“What?!” Dya shrieked, and kicked back from the edge of the cliff so she could stand up.
"Fuuuuck." Zuchi swore and started throwing stones over the edge, and looking like maybe after all this time she was going to try to jump too.
“SLIME SUCKING SHARK FUCKER!” Dya continued and Zuchi stood up to find bigger rocks and added, “This shit is ridiculous.”
“HOW MUCH MORE OF A FRACKING TUTORIAL DO WE NEED, COCKFISH FUCKERS?” Dya shouted.
“Wait, what? THAT’s what you’re upset about?” Zuchi asked, pausing in her rock based rampage.
“Well, yes, what else is there to be so pissed at?!” Dya asked
“IT’S BEEN 18 FUCKING YEARS!” Zuchi shouted. “18 FUCKING YEARS and we’ve been growing and changing and learning and living a goddamn fucking life only to find out that somehow it’s only been a month and a half? Like, what the abyss? What does that even mean? I’ve changed and there’s no way I could ever go back to just being who I was before and its only been a goddamn month? The fuck?!”
Dya blinked a moment, then joined her, “FUCK!”
“GO SIT ON AN URCHIN YOU FUCKING PROGRAMING FUCKS!” Zuchi screamed, in English, to make sure they could understand her.
“SWALLOW A PUFFER WHOLE YOU DOUCHE BAGS!” Dya added.
“SUCK A WHALE DICK AND CHOKE ON IT!” Zuchi continued
This went on for some time as they got a few years of frustration and irritation, as well as some overreactive teenage hormones out of their system. Being a teenager was never easy, not even the second time around. Eventually though, after about a good thirty minutes and some rather creative and increasingly impossible curses later, they had tired themselves out.
“Oh my goads,” Zuchi moaned, “I guess this tells us just how much of the last 18 years was real.”
“45.6 days of it.” Dya agreed miserably. “It just seemed… so real. All of it seems like it really happened, right? I’m not the only one, right?”
“No, you’re not. Like, when you went too deep in diving class, or that time we got to go on the catamaran.”
“Oudlookra’s first attempts at a kelp cake and everyone trying to not have to eat it but still be polite.” Dya remembered.
“Singing in chorus, and singing with the pods when they go by for their seasonal treks.” Zuchi remembered fondly, “I really liked that.”
“The time that damn bull shark got into the Landsby and everyone was supposed to stay inside, but we decided to go up top and see if we could see it from above instead.” Dya rolled her eyes.
“Oh, my god, that was so scary, but it pretty much ignored us even though it went right by us.” Zuchi said, “It's like, I know sharks have an inflated reputation, and that’s clearly even here, but still. Bull sharks. They’re scary reactive to the weirdest stuff.”
“That time we went up into the glavwiesh side of the landsby and those creepy men tried to corner us.” Dya sighed.
“Which time?” Zuchi asked.
“Every time we’ve gone up there?” Dya admitted, “glavweish men seem to be particularly creepy towards mermaids. Like they think because we don’t feel the need to be in clothing all the time means that we’re all sexually available to them. Its gross, and depressingly familiar.”
“Familiar? How is that creeper bullshit familiar?” Zuchi asked, “I’ve been working on my hook work just in case.”
“I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s.” Dya shrugged. “It’s familiar. But damn, it’s making me not want to go on land much.”
“No kidding.” Zuchi growled, and the two stood there, in the ocean breeze for a quiet moment.
“It just doesn’t seem real that its not… real.” Dya finally admitted. “I mean, that it didn’t take the time that we experienced.”
“Yeah.” Zuchi agreed morosely. “I barely remember who I was before. I don’t feel like I could be that person who didn’t sing or swim all day, or know how to gut a shark. Or be completely ok with hunting and eating her own meat. That would have completely freaked the old me out, you know? It has been such a short time for such great changes.”
“That’s.” Dya started, then stopped thoughtfully, “I don’t know if that’s too unique to us and this experience. I mean, the compressed time is, but the whole one month as a life changing experience that you can't go back from thing, that's actually pretty common, isn't it? Like, people pay to go on retreats for that sort of thing. And then there's boot camp, where the military puts young people through all sorts of trauma to make them into people who can kill and follow orders. Cults do it too, and more than a few places tried to make kids "better" by putting them through traumatic experiences to reform them."
"The fuck?" That last bit managed to distract Zuchi completely, "what did you say?"
