Disclaimer – I own nothing recognisable. Mithdarion is mine. Nothing for Lord of the Rings or any other random I may mention is mine and I make no profit from the writing of my stories.
PALE MOON RISING
Chapter One - Programming
"Next!" Called Kylie, opening a new spread sheet on the computer. She looked up to see a young woman slip into her office, a folder clasped in her hands. "Take a seat," Kylie said politely. She studied the woman, mildly impressed. This didn't look like the usual air-headed teenage fan-girl she dealt with most of the day. This young woman was dressed neatly in pressed pin-stripe trousers and matching jacket with a v-necked shirt and her shoulder length bob a natural warm brown. Nothing about her screamed 'pay-attention-to-me'. As the woman sat down she placed the folder on the desk and smiled somewhat shyly.
"Hello," she said with a light English accent.
"Hello," Kylie replied, flashing her own teeth in a smile considerably more real than the grimace she had bestowed on the blathering sixteen year old that had been her last client. "My name is Kylie and I will be your Guide for your Game." Kylie returned her attention to her computer screen, continuing, "I'll start off with the basics, things we need to know to set up monitoring parameters, okay?"
"Sure, that's fine," the woman agreed.
"Right then… your full name please, your real name, not your character's name."
"My name is Sam Erica Tarion," the woman said easily. Kylie nodded and typed on her keyboard.
"Birth date?"
"Seventh of August, 1986."
"Height and Weight?"
"Seventy kilos, one hundred and seventy-two centimetres."
"Hair and eye colour?"
"Medium brown and sort of blue-green-grey-hazel." Kylie paused and glanced up in disbelief.
"Don't tell me your eye colour changes with your mood…"
"Oh, no," Sam laughed. "Or at least, no more so than is normal. My eyes are just a sort of muddy mix of everything. Hazel's good enough, if you'd prefer." Kylie leaned forwards, staring into the woman's eyes. Sam leaned forward in response and removed the square rimmed glasses over her nose.
"Hmm," Kylie said in interest. "You're right. They could be called any colour." She tapped the desk, then shrugged. "Hazel it is. Right… next, any major health issues we need to be aware of?"
"Poor eyesight, weird hearing and an artificial scaphoid bone, the result of a rather nasty horse ridding accident when I was twelve."
"Really?" Kylie asked. "Well, that's nothing to worry about. Certainly not serious enough to disallow your Game. Compensation for your lower senses is easily done in cyber." There was a moment of quiet as Kylie finished typing then she looked up and smiled again. "And now the interesting stuff. Character building. First thing's first, full name, its meaning and any alternative names."
"Mithdarion." Sam said, neither pride nor hesitancy in her voice. "It means Pale-Moon-Rising. She sounded comfortable with the name, the soft vowels rolling off her tongue. Kylie nodded and said,
"Spell it for me, please." Sam did so. "Right, female I assume?"
"No, Mithdarion is male." Kylie's fingers slipped and she had to delete a line of gibberish off her screen.
"Your character is male?"
"Is that going to be a problem?" Sam asked worriedly.
"Oh, no, no," Kylie reassured. "Its just… very rare. But good. Yes, the programmers will love you for it. They so rarely get to design male parameters. Any alternative names?"
"He is also know as Daemond, in the Westron tongue. It means Blue-Robe."
"What species is Mithdarion then?"
"His mother is Noldor and his father Maier."
"Ah, a more common selection there," Kylie said laughingly thinking of all the GodessMary-Sues she'd set up in the past.
"I… have a family tree…" Sam began, reaching out to pick up her folder and blushing faintly.
"Really?" Kylie asked, pleased at the time-saver this woman had just offered her. "That's fantastic. May I?" Sam willingly handed her a single sheet of paper from the folder. Kylie looked it over, making note of all the beautifully well-researched dates and bloodlines drawn in blue and green ink. One name, near the centre, was written in deep purple. Mithdarion, son of Mithrandir and Diathain. Diathain, it seemed, was the younger sister of Galadriel, connecting Mithdarion to a number of powerful, canonically influential characters. "This is wonderfully done," Kylie praised. "So few people really know what they are getting into by entering a Game, but I can see you have put a great deal of thought into this."
"I am an author," the woman said in some form of explanation. "I am used to knowing the complete background and pysci of my characters."
"An author?" Kylie asked curiously. She was about to go on to ask what the woman had written, but one glance at the clock on her screen stopped her. "That's great, it'll make the Game more realistic for you. But, on with the questions. Appearance. For a mostly elven male, there are some set characteristics…" She paused as Sam took more sheets of paper from her folder. Kylie accepted them. The first was a set of head shots, front, side and back, of a grey-haired male elf. The images were in full colour and showed every detail of face, hair and ears, even to the tiniest speckle of blue in the wide elven eyes. Fascinated despite her experience with such things, Kylie flicked through the rest of the pages. One was of the character, completely, unashamedly naked in complete rotation. Kylie didn't know what she was more drawn to linger over, the character's impressive yet not ridiculous genitals, or the intricate flowering vine tattooed down his back and left leg. Another page had close ups of the tattoo, another of a few pieces of jewellery. The last few pages were a description of the character's preferred clothing including illustrations.
