Volcanic

Pre-turn Status:

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As Volcanic watched the boar pup explode into pixels, for an instant she was incredibly afraid. That wasn't the outcome she had expected. She had expected something more gory and frightening. Her cutting into the creature's muzzle and having to dig the boar tusk out, or simply lopping its head off to take home or something grotesque. But no, the creature had exploded, and she was standing there with sword and hand, and a pop up window that said, "ENEMY DEFEATED!" with some experience and a confirmation button, and that was it. That was the only proof she had that she had done the deed. Not even a boar tusk. She also wasn't even sure how she beat the creature. She had focused on it, like the beta players had explained, and then it was almost as if the game had taken over her movements. She held up her sword and looked at the glint off of it in the sunlight. At least now she knew she could do this.

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Volcanic's breath caught in her throat as she waited for the denial of the purple haired woman. It wasn't until she heard her give approval that Volcanic felt a lump in her throat. She was confused, but elated that someone finally decided to help her. Slowly, she lifted her head to look at the woman who would, at the very least, be her temporary teacher. As Volcanic stood upright again and watched the purple haired woman place materials on the counter, Volcanic blushed a bit and sheepishly rubbed her left arm with her right hand. "I... I don't have any materials. I got so focused on finding a mentor that I didn't take care of that part. I'm so sorry!" Volcanic said as she gave another light bow before looking back to the woman for her judgement. But at least before then, there was one burning question Volcanic had since she had walked through the doorway. "B-by the way... may I ask your name?"

It felt like an eternity passed while Volcanic waited for an answer from the violet haired woman. A genuine look of surprise crossed her face as she was invited inside. Volcanic nodded, but gave herself a moment to recover from the tension, taking a heavy sigh once the woman was out of immediate earshot. Her shaky legs snaked forward as she made for the door and opened it to enter the shop. It was homely, much like Lyle's shop. Volcanic felt cozy here. More than anything it wasn't unbearably hot. Volcanic had certainly traveled to some hot places in the real world, but that didn't mean she was by any means used to them. At first she was wondering why anyone would ever have a forge in the desert, but it appeared that the sun was not a bother here. Volcanic let out another shaky breath, as she reached the counter and watched the violet haired woman take a seat.

Volcanic considered her next words, as she stood stock still, not wanting to lean on anything or seem too casual with this woman she had just met, especially since the icy demeanor had simply melted into a cold apathy. Her foot was in the door, but the battle wasn't over yet. Volcanic lightly nodded at the woman's question before saying, "To be honest, the help I need depends on the help you're willing to give. If you just help me get through the Earning a Living quest, and that's all, then I'll gladly accept that help." Volcanic's eyes looked around the forge, and the lack of weapons and displays, before continuing with a light bow and her eyes to the floor, arms still straight by her side, "However, if you'll have me, I have learned how to gather materials, and would be happy to work directly under you in this forge once I have become a blacksmith proper. If you have no need of an assistant and apprentice, then I understand, but know that I would work my hardest!" Volcanic's eyes closed shut as she stayed bowed to the violet haired woman, hoping for the best. 

Ruby seemed unmoved by Volcanic's outburst. But why should she be? Nobody helped her then, why would they start now? Ruby talked about how nobody knew her. Ruby was right, how could anyone have known that the grimy girl in an alley needed help? It took months before the homeless shelter volunteer even told her how to crawl out of the gutter. Volcanic stood up as the drops continued to fall on the plate, splashing little drops throughout the food residue there. "You're right. I guess I should have asked, because apparently being a grimy girl living in the alley ways didn't make it obvious enough that I was scared. That I needed help. Thanks for clarifying that for me."

Her eyes were still watery, but the tears had mostly stopped as she looked around. A couple players seemed concerned about her table, but for the most part everyone had moved on. Perhaps it was time Volcanic did the same. She picked up her plate before looking Ruby dead in the eyes and said, "I'm going to fight. For the kids like me who can't go home. For the parents and brothers and sisters worried about us. You say you and everyone fights for the same thing, but you weren't there, when someone like me needed help. A friend. You're just sitting here drinking your wine and going on about the 'free' food."

Volcanic broke her stare and started to walk away, but without looking back said, "Try living in the gutter for months and saying all the things you said. Come to where I used to live and say to all those people that everyone is here to help. You'll be lucky if you aren't torn apart." Volcanic dumped her plate with with the other dirty dishes upon her final words and left the dining area.

