In a small clearing of the Maithe Woodlands, a Faerin suddenly appeared and landed face down in a puddle of mud. She took some time to comprehend her situation and then respond appropriately, arms and legs moving much like a new born to free her from the stick mix of earth and water. There were several attempts until finally Theoni lifted her face from the mud and blinked several times. Her expression was blank, caked in sludge which oozed down her garments as she sat up in a kneeling position. Finally, the Faerin opened her mouth and announced with her sickly-sweet voice. "What the hell? This doesn't make sense!" Indignation declared, Theoni tried to take a step up only to immediately face plant back into the mud. "..." Bubbles appeared around the head in the mud as the Faerin cursed everything under the sun before managing to position her arms correctly and rise up from the bog once more. Besides the very visible fury, the brow of the girl was arched in a state of intense concentration as she moved her limbs with far more grace on the next attempt. One leg, followed by the next as she planted her feet into the mud and finally stood up to her full meagre height. Alone in the quiet clearing, her accomplishment went unapplauded. Still with a scowl, the Faerin started to use her hands to wipe away the mud from her face, pausing just once to watch the dirt ooze through her fingers. It was a strange feeling for the mind controlling her, even when stuck in the mud, the urge to breath had been at the back of her mind. Thinking about that made Theoni more aware of her own breathing, as well as her form. She placed both hands onto her chest and grinned. The small amusement was fleeting when her eyes noticed the drab peasant clothing she was wearing. Immediately the girl started to pat her clothes as if searching for something. "Huh? Is this it? Where's the starter items.... uh, do I not get a bow? Hello?!" Idealistic visions of shooting down innocent mobs for experience were shattered as Theoni soon realised she was entirely unarmed. What else has been in her skill set? The Faerin tried to use her skills though only accomplished a sequence of flailing arms which unbalanced her. Caught trying to run before she could even walk, the girl fell backwards onto her rear with a squelch in the mud puddle. "This sucks." grumbled Theoni, why did she have to spawn here of all places?
The red-headed Caenis had set out from Honeyhome somewhat early in the day. Early enough to see the last few hints of sunset along the sky before the floating ocean of blue was lost to a canopy of green leaves and bark. Zori was making an expedition into the Maithe Woodlands with purpose yet again. A brave, noble, goal of relaxation and fun. Truly, only the most righteous goal of all. "Can't wait to do me some fishing." He said to himself. Rationally not expecting to be heard on the footpaths into Brisshal's woods. It was a beautiful world, the one those Terrasphere developers had crafted. The shear scale of information they filled the world with, and then developed a system to handle and parse it out to players, must be ludicrous. Probably. Zori was at that weird point in knowing something where he had some idea of what it took to make everything work yet no idea at all about making it work. It just made the incredibly sharp resolution of virtual reality he experienced in this world... some modern god-damned miracle. His mind was filled with wonder in a way he had never known when he tried to wrap his head around how the devs had created so robust a system that the individual shadows of the blades of grass, that swayed in the constantly changing wind, seamlessly morphed and deformed into the others. It was a shame he'd have to get out of his nerdy state of mind. The Faerin he was planning to meet today wasn't that into technology as far the young Crotox knew. Leo wasn't all that keen on intellectual pursuits as far as Zori had seen afterall... Flaming someone within the safety of his mind wasn't something to be concerned about. Safely navigating towards the coast was the issue. With previous experiences filled with dangerous monsters and belligerent animals. Since Alin was the kind of guy who'd spec Zori into being a chubby, stealthy and sly, dog boy, using that stealthiness was the obvious choice. He was walking on the front of his feet, supporting his weight on virtual metatarsals. Soft, careful, heavily considered steps carried him forward when the paths had turned into game trails. Where he saw a blonde child playing around in the mud. Well. He'd thought she was playing around in the mud until she talked. He looked around the swamp to try and pick out a path to get close to the poor girl. "Hey, you alright over here?" He walked along the shallow mud. Spreading his weight over his whole foot this time and managing to avoid sinking into it completely. "Need a hand? Here." Zori offered an unstrung, old, fishing rod's end to Theoni. His intent to pull her towards more solid ground obvious.
