Portia, Virtual Princess
by Daring Diane

Finally logging off, removing the virtual headset, and setting the handset aside, Andy Porter realized how thirsty he was and drained the large water bottle on the table. Taking a deep breath and leaning back in the lounger, he became aware that it was totally dark outside and he searched for his phone to check the time. 1:30 in the morning. He gasped, realizing that he had wasted the entire evening since dinner and none of his homework was done. He had to get up for school in just a little over six hours. After reviewing a few class notes, he fell into an exhausted sleep.

Andy was a gamer and Unreal Earth was his game. When Larry and he originally set up their accounts, as a joke, Andy selected a female avatar with full confidence he could change it at any time in the future. Larry and he spent every waking hour over Labor Day weekend learning the game and playing to understand the strategy and goals. On Monday night, Larry and he joined with several other new players and defeated a huge game boss. All of the people in their group received huge rewards and promotions on the server. Larry was Lars the conqueror and Andy had manipulated his last name Porter to name his female character Portia. It was after their characters had earned a huge reward they learned that changing the character’s gender or type would send it back to the start. Andy laughed and figuring he was stuck with the character in the game. So, he and Larry continued on.

Both of them made significant advances in their characters and they were promoted to land owner positions in a hierarchy similar to the British royalty structure. Once you owned a certain amount of land, you gained titles and when you took over or conquered a titled land you acquired the associated title(s).

The character paths were slightly different since one character was male and the other female. Lars became a land owner and then a knight’s apprentice who worked himself up to being a knight. When Lars’ knight had been defeated in a battle, he was given the opportunity to defend the honor of their master, a Duke. Lars had upended the opponent in three jousts in a row. Lars had ignored many of the other apprentices and taken time out to do in game research which cost time and gold to learn tactics and to practice with the different weapons. It was this research which had given him the strength points and strategy to beat a clearly superior opponent.

At times, Andy found it frustrating to have to follow the path designed for the female characters, but it was clear that as they gained power, they would end up on similar paths to the male characters. Portia had to learn through the research function to perform certain female skills such as cooking or sewing but could use free time to research other skills. While Lars had to spend precious gold won in small challenges, Portia earned gold as gifts for accomplishing tasks in whatever land the character was living. Having talked to Lars and watched some of his success, Portia had researched tactics and learned skills. In the game, these skills were often learned because the female character wooed or convinced a male character to help train them. These teachers were mostly non-player in game characters designed to teach these functions. Portia would repair a garment or feed one of the non-player characters and then learn a skill. At its essence, Lars and Portia spent similar times reaching different levels which appeared to be equivalent.

As with Lars side of the game, opportunities arose. Portia could wear a disguise and learn things by observing the knights and their apprentices. During a research quest, Portia found a full set of armor that surprisingly fit her character. Over the next week, while continuing small quests, Portia earned money and used it to repair and paint the armor red and gold. This along with the research Portia participated in elevated the character to the point that during a weekly joust, the system alerted Andy that Portia would periodically be given opportunities to elevate. If the Duke whose kingdom Portia lived within had his champion lose a competitive joust, other characters who had the qualifications, uniforms, and skills could anonymously challenge the winner to defend the Duke’s honor.

When given the opportunity, Andy had one minute to have Portia don the red armor and offer to defend the Duke’s honor. Portia disguised herself as a red knight and challenged the knight who had defeated the Duke’s champion. When asked her name, Portia said she was the “Red Knight” here to defend the Duke’s honor. Portia successfully defended the Duke and was named the Duke’s champion. Portia continued to protect her identity as the game suggested.

In the cafeteria, Andy joined Larry and opened his milk. Larry asked, “Where did you get that Red Armor? I think it’s stronger than mine.”

“I found it in an abandoned stable. I was on an assist quest where I was helping a stable boy and a knight’s apprentice cleanout a stable they said had been abandoned by a knight who left the kingdom. We could keep anything we found. I found the armor and hid it in my room. Then I used gold to pay to have it repaired. I had to tell the blacksmith character it was a gift for a knight because he said females couldn’t have armor. I paid to have it upgraded by the blacksmith before I had my first battle. The armor kind of looks like a lower grade but it has hidden upgrades which make it much more powerful.” Andy explained.

“When did you have time to do all that?” Larry asked.

“I stayed up until almost 4:30 in the morning on Friday night and then till 3:00 on Saturday night/Sunday morning. My mom barely got me up this morning. I’ve been putting in a lot of hours trying to make sure I keep up with Lars.” Andy said laughing.

Each of them were constantly faced with challenges and tests to ensure they knew the lessons they had learned in quests and research. Lars was tested on weapons and tactics. Basic tests like geography of the game space and people of ranks above and below who he interacted with. Likewise, Portia was tested. Since the Portia character did extra research on weapons and tactics and had now participated in formal duels, Portia was tested on many of the same things Lars was tested on. However, this was only a portion of the test. Portia was also tested on character specific lessons. Recipes and methods for cooking had to be known off the cuff since tests were timed. Sewing and knitting required knowledge of different techniques. A picture would be shown and Andy had to know whether the needle position was for a specific knitting method or used to hem a garment. Andy often found himself holding two pencils with a string or wire tie wrapped around them for each of the different knitting methods. It was stupid, but Lars had to memorize a bunch of things about how to build fires, identifying flint in a bunch of rocks or other useless information.

