Chapter 027

Meatloaf and Talents

In the packed restaurant, Ethan sat with Jason. He agreed with his friend's suggestion of trying to merge their storylines.

He'd been thinking the same thing for a while and they'd even discussed it previously.

Jason had actually suggested the idea when they first met. Ethan wasn't so sure then, and had talked about wanting to kill vampires instead.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Ethan admitted. "We can watch each other's backs and compliment where somebody is lacking. What's your talent spread looking like?"

Jason grinned. "I picked up Teleport. It only has one point, so I can only use it once every twenty four hours. It lets me teleport up to five hundred feet away. I can even use it with Stealth."

Ethan nodded, now understanding why the woman that had attacked him hadn't used it multiple times. "That sounds pretty good. I ran into a player with that I think. Viri Valente."

"Name sounds made up."

He laughed, "yeah, that's what I thought. Crazy old cougar goth! Tried to make me her sex toy!”

They both laughed for a good solid minute.

“Tried to make you her sex toy?”

Ethan nodded, still grinning. “Yeah, botox face and big round boobs and all.”

“Yowza!”

“Not really,” he laughed again. “Another player name that sounds made up is Rooster Normand."

"Oh, yeah, bro! Me too!" Jason said. "On the first day. He was a real jerk. Tried to fight me but couldn't because of the anti-grieving thing. Haven't seen him since but my social screen says he's level seven now."

"Seven!?" Ethan asked quickly. He pulled open his screen to see for himself.

Rooster Normand

Level 7, Bad Henchie, D-class Goon, Injured, The Borrells, Last seen outside The Pink Velda.

"Yeah, they're moving up fast."

"How?" Ethan asked, although he suspected he already knew the answer.

"They're hunting. It's dangerous work, but that's how they're getting all this experience. It’s gotta be!”

He shook his head, listening to Jason. While he had the screen open, he glanced at the other players again. Stalvek was still at six and Viri at five. Both appeared to be healthy.

Mia Haoyu's entry also hadn't changed. She was still level five and affiliated with the newspaper.

"What are they hunting?"

Jason eyed him skeptically for a minute. "You haven't spent much time in the shadows have you?"

"No," he admitted, "but I did kill two Grimsborough Vampirs, barely."

"Oh, dang, bro! Those are what I seen down in the basement under that warehouse. Scary stuff. Apparently those are newly turned vampires. The dude ones are called Vampirs and the chicks are Vampiricas. Not that strong or powerful yet. Still, they're way more dangerous than ghouls or zombies."

"Ghouls and zombies?" he asked, "as if mobsters and vampires isn’t enough to deal with?"

Jason laughed. "Hey! We need low level stuff to fight. They're just in here for the purpose of us to kill, I'm sure."

"Maybe," he nodded. "So these other players are fighting low-level mobs and doing as many missions as possible, huh?"

"Yeah, bro, and hunting players too, of course."

"Right."

Thinking about all the dangers going bump in the night made him exhale loudly. He realized it was always going to be an uphill battle, he just hadn’t realized how big the hill was going to be.

He knew he should have expected it though, and in this case, there was most definitely a very deep underground instead of a mountain. Almost all good games started out with low level trash to slog through. After all, that was how players got stronger in most games.

Trying to get back on topic, Ethan returned to the subject of talents. "So anyway, you're still going for stealth, right?"

"Yep."

"What are you using for a weapon?"

Jason shook his head. "Right now I have Basic Brass Knuckledusters, so I guess that makes me a melee brawler or something. I tried fighting that Mikael guy, but I couldn't get anywhere close to him to land a punch."

"Interesting," Ethan said.

"Yeah, bro! Not my first choice, but I'm rolling with it. Made a mistake with the Scrappy talent I think, since I was worried about being able to fight before level three. That was the only reason I grabbed it. Luckily I got Teleport at level four and then Brawler at level five. Then I used my redistribution point on Brawler and dropped Scrappy completely. This one gives me better street fighting and grappling ability."

He thought about the choices, knowing Jason had likely done well by them. Ultimately, the redistribution mechanic was proving quite helpful. More so in Jason’s case.

"I think you did okay," he said, "this will work for you, I'm sure of it. And anyways, you don't want to spread yourself out too thin right now. You already have Stealth, Recon, Brawler, and Teleport. Any others?"

"Nope. Been trying to keep it simple."

"Good," Ethan said, deciding it was time for him to share his own. "Cause I'm suddenly a ranged character after finding some OP'd flying daggers."

Jason's eyes lit up. "No way! I'm jealous, bro!"

"Thought you might be, considering your rogue talents. Too bad we can't trade, honestly, since they're soul-bound to me. At the beginning I would have picked a melee fighter. Now I’m not so sure I would trade though, if I'm being honest. The throwing daggers are pretty f'n sweet. I'm just gonna have to get used to being a ranged fighter with some close quarters as backup.”

