In just a few minutes after Mazin had asked if she was alright, Calonia was on her feet and looking more or less composed. She heard the players greeting Mike and smoothed her skirts before thinking of it. Why on earth was that becoming a habit?

Her voice was gentle, "Mike, is there anyway that you can contact the other administrators?" She shifted a little and waved absently to players that greeted them as a group. "I think, also, that we may want to try to keep ourselves from doing things that may obviously not be part of the game. I don't know how much attention we want to attract, or what type of attention that would get us." She tried to keep her voice low enough that only the two men could hear her.

((Digging the new look.))

Mike tried to access his menu and failed miserably. He shook his head, not realizing that Calonia wouldn't be able to see it. "I can't feel the headset or anything," he murmured.

"It's a good idea to keep ourselves controlled. Calonia's right... we could get in trouble with other people. Like we almost got in serious trouble with you, Mike." He blinked. "What is your real name, since you know ours?"

"Jasper Warren," said Michael.

"You really are a developer. You look a lot the same in real life."

Mike gave him a half-grin. "I am usually told that, but in reverse. We could be seen as anomalies now, and if we are seen as dangers, we may be attacked."

"And we bleed now, too," muttered Mazin. "Calonia demonstrated that last night."

((Aww, thank you. I was just thinking the same about your new look!))

Calonia gave a miserable nod and touched her nose unconsciously, "Yes, we can. We can also break bones." As soon as she realized what she was doing, she stopped. She also attempted to take on a position of standing that would be close to her avatar. "I suppose that I should also tell you. I'm as good as blind. Eyeless Sight is not working for me."

It took everything she could to keep herself from fidgeting with her skirts and shifting from one foot to another. "We will have to find a way of moving that does not involve someone literally holding my hand. Do you have any ideas?"

Michael looked at her in worry before realizing he'd have to put the armor back on to maintain appearances. "Does your avatar have a staff normally?" He grimaced at the idea of putting it on. "Not to mention, we could keep up a constant stream of chatter and one of us could guide while the other walks beside. However the issue would be that if I'm now comatose, too... Any administrator I try to contact may react like I did to you."

He turned to Mazin. "Help me put this on, would you?"

Mazin nodded in return. "Do you know how to use that sword in real life?"

"No," sighed Michael as he crouched down to help facilitate in his re-armoring. Luckily, there weren't many people on yet and there should be few as it was a school day. It didn't take long to buckle the straps into place and he grunted as he stood. "Good thing I've got the muscle to support this crap." He sighed. "Let's see about getting you a staff to help guide you, Calonia."

She nodded, "I do have a staff...somewhere. I must have dropped it when I collapsed." Her thoughts ran though where it could be and then she gasped. "I bet that's what I tripped over, Mazin. Do you remember where we woke at?"

Calonia took a could of hesitant steps forward, feeling the ground as carefully as she could while trying not to attract to much attention. "If it's still there. I only hope that it does not raise to many questions on it's own."

"Hopefully not, but you can pick up items... How long have you been playing?" asked Mike, interjecting his thought into the conversation as he rolled his shoulders underneath the plate. "Okay, next time I develop a game, no super heavy fantasy armor."

Mazin frowned himself. "Let's go look at least." He stood close to Calonia and while he was next to her as close as possible that the game would allow, no one would know that he was actually touching her and that she could feel it. It would just seem like he was just super close.

She smiled at him gratefully as they walked back in what she hoped was the direction they had come. The woman looked towards Mike as he asked how long they had played for. "I only just made this character a couple of nights ago. I'm a rather new player."

To Mazin, though, she spoke more softly. "I am sorry for my earlier reaction. This is just so much to take in." After a moments pause she added, "Thank you for checking on me though."

Mazin smiled slightly. "You're welcome... and I think we're going to have to find a place to go to sleep. At least, I need to. I'm tired. And still hungry," he commented, raising his voice on the part about food and shelter.

