“What name do you think she’ll pick?” Naiad asked her younger brother. He was much shorter in his gnome character class, but he wore a tall red pointing hat to make up for the missing height.

“Grandma.” Triangle replied. He skipped around to let out the excited energy. “She’s going to love this.”

“That’s what you call her. She could go by any other name. The Godmother would be great.” There were even better names out there. “Too bad there’s not a fairy class and she could be a fairy godmother.”

“But she’s Grandma. This isn’t Aunt Ariel playing with us.” Triangle skipped again and chirped in excitement. “Ha! I finally leveled up, skipping! Is my hop taller?”

With his short little legs, he skipped in place and Naiad nodded her head, even though she couldn’t tell a difference. He was only six. He didn’t understand her excitement about this. She understood his anticipation of having Grandma Heidi try the game out with them. This woman cheated at card games, so it would be fun to beat her in a game where Naiad knew how it worked. She could show Grandma the tricks and ropes.

Naiad and Triangle watched as another new player spawned into the game, mouth agape as they took in the surrounding village of the game Seconds-Over. Their eyes glazed as different menus filled their vision. Veterans of virtual games causally strolled off to the first quest. Newbies, especially first-timers, to a detailed, rich game like Seconds-Over, left their mouths wide open or pinched their nose to the sense of smells hitting them. The bright sunlight of the game blinded those who normally played in the dark.

“What do you think will shock her the most? I’m betting smell with how much she complains about our home smelling.” Naiad gambled. “I’ll bet you a chocolate candy from my stash if you are right.”

Triangle stopped skipping and started twisting the long white beard he put on his character. A move their dad did with his short curly red beard when thinking. “She’ll like the dancing. Like this!”

He instantly did a random shake of his body with flaying hands all around while failing to beat out a rhythm. Naiad only wished she had half that confidence at the last high school dance. “If you don’t have a chocolate bar, you will owe me one.”

Triangle shrugged, not worried in the slightest about losing a chocolate bar. Seriously, how did he have so much confidence in himself?

“Where is she?” he asked.

“I’ll send her a message.”

[System Message]

Esther/Naiad: Everything alright?

Grandma Heidi: Oh, thank goodness you messaged me. All these pop-up menus are so confusing. What does it mean by ‘Body Stat’? I don’t see a way to enter my blood-pressure or is this device going to measure it?

Esther/Naiad: Use your eyes to swipe the numbers. The same way you are talking to me.

Body stats are intelligence, wisdom, charisma, dexterity, strength, and constitution. Dad said there’s a built in luck one too that he missed out on.

Grandma Heidi: I did too, I don’t see luck. Make your own.

…

Grandma Heidi: Bull! It won’t let me put a thousand points in. I only have 5 points. It should give old folks like me extra points. We already did life’s grind, now I have to do it again?

Naiad continued to help Grandma set up her character and answered various questions on how the game will work. It took Triangle less time to set up his character when they first started playing a over a month ago. Character creation should only take three minutes. The company wanted you in the game right away.

[System Message]

Grandma Heidi: What are with all these food choices?

Esther/Naiad: Their city names. Select Fanamel, that’s where we’re waiting for you.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“She should be here any second.” Naiad explained to Triangle.

The white light swirled as a new player spawned in. A tall human man with a deep curly red beard. His blue eyes glistened with excitement at the game that Naiad scowled back. But stopped at seeing the name ‘Poppers’ listed in the person’s properties. Dad’s player name was Boulder, and he was at least level three.

“Wow, Grandma looks like Dad.” Triangle stated, confusion though across his face. “Will I look like dad when I get old?”

“Dad is too sick to be watching us. Also, she's mom's mom.”

“It’s because he keeps eating the falafel from that one vendor.” Triangle grumbled. “He gets sick over and over…”

Naiad laughed. “You know you can’t get sick in the real world from this game. Dad has the flu and grandma is here to help. And there she is!”

“And here I am!” She had barely finished spawning through the player, her mouth opened to casually talk. She was un-phased by the world. She took a deep breath and stepped toward them and paused. Naiad studied her properties.

