Duty Session 202: Grunty Drive

After some tense moments, and some rather heavy dungeons, sometimes it's time to just... relax. That is what was on Cyrus' mind when he asked Mikage to come meet him a bit outside of Dun Loireag - in one of the little Lander hamlets a ways outside of the Root Cities.

When Mikage and him meet up, she will find him standing amidst a massive field... of Grunties. A few Lander young ones, bovine Cait Sith, trying to help guide them. "Should be a simple mission. Guide the Grunties with the help of the Landers. Make sure they don't get eaten by some low level monsters." Cyrus proposes to Miki.

"I figure... this is a good change of pace from fighting for our lives. What do you think?"

Oh, to call the current situation in the world of Yamato tense would be an understatement. There's clear signs from Mikage that something is weighing on her. The normally calm, easy-going young woman hasn't given one of her typical joyous laughs in days. Something certainly is dragging down her mood.

Yet, she isn't one to object when Cyrus invites her along on a quest she hasn't done yet. Despite how 'easy' he portrays it to be, there is still a faint hint of that stress in her brow as she nods, "Hopefully. Let's just hope the goblins haven't infested this quest too." Yep, that may just be part of the problem she is dealing with right now.

Then, she takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, shaking her head, "Sorry." The girl runs a hand through her hair. "Got a lot on my mind." She tries to offer a smile, but it doesn't quite reach her eyes. "Let's give it a try, alright?"

Cyrus smiles and motions. "I don't think Goblins are too common in this area." He remarks, though he can't help but walk up to her and touch her hand for a moment after she runs it through her hair. She knows he's worrying about her, surely. "You can talk about it if you'd like." He remarks. "I assume it's the nonsense on the Chimlinks as of late?"

The youth then looks up as the Landers start moving the 'train' of Grunties. A horn being blown to indicate they are getting moving, and a few Peko riders on the edges begin to help move the first Grunties. "I've got a potion I can probably try to attract the Grunties in my direction." Cyrus points out.

Rama lopes along beside Mikage as the group starts into motion, the little cat seeming to echo whatever trouble exists within his master's mind. The two share a health bar, but also seem to share some kind of connection as well. "Mmm." Mikage doesn't quite answer Cyrus' question, but the little motion of her head speaks volumes.

Her blue eyes look over to Cyrus, then away again, as if she weren't quite sure she should bring up her concerns with him or not. The two have traveled together a long time, and she trusts him with her life, but...

"I'll... take care of the grunties. Shouldn't be a problem, right Rama?" Yes, change the subject. She puts her fingers to her lips and whistles, causing the little cat to start to move amongst the grunties, swiping without claws or giving little growls to get them moving.

"I'll stick with you, no matter what." He whispers to Mikage as she gives that non-committal sound of an answer, even though she motions her head. "Don't you worry." That said, the youth starts moving to the front. He takes out a potion that... smells strong...

And the Grunties end up 'fleeing from it' rather than' approaching it. Meaning that Cyrus quickly has to adjust the direction he is coming from with it. Luckily, Mikage is far more skilled with animals. Working together in wonderful tandem with Rama as they begin to help drive the Grunties on.

It's a good few minutes into things, when Cyrus can rejoin Mikage properly. He simply touches her shoulder for a moment, to indicate his presence, only to look up. Miki would spot his ears going 'poing poing', focusing in on the sound of something in the distance!

"Wolves." He whispers, before more loudly; "Wolves!" As he begins to step to the eastern edge they're approaching from, and quickly throwing potions in their paths. Quick winding vines rush up from the ground, trying to grapple for the Wolves' legs!

It isn't just the grunties that the potion keeps at bay. Mikage makes sure to keep quite a good distance between herself and Cyrus until he finally corks the bottle and ends the stench effect. It is the downside of having enhanced Were Fang senses.

Senses that are, perhaps, too overwhelmed by the stench to hear that sound in the distance. It isn't until Cyrus touches her shoulder and she hears him call out about wolves that the girl curses in her usual colorful manner. "I'll see if I can pick a couple off." Drawing out her bow, she nocks an arrow and fires towards the wolves. The first shot hits, but as she tries to draw back a second, there is a cracking sound in the weapon.

There is a spike of irritation, "These bows are all useless!" She shouts, avoiding the urge to just toss the weapon entirely. She might be able to get one more shot off later, but she doesn't seem willing to risk losing the weapon completely so early in their journey.

"You're clearly too powerful for these lower level bows. Their integrity levels are just too low to deal with the power you put behind them." Cyrus managed to overhear her on the way back, the Peko Riders finishing off the trapped Wolves, with his vine formations having been quite succesful.

Only to overhear someone having trouble with the count.

What follows if Mikage having to watch, as Cyrus tries to capture some of the Grunties by jumping on them... only to startle them, getting thrown off, and barely managing to lead them back. Only to do this again.

