”I try to avoid mages, just for that reason I can’t tell if they have some spell on their items or not. Just my rule of thumb that if they look like they dabble in magic, try to avoid them as much as I can.” _____Kaede would reply to her question before tapping her chin some trying to figure out some way to help Mizuki. Reaching one hand to manage her UI while the other slowly waved and she chanted a spell that she felt could help out in this case. After some time Kaede would throw a number of coins into the air that hopefully got Mizuki’s attention as Kaede rushed forward and pressed a hand to the girl’s forehead. At first it just seemed to be an invasion of space but after the girl blinked the location seemed to shift heavily. _____The once jungle turning into busy streets of Stokbon, countless randomly clothed figures with all blank faces walked around the area. most looked like lower class, a few others guards, rarely a higher class could be seen, and standing before Mizuki was Kaede slowly tapping her remaining coins in her hand, her other hand holding a symbol likely to keep the spell in effect. ”Within the area are a total of sixty coins, the guards will chase you if you are obvious, and you have to decide who has the coins all the while I will be moving around also leaving marks on you should you get ‘caught’ before resetting the area for you.” _____Kaede would speak, but as a guard passed her she vanished into the crowds and left Mizuki to her thing. The area itself was a large AoE illusion, any attempt to try and investigate would likely cause the girl a headache if she tried to focus on any one thing at a time. And while most the people seemed normal, some seemed to have a small wind flow to them. The wind being how Kaede was keeping the coins ‘hidden’ on each person. How Mizuki approached was up to her and Kaede would do her best to keep a keen eye to see if she messed up on something or another. @Ueno Mizuki
The idea that mages could just negate the effort of becoming a skilled and nimble pickpocket annoyed Mizuki somewhat, since it made it feel like physical types like herself would always be at a disadvantage when compared to those who got involved in the magical arts. From what Mizuki could tell Kaede had invested a lot into her skills, so hearing the redhead admit that even with all of that she'd still just avoid mages outright if possible didn't sit well with Mizuki. However she couldn't do anything about it, and if it's Kaede's advice that you were better off just treating mages as bad prey to target she'd have to respect her friend's expertise and try to avoid mages as well. She wondered if there was a way to negate the advantage magic users had... It could be that the world was just that unfair, that magic masteries just gave more than physical masteries... However if those who designed this world had tried to keep it fair maybe if you used your physical masteries right there was a way to compensate. Mizuki glanced down at her own legs. She was quite fast already, but she knew for a fact that she could still become much, much faster. If physical masteries were just as rewarding as the magical masteries maybe the difference was that physical masteries were a lot more focused... Although the main difference could also just be that according to the player's handbook magic users had to be careful with their energy usage, so maybe the main difference between physical and magical wasn't that mages weren't necessarily stronger, but if necessary they could burn through their power a lot faster while physical fighters could perform adequately for extended durations. Speaking of magic, it seemed like Kaede was planning something, Mizuki pulling herself out of her pondering when she saw the redhead pull something out of her inventory. Her heterochromatic eyes followed the gold coins that travelled through the air, right up until a hand blocked her upwards gaze, leaving the wolflike Felis confused for a moment. If she didn't know Kaede fairly well she'd have been on guard, but as it was she was just wondering what her friend was planning. She found out when she blinked, which resulted in her nearly falling over as everything seemed to shift and change, leaving Mizuki blinking heavily and trying to regain her balance even as she looked around, her confusion remaining even as she realized that she was now in the streets of Stokbon. She understood that just fine, but this was the first time she was directly exposed to such a strong illusion so it took some effort to accept the abrupt change of location and move on. Kaede explaining that situation helped a bit, since it made it clearer that this was a training realm that Kaede was maintaining so Mizuki would be able to get some more realistic practice on trying not to get caught. The setup was simple yet very thorough, which left the wolflike Felis both impressed and surprised that Kaede would put that much effort just into making it easier for her to train. Creating and maintaining something of this level should be a real drain, so having Kaede do it just like that because she thought it would help Mizuki with her training... Well, there weren't a lot of people who'd be that proactive in helping out a friend like that, so it left Mizuki feeling a bit embarrassed even as she nodded to show that she understood the idea. Once Kaede disappeared she was left to herself, so Mizuki looked around and tried to figure out the best way to approach this. The people were all very generic in appearance, and their faces seemed to barely exist. Most likely because even with all the magic in the world creating an expansive illusion like this would be too much of a drain if you tried to keep the amount of data on the same level as that of the real world... or in this case, Terrasphere. It was already one of the bigger questions around the game where people were keeping that massive a data storage that it could hold all of Terrasphere, since even if distances were a lot shorter here than on Earth you'd still probably need a storage the size of a city. Given that trying to focus on any one thing seemed to automatically result in a dizzy feeling Kaede was probably making the illusion easier to maintain