Game on
#1 of Game on
I'm sure I said that I wasn't going to start something new until I finished my other stuff. But honestly, at this point, who expects me to actually follow through with a release schedule? If I had a publisher, and a real deadline, they would be livid and I'd just be like Fonzie going, "Eeeeyyyy!" Which is the only thing about Fonzie I know aside from he gets ladies. *shrugs* I was born in the 80s, don't blame me for not knowing these things. Back on track, this is something new, and I'll release things when I bloody release them. Yeah, I suck but I just cant seem to get back into the other stuff right now. I will finish them, so relax, I have plot mostly worked out, maybe. So, here is my something new. No sex in this part, sorry horn dogs. Some cute stuff though, and yeah I know, it's a little Dot Hack, Sword Art, Log Horizon, Matrix rip offy, but I like gaming and tech.
I sat alone in the back of the classroom. The lights were off and this side of the building was quiet. My ear perked as the door swung open. I turned my attention towards it and saw Rufus, a lizard I went to school with, enter the room.
"You shouldn't be out alone," he said with a amused look on his face. His lips curled in a sneer and his eyes bored into mine. I shrugged and stood from the desk slowly. "Just like you shouldn't come barging in thinking you're top dog." He snorted and slipped a hand into his coat pocket.
"No one will hear your screams," he said pulling a serrated knife from his pocket. It was hard to see it in the dark room, but it reflected just enough moonlight for me to see what it was. I took a long slow breath, preparing for the fight that was coming.
"That little bitch you were with, what was her name again? Megan? Susan? Whatever it was, she tried to scream. Just before I slashed her throat in the Chemistry lab." He said waving the knife back and forth at me. My fur stood on end and a soft growl rumbled from my broad chest. "You killed my best friend?"
He laughed softly and gave a nod. "I killed them all actually, you're the only one left. This isn't a game, well not for you anyway. It was fun watching you guys struggle to put the pieces together. Good doesn't always win, I'm here to prove that." He lunged, swinging the knife wildly. I jumped back, almost falling over the desk behind me.
He swung the knife downward and I kicked hard with my right leg. Connecting with his chest before he could stab me with the blade. He stumbled backwards and fell over a desk, tumbling to the floor. His knife sliding into the darkness. Rufus groaned and glared at me.
My hands clenched, claws pressing firmly into my pads. The lizard slowly got up, gasping slightly and holding his chest. "This whole time it was you," I said before kicking again. This time connecting with the side of his head.
He groaned loudly and dropped to the linoleum floor. Claws scraping across the fake tile design. I looked down at him, angry at myself for not realizing he was the one sooner. With a sigh I lifted my right leg. "Goodbye Rufus," I said coldly before my leg sprang down. My foot hit the back of his neck, followed by a loud crack.
His body twitched oddly and then there was nothing. No sound, no room. It was all gone just like that. I sat back in my computer chair and pulled off a headset. Gently placing it next to my monitor. The headset transmits and receives information to and from the brain. I never really understood how it worked.
I just knew it was like the Matrix, only if you died in the game you woke up in reality instead of dying for real. A chat window popped up on the screen, along with a dialog box asking if I wanted to accept a video chat. With a sigh I moved the mouse and clicked YES.
A tan wolf appeared in the window and smiled at me. "Hey," Matt said cheerfully.
I shrugged, "Hey. So you cheated."
He shook his head, "No way dude. Check the time stamp for the last edit. Rufus was always the guy. Not my fault you got caught up with that goth chick."
I growled, "Still. It wasn't fair."
He shrugged and leaned back in his chair. "Basic psychology. She likes death and darkness, or so she says. It's her way of coping with a life she has no control over. If you found out Rufus was pulling wings off of flies or skinning ferals alive right off the bat it wouldn't have been a fun game."
I snorted, he had a point of course. No point in doing a mystery if you could solve it all in the first five minutes of entering the game. "So what happened to Jane, Sam and Gary?"
"Jane was pulling a Velma in the Chem Lab, looking for clues. Rufus was just passing by and she wasn't paying attention. Didn't have a chance to use her ranged combat skills. Sam was crushed in the Gym, tricked into checking behind the bleachers. As for Gary, he punched a cop. Caught trespassing and decided to go GTA on the guy."
