A Tale of Love

Chapter 1: In the beginning…

“Altore” his screen name read. I glared a little at my computer screen, sighing with frustration. Choosing the white mage on my main job on Final Fantasy XI had always posed problems. A lot of my friends on there needed quite a lot of help. At this point, I was actually helping my sister, Jessica (this usually only occurred once a year… I swear!). She had disconnected from the online role-playing game whilst helping one of her friends and had pretty much left him stranded. At the point when she realised she wouldn’t be able to get back on, she had turned to me and asked me to go and help him, using the phrase “or he’ll die.”

Well, he obviously wouldn’t really die, but I had a soft heart… as well as the memories of me trying to make it on my own in the very beginning. No one had helped me then. So, I had broken off from my periodical buying and selling of items at the Auction House and gone to help her little friend. As soon as I realised who I was helping, I regretted it. Jess often spoke to me about our experiences online, and at the moment, this guy had his eyes on her, and seemed to want to keep them there. It amazed me at how many guys were so loose with their affections online… in reality; it was extremely difficult to get them to say the famous three words to your face. But online… they always had the option to never have to speak to the female again. The function called the “Black List” on this particular game allowed this option to be known to everyone. All the guy had to type was “/blist add insert screen name here” and hey presto! The girl was unable to contact him through the game. If she had his email address or phone number, she could still use those, and she could still message him in the game until the guy chose to “Ignore Sender”, but it was the first step to a broken relationship.

Yeah, people had relationships on these games. Real relationships. Take, for example, my sister and the relationship she was having at the moment. His screen name was Tefal, and his real name was Nick. They had long progressed from just speaking on the game and now had each others email addresses, MSN addresses and telephone numbers. They spoke on the phone pretty much every night, and of course… I was happy for her. I hadn’t met many people whose online relationships worked, but… I was happy for her. It wasn’t as though I was completely biased either, because I had something of a relationship myself. His name was Tachikaze… that was his screen name, anyway, and I’d known him for quite a long time. He made me laugh, he made me smile and he thought I was pretty. Three essential things for a good online relationship… we didn’t seem to be that serious, but I wasn’t worried. I was having fun.

Using the controls on the keyboard, I commanded my cat-like creature to move swiftly over the grass of Konschtat Highlands, after having received a teleport from a helpful white mage in Jeuno. Yeah, another helpful white mage. It seemed we were destined to be eternally helping people. As I saw Altore come into view, I almost hesitated. Almost made my way back to Jeuno. Back to the bustling streets, the hectic area outside of the Auction House, the continuous lag…

“Hey Kat…” A message from him appeared on my screen, and I cursed at my computer. He’d seen me. There was no turning back now…

“Hi Altore. My sister asked me to PL you since she’s dced. Hope you’re not too disappointed.”

The term “PL” was what we used to describe the way that higher levelled mages helped those who were lower level. The actual word was power-level, but it had been shortened over time. Basically, anyone who could cure could be a PLer. Since I was a white mage, and curing was my main job, well… I was the prime candidate for his new PLer.

“Of course not.” He replied.

Liar. He’d much have preferred my sister to PL him rather than me. With this in mind, I tossed him a cure, which was his signal to run off and find a monster or two. In this way, he would gain experience points, which would allow him to level up… which seemed to be the whole point of this game.

(not yet finished. But I put this up here for FunkyFlower14… this was the beginning to the story about me and my bf. Hope you enjoy it. Not too sure when I’ll find time to finish it, lol.)