Strange Arrivals and New Beginnings [OPEN]

[kittygrey]

The sun had gone down long after Ameratsu had laid down her pencil. She had been drawing anime characters for what seemed like hours. As she studied her art, she sighed. "Why am I so horrible at this?" She pushed the papers back and looked over to her end table. She had purchased a new game, one that was said to surpass all other MMORPG's. She wasn't huge into MMO's, though she had played a few of them. She sat, staring at it for a while before finally deciding to play. She stood from her chair and hooked it up and then soon found herself creating her character.

"Huh, where am I?" She could see nothing, and her voice sounded almost like an echo, almost as if it were not her voice. She felt her eyelids begin to lift, and soon they opened completely, revealing a new world around her. At first, she didn't understand. She brought her hands up to her shoulders, rubbing them lightly. She could feel her fingertips on her flesh. 'Whoa, is this game supposed to be like this?' She took her hands from her shoulders and looked around the spot where she had begun. She found it to be pretty much complete chaos. Someone was screaming something about the end, a few people were crying sobs of worry and one guy was even trying to start fights with anyone that he could get close enough to listen to him. She felt her eyes widen and her skin crawl, and then she felt it crawl again at the feel of her skin crawling. She turned away from the scene and instead, brought up her main interface.

After several moments of looking up her stats, searching for the inventory and studying a map of her surrounding area, she began to walk towards a building that she had seen on her map known as the Old Parliament Building. It seemed like a good spot to go to take her mind off of what was going on around her and hopefully find someone who wasn't raging with hysterics to help her figure out what was happening in this game.

[Emmerich]

From the moment he clicked on the option to start the game, he found himself no longer at his desk and on his computer, but standing on a street corner in the middle of a town. "What the hell is this!?" He stopped and looked at his surroundings. The town was full of crumbled and ruined buildings overtaken by greenery and time. Then his gaze fell onto himself. His eye widened when he saw his body was decked out in layers of iron armor. He took one of his hands, and waved it in front of himself, his eyes stared details of the metal gauntlet over his hands. It was at that time he noticed something in his field of vision.

"A status bar?" And underneath that he would find his character's name right above it. No. It was his name. It was when he realized that he was inside of the game of Elder Tale. At this discovery, smile formed on his face. Whatever fear and worry he had at first, melted away. And why wouldn't? He was within a game that he played avidly. What he felt as of now, was excitement. This world was now his new frontier for exploration and adventure. But before he could do that, the first thing to do was to find out more about this world he had been flung into. He brought up his interface and on his mini map was a large building of some sort nearby. Believing that maybe were he could find other people and maybe they might provide him with some information about this world. Feeling renewed, he traveled down to the Old Parliament building.

As he walked down the street he saw various other people who were in the same situation as himself. He tried to talk with them, but however, they were too busy every fighting with each other, moping in self pity to engage him in conversation, and some didn't even want look at him. Well it was obvious that other people wouldn't know, so what could he do then? Was what he asked himself, as he neared the Old Parliament building. 

---

Word Count: 358
Tags: kittygrey

[kittygrey]

Ame, or rather, KittyGrey, sat down on the second step of the old parliament building and found herself opening her interface again. This time though, she zoned out as she read through a couple things. There wasn't much that it told her about the world she had been tossed into. She sighed and pressed lightly on the 'X' mark that showed in the corner. She rose her head and looked up at the sky. To her, it felt so real. Was this Elder Tale, or was this something else? She felt like something was wrong, but she just couldn't put her finger on it. She kept her chin tilted up, looking at the sun shining through the clouds. ' I can feel the sun on my skin.' She could feel her skin getting hot, and her eyes actually began to hurt from staring at the sun. She closed her eyes and began to think of what she was experiencing.

'Is this real?' She wondered and an image of her poorly drawn anime came flashing through her mind. "No, this isn't real, it's just a game!" She heard her voice echo and she opened her eyes quickly, her face flushing slightly. 'I just yelled that out loud.' She looked around quickly, realizing that no one was looking at her. She let out a sigh of relief and allowed her head to drop, her eyes closed. It was only a moment before she opened her eyes again. For the first time she looked down at her character's body and her eyes went wide. "Whoa! I didn't make them that big!" Again, she realized that she was yelling out loud. She sat there, frozen from shock, her whole face red. 'D- Did I just say that out loud?' At that point, she didn't even want to look up to see if anyone had heard, she was far too embarrased, and hoped, prayed that no one had witness her mess up.

