Hey Everybody!!!! I'm sooooooooo sorry that it took me soooooo long to
update. It's been two weeks! I never realized how little free time I have!
Oh well, I'll try to update faster next time, I promise.
Okay, so I didn't get all the reviews I wanted, but I did get a few and some people just emailed me instead, which is enough for me. So I'll keep my promise anyway, here's chapter 2; 'A Wolf's Persuasion.' It's at least twice as long as the last one. First, though, I have to get some stuff out of the way. I want to thank some of my reviewers;.
Mystical Wolf- THANKIES! ( I'm sooo glad you enjoyed my story so much! I think I'll use your suggestion for Eriol's name, and I promise I'll get this updated as soon as possible. Sorry for the wait.
Starlit914 - Thanks for the review, I'll keep that smile plastered on my face for as long as I can, hehe. Oh, and 'R+R' just means 'read and review'. I was just asking people to please read the story and then review it.
Star () - Thanks for all of those suggestions! I loved your names for Mei Lin. Your support means so much to me, thanks for taking the time to review.
Oh, and something I forgot to mention; in Ch'ien, there are three oracles (they'll be mentioned later) who choose every players' username based on their personality. I'll explain it in a later chapter. Every chapter I'll be asking for suggestions for usernames for certain characters, so just think of usernames that will reflect their innermost personality. Some of them are very vague, though.
In case anyone has noticed, I'm having trouble with the html codes on this site, so any help would be VERY welcome. I can't seem to do specific actions like italics, etc. I know there are html codes for it, but I can't find them. Please help!
Just for disclaimer purposes, if someone happens to have a pen name that is the same as one of my character's usernames, and they have a problem with it, just email me at lightwings456@hotmail.com and I'll change it. Oh, speaking of the disclaimer, I don't own any of the CCS characters, and some ideas from this story were inspired by .Hack//Sign and Everquest. Well, actually, just .Hack//Sign, but my friend thought I should put Everquest in there. I've actually never played it, so I wouldn't know if it's like my story at all! I guess I'll just have to trust her.. Email me if any of you guys have ideas that you want put in the story, I welcome plot ideas, believe me. Anyways, here's the second chapter of 'Real Love is Just a Dream'; *A Wolf's Persuasion.*
Chapter 2; A Wolf's Persuasion;
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY INTERVIEW WAS CANCELLED??!!" the tall, unwittingly handsome nineteen year old with unruly hair yelled savagely at the cowering girl in front of him. "Well, I just thought, that, um.maybe." the girl's ruby-colored eyes looked up at Syaoran pleadingly.
"Well what?!!" he growled.
The black-haired girl straightened up, seeming to recover her courage again. Her long hair was pulled back into two buns at either side of her head, stretching down to her black halter top and scarlet mini-skirt, topped off by a pair of Chinese earrings and a black belt to match her long, black leather boots. She clenched her fists at her sides and looked directly into those deep, amber eyes, now dancing with anger. She glared fiercely at him, imitating the traditional Li glare that ran in his family.
"I THOUGHT WE COULD GO OUT TO LUNCH!!! Is that too much to ask!? I am your fiancé, damn it! You never talk to me about anything! We never even go out! How are we supposed to get married if we don't even know each other!!??" she yelled.
Syaoran leaned forward across the mahogany desk between them, settling his weight on his fists on the edge of it. He put his face directly in front of her and growled;
"I wanted nothing to do with this marriage in the first place!!! This was all my mother's doing, and I never wanted to get married to you in the first place! That interview would have added Sutan Co. as a partner to our corporation! Do you know how much money was in that contract?! Do you know how hard it'll be to get them to reschedule?!" his voice slowly rose until he was screaming at his cousin.
Mei Lin's courage slipped through her fingers once again as tears slid down her cheeks, smearing her mascara.
Syaoran sighed and unclenched his fists. He never could stand to see a girl cry. He ran his hand through his chocolate brown hair and tried to mutter an apology,.
"Mei Lin, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lash out at you."
Mei Lin abruptly lifted her head, a vicious glower on her usually cheery face. "WELL YOU DID!!! I just wanted to spend time with you.AND YOU DON'T EVEN WANT TO MARRY ME!!" she screamed. The tears stopped as suddenly as they had started, and a suspicious glare replaced the look on her face. She crossed her arms over her chest.
