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[Butter Dragon]

It took a couple hours before you noticed something was off about
the game. Probably, because you started with the tutorial levels.
'CONGRATULATIONS! You've reached level one and the end of the
tutorial levels, select an avatar and three starting skill points to
proceed.' that was expected, considering how the ranking system
had worked in the tutorial.
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What wasn't expected was that as soon as you confirmed your
selection... your avatar appeared in front of you. clear as day.
And what they really didn't expect is that they could fall in love
with someone who didn't even exist.

[Butter Dragon]

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Briar Nicole Rycroft - female- avatar - nineteen
"just trying hard not to act the way that I feel..."

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Briar is kind-hearted, though often naive. She isn't dumb, in fact, she's grow
n up a lot due to the recent events involving the game. She's an introvert,
preferring to be with books over the company of people, or really anything
else. She was never a huge video game player, but the new game intrigued
her and the thought of her word actually meaning something to creators, or
anyone really, felt truly like a dream come true. But that dream quickly tur
ned into a nightmare and her life was turned upside down forever more.
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[querencia]

ＷＥ ＡＬＬ ＭＡＫＥ ＣＨＯＩＣＥＳ

ＢＵＴ ＩＮ ＴＨＥ ＥＮＤ

ＯＵＲ ＣＨＯＩＣＥＳ ＭＡＫＥ ＵＳ

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01. elyse tarantino 02. nineteen 03. cisfemale 04. labelled as a 'weird but nice' girl 05. only child and grew up playing video games w/ her dad 06. currently in uni as a game design major, tried to join as a beta tester but got denied. now she can't wait to try it 07. overly nice and tends to take things in stride 08. she does have out bursts of frustration at times and after that she's easily overwhelmed 09. tries to look on the bright side of everything 10. has a nervous habit of humming 11. tries to act like she knows everything 12. always helping people and it often gets her in trouble- has a little scar on her lower lip from one

[querencia]

elyse had entered the game with more than just a feeling of excitement. she'd been waiting months for the game to come out, even after the let down of failing the requirements to become a beta tester. really, how many other people were there more qualified than her? she was raised on gaming! her very first memory was sitting in her papi's lap while he played on a majorly outdated station! but after waiting for so long it was finally time to play the game she'd desired for over two years.
one moment she'd been sitting at her desk, legs up and crossed in what she called her 'comfy chair' when she'd put on the headset and bam! everything had unfolded in a pattern of squares until her entire room was like some sort of gray, scientific area. elyse flinched when the walls changed again, the game beginning and the tutorial began. jeez, she had heard about these kind of systems but before now she'd never gotten to experience one of these immersion simulation games. she liked to think she did pretty well as she made her way through the tutorial, the achievements coming easy until finally CONGRATULATIONS appeared before her. with a wide grin she continued through it, then came face to face with a girl who looked oddly familiar. "wait. what are you doing here?" she wondered and clicked on her headset's help button. 'avatar selection' it said above the girl and she frowned before swiping the air in front of the girls body, another person manifesting. after a few swipes she came upon the girl again. for some reason she was drawn to her and ended up choosing her to be her avatar. "i guess this is it, huh oh! well, this is strange." she wondered aloud as the avatar stayed in front of her. elyse had figured she'd just.. disappear or something after being picked. or maybe elyse would become the avatar. she frowned and waved her hand in front of the avatar's face.

(this was done so fast, sorry if anything's a mess! i didn't want to make you wait any longer!)

[Butter Dragon]

The girl blinked once, twice, eyes finally adjusting to being open again. Finally exiting the past hours, months, years? She had no way of telling how long or short it had been, but either way, the state she exited was one she could only be described as a sort of suspended animation. She hadn't felt as though she was stuck, but at the same time, she couldn't recall any cognizant thoughts or actions, to her best guess what she'd entered was a dream-like state in which she was neither conscience nor aware that she wasn't awake. It took a moment for her to fully remember where and who she was. Briar. She was Briar Rycroft, she was in a game. As she remembered the events of the recent past her face became more solemn. It had mostly been explained to her,
but the feeling of not being in control was one that always upset her. And she could think of no situation more fitting of that emotion than this.

A disembodied female voice rang out above them, "CONGRATULATIONS player on completing the tutorial and choosing your avatar!
Your avatar is tapped into an informational log for your convenience, so please direct any questions to them if they are not answered in the manual.-" at that point, Briar took note of a medium sized book materializing out of nowhere in front of this "player." "Some answers, like skills, can only be unlocked through gaining levels while still others can be bought with in-game currency! Good luck, and let The Game begin!!" Once the speech was finished the two were left again in silence. Briar took the initiative, after all if her hunch was correct then completing the game was her way to escape (at least if cliche movies and books had taught her anything.) "Welcome to The Game," she said blandly, smile evading her lips. She extended her hand, a formal invitation to begin their relationship.

