History/Personality:
Growing up was hard. Life's not just a contest, but a struggle. A struggle to be heard, seen, to be respected. A struggle to survive. This struggle to survive was picked up early by William. He was a child when his home was invaded by the mob that rivaled. The Russians don't take kindly to people stealing their business away from them.
The house was relatively quiet that night. Some of his parent's 'co-workers' were over, guarding the modest countryside house along with their only child and his babysitter. These were no street toughs coming to break some things and scare Will's parents into submission. They had tried that in the early days. These were men who came to destroy. Men with cold hearts, and hot weapons.
When they returned they found six bodies belonging to the mob, four of their friends and their son sitting with his fathers favorite gun in his father's study. The babysitter was there holding him, neither had moved the entire night. Neither were physically harmed.
They moved to Neo Tokyo after a quick sale of the home, with William being home schooled. Counseling helped, a bit. Time moves on, though, and eventually William had moved past the events of that night, now long ago. He persuaded his parents that he was well enough to attend public high school. By this point in his life William was becoming more open, and he had found a few online communities that had welcomed him warmly. He soon became engrossed in the concept of the internet and quickly became one of them. In high school, things changed though. At the start he was picked on, for his size and his enthusiasm and ignorance. That ended just as quickly as it started as his training in Baritsu kicked in. Within moments three of his four attackers were down and one was already backing away. The last one became his best friend. Word spread that the 'little wolf' was not to be trifled with. His popularity continued to rise as he tended to stay away form social activities, other than his new friend, who had much in common with him. They were both people who tended to be picked on, for various reasons and he was really only in that gang because he was forced into it. These early events planted some seeds in Williams mind. Seeds that grew into an idea that would shape the next seven years of his life.
He began using the lessons he had learned from his parents, about running a 'business', and formed a small gang, The Runners Guild. Regular kids from all over the school signed up and William began learning and teaching free-running. This set the stage for him to make a half-gang. Every gang needs people to deliver things, and William made the Runners Guild into a neutral party, one that no one wanted to piss off. Not because they were fearsome fighters, most already were because of the training William gave in Baritsu, but because they, in effect, controlled all of the traffic of products the gangs wanted to deliver and provided a clean untraceable way to get their 'unmarked packages' form seller to buyer. Messages, drugs, weapons, whatever someone needed, William was able to move it. Because of the 'incident' that happened to him years ago, he began sorting and organizing the guild by both skill and level of involvement. The more dangerous and illicit, the more experience was required as well as a level of consent. He was very frank about what they were doing, and didn't want anyone to get hurt because of it. There were some setbacks, but because of his cautious nature, but thankfully the damage was mitigated, and the worst that happened was a few broken bones that were explained away as a free-running accident.
Eventually, however, word reached William's parents about this new gang. They were staying quiet, they had enough money to support them indefinitely, but were keeping eyes and ears open, just in case. It didn't take the genius of his parents long to put two and two together. Long nights spent at 'school activities' set alarm bells ringing in their rightly paranoid minds. Long arguments and quiet discussions followed for a while, the end result being William agreeing to stop the illegal activities of the Guild, but allow him to keep running. Running was a passion, he described to them. It was a way of escape from the world that is black and loveless. His two passions were running and gliding through the web, and he was helping people. He explained that helping people helped to relieve the oppression of his past. His parents fell silent at this, looked long at one another, and agreed. They wanted their son to be happy, of course, but they wanted him to be safe. There is always a dangerous line between freedom and safety, but this compromise allowed both parties to come out content. William agreed, with his parents help, to sever all ties to any gang related activity. In exchange for this, he would be allowed to continue his free running as well as the Guild. His father helped set up contacts in middle and higher society, with the new core of the Guild being day-of delivery for important physical items.
Will loves to run. The feel of bouncing off of of concrete, flying over walls, and out maneuvering even the most agile of foes give him a light heart that is filled with joy. After the attempt on his life, he naturally gravitated toward the online scene and has many friends that enjoy playing various games and talking. During the has managed to keep his grades above average, and after his lengthy discussion with his parents, they even rose above that into the exceptional range. On some level he loves to learn, but he is more tactically and logistically minded than he is with advanced theories.
Appearance:
Short...skinny...thin...weak. Those are the words used to describe Will most of the time, but what he didn't get was why. Sure, he was short and didn't have a lot of physical presence, but surely people would stop with the petty insults behind his back after the fights in high school? Either way, it didn't matter much to Will. He knew he could defend himself if some thugs decided that having a new Run Leader would be a good thing. There were also the rival gangs to worry about, but that's another matter entirely. His tight under-clothes coupled with his baggy over shirts helped in those fights. No one ever expects a person to whip off their clothes and use them as weapons, and as mid-fight distractions go, you could't get any better. Well, there's always pocket sand, but it's more a personal preference.
Will would, naturally prefer it if people chose to fight him when he was on a Run though. Ever since he stabilized himself in his rank of Run Leader he likes to dress nice and fashionably. Back on topic, his short blonde hair stands out in the setting, contrasting with the darkness of those around him. His bright blue eyes also stand out, but hey, that's what being a foreigner is all about. He keeps his posture well at all times, a product of his training and athleticism. He might appear skinny, but while yes his muscles are more lean than buff, he hits harder than most. He's learned through his training that it's more about hitting the right points than hitting them hard.
Day 1
Seriously confused at what was happening, his first though was to explore it and find out the limits of the system. He spent most of the morning looking over it and wondering why the layout and design of the hologram like images that now floated above his head.
<The Gamer>
Level ???
...the actual fuck?, William thought as he looked from the mirror to his head and back again, I'm pretty sure I've never done drugs, so...Alright, let's mess with this a bit...
A few hours later
Ok, so I need to say things to open it...Great, I've got the Connect version of an mmorpg menu...Not my best of days. William glanced at the few menus open to him. One displayed a simplistic version of what he assumed were his 'real life stats', the other his inventory, which was empty. He even got a quest log opened, but that was also empty, currently. First things first, lets change this ridiculously outdated layout. He then opened up the 'settings' menu off of the main menu, selecting 'display'. It opened up to a blank screen. Taking a chance, he began suggesting colors and thinking where things should go, and how they should look. Soon, he had customized his entire loadout. He could reach his inventory in an instant, with 'hotkeys' for specific item slots with personal tags. These slots would only fill with certain items. So, If I ever have no inventory, and pick something useful up, it'll automatically equip it if it's better for me. Great, also a display for my health and mana, always on, but transparent so I can see through it. Status effects bar above them, good. One that doesn't look like ass, thank you...There we go, that looks better. He though for a moment, but couldn't think of anything else he'd like to customize. Satisfied he closed out the menus, and when prompted, saved his changes.
Ding!
You'v completed a Personal Quest!
Wait...please tell me, Will thought as he hit 'View Quest'.
You've customized the entire Menu!
Exp: 1
Buff: Now able to access the menu easier and without headache!
Oh, you must be joking...It has a snarky sense of humor. Wonderful, He thought as he closed the message. He then checked his total Exp bar. 1/15 was what it said. "Well, now that's very interesting..."
The remainder of his William's day was spent fussing about the menu seeing if he could set more Quests for himself, but nothing seemed to work. He went to bed wondering if anything interesting would happen.
Day 2