NaNoWriMo - Day 1
Nov. 1st, 2009 04:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
orangerfulLast night, I saved the world.
Well, it wasn't just me; it was a team effort. After months of tracking the monster, we finally found it's hidden lair. I planned out our attack: the warriors charged in first, aggravating the creature and then our mages threw as much ice power as they could to keep it from throwing flames back in our face. I stayed well back and casting healing spells when needed,though that didn't stop me from tossing in the occasional electric zap when the monster was dazed. After all that build up, it only took us a few hours to vanquish the beast. The gold will help our guild coffers, but the safety of the world means more to me. We --
*KNOCK KNOCK*
The door squeaks open behind Jane as she sits hunched over her keyboard. Her roommate, Natasha, sighs loudly.
"Seriously? You're still on the computer? You were playing that stupid game when I left to get dinner."
Natasha (Tasha, for short), plopped down on their couch and lie still. Jane didn't bother to reply. Tasha could never understand the mission. She couldn't let down the team and go AFK for a whole night just because of some stupid gathering in the quad. Plus, no one ever wanted to talk to her anyway. Natasha, with her gorgeous red hair and actual fashion sense was the life of the party - Jane would end up in the corner, as usual, nursing some fruity drink. Tasha insisted that if she drank more, she would loosen up and meet new people, but usually the alcohol just made her sleepy and want to talk less. Plus, none of the people at these parties were her kind of people. She didn't even show up on their radar.
"Jane, come on! This is college! You need to get out of this dorm room and mingle!"
She knew that Tasha meant well. She was a very nice girl, though she was still confused about what algorithm the matchmakers at the college used to put these two in the same building, much less the same tiny dorm. She guessed that it had something to do with Tasha being so outgoing and Jane being so...well, not.
Jane's computer beeped at her and tiny pink text popped up on the bottom of the screen:
[Eisenbard] Armanthia, are you AFK?
Jane laughed at the very idea and sent a message back:
[Armanthia] LOL - where would I go?
[Eisenbard] Great work on the raid tonight. I had gone into the Lair with a few friends last week and it didn't go very well. We were charred heaps of man-flesh in 5 seconds.
[Armanthia] Thanks, Eis! It was nothing, you guys made it happen.
Of course, it wasn't nothing. Jane had spent two weeks researching the raid and creating a strategy that would lead them to victory. While Natasha went out partying, Jane sat on the floor and went over maps and stats, watching online videos of other groups successful attacks. She was always careful to have it all cleaned up before Natasha returned. She could tolerate Jane being on the computer all day, but she knew Tasha would probably physically drag her from the dorm room if she caught her studying the game.
[Eisenbard] Will you be questing at all tomorrow?
[Armanthia] It's Saturday, of course I'll be questing!
[Eisenbard] Kk, if I see you online, I'll send you a PM
[Armanthia] Sure thing, have a good night.
"OooooOOOh! Who's Eisenbard?"
Jane jumped in her chair. Somehow Natasha has managed to get from the couch to her shoulder without her noticing. The girl was like a real-life rogue!
"Just one of my team mates from the game." Jane replied. She had a bad feeling that she knew where this was going.
"He's totally flirting with you." Natasha said, poking Jane in the side. Jane was not amused.
"He's just appreciative of my hard work. We had a very successful night. It's polite to compliment the group leader."
Natasha rolled her eyes. "Sure, sure," she said, a smirk on her face. "Is he cute?"
"He's a mage, so it's hard to see his face with the robe he wears." She knew that wasn't what Natasha meant, but she was trying to end the conversation as quickly as possible. Eisenbard had only joined the group a month ago. He was taking the step from casual player to the more hard core player that logs time every night. She barely knew him.
Natasha loved good gossip though. "Pffft, fine be that way," she responded. She started to walk back to the couch, but then she stopped mid-step.
"Wait a minute, do you only know this guy in the game?"
Oh boy, here it comes, Jane thought.
"EW! He could be like, sixty and hitting on you!"
Jane snorted "Five seconds ago, you were ready to buy me a wedding present."
"That was before I knew he was some perve trying to lure you into his web. I've seen this on TV before, he's a predator!"
"It's okay, Tasha, I don't even know if he lives in the same state, let alone close enough for me to be his next victim. This game isn't convenient for that anyway - Predators stick to MySpace. They're not going to pay a monthly fee to stalk me. Besides, he doesn't know what I look like anyway," then under her breath "Thank the gods."
"Whoa" Natasha was thinking "You mean, Eisenbard could be a chick? What if a chick is flirting with you while dressed as a man!"
Jane logged out of the game, turned off her monitor, and went to her bedroom - "Goodnight Tasha"
* * *
From the World of Warcrack website:
Player Profile
Name: Armanthia
Race: Gnome
Class: Shaman - level 76
Guild: Questing for Fire (Guild Leader)
Last Login: 5 minutes ago.
