It had been a long week. A week that had felt like an eternity. It had been a week full of stressful tests and assignments that felt like they would never be finished. But that was all over now. The first semester had finally come to an end. Of course there was still work to do over the holidays, but for now Avery was pretty sure that her brain didn’t have the capacity to focus on anymore school work even if she wanted it to. As she approached the hallway to her room her steps subconsciously slowed, dreading to run into him.

Avery was sure she’d never met a guy in her life she’d disliked more. Hate was a strong word, but she was pretty sure on bad days she’d use it to describe how she felt about James. Asshat. Her hands subconsciously clenched at the very thought of him. It had been just her luck that their rooms happened to be on the same hallway. Luckily the blonde was nowhere to be seen and she quickly retreated into her room, locking the door behind her, letting out a small sigh of relief as she slipped her shoes off.

She was excited to finally have some free time to herself and spend it in a more relaxing way. And of course that meant rotting her mind with video games. She’d gotten really into one in particular during her early high school years when it had come out. Fairy Tale Online. Perhaps not the most imaginative name, but the game itself was amazing so she’d decided to forgive it. However school had just became too time consuming to spend any time playing it during the semester. She grabbed her headset from the draw and linked it up, loading the game in before moving to lie on her bead and slipping the head gear on.

After the gear took a few moments to re-calibrate she was able to log in. She was excited; it had been too long since she’d gotten to play. The game had a number of updates it made her wait through, which was annoying, yet understandable. Her friends never really got her obsession with games like this. There was a lot of controversy surrounding them, people worried about the damage someone could do if they hacked the servers. But that wasn’t something she ever worried about. She just enjoyed the freedom of it all. You could be anyone you wanted here. You weren’t bound by the usual laws of the world. The updates finished and around her everything became dark as the last loading screen began progressing across the bottom of her vision.

Gaming and eating. Maybe teasing people. Anything but doing another test. Tests were the bane of James' life, and he hated them all, through thankfully they were over. At least, for now. As he roamed the hallway of which his, he caught a glance of Avery disappearing into her room. He chuckles as he walks past. "Have a boring Summer!" He calls out as he passes her door, disappearing into his room soon afterwards. It was time to play some Fairy Tale Online. He was still technically a noob on it, being a low level, however he was willing to learn, particularly with the 'find your mentor' option from in game.

James searched through his drawers for the head gear, finding it where he had left it last time he had played, which was months back. He smiles as he rubs a bit of dust off of it, the only dust that was there, thankfully, and he lays on his bed, slipping the head gear on before he was swallowed into the game. Well, more like swallowed into an update screen. Thankfully, it passed within seconds, and he was put on a loading screen as the game attempted to source his character. James had already made a Cait-Si, however he did not know how to use the race properly. He watched as the screen began to load, and he got fully calibrated and pushed into the new reality, the new world. He loved the feeling every time that happened.

Spawning into a random town, he decided to find the help center of the town. The help center wasn't much of a help center, but when he walked in he saw an empty booth which he quickly trotted into before anyone else could. James' ears twitched as he looked at the options he could ask for, until he found the 'find your mentor' option. He quickly red the description.

"Find your mentor, the ability to, as it says, find your mentor! Your mentor will be randomly selected from experienced players. It automatically selects one from your race, so you have both a friend and a mentor. Select this option, and a message will immediately be sent to a player to meet you in your current location. The mentor has the option to decline, and if he or she accepts, you will be bound for the rest of your playtime! The mentor will have a three day trial period to tell if you are going to be a good mentee, and he or she can remove you within that three day period if they do not feel like you are not for them! Remember: Be nice!"

James presses the option, and then clicks 'confirm' within a moment, another message appears. "Thank you for using the mentor program. A message has been sent to... Belle!"

