Meeting another Swashbuckler [Closed]

[Steel]

Steel could hear the girl’s stomach begin to growl, indicating that the female Swashbuckler was starting to get hungry. He couldn’t blame her, the sun was already going to set soon. However, Steel tried to be a gentleman and decided not to point that out. From experience, he knew not to say certain things to girls or else they’d most likely be quite angry at him. One of the topics in question which one should not talk about lightly with a girl included not to point out something they were trying to obviously hide. His little sister had called it delicacy or something like that. The same little sister was the one who has regularly hit him for ‘lacking delicacy’, thus physically reinforcing that point in Steel’s mind. At this point in time, it seemed that Valerie even tripped because of her daydreaming, possibly about food. As she apologized for tripping and yelping while they were walking, Steel just smiled and decided to address the issue in a different way. “Don’t worry about it, that sort of thing happens all the time.” Steel said in response. “By the way Val, when we get back to town, want to get something to eat? I’ve already started to get hungry. I know a place that has some good Japanese food.”

It was then Steel noticed that Valerie had seen something based on how her head and line of sight changed. “Looks likes something’s here huh?” He said as he readied himself. Now then, let’s see who our new friend is. Steel thought to himself before widening his eyes slightly. In that moment, he had changed his point of view to a bird’s eye view. While he didn’t literally change where he was seeing from, he was using his hearing and other such clues from the surrounding area in order to create an image for himself that be as if it came from above. This was a talent he learned back in the real world when he played basketball so he could figure out how to efficiently help his team to score. As they say, some things you can only see from above.

As Steel pictured the image from above, he had found what Valerie had started to notice. And it was coming right their way at high speed. “Move!” Steel exclaimed before drawing his two swords and ran around to the opposite side of Valerie. Almost a second or two later, a rather large bunny came out of nowhere and began using the club that it held in its tail to whack Steel who thankfully was able to use his weapons to soften the blow although he did lose a small bit of his health. “This guy won’t be so easy. The level may be lower than the Hornets we faced earlier but this one’s probably going to be harder to fight. It’s an Enemic Buster, a field boss.” He used Heal on himself and then Dart Tack Target on the foe to attract its attention and aggro. Steel was ready to play the tank role in this situation. “Either way, let’s take it down!” He said with a bit of excitement in his voice.

Words: 533

OOC: Sorry for taking so long, I was at a retreat over the weekend

Valerie

[Valerie]

The black swashbuckler simply smiled at Valerie and asked if she wanted to grab some food with him when they get back to town. The girl nodded and smiled in return. Japanese food sounded good to her considering how her mind had automatically drifted to the thoughts of takoyaki and teriyaki chicken. Her favorite food to eat was meat; any type of meat, made in any culture, as long as it was meat, the girl liked it. If she were to eat one thing for the rest of her life, it was meat. When she discovered that the food in Elder Tale tasted like plain Japanese rice crackers, she wanted to go back home, to the real world, where there was meat. The discovery of Real food preparation was like some heaven sent gift for her and she will generally never eat anything except meat on a daily basis.

When Valerie had turned toward the movement in the forest, Steel seemed to notice it as well and readied himself for a fight. He yelled out for the female swashbuckler to move, which she did and stepped back, tensing her body and drew her daggers when the boy drew his two swords. Seconds later, a three feet tall bunny suddenly appeared seemingly out of nowhere. It stood upright with its front paws in the front of its body like a wary rabbit. The girl’s brow furrowed when she noticed the large wooden club that was held by the rabbit’s long tail. The tail swung the club toward Steel who soften the hit as his health decrease a little bit. Her violet eyes narrowed angrily and warily at the rabbit as the black swashbuckler explained what it was. The Enemic Buster was a level eleven field boss but was, apparently, tougher than the Hornet Soldiers. “Okay.” Valerie nodded, her expression becoming emotionless as Steel healed himself and attacked the boss, drawing its attention. He spoke again, excitement clearly heard in his voice as he invited the girl to fight together. The corners of her mouth quirked up slightly at his statement and she bent her knee, readying herself for a fight. “Let’s do it.” She said softly, amusement seeping into her voice.