Theoni was a character of action and did not remain sitting in the mud for long. Frustration put aside and maximum concentration resumed, as made clear by the lines on the Faerin's brow, she went back to trying to right herself and escape the ever expanding puddle of mud the game had decided to spawn her into. It was a challenge in that the mind behind her was not the least bit familiar with the means to control the Faerin. Together they squandered plenty of attempts to stand due to impatience and erratic commands. The conditions were no boon and would prove an adequate excuse should anyone ask, but really this episode was down to user error until finally through repeated trial and error, the girl stood up on her two feet once again. This time she did not look for a bow or attempt to cast any spells. Instead her brow remained creased, her brown eyes alert as they looked around the forest marshes. This was not just a single bad spot as she had believed upon spawning. Rather than a large puddle, Theoni found herself in something of a small swamp, with muddy waters that did not recede until the surrounding treeline. With her boots sinking into the pool of sludge around her feet, she was at risk of being stranded in the place unless she got her head in the game. Of course this meant the Faerin was immediately distracted again. Looking down at her boots, the girl noticed the braided blond pigtails framing her face which reached down to her bosom. Awkwardly she clutched the pair of them, growing quickly familiar with the surprisingly real texture of the hair, the slight glimmer of the blond despite most of her form being muddied by the swamp. It was a moment that reminded Theoni she was someone else entirely in this world, and a timely one as someone else intruded on her arrival into Terrasphere. Despite the swampy surroundings, Theoni had not heard the squelch that her own footsteps made whenever she tried to move in the mud. This stranger had managed to approach in near silence, his presence only noticed when he called out to her from the edge of the mini-swamp. The Faerin had visibly twitched in surprise before she turned to spy the man with dog ears beckoning to her. She regarded him with some caution, taking a second to make a read on the guy... Some chubby creep with dog ears. To be sneaking around so quietly, he had to be a deviant of sorts. It was a good thing Theoni remembered how she appeared in this world, the guy behind that sort of avatar probably wanted to help her out and then take advantage of the situation! "Uh, sure, thanks!" The Faerin replied sweetly, remembering to smile in angelic fashion as she played the innocent angle. She wiped her hands clean of mud on her shirt and grasped the fishing pole offered, the same focus resuming as the girl tried walking once more. With the support of the strange to counter any unbalance or slippage in the unsteady swamp mud, Theoni had a far easier time navigating the terrain until finally she reached firmer footing. Getting ahead of herself, the Faerin made a dash that ended quickly in a stumble a few feet past the strange who had decided to help her out of the predicament. Mostly to put some distance between her and the suspicious guy. She held out her arms for balance, and once found, turned to face the porky man with animal ears. The girl could not hide her frown nor the raised eyebrow over one eye. She did manage to stop short of shaking her head though. "Jeez, what the heck are you supposed to be, fatty?" asked Theoni instead of thanking the man. "Some sorta mistake with man's best friend? You got a tail too or something? Freaking weird looking." She tilted her head to the side, mud still falling from her as she looked her saviour up and down with continued disapproval. It was only just dawning on the Faerin how short she was compared to the dog eared fisherman... did that matter in this sort of place? She had never been too familiar with height measurements but seeing it in simulated reality made Theoni ponder if a mistake had been made. That aside... her eyes narrowed on the fishing rod used to help her out. "...You a mud fisher or something, pal? Really, what's the deal with that? Pretty sure fish don't swim in trees! What, you just go around hooking people out of swamps?"
Apparently the knife-eared girl was something of a sharp-tongued prick. That had to be a running theme. Hmm. Pointy ears. Very small. Childish voice. Where had Zori seen this kind of thing before. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. That is, he wasn't sure until he saw Theoni put some distance between the odd pair in a very familiar way. He could see it now, if he thought of the mud as mint-green slime instead. He was practically seeing another Leopold... Faerin. That's what it was, some Fae-descended race of small folk. He wasn't looking at a kid, which was comforting for the dog boy. He wasn't very good around children, as a substance-less guy. Those little buggers tend to found out quickly. Especially since he didn't keep any games on his phone. He quickly realized he was probably staring just a bit too long. Especially since Theoni had done nothing but spit caustic vitriol towards the good samaritan she was fortunate to have encountered. He didn't mind the shade too much, he wasn't really used to it in the real world but Zori had a thick skin. He'd act like he had a thick skin. There wasn't anyone in his life for him to be vulnerable to, so he just had to lock it all away. Letting that simmer wouldn't be an issue. Nope. Not at all. "Uh..." He was definitely smoother in the game than in the real world. He cleared his throat and went back to being a suave boy. "No, no. I'm pretty sure catching stuff in a swamp is better with like. A poker thing, or a net. This is... I was planning to go fishing at the coast. It's uh..." The pacing and cadence of Zori's speech was totally great. He definitely wasn't coming across as an awkward sod who didn't know how to talk to confrontational people. It was especially helpful when he paused in the middle of talking to access his palm menu, press the map button that was floating in the air in front of him (that Theoni couldn't see), and pick up the slack again. "That way." He pointed. It was always awkward to point somewhere in a conversation where someone wasn't asking for directions. He was completely second guessing the path he'd chosen in this dialogue tree. "That... I'm guessing you don't care. Doesn't matter. More importantly, you're a player. Right? You didn't see 'Caenis'? This is a playable race like yours... Uh, I think Fae kin. It's not weird in this world, not the ears or the tail." Zori then proceeded to show off the two features he lacked in the real world that he really enjoyed having in Terrasphere. The fully-functioning tail and ears. He made the three appendages move to prove they weren't cash shop accessories. "I think they're wolf people in the lore."
