Private ✪ Stokbon Bang! Zoom! Whoosh!

[Madison Mortiere]

"No, that makes sense. Video games are supposed to be an escapist fantasy, right?" Supposed to be. "It doesn't make much sense to get home from your day job and do the exact same thing in VR to unwind."

Lord knows that, as much as Madison enjoyed working at her bookstore, she'd have gone crazy if she ended stocking bookshelves with garbage novels an AI-generated as a worldbuilding afterthought for a fistful of coins.

The two continued walking through the streets of Stokbon. They had reached the edge of the festival grounds; games and displays gave away to homes and businesses, but the crowds remained the same. Such is the way of big city life.

"It was like that in the first go-around. We could change our skills around, but it was way too expensive to do so. So generally, you just stuck with what you pick because you didn't want to fall behind." Madison tucked a lock of her raven hair behind her ear. "My loadout didn't have anything that changed; but I appreciated the respec nonetheless."

A drink with this stranger? "Sure, I don't have anything else going on this afternoon. You got a place in mind? I'm not too familiar with this city."

 

[Cleo Looker]

Something like that, yeah. I imagine a janitor would hardly log onto a game and spend all of their time wiping windows or mopping up spillages or something like that. As for me, that typically means avoiding guns and paperwork. Especially paperwork.

Cleo shuddered, almost doubling over at the thought of paperwork, shaking her head. Nothing would ever get her to be filling out paperwork during something that many would consider to be a leisure activity even if she was technically on the clock and getting paid for this. It was definitely a weird feeling, to be sure, being paid for playing a video game. It was definitly very out of the norm for the agent and her usual line of work.

Still, it was interesting to hear bits and pieces about how the game used to be. Leanring that changing skills had been so expensive that it wasn't really viable to make that change unless something had gone utterly wrong was quite the tale. It still confused her that the developers were seemingly treating this like an actual game and not a death trap, doing things like balance changes and offering respecs and things. It was certianly an odd way of doing things.

As for having a place in mind, Cleo nodded, smirking slightly with a hand on her hip. As it happened, she'd spotted one or two places that looked good when she'd arrived. It helped that her lifetime of detective work had left her with terrific eyes for spotting detail and the ability to really keep her ear to the ground and listen to the things that people said.

I might know a place that could do with some customers like us. Linkir's Tavern and Bar, just a couple of minutes north. Follow me.

She beckoned for the gunslinger to follow her, starting the slow walk north until they arrived at something of a middle looking tavern. Certainly not fancy and expensive, but not the kind of run-down slum that a person might expect drinks to be ninety percent water in. Taking a few steps inside and walking over to the bar to take a seat, Cleo sighed, eyes glancing over all of the bottles behind the bar, humming in thought.

How about I buy us the first round and we toast to your victory in the competition? And hey, this will be my first time drinking anything in game, so it'll be interesting to see how real the sensation is.

@Madison Freebird

 

[Madison Mortiere]

Sounded good to her! Especially the part where she didn't have to pay for the first round. Such kindness was often expected by others, but rarely ever offered (especially to the woman who wore the skull face paint).

Madison followed Cleo's lead to Linkir's Tavern & Bar. It was a quaint little place, nothing terribly fancy considering the part of the capital they were in. Quite possibly a relic of a time before Stokbon exploded and ate up a sizable chunk of the region. A place where you could visit as a tourist and marvel at all the quaint bits of shit on the wall; or swing by with your friends every Thursday night as tradition demanded. Dimly-lit booths, tables scuffed all to hell, a well-stocked bar, and even two dart boards and a small stage for musical acts! How nice of them.

The raven pulled up a stool next to Cleo, and the pair waved down the bartender. "She's got the first round. I'll just have a glass of whatever's good." It's been four years--and she's been too busy getting reacclimated with the game's systems to learn about what sort of booze trends have taken place in the meantime. "And a small plate of wings too, if you got 'em."

After the barkeep spun away to grab their orders, Madison shot Cleo a grin. "Never drunk here before, have you? It's... a lot like the real thing. You can trust my extensive research on the matter."

 

[Cleo Looker]

Make that a big of wings. I'll get whatever she's having too.

Since she was paying for the first round, Cleo figured that she would get them a plate of wings to share so that she could muscle her way in on the food, turning to Madison with something of a smirk, before she took in the rest of the tavern. Dart boards, a stage, a stocked bar and booths, it was a pretty nice place, even for being middle of the road as it was in terms of luxury and money spent. Probably. Cleo didn't claim to be an expert on how much money it cost to build and open a bar. Especially not in a world with a different currency to the real world.

