Chapter 46: Signs and Posts

I didn’t shout when I saw the Discord message; kinda rude to distract a driver. But I wanted to.

I went to nudge Lena’s arm. When I saw her grinning at her phone, I knew she’d seen the same thing I had.

Our video was ready!

LikeItsNinetyNine had done a final pass on the editing and posted the .mp4 file.

LikeItsNinetyNine: Voila!

Salamancer: Blatant cultural appropriation. For shame.

LikeItsNinetyNine: OMG, I am so sorry!

Salamancer: And I’m joking.

Salamancer: Good work, everyone.

LikeItsNinetyNine: Meanie. :\ What does everyone think of the video?

There was a twelve minute gap in responses. The video was twenty minutes long, so I assumed the first person to answer, DU_Goldie, had either played it back in 1.5x speed or skipped around.

On the one hand, way to appreciate our genius, buddy!

On the other hand, I did the same thing to YouTube videos, and he’d even worked on part of the editing for this one.

I decided to stay annoyed with him. We’ve already established that I’m not averse to hypocrisy.

DU_Goldie: psa is kinda cringe but what can u do

DU_Goldie: u both look sick + ur mad good w air oc

From context, I assumed he meant sick as in awesome, not sick as in ill. Maybe ill as in awesome.

Salamancer: It’s true. If that’s what you learned after just a day, I cannot wait to get my own Air.

LikeItsNinetyNine: You’re a natural, OldCampaigner! And don’t worry. Cringe is what folks say when they don’t want to admit that something’s nice.

DU_Goldie: ^ cringe

LikeItsNinetyNine: ^ will get it someday.

Salamancer: Hah!

DU_Goldie: w/e

DU_Goldie: ashbird do fire next?

I’d been smiling at the interplay until that line.

Ashbird, I thought, won’t do any demonstrations soon. I’d grabbed the only Reactant she’d had a shot at. Really, I’d taken both of mine from Lena. The Water by jumping in front of her, the Air by not telling her about the tarp in the parking lot.

If we’d known enough to plan out our acquisitions, I’d have let her have that first Air and then scarfed up the Water when I got the chance, but however we’d divided our Reactants, each of us getting one would’ve been far better than both ending up with me.

Ashbird: Nope. Gotta save the best for last!

I watched Lena out of the corner of my eye.

She looked away. After she sucked in a breath, she said, “Stop somewhere when you get the chance, okay, Erin? I want to scout, but I gotta watch this.”

“Is your video ready?” Erin asked. “I’m looking forward to it, too.”

“This is what you were filming yesterday?” Miguel asked. When Lena nodded, he reached back, ignoring my protest about his neck brace, and pushed her phone down. “Wait a moment before you watch.”

“How about nope?” She yanked her phone away and tapped back to Discord. Her finger hovered over the play button. She shot a glance at Miguel. “Ugh, now you got me wondering. Why should I wait?”

“I only wondered if you were sure you wanted to experience your big debut on a phone screen?”

“What’s your suggestion?” I asked.

“Since you’re driving me home anyway,” he said, “why don’t you watch it on a very nice television?”

“Changed my mind,” Lena said. “I am now the soul of patience.”

She started tapping her foot.

I leaned forward. “You sure you’re okay with that, man? Considering – everything?”

“Of course.” I saw his smile reflected in the car mirror. “How could I resist the chance to point out your mistakes in glorious 4K?”

“Well, I’m not gonna ask you twice,” Lena said.

“First time seeing yourself on the big screen?” Miguel asked.

“Depends on how big your TV is.” She chuckled. “My parents have a whole hard drive full of home videos.”

“That sounds really cute,” Erin said.

“Max adorbs, for sure.” I’d never met a person as unselfconscious about her baby photos and childhood videos as Lena was. Definitely one of the highlights of my lone trip to visit her parents. “You got any, Erin?”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Maybe from when I was very little.” Erin craned her neck forwards and focused on the road ahead. Definitely not challenging for that unselfconsciousness throne.

Her discomfort, evident enough for even Lena and I to notice it, killed the conversation. With the Prius on electric, in-town power, the only sounds were the SUVs rumbling around us and Miguel’s occasional directions to his home. Erin was indeed a careful driver, at least. I supposed she’d have to be, to pass her driving test with such poor vision.

Which wasn’t really a thought that made the ride more comfortable.

I tried to think of some way to break the awkwardness.

When I couldn’t, I got my camera out and started scanning. Scouting, as Erin put it.

As I’d noticed before, commercial areas seemed weirdly low density when it came to Third Eye objects. I spotted a couple of signs in the game’s runic script amidst the South Broadway strip malls, and when we pulled into the turn lane onto Littleton, there was a seemingly normal yield sign too close to the edge of the street. Regardless of placement, it made no sense alongside a stoplight. I could actually reach out and snag it while we idled in the turn lane. A brief flash. Two Iron.

“This is a lot faster,” Lena said. “You cruise around doing this with Donica?”

“A couple of times,” Erin said. “We traded off driving and scouting. She’s usually too busy, though.”

“I suppose,” Miguel said, “it would be more efficient to have a non-player as a driver.”

“Why,” Lena asked, “you volunteering?”

“No thanks,” he said. “I’ve had my fill of driving you around to pick up fictional things.”

Erin’s head tilted. “You’re not a player?”

Miguel waved off the idea. “I prefer to think of myself as simply charming.”

