A Catalyst
By Kayinay
Catalyst: something that starts or increases the rate of a reaction. Gets the ball rolling, so to say.
Using just the prompt "someone hits on Blackrose in front of Kite and he stands up for her" both fornwalt and I write our versions. Written for fornwalt. No specific time period, no spoilers.
Kite had yet another player in tow when they met again, this time a Heavy Blade like herself. He was tall, almost a head taller than she was, and was wearing a cheap, flashy type of armor.
"Hey," Kite greeted her, "Do you mind if Tempern joins us today? I promised him I'd help him get some levels."
Blackrose paused a moment—once again, a chance to spend some quality time with Kite had been ruined, but his kindness was what she loved about him—before she smiled widely. "Hi, I'm Blackrose, nice to meet you."
"Tempern," he replied, looking her up and down. Her smile faltered but remained, a bit more stiffly than before. Kite didn't even notice.
"Why don't we head out?" Kite suggested, heading towards the Chaos Gate. Blackrose and Tempern quickly traded member addresses and formed a party with Kite. He chose an area that was relatively low for the two of them but high enough for Tempern to gain some levels quickly. It was a simple cave-style area, with an uninteresting grassy field leading to a cavern in the side of a mountain that led to a winding dungeon system.
"Don't you worry, sugar," Tempern told Blackrose pompously, "I'll protect you from these monsters. They might be a little scary, but I'll be here."
"Huh?" Blackrose responded, bewildered. "What are you—"
She was distracted by the approach of three low-level grassland monsters.
"Stand behind me, darling!" he shouted, jumping in front of her. Blackrose watched the Heavy Blade idiot pull out his sword and swing it wildly, missing all three monsters. She realized she was gaping but couldn't stop, amazed at his stupidity and ineptness.
It took two hits—two direct hits, he was too stupid to block—to make him fade into a shadow of a player. He was dead but not silent.
Blackrose tuned him out as she finally drew her sword, swinging and killing the monsters that had turned their attention to her. After a few moments, when there was a slight lull as they backed off and regrouped, Kite did the worst possible thing.
He revived Tempern.
"Sugar," was the first word out of his mouth, "don't worry, I'm here. I'll protect you. Just stand back and watch the master."
After they had finally beaten the monsters, they stood in the field just outside the entrance to the area dungeons.
"My beautiful Blackrose," Tempern began. "What do you say that after you watch me defeat these monsters, I hand the treasure over to your eager, waiting hands, and we go out for a cup of coffee in the real world or something?"
"Wh-what?" Blackrose stuttered, shocked.
"A date, sugar. We don't have to go for coffee, we could go out for pizza or something. Whatever you like, what do you say?"
Kite met Tempern as he walked the streets of Mac Anu. He was waiting out the short—but endless—period of time between Blackrose's agreement to quest with him and when she could actually log on. She'd said half-an-hour, it seemed like forever to him.
Tempern was talking with another player character. Though he looked big and strong, his flashy armor was clearly cheap and low-level. The player character was attempting to convince him to buy a bit of gossip for two-hundred GP. Kite heard something about a Twilight Bracelet.
"Don't do it," he said suddenly, breaking into their conversation—which should have been in Whisper Mode but wasn't. "He's just trying to scam you."
"What?!" the Heavy Blade shouted. "How dare you!" he turned on the other player character. "I should report you to CC Corp!"
The guy gave Kite a glare, then shook his head and walked off. He was lost in the crowded Mac Anu streets before the Heavy Blade turned to the much smaller Twin Blade.
"Thanks, dude," he said to Kite. "I can't believe that loser tried to scam me!"
"Don't worry about it," Kite told him, giving him a smile. "It happens a lot, you just have to know what to expect."
"You must be really high level, then!" the newbie continued. "I'm Tempern, a Heavy Blade."
"Kite," he replied.
"Hi! Do you want to exchange member addresses? I think that's what people are supposed to do when they meet. Can you help me? I want to get more levels so I'm stronger but I don't know where to go."
Kite hesitated. He'd told Blackrose he wanted to questing, just kick back and have fun in The World. But he also didn't want to let a newbie flounder. He remembered how hard he'd had it at the beginning. True, at first he'd had Orca to help him, then Blackrose (who'd also been a newbie but always seemed to know what to do when the time came), but there were always the problems of balancing the movement with the fighting with the human interactions and understanding the game play all at the same time.
Kite wanted Tempern to love the game and play it like Kite wanted to, so he agreed, saying that he was meeting a friend to go questing but she wouldn't mind.
Blackrose was just a friend… right?