The short girl finally lowered her arms to her sides as she felt in control, no longer worried about unbalancing and ending up on her rear again. Something was off about this guy, besides the whole dog-look, fishing rod in a forest and not making a noise when sneaking around the swamp. The large brown eyes of the Faerin watched him suspiciously as he was slow to respond to her, either caught completely off guard by her remarks or being considerate with his words. She was quick to dismiss him as a little slow when he meandered on about the hobby he was about to pursue, failing to realise that her question about the items he was carrying was more an avenue to mock the guy rather than being a legitimate question. When he actually went on to point in the direction of the coast where he intended to 'fish', Theoni decided to clue him in by rolling her eyes and sighing loudly. That was enough for him to get the message, though too slow to avoid the Faerin taking the words and thinking of ways to weaponise them for later. Imagine entering a virtual fantasy world and then going off to do something as mundane as fishing? This chump got duller by the second. "Oh cripes." muttered Theoni when the man confirmed he did have a tail. He was a fully certified dog man it seemed, or wolf person as he tried to clarify. Really it was the same to the mind behind the Faerin, a weird fascination with being an animal that suited the tubby guy entirely. In that explanation and demonstration, he had posed a question to her, one that Theoni perceived to be questioning her knowledge of the world. Rather than admit to any such ignorance, she decided to just wave it off. "Lore, snore. Like anyone has time for that stuff. S'all a buncha screens which I got through as fast as possible. Doesn't matter what I'm meant to be, I'm gonna do things my way! And that means actually doing stuff, not wasting time on meaningless crap. Are you freaking serious about going fishing? What a snoozefest! Let me guess, next you're gonna smear some paint over a tree and watch it dry?!" Instinctively Theoni had been demonstrating with her arms, even small shifts of her feet as the energetic player behind her got into the groove of the game. It was only as she grew conscious of these small movements she was making that the Faerin once again felt unbalanced and stopped, crossing her arms together in front of her to keep them gesturing any more. "Well, whatever, do your thing, dog. Guess I'll be the one to make an impact in this place! Hey, you got that fishing rod from a town right? This stupid world didn't spawn me with any weapons, where can I go get some?"
Zori wasn't aware he was being shameless. Probably because he wasn't, not even close. He was just teaching another player how the world worked. His teaching style, apparently, left a lot to be desired. Instead of generating interest in the topic he was enlightening Theoni about, he must have quashed what little desire to learn about the history of this fantasy world that did exist. It was a pity, but a negligible cost of casual conversation and amicable meetings. "Yeah... Nah." Were Zori's responses to the little Faerin's inflammatory questions. He was starting to get the impression she was unhappy about something. That was the only explanation. When someone was acting mean there was obviously some need they hadn't attended to or some concern pushing them past comfortable. There was a driving force, but what could it possibly be? What could make someone so rude? Oh. She revealed it. She must have felt endangered. Theoni was new to this wild and cruel world that was Terrasphere. Zori didn't have any weapons on him either. It would probably have been troubling for anybody else, but he was set up to be able to outmaneuver and avoid. While trying to come up with some solutions for the Faerin he'd stumbled into he started to drawl out an answer to the new questions. "Yeah, I got this tackle from Honeyhome. There's probably a smithy in the town. I wouldn't know because I have yet to try and arm myself." His head swiveled away from looking vaguely at Theoni's head to the direction he'd departed from. That same village he was talking about. "Over there. It's kind of dangerous though. This forest is full of aberrations and overly aggressive animals. When I first dropped I ran into a moose that was angry and big enough to plow right through trees." He felt like trying to make scary antlers before realizing he wasn't talking to a child. That and the shade-tossing Faerin probably wouldn't appreciate those theatrics. "I can put this fishing off, get you closer to town if you'd like. I made for great bait the last time I had to deal with the monsters round these parts."
