Echo-Location [Closed/Mentor]

[Hirosame]

Hiro found himself once again in the forest of Windsor. It hadn't been all that long since he had been in this place, given that he had just done another mentor quest here a few days ago with a rather abrasive Assassin who had the audacity to punch him in the lower region. Looking back on that instance, he could only smile a bit at it, as the hilarity of all that was obvious to him. He knew that he probably shouldn't laugh at such a thing, but it was in his nature to remember things that were funny after the fact. Either way, though, he began to wander through the forest, on his way to the next spot where he would meet up with yet another apprentice. However, this time was different. The apprentice this time was a girl he had met not all that long ago; Shizu. Hiro had met Shizu while he was out on a small journey through the Savill Flower Gardens, to help her and one other person with some fighting. Having made friends that way, Hiro had asked Shizu if she would like a hand with her subclass, which was Tracker, and had thought of a rather entertaining way to go about it.

Now, others would look in from outside, and wonder: What could an Idol and a Tracker have to learn from one another? Why would an Idol, who is known for making noise, and a Tracker, who is best kept hidden from sight, team up to better both of themselves? They work in two completely opposite ways! Well, this was where Hiro's entertaining idea came into being. By using his songs, Hiro would help Shizu find him, using only the sound he emitted, while moving around to attempt to avoid her. The goal was basically that of a game of Hide and Seek: Shizu was the seeker, and Hiro was the hider. There weren't any conditions for failure, since Shizu's level in Tracker wasn't quite high enough, and the basic method of victory for Shizu was to be able to find Hiro. Being that Shizu was an Assassin herself, she should be able to move around well enough, and even climb a few trees or something of that sort, given how short some of them are. This limited the Monk's ability to climb much higher trees, a little after the game would have started, to make sure that she had an ample amount of an opportunity to catch him.

Hiro had chosen the Forest to be the best place for this to happen, as there were trees to both block and reflect the sounds he made, as well as give him some decent breathing room to move around in. He wasn't going to use any of his skills to help him escape, as this was to be an exercise that Shizu could complete. If she found this to be incredibly helpful, then Hiro would have no problem doing this again some other time, but upon those conditions, he would also integrate a few skills at the start of it all, to make sure that she was challenged each time they did this. But, this was to be the first run, so Hiro wouldn't pull anything unfair on her. He planned on starting far away from her, after the two of them met up, and then casting his voice from atop a tree at the start. After doing this, he would return to the base, and begin to move around a little bit, in order to not give his position away immediately. After a minute or so, he would ring out his voice again, helping Shizu pin-point his location, until eventually, she could find him. Sounded like a pretty complex system, didn't it? Well, once in practice, it would serve to be a rather fun and enjoyable method of training.

It wouldn't be all that much longer until Hiro had reached the point where he and Shizu were going to meet up. Looking around himself, he found that he was the first one there out of the two of them. Perhaps this wouldn't be a bad opportunity to relax a little beforehand, and rehearse to himself what he would sing out. He needed to be sure that his apprentice would be able to hear him no matter where he went, so he would need to really belt out his songs for her. At the same time, he would also need to be careful about how he went about all this, so as to make sure that she didn't find him immediately, and that it would still provide her a challenge so that she could learn from it all. On top of all that, he wasn't sure if there would be any monsters at all, or if they would get in his or her way. Should they do so, then dispatching these monsters, or moving around them, would add another layer of difficulty for the two of them, less so for Hiro than Shizu. While Hiro was a level 90 Monk, and he could deal with fights more easily than she could, the monsters would still cause a noise, to which she could more easily discern his position from. With all this swirling around in his mind, Hiro sat down on the ground, leaned back, and laid on the ground. Looking up at the branches far above him, Hiro waited for Shizu, his Apprentice, to arrive.

