Fighting Monsters by Moonlight! [Closed/Mentor]

[Hirosame]

Having just realized that she had a few of the slimes required for them to complete the quest, Val seemed to still want to be out here and achieving beyond the required quota. Hiro was more than happy to do so, since he liked being out here on a night like this. So, he nodded to her in response, after breaking out of his little episode of silence. The blush that had been there on his face was gone by now, so he didn't look much like a fool as it is now. When his student spotted a few of the monsters nearby, he stopped once her hand tapped his shoulder, and looked their way. Doing a quick count, there was three of them there. Hiro smirked just a bit, and put a hand on Valerie's shoulder for a moment. Without turning to her, he spoke. "I'll handle these ones." He took the hand off her shoulder, and slowly made his way to the slimes, trying as hard as he could to avoid causing a sound. This would be a good way for Valerie to learn how to use the environment against the enemy, since there was a large, sturdy tree just behind the slimes on the other side.

Creeping up slowly and carefully, Hiro made his way over. They still hadn't noticed him, luckily enough, as he moved into a nearby bush. As silently as he could, he stood up fully, and began to point his index finger out towards the slime in the middle. "Showtime." Hiro muttered silently. As if from nowhere, a spotlight shown down on top of the slime in the middle, and the other two confusedly looked over at the middle. The Idol skill, Showtime!, had put a light onto the middle slime, drawing the slimes' attentions, which gave him the perfect window of opportunity to strike. Hiro dashed from out of the bush's cover, and scooped up the two slimes on the sides with his hands. He began to throw them up and into the trunk of the tree a little ways up, and scooped up the third slime with his foot, launching it into the same place as the other slimes. The three slimes, now perfectly packed into one small section, plastered on the tree, were in the perfect position for what he wanted to do. Hiro crouched down, and used Wyvern Kick to jump up and into the air, aiming directly for the three slimes. He would make sure that they don't live much longer.

The damage applied from the throws weren't very big, but the combination of his next move would cause them to explode. While it isn't the intended purpose of the skill, Hiro used Tiger Echo Fist to slam the three slimes together, into the tree. He followed up with the previously activated Wyvern Kick to spin himself around and roundhouse kick the slimes further into the tree. Finishing them off, he kicked off using Aura Kick to propel himself down back towards the ground, and cause the finishing blow on all three slimes in unison. Landing back on the ground in a crouched fashion, Hiro looked back up to Valerie, a big old grin on his face. The interface popped up in front of him, as only one instance of the item they needed to get. Hiro stood back up, and brushed himself off, trying to look cool for a minute. Turning his attention back to Valerie, he smiled. "And that's how you do it. Sometimes." Hiro shrugged to the girl for a moment. "Doesn't work all the time, though. Just try and use things to better the fight for yourself, I guess." He walked back over to her, and spotted another group of slimes in the area. He pointed them out to her, and walked over to a nearby tree, leaning against it. "You go ahead and give it a shot, Val. Let's see how you do on your own." He waved a hand to her. "Don't let what I said get to you earlier about the lessons. Just fight how you want." He wanted to see how she would perform, just to observe better. The group of three slimes on the other side were all her's. Hiro relaxed against the tree, waiting to see how she fought.

[721 Words]
Tag: Valerie

[Valerie]

Hiro stopped and turned to look for the slimes. He placed a hand on her shoulder and told her that he would handle those slimes, making Val’s brow furrow in mild confusion but her hand dropped from the hilt of her weapon. Her mentor silently approached a small group of three slimes and moved into a bush nearby. Valerie froze as the monk pointed his index finger out toward the slimes. What is he doing? Can he do magic or something? She thought and then a beam of light appeared on top of the middle slime, causing the other two slimes to turn toward the slime in the middle. Magic... She thought randomly, smiling as the other slimes seemed to be star struck by glowing slime in the middle.


Valerie had been so focused on the three slimes that she forgot about Hiro and jumped slightly in surprise as he sprang from the bush, grabbing the two star struck slimes and threw them into the trunk of a large tree. Then the monk scooped up the remaining slime with his foot and launched it toward the same tree, hitting the other two slimes, make something that resembled a sandwich. The swashbuckler bit her lip at the strange image, trying not to laugh. The monk jumped up and kicked the slimes, making the swashbuckler wonder if the slimes will go through the tree trunk.


Surprisingly, the slimes haven’t disappeared into anima yet and Hiro used three different skills to slam the slimes further into the trunk of the tree and landed in a crouch. The monk turned to face Valerie, with a big grin on his face, making the swashbuckler smile in return. She noticed how a screen had popped up in front of him as Hiro brushed himself off, though he clearly was not ruffled by the fight. You didn’t even have to get dirty to win that fight. She thought to herself in amusement. Her mentor told her advised her to use her surrounding more, like how he used the tree. Leaned against a nearby tree, he pointed to another group of slimes, telling her to try and fight them.


The girl’s eyes widened in mild surprise as he told her to fight the slimes but she nodded and drew her daggers. “Okay.” She said curtly. Hiro had told her not to mind his earlier lesson and to just fight which Valerie thought was slightly odd considering he bothered to tell her about using her surroundings and even showed her. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she walked silently over to the slimes and looking at the surroundings.


There were a couple trees, some small rocks and low bushes, not much to use as a weapon. She thought to herself and remembered her previous idea with the rock and bush. Valerie picked up a small rock and hid behind a tree then threw it into the bush farthest from her to catch the slimes’ attention. As the dull green creatures turned toward the bush, the girl darted around the tree and kicked the closest slime into the bush and focused her attention on the two slimes in front of her. She stabbed the two remaining slimes, impaling the small monsters and flicked her wrists, causing the slimes to fly off her blades and onto a nearby tree truck. The swashbuckler simultaneously slashed both daggers downward, creating a mark in the tree as it went through both slimes and they vanished into anima. Valerie spun around as she heard the bush rustled, remembering the other slime and darted toward the bush, slamming her dagger into its body. The girl raised her arm and flicked her wrist, making the slime fly into a different tree then slashed down the same way she killed the two other slimes.


As the slime disappeared into anima, Valerie decided to test a theory she had just thought of. The swashbuckler didn’t move from her position for a few seconds and then a similar screen appeared before the girl, telling her that she had acquired two slime sludges. So the interface didn’t display because I moved right after I killed it, they probably did that to prevent screens from popping up everything you killed something. She concluded. The girl straightened up and sheathed her weapons, walking up to her mentor with a small smile. “How was it?” She asked him curiously.


Words: 736
OOC: You can tell Val is not much a talker compared to Hiro XD

[Hirosame]

Hiro found himself enjoying how Val was actually still taking a little tiny bit of what he said into practice when she went into the fight she was presented. His arms folded, and his posture as that of a relaxing person, he observed the half a minute fight with utmost interest. The way that she had used the rock and bush idea, then kicked the slime into the bush to get it out of the way, was a very solid and good idea. Hiro nodded when she had done this, and watched over the slime in the brush as well as looking at the two slimes she went up to attack afterwards. When those were taken care of, it looked like she had somewhat forgotten that the slime was still in the bush nearby, but managed to keep her cool, and dispatch it without much more trouble at all. He saw her stop for just a moment, though, and wondered why she hadn't kept on moving. But, the interface appeared, and he smiled. Standing back up, uncrossing his arms, and walked over to meet the girl, he nodded to her, a smile on his face. "Nice work." Hiro said quickly, looking around the area for just another minute.