*Words: 324*

[Reynard]

In the beginning there was darkness, for he had his eyes closed. When he had opened his eyes again, it was no longer the familiar loading screen of the game. Instead he was very much outside seated in judging by the tree right in front of him. Thankfully he was still sitting down except his seat was now made of stone. Looking at his sides, it looked like he was sitting on a buildings ledge on the first floor. He briefly wondered if he was dreaming about this place as he had never gone or seen this place before. It looked familiar but he couldn’t say why.

Jumping down from the ledge and landing on the ground made him realize to things: one, he was very much awake as felt that landing and two, something about him was very off. He had a feeling that something was on top of his head and there was a sensation of something moving near his rear. Checking himself, he found out he was no longer wearing his house clothes and now wearing some kind of armor, and only this armor. He wondered if this was some kind of college prank as his underwear was missing.

He was starting to get worried where he was and decided to find the front of this building so he could tell where he was. Walking was weird as he constantly felt something following his steps but every time he turned around, nothing was there. He reached some sort of steps with another person sitting at the bottom. As he approached, he noticed she was wearing some kind of fantasy gear as well as some matching animal ears and tail. He briefly wondered if there was some kind of party last night he joined but couldn’t remember. It must have been some party if he couldn’t remember it.

Forgoing the usual macho stubbornness of not asking for help, he approached the girl to inquire what the heck was happening around here. When he was close and just about to ask her, the girl suddenly shouted very loudly.

"Whoa! I didn't make them that big!"


He could tell exactly what she was referring to.

Thanks to the sudden cry, he was going to make the motion one usually did when one suddenly heard something loud: which was massaging his ear to get the pain out. However, when he touched the spot where his ears would be, he only felt hair and flat skin underneath. Slightly panicking as he realized what that meant, it was his turn to shout instead.

“How the heck was I deafened by that without any EARS?! What frig happened to them?!”


Forgetting there was someone near him.

[kittygrey]

Ame was worried for the moment, but the her head raised and she felt her ears twitch as she heard someone's voice behind her. She stood up quickly, her face red and turned her entire body around. She stepped back a couple times when she saw the man. She looked up at his face and the up even further to the fox ears placed on his head, then, forgetting what she had yelled, she began to giggle slightly. She walked up to the fox tail, raising her left hand in a wave. "I suppose you've just woken up as well? Welcome to Elder Tale, fellow fox tail." Her voice was sweet and she pointed up to her ears. 'I suppose this is the reason most people are freaking out. They have no clue what is happening either.'

Soon she pulled up her interface and found the icon of his characters, and his stats, which proved to her that he was indeed as new as she was, but not only that, he was also a fox tail cleric. "So, you are also a cleric. I am as well! And we even have the same spell, Reactive Heal. I figured not alot of people would choose the cleric class, but it's good to meet someone who is new as well, with the same class and race as myself." She smiled widely and held her hand out to him. "I'm KittyGrey, and you're Reynard, right?" She asked with a small tilt of her head, remembering the name from her interface.

After she had introduced herself, she turned her head slightly and saw that yet another person was there. She felt bad for not realizing it, but, why hadn't see seen him before? 'Because you basically screamed, I have huge boobs to everyone!' As she remembered, her eyes widened again and her face once again blushed a bright pink in her cheeks. She put her hand up over her head, placing it at the back of her head as she let out a small laugh that sounds like a 'hehehe.' This laugh, was her embarrassed laugh, and yup, now she remembered why she hadn't seen the other man coming in either. 'Why did it have to be two guys? And neither of them is hard on the eyes either!' she sighed but continued to smile her abashed smile as she waved to the other man, then looked back to Reynard.

*Words: 417*
*Tags: Emmerich, Reynard*

[Emmerich]

When he got to the town square, where the Old Parliament was suppose to be further beyond, he was greeted by the sight of more people. But however, they were like the others he saw in a state of panic. He felt that his excitement from earlier had begun to slowly wane. But not wanting to to give up his search for answers, he pushed on. He maneuvered his large armored frame through the frightened and angry crowd. While he navigated around the sea of bodies, his elbow had bumped into something, and suddenly there was a metallic ping against his armor. The sound rang from behind so he instinctively looked back and saw a man wearing an eastern style of attire, wielding metal knuckles in his hands, with one fist pointed at him.

"You better watch where your going!" The man yelled out. His face was redden and his eyes glared up at the armored warrior, fuming with fury. The guardian could obviously tell that this was a monk, one of the three choices for the warrior class, and that he was also angry. He didn't want any trouble so he thought it was best to quickly apologize and move on through this crowd. Sheepishly, the guardian rubbed the back of his head, and smiled down at the Monk. "Hey guy, I'm sorry I didn't see you there." Let out a nervous laugh, after his said his apology, which the monk took the wrong way. "You're makin' fun of me, asshole!?" said the monk in an even louder voice than before. He positioned himself in a stance and began throwing punches at the guardian. Metallic pinging filled the area as the monk's metal knuckles made contact with the guardian's armor. The people who surrounded them turned over at the noise of from the two. "Hey stop!" the guardian yelled out, but his words went ignored by the monk, whom was focused on wildly swinging his knuckles and the crowd that cheered with excitement. He simply held out his arms to block the hits the came at him. While he felt little to no pain, he could see in the corner of his vision that his status bar that displayed his hp had been slowly declining. If this went on, could he die when the bar was completely depleted, just like in the game?    