Mike heard and glanced over his armored shoulder. "We could go to an inn. Or some other place. I don't know what we're going to do about food, though."

"There is the market. They have some food carts over there, though we may have to go out into the wild to get food, too." Mazin frowned at that. He hadn't had a chance, yet, to fully explore his magic and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to access it without the command screens. Granted, it shouldn't be too hard as Calonia had employed healing magic a few times.

As though to drive Mazins point home, Calonia found herself unable to stifle a yawn, though she did her best to hide it from any passing players. Sleep, she definitely needed sleep. "We need to find a place that someone cannot just stumble on by happenstance if we are going to sleep."

She winced at the thought of gathering or hunting for the food. Not a one of them had nearly the strength that their characters did. At least not from what she had noticed. Casting spells was awkward at best, and she was not certain she could ever get Eyeless sight to work properly. "I think there are things that we should figure out before we venture into the wild."

Michael had, by that point, guided them to an inn. He opened the door, knowing it looked only slightly odd as usually the player would reach out and touch it to swing it open.

Once open, he entered it and Mazin maneuvered himself behind Calonia to keep her going the right direction and bring up the rear. Michael looked at the barkeeper, the 'owner' of the inn, and considered the situation. He looked around and noticed only one other person in the room and that person happened to be leaving.

The door shut with a squeaking sound and Michael smiled. "Perfect. Let's go upstairs. We can hide here today, figure some of this out." The barkeeper did not move as Michael stepped over the cord that blocked the way to the upper floors. The upper floors could only be accessed by buying a room, but this was further proof they were outside the rules. Healing points were quicker to deal with. The inns weren't as commonly used after they added the healing points even though they were far cheaper. After all, the points took no time to leave. The inn put you out of commission for anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour. No one wanted to deal with that.

So that meant free reign of the upper floor. He went up the stairs, leaving Mazin to help Calonia maneuver her way around, to scope the upper floors. He chose a room facing the street and marveled at the fact that he could see through the panes of glass to the street below. Before, it was a static image painted on the wall and there were usually no people in it. Michael had to admit... this was fascinating.

Down below, Calonia's side was abandoned briefly in the search for food. Everything on the inn's shelves were suddenly real and Mazin grabbed a sack to stuff a decent amount in. A couple of loaves of bread (carefully placed on top), a large chunk of roasted meat from the fire, half a round of cheese, and a half dozen apples were accosted as were a couple of small kegs he had no idea actually contained ale. For good measure, he popped a few wooden cups into the bag as well. "Food!" he chirped cheerfully, not having stuck the meat in the sack but rather finding a large plate to carry some on. "Let's go upstairs now!"

Unfortunately, he realized upon lifting the bag, he was a touch overzealous with the food and that bag was heavy. Luckily, though, it wasn't too heavy and he was capable of balancing it and the plate of meat after a moment.

She waited patiently while he gathered the items, curious what he was up to. One more thing for her not to like about their situation. The woman does not like how much she had to rely on others. She had always been so independent. As mush as she wanted to twitch and pace, though, she made herself remain very still.

"I will make certain not to make another blind character, that is for sure. Assuming I can ever play a game again after this." Her voice was not loud, but it carried to Marzin when he came near her. Without waiting she took a small step towards him and touched his arm gently to make certain she could remain close.

"Yeah, really," he mused, keeping his load balanced. He escorted her up the stairs, glad that the individual steps were evenly spaced and easy to maneuver once the general height and depth were discovered. It was not the ideal situation for a blind person, but it was safer to be up and away from the common room.

Once they got to the landing on the second floor, Mazin saw Mike exit a room and gesture to them. "This one will work... unless Calonia wishes to have her own room for the sake of privacy." He looked at the bag and the plate of meat. "Hungry?" he asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah. And with the way we are right now, I could pick all this stuff up I wouldn't have been able to touch before." Mazin dropped the sack with a dull thunk to the floor once they had gotten inside the room. "Not to mention, I got enough for all of us."