Portia was gaining fighting experience as well as power from the female character side of the house. Portia was a lady in waiting to the Duchess with much freedom to roam the property. This freedom allowed Portia to learn and participate in more battles. Portia gathered non-player characters with helpful skills as supporters which allowed Portia to have them help with any injuries instead of dealing with doctors.

Lars had to earn a living and go on long quests to maintain his rank. Portia did not have to go anywhere but was constantly presented with household related tasks to learn and memorize. Andy found he knew how to make bread from the recipe through the blending and working the dough as well as time to cook. As Portia added more recipes and more garments to her repertoire, Portia was elevated within the female hierarchy.

These side tasks and memorization for both characters were designed to slow down progress and allow the characters to gather power and money in the game to then further their power. Lars learned how to blacksmith and design different weapons and needed items like wheels or wagons. He could design and build a plow and knew how to plant, manage and harvest a crop. Lars was required to maintain a minimum size farm to sustain his character. Andy often felt like he was in a 200 year old home economics class. Like Lars’ Farm, Portia had to do a certain amount of baking, cleaning, and sewing.

Dinner over, Andy grabbed his plate and several serving pieces to take them into the kitchen.

“Thanks honey. I appreciate that you’ve been helping more around the house. It’s a sign of maturity when you own up to doing your share of the work.” His mother said.

“I just thought I should help clear the table.” Andy said.

“You should. Many young boys act like the food should just show up in front of their face and someone else should prepare and cleanup after them. Then they get an apartment and find out that the kitchen doesn’t provide food without someone in there working on the cooking.” She laughed. “Your father admitted to me that he ate out for the first three weeks after moving into an apartment following college. You are growing up. I’m very excited.”

Andy thought it was silly for his mother to get all excited about helping cleanup the dishes.

The second tier of the system required players to interact using an audio interface. Questions or tests were done using an artificial intelligence system. Lars was expected to use manly phrases and work to deepen his voice. On the other hand, Portia was expected to use certain phrases or terms that the women used. One of the hardest things for Andy was when the system kept telling him to repeat answers or he would lose points for not sounding enough like a lady. If he expected his character to be advanced to the duchess, princess or queen levels, his character had to have certain knowledge and speak a certain way. Slower speech and a breathy voice which sounded kind of sexy were clearly what the system wanted. If the system did not like how something was said, it would replay his statements to allow him to practice until the system found it acceptable. He would not pass the test question, but it told him what was required to pass the next time. The tests cost him money, time and research credits.

Many of the challenge quests allowed Lars and Portia, The Red Knight, to work together. Their characters met and worked with several other players to complete challenges and find hidden treasures. None of them knew that the Red Knight was a woman in the game. It wasn’t important.

On weekends or school days, Larry and Andy would quickly dispense with any homework and spend every free moment playing Unreal Earth.

Andy’s mom called from the kitchen, “Andy, you need to get out and do something with friends. You’ve been locked in your room all weekend.” After staying up until two in the morning Friday night, his mother woke him at nine on Saturday telling him to get the grass cut early before things heated up outside. Pulling on shorts and a t-shirt, Andy polished off a bowl of Cheerios and an hour later the grass was cut. Following a quick shower, he was back in front of his game console with the room darkening shades drawn by 11:30. He texted Larry.

Moments later, Larry joined him and they began questing. Their armor was upgraded and they kept building skills. Larry had to get offline a little after three because his family had to go somewhere. Andy remained with a group they were working with.

The game required Andy to use his character’s voice when talking in-game. His character was awarded a voice changer which gave his character a deep baritone. It seemed silly that Andy had to fake his voice to meet the princess requirements and was then given a voice changer to change his voice back so other characters didn’t know his character was a female. Stupid roundabout challenges like this were the heart of many games. Andy was committed.

At seven thirty, Andy’s mother called him for dinner. After promising to be back shortly, Andy inhaled his dinner and asked to be excused. When asked, “What’s the rush?” Andy answered, “Dad, Larry and I are in the middle of a big challenge and if I’m gone too long, I’ll have to restart and lose several hours of work.”

While it made no sense to his parents, Andy was a good kid who maintained a B-plus grade point average. His father relented, “Take your dishes to the kitchen.”

Andy sprinted back to the computer and he was Portia again. Several of his online friends had taken the pause to get their own dinners and have bathroom breaks. They were in the process of defeating a cave boss inside a huge mountain. Andy noticed Larry had not rejoined them. The group of five attacked the mountain, defeating minions and minor bosses as they made their way to the top. The challenge had been characterized as a major game key and everyone wanted to be there at the end to get the spoils. These were victories that yielded new powers, monetary rewards, enhancements to armor and skills that were found in less than one percent of the challenges. Certain challenges opened limited access to even greater challenges.

