[PP - F1] A New Skill? W/ Kisodeth [Completed]

[Cyrus 0]

Cyrus had a chance meeting with his now partner, Kisodeth. At first it didn't look like it was going to end pretty but somehow they came to an understanding. For the briefest moment he thought he was actually going to have to really fight a woman for the first time in a game. But that bullet had been dodged. Another problem for another day. They came to see eye to eye having similar ideals on how they wanted things to run in SAO. It wouldn't be fun to have other players dictating how they would want to live in the tower. It was an inevitable thing that the young gamer had the foresight to see. In games the strong usually band together to be stronger. When that happened guilds formed. The strongest guilds usually claimed the awesome farming spots across many maps. They would get all of the one time loot for themselves. When they got too strong there was nothing to do if you didn't have your own power to compete. 

Both of them were to stubborn and hungry to let that happen. So now they had to speed their way through the floors and catch up to the rest. And one way for them to get there was to pick up this katana. Cyrus had his eyes set on it from the start. He already spent the courtesy points into his curved sword skill so that it could be done easily. Now he just had to hunt down where to pick up the katana skill and the starter sword. There were some hints laying around also. There was a place on the map called The Dojo. He first discovered it one of his many exploration trips. The discovery made such an impact that it was all he could think of. In the real world Kenjutsu had long since been watered down into less lethal methods. He was curious if Kayaba had put enough thought into the game to also include some authentic japanese sword styles into the game. It was SWORD Art after all.

For the briefest moments the young man turned to check on Kisodeth seeing as she agreed to accompany him. For a moment he had been absorbed in getting to The Dojo that he almost forgot about her. A few more turns and they were there. Cyrus stopped in front of the door wondering if his suspicions were right. "This is the place." Sliding open the Shoji doors Cyrus entered with his shoes unequipped. It was more of a respect thing than anything else. There was an NPC kneeling away from the door far in the back of the large dojo. Assuming Kiso was still following him he approached the NPC. Engaging with the NPC he quickly read through the requirements and directions for the skill. Apparently it was a bonus skill and wouldn't take up an extra slot. Turning to Kisodeth he gave her a sheepish grin. "We're in for a small trip... but it will be worth it." They would need to travel outside of the town to acquire the katana.

 

@Kisodeth

Edited March 28, 2017 by Cyrus

[Kisodeth 0]

They had formed a lose bond with one another, strung together only by the fact they had wanted to become powerful individuals. But in order to do that, one must sacrifice a small portion of dignity and to be developed into a mutually giving partnership. Kisodeth had agreed to help Cyrus on his Katana Skill and she had rolled her eyes at the vague conversation they had a little while ago. She mentally hit smacked her head against a brick wall when she had requested the two of them being roommates. Yes, it would save them on some col and expenses until they could properly equip themselves and start col farming, but at the same time this was new territory for the female warrior. She kept her eyes on the white haired individual as she followed him through the crags and spaces of the Starting City. 

She had developed her keen eyes to scout the area making mental notes of everything as they passed by. This was a huge city, a metropolis that had everything a player needed under one floor. The only problem was that it was massive and took forever to get to point A to point B. So there was some downtime when walking a distance, why did the creator not to think about adding warp points around the city so that they could just be warped to the different districts, it would save time. But she was arguing against a man who made a game for his own sport. She huffed to herself slightly annoyed as they reached some kind of Dojo.

"What the hell is this? Ancient Japan?" her question was rhetorical and she watched as Cyrus was showing some kind of respect as he took of his shoes as he entered, "Are you [censored] serious, kid?" Her question was a mental one as she watched him do his thing. Her thick boots slopped with mud had tracked around the otherwise clean floor. She had shifted her weight and leaned against the wall while he did his thing, folding her arms over her chest and waited. After the conversation, he had returned and told her there was a bit of a trip. She gave an exhausted sigh, "Yeah? Well, let's get going then." @Cyrus

[Cyrus 0]

Walking back out of the door he equipped his shoes again not really making a big deal out of Kiso not following his respect for the dojo. Cyrus had a deep respect for Japanese culture and as such he followed it when entering the dojo. It was just a game at the end of the day so he wouldn't bring it up to his partner. Instead he focused on their current goal. Following his map out of the town the quest was going to lead them on a bit of a trip. However it would be good to get out of the town. Since starting this game he never really spent too much time inside the walls choosing to expose himself to the risky elements of the game. Never really putting himself in too much danger but giving himself a chance to develop habits for when he was in deadly combat situations. If being in this world became second nature to him then it wouldn't be too much of a challenge to handle situations that required more from him.