Lena and I rolled our eyes, but Erin took a hand off the wheel to try to stifle a giggle. “Well, you manage that. But I meant a Third Eye player.”

“Working late on the day of release,” Miguel said, “meant I was insufficiently dedicated to deserve a spot in the playerbase.”

“Ah. The bottom 1% thing.” Erin nodded. “It seems so cruel.”

“I don’t terribly regret it,” he said. “My one brush with the AR side of the game left me in the hospital.”

She flicked a glance in his direction. “But you can’t blame the game for that, surely?”

“The ARG side interests me more, anyway,” he said, which sounded like an answer to her question if you didn’t think about it too hard.

From the way Erin gripped the steering wheel, I suspected she thought about it hard enough. She asked no follow-up questions, though, just cruised through Littleton until we neared its downtown and Miguel motioned for her to turn south.

We passed the light rail station and the community college – nothing at either, Third Eye-wise, which I expected. Even if no players went to the college, this section was way too easy to access by light rail to stay pristine.

Finally, though, we hit a residential area. Though it made no sense to me, the density of Third Eye objects thickened as soon as we turned the corner.

A painted brick ranch house with a flagpole in front, but instead of a US flag or a Colorado one or a Broncos one, or even a Nuggets one, it had something like a forked medieval pennant curling down it. I’m not saying nobody would put that up, but it didn’t surprise me to see it vanish when I looked without my phone.

Another house with gray vinyl siding, surrounded by a brick wall that almost encircled the whole front yard. It had a gap on one end – the opposite end from the driveway.

A two-story house, the only one on the block. Probably because it wasn’t one in reality. The upper floor only existed through Third Eye’s filter. I didn’t see how we could collect it, which was a shame, because there had to be a ton of Materials in there. Glass windows, Wood walls, Stone from the terracotta roof tiles.

Lena nudged my elbow. “Check this one out.”

I leaned over to look through her phone. Toward the end of the block on her side, a yard had been overrun with a sort of waist-high hedge maze. I looked over the top of the phone just to make sure it wasn’t someone’s weird idea of landscaping, but no, it was a Third Eye exclusive.

Judging from the cattails we’d collected in Harvard Gulch park, that would be a whole lot of Wood.

All from a single block. “Any idea why there’s so many more objects in residential areas, Erin?”

“It is odd, isn’t it?” she said. “Interesting that it’s the same here in the suburbs. I’d only really looked around in town.”

“Yeah, but why though?” Lena asked.

“I’m sorry,” Erin said. “I couldn’t say. If we’re being perfectly honest, a lot of the design decisions are... odd.”

Miguel chuckled. “That’s certainly one way of putting it.”

“So far, they’ve all made sense eventually,” I said.

I saw his eyebrow raise in the mirror.

“Not everything is how I’d want it designed,” I said. “When I started out, I thought a lot of it was just shit. The more I’ve played, though, the more I think it was done intentionally.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that,” Miguel said. “My question is, what are the developers’ intentions?”

“More walkable areas?” I suggested.

“Maybe here,” Lena said. “Half the US, you don’t even get sidewalks except in commercial districts.”

“Something grounded,” Erin said. “Something that feels close to home – or that someone local would recognize as off, while a visitor might not? An attempt to create home field advantage.”

“I know you can’t see these yet,” I said, “but some of them would be pretty obvious whether you were visiting or not.”

“Advantage,” Miguel said. “Personally, I think that’s – ah, but this is me.”

Erin pulled into his driveway. I’d been to this blue ranch house a few times before, but I couldn’t help but notice how little it reminded me of its tenant. His lease didn’t give him much leeway to change the outside, so it looked the same as it ever had, just slightly more decrepit. Same single tree, flowerbeds with untidy perennials, sidewalk up to the front door. No Christmas decorations, even.

That was how I knew what part of it came from Third Eye. A wooden garden arch stretched over the sidewalk. Vines snaked up its trellises, too long to have grown since I’d last visited, too green for winter.

I’d say it really classed the place up, but mostly it made me think Miguel’s landlord should put a little more into the landscaping budget.

“You should grab this one, Erin,” Lena said. “Only fair after you drove us all down here.”

“First, I’d like to know what Miguel was thinking.” Erin turned the car off and handed him his keys. “About why Third Eye places objects in residential areas.”

“A moment, please.” He got out of the car and lit up a cigarette. After a long drag, he took another.

Lena and I got out, too. After a moment, Erin realized she’d have to wait longer than she expected for her answer; she followed us.

I wondered if Miguel had waited to speculate until we were almost at his place so he could use his smoke break to hide the fact he didn’t really have a theory.

Once he finally lowered the cigarette and heaved a great smoky sigh, though, he said, “If you were to meet another player on Broadway, what would you expect to happen?”

Erin frowned. “We’d say hello, I guess. Or just go about our business if we were strangers.”

He tapped his cigarette. “And here on Sycamore?”

“The same?” She cupped her chin.

I found myself nodding. I hated it, because it suggested design priorities I didn’t like and because it suggested Erin, Donica, Lena and I, and all of the wiki team, were wasting our time trying to persuade the devs.

“Don’t tell me,” Lena said, “you actually parsed that cryptic bullshit?”

“Pretty sure I did,” I said.

Miguel leaned over the car, eyebrow raised, cigarette poised.

“You think they’re putting more Materials on side streets,” I said, “so we have to go places private enough to get invaded.”