[Darith+Liana][Strokes for Folks]

“Hm.” Kristen said, taking a sip from her tea while staring at Liana. Darith had just finished explaining everything that had happened up until now, including how the game worked, why Liana could walk, and what happened with the police at the hospital.

Without asking, Kristen leaned forward and placed her hands on Liana’s face, feeling around her skin for a moment, then moving to her arms, then legs.

“You can feel all of this?” She asked.

“Yes-mmhmph.” Liana replied, muffled by the fingers scrunching her cheeks.

“Incredible… and you’re so pretty.” Kristen said in disbelief, making Liana blush. “Alright, if everything you said is true, then show me yours Darith.”

“Show you what?” Darith asked.

“Your character, you know, the game character.” Kristen replied, turning to him.

“Well it’s kind of embarrassing to show…” Darith hesitated, worried what his mom would think about his race choice.

“Just show me.” She said impatiently. Darith made a nervous sigh, then pressed the buttons in his interface to turn into his Nemothyne body with tiny fox ears and a tail. Kristen’s eyes went wide for a moment, she leaned towards him over their living room table, and started touching his ears.

“Wow, so soft. Can you feel this?” Kristen asked.

“Y-yeah.” He replied in his little boy voice. She then reached for his tail and stroked it, giving Darith a tickle sensation. He quickly hit her hand away while giggling. “Ah it tickles.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Kristen said in disbelief, pulling back and standing up, then began pacing up and down the hall between the living room and kitchen.

“So you see, we think it's important we get stronger in this game to stop more bad people.” Liana asked.

“You mean it’s important Darith stops going to class to ‘level up’ as you put it.” Kristen replied.

“Well y-yeah.”

“Why not just invite the police officers? Let them do their job Darith, you don’t need to run around like some video game vigilante putting your life at risk.” Kristen replied.

“I already told you, my life isn’t at risk, worst case I get game over and forget all about the game. And there’s no guarantee that the police will be good people when they get into the game, or be able to get good enough to stop the guys causing trouble. I can only let in people I trust, that's why I was thinking maybe you c-” Before Darith could finish, Kristen turned to him and put her hand up.

“No, no chance. I’m perfectly happy being normal and not having a tail. You said you can only invite 3 more players right?” Kristen asked.

“Yeah..”

“You have some people in mind?” Kristen asked, and Darith nodded. She went silent and sat again, taking a sip of her tea to calm herself down. “I still don’t like it. It’s too dangerous, why can’t someone else do it and you stop with this crazy game?” Kristen asked.

“Because Darith is really good. I know you don’t like games much, but Darith is great at figuring out the best ways to handle situations in them. So far he’s already done some incredible things.” Liana defended him. Kristen turned to look at her, then back at Darith.

“Well you should at least tell the Police what is going on. 5 officers have been killed already by this game, they’re all furious and chasing down the wrong people.” Kristen said.

“I don’t know. I thought about it, but won’t that put them in more danger? The City Guards erase everything after a conflict, it's probably rare that non-players get into a confrontation with a player that doesn’t end in either the non-player dying, or the city guard wiping their memory. I also don’t know how the City Guard would react if police start hunting down players - and even if they did they couldn’t stop them.” Darith replied. Kristen and Liana both listened, then Kristen took another sip of her tea.

“I need time to process this. This is a lot to take in. Until then, everything stays normal. You go to school like normal. I want everything normal this evening. We eat, we watch TV, no tails, no ears, no fireballs, nothing. I need everything normal so I can think.” Kristen said, then stood up and moved towards the kitchen.

“Can I stay out of my wheelchair?” Liana asked.

“Of course.” Kristen grumbled back.

“Thanks!” Liana replied cheerfully. Moments later they heard the rattling of pans in the kitchen as Kristen began cooking. “That wasn’t that bad, was it?” Liana replied with a nervous smile.

