Names have been changed to protect... well, probably not the innocent, but certainly people.

Felicia (my character, and the only real name in this story) is being courted by someone I'll call Bob, who also happens to be a rogue (he belongs to no city or commune). Bob used to be in a relationship with someone I'll call Jennifer. Jennifer, a Serenwilder, likes to conduct "open-ended relationships," which apparently means she'll mate with several different individual males during any given cycle. Bob always wanted an exclusive relationship, but Jennifer would never commit to one. When he fell for Felicia, Bob broke it off with Jennifer rather abruptly. In fact, Bob didn't even bother to tell Jennifer he'd left her man-harem to pursue an exclusive relationship with Felicia. Jennifer only deduced this fact when she realized that Bob had begun refusing her advances and also spending a lot of time with Felicia.

Felicia hadn't the slightest idea about any of the above drama until Jennifer sent her a nasty-gram one day, naming Bob as a womanizer, philanderer, and user, and warning Felicia that she should not trust Bob. Jennifer then went to her rest before Felicia could respond to the nasty-gram. Felicia confronted Bob about Jennifer and the nasty-gram, and Bob explained everything (i.e., the preceding paragraph). Of course, Felicia only has Bob's side of the story, but it certainly seems genuine. For one thing, it doesn't paint Bob as a selfless, chivalric hero — quite the opposite, in fact.

In any case, Felicia heard Bob out, was satisfied with his explanation, and didn't care much one way or the other about the ordeal. Let bygones be bygones, she thought.

Fast-forward many months, to last month (i.e., RL yesterday). Felicia sent a request over the Market aether saying, "Seeking a tailor." (Interjection: A Glomdoring noblewoman responded that she would be happy to assist, and Felicia quickly agreed.) A few moments later, a female I'll call Alice sent a message over the Market aether saying, "Being a tailor," most probably a response to Felicia's advertisement. Felicia then sent Alice a tell as a courtesy, saying, "I've already found a tailor, but thank you."

This next bit is important! It's where things turn hilariously pear-shaped. A few moments after Felicia thanked Alice, Alice sent Felicia the following tell: "As if I would serve you, anyway." Nonplussed, Felicia checked Alice's HONORS, and discovered that Alice was a Serenwilder. Infuriated at this uncalled-for rudeness in the face of politeness, even towards an enemy, Felicia snapped back at Alice: "I wouldn't do business with you, either, come to think of it. Go back to rutting under a bush with the rest of your kind, Serenwilder." (Apologies to Serenwilde players, but Felicia harbors many possibly erroneous prejudices towards the Serenwilde, one of which is that they mate like rabbits underneath shrubbery in rather hippie-like fashion.)

Alice then proceeded to send a final tell about Felicia being promiscuous and mating with all manner of males in any number of private aethermanses, and immediately IGNORED Felicia. (As a player, I am greatly amused when people sling insults, then immediately log off or otherwise avoid additional confrontation.) Well, that certainly confused Felicia. Not only is Felicia a virgin, the only "private aethermanse" she's spent any length of time in with males belonged to someone I'll call Dylan, a well-known Hallifaxian lecher. Upon reflection, Felicia realized that she also spent three minutes in Bob's aethermanse one time, to check out the decor. At no time did any mating occur. How did Alice know anything about Felicia, though?

A few days (RL hours) after this Market aether incident, Bob discovered a nasty-gram letter in his inventory containing a rat pie. The nasty-gram informed Bob that both he and his sexually promiscuous new love interest, Felicia, should feast on the included rat pie and reflect upon their filthy relationship forged in the fires of betrayal, or something along those lines. Actually, the rat pie was pretty good, though Bob ended up eating most of it.

As it turns out, through some detective work, Felicia discovered that Alice and Jennifer are friends. This, apparently, is why Alice had it in for Felicia during the Market aether incident, despite seeming a perfect stranger to Felicia.



And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how Felicia unwittingly entered a psychotic love triangle and, apparently, made her first enemy... or possibly two of them (supposedly), but both certainly Serenwilders, so no harm done. Probably.

If you could actually follow and comprehend everything I wrote above, then you quite frankly deserve a medal.

edit: Edited. That was uncalled for.

Fun story, though. =)

Never, never, eat rat pie from a vindictive stranger!

... geez.

That..is.. Amazing I can't count how many times Pectus has gotten snubbed by people because she wound up dating people the person wasn't ready to let go of. Love triangles are so much fun, huh?

I can remember that exact exchange on Market but not the names involved. Sadly, this means their are probably a half dozen or more Serens I could fit into the above story.

I'm not sure what you edited, but the bit about Serenwilders fornicating under bushes is all in good fun, I assure you.

Also, Felicia definitely invited further insult upon herself in regard to Alice, in case I didn't make that clear. However, Felicia's Serenwilder comment was meant in a general sense, not a personal one, since I didn't know Alice from Eve. However, Alice's subsequent retort seemed to indicate that she knew of Felicia, which was confusing at first, and led to the described detective work.

@Lothringen:

Felicia is aware of deadly toxins that can be placed in food. That's why she let Bob eat the first few slices.

Well, in real life, they're more trouble than they're worth.

In Lusternia, though, they create conflict! And everyone knows that conflict in games is a good thing, especially if it yields bawdy stories.

Safety first!

I was making some educated guesses as to the identities involved. Particularly the Hallifaxian.

But no matter. I've seen and heard of this situation in various permutations so many times, but it's still funny. =)

There was a time when I was guiding that someone's RL SO figured out how to log in, create a character, and was hunting down her boyfriend's in-game girlfriend. I noticed they were a True Newbie from lack of command familiarity, and offered to help. 15 minutes later, I was seriously wondering what I got myself into.

You really should stay out of Dom... I mean, Dylan's manse.

Okay, I admit: Dylan's identity wasn't hard for most people to guess. Even without the amusingly similar name, "Hallifaxian lecher" would have been a dead giveaway.

Besides, as a frequent target of said lechery and a pretty good friend of "Dylan's," I feel I am afforded a few liberties.

I will brutalize you! Brutally!

Kinky.

Well, of course. Being on top of the bushes just makes it more difficult, and isn't good for the bushes.

Love triangles like that are always hilarious.

Just be glad it wasn't with other people from Glomdoring, because then Alice and Jennifer might have pulled in a Glom official to try and get Felicia tossed out or otherwise declared persona non grata in the commune.

And that's when everything becomes less pear-shaped and more like a rotten lemon.

Well, I wouldn't insult a fellow commune member in the same way, even if they were incredibly rude to me. A Serenwilder being incredibly rude for no apparent reason, however, is simply too much to take.

Nevertheless, you are correct in that running afoul of crony-ism is a constant danger in games like Lusternia, particularly until one knows which cronies are which.

You wouldn't have had to be rude in return

I speak from the perspective of someone who's been in the position of "official being whined at" (not in Glom, of course) and who wanted to just throw everyone out on their ears afterward. I was implying less cronyism and more "This whining about who's tapping who is growing tiresome. Rocks fall, everyone dies."

This sounds like it was tons of fun. I wish there were a bit more drama in Fania's life. Two thumbs up.

One thing I hate is the snubbing. I think it's an abuse of the snub command to snub for purely in game reasons. I've always seen it more of a command for OOC rudeness, or extreme rudeness/vulgarity/whatever IC. Snubbing someone from an opposing community for no reason coughtelperioncough is just silly and should be considered abuse.

Definitely a good read. Hopefully things work out so you can keel "Jennifer" seeing as you're a glom and all.

My life is boring and empty. I need an arch-nemesis.