Trying to attack the monster from the back was not a good idea, considering the club that was held by its tail. She sashayed left and darted in front of the rabbit for a moment to attack using Viper Raise, cutting into the rabbits forepaws, and then jumped back out of range, holding her daggers out in front of her, ready for any attack. Valerie used Viper Raise to slow the fast moving animal a bit as she remembered it suddenly appearing out of nowhere. It would be rather difficult to face such a fast opponent even if both Steel and Valerie were Swashbucklers and specialized in dual wielding and speed. Blood began to trail from the wounds, making the girl smile grimly as her expression became cruel. She knew it didn’t hurt much unlike the gory effect of the skill.

Words: 511

[Steel]

Valerie was able to get a few good hits in and was even able to deal a bleeding debuff to the giant bunny monster. Steel knew that he had to regain the monster’s attention so that it wouldn’t target Valerie. “Look over here you bushy tailed monster!” Steel exclaimed before activating the skill Dart Tack Target to increase the aggro directed towards him and away from Valerie. He had gotten used to this fighting style due to his time here in the world of Elder Tale, this was not his regular style in general. He was used to being a shadow, a person who others didn’t take notice of. In this situation however, Steel was now a light and all of the attention was directed towards him. He was at a disadvantage in terms of fighting style. Unfortunately, Valerie wasn’t a high enough level to be a light in this situation so that Steel could use his misdirection, something that seemed to work even against the monsters in this world that relied on sight. Even with the level difference, this fight would be difficult. Last time he had to fight this thing, there were at least two people that could act as a light to his shadow. It was then the large bunny struck at a fast speed right after getting hit by Dart Tack Target and whacked at Steel three times. Due to his level, Steel didn’t lose so much health and he wasn’t bothered by it. It would have been worse if Valerie got hit by it. However, the monster being this fast combined with the fact he couldn’t use some of his abilities made it sort of hard on Steel. He had to think of something. Wait, I remember something like this back from the real world. Steel thought to himself as he recovered from the consecutive blows. He remembered something from the past about how he faced a similar situation in basketball.

Flashback…

“Kurogane, I’m pretty sure you’re going to hit a wall with your style someday.” The coach said to him one day after practice was over. “Your style consists of redirecting other people’s attention towards something else. That style has helped us win a good deal of games but pretty soon, other teams are going to get a better grasp on it and make it less effective if you don’t have a secondary strategy. They will know that you’re not going to score very often.”

“What kind of secondary strategy are you suggesting coach?” Takeshi asked in response. “As you should know, the only reason why I got on the 1st string team is because of the Captain discovering my misdirection ability. My abilities in shooting and all that aren’t even close to the other 5 starters.”

“Well, you might want to improve your overall abilities.” The coach replied simply. “But also, why don’t you try figuring out how to use your misdirection even when you have the ball in your hands?” At first, Takeshi thought that was impossible. The ball itself had the highest presence on the court and if it was in his hands, his presence would be easily seen. But somehow, Takeshi was able to figure it out and it became one of his signature moves in a game. He still preferred to stay in the shadows though.

Flashback end…

Now it’s time to put that move into action! Steel thought to himself as he sheathed one of his swords and got into position. His left foot was half a body in front, his waist was lowered, and the sword in his right hand was held downwards with its tip nearly touching the floor. His left hand seemed as if it was only touching the handle for appearance's sake. With a shout, Steel rushed at the bunny monster. He then moved his right sword and all of a sudden, he disappeared only to reappear behind the bunny which he slashed at with full force. The bunny howled in pain before turning to face Steel only for the Swashbuckler to point his gun directly at its chest. “Magnum Strike” He said before pulling the trigger, firing a bullet that knocked it back quite a ways away. “Val, finish it, its health is almost out and it keeps going down thanks to that bleeding debuff.” He said to the female swashbuckler, almost having forgotten she was there due to being caught up in the moment. He didn’t want to just destroy it so easily, he wanted to give Valerie some experience.

Words: 758

Valerie

[Valerie]

After Valerie’s attack, the girl danced warily around Steel and the bunny, watching carefully. The black swashbuckler called out, baiting the rabbit, and then used the same skill as before to draw the monster’s attention once more. It was an attack that consists of four quick stabs that draws aggro toward the user. The girl had not chosen the skill as one of her three class skills because she was not planning to tank as a level one swashbuckler. It was not wise to have a skill which did not have deal much damage, while instead, increased aggro, when she was a level one swashbuckler. Focusing back onto the fight, she saw the bunny’s club whack the black swashbuckler three times in a row at incredible speed, without giving Steel a chance to defend himself from the attack. Valerie winced at the sight, even though the higher level swashbuckler did not lose much health from the attack. The girl watched Steel as he seemed to compose a plan of attack and recover from the monster’s attack. To a certain degree, she was almost worried about the other, wondering if the attack had stunned him and was prepared to jump in the moment the bunny made a move to attack the other swashbuckler.