[912 Words]
Tag: Shizu
Notes: I thought I'd include a compass of sorts, to help you find Hiro more easily when we get things started. Whichever direction Shizu will hear Hiro from, I'll highlight in Green, as displayed here. The Compass will be at the bottom of every post, so hopefully that will make things a bit more fun for us~

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[Shizu]

Shizu had certainly enjoyed her pick for a subclass. The idea of stealthly stalking her prey before going in the for the kill was enjoyable for her, so the idea of doing so with a friend she recently made was certainly pleasent. She hoped that she would be able to learn from this experience, as her ability to move stealthily could clearly need some work. She remembered back to the time that she watched the clothing store as a prime example of this. Shizu hated the idea of how bad she was, especially since she was signed up to be a stealthy stalker for her new guild. The people of Halcyon relied on her and that alone was good enough of a reason to get better at her craft.

Shizu decided that she would try not to get sidetracked at all that day, and decided to try and prepare before hand to make sure that she was ready for the challenge that would be put in front of her. The first thing she did was make sure that she would be well fed for the scenario, so she got some of the best food she could from the market. If it was up to her, she would be buying all cheesecake at the moment, but she heard that cakes and cookies weren't apparently very good when you want to prepare for training. Personally Shizu didn't understand it, but she didn't understand many things, so she decided she would try to roll along with it. She purchased some of the healthiest food she could find, and sadly discovered it didn't taste good. Apparently healthy was another word for yucky because thats what they all tasted like to her. Saddened by her breakfast, she decided she would do good by grabbing anything that could help her mission.

She was obviously going to wear her coat and armor, but what would be the best option for stealth otherwise? Did she need to wear any sort of protective footwear, or would she need to wear something lighter. She seriously debated walking into the forest barefoot, but her sense of hygiene managed to stop her from doing that. She decided on wearing her usual shoes and bringing a few extra items in her inventory just in case. Some of these items including a basic health potion, some food in case she gets hungry, and her old shovel for good luck and in case she needs to dig any holes. She really didn't know why she kept the thing around for so long, but figured it wasn't right to just throw it away.

Eventually Shizu headed out of town, in search of where Hiro told them they would meet. Shizu found the nearby area of windsor greatwood and remembered when she walked along this path half dead and extremely depressed. Shizu realized how much she has changed over the last couple days and how her first few experiences were starting to shape her, in terms of her role in this world. Eventually she managed to locate the clearing that she told about. There in front of her stood the person that she had recently come to know and dread at the same time. He was probably one of her first real friends and one of the people that she would inevitably have to deal with on her road to glory.

Shizu decided that she would may as well try to practice her tracking and stealth now. She was still in the trees, where she hopefully could not see him. Once she felt ready she used her Silent Move skill to try and mask the sound of her moving. She made care as to not step on any twigs or branches, so that she would not be easily detected by the monk who was a much higher level than her. She wondered what exactly his response would be, if she succeeded that is. She hoped that she would, it would not be a good start for her first ever really silent surprise be a flop. She eventually managed to get behind him in the trees and decided now was as good of a time as any. "Boo!" she yelled as she jumped from the bushes to try and get Hiro from behind.

Shizu managed to die down after that and smile at him lightly saying, "Hey Hiro, nice to see you again" in a calm tone, as if to contrast the yelling that she just did at him.

Words: 751
Notes: I figured that I should include some stealth in this thread so tehre.

[Hirosame]

It didn't take long at all for Hiro to notice that Shizu was coming closer. On a completely empty path, where nobody else was, the sound of footsteps was unmistakable to him. It wasn't the fact that he was such a high level that he knew this, rather that he had been influenced by the sights and sounds of this world for quite a long time now. Having been used to how things worked, he could tell a few discernible sounds from one another, specifically the sounds of a human walking on a path nearby when all else is the wind, the leaves, the odd bird chirping, and a few bugs making some minor noises. In an environment quite as quiet and serene as this, it is very easy to hear and understand what goes on around you. However, this would be one of the lessons that Hiro would teach to Shizu whenever she actually arrived. Yep, whenever that was. While he was still laying on the ground, Hiro began to squint a bit, as the noise had dissipated, and was no longer there. He began to stand up, looking around himself. It was like nobody was even there, at this point. As he thought about this, though...

