Gamer Beware (Candira and Jugger)

(Sorry for the late reply. Work has been hell.)

Nathan soon bought the two of them an inn for one. He was then brought to their room, and opened the door for her...and they looked around. It was...cozy. The bed was single, so they'd have to sleep next to one another when they'd sleep. The flooring was all wood and the moonlight could be seen in the window. "Its not that bad of a room. Twenty-four hours to keep this place for ourselves before we have another three hours to get our stuff? Not that bad."
 
(No worries)

Natalya looked around. It wasn't big, but it didn't feel small, either. The bed looked soft and warm and big enough for the two of them to share. It would be okay. Moonlight shone in through their window, and it was a little comforting somehow. "It's actually a really nice deal, if you think about it. It's not very big, but I'm okay with that." She looked around the room--simple furnishings filled most of the space and some of the pictures on the wall were real works of art from their own world. Nice touch, she thought.

"So we had food, and now we have a place to stay. Enemies get stronger at night, and I'm exhausted anyway. Should we turn in?" she asked, looking back at him.
 
(Sorry for the wait. Its been a long day.)

"Its best if we turn in...I don't know how many of the other players will get to this town first but I do know that not all of them will get here over night. We'll still have time to farm experience and get items. Lets just wake early in the morning so we can get a head start on this." He replied and looked at the bed. He smiled and let his armor unequip, leaving him in simple clothes as he laid down on the single bed. He padded the area beside him, motioning for her to come lay. "Unless you prefer I sleep on the floor, which I don't mind. But I do recall you saying you'd like for me to lay with you in bed tonight."
 
(That's alright. ^^ I hope your day gets better.)

Natalya nodded and took her armor off as well, leaving her clad in simple peasant attire--a little cloth dress that hung nicely on her. "Sure, that sounds like a good idea," she said, yawning. When he patted the bed she chuckled and slid into bed next to him. "No, stay here," she said, pulling him close to her. "Please stay with me, Nathan." She blushed softly and cuddled into him. Her eyes looked up at him, as if she were truly worried he might not.
 
"Okay okay..." He replied gently as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. He smiled as he took a deep breath and slowly breathed out and relaxed with her in his arms. "Natalya...Its going to be okay...alright? I'll help protect you." He promised. He rubbed her back gently and slowly fell asleep with her in his arms...the night would be cool, but they would be warm in each other's arms. It was almost as if they were in the real world...everything felt so real, including any pain they might suffer. He needed to be careful if he wanted to keep Natalya alive, as well as himself.
 
The redhead relaxed as he reassured her that he would protect her. He would stay with her. The smile helped her realize that she might have overreacted a little just now. But it was easy to get worked out when you felt your very life was at stake. As it turned out, both of their lives were. She held him close, glad for his comforting presence as she fell asleep as well. As terrified as she'd been before, she got some peace of mind knowing that he would stay with her.

Everything that had happened slowly caught up to her and dragged her into a deep sleep. No dreams at all. In the real world, however, her body had been discovered and paramedics had been called. She was currently being hooked up to an IV while technicians tried to think of a way to transfer her to the hospital where she could receive more care without disconnecting her and frying her brain.
 
When morning came about, Nathan awoke with a simple opening of the eyes. He did not yawn. He did not feel entirely tired. He felt fatigued, yes, but he was in that state of mind where there was no exhaustion or early-morning high. He turned and looked to Natalya, and smiled as he saw he was holding her in his sleep. "Natalya...wake up...or I'll wake you up." He said teasingly, one hand going down to massage her breast teasingly. "Come on. Its morning and we have to farm experience before other players get over here."
 
Natalya was fast asleep when Nathan woke up. She was a little bit of a heavy sleeper, so his voice didn't really wake her right away. The hand she felt on her breast, however, did. She woke up with a groan, blushing as she realized his hand was definitely there--she was not dreaming. Her heart rate jacked up and she practically shot out of bed, her face deep red. She hugged herself a little, not really sure what else to do. "Wh-what did you think you were doing?" she asked, a little angry with him for taking advantage, even if he was only teasing.