Once outside the gates the marker on his map took them further away from the town. Sticking to the road and avoiding mobs where he could Cyrus was drawing closer to their destination. The quest seemed to be taking them to a higher elevated portion of the first floor. Checking his quest again it said recommended level one so he assumed it was safe for them to press on. There wasn't much talking going on during there trip. It was something that stuck out to him. The young man stayed on alert though until they finally came upon an area where bamboo was starting to become more dense. The path  got more narrow and less visible as if it was a road less traveled. Slipping through the bamboo they finally came upon a waterfall. Within the pool that surrounded the water fall was a decent patch of grass and the same NPC at the Dojo was seen kneeling again. Creepy? But Cyrus didn't make a fuss. There was a walkway of dirt leading to the platform and he followed it on even if Kiso didn't. It was like something out of an old school samurai movie which was quite fitting for the quest.

Interacting with the NPC once again he updated his quest. He was given a practice wooden Katana that he would have to practice with. Not wasting any time he began the instructions the NPC gave him once in a while. The things the NPC said were actual combat moves but most of it was how to use the new weapon he acquired. 

[Kisodeth 0]

Kisodeth had followed Cyrus out of the town. Bright blue eyes caught the sun as they magnified the color of her irises, a stunning and shimmering sapphire as they made their way on the road. It seemed he was taken the less dangerous path and away from the mobs. That made sense, right now all they had going for them was basic gear and armor, if they had decided to tackle a boar or a wolf or some other villainous mob, they might have some trouble cutting it down with dulled blades. 

As they continued on, Kisodeth kept silent for the most part. Her exhaled were hollow as they made their way towards a bamboo forest, her eye twitched from the image of the bamboo shoots coming out of the ground, "Oh isn't this great? I have never seen these plants, or tree or whatever when I passed by the area. Is this because of the Quest or something? God damn..." she was talking more to herself than Cyrus, complaining about the details of his quest. She had no need for this kind of thing, but they had come up to a waterfall which had caused her ginger brows to arch in confusion not to mention the old NPC from the Dojo was now sitting in a meditative stance. 

"What the hell?" her tone full of confusion. This was Cyrus' quest after all, so she stood there with her arms crossed while he did his thing. She looked at her reflection through the water and squinted as it rippled across distorting her image. She grumbled and took the long locks of her hair and folded it over her shoulder as she combed it with her hands while she paced around in a small circle. She had noticed Cyrus got a new weapon, "Nice, you got a stick. How marvelous." a sarcastic tone beneath the veil of ice which she spoke quite often with. @Cyrus

[Cyrus 0]

Listened to Kiso's complaining chuckling along the way. She was quite serious about everything she said but that's what made it funny also. "The scenery is perfect for this place. Remember you gotta enjoy the little things." His secret project on her continued on seeking to find what interested her and what she liked. That's what he would use to get her to open up some more. There wasn't any particular reason why he was choosing to do this other than the fact that she was more or less tied to him. Perhaps it was just another short term goal he added just to keep his mind busy. Perhaps she was growing on him a little like frostbite slowly inching her way along. 

As he followed the Sensei's instructions he kept her at the back of his mind also. They were on basic drawing techniques at the moment. It was a fairly easy concept to grasp probably because the game's mechanics were doing most of the work for him. They started off with basic drawing. He was already used to drawing his curved sword. It just felt different drawing a Katana since it was a two handed weapon. Or well for this training he was using a Bokken. After a while he got used to it and was starting to pick a style of drawing that he liked and essentially looked cool. If he was going to be wielding a Katana he might as well look good doing it. 

Hearing Kisodeth's sarcastic remarks he chuckled triggering an automated response from the Sensei when he didn't draw correctly. The NPC chewed him out a little but Cyrus didn't really pay him any mind. "Awwww don't be such a sour puss. It's not too cute on you. Your just jealous you won't be looking this good." Cyrus had a smart mouth too so tossing these remarks back and forth was something fun to him.

[Kisodeth 0]

When she was pacing in her circle, she watched from the corner of her eye as he was instructed to do drawing techniques. Pulling a sword out of your sheath was nothing special, but maybe katana drawing had some special perks she was not aware of. She enjoyed a good plot in a fantasy book or movie every once in awhile, but she never got her head into these katana, samurai people of the past. It seemed like a dead culture to her, but it was still seen in some of the martial arts dojos in Japan that she would see every now and then. Especially the kids, they were crazy about that kind of [censored]. 

Kisodeth had triggered a chuckle from Cyrus, she gave him a half-assed glare when he spoke to her about being a sour puss and that it didn't look too cute on her. What the hell was this guy going on with? Was he trying to hit on her or something, perhaps she didn't make herself clean before that this was going to be a business relationship, not some weird boyfriend-girlfriend thing. 

Her eyes on the player, "If you want to see me as some kind of eye candy, I'm going to charge you ten col for every time you make a comment about it. Besides, I am not very comfortable with you saying stuff like that to me. Remember, this is a business partnership. I'm not a girl you are trying to hit on. It's awkward enough sleeping in the same room with you at night. Don't make this hard for both of us." The woman folded her arms over her chest as she was as per usual having a serious tone in her voice. It was clear she didn't want that kind of relationship with Cyrus, but it was his personality to press her. He was not a bad looking guy, borderline cute she would say. But in this world, he could die and then where would that leave her? Without a partner. If he was as serious as he was good looking, this would be a much more profitable partnership. She huffed lightly and turned her back against him. If they had fallen into the line of being something more than business partners, it might make things skewed in this world. It might end up taking them out of the circle of power. She didn't want to settle down and she had no idea who he was or what he wanted which made that kind of life not appealing for her. They would want different things. And being romantically involved...that would cause problems, right?  @Cyrus

[Cyrus 0]

Finally settling on a draw style he liked there were a few more test draws before he was content. Something sort of flashy but also useful as an opening attack. There was usually logic to a lot of things he did in this game. Next they moved on to basic striking which again was something simple. At first it was just some vertical slashing going on. That was something easy enough but it left you fairly open. It was super easy to grasp so they moved past that quickly and then he was onto throwing some cuts from the right or left side. There was plenty of room for variation here but he stuck to the one that left him room to dodge if it came down to it. There weren't always going to be situations where he could avoid an incoming attack but it was better to have the option open. In these sorts of games it was harder to become a super swift dodging master. You were going to take damage somewhere. It was just up to you to determine how much and where. 

The smart comment he was expecting came from Kiso as usual but he was already prepared for her types of answers. Her cold personality was easier to read now on some of the basic things. Stuff like then he could guess where her responses would lie. Flirting was something that Cyrus did naturally most of the time without him even realizing it. It was more playful teasing and to see just how far he could get. Apparently she would be the target of his flirtatious ways for a while. That cold exterior she wore like her armor just made things more interesting.

"Hhmmm 10 Col? That might actually be money well spent." He cast a look to her emphasizing his words giving her a warm smile. This time even when his attention was split his form never faltered. Cyrus had always been a quick study when it came to learning by doing. His mistakes only shaped his skills further through self-analyzing. "All work and no play has got to be pretty harsh on you. I'm sure you've had eyes on you before. It would be hard not to look." That last sentence had been a little more mumbled but easy to be heard if one was listening close enough. Breaking her serious tone was the goal. There had to be something underneath the Ice Queen and he was very curious to find out. They had already played the question game so he knew a few things about her already. Even with he back turned to him the occasional glance was shot her way. It was easy to admit that she was definitely easy on the eyes. It was a plus in their partnership that he had an attractive associate. Although there were no plans to get tied down and the tone of his voice could convey by the way he spoke. He was too young to be settling down even now with their dire situation. Cyrus had a firm belief that he would stay alive until the end. But did he have an interest in getting involved with any woman in any other type of way? That wouldn't interfere with his plans right?

[Kisodeth 0]

Kisodeth had her back turned still, only catching part of what he said. She shrugged her shoulders not really caring one way or another for his comment. Fine, she got it. She looked like a hot piece of ass to him, it was nothing new. Yeah, she could draw attention to herself. Yes, she could melt a guy with a touch of her hands. She had these abilities to make men hard for her, but that didn't mean that she was an easy target or to be picked on. This was a game where anything they do could result in a loss of their life. For one she would not be happy if she had in fact found herself attached to him, that would cause so many problems! There would be grief, there would be depression and most of all; anger and hatred. Hatred for him for dying so easily, hatred for herself for allowing to be consumed by those notions, and hatred for the one thing that she accepted in this world. No, it was just better to seal off her heart and not have to worry about that.