"He pulled a gun, so the cop smoked his ass."
I chuckled, "Figures. They still up or what?"
Matt shook his head, "No man. Going on two in the A.M."
I shot up and looked at the digital clock at the bottom of my screen. "FUCK! Gotta go, school, sleep, fuck." I said clicking the shutdown icon on my computer before striping out of my clothes. Only four hours to sleep, not good.
Needless to say when my alarm went off I was nowhere near rested enough. My hand paw searching aimlessly for the loud device, trying to silence it. My bedroom door swung open and I jumped up, wrapping the blanket tightly around my body.
"What the fuck!" I yelled.
"Mom says, and I quote, 'Up now or your computer is going to charity.' So if I were you I would move." My fifteen year old brother said. I shook my head, looking over the smaller wolf.
"Okay, okay. Go little dude, I'm kind of in just fur here."
He shrugged and sat on his knees next to my bed. "So, seen it all before. And don't call me little dude or I'll show mom your stash."
I got out of bed and grabbed a fresh pair of briefs from my dresser. "Do that and I'll show mom yours, tail raiser."
His ears flattened and he looked at me, a whimper escaping his muzzle.
I sighed and knelt down next to him. "I'm sorry Dev, I love you brother. Even if you like guys."
A smile crept across his face and his ears flicked to attention. "Love you too Kev."
He looked down at the floor and I planted a kiss between his ears. Something we did fairly often when our parents weren't around. I wasn't gay, but we were more than a little affectionate towards each other. Our relationship has always been friendly, and we left it at that.
Devin hugged me tightly before sprinting from my room. Leaving me to finish getting dressed in peace. A few minutes later I descended the stairs and made my way into the kitchen. "About time, grab your lunch and let's get going or we will be late." My mom said, just as annoyed as every other morning when we went through this.
"I can walk, I have the time." I said grabbing the brown bag from the counter, slipping it into my backpack.
"No, you're still on the watch list for pulling that all nighter." She said with growing annoyance.
I shrugged, "I still made it to school on time." True, but I slept through half my classes and was barely able to focus in the other half.
"I don't get how you can maintain grades, playing those games all the time. Night and day, on that machine. Do you study? Are you on drugs? Is it drugs? I heard a story about high school kids taking pills to perform better on tests, it's a fad or whatever!"
"I'm not on drugs, my brain is naturally this awesome. Want me to pee in a cup to prove it, pull one from the cabinet, let's go, right now. I'll fill it to the brim, will that make you happy?"
My brother laughed, before looking at mom. His ears folded and like that the joke was over.
"That's disgusting, why are you so disgusting? It's crude, I'm going to have your father talk to you! You're not above the law of this house young man." She said waving a finger at me.
"Relax mother, are you driving us to school or what? Because at this rate I'll miss the bell and it'll be your fault not mine." I said matter of factly.
She threw up her hands and opened the back door, motioning for us to get out. I followed Devin outside and we walked to the maroon sedan parked in the driveway. Waiting for mom to unlock the doors for us. Devin rode in the back, with me in the front seat next to mom.
The drive to school was short, which was good because the silence was brutal. "Have a good day at school Dev." I said to my younger brother before we climbed out. Devin walked off towards class without another word.
"Have a good day at school baby!" My mom called out, wanting to embarrass me into behaving. I just rolled my eyes.
"You too mommy," I said in a high pitched voice before closing the car door. Whatever, like I cared what anyone here thought about me. A few people were looking my way, but most didn't give a fuck. It was early, winter was in the air. They had other things to deal with.
It was still a bit early for class so I made my way towards the school library. Matt was usually hiding out in there when he wasn't in class. Miss Babcock, an ancient looking shrew eyed me suspiciously as I entered the library. Not like I wasn't here during lunch every day, old bat is going loony.
Matt was in his usual place, computer lab in the back. He spent a class period as an aid for the school computer admin. I didn't have to try to find the chubby canine. Same spot as always, busy typing away on his laptop.
"New game tonight, not going to say more than that." Matt turned and grinned at me.
"How do you have a game already prepared?" I asked sitting at the computer next to him.