The slimes in this part of the forest seemed to be all gone, which would require them to look around for some more. Hopefully not a long walk type of deal, since that would just flat out stink. He returned his vision to the girl for just a moment, and nodded again. "You did well, Val. Nice job. I mean it." Hiro affirmed his praise, then started to walk forward again. "Let's keep moving, shall we?" He said, looking over his shoulder at the girl, and cleared his throat a moment later. He needed to do a little bit of practice for a song that he wanted to learn how to sing again. Being an Idol, he needed to use music to his advantage whenever people wanted a song. He'd been inside a few inns and taverns, sharing a song every so often, but this one was a song that he was trying to learn so he could have Lavinia play the piano for, and he could sing over her masterful playing. Hiro closed his eyes for just a second, moving along, and envisioned the song in his mind. The music played in his head, letting the rhythm flow through himself. He let out a little vocalization at the start, to get the range up just right, before he sang softly.

"Lonely Girl, wa itsu made mo~
Todokanai yumemite~
Sawagu atama no naka wo~
kakimawashite, kakimawashite~"

The song flowed out of his mouth, letting everything just come as naturally as can be. He had been practicing this song for a show that he was asked to do sometime soon. Hoping that Val didn't mind the singing, or actually enjoyed the song, he looked over at her for a second, and smiled, letting the song continue. He looked ahead to the road, letting his voice softly sing. While he was singing, he kept looking around the area, trying to see if there were any more monsters to be fought. His song may or may not be heard by them, but if he was lucky, he'd get to sing it entirely without interruption. There isn't much else for them to do right now, except look around and see if there are other monsters to see. The trees blew gently with the breeze, and the moon shown down overhead. The soft howling of the wind made the entire forest seem so surreal, but also very lively. While he sang, Hiro felt the cold air brush across his face, but it was a calming, and rather soothing. Maybe Val thought the same of the current feeling, what with the forest being so relaxed. Too bad they'd be forced into fighting some more slimes in just a little while now. Oh well, at least the song was nice. He thought. Probably. Whatever, he just kept on singing.

[680 Words]
Tag: Valerie
Note: Sorry, I kinda ran out of juice tonight when it came to this last post. It kinda shows, but I hope it'll be okay, either way. XD

[Valerie]

The girl’s cheeks tinted slightly red and looked down awkwardly as her mentor praised her, not knowing how to react to his comment. “Thank you.” Valerie said in a small voice, so soft that it was barely audible but just enough to reach Hiro’s ears. The swashbuckler nodded and followed the monk as he started walking again. As her eyes scanned the area, it appeared that all the slimes in the forest seemed to be wiped out by the monk and swashbuckler duo and once again returned to its silence.

However the silence did not last very long since the monk suddenly cleared his throat moments after the silence returned. The girl turned to him, expecting Hiro to ask her another question or pop another mini-lesson. Instead, the monk closed his eyes and let out a sound at reminded Valerie of her roommate who studied music, or vocals to be specific, making the girl’s brows raise slightly at the monk. Valerie’s expression quickly changed to one of awe as he began to sing softly. He has a nice voice. She thought to herself, unconsciously swaying to the tune that wove a very simple piano accompaniment in her head. Valerie had learned piano as a child but stopped getting lessons when she entered high school. Though she stopped lessons, the girl never stopped playing and would sometimes pick up random pieces and play them for fun. As a dancer, Valerie needed to know her music very well and it was something that pieced all her movements together, creating a complete performance.

Valerie took a quick scan of the area, scouting out the path in front of them, making sure there were no slimes. When she was satisfied that there were going to be no slimes appearing for the next while, the small swashbuckler closed her eyes and sank into the music. Behind her closed lids, a dance appeared in her mind, one that flowed with Hiro’s song. This was common for Valerie, envisioning a dance to any song she heard. It was rather a habit, but it was not a bad one. The piece wove into a simple but beautiful dance, and the girl’s body yearned to put her imagination to life. You can’t just randomly dance. This is not home. Valerie scolded herself, tensing her body to letting herself break out into the dance. But if feels just like it… A voice chimed softly in her head but she ignored it and turned away to look back into the forest.

Words: 420
Hirosame

[Hirosame]

The song that Hiro was singing would conclude soon, as he paid almost no attention to the forest. His mind fluttered back and forth between the song, and Valerie, who he had only hoped that she didn't mind the music. The fact that she didn't say anything about it worried him a little bit, but not enough to cause him to stop. If she liked the song, then awesome. If not, then he wouldn't sing that song for her anymore. Provided the two ever meet up again, which he actually sincerely hoped for, after this quest. Valerie didn't talk nearly as much as Hiro did. Then again, nobody did. But, the fact that she was so very gung-ho about almost everything that had taken place during the quest thus far was actually very relaxing, as ironic as it may seem. It's not often that one finds someone else who can just flow through the motions of every day life with a spring in their step. Hiro turned to Valerie a little bit, as the song ended, and smiled a little. This girl was something else, for sure. Turning his head back to the road, he looked for slimes once more, before turning back to her and apologizing.

"Sorry about that, Val." Hiro spoke, calmly. "I've been practicing that song for a while now, and it just popped up in my mind. Sorry for randomly singing out loud, there." Hiro gave a little defeated look to her, hoping she didn't mind the song at all. Turning back to the road, he continued. "I changed my subclass not too long ago to Idol, since I figured it'd be more useful to me as a guild leader. The Showtime skill is actually incredibly useful, for both combat and non-combat situations. Any kind of conversation can be made more interesting with the skill." Hiro threw a childish grin over to the girl, an evil thought in his mind. "I could put the spotlight on you, and that would draw all the slimes to us, if you wanted." Hiro chuckled a little bit, expecting a slap at his shoulder for such a mean idea. Even though it were a joke, Hiro wouldn't actually do that to someone, unless they could physically handle it easily. Someone of a much higher level than one, for sure. Not Valerie, though. At least, not right now. For now, Hiro would just throw around little jokes and teases here and there, to make things a bit more fun for both of them. It looked like she didn't mind it, so he went with it.

All the teasing aside, Hiro began to look around as they walked, trying to see any more slimes. Much to his surprise, the slimes that they were looking for seemed to be gone. In fact, a lot of the normal monsters of this area seemed to be gone. Perplexed and confused, Hiro wondered where they might be. This was their home area, and where they went to sleep after a long day, so they should be here. "I haven't seen any slimes around for a little while now. This is just a little weird, if you ask me." Now a bit more cautious than before, he started to look around the forest with even quicker eyes. Just then, a root that stuck up from the ground caught his foot, causing the monk to fall over, face first. A sound of surprise and shock filled the immediate air, as Hiro face-planted into the dirt on the path. Perhaps he should have been looking at the road to see where he was going, instead of being paranoid about the fact that there aren't any monsters around. Hiro lifted himself off the ground a bit, and shook his head to knock off the dirt that may or may not have accumulated on his head. He turned around to look up at Valerie for just a moment, but turned his head away almost immediately. "Well, now I feel stupid." Hiro quietly mentioned, a smile on his face. He had to chuckle at his own little fall, because, by all rights, it was funny. Sure, maybe Valerie's image of the guy may have dropped a bit, but even he understood when something funny happened. He kept on laughing for a few more seconds, still on the ground.

[726 Words]
Tag: Valerie

[Valerie]

As the song ended, Hiro turned to her and apologized for randomly singing, explaining why he was practicing the particular song, later explaining why he changed his subclass. A Guild leader. She thought to herself and looked back at Hiro with renewed interest. Valerie’s mind flew back, recalling all the times where it was clear that he was a guild leader but it simply never occurred to her. The way he speaks, interacts with people (or myself since I’ve just met the guy), his level… The girl wanted to facepalm at her own stupidity. How could I not see that? It was so obvious… Or at least it is now… Valerie thought, cursing herself for not realizing earlier.