She knew she wouldn't stay mad, but she wanted to make sure he understood that she was simply outraged and shocked. And then for a moment, she dropped to the floor, her eyes blank.

In the real world, they'd found a way to move her to a hospital without disconnecting her from the game. Unfortunately, they couldn't override the rest of the system. It would be a good half hour before she moved again in the game world, her fingers twitching first before she finally came back into being. It had been terrifying--she hadn't been able to move, but she was still somewhat aware of the world within the game. She could only imagine how scary it might have been for Nathan.
 
(It's fine. She didn't die. They did a quick little blurb in the anime about how people were temporarily down so they could be hospitalized for however long it would take. *nods* They didn't go into detail, but I imagine this is what it was like. She isn't dead, she was just stunned and going between the two realities a little).
 
(I don't recall this in the anime unless they did it after episode 8...which doesn't make since cause by that time, I believe 2 years had gone by since everyone's imprisonment. Ah well.)

"Nat...? Nat...?!" Nathan was...frightened! He rushed over and knelt beside Natalya and cradled her body in his arms. "Nat! Nat wake up!" He was afraid that someone tried to pry her out of the controller helmet and killed her. "Nat wake up! Don't...Don't you fucking die!" He was scared. She was the only person he could trust and rely on in this world. If she died, he might not be able to go on. "Wake up! Come on! We're going to get out of here! We'll beat this game and we'll all wake up in the real world, safe and sound! Don't...Don't tell me they fucking unplugged you!? Wake up Nat!"
 
(It's addressed way later in the anime and it's kind of annoying that they do it at all.)

When she came back to her senses in the world of the game, it was to Nathan's frantic shaking and yelling. With a gasp, she grabbed onto him and fought for air, as if she'd had trouble breathing. She trembled a little in fear, wondering what the hell had happened. She looked up at his face, finally managing to get his name out. "Nathan," she whimpered, pulling him close to her. It had been an awful experience for her, but she imagined it was probably terrifying for him as well.

"I don't know...I'm not sure what happened," she said softly. "It was like I was here, but I wasn't here. I couldn't move and I..." she shook her head and then buried her face in his shoulder.
 
He cradled her against him, relieved to have her safe and sound and in his arms, alive rather than dead. "Its okay...Don't worry Natalya..." He held her closer and watched as she buried her face in his shoulder. It must have been scary. She blacked out in the game suddenly. He thought...they thought she was dead. He was just relieved to see that she was okay. "Natalya...Are you alright now...?" Nathan asked, curious to know if the whole ordeal was painful at all. Something must have happened to her in real life...he didn't know if she would have brain damage or suffer any actual pain from what just happened.
 
Natalya trembled as he cradled her in his arms. She forced herself to calm down, breathing deep. She kept her head buried in her shoulder. "I don't know. I think so. I can move again, so that's good, right?" After a long moment, she looked up at him and blinked the tears from her eyes. "I'm really here, right? I didn't disappear?" She took a deep breath and wiped her face before she tried opening her menus. Everything seemed to work just fine. Sighing in relief, she let herself relax a little, but her heart was still racing. "I think I'm okay..."
 
"No...You didn't disappear, babe." He said with a smile and patted her head gently. "I'm just glad you didn't die on me...I would have been lost without you at my side. We're in this together, Natalya." He smiled gently to her and held her for a bit longer as he watched her go through her menus. "You're here. I can feel you in my arms and I know I haven't gone crazy within seconds...so thats a good thing. Do you think you'd be able to focus enough to go out and farm experience?"
 
The redhead smiled at him when he said they were in this together. It was nice to be reassured that someone had her back and would actually miss her if she died. "I'm glad. I wouldn't know what to do with myself if something happened to you, either." She smiled and took a deep breath, forcing the shaking in her body to stop. The adrenaline seemed to curb itself for a bit, so that was good. It felt nice to be right here in his arms, but they had things to do. "I think so. I know I'd be better off doing something than sitting in here and dwelling on what just happened." She hugged him again and then let go, waiting for him to do the same.
 
