Staring at my reflection in the var window. Thinking about how my life is going, I have to admit it is nice and peaceful. I like peaceful. The only issue with peaceful is you get bored. When you get bored you want a change. If you get a change however you're no longer peaceful. Then you work hard to make your new reality peaceful. So you can be comfortable. I resent boredom. I combat boredom in many ways. I do not let boredom Have more than a glimpse of my life. Because I enjoy my peace to much.
I have a job I enjoy most of the time. Company housing and a steady paycheck.
The men I help take care of: live right next door, on the other side of the duplex. I wipe old men's asses and help them take showers. No it is not a glorious job, but has its perks. Every day is peaceful I only work from 3-11 pm Monday thru Friday. Only have to cook one meal, give them their meds and do some general household chores. Sometimes I run errands with the guys and in general I enjoy my job. The men are pleasant most of the time.
Why do I do this mediocre job? Because of the perks. Free food, free housing: easy job. I am home every day and I actually do enjoy taking care of these men. I always hear people say you can do better. The truth is I could make more money. I used to make more money. The problem was I never had free time. I would wake up, work and eat. Then go back to bed. There was nothing in it for me. It did not matter when i was a commercial pilot or a Over the Road truck driver. I never had enough time at home. I lost contact with my friends. I spent years in a solitary jobs with no one to talk to.
Now today is wensday and it is about time for my mom to call and ask if i have a girlfriend. i am wondering if i should break my phone or not. after all the only contacts that call me is my mom and my boss. the other contacts are all the major business numbers in the area. hey at least i got more then one number in there. Right, i also have a few friends i almost never speak to. I used to truck and before that i was in the military. not that i actually keep in touch i just somehow never got around to deleting everyone number. to much effort.
Sitting in the passenger van, this was a work van. It was not mine. The work Van was for the other side of the duplex. To move the disabled guys around town. I finally receive my expected call. Staring at it ringing. once, twice, three times, finally i pick it up. I answer thank you for calling Joe's crab shack we got crabs. Mother is used to it. Hi mom how are you. Mother replies, good hey I found something. You might be interested in. oh what. I in turn say. I'll Facebook you a link. Other chatter. love you and bye was pretty much it.
A fem minutes later my cell dings. It inform me a I have a new message. Clinking on the little link. I quickly find something called a vr pod. Play while you sleep was the advertisement.
It had some benefits to go with it. Even helped people with some medical problems. Apparently it used something called nano-slime. This is absorbed through your skin. I am not much of a gamer. I remember when vr first came out the silly goggles and the controllers. People goofing off on the couch. This actually sounded really interesting. best thing about it is that it slowly gets rid of a lot of problems and keeps track and record of your health. if there are any problems a doctor can immediately see those problems. There is a reason I no longer drive a big truck, or serve in the army, or fly a plane. I get sick easy. Chest pains and dizzyness.
Never explained it well to a doctor and doctors cost a lot. Not to mention this gets rid of knots and other minor ailments. Replaces a bed which I have planned to replace. In the next month. I have been saying I would do that for the last 6 months. Sure it was x3, x10. What a fancy bed would cost. Just thinking of the benefits with a price of only x3, or 5x, or x10. Cost was based on models. One thing I had learned. Is when you buy something you do not understand. First look at reviews, second look at price of brand, and third buy the best. because cheap stuff always cost more in the end.
oh and there was a pre-order for the latest vr pod. I do not think that was what my mom was talking about. hmm if you pre order you can pay 10 percent now and make payments for a three years. looking at the cost pre order lowers the cost by about 4 percent. On the other hand. Payment plan actually cost more then two nice VR pods of the current generations. I had been saving for a new car, well truck really. Only thing was, I never could decide what I wanted to buy. oh the agony of choices. I'd love a diesel truck. Living in a college town. I did not need one.