"To Belle,
You have been selected as the mentor for Sif. He has used the mentor option to select a mentor for him, and you have been selected by the program to be his mentor. If you would like information on mentoring, please visit your nearest help center. Sif's current location is Lemea Town. Remember: Be nice to your mentee!
Best of luck,
Lemea Town Help Center"

"To Belle,
You have been selected as the mentor for Sif. He has used the mentor option to select a mentor for him, and you have been selected by the program to be his mentor. If you would like information on mentoring, please visit your nearest help center. Sif's current location is Lemea Town. Remember: Be nice to your mentee!
Best of luck,
Lemea Town Help Center"

Belle looked at the notification and sighed softly. She’d read about the new ‘mentor program’ whilst the updates had been loading. Personally it wasn’t something she liked the sound of. Not yet. It was still a beta experience in her opinion and the idea of ‘being bound to another player forever’ was something she could see causing a lot of outrage amongst players. It wouldn’t last. She was happy to help someone, but this was just a little over the top. She hadn't had any help when she’d started all the way back when it had been first released.

She kind of thought it was really lazy on the part of new players, especially considering this wasn’t a levelled game, they got rid of that function very early into the project to avoid players becoming too powerful. Everything here was skill based. It was about as equal field as a MMORPG was ever going to get in her mind. Sighing she decided to ignore the message for now. She was going to decline, but she could at least explain herself in person. “Looks like we’re heading back early.” She said, glancing at the small blue creature on her shoulder, who made a small noise in reply, causing Belle to smile.

Pulling out a teleportation crystal she appeared at the Lemae Town Square within seconds. It would have taken too long to travel from the woods she’d been in. Now the only challenge was finding this guy. He was the Cait-Si beginner village, rather than the main city so that made things a little bit easier. He had been near the help center just a few moments ago so maybe he was still there. She took off at a quick run, glancing at any character she passed as the small feathered dragon flew high above her.

As she arrived at the information center Belle stopped, looking around for this ‘Sif’ guy. She had no idea what he looked like but he would have a player identification above his head if you were looking for it. The small dragon glided down to rest comfortably on her shoulder. Turning Belle smiled again, running her hands through the creature’s feathers, momentarily forgetting herself in how real and soft an artificial creature felt. It still amazed her sometimes, just how real this all felt and how easily she was able to forget about her real life when she was here.

After waiting at the booth for a few moments, Sif walks outside, back out into the small town, and he begins to look around. Oh, it feels so real, it looks so real, it smells so real! Everything is so real! He thinks to himself, as he walks around. Not too soon, he spots someone running around. Upon closer inspection, the person appears to have the identification 'Belle'. That's her! Sif begins to walk over to her.

As he walked, Sif looks around at everything, still mesmerized by how amazing it was. There had definitely been some major updates, and he had only played the game once before, for not that long. Now, it appeared he was going to have to spend much longer on the game. Even the blue creature on Belle's shoulder looked real!

Sif stops in front of Belle, certainly a bit shorter than him, as if his size told everyone, Hey, I'm new! He looked shyly toward the creature on Belle's shoulder, and then looked back to her face. "Hi. I'm Sif." He says, his voice suddenly shy.

Pina looked up suddenly from Belle’s shoulder and her eyes turned to follow his gaze until they fell upon the boy approaching them. She realised, before he got close who he was, his player ID betraying him. However formal introductions were still always a nice touch. “I’m Belle.” She said, her voice gentle as if anything too sudden may startle him. “This is my friend Pina and you’re the one who the system paired me up with for the mentoring program aren’t you?” A rhetorical question really, they both knew that.

“Look… don’t take this the wrong way or anything, but I think the idea of permanently being paired up with someone is… stupid. So I have to reject the invitation to be your mentor.” She informed him, trying to be as delicate about it as possible. “But I’d be happy to form a party with you and be your mentor unofficially.” She offered, feeling maybe a little bad for the kid. She remembered what it was like to be new, it was a big scary world out here. Sometimes the people were a bigger danger than the monsters. Who knew, maybe this would be good for her, she’d gotten Pina later than she was supposed to, so it wouldn’t hurt to get some safe practice with him on lower level quests and monsters.

It was a disappointment for the mentor request to be declined, and Sif couldn't help but let out a tiny breath of sadness as it was, his face turning sad for a moment. However, when Belle said they could form a party, and she could mentor him unofficially, he smiles again. "Y-Yes," He says, his voice sounding a little broken. He swallows his sadness. "But, I sort of don't know what I'm doing. Some people are new..." He pauses. "But, I'm really new. Like, really new."