"It was a thing, back when I was a teenager on earth." Dya said, staring into nothing, "When the adults couldn't stop their kids from self medicating with drugs and couldn't force them to be perfect little teens they would send them off to reformation camps, to save them, to make them better. It's what my parents did to my brother, and I don't know that he ever recovered from it. I certainly didn't, what little trust I had in them was gone after that."
"That's just, messed up." Zuchi said, "Why would they do that?"
"Because they cared, but they didn't know how to love. They just thought that if you did things right all would be well, so you just had to act right. My brother, he just wouldn't 'act right,' because of you know, being a teenager and messed up family shit. And they were trying so hard to make him right. Make him good."
"Thats just... messed up." Zuchi repeated. "Doesn't seem to be the same thing at all with this."
"No, not really, sorry. I just got pulled to the memory by the idea of short periods of change. What we've gone through has been much more gentile, enjoyable, and I think the implications worry me." Dya shrugged then grinned "Though I don't see how our learning to kick butt with the spear is going to be of any use to anyone anywhere."
"But our excellent spear fishing skills are going to keep us in demand for the floating cities." Zuchi grinned back, and Dya snorted.
"This still leaves us with having the damn tutorial to go through." Dya sighed. "I just am not looking forward to prompts explaining every day life in the landsby and the basics of how to use your status screen all over again. It's going to be so obnoxious."
"I think we got a letter about that." Zuchi said, gesturing vaguely up and to her right.
"What" Dya glanced up and to her right and didn't see anything.
"It's a faint blinking light in your periphery." Zuchi told her, helping her find the notification.
"Ah, there. Right next to my litteral blind spot." Dya grumped as she mentally opened the letter, which unfolded to show a yellowed bit of parchment with a couple of transcription errors. reaching out, she found she was able to pull it out of virtual space and hold it in her fingers, so she sat back down on the edge of the cliff to read.
I)ear Brooke E. 1328 (I)ya Nu‡‡ak)
Congratu|ations on the successful completion of your new Nano-moleçular Nural Transcription Aberdio Mode| 288.5 body and the successful transcription of your consciousness into the I)igital Afterlife!∞ At the end of your SŒ period you are showing to have a neural mesh of 98.8528321635480485740000003615E234 †, which is 01.7006005200000654806540196E008† greater than average.
Be advised that while this may seem off from perfection, any time we have had a perfect 100% translation the resulting brain has been inert and inoperable. Rather, the ideal neural transcription would be 99†. The closer your result is to that number, the beπer. So far, participants in Seirpin.Fantasy’s SAE program have enjoyed higher than average neural meshes as a result of their slow integration and learning experiences. The vvork they put in over the course of a month activates their new Nano-molecular Neural Transcription Aberdio Model 288.5 body and teaches it the neural paths of your old brain as the new brain is being built. So congratulations to you on your hard work and the step up in life it has earned you!
The rewards don’t just stop with the mesh between your personality and your new body, with your work here you have earned the following rewards:
In game rewards:
-Fluid Jayin speaker
-Fluid I)yo’i’ian speakr
Weapons training
-spears level 5
-hooks level 3
-Rare starter weapon
-Rare armor item
+10()() pearl valma
+1()00 shop credit for job based supplies
Out of game rewards:
See contract page 7, Section IX.C.2.a,b,d,e,µ,h
Section IX.E. applies
Section XII.L.3.c,d,g,h,j,k,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t has been activated at the behest of the player.
Your current character is a result of extensive testing and the myriad of choices you have made. ()ver the course of the SAE process it was built from the ground up to fit you perfectly. We have used the 45.6 days to enact extensive testing to map characteristics aligning strengths and weaknesses and creating opportunities that best fit your desires.
A choice now awaits you. You are now free to explore the worlds of the Afterlife. To exit Seirpin.Fantasy simply say the words “Exit Seirpin.Fantasy.” Be advised that to exit the game at this time will leave behind your character as an NPC, and you will not be able to re-enter the game during this round of testing. You will, of course, be welcome back for another round of testing or when the game is released to market in øøøø days. You have earned your place in the Fantasy!
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Previous gamer experiences have lead us to believe in the benefits of explaining the tutorial to you at this time. While we assume that you know the basics of what a tutorial is, there are some special circumstances in this case that you should be aware of.