She shook her head, "Normally, yes I would want my own room. I...don't think that I would do to well on my own though." Calonia shifted from one foot to another before she slowly felt her way around to room to get a feel where the furniture was. "I wonder if there is a way to lock the door. Just to ensure that players don't stumble in while we are asleep."

Only part of the conversation was being listened to as she concentrated on her task. Then she found a place to sit and plopped down in what was a surprisingly comfortable chair. "That is much better." She tilted her head back against the high back and visibly relaxed, "What food did you find?"

Mazin settled his spoils onto the floor and put the plate of meat onto the table. "We have meat, bread, cheese, and apples... and whatever's in these little kegs."

"You do realize that is alcohol in those kegs, right?" asked the creator, looking at the small oaken barrels with amusement. "I have a feeling you two aren't quite legal yet, and I have a strong suspicion that stuff will make us drunk if we drink it. I've never been a heavyweight."

"It's alcohol," Mazin said, looking at one with interest. He'd never had alcohol before and wondered what variety it was.

"You aren't allowed to have ale, mead, beer, or wine... whatever it is in this barrel," Mike said, taking the keg from Mazin. The teenager looked depressed and Mike wondered why he had chosen such a pretty boy appearance. Most tried to be more physically impressive than they really were, but usually more muscles were involved (Mike himself as a classic case).

He turned to Calonia. "Considering players aren't actually escorted up here and given a room, and usually this is a special place to get to after completing certain things, we shouldn't have much trouble keeping people out. We can jam a chair under the door and keep people at bay."

"That is quite a lot of food you brought, Mazin." Calonia smiled at him brightly. She was hungry, and really couldn't remember the last time she had eaten. "It's good that you did. We don't know how long we may be stuck in this inn room."

She frowned at the thought of drinking alcohol. She was a college student after all, she had experimented a bit and found that she did not like how beer or anything tastes. So she just didn't drink it. Of course, Mike took the choice away which was just as well.

"Of course, I should have thought of that." She raked her fingers through her hair and sighed. Then, when her stomach growled, she looked more then a little embarrassed, "Would...would one of you mind bringing something to me? I would rather not touch everyones food in an attempt to find something for myself."

"Uh, sure," agreed Mazin, still a bit sulky that he didn't have the chance to taste the contents of the barrel. "But what are we going to do about drinks?"

"There should be a well around the corner," Mike said, trying to remember the layout of the town he had designed. He had added so much to his little world over time it was difficult trying to remember what his initial designed towns contained and how they were put together.

Mazin nodded and picked up some stuff for Calonia to eat. "Here you are," he said. "I didn't bring any other plates. If you want me to, I could get you one."

She took the food from him and smiled greatfully, "Thank you, that is fine." She tried to determine what he had brought initially. One of the items felt like an apple, and the other some bread. She laid the bread in her lap before biting into the apple with a crunch.

After a few minutes she nodded, "I think that you are right, Mike. I do believe there is a well just behind the inn actually." She shifted on the bed slightly, getting more comfortable, "Where do you think we should go next, though? If other developers or administrators react to us as you did then...then we could end up..." Calonia shrugged. "I don't know what would have happened had you actually struck either of us."

Her shoulders sagged and she took another bite of the apple. Would it be possible for something that happened here to actually kill them? Her nose had been broken but did it have any physical effect or would death help them to escape the game?

Mazin layered bread, cheese, and meat together into a dry sandwich before biting into it. Mike thought about it. "Hm... you may be right," he considered. "Did you look at maps before logging in? Or before all of this happened?"

He sighed as he grabbed an apple and bit into it. The administrator marveled at the taste before swallowing. "Well, I'd be considered an anomaly myself, now. Therein lies the problem. How do we get information to them? What do we do to get them to realize we're still very much conscious... just within the confines of this place." He waved his hand around the room, apple firmly held in place in his palm.

Mazin swallowed his bite with some difficulty. "Do you think you've been discovered?"

