Zaos has quickly found out that the only way to get from the welcome festival to Stokbon was to walk. Having logged in rather later on the opening day, Zaos didn't particularly want to be wandering the countryside after dark, so had bedded down at a nearby inn and logged out for the night. Logging in bright and early the next morning, he came face-to-face with a small goblin sitting on his bed, babbling at him. The system had identified it as non-hostile, and after a quick look through his inventory, he had discovered that the goblin was now his, being a gift from the admins. Zaos had left it out while he had breakfast and gathered some travelling supplies, and soon the pair were on the road heading for the capital city. "You know," Zaos said idly sometime around mid-morning, "I really need to look into getting a mount. The inn had a stable, but nothing to rent or buy. Not that we have much coin..." The goblin made a noise of some sort, which he took as a murmur of agreement. Not that he could really tell, the creature could talk, but not very well, and complex sentences seemed beyond it. "Your description said you pick up spare gold and such. Perhaps that'll come in handy once we reach the city." Opening his menu, Zaos noted that his energy and water meters had dropped slightly and smiled. Time for a break, then. Selecting a flat boulder next to the path he was following, he scrambled up on it and settled down. His goblin pet remained don the ground, combing through the grass in search of anything shiny. Taking out a water flask, Zaos took a drink from it and looked around. Movement in the distance caught his attention, and he focused on it, seeing that whoever was approaching was another player or NPC. Once they were close enough to hail, he called, "Good morning! Lovely day, isn't it?"
After she had appeared in the Brisshal forest, Rye had encountered a couple of white-haired players that were of the different species. After that, she had made her way to the white beacon of light, which had been remarkably helpful. She hadn't run into any of the predators, which she was pretty grateful for. Once she had entered Stokbon, she had entered a nearby inn and decided to rent a room for the night. After exploring the town for a good couple of hours, she pretty much knocked herself out when she went to go to bed. Once she had woken up, she had been cradling an unremarkable white egg in her arms. For a moment, she had frozen, wondering where the egg had come from. Then with shrug of her shoulders, Rye placed the egg in her inventory and considered the day in front of her with a blank mind. With a sigh, Rye scrubbed at her face uncertainly and considered her options. She could head into the forest, look into getting a mount... Not that she had much coin on hand anyways. Rye could always go for the forest and kill some of the predators around, but not the babies. They needed to reproduce, as far as she knew. Rolling her shoulders backwards, she pulled up her player menu and stared at it cautiously. Her sleep meter was full, with the water, food, and energy meters slightly lower. After a quick meal at the inn and a purchase of traveling supplies, she wandered towards the path that led to Brisshal forest. In front of her, she could see a green haired faerin strolling along the path. Dogging his heels was an ugly as sin goblin, though Rye thought it must have been some sort of pet. After awhile, he sat, surprising the feline human. Black tail swishing behind her, Rye cocked her head silently and slowed her pace. Around the same time, she took out her water flask and took a small draw from it. At the sight of the green-haired faerin looking towards of her, Rye lashed her tail once and nodded at him in a courteous greeting. Her lips twitched in response as she stopped, before pausing slightly. "Yes, it's a lovely day." she demurred in her soft, purr-like voice. "Blessed be to you," she greeted formally. @Zaos Rocyne
Zaos squinted slightly for a moment, scrambling for the species name. Ah yes. A Felis. He had seen a few so far, but this was his first time encountering one. "And to you as well," he said after a moment, returning the greeting with a bright smile. His goblin squeaked and darted towards the other person, circling her twice before returning to the base of the boulder. "I don't think she has anything for you," he said with a chuckle. He brushed some hair out of his eyes and added, "I'm Zaos Rocyne, but you can just call me Zaos." He took another sip of his water, thinking about how best to approach the conversation. He still wasn't sure if he was dealing with a player or an NPC, so decided to take a neutral route. "I'm new to the region - I just arrived yesterday. Are there any monsters around? I haven't seen any, which I find fortunate, since I'm ill-equipped to deal with them." That was an understatement. He had nothing except what he was wearing and the goblin, and he doubted it was suited for combat. Clenching his hand, he brought up the menu and checked his levels. His water meter was back to normal, so he put the flask away. His energy meter hadn't refilled fully, so he would remain seated for now. @[Rye Emerson]
