[b]“I’m back.”[/b] His deep voice echoed from the front door as the young man closed it behind himself. A female arm lazily rose up from the couch and waved. A high pitched, airy, but recognizable male voice answered. [b]“Welcome home, son! I just started dinner; tonight we are having stir-fried beef with broccoli with a side of white rice,”[/b] he put extra emphasis on the word white, which garnered a thumbs up from the woman on the couch. The young man started untying his shoes as the aroma from the mentioned dinner reached the front door again. He picked up his shoes once they were off and started towards his room, but not without a word to the silent woman lounging on the couch, bottle in hand and book spread on face. [b]“Mom, you know Dad doesn’t like it when you drink on the couch,”[/b] he warned offhandedly. The mother’s free hand grabbed the book and slid it off of her face, revealing a terrifying grimace from a face that looks quite a bit like that of a criminal’s, even if it was bright red. Like mother like son, one could say. She opened her mouth to speak but immediately shut it, rolled off the couch, and sprinted towards the bathroom with her hands pressed tightly against her shut lips. The young man watched her for a moment, and then sighed as he set his bag down and went to work cleaning up the mess she left behind. Continuing on towards his room, bag in hand, he bumped into the second obstacle barring his path. Even if he considered himself tall, this girl that stood in front of him was nearly half his size. Unlike him and his mother, she was lucky enough to gain her small, cute face from her father. A flash of excitement touched her eyes but she quickly forced a serious expression and smirked. [b]“Thank goodness you came back, brother. I was just getting ready to go get you myself,”[/b] she said calmly in her squeaky voice. [b]“I was afraid that you’d have been captured to get to me, but you obviously fought them off didn’t you? No one can beat the brother of the famous Mia, after all,”[/b] she was looking over her shoulder with a confident smile when she spoke. He had already grown used to this behavior, despite always trying to bring her back to reality. [b]“You shouldn’t pretend to be some hero like all those Japanese anime you watch,”[/b] he responded, a slight hint of irritation in his voice. [b]“Hah?!” “Don’t ‘hah’ me. You should give it up and try living in reality again.”[/b] She made some strange noises, like she was trying to say something but couldn’t. The young man walked around her as she stood angrily in place. He reached for the doorknob but a jump tackle shoved him hard into the door. He managed to keep his bag, the whole reason for his absence, from hitting the wall. She started punching him, though her flurry of swings felt more like a bunch of rubber balls bouncing off of him. [b]“What are you-”[/b] He started, but was quickly interrupted by his sister. [b]“You are the one who should live in reality, Viktor!”[/b] She cried out as a small fist pressed hard into his back, though she suddenly became aware of herself breaking character. [b]“B-brother.”[/b] The man silently pulled her hand away from him, frowning. [b]“You always play games alone in your room. It’s creepy. Why don’t you hang out with some friends?”[/b] [b]“I’m playing with friends. Why else would I play online?”[/b] He retorted, mildly irritated. He held up his bag and continued, [b]“It’s the reason why I’m going to play right now.” “No girl is going to like a gaming otaku like you.” “No boy is going to like an anime nut like you.” “You don’t know that!”[/b] She yelped, her small face bright red. He shook his head, reminding himself that he has a friend waiting for him in game and is already late enough with his detour. She stuck her tongue out with an audible (and obnoxious) hum when he opened his door. He turned around quickly and opened his mouth, but she was already running away to the safety of one of their parents. He sighed angrily and closed his door. Finally home. Finally alone. Finally able to play. It was strange, though: he thought he’d be more excited for the game. Instead, he just felt tired. Deeming the origin of his weariness as from waiting outside for three days and taking a few detours just to get back home, he still wanted to play it really badly. He reached into the bag and pulled out the console. The MAELSTROM; he still found it funny that they made an entire system just for one game, but perhaps that’s what it takes for a virtual reality. A quick scan of the manual and a brief wait for the console to sync was all took to be able to enter a new world. The chime from the console gave him a newfound energy, and before he knew it he had visor firmly on his head and he was lying on his bed. His breath was heavy, excitement quickly droning out the sounds around him until all he heard was the pumping of his heart and the ambience of the game. [center][b]<> <>[/b][/center] That was… different. Usually a MMORPG asks for someone to create a username, but this one asked him to state it. Amusing! A smile stretched across his face. And he just so happened to have one ready. [b]“Username: O. H. K. A.”[/b] he stated loudly and clearly. As for race, it was another obvious answer. Both the Nobelle and Veni Yan look interesting (though he stifled a laugh when he saw his avatar in a Nobelle form) he was sure that his friends would pick them. Plus, he was always a human in online games. It was strangely comfortable for him. And, in a type of game that few have ever played before, it is best to play comfortably, right? [b]“Race: Human.”[/b] He started to get ready to choose a race when a blinding flash flooded his world with white. He winced and held up his hands to block the light. As it died down, he could hear murmurs and whispers all around him. He lowered his hands and saw a flood of color spinning in place, slowly snapping into shapes, and then objects. The sounds got clearer and clearer. Talking. Laughing and excitement. He felt his weight slowly come back, his feet starting to press against the ground. He closed his eyes and breathed in slowly. A goofy grin forced itself on his face when he discovered that he could taste the air, feel the breeze and grass. He quickly looked to the ground, half laughing out of excitement and half exhaling to calm himself. Once he was adequately able to contain his excitement and happiness, he remembered that he was supposed to meet up with his friends at the nearest town. He quickly glanced around and discovered that he was standing just a few hundred feet from one which had people flooding in and out. That must be it. He decided to take a leisurely pace so that he could go over the basics for his User Interface before he got there. Surely it couldn’t be too much different from a normal MMO game, right? Quickly discovering that the arrow closed and opened the UI, he started with the Options first. It was a habit of his to examine the options of a game before he started to actually play it. His only problem was that he was already in town by the time he finished studying the Options.