Cassandra blinked at the hand offered to her, just staring for a few moments. Then, suddenly, she burst into laughter. It only lasted for a few moments, but she did need to get that out of the system. Once done, with a small tear in her eye from that happiness, she swiftly reached out and took that hand, giving it a genuine and sturdy shake. “You really are funny, Lunalou,” the rogue stated, before decidedly not letting go. After all, an invitation of sorts had been made here. Cass was not going to reject a pretty girl like that, especially not one that was so clearly overcoming her own shyness to even state that. It was a bit impressive. It wasn’t enough, of course, but it was impressive. Still though, she could not help it. As the rogue she was, Cas needed to lean in, making the situation a tad bit more uncomfortable via proximity. “Yes, yes, it may only be virtual, but I did save your life, didn’t I? That means you owe me the same thing.” She nodded to herself, theatrically. “A life debt. That is no small matter. I should definitely add you, so that I can call upon you when it is time to collect. And at other times, too. Since you seem like a nice girl. But!” Cass raised a finger before stating her condition, as if to draw up an exclamation point in the sky. In a way, she was doing just that, after all. “I am new to all of this, so I would really need your contact data to add you without any stutters. Do you think you can do that? I am not judging, even when I am making fun of you. But that is certainly necessary, sorry.” A jarring shift, maybe, as she almost reverted back to her offline mannerisms, but that only made it more fun, in her opinion. It would have certainly been unexpected, that much was for sure.
Luna found herself confused and slightly worried when Cassandra burst, seemingly randomly, into laughter at whatever it was that Luna had said. Had she said anything that was particularly funny? And why was the woman calling her 'Lunalou'? Was it some sort of reference to something that she wasn't quite getting? It could very well be, she wasn't exactly in the know when it came to things like references and popular culture. She was kind of a social outcast most of the time, so it wasn't as if she had many friends to teach her what was popular. She shrugged, blushing. It had at least sounded like a compliment. "Y-you think?" Then Cassandra leaned in and mentioned that she owed her something of a life debt, which Luna couldn't exactly find herself refuting. Even if this wasn't reality, dying here was supposedly really realistic, so the woman had technically saved her from experiencing death's clutches. Luna found herself blushing, unable to meet the woman's eyes as she leaned in way too closely, swallowing heavily. Too close! She'd never had another woman this close to her before! At least, one that wasn't her mom back in reality! "I....I um, I suppose I d-do o-owe you a l-life debt." She really hoped the woman wouldn't cash it in on anything ludicrous, or that she would have the chance to repay it in the same way before the woman had a chance to cash it in. Idly, she did wonder what it could possibly be, before the woman's exclamation made her jump slightly, eyes wide as she looked towards the woman, who still hadn't given her name? Sure, Luna could use investigation mode to find out, but what was the fun in that? It took, two....maybe three tries for Luna to get her contact info out without a single stutter, though she was honestly rather impressed with that, even if she was somewhat mystified by the sudden change in the woman's demeanor. When had she suddenly gotten so serious? Before Luna could speak up again, the merchant spoke up angrily from his carriage. "Are you two idiots finished arranging your next date? We're almost there, save it for the next village for crying out loud!"
Acquiring a serious debt just by doing what she would have done anyway, that was neat. Cass did like winning. It felt a bit overblown, sure, but this was just a game. No one here was taking on any actual, enforceable liabilities. It was a joke. One that she planned on expanding on in the future, yes, but it was still just a joke by nature. So, even her relatively modest real self was satisfied with this. Besides, she liked being a bid of a bad girl in game. Doing things she would never do in real life, saying things that would just sound stupid in any other context – that was why she playing this in the first place. And so far, it had been good fun. With that girl’s contact information, it promised to also be fun in the future. An entry in the system was created and their achievement celebrated. Well, almost achievement. After all, they still had to walk that merchant bag those last few miles, as he was more than happy to remind them of. Seriously, if they would not get more rewards out of seeing this through properly, she really might have just punched the guy then and there. His face was just too punchable. ”Well, maybe we should have just let the bear eat you. That would have certainly saved me some grief right there. How about you shut up and start moving? None of us has a cart, so we are actually just waiting for you.” Well, technically, they were not. In fact, Cas had pretty much forgotten about that guy completely. But as a matter of fact, they could not just walk ahead either unless he followed, so there was some truth to the statement at least. “Anyway, we should get going. There really isn’t a reason not to complete this quest before carrying on We could both use the EXP on top of the experience.” Once more, a laugh followed the pun, which she deemed quite well done. It was pretty mundane, yes, but there actually was quite a difference between such things here, wasn’t there? Luna had proven it the best. Even if she’d been way higher in level, she likely would have flailed just as wildly. In this game, level could easily be overshadowed by actual ability and expertise. But to what extent? Cass would have to find out. Speaking of that….”Also, I go by Cassandra here, if you have not noticed. It is a pretty name, don’t look for any hidden meanings. I am not quite sophisticated enough for those.”