Well like I said, I'm pretty new and pretty much done nothing but train and fight, as well as rescuing a few people here and there. Haven't really had much time to settle down and really try stuff like this.

Not that she'd had much intention to slow down, take things easy and enjoy herself, given that she was only here to protect people and stop players from dying, but she honestly needed a break from pushing herself or she'd probably snap. She grinned, chuckling.

You're an expert on the subject, then? I guess I'll follow your lead and just get the stuff you get.

A minute or two later, two glasses were slid over to them by the barkeep, containing a kind of clear brown liquid, similar in appearance to some kinds of whiskey from the real world. Cleo eyed it, raising her glass and giving it a swirl, watching the liquid spin around the interior, before she held her glass out for Madison.

Well then Madison, cheers to your victory. That was some good shooting there, cowboy~

@Madison Freebird

 

[Madison Mortiere]

A couple shooters of that good clear amber slid down the bar. Madison, the practiced alcoholic, caught hers with relative ease.

"Cheers," she said in kind, the women clinking their glasses together. "You did pretty good yourself with those spears of yours. Punting one in the last round? Nice touch."

Madison swallowed her shot in one gulp. It burned the whole way down. Yep, definitely whiskey.

She set the glass down with a soft clink and resisted the urge to order a second one. That inebriation meter's filling up a little faster than normal in her old age (but also, to her credit she's been drinking less and less in real life, so she does have that going for her! Baby steps, folks!). "Training, fighting, and rescuing, huh? Sounds exciting. Sounds exhausting, too. You don't log in and just, y'know... Vibe? Find a nice little place deep in the forest, high in the mountains, or along the coast and just hang out? Or maybe set up in a quaint little village down a side road and get to know the wonderful people living there?"

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Their glasses clinking together, Cleo was a bit slower with draining her drink, not a practiced drinker either in the game or in her real life, though she was far from a complete amateur. It was probably most accurate to describe her as the type of person that saved drinking for celebrations and special events, rather than drinking as a common passtime. Setting a half finished glass on the bar and wincing as the burn slid down her throat, she blinked, smacking her lips, before humming in appreciation.

Huh. You weren't wrong. Tastes and feels exactly like the real thing, even down to the way it burns as it travels.

She hummed, picking up the glass to immediately take another sip, before setting it down softly and shrugging.

And thanks for the compliment, though that punting maneuver was just me making it up on the fly. I have no clue how else I couldn't possibly thrown three spears practically at once, without launching them using magic anyway.

Though she hadn't actually attempted to find out if using magic was allowed, since she'd been working under the assumption that, of course, a marksmanship contest would be testing her ability to actually wield a ranged weapon, rather than her abilities as a spellcaster. Maybe it'd been a naive assumption, she still had trouble not sticking to the typical rules of video games.

She shook her head, though, when asked about logging in to just 'vibe' or things like that, a soft frown on her face at the thought of herself doing that. It was definitely hard to justify not doing everything in her power to remain active, rescuing players and exterminating threats.

Ah well, y'see, I'm something of a workaholic, I guess you could say. I kinda see a duty to protect players and make sure nobody else gets UI-locked, even if I know logically that I can't save everybody.

@Madison Freebird

 

[Madison Mortiere]

"No," said the gunslinger, a note of bitterness creeping into her voice. "No there isn't."

Was it her place to talk about the horrific battle against the eldritch lolita monsters she and some of her friends went through four years ago? "The risks weren't exactly well-known back then, but I watched one of my little gang die, get resurrected, and then sacrifice herself again so we all would survive the fight. Which we did--but that sacrifice? That's the one that locked her UI."

Madison remembered clearly the quiet moments in the healer's chapel, where an awful weight sat in her gut over what had transpired. How she felt responsible for the whole thing--she was the one who saw the job posting, right? She was the one who convinced the others under Lucia's little social umbrella that it'd be nothing more than a quick twenty minutes in and out team-building exercise, after all.

And then Ezra played the damn hero and doomed herself.

The guilt was something that kept Madison awake at night, years after the game went offline.

Thankfully, the warm fuzzies of the whiskey settling in her system took those memories, stuffed them in a box, and kicked them back in the corner for now. "Duty's good to have; but you can't let it consume you. Not everyone can be saved. Not everyone would want to. The world's too big for you to try. So if I can offer one piece of veteran advice? Make some fuckin' time for you to enjoy this place as well. It'll keep your mind clear and sharp enough to focus when you truly need it."

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

And wow, that was quite the story. Cleo could see how it'd be painful, how back then something that should have been fun and a cool story had turned into something horrific at a moment's notice. The agent sighed at yet another reminder of why she struggled to have any positive feelings about this game, when it hurt the people that wanted to love it in such horrific ways. It was something of an abusive thing, if a piece of software could even be said to be abusive of somebody or of a group of people.

