“Oh hey guys!  Guess what, I got kicked out of the knights.”  William started blabbering as soon as everybody sat down at the lunch table.  “They told me…”

“Thanks,” Darryl interrupted.

“No, no, no.  That’s not what they told me at all.  They said…”

“I was saying thanks,” Darryl interrupted again.  

This time William tilted his head a little bit and looked confused for just the briefest of moments before he started back up.  “You’re welcome!  It’s no big deal.  As I was saying…”

“How do you even know he was talking to you?” Jason interrupted him this time.

“I dunno!  I just thought I’d say welcome for whomever he was talking to so I could say…”

“I was talking to you, William.”  Darryl interrupted him again.  Kyle almost laughed at the puzzled look that crossed William’s face.

“Um…”  William wrinkled his face up in thought for a few brief moments.  “You’re welcome!  I don’t know what I did, but it’s no big deal!  I do great things all the time.  As I was saying…”

“You were right about the rock,” Darryl smoothly interrupted him once more.

“No, no, no!  That wasn’t what I was saying!”  William was starting to half bounce in his seat now.  Kyle couldn’t hold back his amusement anymore; he finally had to laugh at him.   William tilted his head left and right, staring puzzled at Kyle, and then shrugged.

“What exactly was I right about, with a rock?” William finally had to ask, his own curiosity making him stop speaking and actually listen for a moment.

“He wanted the bestest rock,” Darryl said slow and calmly, “so I tried a few different things, and then I thought about what you said.  Finally I picked up a rock and simply carried it around and talked to it and petted it.  I even sung to it like a baby.

“Before long, our chieftain got curious what I was doing and asked me, ‘What dat?’.  I told him, ‘It’s the bestest rock ever!’  He snorted and asked me, ‘Why it the bestest?’, just like he always did.  This time I told him, ‘It mine.  You not need to know why it the bestest.  It mine.  Me hunt with it, me sleep with it as pillow, me talk to it.  It bestest ever rock!’  

“At that point, the chieftain looked at me and said, ‘Me want.  Give me rock!’.  I refused him, and that made him mad.  He demanded again that I give it to him, and when I refused a second time, he bashed me over the head with a tree and took my rock.

“And, like that, my quest was completed.  He wanted it, since he thought I wanted it.  Now he’s bragging to everyone how he has the bestest rock!”  Darryl shook his head and snickered lightly.  “It’s kind of funny actually.  Who would’ve believed that you’d have to tell an NPC he couldn’t have the quest item he wanted, just so he’d take the quest item he wanted to complete the quest!

“I’m now a Rock Tribe Member,” Darryl said proudly while thumping his chest with his fists.

A light feminine giggle sounded behind Kyle, and then Sera sat down at the edge of the table beside him.  Darryl quit thumping his chest and left both hands pressed against his breast in fists and stared, with a slack mouthed “O”.  Silence descended around the table and everyone stared big eyed – a woman had descended amongst them!

“You!”  A sharp female’s voice cut the silence like a knife.  “Little runt thing.”  William looked over to the side of the table wide eyed, and pointed to himself quizzically as Heather nodded.  “Yes, I’m talking to you.  Move.  Shoo!  Shoo!  Go sit on the other side somewhere.  I don’t want to sit beside you!”

“O.. okies…”  William barely squeaked out the words as he hopped up and moved down past Darryl to sit on the other side of Jason.  Heather finally sat down, making certain to keep space between herself and Darryl, as if he had the plague or something.

“Honestly Sera!  Do we really need to sit here, of all places, today?”  Heather snorted while opening a packet of thousand island dressing for her salad.

“Oh hush.  We’re fine,” Sera assured her.  “I wanted to talk to Kyle a bit about Winter’s Tale and let him know a few things which might help him with his character some.”

“I don’t know why you’d even bother,” Heather said dismissively.

Sera just giggled and stuck her tongue out at her.  For once, William was completely silent at the table; as was Darryl and Jason.  None of them were really that popular with the girls, and Heather and Sera were too of the cutest ones in the school.  No one wanted to say anything and take the chance of harming their status in the girl’s eyes.  They felt as if it was low enough already!

“Save me some?” Kyle finally asked quizzically.  Sera giggled lightly, stuck her tongue out at him, and then speared a tater tot off his plate with her fork and ate it.

“Not at all!  They’re all mine!”  She stuck her tongue out at him and laughed lightly.

“Anyway,” Sera continued, “I wanted to let you know that I made a character in Winter’s Tale last night, but before…”

“Oh wow!  YOU play Winter’s Tale?”  William couldn’t contain himself anymore; interrupting her and half bouncing on the bench where he was sitting.

“O, puhleeze!”  Heather snorted, while waving her fork around with a small piece of lettuce stuck to it.  “Everyone who goes to school here is probably playing.  This is a private academy, after all.  If anyone can afford to play, it’d be the students who attend here.”

“But, I thought Seraphine was on a scholarship,” William said.

“She might be,” Heather confirmed, “but don’t you think the school would give her a V-RIG?  I hear they might even offer some virtual classes next year.  Since it’s possible to experience a time difference while in the V-RIG, teachers could spend a lot more time with their students, you know.  Someday, everyone will probably attend most classes in a virtual school!”

“Oh!  That.. that… that makes sense, I guess.”  This time it was Darryl who tried talking.  Much to his credit, he only stuttered a little bit.

Kyle just shook his head and snorted.  If Sera wasn’t going to speak up and say anything, he wasn’t either.  Instead, he asked, “So what’d you learn about the game last night?”

