Dysfunctional Lynx

Not long ago, a notice went up within the city of Alne. A druid-type Adventurer was looking for someone with the Train Animal skill. Apparently, those who had pets or animal companions were facing difficulties after the level down. Some had run off, others began exhibiting strange behavior. It is as if they had their training and bonding statistics lowered significantly.

So, Mikage is now waiting not far outside town. The area is generally clear of monsters just under one of the viaducts near Alne. It's still considered part of the city proper, so nothing of any significant danger spawns here. There are a few low level animals like rabbits and squirrels, but that's it.

Mikage is leaned against one of the supporting walls of the viaduct, watching as her familiar goes zooming off after a nearby squirrel. When it escapes, the lynx begins trying to chase it, jumping up against the stone wall and then skidding back down.

Getting out to the place indicated at the pamphlet had taken Emiko some time, but now that she was out here in the country, it goes faster with less people around than in the town. As she finally spots Mikage with the rowdy lynx though, she speeds her steps, waving from afar.

"heeeya! You must be Mikage, yes yes?" She asks from some distance still, the feet bringing the fennecen Cait Sith closer to her before she introduced herself, bowing some. "Emiko. I am Emiko. You asked for help with training your pet?"

The sound of someone's voice draws Mikage's attention. Though she wears a cloak, her Were Fang tattoo is obvious, even if what it represents isn't exactly plain like some others. She looks in the direction of the Cait Sith, blinking once and then inclining her head. "Yes. I'm Mikage."

Her hand motions out to the lynx, who is still trying to jump up the wall after the squirrel. A squirrel who seems to be taking great pleasure in taunting the cat, sitting just out of reach. "And that, is Rama." Pushing herself from the wall, the Druid explains, "He was fine before the patch, but I'm thinking something must have gotten reset with his statistics. He's acting like an untrained kit again."

The lynx does look a bit on the small side, perhaps it had aged-down to when it was originally caught. "Originally, one of my guild mates caught and trained him for me, but... they didn't log in on patch day." There is a tone in her voice that is both relief, and also a bit of sadness at that. "So I just need some help. He nearly got me killed in a dungeon the other day."

"that's not good, but yes, we all had... things lost in the event. I mean, sure, maybe I can help you some. Maybe the skill still works... but we'll have to try. Does he still listen to anything or is he like all wild again?" Emiko asks after nodding to the statements.

"Maybe we don't need to begin totally at 0, so let's see... Raaaamaaaa!" She does adress the lynx directly, giving him a happy smile, those ears of her flicking some while she goes down to kneel and offer a hand to introduce herself to the kit, hoping it will come over.

"Well, responds to his name, and he still knows me." Mikage starts, giving a little whistle towards the lynx, who takes a few more jumps at the squirrel before finally realizing he's been called. The little cat comes running over and bumps up against her legs. Crouching down, the Druid strokes his head once, then looks over at Emiko.

"No, I don't think it's quite square one." At the call of his name, Rama's ears perk and he looks over at Emiko. Since she is a stranger, he watches her for a second before creeping forward, nose twitching, whiskers forward, trying to see if she is friend or foe.

Eventually, though, he does approach, nudging is head against her hand. "Eli, my guild mate, found him during a hunting expedition. He was a kit back then. I've had him since then. I'm not really sure how fast they age in the game, but he's still pretty young."

"and we don't know what the event did with them either." Emiko comments with a short look up, her hand lightly nudging the little Lynx around before petting him between the ears. A little teasing petting.

"There you go little one... You want to make Mikage proud? You want to make her happy, right Rama?" she asks him, as if he might understand, the fingers toying with his ears and the little ear fluffs.

"No. We don't." Miki replies, sighing to herself. The Were Fang reaches up, rubbing at the back of her neck, just over her tattoo. "I've heard a few of the Peco-knights complaining that their mounts ran off, too. So it isn't just him." It suggests that there is a larger problem caused by the patch.

Remaining in her crouch, she watches as the Cait Sith becons to her pet. "Do you like animals this much in the real world, or is it just something you picked up for the game?" She asks, curiousity visible in the slight tilt of her head.

Rama, for his part, slips into a strange sort of rumbly-purr. It isn't quite like the sound of a house cat. He then seems to spot her tail and all measure of attention is gone. The next instant, he is pouncing at it, as if her tail were a toy.

"I... I prefer not to talk about Overseas." Emiko notes, sighing a little. "But the pets are so cute here. Especially the foxes. I mean, you have seen them, right?"

But then Rama goes right for the tail, having Emiko squeak up as the small cat dives into the fluffy thing, reaching back to try to shield it, but with such a fennec tail that is out of question.

There is a slight pause as Mikage seems to take in Emiko's response. Then, without pressing matters, she just nods. Especially under their current situation, it's no surprise that some people just don't want to talk about the real world. Especially since none of them know if they'll ever see it again.

"Oh, definitely." She accepts the change of topic, "That's part of why I ended up with levels in Druid. The whole connection to nature and animals thing." Mikage seems comfortable enough in her in-game skin, as if this somehow suits her in a way.

Rama, with all but free access to the tail, catches it in his paws. He doesn't try to bite down or grab on, but he does roll over onto his back and begin pawing at it as if it were the best new play thing he had ever seen. "You see? It's like one minute here's paying attention, and the next it's play play play..."

With Rama tugging and toying with her tail, Emiko blushes as that also means the little prettty much yanks at her dress which isn't on the long side at all, and she tries her best to keep that in order for the moment. "Eh, yes, I see that... Uh, let's just hope he stays at playing for the moment, yes?" Emiko responds, looking at Mikage.

After a few moment she attempts to get the lynx attention to come to the front again, using her fingers with a little snap.

