Quest - Hermes Delivery

Celestine drew her starting cloak up nice and tight, trying to get warm as she practiced the old ‘one foot in front of the other’ method of pushing forward past the freezing cold. Getting lost was arguably her greatest skill, which is why - this time - she took to meticulously staring at the road that the snow had nearly buried. She wouldn’t lose the darn road!

However, it was because of this focused staring down that she almost passed up what looked like a crash site on the side of the road. In fact, she would have, if not for the sounds of wounded horses whinnying, and the call of a man out of the wreckage. Celestine froze. She knew exactly what would happen here. She’d look up, then start talking with someone, then… somehow, the road would vanish from her sight, never to be found again. No: she was wiser now. She wouldn’t fall for it.

“Please do a wait for one moment,” she called back, raising a finger. Bending down, she took her gloved hand and used it to dig out a giant arrow in the snow, pointing forward the way she’d been going. “That should do it,” she chimed, straightening back up and finally turning to the source of the sound to hear the man out.

“Oh… um… I guess I can do a help,” Celestine answered, finding it nearly impossible to look away from his eyes. That fierce determination was almost palpable. She approached the green box and lifted it up. Luckily, it wasn’t too heavy. Proceeding to grab the map, Celestine unwrapped it and turned it around several times, trying to figure out the orientation. “Err… that way,” she concluded, pointing off in the same direction as the arrow and looking for some sort of confirmation.

 

Being a world traveler with her father, Volcanic actually felt pretty at home in the snow. That wasn't to say that she wasn't cold. She certainly was. But she had seen her fair share of cold locales. She could certainly handle it.

Handle it she did, as she sat on a hill overlooking the road. The snow piled around her now soggy pants as the snow melted under her body heat, but she didn't mind much. She was just happy to be out in the world, exploring it at her own pace. She loved her father, but he was always too laser focused on his work and not enough on exploring and seeing the sights. But here, in Terrasphere, she could do it all on her own, at her own pace.

But, she had to remember this world was dangerous. She couldn't permanently die, but she could die. No sooner had this thought crossed her mind when she heard a loud crash. Startled, Volcanic leapt to her feet and didn't even think to brush the snow from her starter trousers before sliding down the hill towards the road, leaving large lines in the white powder as she slid. Snow was everywhere, a nice cloud kicked up by the crash.

At this moment, a man crawled out of the wreckage, and a feline looking woman sauntered o by, and it all happened so fast. She wandered up and as the feline woman spoke to the man, Volcanic looked over the horses. They appeared wounded, but none of them were dead, and that was a relief. She eavesdropped on the conversation that the man had with the girl, before she watched as she started to walk off. The man was adamant that he could take care of this mess, and all Volcanic had to do was help ensure that this box got to a kid in need.

With a bit of a sigh at her exploration and fun coming to a close, she properly brushed the snow off of her bottom, and ran after the feline woman, shouting, "Wait up! I'm going with you!"

 

Celestine jumped a bit as she heard a voice call after her from behind. Not the rough, masculine voice she’d heard before, but a woman’s voice. Whipping around, Cel caught sight of the tall woman it had (probably) come from. Short white hair and general height to oppose her own dark teal hair and smaller stature, she was awfully mysterious looking. That was even before she factored in the strange, black wrapping on her head that kind of resembled a mask.

“You are wanting to be coming along with me,” she asked? “Why?“ She tilted her head in confusion until it dawned on her with a finger snap. “Oh, you must have been doing an eavesdrop?” Cel’s tail swished a bit behind her as if it was trying to say hello on its own. “You were hearing all of it then? Hmm…”

Closing the distance between the two of them, Celestine looked the stranger over, sizing her up. After a few moments, it seemed like she finally reaching a positive conclusion, and she began to explain: “We need to be doing a delivering of the box to a child. I am hoping it is a cute child that I can be doing a cuddling of. That would be nice. Here.”

Celestine handed the map over to the strange lady. Now that she had it in her hands, she could tell - if she was familiar enough with following a map - that Celestine had definitely been reading it upside-down, and was traveling in the wrong direction. “You can do a figuring out of the directions when we get to the town,” she offered. “Thank you for your help.”

That said, Celly started off in the same (wrong) direction she’d been going with the green box firmly tucked under her right arm.