RuneScape Forum Archive | ~~English's Forgotten Tales~~

Englishkid62

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At lunchtime Alex had given up watching other kids, instead he played a classical tune on a guitar in a music practice room. The lights were off, however – theoretically nobody would know, or care where such beautiful music had come from. When Kipplin played the guitar every note, every beat, and every bar was tinged with the bitterest of emotions – it was despairingly romantic. Alex liked playing on the guitar; it wasn’t unlike talking to himself about how tragic his life had been, to live in a world where nobody would show a tiny bit of compassion, let alone love.

He froze. He knew not what to do. He almost dropped the guitar in his hands when David came into the room, strangely, alone.

“What?” he asked himself, and when David immediately switched the lights on Alex was in a complete panic, terrified by the person he knew so well (many times an hour Alex studied his face) standing in front of him – who looked a little more than puzzled. At first Alex couldn’t even look him in the eyes – the room was now filled with embarrassment and all the uneasiness in the world because neither of them had spoken. It was a minute before Alex finally decided to speak:

“Hi,” he said, rather feebly.

Moments later, Alex was comfortable again. David’s eyes had inspired enough trust and reassurance to dissolve his bitter view of life into nothingness. His heart was still pounding loud, although his fear no longer existed – for once they had a proper conversation. They got to know each other. No one ever had a proper conversation with Alex until now.

12-Feb-2011 16:47:29 - Last edited on 26-Mar-2011 09:53:16 by Englishkid62

Englishkid62

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Then it all became clear to me that night. Kipplin loved David – when he encouraged him in the most poignant part of his childhood, and when he showed Kipplin promises of acceptance and compassion that this world could bring. Kipplin told me a million things in which David showed him his purpose in life – to love – and more than that, he showed him how and why love was worth living for. When Kipplin was with David he was the happiest person on earth, his passionate eyes of love had never left David since the day of his salvation. David was all Kipplin ever cared about – his love was all Kipplin would ever need.

When Kipplin started playing RuneScape, David was the only person he wanted to see online. He told me how he had to sneak on RuneScape behind his parents’ back because they would never allow it (they would never allow any online games) – he risked everything just to see David, to be with David. To Kipplin, David was his own life and his very own self. To Kipplin, talking to David alone was worth all the risks he could’ve taken in a millennium. David was good on RuneScape, because he could go on it whenever he wanted. He never had to sneak behind his parents or to take immeasurable risks. Since Kipplin spent less time on RuneScape they were quickly divided by their experience, level differences and the obvious seniority of David.

“Noob,” David said in disgust after a while. Kipplin’s ignorance was eventually intolerable. The word ‘Noob’ had ripped a large, fatal scar in Kipplin’s heart. He tried to forget what was being said again and again, but the wound would not heal – until he reached a point where only David could stop his weeping in the evenings. He often asked himself this: “Why doesn’t David talk to me…?” He would sit on his bed, all night, all week, miserable, cramped up in a ball while repeatedly asking himself what crime he had committed, what error he made.

12-Feb-2011 16:47:29 - Last edited on 26-Mar-2011 09:54:10 by Englishkid62

Englishkid62

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Then he figured out what it was, one day. If only he was experienced, rich, game-wise and have impressive skills to be admired, David would speak to him again. He knew that if he wasn’t a Noob, if he wasn’t this ignorant fool, David would love him back.

Kipplin remembered the exact order of steps on the stairs that wouldn’t squeak when he sneaked downstairs at midnight to play RuneScape undetected – he knew if he devoted all his efforts, and all his life on RuneScape, one day he could prove the world wrong. For a year Kipplin devoted most of his sleeping time to his desperate attempt to retain what he once had – the feeling of being loved. He cast everything aside including his coursework and his guitar practice – he ignored his parent’s advice and everything around him, for nothing mattered more to him than David. He would do anything to have David back. Anything.

Kipplin told me he had a huge quarrel with his parents to get the game ‘legalized’. Since then, he continued getting the highest possible skills on RuneScape everyday from midnight to morning until he eventually collapsed in his final exams and failed to qualify for a place in college.

“You don’t know how much I really love him,” Kipplin said. "I love him more than I had ever loved myself.”

And he was still working overnight in the last few months. After I absorbed his tale my initial reaction was to turn my back on him in abomination. I found it absurd, disturbing and … moving. It was a few years since Kipplin last saw David and he sought nothing but his approval and love. My sympathy had defeated my natural instinct – I could not leave him like this.

12-Feb-2011 16:47:29 - Last edited on 26-Mar-2011 10:07:09 by Englishkid62

Englishkid62

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I managed to find David alone the next day in college at lunchtime, and he seemed fine with my proposal for ‘a walk’ in the park at five o’clock on Christmas Eve: except that I didn't tell him Kipplin would be there too.
Something worried me.

