Title: Never Online
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Drama
Short Synopsis: A girl deals with the loss of love by playing an online game.
Once upon a time, a girl met a boy. The same old story pursues... she likes him, he likes her and they embark on the most awkward courtship on the face of the earth, only to end up with each other. Their love is full, complete and they swear that it will never be broken.
But not all love stories are this tranquil.
***
"You didn't call up again." She said.
He looked down at her ruined converse chucks she has been wearing all her college years. Her feet stood slightly apart, carrying the posture of bringing around her heavy laptop bag.
"Let me carry that," he said apologetically, reaching out to take her load.
"No need."
Funny how it seems, she swings her arm out of his way and turns her back to him, walking away. She still seems upset, not willing to understand that he was up all night setting up for a class presentation the next week. He lets her walk away anyway.
"I'll be playing Mabinogi in the library…" she calls out, referring to the favorite mass player online game they both used to play. "I'll be online if you want to talk."
"But I won't be…" he whispers…
***
They having the typical problem… but she isn't the typical kind of girl, and he knows that. Instead of talking this boyfriend issue over her friends, she refuses to show emotion and locks herself up in her room to play Mabi instead.
"I'm tired of being the weak-spirited girlfriend I always was," she would mutter in between clicks. "I'd rather play online than feel sorry about it."
What she doesn't notice is how it is affecting him. How he feels so alone and isolated whenever she refuses to talk and resorts to play instead. He feels that she's pushing him away and prioritizing her online life instead of her love for him…
So he continues to overwork himself.
So he refuses to be online.
***
But he can't hold in any longer how much he's missing her.
He walks in the lushness of Tir Chonnail and scours the surroundings for a girl who may seem to look familiar. Other players pass by, but none really notice or recognize him. By the tip of an online and real life friend, he finds her playing the Mandolin in front of Malcolm's shop.
[Hey,] Rhyje tries to start a rapport.
[Hey.] muttered the silver haired elf named Arisanite, stops strumming her guitar-like contraption and starts to walk away.
[Wait,] the male elf strives to keep Arisanite at bay. When she turns around, she produces a bouquet of flowers in front of her face. Surprised, she takes her Mandolin away and reluctantly accepts it. [I'm sorry I didn't call the other day.]
[Hm,] she muttered slyly, but a smile reflecting on her tone. [I thought you'd never play.]
As he summoned a Shire, he beckoned her to get on and once again, their hearts are set at peace as they rode off to somewhere they can stare at the sea and rekindle their offline lives…
***
But her stubbornness always breaks the tranquility of their passion for each other.
"But you promised…"
His voice was now tear-stricken, at the brink of misery. His face could not be explained either. His hair was in shambles because of his work, and the rain wasn't helping with him either.
Once again she stands in front of him, looking down smugly at a pair of new red chucks… carrying a bigger shoulder bag that now carries a bigger I-Mac. This time, the traces of guilt can be seen on her face…
"You promised you'd go to my exhibition…" his voice croaked.
He wasn't really fond of crying, but he's not the typical guy who held back his emotions and she knew that. But now as she stands shamefaced in front of him, she realizes that maybe she doesn't know him after all…
"I… Well, someone needed help with his Baol Final for G3 and I had to help him because he has my Ice Spear Page…" she fumbled with her words, but she can only stare at him wipe his face. She couldn't even tell if he shed tears or not… "You understand do you? Do you?"
He could only walk away.
"I'll be online..." she tried to call out. "We can talk later if you like…"
But he was already too deep in his desolation to even hear her.
***
Three days later…
[Rhyje is now online.]
Arisanite was in the middle of a hard dungeon – Alby Advanced with a few online friends. For a moment she stops for a while to stare at the name that appeared on her interface.
[Hey], his message registers on her screen. [I hope you could log out for a while. I wanna call you up.]
She smirks in disbelief. She continues fighting the nearby burgundy spiders and blue dire wolves trying to ignore his incoming messages.
[I hope its okay with you…]
…
[Hello?]
