1904/Intro to Hunting

Intro to Hunting
Date of Scene:	29 March 2015
Location:	Wyveria
Synopsis:	Ysabel gets Sanary started in the world of monster hunting and shows her the tools of the trade.
Cast of Characters:	581, Sanary Rondel

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Ysabel Thibault (581) has posed:
    Loc Lac City, perhaps the largest and most lively settlement in all of Wyveria. The desert city is mostly isolated from other settlements thanks to the sprawling sands of the Great Desert, but it's in the fortunate situation of sitting right on the ocean, with docks for sand ships, airships, and naval vessels to connect it to other areas around Wyveria. It's become a huge trade center for that reason, and while hunters with various armors and weapons are plentiful in the bustling streets, civilians and merchants are even more numerous and pack the streets in dense crowds. The desert air is filled with merchants shouting their wares and musicians playing drums and strings, ensuring that not a single part of the city is made entirely silent.

    The city's tavern, conveniently also the Guild hub of the city, is somewhat less chaotic. Shielded from the beating sun by a stone roof, furnished with tables set up with hot pots of free stew for hunters and an on-request chef in the corner for more elaborate meals, it's the perfect place to meet other hunters or recover after a lengthy job. The counter off to one side is constantly staffed by smiling maidens ready to get new hunters set up or send them off to fight monsters in the wilderness, and today is no exception.

    Ysabel sits at one of the tables herself, clearly separate from the other groups of hunters taking up other tables and drinking, swapping stories, making boasts, and whatever else one would expect from people of such an occupation. She's dressed casually, too, and fitting for the muggy heat: a green and yellow diamond-patterned tube top, shorts, knee-high leggings that leave her toes and heels exposed, and fingerless gloves. The only outlier is the string necklace she wears with three fang-shaped blue crystals hanging off it.

    The huntress sits waiting on her own, casually sipping the stew that sits in front of her and keeping her attention on the tavern's entrance as she waits for a new visitor.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
    The desert city feels familiar, yet oddly foreign to the one-eyed healer. Just as well, though, since there's quite a lot to see. The traders peddling their wares, the civilians and hunter perusing the shops, and the occasional flying deathtraps looming overhead as they come in and out of the city.

    Right. The deathtraps. Well, with any luck, there'll be no need to actually get into one of those things any time soon. Sanary's destination is easily reachable on foot, and so she does just that. She lingers by several tables just to get a better look at all the varieties of armor and weapons worn by the relaxing hunters, her own clothes lacking any of that flair.

    Sanary is wearing a slightly oversized white coat that contrasts sharply with the crappy and cheap-looking brown tunic underneath it, the garment held shut by a rope with what looks like a bell attached to it on her hip. Thankfully, both garments look fairly loose and not too terrible of a fit for the desert environment, although she could definitely be wearing something lighter than this. She's also wearing an eyepatch over her left eye, and there's a light and almost unnatural sheen to the right eye.

     Of course, there's not much for her to do at the moment without knowing what her contact actually looks like. At least she's not bored with all the people around to gawk at. Coincidentally, she just so happens to be looking over Ysabel next, eyeing that necklace in particular.

Ysabel Thibault (581) has posed:
    Ysabel soon realizes, as time passes, that she didn't think to ask what Sanary actually looks like. This fact brings a dimly frustrated frown to her expression as she scoops up another mouthful of stew, mumbling to herself and chewing it down. Well, she'll just have to guess, she says to herself.

    Fortunately, she's been in this business for a while now, so it's not too hard for her to notice outliers from the usual hunter uniform. Sanary just happens to stand out enough that Ysabel's attention is drawn over to her when she enters, though the next problem becomes how she's supposed to confirm that this strange person /is/ Sanary. Social matters have never been her strong point, a fact that becomes all too obvious now as she watches the girl and tries to figure out how to approach the situation. What if she's wrong? That's just a whole bag of awkwardness she doesn't want to deal with.

