Wood Working Out

Shiruba has kept quite busy the last few weeks. Granted handling being a Guild Leader was always busy, especially with the ongoing events and foreign intruders. But she had also been busy learning, and as part of that helping with the refugee relief efforts in Tolbana. Right now though she was working on her own, sitting atop an empty crate while practicing her carving skills for the precision work of cutting branches down into arrow shafts.

It's still an ongoing process, as a few broken and crooked sticks lay about her feet. Fire kindling later, if nothing else. Right now her attention is on the one in her hand and the knife in the other though.

Lunaris on the other hand didn't really have such lofty goals or positions, no, she was most simply just starting to encroach on the towns and get her bearings after having spent most of her time in the wilds of Elder Tale, rather than around the more civilised areas, after all there was often less found to glomp and attempt to train in such places. Thankfully she had recently picked up a few lower levels Hunter quests and managed to find herself outside Tolbana before deciding to finally explore the place.

She was just on a walk through the streets when she picked up on the sight of Shiruba, though she isn't the first one to make contact as a streak of russet fox fur darts through the streets like an energetic bolt of lightning to investigate the noise of carving, soon attempting to make friends. Not far behind can be heard calls of "Pecan! Pecan, stop! You can't play with knives!" As Lunaris catches up, trying to scoop up the mischievous little fox.

Without batting an eye Shiruba lifts her hands up higher than the fox bounding up to her crate can reach. At least not without climbing... which being a fox, isn't out of the question. "Well now, don't you have an unusual coloring," she muses as Lunaris catches up to collect the critter. "Ah. I had a hunch she was someone's companion, wandering around town like that. Hello." Once it's safe she lowers her arms, setting the half carved stick aside and returning her knife to the sheath strapped to her thigh.

Lunaris manages with some effort to cradle Pecan in her arms, giving them a soft tap on the nose which the fox grumbles at before calming and shifting their head to the side, tongue lolling out derpily. With her companion scolded she finally gives a little bow towards Shiruba, a little red colouring her cheeks. "Sorry about that! Pecan is.. Uh.. Pecan! Trying to stop him going after whatever they want is pretty much impossible," she explains with a grin and then nods to the work she was doing, "You picked up fletching? Are you an arche--" Trailing off and freezing, finally realising what she missed, "Uh! Sorry! I'm Lunaris!"

Shiruba must have animal handling experience herself with how she's not flustered by the small overly curious fox, and even gives Pecan a light pat on the head once she's settled in Lunaris' arms. "I'm a Spell Fletcher.. but yes, I've been learning more non-magical archery and woodcraft so I don't have to entirely rely on a large mana draining techniques." Then gives a brief bow. "My name is Shiruba." Look at the silver-grey fuzz on her wolf ears and tail and one can tell where the Cait Sith gets her name from.

Lunaris relaxes as Shiruba pets the cradled fox, taking that as an apology entirely accepted and she finally bends down, letting Pecan free to wander with a warning glare to him, hoping fruitlessly he'd listen. When she finally pulls herself back to standing after the exchange her eyes shine with a piqued interest, "Oh? What's a spell fletcher? Liiike you carve spells out of wood?" Her head tilting curiously as she rolls back on the soles of her feet, "I only really know stuff about summoning, not much been around other.. Adventurers too much! They usually compl.. Anyway! I tend to hang around the forests," gesturing vaguely to the east, not looking like she knows where anything is around here, "And nice to meet you!"

"I'm like a combination of archer and mage," Shiruba explains. "But instead of casting a spell, I infuse it into an arrow before shooting it." She reachs over to pick up the shaft she had been working on, holding it up. "But if I can make normal arrows, and repair my bow for myself if something happens to it in the field, that's less chances for me to get caught by unanticipated circumstances."

"That.. Is really cool! So it's kind of like temporary enchanting? Like putting a summoning spell on your arrow so you can call it back?" Lunaris asks with clear excitement, her rather fluffy tail waving behind her as she darts around to get a better look at the arrow shaft and seeming fascinated in it, even if it currently held no magic. "All my abilities are magical, really mana intensive stuff, even if it's mostly controlling little beasts like that mischievous scamp," nodding over to the fox that was trying to greet everyone who walked past with food. Subtle, he was not. "And being able to fix stuff is good, I got by by.. Not really having much. Though I do have something I'm hoping to commission! Really pretty stuff!"