Before she realized, the boy seemed to snap out of it and come back to reality, or rather the game, and sheathed one of his swords. Steel shifted into a position Valerie hadn’t seen him in before. It was a sturdy stance with his remaining sword pointed downward. As swashbucklers, they were the only class that could dual wield without penalties and she remembered a skill which was activated when only one weapon was equipped instead of a swashbuckler’s normal two weapons. It increased the damage that was dealt by the single weapon that replaced the loss of the swashbuckler’s absent weapon. The boy shouted out loud, startling the girl for a moment as he seemed to disappear for a moment and reappeared behind the rabbit. Valerie realized that Steel had used the same, or similar, ability that he had shown the girl earlier that made him seem to disappear for a moment. From behind the monster, he slashed down with his sword, causing the bunny to howl loudly from the pain and turned around to face the swashbuckler. However, the black haired male had a gun pointed at the monster’s chest and fired point blank at the monster. The girl’s eyes fluttered, trying to register what she had just seen. After suddenly disappearing, the black haired swashbuckler equipped a gun and used it against the rabbit. The bunny was knocked back a bit from the shot as Steel told her to finish off the field boss, stating its current weak state. Valerie hummed melodically, letting the other swashbuckler know she had heard him and readied herself for a fight.

While the monster was trying to recover from the shot, the female swashbuckler darted in toward its back and crouched down. Valerie activated Shuffle Windmill and rose up into a standing position, leaving eight equal marks on its back. Without another second of delay, she brought both daggers down onto its back, cutting through the horizontal lines, making the monster howl once again. Once she finished performing the skill, she mentally began to countdown from ten. The girl noticed the rabbit lift its foot, ready to pivot around to face the swashbuckler but Valerie stomped her foot down on its tail, holding it down, preventing the monster from making a full turn around. Without a doubt, the creature was incredibly angry and emitted pure rage from its small body. Unconsciously, the girl reflected the same rage along with a strong killing intent in her aura that was paired with the small smile on her face that showed no emotion at all.

The monster was unable to fully turn around to attack the girl with its forepaws, and with Valerie’s foot on its tail, it couldn’t use the same attack the monster had used on Steel. Struggling fiercely, it used its tail to whack the female swashbuckler in an attempt to release its tail. It was not a strong hit, but it was not weak either and had decreased about twenty percent of her health since the girl was still a level one. Despite the decrease in health, Valerie didn’t release its tail but instead, she bent her knees, lowering herself closer to the ground and sank one of her blades into the rabbits and slashed the other across the end of the tail, cutting it off. The monster roared filled her ears, full of anger and pain, but the girl chuckled quietly to herself with a cruel grin on her face. She was not afraid to play dirty in a game that wasn’t fair in the first place; the Enemic Buster was a level eleven while the swashbuckler was a level one. Valerie’s mental clock chimed as the timer hit zero and immediately crouched activated Shuffle Windmill once more, rising up and carving an additional eight marks on its back and emptied the health bar of the monster. The monster’s struggling slowly weakened and burst into colourful bubbles when it finally collapsed on the ground.

Valerie breathed deeply, and her entire body made a 180 degree change, going from a rage killing emitting girl to the normal small, almost harmless swashbuckler. A bright smile appeared on her face and she sheathed her daggers. She walked over to Steel and plopped down onto the ground and leaned against a tree. “That was crazy.” She stated randomly, her mind still running from the fight. “I mean, it was crazy fun.” She clarified off handily, though it still didn’t make much sense. The girl’s mind begun to slow as she looked at the empty space in her health bar that showed that she had about 80 percent of her health remaining. Her voice wavered slightly as she spoke, still slightly tired from the fight. “Hey Steel… When did you get the heal skill?” She asked randomly, rather annoyed with the no full bar that seemed to mock Valerie, reminding her that she was still a level one player.

