[Scoria/Invite] Suddenly: BOARS. -end

[Deleted]

Those goddamn boars.

“ I swear... boars everywhere... “ Caerbannog muttered under her breath as she chased after a group of Level 3 young pittered boars.

So far, the samurai counted six of the annoying beasts, but they kept squealing so it was possible that more boars would soon join the stampede. And how did it begin, exactly? Well, the samurai was just minding her own business when a lander pulled her aside. Said that he was a merchant who lost his wares. Said that some boars ran off with the items while he was asleep. The samurai had heard the same stupid story so many times, so as polite as she usually was, the girl declined. Politely. But the lander would have none of that, oh no. He made such a ruckus in the streets of Londenium, something like ‘Woe is me, woe is me!’ until Caerbannog agreed to seek out his wares and get them back from the boars.

It did not take long for the girl to find the creatures for the wares consisted of shiny trinkets that shone under the sun and tinkled with the sound of little bells. Caerbannog had her rabbit Hrairoo perched upon her head by then, and they both pitied the boars for they seemed downright stupid and were just having some young pittered fun. The samurai had intended to shoo the boars away from the wares, but the pests ran away with most of the things! She put whatever she could find in her inventory, intending to give them back to the lander, of course; and then the chase began! Across the Greatwood, down the main road and finally- and rather unfortunately- into a small camp of more gullible merchant landers.

“ Seriously... why the hell are YOU camped out here?! “ 

The samurai lost her cool and screamed out loud as she ran, while Hrairoo clung tightly to her hair.

OOC Notes: ---
Word Count: 320
Tags: @dindeen

[Scoria]

To say Scoria was pissed off was an understatement. It was almost as though the People of the Land simply did not know what 'no' meant. "Oh boo hoo hoo help me find my lost stuff!" "No." "THANK YOU". GODDAMN. Had these idiots not had the unfortunate characteristic of dying when they were killed, Scoria would have shanked one of them for good measure. He was certain they were complaining about how Adventurers simply didn't work hard and some other ridiculous piece of nonsense, but Scoria frankly didn't care. More or less the only reason he was doing anything at all at this point was because his forest sprite, whom he had summoned at some point while walking through the Greatwood, was now insisting he help. Why. Why wouldn't the flower brat just let him be? For being a 'familiar', Scoria was starting to feel like this impudent brat of an Alraune familiar was the one in charge here.

Still, Scoria didn't unsummon the potato-sack forest sprite. With her potato sack across her chest and her fingers pointed towards the path, Scoria trudged right along. He had been trudging right along until he ran into more Landers, trying to get him to help them transport their goods. Their reasons were as stupid as they were long, Scoria noted, and he was becoming increasingly frustrated with their inability to accept 'no means no'. Scoria could have sworn they were drunk college frat boys by the way they acted. "Oh boo hoo my toe hurts so I can't ride on my cart all the way back to town". "I've been wearing my glasses so long it's given me a headache and now I can't walk." Scoria was almost certain that at least one, if not all of these Landers were mentally challenged. They were just sitting there camped out and Scoria knew Landers in the new world weren't automated NPCs. Were these guys really that... Scoria almost let out a groan, instead opting to frown and attempt to leave. After all, he needed to hunt down some wares. Something like that. Ange wasn't going to let him stay if he didn't do something reasonable once in a while, because saving her life wasn't enough. These stupid Landers. Scoria was almost certain Allure smoothed over conversations in the way that benefited Scoria the least at this point and probably would have continued speculating about it, had a shortstack not come barreling through.

Scoria would have punched the midget, but she appeared to be having much the same frustrations as Scoria did. That kinship wasn't exactly something Scoria was used to, but more to the point, there were shinies jingle-jangling about. The shinies that Scoria needed. Time for Alraune to be of use rather than getting an eternal piggyback ride. He certainly wasn't as speedy as the Samurai, but he knew how to cheat. Picking the toddler off his back and carrying her like a sack of flour, Scoria did the only reasonable thing he could do. He leapt forward and threw Alraune at the nearest Pittered Boar. Sucker. Alraune latched on for dear life, but she knew what to do, more or less. That was to say, she had a survival instinct to go off of. If she was going to get off without getting hurt, the boar needed to slow down. So the forest sprite let her pollen soak outwards, actively placing spores as quickly as she could on the boar. Burdened with the weight of a toddler and the slowing effect of her spores, the boar had little choice but to slow down. "You turtle!" Scoria wasn't even mad at her name calling. He just followed along at a brisk pace, casually shoving aside a merchant lander as he went. Like he cared about their well being.

