"It does look like a rose, doesn't it?"
Most would assume that building tops were never the best places to
relax. Those most people are right, however, and everyone else who
disagreed probably hadn't seen the pigeons yet, but that is for
another tale. Two lonely figures lay resting on a particularly
despicable building top, as aforementioned. It was also a rather
horrendously beautiful day. These two lonely figures lay there under
the horrendously fabulous sky, in a fantabulously inexplicable world,
staring into the endless oceans of space hovering like a bloated
possum above them. Distasteful.
One of these two lonely figures happened to be a rather lanky boy, of British
blood, known simply as "Meji" (Pronounced "Mez-E). It was an odd name,
but suitable, for some god-forsaken reason.
Meji seemed to be nothing special. He wasn't a large risk taker,
even though he was constantly spearheaded into dangerous situations.
There was another lonely and odd character on this roof with Meji, a
rather lanky girl, almost a head taller than Meji. Her name was, also,
simply "Ceran" (Pronounced "Se-RAN"). A very obscure femme, Ceran
was, and never one for the tried-and-true straight answer.
Introductions are always quite tricky, fortunately, you don't seem to be bothering our friends right now. Anyway, back on task.
Ceran gave a little shrug. "Yes, it does look like a rose, which is
what I first pointed out. Your echo was nice, though."
"Why are we here, Cer? This isn't like you. At least, as far as I
dare to know you by, anyway," replied Meji a bit airily.
"Why are we staring at clouds? Why are we trying to discern shapes
from said clouds?"
If you didn't already assume how the friends were lying about, they
happened to be lying down on this particular building, Ceran with her
hands behind her head, lounging absently, and Meji a few feet away, a
bit disturbed at the moment. Ceran sighed again, as she usually did
when she needed something to fill her speech gaps.
"I've joined the World, Meji."
"Should I ask why you did?"
"Do you think you should?"
After his silent response, Ceran sat up, clutching her knees to her chest.
"Mej, I joined because I needed to get away. Far away."
Naturally, and predictably, Meji replied with his airy way he saved
for Ceran. "What is there to get away from that we haven't already ran
screaming away from, Cer? The only thing else we could do is bury
ourselves 6 feet in the ground, and I am still uncertain that will get
us anywhere, alive, at least."
"But Meji, don't you see yet? The World is a salvation. Somewhere
were we do indeed belong. It may be a pixelated fantasy world, but it
can be our fantasy. Haven't you always wondered how the other side of
life was?" debated Ceran.
Meji pondered this.
After a moment of wasted thought, he commented,
"Yes. I have
wondered, but is this really the answer? Can a simple
video game give us a sanctuary?"
"We don't know unless we try" grinned Ceran.
Meji also sat up, a bit tired of being disturbed. Instead, he
practiced being disinterested in what Ceran was saying. In this, he
was failing miserably.
Meji kicked a bit of dirt about. "But, I mean, where are you
insinuating we will get the money from to actually buy The World?
Putting it lightly, we are flat broke."
Ceran blinked. "We can always test drive the game. What's there to lose?"
Meji thought about this. Down at the local video game/drug dealer
outpost, there had been some flyers asking for people to rent out
copies of The World to test run. Of course, it was most likely some
hack-ed up scheme, but as mentioned, was there anything to lose?
"Hm...Is it really wise to do this? I mean...-"
Ceran cut him off. "That's enough out of you, Mej. Here is what I am
laying for you: I will exist in the World, and whether you follow or
not is a decision I will attempt not to influence."
With that, and before Meji could attempt feebly to protest, Ceran
opened the door leading downstairs, and walked off down the stairs,
heading down her own path. Meji stood up, walking to the edge of the
building, and watched as Ceran faded into the distance, taking herself
step by step to the game that would continue to change her forever.
The following conversation transpired between Meji and Ceran a few
hours after Ceran had left the dirty building top to search for an
even dirtier game. It was a very quiet seven o'clock in the evening
at Meji's household, (if you'd like to call it that) unless you count
the sudden ringing of the phone in the downstairs hall. Bounding down
the steps, Meji came running to the phone.
Ring, Ring
Meji: Hello, Yes?
Ceran: Obviously, you haven't gone upstairs and looked at your computer yet.
Meji: Am I that obvious?