Rye gave the other a distinctly amused look, her tail twitching behind her. As the little goblin squeaked and darted over, the catfolk twisted her head around with a curious glint in her eye as it circled her. A brief smile flashed across her face at his next sentence. As the faerin brushed his hair away from his face and introduced himself, Rye merely dipped her head in acknowledgement. "Nice to meet you Zaos, I'm Rye Emerson. Call me Rye, please." The black-haired felis's ears twitched in response to his brief drink of his water, causing her mouth to briefly salivate. She was hydrated though, and silently amused at her response to this action. "I can't help you on that, unfortunately." Rye winced slightly, letting her tail curl around her ankle. "I just arrived yesterday myself during the welcoming festival. I was treed by a wolf, but forgot that with my dual-wielding that I selected to use daggers." She briefly clenched her hand around the same time Zaos did, unaware that their actions were near simultaneous. The water and food meter were completely filled, but her energy meter had dipped slightly. At seeing that, Rye sat down on the ground and scooted a little closer to the other player so that other players wouldn't accidentally run into them. @Zaos Rocyne
"Pleasure to meet you, Rye." He watched the little movements she made as he spoke. What would it be like to have a tail and animal ears? His own ears were longer than a human's, but he barely noticed the difference between those he had in the real world and the ones he had here. The height difference between the two was more startling to him. Still, he was pretty well adjusted to it after having walked for a bit, and he always took it slow when logging out of or into the game. Zaos was slightly disappointed by her answer. So neither of them had combat experience? He certainly didn't want to run into any monsters alone, but teaming up with another newbie seemed almost as bad. Still, it was nice to know that Rye was a fellow player. "Daggers, huh? That's an interesting pick. I take it you're going for a quick, high damage output character?" Terrasphere was built to accommodate all kinds of characters, as far as he could tell. His employees who were in the game had all chosen different masteries and builds, which was nice, because they could discover more about the game this way. He leaned forward slightly as she sat down, dismissing his own menu. His goblin resumed hunting in the nearby grass, but Zaos made sure to keep an eye on it. "What do you think of the game so far?" he asked lightly, hoping to strike up an interesting conversation to pass the time. @Rye Emerson
Mouth twitching slightly, she went into a cross legged system and once more pulled up her hand menu, idly sifting through her somewhat empty inventory before she pulled out a white egg. Placing it in her lap, she eyed it curiously and gave the other one a somewhat curious glance. "Ah, somewhat. Daggers are more comfortable for me. It isn't that I only selected Dual-wielding; I'm also a Beast Tamer and a Rogue." Rye's eyes glinted mischievously at that. "I'm not going to steal from you, I promise. I like you well enough, so far." "If quick, high damage is going to help me in the long run, then that's going to happen." she murmured. "I chose Rogue mostly for its stealth and sneakiness, but the stealing is going to help when I actually need something. Those are the only times I'm going to legit steal from someone. Now, stealing from predators and boss monsters?" Rye's eyes glinted with a malicious light. "I'm not exactly going to rob babies from their graves, but the older predators are going down." Rye paused in her speaking, before answering his question. "I love the game," she murmured softly, peering up at the blue sky. Gently moving her hand through the soft grass, she could taste the left-over egg that she had eaten that morning in the VR. "It's so realistic, but it's so fantastical that it can't be anything but not real." Then she tilted her head lightly and considered the green-haired faerin in front of her. "How about you? Do you like this virtual reality? What's your favorite thing about it?" @Zaos Rocyne
Zaos raised an eyebrow when the egg appeared, wondering if it was another gift from the admins. He supposed it would hatch into a pet like his goblin; hopefully hers wouldn't be quite as odd. Aside from that, her mastery choices told him that she definitely had a character build in mind, and it seemed like a good one based on his admittedly limited knowledge of the various masteries. He smiled at her comment about stealing. "Luckily for me, the only thing of any value I have is that." A thumb was jerked in the direction of the goblin, who was babbling quietly to itself. Stealing from monsters and bosses seemed like a daring route to take, but the rewards would no doubt be worth the risk. "Robbing people is why some people play these types of games, although I never saw the appeal myself. Having boundaries set before you start stealing is a good way to go about it. On the other hand, stealing from the monsters and bosses is only logical - it's not like they hold any love for us." He smiled and followed her gaze up towards the sky, watching a wispy cloud drift by. "Fantastical yet real, huh?" he murmured quietly. Honestly, Terrasphere was beyond anything he had ever dreamed a VRMMORPG could be, and he would bet good money that it far surpassed anything SAO had done. Just sitting here, he could feel the sun on his body, feel the breeze stirring his hair and hear the chirping of nearby birds as if he was sitting in Central Park. Could his upcoming game achieve even half of this? He was certain it could, after lots of hard work and development. Zaos looked back at Rye at her questions, eyes lighting up. "I love it as well. I've been a fan of full-dive technology since it launched, so I'm very happy that I got the chance to play Terrasphere. My favourite thing?" He paused, thinking. "I've barely scratched the surface of what the game has to offer, but I suppose it would be the fact that I can do whatever I want to within the limits of my character and the system. It's like getting a second chance at life, in a way." @Rye Emerson