[Muse: Dream Battle]

[Tag: @dindeen]

[Deleted]

The young pittered boars ran through the camp without a care in the world. All they wanted to do was to get away from the pesky samurai who wanted to take their shinies. By and by, the chase became slightly dangerous due to the upturning of crates and boxes, and the randomized running of landers. Why in the world would you get up and run to the right side of the camp when the boars were heading there exactly? Perhaps that lander who just crossed the road could answer the question. So dumb. Much stupid. Wow.

Caerbannog unsummoned her frenmic rabbit, who by then was somewhere between shocked and dead, and then she threw an iron pot at the lander who was about to get run over by Level 3 boars. Luckily for the man, the iron pot did not hit him but instead hit the boar which was about to hit his side. Bad aim, bad aim... the samurai was disappointed with herself. While thinking how she could make the stampede stop without hurting the dumb creatures that much, unless they turned against her of course, a piece of lettuce fell from the sky.

“ What... “ Caerbannog squinted her eyes at the creature which looked slightly like one of those annoying Sylphs from A Realm Reborn.

It wasn't lettuce; the thing was a sprite? A faerie? She could not stop to ask it, so the girl just kept running after the boars. Too preoccupied with the chase, Caerbannog did not even notice the druid who threw that piece of lettuce. Regardless, it was a useful leafy thing for the creature soon released spores that infected the young pittered stampede. The samurai covered her face, just for good measure, until the group slowed down and the pollen drifted to the ground. Exhausted, slowed, and some even paralyzed, the young pittered boars were soon rounded up by the merchant landers. And those landers were soon picking at the shinies!

“ W-wait, uhm... “ the samurai tried to stop them, but she was bad at wording what she wanted to say. She was afraid that she might come off as rude to people who were taking her loot.

OOC Notes: ---
Word Count: 370
Tags: @dindeen Scoria

[Scoria]

Scoria's brisk pace seemed to bring him next to Landers quite often, the result of which happened to be a rather rough shove or a trip (suspiciously enough, equally as often). He was following along behind the forest sprite, a little impressed that her normally feeble powers and strength were actually coming in handy. He supposed that the toddler-like brat did fulfill a small niche and this seemed to be it. He had really only expected the pollen to maybe slightly hinder the other boars and to properly paralyze just the boar that the brat made contact with, but everything had worked out surprisingly well. And though he might not have openly admitted it, it was in no small part thanks to the midget who had been chasing them in the first place. Had he been anyone else, he would have struck up a conversation with her and talked about their similar goals here. Maybe even offered to work together.

Scoria was not one of those people. His forest sprite rolled off the boar and sprinted towards him, pounding at his thigh unhappily and throwing a bit of a tantrum, crying about how he was the meanest turtle she had ever met. He paid the girl no mind, lifting the sprite and his leg at the same time as he moved forward. All the familiar got was a downward glance and an activation of Allure that basically told her he was going to be a little nasty before he moved towards the Landers in full stride. The forest sprite took that as a cue to go tumble towards Caerbannog, stepping forward to the girl before pointing dramatically. "Speedy turtle!" One of these days, Scoria was sure someone wouldn't find that funny, but for now, he had bigger concerns. Concerns that were more or less addressed by his Courtesan subclass and the full weight of his glare directed straight at the first Lander he came across. Picking the sucker up by the collar, Scoria turned his head slowly to the rest of those idiot merchants. Not only were they daft and more than likely missing a few screws, they were thieves as well. How nice. "That doesn't belong to you." It certainly didn't belong to him either, but he had need of the shinies. Even if he didn't, he knew for a fact they didn't belong to these particular Landers. After all, a few minutes ago they had been 'too tired to sit on a wagon'. Scoria unceremoniously dumped the Lander he had picked up to the ground and shoved him backwards, turning his glance to the rest of the merchants. He considered ordering them to 'stand aside' momentarily, but he was a villain and villains didn't do that. Instead, they said things like, "Hand it over." Ah yes, pressuring people into doing your work for you was definitely the way to go. The merchants themselves didn't look too happy about that, but at least one backed away and the one he had shoved to the ground would probably go ahead and cry if he did any more. It wasn't a perfect success, but Allure helped and his natural tendency to push people around was useful.

The only catch was if this Samurai was going to try and steal his stolen loot. It wasn't like they were employed by the same Lander to find stolen goods. That would be ridiculous.