With-in moments, while still reading the medical benefits. I had pre-ordered and actually completely paid for one....20 seconds later buyer remorse hit me hard. There was not anyway to change that order. except to cancel the order i had made. I wanted to make two large payments. Then the last third of the cost, i wanted to make payments on. To help build my credit. This is probably why, I should not have allowed my little laptop to save all my data. To auto-fill information.
Normally, I just would have paid the pre-order fee. Gone with that. Today when I went to click purchase. I hit the arrow key and it bounced down to full purchase. I am a little ticked off at myself. At least I get a free game. better after how much I just spent. I also receive free delivery, hook up and set up, nice. I hate moving stuff. I see delivery fee was going to be quite expensive. I am starting to feel better with the stuff the company through in. I quickly glance at the game, some doctor game i guess. Has a silly girl in a nurse outfit, with a giant ass needle. hmmm I think that supposed to be a giant set of scissors on her back. kinda makes me think so. The photo does not look animated. Looks like they had some cos-play girl dress up.
Whatever, I am sure I can watch movies while I sleep. Learn a new language if the game sucks. I have been wanting to learn a few languages for awhile now. Maybe change jobs. Not that I do not like where I am. Just want a bit of a change.
Going back to work that night I look at the online receipt find out delivery is in 7 weeks. A note. Can be later if there is a back up. okay not to soon that is fine. I can start saving up again for my truck or car. I want you all to understand I simply thought. This was a helpful computer, and while I understood that virtual reality was supposed to be a digital real world. The understanding meant nothing to me. You know those halo games that everyone was addicted to once. I would beat the game normally some odd hours later. I hardly ever played that game again. Only when my nephew was over at the house. I would play co-op with him.
I got bored with games because of the script. So when I saw this virtual reality pod. Understand I was really wanting to purchase it for the medical side effects. The option to learn stuff, actually I like school. School is expensive this made it easier to learn the stuff i was actually interested in. That is pretty cheap and learning while you sleep sounds great. After the military and college I had became a lazy guy. Example I had cloths on my floor. I was to lazy to hang them up. They where clean, and I only laid in my bed. With two hampers for clean and dirty laundry. That is basically the same set of cloths worn over, and over. They where comfortable cheap and utilitarian.
life moves on 7 weeks later still present tense.
The Day arrived, in fact I had completely forgotten about the delivery. Sometimes, I had wondered, but it is not like I put it on my calendar. There was no reason to be worried about it. It would get here when it did. When the techs arrived, I raced down to kick my clean laundry into my closet. Push my treadmill against the wall, and then had the thought that they could set up the pod in the middle of my bedroom. I was already breaking down my simple bed and pushing the mattress, box spring, and headboard against the wall. Ten minutes and I was ready.
When the techs pulled the truck all the way around my duplex. into the back yard Thankfully there was no fence in need of tearing down. They kept doing little back and forth turns until the truck was turned all the way around with the tail facing my back door. The lawn was torn up. luckily for me I live in Kansas, where that grass would be back in a matter of weeks.
I sleep in the 2nd floor on the far side of the duplex. Because it is cooler in the summer. When I moved in, I was worried about how effective the ac would be. Turns out that the ac is really dam effective. I had only two sets of sheets to change out ever week and six blankets. I had purchased the Queen sized pod. Even though the pod is Queen sized it is still made only for one person. In what world do they make a queen sized for a single person. Well in the end it does not pertain to me I do not have a women. That is just common sense right?
My pod in addition to being quite wide was tall. Barely fit in the room. We had to take the light cover off. For it to fit, it had shelves where you add the slime cases. All kinds of stuff. It was a giant cube maybe the Borg had landed and was masquerading as a VR company. This was how they added to the hive mind. Started a dam company. I was really having some second thoughts. It also filled up the whole room, There was a tiny bit of space between the door and the closet, and the hatch for the pod.
