A glorious day to be alive! [Open]

[Haku]

The large man, Haku, smiled as he stepped off the beaten path, feeling his heavy metal boots sinking into the soft grass.   Today was a good day, and Haku planned on riding it all the way out.  "I wonder if I will meet any people out here today."  He wondered out loud as he drew his weapons from his back, checking their condition.  "Hm.  Yes, this will do very well."  Haku continued marching forward as he considered what he would be doing today.  Just some training, some grinding... hard to help people if he can't protect them, eh?  He would be doing his job very very poorly if he crumpled like aluminum foil!

A Slime crossed his vision, and the guardian couldn't help but smirk.  "Well, we all start somewhere, eh?"  he joked too himself as he drew back his spear and thrust it forward, right into the heard of the slime.  It squeaked out in pain, but... it didn't seem too hurt.  "Oh, right.  Slimes are resistant to piercing damage."  He reminded himself as he pulled back, and lifted his shield, feeling a dull pressure as it bounced off the large sheet of metal.  "Come now, you'll have to do better than that!"  He taunted, as he span, swinging his spear longways to preform a slash across its form, splattering goo across the field.

"I hope this makes good fertilizer.  It would be a shame to ruin such a beautiful landscape."  He said, before the slime, smaller now, leaped forward at surprising speed, the human only barely able to get his shield back up to block it.  "Oh ho!  There we go!  Keep trying, you can do better!"  From the outside, the idea of trying to encouraging your enemy seems backwards.  Why would someone want to give their opponent an upper hand?  Well, Haku believed in everyone doing their best, even his opponents.  But, he was not ever going to give a victory to his opponent, that was for sure.

Bouncing the slime off of his shield, the large man swung his weapon in an overhanded swing, Bisecting the slime.  "You did your best!  Maybe in your next life, you will remember this, and learn from it!"  He said, encouragingly, with a large smile, as it exploded into bubbles.  "Well, that's a good first step.  I wonder who is next."  He said as he collected the items, and shook his spear, cleaning some goop off his gear, before marching forward, towards his next encounter, hoping for a good challenge.



word count: 420

[Rain]

Damn, damn damn. He'd made the mistake of popping out of hiding, and yeah, that was his fault for being so aggressive, but how was he supposed to know they were there? Three of the little monsters were chasing him now, and maybe one on its own he could take, but without any actual heal spells in his arsenal, he was not going to be reaching anywhere. So he ran - and running, it seemed, just got him chased. The shaman had expected as much, but he had also figured they might give up if he kept going. Unfortunately, that did not seem to be the case. With enough time and effort he might be able to split them up, but as of right now... not so much.

He broke through the treeline, and again, hoped he'd get them to stop... but no, they were aggressive. "You stupid things are supposed to be garden snakes!" He yelled over his shoulder, turning just in time to spot... well, a big guy. A big guy with a shield, and a spear, and hopefully the kind of guy who would take pity on running people. "Hey! Hey you!" He called, turning towards him and bringing the three hissing, snapping snakes along for the ride.

"You would be my favorite person if you helped kill these things!" He added, mostly because... well, they were hard to see unless they got close - and boy, were they getting close. They were, luckily, only levels three and four, ( two of the first, one of the second ) but that didn't mean he could do it at level one. He ducked behind the guy, pointing at them. "Monster snakes. They're hard to see until they're--" They got within the necessary two meters for their HP bars to pop up, and he just nodded. "Like that!" He explained, before pulling his hands together and whispering "Damage Interception!" The slight sound of energy fluctuating would hit the air, as the shield sprang to life in front of them - the three snakes smacked into it. They all ran into it not-quite-simultaneously, and it shattered - but absorbed the blow from their attacks.

Already he was unslinging the bow from his back and drawing out an arrow ( fat lot of good it would do at this range, though ). Sure, the question of whether or not the big man would help was now more or less a foregone conclusion - now that the snakes had him in their sights, even if he didn't help, the odds were really good they'd just finish off the chain-wearing Shaman and turn to chomp on his manly bits. Totally his fault! But he also didn't really mind that fact. The two of them could work together and win this.

Or at least, he was pretty sure they could.

