Connections
Tuesday, 26 May 2015 02:39![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ayumidahReality. Reality is... Reality is hard.
Aya grimaces as she waits for her computer to boot up. After spending all day straining her eyes over text books and then walking her shoes thin around the hospital, doing what she's required to as an intern, she's relieved to be home. Exhaustion hints at the edges of her vision, but she's too keyed up to try to lay down and shut her mind off, so she instead opts to lose herself here. In the latest online RPG craze.
Craze as in people of all ages, all walks of life, play here. She's interacted with people well into their sixties even, brought into the game by well-meaning grandchildren and quickly growing obsessed with it for their own reasons. Her, she likes to be able to blast 'bad guys' away without thinking too much about morality or mortality for a couple of hours. It's become something of a stress reliever for her.
Her avatar is a robot girl, with piercing blue eyes, and she thinks it's this feature more than anything else that attracts players to her. She's just formed in a mountainous region, looking for an opponent or ally, when her game screen goes black. She sighs, lips twitching as she adjusts in the chair and waits. "Stop covering my eyes and show yourself, Raze," she says playfully, finally tired of staring at a blank screen.
"Aw, man, how did you know it was me?" Raze sounds around her age, the skin of his avatar very pale. Dark armor covers his body, and his eyes are an icy blue that makes her feel cold whenever she looks at him. But despite his appearance, he's always kind to her and loyal to a fault. His bio only says he lives in Los Angeles, which is where she too resides, and although her heart races hopefully sometimes when she sees him in an area, she knows it's very unlikely they will ever run into each in real life. LA, after all, is a huge place.
Not to mention she has no clue what he looks like, or vice versa. Sighing, she clicks her mic on. "Only you would be brave enough to approach me in such a manner," she says teasingly, holding an energy gun up at his skull.
He retreats a few steps, hands held in supplication, before laughing. "My apologies."
"I'll forgive you this time." Holstering her weapon, she stands by his side and looks around. "Have you seen anything?"
"No," he comments. "Pretty quiet so far--" He stops short when there's a distinct beep, the telltale sound of someone logging in, and she huffs a laugh. "Famous last words, I guess." They turn as one, weapons at the ready-- his is a lengthy, frightening looking sword with black bleeding through its silver blade. Poison, she knows. Capable of killing in one blow, if the target is weak enough.
Two men, the names Nathan and Reno flashing over their heads, approach them. Though they look average enough, their stances hint otherwise. As do the pistols and javelins in their hands. "Looky, Reno, fresh meat," the one named Nathan says lazily, spinning his javelin jauntily as they approach.
"Yay," Reno says dryly, his pistols already aimed at them.
Aya rolls her eyes. The ones who seem the most eager are usually the ones who are the easiest to defeat because they get cocky and annoying, and find themselves soon knocked out of their shoes by a combination of her energy blast and slashes from Raze's sword. He knows it too and they exchange amused glances before facing off with them again. "Well, looks like we have some new rivals... for the next five minutes, anyway."
"If they last that long," Raze responds, running his finger along his blade to test its sharpness. She smirks and nods, stepping closer to the two men. "Ready?"
"Born," she confirms. Defeating players gives you experience points, and sometimes items if they drop something in the course of the fight. The faster you win, the more you gain. Defeating in-game opponents can be decent too, but most prefer to fight fellow players because the fights are generally more entertaining, doesn't have as many limitations. She sinks into a defense position, her energy gun held loosely at her side. Raze has his sword pressed in front of him, clearly expecting an attack from Reno's pistol, but instead Nathan takes off after him, javelin held high.
As Nathan adjusts to fend off this attack, Aya turns her attention to Reno, the two of them eyeing each other warily. Bullets versus energy... always an interesting battle, as it usually comes down to experience levels as to who has the true advantage. They both hold their breath as they rush each other, only a few feet away from each other when they shoot. Energy blasts the bullets spinning through the air towards her, Aya preparing to dive when... they explode in midair, the pressure of her energy just too much for them.
It's clear Reno has no idea what to do after that so Aya's next attack is at him directly, blasting him back and into one of the mountains. He sinks down lifelessly, his life meter flickering warningly. Aya stands over him for a moment before blasting him once more, putting him out of his misery.
