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POSTED ON Mar 19, 2020 9:17:10 GMT

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This was a relatively new experience for Orion. He'd never found much time for gaming, spending most of his free time — of which he had far less as of late — training his growing family of Pokemon or filing paperwork.[break][break]

It hadn't been his idea to get in on all the hype surrounding the newest MMO. Were it not for the insistence of one Annie Mei, he doubted he'd have ever worked up the confidence to jump into an experience shared by so many others. Yet here he was, rubbing at a sore shoulder and failing at one of the most basic tasks he'd had to learn as a literal, real-life Ranger: fire-starting.[break][break]

He blames it on several things: his injury, his lack of proper supplies... but he absolutely refuses to believe that he might be doing something wrong.[break][break]

He looks up at the sound of footsteps, still adjusting to his vision being partially obscured by an eyepatch. It had been a purely cosmetic choice after having spent way too much time in the character creation process trying to make his avatar look like the cool archer icon that Orion himself most definitely was not.[break][break]

Annie, on the other hand, is at least recognizable as herself.[break][break]

"Hey, Annie!" he calls, lifting his hand in a wave and wincing at the dull ache in his shoulder. He doesn't like to think of how much worse it would be without dulled senses. Realising that she might not recognize him, even though they'd agreed to meet up in Aurora near the tutorial zone, he explains, "It's me, Orion. Do you, uh, know how to start a bonfire by chance? I skipped the tutorial and immediately got my ass handed to me."[break][break]

He laughs, ducking his head. 'How hard can it be?' had turned out to be 'Hard enough.'

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[attr="class","notes"]notes: mission

[attr="class","tag"]Annie Mei

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POSTED ON Mar 19, 2020 10:13:47 GMT

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[attr="class","athread"]Four magic words had guided Annie through character creation – you can’t improve perfection. Years of being her own and only hype man manifested themselves in Ultimeite, as close to her real-life self as the game’s engine would allow. Well, minus the samurai armour. And the katana. It made her unmistakable, for better or worse, and meant that her accomplishments in the game world might just transfer into reality, and vice versa. Wishful thinking, perhaps, but Annie had always been a dreamer.

She’d been at least half-right; it hadn’t taken long for her to be flagged down, by a familiar voice and a not-so familiar face. As soon as the man introduced himself, Annie tried to hold back a bubbling grin. She wasn’t doing a very good job. “…Why do you have an eyepatch?” gasped the girl, pursing her lips shut shortly after.

“No, you know what? It’s a fantasy! You can wear whatever you like. No worried, though. I mean, I didn’t do the tutorial, but everything so far has been going down with a few stabs. …The armour helps a lot. Also, a lot of experience in running from angry things. So how hard could this be?”

She reached down every few steps, picking up a stray leaf or twig. She’d spent enough nights starting her own fires to call herself an expert in the art, even if she’d long since delegated the task to her Pokemon. “What have you tried already?”

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[attr="class","tag"]Orion Lykos

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orion

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lilycove

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POSTED ON Mar 19, 2020 10:44:48 GMT

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Orion feels his cheeks heat up under Annie's examination, however friendly, and he finds himself wondering if that blush transfers onto his in-game avatar. Just how advanced was this virtual reality stuff nowadays?[break][break]

Trying not to think too hard on that, he replies, "Aesthetics?"[break][break]

Honestly, it's a good thing he'd found the 'undo' option early into character creation, otherwise his nose would have been a weapon in and of itself.[break][break]

"Wish I had armour," he laments, but doesn't seem too put out about it. "Got a sweet bow, though, check it out."[break][break]

He retrieves the weapon from where he'd leaned it against the log bench he'd sat down on, holding it up to give Annie a better look. He'd always wanted to get into archery, but like many other things, he'd never found the time. In the context of the game, at least, it had proved easy to get a handle on the basics, and his attacks were flashy and cool as hell.[break][break]

"Well, I didn't have a tinderbox, and when I went to the marketplace there were a lot of people around and I just... didn't want to deal with that, so I figured I might try it the old-fashioned way, but Arceus there's gotta be an easier way. I didn't sign up to go back to basic Ranger training; shoulda rolled a mage."[break][break]

He grins, offsetting the grumble in his tone. His nest of a bonfire is perfect, but it's lighting the damn thing that'll take far more time than he feels a video game fire should!