The monk voiced his idea of putting a spotlight on Valerie, making the girl bristle like a cat seeing a dog. The small swashbuckler didn’t even know how to respond, no witty comments coming to mind as the idea of a spotlight on her floated through her head like a nightmare. “God no. I’d probably suddenly develop the assassin skill to randomly disappear at will.” Was the only thing that came to mind and it came out of her mouth as a weak comeback with an equally weak laugh. Taking a shaky breath to clear her head, she finally let out a real laugh, one that filled the nearby area with her laughter. “Damn, that was a horrible mental image.” Valerie said playfully, before continuing. “But to a certain degree, it was amusing to think of.” She said, shaking her head at the monk before smiling again.

Silence fell on them as the duo looked around the forest again. When her eyes didn’t seem to catch any slimes, Valerie’s mind wandered and begun to count how long it would be before monk would speak again, breaking the silence. It wasn’t that the silence was awkward or strange, at least not to her, in fact it was quite comfortable for the girl, but it seemed strange to have long periods of silence with the monk. The swashbuckler got up to about twenty seconds before Hiro spoke, but the way he spoke made Valerie straighten up and observe the area closer, acknowledging his words. Rather suddenly, the monk tripped and faceplanted into the ground, causing Valerie to jump slightly on impact as he fell. Then she started laughing and quickly dropped to her knees beside him. “Are you okay?” She asked him, biting back her laughter. The girl wasn’t laughing at him falling, well, partially, but it was mainly because of the suddenness of his fall. She had a bad habit of laughing at other people’s pain and her own, though she always felt bad for laughing at others. If she was the one who tripped, the first thing she would do is laugh, that’s just how she is.

Hiro turned to her but quickly turned his face away, making Valerie tilt her head in confusion. Then she heard the monk mumble about how he felt stupid, but she heard a smile in his voice, making her smile as well. As her mentor begun to laugh, the girl didn’t hold back her laughter as well and laughed with him. As her laughter died down, she poked him on the shoulder. “Are you okay? Can you get up?” Valerie asked Hiro, the amusement easily heard in her voice. The small swashbuckler offered him a hand as she got up herself with a smile on her face from the incident, dusting her knees off. Seeing him trip was another reminder for the girl, higher level players were human but their level doesn’t mean they are perfect or invincible, and she smiled, keeping that in mind.

Words: 619
Hirosame

[Hirosame]

Hiro was actually a bit surprised to see that Val had dropped down to her knees after he fell. A look of confusion formed on his face, as she did this, and then soon one of gratitude. What he didn't find surprising, however, was that she was holding back a laugh. After having said that he felt stupid, the two of them shared a laugh, and the girl offered out her hand for him to grab and stand back up with. A smile returned on his face, as he nodded to the girl. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just feel silly is all." Hiro took the young woman's hand, and allowed himself to be pulled up by her. Standing back up, yet close to Val, Hiro finally got an idea of just how tall she actually is. Not only that, but the actual shade of her eyes. The violet color shown brightly, causing him to be slightly astounded by their radiance for just a moment. Hiro took a step back and didn't want the girl to feel like she was too close to somebody, since she probably didn't like being in close proximity with people she just met. "Thanks, Val." He said, a smile returning on his face once again.

Hiro took a look around, and then at the root that he had tripped over. He knelt back down, and pulled on it with a decent amount of force. The root wouldn't budge at all, so he let go of it and stood back up. "Yeah, that's definitely pretty tightly in there." He concluded. Looking over to the side, he spotted the tree that the root seemed to be coming off of. What always confused him was how trees always seemed to grow roots above the ground in certain places. He never quite understood how plants and the like worked, and never had an interest in how it all went down. So, he stayed away from the topic. He looked over to Valerie for just a moment, and nodded his head in the direction of the road that they were walking down before. "Shall we?" He asked her, starting to walk down that way already. "I can't imagine that there aren't anymore slimes along the way, and they're probably much closer now." Hiro fell silent for a few moments after that, and wondered about a few things. Why were the slimes so elusive right now, since they were much more easily caught during the day time? What would cause them to seek refuge in the forest at night?

Probably some silly questions, all in all. Hiro knew that they spent their nights in the forest to try and sleep. They slept in the forest because their color darkens and they can blend in with the forest floor a lot better, so enemies from all angles would have a harder time finding them. But, they wouldn't find the slimes if they were bored and wandering around without any kind of conversation. So, Hiro turned to the girl, to ask her something. "So, after this quest is done, got any plans or anything?" He asked, out of genuine curiosity. "Like, if you have a place to stay once this is all done, what you're gonna do later, all that stuff." He turned back to the road, before continuing. "I'd imagine you already had something to eat, so probably food wouldn't be a high priority on your mind right now. But, maybe a place to lay down and sleep would be high up there." He put his hands up behind his head. "Sorry for the random questions, but it sure as hell beats walking in silence, in my opinion. It's easy to lose track of time when you walk around without anything else to do or say, and it's damn better to have things going on in the meantime." Hiro paused for a second, then turned to Valerie. "Unless you'd rather have the silence, in which case I can shut my stupid mouth." He chuckled, then turned back to the road, putting his hands in his pockets. If she wanted silence, then he'd shut up. Until then, he waited for her response.

[697 Words]
Tag: Valerie

[Valerie]

Her mentor smiled at her question, nodding and said that he was alright but felt silly for falling. Hiro took her hand and she pulled him up with a smile on her face. Valerie looked up at him, a smile still on her face as the monk stood back up, looking down at her. The girl looked at him curiously but didn’t say a word as Hiro stepped back giving her some space. She didn’t even realize they were standing rather close together until he stepped back, making the girl feel slightly uncomfortable for not realizing she was standing so close to him and not stepping back earlier. As she thought back to the monk’s personality, she found it rather odd that Hiro was not comfortable being close to people because he seemed to be someone that wouldn’t mind being close to people. Valerie’s mind spun, trying to find the reason for Hiro backing up, and she wanted to facepalm when she realized the other factor of the equation, herself. The only other possible reason he would step back was because he didn’t want Valerie to be uncomfortable unless he was actually the one who disliked being in close proximity with other people which was highly unlikely. Then the man thanked her and she replied with a friendly smile. “No problem.” The monk looked around for the reason he tripped and spotting the root on which he tripped over. He knelt down and pulled at hit, trying to dislodge it but let go of the root when he had no success in removing it from its place. Valerie saw him track down the root to the tree it was from and seemed to be rather confused by it but never expanded on the topic. Hiro turned to her and nodded toward the road they were on before the little incident and started walking again. The girl smiled and nodded, hopping over to walk in step with her mentor. After a little bit, the monk spoke again, voicing his thoughts about some nearby slimes. He had a good point, they had walked quite a bit from the last place they had found slimes so there should be some nearby, but both had not spotted any yet. Hiro fell silent as questions seemed to float through his head but the girl let her mind wander for the nth time that night and her eyes continued to scan the forest for slimes. As the girl previously predicted multiple times before, the monk asked her another question, breaking the silence. Man, I must seem anti-social for not talking. She musing to herself, then answered his question. “Well, I don’t really have anything planned and I’ve just been staying in some abandon buildings that haven’t been purchased yet.” She said, turning to face him with a meek smile on her face. It was common knowledge that some unpurchased buildings can be entered and temporally used until it is purchased by another person who will then officially control the land and area. However, some disliked that practice because you were technically using the land without purchasing it. “But sometimes I would just sleep in trees near the city borders where monsters usually avoid since they can’t enter the city.” Valerie added softly because there were not always open unpurchased buildings. Many low level players or guilds will hog buildings, making it hard to find a place to stay the night without anyone around. At times like that, the swashbuckler will just sleep outside in the trees, high in the tree and out of sight. Hiro soon apologized for asking her random questions in which Valerie quickly shook her head. The monk offered to, as he said, shut his stupid mouth if she preferred silenced, making the girl laugh lightly at his comment, wondering if he could truly remain silent. She honestly didn’t mind the talking and questions, but was simply not very good at it or communication to be specific. In fact, she rather enjoyed talking with him and preferred it to silence. “It’s fine. I don’t mind. Go ahead and ask away.” She said smiling, amusement filling her voice as she told him her choice.

