Resting on the roof of her makeshift shelter Nadia Arundel absently gazed at the sky as the stars began to shine. It had been another uneventful day in the wilderness, far removed from any civilized part of the world. She smiled warmly and laid back against the tree her shelter was built on when a ringing noise began to sound while alerting the nearby wildlife. Nadia quickly jumped off the roof and entered the shelter picking up her backpack while shuffling through it. She pulled out a large satellite phone then answered it. "Hello"

  "Nadia, how have you been?"

  Recognizing her voice Nadia replied "Same as always Mrs.Williams, how have things been over there?"

  "Fantastic actually, Sam and I had a great idea that I wanted to run by you."

  Thinking back on how Samuel and Jessica's "Great Ideas" usually involved settling back down into a city somewhere Nadia replied skeptically "I'm listening"

  "Well there's this VRMMORPG coming out in a few weeks called Royal Road, mind you when I first saw the advertisement I had no idea what a VRMMO is but the words on it made me think of you. It said come explore and adventure in a whole new world..."

  "Explore a new world? What exactly is a VRMMO?"

  "Its a Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, from what I understand of it you enter a machine and from there you can explore a world that boasts 99% realism. You'd be able to enjoy this new world without us constantly being worried about your well being..."

  "I... that sounds nice but... where would I stay, and what would I do? I don't really have any means to be self sufficient in a city and..."

  Hearing Nadia begin to come up with reasons why she shouldn't come back Jessica interrupted her "Nadia! Dear... you'll always have a place in our home and if you feel the need to work you can help in the cafe with me or work with Samuel at the gym."

  "Thank you Mrs.Williams but..."

  "Nadia!"

  Flinching from being yelled at again Nadia answered back timidly "Yes?..."

  "How many times do I have to tell you to call me Jessie before you stop calling me that?"

  "I'm sorry, Jessie"

  "Now then you're coming home right?"

  '...yes, I suppose I will. If anything it's been a few years and I have missed the both of you."

  At that Jessie was absolutely beaming with delight "About how long will it take you to make it to the city?"

  "Two... maybe three weeks depending on the weather"

  Jessie frowned "I can't believe you're so far out Nadia, that's dangerous..."

  "I'm not that far out I just moved to another state last year..."

  Jessie sighed then said "You really should tell us these things dear. If we can't contact you we'd end up looking for you in the wrong forest or mountain for the rest of our lives."

  "I'm sorry..."

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  "Well I'm not too mad at you, just get home soon we have missed you a great deal as well Nadia"

  "I'll be on my way at sunrise I love you Jessie, give Sam my love as well. See you soon, Goodbye."

  "Love you dear, Goodbye and be safe."

  After hanging up Nadia walked back out of her shelter and stared at the stars once more... "Virtual reality huh?" shrugging she said "Why not?"

  As Jessie walked out of the den back into the living room Sam said "Well?"

  "Shes coming home but I'm not sure if she'll play the game..."

  Sam smiled "We'll see about that, I'm sure that as long as it's half as good as the creators are claiming it is that she'll take an interest in it."

  "I really hope she does... this could be our last chance to get her back into the real world rather than living like a homeless vagabond. She needs to trust more people than just us..."

  "Can you really blame the girl?" Sam said as his eyes saddened.

  "No, but its still no way to live going from one wilderness to the next... alone like that. Humans are social creatures we need company to really live."

  "Give her time love, and lets hope that being near us and with others in this "new world" helps heal some of those wounds."

  Fifteen days later Nadia stepped off the bus and walked toward a rather tall middle aged couple. The man was easily six feet tall with broad shoulders and light brown short hair, while the woman nearly as tall as the man was more slender with a rather homely appearance and long blonde hair kept in a ponytail. The woman began to dash toward Nadia then stopped just short put her arms around the shorter 5"2 Nadia and began to spin her in circles with a huge grin plastered across her face. "I'm happy to see you as well Jessie" Nadia cried out short of breath.

  "Nadia... you need a bath dear.. and a barber... and a tailor..." Jessie said with obvious annoyance in her voice. "You really do need to take better care of yourself dear."

  "I'll certainly try from now on, hahaaha" Nadia chuckled ruefully "Mr.Williams you look well"

  Walking up Samuel said "That's Sam to you Nadia, I'd rather not feel any older that I already am thank you very much."

  Nadia smiled brightly "Sam!" she said while hugging him.

  After the greetings were over Jessie said "Let's go home now and get you settled in, there still a few more days before the capsule arrives so you can get cleaned up and I can show you the ropes in the cafe."

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  Welcome everybody! I'm looking forward to this but please be patient because before I start writing more I plan to research a bit more about skills and whatnot in Royal Road~~~ also I may take some liberties with skill descriptions, locations, and other stuff.

  :hi: