Chapter Text
A boy stands in his bedroom. It is not his birthday, or even any holiday at all. It's just another day.
Your name is STEVE GARRISON.
Your room is a mess - just the way you like it. Thanks to your IMPRESSIVE MEMORY, you can find anything; it's always exactly where you left it. Much of the floor is covered in STUDDED BUILDING BRICKS, which you use as a creative outlet. Also scattered across the blue carpet is a vast collection of VIDEO GAMES. You dream one day of creating your own, and your studded bricks are arranged in complete levels and arenas.
On the far wall is a bookcase, filled to the brim with FANTASTICAL BOOKS OF AN AMUSING NATURE. You enjoy reading, a trait you picked up from your COOL MOM.
You brush your long, shaggy brown hair out of your face. This time of year, you wear short-sleeved shirts and jeans. Summer isn’t long over, so the temperature is comfortable. The first leaves of autumn are starting to change; in a few weeks, they’ll cover the ground entirely. On this part of the east coast, the seasons are strictly defined - summer is scorching and humid, winter is frozen, fall is colorful and brisk, and spring is three months of congested sinuses and bugs.
It's a Tuesday - your least favorite day of the week. Mondays can be slogged through in a sleepy stupor, but Tuesdays bring the real bulk of the week's problems. Thankfully, school is out for the day. You have the entire afternoon to yourself. Your homework was finished over the lunch break. The school you attend breaks its schedule into odd days and even days. On odd days, like today, you don't know anyone who eats lunch when your class does, so you finish your work instead of socializing. You don't mind; it means more gaming time at home.
And it couldn’t be a better day for it. All day the beta for the coolest new game has been downloading. Your laptop sits on the desk in the corner of your room. While last year you could bring it to school for “note-taking”, this year the administration declared all portable computing devices contraband, a policy that is COMPLETE BULLSHIT. Now you actually have to pay attention in class.
You carefully tiptoe through one of the few safe paths through your room and drop into the chair at your desk. A stack of books sits on the corner of the desk. Each one sports a receipt or coupon as a bookmark. You read all of them at the same time. Part of you thinks you might have an attention disorder. The rest thinks you’re a hypochondriac.
In the center of the desk is the laptop. The wallpaper is a fan-drawn piece about your favorite game. A charismatic air pirate and his friends pose on the deck of their sleek steel ship. You admire and envy the awesome pirate. He gets an airship, a crew of enthusiastic swashbucklers, and two fine lady friends who are happy to share him. If only you could have that kind of luck.
A chirp sounds from the speakers. Someone on BadgerBud has sent you a message. The game download still has half an hour to go, so you might as well kill some time chatting with your friends.
Your BadgerBud brobriquiet is siliconSwashbuckler, and you type using proper grammar. You never swear, even though you often want to.
-- bebopBelter [BB] began badgering siliconSwashbuckler [SS] –-
BB: bojangles
SS: Dude, what is your weird obsession with that restaurant?
BB: its fun to say
BB: you busy?
SS: Just waiting for this download to finish.
BB: oh thats today?
BB: shit i forgot
SS: …
SS: You’re kidding.
BB: sorry man
BB: workin on a new amv this morn
BB: just slipped my mind
BB: you should watch this one. we are totally the main duo
BB: theres this guy who can break down matter and cover his arm for incredibly strong punches
SS: AAAAAAUGH
SS: We’re supposed to be each other’s servers.
BB: sorry man
BB: im starting the dl now
BB: says itll finish by tomorrow
SS: No!
SS: I got my crappy lit homework done so I could play today!
SS: Plus, tomorrow AA will already have played, and he’ll rub it in my face.
BB: so?
BB: fuck him. hes an ass anyway
BB: why do you even care what he says?
SS: I don’t!
BB: hey, maybe you can play with him
SS: No way.
SS: We’re playing together, remember?
SS: I’m not starting without you.
BB: go ahead
BB: i wanna finish this video anyway
BB: and see if i can find new episodes
SS: Really? I’d rather have you as my server.
BB: dude you get served by me every day
SS: Ha. Ha.
BB: go ahead
BB: when im ready well just start over
SS: Yeah, I guess.
SS: I’ll just do like the first level.
BB: cool
-- bebopBelter [BB] ceased badgering siliconSwashbuckler [SS] –-
You lean back in your chair and run a hand through your hair. This complicates things. If you could play with your best friend, everything would be perfect.
