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salem-west-blog · 6 years ago

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salem-west-blog · 7 years ago

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- FIR - A Rune that came and revealed its name and voice, but still hides its essence, I’ve been working closely with it for the last week or so. It takes center place in my current work in progress.

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salem-west-blog · 7 years ago

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salem-west-blog · 7 years ago

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[my story from my main account]

Adventures and Friendship

[This is my entry to the Friendship competition for Guildwars 2 ]

http://dulfy.net/2018/02/02/gw2-friendships-contest/

#GW2FriendShips and #GW2Giveaway

[All terrible pictures are done by myself, I hope you enjoy reading our adventure.]

My name is Knil and I want to share the story about how I met my best friend, Tkim. A story of weak wills turning strong and endless adventure.

A story of us.

When I joined Guild Wars 2 I was stunned at the beauty, the content and the unique way the game was built, there was so much to take in it was almost overwhelming. I started noticing guilds around Queensdale participating in ‘Roleplay’, I was excited and nervous, I wanted to participate in that storytelling experience too but I was new to the game. I didn’t know anything about the lore but I took a chance and I sought to join this guild I had found. I would love to say the story ends here, happily ending with me meeting my friend but it doesn’t.

Instead I found the guild to be harsh, demanding that I make the guild priority over real life, I didn’t know any better, these were the only people I knew and I was scared to cut ties. I was lucky for the content and rich lore of the game, it gave me an escape from this guild that, at one point, I thought was amazing. This guild was a monster, it had sunk its claws into me and I didn’t know what to do, how to get away.. Was getting away even possible? It was scary but when thing started to get truly toxic is when I met Tkim.

Our meeting was purely by chance, I was told there was a player who had a Sylvari, they wanted in on the guild and I was to recruit them, give them the guilds lying spiel of how it was like a family, how they cared and understood, no family should be as they are, make you feel what so many have felt. The guild had taken over a spot in Queensdale, bullied people out of it who dared question, so when a sylvari walked in and not part of the guild, I thought he was who I was looking for. My first meeting of Tkim was by accident, I had mistaken him for the person I was to recruit and recruit I did.

I remember looking at his character in game and something felt different and for the life of me I could not put my thumb onto it. He interested me, had my curiosity peaked. He was so casual but fun about things, making jokes that had me genuinely laughing in this bleak little hole this guild had put me in, it was so refreshing. I decided there that I was going to make an effort to see who this was, was he like his character? Confident, funny but still taking things so casually while I felt like this tens ball of barely suppressed emotion? I don’t know what compelled me but I needed to know about him.

It was amazing. There’s no better word to describe how I felt the moment we started talking, really talking. We got along as if we’d known each other for years! I remember fondly reading of moments like that in books, it always seemed like fantasy and i’m sure to people reading this now feel the same but it was so real and so.. There.

Our bond only grew with time and it started to show to the guild, those in charge didn’t like what they saw and they made every effort to keep us apart, to try and make me hate him, to try and make him hate the guild so he would leave! I wish this was a joke or some twisted roleplay but these were people who made it their personal goal to keep me trapped in their clutches like a workhorse, making me do pointless things for their imaginary club. I was weak willed then, unable to do much else but nervously nod my head along to the orders they spewed.

Tkim was not blind to their attempts and was far stronger than me, he stayed close and supported me. It felt like one of those stories, where the prince rescues the princess but instead of slaying the dragon the prince hands the princess his sword and says “Go for the eye!” cheering from the side, giving me the strength of will to do what needed to be done for years, to cut this toxic piece of my life away and stand as an independent person, stronger for what I had done.

Freedom from that toxic place was the most brilliant breath of fresh air I was left stumbling and lost. What would I do now? All my time had been dedicated to that guild, even family had taken a step down on my priorities. Tkim knew what I was feeling, understood it without me having to say much of anything and he did what any good friend would do. He took me on an adventure.

I had been playing the game for near three years by this point and I, sadly, hadn’t experienced much of what the game had to offer. We started first with jumping puzzles, that was something we always loved doing, making our way through these intricately crafted amazing jumping puzzles. We loved to solve these puzzles together, challenge each other, race! We finished them all in about a week but we’d always revisit them just to feel that joy again.

Then he brought me to my first Tequatl fight. Seeing that for the first time was so incredibly intimidating and thrilling I was hooked on it for months! We found the achievement line for the fight and it gave us a goal, something to strive for and finish together. No matter what we were a team supporting each other and working on goals together.

Our adventures didn’t end there, we spent every day for four years talking to each other after work without fail, we were comfortable in silence and we could talk about anything. Even now, saying “4 years” doesn’t feel right, it feels like it’s been forever, I can hardly remember what I did with my time before I met Tkim and that was where it hit us. We had never actually met and this needed to change. We always talked about going somewhere, traveling, visiting all these interesting places together and finally we decided, this was going to happen.

I had always adored Disney World, having only been once before I remember being so happy and I knew in my heart, what better place to meet? I wanted to do something for the holidays, having a birthday on Christmas eve has always been tough and I wanted to spend it doing something I wanted to do, sadly it was too booked up around that time but we managed to go for new years. Being Canadian it was really really weird being in a warm place for december.

We stayed for ten days, visited each park 2 times. We were worried at first when we chose to meet, what if we didn’t get along face to face? It was a possibility, sometimes people have quirks that just drive you mad. But I remember when we met and it was just like that first time all over again. That inherent feeling of curiosity and then that bond, that feeling like we’ve known each other forever. We got along swimmingly and that vacation was truly magical.

Guild Wars is our home, our game, the thing we do to spend time together across the country. Every day still we log on and we talk while we roam the Guild Wars 2 world. No matter what we always come back to this game. With every new item of content we devour like locus, we also pause and stare at the shifting sky and rolling waves in awe. With every moment we pace and wait for more content to devour, we go and revisit great adventures that had taken out breaths away the first time we had seen them, made us shout in excitement and frustration.

Guild Wars 2 is our home.

Every now and then I pause and I think on all the things that, though were not easy, had to happen so that we could meet, so that I could have this friend with me. Had I not joined that guild? We would have never met. Had he not stepped into the guild hub that night? We would have never met. Had the amazing team not made this game? We would have never met.

These thoughts keep me humble and truly make me look at this game in a new light. It’s not just a game to us, it’s so much more and it’s because of you beautiful people at Arena Net that I am able to call Tkim my friend. I will never be able to express how grateful I am to all of you for this thing that may seem small but simply means the world to me.

Guild Wars 2.. Arena Net team, thank you for giving me my best friend.

With never ending love and thanks,

Knil and Tkim

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salem-west-blog · 7 years ago

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