodies to push them back into each other or trip them up. Mindlessly continuing forward, they'd stumble or brush past each other slowing them down. Lucia took slow casual steps away as she continued taking her time firing those little balls one after another.

"Coordinated foes are a bit more difficult, a majority you'll face are those second type, working together to try and fight you, if they're alone, they're as easy as the first if they're not a boss, but together they get annoying." She spoke as the second phase activated with a gesture, the zombies surrounding her didn't seem to bother her much. With one hand gesturing to push a few back with a wave of black fog, the other turned towards those that remained melting one or two away into a puddle. Pushing away and then attacking and repeating she ensured that no more then a certain amount ever got really close to her. "The last one is more difficult though, when they have more options, better equipment fighting back gets really hard, but ranged warriors can shoot through their allies, strikers can't stab through defenders, defenders can't deal with you without the others. You can take advantage of their builds, using them as your own shield, confronting some while leaving the others to try and find a way to strike you. In such a situation, you won't last, at that time, hit and run is okay but you have to 'hit' back right?"

Turning back towards Luna once she'd properly demonstrated a few of her own methods, she flashed a dazzling smile. Letting her undead partners fade away she turned towards Luna, stretching a hand out to her to try and help her up as she spoke. "Dealing with bosses and heavy hitters is different, but for you who's unfamiliar with fighting in general, this is the best place to start. Not being able to deal with it and struggling is fine." She offered trying to touch a finger to Luna's nose playfully as she continued. "But giving up and being afraid of failing is unacceptable~ Okay?" She asked, hoping that she was able to make a bit of a difference today.

 

It really didn't take long for Luna to be completely overwhelmed, pushed into a corner by sheer numbers. There just wasn't anywhere that she could escape to that didn't have an opponent waiting to attack her and force her to strip, though they kept going even after she was entirely nude, including her little face flower, which was nestled on top of her pile of clothes just as damp as the rest. The cold certainly didn't help either, making it hard to move and difficult to focus her mind on anything besides how cold she was and how dangerous being so cold could end up being.

Eventually, Lucia called the creatures off and Luna could only collapse and curl up into a ball on the ground, blinking back tears and trying to swallow her disappointment as best as she could. She'd failed. She'd not even managed to fight back in the slightest. Lucia's hands found her again and brought the usual physical warmth, but the warm feeling in her chest that usually accompanied them was gone. Replaced by the cold feeling that she'd let Lucia down, when the woman had such faith in her to begin with. She'd gone and proven that the woman was mistaken to believe in her, that she was too scared to even fight back in any way possible. She'd just focused on what she couldn't do and not thought about what was left that she could still do.

She was wrapped in a blanket, with the same comforting smell as Lucia, though she couldn't bring herself to listen to the woman's words properly, her form quaking every now and then from her silent sobs. The woman, she was trying to demonstrate something, show her where she'd went wrong, but it was so painful watching somebody breeze through something that she hadn't even managed to accomplish! She tried, so hard, to keep Lucia from seeing or hearing her sobs, but she was fairly certain they were obvious for anybody that even glanced over in her direction.

She'd have been interested in watching Lucia deal with the same problem she'd failed by, but the revelation that if it had been real, she'd be on the floor being slowly gutted by now was just bone chilling. She'd be dead, no question about it. Nobody to save her, no way to run away from it, nobody to wake her up from it and tell her it'd only been a bad dream.

She heard the woman step closer to her and jolted, trying to wipe her eyes before the woman could see her, before a fresh set of sobs took their place. She must've looked so stupid out there! "I-I-I'm s-s-s-so sorry! I-I-I couldn't d-d-do it! I-I d-d-d-didn't think t-t-there was anything I could do!" She sniffled, wiping at her eyes again as they tracked Lucia's finger to her nose. Great. The woman was disappointed with her. "I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry..."

 

Luna being so flustered wasn't unexpected, but the sobbing was, for a moment Lucia didn't quite know how to deal with it. She wasn't well versed in these types of scenarios, She wasn't an Ikeman or a belle that could just make everything perfect with a blink. With a hum of thought, in the end, Lucia reached out to seize the girl's cheeks. Helping to wipe Luna's tears gingerly as she continued to apologize. As if waiting for Luna to get all of those bitter feelings out while she watched on smilingly. Would someone who was disappointed be so supportive? Was someone who didn't approve still look into Luna's eyes with such sweet gentleness? Lucia liked to think she got the message across a little as she leaned forward to kiss the girl's forehead sweetly, the soft feeling of her lips familiar no doubt after she kissed her head before.