He let out a breath, and added: "Summon Shikigami!" Because... hey, worst case scenario, he could use it as a body block. It whispered into existence, an almost-haze around the fox-faced young man. A foot or two shorter than Rain himself, he rather liked it because... well, for a fox, it was very darkly colored. He had no idea why - it wasn't something he'd chosen. Still, the smaller spirit just let out a sigh all its own and took up a stance next to him. Three vs. three! They could totally win this.

( Wc: 586 )

[Haku]

As the large Haku marched on, he had expected to find more monsters. Instead, he found a foxtail in need of help. A broad smile parted his stoney face as he braced his shield, and charged towards him to help, even before asked. "You have no need to worry!" He would respond, his voice surprisingly joyful as he brought his spear up. "I will be your shield, little fox." Even under the heavy plate armor, the shifting of his muscles was visible, as he drove the spear forward to stab at one of the sneaky snakes that were attacking him.

"Here, Friend, join my party. It will be easier to keep track of everything that way." He said in a deep, jovial tone, his spear hand reaching up to open a menu. A small window came up with "players nearby", as Haku drug the name onto the 'invite to party' option, and released it. Of course, this didn't stop the snakes from attacking still, but they just didn't get much progress against that steel wall he called a shield. In the corner of his vision, he could see his HP chipping away. 'Hmm. These snakes aren't the strongest, but they are still a higher level than me. Definitely don't want to underestimate them." He thought, though the smile on his face hid any worry.

"Come at me!" He called to the snakes, lifting his spear and slamming the butt into the ground. "Cool Defense!" He stated, activating the only real ability he needed at the moment. A glow hue to his form was visible, as he knew it would reduce the damage from the attacks of the snakes. Combined with his Resilience passive, he'd be able to tank the snakes for quite a while. "You call that attacking me? Try attacking me from my spear arm." He yelled at the snakes, as he stabbed forward again, the snake dodging this time. Of course, he had no problem still giving advice to his opponents, but only to the point of how they should attack him. He wasn't going to tell them to attack the person behind him, that was for sure.

"So, you are a Shaman, yes? With the Magical Shields?" He ended up asking the foxhair casually, keeping his eyes on the snakes as he tried to use his large frame to redirect their aggro, by breaking line of sight.  Sure, the shaman would help augment his own natural bulk, but not so much the additional damage.  With the male behind him, and the snakes in front, he didn't see the bow and arrow come out, though he did happen to see the Shikigami.  That would help, so long as the Shaman's mana held out, though he didn't know how long that would be.  But, Haku wasn't scared.  or, at least, 'scared' wasn't the right term.  He was positive that he could defeat these snakes, and even moreso with the aid of the Shaman.  He just worried about this taking too long.  There was only so much time in the day, and though he didn't need sleep, he still enjoyed it!


WC: 521

[Rain]

Little fox! Part of him wanted to be offended. Partly. He wasn't, though, because hey, free meat shield! Still, they'd have to talk about nicknames later on. He was, however, surprised that the guy was able to figure out how to do the party thing while he was fending off snakes. Sure, they weren't terrifying to a tank, but some respect for the danger would be nice! He couldn't help himself - the little smirk that touched his face as he reached and touched the confirmation 'screen.' Now, he was in a party. Honest to goodness. He could see Haku's name, and his HP more clearly - a status indicator giving him the heads up of anything out of the ordinary. Honestly, that was pretty useful - if he had any sort of abilities that managed status ailments. On the plus side, Haku, too, was level one, which meant neither of them were going to be amazing at this.

Still, Haku seemed to be doing pretty well, considering the whole 'there were three of them' thing.

"That's me - magical shield guy." He replied, smiling slightly. "Should you really be telling them how to fight you, though? I mean, sure they're snakes, but..." What if he accidentally talked and there was a sentient snake nearby? There were world bosses and stuff he'd heard about, that were way scarier than these things. Still. The end result was the same - they were trying to bite at the other guy who was doing the very best job of keeping Rain's HP up by absorbing the attacks. Leaning out from behind him, he leveled the bow, pulled back, and after a moment to sight, he let fly with the arrow. No doubt a good demonstration of the game's ability to compensate for a lack of awesomeness on his part, the arrow still found its mark, sinking into the meat of one of the snakes. That, at least, would make it easier to spot.