With that thought in mind, the guardian grabbed a hold of the monk's clinched fists, to keep him from hurling anymore punches. But then at that moment, a large shadow was cast over them. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up at where the shadow had emitted from. It was a large armored being wielding an axe that hovered above them. "It was the royal guard" thought the guardian. In Elder tale it was a NPC that stopped any fights within 'No PvP' zones. Anyone they caught fighting were sent to the jail or killed outright. The guardian looked over at the monk, he was shivering so much that he could feel the vibrations through his metal gauntlets as he held his fists. He couldn't blame him; It had it's huge axe pointed at the both of them. The guardian sighed with relief and freed the monk. He then walked away from him and continued on to the Old Parliament Building. Meanwhile, monk stood there silently as the Royal Guard disappeared and the crowd disburses.

After a while he finally made it to the Old Parliament building. He beamed a smile and his eyes lit up, upon reaching the steps of the building. OK, so the hard part was over, and now was the time to gather some information about this world. As he climbed the white stone steps, his gaze turned to the two people whom were also on the bridge. "It couldn't hurt to see if they know anything at let they weren't screamin-" He thought just before it was interrupted by their screams. Getting annoyed by all the crazyness he exploded. "Hey I know it's weird that you're here and all, but stop screaming!" He screamed.

---

Word Count: 685
Tags: kittygrey Reynard

[Reynard]

It took some time for the words the girl was saying to sink in properly. He wondered if she was saying that because she was trying to distract him or herself from the situation. Thanks to her, he had at least some things that would put some perspective to his situation. One, his ears were “missing” because they had moved to a different position. Thanks to being a fox tail, which he guessed the girl was as well, his ears were now above his head. That explained the feeling of something above his head was and apparently it meant that the girl wasn’t cosplaying like he thought.

Two, the cause of that apparent change was somehow being transported to Elder Tale. Well that part was less shocking than the ears changing places. It meant he was in a different world now and that included a new body, job and identity. In this world, he was Reynard, the name he had used when creating his character. Maybe he should have used a more original name next time.

“Uh…. Right, yes. My name is Reynard. And I am apparently a fox tail cleric as well.”

Reynard looked over the girl in front of him. She was just a bit taller in him with blond hair as well as blond ears… and tail! If she was a fox tail like him, then that meant he had one as well. He suddenly turned around to look behind him and sure enough, a bushy tail was moving by itself attached to his backside.

“Oh lord, I Have a tail as well.”

His complaint was interrupted when another person started shouting at them.

"Hey I know it's weird that you're here and all, but stop screaming!"

His day was still pretty bad and his mood hadn’t calmed down enough yet so this guy wasn’t doing him any favors.

“Just a moment KittyGrey.”


He turned to the guy who shouted at them.

“You try suddenly finding out your anatomy has changed and see how you react?!”


He shouted while pointing an accusatory finger at the newcomer.

[kittygrey]

Ame smiled at Reynard as he spoke. She gave her head a slight nod watched as he looked her over. She raised her left brow as he turned his self around, and she wondered what he was doing, but she couldn't help but give him the quick up and down while he was in his process. "Oh lord, I have a tail as well." Her eyes widened for a moment, and she let out a small giggle, that was ripped away at the sound of the man's voice that she had just waved at. She stood there for a moment, watching Reynard pass her to go talk to him, and turned to see what was going to happen between them.

'Funny, I don't remember screaming.' So let out a soft breath and then found herself looking down. Her cheeks flamed pink as she remembered. 'I wouldn't say I was screaming, it was more of a yell out loud situation. But then that means-' She looked back up to the man that wasn't Reynard. 'He heard me too?!' She wrinkled her nose and shook her head. It didn't matter now, it was already said and done and she couldn't change what had happened, so instead, she walked up to the two and stood beside Reynard. She pulled up her interface and began reading his stats. "Human Gaurdian, Emmerich?" Her voice was soft as to not interrupt the conversation between them. He was low leveled as well, as low as herself and Reynard, so why was he shouting at them about shouting when he himself must have just logged on to this strange world.