TAG: Hirosame | WORDS: 700 | NOTES: 

[Hirosame]

Hiro thought about how Val had answered him in such a casual manner, basically explaining that she had been living in the woods for a while when it came to finding a place to sleep or something to that effect. Hiro's face scrunched up a bit when he heard this, thinking that the girl could have a better place to stay. Although, the places that weren't owned or purchased before would make it possible for her to sleep somewhere, they were still very undesirable places of rest. Thinking about how the Swashbuckler lived, he couldn't help but feel a bit bad for her. She didn't have a place to call her own, as a home. Hiro wanted to do something about that, and since he had heard that the current housing market wasn't too bad for first-time houses, Hiro wondered if Val would allow him to throw some money her way so she can get a house somewhere. Maybe somewhere in the city, or in the forest, wherever she wanted. Just a thought that had crossed his mind, aside from flat out asking her to to join his guild. That's rude, and he felt that she deserved to see everything before making a decision like that.

So, he went with the first option. "So, since I'm allowed to ask away, Val." Hiro began, turning her way. "Would you be able to afford a house on your own?" The question flowed out of his mouth, without even thinking about it. "If not, and if I offered to throw up the money for you to get one, would you?" He figured that she'd enjoy the offer, and either take him up on it, or downright deny it. Which was fine. There's nothing wrong with being self sufficient. That's how Hiro was the level he is presently: Making his own choices and going with how he wanted things to go. Or, at least, trying to get them to go that way. But, he knew that not everything would fall in line with his plans, so there's always room to change. In the same regard, he wanted to give Val the option to take him up on the offer or turn it down, depending on what she wanted. Again, he couldn't just flat out offer for her to join his guild, since he didn't want to implant the idea that she should only join his. It's up to her. For now, though, Hiro turned his attention back to the road, looking around for slimes. Then, something caught his eye just a bit up the road. It looked like just a bump or something, but he was very wary of it.

Hiro held out his hand in front of the girl, attempting to cut her off from walking any further forward. Hiro started to slowly walk up the road a bit, to see what he bump was, one hand clenched into a fist, and the other an open palm. As he walked closer to the object there, it yelped just a tiny bit, but remained laying on the ground. Hiro stiffened his back for just a second, but continued to move forward. As the moon light began to shine more easily on it, he recognized some of the patterns on its skin, and his eyes opened up. Hiro walked over near the fallen animal, which took note of him, and jumped up. The animal limped on a damaged leg, but growled at him all the while. What he didn't expect to see here was a Myobu, one of the Fox Spirits from Moon Dance Forest. Hiro knelt down, slowly, trying to show that he wasn't an enemy. Hiro had once spoken and fought alongside an Amaterasu, the original one, in Moon Dance Forest, a long time ago now. The spirit and the monk had become friends, but sadly, the Amaterasu was killed by fake iterations of itself. Having granted him a power from her own body and spirit, the beast vanished back up and into the sky. A scar that Hiro still felt very painfully in his heart.

Hiro looked back to Valerie for just a moment, nodding to her. "It's a monster from another area, and it looks a little hurt." He motioned how she could come closer if she wanted to or not, but to do so slowly, so as to not scare the Myobu. They generally are okay with people, but Hiro needed to do something in order to gain its trust. If it saw an image of one of its own, it'd likely calm down. "Sorry, Val. Gotta do something." Hiro stood back up slowly, and opened his menu, sliding his level back to full for just a moment. Hiro then activated the skill he had learned from the Amaterasu, Hellfire Drive. The flames began to cloak him, as a red, yellow, and orange outline began to cover his body. Letting the fires burn for just a moment, he leaned down to the Myobu, and deactivated the skill. The Myobu seemed to be a bit more relaxed, after seeing something akin to one of its own, so it relaxed. Hiro took the small monster's leg into his hand, and used another skill, Release Chakra, to give it a small buff to its leg, relieving the pain for a bit. Hiro stood back up, as the monster tried walking around a bit. He then turned to Valerie for a moment. "I think I'll take this little guy back to his home either tonight after the quest or tomorrow. He needs to be with family." Hiro concluded. "If you want to, you can come with me when I bring him back. If there's any fighting, I'll be sure to protect you." He turned back to the Myobu, now walking just a little. "These guys don't live too deep into the Forest, but it can get a little dicey at points." He then turned to her, awaiting her answer.

[995 Words]
Tag: Valerie
Notes: Basically an invitation for another thread, if you want in on that. I like RPing with you, Val. It's fun! Feel free to turn it down, of course. Aside from that, sorry for the long-winded post. XD

[Valerie]

The first question she got from Hiro was asking if she was capable of purchasing a house by herself. “Currently, I don’t have enough to purchase any place to stay unless I want to chill at a motel or something.” Valerie told him, sighing softly. She had thought about buying a place, but currently did not have enough and did not want to spend any extra money on staying in a motel or inn. The girl smiled at her mentor when he offered to help pay for the house but shook her head. “No, I’m alright, but thank you.” She responded. “It had actually been quite an experience not having a place to rest at night, but it makes everything more interesting. And I also would rather just wait and save up and it will feel more like an achievement when I can finally purchase a place with my own money.” Valerie explained. It was truly something she will never forget, trying to find places to sleep at night that was safe from player killers and monsters. Turning to Hiro, she smiled. “But don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” The girl winked and a grin appeared on her face as her mind flashed back images of her mentor doing the same. She had noticed Hiro’s emotions on the subject as he had scrunched up his face a bit, slightly concerned, when she was talking about her sleeping routines and had purposely explained her reasons for not accepting his offer.

Valerie turned back to the path and looked into the forest. Suddenly, the monk stopped and stuck out a hand in front of Valerie, causing her to stiffen and stumble to a stop, trying to avoid bumping into his hand. The girl looked up at her mentor, confused at why they stopped so suddenly without a word. She followed his eyes and spotted a small blimp that rose from the road quite far from them. The man slowly walked up the road to see what it was. At first, Valerie thought it was a slime, but Hiro did not say anything or motion for she to prepare to fight so she did not move her hands to her weapons. The girl followed him as he walked closer and felt him stiffen slightly as the little blimp came into view. Curiously, Valerie turned her eyes to the creature on the ground which yelped quietly, lying on the ground. Hiro had approached the creature who noticed the monk, growling and jumping up with limp in its leg. Her mentor knelt down, projecting a peaceful aura in attempts to calm the creature. The girl had never seen anything like it and remained standing a few steps away, leaving Hiro some space with the injured creature.