The agent knocked back the rest of her whiskey and nodded.

Ah hell, I'm really sorry about your loss and that you had to go through that kind of thing. And I'm sorry for making you relive it too.

She reached out to place a hand on the woman's shoulder for a second or two, giving it one solid squeeze in companionship before she let go and stopped invading the woman's space. They sure as hell weren't close enough for a hug or something, even if she wondered whether that would help or not. Instead, she nodded at the suggestion to not let her sense of duty consume her, blowing some hair out of her face in a sigh as she signalled the barkeep for two more glasses with her hand.

You're right, of course. It's pretty hard to enjoy things with the knowledge that somebody out there might be having the worst experience of their life at any given moment, of course. But I'm not quite arrogant enough to believe that myself alone is enough to make that much of a difference in things.

And then two more glasses arrived, followed by the plate of wings that they'd ordered, Cleo reaching for one and taking a bite, humming in appreciation. At least food tasted good here.

If you don't mind me asking, what brought you back to the game? It sounds like you had a pretty rough experience before the servers got hit...

@Madison Freebird

 

[Madison Mortiere]

Madison flinched under Cleo's touch, but appreciated the sentiment nonetheless. "Yeah, well... It's fine. I mean it's not; but it's fine, y'know?"

More drinks were ordered. Another sentiment appreciated. "Okay. Good. That's incredibly level-headed of you--more so than a lot of players I've met." Including, sometimes, myself. "Have you considered joining one of the guilds? I hear the Lion Arms are recruiting heavily, what with all of the Travelers coming back and all."

The drinks arrived; accompanied by the wings, no less! Food is great! Food makes everything better! Madison ignored the shot, and swiped up a wing. Perfectly roasted, delicately sauced. Just enough to stain the tips of one's fingers as they tore through it in less than three seconds.

She was mindful to swallow before answering Cleo's other question. "My old friends," she said in truth. "One of them being UI-locked and all, I was kind of hoping I could just... Pop back in, find her, see how she was doing, y'know? Maybe find the others. Get the old gang back together." She devoured another wing. "What about you? For someone new to this world, you seem to know an awful lot about the risks..."

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

The flinch didn't escape her notice, but was filed away for later, in case it popped up again. She knew plenty of people who disliked the experience of having another person, especially somebody that they'd just met, placing a hand upon them, even in a friendly manner or for a comforting gesture. It wasn't something that the agent was going to take offense to, far from it actually.

Yeah, I know what you mean, don't worry about it.

She'd seen people grieving others many times. She'd even been the person to inform them that they had somebody to grieve, before. Heck, even now, the image of Quincy and herself, telling the girl that she had died in the real world, rose to the top unbidden as Cleo decided to take another swig of whiskey for her own benefit. It wouldn't be good if the thoughts and regrets of having to be a dark specter for some people began to crush her too badly.

I'm considering joining a guild, yeah. Probably the Lion Arms too, since they do a lot of protecting people and stuff. Though I am worried that they only protect people around the starting areas and don't really do much work protecting and helping people further out into the world. Then again, I've not heard a whole lot about them.

And then it was time to listen to Madison's answer to her question, nodding along to indicate that she was listening as she reached another wing to nibble at. It was an answer she'd expected from a lot of people. Recapture what they'd had, meet old friends, including the UI-locked ones. The same tale popped up over and over again, so it was no surprise. Neither was the question being flipped back to her.

Ah, in the real world, I'm something of a legal aid. Spoken to a lot of people that got caught playing Terrasphere when it was made illegal. In the end, I just got too curious, wondering what was driving these people to break the law and risk their lives. I had to find out what it was about this game that was so appealing. Still looking for that, to be honest.

She paused, looking Madison up and down, before smirking.

Well, there's been a few upsides, some interesting people I've met here and there and some good sights along the way, at the very least.

@Madison Freebird

 

[Madison Mortiere]

Lion Arms. The first time around, Madison wouldn't have been caught dead registering to join their rank and file. Too goody-goody for her. Too rules-oriented. Too much like the real world; forcing square pegs into round holes and stamping out individuality. Four Years Older Madison, though? One that's more mellowed out and world-weary? Still probably not the perfect match for her. But they have badges; and fashion is king in an MMO--it really would complete her Wild West fit.

"A legal aid, eh?" She kept a cool air about her--but deep down inside, Madison was starting to panic. A full blow, guts in knots, bottom dropped out below her, spamming the RUN command as hard and fast as she could. And she just fucking admitted to getting someone UI locked!