Honeyhome struck her as a strange name for a place, though the fantasy setting of this place meant all manner of things could sound strange and be considered perfectly normal. Her own name for example took this concept and ran with it. If the place was really on the point about its title, then perhaps it would be some bee haven with some sweet nectar. And if it turned out to be a dud, then she just had to find a real starting town, get equipped with a weapon and then hunt down the lying fisherman. Theoni turned to look in the direction she had pointed, fortunately the opposite direction from the beach he had mentioned which suggested there was some truth to his words. However the directions of the stranger were accompanied by a warning. It seemed natural obstacles like swamps were not the only thing the Faerin had to be on guard for. The wildlife of these woodlands were aggressive and even capable of destroying the environment around them if the dog was to be believed. That surprised Theoni a tad - it seemed counter productive to spawn new players in a defenseless state and then subject them to such perils. Either the advice giver was unlucky or lying to her about the threat level faced. Her pre-existing suspicion of him pointed her thoughts to the latter. "Smash through like...." The Faerin paused and gestured to wide trunk on the edge of the swamp she had escaped from. She could imagine maybe a trunk running through one of those but not the creature she was imagining. "One of those? With their... uh, Moose are the big things with the long horns right?" To try and present her point, the girl raised her arms so that her elbows were touching the sides of her temple. She made her forearms point outwards, with hands open and fingers spread to represent the strange antlers of the creature she was imagining in her head. As naive as the mind behind her was about the world outside an urban environment, they had at least witnessed nature documentaries on television. "Like this?" Theoni asked as she maintained the pose for a few seconds longer. "Ain't they like docile though? You saying a dumb looking moose is going to run straight at me for no reason? Is that why you're creeping around all quiet like mister?" The Faerin lowered her arms as she started her questions, rapid fire as she spoke with no pause of consideration for the man meant to answer them. Though she had disregarded him as a boring individual only moments ago, and had plenty of decided reasons to ignore his advice, the man had raised the stakes by mentioning danger. If he was speaking the truth then Theoni was facing a real dilemma. To put it simply, her reputation in this world would stink if she got killed in the starting area by random wildlife. She needed to ensure that did not happen. Unfortunately this guy was only good for his knowledge and sneaking, not even a weapon on him for her to demand. "Sneaking around because you thought it was wiser to pick up a fishing rod than a weapon... Paint watcher, you're not right in the head! What good is going to catch fish if some crazy moose is just going to kill you for any fish you get? Did you think of that part? Not like you look in any shape to run away from it too! Got a frigging death wish or something?" If Theoni was to be brutally honest, she did not care much for the survival of the guy who had helped her out of the swamp. If they never crossed paths again, the Faerin would not wonder once if her prediction about him perishing in the forest had been correct. The dog man just so happened to make himself useful by volunteering to be bait but Theoni did not want to come off as needy. So instead, she was dramatically trying to twist the scenario to a point where she was the one being depended upon. After all, even for her ego, it would be difficult to swallow being helped out consecutively by a mutt she had deemed useless. "How about we both go get weapons from Honeytown?" Theoni suggested, mis-remembering the name. "Stops you ending up as moose...." She had no idea what moose ate. Was it people in this world? "...lunch?" Besides, it was not like she had any money to buy a weapon. She needed someone to mooch off. If it meant tubby got his fishing rod pawned off for her benefit, so be it.
The "mutt" was somewhat surprised that his conversation with the Faerin girl was continuing at such a comfortable clip. He had figured she was laying down all the signals that she was sick of his guts and didn't want to hang out with a "creepy" guy. The fact she decided to keep talking served only to reinforce the idea in his mind that she was discomforted by the situation she was in. There was no semblance of desirability to be had in the knowledge that death could be so close to you when you just came in to the world. Nothing you could do would effectively halt it. It was worrying, stress incarnate, and he felt he needed to do something to help. So he did what he was best at, listen. Since talking and participating was a risk in every sense of the word. Carefully calculating correct correspondence with children was a task he had yet to fully grasp. Wait, she wasn't a kid. Not with a mouth like that. Faerin, just short people dammit. He had to nod along instead of being trapped in his own mind. He had to confirm the fact that the moose he'd run into totally did smash through one of those trees. Then shake his head about them being docile, then really work his neck by going from nodding to shaking to nodding again. He needed to make sure the fact he was sneaking to avoid the wild life, and not to sneak up on people, was accurately understood. Then suddenly she went on a weird tirade. Zori didn't quite get why she went at it with that strange angle of attack. I mean, Zori hadn't been hit by any moose yet on his quiet walks through the Maithe woodlands and nearby other lands. He felt like he was doing wrong by the end of the rant though. Not really sure why he felt like, somehow, Theoni was right. While not talking about anything she really had a grasp of. At least, that's the impression Zori quickly buried away while thinking she was probably right about what she was so passionately shouting about. His belief didn't stop him from stuttering out some, "But...,"s while she was asking questions. Not that he was able to get a word in edge-wise. Then it ended. "Yeah. I guess we can do that. My treat I guess as uh... Thanks? Yeah." He was slowly catching up to everything. Even though he thought he was a good listener there was a bit too much going on in the forceful speech for him to have managed to catch it all. "It'll be an experience I guess. That's kind of why I was gonna fish, do something unusual. Guess it's dumb to do that without any... self... defense..?" He started to walk out of the light mud he'd been standing on, where he pulled Theoni too, and on to the damp undergrowth of the forest. Not as quietly as he could have. He wasn't able to focus on the silent stepping technique he'd been using until now. "Just uh. Try to step lightly. Shouldn't be too hard for you... I mean, I do it pretty well too but uh..." There was just no clear idea for how to react in his mind. How to tackle this whole thing. He just walked a bit towards Honeyhome hoping Theoni would follow without attracting someone dangerous. "Oh, it's Honeyhome by the way. It... it doesn't really matter."