From the College Student's Page:
Student Profile
Name: Jane Simmons
Year: 2nd
Major: Undecided
Minor: Undecided
Extracurricular Activities/Clubs: None
* * *
Jane Simmons rolled out of bed around 11am on Saturday. Her stomach growled at her. She was starving. She tried to remember if she had eaten anything last night. Nope - she had to rush back from her last class just to log-in on time (as guild leader, she needed to be logged in and ready before the rest of the team so she could invite them into the raiding party. Jane liked to log in a bit before that to have Armanthia ready and have time to review her notes).
Jane threw on her pajama pants and a baggy sweatshirt, forgoing a shower. She was sure she could make a mad dash for the food court, grab some cereal, and run back up to the dorm - avoiding any human contact. She tip toed out into the shared area of the dorm so she didn't wake up Natasha, managing to slip out the door without being detected.
It all went pretty well. The cereal line was very short. She snagged a couple boxes of Capt'n Crunch and two mini-cartons of milk and made her way for the door. But as she was shuffling up the stairs back to her room, she was stopped in her tracks. A group of guys from the floor above were coming down the stairwell, babbling about the party the night before. Jane froze and tried to disappear into the corner until they passed. She hoped if she avoided any sudden movements, they wouldn't see her. But no such luck.
"Hey, it's...Tasha's roommate!" said Chris, the guy leading the front of the pack.
"Hi Tasha's roommate!" the rest of them hollered in unison.
Jane waved meekly, clutching the Capt'n Crunch to her chest. The guys chuckled and went past her. At the back of the group was James. He saw Jane and gave her a slight smile. Jane started to smile back but then James put his head down and sped up so as not to lose the group.
Once there was room to move again, Jane ran up the last two flights of stairs and back to her room. As she had hoped, Natasha was already awake and had left. A note was scribbled on their dry erase board. Each dorm room had one for occasions such as this.
"Hey PJ," (Natasha's pet name for her - it stood for Plain Jane) "Went to find food, but I'll be back! We're going out today, the game will be there when you get back. It's Saturday, let's go have some fun!"
Jane decided that it would be useless to resist - once Tasha had an idea in her head, she wouldn't let it go. She dropped the poured her two boxes of cereal into a bowl, dumped the milk on top, and sat down in front of her PC - if she wanted to game at all this afternoon, she was going to have to do it now!
* * *
This was Jane's second year at the college. Her freshman year had been pretty uneventful. She moved into her dorm, ended up with Natasha as a room mate, and settled in to life outside of home. She brought along her computer, loaded with a word processing program, a few thousand mp3s and, of course, the game. Because she was a freshman, all of her classes were early in the morning - some sort of cruel joke devised by the college to welcome students to their new life. Luckily, she was pretty low maintenance and she managed to wake-up and shower in under 20 minutes, then went straight to her first class. The one good thing was she finished up in the early afternoon, so she could grab a sandwich and log in to the game until Natasha came back from her classes (somehow she had lucked into getting a few afternoon classes, probably because she was pre-med). She managed to level all the way up to 70, just in time for the expansion pack to come out over the summer, which would let her character climb to a whopping level 80. When sophomore year started, Jane had hoped she could just go back to the way things were, but over the summer, Natasha had decided to make it her mission to get Jane out into the real world.
Jane wasn't a fan of the real world. Everything was so much harder there. You couldn't just post a "Looking for Group" and find similar people waiting to go on an adventure with you. More often you found "Looking for a Ride" and you'd end up smooshed into a car with far too many people, like some sort of deranged clown vehicle, eventually letting you out downtown. Only there wasn't much downtown to hang out in. It was about three blocks of bars, restaurants that were over-priced (in other words, where you make you parents take you when they visit the campus) and a few small shops. After a few hours, you were so full of hot wings, you didn't want to go try on clothes or look at nick-knacks. And it didn't matter because you were out of cash anyway.
But apparently that is Natasha's idea of a good time. Tonight, the bar was hosting an open-mic night and Chris, the guy from the hallway that didn't even know Jane's name, would be performing. Chris has a huge crush on Natasha and was horrible about hiding it. Tasha was aware of the crush, but not quite sure what to do with Chris. So she'd drag Jane to these sort of events to have someone to talk to while Chris made googly eyes at her from the stage. Jane wished the bar had wi-fi, at least then she could Google battle tactics while listening to Chris sing acoustic covers of Metallica songs at the top of his lungs.