"I spend a lot of time building them, you'd know that if you paid attention."
I shrugged, "I just play the games. I don't worry about the rest."
Matt turned in his seat to face me. "You didn't have to kill Rufus."
I raised a brow, "Does it matter? The game resets when it starts up again. Besides, he killed people. Not like that cop was around to help out."
"Not the point psycho, you killed him in cold blood. The next chapter may have a new character as the town murderer. The data is saved in a file at home."
"So next time we play I'll have to kill myself, gotcha." I looked Matt in the eyes.
"He will know how you think doofus, your thoughts and memories are in him. Slightly modified to fit the game world, but they are there. Dorky stuff aside, don't get grounded or anything. It would suck not having you in game."
"Look Admin, you could have used the system command to boot active players and save the game. Not my fault it went so late, you weren't in there."
A small smile spread across his muzzle, "Actually."
I raised a brow, "You were in? That's odd for you." Usually he monitored the game from his screen when running it for us.
"Yeah, well all the tweaks were done so I figured why not? I took over an NPC and just wandered around really. Checked to see how stable the game world was. Then Gary was fooling around in that Cheerleader's house. Trespassing and all, so naturally as a cop I had to say something."
"So when he made a move towards his weapon, you knew he was going to waste you. That's too funny, does he know?"
Matt shook his head, "No. I was an NPC so I didn't have a player tag. What he gets for not taking the game seriously."
The bell rang and I slowly stood up. "Catch you later," I said before heading to class. It was Friday, so I had a whole weekend of gaming to look forward to. The day drug on, like it tended to do. When the bell rang for lunch I returned to the library.
Matt and Jane were already there. They both had biology down the hall. While I had to come from Gym. Sam and Gary were on the far side of campus in the Vocation Building. Matt was busy typing away on his laptop. Jane, a short panther, was checking her cell.
I pulled a chair up on the other side of Matt and opened my lunch bag. "Looks like a dry turkey sandwich again, some carrot sticks and a small bag of chips. Wanna trade?" I asked looking up at the other two.
"Same line every day, just eat your food." Jane said never taking her eyes off her phone.
"You're in a mood," I said before removing my sandwich from it's baggie to take a bite out of it. I grimaced, so dry. Poor turkey, I shall remember well your suffering.
"Just tired of your shit, same line every day. Yeah, we get it, your mom cant cook turkey, or ham, or anything meat related. How sad for you, meanwhile kids in Africa go hungry. They starve while rich people flood the market with factory farmed foods. We can feed the world as it is, yet farming is always needing to produce, produce, produce. It sickens me."
"So, are you going to splash red paint on farmers now or something?" I asked looking up from my sandwich.
She groaned and looked up from her phone. "It isn't the farmers you ass, it's the business suits! Everything they do fucks things up for the rest of us. But you're too busy drinking your fizzy sodas and watching your idiot boxes to pay attention to the real world."
I pumped a fist into the air, "Viva la resistance'! Down with capitalism! Death to bankers! Abortions for all, tampons for none!"
"Dude, that's nasty." Sam said walking up behind us along with Gary.
I shrugged and went back to my lunch. Jane rolled her eyes and went back to her phone. Ignoring the tiger. I ate my lunch quickly, while Sam bitched about being killed in the game.
"Bleachers dude, seriously? How was I supposed to know? Last time we played the environment wasn't that realistic."
"At least you didn't get wasted by a cop, he had to be unbalanced. Stats like that, reflexes. I should have easily wasted him."
I laughed, tossing my empty lunch bag into a nearby trash bin. "Big dragon upset because the lawman killed him?" I said in a mock baby voice.
"Shut up, just because you survived. Goth chick had a knife, dropped it behind the bleachers. It had to be her." Gary said annoyed.
"Then why were you snooping at the Cheerleader's house if you thought it was the Goth?" I asked raising a brow.
"I told Sam, figured he would solve it while I went to check out some realism."
Jane snorted, "You just wanted to see if Matt programmed her to be anatomically correct. Perv!"
Gary shrugged, "Can't blame a guy for being curious. She was sexy."
"He designed her that way, plot twist would have been to have her be the killer. Who would suspect the town bicycle of murder?" Sam asked.