Andy lost track of time as he and his team fought one battle after another. If they left, they had to restart the challenge. After what seemed like forever, only Andy and two other team members were still online as Andy dealt the fatal blow to the boss. The screen exploded in light and fireworks. The rewards were more than Andy had seen anywhere in the game. His bank account had more money than he had ever seen in the game and his skills were advanced to a new plateau. Portia gained new powers and he was given a limited time challenge key to super-epic rewards. Andy laughed wondering how they kept creating a new more successful term for everything. Checking his main character statistics, he realized that Portia needed to perform some of her basic maintenance to avoid losing power. He took a deep breath and Portia stepped back from the fight to start baking and sewing. As his basic systems were re-established, Andy realized that he needed to do the super-epic challenge in the next day.

Exhausted, Andy decided he needed a break. “Maybe, I’ll have some ice cream and watch some TV before bed.”

After getting his character safe and secure, Andy logged out of the game. Taking off the headphones and leaning back in his chair, he reached for the curtains and looked out the window. It was totally dark outside, but it was after dinner. Standing, he was walking to the door when he spied the red numbers on his clock, 4:17. Andy stopped moving. It was the middle of the night. How was that possible? He ate dinner about eight hours ago. His mom usually told him to get off the system when she went to bed.

Andy undressed and put on pajamas before quietly using the bathroom and slipping under the covers.

His mother’s knocking and then pulling at the covers dragged him from sleep at 9:30. Apparently, he needed to get dressed for church. By the time they arrived at church, Andy was awake. As services were dismissed, Andy saw Larry in the parking lot.

“Larry, what happened to you?” Andy asked.

“My parents dragged us to a birthday party for my aunt. I had no idea. All these older relatives were there and my mom took Sara and my phones away so we wouldn’t be distracted with our relatives. I had a good time, but we didn’t get home till almost ten o’clock. I talked to Ralph and he said his dad turned off the system and he had to abandon the quest at around 11. I tried to text you but got no response. When did you guys give up the quest?”

Andy’s eyes got brighter, “I didn’t abandon it. Farhan, Quibill, and I beat the boss. You wouldn’t believe all the rewards, it was the biggest haul I’ve ever won. I also got a key to a one on one challenge that I have a limited time to do. Depending on my score, my rewards could go way up.

Dumbfounded, Larry stared at me, “The mountain challenge must be the elusive first level super-boss. Only a few people have won that level. I can’t believe you got there without me. I was in a chat with some other guys and they said the single person challenge is huge. If you beat the challenge, the rewards can include game enhancements or better equipment direct from the company. One guy told me he has a friend that got the Platinum controller set with micro earbuds and microphone. Now, I have to conquer it on my own unless you fail at the challenge. I’ll wait and see how you do.”

Andy was full of himself having beaten the mountain first. “I’m going to try it later today. Don’t plan on me coming back down the mountain a loser.” Andy stated with a laugh.

Larry asked all kinds of questions about the mountain so he would be prepared when he made another assault.

After lunch as his mother watched, Andy cleared the table while chatting with her and loaded the dishwasher before quickly finishing his homework. He explained to his mother” Larry and I have gotten to a major threshold in our new game. We have to work on a challenge which will take several hours. If I stop, I’ll lose all my work. Can you just give me a sandwich or some carrots and celery to munch on for dinner? I won’t be hungry and if I stop, I’ll lose everything.”

Remembering that he helped cleanup after lunch, his mother smiled and agreed to deliver a couple of snacks and a sandwich. These children think their games are more important than the real world. She said, “You have to promise me that tomorrow, you’ll go for a bike ride after school and spend at least an hour outside doing some physical exercise.”

Andy agreed, filled up two water bottles and ran for his room. It was three in the afternoon when he sat down at the game system.

Upon entering the game, Portia had to do some of the domestic dribble that drove Andy nuts. It was easy, but pretending to fold laundry, knitting or sewing seemed more a waste of time. After helping to clean the kitchen, he set the master dining room for a big formal celebration dinner and then told a non-person character he felt under the weather and would be napping for the rest of the day. This allowed Portia to change clothes, sneak out of the castle, and become the Red Knight.

Portia’s character warped to the mountain, no explanation how warping existed in a seemingly feudal time.

After checking that the Red Knight had all the best armor, plenty of food, tools, weapons and enchantments, Andy used the key to begin the solo challenge. Time limit to completion was eight hours. If he didn’t complete the mission in eight hours, he would have to complete the mountain challenge again. The second time around, the rewards would not be as good since he already had them. On the other hand, with the upgrades he earned, defeating the mountain challenge a second time would be a bit easier since he would be a stronger team member.

As with all such games, there seemed to be hundreds of minor bad guys that needed to be killed. When moving from segment to segment, Portia would have to interact with a non-player entity. The game would tell him what to ask, but he had to talk to the entity using his breathy delicate speech otherwise the character did not seem to understand him. Four hours in and Andy’s concentration was broken. He had just conquered another segment and was talking to the non-player entity when something touched his shoulder and he heard giggling.

After ensuring his character was not at risk, he turned to see his mother giggling while trying to pass him a small plate with a sandwich and carrots on it.

“Mom,” he drew it out in a whine using the breathy voice he had been using non-stop for four hours.

Suddenly she was giggling harder, “Why are you talking like that?” she asked.

He shook his head and said, “It is part of some in game thing. I have to talk like that or it won’t acknowledge my voice. It’s stupid, but it is one of the challenges. I have to concentrate. Thanks for the food,” he said as he pushed the sandwich to the side and turned back to the game.