    Finally, Sanary's attention shifts to her, and Ysabel decides to briefly throw caution to the winds and raise a hand in greeting. Once her mouth isn't full, she even speaks, though each word has her usual slightly sharp tone. "Hey. Sanary, right? At least I hope you're Sanary, or else this is going to be really awkward for me." Yep, just keep talking, that's the best way to deal with any awkward situation.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
    It's just as Ysabel rises that Sanary realizes the potential flaw in her people-watching strategy to buy herself some time: Staring at the necklace probably wasn't the best idea with how blatantly she was staring at it. Did this lady think she was planning to steal it? Or maybe that she was ogling her? So many possibile scenarios, almost all of them potentially awkward and dangerous...

    So that's what being Lute feels like. Thankfully, being addressed by name actually puts one more non-awkward possibility into the healer's head.

    "Y-yeah. Er. Are you Ysabel? I was supposed to meet maybe-you here unless you're not, but then..." Despite the relaxed smile on her face, Sanary is anything but as she starts racing through the possibilities in her head once again. There's still one way to save herself, even if it could very welll end up confirming the potential-thief thing.

    "... Nice necklace. Are those teeth?"

Ysabel Thibault (581) has posed:
    Fortunately, Ysabel doesn't seem to have assumed the 'possibly a thief' scenario. Maybe such things just aren't a problem in Wyveria, or maybe she's just confident enough that she'd deal with anyone who might want to rob her. Aside from her sharp tone and not-especially-friendly expression, she seems relaxed enough as she stands to face Sanary. Her arms fold over her chest, and she gives a short sigh of relief when the girl confirms who she is. "Yeah, Ysabel. /Boy/ am I glad that's you, or else I'd have to figure out how to talk to someone I don't want to bother with."

    She pauses for a moment, though, when the necklace is pointed out. Her hand comes up to lift it up on its short string, just enough to peer at it briefly before she responds. "Nah, ice crystals," she mutters. "They stay cold no matter the environment. It's pretty handy to have sometimes, especially in weather like this."

    With that out of the way, Ysabel's arms return to their guarded fold over her chest as her green-blue eyes flit over Sanary's form in turn. That eyepatch seems to be the focus of her attention, and despite any potential awkwardness from it, she decides she just might as well remark on it. "Something took a bite out of you?"

Sanary Rondel has posed:
    Breathing a sigh of relief at Ysabel's confirmation, Sanary laughs a moment later and nods her head slowly. "Same. Was hoping it was you and not just someone that got pissed at me for checking out your pendant or your..." She trails off and clears her throat, not saying anything else about that juuust in case.

     So much for not making things akward. She tries to defuse said awkwardness by speaking a bit louder than she had earlier, raising an eyebrow at the hunter's exlanation about her necklace. "Even out here? Huh... There's some really crazy shit out here." She actually sounds rather pleased about that, another laugh escaping the girl.

    Her brow raises again at the question about her eyepatch, but doesn't appear to be put off by the question as she crosses her arms over her head while looking Ysabel over. "Arrow. There were some bandits, bad intel, but nobody important died." She pauses for a moment, then snickers again. "Still, the biggest thing I've actually fought was this flying thing that shot metal poison, so... How far am I getting in over my head here?"

Ysabel Thibault (581) has posed:
    "...or my...?" Ysabel blinks, confusion slipping into her expression. It takes her a few moments to figure out exactly what Sanary probably means, at which point her frown deepens and her arms fold a little tighter over her chest. "...yeah. Good thing you weren't," she grumbles a little tersely.

    At least the subject shifts quickly. As Sanary explains the eyepatch, Ysabel's embarrassed tension slips out until she's back to normal. Normal, of course, being only a moderate level of tension. "Well...at least it wasn't anyone important," she mumbles, lifting a hand to awkwardly rub the back of her head. How /do/ you respond to that? "Anyway, you won't be getting in over your head too much. You'll be starting at rank one, so you'll only be allowed to take on one-star quests for a little while. Just a couple of quests to make sure you can handle yourself on the field. Some fishing, maybe gathering herbs, killing some Velociprey or something. If you can deal with a few Velociprey, you should be able to handle yourself."