"I could probably do that, but I'm talking more like actual spells." Shiruba picks up her custom longbow from where it was resting next to the crate. "You know how you might cast, say, a bolt of lightning?" She pulls back on the bowstring and arcs of electricity start to dance up the strings and arms. "Instead of casting the spell, I charge it's power into an arrow with that element and shoot it. It is to a degree faster for some higher level spells, because my weapon skill and aiming take the place of the chants and somatic gestures."

"Teleporting is totally a spell. Or you could make an arrow with like.. A charm spell, and be cupid," Lunaris replies with a rather goofy grin, it's hard to tell whether she's joking, or legitimately thinks that is a good idea, and the way her ears energetically flick around would likely imply the latter. Though she pulls back suddenly at seeing the electricity, clapping with excitement at the spell, but still keeping a wary distance, "That's.. Way more interesting than words and chanting. I mostly use pets to cast my spells at the moment. But I've heard adventurers can craft just about anything, so maybe I can change that up?" Sounding giddy at the thought, "Much more convenient!"

"It doesn't hurt to expand one's abilities, but don't disregard the tools your class gives you," Shiruba replies as she lowers her bow, letting the string lax and the elemental charge disperse. "I've not seen a lot of summoners, and only know one other personally that uses both monsters and animals, so you're already got a pretty distinct situation for yourself."

Lunaris scratches her cheek thoughtfully at the advice, glancing up and then back down to the bow, "Yeah, most adventurer's seem to go for the whole.. 'Punch people good' approach rather than the 'pet all the cute things' one. People have strange priorities." Sounding rather solid on that mindset and then breaking into a grin as she folds her arms back behind her back, "Still! Nothing wrong with wanting more tools! Monster's you can't really tame well, mostly just borrow them. I'm like you! Looking for way to improve by.. Making my arrows.. In the field..? Uhh.." It was an absolutely terrible parallel, how she didn't realise that earlier was anyones guess.

Shiruba nods her head, large ponytail bobbing with the motion. "Yeah, I understand that. The difference between Monster summoning and Animal Handling was explained to me while I was training to better ride my Peko. You don't 'train' a Monster, it is more of a force of will, if I'm remembering right." Then she shrugs. "I prefer working with animals, anyways. I'll leave monster to the people that worked out how to manage them without mishaps."

Lunaris grins widely at Shiruba and bobs her head once in agreement, "Exactly! It's a constant battle, trying to keep Monsters in line. But they're so adorable and I'm sure they warm up eventually! But animals are usually easier to deal with.." She shoots Pecan a look, who in turn manages to approximate an appearance of innocence and causes her to burst into soft giggling. "So until then! I thought about trapping aspects of monsters instead, to help get used to them. Just need to bug.. Was it Haru? About it?" Tapping her cheek and then shrugging, apparently having forgotten to add them, "Though I do want all of the cute ones.. How can cute things be evil, y'know?"

"Cute things -can- be dangerous, though," Shiruba replies. "Just look at Slimes." Which pretty much everyone has experience with thanks to Uta. "Or Bun-Buns. One Bun-Bun is cute and fluffy... a whole pack of them can eat a villiage out of existance if left unchecked." This she acknowledges, and why she only has ONE Bun-Bun as a pet and not more. "But knowing how to trap is good too! Sometimes it's more effective to contain a problem and move it somewhere else than have to destroy it."

"Yeah but they're so cuddly! And totally not evil, they just want hugs," Lunaris objects on the subject of both Slimes and Bun-Buns, stubbornly folding her arms like that much was obvious enough and should give them a pass on the whole being murderous things. What a world to live in. "A-and sometimes they just need help to realise they can do things other ways, got to give them a chance you know," chewing her lip as she pauses to think, though bounces on the tip of her toes at the mention of trapping, "Yeah! I've helped trap a few beasts before. Easier to pet some of them like that, arms are easy enough to heal. Usually," a far too confident nod at that fact.

"... I said they could be dangerous, not evil," Shiruba corrects, and then just lets that topic lie on the matter. Pity whoever has to deal with Lunarius and Uta on the same adventure though, especially if Slimes get involved. But at least Lunaris has a grasp on how to put the skill to use, even if 'to pet them' is a side effect.

"Fiiine," Lunaris relents with a playful grin, scooping up Pecan once again and snuggling them in her arms, much the the little foxes chagrin, and a couple of less than impressed yaps. "Only thing is I can't track anything specific. Was hoping to set up a small ranch somewhere with cute animals. I've not seen to many ran by actual adventurer's, and I'm sure somewhere out there," she gestures vaguely outside with a flick of her wrist, trying not to upset Pecan too much, "There are animals that would be really interesting to raise! I'd do monsters too.. But.. I'd need to figure out some way to keep them there and not eatin' guests! Or the other animals.."