His Mom asked, “How long are you going to do this? You have school tomorrow.”

“The timer on the challenge will run out before midnight. I’ll go right to bed.”

“Okay, no later,” she said as she moved towards the door.

Taking a breath he finished his conversation with the entity and heard his bedroom door close behind him with his mother still giggling. His mind was back in the game and he was immersed. Andy and Larry had played multiple games over the years and it took all his skills to overcome one challenge after the other. When a warning told him that he had only thirty minutes to finish the challenge, Portia pulled out all the stops, risking every weapon and armor in her toolbox.

The super boss was a giant and it seemed that he could only shoot arrows and attack the lower portions of the boss’s body. With ten minutes left, Portia realized time would run out. The boss was down to less than ten percent health, but Portia simply did not have time to overcome the boss.

Something triggered Andy to review the things he had won when they conquered the mountain. He remembered that he had been given a sling and two small rocks. It seemed useless, but in games like Unreal Earth, that usually meant there was a secret. Portia pulled out the sling and the rocks. The boss had an injury on the side of the head from arrow attacks. Maybe, a rock could topple the giant like in the bible. Portia aimed the rock and slung it. The rock struck home but only did 2% damage. Andy checked his potions, pulled out a poison, combined it with the last rock and slung it at the giant. The wound suddenly turned redder, then green and black as the giant collapsed with less than a minute left.

The Red Knight stood there not believing she had beaten the boss. Andy looked around the screen as the timer ran out. Nothing. Suddenly the screen and sound system went totally berserk. Thank God he was wearing headphones. Non-player characters were dancing around on the screen and a message went out to the player world heralding the victory of the Portia over the super boss.

Andy’s money bank jumped, armor and weapon levels jumped. New weapons and storage capabilities were added. A message popped up on the screen, “Portia, please check your in game e-mail for your epic rewards from the developers at Unreal Earth. Congratulations. Take this power, complete your character training for minor royalty and you will now be able to begin gathering land and titles.”

In Portia’s e-mail, was a message, “Dear Portia, Congratulations! You have earned a hardware upgrade from the developers at Unreal Earth. Less than 1 in 100,000 players will ever earn this reward. You are on track to be a world leader. Please confirm your information so we can mail your prize. Part of the prize includes new technology for your torso. You will need to be measured by a local tailor contracted by the company. Once your measurements are delivered, your prize will be completed and sent to your address. ”

Andy verified the address. The system notified him of a store in the business district that he needed to visit. Andy printed out the information, noted that it was now after 12:30 in the morning. He had not eaten his sandwich. After munching on the carrots, he shut things down and fell into a deep sleep.

He didn’t want to depress Larry, so he avoided discussing the challenge further. Larry assumed Andy had failed. Larry and friends worked on the challenge all of Sunday and never got to the mountaintop.

Monday after school, Andy abandoned his friends and walked into the business district. At the address, he found himself in front of “Frills and Secrets” a store clearly targeted to women. Standing outside staring at the address and down at his piece of paper, Andy had no idea what to do.

“Can I help you? You look lost,” a soft voice asked.

Jogged from his trance, Andy saw a nice young woman holding the glass door open and looking at him with a worried look.

Andy stammered, “I think I got the wrong directions.”

Noticing the piece of paper in his hand, the woman abandoned the door and walked over to his side. She reached for the paper saying, “May I?”

Andy pushed it towards her and she took it.

“Oh,” she laughed. “No, you’re in the right place. I’m Nancy. This company contracts with us to measure people and answer a couple of questions. It’s pretty common. Sometimes guys getting married in another state, get sent to us to get measured and it scares the crap out of them. Come on in side and I’ll get Carla, she’s our tailor/seamstress.”

The store smelled pretty and the lace and white frills were everywhere. It felt like he was entering forbidden land. Nancy led him straight to the back. Near the cash register, she said, “Wait here, while I make sure she isn’t helping someone else.”

Staring at the curtain she had passed through, he was surprised when her head popped out saying come on back.”

She held the curtain and Andy passed into a well-lit room with lots of mirrors and a circular pedestal in the middle of the room.

While Nancy had shoulder length brown hair and was dressed in a form-fitting blue dress highlighting her perfect figure, Carla was short and in her late forties. With more weight than she should be carrying, Carla was also dressed in pants and a flowered blouse. Clearly, Nancy was front of house and Carla was dealing with people who already bought things.

“Hi, I’m Carla. I understand you’re here to be measured. Do you have the sheet they told you to print out?” Carla asked in a confident but no nonsense voice.

Andy handed her the sheet of paper.

Carla said, “Give me a minute to get the form off the computer.”

Andy just stood there while Carla exited and he heard typing and then a moment later a printer shooting out some paper.

She had a smile on her face as she returned. “Listen, I understand that boys are always put out by coming here, but all I’m going to do is take a few measurement. Can you step over here onto this scale?”

Andy put down his backpack and stepped onto the scale.

“138 pounds,” Carla noted. “Slip off your shoes and back against this wall, please”

Andy noted the markings on the wall and kicked off his shoes.

“Five foot, seven inches,” Carla said. “Can you please step up onto the platform? What size shoes do you wear?”

“Size eight,” Andy answered.