Damn, she was good. All in a matter of moments, her words had twisted this dullard into believing she was doing him a favour by using him as an expendable party should she be attacked by a monster on the way to the starter town. It was probably wrong to take advantage of a simpleton like this but Theoni had never possessed a very accurate measure of what was right or wrong, winging it in most cases by assuming what she wanted was always in the right. How could it not be? "You're right, it doesn't!" The Faerin responded with a smile, though did try to commit Honeyhome to memory in case a local got annoyed with her referring to it in any other way. It was not like she intended to hang around too long in a starter town. Only bad players like this guy or people with an completionist obsession would stick around in low level areas for long. Once she had her weapon in hand, Theoni had grand ambitions to take the world by storm and could not afford to waste time loitering in some weak-sauce area. She quietly clutched both hands into fists, her arms bent as they were raised and then pulled down in small celebration as she envisioned the victories before her. It was fair to say that the Faerin was thinking a few too many steps ahead. The squelching of the mutt's feet drew her back to the present. "Sure, I can stay quiet, but what happened to you paint enthusiast?" questioned the Faerin as her travelling companion suddenly lost the silent steps he had used to approach in the swamp. Compared with his latest style, even she was making less noise than him without really trying. Not that Theoni was ever going to manage stealth too well when she always had something to jabber on about. "Squelch, squelch, squelch. Ain't you going to attract the whole frigging forest like that? What happened to step lightly?" She rolled her brown eyes, growing bold as she turned to walk backwards as she berated the stealth master's sudden lack of sneakiness. If he did go ahead and lure something in, it would be at his own peril. Looking as he did, she was more than confident she could out run him and that was all that really mattered when being chased. Theoni had done that to a good few people in her time outside the game. It mattered little that she had struggled to grasp the basics of the game, they were already starting to feel more natural by the second... the Faerin threw out both arms for balance as she felt a slight wobble in her backwards march. She quickly spun back around to ensure there was no awkward tumble. When nothing appeared to charge them from the undergrowth after some progress, Theoni was quick to grow lax, lifting both arms to cross them behind her head as she sighed out loud. This had turned into nothing more than an easy stroll through the woodlands. This mutt was really full of it by suggesting there was any scary monsters in a starter area. She had been silly to even think he was correct... she glanced at him suspiciously. "Hey, this better not be some crappy escorting quest you've roped me into. 'Make sure the fisherman gets to the village!', I'm not here to do mundane quests like that. Are you actually a person or what? Why haven't you given me your name? I bet its fisherman-npc or paintwatcher-npc or something." Theoni ranted, the dull walk quickly drawing out her impatience.
Zori was quietly pulling his stride together while leaving behind the previous conversation. There wasn't much to gain from dwelling in the past or trying to wrap his head around what exactly happened in the verbal tirade that was bothering him. There was many more important matters. Like making sure the pair avoided the plethora of dangers in the forest. Nearly anything could try and kill the two wandering spirits, but nothing had stirred just yet. It was a breath of good fortune as far as the Caenis boy was concerned. It wasn't entirely luck. No, Zori hadn't been gambling his way down game trails in the Maithe Woodlands. He'd been using it as a form of practice, in the end. He wasn't used to his heightened ookamimi senses yet. Even then, he was able to put them to good use. Following the stale scents of animals and using his ears to listen for more immediate threats. He was getting pretty good at doing that. Then a new variable was tossed into the mix. He'd learned how to filter out his own noises, or at least listen around them, but now his mind could only focus on hearing Theoni. "Nothing happened. Just — I'm getting into stride is all." He was able to eek out. He mumbled his first answer before getting interrupted and then mumbling out the other half. It was a strange form of distraction. Even with her boast Theoni made plenty of noise, even without talking. With a bit of focus and care Zori was able to get back to making negligible levels of noise. Which meant more than foot steps in the living swamp/forest floor. Quiet breathing, a calm heart, no loud mouth sounds. The Faerin girl didn't seem very interested in maintaining the silent mouth sounds for extended periods of time. Before she started talking Zori found himself subconsciously focusing on her steps and breathing, evidence she wasn't sneakier than him, and when she spoke up again her voice was the only thing he was really focusing on. While not in the lead, and not able to lead them away from trouble, he was just thinking about the wrong thing. "My name is Alin, wait. Sorry, I'm Zori. I typed in Zori Crotox. You can check with the investigation mode, just act like you're moving stuff with your mind. Or, you know those old comic characters? Just pull a Professor X." He showed off what he meant by making the gesture, an index and middle on his temple. That's when the name "Theoni Vex" appeared over the girls head. She went on about not knowing his name when she hadn't shared hers. "If you do this you can see player and npc names. They don't look different, but NPCs won't talk about the game or the real world. It's... weird... Ms. Vex." He smirked, as if he had something over the small girl. Then he noticed something out of the corner of his eye: "Dire Badger". It was enough to make his heart stop. He quickly brought a finger to his lips while pointing out the badger hole with his other hand. As his senses sharpened he could pick up the smell of the large, angry vermin, but was able to relax as his hearing cued him in to the fact it was sleeping. Not very deeply, the noise they'd been making must have disturbed it somewhat. Taking a hush he tried to whisper, as quietly as he could (and possibly too quietly). "Back away with me, we need to put some distance and walk around it."