She already debated this sort of thing when she realized she would be trapped and mostly alone in this game. If she let down her shield, if she allowed her heart to melt, that would be the end of her. She would be naked for the people of Aincrad to see, she wouldn't be the hard ass everyone needed to see her as. She would be just another woman playing the game and being taken advantage of like all the others. Once she fell into that trap, there would be no getting out. 

"Why don't you just focus on getting that skill before I shove the rough end right up your ass." She looked over her shoulder, she was actually angry because of the mix of emotions and ideas that had wormed their way in her head. She was so consumed with it she walked away towards the other side of the waterfall where the water was heavier. She shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose, "That asshole. Who the hell does he think he is? Maybe I am being too insecure with myself. He was just trying to be friendly. But I don't need a friend. I need...what do I need? I need to get laid...NO! No, I don't! What the hell, Abby!" She gave herself some time to cool down before she made her way back towards Cyrus, she gave him a glare. 

"Listen. Excuse my attitude, I just don't have the 'friendly' vibe like these people. Like I told you before, I finally got a good life going back home. I guess I am still dealing with this shitty death game. I apologize for my 'rudeness.'" @Cyrus

[Cyrus 0]

Cyrus had a lot of opinions about Kisodeth but a lot of them had less to do about her body and more of them about her mind. For the most part they were all positive and any that were bad were expected. Everyone had their flaws including himself. He was lucky to get stuck with her flaws because it could have been a lot worse. His little game ignited something inside of her though. The Ice Queen was summoning a blizzard with her words making her too cold to approach. Her outburst caused Cyrus to just grow quiet. There had been plenty of experience with women to know when to hush. And so he focused on the next step which was blocking. This wasn't something foreign to him he just didn't use it as often in real combat resorting more to dodging. And with his Bokken he had to get used to size of the blade and how to block properly. 

Looking up again he watched as Kiso disappeared into the waterfall letting her have her space. The blocking was probably the longest of the training so far. Getting the timing right was difficult for him. There were different conditions to when he had to activate the blocking. While Kiso was away and out of earshot he put in more focus to finally complete that step of his journey. When she finally returned he could feel her eyes burning daggers into his back which made him look for her. His silver eyes scanned for her making sure she was alright if only a little damp.

"No it's fine. Maybe I went too far... we're stuck with each other though. Maybe I should try a little harder" Putting a pause in his training he closed the distance between himself and Kiso. "Spar with me." So far she had not attempted to kill him when she had so many chances to try. That said a lot. "Let out your frustrations. Everything we've been holding in so far. Anger at the situation, the present, and the unsure future. Let it all out with me." He was ready to help her if she let him. If she accepted his offer.

Edited March 27, 2017 by Cyrus

[Kisodeth 0]

She continued to glare at the male and his proposal. She scoffed at him and waved her hand, "No, that's fine. I don't need to beat up on you to feel better about myself. I'm just dealing with the [censored] like everyone else. I might not be all doom and gloom like everyone else, but I have extreme reservations about being here. I really had something good going back home and its lost to me now. I worked really hard to get my act together. Now it's like I am fighting an entirely new battle." The woman smirked and threw a small jab at his shoulder, "Get back to what you were doing. The sooner you finish, the sooner we can get back to moving along with our plans. Even though it's a mutual partnership we got going on right now, I am glad I got stuck with someone like you." 