Well, it wasn't just me; it was a team effort. After months of tracking the monster, we finally found it's hidden lair. I planned out our attack: the warriors charged in first, aggravating the creature and then our mages threw as much ice power as they could to keep it from throwing flames back in our face. I stayed well back and casting healing spells when needed,though that didn't stop me from tossing in the occasional electric zap when the monster was dazed. After all that build up, it only took us a few hours to vanquish the beast. The gold will help our guild coffers, but the safety of the world means more to me. We --
*KNOCK KNOCK*
The door squeaks open behind Jane as she sits hunched over her keyboard. Her roommate, Natasha, sighs loudly.
"Seriously? You're still on the computer? You were playing that stupid game when I left to get dinner."
Natasha (Tasha, for short), plopped down on their couch and lie still. Jane didn't bother to reply. Tasha could never understand the mission. She couldn't let down the team and go AFK for a whole night just because of some stupid gathering in the quad. Plus, no one ever wanted to talk to her anyway. Natasha, with her gorgeous red hair and actual fashion sense was the life of the party - Jane would end up in the corner, as usual, nursing some fruity drink. Tasha insisted that if she drank more, she would loosen up and meet new people, but usually the alcohol just made her sleepy and want to talk less. Plus, none of the people at these parties were her kind of people. She didn't even show up on their radar.
"Jane, come on! This is college! You need to get out of this dorm room and mingle!"
She knew that Tasha meant well. She was a very nice girl, though she was still confused about what algorithm the matchmakers at the college used to put these two in the same building, much less the same tiny dorm. She guessed that it had something to do with Tasha being so outgoing and Jane being so...well, not.
Jane's computer beeped at her and tiny pink text popped up on the bottom of the screen:
[Eisenbard] Armanthia, are you AFK?
Jane laughed at the very idea and sent a message back:
[Armanthia] LOL - where would I go?
[Eisenbard] Great work on the raid tonight. I had gone into the Lair with a few friends last week and it didn't go very well. We were charred heaps of man-flesh in 5 seconds.
[Armanthia] Thanks, Eis! It was nothing, you guys made it happen.
Of course, it wasn't nothing. Jane had spent two weeks researching the raid and creating a strategy that would lead them to victory. While Natasha went out partying, Jane sat on the floor and went over maps and stats, watching online videos of other groups successful attacks. She was always careful to have it all cleaned up before Natasha returned. She could tolerate Jane being on the computer all day, but she knew Tasha would probably physically drag her from the dorm room if she caught her studying the game.
[Eisenbard] Will you be questing at all tomorrow?
[Armanthia] It's Saturday, of course I'll be questing!
[Eisenbard] Kk, if I see you online, I'll send you a PM
[Armanthia] Sure thing, have a good night.
"OooooOOOh! Who's Eisenbard?"
Jane jumped in her chair. Somehow Natasha has managed to get from the couch to her shoulder without her noticing. The girl was like a real-life rogue!
"Just one of my team mates from the game." Jane replied. She had a bad feeling that she knew where this was going.
"He's totally flirting with you." Natasha said, poking Jane in the side. Jane was not amused.
"He's just appreciative of my hard work. We had a very successful night. It's polite to compliment the group leader."
Natasha rolled her eyes. "Sure, sure," she said, a smirk on her face. "Is he cute?"
"He's a mage, so it's hard to see his face with the robe he wears." She knew that wasn't what Natasha meant, but she was trying to end the conversation as quickly as possible. Eisenbard had only joined the group a month ago. He was taking the step from casual player to the more hard core player that logs time every night. She barely knew him.
Natasha loved good gossip though. "Pffft, fine be that way," she responded. She started to walk back to the couch, but then she stopped mid-step.
"Wait a minute, do you only know this guy in the game?"
Oh boy, here it comes, Jane thought.
"EW! He could be like, sixty and hitting on you!"
Jane snorted "Five seconds ago, you were ready to buy me a wedding present."
"That was before I knew he was some perve trying to lure you into his web. I've seen this on TV before, he's a predator!"
"It's okay, Tasha, I don't even know if he lives in the same state, let alone close enough for me to be his next victim. This game isn't convenient for that anyway - Predators stick to MySpace. They're not going to pay a monthly fee to stalk me. Besides, he doesn't know what I look like anyway," then under her breath "Thank the gods."
"Whoa" Natasha was thinking "You mean, Eisenbard could be a chick? What if a chick is flirting with you while dressed as a man!"
Jane logged out of the game, turned off her monitor, and went to her bedroom - "Goodnight Tasha"
* * *
From the World of Warcrack website:
Player Profile
Name: Armanthia
Race: Gnome
Class: Shaman - level 76
Guild: Questing for Fire (Guild Leader)
Last Login: 5 minutes ago.
From the College Student's Page:
Student Profile
Name: Jane Simmons
Year: 2nd
Major: Undecided
Minor: Undecided
Extracurricular Activities/Clubs: None
* * *
Jane Simmons rolled out of bed around 11am on Saturday. Her stomach growled at her. She was starving. She tried to remember if she had eaten anything last night. Nope - she had to rush back from her last class just to log-in on time (as guild leader, she needed to be logged in and ready before the rest of the team so she could invite them into the raiding party. Jane liked to log in a bit before that to have Armanthia ready and have time to review her notes).
