The wind touches the small patch of grasslands that Vanilla had found herself whisked to on behest of a paper on the help wanted section of the virtual bulletin board. While she hadn't exactly been one of the best people to go about defeating monsters by herself, she was positive that her skills in herbology and picking plants faired better than killing. The small crafter walked along the trodden path to the area where the poster had posted where she would be able to find him. Certainly there wasn't exactly a lot that she could expect from a random stranger, even mores o with this game afoot. For all she knew, this could be some kind of trap. A way to lure innocent, low level players into close proximity with a higher level person and then kidnap them or worse! Gah, but she also needed to take this job for the money anyway. Oh, what a cruel world!

Her feet took her across the way as she hiked up the mountains only to find a silhouette on top of some of the rock formations around the feet of the forest. Vanilla stopped to look from afar. She debated just turning around and maybe saying that she got caught up in something else and couldn't attend. But then what if this guy was the vindictive type that was going to hunt her down and kill her? She couldn't leave now, not while he was waiting here for her! Vanilla let out a conflicted exhale before making her down from the rocky hill towards the man. As she traveled closer, she could make out bits and pieces of him across the span of seconds. His clothing, the hair, even his posture. Once she was close enough, Vanilla continued on until she was stopped or until she was a few feet from the man. Whichever would come first.

"Are you the one who asked for help with that herb collecting job?" Vanilla asked sheepishly, though still forcing herself to be up front and polite with the blonde man in front of her. She brought up her phone to check the thread again before she'd look up at him after adjusting her spectacles. Should the man look at the woman, he'd find a runt of a woman whose height barely touched the five foot mark. She looked more ready to attend school than she did to go and pick herbs out of the ground, but hey! Vanilla was here and had two hands. So that put her above the list of most other people. "I'm Vanilla. It's, uh, nice to meet you."

Vanilla watched the man with interest. He was certainly not somebody that she would have seen just out and about while at work. No, he was more...what word would best describe him? So rugged and wild, Vanilla found herself attributing his features somebody who spent their days in the wild away from civilization. His attire was mysterious, the fur coat and outfit ensemble made him look more ready to provide covering fire than it was to go and pick flowers out in the forest. But it was likely be seeing action soon enough if the monsters around the world had anything to say about it. The woman looked him over once or twice, though would soon have her sight travel back down to the hand being offered to her. Her own hand slowly slid inside of the gloved hand, giving it a slight squeeze and shaking it.

"Tali. A pleasure to meet you."

From her accent, he could probably deduce that the five foot woman was from Britain somewhere. She carried herself with a slight grace and a more refined way of speak. Hands went to comb through her bangs while offering him a soft smile. "I do admit, I may not have the most experience, but I'm happy that you'll be watching my back during this little outing." Tali spoke up and asked about her experience in the game and how long she had been working with her current loadout. Admittedly, Vanilla was sure that he wasn't going to be too thrilled with the current answer, but she was anything but somebody to embellish the details. Maybe it was just one of the reasons she got this class besides picking it while rolling down a hill.

"I've had this class for..." she did some quick mental math, counting on a few fingers before she continued, "Three...four days now? But we'll do fine!"

Vanilla gave a semi confident nod before taking the lead from Tali and motioning for him to follow. The girl made their first steps inside of the forest with grace, her feet moving across the forest floor as they made their way in search of herbs. While on the way, the woman looked back from time to time while keeping a conversation going with her bodyguard. "How long have you been working with your class? You strike me as the type to be out and about with mission after mission."

This wasn't really her idea of doing a standard mission to get used to life in this new game world, but Vanilla couldn't exactly complain. The crafter class wandered through the woods with her bodyguard straggling behind her as she'd be on the hunt for those special herbs that the quest had asked for while the blonde man spoke. She smiled so naively at the man while the first of many herbs would be found as she hopped right to its location. "It's nice to be active, at least. When you're like me, muscle doesn't come too easy to develop." Another dagger through her heart; Oh that Vanilla and her self deprecating humor! "I wish I could say the same about me. I used to work all the time back home and look where it got me. Picking flowers in a forest." She delicately (as much as she could anyway) pulled the herb from the ground and continued on as she gazed out for more of their mission target. The small woman remained silent for a bit as they walked but the conversation came around once Tali had asked her a question about what life was like for her before she was taken. His class did sound rather intimidating. Apocalypse Knight sounded more like a title that was resting just above a arc villain's name in some visual novel that used to reside on her phone.

