Disclaimer: 1/2 Prince, no matter how amazing it is, will never belong to me. 8(TT^TT)8

Chapter 1: Choosing

"What is it?"

My eyes squinted down at the metallic helm. Its silver coating refracting a rainbow of light with every tilt. It let out a small squeak as my fingers rubbed against the pale blue visor.

"Oh, come on. Don't tell me you never heard of Second Life!" my friend gasped, ripping the shining helmet away from my hold. His eyes ecstatic with mock horror.

I stared back at him with incredulous eyes, watching him twist around with the helmet snuggled up against his shoulder. Was he actually cradling that thing?

His green eyes blinked up at me, noticing that I still held no interest for the "most magnificent gaming system man had ever created."

"It's Second Life!" he shouted, his eyes squinted in tears as his fist raised up to prove some extreme torment he was going through.

I just stared back.

"And...?"

For some reason, I think he was on the verge of crying.

"It's a freaking Virtual Life Game!"

Oh.

I knew that.

...

I think.

You see, I'm poor. Not the near-bankruptcy type of poor, but one that prefers to spend their limited money on more useful items, like food and...food. So things like Virtual Life Games are near meaningless to me.

I yanked the helmet off from him, mainly because his cuddling was starting to creep me out.

"Sheesh, if you wanted to give me a birthday present a simple jacket would've worked," I grumbled, my fingers squeaking against the visor.

He just deflated and went about moaning about a "poor, poor life." Who in the world was he referring to?

Noticing that my fingers left smears on the crisp blue of the visor, I turned my attention back onto the gleaming helmet.

"So how's it work-Gyah!"

My body slammed into the couch as my best friend sprung up with huge enthusiasm. His eyes gaining a wild gleam as he pinned me against the couch with his weight.

"Oh you'll see. You'll seEEeee!" he laughed manically, jamming the helm onto me.

My eyes widened, "Wai-"

BEEP.

The world turned black, indicating that either I had suddenly lost my ability to see, or that my "friend" had started the game helm for me.

I stood there. Or was I sitting there? No, I was lying down right? I don't know. All I see is darkness.

Whhrrrr.

I jumped at the sudden sound. What was that? My head swerved left and right, my eyes peering desperately through the uncanny darkness.

Blick.

"GAH!" I screamed, the sudden bright lighting suddenly stabbing themselves into my retina. Suddenly, I heard a giggle behind me.

What I saw would forever torment the dreams of my grandchildren.

"Oh, sorry there little girl," a man of about thirty giggled. I shivered as he winked and blew a kiss at me. He was wearing a shirt of bright, clashing colors, outfitted with pants that emphasized his ungodly round bottom, while the ends of his sleeves and the trim of his shirt were covered in a mountain of frills.

I felt a shiver run up my spine as I tried my best to be polite in my reply when he started to pucker his huge, red lips and wiggle his bouncing round bottom.

"Let me kiss your pain away~!"

I had to scream.

"Gyaaa-aah! NO!" I shouted, taking a few steps away from the man. My eyes widened when I suddenly noticed my rudeness, "I-I mean, my reaction of what you though of as pain was actually just a natural reflex when one's lighting changes drastically."

His purple eyes suddenly widened with a mysterious glint in them.

"Let me kiss you anyways~!" he cried jovially, going so far as to open his arms to engulf me in with his happiness.

This time I ran.

"N-no thank you sir!" I shouted while also pleading to the gods above that he won't start blowing kisses at me.

"Ah! Don't call me 'sir', little girl, call me Madame," he pouted at me, his thick mustache jutting out over his upper lip. This made me stop my running away towards the ends of the gaming system.

He wagged his finger at me in a condescending manner while also giving a mischievous little wink, "Besides, even if you run from me, you will never get far~"

Then, he gave a huff, twirling that thick mustache of his over his smirk, "So, let's start the scan~"

Hair rose on my neck as I felt a sudden beam of light wash over me. My muscles tense in anticipation as I found that I was temporarily unable to move. What the heck was this light for?

Ping!

"Done!" the man, I mean, Madame, cried. He then swiveled in his levitating chair and pointed towards a huge mass of creatures that suddenly appeared below him. His purple eyes glanced over at me, "So~?"

I stared back at him, "So what?"

He sighed, shaking his head back and forth in a manner that irritated me, "Oh dear. Are you, perhaps, a newbie, little girl?"

I took a step back from him, quirking an eyebrow, "Pardon?"

"Yes, you are a total noob to not even know what 'newbie' means."