“She took that better tha-” Darith started saying, but stopped as Kristen suddenly rushed out of the kitchen back to them, leaned in to Liana and pinched her cheek, all three went quiet for a moment. She then shook her head, rubbing her own eyes, then gently tugged on Liana’s left hand fingers, to which Liana winced slightly.

“Fuck a dancing horse shoe on Sunday.” She mumbled while rolling her eyes and turning away, going back to the kitchen. Once she was gone, Darith and Liana looked at each other with smirks.

“Better than expected.” Darith finished, and the two giggled quietly.

[Elise][Trouble]

The red corvette slowly pulled into the driveway of the gated mansion, stopping near the front door. The yard was a well kept garden filled with beautiful green trees, grass, and bushes and brightly colored flowers. A nice clean stone path leading from the driveway up to the large stonestairs, which ended at a set of double doors leading into Elise’ home. Not a single part of it wasn’t stylized.

As Elise turned off the engine and stepped out, she saw the house doors already open with her mother staring down at her, arms crossed with Karin standing behind her, both with angry expressions. Elise approached them without making eye contact.

“What do you have to say for yourself?” Elise’s mother shouted.

“I was just paying back Karin’s debts.” Elise replied nervously.

“What kind of debt requires you to steal your sisters car and drive around without a license!?” Her mother shouted back in anger, standing to block Elise’s path.

“Darith needed a ride to the hospital, it sounded important. It’s the least she should’ve done since he’s been doing all of her schoolwork.” This caused her mother to look back at Karin.

“Is this true, is this Darith boy doing your schoolwork for you?”

“He’s only helping me study mom, he said he likes doing it.” Karin replied.

“He’s not helping you, he’s doing it all for you so you can prance around like mommy’s little ballerina.”

“She’s lying, she’s just jealous she’s bad at studying and dancing.” Karin snapped back.

“I can dance circles around you if I wanted to.” Elise shouted.

“Enough! I’m tired of your lies, and your rebelling. This time you’ve gone too far.” Her mom shouted back.

“No, enough from you! You always take her side, you don’t even try to listen to me. I’m leaving.” Elise shouted, turned around and walked down the staircase.

“Elise you get back here right now. Don’t you walk away from me.” Her mother growled angrily. Elise ignored her, instead dropping the car keys at the bottom of the stairs, grabbing her backpack out of the car then heading down the driveway towards the street.

“Where are you going!” Karin said, a hint of panic and guilt in her voice. Just then Miranda pushed past the two. “If she’s leaving, I’m quitting.” Miranda said as she ran down the driveway after Elise.

When Miranda caught up to Elise on the street, the yelling of Elise and Karin could barely be heard. The two began walking side by side, and Miranda saw tears streaming down Elise’s cheeks.

“You don’t have to worry dear, I’ll tell your father and he’ll sort this out.” Miranda said to try and comfort her.

“No, I don’t want you to tell him, he doesn’t care anyway.” Elise mumbled back.

“Well where are you planning to go?” Elise asked.

“I don’t know.”

“At least come back with me to my place for now. It’s not much but it's better than you living on the street. Okay?” Miranda replied.

“O-okay.” Elise mumbled between sniffles. “It’s not fair, I didn’t do anything bad, I just wanted to help someone. Why do I always get yelled at.” Elise added, as her tears began to flow stronger.

“Come here.” Miranda stopped Elise and gave her a big hug, squeezing her tightly and rubbing her back gently. “It’s not bad to help people.” Miranda said, the two were now standing on the sidewalk not far from Elise’s house in a rich neighborhood, several cars driving past. Elise buried her face in Miranda’s shirt and whimpered into it, Miranda began gently stroking her hair. “You’re a good girl, everything is going to be okay, so don’t worry.” Miranda comforted her. After a minute, Elise finally pulled away.

“Why can’t my mom be more like you.” Elise said, wiping away her tears.

“Oh you don’t want a mom like me, I’m obsessed with keeping things clean. I’d make you clean all day instead of dance.” Miranda replied. Elise smiled slightly. “Did you really drive through the whole city with your sisters car?” She asked in a whisper.