@Ruby

Volcanic still wished she had something to munch on. The idea of this game bringing many people together was a noble thought, but only if one could leave and go home to their normal life. Again, she considered her father, and with a pang realized that the man must be worried sick. Not only were they stuck in a different country, but his only daughter could die in a game where he had no power to help or save her. Volcanic didn't pretend to have any real worldly knowledge. She was book smart and relied on her dad for all of the wisdom outside of what she learned in school. But she couldn't even call him to ask for advice. She was alone with others who were just as scared as her, although that's not how this Ruby woman made it sound.

Volcanic's eyes fell to the table and she thought of the past few months in the alley. The looks people gave her for not doing anything but hiding. Being too scared to move forward. Her eyes welled up and teardrops fell onto her plate, mixing with the sausage grease to make odd little puddles there. "If the community of this game is so powerful... so friendly... why am I trapped in this prison still?" Volcanic accused. She looked up at Ruby, her eyes burned with anger as the tears continued to stream down her face, "If you're all so helpful, why did it take months for a homeless shelter volunteer to even tell me how the beginner quests worked? The only reason you're here talking to me is because I've had a bath and I'm not some grimy girl waiting to be saved from this hell!" Volcanic shouted, and out of the corner of her eyes watched some players look and then avert their eyes from the girl. Lowering her voice, Volcanic finished with, "You can spray deodorant on a pile of crap all you want to. But it's still a pile of crap. I still can't see my dad..." she said seething. A mixture of anger and pain roiled up inside of the girl as she stared into Ruby's eyes, who casually sipped her food and wine.

@Ruby

Volcanic's fist was hovered in front of the door once again for a third knock. After that she was going to try the next shop. But then she heard the door unlock, and she lowered her fist quickly and stepped back from the door. From behind the doorway emerged a purple haired woman about as tall as Volcanic, and Volcanic's eyes lit up. There were other women blacksmiths! At the very least, this made her feel better, although the woman seemed less than interested by Volcanic's presence. The tension was thick as Volcanic suddenly started to feel very small standing in front of the shop.

Nervously, Volcanic cleared her throat and gave a light wave, "H-hello! My name is... uh... Volcanic," she stuttered, almost using her real name in the wake of the woman's icy stare. Her feet shifted idly as she clenched her fists and tried to imagine that this was the debate winning moment, and it all hinged on her next sentence. "I-I'm," she started shakily, but shook her head and cleared her throat again before standing with her arms firmly pressed to her sides, looking the purple haired woman dead in the eyes. "I'm traveling from floor to floor," she started, her voice stronger now, even if only slightly, "looking for a mentor. I've been living in alleyways and only recently started trying to make a living, and I want to be a blacksmith. I don't want your materials, or your pity. Just your knowledge. Can you mentor a poor girl such as me?"

Volcanic's cheeks were red at her admittance, and she felt like that hadn't been something that would have won her the imaginary debate. But she had been surprised before. Depended on the judge, and she had no idea what to expect from this woman. She continued to stare into her eyes, searching for he answer, before adding with a quiet, "...please?" 

Pre-turn Status:

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As Volcanic and the Boar Pup stared at each other, and Volcanic stood out of breath from wildly swinging her sword, it was clear that she had no real clue what she was doing. The Boar Pup grunted at her, and instinctively Volcanic gave a grunt back, like a cave man having a conversation with an animal. The Boar Pup squealed at her, like her grunt had been an insult, and Volcanic ignored the thing for a second as she tried to think of what some of be beta players had told her while she waited in line for the game with her dad. What had they mentioned about combat? Focusing on the enemy and using... Sword Arts? She wasn't entirely certain she had that right, but at the very least the focus was something she could do.

Volcanic focused on the Boar Pup in front of her, which was still squealing at her mind you, as she thought about her next strike. As her breathing steadied, her scimitar began to glow with a silver hue as she ran forward, kicking up dirt behind her, eyes locked on the Boar Pup. As she reached the creature, it was as if her body had gone into autopilot, as her feet positioned for a clean slice across the nose of the Boar Pup before the creature could dodge. Right in front of her eyes, the creature's Health dropped to zero, and with one last dying squeal, exploded into pixels.