He turned his focus to the Shikigami and nodded to it. It knelt down, and focused. "Soulcutter!" The intonation was fueled with MP, and the Shikigami dove towards the snakes, body shifting into an arc of magical energy. It lanced along the path, passing through the one with an arrow, and grazing another. Still, the first one exploded into a shower of bubbles, as the shikigami returned - though his MP bar was already dipping into the Half-full point. "And you're a Guardian - big and scary and perfect for keeping the squishy ones like me from getting pounded." Sure, he was little by comparison to Haku, but he was tall for a foxtail! ( Yes, yes he was still thinnking about little fox. ) Now that he was in a party with Haku, his own defensive passive would add to the Guardian's - even if it wasn't much, every little bit helped.

He was already reaching for another arrow, letting out a breath.

"Have you played this kind of game before?" He asked, curiously, considering this kind of game was definitely different than what he was used to.

( Wc: 524 - 1110 )

[Haku]

The large man gave a smile as he watched one of the snakes explode.  "What is the point of fighting, if there is no challenge?"  He said as he raised his shield, the level four snake bouncing off of it.  He could see the damage amount, with a smaller, white number above it, indicating how much his skill negated.  "These snakes will be easily dispatched by us.  There is no need to fret your little tail over them!"  Weather it was cockiness, or confidence, it was hard to tell, but the smile on his face indicated the latter.  The two-fold healing factor, plus the damage prevention skill, and since the aggro was still on the Shaman, his Bodyguard skill kicked in, boosting his armor more, it made him hard to even damage, much less with any relative speed.  The spear came down hard, like an axe, on the other level 3 snake, which took a sizeable bite out of its health bar.

"Have I played a game in which I am my avatar, and I fight the enemies with my arms and the weapons in my hand?  No, No I haven't."  The large man said, before laughing heavily, another bash on his shield.  "Come now, my scaled opponents, you can do better than that!"  Haku said, in a mixture of an encouraging, and taunting tone of voice, as he swung wide, bashing a snake back, and creating the illusion of an opening, only to be struck back by the spear in the interlude before his shield resumed its defensive position.

"No no no, I have played many MMO games before.  To refer to this kind of combat as routine would be an understatement."  That choice of phrase made him sound more cocky, now, but it was still good natured, it seemed.  "I can kill these enemies.  This is not a hard fight.  It will just be time consuming.  Worry not, you are safe with Haku."  The large human, would say, taking a moment to look back and smile at the Shaman, before turning his attention back to the encounter.  "We should take out the smaller one first.  It will make dealing with the bigger one much easier."  He would explain, as he had to bring his shield up to block an attack, wincing as he saw a sharp drop in his HP from a critical hit.  But, it was not a big deal.  Things like that happen on occasion, there was no need to fret.  it would take quite a few critical hits before Haku was in any danger.

"Why is a shaman like you out here on your lonesome?  You do much better in a party.  A whole greater than the sum of its parts, as it were."  He explained, seeming to be genuinely interested in hearing the Shaman's story.  It wasn't that he was bored with the fight, exactly, but just genuine concern for the other.  Being out by yourself was difficult!  At least, for one of the support classes.  As a warrior, he was capable of soloing for a good ten levels, maybe further.  But, teamwork is certainly nice, and speeds things along significantly.

WC: 527. 1468 total

[Rain]

The question alone seemed extremely strange to Rain. After all... well, no one wanted to die. Challenge or no, they wanted to survive. "Uh, to win?" He replied, completely and utterly unconcerned with how that might have sounded. If this were still a game, persay, he would be all about 'winning.' But it wasn't. Still, they couldn't die permanently, but that didn't mean he wanted to experience whatever happened when you did die. There was time between exploding and reforming at the Cathedral. What if that time between was simply a lack of existence? What if it was some sort of hell that people who died were forced to endure before coming back? No, he wasn't interested in the least. Still, despite all that, he'd been out here in the field, all on his lonesome. Or well, the plan had to been 'summon Shikigami, use it as a shield.' In truth, though, that just hadn't happened. He'd even formulated a strategy or two, none of which he got to put into effect because the first thing he did was stumble onto sneaky snakes.

He huffed loudly at the second 'little' comment. "Just because you're a giant of a man doesn't mean I'm little! My tail is perfectly---" He ducked behind the guy, as a snake came nipping, which... okay, kind of proved Haku's point. Haku smashed it with his spear, though, which was perfectly acceptable to him.