[Muse: Native Faith]

[Tag: @dindeen]

[Deleted]

Though exhausted and annoyed, the samurai found humor in the sprite creature’s actions. She finally noticed the druid who had summoned the creature, and much like almost everyone else in Elder Tale, he was much taller than Caerbannog. The sprite’s next action made her laugh, not too loud though; what the druid and his familiar had was not unlike a connection between siblings, one much younger than the other. Caerbannog would have laughed at the turtle nickname which was given to her too, if not for the druid’s next move. At first, she thought that he was going to help her get the shinies from the landers, but it would seem that he instead wanted them for himself.

“ HEY! “ the samurai suddenly yelled at the druid.

With a cross look on her face, she marched up to him and stopped just a few inches from the very tall adventurer. She was about to say something about the loot, but words failed her again and in addition to that, the human druid was scary up close. He was not ugly or horrible-looking, but he was very tall and Caerbannog was easily intimidated by taller adventurers. She could deal with massive boars and treants, but adventurers were not system-generated mobs. There was a big difference between them.

“ Uhhh... the shinies, “ Caerbannog mustered up the courage to say something.

The cross look on her face had been replaced with panic as she tried to search for the proper words to say.

“ Shinies belong to- “ she said, “ Lander in city. “

The samurai then pointed back up at the road where she came from, implying that the owner was somewhere back there.

OOC Notes: ---
Word Count: 285
Tags: @dindeen Scoria

[Scoria]

Again, had Scoria been anyone else, he probably would have been surprised by Caer's outburst. After all, Caer seemed the type to not say much, and to yell on top of that was another thing altogether. Unfortunately for Caer (or fortunately, perhaps?), Scoria's first impression of the midget had been tainted by the fact she had been yelling at Landers while bullrushing through them. As far as first impressions went, that one placed the samurai firmly within the 'loud' category. At her outburst, Scoria turned his gaze back on the samurai, with a look that was clearly looking down on her. The forest sprite among the group took the moment to skitter back from the loud Adventurer, running straight back to Scoria. Caerbannog was marching straight up to him at the same time, and for both those reasons, Scoria crouched. The toddler-sized familiar hopped back onto Scoria's back, causing him to grunt, and he was at around Caer's eye level at this point as well. Perhaps it was because of his own descent and how tall he was in comparison to most people he met, but the Samurai felt very childlike to Scoria. He knew he was intimidating, but pushing around small children wasn't in his list of hobbies. He knew how to say no, at least, but kids were kids. Especially midget ones.

Still, upon the mention of the shinies belonging to the Lander in the city, Scoria thought back on his own conversation with a certain Lander. He hadn't talked to that Lander too long ago and had left shortly after, even getting caught up with these merchants on the road. The chances of two distinct people losing their shiny trinkets on the road was relatively low, which meant that they had been employed by the same person... and the Samurai had been here first. Scoria scowled sharply at that realization as he took in Caerbannog's gesture, reaching his hand up to the top of the Samurai's head in an attempt to pat it slightly. "You've been cheated", the druid stated, picking himself up off the ground and looking back at the merchants. The Lander had employed the Samurai and, lacking confidence in Caerbannog's abilities or being simply impatient, had set about employing Scoria as well. Caer had been tossed aside or pitted in an accidental competition with him, by the looks of it, and Scoria was miffed. Speaking with a voice tinted with that natural Allure of being a Courtesan, Scoria let his voice boom. "Are you merchants or are you thieves! If you want to play the part of the villain, you'd better be prepared to fight. No honor among thieves, understand? Those belong to someone in town, so hand over the trinkets. To the midget beside me. Now." As if to emphasize his point, Scoria picked up a nearby Lander and shook him, forcing him to drop what trinkets he had. Throwing him aside like yesterday's trash, Scoria stood there, impressing whatever Courtesan influence he could on the merchants. The forest sprite on his back wasn't helping his case though, considering she kept giggling. It wasn't as though Scoria was doing Caerbannog any favors, but she'd make a good pack mule. Or something like that. Speaking honestly, Scoria was pissed off at the merchant Landers in front of him and at the Lander in the city and it was clearly bleeding through into the sharpness of his glare.

[Muse: Hirari, Hirari]

[Tag: @dindeen]

[Deleted]

The druid’s intimidation level dropped a few notches when he crouched to the samurai’s eye level. Maybe he wasn’t so scary after all. He did have that cute summon which seemed to be fond of him. Maybe they could get along; and then he patted her head.