“Please don’t bring Jenna,” I smiled at him, trying to conceal my well-intention.

“Sure. Why not?"

"Because … I don’t want her to.”

“Alright, but oh, come on – you know what she’s like,” David sighed. “She hates to be left out of anything.”

“Just don’t bring her please, this is important,” I said with a little hesitation, “I need it to be a … man to man thing, you know?”

David chuckled at my expression. “Okay,” he said. “I promise I won’t bring her.” Then I left him in peace, I could trust David. From that day, my life was full of excitement and hope as the fateful day drew nearer and nearer, as if the ending of a classic fairy tale was about to unfold. The world had never seemed more beautiful. The Christmas this year seemed promising to an ancient love that had been previously hidden beneath the snow – and it was about to emerge again, to show us the meaning of life once more. How marvelous. I was to expect at least ten expensive presents including Playstation and several new games this Christmas, I was to expect an even more elaborate Christmas dinner at my aunt's and I was even expecting love. God helped Kipplin. He had waited years for this. Thanks to me, his endless wait was no more: perhaps it was going to be the most important day of his purposeless life.

***

12-Feb-2011 16:49:11 - Last edited on 26-Mar-2011 10:07:37 by Englishkid62

Englishkid62

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On that day I sat on a bench like an eager Cupid, waiting for the final, miraculous redemption of Kipplin. Fortunately I was well-clothed and I was half an hour early. I waited, and waited. At quarter-past five a familiar noise reached my ears – David and Jenna, laughing out loud and cuddling around each other by the waist, were walking in my direction. From afar, it was impossible to distinguish the two from one another, nor could I tell whose hand was on whom, their laughter echoed in the trees as if they were animals marking this place their territory, asserting their dominance wherever they walked. My face was twisted with anger and rage.

“Hi there, Jenna, I wasn’t expecting you.” I greeted coolly.

“You just turn up don’t you, Jen,” David shrugged. “We managed to bump into each other outside the park, what a coincidence…”

A coincidence indeed!

Kipplin didn't tell me exactly where we were going to meet, but I had to give his investment a chance, I had to look for him, to encourage him – he would fight for David. No matter what I told myself that evening, I always ended up with the same conclusion: Jenna shouldn’t have come. There was no plan 'B’ to counter God’s over-arching scheme, there was only improvisation – for I expected a success.

“You must be cold, David,” I said, “Why didn't you bring a coat?”

“He looks hot this way.” Jenna suggested.

“Nah, why bother?” David asked, “We’re not gonna be long, are we?”

Then I realized this one thing that I, David and Jenna all had in common, that I had known for a long time and I couldn’t quite name it until now – we all took success for granted. We took love for granted and we took everything for granted.

12-Feb-2011 16:49:12 - Last edited on 26-Mar-2011 10:01:28 by Englishkid62

Englishkid62

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We knew that in time we would find love of our own. We knew that once love was lost it would be regained quickly. Once we were divorced we would be married again, for sure. We would all have a job, any job, and we would all be grandparents – but we did nothing about it. Why bother? That was us: we were expecting while making no effort to achieve what we desired.

I understand it now: 'Do your best, no regret.’ Where would I be, sixty years from now: no love, because I was still waiting for it to find me; no job, because I was still waiting for a vacancy leaflet sent to my door … with a raw assumption that no matter what, these would come by eventually, and you’d never know until tomorrow. There would always be a tomorrow, wouldn’t there? There would always be a future and the future was always bright. Kipplin was different; he knew that doing his best was his only chance of succeeding.

“Alright, let’s start moving,” I suggested. “Let’s go.”

“Please, can we just sit here – I hurt my toe,” Jenna claimed, “I can’t walk today.”

It was supposed to be a walk, and I was stuck. My mind was crying out to Kipplin desperately, urgently calling for him – I needed instructions. During the next ten minutes David and Jenna were more intimate than ever – now I really felt that I was the third guy on a date: not that it would make a difference if Jenna hadn’t had come.

12-Feb-2011 16:49:12 - Last edited on 26-Mar-2011 10:01:43 by Englishkid62

Englishkid62

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From time to time Jenna would demand David to buy a box of chocolates for her, or request David to visit a certain romantic restaurant in the town centre. In their conversation I felt the tiniest insincerity between them, as if there were no trust or faith. There was no investment, no genuine feelings or passion and it wasn’t the love I knew. They both realized that one day this affair would be over and they would find someone better to replace the other. There was never true commitment or devotion – it was just a casual affair: it was fun, and apparently pointless. None of them believed they were going to have a future, and neither believed this was going anywhere. And yet it happened: David and Jenna kissed on the lips – it was the most grotesque and nauseating scene I had ever experienced in my life. They never loved each other.