Across the desk, Sam shifted uneasily over Kylie's intense study of her drawings.
"Urm," she started. "I have information on his weaponry and other important belongings too. His pack and such… is that alright?"
"Huh?" Kylie asked, dragging herself away from the image of the naked elf.
"I wasn't sure how much of my interpretative detail could be incorporated into the Game, so I just wrote down everything," Sam explained, a hint of embarrassment creeping into her voice.
"Oh!" Kylie exclaimed. "No! No, this is brilliant! Everything you've got here can be used, that's not a problem. No, I was just thinking that if you were looking for a job after you get out, the programmers here would snatch you up in a second." Sam blushed, her mouth tilting up in pleasure even as she turned pink from awkwardness. Kylie moved on, not wanting her client to feel so uncomfortable. "Well then," she said, taking the rest of the papers from the folder and looking them over. "It seems the only things I have to ask you now are what ability programs you'll need. The first three are included in the price of the Game package, but after that I'm afraid they cost extra."
"I know," Sam said, feeling more comfortable now that they were back on business. "I've worked out which programs I'll need…" she took back on of the pieces of paper that only contained words. "For the three ones covered, I would like all three levels of 'War Crafts, specialising in staff, long-sword and short-bow. Then in addition I would please like 'Ranger Basics', 'Middle Earth Languages', including Westron, Quenya, Twengwi fluently and basic Dwarfish phrases, 'Advanced Hunting/Scouting', 'Elven Minstrel' with the pan-pipes as my instrument, 'Elven Dances', 'Healer Basics' and also the full programs needed for a well travelled Loth Lorien Noldor elf, which I believe is made up of four programs. In total, I would like thirteen programs, three of which are covered and nine of which should be added to my account."
Kylie barely looked up from her typing as Sam listed her programs, nodding now and then to show she was keeping up.
"Right. Okay. All that's left then would be any important relationship details. Not already given in here," Kylie waved towards the folder now repacked with its papers.
"Such as?" Sam asked, unsure of what the Guide meant.
"Well, such as here." Kylie tapped the line on the family tree linking Mithdarion to Haldir "Your family tree has you character 'bonded' with Haldir O'Lorien. Is this a standing relationship, or does the romance occur during the Game?"
"Oh, I see. No, the relationship is a long-standing bond of many centauries. There is some, I don't know… 'action' I suppose… in regards to the relationship during times when the characters are in proximity, but the affection is in no way 'new' and time has made the expected changes to their interactions."
"Okay," Kylie said, deeply impressed that this woman's ideal Game contained a stable relationship rather than a girlish whirlwind romance. She tapped at her keyboard for a while, checking that everything was in order. She scanned the sheets into the data bank and sent them off to the programmers, who quickly sent back emails of excitement and pleading requests to meet the young woman who had created the character they had nicknamed 'The Blue Istari'. Kylie grinned and ignored their pleas in favour of saying to Sam,
"You are going to have one of the best Games this place has ever done. The programmers are already intent on complicating the basic storyline to give your character the opportunity to really thrive. Plus, since you've done all their dull-basics work, they get to play with the storyline and add extra, unique events in for you."
"Fantastic," Sam replied, straightening in her chair in excitement. "I look forward to it."
"Well, it usually takes a week or two to prepare a full emulsion Game like this," Kylie began with Sam nodding in understanding. "For you though, three days? Maybe four at most, if the programmers get carried away." Kylie laughed at Sam's elated expression. "Like I said, you've made quite the reputation here already. I've no doubt that when you come in to be hooked up a whole bunch of programming nerds are going to be vying for your attention."
"Oh dear," Sam said, her tone clearly conveying her amusement at the idea.
"Indeed," Kylie replied, smirking. "Anything else you want to know? Any questions about the process?"
"Not right now," Sam said easily. "I researched the whole thing deeply before I made the decision to come here. The only thing I was wondering about is the 'emergency-exit' thing. I was told that I could have it linked up to the pendant my character wears?"
"That's right," Kylie answered. She flipped through the sheet on her desk until she found the one with the jewellery on it. "Is this the one you want linked?" She asked, pointing to a pentagram etched onto a disc shaped mithril pendant.
"Yes, that's the one," Sam replied.
"I'll make sure the programmers know," Kylie said, slipping the sheet back into the folder. "Everything will be done exactly to your specifications, Ms Tarion. With added dedication no doubt."
"Wonderful, I'm most grateful for all of your efforts," said Sam.
"Right. It's a pleasure. Until next time," Kylie said, standing and gesturing to the door. Sam rose to her feet and shook the Guide's hand.
"Thankyou, Kylie. Goodbye."
"Goodbye," Kylie replied, waving as her client disappeared down the corridor to the reception. "Next!"
A/N: This is the first thing I have ever posted and it is unbeta'd. I need a beta, if anybody reads this and likes it enough to volunteer. Please review. Constructive comments are joyously welcomed.