Hunter's Respite

    Wisteria hangs out infront of the Hunters Guild. The bunbun were fang is relaxing on a bench, polishing her katana.

    Mizuki hasn't been back from Ninetails for long. She's spent the evening trying to find someplace serving the new food, and to get a feel for how the burgeoning player economy is going to work. You know, in case some item is becoming the de facto currency instead of, you know, currency. But she's not very good at that stuff.

    Her travels bring her to the Hunter's Guild. It was cold before, but as things get well below freezing, and a little windy, she's started wearing her cloak and hat from the pirate armor set, and her new scarf, over her usual in-town armor set.

    "Wis!" She spies the not-actually-a-bunbun, which immediately brings a smile to her face, and she hurries over to the bench. "What've you been up to tonight? I was trying to figure out if there are any... ripple effects from the discovery of food... but I'm not sure I know the right people to ask."

    Smiles, all sharp ragged razors. "Mizuki-chi!" she says happily "Haven't really gotten a chance to find real food yet." she says. Getting close brings an end to the cold a foot or two from the caerbannog. A closer look shows a low intensity flame rune floating in the air and radiating heat. The samurai girl is using a super fluffy little brush, a very fine powder being floofed against the razor steel on her lap.

    Mizuki blinks as it suddenly gets warm, de-equipping the gear aside from her shirt and pants. "You're... brushing your sword? I mean, I've never had a sword, so it's not like I'd know how to maintain them, but now I have to know what's going on here."

    Wisteria chuckles "It's for polishing." she says "It is traditional. Back home I'd use something newer like a microfiber cloth... but here." she shrugs, as if weapons here really need the same kind of cleaning and polishing and it couldn't just be done with a menu command.

    Mizuki just nods. Then blinks. "Man, that reminds me. I used to use a microfiber cloth to clean my glasses..." she waves a furry hand in front of her face, which lacks glasses. "I've gotten so used to not needing them in Dive games I didn't even think about that. Another silver lining of life in here, I guess."

    She sits next to Wis and watches her polish the blade for a bit. "Do you think maybe doing that will give you some buffs?"

    Wisteria shrugs "Don't know, but I was always taught to take care of my gear, because my gear is what takes care of me." she says "More reliable than any senpai more needy than a kohai. Your armor and sword will carry you, so long as you carry them with zanshin."

    Mizuki nods. "Spoken like a soldier. I wonder if that means we're all gonna have to take better care of our gear... hmm. Maybe some weaponsmith will invent low-maintenance weapons, the AK-47 of swords... My daggers seem okay so far, though I've only been using my current set for a couple of weeks. Still haven't found anywhere that sells katars."

    "Maybe you'll need to find a weaponsmith, or something and have them crafted with material you bring from quests." Wistaria notes "And it's spoken like a kendoka." she says nodding sagely, even if she's had more practice with actual sword maintainance here than she ever did back home. Back home most of what she worked on were shinai and boken.

    Mizuki nods a little. She rezzes her daggers. "Giganpor made these... but that was before people figured out more stuff about the crafting system. I haven't found any items useful for weaponsmithing, though... well, except the bandit drop that leveled up my Appraisal skill somehow." She stashes them in her inventory again.

    "...This is the first time I've seen you that you haven't been all hugs. Is everything alright?"

    Wistera chuckles "No, I'm just working on my gear, you wouldn't stop your bath or laundry halfway through? Right? You wouldn't run out of class or something because your friend showed up?" she smiles "So your hugs have to wait until I'm done." she says as she works the blade gently with a silk cloth before switching to oil and a different scrap of silk.

    Mizuki smiles. "It'd be a little weird for a friend to walk in halfway through a bath... well, I guess with public baths that's less true."

    She watches Wis polish. "...You know, I wonder..." she tries to examine the item, but without comparing before and after polishing, isn't sure what she's looking for. "I think I'll have to try again when you're done polishing, and again when you haven't polished it, to gather data."

    Wisteria pulls her tanto out. "You can examin this, then I can polish it too." she says once her blade has been oiled and wiped down she sheaths it, and gives Mizukichi a tight hug.

    Mizuki brings up the appraisal window once the sword is done, then gasps just as she's hugged! Tail twitching excitedly, she does happily hug and squeeze Wis back, and then exposits, "There is an effect! The maintenance buff provides some resistance to durability damage and makes it sharper!"

    Considering this, she adds, "So, it looks like it won't give you much of an advantage in an individual fight, but it'll be harder to break your gear and maybe it'll work better when cutting things other than monsters."

    Wisteria smiles "Well see that's good to know, treat your gear properly and it will treat you right." she squeezes again warmly

    "It's just as you said. I guess wisdom from outside still matters here!" She smiles, then looks briefly sad. "Shame there's no computers in here..."

    She's quiet for a moment. "...I'm not complaining, obviously, but why are you so... huggy? I've never had another friend so affectionate... although perhaps my current form is a factor. When I see my reflection I kinda wanna hug her too..." n.n;

    Wisteria "Uhm... you seem to need them." she says "I mean you are also a fluffykitty but." she shrugs "My friend would always give me hugs when I let stress get me down."

    "Well I won't argue with that." Mizuki smiles a little. "Being stuck in a game 24/7 is pretty stressful at times."

    Then suddenly her eyes widen, and she starts to jump up and down. "Do you realize what we just did? We discovered something new about the game! Just like with the star charts, and Jazz's compass!"

    "It's something that'll probably help the whole Alliance, too! If the Aincrad Liberation Front has to deal with anything like the wear and tear on their gear a real army does, they might really benefit? Ooh, I wonder what we might discover next...!"

    Wistiera hugs tight "Of course we learned something new, it's something that we need to keep doing. Remember when we met? I told you I'm going to turn over every stone till I find the way home."

    "That's right! Now if only we could turn over that immovable stone in Ezzo..."