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Annie!

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POSTED ON Mar 19, 2020 11:06:22 GMT

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[attr="class","ateam"] Breaking Swipe

[attr="class","athread"]She went for a twig beside him, giving her the perfect opportunity to eye the bow. A squint gave away that her mind was hard at work, and soon enough she had to stop the giggles from bursting out again. “So, was your choice to be a Ranger based on your job, or…?” She allowed him a moment to fluster himself before she went on. “I’m just messing. Mostly. Though I’d call myself a bit of a warrior in real life too.” She stopped short of reminding him that the rogue class could have fit just as well.

“Anyway, what you’ve got looks fine to me! Maybe they’re just going for realism, and sometimes it takes a while. Nothing some determination can’t fix!” She crouched down beside what should have been their campfire, sprinkling her contributions of tinder on top. A stick was planted in the centre, and she got to work rubbing it between her palms. If there was one thing she was grateful for, it was that pushing a pair of controllers back and forth wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable as trying to spark a flame in reality. It seemed to be just as time-consuming, however. “Geez, is this supposed to be fun? What about all the people that have never made a fire before…?”

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orion

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lilycove

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POSTED ON Mar 19, 2020 11:31:05 GMT

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Orion can tell from Annie's expression that she's holding back laughter, and he bursts into chuckles of his own. In this aspect, at least, he's all right with being made fun of.[break][break]

"Yes and no," he confesses. "It was either this for Ghost typing, or Mage for Psychic, and I figured I'd embrace the pun."[break][break]

Annie's positive attitude is as refreshing as always in the face of Orion's pessimism, and he resigns himself to the idea that maybe fantasy games aren't as easy as he'd hoped. It had been a while before he'd had to start a fire without his Pokemon or the supplies he never left home without, after all, so maybe he should look at this as good practice.[break][break]

Crouching down next to the fire, he adds some more tinder as Annie gets some friction going. "If we had a Rogue we could make a bow drill," he jokes, gesturing to his weapon, "but I guess we'll have to make do. They must expect newbies to all pick Mage, or something."

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Annie!

She/Her

Employee at the Stray

Cadet

189 height

i used to dream in the dark of palisades park.

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POSTED ON Mar 19, 2020 19:16:39 GMT

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[attr="class","ateam"] Breaking Swipe

[attr="class","athread"]Everything was right. They had plenty of tinder, her stick was as good as a mass of pixels could be. There was no way an elite ranger and a junior survivalist had forgotten how to start a fire, so the game had to be playing hard to get with them. No matter. Annie had struggled enough with fires too many times to back down after a few seconds, or to let that dampen her mood.

At least, not at first. After half a minute it was clear that something had to be missing. She pulled the stick free, squinting her eyes at their pile. “Okay, this is some bull.” She gave the stick’s end a stern glare, then set her sights on Lykos. “There was probably a firestarter given out in the tutorial. This is our punishment for rushing ahead. …Either that, or one of the monsters drops a lighter. Or it’s at the marketplace. I don’t know.” She set herself back to the task, occasionally grumbling something about struggling to get some warmth, even in a video game.

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orion

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lilycove

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'cause baby i can burn you if you get too close to me

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POSTED ON Mar 20, 2020 1:04:49 GMT

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Orion groans. She's right, isn't she? He doesn't have much experience with video games but it would make sense that a tutorial would award new players with the means to start a bonfire, or at very least show them how to make one.[break][break]

"They could have at least given us a warning," he grumbles, as if Annie's word was the unquestionable truth. "How were we supposed to know they'd make it impossible to start a stupid fire? At least I know it's not just me..."[break][break]

Though he'd loathed to think that he might be at fault, doubt had started to creep in as the minutes passed with no success. With two experience fire-starters at the helm, however, he was positive this was the fault of the dumb game.[break][break]

"Well, I don't think this is working," he sighs, giving up. "Is there like... I don't know, a chat where new players can ask dumb questions, or something?"

