"Oooooh!" Here she was in Stokbon, the Divine Capital of Falderen, the biggest and most magnificent city in all of Terrapshere! Though primarily a human metropolis, all manner of races walked here and there, trade flowing in and out endlessly, and with the right money and connections, one could get everything one wanted in the sprawling metropolis. The white-haired Paladin found herself gawking around in the central marketplace, red eyes roaming here and there, taking in the various kiosks and stalls set up all around here. "Oof!" That was until she accidentally bumped into a Faerin, the poor petite girl lost her balance but was thankfully saved from completely falling by Eldhi's arms, "Aah, apologies, I will be more careful." Eldhi smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head, fortunately, the Faerin girl didn't mind. However, she learned a valuable lesson, losing one's focus would get one into trouble, not to mention it was unbecoming of a Knight. Now then, she was here to meet up with one of her old friends, Solaria, the green-haired Yladian was the first player she met when Eldhi ventured into the world of Terrasphere. She helped the newbie eased herself into the game and they even participated in a Quest together! It was about time to spend time together again. She wanted to ask her about Illumancy, Eldhi had been having trouble with the mastery and perhaps the more experienced player could provide some insights. However, she should have picked a better rendezvous spot, how would they every find each other in this sea of people? Ah well, better give her a message. "Hey, Solly! This is Eldhi, I'm already in the marketplace. Uh... go look for a tavern named 'The Observing King', I'll be just standing outside the door." and there, sent. @Solaria
As she was looking for a familiar face, a bell chimed in some way to tell her she got a message. To many, her rather flamboyant movements to find the message were a bit weird looking. As she finally found the message center properly, she saw the notice of a more accurate meeting spot. "Eldhi's a good one, thinking of that. But...Why a pub?" Not that it mattered, she realized. In game, Solaria was old enough to go to places with alcohol (even if she refused to drink it of her own will). She found it easily, and found it even easier to get in- something that she experienced offline, but with a bit more dismay. Peeking around the room, she spotted a familiar figure. As if trying to surprise her, she walked quietly with gentle steps, before wrapping her arms around the smaller girl. "I found Eldhi! You're as cute as always, I see." With a goofy grin, she let the girl go with her arms moving behind her, fingers twined together as she gave the girl space to breathe. "Thanks for inviting me out. It's a good thing you found someplace quiet though. The city's pretty busy, isn't it?"
Getting curious while waiting for her friend, Eldhi decided to check out the fancy tavern. In truth, the girl behind the Knightly online persona was much too young to be entering such establishments. However, hehe... No one would make a fuss in the virtual world. Besides, she wouldn't actually be drinking anyway, no alcohol entering her physical body. It'd all be in her head. Time to update Solly on their meeting spot~ Taking a seat on one of the available seats, Eldhi couldn't keep the silly grin off her tanned face. She was doing adult things! Haha! If only her parents could see her now... wait, no, they mustn't, she'd get grounded. Then again, due to her albinism, she's practically forced indoors most of the day anyway. The white-haired girl decided to order herself a simple mug of ale. It tasted quite strong and sweet, making her wince but wanting more... yeah, it'd be fine~ This was just a game. --- "Hm hm hm~ Ah?" Her little leisurely time was pleasantly jnterruped by an embrace from behind. Recognizing the voice immediately, Eldhi giggled, "Hello, Solly~ long time no see!" She'd wait until her taller green-haired Yladian friend take a sat before clearing her throat, her cheeks slightly rosy due to the alcohol, "Yeah, it's a sea of people out there!" Anyways, how are you doing, Solly?" She giggled mirthfully, "I heard the World Boss event was a blast! Too bad I was busy studying... oh well. Even though home-schooled, her parents made sure she didn't slack off on her studies. "Oh Solly, I wanna ask you something, a favor really." The Paladin dropped her usual act of chivalry and decorum, conversing more like her real life self around her friend, "Can you teach me more about Illumancy? I seemed to be stuck..."
Solaria took her seat easily, listening as Eldhi quickly got into business, while giving her a nickname that she wasn't used to. It was a nickname she'd never gotten before, and it took her by surprise- but, it didn't take long for Solaria to get past the 'Solly' and into the conversation, listening to the details carefully before reacting, both to the inquiries and the rosey color of the girl's face. "That was a pretty heated battle you missed- and I mean that literally, since we were surrounded by lava and the thing was spewing fire all over the place. I'm honestly just relieved there were so few fatalities...Though, your face reminds me of how warm it was. You're so red! Can you get fevers in this game now?" Anything was possible in Terrasphere- people probably got sick all the time, with the rather in depth systems and the fact that illumancy was such a complicated thing to learn to her. In reality, it wasn't that hard, though. Solaria just wasn't used to playing a healer at all. As if reading her mind, however, Eldhi asked to learn from her about it. "I'm not really sure I'd be much of a teacher. I'm still a student myself...Well, I mean, I'm a nursing major offline...But I've never had to teach someone how to use a healing spell before, so I'm not really sure how. I can try, but...I don't really know if I'd be able to explain it. I kind of just learned by playing around with settings constantly, you know?"