Jane threw on her pajama pants and a baggy sweatshirt, forgoing a shower. She was sure she could make a mad dash for the food court, grab some cereal, and run back up to the dorm - avoiding any human contact. She tip toed out into the shared area of the dorm so she didn't wake up Natasha, managing to slip out the door without being detected.
It all went pretty well. The cereal line was very short. She snagged a couple boxes of Capt'n Crunch and two mini-cartons of milk and made her way for the door. But as she was shuffling up the stairs back to her room, she was stopped in her tracks. A group of guys from the floor above were coming down the stairwell, babbling about the party the night before. Jane froze and tried to disappear into the corner until they passed. She hoped if she avoided any sudden movements, they wouldn't see her. But no such luck.
"Hey, it's...Tasha's roommate!" said Chris, the guy leading the front of the pack.
"Hi Tasha's roommate!" the rest of them hollered in unison.
Jane waved meekly, clutching the Capt'n Crunch to her chest. The guys chuckled and went past her. At the back of the group was James. He saw Jane and gave her a slight smile. Jane started to smile back but then James put his head down and sped up so as not to lose the group.
Once there was room to move again, Jane ran up the last two flights of stairs and back to her room. As she had hoped, Natasha was already awake and had left. A note was scribbled on their dry erase board. Each dorm room had one for occasions such as this.
"Hey PJ," (Natasha's pet name for her - it stood for Plain Jane) "Went to find food, but I'll be back! We're going out today, the game will be there when you get back. It's Saturday, let's go have some fun!"
Jane decided that it would be useless to resist - once Tasha had an idea in her head, she wouldn't let it go. She dropped the poured her two boxes of cereal into a bowl, dumped the milk on top, and sat down in front of her PC - if she wanted to game at all this afternoon, she was going to have to do it now!
* * *
This was Jane's second year at the college. Her freshman year had been pretty uneventful. She moved into her dorm, ended up with Natasha as a room mate, and settled in to life outside of home. She brought along her computer, loaded with a word processing program, a few thousand mp3s and, of course, the game. Because she was a freshman, all of her classes were early in the morning - some sort of cruel joke devised by the college to welcome students to their new life. Luckily, she was pretty low maintenance and she managed to wake-up and shower in under 20 minutes, then went straight to her first class. The one good thing was she finished up in the early afternoon, so she could grab a sandwich and log in to the game until Natasha came back from her classes (somehow she had lucked into getting a few afternoon classes, probably because she was pre-med). She managed to level all the way up to 70, just in time for the expansion pack to come out over the summer, which would let her character climb to a whopping level 80. When sophomore year started, Jane had hoped she could just go back to the way things were, but over the summer, Natasha had decided to make it her mission to get Jane out into the real world.
Jane wasn't a fan of the real world. Everything was so much harder there. You couldn't just post a "Looking for Group" and find similar people waiting to go on an adventure with you. More often you found "Looking for a Ride" and you'd end up smooshed into a car with far too many people, like some sort of deranged clown vehicle, eventually letting you out downtown. Only there wasn't much downtown to hang out in. It was about three blocks of bars, restaurants that were over-priced (in other words, where you make you parents take you when they visit the campus) and a few small shops. After a few hours, you were so full of hot wings, you didn't want to go try on clothes or look at nick-knacks. And it didn't matter because you were out of cash anyway.
But apparently that is Natasha's idea of a good time. Tonight, the bar was hosting an open-mic night and Chris, the guy from the hallway that didn't even know Jane's name, would be performing. Chris has a huge crush on Natasha and was horrible about hiding it. Tasha was aware of the crush, but not quite sure what to do with Chris. So she'd drag Jane to these sort of events to have someone to talk to while Chris made googly eyes at her from the stage. Jane wished the bar had wi-fi, at least then she could Google battle tactics while listening to Chris sing acoustic covers of Metallica songs at the top of his lungs.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-01 10:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-02 12:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-01 11:28 pm (UTC)I love it. I can't wait to read what happens next, and I laughed out loud at gnome shaman. There so needs to be gnome shamans. They could turn into puppies instead of wolves. omghowcutewouldthatbe.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-02 12:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-02 01:50 am (UTC)Your beginning with the "hook" first line and the gaming is excellent.
I love the "looking for group" in the real world meaning "looking for ride" and the description of a typical college afternoon. And boy, do you recall college life accurately--things such as roommate conversations and the guys coming down the stairs all chorusing, "Hi Tasha's roommmate!"
(no subject)
Date: 2009-11-02 02:34 am (UTC)