"Perfectly normal." He finished, as Haku taunted the snakes once more. He wasn't exactly sure what he meant by this kind of combat being routine. Elder Tale was his first MMO, and to be honest, he'd started playing the day before the whole 'everyone got pulled into the game.' So, his knowledge of how to play was pretty sparse at best. He'd picked up a class that had been something he could do from a distance, and he'd gone 'sneaky' himself, for what he thought would be a complementary skill. Not to mention the ability to wear heavier-than-normal armor. He was a regular ball of contradictory characteristics, and he had no idea.

He turned his attention to the smaller snake, and nodded. "You got it." He drew the string back again, and once it was fully taut, he let the arrow fly. It dug into the ground next to the snake, and he tsk'd at himself. It would definitely take some getting used to. Still - he followed up with a hissed Soulcutter! - letting his Shikigami launch forward in his stream-of-magic form. It took less precision than an arrow, though it ate another nice bit of his MP - still, the end result was the explosion of snake-orbs, while he reached for his quiver. He wore it along his hip for ease of drawing, his chain armor making slight noises beneath the more 'traditional' shaman outfit.

"I figured I could get by with my Shikigami - but they ambushed me." He hadn't had the opportunity to set up any of his 'plans,' and as such, well... here he was. "This is my first MMO." He added, mostly to clarify. Another twang of the string, and another whiff as it burrowed into the ground next to the steadily-avoiding snake. Damn if they weren't hard to hit. Tiny opponents.

"You're alone too, and you seem to be doing better." He pointed out, mostly to get a feel for the whole thing.

( WC: 584 - 1694 )

[Haku]

A large, somewhat loud, shrug was the response to Rain's first response. "If you know what's going to happetn, and it's completely routine, then it becomes mundane and boring." He tried to explain as the snake slammed against his shield, being rather rude, as to not let them have this little conversation in peace. "Sure, you can win, but a hollow victory will only lead to sadness. The hard fought victory is the one most enjoyed!" Speaking of hard fought, this snake certainly wasn't giving up. Despite the regular wiffs with the arrows, the Soul Cutter was still drawing a lot of aggro, which means the snakes were still trying to get at Rain. This was good, as it meant his bodyguard class kept triggering, so he was able to tank even more effectively.

Then, Haku let out a large, hearty laugh, one that almost made him miss a block, that could have caused quite a bit of damage. "Please! I did not mean to offend! It was merely..." He hummed a bit , swiping at the snake, seeing a gash in the ground where the snake avoided him, and his steel bit the dirt. This was quite unfortunate, as it was, indeed, a very nice patch of grass, and he didn't like it marred as it was. "It was merely an observation." He tried to explain. "Being little is not a bad thing, though! If mice were large, they could not hide from Hawks! If Foxes were large, they would not be nimble enough to evade Coyotes!"

Taking blow after blow, from the snake, a much higher level than him by technicality, Haku took a look at his health bar to see that he had just dropped below a third. He'd probably be at half if it wasn't for his friend actually having the aggro. That was when he heard the rest of what Rain had said, and he would nod heavily. "Your shikigami is good for DPS, but it draws from your Mana pool heavily. It becomes a balancing act between doing damage, and protecting allies." He explained, putting up his shield, and watching another tick of damage come off. "Imagine, for a moment... Erm... Your bow. you may think "I shoot it" and that is it, but that is not the case. It is greater than the sum of its parts. There is the bow, there is the arrow, and there is the archer. The three work together to become an effective team. Remove any one of those thing, and it becomes greatly inferior." The snake was starting to get really mad at him, he could tell, as the frequency of the attacks seemed to pick up. To put him in his place, Haku stabbed at him again, only to bite dirt as it just evaded him.

"It's not the best metaphor, I'm afraid, but it works, I think. As a support, you allow everyone else to do their job better! But it takes a lot of trust on both sides. An assassin could get some place dangerous, and get out, if they had a good support. But, if the Support doesn't trust the Assassin, the assassin might not get the shield in time. If the assassin doesn't trust the support, he wouldn't make the risky, but effective, play, which might cost the battle." At this point, though, he felt like he was droning on, and felt bad. He shoved back the snake with his shield to give himself some breathing room. "You've picked what is arguably the most difficult class archetype, I think. You are fragile, and you don't do much damage, and you need a good team in order to bring out the best of your abilities. But, as long as I'm here, I will protect you and will help you improve, alright?" This was all said with the best of intentions, though, it could be interpreted as 'talking down to' Rain.