When Blackrose met him by the canal, where they'd planned, she'd immediately greeted the new member with a wide smile. Leading them to the Chaos Gate, Kite missed the not-so-subtle flirting from Tempern.
Later, when Blackrose was standing behind Tempern with her mouth wide open and her blade still attached to her back, watching Tempern get himself killed, he'd been extremely confused. Why wasn't Blackrose helping the newbie?
As soon as the monsters stepped back long enough to let the duo have a moment's pause, Kite revived the dead Heavy Blade. After the fight, he wandered over to the two Heavy Blades. Though the same class, they both looked so different from each other. Tempern was decked head to toe in medieval-inspired clothes, covered by the shiny armor. His sword was attached to his hip, his hair was stubby short, and his thick body was covered in element waves. Blackrose was taller than Kite, yes, but quite a bit shorter than Tempern. She was slender and carried a sword the same heft as Tempern's on her back. She was barely clad in red and gold and her hair was a pale purple. Unlike the new player, who carried himself as unsure but arrogant, Blackrose walked and stood and talked like the experienced player she was. She was confident and strong, quick to action but well thought through.
"My beautiful Blackrose," Tempern said, puffing himself up. "What do you say after you watch me defeat these monsters, I hand the treasure over to your eager, waiting hands, and we go out for a cup of coffee in the real world or something?"
Kite was seeing red and missed Blackrose's response. Blackrose was his! Kite thought irrationally. Shaking his head and trying very hard to think clearly, Kite reasoned that if she saw this guy in real life, she'd have less time for The World—and him. Back to reason! She would have less time for questing—with him. And back and forth it went in his head, confusing him greatly because… Blackrose was just a friend… right?
"Wh-what?" Blackrose asked.
"A date, sugar,"—the guy had actually called strong, graceful Blackrose "Sugar"—"We don't have to go for coffee, we could go out for pizza or something. Whatever you like, what do you say?"
"No," Kite heard himself say. What? But he kept talking though his mind kept telling him to shut up: it was Blackrose's life and not his. He had no right to interfere, none at all. "She's busy. There's no way Blackrose has time to meet a stranger in the real world…"
He probably would have continued, making a complete fool of himself eventually, if Blackrose hadn't added her complete-and-total-agreement in fast, loud comments with hand-motions and nods. Blackrose never moved her hands when she talked, and she was almost always calm and controlled.
"Are you sure, sweetie?" Tempern asked, quieter, like a kicked puppy. He even had the same expression. "We can do it later, whenever you're free."
"Sorry," she replied, shrugging with exaggerated motions. She moved her hands out and back in. "I'm totally busy between school and sports and homework and projects and The World and stuff. I totally don't have any time."
"That's cool. I'll ask you later, maybe you'll be free then, honey. Don't worry, we'll have our date, sugar," he promised.
"No," Kite heard himself say. Again.
"Maybe," Blackrose said, giving a very forced smile. "Maybe."
For some reason, Tempern decided then that he had to leave, and logged out abruptly with an air kiss in Blackrose's direction and one last look up and down.
"Not," Blackrose muttered.
There was a long silent moment, uncomfortable until Blackrose let out a muffled snort. Kite joined in by laughing outright and Blackrose started crying she was laughing so hard.
"Can you believe that guy?!" Blackrose asked, still laughing sporadically.
The two of them gated out, arriving back at the Chaos Gate in Mac Anu. "Sorry about that," Kite apologized, "I didn't realize that he was going to act like that."
"Its fine, Kite," Blackrose said, laughing at the memory. "Thanks for helping me out of it."
"Why don't we find a different area and just do some questing? Just the two of us," Kite suggested.
YES! Blackrose screamed in her mind, then, calm and composed, she nodded, "Sure, sounds good." They turned back towards the rotating rings that were the Chaos Gate.
"Akira!" Blackrose heard lightly, coming from downstairs from where she sat with her FMD in front of the computer. "Akira! We have to leave! Hurry and get ready…"
"Come on…" Blackrose groaned. "Sorry, Kite," Blackrose said, turning to him. "My mom says we're leaving. I've got to go."
"That's cool, I'll see you tomorr—" he stopped, stunned, when Blackrose bent her head to give him a kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks again for the help, Kite, bye!" and she logged off, leaving Kite with one last view of her vanishing in a swirl of pixilated gold rings and a playful expression.
In the real world, Akira let out a light laugh. The tingly feeling she got when she thought of her partner in The World was nothing compared to a light kiss. Even a digital one. She jumped up to get ready to leave, her little brother stamping into the room with his arms and his eyes crossed, pouting, but her mind was filled with excitement for the thought of tomorrow and more questing with him.