"Is there something wrong with me?! Or are you in love with someone else!?? Ah Ha! I bet that's it!!! I bet you've found some other girl and you think she's better than me! I'll show you! Where is the little slut, huh? HUH?!"
Syaoran rolled his eyes exasperatedly as Mei Lin continued to ramble on about the things she was going to do to his supposed 'other girlfriend'. The oracles hadn't named her Ruby Tora for nothing. (AN: 'tora' means 'tiger' in Japanese). He immediately corrected himself. 'What am I thinking? The oracles have no idea what they're talking about; it's all a stupid ploy to get people to join their stupid Ch'ien.' He mumbled, reminding himself of his opinion of the widely-used escape from reality.
Ch'ien had been invented in the early 21st century, when a nuclear war destroyed much of the world, and much of the Earth's beauty had been compromised. People were forced to move into large bio domes to protect themselves from the harsh air, clogged with smoke and sulfur. A woman only known as Rayn created a virtual world that imitated the Earth the way it had been before, as well as adding quests and dungeons; palaces and prophets; and just about every figment of a person's imagination. There were many people who rarely came out of Ch'ien, but there were also many people who believed it to be a place of false hope, and that nothing good could come of using it. Syaoran was one of those people. Throughout his entire childhood, he'd refused countless invitations from classmates to join them in the computer-generated shadow of mankind's past. He'd only been inside of it once, in fact. All he remembered was being taken there when he was very little, by his mother, and meeting a beautiful woman in white. His mother had told him she was an Angel of the Light, whatever that meant. All he really remembered was the woman's eyes; pale, unblinking jasper eyes. (*AN: Jasper is a kind of mineral with a dark red and orange color to it, much like the flames of a fire.) Those eyes had haunted him for days after the incident. He still wasn't quite sure why he'd been brought to the Jasper woman, and every time he brought it up to his mother, Yelan Li, she promptly changed the subject.
Syaoran shook his head, banishing the jasper woman and the memories that had been brought along with her out of his head, and instead concentrating on the black-haired girl in front of him who looked as if she was about to beat the crap out of his sofa.
"Mei Lin, calm down. I'm not dating anyone else, I swear, alright?! Stop babbling, I need you to go and reschedule that meeting that YOU cancelled, remember?! And get it done quickly, I have to go downtown to meet with a client of mine." He admonished while stepping between his cousin and his very expensive leather couch.
Mei Lin stopped glaring for a few seconds, letting a look of profound relief and happiness replace it. She spent a few moments catching her breath from yelling, before exclaiming, "I knew you weren't dating anyone! You would never do something like that to me, I knew I was right to have faith in you!" she chirped happily. Her eyes narrowed slightly and a triumphant grin slid across her face.
"Does this mean we can go out to lunch now?" she pleaded.
Syaoran scowled. "I never said anything about going out to lunch with you, and you know it" he replied curtly.
Mei Lin pouted. "Ah, come on Syaoran, don't make me complain to Yelan again, I hate it when I have to blackmail you into coming" she said, trying her best to keep a straight face. Syaoran turned back. His eyes narrowed dangerously.
"You wouldn't."
"Try me" The triumphant grin returned to her face.
Syaoran cursed. His mother hated it when he neglected Mei Lin. After all, she was the one who had set it up. Normally, a threat like the one his cousin just made wouldn't affect him, except for the fact that his mother owned the LI Corporation, and was now deciding between passing the business down to him, or leaving it in the capable hands of his older sisters. If his mother thought he was neglecting his duties as heir to the Li clan by skirting his obligations to his fiancé, he'd never get the business.
Syaoran reluctantly relented. "Fine, I'll go out to lunch with you, but I HAVE to get back in at least one hour, alright? That is unless you plan on canceling ALL of my appointments for the day," he said sarcastically.
Mei Lin flashed him a signature tiger grin, clasping her hands behind her back. "I knew you'd say yes. I've got it all planned out; it's going to be great. There's this great place I know of in Ch'ien."
Syaoran whirled on her, cutting her short. "no, No, NO! We're not going into Ch'ien, and that's final! Mei Lin," he warned, "you know how much I hate that place, there's no way I'm going in there just for lunch!"