Sif was shy in his Fairy Tale persona. He couldn't help it, it was just his style, much different than his real personality. "I barely even know what that is," He says, pointing to a phoenix that was sitting on another Cait-Si's shoulder, who was walking into the help center. He turns back and shrugs innocently.

Belle shrugged slightly. “Everyone was new at some point.” She assured him as she glanced over at the phoenix and smiled slightly. “Though some of us decided to read the manual before jumping right in. Either way there’s nowhere for you to go from here but up.” She brought up her menu by using a small flick of the hand downwards and tapped into a few screens before a small noise could be heard and Sif would see a small notification icon on his screen. “I’ve invited you to join my party.” She explained, hoping she didn’t have to explain the term ‘party’ to him.

There was being new at this game in particular, which did take a lot of time to master since it’s one of the first fully immersive games of its kind. And there was being new at MMORPGs all together. If he was the latter she really had her work cut out for her. “Just do what I did to bring your menu up, and follow the little ‘notification icon’ to the invitation screen. This way we can keep track of where the other is, see each other’s health bars, things like that. What class are you?” She asked absently as she began scrolling through more screens quickly.

Slowly, Sif follows through, flicking his hand downwards and going through the menus until he found the notification, which he accepted. He almost hovered his finger over decline by accident, but corrected himself. Finally, he looks up at her again. "The same as you, I think. A Cait-Si!" He says, his voice having turned adorable. He flicks his tail behind him happy as he stares at her. "I thought you'd know, being an experienced player. And with my cat ears and my tail!"

He begins to explore the menus, looking through them. Sif was in awe at the functionality and the options that he could select to tweak. "And, by the way, I did read the manual. The first few pages, anyways. I wasn't about to read through the entire thing. That'd take a while." He says, an innocent look on his face as he scrolls through more options, like a child exploring a new toy.

Belle opened her mouth as if to say something but eventually closed it, pressing her hand to her forehead. “No that’s not what I… what weapons speciality did you pick? Cait-Si is your race, that’s something you can’t change unless you deleted this entire account and started over. But your class is the type of weapons you’re proficient with, you get to pick one when you were making a profile for the game but it can be altered if you simply starting using another weapons class enough. Like, for example I’m an archer class, with a light weapon sub class.”

She turned slightly, displaying the bow on her back to him and the small dagger at her hip. “I was asking to see if I had anything worth giving you. Here,” she clicked a final option and four notifications suddenly appeared on Sif’s menu, informing him he'd recived some items including new amour, gloves, boots and a belt. “There’s some better gear that will give you an advantage over other people with your experience.” She was still waiting to see what class he was though before giving him any of her weapons. If she had any he was compatible with that was. Usually unless she could use them herself she sold them for gold.

"Oh! That's what you're talking about!" Sif chuckles, his face turning slightly red in embarrassment. "In that case, I'm a light weapon class!" He says, remembering the class he selected a long time ago. He takes a glance at her bow before he flicks his hand again, returning to his notifications to accept the items. "Belle, because you're giving me armour, and you're a girl, does that mean that I'm going to get female armour?" He asks, laughing shyly.
Sif could see himself walking around in female armour. That would be very embarrassing, unless there was some way to do a gender change. He wasn't about to do that, though. His face turns even more red as he imagines this.

Belle shook her head slightly, laughing lightly at the question. “There is some gender specific amour… yes; most of it is interchangeable though. If I wore it, then yes it would have a girl’s design. But to keep the item count lower and make trading easier they made most amour able to have a boy’s or a girl’s appearance. It does the same thing just looks different. Don’t worry it’ll look manly on you.” She assured him as she scrolled through her weapons. Most of her ‘light’ stuff was daggers of varying effects. She didn’t have much in the way of rapiers or something like that.

“I have… this.” She eventually said uncertainly as she sent the item over. It was classified as a light sword, but she’d never used it before personally. “I can’t say much about it though; I’ve never used it myself. Okay, you get all that stuff equipped and we’ll head out into the nearby field, it’s still in Cait-Si territory so we’ll be safe there... you do know about the territories and rules surrounding them?” She was certain that was in the manual, but she wasn’t sure where. Either way it wouldn’t hurt to remind him.