He nodded to her with a smile. "Of course...yeah." He said with a smile. Nathan helped her up and stood her to her feet. "Okay...Okay good...You can stand." He said teasingly. "Here...Eat this." He said as he pulled a sandwich out of his inventory. It was shop-made so it wasn't anything special but at least it was food. "I'll be fine. I've got more in my inventory but you should eat something, lest you pass out again. It would be horrible if you suddenly passed out during a fight. When you're done eating, we can head out to see what lies on the outside of town."
 
Natalya smiled back at him. He was the best friend she could have asked to have with her here. He'd stayed close to her when she needed him, shared resources, kept her calm, and now after what had happened to her, he was a rock. Gratefully, she accepted his help standing up and was surprised when he gave her the sandwich. She took the offering and smiled. "Thanks, Nathan. I really think this will help me." She grinned and ate the sandwich as he listened to the plan. With a nod she finished it up feeling much better now. "Let's stay close to the town," she said, holding her hand out for him to take. "If we need to move further out, we can do that after we level a bit more."
 
He grinned and took her hand in his own. "Then lets stay close to the wall. That way if we need to run, the town gates will be right there and we can be in the safety of a town. We can't die in town so we'll be safe if we babysit the area." He smiled and patted her head. After re-equipping his gear, he walked out of the inn and waited outside for her. There were Mandragoras and Large Rodents outside of town mostly, and the occasional rare mini-monster of a Goblin Warrior that usually dropped good loot for their level. "Natalya, you ready yet?" He called out.
 
Equipped in her armor, Natalya walked came out of the inn and smiled at Nathan. "You bet." She smiled bravely and drew her rapier, walking into the field with him. The enemies were plentiful and it looked like they would be getting a good amount of experience here. "Let's do it." She glanced at him and then headed into battle with a nearby Large Rodent. It took some work and dodging skills, but she dropped it--gracefully at that. Panting she grinned and turned to look at Nathan for a moment.

"You know what? I feel so much better after that." She laughed and then decided to let him take one on while she took supporting status.
 
"Wow...You looked beautiful out there." He complimented as he bowed down gracefully before her. He equiped his sword now, and grinned. "Now let me show you what a savage can do." He said boomingly and rushed toward a Large Rat, swinging his sword hard and taking the rat out with one fell swing. She would see that he used a Power Strike skill, and used up some of his mana in the process of using the spell. "Heh. How do you like that, huh?"
 
She blushed at his compliment, still smiling. "Thank you," she said with a chuckle. The bowing was too much. She watched as he took out another rat and smiled. "Color me impressed. It was very manly," she teased, trying to sound serious even as she grinned. They took turns like that, farming experience and leveling up once, then twice, and then even more as the day wore on.
 
Eventually they had cut their way across the fields and were quite a bit away from the town gates. He wiped some sweat off of his brow. "All of these rats...we haven't even found the Goblin thing yet...Well...we've leveled up twice or three times...should we risk going out just a bit further to see if we can get any better loot or even better exp-farming creatures?"
 
They'd managed to work their way pretty far out from town. They could still see it in the distance, and if they needed to go back quickly they could always use their crystals. Despite the traumatic event from earlier, Natalya hadn't really considered how long they'd been at it. Every time Nathan won a battle he seemed to grow more and more confident. Something about his strength--computer generated or not--and that confidence was just so sexy. She had a hard time not being attracted to him, but the redhead managed to keep it in check as she watched his back in battle.

As they took turns, she noticed that they kept up that theme--beauty and savagery. She imagined it would be an exciting thing to watch them both in action. It certainly got her blood flowing. When they finally came to a stop, he asked if she wanted to go further out or not. The fact that they hadn't run into a goblin told her that they were either rare creatures, or every creature here had its own habitat.

"Hmmm...well, our supplies are holding up pretty nicely. Let's go a little further out for a bit and then head back to town to rest for awhile? We can always come back out here later to look for one." She smiled and straightened up a bit, retying the ribbon keeping her hair back.
 
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