Carla noted it and asked, “Do you have any shoes in a European size, like 40, 41, something like that?

“My sandals are a 41,” Andy answered.

“Shoe width,” she asked.

“Regular or medium,” he answered.

Starting at his legs, she measured his inseam, out-seam, waist, hips, rise from bellybutton to crotch, circumference of his ankles, calves, thighs at two points, several torso measurements and similar detail for arms, neck and head.

“This seems very detailed,” Andy said. “For my cousin’s wedding, they only measured my waist, inseam and a couple on my arms and shoulders.”

“I have no idea what or why they need it. I just measure it and they pay us.” She had him create a hand print for both hands, not to get fingerprints but to get size and shape of his hands. She took a front and side picture of him saying, “They don’t get the picture. The photo is processed and they get torso shape and head shape. These are helpful for costume design or certain kinds of head pieces. With our measurements, they can create a computer version of your body to use in manufacturing.”

It was fascinating as he fantasized about working for a high tech company like she was described.

**********

At school, Larry kept complaining that he attempted the mountain and failed time and again. “Why don’t you get online and help me? You have to do it again anyway and with your loot, you should be able to get me over the hump much easier. Both Farhan and Quibel failed that key task and they have been trying to climb the mountain again. Neither one of them seem to know how they got past the last few challenges and keep suggesting you were the one who got them through. Buck up and accept it. Hell, beating the mountain was a huge accomplishment in itself. Let’s do it again.”

Having put his character into private mode, other players could not see when Andy was online. Portia had new tasks to complete. With the new advancements, Portia needed to learn more of the basic tasks about being a lady. Such training was necessary to take on a major title in the game. Several of the modules would not even unlock until he received his prize from the company.

Worn out from several long days over the weekend, Andy had not gotten all of his homework done and spent time trying to get back in his teacher’s good graces. The game time he had was spent learning what was needed for his advancement.

“Larry,” Andy explained, “I blew off school work and had to catch up. My parents were upset I was huddled in the room all weekend. Heck, my mom made me go bike riding for an hour and a half Monday after school because I stayed in all weekend. She threw me out again on Wednesday. I’ll try to get time this weekend to hook up with you.”

Meanwhile, each evening Portia was learning about sewing and crochet. He had to learn the history and be able to report on it in audible interviews with the artificial intelligence modules. Identification of different stitches and methods were reviewed and the system seemed to expect him to perform some manual demonstration at a later time.

There were lessons on the behavior of ladies. Again, Portia had to know that as a low level untitled woman, not quite a lady, she was expected to curtsey to almost anyone. Anytime, she sat down, her skirts needed to be smoothed under her and she had to sit with her knees together while sometimes ankles might be crossed. Perfect presentation was assumed and forgetting to dress appropriately, fix one’s hair or apply makeup was unacceptable. Hands were expected to be clasped in the lap when sitting. It was all a lot of silliness, but Andy had always liked history.

Apparently, every time Portia got promoted, there would be more lessons on behavior and other ladylike behavior. Andy pondered whether the mundane lessons were any better or worse than the male oriented lessons Lars would need to learn as he progressed up the male side of the Unreal Earth hierarchy. While different, he concluded it was probably the same amount of work.

By Friday, caught up in all his classes, Andy felt like he was on top of everything. While spending time each evening on Portia’s new lessons, as the school week ended, he felt the urge to kill some bad guys and bosses. “Larry, I want to work on some of the other challenges and not focus on the mountain. I need more fighting experience to round out my character.”

Larry was clearly disappointed, “I really want to find out what the mountain prizes are. It’s so hard, they must be great. Imagine what you would get if you beat the individual quest.” He acted all pouty like a little kid denied his favorite food. Finally, he said, “Maybe, you’re right. I need to get rid of some of this pent up frustration. Let’s kill some bag guys and beat some quests.” They agreed on a time to meet online.

While many high school juniors were looking for a party on a Friday, both Andy and Larry were caught up in the excitement of their new game. For them, the game was an online party.

Lars was already on when Portia joined the game. Portia, changed into the Red Knight, turned off private mode and transported to Lars location. Lars was waiting with three other players ready to begin a quest. Lars introduced the Red Knight to Jerry0327, Killer Carl, and Viktor the Dark. Andy immediately discounted any help from a player who lacked the creativity to select a name based upon his own name and his birthday.

They selected a serial set of quests that increased in difficulty and rewards the more levels the players completed. Jerry turned out to have more skills than Andy expected, Killer Carl got killed a lot while Jerry was a moving target. This let Portia, Lars and Viktor target and kill the mobs and allowed the group to move on. They were on the seventh level when Killer Carl reported that he had to go to bed and disconnected before the others could demean him. Jerry lasted about another 45 minutes. Between levels, Viktor, Lars and the Red Knight all reported that they were good to go without the dreaded parents sending them to bed. The longer the game progressed, the more impressed Andy was with Viktor.

The trio conquered the entire quest and were well rewarded. Lars mentioned that the Red Knight had only required resurrection once or twice. Portia said it was just dumb luck, but knew it was because of stronger armor that took more hits. The three of them chatted and it turned out Viktor had started the game around the same time as Larry and Andy. Having worked well together, Viktor asked if they could get together the next day, Saturday. A time in the early afternoon was agreed upon.