Watching the snake cross the distance towards him. "Here he comes! I'm going to hold him!" He said, suddenly, as he took a few steps forward. Another lunge, this one batted away from as normal, and followed up by another spear strike, but this one designed to miss. It was to limit which way the snake was able to move, hopefully inhibiting him long enough for the shaman behind him to make an accurate strike with his bow.


WC: 734, 2202

[Rain]

He huffed. "I don't know what's going to happen!" He pointed out. From his perspective, just... telling things how to fight you seemed almost suicidal. Sure, there was the whole 'can't die' thing, but when push came to shove this was still dangerous. He could, at least, see how it might - might - get boring if it were too easy. After all, repetition could get frustrating for anyone. Still, telling someone how to win didn't seem to be the right way to go. "I dunno, I think that, at that point, you just grab more enemies, rather than trying to coach them. I mean, sure, they're AI or whatever, but that doesn't mean they can't learn."

Unfortunately, Rain had no idea what the aggro table was, or why, exactly, the things kept trying to get around the mountain of a man to nip at his heels specifically, but it just meant he was getting good at making sure he stayed behind the wall-fortress that was his body.

"If mice were large, maybe they'd eat the hawks." He pointed out, wincing just a bit at the missed shield slam.

He listened, intently, as Haku explained the whole concept of balancing. He'd apparently picked someone that could do a lot, but it came down to deciding what was the best thing because mana drained quickly. For now, he only had four abilities - including the basic one for summoning his Shikigami. What would happen when he had more? When there were more decisions to make? He quirked a brow at the large man's attempt to make Rain's role a little more easily defined. Sure, you could use each part individually, but... an arrow, stabbed into someone as a melee weapon simply didn't accomplish much. Same with a bow.

Okay. So, supports needed a team, and he was a support. He could, in theory, support his Shikigami, but not until later levels. He understood that the Shikigami drained less MP the higher up his level went, so he needed to just work on growing and then he could go back from there. Of course, the other option was figuring out ways to work the system. Sure, it would take a little time and thought... but he could do it, he was sure. He'd already gotten plans for the current setting, but he was realizing now that those plans also needed to be 'set up.'

He hummed thoughtfully, as Haku continued to explain the best way for his class to interact. Ultimately it would come down to trust. From what he understood about Shamans, they didn't even heal all that well, so much as they were exceptionally good at preventing damage. Reaction time on his part would be crucial, and people would have to trust that he was a capable ally since he couldn't erase mistakes as well as the other healing classes could. Which, okay, maybe he should have thought of that before picking Shaman. Ah well.

"That sounds good, Haku." He replied, and though it might sound a touch casual, it was honest. It did sound good. A meat shield travelling companion that could help him better get used to the way he was supposed to respond in this situation was... different, to say the least. He wasn't exactly the most reliable of people in the real world, but he was good at relying on others.

The living mountain in front of him pretty much called for him to get ready, and he was in the sense that he had an arrow drawn. But hold him? He was pretty sure that you couldn't grapple a snake and--

The boxing-in motion made sense to him, and in a brief motion, he released the string. There wasn't even much of a whistle - the arrow dug deep into the head of the snake, with the flash that indicated he'd scored a critical hit. He turned and nodded to the Shikigami, which shifted for the third and final time, cleaving the snake into nothing but orbs and gold. He smiled wide - the threat passed. He gave a brief smile to his Shikigami on its return, and it let out a small 'humph' before vanishing all together. Butt.

"We rock." He stated, simply, because obviously it was true.

( wc: 737 - 2431 )

[Haku]

It was a well fought battle on both sides, though the winners were obvious, as the last ones standing. "Good show! He remarked, swinging his large hand to give a hearty clap on the back to Rain. It was good to see him finally make a shot as well! With the battle over, the titan of a man reached up and tapped on a small button on his screen, and the blue hue fettered away into nothingness. With the combat no longer an issue, he had no reason to have his skill up. It just drained his mana. But, the other good news is that, now that combat was over, his Resilience skill's second effect triggered, regenerating significantly more health. Turning to look at his new traveling companion, now that he wasn't in combat, and had the opportunity, and nodded at nothing in particular.

"Worry not about the subtle intricacies of playing an MMO. I will help you, where I can." Haku sounded as genuine an individual as they came, and in truth, he was. He just liked helping people. The guardian was possibly an odd choice, instead of a support class, to become, but his logic was thus: If paired with another support, a support class can't do much. As a guardian, He is very useful in a team with any other class, even other guardians. And that decision was justified with this little encounter with Rain.

