Private Eastern Brisshal A Stroll of Viking and Reaper

[Bjorn Aegirrson]

From what he can tell, he lasted a good hour inside of the creation screen. There were so many options he just had to try them out! Having that reset button was quite the convenience as well, as once he was done messing around it was time to make his true, other, self within this video game. How many years had it been since these things came into being? Last he checked they were all little pixels on a screen before the years rushed on by and hyper realism became the new fad of the decade.

But then, in that small little fishing municipality in the far northern regions of Norway, there was not much to do or experience in his youth.

Soon, however, the darkness of the loading screen parted to grant the massive bear of a man vision to the new world around him. No, he was literally a bear in this world, ironically named Bjorn. Or at least as much of a literal bear as he was allowed to be. His existence as a Beastfolk came with the ears of a polar bear alongside sharper, dark nails and a nose befitting such. He was already the hairy sort, and did not have to do much in regards to looking as though he belonged in this world. Aside from the fact the old fellow based himself on a polar bear despite the fact that species lived much, much further north.

"This ... is quite the show," Bjorn said with a grin, his booming, deep voice melting into laughter. He pushed up his glasses and looked down. Right. He needed to at least get his bearings here. Moving one foot forward, then another, the man walked around in a few, small circles and stretched out his arms. Keeping his own stature from the real world did wonders for his control here. It was the nose which proved to be the most difficult part, Bjorn sniffing and rubbing his polar bear nose every so often. He often pinched the sides of his nostrils trying to get used to its movements.

But he managed to ignore the feeling for now and stepped onto what seemed to be a main path. From what the old bear gathered, the markers and set up seemed more equivalent to a more medieval sort of era, perhaps even pre-Renaissance, but he needed to gather more evidence than wandering through the forest. Chuckling, Bjorn placed his hands behind his back and began to take a walk down the path, seeing where the road took him.

@Herrscher

 

[Herrscher]

For weeks, the game's access code—written on a small piece of paper—rested on Haru's desk. She was hesitant on ever using it. In fact, she even considered to just flush it down her toilet to avoid playing this controversial game. Eventually, her own curiosity gets the best of her. Now she finds herself about to use the access code given to her by a stranger she met online. She had never felt so nervous setting up her VR set.

"Hmm... I should really tell my friends about this first..."

Haru glances over to her phone, thinking about texting her friends that she will be playing Terrasphere so if anything bad were to happen to her, they would know why. But of course, being the shy and anxiety-filled girl that she is, she decided against the idea. Nodding her head after making her decision.

"No. Bad idea."

With a heavy sigh to compose herself, Haru turns on her VR adapter and proceeds to redeem the access code in order to dive into the game.

Moments after she opened the app for the first time, she is brought to this empty gray room with a carbon copy of herself sitting directly in front of her. Wearing nothing but plain, black underwear and a blank expression.

"Wh- Is this some sort of...?"

Haru was shocked to say the least. To see such a photo-real avatar of herself was impressive. So much so that all the fear and nervousness she had developed before opening the app had just disappeared. She has never seen anything so detailed before from a game.

When she attempts to poke her own avatar, a screen appears before her and she is greeted by several words. She was taken aback but shortly understood what she was looking at now.

"These are all character options... So... So I was right. I'm in some character creation process."

Haru's eyes shift back to the avatar for a moment before tinkering with the interface. She had full control over it so she was able to see so many options which included Terrasphere's playable races.

"This is going to take some time..."

She eventually spends nearly the next hour creating her character. And as soon as she finished, she begins to materialize in a whole new world. Bearing the appearance of her customized character.

Haru was a Japanese woman but now that she has entered the virtual reality game, she looks more like a European. Her in-game character was taller, had long brownish-orange hair, and had this doll-like appearance. Her character's eyes and body type is more or less the same as her real life one. But the most notable feature to her character's design was this black leather eyepatch that wrapped around her head and covered her right eye.

The first thing that immediately caught her attention was how hyper real everything was. Haru could not believe what she was seeing right now. She makes this poor attempt of speaking but would only end up choking on her own words for she could not comprehend where she is right now.

Haru entered Terrasphere knowing almost nothing about the game. The only thing she knew about it was that it was banned worldwide. The reasons for its ban was yet to be entertained to her.