“Yeah.” Elise replied.

“How was it?”

“Kinda scary, kinda easy. I was going really fast though, I think it was an emergency… for some reason I can’t even remember getting to the hospital…”

“You can’t remember?” Miranda asked confused as the two started walking again.

“Yeah, I just remember being parked on the street suddenly by myself, a bunch of other people too, it was really weird.”

“That boy didn’t drug you or anything ,did he?”

“Huh? Darith? No chance, he’s so shy he can’t even look me in the eyes.”

“But still, driving through the city like that for him, Do you like this boy?” Miranda asked with a sly grin.

“No way! I just felt bad for him, that’s all.” Elise replied, to which Miranda looked at her with a raised brow.

“What? He’s helping me learn Math. He’s a good teacher.” Elise mumbled back. Miranda shrugged and motioned to a rusted blue car parked on the side of the road.

“This is me. It’s no corvette.” Miranda said as she unlocked the doors.

“It’s fine, I like it.” Elise smiled as she got in the passenger seat.

[Darith + Liana][Recruitment]

“Right. Wasn’t that a great, happy, normal evening? The Mummy, it’s a classic. I can’t get enough of Brandon. What a handsome guy.” Kristen said as the credits for the movie rolled down the screen, Liana and Darith sitting on either side of her with a bowl of popcorn on the table, that had gone completely untouched.

“Well, it’s late. I’m going to try and rest. You two sleep, no adventures, got it?” She said as she stood up.

“Got it.”

“Yes mom.” The two replied. They listened to her footsteps trail upstairs. Hearing her door close, Liana turned to Darith while Darith pulled out his cell phone.

“Who were you talking about, you know people you can invite?” Liana asked excitedly.

“I figured I’d start with some of my old guildmates that I raided with the last time I was playing an MMO. Josh first.”

“Josh as in Executioner? That pro gamer you said you knew?” Liana said excitedly.

“You remember?”

“Of course, you made me watch his semifinal match in that boring moba game.” Liana sighed. “He’s going to be good at an MMORPG?”

“That guy is a pro at any game he touches, he was our strongest PVP player when he was in our guild.” Darith said as he found his contact info on his phone and dialed it right away, as Liana leaned in towards Darith to listen in. The phone picked up after 4 rings.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Josh, it’s Darith, do you remember me?” Darith asked.

“Darith? I don’t know any Darith, sorry man.”

“Uh- I mean, Paradigm! I played a Sage back in Gate Online?”

“Oh shit, I remember, how are you?” Josh replied.

“I’m doing good, I watched your matches at Worlds, you were awesome.” Darith replied.

“Eh, still didn’t make it to finals. Those eastern teams are crazy man. I’m taking a break now though, enjoying the offseason. It’s crazy you called, I just got a call from Shadowkiller, you remember him?” He said excitedly, Darith could hear the sound of keyboard keys tapping in the background.

“Y-yeah.” Darith hesitated, Liana mouthed the word ‘who’ to Darith, to which he mouthed back ‘Ryan’.

“Two calls from old guild officers in one day, it’s like the old days when a world boss spawned. He said he found a crazy new game he wants me to play with him and some others from our old guild. They’re all comin’ to my place this weekend to check it out. You should come too man, it’ll be like old times.” Josh said excitedly.

“N-no thanks, I’ll have to pass, I’ve got to go to school.” Darith sighed back.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, thanks for the offer though.” Darith said.

“Aite man, I’m in a match right now so I gotta focus, cool talkin to you again though.” Josh replied, then ended the call abruptly.

“It looks like Ryan had the same idea as me. He can’t invite all of our old guildies though.” Darith said, then scrolled through his old contacts again.

“Just how many of your old guildmates do you have on there?” Liana asked as she watched.