"WHOA-AH!?" Hiro shouted, as the girl had appeared from behind him, crying out in a classic surprise line. Taken completely by surprise, Hiro spun around, and fell onto his backside in the process. Letting out a sigh, as he realized who he was dealing with, he stood back up, brushing himself off. "Sheesh, you really got the drop on me!" He admitted, a smile forming on his face. "It's nice to see you again, too, Shizu." She had suddenly sprung out from behind him, and he had only himself to blame for not realizing that she could've used her Tracker ability already. So, he totally missed out on her entry, and he paid for it. That was a mistake that he likely wouldn't make again. Either way, though, he needed to get things started off, so he began talking to her. "Alright, so you're aware of what you need to do for this, right?" He asked Shizu. "I think I told you well enough through telepathy earlier, but just to make sure, a quick recap. Your goal is to find me through use of my songs and your Tracker ability to hide. Simple enough." He finished the quick recap, and motioned around himself for a few moments, before continuing.

"The entire forest is our area of operation." Finishing his motion, he turned back to her. "I did forget to mention one thing, though. The likelihood of a monster or two appearing before either of us is entirely possible, and it's up to you to either fight it or flee. So as to make this a less difficult task for you, I'll fight whatever monsters appear before me, to help make a little noise. But, keep in mind, I'm at my full level right now, so it won't make a lot of noise." With that little explanation out of the way, there wasn't much else that they needed to do in order to start. "As another reminder, once we begin, I won't use any of my movement enhancement skills, but only after you hear me the first time. I'll need to use them to gain some adequate distance, so keep that in mind. After that, I'm bound by my honor that I won't use them afterwards. Hopefully, that sounds okay to you." It was kind of cheating to use those skills after they had fully started, and he wanted to make this as fair as possible. That meant no using movement buffs, or even using other skills to possibly throw Shizu off from where he actually was. As much as he wanted to do those, he wouldn't for the time being.

Silently damning himself for setting up such rigid rules against what he could really do, he kept in mind that Shizu hadn't had much experience with Tracker yet, so starting with the basic of the basics was key here. As he finished this thought, he looked to her again, smiling. "If you have any questions, feel free to ask them. After that, go ahead, turn around, and close your eyes. Once you do that, I'll head off, and the game can begin." Giving this last bit of an ultimatum of sorts, Hiro waited for Shizu to do as he instructed. He felt pretty good about this. He felt pretty good about Shizu's ability to grow and experience things a bit better through this, as well as giving her some actual experience in learning how to track effectively. Not to mention, as a kid, Hiro loved hide and seek, so this was going to be fun and useful for everybody involved. If this goes over well, he could employ some sort of similar activity for his guild, Apocrypha, in order to help train other people as well. That might be fun, especially since he could be quite the loud mouth at some points. Hiro was anxious to begin, because he had a solid feeling that both he and Shizu would have a grand ol' time doing this. With his expectations high, he waited for Shizu to ask any questions she might have, and then close her eyes.

[894 Words]
Tag: Shizu
Notes: I'm actually pretty excited for this, and I might use this kind of idea for Apocrypha. Not to stroke my own ego, but this is actually a pretty fun idea. I hope we both enjoy this thread~

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[Shizu]

Shizu was felt a great amount of pride flow through her as she snuck up on her mentor Hiro, before she was even supposed to. She thought that she did a fairly good job for one of her first attempts, but on the inside she was ridiculing herself for some of the obvious errors that she managed to make when attempting to catch him. Despite this, she managed to put on a smile and say, "Yeah, its been too long. Well at least it felt like it for me. I have some interesting stories if you want to hear them." she said as she remembered all of the various things that managed to occur to her in between the two times that they have met now. Once Hiro began to give her briefing, she wondered what he was doing, "You already told me Hiro. It was right after you explained to be how to use telepathy and I stopped freaking out because I thought I heard voices from inside my head." She said as she remembered how exactly she thought she was crazy. That was a fairly odd time for her to remember, as she might actually be crazy, just in a very different way. As Hiro began to explain more of the rules, she put a hand on the sword that was at her side, "Alright. I should be fine if any of the low leveled monsters around here attack me." she said confidently as she didn't choose to acknowledge if anything stronger was hidden here, frankly because she did not know if there were.