Luna was glad with how happy the woman seemed to actually add her, even if a small part of her traitorous mind wondered if it was merely because she owed the woman a favor to be repaid at any time. That wasn't worth thinking about right now though, she was just content to believe and hope that the woman did genuinely enjoy her company. In truth, beneath the teasing and the slightly cocky attitude, Cassandra seemed like a pretty nice person to be around. And at this point she had to agree with the woman, their client was being rather ungrateful after what they'd just been through. Luna wasn't the type to get angry or pissed off often, but even she was starting to lose a little bit of patience with the self-entitled man that had grabbed her out of nowhere. She'd been unbelievably nice and understanding with him up until this point, but even she couldn't deny the small surge of satisfaction that she felt when Cassandra told him off for his comments. Her verbal lashing seemed to be effective too, as the man silenced himself and started moving his carriage again. Luna breathed out a sigh of relief, walking forward as the man set off again, sticking closer to Cassandra this time. "T-thank you for that." She smiled softly, swallowing back the nerves that had built up over the small argument that had occurred. She wasn't sure she'd have been able to handle either the bear or their client alone. She did blush and nod at Cassandra's introduction. It certainly was a nice name, she could say that and be sure of it. "N-Nice to meet you, Cassandra. T-There was no d-deeper meaning behind my name either, s-so don't worry about it."
“IT’s nothing, really. Just because we have to take their quests does not mean we have to take their crap,” she replied, feeling a little bit rebellious. All of this was scripted, after all. That meant the developers wanted these guys to act in react in certain ways. Going off-script like this was kind of liberating – even though there was a chance that this had been planned for as well. Eh. Who cared, anyway? It was fun to tell this jerk off. Planned or not, that fact remained. This was a game after all, so Cass always preferred the things that were fun. Crossing her arms behind the back of her head, the young adventurer walked alongside her companion, believing that the rest of the escort was a mere formality. As long as they did not get separated from this man, they should have been able to finish this peacefully. Besides, that one bear had been enough fighting already. The first enemies she’d fought had been downed in a single shot, so it had felt like a small boss encounter of sorts. “Anyway, I never liked having meaning behind names like that. I mean, how would anyone even know beforehand? Names should just sound nice, instead of parents projecting their wishes onto children. Especially in an MMO like this. As long as a name does not start and end in three x each, it is usually fine.” Once more, she nodded to herself. All the names were good names. Unless they were too close to one another, because that just got confusing. Actually, she had never even remotely bothered learning the merchant’s name. And why should she? He was just a thing of sorts, not a person.
"Y-yeah, y-y-you're right. I-I-I just c-could never speak to somebody like t-that, I think." Being that dismissive and rude really wasn't in her nature. It was so rare that people actually spoke to her that even if they were saying mean things, usually she could bear it with a smile, since she was actually being noticed for a change. At school and around town, it was almost impossible for her to attract any kind of attention from anybody, friendly or otherwise. It was sad, but she was honestly kind of starved for attention and that made her happy just to be spoken to. As they continued to walk and Luna listened to Cassandra talking about her views on fancy, meaningful names and stuff, Luna smiled as she finally had somebody to talk to and pay attention to, even as she watched the gates of the next town that they were approaching crest over the nearby hill. They were basically there! They'd done it! Her first actual quest completion in this game! It was awesome! Eventually, they stepped through those gates and into the village itself, where the man pulled his carriage aside and fixed the two with a distasteful look. "Well I suppose you did help me, even if you spent a lot of that time flirting and fucking around. Here, take the cash and get out of my sight." He thrust two coin purses in their direction, before stomping off to set up his trade stall. Luna sighed in relief. "Well um, I-I suppose we part ways here?" She asked, smiling warmly. "I-I-I h-h-have to start h-heading out of Brisshal. J-Just message me if y-you want to s-speak or meet up, okay?" She nodded, almost bowing as she turned to walk away, leaving her new....friend?....yes, friend. She almost couldn't wait until they met again. [EXIT THREAD]