I saw a hope in it for Kipplin, though; to me his unmatched sincerity was worth more than that meaningless snog. The bushes behind me moved, as if an animal was making a hasty retreat. It was then when I finally realized that he was watching everything from behind the bush all this time and had finally admitted defeat – to a happy couple …
Kipplin didn't need to be found. He probably arrived much earlier than I, perhaps a few years before I did – and he had seen enough. He had seen all he needed to see, and he believed his own eyes. It was not what it seemed.

We sat for another hour in which I remained sulkily silent for the most of the time while Jenna constantly inquired of David how much he loved her. I was too angry to speak then. This day was not unlike any ordinary day of my life, too ordinary in fact, there were no fights, no drama, nothing of interest – even the weather was calm and the wind was mild and my time vanished before my eyes again. It was six when Jenna declared that her family desired her presence and made a swift exit. Too late.

12-Feb-2011 16:49:13 - Last edited on 26-Mar-2011 10:02:01 by Englishkid62

Englishkid62

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Kipplin didn't turn up, and he was the one who told me that I wouldn’t get anything until I did something. Coward. What a Hypocrite! He had left the park that day quietly and I could only, at best, speculate why: he realized that he had always been fighting a battle that was already lost. For years, he had been fighting on alien ground where he could only lose.

One sight of David and Jenna together would announce the end of his dream; he knew better than to challenge a conventional relationship where the society was fully backing them up – the same society that left Kipplin with … nobody.

Kipplin realized that – he was only living in a world where true love had no value. He knew that all he had been, all he had achieved, all he invested was nothing but game data that had no meanings. That day, he had lost everything.

It wasn’t too late, I told myself, the battle was not lost; even though Kipplin had left, I could always arrange another meeting for them, any time they wanted. Sooner or later Jenna would be out of David’s life for good. They could be together then. This surge of hope was far too familiar: it was just like every morning when I finally started to run to catch the bus at the last moment, and this was it. I had an urge to continue Kipplin’s battle, to support him where he was losing, and to help him to get back on his feet again, ready to battle the morality of mankind until the end. When David made an inclination to leave too, I shouted at him.

By his look, I could tell he was totally confused – I accused David of everything he had done to Kipplin, his unrequited love and his patience and time. He puzzled at the name Kipplin – it pained me because David only knew of this love … today.

12-Feb-2011 16:53:50 - Last edited on 26-Mar-2011 10:02:18 by Englishkid62

Englishkid62

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I dragged David back to my house and made him look up Kipplin on the Hiscores. God helped Kipplin. I wasn’t going to let all Kipplin’s work go to waste unnoticed, I wasn’t going to be satisfied until he knew how much Kipplin had loved him and the price that he had paid – in advance. I showed him all the party invitations in the forum – Kipplin gave over a hundred millions worth of items away in the last month. I showed him everything that Kipplin once lived for.

As I waited quietly for a reply from David, I asked myself this: “Nothing ventured, nothing gained. What Kipplin did was right though, wasn’t it?”

And I waited … for a reply.

~~End~~

12-Feb-2011 16:53:50 - Last edited on 26-Mar-2011 09:59:40 by Englishkid62

Englishkid62

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Notes on The Priceless

I didn't write for several months that year, quietly absorbing all I have learned so far as I have started sixth form, started my English Literature course which was then impossible for me to deal with, and we were introduced to a book called ‘The Great Gatsby’ I could barely understand. But despite not understanding anything, I loved every moment of it, the way our teacher explained to us what certain themes suggest, what these symbols mean. It opened new doors to my writing.

There was a Jagex sponsored Christmas Story contest, the limit for which is 1,500 words. The first version of this story was written for this purpose, a RuneScape story somewhat related to Christmas, and I called it ‘A Lost Hope’. After doing badly in the contest itself (Dreamweaver won, as we all know), I decided to rewrite it, first giving it the name ‘The Trimalchio’, then eventually settled for ‘The Priceless’.

With an advert looking suspiciously like a rant about the removal of the wilderness and free trade, I was sure it would get me some press. The story itself I would consider being Great Gatsby with its contents flipped and changed so much that it is not immediately recognisable, but its essence remained: a sad story, wealth gained by dubious means, and love being the motive all along. It was easy enough to set it in a RuneScape context, and to think to myself, how could I incorporate this into the story? Being scammed multiple times myself, I was keen to assign the role’ Kipplin’ to hackers and scammers, then in the same time gave them the motivation, love, behind everything that they do.

12-Feb-2011 16:53:52 - Last edited on 26-Mar-2011 10:36:39 by Englishkid62

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~~English's Forgotten Tales~~

English's Forgotten Tales