As Hiro explained his use of movement enchancing skills, Shizu was confused. Those were in this game? She had no idea. She could definitely use one, as she wasn't the fastest person around. She assumed that they must be some high level skill if Hiro had one and she had not even heard of them. Another possibility was that the skill was monk exclusive, which Shizu was quite unbalanced as fast travel should really be available to everyone. Shizu knew how much travelling there is in this game, so the ability to do that faster sounded like a dream come true to her. Shizu wondered if he was talking about something like a mount, but then again his subclass was idol so she was stupid for thinking that. Shizu eventually remembered that she was actually talking to someone and looked at him with fake understanding eyes, "Oh yeah those. Of course you can't use them. Because that only makes sense."

Shizu wondered if he would try to cheat, but she remembered that she had a counter to this. If he really did try to cheat, she could just look at her friend's list. She was friends with Hiro so the list should allow her to pinpoint his location if need be. She resolved to only do this if she really needed to, and the only reason she would need to is if he cheated. So she just decided she would trust in him to not cheat, even though she wasn't really sure about Hiro as a person. Shizu knew that he was definitely nice, but it was certainly weird for this person to take such an interest in her. She wasn't that interesting or special so this level of treatment baffled her greatly. Especially from a very high level player, who could be doing a million and one better things with their time.

Shizu eventually nodded and decided that it was about time that she got to work trying to find him. The first thing she did was try back up, walking straight back into the woods she came from. "I will go to a random part of the forest, as I assume you will as well. After five minutes I will come to find you. I will make sure to use my particular set of skills so I expect you to as well. Bye." she said as she disappered into the forest, trying to move as silently as she could. She made sure to have her skill on and to walk on nothing to alert Hiro to her location. Even if the game hasn't started yet, she still wanted to have Hiro unable to tell her location. If she just waited in the clearing, Hiro would know what direction she would be coming from, so what she was currently doing gave her more of an advantage. She was feeling pretty competitive about this game, having never really played Hide and seek in real life, so she was determined to win.

Words: 767
Notes: Felt the need to include a Taken reference. Probably a poor one.

[Hirosame]

Hiro figured that at some point, Shizu would probably wonder why he was even doing something like this right now. There was at least a million and one other things that he could be doing right now, such as finishing touches on a few mechanical projects that he had in mind, fighting some monsters, or hell, even exploring that mysterious rip in Sarum that he had heard about. Instead, though, he was basically playing Hide and Seek with a girl whom he had become friends with only a little while ago, for the sake of helping her Tracker level up a bit, while also getting in some practice with Idol's versatility. The main reason why he did this, though, was just because he figured he could. Why not help someone else out while doing something fun, that both people could enjoy? Sounded like a decent enough reason to do something like this, right? As much as Hiro wanted to find a way out of this game, and back to the real world, he knew that while he was here, there wasn't anything he could do. Might as well make the best use of his time, and enjoy himself in the process.

He had noticed that Shizu seemed to have blanked out of reality for a few moments while he was talking earlier, but he paid no mind to it. There was probably a legitimate reason. Probably. Like hell he'd know. He wasn't about to ask, either, since it likely wouldn't make that much of a difference here. Then again, it might. But, he shrugged it off, as she continued to pay attention afterwards. It was about this time that Shizu mentioned that she would go off to a different part of the forest, so as to make it less possible for Hiro to know exactly where she was starting from. Having totally caught Hiro off guard with such an idea, he didn't know how to react at the start. Before he even could, however, Shizu was already gone from his sight. This wasn't exactly what he had in mind, as if one needed to guess. Hiro let out a sigh, and figured that Shizu probably thought she had an advantage with this decision, when in reality, it was more of a hindrance. Sure, she might have removed herself from his personal radar, but he still knew his way around the forest much better than she did. If things didn't go her way, she could make a huge loop around without even realizing it.