Words: 1037

[Steel]

“There she goes again, showing off that killer aura.” Steel muttered to himself with a bit of a grim smile as he saw the lower leveled Swashbuckler continuously slash at the foe while emitting an aura of killer intent. “Probably due to a lack of experience, it’s not as strong as mine but if this is what she’s like naturally, in terms of the amount of killer intent, she’ll pass me at some point. Well, it’s not like it’s my specialty anyway.” He said to himself about Valerie emitting killer intent. In Steel’s opinion though, she was overdoing it and if he didn’t already deal so much damage, she would have created way too much aggro. She made one more round of slashes before the large bunny burst into anima fragments and started rising into the air. Almost immediately, Valerie changed back to her normal cheerful self, the complete opposite of how she was earlier. “Man, it’s almost scary on how you can just switch back and forth like that in your personality.” Steel said after Valerie said it was fun. “You okay there? I’ll heal you.” Steel then activated his heal skill and restored some of Valerie’s health. As he did this, the female Swashbuckler asked him a question about when he got the skill. She seemed to be annoyed for some reason that Steel couldn’t figure out at the moment so for now, he would just answer. “I think I chose the skill when I was level 7 or so due to some influence from the person who taught me the basics here. She was a cleric. The basic Heal skill can be selected by any player regardless of Class.” He replied simply. “Anyway, ready to get going? We’re almost back to town.” He said pointing towards the nearby city. It was approximately 100-200 meters away, a distance that could be covered in less than a minute if they ran due to the more physically enhanced bodies of Adventurers.

Words: 331

Valerie

OOC: Sorry for the short reply. Can't think of much else to write this time.

[Valerie]

When Steel comment about her sudden change in personality, making the girl smile sheepishly, realizing she had emitted a rather scary aura. She had learned how to show certain emotions at times when needed because of dance. For example, she was performing a dance set that was full of angry and hateful emotions; she could bring it out at will. But currently, the girl was simply being herself. When she was fighting the field boss, the automatic reflection of the monster’s aura was a defense mechanism. Fight or flight was the option given to the Swashbuckler, and she was simply fighting back. It was not wise to show weakness, which was something she instinctively knew. The purple eyed girl could never explain why she had projected such an aura except by honestly stating she was being herself.

The higher level Swashbuckler asked if the dancer was alright, offering to heal her. Valerie nodded and slighted in relief as some energy was restored and her health bar was full. While Steel healed her, he answered her previous question about the skill. Her mouth opened slightly, voicing a soft, “Oh. I see.” Level seven wasn’t too far off for the level one Swashbuckler and she smiled, delighted at the thought of gaining new skills to use. The girl enjoyed studying her own abilities as well as others. When studying, she would find different ways to enhance the person’s strengths and cover their weaknesses. It was something that was rather unusual for the constantly moving young woman, but she was willing to sacrifice time to learn how to fight to the best of her abilities.

Soon, the sun began to near the horizon and the black haired Swashbuckler seemed to realize it was getting rather late. He pointed in the direction of the nearest city. It was not too far, about the distance of a short distance track and field race that her school made her run when she was in middle school. Though Valerie was a dancer, she hated running. She preferred short distance over long distance, but the girl will always hate running. It was like vegetables to her; she hated it. As Valerie was having a mental discussion about running, her stomach growled softly, snapping the Swashbuckler out of her trance. She cursed the makers of Elder Tale for making Adventurers have something like hunger, making this world seem so much like the real world, even to the point of making one’s stomach churn when they see something they dislike or growl when hungry.

Valerie was done sitting around and wanted food fast. She jumped to her feet and looked at Steel, a challenge clearly seen in her dark violet eyes. “Sure, let’s get going. The girl said softly, turning to face the path. “I’ll race you. Whoever wins pays for drinks.” Valerie said and immediately sprinted off. The girl had a lot of practice sprinting because that is how she gets around. The girl was impatient and sprinting was a fast way to get around. The girl put her weight on the balls of her feet and took long strides to make up for her much shorter legs. When she crossed the city’s boundaries, the girl hunched over her knees and panted slightly. To be completely honest, Valerie wasn’t even breathless, but hunching over after a run was a habit because the girl just sucked at running in real life and hadn’t filtered out her real life habits yet. The brown haired Swashbuckler straightened up awkwardly and looked into the city, trying to find a place to eat.