"I based her off of the 1980s stereotype for cheerleaders." Matt said not taking his eyes off his screen.
"So what they allegedly were like almost 50 years ago. Peppy and brain dead, suddenly I hate her even more." Jane said.
"What's the new game?" I asked wanting to move on.
Matt shrugged, "I have a few to pick from. Leaning towards a covert ops type."
"No more murder mysteries, that was lame." Jane said.
"I say fantasy," Sam said excitedly.
"You're such a loser, shooting things is way cooler." Jane said pretending to aim a gun at Sam with her fingers.
"Zombies," Gary suggested.
"No, zombies is too retro." I said rolling my eyes.
"Which is why it's so perfect." Jane said looking at me.
"Why don't you dorks just play Leathernecks or Mists of Mania?"
We looked at the door to the computer lab. It was a doberman I didn't recognize.
"Barton, no one A list plays that trash." Sam told him annoyance clear in his tone.
"Whoa, A list? That's very 20s of you, next you will be saying legit, like my old man." Barton said laughing to himself.
"Old man is very retro, hell, retro is retro. Jargon aside, we don't need those pop titles to have fun. Matt designs some pretty fun stuff." I told him.
"The dork fancies himself a developer? Bet you losers cant even clear a round of Leathernecks. Probably just die right on the spawn." Barton said trying to sound cool, for lack of a better term.
"Dude, just because your dad won a few rounds of CoD in his day doesn't make you a god among men." Jane said taking a step towards the taller male. She barely came up to his chest.
"You think you're great, prove it then dorks. Let's go right here, right now. No VR, just keyboard and mouse."
Jane gave a nod and sat down in front the closest computer. "You're on bitch face, don't go crying to mommy when I school your ass!"
Barton took a seat next to her and they loaded up a first person shooter called GunZ. The rest of us just stood there and watched.
"Pick the map and rules," Jane told him not interested in the slightest about variants.
Barton selected a close quarters map, an old outpost. Handguns, with a five kill to win limit.
A small countdown timer appeared on both screens as the game prepared to start the match. Then they were in and off both players went. Jane grabbed ammo and then made her way towards high ground. Hoping to catch Barton as he passed on one of the walkways on the second level.
Barton traded out his default handgun, the Glock .45 for a Smith and Wesson .357. He had the stopping power, but Jane was on the move again. She dropped down to the second level and took off. Rounding a corner, coming out right in front of Barton. Her finger tapped lightning quick, firing off two shots before Barton could even get in one.
He missed, jerking around too much. Jane was ahead, one to zip. He rolled his eyes, "Luck."
She didn't respond to him, concentrating on the game. She picked up his gun and ammo before heading back out. She managed to get in two more kills before he finally got her once. He was agitated to say the least. Even I didn't expect him to perform so poorly. Jane rounded a corner, and dropped dead.
"Yeah, take it bitch!" Barton yelled.
Jane still didn't respond, she was up two, with one away from victory. He didn't have a leg to stand on. A fact that was proven when he entered the walkway room and Jane smoked him. The words, "You lose" flashed across Barton's screen.
"Yeah, you were right. That was some mighty fine schooling you did." Jane said as she stood up and walked out of the computer lab.
"Oh, she told you home slice!" Gary said throwing up a mock gang sign I'd seen my dad make when he was drunk and talking about his time in school.
Barton growled and stormed out of the room. We didn't have time to say much else, the bell rang and it was time to finish up the school day with more classes. I grabbed my backpack and dashed out into the sea of students waiting in the halls outside the library.
The rest of the day went by uneventfully. As soon as the bell rang I shot out of the classroom like a rocket. Determined to get home and get to gaming. I only lived six blocks away from the school. A distance I closed quickly, yeah I was nerdy but I wasn't totally out of shape. I had the legs and lungs of a track star.
I slowed to a stop when I reached the front door. It wasn't locked, dad was home from work already. "Kevin," I heard him say from the living room once I was inside.
"Yeah," I said peeking inside to look at him.
He was sprawled out on the couch. Dress shirt no longer tucked and his tie around his head like a bandanna. "Your mother wants you to take a break from gaming."
I rolled my eyes, "Yeah. Whatever, what do you think?"