Just in case you where wondering. I only unlocked the back door. Went up stairs to the living room. Filled out some forms and left the techs to it. Sense I was on my shift. There is nothing on my side of the duplex worth stealing. I do not even own a TV. I do not watch TV. Another note the my room is quite large in fact. My half of the duplex has four rooms, a nice kitchen and a decent sized living room. My room was also the largest 28x17x91/2ft. As you can tell it was a big room. It is a mirror of the rooms on the other side of the duplex. Where the guys where( AKA the Consumers).
I remember there being a quick questions to answer. Asking me some questions about my room, I just pulled up my contract and used the dimensions for my room. I did not even measure. Because every book I had read the pods where supposed to be small, and sense I had a big room. I did not even worry about the size of the pod. This new pod was the biggest pod and they custom built it. No wonder it cost so dam much. An additional note for the lore of this story Apparently for those that don't have a big enough room. They remove the bins and shelves, and attach them up in laundry rooms or some other room. Running lines under a carpet threw walls, or if your a renter they leave the lines exposed. I actually still had one line that ran out of my room. Had a big box that was plugged into the wall. Turns out it was a emergency battery back up. In case power went out. They could have put it in the pod, but it was a spare of a spare.
While they where over there, I made dinner for my guys. Then gave them there meds. Of course I was wondering about my pod. Once my shift was over, I locked up the guys side of the duplex. Came to my side of the house. That was when i first realized how large this pod was. When i signed the paperwork earlier in the shift. All the parts where in the box of the truck. I saw next to the hatch a simple silver plastic bag. Similar to the FedEx bags that are shipped. I decide at that point, when I am ready for bed I would read the manual. Turn it on and pass out inside. That was the plan. So after work I took my work van to mcd's got a sweet tea and a medium fry. Then went home surfed the web. Reading my favorite internet books that i liked to read. I recently got into web books.
After that and my fry and drink i went home. When i arrived at my room i looked in, then flipped the light on and simple thought shit the Borg are real. Yeah i already said it, but come on Whats Borg is Borg. Right there on the side in silver plastic bag was the manual. Clipped onto what i guess was a towel hook, or a robe hook. We will just call it a hook for a towel. opening up this monster book of a manual Laying against the pod it did not look all that thick. I see that it got tones of chapters. Hmmm I skimmed a lot but I am not a gamer so I skipped all of those section at the moment. Simple focused on the machine and how to do stuff that interested me.
This actually took me about 6 days of reading I slept on my couch in the living room. Which is pretty comfortable until I at least had a understanding. Simple yes, but a understanding of the machine. Once i read all that. I finally opened up the section for the game looked at a few pages saw there was more then once race how to set up a character. Mostly I wanted to know how to keep my information hidden and what could happen to me if I die. Pain setting and all of that. How it interact with sleep that part was actually pretty interesting.
Basically if you get strong in the game the muscles will follow along. If you get damaged and die you suffer a penalty, until revived and healed. So basically if I get a limb chopped off and die. When I revive in the town, if i do not pay the fee, to get healed, but log off my leg will be incredible numb in real life. I need to pay to be healed. There wont be pain but there will be status effects. You can also turn real money into game money if i need it. This is just like that WOW game. I played that just sucks the money out of your accounts. So I probably would not be a serious gamer. That was the real information I was looking for.
let others be serious gamers I could care less. I saw that you can learn a real language through the game. What you learn in game can be used in real life that was cool. Actually I hated reading manuals this one however made me think a lot. Oh if you have not figured out, I was starting to get just a wii bit excited here. Only for all kinds of different reasons. then I found something interesting.
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You can change the time difference. From 4x times as fast in game time. To real life time. Then there where higher status such as 5x, and even up to 12 times as fast. Sounds great more game time. There was a different side effect the slower the speed the more effect it will have on your body the faster speed the body can not keep up and so will simple ignore and not even try to compare body to in game. well I am going to be only in a game for my body improvements and to learn languages so while 3x speed is fast I want to learn stuff and it takes years of learning to learn a language. Well I picked real life time effect. It not like nano technology can actually make you into a cyborg or superman right it can barely speed up the learning curve.