“The land is divided up into territories, some belonging to certain races, some neutral. In a territory owned by your own race you’re allowed to attack those from other races but they can’t attack you back. So if you got caught in enemy territory then you’re virtually helpless if one of them decided to attack you. Neutral is more free for all. It’s the primary goal of the game right now, seeing as they didn’t put in a ‘final boss’ because then the game would be over and then what? No it’s just a constant territory war.”

Sif almost answered Belle no to the question, however such an action was prevented by her starting to explain. "So, you can't even attack back?" He asks, equipping his armour. Indeed, it did look manly. Manlyish, as he himself did not look that manly. "Belle, what happens if you attack back?" He asks, suddenly looking a bit frightened. If he had a mirror, he would say he is adorable and cute when he looks frightened.

Sif remembers that he had been offered another item by Belle, and he quickly opens his notifications for the third time and he accepts the item. "Well, even if it isn't good, it looks good. Does that count for anything?" He asks, chuckling to himself as he idly admires the blade. It was quite shiny, and it looked to be sharp, but that may not mean anything in this world. Sif didn't even know what the Cait-Si had as abilities. He just picked them because of the cat ears and the tail.

“Nothing.” She answered simply. “I mean you can attack back all you like but they’ll take no damage. Don’t worry though you’ll never have to go into an enemy territory to get somewhere, there are certain Neutral Roads that are unclaimable, also every race’s main city, their starter town and the world capital at the center of the map are all cemented territories as well, otherwise the game runs the risk of an entire race having no safe zones, which would suck.” She turned slightly once Sif had equipped all his new gear and began leading the way towards the field.

“The only time you would is if you decided to join a raid party aiming to take more territory.” The girl explained as they walked. “Also, unfortunately style does not grant any battle extras.” She said with a small laugh. “Though you can see the benefits of any item in your inventory by clicking on it, the better the gear the better the benefits. Most of that gear I gave you has extra health and defence benefits, because that’s how I like to play but once you get the hang of fighting we’ll take you on a few quests, you can earn some gold and buy things with the benefits you’d like.” She informed him.

"Have you been on any raiding parties?" Sif asks, following her. He was a bit disappointed that they didn't grant any benefits. However, maybe there were fashion contests. Something I would never take part in out of game, he thinks to himself as he strolls alongside his unofficial mentor. "So, what else is there to do, other than quests?" He was a bit embarrassed at having to ask so many questions, however he felt he needed to so he could learn the world around him.
Sif begins to wonder what time it was outside of game. How long had he spent in-game? He didn't know, but he didn't mind if he missed dinner because he was hanging around with Belle. She was probably from a different time zone, so he would just go and grab dinner whenever she left.

“A couple of times after I’d been playing for about a year.” Belle answered, thinking about it. “Even though I’m not that aggressive of a player now I did have a faze where I wanted to fight, a lot, back before I decided to take the defensive path and go solo. I died. A lot during that year. It didn’t seem worth it after a while, I was too passive. Besides there’s quests… you can join the raiding parties, the risks are high, but so are the rewards if you’re good enough. But if fighting really isn’t your thin you can join a guild, act as a support, maybe just take up a trade like tailor or blacksmith.”

“But in saying that you don’t even really need to do anything if you don’t want to. They have other skills that don’t translate to battle like fishing, though the best fishing spots are all in Undine Territory since they like to control the large water sources since they can breathe underwater. Each Race has its own unique talents, Cait-Si are beast-tamers. We’re the only ones who can go out and have the option to make a monster our companion rather than kill it. But all the best ones are quest rewards.”

"Beast-tamers. Well, it doesn't actually seem like some of them look like beasts or monsters," Sif says, giving a nod to the creature on her shoulder. It looked so beautiful. "If that thing is a monster, I'd like to see what normal everyday pets look like." He gives off a small chuckle, staring at the creature. "Fishing spots are all in Undine Territory? Damn, I could really use a fish," He smiles, but gives kitty eyes to Belle, sadly.
Sif was, once again, stunned by how beautiful everything looked and how everything felt. The creature on Belle's shoulder looked stunningly real, he just wanted to touch it, see if it felt real. His ears twitch shyly, tail fluttering slowly up and down behind him.