Before their Saturday session, Portia had to continue training on her menial tasks and lessons before changing into the Red Knight.

As they waited for Lars to join the game, Viktor and the Red Knight chatted about things they liked and did not like about the game. It was an easy conversation and Andy was enjoying simply talking to Viktor. Viktor had no idea that the Red Knight was a female character. As a rule, Andy seldom spent a lot of time talking to gamers other than Lars, because he found he had little in common with them. Most were very juvenile in their attitudes or were only interested in fighting immediately or they needed to move on. If there was no fight within a few minutes, these typical gamers would go somewhere else in the game seeking the battles they wanted.

Viktor and the Red Knight, talked about strategy and pitfalls in the game. Andy concluded Viktor was a really experienced player and he wanted to maintain communication to be able to work together in the future. They exchanged in-game contact information and Viktor suggested that they needed to work together a bit longer before exploring any real-world contact or other information. Interestingly, this wariness raised Andy’s perception of Viktor. Like Larry, Viktor was the kind of person Andy would like to have as a friend.

Lars joined them, they gathered a few random players and took off on another serial quest. Before they began, Viktor let them know a hard end time for the early evening when he would have to get off the system. Andy appreciated that much more than the kids from the previous day who just evaporated mid-quest.

As with the previous day, the three experienced players quickly conquered the easy portions of the quest. It was simply a time delay to get to the main levels and bigger prizes. Again, their hangers on mysteriously disappeared mid-quest leaving the three of them to complete the higher levels.

Using their microphones, the three players could all talk to one another

In the final stage of the quest, Viktor said, “Red, we need to kill this dragon. Time is running out. Lars, position yourself behind that big rock. I will attack alone but while he is focused on me, you two need to unload everything you have. Then one of you has to revive me so that I get the rewards if we kill him.”

Red Knight said, “I’ll revive you. Lars, get your best weapons. I’ll use my enchanted bow and cursed arrows. Aim for the inside of the mouth as it roars. Lars shoot a series of water buckets into its mouth so it can’t burn up Viktor.”

Viktor charged the dragon, impaling his enchanted sword in the belly of the dragon. The dragon stretched its neck and opened its mouth to burn up Viktor who was sinking a second strike. Lars extinguished the Dragon’s fiery breath and the Red Knight delivered three cursed arrows into the roof of the dragon’s mouth. The flailing dragon swiped razor sharp claws across Viktor, killing his character. Red, ran across the valley and clicked on Viktor to revive him. Halfway through, the dragon managed to hit the Red Knight with a swing of those claws. It stole over half of the Red Knight’s health, but did not kill him.

Lars had emerged from hiding and was stabbing the dragon with a lance. Revived, Viktor and Red attacked the gut of the dragon with swords and depleted the final health. It had taken all three of them and their skills to defeat the dragon.

The money, skills, experience and loot were impressive. All three of them benefited from rewards.

They chatted while evaluating the booty. Viktor said, “Red, I was killed in one swipe of the dragon’s claws and you only last around half of your health. What do you have that I don’t?”

Red Knight did not want to admit having beaten the mountain. “I had a special potion from another quest which claimed to give me extraordinary health. I had been saving it, but decided we needed the boost. Thank goodness I used it.”

Lars asked, “What was it called? I need to find one of those.”

“I think it was just super health brew. I didn’t really pay close enough attention. Sorry.” Red explained.

Viktor explained that he had to go.

Lars and the Red Knight took on several smaller quests.

Lars said, “Hey, I have to go eat dinner with my family. Call me in a while.” Lars logged off.

Andy heard his own mother calling and logged out.

After dinner, Andy called Larry. “Hey, great day of questing. Viktor is great.”

Larry answered, “He was just standing around spawn looking for higher ranked people to go questing with. Thank goodness, I got him to join us.”

Andy agreed.

Larry asked, “I know it’s not our normal, but its Saturday night and there is a party at Mark Barker’s house. What say we drop in and see if the in-crowd revolts when two nerds show up?”

“Mark was a good friend until high school.” Andy mentioned. “We should go.”

“He hasn’t done anything with us in a few years.” Larry complained.

“Larry, Mark is a friend. Pick me up in 45 minutes.” Andy stated.

Deciding he needed a shower, Andy disrobed and climbed into the shower. After shampooing his shoulder-length hair, he reached for the hair conditioner his mother always chided him about. Somewhere in the back of his mind, a little voice reminded him that conditioner should always be used after shampooing to ensure hair had body and shine. He read the directions and applied the product to his hair.

In the mirror over the sink, Andy smiled at his hair as he patted it dry. Another voice told him not to just rough up his hair with a towel. He ran a wide tooth brush through his hair and plugged in the hair dryer. Slowly, he blew warm air on his head and ran the comb and a wide tooth brush to ensure his hair did not get knotted up. He would have to practice more to get this process correct.

Examining his face in the mirror, he shaved all the peach fuzz he often ignored from his face and even eliminated the fuzz he had thought of as sideburns. His face looked nice.