He flicked his head to the side, tie bandanna sweeping through the air and flopping against the side of his head. "I say, game on kid. Your daddy didn't raise no quitter."
I smiled at him, "I love you dad."
He grinned at me, "Love you too kid. Include your brother though. I don't know what he does, but it isn't good to just play MMOs or whatever it is he plays. Kid is a mystery to me."
I shrugged, "Just quiet is all. Do the ear thing, he loves it. Probably just easier for him to bond with me since I'm closer to his age."
Dad chuckled and sat up. "I'll try that, if he will let me get close enough to rub them. Little pup seems to like his space."
"Nah, trust me. Just rub his ears, melts like butter and he'll snuggle right up with you."
"Sounds like someone has a boyfriend," He said teasingly.
"Oh please, he is just affectionate is all. Plus, my brother so weird."
"Like I'd be cool with that anyway, perv."
"You're one to talk," I said sticking my tongue out at him.
"You know it, go on pup. I can hear your machine calling out in it's Siren song."
I smiled and dashed up the stairs, taking them two at a time. I almost tripped on the landing. Sprinting into my room, I closed the door behind me and turned on my computer. It would take Matt another 20 minutes to get home. That didn't mean I couldn't access our game server though.
The web cam scanned my retina and my computer unlocked. I clicked on the icon for Matt's custom library. Dozens of games were listed on the screen. On the right side was my avatar. He looked just like me, well toned, black fur, red eyes. A veritable god, so yeah, not like me at all.
He looked cool though, and that's what matters. I clicked on Chex, my avatar and looked over his stats. All of the experience we gained carried over from game to game. He had a fair amount of cash too. Half a million, though the amount I could spend in any game world could be limited to fit the game.
I selected a few weapons that weren't red listed for our current game. Matching Browning Hi-powers, a SCAR-H and a KABAR. Older weapons, most of Matt's games were set in the past. He prefers it that way, either historic in some sense or pure fantasy. We did do a Sci-fi game once though. Hence the plasma phase rifle and blaster pistols in my inventory.
My ear perked at a light knock on my door. I swiveled my chair to face the door, "Pup! That you?"
The door opened slowly and my brother peeked inside. "Hey, so dad said you wanted to play a game?"
"Yeah, we are starting a new one and if you want in. Since it was his idea, I'm sure dad would be fine with you using his rig."
He blushed under his fur and laid his ears back. "Yeah, he rubbed my ears when I got home. You told him?"
I smiled giving a nod, "Of course. He just wanted something to help with the father son bonding. Like he cares if you get all lovey. I swear he is about as open to incest as you are."
Dev whimpered and looked down. "I can't help it, I like what I like."
"I told you earlier, I didn't care pup. I just want you to be happy."
He smiled at me, "You're the best!" He hugged me tightly, pinning me back against my chair.
I returned his hug and he buried his face in my neck. "Might want to hustle pup, need to get an account set up and everyone else will be home from school soon."
He stood up straight and nodded, leaving my room without another word. I got up and followed him out to help him get everything set up. Dad was laying on the couch, and barely moved when we came down the stairs and walked through the living room to enter his study.
Devin grabbed dad's VR headset from the desk drawer dad stored it in. The study was more of a gaming room. Mom hated it, but dad wouldn't let her mess with anything inside the four walls of the room. It was his place to be himself. I smiled to myself, thinking about how every time she looked at me she was reminded of everything she hated about him.
I looked into Devin's eyes and held out my hand. She wasn't home, little extra affection wouldn't hurt anyone. He smiled and happily slipped his hand in mine. Our smooth paw pads rubbing over each other as our fingers intertwined. My tail swayed slightly, while his was going a mile a minute.
This time I lead the way, back upstairs we went, hand paw in hand paw. Straight into his room where I fired up his computer. It wasn't as fast as mine, but it was still a custom build that was leaps and bounds better than most computers in our neighborhood.
I synced the headset with his computer and told him where to go online to install the client we used. After it was installed he created an account and I gave him the pass code to get into Matt's domain. "Set up your avatar, and pick your gear. Once you're ready just put on the headset and relax. It will take care of the rest."
"Thanks, um, could we?" Dev said blushing more.
