Earl, a rather normal child, sat at his desk on this rather normal day, waiting for a notification from his rather new, rather strange friend Theo.
He was quite a quiet boy, blessed with an insane amount of pale, curly hair that spent most of its time obscuring his view and being a general nuisance. He lived in the suburbs of Washington with his sister, a strong, independent 20 something who shared his pale hair but not much else.
He had quite a few interests, including advanced mathematics, fortune telling, roleplaying games and model making. He had recently been added to what he had been told by the girl who added him was a group of old friends, but turned out to be several separate small groups and a few people who just floated around. Earl was one of the floaters but had recently made friends with a girl named Elli.
Speak of the devil, thought Earl, as a notification popped up on his screen.
TertiaryTriumph [TT] began pestering AnonymousAugury [AA] at 11:24
TT: You playing yet?
AA: No, Theo told me to wait for her cue…
TT: Ugh,, That girl. : I hate waiting! Im an action sort of gal!
AA: I know, I'm pretty bored too..
TT: But you do maths and shit for fun dude! Youre used to being bored!
AA: Hey!
TT: I'm used to adventure! I never need to be patient, I just need to be patient and perceptive.
AA: God Elli, your life sounds sooo cool!
TT: You might be being sarcastic but Im going to take it as a genuine compliment, cause damn right its cool!
TT: Anyway, do you even know what this game is about?
AA: Theo told me it was some kind of building game, something like the sims..
TT: Ugh, I guess, with a name like Sburb, it's bound to be boring..
AA: It could be fun.
TT: Theo told me you have to be my "server player" whatever that means, so I guess I should find my disk.
AA: You lost your disk?
TT: No! I misplaced it!
Another notification, this one from Theo.
AA: I gotta go, Theo's trying to talk to me. Look for your disk!
TT: Finnnnnnneeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
AnonymousAugury [AA] ceased pestering TertiaryTriumph [TT]
Earl closed the conversation with TT and opened another one with Theo.
CrypticConundrum [CC] began pestering AnonymousAugury [AA] at 11:37
CC: You ready Earl?
AA: As ready as I can be for a game I know nothing about..
CC: Trust me, its for the best.
AA: Ok.
CC: Load the game.
Earl minimised the conversation and inserted the disk Theo had sent him in the mail into his computer. A loading screen depicting a spirograph popped up immediately. He messaged Theo back while it downloaded.
AA: It's downloading..
CC: Coolio! I'll be your server player and Elli will be your Client player.
AA: What does the mean.
CC: Just watch what happens when your game has finished downloading.
Just like that, a ding from Sburb told Earl that the game had finished downloading.
AA: It's done, what do I do?
CC: Stay there, I'll connect.
Earl sat in silence for a few seconds, twiddling his thumbs when a notification popped up on Sburb.
Theo Atwood has connected as your server player.
AA:What happens now?
CC: I'll get to work preparing you while you connect to your client player!
AA: I, I can't. She lost her disk.
CC: Hmmmm, :/ I'll talk to her.
Suddenly Earls room grew bigger, one wall sliding backwards.
AA: My room just grew, did you do that?
CC: yeah, sorry. I'm just figuring out the controls here.
Earl jumped back as his bed was launched out of his wall.
CC: Sorry, my hand slipped.
AA: You are soooo lucky my sister isn't here right now.
CC: Where is she.
AA: off at some book launch, she's obsessed with wizards and shit..
CC: OMG! My grandmothers hosting a book signing today! Everyones gathered just down the stairs from my room!
AA: Of course! Your grandmother is Gina Atwood! That makes sense.
CC: One sec…
Earls room grew a bit more and Theo dropped a strange looking machine into it.
AA: How does this game even work?
CC: it seems to allow the Server player to intereact with the Client Players real life environment. How, I do not know.
AA: What did you just drop into my room?
CC: It's a Cruxtruder. Dont open it yet, we have to be ready first.
AA: How do I open it?
CC: See it's lid? You have to lever it with something to pop it open.
AA: I think theres a crowbar somewhere in the house..
CC: There you go! Go get that and I'll keep working on the house!
CrypticConundrum [CC] ceased pestering AnonymousAugury [AA]
With that, earl left his room and began his trek downstairs.