"I know." Mikage replies with a sigh as she puts the damaged bow back into the sling on her back. "The problem is that I can't seem to find anyone who can make me something better. I was hoping to track down Miho, but she's been busy with projects for Grandeur." That would certainly be a problem, figuring Mikage has commented more than a few times about how she doesn't really have many crafting skills.

For a time, Miki sits back and watches Cyrus' antics with the grunties. It's the first time a smile has really come to her face in more than a few days.

"Let me help..." Mikage calls over to Rama, who perks his ears. It seems she has been working with him on their joined elemental techniques, and he gives a roar which sends out a blast of icy energy which creates a wall around the troublesome grunties, driving them back towards the group.

Afterwards, she crouches down and ruffles his ears, "Good boy."

When they finally have a moment to sit down, thanks to Mikage helping Cyrus' awful attempts at capturing Grunties (sproing!), and a few more bits of travel, the crew sits together, and just relaxes.

Cyrus asks a bit of the Landers, what their lives have been like so far. Getting little simple tidbits out of them. Some of their responses are remarkably similar, but there's an older one who weaves a tapestry of old adventures he used to have, when he himself was a Hunter. Talking about some simple dire monsters he used to fight off in the plains.

Cyrus adds a little interlude of song with his flute, while Mikage begins her own attempts to help. But closer to the end of it, as the night begins to fall, Cyrus just kind of gets close to Mikage, and motions for her to get under a simple blanket with him to stay warm.

This is one of those moments where Sassaral's presence would have been helpful. Mikage isn't very good at setting up camp, despite how often they tend to live rough. In the end, she tries to help with the cooking, but ends up burning some of it bad enough that she's dismissed back to join the others.

"Well, at least I'm good at keeping the animals in line." She murmurs as she sits down, content to share time with the others and listen to their stories. Yet, it's Cyrus who really draws her attention, and that of others. Despite the fact that he doens't normally play the part of a bard, he really is quite good with that flute of his, and it does seem to lift the spirits of those around them.

As the night starts to grow a bit colder, she watches the Landers settle in. There isn't much in the way of tents, so she accepts the offer of sharing the blanket with Cyrus. As the girl lies down she murmurs, "You know, you really are quite good at that." At some point in the night, she does curl in towards him, a moment of giving in to that need for closeness with another human being.

"I don't know if it's just more use here than before. I used to play a recorder when I was a little kid. Can you imagine? Little Cyrus, playing the recorder in front of his class, trying to get a good grade." He groans as he mental image comes to him, rubbing his forehead for a moment as he welcomes Mikage into the warmth.

His arm moves around behind her, simply to be more comfortable, and just... kind of naturally lets her lean on him. "I'll keep watch with the others. Just rest for now." He whispers to her.

Eventually, daylight would come. Back in Japan, this early would have been 'too early'. But here, it's nice. There's the warm sun that prickles at the back of their head as it rises up, welcoming them with a warm embrace. Cyrus had drifted off after one of the young Landers said they could sleep.

Rise and shine early, Cyrus pokes Mikage eventually and whispers for her to get up, eventually moving the shared blanket to his inventory, and helping her up.

The rest of the trek goes quite well, moving all the way to Dun Loireag, until they are finally approaching the outer market of it. There's a lot of Grunties, and they'd done quite a good job. But it seems the Lander is trying to convince them to take a paycut.

Having moved the Grunties all that way, Cyrus is a bit too invested to let that stand. Joining with the younger Landers to try and convince the Merchants to take the full pay as originally arranged.

Mikage is not a morning person. This is no different. The young woman murmurs as she is nudged awake, rolls over, totally not realizing that she'd cuddled into Cyrus in the middle of the night. Eventually, the cold without the blanket is enough to have her rousing, rubbing at her eyes, and sitting up. "I hate mornings." She mutters.

But, she does accept his hand up, stretches, and then falls into groggy pace with the others for the last leg of their journey.

When they reach the market, though, she just seems to fall quiet and stay towards the background. She'll let Cyrus do the talking as she stands at the edge of the crowd, looking at the crack in her bow and otherwise avoiding social interaction where she can manage it.

Thankfully, they don't need her help. She is all too happy to take her pay for a job well done, though, "Well, a bit more coin to fund our way back to Mac Anu." She adds to Cyrus once he is done haggling.

"Aye, quite a bit." Cyrus answers Mikage when he walks away with a baggie of gold, just as had been arranged with the Hunters Guild - having just said goodbye to the Landers. "Lovely bunch." He notes, before motioning.

"Let's get us something to snack on, on the way to the port." He then notes, before offering her... a potion. "Cure Motion sickness potion." He declares boldly. "No more getting sick on ships for you." The youth boldly proclaims.

"And if you'd like, we can talk over lunch about what's on your mind."