Nathan notices, his aim going wild as he glances over his shoulder. "Reno!" It's the most emotion he's shown since appearing, and he pays for it as Raze's sword slashes through his body, leaving him breathless as the pain grows and eventually sends him to his knees. Raze watches him waver for a moment, struggling to lift his javelin and inflict at least some damage, but Raze moves fast. One more swipe later and he's defeated, Aya and Raze's experience levels growing.
"Well, that was easier than even I expected," she comments, joining him as he picks up a canteen. Food and drink, while not necessary, makes fights easier, helps the fighters to remain strong and energetic. After he drinks, she gets a turn, relieved as her stats rise. The fight hadn't been strenuous but it had still sapped some of her reserves. "Thanks," she tells him.
"Any time." They walk away from the mountains, heading for a jungle not far away. It's not a long walk, they're there within minutes, which is just as well because, outside of fighting and discussing strategy, there never seems to be anything to talk about between them. She's tried a time or two but he's always been tightlipped and distant with her, causing her to give up quite awhile ago. As long as he has her back, she feels comfortable in letting him have his space.
Sunlight is dappling through the trees beautifully and she has trouble focusing as she keeps staring down at her feet, the grass glinting gold wherever it touches. Thankfully Raze is always watchful so he shouts a warning just in time, Aya leaps back and away just as an axe splits the ground where she'd just been standing. She gapes as a man drops down before her, an easygoing smirk on his face. His name flashes Frank and, upon looking around curiously, Aya spots Raze's opponent: Chandra.
"Attack already, Frank, what are you waiting for?!" she demands, swinging a hammer furiously at Raze, each blast deflected by his sword, the clanking sound repeating, then echoing through the trees, making Aya grit her teeth.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm doing it," he calls back, cheerfully swinging his axe towards Aya. "Nothing personal, see, we just have to win or my wife'll have my head."
"You're married!" she chokes out, ducking another of his attempts.
"Indeed we are," he says, swinging at her head. She rolls away and he goes in for a third strike when she blasts her energy gun at him. He coughs and groans, wavering slightly. "Well, that packs quite the punch, huh?" Swinging at her skull, Frank gasps as she moves once more and his weapon is embedded in a tree. "Hey--!"
Aya twists quickly and aims once more with her energy gun, hoping that it'll be enough. It singes through his armor, his clothes, to his bare flesh, and to her relief, he sinks down, officially down for the count. She turns then to see if Raze needs her but no, Chandra had been dispatched about as easily as Frank, her blood still staining the grass around them and destroying the beauty that Aya had been so captivated by moments earlier.
Raze approaches her. "Come on, let's go to the next area." She nods quietly, relieved to leave the blood-soaked grass behind, and follows him to a lake. It's calm here, pretty, and she allows her mind to clear as she soaks her feet in the soothing blue water. Fish swim by, sometimes swimming against her toes, and she begins to smile before long, almost feeling like humming or... maybe singing... when there's a faint noise in the trees behind them.
Both tense up, Raze holding his sword at the ready as she scrambles to her feet and grabs her energy gun, staring around sharply. It doesn't take long before hissed whispering can be heard, a girl's voice. "I told you, now look, they heard your big clown shoe feet and we've been made!"
"Oh please," a vaguely accented voice snaps back at her. "If we've been made, as you say, it's because of you sniping at me. So much for being discreet, you can take that out of your profile bio right now!" Before their argument can continue, Aya aims at the bushes and shoots off a beam that sends them both scattering and screaming out of the vegetation, their names-- Christa and Antonio-- finally revealed. She looks fairly younger than he does, with dark, curly hair, and curious brown eyes. He has short, muddy brown hair and mischievous hazel eyes. Together they look utterly ridiculous, and easy to beat. Her weapon is a stick and neither Aya nor Raze can seem to locate his means of attack.
For this reason, Raze falls back, keeping a close eye on Antonio as Aya circles Christa curiously. "A stick, huh?" she asks, about to laugh at it, when... Christa spins it like a staff between her hands, aiming it directly at Aya, who flinches. "Whoa. Well, I guess you do know how to use that thing," she mutters, suddenly determined to keep a fair amount of space between them.
"My father trained me," she comments, lunging forward and striking the base of the weapon towards Aya.