Putting his hand on his chin in a position reminiscent of the Thinker, Haku... Judged isn't the right word. Critique worked. Critiqued what he could see of the Shaman. The chain armor was an odd choice, in his opinion. Was it a skill slot, or did he pick the blacksmith subclass? He could see the validity of the support taking the blacksmith role. He could repair equipment in dangerous situations, such as in dungeons. Very useful. But, if Rain chose it as a skill... it was a bit of a wasted slot. At least for the early levels. "Rain, if I may, what are your subclasses? Why did you pick them as such?" It may have been a forward question, but, sometimes, in order to help someone, you need to know what they are thinking. From there, you can show them what is, or isn't, right about such a train of thought.

Not that Haku was an elitist who demanded perfect builds out of everyone, but knowing that the Foxtail hadn't played any MMO's before meant a distinct lack of understanding of the 'meta' that most of them had. He wouldn't tell the shaman how to build the character, he would just help him understand why certain things are, or aren't useful. Such as the Shikigami. It had its uses, but the mana drain made it very painful for early levels.  Realistically, a shaman, if soloing, needed to focus on direct shields, and consistent damage, as well as one-on-one fights, where he could escape if necessary.  For a team focused build, working without offensive skills worked efficiently, as the team would make up for the DPS loss.

After realizing he'd been a bit lost in thought, the guardian just put on a large grin, and, with a bit of help from his shield for weight support, was soon sitting on the ground. "Please, friend, sit and talk. No need to be standing around for nothing. The clearing is wide enough that we won't need to worry about an ambush, and its easier to recover while resting. Alas, if only I had bought some food before heading out, I would have done so. It is a lovely day for a picnic!" Other than some light grinding, getting money had certainly been one of the forefront purposes of coming out today. Specifically for a situation like this, where he could, indeed, acquire the funds to purchase items, but also supplies, so that he may be able to work on his pharmacist class, so he could provide support items to his allies. For example, if he could make a potion that greatly increased mana regeneration, he was sure Rain would be able to make good use of it, since he was able to use lots of mana without much trouble.


WC: 705, 2907

[Rain]

The smile on his face was replaced by a surprised look - the clap to his back almost had him stumbling. Big people. Yes, his model was slight of frame which... apparently meant he was going to be smote He should have put on some more muscle or something, just so the blonde couldn't be knocked around by accident. Still, he caught himself, and with a little bit of a grin, he slid the bow back over his shoulder. It wasn't fancy, and he kind of wished he had a better one - from what he understood, he could make better arrows if he sat down and focused on blacksmithing, but that was kind of not on his list of things to do. For now, he was more worried with saving up enough money to outright buy some better stuff on its own, since that would be about three hundred times more simple.

Of course, maybe, just maybe, he shouldn't have picked a bow and arrow in the first place? Sure, it was thematic, but damn if he wasn't an iffy shot at best.

Ah well.

"Thank you." He said, simple and clean. If Haku was willing to help him get a handle on this strange new world with its different rules and situations, he'd be all for it. Maybe going out and about solo for the first few levels had been a bit... overzealous, on his part? The question as to his subclasses had him quirking a brow. "Uhm, I chose blacksmith and tracker." He explained, patting at his chain armor. It, too, wasn't all that amazing, but he liked it anyways. The extra layering would help, in his opinion. "I thought the whole 'wearing chain armor' would be helpful from start to finish, since I'm squishy, like you said. But also, I remember seeing that eventually I can mend stuff and make specialized arrows and if I decide to get into swords, I could do that, too." Because for some reason, swords were a thing shamans could equip. Brilliant!

"I picked tracker mostly because it was stealthy. My theory was that if I can sneak around, I can protect people while staying out of sight. I could do the same with my shikigami, I thought. I tried sneaking earlier, but I only have the silent move thing right now, and they spotted me." It was... definitely unorthodox. Sneaky healing? Who actually heard of something so silly? But it made sense to him. Rain just shrugged, clearly feeling a touch out of place. People only asked questions like that if you were doing something wrong. The other guy settled his shield down and followed it until he was sitting, able to lean against the defensive item. He rubbed the back of his head and nodded, looking a little odd as he tried to decide how to sit. Finally, he more or less just whoomphed to the ground, and then proceeded to rearrange himself. "It's the tail." He explained, softly. "When I forget to hide it, it makes things weird. Like, walking or sitting?" He added, now that he could rearrange his legs and sit Indian style.