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck fuck fuck FUCK FUCK FUCK--

And still, she retained her composure. "Risking an awful lot by being here, aren't you?"

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Completely unaware as to the mental panic going on in Madison's head, unaware that perhaps she'd just ruined a perfectly good friendship in the making by revealing her (fake) occupation, Cleo nodded with a small, embarrassed smile. She waved a hand through the air as if trying to dispel any bad air or gas, chuckling slightly as she did so and looking down at her new drink, taking a sip from it.

Ah, it's nothing all that impressive. Really I'm like, somebody that failed the bar exam, but knows enough that people call me whenever they want legal advice but don't actually want to pay for a lawyer or something. A lot of it is just civil cases, people asking if they have a case to stand on when they want to sue somebody.

And then the question about risking a lot came up, making Cleo snort and shake her head. Considering she worked with the VRSA, she was one of the few people that could be caught red-handed running the game and there'd be no charges, no arrest, no fines. Maybe it was a little hypocritical, but that was just how life ended up being sometimes. A cop sometimes had to break the law that they were trying to enforce, especially when undercover, like she technically was.

Everything should be fine. From what I know, they aren't really doing all that well at locating people that play. Just because I work with the law, doesn't mean I'm being watched all the time by the people that could actually do something about this.

@Madison Freebird

 

[Madison Mortiere]

I could do it. Right now, even.

Her pulse was pounding in her head.

Lure her somewhere quieter. Two shots; the first to send her to the resurrection chapel, the second when she wakes back up.

Two clean, quick deaths. She won't risk a third. She knows what could happen if she did.

Then, I log off. Smash my headset, throw the pieces into the St. Lawrence. Easy-peasy; and nobody will ever find me. I've never told anyone about who I am in real life...

A drastic jump to conclusions--the only kind she was ever good at making. Cooler, wiser heads prevail in this world, though; and after finishing her second whiskey, she found herself calming down.

Madison considered ordering a third, but went for another couple wings instead. "I hope not. A lot of people here are just looking for a way to escape their shitty lives for a few hours. Because there's plenty here to enjoy that won't kill you."

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Completely unaware to her own murder being plotted, twice over in fact, Cleo continued to sip at her drink and hum, totally calm around the gunslinger. There was, after all, no reason to believe that she was in any kind of peril, given that their relationship had been nothing short of pleasant up until now. Continuing to nurse her second glass of whiskey, wanting to make it last for a bit longer, being the kind of person to, even in real life, try not to waste too much money on drinks, especially when the goal here wasn't to get totally wasted anyway.

Right. A lot of escapism here. I suppose in a way I fit that bill. Just really want to be able to actually help people for a change, rather than just telling people who they can and can't screw over in a courthouse.

Legal aid was a pretty decent cover story, really. It gave her a few good excuses for why she was playing this game anyway. Somebody that was stuck day in and day out dealing with awful people and legal nonsense probably got pretty sick of their daily life too, so it made for a pretty good alibi.

If it weren't for the fact that it can kill you, I'd say this is an amazing game. I can't understand how the developers could make a masterpiece, then make it kill people. They could have made a fortune off of this thing..

@Madison Freebird

 

[Madison Mortiere]

"They could have."

Another wing stress nibbled.

"Maybe it's just gross, negligent oversight. Maybe it's a bug they can't fix. Maybe it's actual malicious intent! But if that were the case, then why wouldn't they have just fried everyone the moment we all logged in? But what would be the point of that?"

A serious question; one she didn't want to think about the answer to. Madison knew the risks of participating; she'd seen the worst happen first-hand. All she could do was play, and be extremely safe about it.

"It is a shame that this world is so well-made," she lamented into her napkin. "All the pieces fit together so neatly. A true living, breathing, existing world, all contained in our headsets. A perfect escape from all our problems in the real world! So why program it so we can... get locked into it? Maybe as a way, y'know, out for anyone desperate enough to take it? I don't know. I honestly don't know."

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Cleo reached for a wing herself, biting into the warm meat and sighing, a shrug lifting her shoulders before she dropped them again. This kind of conversation happened a lot, it was part of her job, but she was really finding only the same feelings and theories everywhere. Nobody could think of a conceivable reason for the game to be in the state it was in, not even actual malice could be proven and there were even a few good points against it. It never failed to make her head spin.

It's all just really confusing, yeah. I try not to think about it too much and just focus on helping the people that need it. Otherwise I'll drive myself insane trying to answer a question that might not even be possible to answer.

And she didn't know what she wanted the actual answer to be, either. A software error would rule out malice, but that would mean that people had died based off of an issue that either hadn't been spotted, or had been spotted but was too firmly rooted in the system to do anything about it whilst allowing the game to exist in the form it did.