{no problem at all, I've been swamped with life so I can hardly blame you}

[querencia]

elyse couldn't help but flinch when the voice rang out, her grimace continued until the voice stopped. god, it would take forever for her to get used to disembodied voices in this virtual reality context. her eyes widened in surprise as the manual appeared in front of her, 'fancy' she thought as she took it. 'put in inventory?" appeared just above it and when pressed the book disappeared just as it had appeared and she hummed in appreciation. science better get a move on and implement that into real life! as the announcer's dialogue ended, elyse became aware of the silence. awkward silence in her opinion.

with a breath of relief, elyse smiled shyly when her avatar started to talk. she didn't know if she would or not, since she had remained there without dissolving into some kind of pixely mess or merged with elyse somehow, but the game would have been weird if she'd had a silent avatar following her the whole time. "thanks, i guess? i've been looking forward to this." she answered, reaching out to shake the extended hand. "honestly i'm not sure what to do now, so..?" she trailed off, giving the avatar a look as if to ask if she knew. maybe it would activate a recorded dialogue that would give her some insight on her first actual game mission 'cause even though this area was nice there was definitely no big bad for her to slay.

[Butter Dragon]

Briar let out a puff of air, the universal sign of a half-heartedly forced laugh. She'd been looking forward to playing the game too before it had become a nightmare. She'd signed her name on that contract and, apparently, with it signed her life away... Briar blinked, focusing her vision on something that wasn't in front of her but rather in her mind. It was a sort of interface, similar to the one she'd used when playing the game though this one was fitted with different options. "ᴛᴜᴛᴏʀɪᴀʟ ʟᴏɢ - Qᴜᴇꜱᴛꜱ - ᴘʟᴀʏᴇʀ - ɪɴꜰᴏʀᴍᴀᴛɪᴏɴ" it certainly wasn't as extensive as the player's options. She pressed her palm into the air in front of her, selecting "Qᴜᴇꜱᴛꜱ: ᴏɴᴇ ɴᴇᴡ!" She skimmed it, getting the general idea of what she had to do and swiped away the screen.

"Open your interface," she said blandly, looking at the player with an air of 'let's get this done.' Assuming that the other girl knew how to do that at this point, seeing as (at least in beta testing) it was covered in the tutorial, she continued. "You've got three options, you'll have to do them all before you can start anyway so it doesn't matter which one. You have shop, where you're gonna purchase your first 'skills,' the quest board where you start, and the tome where you "unlock information" or something like that- I wasn't really paying attention," she shrugged. It would all probably be cryptic and story-line related anyway. Now that she thought about it... What was the story line of this game? Beta testing had been for the features, nothing was set in place yet for the actual story so everything would be new to her... great.

[querencia]

elyse's smiled turned down into a frown at the avatar's dismissive attitude. she hadn't expected outright enthusiasm from a simulation but at least more of a neutral expression. well, maybe that's just her avatar's personality state? she ground her teeth together once at the thought, maybe there had been a information button on each avatar that she hadn't noticed? oh hell.

she bit her lip but obediently opened her interface, smoothly for the most part after her initial hesitation. "um, hm," she began, mouth hanging open for a moment as she looked at the three options before she realized and snapped it shut. smooth. real smooth. "i guess skills first then? seems the most important." she continued and moved to the skill list. it seemed like it was categorized the way she was used to, rouge, warrior, and mage skills galore. she was about to click through the rouge skills, her default, but stopped and pushed her interface to the side. "wait. do you have any, well, better stats i guess? like strength, speed, or intelligence?" she didn't want to make the game harder for herself by messing up their synchronization, especially if she missed some sort of avatar info tab before.

[Butter Dragon]

Higher stats? She... She didn't actually know. Pulling up the interface once again she looked around for her own profile, though it probably would've been easier for the other girl if she knew how to use this setup. To her surprise, and dismay, most of her own profile was "locked" and even she couldn't see it. Other things said "only avalible to player" which was just as concerning. What could the player know about her own self that she didn't? Well, at least she was able to see her stats. Nothing, everything was blank. Similar to how it was in beta you started your character from scratch, deciding on your where you wanted to place the points you earned. "no," Briar answered, closing the screen in front of her once again with a swift wave, "you get to start from scratch." She wasn't sure if "get" was the right word "have to" might be more appropriate. Either way, her point was made.

"Have you played many games," Briar asked as she waited to feel something in her change as "her stats" were chosen. "Please tell me this isn't your first time with an adventure simulation, I really don't want to die right away." Maybe she was being too harsh, they'd probably already gotten off on the wrong foot because of her. But, at the same time, she had other things to worry about that took precident over nicities with someone she hoped would remain a stranger.