"It was hard for me when I first started too, but I was prepared to suffer at least. I worked very hard to be capable of this, do you want to know how?" Lucia asked with a kind smile, patiently waiting for Luna to calm down enough to hear her. Not wanting to let the girl run again she crawled forward sitting with Luna close up. Letting the girl warm herself from the closeness until she was able to hear her clearly with certainty. "For me at least, I was more afraid of losing what made me special then I was of dying. I was more afraid of being a disappointment then I was of failure. Even if your reasons are different, you have a dream now-- something beautiful and lovely to work towards. Doing your best is all anyone can ever ask of you." She reassured, trying to stroke the girl's hair affectionately and help her find some calm or see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Worried her words might not be enough though, Lucia exhaled a sigh, biting her lip, struggling for anything that could be very inspirational or supportive. Thinking back to her own quest for power, how lonely and desolate her adventures had always been, the one thing she found most comforting was the warmth of someone else. It was hard for Lucia to empathize with someone else, to understand what they needed most, she could only rely on what she herself would need or want in the same situation. With that thought, she could only pull Luna in close to hug her, hoping to squeeze all of her worries away. "Don't be upset okay? I... I don't really know how to cheer someone up very well but whatever's wrong we can figure it out together. If things are hard, I'll be there to catch you when you fall if you need me okay?" It was a desperate last resort for Lucia who didn't really know how to give reassurances. It was perhaps a little over the top, but she was making an earnest effort.

 

Luna felt her cheeks grasped before suddenly her head was tilted to look into Lucia's eyes, the woman's thumbs softly wiping away her tears as she sat there, held by the woman with their gazes locked. Lucia's eyes were so mystifying, they looked far stronger than hers could ever be yet they still held every drop of kindness that she'd learned to appreciate from the woman. It really was strange, the flutter in her chest as she looked into those eyes. Lucia began to close in and Luna watched with hitched breath as the woman pressed her lips to Luna's forehead, choking back another sob due to the surprise. Why....why had Lucia just done that again?

She eventually managed to be coherent enough to nod her agreement to Lucia's question, struggling to push a smile onto her face as the woman sat with her, emanating warmth that soaked into Luna's skin, all the way to her bones. Everything Lucia said, Luna could say the merit of, but she hadn't been scared of failure, had she? She'd known she was perfectly safe, so she'd had no reason to fear failure, right? "I...I-I..I d-d-don't k-k-know what c-came over m-m-me..." She admitted softly, sniffling as she wiped away the tears in her eyes again, looking to the woman for guidance. It was like her mind just wasn't wired up to fight, she'd not been able to actually calculate how to fight, or pick apart her enemies besides how to avoid them. How did somebody go about learning to think that way? How did somebody like herself do it?

She let Lucia pull her into a hug, ducking her head and burying it into the woman's chest, just soaking in the warmth of the necromancer she called friend. The tight, cold feeling in her chest was eroding away now. All that was being left was warmth. She nodded into Lucia's chest, a small smile slowly appearing at the woman's words. Somebody that would support her? It sounded so nice, so wonderful. The fact that the woman had overcome all of her own struggles to be where she was right now, yet still found the time to help somebody else with their own struggles, was just amazing. Lucia was amazing. "I-I-I...I'm n-not s-sure how t-to think l-like a f-f-fighter. O-or how to g-g-get time t-t-to cast m-my spells u-using the m-menu..."

 

Lucia only continued stroking her head reassuringly, scooping her out of the blanket to embrace closer. Pulling the girl into her lap, using the blanket to cover them both to trap the warmth inside, Lucia turned towards the fire with a gentle shimmy. Stroking Luna's hair, she only continued whispering sweet caring words at her to keep her calm and comfortable. Supporting the girl in her lap, Lucia tilted her head up with a somewhat bitter expression at Luna's comment about not knowing how to think like a fighter. "It doesn't come easily to those that don't feel 'intensity'. Not just to hate, but to protect, it doesn't come easy to people who don't have very strong feelings." Lucia admitted, knowing the reason she could adapt so easily to the bloody trials of the game was purely because of her intense hate and disdain. She hated herself, to the point where she wished there was a means of harming her reality without endangering her avatar. It was a shame, but that intensity and feeling made it easier for her to confront others flippantly.