"I don't think it. I know it. People pass by my office every day and I was there when I logged in. I'm sure it'll be a huge deal all over the walls and PMs of this world." Mazin gave him an odd look. "I'm not over-exaggerating, Mazin," he said sternly. "The admins will talk. The pixelists will talk. It will spread outwards and everyone will talk. Some will make connections with your cases and then you'll have your own fames going. Right now, you could be considered safe because you don't look like yourselves in real life. I do."

Mazin arched a brow. "Bad idea making your character look like you, huh?"

"Most items are completely customizable, within reason. Base designs don't change but colors do. I designed my character to look exactly like me, save some minor alterations. I wanted mine to be individual. And now it's going to cost me."

"But...wait. If they recognize you, wouldn't that be an asset to us? Rather then attacking what they believe are random hackers, they might actually assist you." She drew her eyebrows together, though they were half concealed by her blindfold.

She tilted her head and tapped her fingers against one knee as she took another bite from her apple. She looked to be deep in concentration as she tried to find a way through their problem. Given enough time Calonia probably could figure something out that could work. She did not know how much time they would have, though, in their state.

((Bleh, I dunno how much sense this posts makes. Sorry. Kinda on the sleepy side.))

((Sorry it's taken me so long to reply. I've been exhausted for the last few days.))

Mike considered it as he continued to eat his apple. "True. And I could use my actual name rather than just my screen name." He smiled at Calonia, despite the fact he knew she could not see it. "If we can convince them that we are actually aware within the game... well, that would mean we would have the chance to get out." 'It would also be bad for business,' he thought. 'If it became apparent that people could become stuck inside my game, my business would immediately plummet.' Despite his willingness and eagerness to leave his own manufactured world, Mike still thought like a businessman in the respect that he didn't want his financial world to implode. Hopefully, he could get himself and these two out... without losing everything.

((Crap post.))

"It's still a risk, I know. It's one that may have to be taken, though. Unless you have another idea of course." She took another bite out of her apple and wondered vaguely what Mazin really looked like, or Mike for that matter. She could not remember seeing him the the game before.

She sighed inwardly, the thoughts were only idle distractions to keep her mind from their dilemma. How were they suppose to leave the game? Even if they could convince another moderator that they were aware, and not some sort of bug in the game, how would they get out?

((Sorry it took so long!!! I was kinda tapped on ideas for a bit.))

"Not really," Mike said in response. "Do you have one, Mazin?"

"No, I don't. I mean, the last idea I had almost got Calonia and me sliced up." Mazin gave Mike a meaningful look even though Mike knew exactly who Mazin was 'alluding' to. The older man ignored the shot and nodded in a decisive manner.

"We'll try to contact another admin once we get rested up," he said with a tone of finality. "Perhaps one of the other administrators can help us get out of this mess... or at least diagnose the problem."

She finished off her apple and started tearing bits of the bread off to eat. "I suppose that is all we can do. So, do we sleep in shifts? Or do we all sleep at the same time and hope for the best?"

Calonia popped a piece of bread into her mouth and chewed on it. She wasn't certain she could eat all of the food Mazin had brought her, but she would eat what she thought she could.

((It's okay. ^^))

"I don't think we have to worry about shifts," Mike said thoughtfully.

"Why not?" It seemed Mazin only wanted to be argumentative at the moment and he personally didn't understand why. Usually, he was fairly laid back, but it was becoming fairly obvious that this was his way of dealing with the stress of the situation. Going and questioning everything that was happening wasn't like him.

Mike gave the younger man a slightly exasperated look. "Because it isn't a place where people commonly come due to the fact the access is limited. I thought I already explained this?" Mazin had the decency to blush and Mike quietly wondered at the ability. Avatars weren't supposed to be able to do that. At least, not without specific special item equips and then the blush was a permanent fixture.

All this shit really made his head hurt.

"Go to sleep, kids. I can at least stay up for a while as I was out for a long time earlier," he said to Calonia and Mazin. "It'd be better if you two got well rested anyway and I catch up after you guys felt better."