- Why, why do people do that? - the samurai put both hands on her crown once the tall adventurer turned towards the Landers.

Caerbannog was slightly upset that even a complete stranger treated her like a child, but then again it was her fault for creating an avatar which was identical to her real appearance. While she rubbed the patted area, the druid used his diplomacy on the Landers. The girl, not knowing much about specific things that other classes and subclasses could do, waited as the other adventurer conversed with the People of the Land and proceeded to not so kindly instruct them to hand over the items. Perhaps she could learn a thing or two from him, seeing as no one took her seriously as an adventurer or a tank.

“ Thank you very much, “ Caerbannog then politely thanked the Landers once they gave up the shinies to her.

She was a bit clueless in the ways of the world, or just clueless in general. The samurai only knew that the tall person had a cute summon, that he helped her get the shinies back from the landers, and that those shinies would be returned to their rightful owner. Not wanting to seem rude, she waited for the druid to walk back up the road to Londenium and she would try to keep up with his pace.

OOC Notes: ---
Word Count: 277
Tags: @dindeen Scoria

[Scoria]

Scoria's eyes flicked to the girl's hands over her head as she moved, not so focused on his task to miss that sort of motion. After all, they were still outside the town and no matter how tiny this Samurai might have been, he was not so foolish as to automatically assume she was harmless. The gesture made Scoria feel like he had somehow slighted the woman, but he couldn't be sure. After all, even if he was a Courtesan and happened to be able to bully Landers, that didn't mean he was was any good at dealing with people. Well, Adventurers, at the very least. He didn't bother debating apologizing, there was no reason to assume the exact reason she had made that gesture. It was possible it was his fault and he had insulted her, it was possible she was simply uncomfortable, it was possible she had this need to adjust her hair by placing her hands over her head. It could have honestly been anything.

Once the shinies were all safely within Caerbannog's grasp, Scoria continued to stare down the Landers. It didn't take a genius to realize they weren't going to take this sitting down, and Scoria simply had the good sense to be cautious. After all, they had been complaining so much about needing help before, and they were about to start again. Scoria could sense it in their disgruntled expressions and hands stuffed in their pockets. Sad. Sad and unfortunate. Scoria's eyes closed as they began to grumble their grievances, putting both Caerbannog and his familiar behind him. He didn't care if she was a guardian or a samurai or whatever. This was a mess he had created. "We're still too weak to get back to town!" "Our camp's been messed up too!" "This is so much effort." Scoria's crimson eyes opened and he snarled. "But you have no problem dealing with boars, rounding up trinkets and stealing from someone. Take advantage, but do no work yourself. Have shame." It seemed the Landers weren't particularly happy at that, standing up as if to get back at Scoria, raising their fists. Scoria's expression flattened, not oblivious to their rising morale. They weren't too tired to attack him, were they? Scoria simply stood there as they approached and took a deep breath. Talking to idiots was such a pain. "Control your own lives, you miserable wretches. No better than thieves. STAND ASIDE." Yelling hurt his throat and he wasn't happy to do it, but the idiots weren't getting the lesson. Well, they hadn't right until Scoria bellowed, his right hand coming up to pull his thumb across his throat in a swift motion. Raising his head and grinning for just the briefest moment, the player's Courtesan nature was enough to get them to back up, for now.

He was going to have to increase his fighting strength eventually, he knew. But for now, this was enough. Glaring back at the merchants, Scoria turned around and gestured, leaving Alraune on lookout. "Sorry." Scoria's stride might have been long, but he knew at the very least to match pace with people who couldn't walk as fast as he could. The pace he set was one that might give Caerbannog just the slightest bit of difficulty, but it wasn't cruelly fast, nor was it to so slow as to be perceived as pity. The samurai didn't need that. No one needed that. He only apologized for the wasted time and the mess he had created, lumping an apology for the hair thing in there as well. Good enough. Glaring down at the samurai, Scoria walked with his hands in his pockets. "..." He opened his mouth for the briefest moment, considering introducing himself, but decided against it. He normally offered a fake name to those who asked, but lying in this situation didn't suit him. He was already stressed out by the merchants. Instead, he let his familiar do the talking. "Speedy turtle! You're funny!" ...Maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all. All that one ever said stuff relating to turtles and various insults. She even refused to give up her name, no matter how many times Scoria asked. And he wasn't calling her Alraune.