He seemed to realize that the girl was behind him and turned to Valerie, telling her what the creature was and motioned her to approach slowly. The swashbuckler nodded, not trusting her own voice and crouched down, approaching the monster but keeping a safe distance. Valerie was not afraid of it but she did not dare go too close as it was still a monster. The girl turned to her mentor when Hiro apologized to her, saying that he had to do something, confusing the girl slightly. The monk opened his menu and restored his level to use a skill that coated him with red and yellow flames. Without having to guess, Valerie knew the flames didn’t hurt Hiro, but she did not know about herself and lean away from the monk while the flames covered his body. Turning back to the monster, the injured creature seemed to calm at the sight of Hiro and the monk touched the creature’s injury, using another skill. Hiro stood back up, causing Valerie to look up at him from the ground and stood up as well. The swashbuckler looked back at the creature that seemed to be slightly better after Hiro touched its leg and was walking a tad. Her mentor told Valerie his plan on bringing the monster back to its home later and asked her if she wanted to come along, promising to protect her if there is any fighting. The girl winced slightly when he said he would protect her, an automatic reaction that she had brought over from the real world. She did not hate being protected, but one could say she is an independent woman who can stand on her own. “Sure, I’d love to.” Valerie told him with a smile, her voice rather hushed to not scare the creature who was walking in front of them. It would be a new experience to travel around and she knew that she would be safe with Hiro. Her mentor was not one to put someone in danger and even though she had only just met the guy a few hours ago, Valerie felt like she could trust him.

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OOC: Sorry if the layout is messed up. I'm on mobile.

[Hirosame]

Hiro smiled a bit, as he looked over at Valerie. He then turned his attention to the small Myobu just ahead of them, watching it run around just a little bit, before limping again. With anguished eyes, it turned and looked to the monk. Hiro knelt down and let the Myobu come up to him, brushing its fur against his hand, while still favoring its hurt paw. Now, Hiro knew all about the Myobu, as it had a skill called Soothing Fires, which was used to heal with mildly warm flames. The fires would rest over injured body parts and heal them up with a soft warmth, but this was meant for others. Not for itself. Sadly enough, the little Myobu cannot heal itself, and would need to return to the other Myobu, in order to receive treatment for its injuries. This was both the benefit and the bane of the small Kitsune spirit, in that it can heal itself and others when they're together, but are unable to do so when they are separated. That being the case, this little one, with its front-right leg being as smashed up as it is, likely wouldn't survive for a long time without trying to head back. There's more dangerous monsters out here than one would expect.

"Alright, then." Hiro spoke, looking up to Val, and picking the little monster up carefully in his arms. "For the sake of protecting this little guy, I'm going to keep my level up to where it is for now." Hiro then motioned with his head that they should get walking again. "Let's go. Just a few more slimes, right?" He began to walk, hopefully with the Swashbuckler following him. Then, he thought back to what she had said before, before he had a chance to respond to it. He turned back to her for a moment, smiling. "It's good that you have a mentality like that, when it comes to getting a home." He paused, throwing a little nod her way. "You're a pretty good person, you know that?" Hiro let the conversation lie for a moment, before continuing on, while looking back to the road. "You've got the hardiness of a true adventurer right there with you, when you said you liked sleeping outside, and the achievement of getting a home all on your own. That's pretty admirable." He paused in his words for a little bit, letting silence flow over them once again. He was also a bit impressed with how she didn't really get too phased by the higher leveled skill he used earlier. This girl is something else, for sure. "I'll let you deal with the monsters, just so you get more practice. I'll focus on keeping our little friend safe and sound." He trailed off, and looked back to the road.

While keeping his eye on the road, Hiro looked down to the little Myobu he carried, and watched as it kept darting its eyes over at Valerie. He didn't mind it much at first, but the Myobu seemed to be keeping an eye on the girl. Eventually, though, it began to curl up tighter into Hiro's arms, watching her ever still. That's when he got the message: It was still wary of Val. Hiro slowed to a stop for a minute, and turned to the Swashbuckler for a moment, watching the monster. It definitely curled back away from her, so his thought was confirmed. A defeated look appeared on Hiro's face as his gaze fell upon the violet eyes of the girl nearby. "I think it's still a bit scared of you, Val." He started. "Your subclass is Dancer, right? Maybe you can do something to show that you aren't going to hurt it at all. It'll likely trust you a bit better." Hiro gave the thought on his mind, figuring that it was probably a sound piece of advice. He knew nothing of the Dancer subclass, but he knew that it had an ability to allow itself to seem as less of a threat for monsters. A truly unique and useful talent, he thought. While he had proven that he is like one of the Myobu's own when it comes to being safe for it to be around him, Val had yet to show anything. Despite her calm and relaxed outer nature, the Myobu still had no idea if she was going to leave it be, or attack it. Erring on the safer side, as reasonable as it is, the Myobu glared at the Swashbuckler, waiting for her to make the next move.

[765 Words]
Tag: Valerie
Note: Don't worry about the template thing. And I hope that this will give you an adequate chance to flaunt your Dancer stuff. Also, as a side note, just for fun, I counted up your word counts and applied the Mentor bonus to them. You're getting 39 AP from this thread alone, and we're not even done yet. XD Awesome, right!?

[Valerie]

The swashbuckler watched the creature run around with a slightly limp and then went over to the monk, who knelt down to pet the injured monster. Then Hiro picked up the fox like creature in his arms and told Valerie that he was going to keep his level up to protect the creature. The girl nodded in understanding and followed him as he started walking again. The monk had remembered the quest bonus when he had asked Valerie about the slimes they’ve collected. She mentally calculated the total number of slimes from the previous fights. “We need seven more to have a total of ten.” The swashbuckler said quietly and frowned slightly. They hadn’t seen any slimes for a while and seven was not a small number. She had no doubt that they could collect seven slime sludges, but it would be impossible if there were not any slimes to kill.

After a bit, the monk spoke again, referring back to their topic of buying houses. Valerie was slightly startled by the change of topic, forgetting about what he was talking about for a brief moment. “Oh…” When realization hit her and laughed quietly but later scoffed internally when Hiro told her that he thought she was a good person. Good was not an adjective that the swashbuckler would use to describe herself but people would say that she was too hard on herself. However, that never changed her perspective about herself. The monk continued, mentioning previous conversations about sleeping outside and her idea of buying a house, commenting that it was admirable. “I guess…” Valerie said quietly and shrugged it off, not quite knowing how to respond to his comment. The swashbuckler had always had that mentality about things and liked to take the harder route just for the experience and fun and had thought it was normal. Hiro thought silently for a bit before going back about fighting, telling her to take care of the slimes for practice while he watches over the little monster in his arms. The girl smiled up at him and nodded. “You’re a pretty good person, too. Watching over the little guy and taking up this mentorship thing.” She told him, admiration heard in her voice. “I mean, you didn’t have to take care of him and could have just left him there. Some people would have just ignored him or killed him since he was already injured. But you chose to help the little guy and bring him back to his family.” The girl said softly, smiling at the little fox like monster in Hiro’s arms. “And you probably had better things to do than join this quest considering you’re a guild leader and all.” Valerie reasoned and looked out into the forest in search of more slimes. She truly admired the monk who offered to help her pay for a home and took care of an injured animal while also having the responsibilities of a guild leader who was probably a busy man.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed Hiro slowing down a bit then turned to her with a slightly defeated expression on his face. Valerie stared at him quizzically until he spoke, telling her that the creature was a bit scared of her which made an apologetic expression appear on her face. She would have never hurt the injured monster but the swashbuckler didn’t blame him considering his current injured state. The monk asked Valerie about her subclass, wondering if there was anything that could calm the monster. Pacifying Dance, a level one dancer skill that changes the behaviour of nearby monsters. The girl grinned widely at the Hiro. “You’re a genius. I can’t believe I forgot my own skill.” She said, shaking her head in mild embarrassment. “Okay. Here it goes.” Valerie told the monk and activated the skill, and started the dance that she had choreographed to the song he previously sang. His song played in her head as her body became fluid as she danced to her heart’s content, changing the road into a stage as she moved down to create more space for herself. As her dance came to an end, she stopped in front of Hiro and bowed with a bright smile on her face. It had been a while since she last danced and the girl missed the feeling of becoming one with music. Valerie straightened up and slowly walked over to the monk. “Did it work?” She asked curiously, peering cautiously at the fox creature that rested in Hiro’s arms.