Mei Lin placed her hands on her hips, casting him a skeptical smile. "Since when has the great Syaoran Li, heir to the Li clan and the LI Corporation, accomplished swordsman of the Hiramekki style, been such a coward?!" she asked.
Syaoran grunted. "I'm no coward. Ch'ien is just a false reality for the weak who haven't accepted that our old Earth is gone. Only the bio domes exist now, and anyone who can't accept that is a true coward."
Mei Lin sighed exasperatedly. "Oh come on Syaoran! Just about everybody has a username these days. If I had to, I'd say you're the one whose living in the past! You just keep sticking to this dying Earth. Face reality, Syaoran, the world we live in now isn't what it used to be! Stop being so stubborn and at least see what Ch'ien is about. I can't believe how narrow- minded you're being!"
Syaoran opened his mouth to argue, but stopped himself. Who was he kidding? He was never going to convince his cousin, or most of humanity, for that matter, that Ch'ien was just an attempt to relive history. He sighed. He had been called a coward for most of his life because of his stubborn resistance to the glamour of the virtual world. He was sick of it. What harm could one hour do? He glanced skeptically at the two Ch'ien collars on Mei Lin's desk. If it would get Mei Lin to stop calling him a coward, maybe it was worth it.. After a few moments of thinking, Syaoran looked back up. Mei Lin was still standing resolutely in front of him, her hands on her hips and her eyes narrowed. Syaoran imitated her and narrowed his eyes.
"If I go in this one time, will you stop bugging me about Ch'ien, and stop calling me a coward? Will you tell everyone else that I did go in, and that I still think it's a false hope to humanity?"
Mei Lin's eyes lit up, but her solemn expression stayed when she saw the seriousness in Syaoran's face. She nodded. "Of course, I promise. Does that mean you'll do it?" she asked, hardly daring to hope.
Syaoran glanced at the two collars on her desk. He crossed his arms over his hunter green shirt. "Fine, I'll go into Ch'ien"
Mei Lin squealed happily. "I knew I could convince you! You'll see Syaoran, you'll like Ch'ien, just trust me."
Syaoran grunted unbelievingly. He highly doubted that. He reluctantly watched as Mei Lin slipped over to her desk and swooped the two collars up into her arms. She trotted back over to him, holding out one of the shiny, unadorned silver collars. He glanced at her suspiciously before hesitantly taking the collar from her.
"All you have to do is snap it around your neck, like this," she paused to demonstrate, sliding the collar around her neck and snapping it shut in the back, "then, to enter into Ch'ien, you must clear your mind, and picture the collar in your mind. Usually, when you concentrate on your collar, it automatically recognizes you and all you have to do is think of Ch'ien. All players start out in different areas. Since your collar is new, it doesn't know you, so you'll see three figures when you picture the collar in your mind. Those are the oracles; they'll give you a username and assign your collar to you. Then, just picture a little Italian café with the name 'La pajara', and that's where I'll meet you, okay?"
Syaoran started to regret agreeing to this, but before he could object, Mei Lin had already sat onto the couch next to him, closed her eyes, and had been transported to the world he had always hated. He sighed. 'Well, here goes nothing' he thought, clearing his mind and picturing the shiny, steel collar around his neck. A void of darkness enveloped him, the feeling of falling through space dominating his mind. Finally, he thought he had spotted three figures in the distance. They slowly became clearer as he moved closer, even though he couldn't feel himself moving at all. He noticed that the three figures were women, all in matching robes, sitting on three large cushions floating in the air. They each opened their opalescent eyes and stared at him for what seemed like hours. Finally, the one in the middle closed her eyes again, her light, ethereal voice echoing around him.
"This one is hereby and forever, the Little Wolf" Darkness enveloped Syaoran once again.
......
What'd y'all think? PLEASE REVIEW! I live off of your reviews! I told you this chapter would be a lot longer. Oh, yeah, here's my assignment for all of you reviewers for this chapter; I need usernames for these characters:
Touya
Yukito
Naoko
Chiharu
Also, if somebody could email me or review me the names of Syaoran's older sisters, I'd be eternally grateful. I can never remember their names!
So, that's it for Chapter 2. I'll try to update at least once a week, but I can't promise anything. Thanks for your support, Ja Ne!