On the sixth day I decided to hop in my pod. Finally turning it all on. double checking the hoses. making sure everything matched the manual. Just so you know nano slime is still expensive. we are talking thousands of dollars to replace a few gallons. Before this I thought milk in the four dollar range was expensive.
i actually still have a few thousands left in my bank account and i still have a job and a steady paycheck and i generally enjoy my job.{ if i had left my job it would have been to go to a Asian country. what can i say, the women are a pleasure to look at. }<----tangent i guess has nothing really to do with this story
i open the hatch, okay this hatch is two inches thick, why is the dam door so thick kinda spooky.< i used spooky here, but it not really foreshadowing anything. Just could not think of a better way to express doubt. When entering something that looks like it is made to be indestructible. > There is also a thick seal makes sense got to keep the liquids in.
Must of made it for California and all there earthquakes probably why they made it so sturdy, and had that thick hatch. Can not have your customers quit because they cant afford more more nano slime.
I am all the way inside now a little warm light turns on. I can hear what sounds like small electric fans for computers turn on. The inside this pod is now producing some soft music. Same stuff you buy at walmart. Hear a lot in hospitals, and massage parlors Im talking about that calming background music.
Going to sleep now, I do not want some crappy hip hop music. Singing about how they miss there crappy boyfriends. That cheated on them. heh I have not ever even asked a girl out, and the older i got the less women I became interested in. Young ones temperament are to irritating, and older women lost the looks, or came with baggage. Just because I am older. Does not mean I should just get whatever is available?
Yes I do think I deserve a women well above standard issue. looking from the outside in. It seems that most guys that Get a women. Bitch about there girl, and only stick around because receiving sex is easier. from what i seen in the majority of marriages first 4-8 months life is good. By year two, they normally hate each other. only they don't separate because there is a kid.
Did i mention i wanted children. Always wanted to be a father, and I wanted 10-30 kids. I know that a few i should try for a higher score. How many times can you read the same bedtime story. Even was willing to adopt. thought about adopting.
Right about now. A slightly cold goo starts to pour out. Great now all I need to do. Is to wait for it to start. i quickly close the hatch. a few more lights come on. a small lcd screen lights up here and there. Mostly saying initiating. Starting to feel like the space marine off of that Blizzard game, Starcraft. Hmmm half the pod is full, and it is still pouring out. Guess it is going to go, all the way to my shoulders. Like a tub nice. This goo actually feels good warming up slowly.
Alright I see one of the lcd screens has starting it count up currently uploaded at 1% hmmm im not falling asleep im getting excited. alright calm down there no button in here it all done by neural stimulation which is why they suggest you do this at night the first few times. helps you relax. a quick glance and a few more lcd screens have started there uploads. goo is at my shoulders should stop pretty soon. it does seem to be getting a bit more watery figures. it stops pouring just like i thought warms up a little more then the water goo start to become more gel like again. huh guess the nano tech growing in this batch on the nutrients in the water. was kinda expected how else would i have afforded this much nano slime. i see it is now at 45 % and i have been in here for a bit. some of the lcd however show 100% . hurry up i am getting bored again.
my head is resting. Falling asleep at 75% nothing. dam. i think my pod is broken. How am I supposed to set stuff up, before i fall asleep. I know you can do it in your sleep, but your supposed to do it before hand. 83% suddenly just as I am about to fall asleep the goo shoots out fast. It is filling the dam pod up. i immediately hop up. This is not mentioned in the manual. A LCD screen lights up over my head. With text saying you loose. What, what is going on. the nano-slime is still spilling out. I am completely up and pushing for the hatch, Only the damn thing is locked, bolted there is only one hatch. Glancing around goo is still rising. On the top of the hatch the lcd screen is going ha ha ha ha ha. Then i get tasered.