The woman's soft warm hands stroked Luna's bare back and soft legs to keep her warm as she continued to think on how to help Luna. It certainly wasn't something that just came into being after all, it was something that was developed and nurtured. "It's okay, right now, you're still just a caterpillar, it's okay to think of it like that. Someday you'll grow, and change into that sort of magnificent butterfly who understands these things so well. We'll keep doing this practice, and you'll keep growing a little bit at a time. Some things, you just need to figure out yourself, I can give you all the advice in the world but in the end, you still have to learn right?" Lucia offered hoping that would be some consolation. It wasn't necessarily that Luna was bad material or that Lucia was a bad teacher. Combat and fighting was something that required experience and motivation. At the moment, Luna has zero of the former, and only a small bit of the latter making it that much harder.

"You did good trying to stand your ground though, you didn't give up until you were naked right?" Lucia spoke with a mellow smile. At the very least Luna had some perseverance. It was more then some had in this dangerous world where people would take the easier option when it was presented. In the end, Lucia tried to lift Luna's face just a little to meet her gaze. A tender and warm smile on her face as she spoke with calm tone. "Now in the mean time, we should talk a bit about magic maybe. It doesn't just have to be cast from the menu you know, there are a lot of ways to make it happen." She spoke with a soft nod beginning a quick lesson on magic.

 

Once upon a week ago, Luna would have panicked and started to hyperventilate at being handled quite like Lucia was handling her now, but after having a week to get used to it, she adapted to the feeling of being pulled into the woman's lap almost immediately, shifting her legs to straddle Lucia so it'd be more comfortable for both of them. She could see that her question about how to think like a fighter had caused Lucia some unpleasant thoughts, or perhaps memories, causing Luna to feel bad that she'd caused the woman to wear that bitter smile again even if for a moment. That wasn't the smile that made her chest feel both light as a feather and heavy as lead at the same time.

The caterpillar and butterfly analogy, though somewhat strange, worked fairly well for Luna to understand where she was at right now. She was fairly useless and needed to wait to mature before she could ever hope to be any use. It would take time and there was a good chance she'd be eaten before she could make it, but if she managed to make it she'd be able to show her true colors. "I-I-I....I-I don't w-want to l-l-let you d-down, L-Lucia..." That was basically her main drive for the exercise, it'd been what kept her dodging even when she thought she had absolutely no chance and would have given up long ago, had it just been herself without Lucia there. She wrapped her arms around the woman, pressing her chest into Lucia's, forgetting entirely about her state of undress. At least until the woman brought it up again. Then she blushed. Heavily.

Her face was lifted, staring into Lucia's eyes with a sort of half-lidded, trance-like gaze. The woman had such pretty eyes. She wouldn't mind a little bit of staring, right? Or was that creepy? She blinked, tuning back into Lucia's words. "I-I um, I k-know t-that you d-don't have to use the m-menu. I-I've practices a c-couple of s-spells w-without it, I-I just..." She faltered at the end. The real reason that she hadn't attempted them was kind of pathetic. "...I um, I-I d-d-didn't t-think I could....m-manage them. S-so I....d-didn't bother..." She looked down, wanting not to have to see whether Lucia was disappointed in her or not.

 

Lucia shook her head, surely this girl couldn't let her down, she was just too fun, too sweet, a breath of fresh air, even if she didn't improve, this very moment was the type of thing Lucia adored most about her. This girl who would forget she had no clothes, or not care about her limited social aptitude. It was very nice spending time with her, it was a refreshing experience that Lucia in truth, didn't get from anyone else. A time when Lucia didn't have to be her real self, but at the same time didn't have to be 'as fake' as normal. Though the comment about letting her down made Lucia smile, after all, there was an easy way to solve that.

Stroking Luna's hair, she spoke in a gentle tone, her expression softening as she spoke strongly about her beliefs. "You won't let me down. I'll only ever be disappointed if you give up and never want to see me again, I promise." Lucia explained with a kind expression. While Luna met her eyes, that warm enchanting gaze held firm, looking back at Luna with a charming smile. With eyes like polished gems, she watched Luna, staring as long as the other girl stared, holding her gaze as she continued in a more hushed tone. "You're much too special for me to ever be let down, a precious treasure~" She spoke with a charming giggle as she continued stroking Luna's hair.

