baby who

snacks. good, brain fuel. mooncake nods fervently as she thinks; she can’t tell straight off the bat how the bow is supposed to feel - she’s not an archer, after all - but she knows enough about the technical aspects to think up a fix. “want balance, b-but don’t want it heavy! can’t add weight; so take away?” she balances the bow’s grip in the centre of her palm, watching to see if it tips. “sturdy, ooft. could partially hollow it out…?” she turns to rose, then, with the suggestion, trying to gauge if the other is willing. she beams wide as the blonde gestures at the arrows, letting out a small laugh. “okay, no more practice, then. the bow - do you want the bow done now? we could wait - share a break, first.”

not going to shoot you. “oh. well… good,” she responds, as though it had at all been in doubt. mooncake beams wide as the other goes on a little about the bow, meeting rose halfway as she hands the weapon over. though she knows quite a fair bit about the various types of weaponry available to velia’s players, bows have always been a bit tricky. (love tricky, though, so that’s no issue.) she holds it loose in one hand, getting a feel for it for herself. “what’s bad?” she asks rose, though really she means to ask what’s different. in this case, though, she supposes they’re one and the same. “weight? balance? grip? could fix - could fiddle with any of it. promise it’ll be good! depends what it is, though - might need time. …and snacks?” the last bit is spoken with a hinted wiggle of her brows. (she doesn’t need to be paid in gold all the time.) then, with less excitement and haste, not wanting to push the issue if rose isn’t interested, she adds, “or! could do moral support while you practice.”

NIKE was surprised when rose agreed to quit her training to tag along, but she really shouldn’t have been. her friend had the same adventurous sense of curiosity that drove nike to making some of her worst decisions. “good call,” she agreed, nodding confidently. “i have to warn you though, i don’t have the best idea of where i’m going.” her smile finally grew, warm, familiar. rose reminded her of her friend’s outside the game, the ones she’d grown up with. they were similar, the two girls, just chosen different paths. “why were you training out here anyway?”

in a flash, her hands fly up above her head in a gesture of surrender. “f-f-f-friendly fire, rose!” mooncake yelps in defence, instinctively ducking but not bothering to reach for her weapon or shield because she’s sure - or thinks she’s sure - rose would never lodge an arrow in her on purpose. she catches sight of her friends’ bow even through her grimace, though, and immediately perks with unguarded excitement. “oh! th-that - is that new?” her lips spread into a smile and she drops her arms, glancing around - she sees some of the arrows the other had been retrieving just a moment before; notices they’re a bit scattered, as though they missed their mark. adjustment period, then? familiar with building and fixing up weapons as she’s come to be, mooncake’s sure she can make it easier, somehow. “help! i can - ah, can i?” she fumbles with the wording, brushing her palms down the front of her armour. “i mean: anything i can do to help?”

nike made sure to make a show of her eye roll as rose taunted her, unable to hide her following chuckle. “i’m the luckiest,” she teased, tension leaving her body as rose put away the deadly instruments. was it too embarrassing to admit she was out here on her way to the second dungeon entrance? just to watch. but still. “i’m on patrol,” she lied, deciding to cover her ass, give her stupid mission some purpose. “supposed to go check on the sandpit for the night.” it sounded less pathetic this way, right? “want to come with? i wouldn’t object.”

“i was about to be on your ass about ‘what if someone snuck up on you out here’”, nike started, holding both her hands up in surrender as the arrow trained directly on her. she was offering an apologetic smile, but her eyes remained even. she trusted rose enough not to let the arrow loose, but she wasn’t catalyst, and it was always hard to completely trust an outsider. “but i think you have it covered. so.. uh.. good shit.” she nodded at the bow and raising an eyebrow, unwilling to voice out loud her request for her friend to lower the weapon. 

He could have knocked her out in seconds, but because she was a part of the same guild, it was up to him to help them be aware of everything. They all needed to fight smarter. She would have taken too long with her bow, to aim, and then release. “If you’re going to practice, don’t do it here.” his voice stern, and firm. He wasn’t one to say much but when he did, he made it count. He moved passed her, making sure there weren’t monsters lurking.

He had already tracked her to this area, it wasn’t hard for him to do so, considering he was a rogue. Sneaking around, knowing the floor inside out, that is what he does. The military did him good to become his surroundings, it was why no one could track him, nor spot him. She was so focused on aiming at her target, her concentration only shifted when he threw a rock across the ground, rustled with the leaves. He ended up behind her as he leaned against the tree. “You really need to work on moving, or at least taking cover, rather than standing there on guard, makes you an easy target.” he stated seeing Rose.

°✧｡ [OLIVIA HOLT, CIS-FEMALE, SHE/HER] IT’S BEEN TWO YEARS SINCE ROSE JOINED VELIA FROM BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. APPARENTLY THEIR NAME IS ASPEN TAYLOR AND THEY’RE A ARCHER. THEY HAVE BEEN FIGHTING AS A BLOOD OATH MEMBER FOR A WHILE NOW. DIDN’T PEOPLE SAY THEY WERE NOT A BETA TESTER? I HEARD THEY TURNED TWENTY-TWO THIS YEAR. LET’S HOPE THEY MAKE IT OUT ALIVE. [ANS, 20, EST, SHE/HER]