((Sorry it took so long. Been on a super cleaning spree that has left me exhausted.))

Calonia nodded and, before she fell over, stood to take the remainder of her food to the table. She had only eaten the apple and the bread. As she walked her feet would stretch out slowly to feel the floor before her before she took the step. It was apparent that she preferred not asking for help unless it was necessary.

When that was done she went back to the bed and laid down, "You will get no argument from me." She flashed the two a smile and to Mazin, "Rest well, or as well as this place is likely to let us." With that she curled on the bed, not bothering with the covers, and attempted to sleep. After a few minutes her breath came steadily enough that it was likely she had done just that.

In her motions to get comfortable her blindfold had slipped up, up slightly to reveal one of her eyes. It was sewn shut and horrible scarred. The way the lid rested over it, it looked as though the eye actually be missing.

((It's perfectly okay. I totally understand.))

Mazin, as he began to settle down himself, glanced over and started when he saw the eye. "What th...!" His startled exclamation was cut off by Mike's hand.

"Let her sleep. And you sleep, too," Mike whispered so low, it was almost like he mouthed it.

"But!"

"In the morning," Mike quietly snarled, backing away and settling down in his own chosen corner. It was his only coping technique at the moment, insuring the children were okay. However, that responsibility ceased the moment Calonia was asleep and Mazin stilled. Then, the lack of having the interaction made way for having his own personal anxiety attack. He fought to keep quiet as to not wake them, working to strangle the whines in the back of his throat. He was completely out of his element here.

Unknown to him, Mazin was also having his own variety of a panic attack before he suddenly stilled completely at a single thought. 'I don't have to be worried about a shitty life anymore, he thought. 'Why do I need to try and get out? It's better here.' With his own attack quelled, Mazin was forced to listen to the odd sounds coming from Mike's direction as he watched the moonlight accented darkness before his still wide open eyes. He wasn't sure how long it was, but he soon fell asleep listening to those strangled sounds.

((Thank you for understanding. And I had thought I already replied to this. -_-))

She tossed and turned more then a few times in her sleep. Her dreams took an unexpected turn and she felt trapped. As trapped as she was in The Game. Her mind returned to the moment they were trapped the pain that she felt before she collapsed.

Only a short time after she lay down the girl shot straight up in her bed. Had her eyes not been sewn shut they would have been wide opened. At first she did not realize where she was, but then the dreams proved themselves true when her memories rushed back in. The first thing she had on her mind was what they remembered, and if they felt that same pain.

Quietly, she ventured to talk. If they were asleep, she did not want to wake them, but she also felt a certain urgency in knowing the answer. "Are either of you still awake?"

Mike started slightly when Calonia started upright, bumping against the wall slightly as she spoke. "I am," he responded, hearing the odd tone in her voice. On the floor, Mazin slept on oblivious to what was going on around him. The older man lifted himself up and came over to the young woman on the bed. "What's wrong?"

((Sorry the post is so short. I'm on my phone.))

((It's okay hun. ^^))

She turned her head towards Mike's voice. "What do you remember...before you became trapped like us? The last thing you remember." Calonia did not explain further, not yet. She had to know what his answer was, to see if her suspicions were right. If they were, then perhaps that shared experience could bring them a step closer to finding out how they got trapped in the first place.

Mike thought about it, settling onto the bed next to her. "I remember pain," he said slowly. He shook his head and backpedaled slightly. "I was working at my office, running diagnostics as per usual and you two came up. Mazin touched me and that was when the pain came."

He paused in his thoughts once more as more memory came to him. "After that it's a blur, but I think I saw something for an instant. It looked like a face, but it wasn't one I recognized. It was static-y looking, like a badly tuned in television. I don't remember any of the details, but..." He shuddered slightly. "Something tells me that whatever it was wasn't something I designed."

((I am so sorry about this. I have been really sick the past couple of weeks. I've looked at the website, but I have had no energy to actually do anything.))