Spotting what looks like to be the main path, Haru decided to embark upon a little adventurer with an unknown destination. For now, everything felt all right. The realism of the environment still captured Haru. It was like she was living in an actual fantasy world.

"..."

@Bjorn Aegirrson

 

[Yugam]

Pera Aspera

Ad Astra

So dying isn't fun. Yugam knew that now. Completely exsanguinating his body? Even less so. The man shuddered as he thought back on his absolutely reckless and shortsighted actions trying to help kill the Kurungaar Mother. Sure, he had literally just dropped into the game and wasn't fully aware of all the mechanics, but if anything that should have made him more cautious. Well, that was just how he was, the man supposed. Jump first, think later. And then learn from that experience.

Today's lesson? Don't bleed yourself dry.

Had he even been successful? Had they managed to kill that boss? Yu visibily frowned, his brows furrowing as he struggled to recall the outcome of that battle. He must've written it down in his journal though. Fishing the small, leather-bound collection of papers from his coat pocket, the man began to flip through the pages of his memories, skipping right towards the end, reviewing what had occurred.

With his nose buried in the small volume, Yu neglected to keep his eyes on the road. If he had been paying attention, he most certainly would have noticed the giant bear of a man lumbering down the road towards him at a pleasant clip. And he most certainly would have made sure not to run into him. But since Yu was not paying attention to the road, he did exactly that, colliding head on with the large beastfolk, who, being far sturdier than Yu's own smaller frame, managed to stay completely upright while Yu fell flat on his bony ass.

"Ah! Fuck," the man muttered, wincing slightly from the impact, before looking up at the man. "Sorry, my bad!" he quickly apologized before swearing once more as he realized he had dropped his memories.

@Bjorn Aegirrson | @Herrscher

 

[Bjorn Aegirrson]

Contrary to another soul walking the path, the old bear was gazing up towards the sky. Each cloud seemed even more real than the last. In fact, his wandering was quite similar to usual activities back in the real world, when not giving a lecture or being that aging man who decided to inhabit a gym among the younger folks. But he took everything in stride. Everything around him continued to be more and more serene, quite the opposing force to the urban landscape that slowly overtook his cold homeland the past couple centuries. Perhaps this was why the creators of this game opted for a more fantastical appeal.

He frowned, blinking with widened eyes as he felt a bump into his broad chest. Bjorn looked down, crouching forward to get a better view of what had transpired. "Hm?" A young man had been pushed by the polar bear man's own girth, falling to the ground. Something the anthropologist was not fond of, even more so that it seemed Bjorn's lack of attention caused a journal to fall out of the stranger's hands. "Oh! I'm terribly sorry young man! I hope you are not hurt," he said, falling to a knee to help the poor guy up.

From the corner of his glasses, the man caught sight of the journal, reaching a free hand over to pick it up. As Bjorn helped this other, he assumed, player up he handed over the leather bound papers and said, "I'd say careful where you're going, but I wasn't exactly giving my own attention to the path ahead of me either!" A deep rumble rushed into his throat, the man chuckling as he brushed of the stranger's with the back of his hand.

"But in all seriousness, no harm done I hope. Suppose I was too acquainted with being alone so far that I forgot other people were likely to walk on this path as well," he added.

Gazing around the area for a moment, his eyes managed to catch the sight of another person. She seemed to be looking around, not unlike Bjorn was previously. Though he figured it was best to gain their attention. He raised an index finger towards the young man he bumped into for a moment, using his other hand to wave at the young woman, "Excuse me! Careful you're walking towards a tree!"

@Herrscher @Yugam

 

[Herrscher]

"Ah! Huh? What? Where?"

The young woman quickly puts herself to a halt. Shortly noticing that she was indeed about to walk into a tree. Thanks to Bjorn's quick observation, Haru was saved from hurting and embarrassing herself. By being too absorbed by the environment, she was prone to having an accident or two. Thankfully it has not happened yet.

"Th-Thank you."

Picking up the location where Bjorn's voice was coming from, she sees both him and Yugam on the same path. Just a bit further away from where she stood currently. And from the looks of it, it seemed like the smaller man had suffered from a little accident which had involved this bear of a man. It explains why Bjorn was able to stop and prevent Haru from putting herself in a similar situation.