Sera speared another of his tater tots and ate it before she replied.  “I was playing around with making a few of the different elf races last night.  Did you know, it seems like all of them start out somewhere around twenty with their stats?  Some stats are a little higher, and some a little lower, but twenty is definitely the average, and none of them could even be taken below ten.  The highest I got was a thirty starting out.”

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“I got a fifty in strength,” Darryl said slowly and carefully.  “But, I made a rock giant for my race.”

“All my stats are twenty-five,” William volunteered.  “I didn’t know where to put them, or what I wanted to be, so I just made them all the same!”

“Well that’s silly,” Heather snorted.  “My highest is in mysticism, with it being a fifty as well, as a Moon Elf.”  

Jason never said a word, and neither did Kyle.  He certainly wasn’t going to tell them that he had two hundred in presence, and a hundred in agility, knowledge, and mysticism!  What was he?  Some sort of cheat character?!

“Well, I made a warrior type,” Sera finally said to break the awkward silence.  “What’s everyone else, in game?”

“I, of course,” Heather said while tossing her hair back behind her head majestically, “am a wizard of the highest caliber.  Already, I know fire, ice, and lightning spells,” she said proudly.

“I’m a healer,” Kyle admitted.  “I guess.  I haven’t taken a class yet, but I have a decent heal spell which I can use now.”

“Me Rock Basher,” Darryl said, and then almost thumped his chest before stopping and turning bright red in embarrassment.

“Smith,” Jason barely whispered.

“I dunno yet!”  William finally blurted out.  “I was almost a knight, but then they kicked me out and tossed me in the dungeons.  I got out when this assassin escaped – I tried to follow him, but he got caught by the guards again.  Then I ran away and joined the church.  I’m a nun now!”

“Wait…”  Kyle interrupted him before he could go any further.  “How can you be a nun?  Aren’t you playing a male?”

“Yep!”  William nodded enthusiastically.  “That’s why the guards will never find me!  I’m in disguise!”  

Kyle just groaned and shook his head from side to side.  “Isn’t it illegal to impersonate a nun, or something?”

“Probably!”  William admitted freely.  “But it’s OK, as long as you don’t get caught!”  Sera giggled lightly and Heather snorted at him.

“You know what we should do sometime?” Sera said all at once.  “We should all log in and play together.”

“And why would we want to play with them,” Heather asked, wrinkling her nose.  “You and I could do fine as a mage and warrior combo.”

Sera just shook her head no.  “We’d still need a healer of some sort, so Kyle would be good for us.  And what warrior wouldn’t want their own personal smith?”

“Well a giant, and a weasel doesn’t seem too useful to me,” Heather complained.

“Well maybe not,” William admitted.  “But, if you’re going to take one of us, you have to take us all.  We’ve already said we’re going to establish a guild together.”

“We have?” Kyle asked confused.

“Yep! See, Kyle just confirmed it!”  

“I did?”

“Yep!  See, it’s official now,” William declared triumphantly.  “But, if y’all want, we might let you two join the guild with us.  We’d have to take a vote on it first though!”

“O, puhleeze!”  Heather snorted.

Sera giggled lightly.  “Well, since it seems Heather’s all for it, can us girls join your guild?”

“Sera!”  Heather exclaimed, and almost threw her fork in shock.  “I wasn’t asking to be in their guild!”

“Sure!”  William said all at once.  “It’s OK with me.  How about you guys?”

“I don’t care,” said Darryl slowly.  Jason looked big eyed and simply gave a thumbs up to indicate his vote.

“I guess it’s all up to you, Kyle,” William said while grinning hugely.

“Now wait a moment!”  Heather  tried to say something, but William just gave a loud “HUSH! Kyle’s voting!” warning to her, which made her sputter and blink furiously.

Kyle looked over at Sera, leaned down and stole one of the tater tots off her plate and ate it, before finally shrugging.  “It’s all good with me.  I don’t mind the idea of being in a guild with everyone.”

“Then it’s official!  Welcome to …”  William paused just a brief moment to think.  “To.. umm.. The Brotherhood of Friends!”

“That’s a stupid name!”  Heather exclaimed.  “Why be a brother, if you’re a friend?!”

“Cause that’s what we’d already chosen!” William lied.

“Well, you can’t be a Brotherhood now,” Heather argued.  “Not with girls in it!”

“Well, that’s true,” William admitted with a huge smirk on his face.  “Since you’ve officially said you were in it, we’ll just need to come up with a different name.  Everyone think of what you like and then we’ll vote on it again like we did last time when we all get together to play.

“When are we getting together to play?” He asked, uncertainly.  “And where?  Is there a gaming house that offers V-RIG servers that anyone knows of?”

“We can all play at my house,” Sera said excitedly.  “How about tomorrow, and you guys can sleepover at Kyle’s house, and Heather can stay at mine, and then we can play Sunday as well!”

“Sorry,” William slowly shook his head from side to side.  “That won’t work.  A normal V-RIG will only allow up to two people to access it at a time.  You’d have to have a server for more than that to log in on your device.”

“That’s OK.  Mine will handle six people easily,” Sera said confidently.

“But..” William started to say something, but Darryl leaned across Jason and punched him in the shoulder.  “Sure.  We’d love to come see your house,” he said for all of them.

“Then it’s a promise,” Sera said enthusiastically.  “We’ll see everyone tomorrow.  Feel free to stop by anytime.  Heather already knows the way, and Kyle can tell you guys how to get to his home easily enough.”

“But Sera!”  Heather started to say something but was interrupted as the bell went off signifying that lunch was over.  Whatever she was trying to complain over was lost in the din of everyone getting up and heading to empty their trays and leave all at once.