As new players join Seirpin.Fantasy they need to be introduced to the world, its cultures, and its languages. As you know, English, Mandarin, Spanish, and Hindi are not languages spoken on Seirpin. Like you, new players need to learn to speak their new native tongues through a hyphenated SAE process called Condensed Adaptation Process, or CAP.
I)uring CAP Players are given the language skills in I)yoiian [trade language] up to a 5th grade level as well as basic skills in any language that their characters might be expected to speak, to be continued on a nightly basis until they are fluent. They will also receive basic memories and cultural histories to help place them in the world. In all, it is a much abbreviated version of the SAE.
The other process that happens in the tutorial that will apply to all players is the choosing and training of primary jobs, as well as any secondary, tertiary, quaternary and so on as available and as the player wishes. This will be a compressed time experience and players have been warned to set aside a minimum of two days for job training. You too will undergo this sort of job training, though you will find the experience familiar. Be aware that anytime you see “job training” in the game, there will be a period of compressed time that will require an in game time commitment that will be outlined with the description of the training. There is no backing out of the job training once started.
Once again we congratulate you on your successful transition to your digital afterlife. All messaging applications have been enabled and the world of Seirpin.Fantasy awaits!
Sincerely,
The SAE Team
Seirpin.Fantasy
Lichtenberg Technologies
As she read Dya had sat back down on the edge of the cliff, her feet dangling and unconsciously relaxing back into fins. She found herself curling the long, long ‘toes’ of her webs in and out as she finished the letter and tossed it back into the digital space from which it came. It blooped back into her file box, waiting for her if she needed it again, though Dya didn’t think she would. The major points were made, she had some bonuses coming, the tutorial was largely for the newbs though it would give them the chance to learn their own jobs, just like they had been planning anyhow, and while she could it would be permanent.
Dya shivered in the warm breeze and looked down at the waves below. She didn’t know if she could do that. Go and leave everyone and everything here behind as though it were nothing, to never be seen again. Each time they did a round of the game it was a new time period, right? So, there would be no coming back. She wouldn’t even be allowed to be a mermaid again, so almost everything she knew would be off limits to her, lost underneath the waves.
It was a form of suicide. One that she would live through yet never ever come back from, with a unique sort of finality and loss that pinched at Dya’s soul and brought tears to her eyes. She’d already died once. She’d died and lost everything that life had to offer, though a bitter moment of honesty reminded her that she had lost those things mostly through time, age, and the occasional stupid mistake. Still, it was gone and it was not coming back, and that was the choice they had try to set down in front of her here; a choice that was really no choice at all. A despairing insult really.
She liked being a mermaid, when it came down to it. Almost as much as she had liked being human, and she could do that again for 2 hours at a time now. She didn’t feel ready to give this life up and couldn’t imagine that anyone who had gone through the SAE process would be in a place where they really could, regardless of the race they chose. If the goal was to give people a smooth transition to the digital afterlife, then there was going to be every incentive to give them a good “childhood” experience, to give them a strong base to grow from.
And aggravated her a little, though she didn’t get much of a chance to figure out why.
“I’m staying.” Zuchi said, before Dya could start to worry down that path. “Ok, yeah, it’s disturbing that I don’t really know how much of the past 18 years really happened, but I’ve been enjoying myself. I like this place, this world. I like swimming everywhere and holding my breath for half an hour. I like the taste of cero and the feeling of riding the rip tide out of Coo’d Bay. I like it and I want to see where we can go from here.”
Dya looked at her and a smile managed to crawl across her lips. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Dya looked down into a dark shadow under the water and nodded. “I’m staying too. I like it here, besides I still haven’t found Ziggy, and they are still owed an apology by their parent AI.”
“Not to mention,” She added, “the thought of leaving behind a ghost-zombie NPC is just too creepy.”
“Truth.” Zuchi nodded and then stood up, looking towards the sun, “Want to go to town?”
Dya glanced at the setting sun, which was the original reason they had come up to this peaceful place. It was starting to be a spectacular show, with the hints of golden orange starting to color the clouds that drifted across the wide horizon. The sunsets here were almost always spectacular, there would always be another.
“Yeah, let’s go. There’s supposed to be some music and dancing on the piers tonight, to celebrate the new generation.” She grinned and kicked her legs up and back over the edge of the cliff, with her fins transforming back into feet by the time they were back on the top of the dusty rock. “Everyone loves a good excuse to party!”