To further show her gratitude, Haru lowered her head and bowed as it was common in her country to do so. Afterwards, she just stood still. Glancing at both Bjorn and Yugam while gripping the front part of her suit a bit tightly. She wasn't exactly sure on what to do next so she starts to feel nervous.

"..."

From afar, the two other plays can see Haru attempt to speak but stopped herself from doing so. She could not even look into either of their eyes so she constantly glances to the side of the road to avoid awkward eye contact.

"Uhm..."

@Bjorn Aegirrson @Yugam

 

[Yugam]

Pera Aspera

Ad Astra

Despite Yu winding up on his ass, the larger man seemed completely unmoved, at least until he knelt down to offer Yugam a hand up, which he took with no small amount of embarrassment. "Thanks," the dark-haired man said, as he let the other pull him to his feet. "I'm fine, thanks though. Takes a bit more than that to hurt me," he said with a small chuckle. The bear-man seemed to have noticed Yu's fallen journal quicker than it's own owner, and bent down to retrieve it, before handing it to him. "Oh, thanks. I dunno what'd I'd do without this thing, I appreciate it," he said, tucking it away, back into his coat. Reviewing his memories could come later. When he wasn't liable to literally run into complete strangers.

"It's my fault, I shoulda been paying more attention," he apologized again, before his attention was drawn to a slender girl, apparently just as inattentive as them, about to run face first into a tree. The startled reaction, combined with her apparent ditzy nature, Yu had to do his best to stifle a small laugh, the corners of his lips curling upwards ever so slightly as he bit down on his tongue.

And then, she just...stared at them.

"Uhm..." Yu could hear her say quietly, gripping the front of her clothes so tightly he though she might wear a hole in them.

Well...this was awkward...

"Uhh...Are you two new players?" Yu asked, trying to fill the awkward silence with literally anything. "I could guide you guys to Dunstaads if you are. God knows I had a hell of a time finding my way around the first time I spawned in," Yu said, neglecting to add in the fact that his first dive into Terrasphere was completely botched by a strange glitch resulting in him dropping in with nothing but his underwear and a malfunctioning map. Thankfully, they wouldn't be picked up by Lion's Arm and somehow wind up on a dangerous expedition, infected with a strange, mind-altering illness, vored by a giant bug, accidently seppukuing themselves, and then forgetting how that all ended...well, hopefully that didn't happen to them at least...god, the devs really had it out for the players...

@Bjorn Aegirrson | @Herrscher

 

[Bjorn Aegirrson]

Veering attention back to the young man, he kept that smile on his face and waved off the apology. A distinct feeling said he was not going to win the apology argument and it was better to drop it. But then his young acquaintance was staring off at something. Someone even! Oh, right, the young lady Bjorn graciously alerted was still there. Forgetful old fool he was.

Poor thing looked unsure as to what to do next. Concern washed over the large man as he observed the young lady, placing his thoughts together on how to continue the conversation. It needed some form of tact.

Tilting his head back to the young man, Bjorn replied, "I'm freshly new in fact! Just logged in and have been walking for several minutes at best. Is this Dunstaads where we're supposed to go? I'll admit I'm not quite sure what to do in these games. Either way I will appreciate your offer to lead the way and take it!" Yeah, he just spilled out his unfamiliarity with video games, but he surely was not the only person in existence. It just pained Bjorn that he was getting into the age group where his peers were prone to going 'kids these days' and rant off about their own youth as though they were not misguided But he was not one of those adults.

But the offer was still a good segue into helping out the young lady. Taking careful steps towards the girl with the leather eye patch, Bjorn looking both ways before crossing the path, he kept a much more gentle smile across his visage. Frightening her further was not exactly beneficial to anyone. With that, the polar bear Beastfolk extended out a hand, "Coming with might help you clear your head a bit, even if this Dunstaads isn't your destination. Sometimes I find meeting a new person an experience I didn't expect."

Pausing a moment, he cleared his throat and continued, "I'm Bjorn Aegirrson. Given my actual occupation my surname in this place may be ironically inaccurate and I shouldn't uphold the truth to it, but I came here to enjoy myself. Lo and behold, you and the young man here showed up! The way I see it that is two people already am becoming acquainted with so readily."

@Herrscher @Yugam

 

[Herrscher]

She remains standing where she is. Still feeling unsure about herself. But thankfully when asked a question, Haru no longer needed to remain as this silent and awkward individual. With a nod, she answers Yu's question. Her voice matches her personality: soft and gentle.