    She pauses, then, as she realizes something. "...right, you probably don't know what those are. Like...flightless bird wyverns about the size of a person with claws and teeth. Don't do much more than jump around and claw or bite you. Anyway, after a couple of jobs like that, you'll be allowed to take two-star quests, where you deal with bigger things. It's all built to scale with your experience, so you won't be getting in over your head too far if you make use of the things you hunt."

    Ysabel jerks her head aside to the counter on the other end of the room, where various clerks sit waiting. "Once you sign up there, you'll get a basic set of armor and the cheapest versions of every weapon type they've developed so far, just so you can figure out what you like to use the most. We can go out and start messing with them once you've registered if you want, though you probably shouldn't go and fight anything right away yet."

Sanary Rondel has posed:
    "Yeah. We cleared the bandits out from there, so... Everything more or less worked out." Noticing that awkwardness, Sanary just snickers lightly before moving on from the topic of her eyepatch. She listens closely to Ysabel's explanation about the early ranks, humming briefly at the mention Velociprey.

    "Doesn't sound too bad. Just gotta take my time, get used to fighting people-sized... Not-flying birds." It all sounds rather bizarre as she says that, more to herself than to the hunter while her eye follows the motion towards the clerks. The healer tosses them a quick wave before turning back to Ysabel, a smirk crossing the girl's face again at the mention of trying the gear.

    "Definitely sounds like a good plan. I've been meaning to test out some new gear for a while, and... Gonna be honest, magic weapons are great, but they make me tired too fast. Gotta have something more traditional, you know?" She pats the bell tied to her hip and pauses for a moment, a thoughtful look coming to her face moments later.

    "Speaking of... Er. Do I need to worry about using magic here? It's just healing and another thing, but might as well ask now."

Ysabel Thibault (581) has posed:
    "Honestly, it'll probably just take you a couple of days to get out of the first rank," Ysabel remarks, shruggling slightly. "It's mostly just there to weed out the people who can't lift a sword to save their life. I have the feeling you're not one of those people."

    The subject of magic brings a faint grimace to Ysabel's features. "...tell me about it. I see some of the shit people out there pull out and I can't even wrap my head around it. It's like nobody else picks up a thing and hits other things with it. But, that aside, nobody's going to care if you pull out magic. They're pretty much used to it coming from people outside Wyveria by now, after I kinda..." She frowns, gesturing vaguely with her hands for a moment before shoving them back into their folded position. "...invited some people out here. Anyway, yeah, don't worry about it. It'll just save you money on potions."

    Ysabel pauses for a moment more, frowning slightly as she tries to think of something. "...there's /one/ thing, though. Whenever you wear armor made from monster parts, you get some aspects of the monster's abilities, but that also might come with...some weird nudges in your head. It's not a big deal, even the most limp-wristed idiots haven't goen crazy or anything, but it might feel a little weird when you first wear some armor you've made. Just some warning ahead of time."

    With that out of the way, the hunter starts off toward the counter and beckons Sanary after her with a short swing of her hand. "Anyway, let's get this done. It's just a quick job of signing your name and getting your Guild card, and then we'll cart off the equipment you get somewhere else."

Sanary Rondel has posed:
    "Fair enough. Don't want to get people killed if they're not ready for fighting the bigger stuff." Sanary lets out a light chuckle, seemingly satisfied with that kind of system. She raises an eyebrow slightly at Ysabel's mention of magic, a low hum muffling in her throat as the hunter speaks.

    "I get what you mean. Mm... If it helps any, I'm still not sure how mine actually works. I just feel the stuff in me and kinda... Throw out the healing at people. Or myself." She pauses for a moment before tapping on the bell again, then against the side of her head with the exposed eye.

    "And... I put magic into these so they make things blow up sometimes. Really tiring, though, so I don't do it too much." Crossing her arms behind her head again, Sanary lets out another intrigued hum while Ysabel speaks of the armor. Literally gaining power from the parts of monsters? The idea is rather exciting, and she barely even tries to contain it as a wider grin crosses the healer's face. "I'll worry about it if it starts messing with my head too much. Not too worried, though, since... I think my head's pretty screwy with everything I've seen lately anyway."