Words: 600
OOC: You can decide if Val wins or not. :)

[Steel]

After Steel had answered the question as to where the nearest city was, Valerie seemed to sulk a little after seeing the distance. She must not like having to walk back such a distance so much. Steel thought to himself but decided to stay quiet about it. From experience in dealing with his little sister back in the real world, talking to a girl about something they didn’t like tended to not go very well. He then heard her stomach growl, indicating that the female Swashbuckler was hungry. Not that he was thinking about it, he was also getting a tad bit hungry so Steel had suggested that they get going back to town and she agreed but she had a certain look in her eyes that made Steel think that she was going to suggest something, maybe a race of sorts, something inferred from the situation. A few seconds after he thought this, he found that he was correct after Valerie had challenged him to a race with a penalty for the loser, specifically paying for drinks, before sprinting off.

In response, Steel jumped up into the trees and jumped from branch to branch as well as using his superior agility stats due to a higher level and his skill Fold Step, a skill that propelled him at high speeds. He kept out of view and stayed quiet out of habit of not wanting to attract attention. In a way, he was acting like a ninja. He had reached the town before Valerie and waited. He didn’t have to wait long as the girl in question had crossed the city boundaries soon after although it seemed that she hadn’t noticed him yet. Typical, I’m not noticed. Steel thought to himself remembering how he had a relatively low presence and sometimes people didn’t notice he was there. This peculiar trait earned him the nickname “The Phantom Vice-Captain” along with the fact that he was the vice-captain of the kendo team. Such a nickname was ironic in a sense. In a kendo match, you only have one opponent so it was almost impossible to “disappear from sight” as he did in Basketball games using misdirection.

He walked over to the hunched over girl who began to straighten herself up and looked into the city. Steel thought she was either looking for him or a place to eat, maybe both. He tapped on her shoulder to get her attention. To Valerie, this would feel as if she was touched out of nowhere and she would hear a voice from out of nowhere. “What took you so long?” Steel said good naturedly with a small smile as he began to walk a bit more into the town. “Come on Val, let’s go find something to eat. Is there anywhere specific you want to go to eat? I’ll pay for it. I am your mentor after all. If you want Japanese food, there’s a good restaurant that I know of.” He said to Valerie as he turned back to face her.

Words: 507

Valerie

OOC: Sorry for taking so long!

[Valerie]

As her dark violet eyes scanned the area before jumping slightly when they fell on the familiar figure of Steel who had tapped her shoulder to get her attention. He asked what had taken her so long to get there, smiling slightly. The female Swashbuckler just grunted quietly, admitting defeat and followed the black haired male into town. Her face pulled into a frown as she reluctantly trotted behind the other, mindless trying to figure out how the other had beaten her. The girl was a sprinted, good with shorted distances and had horrible stamina, so the run should have been in her favor. And also, the Dancer had not seen the male pass her while running; bring up certain suspicions within the girl. Had he used the Call of Home or something like that? Something that teleported him out of the forest and back at the entrance of the city? How was he so fast? The girl’s brow furrowed as she thought about it, debating every possibility in her head.


After walking a bit in the silence, the male Swashbuckler asked if she had anything specific she had in mind to eat, saying that he would pay for it, regardless, stating that he was her mentor. He asked if she wanted some Japanese food, saying that he knew a good place for it. The female snickered inwardly and changed her expression to one of a sweet young woman. “Really? You would pay for me?” She asked, her face glowing as a smile shone on her face. “I don’t know. I suddenly what some high class food, like one of those really popular ones…” The girl continued, tapping her chin thoughtfully, thinking hard about something. “I forgot the name, but it was one of the really popular ones. I heard it was really expensive…” The girl trailed off before slapping her cheeks as if she was blushing slightly. “Sorry, we don’t have to go to it. After all, you are paying for it…” Valerie looked away, avoiding the black haired male beside her. “It doesn’t matter. We can go to where ever you like, since you’re paying and all.” The girl said softly, her face pulled into a pout as she imagined eating amazingly juicy medium rare steak, perfectly marinated by a level 90 chef. Her stomach growled loudly, making the girl cover her face with her hands in mild embarrassment. After all that I’ve done, now you had to go a ruin it, stomach. The girl scolded her organ that cried out to be filled, hopefully she could satisfy it since as a level one, she would have never been able to enter such a high class restaurant for she had so little money that she could not even buy a home.


Words: 463
OOC: Don't worry about. Take your time with replies.