"I just opened the app too. And it looks like him and I are both in the same situation."

Haru looks over to Bjorn as she was referring to him in her claim. Fortunately enough for her, she wasn't going to be the only person who was brand new to all of this. There is someone she can relate to in this fantastic "little" world.

As Bjorn starts to make his way closer to her, Haru would tilt her head—wondering what the older gentleman was up to. If not for his careful approach, she would be getting scared. The closer Bjorn got, the better look she has of his avatar. For a beginner, Bjorn was very creative with his in-game appearance. In comparison to hers and even Yugama's avatar, Bjorn's stood out the most. To her eyes at least.

A polar bear? Cute.

Feeling more relaxed, Haru starts walking forward in order to link up with the other two players. She appreciated how kind the Beastfolk was. She shows her appreciation by expressing a gentle smile of joy.

Haru looks over to Yu and addresses his proposal. It sounded like she is the last person to decide whether or not she would accept it. With a hum, she looks back over to the main path. She debates whether or not she should do this alone or with a group. In the end, she chose to take Yu as her guide with Bjorn as company. The two other players appear to be very friendly so that alone is enough for Haru to be convinced that it is better to go with them.

"If we're supposed to head to this Dunstaads place then please lead the way. I would rather avoid getting lost or worse."

Sighing to compose herself, Haru releases her grip on her clothes. Exchanging glances between Yugam and Bjorn. She determined that these two would be good company until they part ways. Especially Bjorn who is making the effort to make her feel comfortable and less afraid.

"Ah! My name is Haru by the way. I almost forgot to mention that earlier. Haha..."

She introduces herself last minute. A nervous chuckle exiting her system for she failed to return Bjorn's kindness. After all, he introduced himself to her as a sign of good faith.

@Bjorn Aegirrson @Yugam

 

[Yugam]

Pera Aspera

Ad Astra

"Eh, 'supposed to' in loose terms. Not like we're given any real objectives or a main story line to follow," Yu replied to large polar bear man. "But, it's a good place to gear up and pick up some quests. Plus, there's always people around to meet up with and see if they wanna party up with you," Yu explained.

"Yeah, I wouldn't recommend getting lost around here," Yu replied to the nervous looking girl, who finally released the white knuckled death grip on her coat. "Turns out the game doesn't exactly like to scale things, so there's a good chance getting lost out here will get you killed." Luckily enough, Yu hadn't experienced that fate yet, though, thinking back to his meeting with Lucy, he'd been very close.

Yu listened as the two introduced themselves, their given names appearing above their heads, and the bear man giving a much lengthier introduction that the girl. Was there some rule about being a big dude meaning you had to have a big personality too, Yu wondered, being vaguely reminded of Brutus. "I'm Yu," the man would introduce himself, offering a hand to each in turn. "Pleasure to meet ya guys."

"Anyways," Yu would say, looking back and jabbing a thumb over his shoulder, "Dunstaads a long ways that way. We should get going if we wanna get there before dark."

Yugam would start walking in the indicated direction, presumably with the other two following along with him as they all set off down the road together. "So, either of you play a VRMMO before?" the man asked, trying to initiate some small talk for the long journey ahead.

@Bjorn Aegirrson | @Herrscher

 

[Bjorn Aegirrson]

He let out a soft chuckle watching Haru smile. Just seeing the young lady become even a little more relaxed was good enough for him. By now he understood some people stared in awe and wariness at a man his height and size, but unlike what plenty of fiction tried to instill, he was far from some villainous force.

Getting the other strangers name, he said, "Well pleasure to meet both of you overall." Adjusting his glasses again, his knuckled pushed the frame back up his nose before clasping his hands behind his back. Words such as scaling were still foreign to him, but Bjorn figured he will learn as he went along. Dialects and lingo were going to be different and hold meaning, even within a digital space, and was one of the more basic concepts to comprehend in his line of work. "In that case I'll keep a look out! Almost went over my head this game involves fighting. But, conflict isn't a strange concept to history."

Nodding, he began to follow Yu, reaching out to Haru and motion for her to come along before returning his hands to their clasped position. Even with his booming vocals he kept some level of professionalism about himself, tacking on a relaxed mood. Bjorn adapted well to meeting new people, and did not mind anyone's presence unless there was true hostility.