    Following her to the counter, Sanary goes through the required paperwork fairly quickly aside from the actual signing part, and her handwriting is... Atrocious, to put it nicely. Still, the deed is done, and she's the brand new owner of a shiny new Guild card!

    "Sooo. First thing's first. Weapon testing?"

Ysabel Thibault (581) has posed:
    The Guild card is signed and obtained, and Sanary is given the requisite starting items for any startup hunter: a simple set of mixed leather and plate armor, and one of every current weapon type developed by the Guild's blacksmiths. It's a bit of a haul to Loc Lac's small hunting arena, but with some helpful Aptonoth carriers, they manage to drag the materials over to the dusty, empty arena.

    It's not a very large place, not nearly enough to match the sprawling colosseum that serves as the city's main arena for hunters to battle captured monsters in a thrilling display for the crowd. Mostly set aside for training or smaller scraps, it's only about a dozen yards wide in all directions, ringed by a stone wall with gates set up for entry and exit.

    Currently, Ysabel's had the various weapons all laid out on the dusty floor, each one made of bone or cheap metal; whatever would be easily mass-produced to be given to every hunter. A sword and shield, a pair of dual swords, a longsword, a greatsword, a hammer, a hunting horn, a lance, a gunlance, a bow, light and heavy bowguns, a switch axe, a charge blade, and an insect glaive, with a large green beetle resting right next to it in a dormant state. Ysabel herself is perched on a rocky outcropping just slightly elevated above ground level, enough for her legs to dangle over the edge as she rests with her elbows on her knees.

    "Honestly," she remarks, gesturing to the weapons with a lazy swing of her hand, "if you want my suggestion, the best thing for a newbie might be the sword and shield. A few of these rely on gathering energies in combat or using some pretty technical stuff, but I could be completely wrong and you'd adjust super easy. What do you wanna start with?"

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     Sanary isn't one to let someone else do all the work, and even seeing Aptonoth up close for the first time isn't enough to keep her distracted from doing some of her own work. She helps out with hauling some of the gear as well, taking the opportunity to get a better look at the craftsmanship. It's significantly easier for her to do that once they actually reach the arena, and the cheapness doesn't seem too off-putting to the healer.

    "These are pretty nice... Lot better than the crap we salvaged back home." Picking up the sword and shield as directed, a light hum coming from her as she looks the blade over. "Bigger than the stuff back home, too... These wouldn't be good against people at all, huh?"

    Of course not. These weapons had the look of tools meant to hunt monsters rather than people, and considering the size of some of these things.... "Kinda feel like trying something... Different. I mean, the shield's probably a big help, but what about this thing?" She scoops up the hunting horn by the wide end, awkwardly tucking it under her arm while turning it slowly by the handle. "Feels like a weird... Spear or something."

Ysabel Thibault (581) has posed:
    Ysabel just gives a lazy shrug at that first question. "Well, we don't /have/ to fight people, so we don't really bother. The sword and shield and the dual swords are still decent for fighting people, though, if you ever need to. Hammer might work, and...I guess the charge blade, maybe. Others would be pretty tough, though."

    Then Sanary's picking up the hunting horn in the opposite direction it's needed, and Ysabel gives her a flat-eyed stare for a few minutes. "...n-no, it's...hold on, give me that." The hunter sighs and hops down from her perch, then takes the horn by the handle and hoists it over her shoulder with both hands.

    "It's a hunting horn," Ysabel explains, tapping a finger on the series of holes on the weapon's handle. "You smash things with it like a club, but you also play the three notes it comes with in series for different effects. Sometimes they heal allies, sometimes they boost strength, sometimes they protect your hearing so you don't get your ears blown out by a monster's roar. Each one comes with a different set of three that's coded by color, and each set of colors is used for different combinations."

    With a brief hoist, Ysabel swings it around to hand it back to Sanary, rolling her shoulders for a minute once that's done. "It's more like a support weapon than anything, but it still hits pretty hard."

Sanary Rondel has posed:
    "Yeah, I can see that for... A lot of these." Sanary snickers, glancing at most of the larger weapons. How could anyone hope to effectively fight someone else with one of those gigantic swords? Or the... Giant axe.