by having it generate an impression and letting Mizuki's subconscious fill in the details so far as necessary for it to work, but with as result that the illusion itself didn't actually have that many details. But right now she'd have to see if she could actually do what Kaede taught her. First she just walked amongst the blank people, trying to get a grip on the way they moved and the patterns in which they moved throughout the fake city. Kaede's training so far had definitely been more designed for urban use, which made sense considering Kaede's personal preferences in how to use it. Mizuki was more planning to use it in the wilderness, but this was good training either way, to be subtle even when acting and moving nimbly. However the issue was remaining unseen... The first time that Mizuki tried to steal something the guards noticed pretty quickly, as Mizuki tried bumping into someone while stealing their stuff, but both collided too strongly so she brought attention upon herself, and then lingered too long trying to find the coin she was supposed to grab. She didn't find it and got caught by the guards to boot, so the first attempt was a failure. For the second attempt Mizuki spent a lot more time finding signs that her target would indeed have a coin, trying to figure out what clues there would be that indicate such. The fact that trying to focus too much on any single detail would result in a headache was making it more of a challenge than it would usually be, since it meant her investigation mode was more likely to make her head hurt than actually tell her who to target. It took a while before she began to pick up on the fact that the breezes she felt seemed to be connected to certain people passing through, and even then at first it was more that a part of her mind began to notice and got confused than that she directly reasoned that the breezes were important. Once she did figure out the actual meaning of the wind, however, Mizuki did manage to steal a coin by basically just ripping the satchel from someone's waist and running for it, forgoing stealth entirely in favour of just losing the guards who still moved like normal people, and not like the impressively fast wolflike Felis. @Kaede Hoshi
_____It was not exactly what Kaede was expecting. Eyes watching from her perch on a tree branch now resembling a building ledge close by Mizuki with a slightly amused smile forming on the girl’s lips. Kaede’s fingers moving slowly as the layout began shifting slowly, more narrow streets and less ducking away spots. Half way into reworking the area Kaede broke her fingers apart and the field scattered revealing the forest. The red haired girl growling from her perch as the coins could be seen and soon spun back towards Kaede. ”Seems that was more energy I could keep going and try to change half way into it ha-ha, and it would also seem my energy burnt a lot faster than I was expecting… Want me to recover any topics or try to answer some questions you might have?” _____Kaede would jump from her spot to land nearby, her frame drifting uneasy towards the ground before she caught herself and regained balance, it was clear she was light headed at the moment and talking was about the extent of what she could do.
It looked like the tactic of just grabbing the coin and running with it was working, since the guards couldn't keep up with Mizuki's high mobility. She somewhat felt bad for not doing it the stealthy way, since that was the point of this exercise, but in the end she had to admit that stealthily stealing people's stuff wasn't really her forte. She could try to keep improving until she was capable of doing it in the future, but right now she just wanted to get the coin so she could say that she had at least somewhat completed the challenge. However as she kept running she noticed that it was harder to find her way through the crowds. There was less room to manoeuvre in, the people were packed more tightly together. The wolflike Felis kept going but she was having trouble finding a path, while the guards behind her were beginning to get close as the people made way for them while Mizuki had to force herself a path. She considered trying to use the walls, but that would make tracking her extremely easy for the guards, since someone who moved through the city using the walls instead of the ground would stand out like a sore thumb. While Mizuki was still trying to figure out how to deal with this development the city began to look... less stable. Mizuki couldn't exactly put her finger on it, but it was becoming easier to tell that this city wasn't actually real. Something created by Kaede to help Mizuki train. The Felis would have tried to investigate why this was happening but still the guards were chasing her, and even beyond the challenge she just didn't feel like getting caught. When the illusion finally fell apart Mizuki blinked, looking at the coins in her hand as she world around her returned to the appearance of a jungle. She didn't have a lot of coins, but that wasn't important right now. With how suddenly the illusion ended she was somewhat startled when she heard Kaede's voice from above, as she had still been thinking about what had happened. Looking up she saw Kaede jump down, looking like she'd fall for a moment before she caught herself and landed properly. Still, it was clear that Kaede's illusion had ended because she didn't have the energy to sustain it any longer. "If you've expended too much energy I think it'd be better if we just returned to the inn. We could talk about the lesson back there and it'll be more comfortable than doing it out in the jungle, now that we're done with the practical part." Mizuki wasn't going to make Kaede exert herself for the sake of her training, and she didn't feel like continuing the practical lessons without Kaede to help show her the way. Walking over the redhead she offered her support, wanting to thank Kaede for the help by helping her return to the town for some well deserved rest. "I think that for now I have the information I need. Now I just need to keep practising, and if I encounter something unusual or I think of something I'll come and ask you. You've already taught me a lot."