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Annie!

She/Her

Employee at the Stray

Cadet

189 height

i used to dream in the dark of palisades park.

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POSTED ON Mar 20, 2020 9:28:54 GMT

[attr="class","aheader"]

[attr="class","ateam"] Breaking Swipe

[attr="class","athread"]“A warning would be too easy, wouldn’t it?!” The time for optimism had ended. Ultimeite’s wild gestures proved that the game’s hand tracking was next-generation, for her wild and frustrated gestures accompanied every word. “This doo-doo-ass camp is the hardest thing in this game! And I spent three hours making this character look just like me!”

“I was promised a realistic experience! The only thing realistic about this is that it still takes too damn long to start a fire!” With a huff, she plopped down onto the floor, with such ferocity that her avatar had to be mirroring her movements in reality. As if to mock her, the moment her bottom touched the ground, the pit burst into flames as easily as if they’d used gasoline. The flames died down to a gentle cackle a second later, leaving a dumbfounded Ultimeite staring at ‘their work’. Then at Lykos. Then at the fire.

For a few seconds, she was unmoving and silent. In the real world, she took a few seconds out to pull up the emote wheel. Eventually, she found the one that perfectly matched her emotions, and in a single frame it overrode her character’s face:

SPOILER: Click to show

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orion

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lilycove

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'cause baby i can burn you if you get too close to me

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POSTED ON Mar 20, 2020 9:50:57 GMT

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Annie refers to the campfire system as 'doo-doo-ass' which, while certainly not the words he would have chosen, perfectly sums up Orion's feelings toward it. For a game so advanced, you'd think they'd focus on fun rather than bullshit realism.[break][break]

"I spent three hours making my avatar look nothing like me," he counters, with a dry laugh. "Arceus, this is dumb. How are we supposed to—"[break][break]

—heal if we can't even light a fire? The rest of the question is finished only in his head, for the voice-chat cuts off there as Orion falls deathly silent. Lykos stares blankly into the flames, arms held stiff in a clear indication that Orion was, in real life, also staring at the flickering blaze. His expression of anger doesn't translate onto his avatar.[break][break]

"How did you do that?" he asks of the emote wheel. "Because my character doesn't look nearly annoyed enough. Seriously? Seriously? That's all we had to fu—"[break][break]

He mutes his voice chat mid-curse, just in case they had rules against that kind of thing, and gives himself a moment to breathe before coming back to it.[break][break]

"And I didn't sit down 'till after you got here," he grumbles, "because I was too busy trying to light the damn thing, so it must wait for everyone in the party to sit down before it — Arceus, this is dumb."[break][break]

They weren't the dumb ones. No way!

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Annie!

She/Her

Employee at the Stray

Cadet

189 height

i used to dream in the dark of palisades park.

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POSTED ON Mar 20, 2020 13:23:51 GMT

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[attr="class","ateam"] Breaking Swipe

[attr="class","athread"]It was almost impressive. They’d faced fires, bombs and their near-demise together. Deep down she’d pegged Orion as the kind of man that was quick to worry, but somehow, obtuse game mechanics were where he drew the line. If she hadn’t already been preoccupied with being pissed off, it would’ve been hilarious.

The emote gave way to a more fitting face, allowing the game to attempt to lip-sync her voice again. “Yep. Dumb game. Two out of ten. Devs don’t have brains. What kind of boneheaded- just sit down, my left buttcheek!” She fell back onto the grass, giving the sky the frowniest of faces. “All I wanted to do was take a few minutes and check out the menus, but it couldn’t be that easy! Geez.” A few seconds passed, which were presumably spent cursing off-mic, before her avatar turned her head closer to the grass, watching Lykos.

“….Bottom-left corner, by the way. There’s probably a button for it. You know, in the tutorial. I’m starting to think I should be back and do it.”

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orion

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lilycove

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