I had my sister with me. She was 3 years younger than me. We had a bit of a sibling rivalry when she was younger, but it was when I left for college that our relationship got really close. I ended up playing games with her during the weekends while I was away. It was not only a great way to keep in touch, but I was able to get back to the world Ether and the Future of Gaming. I was able to guide her the way Suzie used to guide me. We went on several quests together. She was more of a support than a front-line fighter. My character was a human paladin. Danielle was a way different Player from Suzie. Suzie was an elf rouge and a member of the thieves' guild. She made it her mission to stay in the shadows and do the randomly generated quests she found in Epic City. Danielle was a druid and liked to travel all over the map. It was not a rare occurrence where she would get stuck in a jail for getting into trouble during the week and stay for days. I would have to either bail or break her out on the weekend. She did not mind getting into the middle of wars or conflicts between NPCs.
Danielle was the one who found out about the event and scored the tickets. She had paid quite the hefty sum for them. I was not going to hear the end of it if I did not go with her. I met her at her house before we left together in my car. Since it was the real life party, there was a separate room prepared for the event. Players could go enter a game with a random setting. They had enough headsets for everyone in attendance and anyone at the party could head in for as long as they pleased. Danielle decided to go check it out from the very beginning. I wanted to actually eat and drink a bit first. There was nothing stopping me from going in and playing a bit. Everyone was cordial and nice to me, but it was just due to the nostalgia of the game. "Where were you when this happened?" and "What was the highest level you achieved?" and "What was your favorite seed world?" were the questions that were invariably asked. I was keen to join in discussions at the beginning of the party. I excused myself from the group I was in and went to the game room for a session. I was the last chance.
An attendant gave me a headset and ushered me to a cushy Italian leather seat. I put the headset on my face and settled down with a deep breath before sitting upright again. I looked around the room for my sister. I saw her there with her headset on. Danielle was in a chair like mine. She certainly looked like she was having a good time. The attendant came over and asked if I was doing okay. "Do you need something, sir?" she asked with a kind smile on her face. It was clear this was not her first time at a party with several guests. I shook my head and said "Nothing. I'm fine thank you." she just nodded at me and looked at me expectantly. I was able to lean back on the expensive leather and relax. I pulled the headset over my face and put turned it on. Apparently, all the headsets were set for a different subworld with its own setting. You were to make a new character and all of the games DLC was unlocked and able to be used. I wondered what world Danielle was going to be put in. It would have been cool to join. Wherever she was, she was going to bring havoc to that world.