I got flustered at his comment, "What! Of course I know what the word means. A newbie is the term given to the inexperienced soldiers of the Vietnam War from the years 1955-1975. At least, according to what I have read in my History textbook. The main fight may have been between the Northern and Southern Vietnamese, however the Americans had intervened to prevent the national scare of the "Domino Theory." The so-called "Domino Theory" had been about the effect of countries becoming commu-"

"Muuu~" Madame whimpered, interrupting my reiteration of my history textbook. "Why am I always stuck with the weird girls? I want a robust, young man!" he wailed, dramatic trails of tears flowing freely down his make-up.

My mouth became unhinged at that comment.

...Really?

I shook my head, this is all too much. "Never mind. All I want to know is how to get out of here."

I want this weird dohickey contraption outta my head! Jatien, that idiot of a friend, may say that Second Life was terrific, splendorous, wonderful, addictive, just plain awesome- especially right after its huge update, but all I'm getting out of this game are weird vibes telling me to get away from here as fast as I could. It didn't really help that the first person I met once the game helm started was a guy in his thirties that had heavy makeup, a huge mustache and a bouncing round bottom.

He looked at me oddly, "Goodness, we haven't created your character yet and you're leaving?"

Character?

Why do I need to make a character?

I tilted my head in confusion, "What do you mean 'create'? Don't we just go in like this?" I spread my arms out, emphasizing my choppy wool jacket and ripped pants.

He looked down at me.

"No."

Suddenly, he snapped his fingers. I jumped as three of the creatures who were originally under his levitating thingy quickly disappeared and reappeared in a shimmer in front of me.

Nothing could explain my shock. "Gah-eck?"

"Now," he said, interrupting my garbled speech, "These three are the most popularly chosen characters. The human, the elf, and the beast,"

My eyes stared down the three, who also stared down at me. Then I noticed their appearance. The one in front was a complete carbon-copy of me, from the ragged black hair, to the dull gray eyes, to even the little quirk of the left eyebrow. The one to my left was similar, in that the black hair now had a silken sheen and the dull gray eyes now had a fierce light in them. Oh, it also had some pointy ears.

I grimaced at the one to the right. It was ugly and hairy. No further explanation is needed except it looked just like me and not like me. Talk about being a bit disturbed.

I coughed into my fist, trying to ignore these "clones."

"Why do they look like me?"

"Because little girl!" the man swooned, his hand waving dramatically in the air and his mustache shining with vigor "Second Life is a game that boasts their 99% realism! We literally make it your second life!"

I shook my head in a daze, still a bit confused. Why would I want to live another life? Real life is troublesome enough as it is. Why add another one? Then I noticed the other 'characters' behind these three, I pointed at them. "What about those others?

He looked down at them, his mustache deflating a little, "Ah, well, if you don't like these three, I guess there are these other characters left."

The human, elf, and beast suddenly swooshed back among the crowd. My gray eyes widened.

Goodness there was so many characters within that crowd. How the heck does a person choose?

I started toward the group, nodding a little as they made a bit of a path for me. My mouth gaped open a little as I stared at all the odd creations. There were some with wings, horns, tails. There were some that didn't even have a humanoid appearance. Honestly, why did they put so much variety? I glanced back at the human, elf, and beast, my frugal personality popping up. Those three would've sufficed.

Sploosh.

Eh?

I looked down to see that I had accidentally stepped into a puddle of water. Disgusted by the oddly slimy feel, I quickly pulled my bare foot away from the curiously blue puddle, "Geh! Why's there a puddle of water?"

"Hm?" Madame zoomed down toward me in his levitating device, his leather gloved fingers twirling his mustache, "That's a character you are able to choose."

I stared at him.

"Really? A puddle of water?"

He shrugged, "I wasn't in charge of the designs of this game."

I stared down at it, "How often is the puddle of water chosen to be a character?"

He struck a thinking pose that consisted of jutting out his lower lip and sticking out his already inflated bottom, before he pushed down a few buttons, "According to the most recent data of our company, we have a total of 17 people out of the entire Second Life players who chose 'the puddle of water' character."

I watched him patiently, well not really patiently as he started to make that pose again. Please, please, PLEASE stop that wiggling! It made me feel as if centipedes were crawling all over my body.

He pressed a few more buttons, "Of those 17, only three had continued playing as 'the puddle of water' character. The others had either quit the game, or had made a special request with the company to change their character."

I stared down at the blue puddle.

It did nothing.

Hm.

I guess I can see why this puddle of water is not that popular.

I pointed down at it, "I'm going to choose this one."

Madame blanched, "What! Why?"

I shrugged, scratching the back of my head sheepishly, "I dunno, I guess I feel pity for it."