[Muse: Breathe]

[Tag: @dindeen]

[Deleted]

The hike back to Londenium was initially too quiet. Caerbannog walked beside the druid and managed to barely keep up with his pace, but she did not walk too close to him, leaving some personal space. Every now and then, she looked behind them too for the Landers could have decided to go after them with hatchets and pitchforks. But so far, there seemed to be no hostility from that camp; perhaps they turned to the boars and made bacon out of the poor beasts. And then, the summon spoke up; the samurai accepted that her nickname from then on was ‘Speedy Turtle’. She did not mind it at all for she also gave nicknames to some of the adventurers which she met before.

“ I'm a Speedy Turtle huh... “ Caerbannog became more relaxed as they walked on, and she decided to chat with the little vegetable, “ And you’re a Pretty Turtle. “

She smiled at the druid’s summon as best as she could, having found it slightly easier to speak with non-human beings.

“ What’s your name, Pretty Turtle? “ she asked the summon.

Every now and then, the samurai looked up at the druid. If he seemed bothered or exasperated by the chatting, Caerbannog would stop. But to the druid himself, she did not say anything once they left the camp. In her mind, the druid and his summon were two separate entities, and it was the only reason why she was able to speak to the forest sprite easily.

OOC Notes: ---
Word Count: 252
Tags: @dindeen Scoria

[Scoria]

Was he boring? He probably was. That, or intimidating. Scoria almost sighed, but instead focused on the path in front of him. It appeared his little show the last time had been unnecessary, but at least the Landers weren't following behind the trio for some other reason. Probably best to keep those outbursts to a minimum, but there was a natural limit to just how much nonsense one could take from a particular group and those merchants had worn out his nerves. Acting useless, taking advantage, and complaining that the samurai and druid wouldn't help them on principle? Didn't they have the wrong idea? Scoria scowled briefly before his expression flattened again, eyes on the path before them. He'd watch out for ambushes, at least. The forest sprite, on the other hand, seemed unreasonably offended. "Not a turtle!" Had Scoria not managed to reduce his response to the tiniest crinkle of his eyes, he would have fallen over laughing. So it was okay for her to label everyone as a turtle, but not be called a turtle herself?

"He's Turtle! Pretend crocodile gator, but really a turtle! You're Speedy Turtle! I am..." Scoria's ears perked up. Alraune seemed unreasonably excited and he almost didn't know why he hadn't tried this tactic before. If she wasn't going to tell him, maybe she'd give up her name to some other Adventurer or Lander? Without changing his expression and carefully trying not to give his interest away, Scoria patiently waited and listened. "Scoria!"

This cheeky brat. Reaching with one hand, the druid karate-chopped the top of the forest sprite's head lightly. "That doesn't belong to you." The meaning, if Caer caught it, was that the name was someone else's. If she guessed correctly, it might be clear whose name that actually was. The sprite just laughed mildly and giggled before pointing towards Caerbannog once more. "Nickname, Pretty Turtle?"

[Muse: None]

[Tag: @dindeen]

[Deleted]

Caerbannog realized her mistake the moment that the sprite exclaimed at that she was -not- a turtle. So the summon did not refer to everything as turtles, but rather, did she only use it on adventurers? And what was a crocodile gator? Moving along the conversation, she thought that the summon revealed its real name, until the druid’s action and words said otherwise. Perhaps the creature did not have a name? Soon enough, it pointed at the samurai again and the girl was not really sure how to respond.

“ Caer-ban-nog, “ was her reply, hoping that the sprite intended to ask for her name.

She looked to the druid and meant to ask if she was doing it right, the interaction with his summon, that is. The samurai thought for a moment if she should call out her own companion, the frenmic rabbit Hrairoo, but she decided against it since the forest sprite looked like something that Roo would eat. As they walked on, the road became visibly busier; they were close to Londenium where hopefully, no other Lander would annoy the adventurers with their stories and demands. For a moment, she looked ahead, then back at the druid; how did her other acquaintances so far manage to strike up a conversation? The girl was stumped and so she remained quiet, for the druid seemed to be like her in some ways- able to speak, yet would not unless necessary.

