My existence as ‘Basil' on a bug's muck commenced on May 10, 2001. It began by my receiving an e-mail confirming my newly found existence, and the password I'd use to enter this digital realm. Now, this wasn't the first time I'd been here, nor was it the first time I'd met various members of the muck. But as it's been my experience, like my work situation, that the people in charge can look upon the new people a little differently than visitors. After entering my character's name and given password, I ‘awoke' in this room called the ‘New player hive'. The room was very dark. Almost a pitch black with the noticeable exception of a tiny area of light. It seemed to me that this was a beacon to bring new players out into the muck world. I proceeded toward the light. After taking a mere half a dozen steps or so, a sudden brilliant flash of light, a lightning bolt, to be exact, lit up the entire room, and upon striking the ground, echoed an almost deafening clap of thunder. No, it wasn't an indoor cloud bust, for in my midst, there suddenly stood a most formidable figure. Basil meets Willow - colored pencil Drawn by Willow The individual was enshrouded in a long, dark colored cloak, with a tall pointed hat perched majestically on their head. This individual was a wizard. With arms folded, eyes peering narrowly at me, and an expression of total disdain shown upon her face. It was due to a powerful, glowing aura about her person, that I was able to recognize whom stood before me. Willow. Despite her less than temperate mood, I was quite thrilled that she would make such an effort to greet me as soon as I connected, and so I instinctively began to raise my right hand to wave a friendly greeting, and with a warm smile, began to speak. "Hi Wi–" "Silence, mere mortal!" She commanded, while at the same moment, her right harm flashed outward with her index finger pointed directly toward me. "I am the great and powerful wizard, Willow, of this Muck, and you /will/ treat me with the respect that I have worked so hard and long to obtain. I nodded my head quickly. She continued. "To begin with, you will not address me unless I speak to you first, /and/ if you have any need of speaking with me, you must first contact a member of the help staff. Then they will contact me and I will schedule a time that is convenient for me to get with you. As it is, I am a /very/ busy person, and can not spend my precious time wasted on trivial matters. Is that clear?" I nodded again. "Secondly," With a sudden, barely perceptible wave of the hand, a large tome materialized in my hands. "This is the rule book of the muck. Read it! Study it! Know it! For the penalty of breaking /any/ of the muck rules will result in the same punishment. Immediate deletion. My eyes went rather wide, and I found it impossible to respond. "Good, I see that my message has been delivered. I shall then depart." Suddenly, with the same dramatic twisting of the elements, she departed from my midst. It took a few minutes to collect my wits, and my eyes to readjust to the darkness of the room. With book in hand, I left the new players hive. Walking along the path, the sun shown above me, and a soft pleasant gale blew past me. Occasionally this powerful burst of wind came by, but I managed to keep myself aright. Soon I came upon two signs place along the path. One directed toward ‘Bug City' and the other toward ‘Ant Island'. I Shifted the rule book from my right hand to my left hand, as the weight became quite fatiguing. I then chose the later of the two, seeing as how this would be my new home, here on the muck. Venturing first outside, than inside the colony, I meandered my way through the various tunnels that constituted the anthill. However, one thing I soon fell upon was a portion of the colony neither shown or mentioned in the movie. These were called ‘The forbidden tunnels' I laid the book aside, upon a rock located nearby, and began to enter. Before I could take more than a couple of steps, a figure suddenly came from around the corner. "Basil! What are you doing down here?!? Commanded a voice from behind me. It was Tilly. Before I could answer, she stopped and stood there with her arms folded. "What's the matter with you? Can't you read? I presume you can, since if you couldn't you wouldn't be on this muck in the first place." Her eyes rolled heavenward. "Uhh..." Was about all I could say. I noticed a shiny gold name badge on the lapel of the business jacket she was wearing. It said ‘Tilly - help staff' In fact, she was fully dressed in such a manner, as to depict a position of responsibility. "What?" She lowered her head and looked at me, also with disdain. "I couldn't hear you? Can't you speak? Are you messed up or something? Answer me! Without waiting for a reply, she unfolded her arms and continued. "What part of ‘forbidden' do you not understand? She then walked up to me, and firmly whapped my right antenna. I winced from the discomfort. "You men are all larvae. All of you." She then turned around and noticed the book on the rock. She picked it up and tossed it at me. "Are you crazy?!? Don't /ever/ leave this lying around! You'll be deleted for sure!" I managed to catch the book. "It... well, it was kinda heavy and--" "Oh and I suppose you think it's a /woman's/ job to carry this book around with you where ever you go, huh? Typical male. Typical /heartless/ male, everyone of you. Well, your lucky I'm in a good mood, or else I'd report you to Willy-- Er, I mean Willow, and she'd delete you without batting an eye!" She was just about to depart when she turned her head and looked back at me once more. "Well, are you coming?" She then turned and left. I didn't see her again that day. It was a couple weeks later, that I was talking to a couple of players whom suggested the need for me to get my own living space. Being an ant, I'd need a chamber to be ‘placed' in one of the residential tunnels of the colony. Not sure about how to go about performing such a task, I was directed toward the individual called ‘Ampillion' He was the building wizard, and being the only one on the muck at the time, would need to create an entrance to it. As though he were listening to the conversation, this ‘Ampillion' suddenly appeared in a likewise manner used by Willow when we first met. The all greeted him, but I was struck utterly dumb at both his size and appearance. He was a large red dragon, a most formidable individual. I timidly asked him about the process of creating my own chamber, and he laughed whole heartedly at me. "You silly little person." He spoke, causing the ground to tremble. For some reason the other players seemed unaffected by this. He then pointed out this little thing I had, called a ‘builder bit' and after telling me I had the ability to do such a menial task on my own, told me to not bother him or any other member of the wizard staff with such trivial nonsense. I soon created by chamber, and with the suggestion of the player, Daisy, chose to place my chamber in the same tunnel as hers was. Seems that very seldom do the others whom have chambers along with hers visit. I was able to contact Ampillion and with his efforts, the entrance to my chamber was created. I was about to ask him a question involving building, and a huge fireball suddenly came in my direction. I was able to avoid it, and quickly scampered into my chamber. I then stayed inside, not sticking so much as an antenna out, for the next three months. Eventually I came to become more familiar with the other members of the staff, and eventually came to regard them as good friends, but the first few days, well... APRIL FOOLS!!!!(belated) ;D Gotcha! ^.^

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