Infinite

[Wolfsong]

OOC- Waitaminute, waitaminute, she's saying that to Silk? Wow, she really did mellow out.
Oops. Totally forgot Tobikomi. Well, that's what happens when you try to take care of everybody. Lemme see...

Jared grimaced as he felt a now-familiar twinge in his leg stumps. He missed running, missed it ever so much. After a moment, he logged into his Infinite files, but not the game itself, to take out and save any private messages that would be important before he logged out. Much to his surprise, he had a new pm, from Saify no less. With mixed fellings, he opened the message. After reading it, he felt extremely thoughtful. Was she serious? It could be a trap...no, Saify had struck him as an honest person, if a little vicious when made angry.
He sighed. Friends. Every 'friend' he'd had before had left him behind when he lost his limbs. An object to pity was just fine...until it became an inconvenience. Hearing his parents fighting and threatening to divorce downstairs didn't help either. And Landon had just emailed him, ready to discuss the next plan with him. The chance for a real friend, or to get a new body...
"Oh, h-e-c-k," he snapped at the wall and logged on. "Landon can go hang."
Silk breathed in the marshy air, a scent he hadn't thought he'd be smelling again any time soon. Quietly, he dug up his laptop and coaxed it back to life. Quite simply, he typed, "Saify Calling" and looked for her location. He was going to find her, and find out if she was being honest. Heaven knew she probably couldn't do anything to him before he was able to log out.

The party, located in Central City, was something like a barn-raising. Players and friendly NPCs were working together to rebuild Central. For those not working, taking a break, etc, there were other things to do. There was food, several kinds, types, and varieties, and yes, even cake. Music was playing, various mini-games and such things were set up, and some players were even dancing in the square. You almost couldn't tell how ravaged Central had been. Tobikomi had been discovered wandering around in a daze, suffering a small concusion, but after Oracle used various healings on her, she was as good as new and was joyfully helping.
Cyrano, Saify and Nancy, having been the ones most involved, were quickly surrounded by people demanding to hear the story and more. After several retellings, and no sign of ever satisfying the crowd, Cyrano managed to secret them to a quieter spot. "Are you quite sure that wasn't the paparazi?" Cyrano asked jokingly as they relaxed. "Hope you didn't mind my moving us, but I was beginning to feel like a fish surrounded by seagulls." Then he saw something and started. "You..."
Silk stood emotionless by the corner, the gentle breeze ruffling his white hair. "I came to see if you meant it," he said to Saify, quietly gearing himself to log out in a hurry.

[Oddood198]

Saify had been overjoyed to find there was, indeed, cake in this world, and had immediately helped herself to an entire half of one. After that, she had settled down with Nancy, Cyrano, and the rest of that cake as the crowds gathered around them to hear the story of how they defeated Python. For Saify, who had gone back to her shy, quiet self, this was absolutely terrible. Especially once word got out that she was the one who had personally dealt the killing blow to Python, and more and more of the crowd trickled to her. She felt almost ready to pass out, looking into the sea of faces that eagerly watched her as she recounted her part of the story with halting, broken sentences.
Finally, when Cyrano managed to get them away, Saify dropped herself into a sitting position on the ground, careful not to drop her cake. She sighed, "Oh, no, I only wish you'd moved a bit sooner." She said in response to Cyrano's comment.
She looked back as Cyrano said something, looking past her, and saw Silk standing there, watching them, emotionless. Saify smiled after he had finished, then she stood up and walked to him. She took the remainder of the cake and cut a generously sized piece off, holding it out to Silk while smiling wordlessly.


OOC: Hmm, I hope I'm not messing up the sequel, stealing the hacker like this...

[Wolfsong]

OOC- Naw, there's another one. I just thought to pull Silk into it since he was apparently forgotten, but this works perfectly too. I rather like it, actually.

Silk stared at her a long moment, then quietly took the cake and smiled back at Saify. Then, suddenly, he burst into tears. She was serious...there was some hope and love in the world after all.

Rachel rang the doorbell. After a few minutes, Chuck opened the door. He smiled when he saw who it was. "Rachel, its good to see you," he said. "Please come in."
She did so, saying, "I'm sorry, Dr. Norris, but I don't have much time."
He nodded, understanding. "Don't worry, I've got it right here." He reached into his pocket, pulled something out, and placed it into her hand. "Jason was going to give this to you."
She inspected her palm. Resting there was an engagement ring, with a simple blue gem adorning the gold band. Silently, she slid it onto her right ring finger, stared at it, then cried softly. "Jason," she murmured. "I won't forget."
Chuck nodded. "Well, I hope you have a good day."
She suddenly hugged him, whispered goodbye and something about keeping in touch, then walked away, leaving him standing at the door, staring uhtil she was out of sight.

The end of Rachel Clyde aka Mirage and Dr. Chuck Norris' story...

[Oddood198]

Saify smiled a bit wider when Silk returned her smile, but it instantly disappeared when he began crying. She dropped the platter of cake while stammering and making random hand gestures, trying to calm him down, "I-I'm sorry! I-is it the cake? Are you allergic? Um, th-theres some other kinds over there, I can get you one." She said, a worried look on his face.

[Wolfsong]

OOC- time to wrap this up. Hey, I've an idea!

"N-no! Its just...I haven't had a friend since...I lost my legs." He took a few deep breaths, composing himself, then sighed. "I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to do that. I just...thank you." He grinned. "Sorry about the cake."
"Glad you're back Silk," Cyrano said. "Especially since I've got an idea. Earlier, the mods offered me the job of hunting down the Slavers' Guild and destroying it utterly, since that was Reysa and Python's main way of getting their information out, and because it sucks anyway. Nancy, Saify, Silk, would you like to join up with me?"

[Oddood198]

Saify grinned after Silk finished, simply saying, "It's ok, I've probably had too much anyway."
Then, after listening to Cyrano's proposition, Saify fell silent, thoughtful. Finally, she shrugged, "I'm gonna have to do some level grinding, but I'd be happy to help, if you'll have me." She didn't often get a chance to be one of the heroes in an MMO, 'not often' actually equating to 'precisely never', and this would go nicely along with her 'killing a would-be usurper and tyrant' achievement. "Just, don't expect me to be on this long every day."

[Wolfsong]

Cyrano grinned. "Hah, I suppose that's true. Well, it doesn't matter. We're a team now!"
They all joined hands, then cheered. Fireworks lit up the sky....

THE END

OOC- that's what happens when you work in a hurry. Oh well, it'll do. I'll start up the sequal Sunday, if I'm lucky. I won't be on tomorrow, or Saturday, due to TKD. See you then.

[FreddyCast]

edit: Ooops posted on wrong thread. Silly me