As the lynx catches the poor Cait Sith's tail, Mikage luckily spots the dress moving and averts her eyes quickly enough. Though a faint bit of color passes her cheeks at the same time. Making sure she continues looking the other way, the Were Fang rises back to her feet.

"Since he was mostly raised by us, I wouldn't expect he'll get too wild. Though I imagine the AI is still there for that." Her brows furrow, as if she really doesn't understand how all of that back-end works.

As Emiko snaps her fingers, the lynx stops. There is a beat where he looks as if about to dive back into play, but then he flops over onto his side, clambers ot his feet, and goes to sniff at the snapped fingers as if they were interesting.

Emiko sighs with a little relief as Rama follows the flick to come to the hand, petting him for being a good pet while she sorts the dress a little. "Well, I don't think that has anything to do with artificiality at this moment, but it seems we might fix him with some training. Though I don't know if it will work with the old times you might be used to. I mean... it was just some hour of cooldown back then, yes?"

"I don't really know, to be honest." Mikage offers, her blue eyes flicking back in Emiko's direction now that it is seemingly safe to do so. She seems almost sheepish at her lack of knowledge in the area of animals, but the default Druid class only comes with the ability to use them, not the ability to catch or train them.

"Eli did most of the training. He just taught me how to use the commands afterwards." She explains. Opening her mouth, Mikage seems as if she might say something else on the matter of her former guild-mate, but since Emiko seems averse to talking about the real world, she quickly shuts it again.

"We had most of the basic original combat commands. Attack, flee, stay, follow, investigate. Nothing too advanced." Rama, for his part, doesn't seem to be paying much attention to Mikage. Instead, the lynx is now pawing at Emiko, his head tilted.

Nodding, Emiko gives the lynx a hand to paw at, then starts to introduce it to some commands. "Sit." she tells Rama as she pushes him into the position she wants, scritching his head as a little reward before repeating the command. It's a tedious and time consuming process, but one that does seem to show some results - though it is also surely tiring for the little lynx.

Knowing that she is likely no help in the training process, Mikage stands back, allowing Emiko to do her job. Though, she does seem to at least keep some sort of idle conversation, "So, what are you plans? Going to find more animals to tame and train?"

Rama doesn't seem to understand at first, but it doesn't take long for the system to register Emiko's skills. Little icons appear around the lynx, showing that it has recorded the command. Then he sits.

"You really do know what you're doing, don't you?" Miki smiles softly, clearly having some affection for the little cat, even if it is just a pile of zeros and ones in some digital system.

"Actually that was part of my original plans when I got here. Tame some foxes..." Emiko replies with a little chuckle, ruffling the little lynx before gesturing to his mistress, indicating she should try it.

"Though I might have to try to broaden my training at some point. Some of the foxes would possibly be regarded as monsters here."

"Foxes?" Mikage looks at the Cait Sith's tail, her lip quirking. "I could see how they might appeal to you." Looking out away from the city, the Were Fang turns slightly, "I just want to see and experience everything I can. This place is freedom in a way most people just won't ever understand." She explains, voice softening slightly. "I just hope it doesn't get shut down because of all of this."

Rama does a quick circle around Emiko's feet, clearly paying attention to her now. His oversized paws bat at the ground as he looks up at her, giving a strange nawling sound.

"I know there's some monster tamer skills, though I haven't poked at them, myself." She adds.

"Well... it has so much space that is lacking in the towns and cities of overseas. Yamato does indeed offer quite some freedoms... but what might be more concearning would be if they shut down with us still here." Emiko notes, getting up to her feet. "Want to try it, Mikage?"

"I guess that's true." Mikage replies, her brows furrowing. It's likely she never even thought of the possibility that they might shut down the game with people still connected to it. "Though, I don't imagine them doing that unless they had a foolproof way of getting us all out intact."

This has her shifting slightly, as if anxious at standing still. "Guess it's all the more reason to experience as much as we can while we're here." She tries to reframe that worry into something more positive.

"Anyways, yes. Let's see..." She gives a little whistling sound, which is likely her pet-call. Rama turns in her direction. "Rama, sit." The Lynx blinks once, and then his butt hits the ground. "Aww, good boy!" She crouches and starts to ruffle his fur.

"Or them being desparate." Emiko notes, shaking her head some. "Let's try not to entertain that thought. Anyway, seems like he made some progress! Maybe we should train again tomorrow?" she asks, looking over to the woods in the distance.

"I think we probably are safe for at least a few months before they get to that point." Mikage replies, though it's clear that Emiko's words hit hard. She takes a breath, steadies herself, her fingers remaining in the fur of her pet. "It's progress. I certainly appreciate it." She looks over her shoulder towards Emiko. "I don't really have much gold to pay you right now, but if you need any help with anything, you'll have my aid."

She pushes herself to her feet, glancing towards the woods. "Sure. He'll probably need a bit more work before he's back to normal."

"Don't fret it, we are all in the same position at the moment. But if you ever manage to find a fox or vulpine monster, tell me, ok? I gotta get em all." Emiko notes, winking a little at the last words, pretty much a throwback on some TV series.

"Though I might better try to start with catching a pure mundane one for the moment."

"I'll make sure to keep an eye out." Mikage replies, "I've pretty much seen the regular foxes all over, pre-patch. Though if I remember correctly, their spawn rates are slightly higher around the Ninetails Dominion." Which, ironically, makes sense. "I think it's the environmentals there." Then, she presses her lips together. "Then again, nothing has been quite the way it was before."

"You might try the beginner forest near Alne, so long as the Haggar quest isn't up, the place is pretty good for finding most of the mundane animals." She suggests, trying to be helpful.