“A lot, the MMORPG we played had some heavily contested world bosses, so we’d call each other anytime we found one up, to get everyone online to kill it.” Darith then grabbed a paper and a pencil from his backpack and put it on the table, quickly jotting down the names of his old guild members.

“These are the guys I’d trust to help us, they’re good players and friendly guys, no lying, stealing or cheating from any of them.” Darith said, he then crossed out 4 names. “Two are Jacob and Ryan, the other two it looks like Ryan went for, they’re the better players of the bunch so I’m not surprised. There’s one other really good player, I’ll try calling her but I bet Ryan already did.” Darith said as he tapped a name at the top, Glitterstar.

“Glitterstar? Who would name themselves Glitterstar, isn’t there a big streamer with that name?” Liana asked, to which Darith gestured a nod. To his surprise, Glitterstar picked up, but after a very brief conversation, the call ended.

“Figures. Now we know who Ryan’s party is.” Darith said as he crossed her name out.

“He’s inviting an esports moba player, an FPS streamer and the old top healer in your guild?” Liana asked with wide eyes.

“Yeah… it’s not bad though, even though Ryan was pissed the last time we talked, I bet he’ll help get rid of the bad players too. We just need to find 3 others, there’s plenty left on the list.” Darith said, as he moved to the next name.

One by one he crossed out the names. Most of the numbers were not in service, and the few he could get were not interested in games anymore, some had kids, others had jobs, some just didn’t answer at all. In less than an hour, he found himself crossing out the last name on the list. The two of them leaned back into the living room couch and pouted.

“That went really badly.” Liana commented. “What about your other friends from school?” She asked.

“What other friends?” Darith grumbled in response. “What about you?”

“You’re the only friend I need!” She said with a cute smile, to which Darith rolled his eyes. “What about Jaese?”

“Jaese?”

“The Police Officer we saved, the one I decursed. He seemed like a good guy.” Liana shrugged.

“I don’t know anything about him. I bet he’ll suck at getting the principles of the game. Look, it’s fine. I left a bunch of messages, I’m sure some of them will call back tomorrow, it’s just late.” Darith stood up. “We should get some sleep and see what happens tomorrow, can’t do much until mom makes her decision anyway.” Darith added, then started heading up the stairs. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” Liana replied. She waited patiently for him to close his bedroom door, then made her way into the bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror. She began to run her fingers through her own hair and on her skin and smiled at herself, then looked to see Kristen’s makeup messily scattered around the sink.

Without hesitation she started grabbing eyeliner, lipstick, mascara, everything she could find and started putting it on herself hastily, then washing it off and trying something new. Once she was done she grabbed Kristen’s hairbands and started doing up her hair in different ways. She wasn’t very good, she had no experience in putting on makeup or doing up her own hair, but she was having fun with it, randomly making weird faces at herself and pretending to sing.

Before she knew it, an hour had gone by and she eventually stopped, cleaning up after herself before climbing into bed.

[Gabriel][Last Hope]

Gabriel awoke in the familiar backroom of the veterinarian office, the lights off but the glow from the morning sun shining in through the window. He was laying on a couch in the dim light but could see the shelves of the room packed with boxes, some opened, and a computer desk with the monitor turned on placed in the corner. He sat up to find himself wrapped in bandages around his chest and right shoulder, shirt and shoes off, sitting neatly at the base of the couch. There was a sharp pain in his chest and he ached all over.

He didn’t let it bother him, and got off of the backroom couch he had been sleeping on and put on his shoes. Just as he was slowly making his way onto his feet, the door leading into the room from the front of the building swung open and two figures walked inside, both familiar. The veterinarian friend of his, Samuel, wearing his white coat, and the bouncer from the club the night before, Gerald, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and black jeans.

“Finally, you’re up.” Samuel said. “You come here with a busted nose and jaw like you got your ass kicked, and some heat on you. I patch you up, let you go, you come back even worse with 2 broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, and as the most wanted man in the city. Sit your ass back down man, you shouldn’t even be walkin’ right now let alone goin anywhere outside this room, your face is all over the news.” He grumbled as he tugged Gabriel back to the couch and began inspecting his bandages and cuts.