I am out, I am going to die in a damn game pod. A damn game killed me i know it. I wake up floating on a branch. In a sea everywhere I look, there is mist and water. I am leaning over a branch. however as i look. I am black and foggy. Up pops in front of me a mermaid.... no not a mermaid... what is it. I think this is a kappa only it is differently a women…. i think... it is a female. Pretty, at least if i was into dark scaly and pretty much emotionless. Actually the more I look at her. The more I am getting frightened. She open her mouth just a little bit and there I see what looks like big teeth. Bits of meat stuck in some of them, and breath well it is not minty. Was wet and hot and slightly bad smelling. I am about to hop off my branch to swim away. When reason catches up with me. I can see she is aquatic.
Then I feel something touch my legs. Without hesitating I scream out. Looking down into the water. Movement i detect making me look up. I look up she is in my face. I mean in my face. I freeze and she flicks out her tongue and licks me. Mmmm you taste good. Shit I finally meet a girl, who is upfront about what she wants from me. All she see me for is food. Shit my luck. Behind me pops up another, and as I am looking around a few more pop up some male some female.
Hey dinner what’s your name. I look at her and remember the advice from the manual use your real name with npcs and use your username with other players when you go online. Then I reminder that this is a game. Calming down I say Michael. She looks at me and says so you're a Michael. Her eyes roll back for just a few moments. Then looks again at me and asks for my surname... I had to actually think what the hell is a surname. Then remember my last name is a surname. Who wrote this program. Just ask for the last name damm it. While calmer I am still frightened as hell here. It is not helping that my chef is wrapping, what feels like her tale around me. I can not run. I quickly reply smith. Her eyes role back again then focus again on me. She says; so you were born with the third most common name in the English language, and then the second most common name for a last name.
Did your parents hate you. What the hell, Come on now, do not make fun of me. Just before you eat me. I replied. Remember I can feel her dam scales. I do not even know where that response came from. This is so damn real. If i could crap my pants I would have done it. Everything in me is so damn tight. The slimy and scaly sensation from her tail is freaking me out. She looks surprised as well. For a moment, her tail had stopped encircling me. She ask me what race am I. I look at her and say can't you tell I am human. With a puzzled face she studies me. hmmmm are you sure. I am scared and pissed but my mouth is moving all on it own. Of course I am sure I was born this way wasn't I. She kinda tilts her head and says is that the race you want to stay as? I just remembered this is a game. I slowly relax. I reply give me a minute to think on it and what are my options.
Suddenly I am jerked back hard, and pulled off my branch. I struggle my hands are tied with a block of wood between my wrists. A spear is shoved into the block of wood, I am held up like a pinata. I look around and see even more of these kappa people bastards. Then they start to surge toward a hill. Once I get there this spear, hmmm now that I look at it. Kinda looks like a two prong trident. My wrist are hanging from the shorter prong. I am put on display. Next to a giant pot. Green flames are turning some suspicious stew with bubbles. This is painful. My arms hurt, like there slowly tearing off.
Next to me are skeletons. 14 different skeletons, seven races. Looks like male and female pairs. with crude fishing lines holding them together. That same kappa bitch is back. She is bigger than I had realized. hmmm she not a kappa, like the Japanese yokai=monster. She has a closer resemblance to a Lamia. Only thing is, Lamia are supposed to be cute .... she is attractive in a really scary screwed up way. However she is too alien for me I can not see anything sexual about her right now.
I am way too damn scared. I see knives, and all sorts of butchery equipment. As I am looking at the bone. I see many of them are cut in half. Then the use the fishing line to string together the bones. She looks at me then looks at the skeletons. Smiles and says the marrow is really good those are the seven races. You say you're human. Humans are tasty. Those are the bones of both male and female adventures for each of the seven races.