_____Kaede did not want to accept the offered help, it was never good to show a girl you needed a hand but as her first few steps took some effort she reluctantly scraped the tough girl act and tried to get the help she had been offered. Kaede would just listen to Mizuki as the walked, her focus mostly and relaxing and enjoying the walk back to the tavern and keeping herself under control was the biggest issue. Anyone with Kaede’s past would struggle not to abuse such a situation even slightly and the blush on Kaede’s face hinted such was the case. ”I know it was likely not exactly what you wanted from the training session… but it’s not exactly easy to be a teacher for the first time… I got nervous and kept changing gears because I thought each lesson was a failed idea…” _____Scratching the back of her head as she spoke up nervously before moving to walk on her own without leaning on Mizuki. She also tried to get some distance even if it meant the risk of falling down without getting catched to help calm her down. Kaede honestly felt her face red and her heart freaking out inside her chest from staying so close without acting on any thoughts she had gotten. Her focus moving to the sky as she sighed about something or another in mumbled words before looking where she was going. ”I’d be happy to help as best I can during those times… I think my only last bit of information would be to practice every day, even if only for ten minutes a day, your muscles should get used to things or patterns and can help you out in the moments you can’t always think exactly how to get out of a tough spot or aren't sober enough to think strait. From experience i can say that much… Ha-ha.” @Ueno Mizuki
Seeing Kaede at first try to walk by herself before accepting Mizuki's help the wolflike woman interpreted it as pride more than any ulterior motive. Once Kaede made it clear she was willing to let Mizuki help her the wolf woman grabbed Kaede's arm and placed it around her own shoulders so she could carry a good portion of Kaede's weight, and with the hand she placed on Kaede's side she could make it easier for her tutor. As she walked she noticed that Kaede was a bit fidgety, but she assumed that was more a result of the woman being a bit disappointed that she needed help to get back to town, or that she was just impatient to be back at the inn where she'd be able to rest. She was aware that Kaede could get very enthusiastic with her amorous advances, but it didn't occur to her that Kaede's current behaviour might be a conflict with her amorous tendencies as the focus. "Don't worry about it. I know that you aren't used to being a teacher, so I'm not judging you for not having a perfect plan for helping me learn how to be more of a rogue. As it is your lessons already helped me gain more insight on what it's like, so I think it's safe to say that your first time as a tutor was a success." Mizuki tried to make Kaede feel a bit more confident in her own abilities, including the ability to teach others. "You did switch what you were focusing on several times, but you were showing me all the different thing that are important for a Rogue so it couldn't be helped that the lesson was more about exploration than in-depth training." When Kaede pulled away Mizuki was surprised, but let the red-haired woman try walking on her own again, careful to catch her if she was in danger of falling. It looked like Kaede was doing better now, which indicated that her issue with walking and the illusion dispersing were just signs of sudden lack of energy rather than a sign that Kaede had been overexerting herself for a prolonged period of time. Still, Kaede was blushing an awful lot... Mizuki also blushed as she got an idea what thoughts might have caused that blush. "Ten minutes every day should be doable. If I'm going to do this I'm going to do this right, so I'll try to keep all your advice in mind and quickly become better at this. Is something wrong?" She asked as she saw that Kaede looked like her mind wasn't entirely present, the way she was looking up at the skies with a red face. "So the training will help me gain reflexes which will make it easier to get out of troublesome situations than if I had to consciously think about what to do. That's actually good to know, thank you." She smiled at Kaede, her tail swishing behind her. "I don't often drink that much, but I'm still grateful that you told me so I know that in the future." She fell silent for a couple of minutes, then looked at Kaede. "So, you mostly use the mastery for stealing things instead of increased mobility?"