So she has real life fighting skills that she uses to help her in here, perfect, Aya thinks, aiming her energy gun at the girl. She's a nerd with very few skills outside of average medical knowledge and general point-and-shoot types of defense. Later on, she decides this is why it's so easy for Antonio to sneak up on her. She's staring down Christa when a shadow looms over her and she turns to find Antonio standing behind her, his smirk turning into something so much more dangerous. She's frozen in place, gaping up at him as time seems to stop, when there's a flash of black before her eyes and she's pushed aside, a sharp cry of pain replaying torturously in her ears.
She knows that voice all too well, turning sharply once her body reacts to her commands. "RAZE!" Antonio and Christa are still close, too close, and she immediately loses it, blasting her gun at them. As she approaches, she grabs Raze's blood encrusted sword and swings it. Her left hand is weaker than her right and it shows, each swing barely enough to make much of an impact, but the blade's sharp tip makes up for her wretchedness with it. It's at least enough to draw Antonio and Christa away from Raze's downed body, and gives Aya an opportunity to see Antonio's weapons-- gloves on his hands that turn into sharp, flesh shredding claws. She can only imagine... Growing desperate, she lunges forward and blows off a lucky strike with her gun, hitting Antonio in the chest. As he flies back and hits a tree, she watches as his energy fades to nothing and he lays there, motionless.
Christa reacts immediately, sending her stick down towards Aya's vulnerable head, but she lifts her arm and cleaves through the makeshift weapon like it's nothing with Raze's sword. Christa squeeches in disbelief but her voice quickly dies when the sword is next pressed against her throat. Aya grits her teeth, staring into the younger girl's eyes before slashing in a rush, seeing no need to take her time with the game-ending attack.
Turning sharply on her heel, she walks back to Raze's side and drops the weapons as she goes. Once back at his side, she scoops him up, afraid of what she's going to see-- or not see, but when she turns him around, he's still conscious, even though his life meter is almost at empty. She smiles waveringly at him while ignoring the blood pouring from the wounds scattered around his chest caused by Antonio's claws, wondering why he'd done so much to save her. Yes, he was loyal and always had her back, but to risk his life in the game for someone he could barely say five words to... Instead of anything else she could say to him, this pondering is what comes out of her lips. "Why?"
He smiles, then coughs, fresh blood pouring down his chin. "Why did I... jump in the way of the attack?" He closes his eyes for a moment before looking back up at her. "I guess because... I just wanted a chance to do what I'd never... get to do in the real world..." She looks utterly confused and he laughs, reaching a weak hand up to her. "Maybe you should look up from your textbooks sometimes." She grips his hand, squeezing it between both of her own and he sighs, seeming to find some strength at the touch. "I'm in your anatomy class," he explains wearily.
She stares down at him incredulously, shaking her head. "I don't remember a Raze..."
He laughs at her, the sound quickly drifting, then disappearing entirely as he chokes up more blood. "Of course you don't. It's a nickname. My actual name is Ray but I hate it, so I go by Raze wherever I can." She makes a soft noise of realization and he smiles. "Remember me now?"
She nods, comparing him against her memories of the quiet, dark haired young man who she'd been teamed with sometimes for group projects. "Yes, I do. You knew this entire time we went to the same class and never introduced yourself?"
"I suspected," he murmurs, his life meter flickering all the faster as blood loss takes more of it away from him. "Aya is something of a rare name... But I didn't want to disrupt your life, you always seemed so busy. When I found you in here, it felt like at least I'd get to spend time with you somewhere..." There's something deep in his gaze at these words but, as she peers down at him, waiting for more, the last of his online character's stability fades away and he dies in her arms, leaving so much unsaid between them.
She stares at the lifeless avatar for awhile longer before signing out, not feeling the need to continue on with the game tonight. Instead, she lays in bed and thinks unceasingly about what Raze had said to her, what the implications of it could be. By morning, she feels awful and she's sure she looks worse but a little toast and orange juice, a shower and some make up later and she's out the door, barely obvious that she hadn't slept a wink the night before. At least, she hopes so anyway.
She's early for classes so she wanders campus, wondering what other classes Ray may take. She doesn't remember him being in other classes of hers, which gives her very little to go on to find him. Until, that is, he finds her. Hands over her eyes and she gasps, realizing just in time to keep from screaming that this is entirely Raze. "Stop covering my eyes and show yourself, Raze," she says as she has many times over the past few months. When his hands disappear, she turns slowly to find Ray right behind her.
He has mid-length black hair and almost equally as dark eyes, which right now are searching hers with a sheepish glint in them, an emotion echoed in his weak smile. "Aw man... How did you know it was me?"