The dwarves very meaty. When mixed in a stew will feed a village for a week. Even as small as they are. Then there are the humans, there good eating also but a little hard to capture. There are the gnomes there meat is very good. They always give stats to luck. So after you eat them you're more likely to catch a good meaty animal. Then there are the celestial there meat helps with spells. I look at the next one and I see there are wings bones behind the shoulders. Damn my wrists there really freaking hurting. She next pointed out the Demons. Saying they're great for snacks and they seem to be like candy because they come in many sweet flavors... really demons... I admit there a little small.
Nodding my head. I can see how different breeds make different flavors...Wait what am I thinking. She pointed to the next one. Saying these are a favorite of mine. There called Dryads you have to look hard. There meat is good. They come with vegetables, and there always near wood. So you can chop them up and use the local wood for cooking. There like a complete meal.
Finally she points at the last one. Kinda makes a face and says those are elves. There is not much meat on them. There taste always needs seasoning. There is little marrow the only thing they're good for is bait, for the other races. ahhhh hahaha In this Game elves are like bait fish. Not in high demand.
I am an elf. I am an elf I shout out. All the while I am crying in my mind. The programmer is to screwed up. I did not want to be some silly elf. Little kids want to be elves in fairy tales. She looks at me and you can hear her make a little tch sound.. I immediately look down and see that I have gotten leaner still chubby. This is not good I think. My hands are thinner. I am starting to slide out of handcuffs. I quickly look around and see that there are way too many monsters around me. If I fall i will never escape. I quickly spread my fingers grasping the handcuffs.
She while making that tch noise had turned around yelling out it's a damn elf we found. Start hunting for some strong herbs elf stew is terrible or find some other meat.. I holler out get the real strong herbs. I haven't taken a bath in years. She whips her head around and looks at me. The Snake women i refuse to call a Lamia says you know, it does not matter if your dirty. We don't eat the skin we skin you alive first… ehhh
ah hell no im not being skinned alive, reminding myself, I can not fall yet. Even though my arms hurt terrible in fact how am I still hanging on. Well it does not matter. I start to wiggle like I am trying to escape. Wham her tail slaps me in the gut. I just shit myself. Air poofed out of my mouth she looks down. Looks at me looks down again. A smirk appears on her face. She turns to a older looking monster and says I wish to buy the meat from the pot. He looks at her in wonder then says sure 2 coppers. she digs into a small bag and give him two coppers. I'm gasping for air. Black spots are bouncing around me.
I hang my head looking down huh something shiny.. kinda hard to focus. I slowly focus on it blink a few times right below me and a little to the left is some gold where did that come from. she looks at me and has a big big smile it looks like her mouth goes to her ears. She softly says so that what elves do.. ah shit my fear has just increased. i look at her and she looks at me. Then grabs the two fang trident pops me off and carries me to a hut. I just realized suddenly. She is a lot bigger and the not even including her tail my feet never touched the ground. she carried me by the wooden block between my wrist one handed like I was a light bag of groceries.
She takes me into her den. Running around and grabs some fluffy handcuffs. Discarding the old ones. I was sprinting for the door. Was just about to run outside and was slammed to the ground. The fluffy cuffs are on me instantly. see some faint words that:
Enchanted Cute fuzzy Slave Bracers. Slaves can only roam freely inside claimed territory of Arial the Nagy. Slaves can only maintain a distance of 10 meters outside of territory when Accompaning Arial the Nagy.
Arial grabs me hooks a small chain to a small loop on the bottom of the bracers to her belt Great now I have a chain to include. I am lifted up carried to the bed and coils of her surround me. She lays down in a pillow. I am surrounded by snake coils which the underside is surprisingly soft and outside the water she is not slimy. So I am surrounded by snake coils and she just goes right to sleep. As she falls asleep the coils tighten damm. I was hoping they would loosen up. Not like I can do much right now. Anyways I do not know where she put the key. The chain is to short to investigate the room.. I fade away.