Putting this to the side, however, Hiro crouched down a bit, and activated Eye of the Tiger, a skill given to Monks which increases their movement speed based on their level. As he was close to max level as it was, this meant an incredible boost in speed. To top it off, he activated perhaps his favorite skill, Hellfire Drive. If Shizu were around to see this, she would probably be taken aback in surprise. Hiro's form changed so that his entire body was covered in white flame, and only the outline of his body could be seen, in red, white, and yellow outlines. The extra benefit to this skill was that it immensely increases his movement speed for a short duration, leveling out after a while. With both these skills active, Hiro's body veritably disappeared from where he stood, as he broke into a full-on sprint away from where Shizu had left, leaving a slight burning trail. If he had kept his Sigilmaker skills, the boost in speed would have been at least 10% more effective, making it seem like the Monk had teleported away from the location. That being said, though, his immediate rate of speed wasn't anything to be scoffed at. Hiro had already left the ground, and was now using the trees to move quicker.

Vaulting himself seamlessly from branch to branch, forcing himself forward with powerful kicks off the trees, Hiro bolted through the foliage. After about 10 seconds of constant speed, he began to slow down just a bit, as the effects of Hellfire Drive started to slow down. Eventually, though, he turned the skill off, as the speed boost had dropped to a point where it was just above normal, and after that point it would just be a waste of MP. Once a full minute had passed, Hiro deactivated Eye of the Tiger as well, and dropped down back onto the ground. Luckily enough, Monks were still faster than most other classes, due to their Dexterity. Dodge-tanks had to have a lot of mobility in order to fulfill their role, anyways! Just a little while of running later, four minutes and a half minutes had passed, and Hiro decided that the spot he was in was probably the best spot to start in. Ascending the tallest tree nearest him, Hiro quieted himself, and centered his mind with his voice. Perfect harmony was needed in order to perform this. Activating the Idol-Influenced skill, Lullaby of the Mermaid in the Moonlight, Hiro channeled a Song of Prayer that he had learned in Moon Dance Village, the spirits of the ancestors reverberating in a choir, following his voice. The sound from the hymn spread itself across the forest, calming the minds of all the monsters, and sharing the sacred sound with all beings. Satisfied with the result, Hiro returned to the ground, and began to walk slowly. Shizu had to have heard that.

[911 Words]
Tag: Shizu
Notes: Song from Final Fantasy 10, so ignore if you don't wanna hear it. Mostly for my own pleasure, but hey, figured I'd throw it in. 0 in the compass is Shizu's current location.

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[Shizu]

Shizu was feeling quite ready to try and pursue Hiro through the forest that the two of them had found themselves in for their little game. Shizu was already getting a bit of rush as she waited for when she was indicated to find Hiro. She decided that she would wait until she heard Hiro sing for the first time to know when she is clear to try and locate him. She remembered the short lecture she was given by Hiro about what a tracker does and how they should act.

A tracker's job is to try and locate an enemy before anyone else can. And is also very important that a tracker is able to be completely undetected by any prey that they see. A tracker is supposed to be able to locate just about any enemy that is in his or her sights, with the ability to observe what she could about that person. Shizu took a look through the list of tracker skills and saw that just about everything Hiro said was true. She could unlock all kinds of different skills to try and achieve that.