She merely laughs and throws her arms around him, feeling as he tenses for a moment before hugging her back. "Lucky guess," she mumbles, finally deviating from script. Everything she had been thinking about the night before, his words, how well they had worked together, it all pieces together well now that she's in his arms. Pulling back enough to look him in the eye, she smiles. "Raze, would you like to go out to lunch with me sometime?" He looks stupefied as she grins. "It's the least I can do for the man who risked his life for mine last night, right?"
He still hasn't responded and she's beginning to wonder if perhaps she had guessed wrong after all but then he nods. "Yes, I'd... I'd like that very much."
His eyes are still wide with shock, intent on her, and she wants to see just how he'd respond to one more thing. Cupping his face gently, she leans up on her tippytoes and presses a soft kiss to his lips. When she pulls away, he looks like he's about to melt into the floor, his face is so red. Deciding not to shock him any further, she wipes the soft peach lipstick mark off of his skin. "Thank you," she tells him quietly before releasing him and walking off to go to her next class.
--------x
"You ready for this, Raze?" Aya asks, her eyes locked on the two new people challenging them with knives and a flail at the ready.
"I believe I am, Aya," he says softly. They exchange glances, her eyes softening for a moment as he reaches out for her hand. This time when she grips it, he holds on securely as they lunge forward together to take on their new rivals.
This reality she could easily get used to.
Aya grimaces as she waits for her computer to boot up. After spending all day straining her eyes over text books and then walking her shoes thin around the hospital, doing what she's required to as an intern, she's relieved to be home. Exhaustion hints at the edges of her vision, but she's too keyed up to try to lay down and shut her mind off, so she instead opts to lose herself here. In the latest online RPG craze.
Craze as in people of all ages, all walks of life, play here. She's interacted with people well into their sixties even, brought into the game by well-meaning grandchildren and quickly growing obsessed with it for their own reasons. Her, she likes to be able to blast 'bad guys' away without thinking too much about morality or mortality for a couple of hours. It's become something of a stress reliever for her.
Her avatar is a robot girl, with piercing blue eyes, and she thinks it's this feature more than anything else that attracts players to her. She's just formed in a mountainous region, looking for an opponent or ally, when her game screen goes black. She sighs, lips twitching as she adjusts in the chair and waits. "Stop covering my eyes and show yourself, Raze," she says playfully, finally tired of staring at a blank screen.
"Aw, man, how did you know it was me?" Raze sounds around her age, the skin of his avatar very pale. Dark armor covers his body, and his eyes are an icy blue that makes her feel cold whenever she looks at him. But despite his appearance, he's always kind to her and loyal to a fault. His bio only says he lives in Los Angeles, which is where she too resides, and although her heart races hopefully sometimes when she sees him in an area, she knows it's very unlikely they will ever run into each in real life. LA, after all, is a huge place.
Not to mention she has no clue what he looks like, or vice versa. Sighing, she clicks her mic on. "Only you would be brave enough to approach me in such a manner," she says teasingly, holding an energy gun up at his skull.
He retreats a few steps, hands held in supplication, before laughing. "My apologies."
"I'll forgive you this time." Holstering her weapon, she stands by his side and looks around. "Have you seen anything?"
"No," he comments. "Pretty quiet so far--" He stops short when there's a distinct beep, the telltale sound of someone logging in, and she huffs a laugh. "Famous last words, I guess." They turn as one, weapons at the ready-- his is a lengthy, frightening looking sword with black bleeding through its silver blade. Poison, she knows. Capable of killing in one blow, if the target is weak enough.
Two men, the names Nathan and Reno flashing over their heads, approach them. Though they look average enough, their stances hint otherwise. As do the pistols and javelins in their hands. "Looky, Reno, fresh meat," the one named Nathan says lazily, spinning his javelin jauntily as they approach.
"Yay," Reno says dryly, his pistols already aimed at them.
Aya rolls her eyes. The ones who seem the most eager are usually the ones who are the easiest to defeat because they get cocky and annoying, and find themselves soon knocked out of their shoes by a combination of her energy blast and slashes from Raze's sword. He knows it too and they exchange amused glances before facing off with them again. "Well, looks like we have some new rivals... for the next five minutes, anyway."
"If they last that long," Raze responds, running his finger along his blade to test its sharpness. She smirks and nods, stepping closer to the two men. "Ready?"