Madame shook his head warningly, "Make your decision wisely little girl, you can only choose your character once, and when you make your decision, it's final."

I looked back up at him. When did he start sounding so serious? Wasn't he originally a dork with heavy makeup and a huge mustache?

...

Well, he still had the heavy makeup and the huge mustache, but his personality had taken a complete 180 degree.

Ignoring the fuzzy quirk that made me feel as if thousands of beetles were crawling under my skin, I glanced back down at the little splotch of water.

"Yes I want to be a puddle."

The guy sighed, "Very well. It's my job to follow through the customer's wishes..."

I watched him press a few buttons on his floating key board, when suddenly, I felt a huge pull on my stomach. It felt as if I had gotten onto one of those rides at the amusement park three years ago when Jatien had urged me to take at least one ride with him.

Then, the feeling stopped. And I felt a hell of a lot shorter.

"What happUned?" I blurped.

Madame looked down at me in a worried glance, his bright red lips pouting in a worried form, "I wanted to let you feel how it is to be 'the puddle of water' character. To let you know what your getting into."

Oh, this again.

I shrugged, well at least I think I shrugged. Hard to tell when you don't even know if you have shoulders in the first place, "It'll be a fine experience."

How bad could this be?

He sighed in exasperation, "Very well, what is your name then?"

I swiveled my liquidy body towards him, "Eh?"

"You need a Username, little girl~" he giggled.

Ah, he was back to his usual dorky, make-up plus mustache, self.

However relieved I was about that little fact(which was not much), I swooshed my aqueous self in concentration. I was never really good at making up names.

"How about 'Xiao Shui'(1)?"

"Oh you need to think up of something better than that honey," he sighed dramatically, "Besides, it's already taken~"

"Bing Cuai(2)?"

"Try again~"

"Sha Yu(3)?"

He looked down at me, "You really have no originality, do you little girl?"

I swirled around in exasperation, "Gah! I cUn't think Uf any!"

"How about Sha Xue(4)?" he recommended offhandedly.

I looked up at him. Snowfall? That's a nice enough name.

"Sure let gU with that!"

He pressed a button, and suddenly I had that stomach pulling motion on me again. If I had been looking at the guy though, I would've noticed a little smirk on his face.

I opened my eyes to see a very blue sky and a very green forest. Where the heck was I?

My eyes (if I even had any) stared down at my blue body.

Huh.

I was in a sort of bowl that had smooth ceramic walls painted in a lovely ivory color.

Swirling my body around in that white container, I discovered one thing that increased my worry a little.

I couldn't get the heck out of the damn bowl.

Ping!

System Notice! For Newbies like you, say "System" to view your statistics!

Ew. What an irritating voice.

I took a deep breath. Well, I've got nothing to loose and something to do.

"System!" I shouted in my watery blurb.

Instantly a huge transparent board came into my view. I felt my eyes bulge at only one thing. My level, my agility, my physique, my intelligence, my everything else was ignored. Even the blue blob in the picture frame that was supposedly me. However-

'Sha Xue', my name. It was not written 'Snowfall', but rather 'Bloodfall'.

I lay there dumbfounded in my little bowl.

"The stupid Madame got my name wrong!"

I swirled around in my little bowl angrily. Swriling and whirling, and whooshing and zooming.

I kept swirling around in that ferocious velocity until I heard that irritating 'ping!' again.

System Notice! Bloodfall has now learned 'Raging Rush' and had earned a +2 in Agility!

...

My jaw(let's assume I have one) dropped at the stupidity of it. I had earned something just by swirling around in a ceramic bowl?

Huffing, I slowed my rampaging demeanor, stopping to a still. I was beginning to regret my decision a little.

I was stuck in a bowl.

I was stuck in a bowl, and I couldn't get out.

I grumbled in slight annoyance.

What a fun way to start a game.

A/N:

For those of you who don't know:

(1) Xiao Shui means 'Little Water'

(2) Bing Cuai means 'Ice Cube'

(3) Sha Yu means 'Rainfall'

(4) This is where it get a little complicated. In Chinese, sounds and syllables are repeated for many different words. 'Sha' means 'fall', so that part was simple enough. However, in Chinese both 'snow' and 'blood' are pronounced in the same way-'Xue'

So, 'Sha Xue' can mean either Snowfall or 'Blood' fall.

Anywho, I think I'm going to continue calling my character Bloodfall, no matter how weird it is. Once you've read the entire story, her name would be the least weirdest thing you find. ;P

For the little help in pronunciation:

Sha-(Same as it sounds)

Xue-(Shu-eh)