She exhaled. Would she tell him everything? He could be stalling for a chance to piece her chest with a sword or something. But somewhere inside of herself, Vanilla did feel as if she had already been through enough. The pain would be brief, even if unimaginable to her now, but a rest from whatever she had gotten herself in the middle of didn't seem all that bad to her. The woman was silent, stopping in the middle of the sea of trees as her eyes darted across the horizon before she turned to look at Tila.

"I worked at a maid café before I came here. I had just moved out of my parents and needed the money when a friend got me in. It was humiliating just wearing that getup every day, but it beat not eating." she began, "But after a few months, the owner promoted me to an assistant and I began to run the café by my own as her was semi retired. I was saving up enough to go to school so I could open my own café. It's been a dream of mine ever since I was a kid. My family's nuts about baking and it runs in the family. You can probably guess why I'm named Vanilla."

The woman continued walking about while keeping the conversation going. It was nice to semi vent to this stranger, even if it wasn't the most heathy way of doing so. She knelt down to inspect another plant by a larger tree base and moved to cut it before stopping. The details didn't exactly match well. Was this some kind of offshoot? It was probably not the best thing to do to throw it in, so Vanilla stood back up and continued on.

"As for my class, I'm an Enchanter. I didn't really choose as much as I did hit something while rolling down a hill. It's not as scary as Apocalypse Knight, mind you, but it's useful in its own right." Vanilla pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose out of habit. Her hands had been fidgeting with the bag containing the previously plucked herb as she got to work on another. She was kneeling and focused entirely on the cutting portion. "In its simplest definition, I can give an item an "anchor" of its own, but not like one an actual player has. Think of it more as a side effect. It does require some investment though, but I imagine that it's a worthwhile price."

Vanilla walked further into the depths, looking at the canopy of trees above them both. It was so strange looking at it compared to the metropolitan skyline that was her previous home only a month ago. What a change! A part of her wished she could just sit here by the edge of the forest and live here in peace. She smiled, though she had been twiddling with the dull knife in her hands. The coarse metal made her hands grow restless, as she'd gently press the dull end of the blade into her palm before then slowly twirling it around her free hand. But it was never once pointed in Dantalion's direction, just idly passing the time.

"What about you, Tali? Did What was your family like before coming here? Were they all as chivalrous as you are? And what was your dream job before ending up here?"

He didn't know what a maid café was? Vanilla pursed her lips in thought. Was he from an older time or something? the knight-like attitude and appearance, as cute as it was, did cause her to wonder if Earth-chan had pulled people from way back when besides the current year. But she'd entertain his question for the time being. Thoughts and memories of a more recent time came as she'd lean back and kneel over to cut another piece of herb. "It's complicated. So imagine a café. You have guests and waiters and waitresses. Now a maid café is the same thing, but the waitresses are dressed as maids. The owner wanted something more "exotic" in his own words. Kind of a creep, but a nice one that let me run things when he took a sabbatical. I did most of their finances and then I get pulled into some stupid game on Christmas Eve and..." Vanilla ranted a little bit more about things but pulled herself back on track after a while. She'd offer an apologetic glance towards Tila and then move on.

"Sorry. A-Anyway, the whole draw is that waitresses are closer to the guests. They sit down as you can talk to them about anything. Weather, your life problems, the politics of everyday life. Nothing like sex work. It's just for people to sit and unwind, as noble as it sounds. But the clients pay well and enjoy talking to the staff. I, um...worked as one before I took over ownership. It's for everyone, money doesn't really discriminate in the old economy. But a majority of the highest paying clients tended to be wealthy. That or IT workers. God, I once saw a record of him spending around $200 in thirty minutes."