OOC Notes: ---
Word Count: 241
Tags: @dindeen Scoria

[Scoria]

Caerbannog was surprisingly good at dealing with the forest sprite, it seemed. A lot better than Scoria, at the very least. Thanks to the precocious nature of the sprite, Scoria had at least learned the samurai's name. Caerbannog, was it? Scoria briefly wondered if there was a relation to a certain film and if that reference was intentional, but it wasn't really his place to ask. After all, the duo was simply walking the same path, nothing more than that. It wasn't as though they were friends. He didn't miss Caer's glance up at him, however, and he nodded once. That was the universal look of someone searching for approval, after all. Scoria knew it well. He had looked in a mirror. Scoria probably would have continued to say and do nothing as the road shifted, but the number of people milling about and Alraune's personality made Scoria a little cautious. "Pretty nickname." Alraune was strangely subdued in the crowd of people, her little arms wrapping around Scoria's neck to secure her hold.

He glanced briefly up at his mana gauge and frowned slightly. Considering how much she normally got excited by crowds, the druid had been confused, but it appeared his mana had dropped below a quarter. The familiar herself seemed to realize it as well, or perhaps felt it as feedback, and she was acting a bit more lethargic now. Normally, he'd be able to keep the familiar out for much longer, but he didn't normally get into fights the toddler needed to get involved with. Scoria wasn't blind by any stretch of the word, but his focus was divided between the forest sprite and standing tall enough that no one would get in his way. Much like his earlier days in town, the higher proportion of Landers and Scoria's glaring, tall, and sharp appearance kept most people from getting too 'friendly' with him. For those reasons, Scoria only barely managed to catch Caer's upwards glance, not truly taking it in and spending quite some time mulling it over. His first impression was simply that the samurai was uncomfortable around the druid, which was a reasonable enough thought considering who he was and what he had done. Still, he wasn't the type to strike up a conversation or ask if everything was alright. He simply got himself involved by accident and then forced his way through whatever obstacles got in his way. Stepping into the town proper, Scoria tried to remember where the Lander was, but his memory wasn't aiding him at the moment.

Perhaps this was too awkward. Scoria glanced down at the samurai, cringing for a brief moment, and let out a soft sigh. People, huh? It wasn't like he couldn't deal with them, but he was the type to exist in silence. Unfortunately, he never knew if the others around him were the same way, or if they were forced into an uncomfortable quiet. His place slowed as he let Caerbannog lead them this time, unsure exactly where to go. All he could do for now was make sure no one tried anything funny. Building any relationship takes time, after all.

[Muse: None]

[Tag: @dindeen]

[Deleted]

The city was a mess unlike any other. The day had gone on while Caerbannog was away, and with every minute that passed it became busier. By the time that the druid and the samurai walked into Londenium’s gates, the city had become a loud place, louder than how it was earlier. The druid stopped to look around and so did the samurai. All the streets appeared similar so the girl had to think hard about the exact place where she last saw the lander. He said that he would wait for her there, after all.

“ This way, “ Caerbannog said to the druid as soon as she remembered.

Down one of the wider roads, she led him and his summon. It was just as busy as the other streets, and somewhere in the middle, there was a commotion.

“ My trinkets! My trinkets! Woe is me! “ cried a familiar voice, “ How will I ever feed my family now?! “

It was all too similar to what she experienced earlier. Caerbannog politely tapped the shoulders of a few people in the crowd, hoping that they would let her pass. She stood on tiptoes and noticed that the merchant was harassing some other adventurer, and the latter seemed cross already. If not for the Guard System, that lander would have already been beaten up. But annoying as he may be, the merchant really did need his wares and hopefully he had learned his lesson to not camp out all alone in Windsor Greatwood. The only obstacle in the girl’s way by then, which prevented her from returning the merchant’s wares, was the great crowd of people gathered around the commotion.

OOC Notes: ---
Word Count: 280
Tags: @dindeen Scoria

[Scoria]

Ah, yes. This was exactly the reason why Scoria did not stay in the main parts of London. His residence was more to the outskirts, where he could casually beat up Landers as he wished. His expression darkened the further he walked until he was full-on scowling, hands in his pockets, eyebrows furrowed, glare leveled on the path in front of him. His Courtesan attribute was showing itself once more, even without Allure. His presence simply bled out into the streets around him, leaving the druid nodding and stepping after Caerbannog. To the casual observer, it might have almost seemed like he was her bodyguard, even though combat-wise, the roles would be reversed. He walked along until that familiar voice fell on his ears. This selfish bastard. He sent Caerbannog on a quest, then Scoria, and he was still recruiting people? Especially now that the samurai had collected all the loot, he was essentially sending people on a wild goose chase.