“Dang, bro! What do they look like?”

Ethan equipped Sadie’s Fangs and the slate-colored blades suddenly appeared in his hands. He could feel her power emanating from the slightly glowing blades and flowing into his body.

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Jason’s face lit up. His eyes grew big and his mouth hung half open for a second. “Those are cool as hell, bro!”

Ethan was about to tell the story of how he got them when Emma came quickly over to the table. The owner wasn’t her normal, happy self, and her eyes kept shifting to the blades as she approached.

“You should keep those out of sight, hun.”

“I… huh?” he asked.

Emma shook her head. “Either hide those abominations or remove yourself from my restaurant, Ethan Jones!”

There was no mistaking her demand after she’d raised her voice. He removed the throwing daggers when he realized the place was far too quiet and everyone was looking at him.

“Sorry?”

She exhaled, looking disappointed in him. He could feel her anger subsiding after the blades disappeared.

“I tolerate way more than most, but you will not brandish vampiric relics in my place, understood?”

He gulped, concerned that she might follow that direct statement up with some type of threat or immediate action. She didn’t, but he still nodded his understanding. It was her restaurant and her rules.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Jason had a smirk on his face, and Ethan had to keep himself from making light of the scolding.

“Good,” Emma said, “now, I seen you two boys sitting over here for a while. I do apologize for the wait. As you can tell it’s a busy evening. What can I get for you?”

Ethan was feeling hungry but he still hadn’t moved on from her immediate reaction to having seen or sensed Sadie’s Fangs. Come to think of it, neither had The Green Fists when he was at the Rose Bird night club. Even the bouncer had simply warned him not to equip the weapons.

Rickles hadn’t mentioned the blades but had made comments about hating Lillian Lancaster because of her business associations with vampires. That was what he assumed anyway. Could most NPCs only feel or sense the blades when he had them equipped?

“Emma, did you know I had those weapons before I equipped them?”

Her head turned to him quickly, but she took a few seconds to answer.

“No, darling, I didn’t. But I don’t have any talents that let me see things like that when they’re hidden. And let’s try to keep it that way. I’m on good terms with The Green Fists, and I’m not about to make them angry because you want to show off your weapons. Now, are you boys hungry?”

He nodded. The NPC was afraid of The Green Fists finding out that she allowed something to do with vampires in her business. Knowing this was how things worked, he would need to remember when and when not to have anything vampiric on him visible.

“What’s your special?” Jason asked.

“Meatloaf and mash with onion gravy, hun. It’s real good, I promise. It’ll fill you right up and even help a little with that Plague Scurvy.”

The other player nodded. “I’ll take it!”

“Good choice, hun!” Emma turned back to Ethan. “And for you?”

“Same, with a coffee and a water please.”

“Oh!” Jason added. “I’ll take a water too! I need to try and stay hydrated I guess.”

“Okay, boys. You stay here and keep each other company. That food will be right out.”

Emma took a few steps away but then quickly came back. As she did, she looked each of them up and down, a big smile growing on her face.

“You’re both looking mighty handsome in those new outfits, by the way. Keep up your excellent progress, young men. You’re doing good.”

Without waiting for any response, Emma disappeared into the kitchen, leaving them with grins on their faces.

“She’s only a supporting NPC,” Ethan nodded, “but I like her. She’s one of my favorites so far.”

“Agreed,” Jason said, “but can we go back to the whole dagger thing? What’s up with that? They looked awesome but I didn’t sense anything mystical or enchanted about them.”

Ethan nodded, his suspicions confirmed once again. “I don’t think you’re supposed to. They’re soul-bound to me. I’m still learning about them myself. They hurt like hell when they fly back to me, and they cut my hands all to pieces, so there’s definitely at least one downside to using them.”

“Bro, I would take that downside in a heartbeat. Best tactic I have right now is to Stealth up to someone and put a brass knuckle in their face or strangle them.”

“What about Teleport?”

“That’s only once a day, at least for now. It’s more of a last chance to get away from danger type of thing.”

“Oh, right,” Ethan answered. “That makes sense.”

The food arrived a few seconds later and Emma seemed like she was back to her normal happy self. Their plates were full and the food looked amazing.

They chatted with Emma about the food for a bit and then she went back to work taking care of the other diners.

Ethan said, “Glad we have this place.”

“Yep.”

“Shame she has to play by mobster rules, though.”

His friend could obviously pick up that Ethan had a soft spot for the NPCs. “That’s basically this whole game, bro! You don’t need to worry about the NPCs. They’re here for us to use them.”

He shrugged. It was true, but they were all so lifelike and each with their own personalities.

“Eh,” he said. “It doesn’t hurt to want to do the right thing even if they’re just scripts in the code somewhere. What’s currently setting us apart from the other players?”