Ceran: ...For your sake, I won't answer that
Meji: sounds of movement, phone clicks off. After a moment, phone
clicks on again
Meji: Oh god, Ceran, how did you do this...?
Ceran: Heh, heh, you should change your computer password more often
Meji: You installed The World...And the software...And the headset...
Ceran: Please log in already. I would love for you to join me.
Meji: Er, all right...
Meji clicked the phone down on the receiver. He looked around. In
his stunned stupor, he did not realize he was now in his room,
fondling with the game pad for his new copy of The World. He dropped
the pad out of shock, thought a bit, and decided that he did not trust
his thoughts. As he contemplated this, he turned on his computer to
cover up his stupidity. There it was. How Ceran had snuck in and
installed this was beyond him, but if it really mattered was another
useless tale. Meji awed at the headset that came with his new game.
It looked like it fitted over one's head, as if some sort of visor.
Since reading the manual, he knew what he had to do now.
Launching the World Icon from his desktop, Meji slipped the visor
type object over his face, and immediatly, he could see a black
screen, telling him to log in with a name and password.
"Hm...What to choose, what to choose..." he thought.
Contemplating the name, he entered the first bunch of letters that
entered his head. Now, his login was complete.
Register Name:Aerin
Password: ((This shouldn't be revealed, right?))
With that, Meji started his journey into his new life...
((Note, once in the World, I will refer to all the characters as
their logged in names. Do not get confused))
Aerin ported into the world, through the traditional two-yellow
ring animation. It was a strange town, but if he heard correctly, this
was the "Root Town," Aqua Capital Mac Anu, or something like that.
Delta server, is it? It didn't matter.
Aerin appeared in his yellow rings holding a strange looking staff. He was clad in a queer outfit,
looking like a large cloak, with many gray and white-cerulean hues
about his outfit. He figured he was a sorcerer of some sort. What was
it called? Ah, WaveMaster. Yes, he was most definitely a WaveMaster.
Aerin looked around anxiously. "I never realized there were so many
people here..." he thought silently.
Suddenly, he felt a tapping on his right arm. He spun wildly to
face the poker, but fell over onto his face, as he lost his balance.
"Oomf!" he cried, as he hit the ground forehead first.
"Yes. Definatley Meji." the mysterious poker said.
Aerin looked up. A rather tall girl stood before him, two blades
attached to her wrists by means of a bracelet. Dressed in a light
suit of leather armor, her stomach exposed, she looked rather
fabulous. Two dark grey markings trailed from her eyes, like a layer
of tears.
Looking down to hide his blushing face, Aerin said (in a muffled
tone), "Hello, Ceran. I believe you should call me 'Aerin' in this
game. Isn't that In Character?"
"Oh, right, well," Ceran puffed up her chest in a bit of a show
off way, "I am Yixi, the Twin Blade!" Yixi gave the face-down Aerin a
strange look. "Oh, and you must be Aerin, the Face Down WaveMaster of
ConcretesVille"
Aerin let out a sigh of annoyance and sat up, cross legged, on
the pavement. "Aerin, the WaveMaster. That's all there is to it."
He sighed again, looking up at Yixi. She had a happy, almost
intoxicating grin on her face, and she looked absolutely happy. Did
the World really have this sort of effect on such a usually sadistic
girl?
Yixi quirked a head to one side, a puzzled look on her face.
"Aerin, what's wrong? You look...confused, or maybe you have
indigestion. Or some sick combination of the two?" She played a bit
with her blades.
"Er, Yixi..."
"Yes?"
"...Nevermind..."
Shrugging, Yixi hooked her arm onto Aerin's right elbow, and
dragged him to his feet. "Come on," she coaxed, "There's so much I
want to see!"
And with that, the two friends went running off into a hidden
future of adventure and madness.
((The story is now over. Here are some comments from the author and our characters))
Ceran: Yixi. That's an interesting name, eh Mej?
Meji: Very much. Aerin sounds a bit female to me though...
Ceran: Oh, don't be like that. I would've taken that name in a second.
Meji: I guess...
Ceran: -hugs Meji- It is a great name! By the way, what was with the blushing earlier?
Meji: -backs away- Erm, I have to go do that...thing. Over there... -jogs away-
Ceran: Hey you! Come back here! -chases Meji-
Meji: Ah! Get away! -sounds of struggle-
Ceran: -yelling towards the audience- Go away already!