Name Grandma Level 1 Race Human Class - Affiliation Noble (unknown) Status New Player Buff

Dad wouldn’t be happy to hear about the Noble Affiliation. He wanted them to avoid all affiliations until they understood the game more. He believed that hidden quests were available for those who didn't have an affiliation.

“Oooh, that didn’t pop,” Grandma said as she jumped up and down. Then twirled and touched her back. Soon followed up with swinging her arms around.

Triangle ran over and joined in. “Dance more! You can level it up.”

Naiad lost the chocolate bar bet. She’ll remind Triangle of it later. For now, she brushed her purple hair back and adjusted the bow on her back, fidgeting as both her grandma and younger brother danced away, drawing the attention of a few people. The attention made it harder for Naiad to blend in and be ignored by the loud world. It was rare to see an aged character like her grandma. The woman had more wrinkles lining her mouth and red silver hair in reality. Her hair here was pink and blue, and thick here and she stood a good foot taller than Naiad when standing straight. Dressed in the generic newbie gear of cloth blue tunic and brown hemp pants. Not once in Naiad’s life had she ever seen Grandma wear a skirt or dress.

“Oh, my goodness. You have so much freedom in this game. It’s a Second Chance, not a Second-Over.” Grandma patted Triangle’s hat. “I'm glad you’re wearing warm clothing. Both of you. So, besides an incredible, mobile body, what else does this game got?”

Naiad made sure they fist bump to open a conversation line with her in the game. Then sent a guild invite to Grandma from there.

“Shrimp Guild? Cute.” Grandma declared. “Because you’re both so small and his little ones. Totally unassociated with his hobby.”

She did not hide her sarcasm. It went over Triangle’s head, which is why he received more pats.

“I’m not little. I can borrow my mom’s shoes now.” Naiad replied. “Let’s get you started. Any questions on the inventory?”

Grandma waved her hand around. “I was a mechanic. I think I can figure out a simple interface.”

“You needed help with creating a character.” Naiad felt smug finally having knowledge over Grandma.

The look from the woman cut the pride-high trip short. Even in a new character, the look was intimidating. A veteran mom-look. Naiad apologized. “Sorry. Let’s get going. Dad won’t let us out of the city to see the forest. I want to check out by the mountains. There’s no wall over there.” Naiad pointed north. “Along the way, let’s grab you a weapon. I have some gold. Is there a weapon you want?”

“Back in my day, it was a simple sword and sorcery. I see you have a bow, what do you have, Triangle?”

“Mom said I couldn’t have a sharp weapon. The bow is too hard to aim. We haven’t been able to find anything, yet.”

“The key part of any sorcery is using a staff. Do you know what that is?”

Triangle shook his head.

“It’s a big stick from a tree. Maybe you can learn magic and cast spells that summon spiders.”

The thought of summoning spiders would be pretty cool. Magic required being indoors at an academy to learn. Naiad did that enough with school all day. She read up on some classes found in Seconds-Over and wanted to push toward a ranger or druid style. They walked the streets of Fanamel to the where simplest quests popped up, but Grandma was the mother of Blaine, and skipped all the basics. An entire new world and she didn’t care about the people of the city or the history of the world.

“Stinks we couldn't go outside and do something else,” Naiad offered.

“It’s a heavy rainstorm and your brother was excited to be in the game. I love sharing your joys with you.”

“Why the name Grandma? I can’t believe that name was available.”

“I already told you,” Chimed Triangle, “that’s her name.”

Grandma Heidi laughed. “I wanted to be Queen Grandma, but they wouldn’t let me add a royalty title, not even Duchess. I deserve that rank. Maybe I can earn it by doing enough quests for the nobles of this world and get some land?”

“You should have that title.” Naiad laughed, liking the idea of being a royalty. Jealousy and regret mixed in as she wished she took an alignment and didn’t listen to her dad.

Dad wasn’t here today, and they could check out the game more freely with Grandma.

“This looks like a reputable workshop.” Grandma pointed at the sign with swords and shield. “Let’s see if we can get Triangle a staff and myself a hammer.”

----------------------------------------