But he was getting into his own head again. Letting out a curious hum, he looked down at Yu and replied, "Er, admittedly this is my first, and even then this is truly my first real experience handling one of these video games! Never was the sort of person to get into them nor did I gain the opportunity much. One of several things that passed over my head while I focused on my own interests and career. And believe me when I say that even as an anthropologist working between different museums the hours can start getting long. One time in my earlier parts of my career I had to sit there and help refurbish a piece that I, for the most part, had to hold in place while the experts did their work."

The man paused a moment. His gaze drifted about the area, scanning for any potential bandits or other monsters, trying to at least get into the groove of a game involving combat. Oh, right, his companions were still here! "Now since you younger people are more attuned to these sorts of things, I hope you can give me some pointers. Don't know if I'm actually fighting or pressing some button somewhere or what. Ooof really showing me age here but neither of you seem to mind."

@Herrscher @Yugam

 

[Herrscher]

The Shadow Reaper

Now gaining the permission to walk alongside them, Haru skips over to Bjorn's side. She decides to stay beside him for the journey ahead. The Beastfolk was also new to Terrasphere so she deemed it that the two "newbies" should stick together. Even if one of them towers of the other. Strength and experience come a long way, she thought.

"It's nice to meet you both too. I'm honestly grateful that I ran into you guys. If not for your offer, I probably would've been lost in some scary place knowing myself."

Haru sighs. She could never look after herself. She always requires the help of others to function. She is like a robot, always wanting to be told what to do so that she has the purpose and initiative to fulfill it. It could be as simple as taking out the trash and washing the dishes. It is a miracle that Haru is able to survive her first few years in university. If not for her friends, she would not be where she is today. She hopes that she can receive the same treatment in this game. Maybe Bjorn and Yugam will be those people at some point...

When asked if she was new to VRMMOs, Haru nods her head. She had her VR adapter for awhile but never explored the genre until receiving an access code to this game.

"Never. This is the first time for me. I've heard many things about Terrasphere so I was hesitant on ever using it. In the end, my curiosity got the best out of me. But so far, my experience have been... How do I say this? Pleasant? You seem like you know what you're doing, Yu. Have you been playing these sorts of game for a long time?"

She was clueless on how to act in these sorts of games. Especially this one. She wanted to learn the basics as soon as possible, that way she could at least get an idea on what to do. However, her knowledge regarding games was more than Bjorn's. Even if she has the upper hand if compared with the polar bear Beastfolk, she still had plenty to learn.

"Of course not, Bjorn. I don't mind at all. In fact... I would like some pointers as well! I-If you don't mind..."

Haru looks towards Yu, joining in on Bjorn's request. She seemed more determine than shy now. A good step up to how she was acting earlier. Sure Haru was a very shy and sensitive person but when warming up, she behaves like a normal person. To her eyes at least.

@Bjorn Aegirrson @Yugam

 

[Yugam]

Pera Aspera

Ad Astra

"Oh anthropology? That's pretty cool," Yu said, looking over his shoulder slightly at the polar-man. "When I was younger, I wanted to be an archeologist. Kinda like Indiana Jones." he explained with a nostalgic smile, "but, of course real archeology ain't like that. Still, I guess I could always change my major again if I don't like what I'm doin' now." Though he was pretty free with details about his own life, and evidently Bjorn was too, Yu didn't press Haru for any details of her life. A sort of unspoken rule that you didn't pry too much into people's real lives, at least not until you got to know them better.

"Oh, what have you heard about the game?" Yu asked Haru, having had very little frame of reference about the game aside from what some others had told him. 'Don't play it,' or 'Be careful,' was all he'd really gotten usually.

"Nope, this is actually my first VRMMO," the dark-haired man answered, "First MMO actually, they're not usually my kind of thing. Only been playing a couple weeks now, but its been fun. Unfortunately, I don't really have many pointers to give. Except maybe watch your HP bars. And don't overexert yourself, depending on what skills you got. Don't wanna wind up accidently killing yourself or something 'cause you weren't paying attention, ya know?"