I have to say, though, that the AI in this game are very weirdly lifelike. The fact that they can adapt to everything, can even acknowledge how strange players are to them, can develop a hatred of players for those differences, like Vesstan did? I'm not an expert, but that's some very high level stuff.

@Madison Freebird

 

[Madison Mortiere]

"Extremely high level."

Activity was starting to pick up in the tavern. Other festival attendees were filtering in, ordering drinks and food and kicking their feet up for a short rest.

"And in my experience, that's how it's best to interact with this world. As if it were just like our real one, that is. These people--the landers--don't treat them like they're just scripts and routines and the things that stand underneath quest markers that give you a small pile of dialogue options. Treat them like real people. With their own wants and needs and motivations. Real people, with a spark of intelligence behind their eyes."

Even those like Vesstan!

"And each of those people react to their surroundings like any other individual would. Like you saw how Vesstan hated our guts, but everyone else at the contest grounds just kind of looked uncomfortable and started to drift away. Maybe Vesstan had a bad experience with Travelers four or five years ago. We can't fault him for that. All we can do is try to do right by everyone we meet here--because our lives depend on them just as much as they do our own abilities."

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

The best way to interact with the world? Cleo supposed that Madison had a point there. It would just make things exceptionally more difficult if the AI were against them at every possible opportunity, which they would be if players continued to log in, treat them as if they weren't even people, then vanish like the wind with no way for the landers to get their own back. They could easily make life difficult for players, refusing to buy or sell gear from them, or to sell them food, or offer any other services that could potentially save a life, directly or indirectly.

And the good points continued, it seemed, though she wasn't quite sure how she felt about digging into the past of AI. Why couldn't they all just come with some kind of preprogrammed response to things that would be easy to find and manipulate? Why did basically everything about this damn game have to be cutting edge and breaking boundaries in practically every field imagineable?

For once, couldn't she just have a job that was both normal and easy? Would that be too much to ask for, at this point?

You raise some really good points. I bet the landers could make life real difficult for players if they really wanted to and were given enough of a reason to band together and do it. I do have to say, though, that every lander I've met so far hasn't exactly left a good impression, though I have no clue what kinds of things players did four years ago, so maybe some of the hate and distaste is completely fair and justified.

She paused, looking around at the crowd.

Jeeze, it's getting busy in here all of a sudden. So much for a quiet victory celebration, I guess. But anyway, you seem pretty intense about the whole 'treat them like real people' thing. There a story behind that or are you just the bleeding heart type?

@Madison Freebird

 

[Madison Mortiere]

Madison opened her mouth to speak, but pumped the brakes.

Do I tell her about when we got rescued from the belly of Tits Anus by the Ynglar Brotherhood? Or "rescued", to be more accurate? That they only cared enough to power their portals long enough to grab their fellow Landers and bail on the rest of us? "Oh, you're immortals; you can take this one on the chin for a little bit of clout, right? Cheers, loves!"

Madison herself got out fine, thanks to Lucia. Did such flippancy from the Brotherhood leave her with a sour disposition towards them? Hell yeah, it did. Did it color her perception about all of them, though?

No. No, I don't think I will.

"I got tired of playing open-world RPGs like a murderous edgelord decades ago," she said, rather plainly. Madison's in her mid-thirties now: officially in her hag years. She can say decades. "There's no joy in it, unless you have none in your real life. I found out pretty early on that if you're an asshole here, just like in the real world, it closes a lot of doors for you real quick. And that's no way to survive in a strange place, is it?"

@Cleo Looker

 

[Cleo Looker]

Well I mean, I'd say the only use of a closed door is to keep people out, really, so you definitely have a point. I'd hope that nobody is wandering as a 'murderous edgelord' as you put it, considering that behaving in that kind of way can start to set troubling patterns. I do have to wonder, though, how muddy the line between reality and virtual reality has gotten for some people, though.

She thought back to a few of the people she'd met, many of whom had positive opinions about this game and their time spent in it. The line seemed to get blurry the more that somebody enjoyed the game, the more time that they had spent in it.

I met a woman that got so engrossed in this game, so spellbound by the world and a particular NPC, that she felt that the only way for her to honor this particular NPC, who was an enemy mind you, was to consume the NPC's heart to...I don't know, take in a part of her power or something along those lines. Apparently this all happened when the Caenis were discovered as a race.

It was all a secondhand story to her. She wasn't entirely sure she was telling it correctly.

Still, you say you found out early on. Does that mean you ran around acting like an asshole for a while? Or is this all knowledge gained from watching other people go about their business.

@Madison Freebird