"Actually, on that note," Shiruba replies as she resumes her seat atop the crate. "There is someone that operates a ranch for both animals and some monsters outside of the Gadelica Marina. Though it's closed up right now due to the invasion war with the Palace Lands. But maybe when Rylen decides to open it again you could help there?" She picks up the carving she had been working on before, holding it up to look down the length and make sure she was keeping it straight while stripping the bark off.

Having talked for a while, Lunaris settles by the nearby wall as her hand runs over the soft fur of the little fox, perking up rather quickly at the mention of there being a ranch already, "Wait, really? Oh! That sounds good, no idea who Rylen is though," she replies with a small grin, eyes flickering back up to Shiruba. "I've heard of that invasion, was told we pretty much just have to wait? I'm good at that, plenty of monsters to try and find. If I were better at art I'd totally make a bestiary.. But.. Even in here I can't draw!" She sounded way to proud of that fact as she watched Shiruba start to work once again.

"Just wait isn't entirely accurate. But for the most part, we've got some countermeasures coming together that are waiting for the proper oppritunity." Shiruba doesn't go into details. There's just too much chance of things being overheard and possibly spreading, even in a well guarded town like Tolbana. There's no control over what people might repeat outside of the settlement, after all. "Well he might be around here. I'm sure you'll run into him eventually." She pauses to focus on carving a few more strips off the stick. "When this is all over, we'll have to take you to see the Palace Lands if we can. All of their Animals are actually combinations of two different ones!"

"That's pretty much all I've been told. Besides, unless catching things helps my skills are pretty limited," Lunaris admits far too happily like she just got top marks in a score. If nothing else she appeared indomitably cheery, which was something at the very least, and somewhat offset her utter obliviousness. Kind of. "I'll keep an eye out for.. Uh.. Rhy- Rhi.. Rhyzome? I'll find them, found things on much less information, I'm also looking for a sylph.. This high," she roughly gauges a height that seems picked almost entirely at random before shrugging. "Though yes! That sounds amazing! Two different animals? Like a squirrel-rhana? That'd be so adorable! Or.. Canin-antis?"

Shiruba pauses in her carving to tilt her head at Lunaris. ".. Well, I don't know about those specific combinations." Why is she trying to combine something cute with something voracious or weird and bug-like? That's kind of weird in itself. "But that's the right idea. I've seen ones like bear-beavers and rat-gulls and bat-foxes."

Lunaris squees at the idea of bat-foxes, her current theme wasn't hard to see, but equally it hardly was surprising when people got to pick their own avatars. Foxes were, clearly, a stylistic choice. And not bugs, or terrifying things. "I wonder if we can make new breeds of animals? I haven't ever tried. Like a strawberry-cow, y'know? That'd be lovely just pure strawberry milk. It'd make some real weird cheese though," from weird animal combinations to drooling over food, she was a simple girl. Finally flicking back to reality and grinning, hands clasping together, "Pleeeease take me there when we can see it! That sounds like the perfect place!"

Shiruba waggles a finger. "I make no promises. We might not be able to go back there even after the war is done. But if we can, I'll see about getting a proper expedition. There's a lot of places we never got to really see, anyways."

Lunaris pouts, her ears lowering down just a small fraction as she experiences the idea that she may never get to see something so cool, the jumps up again with a wide smile, tail swaying, "Do I just need to beat this invasion to see them? I totally will. They wouldn't even realise what was happening!" Apparently that was all incentive needed to get her wholy on side. Then as she spots the time she grumbles something inaudible, "Looks like I have to be going. Was lovely meeting you Shiruba!" Offering a wave as she starts to head off, then double taps her foot twisting around, to quickly add with glimmering eyes, "Oh! Was told I'd need a party for lotsa hunting quests. Would you be interested?"

Shiruba lets out a bit of a sigh. "No trying to fight off the invasion by yourself. Or with just your monsters." The optimism and ethusiasm is nice, but we don't want the girl running off to get herself killed. Or worse. "Yes, Hunter Guild quests are meant to be done with groups. So maybe for now focus on finding more people to help you? Like me, yes."

"I wasn't, but I'd gladly help," Lunaris replies with a playful grin, offering a wave of her hand as she bends down to deposit Pecan back on the floor, and he goes darting off without a second thought. "Catch you around anyway! Let me know on either of those!" And with that she vanishes off into the streets.