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Pre-turn Status:

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As Volcanic walked out into the hills, she realized that there was no shortage of boar pups near the wall. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it did mean she had to be careful not to anger more than one at a time. Before heading towards a boar pup, Volcanic checked her equipment, making sure she had her scimitar equipped and her potions ready. With sword on hip and potions on her belt, she walked towards one of the boar pups. She nervously drew her scimitar and watched the smallish creature snuffle around in the grass before stopping and training one of its beady black eyes on the girl. Volcanic froze for a moment, and so did the boar pup, and for an instant it was as if time stood still. Volcanic was the first to break the standoff as she gave a battle cry and ran at the boar, swinging her scimitar wildly. The boar pup squealed and ran away, and Volcanic was sure she just looked like an utter fool.

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As Volcanic left, she heard the familiar bell ring. It's too bad Lyle was an NPC, at this point she could be considered a regular at his shop. She chuckled a bit at the thought as her boots hit the cobblestones making their way to the nearest city gate. Volcanic wasn't one to be a regular anywhere, so the thought of being one was a pleasant one. Now she'd just have to do the same with players and make real connections. She liked that idea as she reached the city gates and looked out at the rolling hills beyond. It honestly wasn't until now that she noticed that there were in fact different sized boars. Some large, some small. There were even some ones roaming around in the distance. The thought of fighting those was definitely a scary prospect. But thankfully for her sake, she didn't have to. With a shaky sigh, Volcanic made her way out into the hills to find some boar pups to slay.

Volcanic couldn't help but sweat a bit at the idea of combat. It could spell death, after all. But he said boar pups. Baby boars couldn't be so bad. Perhaps that's why the quest was for beginners. She nodded to the blacksmith and asked, "Where can I find them?" Lyle stroked his beard in response as he thought of his answer, before answering, "Same place as the herbs you gathered for Zackariah I'll reckon. Just look for the small boars. Careful you don't anger any of the adult ones. They usually don't bother you adventurer types unless you strike first." Volcanic nodded at the man and he nodded back, heading back to his forge. As Volcanic turned to leave, she heard Lyle behind her say, "Three pup tusks, alright? That's all I need. Take care out there." The more he tried to assure her to be careful, the more nervous Volcanic got, but she tried not to let it bother her overmuch.

The bell dinged as Volcanic entered, and sure enough, Lyle went through the normal response of dousing his molten metal and lumbering over to the girl. "I already told you girl, I'm not in the business of apprentices," he started, but Volcanic simply shook her head. "It's okay, sir. I'm here to help with your other problem," she stated. Lyle's eyes lit up with understanding and he grinned, "Ah, perfect then. I would go take care of it myself you see, but these old bones aren't what they used to be." As he finished speaking, a quest prompt appeared in front of Volcanic, which actually startled her a little. There were points where this world felt so real that she forgot she was playing a game. She accepted the quest, before looking back to the old man for instructions. "Boar pups have tusks that are just right for small parts of weapons you see. I need a few to finish some projects," he explained.

With this being her third trip to the blacksmith's shop, she had fairly well memorized the route to and from the inn. Or so she had thought. She forgot just how forgetful she was as she pulled up her map and found herself at least a few blocks away from the forge. At least she had been a little close? Ah, but who was she fooling? She followed her blip to the forge proper, and stood there taking deep breaths and telling herself that everything would be okay. Getting the quest from Lyle was the easy and least scary part. She mentally accepted this, but still found herself rooted to the ground. She frowned as she reached deep inside herself for what bravery she could muster, and pushed herself forward and through the door. Sure enough, it was just Lyle, working on what appeared the same lump of metal as she had seen him working on each time she was here.

Volcanic stared at her Col account at the table of her inn room, wondering how many more nights she could stay before running out of money. But really, did it matter? Realistically, Volcanic just had to make more. Then it was a nonissue. She sighed as she mulled over Lyle's words. Logically, his quest was the next step, but he had mentioned danger. That most likely meant fighting stuff. Could be the boars. Could be something worse. The thought made Volcanic's blood run cold. But the quest was for beginners, so it couldn't be so bad right? With another heavy sigh she pushed herself away from the table and stood up. She'd have to try it. At worst she died, right? She cursed herself for the morbid thought before making her way to the door and locking it behind her. She dropped the key off with the innkeeper as she made her way back to Lyle's workshop.