Upcoming chapter; Hanami Of My Heart.
Okay, so I didn't get all the reviews I wanted, but I did get a few and some people just emailed me instead, which is enough for me. So I'll keep my promise anyway, here's chapter 2; 'A Wolf's Persuasion.' It's at least twice as long as the last one. First, though, I have to get some stuff out of the way. I want to thank some of my reviewers;.
Mystical Wolf- THANKIES! ( I'm sooo glad you enjoyed my story so much! I think I'll use your suggestion for Eriol's name, and I promise I'll get this updated as soon as possible. Sorry for the wait.
Starlit914 - Thanks for the review, I'll keep that smile plastered on my face for as long as I can, hehe. Oh, and 'R+R' just means 'read and review'. I was just asking people to please read the story and then review it.
Star () - Thanks for all of those suggestions! I loved your names for Mei Lin. Your support means so much to me, thanks for taking the time to review.
Oh, and something I forgot to mention; in Ch'ien, there are three oracles (they'll be mentioned later) who choose every players' username based on their personality. I'll explain it in a later chapter. Every chapter I'll be asking for suggestions for usernames for certain characters, so just think of usernames that will reflect their innermost personality. Some of them are very vague, though.
In case anyone has noticed, I'm having trouble with the html codes on this site, so any help would be VERY welcome. I can't seem to do specific actions like italics, etc. I know there are html codes for it, but I can't find them. Please help!
Just for disclaimer purposes, if someone happens to have a pen name that is the same as one of my character's usernames, and they have a problem with it, just email me at lightwings456@hotmail.com and I'll change it. Oh, speaking of the disclaimer, I don't own any of the CCS characters, and some ideas from this story were inspired by .Hack//Sign and Everquest. Well, actually, just .Hack//Sign, but my friend thought I should put Everquest in there. I've actually never played it, so I wouldn't know if it's like my story at all! I guess I'll just have to trust her.. Email me if any of you guys have ideas that you want put in the story, I welcome plot ideas, believe me. Anyways, here's the second chapter of 'Real Love is Just a Dream'; *A Wolf's Persuasion.*
Chapter 2; A Wolf's Persuasion;
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY INTERVIEW WAS CANCELLED??!!" the tall, unwittingly handsome nineteen year old with unruly hair yelled savagely at the cowering girl in front of him. "Well, I just thought, that, um.maybe." the girl's ruby-colored eyes looked up at Syaoran pleadingly.
"Well what?!!" he growled.
The black-haired girl straightened up, seeming to recover her courage again. Her long hair was pulled back into two buns at either side of her head, stretching down to her black halter top and scarlet mini-skirt, topped off by a pair of Chinese earrings and a black belt to match her long, black leather boots. She clenched her fists at her sides and looked directly into those deep, amber eyes, now dancing with anger. She glared fiercely at him, imitating the traditional Li glare that ran in his family.
"I THOUGHT WE COULD GO OUT TO LUNCH!!! Is that too much to ask!? I am your fiancé, damn it! You never talk to me about anything! We never even go out! How are we supposed to get married if we don't even know each other!!??" she yelled.
Syaoran leaned forward across the mahogany desk between them, settling his weight on his fists on the edge of it. He put his face directly in front of her and growled;
"I wanted nothing to do with this marriage in the first place!!! This was all my mother's doing, and I never wanted to get married to you in the first place! That interview would have added Sutan Co. as a partner to our corporation! Do you know how much money was in that contract?! Do you know how hard it'll be to get them to reschedule?!" his voice slowly rose until he was screaming at his cousin.
Mei Lin's courage slipped through her fingers once again as tears slid down her cheeks, smearing her mascara.
Syaoran sighed and unclenched his fists. He never could stand to see a girl cry. He ran his hand through his chocolate brown hair and tried to mutter an apology,.
"Mei Lin, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lash out at you."
Mei Lin abruptly lifted her head, a vicious glower on her usually cheery face. "WELL YOU DID!!! I just wanted to spend time with you.AND YOU DON'T EVEN WANT TO MARRY ME!!" she screamed. The tears stopped as suddenly as they had started, and a suspicious glare replaced the look on her face. She crossed her arms over her chest.
