Petrified [Open]

Blue sky... That wasn't something she expected when she opened her eyes.

Rowan, the rather boyish looking girl, expected to be in a hospital seeing how the last thing she saw was her family's old abandon cilo collapsing on top of her. And she was here... where ever this was...

She sat up from her spot in front of the fountain, and looked around. There were various people moving around, but they payed no attention to her, like she wasn't there or people waking up next to the fountain was a normal thing for them. Well normal wouldn't be used to describe this town. It was all midevil looking, like a fantasy game.

She let out a small sigh. Someone needed to find her, or she needed find someone to figure out where she was. "Hello?" Hoping she could catch someone's attention.

Hugo was taking a walk through Roslare when his attention was attracted by a rather lost figure amongst the crowd. The lancer made his way towards said person and heard them call out for hell. He guessed she was knew to the same and he felt like he could lend a hand, since he had been feeling lost himself when he first arrived in the game. He pushed through the crowd until he reached the foutain. He couldn't really tell what the other person was, relating to their gender. Even if it was rather perverted, Hugo began taking guesses at her gender studying the curves of her body. The boy decided to settle on the fact that they might be a girl. 'Maybe I'll find out if we talk a little.'

"Umm, well, hey, and welcome to Ratman's Cage." he said, helping her up like a gentleman. This was what most players called the man that had imprisoned them. No one really knew his name, probably. He put a hand on the girl's shoulder, giving her a curt smile with his short, thin lips. It was time to let her wail on his shoulder and pretend to care and maybe he was going to get her... well, not the time to get ahead of himself.

"Ratman's cage?" She asked loosely only becoming more confused. Did that mean she was trapped? "What is this place? Should I be in the hospital? The last thing I remember was a bunch of rubble falling on me..." She said with a frown, her voice not giving anything away to her gender. She had ended up more confused. She didn't know what was going on at all.

Her blue eyes turned to the boy as he took her hand and helped her up. "Thank ya kindly." A little bit of her southern accent coming out. "You seem to know what is going on, won't you tell me?" She hoped he would, or something about this would tell her it's a strange dream.

Hugo shook his head pityful as he let the probably-girl tell her story. 'I really wish I could feel with these guys, like, I really want to. But I am happy to be away from home, I am happy to live in a reality in which I am strong and brave.' he thought with a knot in his stomach.

"And I should be sleeping on a bench or probably dead by now. Either way, we aren't where we are supposed to be. Like I said, welcome to Ratman's Cage." he explained and seated himself on the edge of the fountain, dipping a hand in the cool water and splashing it around. "This might be scary, but I'll try and show you the way around. I'm Hugo." he said, touching his cold, wet hand to his temple and feeling a rush of energy pass through him.

"This is the city of the first level, Roslare. Neat place. There are five levels, but you need to battle gatekeepers to get through. I've heard a bunch of guys already got past it." he whistled, looking above the roofs of the houses and wondering what was beyond the first, relatively safe-looking level.

Levels? So this was a game? "So this is a game?" That is what it sounded like. So she had to battle gate keepers to get to the next level. Rowan sat down on the edge of the fountain looking at the ground. This was hard to wrap her head around. Her hands tangled into her cloak that seemed to come with her being added into this game.

"Rowan." She replied giving him her name. If a lot of people go through by now then maybe she would be able to, but first she would have to learn how this all worked.

Hugo rocked his feet on the side of the fountain, looking at Rowan with a smile. Well, the name didn't give out much, but if she was indeed a girl, she was darn pretty. Rough southern girls. If she was a guy, then... uh, he had some things to think about later.

"Well, anyway, Rowan, you seem to be a ranger, from what your tage says." he said, poking his finger through the untouchable details above player's head. He though he enviend rangers, maybe just a little bit, but he did. They were fast and strong and had the whole package while others somewhat struggled. He pitied clerics above all.

Rowan looked up when he poked a finger through her tag but she didn't see anything there, though she did notice Hugo had something over his head. Did she have the same thing? "What does a ranger do?" She not even had the slightest clue as to what a ranger was, or what a lancer was.. She guess they were classes but still she didn't know how it all worked. What did she even have?

Hugo patted her head with a smile. She was confused, just like everybody here has been at least once. "Well, it has something to do with the way you fight. You, as a ranger, will get a bow. Don't worry if you haven't wielded one before, the game automatically makes you good at it." he assured her, miming a person firing an arrow. "Fighter have swords, lancers have lances, mages can use magic and I have not the slightest clue what clerics do." he snorted.

"Clerics sound like they would assist." She mused softly. "But you said I had a bow? Where do I find that or get that?" She didn't show up with one aside from a sort of new set of clothes. She didn't really understand rpg games. Or rather games in general. She understood some games, but that was a rare few out of the ones majority of people played. Most of her time was spent helping on the farm.

Hugo guessed the girl had been coming froma farm. Certainly there were no cilos in a suburd in the U.S.A, right? The boy had difficulties summoning his UI, but he'd seen several players just snal their fingers and make it appear. He gave it a try and, after a few snaps of his finger, the small screen appeared, hovering around his palm. It was a funny sight, as if he had tied it with a string t his hand. He scrolled down to the 'Inventory' tab, which then showed him his mostly empty inventory. He only had his lance, which he used to demonstrate to Rowan.

The long iron pole swapned into his hand, shining in the liht. He grinned at Rowan and then put it back into his inventory with a simlpe mental command. "Now you try." he said, brushing his hand to his gray coat.

Rowan blinked. The boy made it seem so effortless. She looked at her own hand, unsure if she could actually do that. She lifted her hand and swiped the UI appearing before her startling her a little bit. She wasn't used to this one bit. There were numerous tabs but there was only one she was looking for. She opened up her inventory and saw the bow sitting there. She tapped it, and the bow appeared in her other hand.

"Oh wow.." She muttered aloud.

She replaced the bow back into her inventory. Did she do the same thing to make the UI close? She repeated her movement and the screen disappeared. It was going to take a while to get used to this game. "That is going to take some getting used to."

Hugo smiled softly and nodded his head as Rowan managed to handle her UI pretty well. He himself had considered it all very complicated at first, but unlike many, he liked it here. He felt safe and happy, even though this virtual world was dangerous, fighting monsters and all.

"I guess we'll have all the time in the world, until we get out." he murmured, looking around. It was a half-hearted remark, and he hated the idea that he might one day be forced to get out of Ratman's Cage. He had gotten used to this place, to the new people that didn't judge him for his wretched family.

"Well I plan on getting out as soon as I can." Rowan stated. She had parents to get back too, a farm, and loving animals to take care of.. Did.. Did her parents think she was dead? How were they dealing with this? How was the rest of her family dealing with this news? She wasn't exactly the best behaved kid, she tended to get into trouble but she loved her farm and her family.

She missed the hat that would sit on top of her head, though she was thankful for the ranger cloak like thing the game gave her. It made her comfortable, and safe even though she was in a strange land.

Hugo sighed and put his arm on her shoulder, shaking his head. "It's nice that you miss family... I mean, it's not pleasing to see you like this... just, it's nice to have someone to think about when you are in these situations." he spoke, then cleared his throat, looking down in the clear waters of the fountain. His reflection was barely visible but there, staring back at him.

"I miss... nothing." he mumbled to himself, looking in the water and staring his reflection in the eye.