Though the topic of magic jogged her from complimenting the cute girl in her lap. Her smile mellowing as she nodded back, understanding the worry, remembering sequences would be hard if you were in the heat of the moment. Lucia could only remember because she treated her own life with such disregard, a moment or two's distraction didn't cause her any fear allowing her to adjust quickly. "Well, remember, it depends on where you want to build your magical foundation you know? There are the western arts, that use Incantations, songs and runes... but there are also Eastern arts that use hand gestures and magical formations. Maybe if you're not suited to one, we should try to teach you another hm?" She offered knowing that her own magical foundation came from eastern arts; Formations and Gestures were something she used for casting and was most familiar with. Naturally as the obsessed woman she was, she knew incantations and the like too, but was far less familiar with them.

 

She'd never admit it, at least not yet, but Luna absolutely adored the feeling of somebody running a hand through her hair the way that Lucia did, or maybe it felt so special because it was Lucia that was doing it? It was honestly difficult to tell for sure, though surely the fact that it was Lucia doing it had some sort of factor into the strange fluttery feeling that it planted into her chest. It was like her heart was made up of thousands of butterflies at once, all scattering in an instant whenever Lucia touched or complimented her. It was a feeling that she'd never once felt before, in the game or in the real world, no matter who was talking to her. It'd never happened.

Hearing that she could never let Lucia down unless she ended their friendship, that Lucia thought of her as something precious, a treasure, was honestly one of the most flattering things she'd ever heard and she could feel that fluttering feeling grow even stronger, blushing as she stared into the woman's eyes. Lucia really did have absolutely wonderful eyes, much prettier than her own amethyst orbs. The woman just oozed beauty and confidence from her body and her eyes, almost like everything that Luna had hoped she'd magically become in this game when she designed her character. "I-I-I-I-I....um, t-t-t-thank you Lucia. I-It m-means the w-world to me that you'd s-say such n-nice things about me..." Why did so many people compliment her nowadays? Was she not as unbearable as she'd thought she was?

The topic returning to magic was welcome though, as it gave her a chance to fight off her blush and focus on the topic at hand. She knew vaguely what the woman was talking about, having been aware of gestures and stuff but not been aware that they were specifically eastern or western. "I-I-I um, m-made sure to r-r-remember both methods f-f-for my s-s-spells. B-but I-I just...." She cut out, mumbling into Lucia's chest before she looked back up, trying to mask her shame. "I-I was t-too scared of f-f-failing to try."

 

Lucia giggled, nodding along with Luna's opinion. After all, Luna was a special girl at least to her, finding another like her would be far too difficult a task. She continued playing with Luna's hair as she hummed, gathering her thoughts, she shook her head gently. "Good, for the rest of that stuff, confidence, fighting, adventuring, we can work on that stuff one step at a time. The most important part is that you remember how happy and proud I am of you~" She spoke with a sweet laugh, using her fingers to try tickling Luna briefly, soft fingertips playing with and stroking the girls sides and thighs to try and get a sweet and adorable rise from her.

The fear of failure was only natural, it made Lucia continue tickling and feeling her skin as a punishment as she continued to speak. Her voice a bit firm, but still reassuring, like an older sister or someone closer. "Now it's okay to be afraid, but from now on try not to freeze up because of it. In the end, you only ever really fail if you do nothing, instead, even if something goes wrong and the spell misfires or blows up, at least then you'll have won the experience of learning more about your magic and spells right?" Lucia lectured with a firm attitude. She didn't want to change who Luna was, but still wanted the girl to know taking chances was okay, scuffed knees would heal, and in this world, there were plenty of second chances for failure and the like.

After a short while of teasing and touching Luna, Lucia exhaled a relaxed sigh, a comforted expression on her face, as if she'd gotten something from playfully punishing and touching her. It was a fulfilled expression, a healthier glow about her, her eyes shined a bit brighter from the experience. It was a happiness that flowed from her gaze as she continued trying to teach Luna in a more supportive way. "Come on, this time we'll go over some together, Gestures and incantations. Let's try some warm ups." She encouraged, taking Luna's hands in her's trying to arrange and play with her fingers and loosen her up, trying to make Luna repeat a few phrases and lines of fake practice incantations. She was trying to help Luna understand them from the ground up, one baby step at a time helping her through each pass.