Ame closed her interface and her eyes went wide with horror. "You try suddenly finding out your anatomy has changed and see how you react?!" Her mouth closed shut tightly and she felt her tail wagging furiously. She wasn't angry or anything, but perhaps her tail knew she was embarrased. Her ears perked up and she took a step back. 'Anatomy?' She looked down again, and then quickly back up. She shook her head slightly and told herself that he meant his ears and tail. "Yeah, Mister guardian, how are you not freaking out about any of this? Have you not realized there isn't a log out button?" She thought she was being pretty cool considering where she was, and what was happening. She had noticed that there was no way to log out when she first opened her screen. "I think people have every right to be afraid." She pursed her lips and put her hands on her hips, watching him, wondering what he would say to the two of them now.

*Words: 461*
*Tags: Emmerich, Reynard*

[Emmerich]

Emmerich raised an eyebrow as he stared at the young man, or rather the animistic ears that rested atop his head, as he pointed and shouted at him angrily. As he looked at the young man, the thought that went through his head was: 'Was that really was he meant by how his anatomy changed?' The boy seemed to talk as if he were inflicted with a horrible disfigurement. But what he could see were the pair of ears that belong to some animal on his head; Other than that he seemed relatively normal. And with that the guardian started to chuckle and scoff at the boy for his dramatics. Sure he knew that this was a strange and scary a event for some people, but wasn't he taking this a bit too much? 

Then soon the girl that was with him started to join in, and she too had animal-like ears atop her head. When questioned by her about the lack of a way out of this game, he stopped his laughter for a moment and collected himself. "Ok, Ok. Let's all calm down here, alright?" he continued, "I understand that you got cute fuzzy ears.." He paused for a moment when he caught sight of their tails wagging from behind them. He chuckled a little, but managed to stop himself in the midst of it. He cleared his throat before speaking again. "I understand that you're scared and all, but isn't this a game that you have played and spent a lot of time in? We've been given a whole new world for us to explore and venture in. Even if you haven't been playing for long don't you was to see what this world has to offer? So instead of pitying yourselves, let take this world and make it our own!" After his little speech, he shot a gleaming smile at both of them. 

"So what do'ya say?" he said, gleefully awaiting for their answer.

---

Word Count: 328
Tags: kittygrey Reynard

[Reynard]

This Emmerich person was starting to get on Reynard’s nerves. He really didn’t seem to grasp what it meant to suddenly change species unlike himself who stayed human. Either that or he understood but didn’t really care nor empathize with them. Plus it looked like he was going to have a laugh at their predicament. At least the girl was on his side but looked pretty calm about the situation. Not that Reynard wasn’t calm, it was just a surprise to suddenly find out your ears are now on top of your head and have a functioning tail bone now. Even if they were cute… which he will never admit vocally for now.

Reynard motioned to adjust his glasses only to realize they weren’t there anymore. Of course he would longer have his usual accessory when the world changed, which made him briefly wonder how the glasses for fox tails and were cats would work now. He salvaged his hand movement to pinch the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes as if to calm himself down. Again, Reynard wasn’t panicking… just surprised.

“First, WE” Referring to Reynard and KittyGrey. “were not scared. Just surprised about some changes.”

Him, the tail; Hers her increased sizes.

“Second, as much as I admire your enthusiasm, do you even know what is going on? We do not even know if this is still a game or some alternate universe. Even if you say this is the game we used to play, do things even work completely the same?”

Those were just the things on the top of Reynard’s mind. He was pretty sure there would be more questions he could ask but for now those were his main concerns.

“Wait. You guys have played Elder Tales before right?”

[kittygrey]

Ame raised her left brow in confusion at the human. She shifted slightly and found herself playing with one of her ears, which was a nervous habit she had in the real world. Whenever she felt uncomfortable she would either, play with her ears, or laugh in a strange maniacal way. She was glad that the laugh had not come out instead. She had not played this game before, she had only heard reviews, which was what made her purchase it in the first place. 'It's takes you to a whole new place! A world to discover and make your own! This guy must have written the reviews I read or something..' She didn't even want to answer his question, she was completely terrified, though she hid it extremely well.

"First and foremost, it isn't that I don't want to explore however, I would like the option to at least leave of my own free will. I agree with Reynard, how do you know this is a game? What if it is an alternate universe." She stayed completely calm as she didn't want Emmerich to once again tell her to calm down, when she wasn't even freaking out.. physically anyways. "How do you know that this isn't completely real? And if it is, do we respawn if we die? Or do we actually die?? I'm sorry, but what I'm worried about at this moment is what will happen to our real bodies if we are here for a year, or longer? I get that our minds shouldn't be on things like that, we're trapped and there is no way out, but people can't help but think about things like that in this situation." She used her 'as a matter of fact' voice to try and get through to the guy. Sure, he loved the game, and he's crazy about wanting to explore and 'own' the world, but the reality for her was, "This might be our reality from now one. Doesn't that scare you in the slightest bit?"