It was moments like this that the Druid wished he had his next Druid skill in mind. Call Storm. It'd disperse a crowd like it was nothing, after all. He was definitely going to have to work on getting that soon, if only to get crowds of non-Landers to leave. Still, this was a problem. Caerbannog was her usual polite self about it, asking people to move and trying to move through the crowd. That wasn't going to work, huh? Scoria didn't really want to get rough here, considering the guard system. While he could push around Landers, Adventurers weren't going to take it sitting down and the guards would be at their throats in no time at all. Still. He couldn't pick Neun up and toss her over the crowd, so what options did he have. Scoria glanced around and spotted his solution. Turning around, he moved towards a Lander with a moving store. It was one of those carts that let you set up stuff on top and move the wares plus the shop around town. Wheels, canopy for the rain, and a solid front. Scoria moved up to the Lander and stared him down, placing a small sum of gold on the table. Allure. "Lend me this, please."

A moment later, Scoria was moving the cart forward, the forest sprite on top of it making stupid 'gaoo' sounds. She wasn't intimidating at all, but the Lander had assured him that the cart was made to hold very large weights. Moving up towards Caerbannog, Scoria motioned to the top of the cart. "Need a lift?" Even Scoria couldn't resist a joke or two in this situation. Although he'd considered making a joke about chariots or whatnot, he figured that was a bit too much for someone he just got to know. Still, he was now forcefully shoving a large moving cart into the crowd. They might have gotten pissed and annoyed at him, but they couldn't ignore a cart being moved in their direction and repeatedly being shoved into them. The system didn't care either. The result was pretty simple. Scoria glared down anyone who actively wanted to try and get back at him, continuing to push forward until he ran over coerced the Adventurer talking to the merchant and got him to move aside. Whether Caer followed behind or hitched a ride, the path was open. The rest was the responsibility of the person who had done the collecting.

Unless this merchant tried to shortchange the duo. In which case, Scoria would have 'words' for the Lander in question. He simply stood by his cart, glaring at the Lander and jamming his borrowed cart further and further closer, stopping so he was curling around the Lander to form a semicircle. Certainly, he could try to back up, but that just meant Scoria would corner him further and further backwards, out of the middle of the street, until he was up against a wall. The end.

[Muse: Title Unknown]

[Tag: @dindeen]

[Deleted]

Having to go through a crowd full of people who were much taller than her did not help the girl’s objective or her self-esteem. She did not have any of her close friends nearby either, so she thought the day lost until a cart rolled up to her. The forest sprite sat atop the thing and was being its usual cute self, making funny noises as the druid pushed the cart into the crowd. At first, she did not think it a good idea and the samurai felt slightly annoyed too; here was another person who treated her like a kid. But then looking back at the situation, it was a most practical thing to do.

Caerbannog hopped onto the cart and hung onto it as the druid pushed the contraption along. The sprite continued to make its funny sounds, both alerting and annoying the crowd. She looked up at the druid as they moved on; it might have been her imagination but he seemed to be enjoying all the pushing and shoving that he was doing. She couldn't blame him, for people could be very annoying indeed. What’s important was that they got close to the lander who needed his trinkets, and the adventurer who was ready to punch the man moved out of the way just in time before the druid rolled the cart over him.

“ I’m back! “ the samurai hopped off the cart and waved at the distraught merchant, “ I have your shinies! “

At that, she removed the items from her inventory, every last one. If there was anything missing, it was none of her concern. Caerbannog handed the items back to the merchant, who did not seem all too happy about the amount which the girl gave back. The crowd began to disperse while the lander sat down to check the loot which the girl handed over. Meanwhile, Caerbannog walked over to the druid and looked up at him, beaming.

“ Fun ride! “ she simply said.

OOC Notes: ---
Word Count: 334
Tags: @dindeen Scoria

[Scoria]

Scoria was a little relieved that she hadn't seemed to be mad at his plan, but he was mostly just playing guard duty at this point. The crowds were dispersing soon after the Lander quieted down, which was nice and all, but Scoria still wasn't satisfied. His eyes gleamed as he stood there, looming over the merchant and waiting for him to finish. The crowd was vanishing slowly and Scoria motioned the Lander whom he had borrowed the cart from, returning it with a nod of his head. He had already given his thank you for services rendered and offered compensation as well, so while the owner of the stall was a little bewildered by Scoria's rough usage of his cart, Scoria had done what he had said and returned the borrowed property in good condition. The lander laughed nervously and moved his cart away, heading down the road, leaving Scoria glaring down at the merchant. The forest sprite took the moment to jump back on Scoria's back, leaving the druid to buckle slightly.