Vanilla was on the move again, twirling the knife around her hand again as they walked. She looked around, frowning to herself. The mission did say that no harmful animals should be present, but she couldn't help but feel on edge. The woman paused but continued on her way and led Tali, who was describing his weaponry. "Fascinating. So you're all four horsemen, bundled up into a cute one man army." she chuckled to herself and allowed him to speak about his family and upbringing. From the sound of it, he lived in some type of commune or group family or something. Or probably a cult, though she wasn't going to tell him that while they were out in the woods away from civilization. He put a hand on her shoulder and showed her the next batch of herbs that was...high up in a tree. She fussed and began to slowly climb up onto the tree to fetch it.

They were making good progress. Vanilla did come to a stop when he asked about her family life, chewing the inside of her cheek for an answer. "A lot. Out of all of my siblings, I was the weakest at it. I guess I don't know why I wanted to run a bakery. Maybe it was just because it's been the only thing I know how to do correctly..."

dantalion

No monsters or things trying to kill them yet, so this was turning out to be a fairly normal mission all things considered. It was a bit strange walking along with a wild and rugged man such as Dantalion, and Vanilla did have to admit that he had a certain charm to him that was making her think of him as a sort of knight lacking a charge in the game. His commentary on her work before coming to the game made it almost sound noble. But in a way, she understood why he had that view. "I suppose that's a good way of viewing it. I can't say that I absolutely detested working there. You meet a lot of interesting customers." His second question did make her have to think on her answer given. Vanilla pursed her lips in thought and then exhaled. "It's complicated. there were some days that customers got too touchy, but typically we had staff present whose role it was to exclusively deal with them. Every maid had their own persona and...Ugh, it's embarrassing, I was supposed to be the cutesy maid. When I was taken for the game, I was coming home after work. I still have that stupid uniform." The tiny woman pouted at some memories from the café, but she did want to try and see the positive in her time there.

Tali appeared somewhat quiet at her cute comment, as the girl did worry that she had upset him in some kind of way. He fumbled with himself for a short while until the man responded in turn. Now Vanilla did have to worry about trying to sound as if she hadn't been trying to make him uncomfortable. "W-Well, every knight requires a brave and noble steed to carry them into battle. I'm certain that your steed and weaponry are quite the sight to behold." A bit of an awkward silence, but she'd laugh a little to herself. Half out of embarrassment and half at imagining Talia on the back of a whining white, armor clad horse. She'd jump to begin to climb a tree before being stopped by him. The man took the duty of climbing onto the branch and severing the herb from the tree. Vanilla opened up the bag to catch their quarry inside and give him a thumbs up. "thanks. Word of advice, never be short. Everything becomes a hassle."

Talia spoke on her ability to have confidence in herself in spite of the world around her. While not based on nothing, she could tell that he had experienced etched into every one of his words to her. But she struggled to view herself as anything that wasn't helpless. Every one of her roomies had experience for this kind of thing, and here she was, the least experienced out of any of them, currently wandering around freely. Still, it was sage advice. Vanilla couldn't say that she hadn't looked death in the face on many occasions. It was mainly how she had met Vanessa all those years ago. Vanessa had always said that she had been saved from paying for half of the rent, but the pink haired woman never told her exactly what she had saved her from. "It's wise advice." Vanilla said in a solemn tone, "Keep fighting until the bitter end, then fight some more. Some days are easier at following it than others, but I'll keep it in mind." She flashed a smile at Talia and moved on, pursing her lips at his beliefs for her future. While baking wasn't for forte, maybe it really was a stepping stone onto the next best thing. And she'd be lying if that wasn't the case.