    Definitely something to take a look at later. Handing over the horn, she watches Ysabel's demonstration closely while continuing to peer and look over the intricate-looking weapon. She lets out an impressed grunt at the mention of the stranger nuances of using that... Thing as a support weapon.

    Taking the hunting horn back properly this time, the healer lets out an odd laugh as she steps away from the hunter to give the weapon a few clumsy practice swings. "Ho ho... Heavy. Definitely need to practice with this thing. Aaand... Big axe. And..." Her eye darts to the switch axe at first as she scurries over to heft that a few times, but her attention soon shifts to the charge blade. "Hm. This one just looks like a bigger version of the sword and shield. Wouldn't happen to have an axe to go with this instead of a sword, eh?"

Ysabel Thibault (581) has posed:
    Ysabel folds her arms over her chest and steps back to give Sanary room to practice with the hunting horn for a few swings. "Heavy's an understatement. If you're /not/ used to hefting this kind of stuff around, you'll want to do some weight training or something before you go out in the field. Keep in mind you might be wearing armor while using those, too, and that you'll want to learn how to roll or at least sidestep while you're weilding them."

    She's about to chime in when Sanary grabs the switch axe so eagerly, but then the healer's attention shifts aside to the charge blade instead. "No, that's...it's weird," Ysabel replies, her expression turning a little uncertain. "That's one of the ones I meant with the more technical ones. It's one of the two transforming weapons, along with the switch axe." A brief gesture to that weapon before she moves over to pick up the sword and shield forming the charge blade.

    "The charge blade comes with a set of phials," she begins, holding up the sword so Sanary can see the one in the handle, then shifting to show her the five on the interior of the shield. "As you hit things with the sword, it builds up kinetic energy, which you then transfer into the shield for storage. You'll see the one in the sword glow yellow, then red; if it starts discharging energy, you won't be able to do shit with it." She shifts, then, slipping the sword into the central body of the shield. The shield splits in half with a mechanical clank, then closes up again. "And once you have enough energy transferred into the shield..."

    A mechanism in the charge blade is flipped, and Ysabel's hand shifts to hold the sword's handle in a firm grip as the shield splits open, rotates 180 degrees, and ratchets down to where the tip of the sword's sheath and the shield's central bar end, transforming the weapon into its massive axe form. "...you use the axe form, and when you swing /this/ around, you discharge the energy in your phials to make your swings smash these...energy motes into whatever you hit. They'll hang around for a bit before they explode, and depending on the weapon, it'll either be a concussive explosion or an element-boosting explosion."

    With that, Ysabel clicks another mechanism, and the weapon reverses its earlier transformation until Ysabel yanks the sword free and grips the shield in her other hand. The charge blade is then offered to Sanary. "You just need to manage your phials. Keep an eye on what you're doing and plan a little."

Sanary Rondel has posed:
    "Been doing a lot of training lately, but.. Yeah, these are gonna need a /lot/ more of that." Sanary lets out another amused laugh, her eye still darting around at all the weapons even as Ysabel starts speaking about the charge blade. Her attention does return to the woman after a few moments, at least, and there's a sort of childlike awe in her expression at all the... Stuff going on with what had just looked like a bigger sword and shield.

    The transformation of the shield and sword draws a long, confused grunt from the girl as she jerks back reflexively, clearly not used to seeing anything doing that. That shock is soon replaced by more excitement, however, and she starts biting her lip to try and contain some of that.

    "Ohhh man. That is... Whoa. Sounds complicated, but that... Wow." Laughing to herself again, she takes the shield and the charge blade, then steps back to give both a few practice swings just to feel the weight of the individual parts.

    "Can definitely see these being really good once I get into the right shape for 'em. But..." She sighs lightly, then puts the weapons back to swap them out for the standard sword and shield. "You're the teacher. Better start small and work my way up. Besides, this doesn't have any of that... Uh. Phial stuff to worry about, right?"

Ysabel Thibault (581) has posed:
    "Complicated is one way of putting it," Ysabel replies, brow raising slightly as her arms fold over her chest again. "The switch axe is a little less so. In the axe form you build up the phial, and then you switch to a greatsword form to expend it. It's not as explosive, though. Guess it may not be as fun."