"Could we?" I asked him waiting for him to tell me what he wanted.
"Could we not be brothers? Inside there I mean. Could we be, what I want?" He asked looking up into my eyes.
I rubbed my hand over his furry cheek. "Sure, but don't let anyone find out. My name is Chex in there. You're his boyfriend, no one can no we're related."
He nodded and hugged me tightly. "Thank you!"
I kissed between his ears. "You're welcome pup, better hustle. Don't want to keep Chex waiting." I said as I broke the hug and walked towards the door.
I sat back in my chair and returned my attention to the game. Chat request pending, I clicked on it and a window opened up. Matt looked at me, looking confused. "Who's the newb in our domain?"
I shrugged, "Relax Admin, he's with me. We will fill you in once things get rolling. What's the world?"
"It's called Project one. I've been working on the world for a while now. Fully rendered, real world physics. It's also 100% Terra scale. I had to put it on it's own drive, just for the world. NPCs are still in the works, but there is enough for us to play. Roughly a thousand people. Once we start progressing through it new zones will open up and populate based on what we do in game."
"Holy balls, even the major MMOs aren't that scale." I said not sure why he needed to go that overboard.
"Just testing out what I can do really. I'm thinking about keeping this one up and letting other people join in as different groups. Change the political climate based on which group performs the best, that sort of thing. We will see though."
"Sam is in, probably going to spend the next hour picking his load out." I said rolling my eyes.
"That's fine, I still have to do mine." Matt said before taking a drink of what appeared to be orange juice.
"Oh? You're playing Admin?" I asked fighting off a yawn.
"Yeah, have to keep the team balanced after all. It'll be fine. I just set up the rough framework for the game. The engine's A.I. will adjust things randomly. If I programmed it right, which I'm sure I did."
Another name flashed on the screen. Rez, which meant Jane was logged in. I clicked on her name and added her to the chat. "Rez, Admin is actually going to game this time around." I said as I clicked on my brother's name. Wyndle, he had already selected a few basic weapons.
"Better not slow me down," Jane said sounding pissy as ever.
"Calm down Rez, you know Bruce can bring it." Matt said defensively.
"I'm sure you can, and who the fuck is the newb?" Jane said scowling more so than usual.
"Wyndle, and he is my boyfriend." I said trying to sound casual about it.
"Wait, what?" Matt asked.
"Yeah, it's a new development. Just asked me after school today and I said yes. So we're together."
"You know what my aunt would say about that? She'd call you fags and sinners." Jane said rolling her eyes while flipping someone off over her shoulder.
"My dad is cool with it, knowing mom she will flip out. But she flips out over anything I do, so whatever. Bitch." I said scowling slightly.
Sam popped up in the video chat. "Hey, all set. Just waiting on Gary and that new guy. What's his story? I thought we were the only dorks in our nerd herd?" The tiger said.
"Don't mind him, he's Kevin's little boy toy." Jane said twirling her wrist about like a stereotype of a gay male.
"That's cool, I dated a guy online once. He kind of went AFK and never came back." Sam said with a shrug.
"That sucks kitty, you'll find someone special." I said to him.
Wyndle joined the group chat. The avatar of a snow white wolf smiled inside the small screen. "Hi," he said doing his best to hide how nervous he was.
"How cute, he is shy." Jane said almost smiling at that.
"Don't scare him off," Sam said to Jane.
"Just being honest, you don't get out much do you?" Jane asked.
The white wolf shook his head. "Don't really have friends. Just Chex, and my brother."
I was nervous, this all came down to him not blowing our cover. I silently prayed that he wouldn't blow our cover. Gary finally logged in and joined the chat.
"Hey, sorry I'm a tad late. Had to run to the store for my mom real quick." Gary said clicking away on his end of the screen.
"Well I'm set," Jane said slipping her headset on. Her chat window cut to black for a few seconds before cutting to her avatar. She had white stripes streaking through her fur and wore a leather jacket. I watched her select a pair of sunglasses and put them on.
Wyndle was now wearing a tan under shirt. Picking his way slowly through his clothing options. With a sigh I grabbed my headset. It beeped a couple times and I felt the familiar feeling of being weightless before I was in.