”How rude, I use it for other things and I only steal clothing!” _____Kaede would stomp her foot and puff up her cheeks like a little kid would likely do in her situation, it was a bad habit but also fun to help her relax or take herself less serious at times. She moved to stare at Mizuki, her face still red from her previous thoughts but starting to calm down slightly while she tried to look serious, rather seriously offended by what her friend had said. ”Honestly your mean sometimes you know that! I don’t just do bad things!” _____Kaede continued her small tantrum, arms folding as she quickly looked away and started to march back to town ahead of Mizuki. After some time of stomping and mumbling to herself she calmed down enough to walk normally and seemed to be better off now that her head was clear or focused on something other than her bad habits. Turning to look a Mizuki before reaching one of her hands out with a light blush across her face. ”To Make up for thinking I only steal you have to hold my hand until we get back to the tavern! No arguing!” _____Kaede would smile calmly, while she tried to sound serious she ended up laughing after she finished speaking and moved her hand closer to her side. If Mizuki did actually take hold of it Kaede would turn red again and try to keep herself focused on walking, every so often though glancing over to Mizuki and very lightly humming to herself. It was not every day she got to enjoy things like this, it made her happy she stopped just trying to sleep with every girl she met. @Ueno Mizuki
Mizuki was caught off guard when Kaede's response to her question was anger and indignation. The wolflike Felis hadn't actually been intending to sound accusatory, although in hindsight she realized that since stealing was a bad thing asking someone if they mostly used their mastery for stealing was pretty much guaranteed to get them upset, as long as they had an upstanding kind of character. She'd been so caught up by the training and ideas on how to utilize the mastery that she'd momentarily forgotten that just because the Rogue mastery allowed one to steal that didn't mean one should specialize in it or forget that it's a bad thing... although the fact that Kaede readily admitted to stealing clothes made it a tad harder to take the woman's complaints completely serious, if only because the answer was so Kaede-like that Mizuki almost laughed. However instead of laughing she put up her hands in an apologetic gesture, trying to get Kaede to calm down. Funny comments or not it looked like she'd genuinely offended her friend with the question, so now it was up to Mizuki to fix the situation. "I apologize. I didn't mean to imply that you had a habit of stealing. I was just thinking about ways to make use of the Rogue mastery and since you'd just explained to me the tricks of the trade I'd forgotten for a moment that just because you can do something doesn't mean you should." She scratched the side of her head, looking rather embarrassed at the mistake. However it didn't look like Kaede was actually interested in talking it out, the red-themed girl instead moving on ahead and leaving Mizuki no choice but to follow her and hope that Kaede would forgive her for her thoughtless words. While she walked Mizuki frowned as she realized that even on itself the fact that she asked such a question was a bit troubling. The beauty of Terrasphere was that it was a world where you could live with a lot of freedom, at least as a player. On Earth there were too many restrictions, too many things keeping you in check. Sure, if you had enough money and you were smart enough you could get a lot done, but by and large modern society wasn't good for allowing people to live life however they wished, as there were always rules and guidelines and public opinions and politics. In Terrasphere all of that mattered so much less, you could do a lot of things which on Earth would be either forbidden, publicly frowned upon or just too complicated due to the paperwork involved. But she hadn't expected that freedom to get her to think thoughts like stealing so easily. Was the freedom turning her into a more unethical person? Admittedly a lot of her time in Terrasphere had been spent hunting, fighting and killing... Which didn't bother her as much as maybe it should have. The wolflike Felis's frown deepened as she went deeper into this train of thought. Your personality was formed both by the past and the present. How you were in the present affected your perspective of past experiences, and past experiences affected how you were in the present. Some values and ways of thinking were deeply rooted and hard to change, mostly those that you developed at a young age and which you used to look at the world. Which made sense, since if a fundamental cornerstone of your perspective was easily knocked loose it'd be difficult to have confidence in any part of your perspective. However others were more easily affected, especially if the change was subconscious and gradual rather than a sudden shift. If Mizuki had spent a lot more time doing things which she would have considered horrific on Earth in Terrasphere without even thinking about it that could have seriously affected her perspective as she began to see those things as normal. So if she was becoming more used to violence, bloodshed and killing it could as a whole make her less abhorred by illegal, unethical and malicious acts. She was still aware that killing was bad. It just... In Terrasphere that seemed to matter less. But there was another twist to it as well: was that necessarily a bad thing? On Earth there was simply very little reason to ever harm anyone unless it as in self-defence. Society was stable, and most of the world enjoyed sufficient prosperity and peace that violence had little use. Here in Terrasphere the freedom also came with an increased threat, as there were many aggressive things which could attack you even if you had done nothing to intentionally attract its ire. In a world with more freedom more violence seemed to be a given. But did that mean the world of freedom was wrong? Was it wrong to be used to violence if you lived in a world where it was more necessary, more commonplace? If someone had ever found a completely objective definition of morality which accounted for all possibilities Mizuki had yet to find it: maybe this was one of those subjective or relative things, where the evil of violence depended not on the amount of violence but on the necessity and the kind of world you lived in. Mizuki had been so absorbed into her thoughts that she was pushed out of her own mind with a startled blink as Kaede returned and demanded that they held hands. For a moment Mizuki just looked puzzled as she tried to remember what she had been doing before she became lost in her own thoughts, but then she smiled and took her friend's outstretched hand. "If that's the punishment for speaking thoughtlessly I have no choice but to accept it." Dismissing the more complicated and grim thoughts from her mind Mizuki returned to the present, walking through the forest together with Kaede as they headed back to the inn. The wolflike Felis had a small but content smile on her face now, holding her friend's hand firmly and keeping close to her as her tail swished from side to side behind her. Regardless of whether the world was changing her perspective, there were still nice things to be gained from Terrasphere, such as friends and people she could be close with. @Kaede Hoshi