The tracker was a good fit for Shizu, it gave her an excuse for being extremely quiet when she was around people, which was unavoidable. She was always seeking to try and gain more knowledge, and being able to gain that from the shadows was extremely useful to her. The ability to hide from people was an ability that she definitely wanted under her belt. Shizu would be able to try and learn just about anything she wanted while not being detected. She decided that she would try to test out that idea in this game. She desperately wanted this idea to be a reality, and she was willing to work as hard as she ever could for it.

Shizu didn't know exactly where to start to trying to track Hiro. Of course she heard the music coming from the south east, but it couldn't be that simple. She had to plan her way of attacking. If she tried to catch Hiro in the wrong place he could just run away or try to disappear. She had to make sure that she got him in the perfect location for when she caught him. She decided that she would need a better view of the woods before she could actually go for Hiro. She found one of the taller trees that she could find and went about to climbing it. She vaguely remembered when she was little and her osteogensis imperfecta hasn't developed, she would climb some of the trees in her backyard. She managed to use these memories to help her, and she got up onto the tree without a hitch.

Once she was safely sat on one of the tree's larger branches, she got about to scouring the land around her. She looked for various landmarks that could help her determine a location later. She saw a few larger trees than the rest, two clearings not including where they started and a creek south of her current location. She went about to mark the points on a map in her mind and went about to try and decide what way she would go to try and locate Hiro. Now that she had a clear idea about her surrounding, she could infer that she would need to trap him, given how she could easily be escaped she just came at him head on, or even from behind. She needed to make sure that he couldn't escape easily. The creek appeared to be about 2 feet deep, so that seemed like her best option. Her idea was that she would try to lead Hiro to the creek, where any possible escape would be slowed down.

After she decided her plan, she climbed back down from the tree and went back into the woods. She knew that she needed to get Hiro heading in the direction of the creek. So she went to herd him east. She slowly made her way closer and closer to Hiro. She still couldn't confirm his location after his last song, but with the trees slowing him down, he would be in her general vincinity. So she went to a twig and stepped her foot on it, snapping it. This created an audible noise that Hiro should have heard. Since she made the sound to the west of her original location, the sound should make Hiro head to in the opposite direction, which would be either straight forward, to the south of her original location or to the east of her original location.

Words: 775
Notes: trying to plan here.

[Hirosame]

Hiro didn't know Shizu well enough to be able to tell what she was thinking at any given time, though he was hoping to remedy that at some point. He liked being able to figure out subtle things within the inner machinations of his friends minds, allowing him to cater quests and activities that fit everybody's needs. While he wasn't trying to be creepy or anything like that, he just genuinely wanted to know what she would be okay with, if Hiro threw some kind of an event where he and his friends would meet up and have a grand old time, as was his wont in some cases. He liked having his friends meet up and hang out, whether it's out in the field, or somewhere over in the Palace, or hell, even his own home over in Moon Dance Forest. But, all this isn't really that important. What mattered right now was that Shizu was sure to be on the hunt for him, now that his song had ended. He looked around himself really quick, just to make sure that she wasn't anywhere near him at the start. It would be rather painful for the game to end just after it had begun, for both himself and Shizu.

Taking into account the fact that Shizu had headed in the direction opposite of him, Hiro figured that the most rational response to hearing his voice in the given direction would be to head towards it. He needed to find a way to throw her off somewhat. Instead of going the direction that he was already going, he decided to shake things up, and head North instead. This might give a confused moment, where she could reconsider where she was going exactly, and think about where she would have to go from there. This would give him a good bit of time to plan out his next route. Hiro was going to try and give her a run for her money. Yes, this was all for her own personal benefit, but he wasn't going to make it easy for her. Where's the fun in that? Breaking into a fast jog, he began to head northward, in an attempt to feign distance from Shizu. While he didn't know exactly where she was, she only had a general idea of where he stood, when he belted out the song. The song of his people, as it were, as the residents from Moon Dance Village supposedly migrated from somewhere like Japan, in this world's culture. Something akin to that.