As attention was brought to it the small creature on Belle’s shoulder perked up and stretched out its wings, roaring in attempt to look more intimidating. However it’s ‘roar’ sounded more like a small cry and was more cute than it was anything else. “Pina is most certainly not a beast.” Belle replied, her tail and ears sticking up for a moment in her huff before they returned to a more relaxed state. “He’s a Feathered Lidra and I got him about a year and a half into my game play from a limited time event and, frankly, he’s adorable.”

She smiled at that and turned to the dragon, the two gently pressing their heads together. “And, like I said, all the good fishing spots are in Undine territory, that doesn’t mean there aren’t others in neutral and all territories will have some source of water, water pretty much always means fish here. You’ll have to get a rod before you attempt to go fishing though and the only way you’re going to get one of those is if you save up some money and buy one. Right now the best way for you to make money is to fight some monsters.”

They’d made it to the field and she was doing a quick scan, low level monsters always spawned around here, it wouldn’t be too hard. “Alrighty.” Belle said as she walked back towards Sif and gave him a non too gentle push towards what looked like a wolf. “Go get it.” She instructed simply. If worse came to worse she could always jump in, these were one of the lowest difficulty monsters they were going to find.

Sif smiles at the pair. Pina and Belle were definitely an adorable couple. However, his opinion about Belle being adorable and sweet changed when they arrived at the field. A wolf? Won't that thing rip me to shreds? He asks himself. Sif begins to give kitten eyes to Belle again, for a moment, before turning back to the wolf. Slowly, he approaches the creature, sword in hand, shaking slightly. Get a grip, get a grip, come on, Sif.

He walks even closer to the creature, and it notices him. Sif immediately starts to swing his sword down and slice at the wolf, which attempts to attack him. The armour took the hit, and he swings faster, quickly managing to kill it. He turns back to Belle, shaking. The combat felt so real, it felt so real that it was scary.

When the boy looked at her with pleading eyes Belle only made a small gesture, encouraging him to go forward. “It can’t really hurt you.” She assured him, since a lot of new players often feared that being attacked would actually hurt, but the game had a pain absorber so even if he got an arm cut off in game he wouldn’t feel a thing. Even so she did draw out her bow once he’d turned away to make sure she could cover him in case it proved too much. Whilst his technique could certainly use some work he seemed to get a decent enough grasp on it.

She put her bow away once she was sure he was going to win. Once the wolf was defeated and he turned to her the girl gave him a reassuring smile as she walked over. “See? Easy. You did great.” She assured him, wrapping her arm around his shoulders and giving him a brief squeeze. “Here’s a little trick though, if you have the time, when you’re preparing to strike, hold your attack for just a moment.” She drew out her dagger to demonstrate, holding it neutrally at first but then moving into a motion where she could attack from but pausing once it was about to come forward.

“Then your weapon will glow a little and you’ll hear this small noise and then like a ting, and the tip of your weapon will gleam, you’ll feel it too, so eventually you can do it all by feel rather than waiting for the external indicators. Once that happens you can move into the attack and you’ll activate a ‘weapon’s skill’ which will make your attack stronger as well as auto locking on monsters.” She explained as she finished off her move. “Ready for another round?” She challenged, pointing over at another wolf.

Sif smiles, his face turning red as he is squeezed. The gesture was very warm, and it was certainly welcomed by him. "Y-Yes, it was alright," he says, smiling at her, before he watches her example of weapon skills. It seemed easy enough, though if he was stood there for a second to long, the wolf could pounce on him or something. The second of not attacking would also leave him vulnerable to an attack. He followed her finger to another wolf, before he nods. "Yes, I am. Teach me your ways, master," he chuckles as he approaches the wolf.

The wolf barked and growled at him as he neared it, which came about as a bit frightening to Sif. He started to quiver again. If fear was a status infliction, then it had reached a high. It barked louder as he swung his sword, once, then twice, and then he held his sword, waiting for the weapon skill to come up. Unfortunately, what he had thought earlier was right. Waiting had left him open, and the wolf pounces onto him, biting into his left shoulder. He shouts as if he is in pain, but in reality he is not. It is just the reflex of being in pain.