The room was drab, grey walls, with a matching floor and ceiling. Totally empty, like it always was. I was just in my section of the domain, and outside of the game world. I held out my hand and a menu opened up in the air. Looking very much like a keyboard.
I selected my gear and they appeared on my avatar. Tucked securely inside holsters, or slung across my back by a sling. Black combat boots and ACUs completed my appearance. I was set for a desert match. I clicked another key and a door appeared on the wall to my left. With a wave the keyboard vanished.
Once I stepped through the door I was inside the lobby with Wyndle and Rez. He was rubbing his arm nervously, tail curled around his leg. Once he saw me his demeanor changed drastically. His tail was wagging furiously and he sprinted over to me.
I was locked into a tight hug. "Hey there pup, miss me?" I asked returning the tight hug.
He tensed, "Little tight Chex. But yeah, I missed you."
I chuckled and eased up on the hug. "Sorry, I'm pretty strong in here."
"Get a room you two, or don't. Personally I don't know how to feel really. Just don't get me killed." Jane said taking a seat on one of the leather couches in the lobby. I looked at the nearest display screen. It was floating in the air just a few feet away.
"The others are all in now. Shouldn't be long. Pup, stick close to me and we should make quick work of this." I said smiling at him.
He gave a small nod, "Okay Chex. I haven't really done this sort of thing."
"I know, just do as I say and it will be fine." I said giving him a kiss on the cheek. Or I attempted to. He turned his head at the last second and I ended up meeting his lips with mine. I tensed slightly, not expecting to suddenly be faced with our first real kiss. Or as real of a kiss as we could share given the circumstances.
"I am so not confident about this. Chex, I have a score to maintain. Don't make me waste you like what was his name from earlier? No, seriously, I cant remember. What was his name? Chex, coming up for air? Fuck dude."
I pulled back from the kiss, getting a whimper from Wyndle. I looked into his eyes, still the same eyes. He didn't change them when he made his avatar. They looked just as gorgeous. He nuzzled into my neck fur. "Feels real," he said softly.
"That's because the rig collects the electrical impulses from the base of your brain stem. Instantly rendering real world reactions, while simultaneously transmitting impulses back to the brain telling it what you're experiencing in here. You kiss and your mind takes the action and gives realistic sensation based on that action." Matt explained, through his avatar, Bruce.
Bruce was the least like his creator out of all of our avatars. He went beyond my toned musculature and straight into buff. Looking like an 80s action movie hero. Broad chested, with thick arms that were right at home on a body builder. He stood a good foot taller than Matt, and was a dragon instead of a wolf.
Gary spent plenty a game session poking fun at Matt for his choices. But Matt simply shrugged them all off. In here, he was strong. There were times where I got the feeling he would stay in here forever if he had the chance to do so. While the thought appealed to me at times, I would always think of something that would push away that thought.
One of those things, was standing right there with me. In the form of an adult wolf, with pure white snow and eyes that were like pools of water. With him here, I could stay forever. I would miss dad, but having Devin here would make it worth it.
He murred softly, nosing into my thick neck fur. "Smells the same too," he murmured. I chuckled and rested my head against his.
"Scent is tied to memory, so yeah he would smell the same regardless." Bruce explained.
Sam and Gary both entered the lobby at the same time. Gary's avatar, Steele, was a grey scaled dragon whose height matched his own. Sam's was a black tiger with orange stripes, named Ace.
"So if the lovers are done feeling each other up, can we please start?" Jane asked motioning towards the door on the far wall labeled with a gold plague. Bearing the name Project one.
Bruce motioned at it, "By all means. Faster we start, the more we get through."
We all made our way over to the door. Rez bolted through it, vanishing into darkness once she cleared the threshold. Bruce went through next, followed by Steele and then Ace. I took Wyndle's hand in mine and once again took the lead.
There was a flash and then the world rendered around us. Spreading out quickly in all directions as the computer placed all the in game objects.
There it is, part one. Any mistakes point them out in the comments below. It was way late for me when I finished this thing, so I'd be surprised if it was flawless. Want to see more hit that watch button, liked the story give it some stars and if you have feedback leave that in the comment section. Thanks for reading.
^_^