"A picnic, huh?" It was a strange thought all on its own. A picnic, in what he assumed was still a game ( after all, he could see the telltale 'UI' screens, and there were skills, and... well, he was a fox-person. ) But he couldn't complain. The slight breeze that tousled his hair was all it would really take to lull him into a sense of security. "I came out mostly to start leveling up. It didn't even occur to me to bring out any food or anything." Which would probably catch up to him sooner rather than later. Either way, the shaman was feeling a little better about himself as his MP slowly started to replenish. "What subclasses did you pick?" He asked, though it was definitely more curiosity than anything else. He certainly wasn't the guy to tell anyone anything about how they were playing, since he could barely play himself.

Either way, he unslung the bow again, and set it next to him, before stretching out and glancing over at Haku. "I'm ready for some rain, though, to be honest." He said, with a little shrug. "Is that weird? Do you think I'd have a wet fox smell?" Jeez, he didn't even know what that would smell like.

( Wc: 760 - 3191 )

[Haku]

Haku had a hearty laugh in response to the difficulty the Fox tail was having sitting down, though it was not designed to be insulting by any nature, just enjoying the humor of the situation in general. "I'm sure if I had a tail, I would have issues with it as well!" He admitted as he gave a small look around the area. While it was hard to ambush in an open area like this, it was still possible of they weren't paying attention, and the titan of a man wasn't going to be going back on his promise of keeping rain safe so soon.

Reaching up to stroke his short beard, Haku listened intently to the ideas that brought the shaman to his current combination of classes. "I like it." He would finally say when rain finished his explanation. "It is harder to draw aggro if the opponent doesn't know you're there. And, since heavier armors come noisy, you will be being able to move without such noise. Though the movement penalty would probably hurt for a good while, I'm sure you can figure a good middle ground! And yes, you can fix, and make equipment like arrows, and swords! Being able to provide equipment support is a valuable skill, and you can't support anyone if you die." The words were made of pure, concentrated confidence. There wasn't any sarcasm, or attempts to belittle a new player, he genuinely believed that the shaman would find a way to make an unorthodox build work. In fact, he was fond of things that broke the established norm. In another MMO, he created a character who used a flamethrower, but focused on critical hits, despite the flamethrower supposed to be designed around causing fire DOT.

Haku scratched at the back of his head as he suddenly was forced to consider the question. "Wet fox...?" He trailed the sentence off, before laughing loud and heartily. "I am sure wet fox smell is the greatest of your concerns. But, if it genuinely worries you, why not buy some towels? Or an Umbrella? Something to dry off, or stay dry?" Genuine questions one and all, and ones designed to simply be helpful.

Haku's health was already sitting at maximum thanks to his resilience, though his mana pool still left something to be desired, sitting at close to half. He'd need to remember, at higher levels, to get equipment that recovered mana faster. His head swiveled around again, seeing nothing more than some low level mushrooms in the distance bouncing around, not concerned with the duo. "Nobody is excellent at level one, so don't worry your lit-" He hesitated, remembering how he had made the fox uncomfortable with the word 'little' previously. Haku coughed , and cleared his throat. "Don't worry your head over not being the most effective right now. The power curve of a support class greatly favors late-game players. Guardians and other warrior classes are heavily favored in the early game, since all low level enemies only do physical damage, which we resist... Okay, that Guardians resist, Samurai are effective against. Monks are better with the elemental attacks, but they have raw damage to back themselves up... You get my point though! Your value becomes greater and greater at higher levels, while I will decrease in total effectiveness. My damage will drop off heavily, leaving me to just be good at absorbing and defending." He had no reason to lie to the fox tail. If he did, then later down the line, when the lie was revealed, Rain would lose trust in anything else the large man said.

"My subclasses are Bodyguard and Pharmacist." He would say, then, with a proud nod. "The bodyguard subclass helps me become harder to kill if i'm defending other individuals, which, as a guardian, I do quite frequently. The reason I picked pharmacist was so that I could make and provide potions to my party. People often times undervalue their effectiveness, you know!" He was proud of his own build, as a moving fortress to protect those around him. Sure, his damage was gonna be complete crap further down the line, but that wasn't as big of a concern. So long as he was alive and was able to keep the DPS alive, it would make up for his own lack of damage.

