<div class="floatright">(http://i610.photobucket.com/albums/tt183/GhostwheelX/Misc/A06bw400b.jpg)</div>The last neural connections fell into place, and Eli felt her consciousness lifted, trascended, changed. Slowly, as though almost not believing what was happening, she opened her eyes. Yes, she was home. It was almost exactly like she remembered it, the scent of the city in her nose, alive with the fragrances of hawked wares, the sight of multicolored scarves that adorned some of the walkways, the sound of bustling feet and cries of the merchants competing for the attention of the newly-joined players. And even she was changed. No more was she Eli, cooped up in a tiny apartment. No, here she was Ren, and she was ready to take on the world.<br/><br/>She felt the guisarme on her back, the shield propped on one side and a longsword nestled in a sheathe at her flank where her belt looped around her modest hips. She flexed a hand, locked within the steel prison of her gauntlet and was glad of the weight that accompanied it. The chainmail skirt with which she had entered the game was another reminder that there was so much out there in the world, and she was determined to find something a little less form-fitting and a little more oriented to protection when she garned the money and had the chance to do so.<br/><br/>Raising her head, Ren began to look around, examining the other players who had joined the game. Most looked confused and disoriented, the Nerve Gear system requiring some time to get used to, but here and there she thought she saw others who were settling back into the swing of things now that they were once more within the game.<br/><br/>During the beta test she had rarely partied with others, and hadn't met many people who she could now call "friends"--more acquaintances, really, but she had made more than her fair share of enemies. She resolved to be careful, and to get through the tutorial quickly and reach a point where she was powerful enough to force her will on the miscreants foolish enough to test her, or bring chaos and instability to the world. She began to move quickly towards where she remembered the first quest-giver to be, a baker if she remembered right. The first quest was supposed to be a homage to a game she had never played and had barely heard anything about, but if it amused the designers to add it in... then why not, she supposed.