"I see~" Eldhi nodded, contemplating all the excitement she had missed for a moment before she shrugged, "Next time, I will join you for sure!" Yes, since the event only lasted a week at most, Eldhi was confident she could adjust her schedule as to not slack off in her studies. "Oh... haha, must be the ale." The white-haired girl giggled, deciding to lay off on drinking anymore since Solaria was already here. As a Paladin and Faithful of Tyl, Eldhi knew she must be proficient in both arms and arcane. A proper knight shouldn't only be able smite, protecting her comrades and healing the wounded were also important duties. There were so many things she could learn, hopefully Solaria would shine some light on the arcane school. "Hmmm... I am still new to this whole thing, Solly." The tanned girl frowned, remembering how awkward she fought in their last quest together, "You clearly have more experience than me so I bet anything you can think of will be useful to me." So Solaria was a nurse in real life, interesting, "I see! I like nurses, they are so kind to me when mama takes me to the hospital. Well, I'm uh... a student too, a schoolgirl! Yep, only at home, my skin doesn't handle the sun well so I stay home most of the day." The girl rubbed the back of her head. It seemed she had veered off the topic, silly Eldhi! "Anyways! About Illumancy, can you teach me some things?" She gave the best puppy dog-eyed look she could muster, large doe red eyes begging at the taller female, "Pleaaaaase~?"
"Drinking is bad for your liver," The nurse-to-be mused, groaning softly. She still didn't understand the 'joy' people got from drinking- even if she'd drank at least something once in this world. "Well, I avoid it also because I'm not old enough back home. Two years left, and I'm more than happy waiting." With a soft giggle, she tried to think of how to explain the use of illumancy to the girl. Since Eldhi was a bit more like she was in the beginning, she figured she'd start with the absolute basics- things she wished she'd known back then. "So, have you looked at your skill lists at all?" Holding a hand out, she used her thoughts and memories to move through the UI, slowly hoping Eldhi would mimic her gestures, no matter how bizarre the NPCs might see them to be. She gestured every piece in a calm, oddly patient manner. Usually as impulsive as they got, she could only wonder how shocked some people would be to see her like this, trying to teach in a slow, tentative manner. "If you go into your mastery list and then select Illumancy, you can see what skills you can use. You can either memorize the names and chant them like I usually do, or you can just keep going into the menu to pick them manually." She paused, taking a sip of water she'd been given as a courtesy. "With me so far?"
"Ah yes... bad, ahem." Eldhi made an incredibly awkward grin akin to a child being caught red-handed, she wasn't even going to comment on the minimum drinking age. Both her avatar and herself were not anywhere eligible. Well, no one could scold her if no one knew~ best to keep quiet. The skills list, oh, that part of the menu where it would list all the techniques she possessed. From offense, defense, and of course, various spells she had learned. "Yep, I do, let me just..." From an NPC bystander's perspective, the sight of a white-haired human and a green-haired Yladian waving their hands about in the air was odd sure but since this was Stokbon, the NPCs here likely encountered the strange 'breed' often. "Illumancy... yes!" Eldhi tapped the menu and it displayed the (few) spells she had learned over her time in Terrasphere. "Yep, okay, yes, I can see them. Divine Edge, Light of Protection, Blinding Flash..." The white-haired girl mumbled. "Hmm, I see..." So there were other, more efficient, ways of accessing her skills. These 'hotkeys' would be incredibly useful, she couldn't believe she didn't know it before! So all this time, Eldhi was acting out her skills manually like the veteran players. No wonder she sucked. Had she known this function earlier, she'd suck... less. "Yep! I understand everything so far, Solly!" Eldhi enthusiastically chirped, ready to learn more.
Finding that Eldhi was a fast learner even despite a slight drunken stupor to Solaria, the elf's ears perked as she heard that nickname again. It wasn't bad, but it would take her time to really accept that she was 'Solly'. Part of her wondered how the girl came up with something so original, but it wasn't really part of the conversation, so there was no real reason to ask...Besides her impulse, that is. "I've never been called Solly before today. How'd you think of it?" Solaria was always intrigued by the way people thought. Surely, it'd be helpful for her future as a nurse! "Okay, so you got that down- man, you're a quick learner. So what to show you next..." Actually, cut that. Her mind jumped in with a question. "Wait, how were you using skills before this? I only know how to use menus. Is there another method? Maybe you should teach me some tricks, too!"