"Is there something wrong with me?! Or are you in love with someone else!?? Ah Ha! I bet that's it!!! I bet you've found some other girl and you think she's better than me! I'll show you! Where is the little slut, huh? HUH?!"
Syaoran rolled his eyes exasperatedly as Mei Lin continued to ramble on about the things she was going to do to his supposed 'other girlfriend'. The oracles hadn't named her Ruby Tora for nothing. (AN: 'tora' means 'tiger' in Japanese). He immediately corrected himself. 'What am I thinking? The oracles have no idea what they're talking about; it's all a stupid ploy to get people to join their stupid Ch'ien.' He mumbled, reminding himself of his opinion of the widely-used escape from reality.
Ch'ien had been invented in the early 21st century, when a nuclear war destroyed much of the world, and much of the Earth's beauty had been compromised. People were forced to move into large bio domes to protect themselves from the harsh air, clogged with smoke and sulfur. A woman only known as Rayn created a virtual world that imitated the Earth the way it had been before, as well as adding quests and dungeons; palaces and prophets; and just about every figment of a person's imagination. There were many people who rarely came out of Ch'ien, but there were also many people who believed it to be a place of false hope, and that nothing good could come of using it. Syaoran was one of those people. Throughout his entire childhood, he'd refused countless invitations from classmates to join them in the computer-generated shadow of mankind's past. He'd only been inside of it once, in fact. All he remembered was being taken there when he was very little, by his mother, and meeting a beautiful woman in white. His mother had told him she was an Angel of the Light, whatever that meant. All he really remembered was the woman's eyes; pale, unblinking jasper eyes. (*AN: Jasper is a kind of mineral with a dark red and orange color to it, much like the flames of a fire.) Those eyes had haunted him for days after the incident. He still wasn't quite sure why he'd been brought to the Jasper woman, and every time he brought it up to his mother, Yelan Li, she promptly changed the subject.
Syaoran shook his head, banishing the jasper woman and the memories that had been brought along with her out of his head, and instead concentrating on the black-haired girl in front of him who looked as if she was about to beat the crap out of his sofa.
"Mei Lin, calm down. I'm not dating anyone else, I swear, alright?! Stop babbling, I need you to go and reschedule that meeting that YOU cancelled, remember?! And get it done quickly, I have to go downtown to meet with a client of mine." He admonished while stepping between his cousin and his very expensive leather couch.
Mei Lin stopped glaring for a few seconds, letting a look of profound relief and happiness replace it. She spent a few moments catching her breath from yelling, before exclaiming, "I knew you weren't dating anyone! You would never do something like that to me, I knew I was right to have faith in you!" she chirped happily. Her eyes narrowed slightly and a triumphant grin slid across her face.
"Does this mean we can go out to lunch now?" she pleaded.
Syaoran scowled. "I never said anything about going out to lunch with you, and you know it" he replied curtly.
Mei Lin pouted. "Ah, come on Syaoran, don't make me complain to Yelan again, I hate it when I have to blackmail you into coming" she said, trying her best to keep a straight face. Syaoran turned back. His eyes narrowed dangerously.
"You wouldn't."
"Try me" The triumphant grin returned to her face.
Syaoran cursed. His mother hated it when he neglected Mei Lin. After all, she was the one who had set it up. Normally, a threat like the one his cousin just made wouldn't affect him, except for the fact that his mother owned the LI Corporation, and was now deciding between passing the business down to him, or leaving it in the capable hands of his older sisters. If his mother thought he was neglecting his duties as heir to the Li clan by skirting his obligations to his fiancé, he'd never get the business.
Syaoran reluctantly relented. "Fine, I'll go out to lunch with you, but I HAVE to get back in at least one hour, alright? That is unless you plan on canceling ALL of my appointments for the day," he said sarcastically.
Mei Lin flashed him a signature tiger grin, clasping her hands behind her back. "I knew you'd say yes. I've got it all planned out; it's going to be great. There's this great place I know of in Ch'ien."
Syaoran whirled on her, cutting her short. "no, No, NO! We're not going into Ch'ien, and that's final! Mei Lin," he warned, "you know how much I hate that place, there's no way I'm going in there just for lunch!"