This suspicious guy proved to be an ever eager fountain of information. After introducing himself, his name strange but expected of the fantasy setting, he went on about this investigation mode which Theoni regarded with suspicion at first. Old comics books were not her forte so the reference flew over her head. The action the man performed with two fingers to his temple looked odd, and for a moment the Faerin took her fall back position of distrusting his words, right until he correctly identified her name. The short girl blinked in surprise, her pointed ears twitching as a give away. She frowned and then mimicked his action. With index and middle finger placed to the side of her temple, the brow of the Faerin creased as she focused hard on the task. The world before her did not change dramatically, though various pieces of text did flicker into existence around the scene, identifying simple objects and even confirming the name the mutt had given as entire true. "Zori Crotox..." Theoni read out loud, eyes narrowing as she tried to distinguish what the colour of the text meant. And even considering the implications of this ability on her journey ahead. She could know who someone was without even asking. Similarly, other people could identify her also. That would make life difficult for a common criminal, should she have the urge to bring her petty thievery into this world. Would items she took be easily identified as not her own? She needed to figure that out as soon as possible... she pulled her hand away from her head as Zori started to panic, the text above his head vanishing. "The heck you worrying about?" uttered the girl in response to the dog man's actions, a glance over her shoulder at the hole he was pointing to. It looked like some small tunnel, was he worried about that lived inside that. Theoni had to rack her brain momentarily to remember what sort of creatures lived in holes. It could not be that large judging by the tunnel but her guide seemed quite spooked. She placed her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes before playing along with his caution. "I thought dogs were meant to catch rabbits or something." The Faerin muttered in a hushed tone, keeping an eye on the burrow as she backed away with the fisherman. Her senses were not nearly as acute, only if a creature emerged from the darkness would she be aware of its presence. Just in case he was not overreacting, she made sure to move quickly enough to get on the other side of Zori so he was nearer to the distant hole, certain that a head start on the chubby mutt would cement her escape. Still, even in apparent peril, she could not hold off her commentary. "Y'know, you'd be slightly redeemable if you were an npc, at least it be in your coding to be all scared. A player acting all scared in a starter zone is pretty weak, pal." She brushed one of her braided blond pigtails to the side, her golden hair still blemished by specks of mud. "Plus its make you not having a weapon ever stranger..." She scratched her left cheek, picking away some dirt which had solidified on her skin. Her ears twitched again as they detected a rumbling sound. "Hey, you hear that?"
"Not a rabbit, badger. All the animals here are worth avoiding honestly." Zori whispered at a volume he was sure the animal couldn't detect at a distance he didn't have to worry about it hearing. His ears tried to pick up any disturbances in its breathing. It was a deadly trap, he was certain. Badgers weren't something to mess around with. Thick, bee ignoring hide. A scaled up, angrier, badger was worse in every way for the harmless players. There was some serendipitous luck involved in them being saved. "When your first experience in a new world is nearly getting trampled: you tend to want to prioritize not feeling that way again... I don't really have any excuses for not having a weapon. Guess I'm not—" He stopped when he also heard the rumbling. He swiveled his head around to see if anything was immediately troubling. The two should have backed a decent distance away from the badger hole; back on to what passed as a trail. His response was delayed while he tried to strain his hearing to determine if they were in danger. "Yeah. Let's get going the other way. Hearing that from this distance can only mean its big." It took him a second to be sure which way "other" was but once he knew he started sneaking in that direction. Doing so while making sure Theoni kept up. He wouldn't have been much of a human being if he abandoned the Faerin now. He hoped she'd do something cool, like walk in his relatively big foot steps so she didn't trample untrod plants. That could probably help them avoid being followed. After a short while of skulking away, he picked up the rumbling again. It was closer than before. He inwardly cursed at the fact he'd gotten so distracted he couldn't notice what was coming before the Faerin had. They didn't get special racial-boosted hearing. Some good part of Vex' ignorance of the lore meant she didn't know to flame him for being so inattentive. As far as she knew the ears were probably some kind of surface level alteration and not completely different from what stock humans had. To pull himself out of the "predict the attack" thought pattern, Zori spoke up. "I don't think it's following us yet. If we're unlucky it's tracking our scent. It could have been following us since we left the swamp. If it starts to come closer we might need to head into the trees. You think you can handle that on your own?" He was saying the first thing that came to mind without tailoring it for the people he was with. If he had the mind to spare he probably wouldn't have tried to question the everything but standoffish girl's physical abilities. In true Zori fashion, that didn't come to mind. Especially when the even closer sound of what was probably a bear rumbled through the earth towards them.