@Bjorn Aegirrson | @Herrscher

 

[Bjorn Aegirrson]

"Seems like we all need help from somewhere given our inexperience," the man said as he let out another chuckle. There was that tiny hint of disappointment Yu was unable to give too many pointers to either Bjorn or Haru, but such was life. "Truth be told it's been decades since I was around other peers in a situation where none of us knew much about a subject. Refreshing to encounter the notion now, actually! In fact more often than not my time around those younger than I am is quite limited due to differing errands and career paths." He then perked a brow, gazing upward in thought, "Actually there are the times some younger man at the gym tries to show off next to me and usually I just lift something heavier than they can, but I think it was friendly bickering."

"I think so. Actually I should double check that one because one strange man had a beat red face once we finished a little competitive lift. When was that?"

Bjorn grew silent as he delved into his thoughts. No, it was not old age catching up to him. If anything he listed off in his head a few, significant dates about Norway's political history in the span of a few seconds. Nope, everything was okay here! Besides it was not as though either of his companions were trying to be pushy or aggressive.

Oh, yes, the conversation.

He shrugged and looked between the other two, "Sounds simple enough. I don't plan on just finding the most dangerous spot to head towards anyways like some others might, and although the rumors surrounding this game may be debunked at some point, I'll take the advice. Might be getting up there but I'm still too young to be buried in the dirt. Speaking of debunking, on the matter of the whole debunking thing, I can most definitely assure you what is seen in movies is a far cry from what goes on in either archaeology or anthropology. And this may be a good lesson for the both of you depending on where you go. Career opportunities you lean towards may be exciting, but more often than not it will lead to a lot of paperwork, desk work, organizational work, more paperwork, and so on. Also dealing with crowds."

"When I say dealing with crowds, I mean the general public if your choice of career ends up involving having to speak in front of people. Now, I'm comfortable with public speaking, but others may not and if you are the latter it's never too late to start working on that skill."

@Herrscher @Yugam

 

[Herrscher]

The Shadow Reaper

Anthropology? Archeology? Haru was not a person of science so she could not relate on that front. There was a part of her that wanted to share that she was doing music just to poke for a reaction or two. In the end, her mind tells her that she should just stay quiet about it for now unless asked. At least she will have some sort of trump card for when it was her turn to talk or when she needs to bring up a new topic to the ongoing conversation as they walk to their destination.

Unlike Bjorn, she was silent. She could never match his ability in speech. Being a quiet person has its cons but there are pros to it. Haru was a great listener. When the polar bear Beastfolk shares his real life experiences, Haru lets out a giggle. It was funny to her. Bjorn also had the size to really prove that what he said is true. It reminds her of the time where she was able to showcase her skill to a loud, braggart student in her university. A funny story for another time, she thinks.

When Yu asks for what she knows about Terrasphere, Haru wasn't exactly sure what to say. She first lets out a hum, scratching her chin as if it would help her recollect her knowledge on it.

"Hmm... I was just told that it's dangerous. Apparently the game has been banned across the globe. I won't lie, playing this game makes me feel like a criminal. But for the most part, everything seems normal. Er- No. Magical."

Haru concludes with a nod. Solidifying her thoughts on the game. It is true what she said: the game granting a magical experience. The two seem to already acknowledge the fact about how fantastic this place was. But when Yu notes that this was his first time playing such a game, Haru got a little scared. What if they were to run into trouble on the way to Dunstaads? Would two beginners and a player that just started playing MMOs be all right? Again, she starts to build worry. That was until Bjorn intervenes by sharing his wisdom.

"Phew... I'm glad you're here, Bjorn. You too, Yu."

She flashes another smile to the both of them. It is clear that Yugam's intentions were of good heart. Despite admitting that he is relatively new to this experience, he still offered assistance to two new beginners. As far as she knows, a lot of players tend to ignore newbies and would rather partake in extreme activities in most game communities. Then again, Terrasphere grants a different experience.

@Bjorn Aegirrson @Yugam

 

[Yugam]

Pera Aspera

Ad Astra

Yu couldn't help but laugh a bit at Bjorn's story. The old man's obliviousness rivaled that of others his own age. Even his own, sometimes. Though Yu made no comment, he certainly found the polar bear's antics amusing.