“How long was I out?” He asked.

“It’s Wednesday morning, you were out for about 24 hours. From the ass kicking you got this time you’re lucky your ribs didn’t puncture anything. This Tai shit is getting out of hand.” Samuel replied.

“You saw what happened?” Gabriel asked, turning to Gerald.

“Shit man, everyone in that god damned club saw what happened. That little 18 year old punk took a knife to the head and pulled out a sword, man, what the shit is goin’ on bro!” Gerald said in disbelief. “That mother fucker killed your lil bro too?” Gerald said, Samuel turned to him impatiently though.

“Just tell him why you’re here, stop the small talk.” Samuel said.

“Right right. Lost my job ‘cause I let you in. Don’t regret it though, knew somethin’ fishy’s been goin’ on with how Tai took over his big bro’s crew and started takin’ everyone out. Didn’t leave empty handed tho, I got somethin for you.” Gerald said as he reached in his pocket and pulled out a cell phone.

“That guy that jumped in to try and save you, when he-” He stopped himself for a second to pick his words. “When he, yknow, got stabbed and poofed or whatever? This thing was on the ground.”

Gabriel took the phone from Gerald and tried turning it on, but it didn’t work.

“It’s broken.” Gabriel said disappointed. “Can you find out who owned it?” He turned to Samuel. Samuel stopped fidgeting with Gabriel’s bandages and took it, then moved over to one of the nearby empty shelves in the backroom.

“Lemme see.” He said as he popped it open. Black smoke puffed out, the battery pitch black. “Shit this thing got fried good.” Samuel said while plucking the battery out, eventually finding the sim card. “Might be able to get somethin’ off this, got a reader in the other room. Gimme a sec.” Samuel said, leaving the room to just the two of them.

“What’dyou thinks goin’ on, you thinkin they got super powers? like from radioactive stuff?” Gerald asked.

“I don’t know.” Gabriel replied impatiently.

“Dude was movin around like an anime character, you know like Mugen, or Ichigo or somethin.” Gerald replied with a hint of excitement

“He killed my old crew and my little brother.” Gabriel replied coldly, shutting down the excitement instantly. They went quiet, and a few minutes later, Samuel re-entered.

“Couldn’t get much, just a name, card was toasted too. Luckily this guy tags his stuff, found this.” Samuel said as he flashed the back, showing letters drawn into the back side of the plastic cover that had been over the sim card. “Property of Jacob Finley.” He tossed the parts on the desk next to the PC and sat in front of it. He booted it up and typed the name into a google search along with their city name, as Gabriel and Gerald got up to watch over his shoulder.

“Ain't much, just some facebook pages. You recognize his face?” Samuel said as he scrolled through them,

“Yeah, that one, that’s him. Where’s he live?” Gabriel asked as Samuel clicked on the link and went through the page.

“Doesn’t say, only says he’s attending the High School on the other side of the city.” Samuel replied.

“That’s enough.” Gabriel said as he grabbed his shirt laying on the floor by the couch and slowly started putting it on, he had to stop a few times because of the pain.

“What’re you gonna do?” Gerald ask.

“Find that kid and ask him what the fuck is happenin.”

“Not like that you won't. You deaf or somethin? The whole city is lookin’ for you. You should lay low for now.” Samuel replied.

“Not a fuckin’ chance.” Gabriel replied.

“At least take this man.” Gerald replied, taking off his black hooded sweatshirt to reveal a white t-shirt underneath, then handing it to Gabriel. “Hide your face, yknow?”

“Thanks.” Gabriel replied, taking it and putting it on before moving to the door leading out the back of the building.

“Hey Gabe.” Samuel called out just before he opened the door, and Gabriel turned to look at him. “Be careful man. You take another beating like that, I don’t think I can save you.” Gabriel nodded at him, opened the back door, then stepped outside the building.