[ti]open[/ti]002 — 'Tis The Season

"Hey, William." Oz echoes the offered name, a hint of intricate tattoos peeking beneath a sleeve when he reaches out for a quick and firm handshake. Oz himself is usually more a fist bumping guy, but when in Rome...

Or, well, when in Briarbane? Neat name.

"Are you really? That's fuckin' awesome. Like, bet UNOVR is one hell of an introduction. Literally deep diving into it, eh?" With a chuckle, an stereotypically Canadian interjection, and a hearty pat on the back, Oz welcomes his quest partner to the game. He shifts his hold on the sack of gifts then, carrying it over his shoulder to make things easier. "If you have any questions, just let me know, yeah? I'm new to UNOVR too, but I've been gaming like... all my life, pretty much."

Now, as for the tutorial... Oz's gaze falls upon his quest tracker, and tapping on the air, he opens his UI's menu at reduced opacity.

"Hmm... Okay. Houses we gotta deliver gifts to are marked on our maps, so that's easy enough. Typical tutorial stuff. I guess this one is geared towards helping new players figure out how to find their way around the game and all that."

Will

It's kind of funny how different people can be, right? Oz himself has always had videogames as a part of his life. Yeah, sure, it's not like he has ever been locked in his room gaming all day (he has always been way too active to be able to do that), but he is undoubtedly what most would call a gamer. On the other hand, Will reminds him more of... well, how his dad would react if he ever played UNOVR. Yet, here they are, two completely different people playing the same game, and that's fucking awesome to him.

"Oh yeah, for sure. Tutorials are like... designed for people who are just getting into it and stuff. Bet that's helpful as hell, huh? There's a lot to figure for sure, but just just poking around through your UI is good to learn what kind of stuff you can do. Eh... Your menu, that is."

As they talk, Oz begins to walk, having opened his map to try to figure out a good route for this delivery. Since its a tutorial, he assumes the goal here is teaching some basic game navigation skills: following location marks, finding routes, looking up a destination, etc. Simple enough. Easy. No problem! They've got this!

"Looks like that's one of the houses." He says, nodding towards a notoriously gothic building with gargoyles at the porch and everything. It's very Addams Family, but then again, that's half of Briarbane, with the other being Westworld and Woody from Toy Story (Yes, these are barely-millenial Oz's main points of reference for all things western).

"Should we just... Leave it at the porch? That feels kinda wrong."

Oz is all for contactless deliveries, but he isn't about to get blamed for a gift being stolen and then sent to Asper County Jail. No thanks!

"They do, yeah, though a lot of it becomes kinda intuitive when you've been playing games for a while." Oz admits with a chuckle and a smirk as he walks by Will's side. "Still, in games like UNOVR there's stuff that you gotta do the tutorials to unlock, like the running shoes and the golden Pokéball and so on. You also gotta do them for star and title requirements, and to unlock certain classes, so it's kinda good practice to just finish them all."

Now, see, Oz is not here to overwhelm Will with information or anything, and he doubts most new players would look into most of that stuff, but he mentions it anyway because it's useful stuff to know. Plus, might as well make small talk while they do their deliveries, right? This might take a while, although it seems Will has a solution for that.

"Oh... Yeah, good idea. I like that." Oz smiles, a white dragon's tail giving one long swish behind his back. He reaches into his bag then, taking a moment to find the parcel meant for this one particular address.

"Jesus, why is there a Cerulean Boulevard, a Cerulean Street, Cerulean Road, and Cerulean Lane? Who the hell came up with that" He sighs, but finally a parcel is brought out and left at the door before the bell is rung.

"Alright! Where to next?"

Filled with a deeply rooted desire to excel that sadly never transferred to academics, Oz is one of those people who tends to look up a lot of information about a game before he even starts playing, so that his gameplay will be optimal and there is no time wasted.

...Does that make him an impatient person?

Well, if judging by the way he simply fiddles with his UI while waiting for someone to open the door and pick up package, the answer is 'no', but that may or may not have to do with the fact that he had prepared for this when deciding to do a tutorial. Then again, like many professions, being a tattoo artist does require a high degree of patience.

"Judging by the map, it's one big street that goes across most of the settlement. It even ends up leading to Mom's House and the trade shop." He tells Will about Cerulean Boulevard once the package has been safely delivered, beginning to walk to the next destination with his own map still open before him at a diminished opacity — like a strange overlay above the sight of the Briarbane's rather busy streets.

"Oh. You're right, there's a shortcut." Oz smiles at that, glad for it. "Let's head that way, then. We might run into some kind of obstacle there, so keep a close eye on things."

Then again, it could be that the tutorial just wants them to find the most optimal route, but he still closes his UI and makes sure to have a Pokéball at the ready... just in case.

"Yeah? Bet you were a great student, eh? You have that vibe to you. As for myself... I was more likely to skip through a field to cut class back in college." Oz laughs, perhaps entirely too honest, but there's no shame when thinking back to those days, and his only real regret is actually having enrolled in Engineering school in the first place. It was what his father had always wanted for him, but as for his own wishes... well...

Those thoughts of days that are behind him keep Oz occupied as they walk through the field, but he'll happy to toss them aside when a question is thrown his way. Crossing his arms and somehow still managing to hold firmly onto the sack of packages while doing so, he ponders on the matter before giving Will a response:

"Sophisticated, huh?" He chuckles as that, although not at all mocking. "I'm pretty sure the days of needing the Cut move to get past branches along the road are long behind us, thankfully. Buuut... it could totally be something blocking the way or even a Pokémon jumping out to attack us. How are you in a fight, Will?"

A smile shines when he meets his companion's gaze. Whatever their obstacle may be, Oz clearly isn't concerned.

"Ha! Nothing wrong with being a nerd, though. Hell, I wish I had cared a little more about school" He smiles, but it's not exactly the truth. Just about everyone in Oz's life had wanted and expected him to care about his studies and excel at school, and perhaps to rebel against those wishes or perhaps out of his sheer nature, he had done the exact opposite. By contrast, Will gives him the air of someone who has his life together, and as someone who definitely didn't have his life together for a long time, Oz knows to value that.

"Hey, support's pretty helpful. I've been playing Pokémon since I was a kid, but—" Oz would have gone on to explain how he has always favourite multiplayer formats over playing games alone, and so, instead of having fond childhood memories of playing Pokémon FireRed or whatever other game in the core series, his happy memories are of beating his sister at Pokémon Stadium 2 on their Nintendo 64 over and over. He would have gone on to say all that, had he not been stunned to silence by the sight of the field suddenly and abruptly ending a few metres ahead. A cliff? No. A step closer makes the truth clear to him: it's a ledge.

"Damn, these never looked nearly this deep in the games." It's kind of a brutal fall as far as ledges go, a meter or two at least, but it's doable enough (or it is in the mind of this parkour enthusiast), and if Will isn't up for it, they can always go around it like they do in the games, right?

When Oz turns to his left, he notices ruffling in the grass. Pokémon are beginning to gather, probably drawn out by the sound of their conversation, the smell of whatever goods are in their bags, or more realistically, the cruel programming that relates to this tutorial.

"Alright, Will, jump or fight. Your call!" Despite the sudden dire shift in circumstances, Oz gives him a smile. Clearly, he's having fun. It's almost like he's saying: 'Ha! I knew there'd be an obstacle!'