Pag scraped the last of the dubious looking stew from the bowl and sigh contentedly as he placed the bowl on the table. “I don’t think I’ve had a stew that good in a long time Garvin.” he said looking at the old man.
Garvin chuckled and took a sip of his tea before speaking. “We may not be as flashy as other temples, or make things as beautiful but what we make lasts long, grows healthy, heals fast and tastes good. You get your fill?”
“Yeah, I don’t think I could eat another bit or I’d burst. You mentioned work, what sort of work can I do for you?”
“Nothing too difficult, a spot of cleaning and a few errands but if you get it done right then Ill approve your request to make this your temporary base as well as lend you a bed and foot locker to use when you need.”
Pag muffled a sigh and accepted the quest, resigning himself to spending the remaining time of his first session cleaning and going on a fetch quest. Surely nothing could go wrong with this though. Right?
Pag lifted the helmet from his head and placed it back on the shelf as the pod-door silently slid open. Pale yellow light filled the pod as the opening grew, the whirs and clicks dying down until all was silent. Reluctantly he pulled himself from the pod and stood slowly, letting his muscles stretch slightly, surprised he wasn’t as stiff as he thought he should have been.
“So, how was your first dive?” Jorge asked motioning for me to lift my shirt as he stood from the chair he had been sitting in.
Lifting his shirt, Pag arched a brow, idly wondering how long he had been sitting there. Jorge reached into his pocket, pulling something out. He tore open the sachet and pulled out a moist wipe that he used to dissolve the glue that held the bluetooth capable electrodes to Pags’ chest. The stark overhead lights shone from his bald head, the shadows of long faded tattoos almost blue against the rich brown of his skin on his arms.
“It would have been nice to have been able to finish the tutorial and figure out how to intentionally cast my spells so that I’m not activating them at the worst possible time. Like say in the middle of an apparently highly flammable city, or when I try to point to a meat pie that I want to buy, or when I try to use the restroom. After I finally completed the quest that would allow me the ability to use a temple cell as my base I had to sleep then do more social quests to keep using the cell which took forever to do because the NPC’s found it hilarious to give me bad directions to a shop. Once that was all done I decided to go explore the city, gather some information about things, but didn’t get very far before I was alerted that my shift was up. I don’t feel like I really made much progress despite all the time I was in there. It was kind of frustrating.” Pag mumbled as he scratched at the tacky patches of red skin where the electrodes had been before pulling the shirt back down.
“Ah, yes. Sean has been reprimanded. You weren’t the first player he messed with but you are certainly the last. All that aside, was it enjoyable? Are there any concerns, complaints or symptoms?” Jorge asks as he sits down on a small worn brown love seat that was hidden in the corner between a pair of overgrown plants.
“I’m a bit stiff from sitting for so long, not as much as I thought I would be though, and I’m hungry. Aside from that I feel fine so far.” Pag said as he stretched more in an attempt to loosen up his limbs.
“Any headache, abnormal fatigue, muscle weakness, blurry vision. . .?” he asked trailing of openedly.
“Not that i can tell as of right now.”
Jorge nodded and pulled out a small note pad, scribbled something down and stood. “Well, that won’t be an issue for too much longer hopefully. For now just make sure to get plenty of exercise to prevent muscle deterioration.” He patted Pag on the shoulder as he passed him and padded out the door. “Be sure to get plenty of protein too. If you eat nothing but carbs and sugar you’re going to have all your hair fall out. One player is already dealing with that even though he’s not been here for a month. Cafeteria is open 24 hours a day so there’s really no excuse to order take out, especially when the cafeteria is free. Also I cannot stress this enough, drink some water.”
Pag nodded wearily and looked down the hallway where pre dawn light was beginning to climb through the window. “I think, for now, I’m going to head to take a shower and head to bed.” Pag stepped out into the hallway, stopping and turning back towards Jorge’s retreating form. “Oh, uh quick question. I’ve heard a lot of talk about the group c testers from some of the other players I came across, are they all really that bad?”
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Jorge stopped mid-step with a deep sigh, his shoulders sagging. “There used to only be 2 groups of omega testers. One for nights and one for days, but then we had a few players who began to skew our results and, to put it simply, not play the game as intended but still provided us with useful information so we had to separate them for the sanity of those who sit on the board.”
Jorge rubbed his head and shrugged. “They’re not at all bad, just unusual. PillowHorror-”
Pags eyes widened. “PillowHorror? He’s in that group? He killed me with a tank!”