She paused and looked in the direction the rumbling noise had come from, at least the direction she thought it had come from. The sound had been brief. Zori seemed convinced there was another threat too. For all his ushering and warnings, the Faerin continued to stare in the direction, her brown eyes narrowing as they tried to look further than possible. From learning to move around without losing her balance to making use of all her senses, there was a lot to take in during her first session in this virtual world. Like relearning all the basics of life which she had never really appreciate previously. If she could hear threats from afar or feel the ground tremble beneath her feet... the immersion was insane. Theoni did not leave her guide waiting too long. The dullard was likely to start a panic if she loitered in the path of danger, being spooked by pretty much anything so far. It was a miracle he had even helped her out of the swamp and not assumed it was some trap for all the caution he showed now. She watched his back as he took the lead, glancing down at the tail which wagged from side to side as he walked, growing curious about how much control he had over it. Did it act like a phantom limb or was it just a useless accessory? Regardless, the mutt had found his stride, returning to near silent steps as he led the way. Not really sharing in his sense of danger, Theoni halfheartedly tried the same, breaking various twigs and leaving clear tracks in the undergrowth as they moved through the woodlands. The Faerin looked up at the tree foliage over head as Zori mentioned the prospect of climbing them. With her new size, it would probably be more difficult to climb but she had plenty of experiencing scaling things in the real world. Something of a necessary trait when escaping after being caught in the middle of a crime. "Think you can climb higher than the first branch, fatty?" retorted the female, dismissing the need to confirm her ability to climb. As if it were even in question. If it came to it, Theoni would make sure to pick a different tree from her guide in case the branches broke under his greater weight. It would be a shame for the information spouting mutt to perish that way, but then he had offered to be bait. "I don't hear anything anymore, or even smell... wait..." Theoni stopped her words to actually try to smell. Taking a long whiff of the air around her, the Faerin made a confused expression as her senses were flooded by an odd mix. A verdant aroma, the smell of dirt and wet clothing, a smidge of dog which was probably her guide and just general clean air. It was strange to actually pause and consider how the world smelled or even think how the game relayed the information to the mind behind her. It left her with many questions and Zori as the unfortunate recipient of them. "Hey, does food actually taste like food? Y'know, if you eat it? The mud was kinda gross when I fell in it earlier..." She glanced down at her dirtied attire, mud still clinging to her figure in a number of places. An increased awareness of one's senses was not always pleasant. She now preferred being ignorant of just how immersive the game could be. With a frown, she grabbed Zori's tail to ensure she had his full attention. It was surprisingly fluffy and soothing to hold in her palm. Not enough to put off the sudden panic she was experiencing. "There's a bath house or something where I can wash right? How far are we? This is taking forever! Are you even sure we're being chased? I don't really want to have to climb if I don't have to. Or fall in more mud. Wait - is there somewhere I can clean before we reach Honeytown? I probably look a mess, right?" The threat of some big monster stalking them. Nothing to worry about. Her reputation taking an immediate hit by showing up in a starter hub as a mess. That could not happen. There was no way anyone would take Theoni Vex seriously if her impression was that of a homeless bum.