The woman took a step back and sat in the grass while Cyrus would continue doing his Samurai Training, or whatever he was supposed to be doing. The woman shifted her body and laid out in the grass by the water, letting her hair unfurl around her like a fan. She shifted her leg so one was propped up against the other and began bouncing it lightly, waiting patiently for him to continue and finish his quest objective. She knew nothing about Katanas so hopefully his hard work would pay off. But going back to her earlier discussion with herself, had this been any other place, any other time and not in this world. She would have rocked his world. The simple thought of that made her eyes roll as she mumbled to herself, throwing her arms over her face to shield her eyes from the sun. @Cyrus

[Cyrus 0]

For a moment Cyrus just stared at her. For a moment his eyes were locked on her facing searching for something before looking for the source of her strength. The fierceness of her eyes told him everything he needed to know. Only a smile came to his face. "Who said you were going to win though? I wasn't going to take it easy on you." As she sent him on his way he wasn't expecting what she had to say next. He opened his mouth to reply but instead shut it. There was only a small nod. "Me too. You're not so bad." Turning away from Kiso he returned to the Sensei and resumed the quest. The next thing were the basic sword arts and how to activate them. It was the final thing he had to learn before putting it all into practical use against test dummies. While he was working he occasionally looked towards his partner even though she was no longer thinking about him. At least as far as he could tell. 

The test dummies that were set up had the immortal object notification hover over them for a moment before disappearing. Another glance at Kiso allowed him an interesting display as she was laid out. The young gamer had to snap himself out of it hoping he wasn't caught. Taking in a deep breath he started on the next requirements of using every type of attack he had learned so far. The dummies also displayed how much damage was done per attack which was fairly impressive. The katana skill had fair energy draining but high attack which worked out perfectly for him. A lot of the stuff he had unlocked during this training would have to be earned later on it was more of a preview of what could be. And Cyrus had already come to the assumption that this quest was the first real quest that had been well worth all of the trouble. 

[Kisodeth 0]

Kisodeth continued to bounce her leg off the other one as Cyrus continued his training. There wasn't much for her to do and their conversation had kind of melted away into something awkward. It was something she didn't want to exactly deal with and each of them had said their peace on the matter. When she moved her arms off her head, the bright light had shifted into her eyes. She cursed loudly sitting up as Cyrus was going at it with some dummies. At least he was getting the job done over there. The woman had shifted, leaning on her hands as she watched. She was getting a little bored with most of this, it was just her there filling in the time until he completed his objective. 

So she continued to sit, and watch, and stare at him doing his thing. Her cold blue eyes would look away from him but still burned from the sunlight. She gave a low exasperated tone as she started to move and get off her ass. Then started to pace and move about the small inlet of land. She had wondered if the waterfall was something she could just jump into and take a swim. She hadn't swam in forever and it brought back some decent memories of home. Kisodeth brought up her menu and marked this location down for next time. If she could sneak away from the outside world and get this place to herself at night, it would be a great place to skinny dip. @Cyrus

[Cyrus 0]

After smashing up some dummies for a while he finally finished the practical training and turned to the Sensei who bowed and gave him his final task to complete the quest. There was a katana placed at the top of the waterfall. It would be his task to enter the waterfall and make his way to the top and retrieve it. There was a long drawn out story about where it came from and where it was used in the lore. More NPC ramble about how he was the last student in his particular school and style. More feel good stuff for players but Cyrus wasn't really interested in all of that. It wasn't real. While he would carry on the style that he was taught it wasn't something real right? Or maybe this small quest was actually a reference to someone real. It was something that lingered at the far back edge of his mind. It was unlikely from his view point.

Turning to Kiso he spoke to her catching her in a sort of tranced look like she was thinking about something. However he didn't pry instead he offered her a chance to tag along. "I gotta go into this waterfall and make it up to the top to retrieve the katana. You coming or you gonna wait here till I come back." He didn't necessarily need her for anything. It sounded like he just had to walk up and grab it. But maybe it wasn't going to be that easy. Either way the option was available to her. It was a level one quest and there was no way it would be hard enough that he couldn't complete it alone.

[Kisodeth 0]

She had stopped her pacing and looked to Cyrus with a shrug of her shoulders. She gave an indifferent and uncaring look, she didn't mind that he went on his quest for the Katana Skill, but she didn't realize she was going to be this bored while doing it. So she decided to go with him, at least then she would have something to do. So she stood next to him and gestured for him to walk so they could accomplish whatever task he needed. As far as she knew from what he said, all he had to do was get the katana at the top. Didn't seem like a very long winded thing to do, but at least he would have a real weapon instead of some wooden stick to beat dummies with. She rolled her blue eyes, it wasn't his fault they made such a lame quest for the katana player. She was sure that some people might be really into the lore of the game and be stoked as hell to get that 'Legendary Katana of the Waterfall' and only to find that its another useless item with no enhancements on it. Probably a [censored] ton of people have the same one as well; just another quest item to be forgotten later on. 