"Born," she confirms. Defeating players gives you experience points, and sometimes items if they drop something in the course of the fight. The faster you win, the more you gain. Defeating in-game opponents can be decent too, but most prefer to fight fellow players because the fights are generally more entertaining, doesn't have as many limitations. She sinks into a defense position, her energy gun held loosely at her side. Raze has his sword pressed in front of him, clearly expecting an attack from Reno's pistol, but instead Nathan takes off after him, javelin held high.
As Nathan adjusts to fend off this attack, Aya turns her attention to Reno, the two of them eyeing each other warily. Bullets versus energy... always an interesting battle, as it usually comes down to experience levels as to who has the true advantage. They both hold their breath as they rush each other, only a few feet away from each other when they shoot. Energy blasts the bullets spinning through the air towards her, Aya preparing to dive when... they explode in midair, the pressure of her energy just too much for them.
It's clear Reno has no idea what to do after that so Aya's next attack is at him directly, blasting him back and into one of the mountains. He sinks down lifelessly, his life meter flickering warningly. Aya stands over him for a moment before blasting him once more, putting him out of his misery.
Nathan notices, his aim going wild as he glances over his shoulder. "Reno!" It's the most emotion he's shown since appearing, and he pays for it as Raze's sword slashes through his body, leaving him breathless as the pain grows and eventually sends him to his knees. Raze watches him waver for a moment, struggling to lift his javelin and inflict at least some damage, but Raze moves fast. One more swipe later and he's defeated, Aya and Raze's experience levels growing.
"Well, that was easier than even I expected," she comments, joining him as he picks up a canteen. Food and drink, while not necessary, makes fights easier, helps the fighters to remain strong and energetic. After he drinks, she gets a turn, relieved as her stats rise. The fight hadn't been strenuous but it had still sapped some of her reserves. "Thanks," she tells him.
"Any time." They walk away from the mountains, heading for a jungle not far away. It's not a long walk, they're there within minutes, which is just as well because, outside of fighting and discussing strategy, there never seems to be anything to talk about between them. She's tried a time or two but he's always been tightlipped and distant with her, causing her to give up quite awhile ago. As long as he has her back, she feels comfortable in letting him have his space.
Sunlight is dappling through the trees beautifully and she has trouble focusing as she keeps staring down at her feet, the grass glinting gold wherever it touches. Thankfully Raze is always watchful so he shouts a warning just in time, Aya leaps back and away just as an axe splits the ground where she'd just been standing. She gapes as a man drops down before her, an easygoing smirk on his face. His name flashes Frank and, upon looking around curiously, Aya spots Raze's opponent: Chandra.
"Attack already, Frank, what are you waiting for?!" she demands, swinging a hammer furiously at Raze, each blast deflected by his sword, the clanking sound repeating, then echoing through the trees, making Aya grit her teeth.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm doing it," he calls back, cheerfully swinging his axe towards Aya. "Nothing personal, see, we just have to win or my wife'll have my head."
"You're married!" she chokes out, ducking another of his attempts.
"Indeed we are," he says, swinging at her head. She rolls away and he goes in for a third strike when she blasts her energy gun at him. He coughs and groans, wavering slightly. "Well, that packs quite the punch, huh?" Swinging at her skull, Frank gasps as she moves once more and his weapon is embedded in a tree. "Hey--!"
Aya twists quickly and aims once more with her energy gun, hoping that it'll be enough. It singes through his armor, his clothes, to his bare flesh, and to her relief, he sinks down, officially down for the count. She turns then to see if Raze needs her but no, Chandra had been dispatched about as easily as Frank, her blood still staining the grass around them and destroying the beauty that Aya had been so captivated by moments earlier.
Raze approaches her. "Come on, let's go to the next area." She nods quietly, relieved to leave the blood-soaked grass behind, and follows him to a lake. It's calm here, pretty, and she allows her mind to clear as she soaks her feet in the soothing blue water. Fish swim by, sometimes swimming against her toes, and she begins to smile before long, almost feeling like humming or... maybe singing... when there's a faint noise in the trees behind them.
Both tense up, Raze holding his sword at the ready as she scrambles to her feet and grabs her energy gun, staring around sharply. It doesn't take long before hissed whispering can be heard, a girl's voice. "I told you, now look, they heard your big clown shoe feet and we've been made!"