She sighed a soft sigh and put her head down. She felt a shiver in her body as she spoke about this strange new world and then shook her head in response to Reynard's question. "I'm an Elder Tale newbie. I've played a few lesser MMO's, but they weren't very good, nothing like this one." She felt her cheeks blush a light pink and her tail wagged softly from side to side. She didn't like the fact that mainly everyone who was logged on already knew the Elder Tale secrets, like how to craft, and what items better suited who and where to fight the bosses, though it may not have been the same. Even though people had played Elder Tale, she kept forgetting that this wasn't that Elder Tale, the one where you escaped reality by looking at a screen and typing on a keyboard to do things. No, this game was far more advanced, almost, otherwordly, she felt. She sighed again. "Sorry." She kept her head down, not really knowing why she had apologized, she had done nothing wrong, but now her blushes were showing much more than they had before.

*Words: 547*
*Tags: Emmerich, Reynard*

[Emmerich]

Emmerich patiently stood in front of them, listening to their replies. His blue eyes focused on the young man as he spoke of whether or not this world acted as it did in the original game. When he was finished, Emmerich then turned to the young woman who brought the issue of potential dangers of this world. Both had good points he'd had to give them that much. But however this was purely speculation on their part; A whole much of what if's and what could be's. Neither of them knew what were the laws of this world and how it operated. While they said they weren't scared and seemed to look as if they weren't, their words were full of worry. He knew it was normal to feel this way; While he didn't show though his positive demeanor, he did have fear when he first came into this world and some of it still linger in his thoughts, but letting fear consume his mind wasn't going to help him or anyone, and he felt that he must relay this information to them. So, when the girl asked her question, he took it as his opportunity to try it. 

"I am scared, but being scared doesn't help me or anyone. And it doesn't help you either." he paused and then continued on, "Neither of us know how this world operates, and we won't by standing here and thinking of the worse that could happen to us. The only way we can find out how, or maybe even find a way back to our world is to explore this one. It the only way if you want answers." They had no choice really, if they wanted to find out more about this world and possibly a way back to their own world, it was up to them. He then looked to the young man when he asked a question about having experience playing this game. To it, grinned ear to ear. "I have, back in the North America, I was a level forty-two pirate." he said to the boy, proudly. His gaze drifted over at the girl when she sheepishly apologized. He noticed her face had redden. "Sorry? For what? If it's because you're a noobie then don't worry, because we're all are!" he said, as he threw his arms out, spreading them to gesture at the people around them. "This is a new world for us after all, so I doubt that we're the only noobs here." He pause for a moment as a thought occurs in his head and he looked by at the both of them. "Say, you guys want to explore he outer walls of this place?" he smiled at them. "I'm curious about the combat of this world." He stood and waited for their answer.

---

Word Count: 469
Tags: kittygrey Reynard

 

[Reynard]

The other cleric’s answer made him feel guilty even though his question was pretty simple. Despite how she could hide it really well, the tone of her voice and her words betrayed her worry. Plus she raised valid points to consider which Reynard had missed. Though the guardian had the right idea that worrying about it too much wouldn’t accomplish anything. It was the just the way he acted like he couldn’t understand that not everyone would be able to accept these changes right away. Especially if, like Reynard and KittyGrey had pointed out a few times already, you went through physical changes no matter how small. Maybe if they had been friends before, the positive almost carefree outlook may have cheered him up but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case now.

Reynard reached out and placed one of his hands on KittyGrey’s shoulder to calm her down. He wasn’t usualy the touchy-felly type but the other cleric’s nervous fidgeting made him want to reassure her.

“Hey, it is okay. Like he said we are all level one now so having less MMO experience will not hinder you as much.”

He removed his hand before the touching got too uncomfortable for her. This time he addressed the other male in the area

“You are in an awful rush to experience combat. We no longer have the safety of a monitor to protect us. Have you ever fought in person before? The pressure of the opponent attacking you and feeling of fear for your wellbeing?”

It may sound mean but Reynard wasn’t asking it because he was scared. He was a martial artist who did experience sparring every time. Beginners underestimated what it would be like to first fight a person who wasn’t just practicing forms with you. Whatever you taught them tended to disappear until they got over their fear. He just wanted to make sure they could handle that as he was not sure he could protect them if he had to. The world was just different now.

“But despite what I just said, I do agree that we need to learn to protect ourselves in this world.”

Reynard faced KittyGrey so that she could see he was going to mostly address her.