Words:761

[Hirosame]

Widening his eyes for just a moment, then a light blush forming on his face, Hiro didn't expect to be called a genius by anybody. "Well, I, uhh... I mean, it's nothing to call me a genius for." He stammered. "You're the one with the subclass and skill, so you're the one who's the genius." He tried to play it off as well as he could, since he was very not used to people giving him any amount of compliments. But, he let it slide for a little while. Nothing too big, nothing to small. If anything, he felt a bit happier that Val had called him a genius. Turning his head to the side in mild embarrassment, he let a small smile form on his face, before turning back to the girl. His eyes drifted towards the Myobu he held in his arms, as it watched the Swashbuckler all the while. When she had begun her dance, the Myobu relaxed itself a bit in his grip, letting itself curl up in his arms once again. Hiro viewed the dance as it was going on, finding himself to be a bit enchanted by the whole thing. He wondered if the dance skill had any effect on Adventurers, too, as he felt himself being more at ease after it all.

As Val finished her dance, Hiro smiled and nodded to the girl. In response to her question, Hiro looked down at the monster in his arms. The Myobu was no longer glaring at the girl with a wary stare, but it rather looked at her with a calmed expression. "I'd say so, Val." He responded. Hiro faced the girl a moment later, the same soft smile still graced upon his face. "That was a lovely dance. I'm very impressed." He couldn't help but feel something after her dance, something that put his mind at ease. The few hours that he knew Valerie seemed to be going by so quickly, and every moment held something new up to his eyes, for him to see. He couldn't explain even the slightest bit of it, but he felt like this girl was something very different. At the start, it seemed like she was rather cold and didn't like people all that much, but after having talked with her, fought alongside her, and then watched her dance, he could tell that she wasn't like that at all. Valerie probably just wanted more friends, or at least more people to talk with and have fun around. He was very tempted to send the girl a guild invitation at this very moment, but resisted it.

Hiro realized that he had been looking at Valerie with a smile for a little bit now, and as he thought about it, he blushed again and turned away. "Uhh, sorry about that. Got lost in thought for a minute." He explained, trying to play it all off as casually as he could. "So, now that our little friend is relaxed, would you like to keep going?" Hiro's mind flashed back to the quest at hand. Had they only collected three of the required items? Hiro couldn't help but feel that there were more, but then again, everything moved so quickly tonight. He could barely keep track of it all. He'd have to go back and try to remember everything that happened to him at some point, but for now, the quest was the priority. Afterwards, the two of them would bring the Myobu back to its home. His view shifting down to the monster in his arms, as it looked up at him, and barked softly. Hiro smiled at the adorable animal, brushing his hand atop its head for a few moments, and turning towards the road once again. "Let's get moving, then." He said to Valerie, making his way down the road. But, he was stopped already, two paces after where he had just began moving from, as he saw a few moving blobs of slime on the ground nearby them. Hiro's eyes squinted in the moon lit night, and confirmed the presence. "Well, would you look at that? Three slimes, just up ahead." Hiro looked to Val, grinning. He motioned his head over towards the monsters, before continuing. "Would you do the honors, Val?" He asked in a playful tone. Hiro stepped back a few paces, holding the Myobu carefully. He would watch Valerie completely destroy a few more slimes, before they got back on their way through the forested area. Also, a bit of a show for their little guest doesn't hurt.

[764 Words]
Tag: Valerie
Note: Have fun with the slimes! Wanted to give you something to write about, since I kinda felt that I hadn't given you much to work off of. XD Enjoy~

[Valerie]

The girl looked up at Hiro and smiled when he told her that the fox creature seemed to have calmed by the dance. Her violet eyes affectionately settled on the animal that currently rested in monk’s arms. It had a cute little face that was previously glaring at her but now bore a calm expression. Valerie had loved animals since she was a child and she had felt a sharp stab in her heart when she saw the fox like creature limping around with its injured leg. If she were by herself that night, the girl could have done nothing to help the monster and was thankful that Hiro had wanted to take care of it. Her mentor commented about her dance with a soft smile that made the swashbuckler look down at the ground in slight embarrassment. “It was nothing, really... I used to dance in real life and it was just something I came up with to a song I heard recently.” Valerie said softly, not daring to say it was a dance made to the song he had sung earlier. If Hiro ever found out that the dance was to his song, the girl was planning to bury herself in a hole and never come out due to sheer embarrassment.

Valerie turned back to the monk as he didn’t speak for a bit and found him look at her. She stared at him quizzically until he realized what he was doing and her mentor blushed slightly, apologizing for getting lost in his thoughts. “Don’t worry about it.” The girl said, shaking her head with a small smile on her lips and turned back to the forest. It was amusing to see Hiro blush when apologizing for getting lost in his thoughts, making the girl rather curious about what was going through the monk’s head but she never probed him about it. Her mentor asked if she would like to keep going, causing the girl to chuckle lightly because she was always ready to move along. “I’m ready when you are.” Valerie told him, amusing seeping through her voice. Standing around and resting was not something she liked doing and avoided as much as possible. The girl looked up and saw Hiro watching the little animal who barked softly at the man who softly patted its head in return. Light laughter escaped her lips as she watched to duo interact. She followed her mentor down the road again but quickly stopped when he spotted three slimes ahead of them. He grinned at the swashbuckler, asking if she would like to take them down. She looked up at him with a grin of her own and nodded. “It would be my pleasure.” She answered playfully before spinning around, her hands dropping down to the hilt of her daggers and drew them as she scouted out the area.

Her violet eyes darted around, looking around the small group of slimes. The small monsters were in an area where there were little trees and a whole ton of shrubs and bushes. Valerie took a deep breath to steady herself before darting close, crouching behind a tall shrub and leaped over it moments later. She was not planning to make this fight last a long time and slashed at the two closest slimes simultaneously before turning toward the third slime. The swashbuckler stomped her foot down onto it, putting most of her weight on it and pivoting slightly to face the first two slimes. Jumping back, the girl impaled two slimes on her right dagger, the last one on the other and flung them hard into the closest tree. The brown-ish monsters splattered in one spot of the tree truck, starting to slid down when Valerie dashed toward the tree and stopped right before truck, kicking her leg up high, sending them into the branches above before falling down due to gravity. She stepped back as they dropped and timed her next three swings to slash though each slime as they fell one by one from the tree. The slimes never reached the ground and burst into colourful bubbles that floated back to where ever they came from. Panting lightly, a screen popped up in front of her, notifying the swashbuckler about three new boiled slimes sludges that were just added to her inventory. A disgusted expression appeared on Valerie’s face when her eyes saw an image of the slimes sludges, as she straightened up and sheathed her daggers. The girl quickly replaced her disgusted expression with a bright smile as she walked back to her mentor and the little fox. “Only four more!” Valerie told Hiro, before turning her attention to the small monster, a soft smile appeared on her face. “Just wait a bit longer, then we’ll take you home.” The girl said promised the animal with a gentle tone in her voice.