"Oh please," a vaguely accented voice snaps back at her. "If we've been made, as you say, it's because of you sniping at me. So much for being discreet, you can take that out of your profile bio right now!" Before their argument can continue, Aya aims at the bushes and shoots off a beam that sends them both scattering and screaming out of the vegetation, their names-- Christa and Antonio-- finally revealed. She looks fairly younger than he does, with dark, curly hair, and curious brown eyes. He has short, muddy brown hair and mischievous hazel eyes. Together they look utterly ridiculous, and easy to beat. Her weapon is a stick and neither Aya nor Raze can seem to locate his means of attack.
For this reason, Raze falls back, keeping a close eye on Antonio as Aya circles Christa curiously. "A stick, huh?" she asks, about to laugh at it, when... Christa spins it like a staff between her hands, aiming it directly at Aya, who flinches. "Whoa. Well, I guess you do know how to use that thing," she mutters, suddenly determined to keep a fair amount of space between them.
"My father trained me," she comments, lunging forward and striking the base of the weapon towards Aya.
So she has real life fighting skills that she uses to help her in here, perfect, Aya thinks, aiming her energy gun at the girl. She's a nerd with very few skills outside of average medical knowledge and general point-and-shoot types of defense. Later on, she decides this is why it's so easy for Antonio to sneak up on her. She's staring down Christa when a shadow looms over her and she turns to find Antonio standing behind her, his smirk turning into something so much more dangerous. She's frozen in place, gaping up at him as time seems to stop, when there's a flash of black before her eyes and she's pushed aside, a sharp cry of pain replaying torturously in her ears.
She knows that voice all too well, turning sharply once her body reacts to her commands. "RAZE!" Antonio and Christa are still close, too close, and she immediately loses it, blasting her gun at them. As she approaches, she grabs Raze's blood encrusted sword and swings it. Her left hand is weaker than her right and it shows, each swing barely enough to make much of an impact, but the blade's sharp tip makes up for her wretchedness with it. It's at least enough to draw Antonio and Christa away from Raze's downed body, and gives Aya an opportunity to see Antonio's weapons-- gloves on his hands that turn into sharp, flesh shredding claws. She can only imagine... Growing desperate, she lunges forward and blows off a lucky strike with her gun, hitting Antonio in the chest. As he flies back and hits a tree, she watches as his energy fades to nothing and he lays there, motionless.
Christa reacts immediately, sending her stick down towards Aya's vulnerable head, but she lifts her arm and cleaves through the makeshift weapon like it's nothing with Raze's sword. Christa squeeches in disbelief but her voice quickly dies when the sword is next pressed against her throat. Aya grits her teeth, staring into the younger girl's eyes before slashing in a rush, seeing no need to take her time with the game-ending attack.
Turning sharply on her heel, she walks back to Raze's side and drops the weapons as she goes. Once back at his side, she scoops him up, afraid of what she's going to see-- or not see, but when she turns him around, he's still conscious, even though his life meter is almost at empty. She smiles waveringly at him while ignoring the blood pouring from the wounds scattered around his chest caused by Antonio's claws, wondering why he'd done so much to save her. Yes, he was loyal and always had her back, but to risk his life in the game for someone he could barely say five words to... Instead of anything else she could say to him, this pondering is what comes out of her lips. "Why?"
He smiles, then coughs, fresh blood pouring down his chin. "Why did I... jump in the way of the attack?" He closes his eyes for a moment before looking back up at her. "I guess because... I just wanted a chance to do what I'd never... get to do in the real world..." She looks utterly confused and he laughs, reaching a weak hand up to her. "Maybe you should look up from your textbooks sometimes." She grips his hand, squeezing it between both of her own and he sighs, seeming to find some strength at the touch. "I'm in your anatomy class," he explains wearily.
She stares down at him incredulously, shaking her head. "I don't remember a Raze..."
He laughs at her, the sound quickly drifting, then disappearing entirely as he chokes up more blood. "Of course you don't. It's a nickname. My actual name is Ray but I hate it, so I go by Raze wherever I can." She makes a soft noise of realization and he smiles. "Remember me now?"
She nods, comparing him against her memories of the quiet, dark haired young man who she'd been teamed with sometimes for group projects. "Yes, I do. You knew this entire time we went to the same class and never introduced yourself?"