----------------------------------------
Peirs was surrounded by the crowd, who was cheering the slightly purple mer boy on as he juggled gaff hooks that someone had lit on fire. Dya had always felt he would have been better served to have the markings of a clown fish, rather than the purple tang he resembled when not in human form. He was a show off with a sense of humor, which was a good thing when his parents decided to name him after some ridiculous glavwiesh architecture. (Dya had resisted telling everyone that it was actually a common name among some glavwiesh, the mer did not need that sort knowledge floating around to be harassed with.) Still, his dexterity and dexterity sub-stats seemed to be quite high as he grabbed a man’s beer to drink while keeping the gaffs in the air, much to the delight of the crowd.
Wisp lights floated through the sky over the pier, lighting up the place almost as bright as day as a group of musicians played a reel, and over on the dance floor Zuchi was dancing with a couple of men who were in their early 20’s. There were a couple of older men leering uncomfortably at the mer girls on the dancefloor, but all of them were staying in the light and close together, and any time someone looked like they might be going off into a darker space, there were suddenly more glow lights above them, as if by magic. Or, you know, all the mer looking out for each other and making sure that no one was dragged off unwilling into a dry dark corner by some asshole conquistador. Damn land pirates.
Beyond the dance floor there was a market, with both glavwiesh and mer merchants hawking wares and exotic food stuffs. Ok, mostly foods stuffs, it was a festival celebrating the birthday of the community and nothing said "I'm alive!" like stuffing your face with good food. Sweet hand pies were sold next to zuth (deep fried sweet squid stuffed with jewel weed). There was old man Straus selling kufa, which were basically crepes stuffed with sweet cheese and fruit. There were stalls for sushi, fried fish, dried fish, pied fish, glazed fish, and candied fish. Rice, sea seed salads, kayf pudding, and kelp wine rounded out the selections and Dya had not been holding back. Her favorite was the kufa, fins down, but she had worked her way through a bag of candied fish.
There were a few crafters out selling worm-silk and sea-silk scarves, brightly colored for dancing. Dya had already bought herself a purple scarf of the more exotic worm-silk died in a batik pattern with a purple in that she knew would survive a dunking in the ocean. It had been expensive but it contrasted so nicely with her hair, and she had used it to bind her orange hair half up, and give herself some godsdamned variation. She'd also purchased a sweet hag silk loin cloth that had been stained purple and hung festival midway down her thighs and a matching bikini top, all of it connected with brass chains. It was cute and jangly and, bless the programmer who designed the clothing interfaces, comfortable.
The loincloth also had two space fold pockets, big enough to tuck a fighters hook into, if she felt the need. Instead, Dya hung her hook off her loin cloth's chains as a mix of festive decoration and reminder that she was armed and dangerous.
Beyond the market was the beach and a avbi, a wild circus had set up. There was currently a wrestling match happening in one ring and some sort of flexibility competition/show/thing that Dya didn’t quite understand going on. Dya had watched for a while as the women and men of several species had tied themselves and each other in knots in some sort of game of beautiful one-up-manship that had, in a couple of cases, lead to invitations to the crowd to come watch (and pay for) the private show of erotic flexibility.
Dya considered, and was still considering, spending some money there, as a glimpse into the tent did show a silhouette of startling possibilities. But also, she felt a bit tired out of watching for the moment, feeling the need to move. Which what was how she ended up back at the other end of the pier cheering on Pier’s impromptu juggling show and beer grab. It was all going well until she heard the English.
“Bra, this game is amazing!” the voice sounded like a teenage boy who thought he was used to his voice but hadn’t quite matured into yet. “Look at the detail on those mermaids.”
“Those asses!” The responding voice sounded both a little more mature but a little less… human? Dya wanted to flick her ears but couldn’t while she was in human form. Instead she glanced around to see if she could see who was talking.
“That one is like a literal perfect peach. So juicy.” First boy drooled, and Dya had to pause her search to roll her eyes.
“Most these hotties are barely dressed.” The animal boy said, “It would barely take anything to slip one free of her… restraints.”
“Oh, I don’t know, I think I’d rather like to see one in restraints.” First boy said, giggling at his own joke.
Dya cringed at the laughter and then let out sharp “Look at me” squeal to the mer girl near her and waved, friendly like, so as to not alert the two males that she was onto them, she hadn't figured out where they were just yet.
“What?” The girl clicked, her name was Melkiani or something like that, she was two years younger than Dya.
