When all this started, Apollo was well aware of the risks and knew it'd be up to him to keep his sister safe. Never would he have imagined, however, that she would turn out to be the better player.
The pair were in the back room of his current smithing shop, Sunlit Armory. For once, he had no commisions today and was focused solely on upgrading Artemis' breastplate. He admitted himself impressed; the trip to gaining the metals needed not only went smoothly but both gained a level. He himself was only slightly above average, around the mid twenties. Artemis herself finally broke into level thirty. The girl was a non-stop grinding machine, so much that he was surprised she had actually decided to stay and watch him make the armor as opposed to taking off and coming back once it was ready. Once the armor was properly forged, he sent it to her. Once she had received it, she equipped it. The silver breastplate fit well with her outfit.
"Thank you, Apollo." Artemis said, handing him some Fol.
It was something odd, but the two had decided to avoid calling one another by their names. For some reason, Artemis thought their names reminded her too much of the real world. Until they got back, she refused to be called by her name. Apollo was shocked at how much she had changed. His once meek, feeble little sister was somewhat cold and distant, intent only on clearing the floors above and little more. He let out a sigh as he watched her examine herself in the mirror. She caught his look, turning back to him.
"Looks great." He perked up, giving her a thumbs up.
She nodded in agreement, pulling up her menu once more. It was then that she noticed he had included another item. "What's this?" She asked him curiously.
He grinned, placing his hands at the back of his head. "My current masterpiece. Go on, try it."
Artemis stared at Apollo for a moment, but she did as she was told. As she equipped it, her hair was covered by a beautifully made open cloak. It was colored a royal blue, nicely complimenting the rest of her outfit. The hem was trimmed with a gorgeous lace design, giving it a very nice finishing touch. She admired it, her eyes having just a spark of amazement. It felt absolutely soft to the touch. "You made this? For me?" She asked him in awe.
"I remember you told me that you liked that one guy with his cloak, so I thought I'd give it a try." He told her happily. "Mind you, took me forever to get my Sewing level to make it, all the other ones came out so plain. I thought you would like this one."
She nodded eagerly, looking at herself in the mirror. She felt so cool wearing it. She probably looked badass--or at least she thought (and hoped) so. "I love it! Thank you!" Apollo watched her, clearly satisfied with his work. After a moment, however, she also equipped her sword. She unsheathed it, pointing at the mirror. She then let out a giddy giggle, twirling around. "I mean it, you've really outdone yourself." She looked at her sword, her smile fading. "I got another offer for a guild."
Her blonde brother rolled his eyes. "And you declined it." He stated. "I've told you before, this IS an MMO, working together is the name of the game. Sure, you can go along with the rest of the stragglers on the front line, but eventually you're going to have to group up with others sometime, Artemis."
Artemis scoffed, sheathing her sword. "Maybe if I could find people that could actually keep up, I would be in a guild." She told him as she turned back to look at him. "It's not my fault that everyone either can't keep up or just ends up getting in my way. You also said that it was important to keep my level up--which, if you don't remember, has finally hit thirty."
"What good is a level if you end up dying by yourself?"
"What good is a guild if they all end up dying because I wasn't around to babysit?"
"What good is your strength if you don't put it to good use? You can have the strongest weapon in the game, but if you give it to a complete noob, it's useless!"
Artemis let out an irritated huff, placing one hand on her hip. "Fine, whatever, you're right. But I'm not going to just join whatever sorry excuse of a guild asks me just to ogle me and make me do all the work. Not like last time." She told him, her heels clicking against the ground as she began to walk towards the inner house. "I'm starving, do you want food?"
Apollo sighed. "Yeah. Bring it to the front when you finish, I just want to make sure I don't miss any customers."