[Hello?]
[Hello?!!]
[Hello?!!!!!]
The silence is deafening in her ears, guilt creeps in her heart like a solid heartbeat as his messages continue to appear… But she continues to ignore him, replacing her feeling of guilt with frustration.
How could he? He knew it was the only night I can play with the guys so that I can finally get AR8 for my archer?!! How inconsiderate…
She felt her heart feel a pang of guilt, she knew she should be talking to her boyfriend but she savors the feeling of the fight… Ignoring him completely.
[Hello?!! I hope you can disconnect soon so I can talk to you.]
[I know that your broadband is connected to your landline. You won't receive my call if you don't disconnect for a while…]
[ I just really want to talk to you, hon. Please. I will disconnect soon, please wait for my call.]
[I love you. Bye!]
She stopped for a while, thinking if she should stop playing. She looked outside her dark window, which was repeatedly being whipped and harassed by a strong and violent night storm. For a moment she thought of telling him to cancel his trip for a while to avoid the storm...
But her party members continuously goaded her of continuing the dungeon raid, pelting her with incoming messages to knock her off AFK-mode...
She never disconnected.
***
One day she logged in. Something has changed.
Everything seemed so silent.
She checked everywhere.
No emails.
No replies.
No incoming messages.
No voicemails.
No plurks.
No notes.
No nothing.
"Guys," she made a shout-out at a micro-blogging site she and he used, calling out to all her friends she and he knew. "Have you seen him? Have you heard anything about my boyfriend? Anything?"
No answer. No nothing.
They don't know.
***
[Rhyje is now logged in.]
The first thing he sees in the beautiful lushness of Tir Chonnail. He walks around the town, savoring his freedom. He spots a pretty silver-haired elf sitting by the bank, seeming to be waiting for him…
For the first time, it seems as if he saw a smile on her face…
After the longest time... she finally showed her smile again…
Suddenly, a message from an online friend comes in. He felt a bit frustrated, his privacy violated, but he managed to read the message that was send.
[Hey Rhyje! What a surprise! You're never online!]
It took a while before he answered the message.
[I'm not really online.]
***
Hours later after she sent a shout-out to all her friends, looking for her missing-in-action, never replying boyfriend… She finally received a private email from his close friend who has been with him in the exhibit.
Minutes later, she was found crying in front of her beloved laptop… tears spilling over every single keyboard which has been repeatedly bruised by her finger bashing.
He called that stormy night to tell her that he's going to fix something in his exhibition, asking if she wished to come see his work.
But she never disconnected.
She never got the call.
The car he was driving with his friends slammed into a fence that night because of the zero-visibility due to the rain. He never made it.
She then realizes that he will never be online again.
***
Rhyje, the elf sits beside his online love Arisanite in front of Endylon's Erskin Bank as passersby players come and go. They sit close and hip-to-hip, like lovers who were just recently married. A thousand snapshots were taken while they both turned their heads to the nearby bot who was muttering advertisements nearby. They sit close, as if to whisper sweet nothings and share nose-kisses as there weren't much people at the square.
She sits staring at the two logged on Mabinogi accounts, his elf on the other laptop, and her elf on her computer. Her eyes remain red and swollen in the dark, and still she cannot stop crying.
His password was the only password she knew apart from all her other online friends.
He always allowed her to play with his character just so she wouldn't be frustrated whenever his character would fall behind hers. He allowed her to level him up and rebirth him a few times when the services were finally free. In a sense, he gave himself to her. All of him. She just didn't know it.
Her two laptops are online the entire night, featuring the two tragic elf lovers. Always online, but not really together.
"You were never online" she whispered softly, her voice croaking, tired of crying her heart out. "Now you can always be online with me."
***
Note: Mabinogi is never mine. Design has always been with Devcat and North American support has always been with Nexon. This short fiction is inspired by the Chinese Linovo movie-advertisement "Always Online" and JJ Lin's single of the same title. Stay safe, stay happy, and don't always be online.