I must have seen her sitting by Lower Jeuno looking out to the sea for months. At first I had thought she's chatting with her friends which explained why she's always sitting there with neither party seeking beacon on nor her bazaar signboard lighted. Without fail I will wave at her, sometimes she waves back and sometimes she merely gave me a sigh.
Day becomes nights and nights becomes months, she was there most of the times. Infact I didn't recall not seeing her there more than a handful of times. The most amazing thing was, she was forever wearing the gear of someone in the range of 18-22 (she was anon all the time).
One day after months of puzzling over why she always seemed to be sitting there day in day out, I decided to ask her.
Me : Chat? (^.^)/
Her: Yes sure.
Me: Can I ask you why you are sitting here all the time?
Her: I am waiting....
That was the first time I ever shed tears in the game and I couldnt stop crying for a long time.
She was a undergraduate studying in one of the university in Japan. She met her boyfriend ingame. He's a young promising Engineer, 5 years her senior. They got to know each other one day while he saved her in Bastok from a rock lizard. He was a lvl 10 whm then and she was a level 4 War. They chatted that night and for the few subsequent nights. Soon after they started chatting on the phone and very shortly they met up and starting growing fond of each other. Their relationship had pretty much continued outside the game as she was having exam and she had promised him to concentrate on her studies for the time being.
After her last exam paper was over, she was thrilled and excited. He had promised her that he would cook for her that night. And he did. He went over to her apartment and cooked for her as promised. They had such a romantic dinner that night and it was the first time he told her that he loves her. Their conversation had slowly evolved to how they first met (in FFXI) and he promised to bring her to see more of the game. He went on to describe to her how beautiful the sea looking out Jeuno was. She was level 20 then (he was level 30) and he was going to bring her to Jeuno that night when he reached home. Before he left to ride back home, he told her to wait for him...he will come fetch her in the game. He kissed her goodbye and headed home. That was his first and last kiss to her.
She waited that night into the morning before she logged out. He never appeared. He was riding home that night when he met with a car accident which killed him instantly. She moaned for him for a few months before she could find the strength to log back to the game again.
Her: He had wanted to bring me to Jeuno and he was telling me how a beautiful sight the sea was, that you can see seagulls flying in the distant horizon at times. I had to fulfill his last wish.
Her: It's beautiful...looking out at the sea. I can almost feel him next to me at times. Sometimes I feel that it's just a dream and one day he will appear and sit next to me. I miss him so much.
She sat there for close to 5 months prior to the conversation. That was the last time I saw her in game.
It's becoming a habit now everytime I login to the game to make a run to her fav spot in Lower Jeuno. Sometimes I wish I can find her so that I can ask her if she's doing well. I mean how do you know some much about a person without feeling concerned for her?
But I guess it's not a bad thing afterall, perhaps she had moved on. I can only wish she did. Since then the game has changed for me completely. The person wearing the armour plate is as flesh and blood as I am. Behind every man and woman in vanadiel, there may be a story waiting for us to discover.