"I've actually started thinking about opening my own shop." Vanilla said, walking along with Talia, "My class isn't really geared for direct combat, as I said previously, but it's opened up some possibilities at being profitable. I can enchant things. Items, weapons, armor, anything really. I'm hoping that I can get good enough that my friends will hear about me and know I'm alright. I-If they're not..." Her talking faltered, as if the realization set in about the people she knew and cared about being long gone before she switched angles. "But anyway, ha...If you were ever interested, I could show you what I can enchant in the future. Anything to help a friend out...If you would consider me as such."

dantalion

His words reached her ears as Vanilla's cheeks turned a bright red color. She fumbled over her words, defaulting to childish babble while Tali continued on with his words. It was a strange feeling to be called "cute" or adorable" for her, having been pint sized for the good majority of her life as a girl so far. It did make her feel some tinge of envy towards other people. But it had always caused her to diminish into a trembling mess at hearing herself being call that. Still, Vanilla understood that Tali wasn't exactly too experienced with getting compliments about his own self. She'd cover her blushing face by facing away and trying to sound somewhat unaffected. "I-It's alright. I was just making an o-observation. I'll try not to sound very, ah....observant."

The topic changed to what she had wanted to do, the shop idea once again. She appreciated that Tali did show some kind of interest in her goals in this world turned asunder. "Some assistance would be nice while I'm still getting things set up. Thankfully it's not a totally lengthy process, at least not yet. Just points and draining of me of energy for ten minutes or so. Nothing I can't handle. Should the need for any kind of" she paused, smiling at the seasoned knight before her, "And a friend would be even better. It would be my honor to supply a han-ah, chivalrous knight such as yourself." she said in a more humorous tone, offering a grin while praying he wouldn't managed to figure out that little slip of hers as they walked along the forest ground once more. They stopped at the foot of a tree as Vanilla stood by, side eyeing the man to see if it was safe or not to proceed with cutting the roots of the flower here. Nothing that wanted to kill them just yet, so this was turning out to be pretty fine. She got to work with her knife.

"So far, yes. I've met a lot of helpful people. I'll admit, I was skeptical of everybody when I first loaded in, but the few people I've met were nice. There's still a part of me that's anxious about new people, but I do try and keep a good mind towards everyone. It's a bit naive of me, but I do think that every person has their reasons for what they do, but they're good people at heart."

dantalion

The laugh that came from the blonde man's mouth had caused the woman's heart to sink. She blushed more at the action, cursing her bashfulness until he reassured her that the humor was not at her expense. They shared a similar act of not taking compliments well, the irony of which wasn't lost on Vanilla. She looked on for a moment before a wide grin stuck itself on her face. "Y-Yes. I guess you're right." The grin turned into a chuckle of her own, then laughter. She had a pretty funny little moment with the knight in this isolated forest, her attention turned away from the herbs they were sent out to pick as the two found common ground with one another. She went to cut at the final sample's roots to separate it from the base of a tree, the small woman a bit bummed that their adventure was reaching its conclusion. A misty walk with another man was something that she hadn't expected to grab her attention, but it was nice that Tali was proving her wrong. "Likewise. You're a wonderful partner for a mission, Tali." Vanilla chirped in her slight English accent. "Should you ever need my assistance again, or wish for me to help with equipment, just let me know with a message. Or if you ever need anybody to chat with again. I wouldn't mind getting away from my thoughts for a moment or so."

With the final herb collected, they had two options available: either get some chatting time with one another or search for some extra herbs for brownie points. Either way, she was happy to continue to get to know the man a little better. "We can do either. If you want to search for more herbs, I'm ready to continue as long as we have something to talk about. It beats looking at my notes and trying to learn the ins and outs of a business." Vanilla offered, another laugh escaping her lips. Tali was a fairly interesting person, although Vanilla didn't quite understand his commentary about where he was from, The Bastion. She couldn't get if it was some type of gathering of people or cult or what have you. But he seemed nice enough, and he wasn't trying to go and recruit her for a change of pace. That idea nibbled at the back of her mind, having to disappoint people with a decision of her on. She fumbled with her glasses some and continued on with Tali. A thought entered her head, one that may have been just what she needed to go and learn about the Bastion. She did feel for the man, having been separated from his home with no current way back to. So maybe a little push for him to open up would be what he would want to hear?

"Pardon my intrusiveness, but I was just curious. You spoke about Bastion before, but what exactly was it like there? Were you a knight sent to guard people there as well? Or was it just a place to call home for you?"

dantalion