    The sword and shield are taken up again, and Ysabel gives a nod to confirm Sanary's questions. "Yeah, the sword and shield is pretty standard. It's handy because it's easy to use items without needing to put your weapon away, but that's about it. A few of these involve a particular way of focusing your own inner power and building up energy with your attacks to take the greatest advantage of them, but it's not like you can't use them as they are either."

    With that, Ysabel steps back again to lean against her earlier perch. "The sword and shield's not a heavy-hitting weapon. You're going to want to learn to swing it fast, and build up lots of attacks. You need to be agile and strike quick when you see an opening, and your shield's not going to be nearly as sturdy as, say, a lance or gunlance shield. But it'll start you off with the basics." A pause, then a slight frown. "How much experience do you have with melee weapons, anyway?"

Sanary Rondel has posed:
    "That one doesn't sound too bad, actually... Ah, but this thing's way too big to start out with. I mean, I'm strong, but I'm not crazy strong." Another laugh. There's a bit of disappointment in that one, but Sanary doesn't linger on that for too long. "I can have fun with these once I do get crazy strong."

    Swinging the sword and shield certainly feel natural enough to her, at least, although her motions do appear more suited towards someone favoring power over speed or even technique. "That's true... Worst case scenario, I can just use the.. Charge blade, you called it? Could always use those without worrying too much about the charging thing until I get the hang of it."

    Would it be a waste of perfectly good phials? Maybe. Still she needed to start somewhere, and getting used to the movements with the smaller version would only make learning the charge blade later on easier. "So there's gunlances, too... Huh."

    Putting the sword back down, Sanary reaches into her coat and detaches the tomahawk from her belt before holding it out to Ysabel. It's cheap-looking, very worn, and likely to break soon if the scratches and dings on it are any indication. Strangely enough, there's also a small square MP3 player dangling off the handle.

    "Decent amount, I think. Mostly with axes a little bigger than this one since spears break too quick and swords feel... Weak. FLimsy. Not great for breaking through shields." She turns her gaze skyward, furrowing her brow slightly. "Lot of years. At least... Five? Six?"

Ysabel Thibault (581) has posed:
    "Yeah, gunlances are one of the ones I prefer." Ysabel steps over to give the gunlance a brief nudge with her toe. Of course, it hardly budges; looks like one of the heavier ones. "The cannon fire doesn't go very far, but it's nice to lug around a cannon with a blade. Plus, the wyvern fire is a nice addition now and then. Really good for busting through armor."

    When Sanary produces that tomahawk, Ysabel just...stares at it in brief perplexion for a few moments before finally taking it and turning it over in her hands. "...how the hell do you fight things with this," she grumbles faintly, taking a moment to leer at the MP3 player as well. What is /that/ supposed to be?

    After another minute, she hands it back, shaking her head a little. "Five or six years is a good base. A few sword and shield designs actually /are/ axes, so maybe you'll be able to work with that a little better. I didn't bring my own equipment with me, but we can try hunting together sometime soon if you want. Maybe it'll help you to see what most people tend to go with for that kind of weapon."

Sanary Rondel has posed:
    Sanary stares at the gunlance in disbelief, more in awe over its size than anything else. "Yeah, that looks a lot more like a cannon than a... Uh. Gun. But damn, having that around just fight monsters? Maybe I should try and start with one of the bigger weapons..."

    It's definitely something for her to keep in mind, at least. Even the smallest sword seems comparable in size to her axe on its own, so... What would she even be fighting out here?

    "Well, it's more to fight people than monsters. You know, break through the shields, axe to the face." Sounding quite amused by Ysabel's reaction to the tomahawk, she takes a moment to tie it back to her hip with the rope. "Haven't had much luck using it outside of home, though, so I'm due for something bigger. Stronger, even. 's why I'm here, even."

    The mention of axes to go with the shields perks her up quite a bit, and she grins lightly at the hunter's offer. "That sounds good, yeah. If nothing else, I can always focus on healing until I get more comfortable with the bigger stuff."