"I suspected," he murmurs, his life meter flickering all the faster as blood loss takes more of it away from him. "Aya is something of a rare name... But I didn't want to disrupt your life, you always seemed so busy. When I found you in here, it felt like at least I'd get to spend time with you somewhere..." There's something deep in his gaze at these words but, as she peers down at him, waiting for more, the last of his online character's stability fades away and he dies in her arms, leaving so much unsaid between them.
She stares at the lifeless avatar for awhile longer before signing out, not feeling the need to continue on with the game tonight. Instead, she lays in bed and thinks unceasingly about what Raze had said to her, what the implications of it could be. By morning, she feels awful and she's sure she looks worse but a little toast and orange juice, a shower and some make up later and she's out the door, barely obvious that she hadn't slept a wink the night before. At least, she hopes so anyway.
She's early for classes so she wanders campus, wondering what other classes Ray may take. She doesn't remember him being in other classes of hers, which gives her very little to go on to find him. Until, that is, he finds her. Hands over her eyes and she gasps, realizing just in time to keep from screaming that this is entirely Raze. "Stop covering my eyes and show yourself, Raze," she says as she has many times over the past few months. When his hands disappear, she turns slowly to find Ray right behind her.
He has mid-length black hair and almost equally as dark eyes, which right now are searching hers with a sheepish glint in them, an emotion echoed in his weak smile. "Aw man... How did you know it was me?"
She merely laughs and throws her arms around him, feeling as he tenses for a moment before hugging her back. "Lucky guess," she mumbles, finally deviating from script. Everything she had been thinking about the night before, his words, how well they had worked together, it all pieces together well now that she's in his arms. Pulling back enough to look him in the eye, she smiles. "Raze, would you like to go out to lunch with me sometime?" He looks stupefied as she grins. "It's the least I can do for the man who risked his life for mine last night, right?"
He still hasn't responded and she's beginning to wonder if perhaps she had guessed wrong after all but then he nods. "Yes, I'd... I'd like that very much."
His eyes are still wide with shock, intent on her, and she wants to see just how he'd respond to one more thing. Cupping his face gently, she leans up on her tippytoes and presses a soft kiss to his lips. When she pulls away, he looks like he's about to melt into the floor, his face is so red. Deciding not to shock him any further, she wipes the soft peach lipstick mark off of his skin. "Thank you," she tells him quietly before releasing him and walking off to go to her next class.
--------x
"You ready for this, Raze?" Aya asks, her eyes locked on the two new people challenging them with knives and a flail at the ready.
"I believe I am, Aya," he says softly. They exchange glances, her eyes softening for a moment as he reaches out for her hand. This time when she grips it, he holds on securely as they lunge forward together to take on their new rivals.
This reality she could easily get used to.
Ayumidah - Connections
2015-05-30 11:06 (UTC)http://brigits-flame.livejournal.com/1075426.html?thread=21418466#t21418466
My favorite so far
2015-05-30 11:27 (UTC)You did a great job utilizing the prompt. I really liked this take on it. I would say the further appeal came from the relatability of the scenario. Aside from the fact that the boyfriend and I are gamers online and off, the progression from meeting the characters and observing them interact to the ultimate revelation of the crush with tangible, real-world consequences was the perfect balance. I enjoyed the details of the VR world. As a reader, I could visualize the flow of physical action in the fight scenes.
One thing this story offered a bit more of is a feeling that there are two living, breathing, thinking people in your story, not one. A romance where one character only exists for the sake of the other falls flat with me. Though I do understand the constraints of short story story-telling - it does not leave much room for character development. Though Raze didn't talk much, the sense that they had established a connection through the game came across very well and the real world meeting left the reader with a sense that the progression would continue in the real world as he is finally free to allow her to get to know him.
Great job with this story.
Re: My favorite so far
2015-05-30 22:18 (UTC)no subject
2015-05-30 19:15 (UTC)As a long-time reader of yours, I would encourage you to read through this piece again and notice the changes in tense and sometimes breathless run-on sentences.(We've all done this in our writing, so this is not a negative judgment, just a friendly heads up ;)) Take at look at those and improve upon them -- Aya deserves your best efforts in later revisions.
When peeking in today, your comment on a recent chatter was still on my mind. I'm so glad you came back to writing, and very pleased that you're continuing to play in our little writing games :) Hope to see you again in June!
no subject
2015-05-30 22:21 (UTC)Thank you again, I'm glad I came back to writing as well. It's the best kind of challenge :D