Caer's beaming expression caught Scoria's eye, his expression settling back into neutrality as he nodded back at her. The forest sprite on his back gave Caerbannog a thumbs up and a wide grin, beaming back at the samurai. Scoria knew that she didn't get the entire picture, but it was enough that the familiar was pleased with herself and Caerbannog was relatively satisfied. He turned his expression back to the merchant Lander, his glare back to full power as he bored holes in the poor man. Allure. "Don't forget to compensate both of us. Separately. Sending multiple people into competition is fairly ruthless, so surely you won't mind if I'm ruthless back." The Lander stuttered and nodded as he continued to sort through his trinkets and shinies. It wasn't like Scoria was doing this out of the goodness of his heart, and even if Caerbannog happened to be, he was going to make sure they were both compensated. The Lander himself sighed once he had counted everything before fishing out some gold and handing it over. Scoria took his portion and pocketed it quickly before turning to the samurai. "Hrm." He continued to stare for a while before putting his hand forward for a handshake. It wasn't like he was particularly fond of the samurai or anything, but she wasn't bad.

"Good work."

[Muse: Title Unknown]

[Tag: @dindeen]

[Deleted]

Pleased with the sweet little forest sprite, Caerbannog smiled widely at it until the druid had to tend to some business with the merchant. It turned out the lander had bothered her fellow adventurer too, so it wasn’t by some strange luck that they met up in the Greatwood. As for the compensation, the samurai did not want or need it, she just wanted to be left alone with no lander quest on her back, but it would have been impolite to refuse a kind gesture. No, not the lander’s kind gesture, but the druid’s. He did not have to speak up for her, but that adventurer did so anyway. While the samurai accepted and pocketed her share, the druid stared for a moment and then he held his hand out to her.

“ Oh? “ Caerbannog was slightly surprised as she accepted the handshake; the druid seemed distant and mean at times after all, “ Good work! Time to rest now! “

It sounded weird but that was her usual farewell in MMOs which she played before the Catastrophe. Once that was done and the lander went on his way too, the samurai turned to leave. She thought about... no... he’ll probably reject it. She could try anyway. The samurai pulled up her interface and focused on the other adventurer, and then she sent a friend request.

“ I-It’s not like we’re friends or anything! “ she reasoned, “ But I can tank and stuff you know! You can call me when something comes up. “

The samurai would not be so terribly disappointed if the druid rejected the request. She would just be on her way, not minding that she’ll probably never see the cute little forest sprite again.

OOC Notes: ---
Word Count: #291#
Tags: @dindeen Scoria

[Scoria]

Time to rest now? Scoria blinked, slightly confused, but nodded. He shot a glare at the merchant Lander once more before turning back to face the retreating samurai. He wondered if he hadn't imposed quite a bit here, but that was his personality. He wasn't exactly the type to be nice, but it wasn't like he didn't somehow get involved. That was him, after all. "Ice Bitch" Ash Hourai, right? Scoffing, he folded his hands over his chest as he gazed down the street. Caer turned around suddenly and shot him a friend request, accompanied by a fair bit of explanation. Scoria blinked again, confused in a way that only that reaction would suffice for the second time in a few minutes. All of a sudden, Alraune pointed over Scoria's shoulder at Caerbannog, exclaiming loudly. "Tsundereeeeee?!" The sprite's eyes were twinkling unreasonably and had Scoria taken a good look, he would have felt like she was way too excited about the prospect of meeting a 'tsundere'.

...Wait, where had she even learned that word anyway? It certainly wasn't common unless you were into anime and manga and the like. Scoria just glanced up at the forest sprite, staring hard as he tried to figure out just how much this particular brat actually knew. For her limited vocabulary, she sure seemed to be hiding a lot. Well, it would be rude not to respond to the 'acquaintance' request. That was really what it was in this case, wasn't it? Scoria tapped the accept button before nodding and turning around to head off. It wasn't like he was the kind of guy to wave over his shoulder as he walked away or do some needless posturing. After all, he did have to go buy some food for dinner. It wasn't likely he'd contact the samurai again, but she was reliable, and there was no harm in having at least one or two people to ask something of every so often. For now, it looked like it was just her though. He'd just have to be careful not to actually rely on that player or, in reverse, have that samurai needlessly rely on him. It wasn't likely that would happen, all things considered. Anyway, if it was dinner, fish would probably be good, right?

[Muse: Title Unknown]

[Tag: @dindeen]

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