“There are some idiots here speaking a foreign language that they think no one else can understand.” Dya said in Jayin, “but I know it. The things they are saying are-“
“Do you think those two are going to kiss? That would be so fucking hot.” Animal boy said, just barely audible, but it was enough to cause Dya's face to fall.
“Predictable?” Melkiani guessed about the land boys as Dya glanced over and finally saw the two players, staring openly at them, if briefly. They were both wearing canvas shorts and the blousy white shirts common to the landsby. Both were tall, because of course they were, and had dark hair. One had pointed animal ears, though she couldn’t tell the species without staring back and that was out of the question.
“I was hoping for something better, honestly.” Dya said, shrugging, and turning her back on the players.
“She looked at us!”
“Dude, you are acting like a fucking teenager.” Animal boy chided his companion.
“I am a teenager again! I feel like a teenager again, its great! Only this time, I’m not so scared that I’m not going to get me some of that mermaid booty” First boy said, and Dya sighed and said to Melkiani,
“Yes, they are saying predictable things but also, dangerous things.”
“Dangerous?” Melkiani asked skeptically, with her eyebrow raised, and Dya wanted to scream a little.
Instead she ground out a smile and said, “Yes. Like idiot predators.”
“Slime eels.” Melkiani sneered, and almost turned her head to look for them except that Dya stopped her by hissing and squeezing her arm.
“Hey, hey, don’t let them know that we know. They’ll make a fuss and then ruin the evening for everyone.” Dya said, “I’m fairly certain that they’re watching me, or at least my ass,” she said with an eye roll, and then leaned in, “but you could go get a couple of guards to hook ‘em and send them down to the beach.”
“Bro, they are going to kiss!” First boy hissed,
“Get it back in your pants, dumbass, they’re just talking.” Animal boy grunted, though something about how he said it made Dya’s skin crawl. It was dumb, she thought, just her creepometer shorting out through disuse over the years. There was absolutely nothing wrong with what he said, in fact the words were the opposite of wrong but still... Still, she did not want to go down any dark allies until those two were marched out of the festival.
“I’d really appreciate if you’d go get those guards now.” Dya said, the smile frozen on her lips.
“What is that language?” Melkiani scowled. “It sounds like you and Zuchi’s twin language.”
“Oh my god, you have like no skills at subterfuge, do you?” Dya rolled her eyes and pushed her away. “Guards. Get them. Get the other mer girls to school up for a bit.”
“Ugh.” Melkiani rolled her eyes and stalked off, but she grabbed a dark skinned mer who was drifting at the edge all alone and pulled her back into the well lit circle.
“Awww, the blue one went away!”
First boy’s whine was irritating and Dya couldn’t imagine that anyone else here found the sound anything but annoying, even if they couldn’t understand the words. Good god, how old was the player? Had he no self-restraint?
The sound had been loud enough that Dya couldn’t help but glance over at him, only to realize that the player was now only about a body length away from her, grinning at her like a shark. Shit, when had that happened?
Now that he was closer and with adrenaline induced awareness Dya was able to take in the look of him in a second. He was in what had to be starter clothes, a pair of long khaki shorts that looked more like torn pants, and an off white shirt that bloused open half way down his chest. A pale sort of tan skin over lean if meager muscles, short brown hair, and amber eyes. He looked to be roughly around her same age, so ballpark around eighteen.
There weren’t too many people behind him in the darkness at the edge of the pier, Dya saw and she wanted to kick herself for having let herself move out to the dark edges so freely. Of course, she had no idea that this sort of thing was going to be happening, up until now she’d felt safe in her landsby, her home. She should have realized that when they announced that players would be joining the world they meant right away, not tomorrow or sometime in the future.
Well, no time like the present to correct a mistake. Dya side stepped and turned to go away from the boys, to tuck herself deeper into the crowd of people cheering Peirs and hey, now, Thul had joined in with his juggling, didn’t know he could do that. A cheer went up and a large human wearing black canvas pants backed into her path, stopping Dya suddenly and making her back up as well. She bounced off someone behind her but when she turned to apologize she felt her bare feet catch on a pair of boots that were far, far to close. Suddenly she was tripping and falling as she twisted in the air and a pair of strong arms caught her before she could collapse to the wooden planks of the pier. She found herself clutching the silken chest of a beautiful young beastkin, with the golden eyes, pointed ears, and pointed teeth of a wolf-kin.