“Going with a party would be the safest and best way to learn how to fight. If you are willing we can practice together.”
 

[kittygrey]

Ame felt her heart skip the slightest beat as she found herself staring at the hand on her shoulder. She took a small breath and looked up at Reynard. Listening to his words, she felt awe- struck by him. She normally would have freaked out by someone touching her, but this world was different, the over all situation was different. She was scared, and she knew he was just trying to reassure her. After he removed his hand, she felt a little sad but she nodded and smiled up at him. "You're right, thanks." She put her own hands, clutched together, behind her back, where she could feel her tail gliding back and forth. She supposed the way she felt was as if she was a dog being pat behind the ear, even though he had only touched her shoulder for a moment.

Soon her slight feeling of bliss went away and she heard Emmerich say he had been a level forty- two pirate. That amazed her as none of her characters had even come close in any other MMO's, though she had to admit that she rarely played them, or spent time with her characters. If she ever made it home, she would probably go back and begin leveling them up, the way she would here. She now knew what it was like to be a character in a game, though she was still the one in control. She gave her head a small shake and tuned back into the conversation happening in front of her. She heard Emmerich mention his curiosities of the combat system and then looked to Reynard as he spoke. His words made her feel mind blown. She had never considered the pressures or fears of fighting, because she had truly never been in a fight. Well, that wasn't necessarily true, she had been in fights, but she had never fought back. She had let the girls at her school beat her up because she didn't want to fight anyone, but here, it was different, she had to fight and she had to learn combat.

She nodded in agreement to Reynard's next sentence. Yes, she did need to learn how to protect herself, and perhaps if she ever made it back to the real world, she could learn how to protect herself there as well. She continued to watch Reynard as he motioned himself towards her. Her eyes lit up with his suggestion and she nodded, smiling wide. "Yes, I would appreciate that. By the way Reynard, what did you choose as your starter weapon?" She wondered if she brought up her interface, would it show her? She decided against it and figured she would just wait to hear what he said, but not before adding, "I chose a staff, so I could do some combat, as well as increase my healing ability a bit." She smiled softly at him and waited for his response.

*Words: 490*
*Tags: Emmerich, Reynard*

[Emmerich]

Emmerich thought back for a moment to what happened before he met these two. "Right, I have!" He paused for a second. "Kinda. You see, before I met you guys, I had a fight with a monk earlier." He paused for another moment to gather his thoughts. "All I really could do was defend, yeah that's what you except a guardian to do. So anyway he started punching me. The people who were around us cheered on. Then, out of no where, a Royal Guard appeared. Shortly after it did, we were pretty quick to make a truce. Knowing how that thing operates back on the game, we didn't want to take any chances." He looked over at Reynard with a sheepish smile. "So, I guess I've been in a fight before, if that answered your question." he chucked.

Speaking of training, where could they go? Obviously to the newbie training grounds, but where is it located? Emmerich used to play on the North American server, before moving to Britain. Now only is it a different server, with a different lore and setting. but now that they're in the game or a world that just closely relates to the game, is everything even in the same place anymore? He turned his gaze back to the two of them. "Hey, um. Do you think everything is in the same location as in the game? If it isn't, how could we find the newbie training spots? I'm not familiar with this version of Elder Tale, since I used to play back in North America." His blue eye focuses on Reynard. "Since you're the only one in this group who played this version of the game before all of..." He gestures at everything, "..this." he said flatly.

---

Word Count: 291
Tags: kittygrey Reynard

[Reynard]

The other foxtail was receptive to Reynard’s offer and was willing to learn how to fight with them. He had no idea how to use a staff so he would not be able to teach her much but there were still some basic combat skills which were universal which he could teach.

“I have not one but two starter weapons.”

Before he could describe the two weapons, the guardian had started talking about his encounter with another adventurer. Reynard listened to Emmerich’s story and nodded in agreement when he mentioned stopping the fight when the Royal Guard appeared.

“Royal Guards are, were NPC’s who prevented any Player Killing in towns… by killing players themselves”

He explained for the benefit of KittyGrey who was probably not aware of this fact. It sounded a bit more dangerous now as they still had no idea what would happen to you if you did die in this world. The story did confirm one thing: game mechanics were still functioning in some way in this world. That would allow them some guidance when testing their skills.

“Unfortunately, the game this world is similar to was to be a new server just to be opened for the last patch. I had planned to move here with my friends with new characters which is why I am in the form of a level one character. My suspicion is that everyone else is in a similar predicament. In other words: we are all beginners again.”

Also Reynard had no way to find out if any of his real life friends were trapped in this world as well. He had an empty friend’s list and had no idea what their new character names were. But right now he had to focus on the people in front of him, he could look for them later on.