Jorge blinked and laughed. “Well I’ll say this; PillowHorror, like most of the other group C players, gets deep into his character while still reminding us of the fact that there are a lot of things that need to be addressed. Like the fact that there is coding for items outside the genre left from when they tested physics. Such as, apparently tanks. He is also one of the players that spends the most time logged in to the various games so we get an idea of what long term playing does to the mind and body as well as what kind of usage the units can hold up to. You can thank him for the fact you're not as stiff, he's the one that suggested we use the haptic feedback in the gel to simultaneously stimulate the muscles. Well I say suggested but really it was that or give him a 12x12 pillow stuffed with alpaca fleece. I’ve met all but one of them and they’re all great people, they just like to create a bit of chaos from time to time. The only one you really need to worry about is- “
“Fresh meat! Alright, I heard we had a new recruit. Are you just finishing your first shift or starting?” a deep melodious voice called down the hall.
Jorge grimaced and sighed, shooting a tired look towards the sound of the voice. “Christian, good morning. Hope your weekend went well. Brendan here just finished his first session and is off to get some rest, he uses the screen name Paggaco in Ludere.”
“Oh, C'mon Jorge, use my screen name. I’m trying to get in character before I start my session. Hey, Pag? Pag, yeah you have got to check out the shrines to Ilmas” Christian said as he adjusted his thick black rimmed glasses and ran a hand through his hair, his grin mischievous and laughter lit his eyes.
Pag swallowed feeling his face redden, the memory of walking into the temple fresh on his mind. Never before had he seen so many people willing to risk hypothermia and some of those statues put the statue of David to shame. “I’ve already seen one in passing, if they’re all that way I think I’ll avoid the rest.”
Christian laughed at him. “Paggums, simply seeing one doesn’t do it any justice. Next time you’re online I’ll show you the true wonders of the temples to Ilmas. They offer a wide variety of training.” He said with a wink.
Pag nearly choked and stuttered out a half muttered reply. “That’s not exactly my cup. No judgment to those that are. It’s just I’m a-”
Jorge cleared his throat. “Xian here is the favored of Ilmas in the game and is a group-c tester. Each temple has their area of expertise that they can offer training in, the temple Ilmas has skills and spells that can be used to affect others minds. Some of the more well known classes they help to train are mesmers and illusionists." He said, patting Pag on the shoulder with one hand and gesturing with a small wave with the other before turning to speak to the other player. "Now if you’ll excuse us I have charting to do and I’m sure that Pag would like to rest.”
“Alright, well welcome to the team buddy. I look forward to it, it should be fun.” Xian said, dipping his head.
Pag muttered quietly in response and gratefully followed Jorge, careful to keep his eyes on the floor as he passed. Xian? Was that what Jorge had said his screen name was? Pag shook his head, fighting the urge to look back as they turned down another hall.
“You’re one of the few testers that chose to stay on site rather than commute, you know. You’ll be in B117.” Jorge’s voice shook Pag out of his thoughts and he furrowed his brows.
“Why’s that, I wonder, not the room number part but the other part? Kinda figured with how insane the housing market is, more people would have jumped on the chance for free housing.” Pag said, glancing out the windows they passed. They were obviously heavily tinted to keep the sun out but the light was still blinding as it crawled over the hills.
“Quite a few of them have children, others prefer to take the per diem and get a cheap motel so they can pocket the rest.” Jorge says stifling a yawn with some obvious effort. “Right, well the dorms are down that way. Your wristband will act as your key to all the doors you’re allowed to go through so don’t lose it. There’s a map on your company issued tablet which can be found on your desk, it is of the various facilities and all its out buildings. Unless something goes wrong the next time I’ll see you is when you log out of your next session. I’ll be checking in on you after the next few sessions to make sure there are no latent side effects or concerns but you can always contact me or depending on the time other medical staff members using the tablet until they get you the company issued cell phone. They used to give those out on the day of hire but there were several testers who took them and the per diem then never returned.”
Pag gave a small nod. “Thanks.” he said around a yawn before he padded down the hall to his room. The door to B117 was a dark charcoal color, like the doors around it, though the paint was clearly newer. The door gave a small chirp as he ran his wrist band over the reader embedded in the door and he twisted the knob giving the door a soft push. The pale golden lights slowly lit up the room, as if some one had slid a dial rather than flipped a switch. The air clicked and whirred, cool air filtering through the room. A wave of exhaustion hit him from behind, his eyes beginning to burn with the need for sleep and he slipped his shoes off next to the door as he shut and locked it. The full sized bed had simple white linens on it, a rich green quilt folded at the end of the bed.
Pag sat on the edge of the bed slipping first his shoes then his jeans off and looked around blearily for a way to turn the lights off but found no switch. He sighed and tried clapping his hands with a frown. When nothing happened he shook his head and laid back on the bed. “Guess I’m sleeping with the lights on. “He grumbled, stopping short as the lights clicked off. “Well, it looks like character creation isn’t the only needlessly complicated thing here today." He snorted, rolling his eyes. He pulled the blankets back and laid down quickly drifting off.