[ti]private[/ti]A Friendly Rivalry

As with so many of Nero's adventures within UNOVR, he had not ended up here on purpose. Honestly, his virtual habit of wandering into trouble shouldn't have been a surprise to him given how he'd often done the same thing in the real world until... recently. While it had rarely been a conscious decision, he had often found himself walking into restricted areas or brewing fights or otherwise dangerous locations to be, his feet taking him to a place that could in one way or another result in him getting the attention that he so desperately craved. While the motivations had shifted over time (he hardly expected his parents to pay attention to him because he took part in a quest in a video game), the habit had stuck, and had apparently transferred into his virtual self as well.

He hadn't intentionally wandered into somebody else's arena then, but between strolling around without watching the map and clicking at random pop ups on his UI without reading them properly first, he'd somehow done exactly that. At first, the change of scenery didn't really click with him - he often found himself warping somewhere new when clicking on the pop ups, so that wasn't unusual. It was only when he spied the particularly rectangular shape of the plateau he was now apparently stood on that the 'arena'-ness of his new location became clear.

Ah. Shit.

He hadn't been ready to fight again yet. The last battle had been... bad? Interesting? Confusing? He'd won but at what cost, that sort of vibe, and he hadn't yet picked that apart enough to know how he'd approach a battle differently next time. And yet here he was, staring at a fellow player across an arena that he had voluntarily entered as the other person greeted him.

"... Errrrrr...."

His gaze flicked to the statue of something feline nearby, and taking inspiration from it's design, he reached into his pocket for the Pokeball and called out his Purrloin. The dark type landed gracefully in the grass between Nero and this stranger, flicking her tail with interest as she watched the humans interact. "So... let's go then." Because why would he bother to explain his mistake when he could pretend that he'd intended to be here all along?

Verai <3