Hiro stopped in his tracks for just a moment, as a few birds fluttered overhead. He watched their direction by which they flew, and used this as a method to gauge where Shizu was in relation to him. The birds flew to the west-north-west, indicating that Shizu hadn't been necessarily close to his original spot, but was moving in the correct direction. The birds continued onward, until they were eventually out of his sight. This helped him understand that the birds were reliable in his judgment, as there were only a few different types of birds in this forest. Most of them flew long distances, away from a sudden noise nearby, so as to avoid danger entirely. There were a few birds that only fled a short distance, either because they couldn't fly for very long, they were nocturnal and slept during the day, or they were stupid birds. Having been in this world for so long, and observing the nature for as long as he had, he could tell these things apart from one another, and used them as a survivalist-style of judgment. Such things were important to keep track of. In the words of Elder Yamamoto, 'Let Nature be your guide. Birds fly from noises. Watch from whence they fly, and you will know the source.'

As much as he hated to admit that the old hag was right, he knew that she had much more wisdom in her pinky than he did in his entire brain. He respected her for that reason, and would listen to her every word. As such, he began to slow his progression, only slowing to just a normal jog, before finding a good enough spot for him to stop and look around. He noted that Shizu wasn't near him, and that no other creatures were moving around, so that indicated that she wasn't on the move as well. She must be waiting for him to make his next move, before she makes her's. As such, he got a bit further through the woods, and centered himself. A Disney song would do well right about now, wouldn't it? Finding his inner peace, Hiro calmed himself, and began to activate Meditation Nocture to provide a light rejuvanation to his MP as he would sing. He slowly opened his eyes and began to sing this familiar tune from one of the Disney movies, long ago. Carrying with it the sound and the lesson to be one with nature, he sang out unto the world. The creatures did not scurry, nor did they run. Once his song was finished, he let the silence overtake him, as he closed his eyes. He would begin moving again shortly, but for now, the serenity of the world overcame him.

[887 Words]
Tag: Shizu
Notes: Theming! That's how we do it. Enjoy this version of the song, which I just kinda looked up and found the first male-cover I could. Hiro don't sing like Pocahontas.

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[Shizu]

Shizu knew what she had to do now that Hiro was walking in another direction. She could tell that he was walking in another direction. He knew the fake location that she had set up. Shizu made sure to break that one twig because if Hiro knew what he was doing, which she assumed he did, he would now know her relative location when compared to him. Now it was time to try and get him where she wanted him. She had to decide what way she would trap him. She looked into the area around her and needed some method of slowing him down or catching him off guard. She could hear that he was headed north from the starting point, so she would have to abadon her idea using the of using the river to trap him, and remembered to when she took a view of the area from a tree.

Shizu remembered that towards the north of the forest she saw one or two of the larger trees nearby where they were, so she didn't really have much to go off of to try and hunt down Hiro. As she remembered what she knew about Hiro, she realized that she knew very little. She didn't know his favorite color, she didn't who what he liked to do, and she didn't know who was in the real world or how he got into the game. Most importantly, she didn't know his patterns. She didn't know what he would do in this scenario, or just about any issue that he was put in.

Shizu thought about what most people would do in the scenario that the two of them were put in. She believed that most people would try to head in a different direction from the noise that they heard. So, Shizu had a small bit of an idea. Her idea was to directly follow Hiro and try to fake him out. She knew how she would attempt to do this. She would follow Hiro and stay to the left of his current location. Then she would throw a stick at a tree on his right side, as to try and draw him to go towards the left, where she could catch him.

After a few minutes, she located a stick that would work. It was long, but light enough to be easily thrown. It looked like it would snap easily, but would make a good noise when it did. She eventually got into a good position and went behind what she assumed was Hiro. She found where a brush of trees could block the movement of the stick and she got to it. She used all her might to throw the stick, which broke immdiately upon hitting the tree, making a noise.

Once she finished with that, Shizu just waited cautiously in the bushes, waiting to see what would happen when she finished. Eventually she saw was looked to be a figure and jumped out of the bushes to grab it. She was unsure whether what she just tackled was Hiro or a monster, but either way she just gave away her location. She hoped that she had been able to catch Hiro on her first try, as she would feel quite defeated if she failed.