With her right hand, the woman smoothed back her hair as it curled and bounced over her right thigh bone. They had begun their trek up the waterfall, watching her step because sometimes she was a bit of a clutz. "Don't fall off, I don't wanna have to jump in and save you. You can swim though, right? Would be pretty bad if you ended up falling off the top and nose diving below and then drowning. On the Monument of Life it would read: Cyrus Death by Waterfall. What a way to go." Her voice was much like her facial expression, monotone and stoic with little expression or life in it. @Cyrus

[Cyrus 0]

So they would be entering the waterfall together. It was easy to just go along with her teasing and shoot back his own sarcasm and jokes. "Aww would you miss me? That's sweet." With his partner in tow they walked along the narrow path that led them through the waterfall and into the cave. The water that fell on them was quite heavy. There was so much attention to detail in this game but that was the goal of VR right? Make it as real as possible so that people get absorbed in the game. It was too bad that those mechanics were designed for the purpose that they would actually be trapped. The wet effect applied to their bodies having come in contact with that much water. It made Cyrus wonder if that would have made them slower if they were wearing more armor.

Once inside the waterfall it wouldn't take long for eyes to get adjusted. There were crystals luminescent crystals in the cave that led their way. The cave stretched into a tunnel which was apparently their way t get to the top. Wasting no time Cyrus waded through the small pool that only came up to his shins. The shore was a mostly gravel before turning into stone. There was some light crunching underneath his step for a while. As they walked further into the tunnel a wall came into view. Due to the light of the crystals it could be seen that there was some sort of puzzle designed into the wall. So this was one of those complete the puzzle to get the reward type of deals. "This is better than a gathering quest at least." There were three rings and one circle in the middle. The three rings had picture and the middle circle seemed like a button. It was a match sort of deal. But what were the consequences of getting it wrong. Probably was safe to assume that the developers didn't make it so that getting it wronf would cause immediate death. There were some hints along the wall. The correct sequence of the rings were drawn somewhere. 

[Kisodeth 0]

Kisodeth had no way of evading the water that had splashed down upon her head and body, she would have to deal with it as much as Cyrus did. As they had got to the other end, there was a very drafty feeling as she felt her skin goosebump. She hated the cold weather, any kind of it. A cool breeze was fine, but this draft felt like winter choking her. She gathered her long hair in both hands and began to wring it out as water splattered across the floor from the dripping of her long ebony strands. She hated that feeling of being cold and wet like this, but she would deal with it and not bitch about it since she chose to go with him, how god damn irritating. 

They walked with a sort of sloshiness with their feet against the ground. Her cloth armor was sticking to her every curve and it felt uncomfortable, and due the cold chill she had felt she was nipping through her shirt. She had addressed this problem with bringing her arms up over her shoulders and blocking any line of sight from his eyes to her boobs, the last thing she needed was him going off on her poking out of her shirt. There was enough of that talk prior to this. So they continued to waddle like ducks in the cave coming up to a puzzle. She looked at him and shook her head, "I hate puzzles. You are on your own." @Cyrus

[Cyrus 0]

There was still some slight surprise that she had come with him this far. Apparently she was going to be in this for the long run. It was quite hard to ignore the fact that her cloth armor was displaying more than she probably liked. Instead of ogling her when noticed her cover up he made a point not to look in her direction anymore. "Despite what you say about settling down. Business partnerships are like settling down in a way also." It was just a thought that he would share out loud. It wasn't anything to start a conversation really more something for her to think about while he was working. "It's fine. I'm not one for puzzle games either but every RPG usually has some sort of puzzle element. So I was expecting this at some point." His speech trailed off as he continued to look around the room for clues. Essentially the pictures told a story. Three of the symbols were grouped unusually close together. A man meditating, circling koi fish, and the Zen symbol in japanese culture. This is where Cyrus had expertise thanks to his personal interest in the culture back in the real world. Without hesitating further he slid the rings until those three symbols were lined up and pressed the circle in the middle. 

The rings spun for a moment and only displayed one symbol, a katana. It was a trick of the eyes because they spun so fast you couldn't see what happened until the sword was displayed. There was an unlocking sound before some rumbling as the wall separated granting them entrance. "That wasn't so bad." The rest of the trip through the tunnels went by smoothly. There weren't any more puzzles just more paintings as aesthetics for the quest.  "This was quite extensive but I guess it was worth it. A hidden quest wasn't exactly going to be easy."