Volcanic stared at Ruby a bit like a deer caught in headlights. Idly she patted her plate for another sausage, but there was nothing left, no more food. She cursed mentally, but was glad that at least her stomach had stopped rumbling. At least if she did have to go back to stale bread, she had one good meal. Well, either way she had no more sausage to save her. A part of her wished she had a drink. Or a script. Or notes. It was as if the months in the alley had made her forget how to socialize properly. She blinked again before saying, "I don't have a lot of friends. I don't make them easy. Most of my talking is in front of crowds of people. With a script." She figured that was ambiguous enough that Ruby wouldn't immediately know what she did. Or that she would guess that Volcanic was an actress. Either was fine with her. Talking about real life made her miss her dad.

@Ruby

Volcanic had managed to finish all of her potatoes by the time the woman spoke to her. She was caught more than a little off guard as she shoved eggs into her mouth and looked up like a squirrel storing nuts in its cheeks. She gulped the food down quickly and scrambled for a napkin as she considered that a girl had just called her cute. Which was odd, because she was entirely sure that she was eating about as unnattractively as possible. She blinked as the reddish hue flushed her cheeks once again, before going back to finishing her eggs. Once done with those, she looked back up and said, "Volcanic. I don't... I've been... uh..." she floundered over the idea of actually admitting that she had been homeless until recently, before nervously shoving another sausage in her mouth and chewing on it as she considered her next statement. Swallowing, she finally blurted out, "I'm new to MMOs... I've never played one before this one. What's your name?"

@Ruby

Volcanic watched as the woman she had been staring at moved, believing correctly the reason behind Volcanic's stare. Still munching on her sausage, she watched the girl eat at the next table over, before moving around the table she had been sitting at to sit across from the woman she had made move. She put her plate down and eased into the seat across from her, before finishing her sausage and still staring. Finally, once she had gulped the meat down, she said softly, "You didn't have to move. I didn't mean to be so awkward. I'm... uh... very new to all of this." The last bit made her cheeks gain a bit of a reddish hue as she broke her stare to look at her food and dig into her potatoes. There was that part of her that cared that she was probably eating very unnattractively, but she also wasn't here to impress. She was just hungry. Finally, after shoveling down more potatoes she said, "I can leave if you want," without looking up from her food.

@Ruby

As Volcanic lay in the bed of her inn room, she mused about the idea of getting a long term job in this world. She had barely earned some starter Col for the room she was staying in, and if she didn't make a long term plan, would simply be back to being a homeless girl in an alley corner, collecting grime and eating stale bread. The thought made her sad, as she remembered the looks other players gave her when she was homeless. No, that simply wouldn't do. But what did Volcanic want to be? She remembered watching Lyle as he worked with the metal in his forge, the ring of his anvil as he hammered, and wondered if blacksmithing would be a life for her. She thought also about Zackariah and his potions, but really she hadn't had as much fun making the potion as she thought she would. Even if she was seemingly a natural at it.

Volcanic idly kicked her legs before finally deciding that she'd go ask Lyle to be his apprentice. Locking the door to her inn room and giving the key back to the innkeeper, Volcanic made her way to the quest giver, who smiled at her return, but upon approaching the question of being his apprentice he frowned. "I'm looking for strong hands to gather materials, not workers for the forge. I do all my own smithing you see. Too old to be teaching girls how not to burn themselves when handling molten metal." Volcanic was saddened by this, but a part of her knew this would be the answer all along, as she gave the blacksmith a light bow and turned to move out of the shop. But as she turned, he said, "But I'll tell you what girly. You gather me up some materials or bring me a weapon you made, and I'll help you earn the right to be called a blacksmith." Volcanic paused and looked at the old smith with stars in her eyes, as a quest prompt popped up that said, "Earning a Living". Volcanic accepted, and as Lyle stoked his forge once again, the girl bounded out with a spring in her step.

Volcanic decided to treat this much like a job search, as she put her feet to the pavement and searched for blacksmiths all around. She moved floor to floor asking around, but in many cases the story was all the same. "I'm sorry, but I don't want to share my experience gain," one player would say. "Look, I just started this myself and you expect me to teach you?" another would reply. One laughed and said, "Next you'll be asking me for free materials. Get out of here beggar." The last one stung Volcanic, but she would not be deterred. It wasn't until Floor Five that she stumbled across a closed blacksmith's shop named Forged By the Sun. She smiled and hoped that someone was home, before knocking on the door to the closed shop to resume her apprenticeship search.

@Teion