“But. If everything is still similar to the game, we could use a field just outside the main gate of this city. The closest field usually contains low level monsters. Before we go I think we should party up. Just a bit as I try to get this to work.”

‘This’ being the UI of this world. Despite the changes, this was one of the things Reynard found a little bit cool. It was like an Augmented Reality system and felt very high tech in this supposedly Post-Apocalyptic environment. Or maybe calling it Magical would be more appropriate. It turns out, setting up a party was relatively simple as he just had to act like he was clicking on their images and a submenu came out. He sent a party invite to both and waited for them to accept. Once they accepted, Reynard would inform them of the plan.

“For now we should head to the South entrance, turn right from here and head that direction. You can decide to detour to get what you want but I will be heading straight there and wait for you guys. You can follow me if you want.”

He was fine with leaving them to go on of their own as being in a party allowed him to see where they were on the map. They needed to decide for themselves when they were ready to try fighting. As Reynard was walking through the city, he could see the reactions of everyone else. From the anger and panic from the adventurers to the worry and fear from the NPC’s. The environment was not good place to be and Reynard was slightly glad he could leave the city for a while to gain his bearings. Once Reynard reached the gate, he would take a seat near it and wait for whoever had gone off to return.

[kittygrey]

Ame tilted her head to Reynard as he told her that he had two starter weapons. Her original idea was to have a dagger and a grimoire, but when she found out that the staff not only raised her skills but also allowed her to do some damage, she choose that, as she would get an extra increase from being fox tail as well. She wanted to be a massive healer, which is why she planned her character the way she had. All she needed to do was raise her level, and this is where she would begin. As Emmerich began to speak, she listened, but she pulled up her interface and went to the map. Just outside the castle walls were little icons, some moving around, some not, she considered that that was the place they would start, but as Emmerich came to an end with his story and Reynard spoke after him, she looked up from her interface with her left eyebrow raised. "Even beginners like myself know not to fight in the towns. People are in chaos here." She shook her head. Sure, she was afraid, but she wasn't about to start rioting, especially now that it meant your fate was in the hands of NPC royal guards. "At least they let you and the other go though." She nodded and then resumed to listen to the two men in front of her.

'So then, Reynard may have friends stuck here as well?' She looked to him and smiled a gentle smile. "I hope you are able to find your friends, Reynard." As a healer, she felt that it was her duty to keep her new friends happy, and be supportive of them, even if it meant that they would leave her eventually. Even when they went off to find their friends and start their own adventures, she would always have a way to contact them, should they be in the same area as her. Even when she was alone in this world, she didn't feel alone anymore. She continued to smile as she turned her interface to the two and pointed to where the icons still lingered. "I think you are onto something. This is a bit outside of the South gates, but to me, those are the movements of monsters. That's were we should start." She closed her interface, but as soon as she did it popped back up, startling her slightly. She let out a small giggle, and proceeded to accept the party invite from him. This was it, it was her time to shine, well, along with Reynard and Emmerich, but she was grateful to have them along with her.

She nodded to him as he spoke and shook her head as he spoke of detours. There was nothing that she needed at the current moment and would just follow Reynard into the area. She remained silent as she wandered through the city, following a few steps behind him. The town was still in a rage as they passed by and she felt her head shake. Her tail had tucked itself between her legs, giving off the idea that she was afraid of the scene, but she tried not to pay too much attention, and focused on the back of Reynard. She didn't want to seem like the little damsel in distress, she wanted to be strong and be able to face things like this without her tail hightailing it between her legs. She sighed slightly and saw that Reynard had taken a seat by the entrance. She walked over to him and knelt down beside him, not saying a word as her mind fluttered about with scenes of the chaos in the city.

*Words: 621*
*Tags: Emmerich, Reynard*

[Emmerich]

Emmerich nodded in agreement with Reynard's proposal to a party. He opened his menu and flipped through the submenu for the party options, until an party invite notification popped in his view. Seems that Reynard was quick to the draw. He gave a light chuckle as he admits defeat, and clicked on the 'Accept' button. A chime plays around him, that only he could hear strangely, after he message disappeared. In the left corner of his vision he could see the names, levels, health and mana of Reynard and Kittygrey. It was just like if this were still the game. This only peaked his interest in what combat could be like. 

"Alright! I'm ready to go!" he said, with a smile going ear to ear and a glint in his blue eye, with all the enthusiasm as he could muster. Oh yeah he was pumped up for some action! He was so wrapped up with the random possibly he thought of as he followed Reynard and Kittygrey to gate that lead out of the town and into the outside, that the panic and discord surrounding them didn't register at all to him. He just walked through the town, with a smile across his face. Upon reaching the gate Emmerich thought it was a good time to check on his inventory to see what he had. He navigated over to it and inside the slots were two icons that looked like pictures of a mace and a shield. By dragging and dropping the icons into his equipment slots in another window, they fell into place and immediely he was holding in his hands a large towering shield and a mace with a ribbed metal head. 