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Hirosame

[Hirosame]

Val expertly and quickly dispatched the monsters that were before them, while Hiro and the Myobu stood by and watched. Unable to do much fighting with the little guy in his arms, he had to just let the girl go ahead and take care of the monsters all on her own. Hiro watched Val sweep and dive through the slimes without much of a problem, and actually found himself to be rather impressed by her display. She was learning very quickly how to defeat these beasts, and would eventually be able to fight higher ranked, and tougher monsters, without so much as a problem. Even now, she was handling things pretty easily without the levels that he had. But, all things in time, for sure. Hiro looked at the Myobu, who seemed to be content where it was, and smiled a bit, as the girl finished off the fight. "Good work, as always." Hiro said to the girl, looking to her with a smile. His attention turned back to the Kitsune spirit in his arms, as it yawned a little bit, and curled up a little tighter. The small monster probably needed some time to sleep, since its injury was painful enough. Now that it had attention, it could relax.

Hiro needed to keep in mind that the small monster needed to be cared for, and that their ultimate objective was to get the Myobu back to its home. That's the purpose of them rushing to finish this quest. Now that Val had gotten three more of the slime sludge things that they needed to get, bringing them up to seven, they were almost done with this quest. Afterwards, bringing the Myobu back home is Hiro's own priority. Even though Val had already said that she would be right there with him when they go to do the next part, Hiro was more than willing to go on his own and bring it back. He felt it that it was something he could do, in order to show the Amaterasu that he was grateful for what they had given him. If he could repay with even this little bit of a kindness, all that the Amaterasu spirit that he had encountered had done for him, then he'd still feel like it wasn't enough. As he began to walk forward with the little Myobu in his hands, he felt a memory of the Amaterasu begin to surface in his mind. His eyes clouded with the memory of the battle, and the feelings swelled up inside him a little bit more than they should have. He was lost in the past for a moment.

Hiro planted his fist into a nearby Amaterasu spirit, as he ran over to the one that he remembered. But, it was much too late. Hiro fell to his knees, embracing the spirit that he had befriended, holding it up as blood trailed off its body. The spirit lifted away into the sky in a bright shower, and the remaining energy swirled around the monk. Flames raged, and the fake spirits were destroyed with the fire of redemption... Hiro's mind snapped back to reality. He wasn't crying or anything, but he felt sad now that he had recalled such a painful memory. The thought of having lost all control over himself and letting his emotions rage caused him to want to keep in control of himself all the time. He wouldn't run away from the pain and the power of the memory, but use it instead as a way to keep his anger in a place for when he needs it. His idea was to keep his rage locked away for when he needed it. He knew that it would help him out greatly at some point in the future. His mind would shut down, and he would focus on only fighting. But, that's not what he should be focusing on right now. Hiro turned back to Val, not realizing how long he had been walking without thinking. "So, you said we only have three more to go?" He asked. Hiro just wanted to make sure he had the numbers right. In the time that the Swashbuckler would respond, Hiro would let his mind shift back to reality, and focus on the missions at hand. He felt bad for going to a darker place in his history of being here, and leaving Val here on her own, so to speak. So, he would focus on the here and now, instead of the past, from now on.

[758 Words]
Tag: Valerie
Notes: God, I'm sorry with this one. I've been tired from shoveling every day for the past 4 days, so my mind hasn't been perfect lately. XD I hope this can pass for a post, either way!

[Valerie]

“Good work, as always.” Valerie’s mentor said with a smile before turning back to the creature in his arms. The swashbuckler hummed softly, acknowledging his words with a small smile. She was happy that the fight had brought them closer to completing the bonus but collecting three more slimes. The small fox like monster seemed to yawn sleepily and lean into Hiro’s protective hold. If the swashbuckler hadn’t known any better, she would have thought the monk’s subclass was an animal trainer because of the bond between the monster and the adventurer. The girl turned toward the forest and smiled to herself in amusement at the thought. As the thought faded, Valerie fixed her eyes searching for possible lurking monsters.

After a few minutes of walking, the forest seemed to remain silent and still, with no movement at all. The swashbuckler sighed softly and peered into the night sky. She stretched her back slightly out of habit because her body didn’t seem to have fully relaxed yet and was still tense from the previous fight. Groaning softly in relief, she continued walking, staring quite hopelessly into the dark forest. Valerie was hoping to quickly finish the quest, bring the creature back to its home and sleep. It was not that she wanted to get away from Hiro or that she was tired. Okay, maybe she was slightly tired, but she was just hoping to finish killing slimes for she hated those darn things and wanted the ugly icons out of her menu. She was wondering if boiled slime sludges could be eaten, but shivered violently at the thought. One could never eat those disgusting creatures even if it was boiled or cooked any other way. Perhaps a high level cook could make a stew or something out of the slime sludges. But imagining the taste made the girl retch slightly and clutched her stomach. Taking a deep breath, she sighed once more, turning back to peer into the forest.

The girl continued to walk in silence as she felt her mentor’s presence change from his normal friendly to an angry and tense feeling. She bristled slightly, wary about her mentor. It slowly faded back into the monk’s body causing Valerie to sigh softly in relief. She was not scared of Hiro but she didn’t like being around angry and tense people because she didn’t know how to deal with them. Hiro seemed to float back to reality and turned to her asking how many slimes they had needed. “No. We need four more.” She told him apologetically and groaned softly. Valerie genuinely wished they only had three more slimes because she despised those dull green monsters. She promised herself to never fight any more of the disgusting slimes when she was at a high enough level to kill them with one strike.

Valerie kept walking, almost wanting to run, hoping to quickly find more slimes to finish the quest. Suddenly, a slight rustle sounded from behind, causing Valerie to whirl around, her hands dropping down to her weapons. Five Dull Green Slimes were slowly crossing the road as the bush rustled once more, and one more monster appeared. The swashbuckler didn’t know to sigh in relief or gasp in horror. Relief because six slimes will probably fill the quota and horror for not noticing them earlier. The group was probably hiding in the bush as the two adventurers had passed by which was probably why the girl hadn’t noticed them, but she still silently cursed herself for not realizing. She didn’t even bother turning back toward Hiro and simply spoke in a soft voice. “I got it… Hopefully.” The girl said, drawing her weapons and walked over slowly toward the five slimes. Valerie wasn’t sure she could handle all six slimes at once, but she could sure try, if anything happened, Hiro could probably blast them away, hopefully.

The swashbuckler darted behind trees where the slimes were heading. Once three slimes passed through a large bush, Valerie darted out and kicked them aside into the base of a tree and stomped her foot down on the first one to bounce back. As the two other slimes rolled back, the swashbuckler slashed down onto the incoming slimes before lifting her foot up to kick the two back into the tree. The girl focused her attention to the squashed slime beneath her and hacked away at it until it disappeared into anima. Without wasting another second, Valerie brought her daggers down onto the two other slimes twice, slicing them into quarters, before kicked them away once more as they, too, became anima and floated up into the sky. She sighed softly when there were not slimes in sight, but suddenly, she yelped as something attached to her back, weighing her down slightly.

She had temporarily forgotten about the other three slimes and swore out loud. Panicking slightly, she spun herself around and slammed her back into the tree, nailing the slime in between her back and the trunk. Valerie continuously slammed her back against the trunk, aiming her weight on the spot where the slime still determinedly clung to. Her eyes darted around the area, spotting the remaining two slimes that were sliding slowly towards the swashbuckler. Finally, the stubborn slime fell to the ground and the girl squashed it with her foot before swiping at it with her blades. The girl stepped away as the slime as it burst into colourful bubbles, behind her, like the other three slimes. Tensing her body, she sprinted past the two slimes that slowly turned around, rather confused, though the girl wondered if they intelligent enough to have such thought. Valerie dug her heels into the ground as she slowed to a stop a few feet away from the monsters and spun around. They were still turning around when the swashbuckler slashed at them, marking them both with an X. The girl kicked one of the slimes into the tree above, letting it fall down like a marble in a pinball game, bouncing off branches and onto others. Valerie mentally tracked the monster’s location as her blades continued to slice the slime in front of her. Just as she heard the slime’s final bounce, the swashbuckler stepped back and sunk both blades into the slime as it hit the ground. The girl pulled the daggers out and kicked both slimes into the closest tree in front of her, causing both to poof into colourful pixels, making a large cloud of anima.

