Name of Character in The World: Skychild

Name of Real World Player: Natalie McLachlan

Class: Twin Blade

Age: 17 years old

Height: 5'7”

Appearance: Skychild stands at about five feet, seven inches tall with her long mahogany hair framing a sweet, delicately structured face. She's chosen to keep her character's pale lavender eyes in a perpetually “closed” state, leaving people to wonder just what color they are. With her fair, but naturally rosy complexion, Skychild looks no different than any other individual who's put effort into making his or her character appealing. Dressed in a rather Celtic looking gold trimmed blue-green off the shoulder tunic dress, the young woman's slender form is hinted at with a braided brown and gold leather belt slung over one hip. With a pair of brown leggings beneath the dress stopping at the start of her shins, her outfit is completed by the pair of strappy brown bohemian sandals.

Personality: Child-like in curiosity with a distinctly out of left field sense of wisdom and maturity about her, Skychild treats “The World” the same as she does anything or anyone else she finds interesting; stays quiet unless required to say something. In a rather eccentric fashion, she refuses to use the voice software that so many users of “The World” are fond of. Rather than speak, she uses a regular old keyboard or just merely gestures to what she needs or wants out of someone. Her personality from outside the game shows itself in the form of her simple and practical strategy in battle and in dealing with other players, never really gaining any close “friendships”, but doing a good enough job at observing to know how to appeal to what people may want.

Weapon/Armor:

Weapon: Steel Blade (Tiger Claws)

Head: Bandana (Repth)
Arm: Wristbands (Juk Rom)
Body: Leather Coat (Gan Zot)
Feet: Sandals

Sample:

Grey clouds obscured the valley below the large cabin as rain steady beat a pattern on the rooftop and the gravel outside. The living room was enormous, easily able to fit a family of twenty with little to no trouble and currently held ten children of varying ages. One in particular sat against the windowsill with her legs drawn up to her chest, chin resting on her knees as she stared out into the spring weather.

“Natalie, won't you come over here and listen to the story with the others?” One of the aides asked patiently as she sat down next to the girl, waiting for her response. For a moment, eyes the color of the pine trees in the mist outside flickered away from the window and stared at the older woman, almost as if surprised she existed before they returned to whatever they'd found outside.

After a moment of uncomfortable silence when the aide hadn't returned to the others, Natalie leaned forward and breathed against the window a few times, fogging up her view before writing a reply. It's okay. I can hear it from here just fine. Thank you for asking. Disappointment struggled to hide behind the woman's- she thought her name might be Miranda- face at the lack of both verbal reply and from the response itself. “Alright, but we'd really appreciate you coming over and listening with the rest of the group. If you change your mind, you can sit by me, okay?”

She closed her eyes in response and leaned her head against the cold window, listening to the soft sigh and the rustle of fabric as the staff member of the house went back to report her behavior to one of the therapists that lived there. They'll say I'm being difficult again. Natalie thought with an inward sigh of her own. And, to an extent, they weren't wrong about that... but neither were they completely right.

There'd been no word from her parents in the four years she'd lived here.

In a way, she supposed she could rationalize it as being intentionally difficult so that they'd bring her parents here, in hopes that she'd respond to their presence. But after the holidays, the birthdays and other such celebratory times that had passed by without so much as a phone call or organized visit... Natalie was fairly sure she'd been abandoned into the state's care and that they just weren't telling her.

At some point, she'd stopped trying to “get better” and had finally made the decision to just stop talking all together. Her therapist didn't buy it in the least and refused to accept silence or the written responses as an answer. But nothing he'd said or done had been able to force her to speak outside of their private sessions.

“Natalie?” I knew it. Here comes the lecture. She opened her eyes and watched the middle aged man kneel next to her. He was a kind looking person with thin metal glasses and rather unruly dark brown hair. His eyes matched the blueberries they'd get in the summertime months for dessert and there were laugh lines around his eyes and mouth as he established eye contact with her. “Why don't you come with me? There's something I want to show you.”

She let her legs straighten out, the socks on her feet making an odd whispering sound against the hardwood floor as she trailed silently after her doctor. The computer lab...? Her expression must have reflected her thoughts from the way Dr. Greenwood smiled at her and took a seat at one of the two lit terminals.

“Have you ever heard of 'The World', Natalie?” Dr. Greenwood inquired, raising an eyebrow at her as she quietly slipped into the chair beside him. She shook her head, frowning after a moment and pushing away a strand of ash brown hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear for the time being. At the patient look he gave her, Natalie sighed audibly and passed a hand over her face in frustration.

“No, sir.” She answered, properly this time and with little emotion within her voice. “As I thought,” He replied with a shrug, reaching over and deactivating the screen saver on his computer, knowing she would mimic him and do the same unless he said otherwise. “It's a popular game right now, has been for years. Some of my fellow therapists claim that their clients have improved drastically by playing.”

Natalie eyed him skeptically. She'd never heard of such a ridiculous 'cure' before. A video game that helped people fix themselves and their problems? Impossible, it just didn't fit within the lines of reason or rationality. “Don't give me such a look, I'm not saying I believe them one hundred percent,” Dr. Greenwood admonished gently, watching the screen load with a contemplative expression on his face before continuing. “I would, however and with your consent, would like to experiment with it in our therapy sessions.”

The screen in front of her loaded, a three dimensional form shrouded in shadow stood in front of her with a box asking her which gender she was. He was already making his own character, Natalie noticed with a frown and looked back at her own screen. “What do I do?” She asked finally, knowing he'd take it as she intended it to be and awaited his response.

A smile was on the man's face, one she couldn't quite figure out the intentions or origins of as he raised an eyebrow and looked away from his screen. “Make your character, Natalie. Make it the way you want them to look; I'm not going to tell you what to do this time. Call it whatever you'd like and have fun with the design.”

Fun? She was supposed to have fun doing something this... unimportant and pointless? Disheartened and unenthusiastic, she selected her character's gender- might as well make it a female like herself- and found her interest in the silly thing piqued as a rather large list of customization options sprung up one after another.

After two and a half hours of going into detail on her character's appearance, Natalie found herself unable to choose a name for the girl who looked like she was sleeping on the screen. Tapping her foot in a rare display of impatience, she found herself remembering her own reflection in the window. A girl with wavy brown hair who stared at the sky as if searching for someone. That seems appropriate for her, even if her eyes are closed.

Username: Skychild
Password: ***********

Natalie hit the 'send' key, waiting for it to tell her it was unacceptable or that she had erred in some way, shape or form before looking rather startled and surprised at the message that popped up next.

Username and Password accepted. Welcome to The World, Skychild!

Been here too long to even bother with the "format", eh?

Move along now.