"Hmm?" Eldhi tilted her head slightly, confused yet curious on why Solaria was asking about the nickname, it wasn't something big worth talking about. Heck, Eldhi didn't even think much about it, nicknaming people just came naturally for the (younger) girl behind the Knightly virtual persona. As a result, the inquiry actually made the white-haired girl pause, mulling over her thoughts, "Uhm... it just feels... nice? I like you so I call you that!" The girl grinned, confident of her 'wise' answer. "Ehehe~ thanks!" So her mother's praise regarding Eldhi being a smart girl wasn't just fluff after all, Solaria here seemed to think so too! Now if only she could just go to school and by school, she meant one of those public schools with classrooms where she could meet all kinds of friends! Sigh, oh well, she could at least do that in Terrasphere. Perhaps this was why Eldhi held more sympathy to fellow players than NPCs. The former were real living people behind their personas, the latter was just... computer programs, elaborate ones but artificial intelligence nonetheless. Just as they were about to continue the lesson, the Yladian had a question of her own as it turned out. "Oh?" The Paladin blinked, now that was a good one, how did she do it? ...oh right. "Eeeh..." The girl's tanned cheeks flushed, she'd be if they weren't already as she scratched the back of her head, "I just uhm... uh... I just..." Did she really have to say it? "I just try out cool phrases until something come out." Divine Edge was one of them. Cue the scene of a knight in a forest clearing, thrusting her sword, shouting random words by her lonesome, Holy Blade, Immaculate Steel, Sword of Heaven, and other stuff that'd ruin her reputation as a dependable Paladin and Faithful of Tyl. "Ahem... uh... so yeah~ hehe... that's in the past now! I know how to do it better, thanks to you!" Umu! Yes, Eldhi nodded, "Now, please continue the lesson, Miss Solaria!"
Solaria smiled brightly. "I don't mind the nickname at all, I was just curious since it's one I haven't gotten yet. Most people end up calling me Sol or something. Solly sounds way cuter, don't you think? I really like it." She moved to put her hand on the girl's head, petting it lightly and toying with the vibrant white hair. "I have a little brother, and he's always changing what he calls me. Sometimes it's Sis, sometimes it's Lee, sometimes it's Mom. Yes, my brother calls me mom sometimes. It's adorable and awkward at the same time, and it flusters dad so much it's hysterical!" Relaxing, she took a sip of water again, trying to think of what else she could teach the young lady about their magical art. She was eager to learn, and willing to teach Solaria her own methods of gaining strength. Her names for skills were far more interesting than the real ones, too, which made the elf a bit jealous. "I WISH those were the names we could use! Aren't they way neater?" Her voice was bubbly and bright as she stood up for a moment, pointing like an idiot. Sitting down again, she coughed into the hand she'd pointed with, a blush on her face. "Sorry, I got excited. Let's see...Oh, say, what were the other masteries you chose? You got to pick three, right? I took on Illumancy, Slash and Alchemy. I figured I could use Slash on materials and to protect people, while I use Illumancy and Alchemy to heal wounds. Like a ninja of healing or something!"
