Another Writing Exercise

To this day, I have no idea how to court a woman. Do they even call it courting anymore? I went to a bar once, with a group of friends. They suggested I go talk to this girl, because her eyes sparkled like blue fire gems. I didn't want to, but I figured this would be something I'd need to learn, so eventually I let them drag me over.

Her name was Kimmy, and she worked as a teller at a bank. She had a cat, which gave her a lot of cat-related tales to relate. I nodded politely, joked a little bit, and then walked away. It wasn't unpleasant, and I did get to know Kimmy better, but it's not like she was ever going to be the one. She didn't know anything about computers, even though she used one daily, and jokes I made went completely over her head. She believed that that the monitor and the computer were exactly the same.

This is making me sound like a snob, isn't it? I should start again.

There was a girl named Manadepessive, and she was the first girl I ever really loved. She was a Mage (obviously), and we met on the plains of Rindole, a mid-level region on the continent of Gonnora. She was a human, exotic in the elven rich zone, and she was everything I could have wanted. She was smart, easily smarter than me. She was clever, and let none of my jests by without an equally witty rejoinder. We joined a guild together, named the Conquerors of the Ancient Road, and soon after both of us became officers.

Now obviously, Manadepressive wasn't real. Which is to say, that her name wasn't Manadepressive, but was actually Tanya. Likewise, my named wasn't Jimixia, but that's just how we met. It was possible, and even likely, that Manadepressive was actually a guy, but my suspicions were eased during a raid on some mid-level dungeon, when our guild leader set up a voice chat. Tanya had a beautiful voice, and her laugh (when I could make her laugh) was rich and full. I would have gladly done anything to hear that laugh again and again.

I had started playing Majestic Realms because I was bored. Soon, I was playing it for the sake of her. We spent many hours raiding, pushing deep into computer-generated, monster filled tunnels, questing after some misplaced armor, or the king's crown, or whatever the gimmick was. The story was less important than the journey, the quest deeper and deeper into that forbidden zone. The journey soon became important because of the time I spent, chatting with ManaDepressive and using my rogue to scout out the next big trap, the next challenge. Mana, in turn, was almost giddy when she made the bad-guys burn. We made a good team, especially when working with other guild members.

And better, I learned more about Tanya, the girl behind the mage. Tanya was about my age, and lived almost within driving distance. That would've been awesome, had I a car. She was in advanced studies in her school, and was essentially getting a chance to pick her college. She had a sister, Stacey, who was not into games, and her parents were divorced.

Her favorite movie was The Empire Strikes Back, though she later confessed to hating all of Star Wars, on account of Lucas selling out. After that, she proclaimed her new favorite movie to be 2001. She had a Super Nintendo, which she had inherited from an uncle, and she played it nearly every night. Her favorite book was Foundation, and she had read everything Asimov had written, including the non-fiction.

We talked and disagreed about the works of Phillip K. Dick, Poul Anderson, Orson Scott Card, and others. It was beautiful, geeky, and fun.

And then one day her dad's credit card expired, and she never logged on again.