After slipping on clean jeans, socks and trainers, he looked at his options for on top. He had school t-shirts, band t-shirts, t-shirts from trips, Polo shirts, and a couple of button down shirts. Normally, he would just throw on a t-shirt, but this was a party. While a polo seemed fine, he felt like he needed something underneath to give it a more finished look. He wasn’t sure why. He pulled on a white t-shirt from school and topped it off with a wine red polo. He looked better, but the t-shirt was visible in the neckline of the polo. In addition, the sleeves were almost as long as the sleeves on the polo which meant they would show.

He found his mother in the kitchen and explained his problem. She looked at him and smiled because her little boy was growing up and finally worried about his appearance.

“Nothing of your father’s will fit you. You want something to give the shirt a finished look without the sleeves hanging out. Hmm.” she said. “Go to your room and take those off. I might have a solution.”

Moments later she showed up with something in her hand. “Hands over your head,” she ordered. As he raised his arms, she slid a white tank top over his head. It had two inch wide straps on the shoulder and was made of a thinner fabric than his regular t-shirts.

Before he could ask any questions, she was pulling his polo back into place.

Staring into the mirror, Andy liked the look. The Polo slipped on his body when he moved, but the t-shirt was not visible. His grin said it all. “Thanks mom. This is perfect.”

“Did you finally use the conditioner on your hair? It looks really nice and not dead like usual.” She asked.

“I did. It really feels nice.” he admitted.

“You keep sweeping it out of your face,” she noted. “Let me see if I have something to hold your hair.”

Moments later, she returned with a silver clip. It seemed kind of western themed but he took little note of it. His mother swept his hair up and using a brush smoothed it together in back. She closed the clasp on the clip securing his hair at his neckline. Only a couple of inches hung out of the clip.

“How does that feel?” she asked.

“Great,” he answered. “Is it too girlish to have a clip in my hair?”

She laughed, “No more than long hair on a boy. It’s not like I used two pink barrettes with flowers on them. You look nice.”

The doorbell rang.

“Larry’s here.” he said. “We’re going to a party at Mark Barker’s house.”

“That’s nice. I always liked Mark. I haven’t heard you mention him a lot in the last year or so.” She said

“He hangs with the jocks a lot of the time. Larry and I are going to go check it out.”

“Have fun,” she called after him. “Don’t get in trouble.”

**********

Larry reached to open the front door and Andy grabbed his arm. “Larry, you don’t just walk into people’s homes.

Larry waved at the street, “Dude, the streets are full and people are everywhere. No one is answering the door.”

Andy rang the doorbell as Larry glared at him.

“Andy, Larry, thanks for coming,” Mark welcomed them with a smile.

As they stepped inside, both of them remembered the house from when they were younger.

Mark said, “I know we haven’t hung out in a while, but we shared a lot of memories when we were younger. Larry, do you still have that scar from the skateboard accident?”

Relaxing, Larry laughed and pulled his arm around to show the scar on the back of his left arm. “I doubt it will ever go away.”

Mark slapped him on the shoulder, “Other than you bleeding all over us, that was a great day. Drinks are in the kitchen and food is in the dining room. Mingle and have fun.”

Andy smirked, “Showing off your scar, shouldn’t you be doing that for one of the girls?”

They both laughed as they made their way to the kitchen. Larry stopped to answer a question and Andy grabbed a Coke from the cooler.

A soft voice asked, “Andy, is there another Coke in there?”

Andy looked up to see Sandy, the head cheerleader. Blonde hair, beautiful face and a figure every boy dreamed about. She was smiling at him like he was her best friend. He looked back at the cooler and extracted a Coke. “Here you go.” He said with a smile.

“Is there a sprite?” she asked.

“Yes, yes there is,” he answered as he pulled the green can from the cooler and handed it to her.

“Thank you,” she said while twiddling her fingers and turning to head into the family room.

Why was Sandy talking to him as if they were friends? How did she even know his name? Andy and Larry were clearly categorized in the nerd, quiet, studious group of students. Sandy was a senior and one of the leaders of the popular, perfect people crowd.

He shook his head and went towards the dining room. There were some little sandwiches on dollar rolls and he grabbed two. Then he saw the chocolate chip cookies. Mark’s mom made the best cookies with some secret ingredient. He hurried towards the buffet and ran smack into two girls clearly with the same destination in mind. While managing to hold onto the sandwiches, the coke skittered across the floor. Luckily, he had not opened it yet and now, that would be delayed for a long time unless he ran into someone who needed a Coke shower.

“Sorry, my fault,” Andy said as he looked up. Toni and Tori the T girls, not gender challenged, just girls with a name starting in T, were giggling as he tried to regain his composure.

Toni asked, “How could it be your fault if we were running full speed? Now, I admit, you should have known I would be entering this area and cleared a path, but I’m willing to forgive you if you let me have one of those cookies you were clearly heading for.” Both girls were giggling again.

Andy looked at the plate and saw two cookies left. He snatched them up, took a longing look at them and handed one to each of the girls. Toni snatched hers and took a big bite.

Tori smiled, stating, “Seems unfair since you would have gotten here first. Here.” She broke her cookie in two and handed him half.

“Thank you,” Andy said sheepishly. As he quickly devoured the cookie, he rolled his eyes remembering them from his youth.

While nibbling on her own piece of the cookie, Tori was laughing as she watched him. “You act like you’ve never eaten a cookie.”