Mei Lin placed her hands on her hips, casting him a skeptical smile. "Since when has the great Syaoran Li, heir to the Li clan and the LI Corporation, accomplished swordsman of the Hiramekki style, been such a coward?!" she asked.
Syaoran grunted. "I'm no coward. Ch'ien is just a false reality for the weak who haven't accepted that our old Earth is gone. Only the bio domes exist now, and anyone who can't accept that is a true coward."
Mei Lin sighed exasperatedly. "Oh come on Syaoran! Just about everybody has a username these days. If I had to, I'd say you're the one whose living in the past! You just keep sticking to this dying Earth. Face reality, Syaoran, the world we live in now isn't what it used to be! Stop being so stubborn and at least see what Ch'ien is about. I can't believe how narrow- minded you're being!"
Syaoran opened his mouth to argue, but stopped himself. Who was he kidding? He was never going to convince his cousin, or most of humanity, for that matter, that Ch'ien was just an attempt to relive history. He sighed. He had been called a coward for most of his life because of his stubborn resistance to the glamour of the virtual world. He was sick of it. What harm could one hour do? He glanced skeptically at the two Ch'ien collars on Mei Lin's desk. If it would get Mei Lin to stop calling him a coward, maybe it was worth it.. After a few moments of thinking, Syaoran looked back up. Mei Lin was still standing resolutely in front of him, her hands on her hips and her eyes narrowed. Syaoran imitated her and narrowed his eyes.
"If I go in this one time, will you stop bugging me about Ch'ien, and stop calling me a coward? Will you tell everyone else that I did go in, and that I still think it's a false hope to humanity?"
Mei Lin's eyes lit up, but her solemn expression stayed when she saw the seriousness in Syaoran's face. She nodded. "Of course, I promise. Does that mean you'll do it?" she asked, hardly daring to hope.
Syaoran glanced at the two collars on her desk. He crossed his arms over his hunter green shirt. "Fine, I'll go into Ch'ien"
Mei Lin squealed happily. "I knew I could convince you! You'll see Syaoran, you'll like Ch'ien, just trust me."
Syaoran grunted unbelievingly. He highly doubted that. He reluctantly watched as Mei Lin slipped over to her desk and swooped the two collars up into her arms. She trotted back over to him, holding out one of the shiny, unadorned silver collars. He glanced at her suspiciously before hesitantly taking the collar from her.
"All you have to do is snap it around your neck, like this," she paused to demonstrate, sliding the collar around her neck and snapping it shut in the back, "then, to enter into Ch'ien, you must clear your mind, and picture the collar in your mind. Usually, when you concentrate on your collar, it automatically recognizes you and all you have to do is think of Ch'ien. All players start out in different areas. Since your collar is new, it doesn't know you, so you'll see three figures when you picture the collar in your mind. Those are the oracles; they'll give you a username and assign your collar to you. Then, just picture a little Italian café with the name 'La pajara', and that's where I'll meet you, okay?"
Syaoran started to regret agreeing to this, but before he could object, Mei Lin had already sat onto the couch next to him, closed her eyes, and had been transported to the world he had always hated. He sighed. 'Well, here goes nothing' he thought, clearing his mind and picturing the shiny, steel collar around his neck. A void of darkness enveloped him, the feeling of falling through space dominating his mind. Finally, he thought he had spotted three figures in the distance. They slowly became clearer as he moved closer, even though he couldn't feel himself moving at all. He noticed that the three figures were women, all in matching robes, sitting on three large cushions floating in the air. They each opened their opalescent eyes and stared at him for what seemed like hours. Finally, the one in the middle closed her eyes again, her light, ethereal voice echoing around him.
"This one is hereby and forever, the Little Wolf" Darkness enveloped Syaoran once again.
......
What'd y'all think? PLEASE REVIEW! I live off of your reviews! I told you this chapter would be a lot longer. Oh, yeah, here's my assignment for all of you reviewers for this chapter; I need usernames for these characters:
Touya
Yukito
Naoko
Chiharu
Also, if somebody could email me or review me the names of Syaoran's older sisters, I'd be eternally grateful. I can never remember their names!
So, that's it for Chapter 2. I'll try to update at least once a week, but I can't promise anything. Thanks for your support, Ja Ne!
Upcoming chapter; Hanami Of My Heart.