Valerie’s chest heaved up and down as she tried to catch her breath from the fight. A screen popped up and showed the addition of five new boiled slime sludges. It was one more than needed which meant that the swashbuckler would have to keep it, but she was definitely not looking forward to seeing the sludge every time she opened her inventory to get something. Perhaps she could sell it, but who would want to buy it? The girl groaned to herself as she straighten her back, rather sore from trying to get the slime off her back, and sheathed her daggers. She tapped the screen away and walked over to her mentor with a weak smile. “I got five more of those sludges.” Valerie said, clearly still disgusted by the item. Now that the quota was filled, they could head toward the little fox creature’s home.

Words: 1234

[Hirosame]

Having been corrected by the Swashbuckler, Hiro couldn't help but feel a little stupid. Giving a wry smile, he responded. "R-Right. Four more." He wasn't entirely sure how he had gotten the wrong number out of all this, but it was important that Val had corrected him. "Thank you." Giving a final response for a moment, Hiro looked back to the road that they were traveling on. All things seemed quiet enough for right now, since the forest was so silent. The gentle breeze gave off a calming aura, even though it was muffled through the trees. It was brisk, but it still felt nice. Nicer weather was on the way, for sure. Happy as he could be for such a thing, Hiro smiled to himself. The thought of warmer weather was something of a godsend by this point, as the weather hadn't been very nice for the past week or so. Having to do a lot of shoveling in front of the Palace, just to keep things in line wasn't very nice. Thankfully enough, it wasn't heavy snow. He really needed to make something that could be used to clear off the snow in a more timely manner.

Just as he stopped thinking about such things, it seemed to Val had stopped in her place to look at something. Following her gaze, he looked over to see a number of slimes just nearby. Val, being the ever-diligent student, dashed over to take care of it all on her own. Hiro nodded his approval to the girl, and decided to keep back so she could focus without worrying about how he and the fox were doing. Val was a very mindful person, even though it looked like she was definitely getting tired of all this work. Maybe Hiro would offer for her to just go and get some sleep, or whatever it is she wanted to do. In fact, he'd likely offer for her to go ahead and head over to the Palace to borrow a room for the night. They had plenty, so it wouldn't be that big a deal if someone else showed up for a night. But, he wouldn't let that bother his mind for now. Instead, he decided to watch how she fought, and see how she fought when outnumbered greatly. Even though they had the drop on the two of them, Val should still be able to fight them off without as much of a problem as she thinks she would have.

The slimes had a fairly dumb AI, and any adventurer would be able to take them down without so much as a problem. Since Val and Hiro had been fighting a few things tonight, and she was getting progressively better per battle, Hiro was more than certain she'd be able to fight this group, no matter how large it is, without a problem. Hiro could feel the Myobu in his arms fidgeting with the enemies nearby, wanting to get into the fight, too. It looked like the Myobu had taken a liking to Val, as much as it had with Hiro. A low growl could be heard from it, as Hiro petted it gently to let it know that everything was okay. Soon enough, though, Val had defeated all the monsters, and collected the number of slime sludge that they needed. Nodding to Val once more, he smiled. "Very well done, Val!Great job tonight." He was actually quite surprised with the amount of growth and understanding that Val had acquired in just fighting tonight. This girl had transformed in his mind, and in the few hours that he had known her, she was definitely one of the nicer people in this world. One that seemed to go along with most jokes, and could fight as well as anybody else.

Now, they had only one job left. Bringing the Myobu back to its home. Luckily enough, Moon Dance Forest wasn't very far from here. Maybe a ten minute run, and they'd be there. But, he decided to make the offer that he had thought of before. "Well, we got the items for the quest, and you did exceptionally well. I'm very impressed with how handily you fought with the monsters. So, I can imagine that you're rather tired. If you want, you can head over to the guild home in London, and crash there for the night. Just tell them that Hiro had sent you to relax, and I'd be back in a bit to clarify things. But, if you still want to come along and help this little guy out, despite how tired you are, then we can get going." Hiro shrugged. "I think I already know the answer, but I thought I'd go ahead and offer. It's nice to have a comfortable place to sleep, even though you're used to sleeping outside and all that stuff." Smiling again for a moment, the smile faded, and he turned to a path just up ahead. "If we go along that path up there, we should be able to get into Moon Dance Forest in about 10 minutes. From there, it's about another five of running to get to the home where this little guy stays. Once we get him there, his kin will heal him back up. After that, we can head back to the city and sleep." He turned back to her, with a slight bit of adrenaline pumping through his body. "If you wanna do that, we can move out immediately." He waited for Val's response.

[925 Words]
Tag: Valerie

[Valerie]

The Monk smiled at Valerie and commented about her fighting, letting the girl know what he thought about the fight. The small Swashbuckler simply nodded and looked down with a small smile on her face. “It was alright.” She said softly, under her breath. Valerie had learned a lot today and was looking forward to fighting in the future. While the girl still had problems with reacting to people’s comments, especially praise and similar things, but she was getting better. Before, she would simply shake her head, not agreeing with their words but when she learned that it offended some people, the girl became simply emotionless, only nodded to acknowledge the comment.

Hiro seemed to have thought quite a bit about the trip to the fox creature’s home and made the level one Swashbuckler an offer. He mentioned how he was impressed with her fighting, which only made the girl laugh uncomfortably. The Monk offered to let Valerie leave early as it was quite late and was probably quite tired from fighting, offering a place to stay for the night in his guild home in London. However, the girl was not tired at all. Okay, maybe the night was catching up with the Swashbuckler, but she wanted to see where the little fox lived. Valerie remained silent and waited for Hiro to finish, noting that the little monster lived in an area called Moon Dance Forest which was apparently quite close. When he finished, Valerie simply giggled and shook her head at her mentor. “I thought you knew me well enough to know I prefer to go back to London or follow you to back to the little guy’s home.” She teased lightly, smiling at the tall monk before turning the smile to the small creature in his arms. “Yeah, let’s go.” She said and started walking in the direction he had pointed to earlier. “Moon Dance Forest.” She said to herself, thinking about the name. It was a strange name, but quite a beautiful and drawing name to the dancer. “It sounds like a beautiful place.” She said softly as she stared back into the forest.

The girl didn’t know why she had looked back into the forest. There was no reason for her to look for more slimes and the silence of the forest indicated the lack of monsters in the area. Realizing how silly the action was she, turned back and look up into the black sky. The stars shone brightly in the emptiness of the vast night sky, flashing around the pale moon. Every time she looked up into the night sky in Elder Tale, she was always left in awe by how realistic the in-game night was. The girl had spent many winter and summer nights stargazing, familiarizing herself with the blank vast night sky and the twinkling lights known as stars. She often compared the small stars to the constant and large moon that hung in the sky. The smaller light was truly light but the larger was simply a reflection of an even greater light. While the moon doesn’t see the sun, it will not give light. It was the same with people. Someone like Valerie was a moon, being completely empty and alone in the dark until she sees a sun. She will always have her dark side, but for now, she will reflect the sun’s bright light.

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