“When we were little, his mom would make these cookies for us and they were always heavenly. I was immediately struck by memories of being here as a little kid. They were really good memories.” Andy said.

Tori glanced down at the small piece of cookie in her hand and mumbled, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“It’s fine. Enjoy it. I got my memory kick. I was afraid I wouldn’t get any of them, but you girls were going for them too.” Andy explained.

“Thank you,” Tori said, “That was very gentlemanly of you. I better get back.”

Andy watched Tori join Toni and Tanya, another of the T-girls. All three of them looked back at Andy before he went in search of Larry. The last of the T-girls, Tammy Davoli had not been seen yet. All four of them were juniors and cheerleaders. None of them were in Andy’s league and he was surprised again that they talked to him like a regular person. Sandy had done the same thing.

Larry saw him coming, “Where have you been?”

Andy shook his head, “I was talking to the T-girls. We all made a mad dash for the last two of Mrs. Barker’s chocolate chip cookies.”

“Aw come on. That’s not fair.” Larry was clearly upset he had missed out.

Andy suggested, “I’ll ask Mark if there are some in hiding.”

They talked to a couple of other people until Andy saw Mark across the room.

“Mark,” Andy said getting his attention, “Any chance your mom has some more of her secret recipe chocolate chip cookies hidden around here?”

Laughing, Mark turned towards the kitchen, “Follow me. If there aren’t any, how did you know we had some earlier?”

“I raced a couple of the T-girls for the last two, but I gave them to the girls. It seemed like the nice thing to do. Tori gave me half of one and it instantly reminded me of all the times we had here when we were kids. We must have driven your mom nuts.”

“My mom was in heaven when you guys were all here. She loved having a house full of kids.” Mark pulled a container of cookies from a cabinet and handed it to Andy.

Andy looked at him, “Can I grab a couple for Larry and maybe for the T-girls, too?”

“Take as many as you want and put it back afterwards. I can’t wait to tell my mom you were searching for her cookies. She may come down in a while. They’re upstairs.” Mark headed off to the front of the house.

Andy quickly ate a cookie and took 8 more. In the hall, he handed three to Larry as he ate a second cookie and arrived at the T-girls with six left. He tapped Tori on the shoulder.

Tori was surprised to see Andy, but more surprised to see the cookies. Andy handed her two and as the other girls looked he handed two more to Toni. Looking at Tori, he said, “I found a hidden stash.”

Tori smiled, “Thank you. That was really nice.” Toni added, “Extra nice. Thanks.”

Andy blushed, said, “No problem.”

Tammy added, “You did something with your hair. Instead of the lifeless look, it looks nice.”

Andy blushed more. Not knowing exactly what to say, he walked away in search of Larry.

Tammy and Tanya were staring at their two friends, when Toni realized they felt left out. Toni gave one of her cookies to Tanya and Tori gave one to Tammy. The four of them giggled as they ate the cookies.

Tammy said, “Andy doesn’t usually come to parties. Kind of a nerd, but he’s a nice boy.” The other three nodded in agreement. Tanya added, “His hair did look better. He didn’t think anyone would notice.

Andy found Larry and the two of them talked to several classmates about different things. Later, in the family room, Larry was discussing the new game Unreal Earth. Several friends of Andy and Larry were sitting around. Larry talked about the graphics, the bosses and the different challenges. Andy quietly sat to the side answering prompts from Larry, but allowing Larry to talk like the experienced professional everyone should rely on. Larry was in his element and several nearby students were listening in.

“Juniors in high school and they’re still playing kids video games.” Tammy said with a chuckle.

Tanya stated, “My dad plays some of the major shooter games. They seem more adult than kid’s games.”

“It takes good decision making, strategy and brains to actually reach the upper levels of some of those games. I’m surprised Larry is that good. I would have expected Andy to be better at something like that.” Tori suggested.

The girls continued to marvel at the detail these boys could talk about regarding a video game and yet, they were clueless on meeting women.

Toni said, “It’s all they talk about here or at school. They may as well be back home isolated from humanity in their special game world.”

**********

Later that evening, Andy lay in bed reviewing the evening. He talked to five cheerleaders and four of them were juniors. Never having dated, this was a big deal for Andy. Larry was full of advice on how to talk to girls, yet never seemed to talk to any. There were six or seven girls in his class that he might like to date. Knowing little about any of them, he didn’t want to waste his time with someone with whom he had nothing in common. Till earlier in the evening, he only observed them from afar. Most of them went to grade school together, but their personalities had changed a lot in the last few years.

Andy resolved, “If I’m friendly with the girls, eventually I’ll know which one is the right girl for me.”

At church on Sunday, Andy saw several boys and girls from the party.

Larry said, “Can you finish up your chores and homework so we can go questing at about three?”

“Sure,” Andy responded.

Toni said to Tori, “Listen to that, we’re at church, twelve hours after the party and they’re still talking video games. They’ll probably spend the rest of the day in a dark room staring at big screen TVs. They’re little kids in big boy bodies.”

Tori was still listening to Toni and the boys, “I’m not so sure.”

Toni dragged her away laughing.

End Part 1
Entry for 2020 Reluctant Princess Contest
Hope to have the remaining portion up in just a couple of days. DD