"If you came out here to level up, then lets get you leveled up, then, hm?" He would finally say, though made no effort to stand up yet. "I think it would be a good idea to focus on enemies that are easier to strike with a bow. Snakes are... Sneaky critters. And their thin bodies make bad targets." He said, with a nod. "We can get started when you are ready." His genuine smile was as warm as sunshine as he looked over at the shaman, peering around the battlefield again, still making sure they were being given the privacy that they needed for recovery.  Guardian and Shaman was a bit of an unorthodox combo, but one that could work, should neither of them be pressed for time.  There was a sufficient level of bulkiness allowed between the two, which meant that it would be very difficult to take them down, should they work together effectively.  Versus a much larger opponent, like an area boss, this could be much more challenging for them, but grinding on smaller enemies should be more than sufficient for the two of them to break through the opening levels.

wc: 920, 3827

[Rain]

It wasn't just him! On the plus side, his model was pretty close to his normal height, so he wasn't feeling like he was going through puberty all over again. It was the strangest thing - it wasn't just controls. He felt like he was the slightly-taller person. He got feedback from his ears and tail when he touched them, or when other people did. He figured that he wouldn't get anything at all, since there was no corresponding 'ear' on the top of his head, or tail for him to feel things from. But no, he had exactly that. It made everything a touch strange because it added a component to his balance he simply wasn't used to. He could control his tail as well - and he knew that the higher up in levels he got, the more tails he'd acquire. Not that he was terribly excited about that fact, but it was still rather cool in his opinion.

His entire 'theory' ( because that's really all it was ) seemed to make Haku consider him. Finally, though, the judgment was rendered positive, and Rain actually smiled a little bit at that. Sure, most of his choices were about keeping himself safe, but if he could keep others safe, too, then he'd do that. He nodded enthusiastically when he added that heavier armors could be noisier - he'd encountered that very thing already. The chainmail didn't hinder his movement at all, thankfully, but it did make noise, and so his moving silently helped a lot in that respect. Then his movement got hindered, but mostly because he took careful steps ( like his body was programmed to. )

"Exactly! I can't shield anyone if I'm face down, so having better armor and being able to hide is great for if things go belly-up." Eventually, he'd have the ability to restore people back to life, so in worst case scenarios, he could hide himself away and restore his meat shields traveling companions.

Leaning forward, he grasped at his ankles and shrugged slightly. "It doesn't worry me. For all I know wet foxes smell like rainbows and happiness. I was just curious about it 'cause... well, I mean, we can smell stuff here, you know?" Another thing he never thought he'd be interested in.

Rain was curious, and followed Haku's gaze as he looked around - not really sure what it was he was looking for, but figuring it was probably a good idea to look anyways. Still, he was more than willing to listen ( even if he caught the almost-little ) to what Haku explained. Fighting classes were stronger in the beginning, but their usefulness came down to the ability to absorb damage later, and hold enemy attention. Whereas supports could benefit everyone with their various methods - healing, protecting, and some other different forms of utility. Still, he had to wonder if maybe he'd chosen the wrong class to start with. Well, either way, he was already here, and he'd figure it out in the long run.

He tilted his head in an oddly canine gesture, as Haku began to casually explain what his subclasses actually did. "Don't they just restore HP?" He asked, curiously, because in his limited experience, that was really all they were good for. If there was more, he definitely wanted to know.

The younger-looking of the two practically beamed when Haku simply said that they should start working to get leveled up. "Snakes are awful." He agreed. "I was looking for boars but..." Sneaky things were just that. Sneaky. He wiggled slightly until he could figure out the best way to stand up ( getting to all fours and then pushing himself to standing ) and followed it up by brushing himself down. The shaman smirked at the Guardian. "I'm totally ready." He explained - his MP was back at full, which meant he was ready to go. Excited, even. Tugging the bow from his back, he gestured at the mushrooms. "Better targets?" He asked, not quite ready to draw an arrow until he was in combat. After all, his arm could eventually get tired! Maybe. He wasn't sure how that worked yet either, as he didn't seem to get tired too quickly here.

Either way, he was absolutely willing to follow Haku into combat. Keyword being follow, of course.

( Wc: 737 - 3928 ) [ CLAIMED TO THIS POINT ]