"A face? I..well I did not see anything like that." She chewed on her lower lip a bit before she spoke again. "I was just wondering if we all experienced the same thing and I distinctly remember pain."

Calonia fiddled with the fabric of her skirt some, still not quite able to believe that it felt so real. "I wonder what they are thinking, the doctors...our families? I wonder if they even expect us to wake up, and what our brain scans look like."

((It's okay. I don't mind. And I'm trying to give this story some focus and a goal to work to other than 'let's get out of the game'.))

"I do remember quite a bit of pain... perhaps since you were blind in the game before anything happened, you didn't see this... face... or perhaps I am just imagining it," Mike said as he thought. "I wonder as well... I'm certain that they are more than perplexed. We did sort of go comatose without warning..." He grimaced. "I really do not want to know what they've done to our bodies while we're not mentally present." Oh, was he ever grateful that he was not conscious to worry about having a catheter inserted. That was painful from what he understood.

She absently raked her fingers through her hair, "I don't think I want to know either. Of course I am sure they will tell us when...if we do ever wake up." The girl chewed on her lip for a moment before she continued, "Have there been any glitches in the game? Any odd anomalies in the programming recently?"

She was, after all, going to school for this sort of thing. Calonia wracked her brain trying to think of anything that could cause something like this to happen. Perhaps it was just how submersive the game itself was. If it was just her then she would think that it was just a hallucination of some sort. It could still be, but she didn't really think so.

"Nothing beyond the usual infrequent issues. Mostly gold granting problems and trade issues. The biggest issues are usually user based or the headset of the user is malfunctioning or incorrectly hooked up," Michael said absently, searching his memories. Something popped up randomly. "There was this one incident not too long ago. A glitch, I suppose, though it never came up again. Apparently during an event being held in this beginner's town turned slightly crazy when monsters appeared in town, but didn't attack anyone and no one could attack them. They were low level, though, and didn't do much more than wander through the town, freaking people out. We didn't hear about it until after they had vanished. They hadn't reappeared again, so..." He shrugged. "We're keeping an eye out and we checked the code, but there was no record of the monsters appearing in this town. If I hadn't have had several playbacks of diligent players recording their progress remotely, I wouldn't have believed it."

"I doubt that has anything to do with this, it is something that we should probably keep in mind though." She shrugs, "If something like that happens again then the result may not be the same for us because we aren't following the same rules anymore."

She leaned back against the headboard, still amazed by how real everything felt. Her head turned towards the breathing she could hear coming from Mazin. "I wonder if I could count this towards working experience if we figure out what happened? Assuming anyone believes us."

Mike listened to her words. "I certainly hope not. I don't want to be an 'expert' when it comes to getting trapped in video games," he said with a snort. The panic attack from earlier was soothed back in his mind. At least with interaction from Calonia, he didn't have to worry about falling prey to his own fears. He could distract himself. Granted, she should be sleeping, but he was feeling a bit selfish at the moment and he didn't really want her to try to go to sleep again, if only for a little while.

"I just hope we don't come across more glitches to my system. If what happened a couple weeks ago is an indication of system failure, then we're really screwed... and possibly others are as well." A sudden thought occurred to him. "What if, with me going out of it, they close down the game?" he blurted out in sudden horror. "Three people losing consciousness, people will probably want the game shut down until it's safe... What would that mean for us?"

She gasped audibly. Clearly she had not thought of this possibility. "I...I don't know. That would probably be bad news for us though." Calonia shook her head slowly, "That would likely be very bad for us. If we get trapped in the game while it's been shut off. I don't know that I want to think of that possibility."

Mike nodded and sighed before looking out the window. "Sunrise," he murmured, seeing the noticeable lightening of the sky. "And we're not going to be very good at operating today thanks to being up all night." He had not had any sleep and, as a result, his eyes felt gritty. But after those disturbing thoughts, he wasn't sure if he wanted to sleep and have nightmares come to him.