Instead, you’re going to have to contact… him.
-- siliconSwashbuckler [SS] began badgering audaciousArchitect [AA] –-
SS: Hey.
AA: Steve. What’s up?
SS: Have you installed the beta yet?
AA: Of course. I’m about to start.
SS: With who?
AA: EE.
SS: Just the two of you?
AA: Yes.
AA: Just her and me.
SS: Uh.
SS: Can I
SS: join you?
AA: Ha. No.
AA: She’s already connected to me.
AA: And I’m about to connect to her.
AA: And yes, I mean it that way.
SS: …Right.
SS: Look, I don’t have a server player now.
SS: Will you connect to me too?
SS: I want to at least play some today.
AA: I can’t.
AA: Only one server and one client per player.
AA: And as I said, she’s already my server.
SS: Uuuuugh.
SS: Fine. What would it take to get you to be my server?
AA: Hmmm.
AA: It looks like I hold all the cards.
AA: Alright, Steve. I’ll connect to you.
AA: But.
AA: You can’t be her server.
SS: Fine. I was going to be BB’s server anyway.
AA: And.
AA: You will owe me a favor to be decided later. Any boon I decide.
SS: Whatever.
AA: Perfect. Send me a message when you’re ready.
-- audaciousArchitect [AA] ceased badgering siliconSwashbuckler [SS] –-
Man, you hate that guy. He’s so cocky. And smarmy. And arrogant. And confident. And lucky with the ladies. And good looking. And sure enough in his own self worth that he can get any girl he wants.
What a jerk.
There’s still ten minutes until the game finishes downloading. More than enough time for you to look around your room at the signifiers of your interests.
One of the walls of your room is covered in promotional posters for POPULAR VIDEO GAMES. You’re close friends with the assistant manager of a local game store, so you get the swag for upcoming games for free. The shop doesn’t get enough business to give away the freebies, so you get the leftovers. The wall next to your bed is plastered in advertisements for games that were released long ago.
You prefer long, involved games with elaborate stories about heroes saving the day and getting the girl (or girls). You and your best friend take turns playing through them, living vicariously through the exploits of time travellers, ancient kings, and starship captains.
On the far wall hangs a single poster for a popular EASTERN ANIMATION SERIES. Your best friend adores all media creations from the land of the rising sun, and he supplied you with the poster in question. Two space cowboys gaze at the viewer with disinterest - one slender, aloof, and dextrous, the other stocky, steadfast, and other words beginning with ‘S’.
They fit you and your friend perfectly. The pair of you have been friends since you met, and you insist on matching yourselves to fictional character duos as often as possible. Movies, television shows, games and animes - the two of you can find yourselves in any terrific twosome.
Your bookcase mirrors the rest of your room in representation both of your interests and of your refusal to organize anything. Books are stacked vertically, horizontally, diagonally, and in one instance balanced on a single corner. In additional to your fantasy satire collection, you own a number of instructional tomes on the programming of video games. They occupy the far corner of the shelf, collecting dust in their own PILE OF SHAME.
On a lark, you pick one up, captchaloguing it to your Sylladex. Your preferred Fetch Modus is Recall. Each item is placed on a card and left face down in a grid. When you need to retrieve one, you simply draw it. The Recall Modus isn’t terribly popular; unlike the similar Memory Modus, it doesn’t involve matching pairs and thus more chances for success, and it can’t be weaponized. Thanks to your IMPRESSIVE MEMORY, however, it’s the most convenient.
This particular volume details methods of drawing objects on a screen and moving them in pre-scripted patterns. It’s incredibly useful for making the example game from the included disc (long ago banished to the wasteland of installation CDs, old albums, and other future drink coasters), but not terribly useful for making something someone would actually want to play. All of the other inhabitants of the PILE OF SHAME share the same problem.
At least this one has an interesting cover. A caricature of a swarthy action hero brandishes a gun that fires binary strings. His manly stubble and devil-may-care attitude imply that game development is a career for cool dudes, the kind who wear sunglasses indoors and have hobbies they don’t hide in chagrin.
Oh. That chime means the beta is done installing.
Sure enough, the air pirate wallpaper is now replaced by a spirograph and a box waiting for the server’s information.
It’s time to contact the jerkwad.