Jason laughed. “Our lack of levels and fighting?”

“Sort of. My point is, it’s like we’re the only players not trying to actively kill one another and not trying to dominate the NPCs through force and fear.”

“Yeah,” he said, “we’re not being very good mobsters are we?”

Ethan smiled. “No, we’re not. But in the process we’re also not actively making the city worse.”

The other player shrugged. “Good point, but how does that help us?”

“Just a thought,” Ethan continued, “I’m not sure that it means anything yet but it could.”

Jason considered his idea for a minute as they ate. After a while, he shook his head.

“Boring is what that is, I think. Isn’t it all player driven? When we get back to the real world, and we get our paychecks, it’s all based on how well we entertained, right?”

“Yeah…” Ethan felt a bit deflated.

“And I know for a fact more people want to watch us slice and dice than they want to watch us negotiate our way to some type of empire. This isn't a sandbox builder or some slice of life simulator."

He grinned. “I know. I’m thinking of doing both at some point though, but I get your point.”

"Tomorrow I want to fight," Jason said before he got distracted by someone and trailed off. "We should…"

Ethan turned to see what his friend looked at, and smiled when he saw Mia Haoyu approaching from a distance. Just then she also appeared on his mini-map.

He hadn't forgotten about her, but he had lost track of time. Looking at his watch, it was 5:17 p.m.

"Oh, that's Mia," Ethan said.

"I see that. What country is she from? I heard NexaTechNeuro just opened a new facility in South Korea. I bet she's from there."

He wasn't sure. He hadn't even thought to ask her. She was an Asian, but it didn't mean she was from an Asian country. Then again it would make sense. Rooster and Stalvek both had strong accents. Mia's English had a bit of a British accent, but again he hadn't even questioned it.

She approached the restaurant and Ethan watched Jason stare at her the entire time. He found it half humorous and half worrisome.

"You okay there?"

"Yeah, bro," the other player answered. "I saw her on the first day. She called me a loser boy when I asked her to level up with me."

The bell jingled overhead and Emma called out to her. "Have a seat wherever you can find one, hun! Be right with you."

"Thank you," Mia said, but she didn't have to look around. Her face turned directly towards Ethan.

He and Jason's names floated in bright blue letters above their heads, after all. They stuck out like sore thumbs amid a sea of grey NPC names.

Ethan stood up first and then Jason did the same.

"Hi," Mia said to both of them, waving. As she walked over, Ethan noticed her looking at the pale, sickly player that Jason had become. She asked, "do you have… a status effect or a sickness or something?"

"Um, this is Jason," Ethan said, answering quickly for his friend. "He does have Plague Scurvy but I already gave him the first dose of Shadebreaker Serum."

"Mia," she pointed above her, nodding at Ethan's explanation. "Obviously this is me. Sorry I'm late."

Jason said, "you called me a loser boy on the first day. I remember you."

She laughed, "and I'll do it again, loser boy. What's it to you?"

The other player furrowed his eyes and smirked. "Okay, I see how it is."

"Good," Mia answered quickly, "I'm glad your eyes work."

The two glared at each other with questionable smirks on their faces.

Ethan shook his head. She'd immediately taken to calling him a genius boy the first time they met. Mia had also told him not to worry about it. He was starting to understand it was simply how she talked to other people.

"Don't worry about being late." Ethan cut in, attempting to steer the conversation. "We were just talking about our talents, and how we could use them as a team."

Mia sat down at the same table they were at. "Shouldn't we talk about the information from the folders? Isn't that why I'm here?"

Jason looked confused as they sat back down, but Ethan didn't bother explaining right away. He'd completely forgotten to mention all the paperwork to his buddy. They'd been talking about so many other things it hadn't come up yet.

"Yeah, we can do that if you want to just jump right in," Ethan said. "But I haven't told him about the police folders yet."

"Bro! What police folders?"

Mia smiled, apparently entertained by the pair.

"The ones your friend here stole from the police. Did you know he was a thief like that?"

Ethan turned to look at his friend.

Jason was grinning at him. "Honestly, no."

"Well, he did. Then, like a genius boy he decided to shove the paperwork in his overalls and get all soaking wet in the rain and covered in blood so that half the paperwork got damaged and we couldn't read it."

Only then did Mia really look up and down at the pair, taking in their clothing. Ethan did the same for her, seeing that she wore wool pants and a patterned sweater top. She also had a brown deerstalker cap on. It made him think of the way detectives used to dress in black and white films.

Jason laughed at her explanation of Ethan.

"She's leaving out the good part," he smirked, "where I killed the two Grimsborough Vampirs and nearly died in the process of saving her."

Mia smiled, then winked at him. "I forgot about that part."

"Yeah, right."

Then Jason shook his head. "Well, come on… Tell me more about this paperwork already!"