"What a delightful tart of a tutorial character," Babushka was muttering to herself, having just tripped upon entry to the game itself. A portal of sorts had more or less just dumped her face first into the dirt. It certainly wasn't that Trinity's fault that this old lady wasn't used to walking around with her legs. Babushka lay face down for a few moments, thinking about the dull pricks of pain she felt in her legs. Then, she recalled something from the lack luster tutorial and pushed herself up before moving to sit cross legged under the tree she'd appeared next to. Babushka lifted her arms into the air and stretched with a yawn. The senses were all pretty finely tuned, from the pulling of her back muscles to the stick that was poking her leg. She frowned. It seemed a bit off, for some reason. She put her hand out and turned it towards her like she was holding a cell phone. Sure enough, some display and options appeared before her. Health, energy, thirst, hunger, rest, temperature; it was all there, neatly organised for ease of viewing. She huffed and flicked through some options before she found it. The settings for pain and combat. She nodded and switched her combat to 'free mode'. If she was going to punch things, she'd rather her movements not be overwritten by some code or another. "Oh!" Babushka scrolled a bit and found the pain setting, "Maybe this will help . . ." The instant she switched the pain setting to 'realistic', the dull poke from the stick beneath her became more of a stabbing nuisance. Babushka winced and leaned a bit to the side before moving the stick from beneath her. She held it up, suddenly finding it more comfortable to be sitting. She poked at the end of the stick a bit and took a deep breath before turning it in her hand and taking a light jab at her left leg. She tensed up a bit and drew in a sharp breath. "Damn, that hurts," she pulled the stick away and shoved it into the ground so that it was upright. She sat for a moment before laughing, "It hurts! Haha! Oh my god, it actually hurts!" Ecstatic, Babushka stood up quickly with a huff and a delighted, toothy grin. She went to take her first steps forward, immediately hit the stick she had just stuck in the dirt, falling straight back on to her face. With a mouth full of earth, Babushka could only cackle with happiness. @Conseil
The day after Conseil had started to play the game, he found himself logging in a lot quicker than Ciél. He knew already that this was going to be a game that he spent most of his waking hours that he wasn't at work playing. Video game addiction was only a problem when you called it a problem, kids. Not the healthiest mindset, but definitely the one that he had. It was hard to justify reality as anything beyond a tool to pay for his addiction when he had virtual reality and a game like this. But at any rate, it meant that he was alone and that he got the chance to work with the controls on his own. He didn't know it yet, but his initiative and drive to learn the game was probably going to result in one of the more interesting interactions he had ever had with a human being in his life. Or at least, he assumed it was a human being. He couldn't imagine an NPC giggling on the ground with her face in the dirt, no matter how old and senile the NPC was programmed to be. And if they did that, he really wanted to meet the programmers who designed this world to be this way. Pick their brains a bit. The tall faerin (at least, tall for his race) walked up in normal newbie clothing, with no weapon and no armor, pointed ears, bright red hair and bright blue eyes. He had his hands behind his head as he walked, since he didn't really have another place to put them; he had no pockets after all. Was this how girls felt in feminine clothing? Ah, whatever. It didn't matter. The thing that mattered the most was why this random old lady was just laying in the road, giggling maniacally. He kneeled down beside her and looked down at her collapsed form. "Uhm, hey." He tilted his head to try to look at her face. "Are you... okay down there?" He was legitimately concerned, even if he was wary. He had already met enough psychopaths in this game. Although, if he really thought about it, Freebird may not have been so terrible. Maybe. Either way, he was learning very quickly that the populace that played this game? They were weird. And not necessarily in the good way. Sometimes in a very, very bad way. He couldn't tell which way this one would swing. ---- @Babushka
Babushka could not even begin to explain her elation. Well, she certainly had the capability to explain it, but she was a little too preoccupied with the experience to actually think about it. The pain had died away almost entirely, but the sensation was still coursing through her mind. This game might end up way too addictive for her. She took in her emotions with one final chortle before she realised someone was talking to her. "Huh? What's that?" Babushka pushed herself up and to the side, rolling over so that she was on her back. The sunlight flashed against her face for a moment, making her squint a little more than she meant to. After a moment or two of looking up at what seemed like a rather short elf, she nodded slowly. Then, Babushka gave the man one of the widest shit eating grins she'd ever had on her face, and practically yelled in a state of mania, "I'm fantastic!" With a huff, the old crone leaned back and lifted her legs up before pushing herself upwards in one swift motion. It was a smooth, practiced maneuver for getting off the ground. She gracefully brought herself upright on both feet and pivoted on her heel to face her new acquaintance. In the middle of spinning back around, Babushka's foot slipped out from under her. She instinctively stomped her foot on the ground and put both of her arms out to balance herself. She remained perfectly motionless, breathing in and out slowly for a few moments before nodding to herself. "Right," she turned around much more carefully this time, making each step solid and calculated. She had to get used to being able to keep her balance like she used to so many years ago. Upon turning all the way around, Babushka reached out one of her hands to shake with a genuine smile on her face, "My name's Yuko! Or . . . you can call me Gran Gran. Wait, no, I made it Babushka for this game, didn't I? Hello! My name's Babushka! A pleasure!" @Conseil