Shizu always wanted to be good at something. She wasn't particularly smart when it came to books or street smarts, she had her bone disorder so anything athletic was impossible. She couldn't even play any music because the act of using the instrument could actually hurt her. She just wanted to be capable of something besides laying the bed all day, waiting for someone to talk to her, or something to happen outside her window. She wondered what exactly hunting was like, but she didn't know it would be this fun.

She didn't want to admit it, but she was having actual, real fun. The rush that she got while trying to pursue Hiro was totally worth the effort, and she loved it. She desperately wished that she could be sucessful in her search, and to be able to say she is actually going to be a good tracker. The ability to actual have some kind of job in this game is one of the original things that drew her to Elder Tale in the first place, as sad as that may sound. She always tried to get into the role of her character, no matter what game that she was playing. Now that her dreams were becoming a reality she was desperate to make herself as best as she could be in her dream world.

Words: 775
Notes: Weird, sorry if I did the catching awkwardly or too soon. Didnt know how else to do it.

[Hirosame]

So many things happened in rapid succession, that Hiro couldn't necessarily process all of it at once. But, it would do best to just start from the beginning of it all, rather than explode talking about just everything at once. So, when Hiro had begun walking away from where he had finished his latest song, he broke into a quick jog once again, as he had before. But, unbeknownst to him, he had apparently attracted the attention of a nearby Boar, which seemed to have enjoyed his song a bit too much, to the point of charging directly at him. "Whoa!" He yelled, vaulting over it with ease. Landing on the other side of the monster, it began to turn around and charge right back at him. Finding the whole thing to be somewhat surprising, Hiro still knew that he'd be able to dodge whatever attacks came his way. As such, Hiro spun around the boar, sprung over it, rolled away from it, and kept it going around in circles, hoping that it would tire out eventually. His plan seemed to be working, as the monster's speed had lessened to a point where he could just walk out of the way.

It kept making some very roundabout turns, which had to have put a large amount of strain upon its body. Finally, Hiro decided that he wouldn't move away from this one, and instead wanted to throw it a little distance away, hoping that that would break the monster's endlessly painful attempt at battle. Why it even attacked him was surprising enough, but he didn't question it. It could've been the fact that he had been making noise, in the form of a song, but that didn't really matter right now. Speaking of which, his MP had been charging back up slowly after the last song, and he decided that soon enough, he'd be back to full. In any case, the boar charged at him again, its pace having slowed a bit more now. Instead of dodging, Hiro knelt down, and rolled onto his back, as the boar was coming at him. Using its body and weight, he launched it a good distance away from himself, where it tumbled and rolled a few times. Standing back up at full attention, he watched as the boar did the same. He was more than ready for the next attack that would come his way, as he bought Shizu a bit of time to catch up, but what happened next, he couldn't have prepared for.

Out of nowhere, Shizu had appeared, and tackled the Monk as he was waiting for the monster's next move. Having completely caught him off guard, Hiro was brought to the ground, with the girl on top of him. Dazed and slightly confused, he didn't know how to react exactly. Well, one this was certain: Shizu had won the little game, and it would be up to her if she wanted to play further. Aside from that, the fact that there was a boar just on the other side, probably just as surprised as he was, was still very prevalent in his mind. As much as he wanted to just throw Shizu off of him and kill the boar, his body still hadn't fully grasped what was going on, and therefore didn't move when he wanted it to. While there wasn't any sort of status effect indicating that his body was under any sort of stun, it was probably the surprise that kept him on the ground. Either that, or Shizu's body. Without much else to say, Hiro pointed towards the boar, and grunted. "Boar... Over there..." Struggling to push himself up, he kept pointing to the boar, hoping that Shizu would see what he was trying to tell her.

[631 Words]
Tag: Shizu