"Hmmm~" Now that she thought about it, yes, yes it did! So she had the talent to come up with cute nicknames for her friends, that was good. "Alright! I'll keep calling you 'Solly' from now on!" The white-haired girl giggled, pleased by the warm head pats. Was she Solly's cat now? That was fine! She loved cats. Now then, if only she had one of those 'Felis Ears' accessories. "Oh! Your younger brother must really love you then!" True, she had never heard of younger siblings calling their older ones by 'Mom' or 'Dad'. Haha! Now she wanted to see that with her own eyes, the thought of Solly's father doing one of those comedic spit-takes came to her mind. "As for myself, I'm the youngest out of three!" She had both an older brother and sister, they all loved her so much, maybe sometimes too much... Just because she wasn't good with the sun didn't mean she should be protected like a fragile glass. "I really thought those were the real names!" As it turned out, the spells had much simpler incantations, "Oh, but we can make our own custom names for them!" Truly the best game in the world. Yep, she'd just rename those short uncool names more to her liking. "Hmmm... aside from the ones everyone got, I picked 'Slash', 'Guard', and 'Illumancy'. That way, I can be a Paladin that protects innocents from harm! Vanquish evil!" The blushing Knight nodded proudly, arms crossed in front of her chest. "So the only Mastery we don't share is 'Alchemy' for me, 'Guard' for you. Hmmm~ I think we can get more slots in the future, right?" Eldhi inquired, "If you want to be a real ninja of healing, you should take that one then! The one my friend Alphabet had... it was called uhm... eh... oh! Rogue! Yes~"
Somehow, Eldhi's smile reminded Solaria of a child. It was so bright and beautiful, and as pure as...Well, something really pure. She wasn't too keen to really finish her mental analogies! "Yep, Solly's fine with me, I'm just not used to it. It's a cute one, though. Thanks a bunch!" Soon enough, Eldhi was opening up about a lot of things, whether it was her family or her friends. The elf listened intently, her elbows sitting upon the table between them, head in her hands. She smiled softly, enjoying listening about Eldhi's life. "I bet your brother and sister adore you. As a big sister myself, I can't imagine otherwise." Plus, the girl was so sweet. Why wouldn't they love her to bits? "I actually plan to go for Exorcism wen I get my next slot opened, but Rogue'd be good for a fifth. I heard if you work hard enough, you can get that many besides the basics. Funny thing is, I usually always went for rogue when I was younger..." A soft laugh left her lips as memories flooded her mind. So much time had passed as she thought about it. Was she already getting old? "I've been playing games my whole life pretty much. My best friend always played with me until now, and she was always a healer, so I mixed our usual methods when I made my character in this game. This way, I feel like she's playing with me even if she knows nothing about it when we eat dinner. We happen to live together now, to help make our college lives a little easier. But...Thinking about it, I really miss my brother now!"
"Exorcism?" Now that was an interesting one, Eldhi never heard of it before. A Mastery of that name wasn't listed when she first made her character. Was it a secret one that only experienced players may unlock? It certainly made sense, that was how video games often work after all. You didn't just give every single thing to a starting player, it'd confuse them. "I see..." Eldhi put one hand against her chin, rubbing it in thought. So there were many besides the basic masteries. This 'Exorcism' was one of them, she must find out about it more, "Tell me more about Exorcism, Solly." --- While Ellie couldn't imagine herself ever taking the 'Rogue' mastery, she was a Knight not a ninja! That was Alpha's thing and apparently, it'd be Solly's thing in the future too. "Aaah, now I see what you meant by 'Healer Ninja', hehehe~" An amused giggle left her lips. "I love games too, I have a lot of free time and can't go outside much so I play games a lot! Well, not without studying or Mom will get angry." The white-haired girl nodded, "I see~ why don't you invite your best friend and little brother to play Terra too?" The look of childish innocence persisted on the Knight's tanned features. So Solly was in college, she did tell her she's a nurse-in-training, so it was on the same level as colleges, intriguing~ "I'll go to College in uhm..." One, two, three... "About four years from now!" The two friends continued talking and before they knew it, they had spent a couple hours just sitting in the tavern. "Oh... look at the time." Eldhi mumbled as she checked her UI, "I have to log out soon, Solly. Thank you for everything~ Let's meet up again soon!"
"We're not supposed to talk about the game with people that aren't already players, right?" Solaria mused. She wasn't usually seen as a stickler for rules, but she had her own set she followed, and one was to keep secrets if they had to be kept. "Besides, my brother's only five. Letting him dive might harm his brain. And Ay...Well, she's not as into games as she used to be. Plus, our schedules are way different, so it's hard enough getting time together as is!" Giggling nervously, Solaria rubbed the back of her neck. It was pretty likely to her that Eldhi would see the way her eyes were furrowed, her ears ringing just from the memory of how often her best friend had scolded her for using her real life name, even for a moment, in a game or on the net in general. "Though, I actually saw something weird with my brother recently. I was sure it had to do with TerraSphere...Odd, right?" She jolted soon after, as Eldhi told her her age unintentionally- or maybe it was intentional. Solaria wouldn't know, since she was just in shock. "W-Wait, you're still only a child! What do you think you're doing drinking stuff like that? You're going to poison yourself!" Without a thought, Solaria leaned over the table to pull on Eldhi's shoulders, wanting to bring her closer into a hug. "I don't know why you can't go out much, but maybe I can help with that. Give me a call sometime. If nothing else, I can bring my brother over to play or something, so you won't be alone. It's no good to be stuck in your house all the time, you know." Time seemed to fly, and suddenly, Eldhi was pointing out the fact all her own. "Woah, you're right! I should be getting off soon too. I'm making dinner tonight. Before Ay can order take in again." Laughing, she moved to play with Eldhi's hair, waving gently. "Make sure to message me again, 'kay? We should hang out like this regularly. It's a lot of fun!"
