• The shadows along the sidewalk almost jumped themselves when they heard a squeal of excitment from the boy. His glasses almost fell off as he jumped up and down in utter glee.

    "I got in! I got in!" was all he could scream as he held up the letter to the heavens above. Sure, there were still try-outs, but this was a huge step -- ninty percent of applicants dropped out at this point in the applying, and with a character like Lilith, he couldn't loose. That was like going against the laws of physics and winning.

    Realizing that he was late to school, the boy grabbed a now-burnt piece of toast and dashed out the door, not minding the charred taste in his mouth. He didn't care -- he got in!

    While running in the mob of students that were also late (most students were this early in the year), the boy pulled out the character profile from his bag, making sure it didn't have a single crease in it. He didn't want to damage her.

    Ah, Lilith . . . !

    Lilith was the single character that he used in roleplaying, whether the genre was science-fiction, drama, or fantasy. She was expecially good at fantasy, however -- she was a vampire. She was gorgeous, too, with dark-red hair and slitted eyes that screamed, "Get back, or I'll bite!" Lilith was amazing like that. He even made a squeaky voice when she spoke that made everyone envious of such a character. She was so cool that--

    The boy bumped into someone, blinded by glee. He then smirked.

    "What's up, Greg?" he asked casually, hiding the letter in his bag hurriedly. The "someone" had also applied, and he didn't want to be the one to break it to his friend that his character utterly sucked. I mean, the character was good, but there was literally no back-story to him. . . .

    The friend of Greg was also blind with glee.

    "Guess what I got today?" he asked as the friend pulled out an identical letter.

    Greg was speachless. "You . . . got in? But how?"

    The boy smirked, waving his sliky black hair in the wind dramatically, like he always did, answering simply, "I changed the character to my favor."

    Greg was curious now. "How did you do that, Vince?" He was practically bouncing up and down with excitement.

    Vince shook his head. "Magicians don't tell their tricks, and roleplayers don't tell their characters."

    Greg pouted. "Hey, I showed you mine."

    "You didn't have to -- you use Lilith in all of your RPGs, including mine. Besides," Vince told Greg with a glint in his eye, "you'll see him soon enough."

    Greg's eyes lighted up as well. "So, it's a guy?"

    Vince shrugged this tibit of information off. "Well, obviously. I'm not a freak like you."

    "I am not a freak!"

    Still, the two friends were estatic that they both got into the Institute -- it was the ultimate roleplaying. A huge company (they didn't care for the name of it) sponsored the event every year in their city during the school year every day from three o'clock to nine-thirty. It was hardcore roleplaying with the classic of all classic genres . . .

    . . . Vampires.