He turned to the party smiling cheerily, "Let's go bash some skulls and, or vertebrate!" he said, with child-like glee.

---

Word Count: 284
Tag: kittygrey Reynard

[Reynard]

Despite both people following him, Reynard decided to take a seat as he had been standing up and walking ever since he got to this world. A mossy portion of a worn down wall just beside the gate seemed like a good spot. However as soon as he sat down, Reynard immediately stood up as the foxtail suddenly felt an unfamiliar pain from behind. Turning around and inspecting the spot, Reynard found nothing weird on his sitting spot. He twisted to see if he could spot anything behind him which may have caused that pain.

It took a while for him to realize the source of his pain: the tail attached to him. Mentally sighing, he had hadn’t taken into account about his new appendage when trying to take a seat. The implications were a bit disconcerting as it affirmed that the tail and ears weren’t just for decorations. They were literally a part of him if he could feel pain though them. Reynard still wasn’t fully accepting the implications yet as everything had drastically change and it was just one of many things he would have to accept in the near future. For now, he would distract himself with some combat. Physical exertion always took his mind of things.

Seeing as no one left, they could proceed to the field now. Reynard gave his party members a once over. KittyGrey still looked a bit down was holding herself pretty well. Emmerich was enjoying himself too much for Reynard’s liking. He was enjoying this too well to be properly sane. Or maybe he was just being happy to hide his worry. Whatever Emmerich’s reason was, Reynard wasn’t joining him in a carefree mood. This was his current party in this new world and would have to trust them as his teammates for now. Hopefully nothing bad would happen.

“Since we are all here we can proceed now. Stay close.”

With that uplifting speech, the group took their first steps outside the city walls. Surprisingly, the field was rather peaceful compared to the dreary atmosphere of the city. Reynard led them along the beaten path and after a good distance, proceeded to walk out of the path. Monsters were usually programmed to avoid the beaten paths to provide a safe method of traveling. Hopefully that behavior will still apply in this world. It wasn’t long till they found a clearing with some monsters: <Dull Green Slim>.

Slimes, basic monsters in most games. Unnatural enough that you wouldn’t be worried about harming a living animal. Plus these weren’t that strong so there was a good chance Reynard and the rest could survive getting hit more than once.

“These monsters should be sufficient for practice. Now, we can go two ways: One, learn how to preform our skills first and then fight the monsters. Or Two, we attack them and learn on the go.” Reynard addressed the guardian of the group. “Seeing as you are a tank, it would be best for you to go first.”

[kittygrey]

Ame had sat down, and remained seated even as Emmerich had appeared behind her. She looked to Reynard, who was now standing and looking behind him. She tilted her head in confusion and listened hard, her ears twitching as she did so. She couldn't hear or feel anyone behind them, and was wondering what was going on when finally, she spotted him looking at his tail. She let out a small giggle, but quickly put her hand over her mouth. She looked back at her own tail, it was wrapped neatly around her backside, almost as though it had known that she was going to sit. She looked back up at Reynard and whispered, "Sorry." She thought it had been rude of her to laugh at his expense, when she herself would probably eventually have the same thing happen to her, but secretly she hoped it wouldn't.

She stood when Reynard spoke and did as he said. She stood as close to his back as she could without touching him, perhaps it was because he was a fox tail as well, but she felt safer being as close as possible to him. She walked smoothly, watching the world outside of the city. It smelled like grass and spring air, and she enjoyed the feeling of the sun on his skin. She shivered as she thought about how she could actually feel those things, they were't even supposed to exist here. She shook the thought away and nearly bumbed into Reynard as he stopped. She took a few steps back, her hands behind her back and blushed slight. Once again she whispered her apology and stood listening to what he had to say to the two.

She looked over to the slimes . she assumed that that's what they would be fighting, and then back to Reynard. "I think I would be okay with either of them. But, I don't do much damage, all I have is my staff, and we're both healers so, would it be okay if I took on the role of healer for now as you have a weapon you can use?" She hoped he would be okay with that, and as she spoke about her staff, she opened her interface and equipped it. She looked down at the thing. It was wooden, and seemingly not very sturdy. She knew she would have to get a new one as soon as possible as she was sure it would break if she connected hits with it often. Then she looked to Emmerich, waiting to hear his opinion on the matter.

*Words: 431*
* Tags: Emmerich, Reynard*