[color=turquoise]Cinera walked through the center of town, giving a bit of a sad sigh. [i]Well, this was dumb... I haven't even met most of their group, yet. Why did I run off? And how many people am I buying food for, anyways?[/i] Shaking her head, she figured that she would just buy the items she needed and then use the rest to get food. After all, she had a pickaxe in her inventory... She could always mine some ore to sell, later. She seemed to remember there being some near the next town. If there was one good thing about this game, it was that money wasn't insanely difficult to gain. Unfortunately though, that did not mean that the items in town were cheap, by any means.

Quickly, she walked into a nearby shop and saw another player leaving, looking very happy with himself. He must have just made a good purchase. Surely this shop had something useful, right? Wrong. As she went inside, she saw that most of the good items had been sold. Most of what was left were daggers and spears - the starter items that she was trying to get rid of. The shopkeeper was only an NPC, and he said that he didn't have anything else available, so she figured she would need to try another shop. Cinera headed back into the main square and looked for another weapons seller. An armor shop then caught her eye, so she figured that she could at least get some upgrades for the clothes she had on. After all, she liked the way they looked... but they were low-protection. They would need to be endowed before they would actually be any use.

Much to her surprise, it cost her nearly half of her money to upgrade the defense of both the top and the shorts of her outfit. Well, that weapon would have to wait... but at least she was better-protected against the death that seemed to be looming over every player she saw. It sent shudders down her spine to know that these were all real people who were in real danger, here. At least everyone seemed to want to fight back, at this point. Except for Sapphira, which she still had trouble understanding. Life might have been bad, but surely having death constantly at your back was worse? Unless that was what her real life felt like. She did say that she was in the hospital, right now...

Whatever the case, Cinera knew that she had to train and get better. Her little katana, though not a starter weapon, was not going to get her very far. She loved the weight and feel of it - light and easy to handle, great for a VR newbie such as herself - but it had very low attack power. It would be awhile before she could safely move on from this town. Perhaps the group was better off without her? The ache in her heart told her that she would only get them killed...

As Cinera headed back through the square, looking for a place that she could maybe buy some cheap bread, she noticed a tall man in a mask standing nearby. He stood out a lot from the other players she saw, as he carried a huge scythe on his back. Not only that, but he had these piercing blue eyes that seemed to stare into her soul, even when he wasn't looking at her. It was intimidating. Nervously, she glanced away, only to notice the jackal sniffing around beside him. Her eyes went wide and she couldn't help but to stare in amazement. [i]Is that... Is that a jackal?!?! Oh my GOSH he is so CUTE![/i] A wide smile crossed her lips as she gazed at it in awe, unaware that she was standing there gaping like an idiot. Animals were her favorite thing in the world, and she wished more than anything that she had the skill to tame something of that level, in this game. She would be unbeatable if she had her dire wolf from her other non-VR MMO by her side... It made her heart swell with happiness just to look at the majestic creature. [i]Wow... He must be pretty amazing if he tamed something like that early on... I haven't even seen any other jackals around here...[/i][/color]