"Man, I'm good with public speaking, but I hate crowds," Yu admitted, his hands drifting to his pockets as the trio walked along. "I know I don't seem it, but I'm actually not very good with people," Yu turned around to face the other two, walking backwards as he spoke. "You two are anomalies for me, believe it or not. Normally I avoid talking to people I don't know." The man span back around, facing forward again. "But, maybe it's like you said, Haru. This place is indeed magical. Does things to a person, I guess." It was true that Yu was more gregarious in this game than he was in real life. More willing to speak, less closed off from the world. But, maybe that was just because this was a world closer to what he'd always wanted. "I dunno what makes this game 'dangerous', but I dunno. I think it's worth it so far."

@Bjorn Aegirrson | @Herrscher

 

[Bjorn Aegirrson]

He pondered the words Haru said for a moment, and there was plenty of truth to them. "Yes well, so long as it's kept to yourselves how involved you are in this game, nobody should bother you on the outside. I may be risking my career even allowing the program to exist, but if it's left alone that too may be a much larger mistake in the future. But, that also leaves me at a conundrum. Although I wish to study an online community and be involved directly to gain a fuller experience, it means my time in Terrasphere cannot be documented."

A slight frown overcame the man at this revelation. Even though he wanted to share the development of culture into the future compared to the isolated groups of the past, any discoveries still needed to be handled and approved by his peers within a professional setting. Unless the time came where he was forced to choose between his reputation and his morals, he had to keep secrets. "Magical. Not something I'd put down in a scientific journal necessarily, but there are things that cannot be explained with physical description," he said, resuming his usual smile, "But it still holds merit. Your experiences belong to you after all."

Bjorn cleared his throat for a quick pause, then continued, "Suppose I'm glad both of you are here too as well! There's plenty I still need to figure out, but although none of us hold much knowledge about this game, there is a different point of view regarding it from each individual. If I may, games appear to be a form of escapism, and Terrasphere is no different. But that is a trick, as it is different no matter how similar it appears. Maybe here a person's, what is it, avatar can appear closer to the imagination compared to another game's options, as an example. I surely cannot pick being a Beastfolk in other games I imagine! But here is the other thing. In my case of escapism, my avatar's state is merely just me with added features resembling a particular animal."

@Herrscher @Yugam

 

[Herrscher]

The Shadow Reaper

Just earlier, Haru logged into Terrasphere for the first time. And yet she is already learning many things from a stranger she had just met. Not only that, Haru was gotten much better at talking. A feat typically overlooked by her peers. Maybe it was the avatars that made her feel more comfortable at talking. She could not put her finger on the reason why she starts to act differently. If this was in the real world, Haru would be afraid and would refuse to talk.

As Bjorn goes on about his thoughts about the game and their current topic, Haru starts to learn more about how things should be handled. He said some really good stuff that made the eye-patch wearing player think about it a second time.

"Escapism... I suppose it would be better for me to look at this game that way."

One of the main things as to why Haru logged in was because she needed to find a way to improve herself. What better way than to do so in a completely foreign place. A fantasy one at that. There may be others just like her who struggle with anxiety. By breaking out of one's comfort zone will they be able to improve. Everything about the game she knows so far is definitely going to test her in the future. Maybe by the end, if it ever comes, Haru will become a completely different person.

 

[Yugam]

Pera Aspera

Ad Astra

"Depends on who's point of view you're looking from," Yu said to the two as they began to talk about escapism and games. "From a player's view, yeah, it can definitely be an escape. I know it is for me too. But for others, it can just be a fun challenge, or it can be a social network, a way to connect with people they never otherwise could have," Yu enjoyed these types of talks. Games had always been something he'd held very close to his heart. He'd even gone so far as to switch from engineering to game design. "But for designers, sometimes it's about giving a message. Sometimes its about a grand experiment. And other times, its just the fact that the product of wanting to put something new and fresh into the world." Yu looked over his shoulder again at the other two. "How you interpret is what matters though, your interpretation of the story, if its just an escape, whatever. Or it can be everything, all at once. As long as you're enjoying yourself, who cares?"

For Yu, it had just started as a way to reconnect with some long-forgotten past self. A way to reach out to someone who was dead, gone, and a fading memory. But the more often he played the game, the more he got sucked into it's world, its mechanics. It was a world so full of life and adventure, the man found he just couldn't stay away from it. This world was proving itself to be everything he'd wanted. Sure, he still had a lot of unanswered questions, but those would come in time, he hoped. For now, he was going to enjoy himself.

@Bjorn Aegirrson | @Herrscher