Zori incredulously performed some grand mental gymnastics to not snap at Theoni for endangering herself and his body. Instead, for some reason, he felt at fault. It all came back to how he was phrasing the entire scenario and how he'd developed the impish girl's character. She wasn't her perfect self, she was too busy being driven to cruelty by the terrible world around her. Or something. "Yeah, it does taste pretty real. Honeyhome's a town that, obviously, has apiaries and I've tried some of the fantasy world honey. It's different from real honey but I'm thinking that's because of the flowers the bees hit up." The dog boy recklessly spoke up, close to Theoni's volume presumably, and grew less concerned with getting caught by whatever could be following them. He didn't have enough focus to spare when he was busy remembering the delicious honey. "A lot of it isn't that high quality though, so most of it's fermented into this sweet drink. Mead, I think. You should get a little of that too." He kept walking silently, even with his mind occupied. His body was already trained enough to follow through on the creeping almost automatically. Muscle-memory according to the pseudo-scientists out there. His answer spanned the silence in between the Faerin's question and the moment she pulled on his tail. Which happened a little like, "They also roast a lot of things until they're swe—Aiee!" and him about facing. Gingerly, but with urgent intent. Instead of being able to lodge some objections at the girl's action he was met with a quick flurry of questions that he was hard pressed to fully digest. In his mind he had to take it a little slow since the sensation of having the bottom part of your spine that doesn't actually exist be held by someone moving at a different speed than you were was awful. Getting through the nettles one breath at a time he responded while glaring at Ms. Vex. "The inns and taverns in Honeyhome have bathing rooms, so you're fine there. It's a while, traveling through forests isn't easy. I don't know for sure, but it wouldn't be hard to follow us." Then he had an idea. It superseded the answers he was about to supply for her other questions. Getting clean before going too much further could be beneficial for the defenseless band. Not for reputation's sake, but to break any trails they might be leaving. If there was some running water they could pass over... "Yeah, we should be able to find something. A river would do nicely. If we are getting followed we can make it too much effort to keep chasing us by going over it. And you could get cleaned too I guess... I don't think it matters too much, I've seen people worse off go into town without an issue." He gave the muddied elf a glance while trying to figure out a solution for the "being followed" problem Theoni had reminded him about. Nothing as fortuitous as a river came to mind, which left him with the option of standing water. There were enough ponds and not-even-lakes around the woodlands that there shouldn't be an issue there. In fact, he even had one in mind. Roughly. "There's even on that's not too far. I think you're fine, though let's head over anyway." The Caenis guy looked at the sky for a second and let his eyes slowly wander back to the treeline. He nodded towards a direction between forwards and backwards and set off towards it. Giving the Faerin with the smaller stride the opportunity to follow. While leaving the trail he chose to step over some brush. It gave him the chance to turn more towards Theoni, which he used to match eyes and say, "They took in some guy looking a lot worse off than you. I'm pretty sure the townspeople are just after our money." His mind wandered back to the acid-burned Leopold's face. The terrifying, ruined face from his first day in Terrasphere. Zori shivered and carried on.
The food mumbo jumbo very much went through one ear and out the other with Theoni, the Faerin only caring to learn that food would taste real and not a lot else. She was more interested in her own discovery about the dog fellow. He had professed to be a player so she had almost expected him to not respond too much to a tug of the tail, only be inconvenience by it. His reaction had turned out to be quite strong, also painful by the whine in his voice and glare that followed her action. The game had some way of stimulating a reaction which made the tail feel real. Useful in the event she had to get one over this chump, his tail was a huge weak spot! It was probably the same for every member of his kind. She presumed the same went for his ears but decided not to test that theory in case the weirdo got the wrong idea about her checking out his reactions. "A river huh?" Theoni repeated, the idea of a bathing rooms certainly more appealing but that meant going into Honeyhome first. She wondered if there were shared bath rooms, a mischievous grin briefly on the Faerin's face as she speculated about intruding with zero consequences. She glanced down at her tattered attire, even a river could probably improve her current appearance just by washing away the mud. "I guess that'll work for me. I'll need to dry out after though, so you'd better stick around and keep guard. We're in this together, Zori!" Demanding the devotion of the mutt she would happily desert at the first sign of trouble, Theoni ignored the strange reaction he was having to some memory. Shivering in the spring warmth definitely was not usual. If only it had been summer here, the drying off process would be even easier but from her brief time in inspection mode, the game had alerted her to the current season of the world. A nifty feature - one she would make better use of once she was in town and had more to observe. Some more progress later and the Faerin could hear the sound of running water, a few more steps and round a tree to spot the mentioned river in view ahead of them. The twitchy dog man had not mentioned anything else in that time, he had remained rather quiet whilst she explained the nuances of climbing things quickly. She figured it was easier to calm the guy down and not have him freak out at every little thing he or she heard by educating him on how to make a swift ascent. It was also a good trade of knowledge, his basic game know-how for her more practical stuff. "So you gotta have pace with you, and imagine you're like running on the wall for the really tall ones. Your momentum will save you one day pal, saved me plenty in the past. Trust me, half the people in security have no business working in that job so scaling anything leaves 'em dumbfounded. Yeah, all pudgy chumps who eat too much." She decided not to say kinda like him. With the river nearby, Theoni abandoned any further knowledge share or questions he might have. Instead she ran on ahead of Zori straight for the river, leaping into the air and landing in the slow flowing waters. As she crashed into the stream, the Faerin was quick to notice she had misjudged the depth, the water stopping just below her chin due to her short stature. She panicked a bit before realising her feet could still touch the bottom. "Damn, this is cold!" Theoni protested, quickly making her way to the other side of the stream. There was a bridge that crossed the stream to her left but instead she waded her way across, figuring it was the best way to rid herself of the mud. It only dawned on her then that there might be aquatic enemies in this area. Nothing darted at her immediately but the thought alone was enough to hurry her onto the opposite bank where she collapsed onto her rear in a puddle. "Jeez, you coulda warned me!" She shouted, attributing all blame to Zori for her actions. Stupid mutt had not been forthcoming with that info.