[Kisodeth 0]

The woman gave him an odd look, whatever he said was rather random to her and she paid no attention to it nor did she keep it in mind for anything. Whatever he said went through one ear and out the other. Still holding herself in a self-hug, the woman continued to walk along the walls as he played with his puzzle. She rolled her eyes out of habit and looked closely at the symbols of the cavern walls. She looked with a squint of her eyes before making some kind of sound that she was irritated about all this and kept her eyes peeled as the puzzle was unlocked by his creative mind. 

"Finally," she said with a huff in her voice, like it was something that took them an eternity to do. While it didn't take that long, the woman had an over exaggerated sort of personality when it came to her being bored. Things took a million years to complete, a decade and a half to go from one location in Starting City to the other. Things like this where she complained inwardly and to herself more than outside to the ears of others. The more time she spent on thinking about, the more she thought it was trivial. When the cave opened up to a new path and Cyrus was saying something she just muttered to herself in that usual tone of hers, "Yeah, yeah..." she was the first to reach the next area while waiting on him to catch up. She gave him another dry look as her eyes focused on him, like burning a hole in his soul telling him to hurry the hell up. She was still wet, cold and feeling uncomfortable. The perfect situation to create a mouthy Bitch. @Cyrus

[Cyrus 0]

If he couldn't tell that Kiso was getting restless and impatient he knew now. So there was a slight kick in his step. The tunnels led them back outside and they were finally at the top of the waterfall. It was the final moment of the quest. You could always feel when a quest was about to end. Like a sense of relief it it was something extremely tedious as this. Now he just had to find the katana. That was pretty easy seeing as the stream that fell off the edge had a gleaming katana edge down into the water looking like a treasure. The blade didn't even look like it had been worn down by the water or anything at all. Rather than checking on his partner he instead walked into the stream and made his way toward the edge where the blade was. It was dangerously close and the pressure of the water didn't make it too hard to stand up. 

With some focus he made it to the blade and when he finally grabbed the hilt a familiar figure walked seemingly from out of nowhere. It was the Sensei again there to congratulate him. The blade actually dissolved which made him wonder if he was going to get the blade also. It was a fairly beautiful blade even if it was probably weak. Cyrus cycled through the mushy stuff and finally completed the quest waiting for the rewards to pop up on his screen. The story went something about it being the Sensei's blade that he wanted to pass on also.  And when the reward finally displayed he turned towards Kisodeth and gave her a wide smile looking in her direction for the first time since the waterfall incident. The bokken had disappeared from his inventory as it was a one time quest item. The katana skill and blade were now his. They were finally done and could go back home. "Let's get the hell out of here."

[Kisodeth 0]

"Congratulations," she said with a stern voice. The light of the sun was now cascading down around her body warming her up and drying out the wetness of her hair and clothing. She had situated herself at the peak when Cyrus had gone and got his prized possession, an ordinary looking Katana from her eyes. But she didn't know what a special looking one might look like, she didn't care much for it either. But when he accepted his blade, there was a shadowy visage moving through the air. On her guard, Kisodeth nearly drew her own blade from her scabbard when that old man appeared once again. "What the hell is up with this NPC?" Half her blade slid back down into the sheath with a small clicking sound as she moved it around her hip, setting her hand on the pummel of the base. Her blue eyes catching fire from the sun above them as their radiant and pristine color shot through.

"Now you are speaking my language," she said. They could finally clear this quest, although she was not getting anything special out of it, she got partner rewards for at least coming with him. Hey that was a pretty good deal considering she didn't have to do much except to just stand there and watch while he did his thing. Clearing her throat and gesturing with her arm, they could finally get out of this mess. "Alright. That's good, you got your new Katana Skill unlocked. Now then, should we head back to the City? We need to figure out what we are going to do next." With a flick of her hand, the black hair that was now mostly dry rolled off her shoulder as the edges curles around her hip bone once more. This was definitely better than having to deal with cold and wet hair, she had contemplated a few times in her life about shaving it all off, but then she didn't want to fall into that 'butch girl' look. She gave herself a mild disgusted look.  @Cyrus