Copyright Soviet Games 2014
I got home from work and changed into my normal clothes as my computer booted up. I spent my entire shift thinking of ideas for a new story and I was ready to start giving them shape; shape through text anyway. After I finished the first chapter, however, my mind started to wander. What if life is just a fanfiction and everyone is just a story written by different deities? I may think I am writing about them, when in actuality, they are writing about me. I began to wonder about the implications that would cause. Why did I have to get the vain one? I care nothing about my appearance; yet here I am writing about my deity writing about me. He must have written a lot of stories because everywhere I look, people are religious about their image; I am glad I am different from them. Putting as much work as they do into their appearance seems like too much for a "someone might notice". I sighed at my powerlessness to change this aspect of society and moved over to my other desk. I leaned the table lamp forward and picked up the key under it; it was for the bottom drawer of the desk. I pulled out my Vaporite and a small bag of the universal cure. I sprinkled some of it into the hose and put it into the bowl. I turned on the vaporizer but had a brief hang-up on what temperature to set it at. Oh right, there is no actual set temperature, you just set it to the max temperature. When it's 496, prepare to shit bricks. I amused myself as I set the temperature. I partially zoned out while I was waiting for the right temperature. A random neck-twitch brought me back to reality and I picked up the other end of the hose. I have waited long enough, it's time to dream. I thought as I took a long drag. I turned on some music and threw on a visualizer; if I didn't do it now, I might not be cognitive enough to later. By the time I was done, I had barely managed to turn the vaporizer off. As I turned back to the monitor, the visualizer formed a kaleidoscope inside of a wormhole. As far as I was currently concerned, nothing existed outside of the forming galaxy of lights in the visualizer; not even me, in the traditional sense. I was just an ethereal presence with no physical form, watching the first molecules of the universe form. I felt nothing; or maybe I felt so much of everything that it all just canceled itself out. This was my hideaway from the world. Nothing could reach me here.
I was woken up by my head being pushed against the back of a bus seat; the bus I was apparently on was slowing to a stop. When it finally stopped and I could move again, I leaned back from the seat back and looked around. This is not my room. Holy shit, this is not my room. How the hell did I end up here? And who turned up the heater to match Satan's living room? My mind raced as I kept looking around like a first-time tourist in a foreign country. How is it summer here? I ran outside and saw green fields of grass dotted with flowers, trees covered with leaves; everything was so alive. In front of me was a partially opened metal gate with a stone pioneer on either side of it. "Sovionok" was written in intricate letters over the gate; it looked like a summer camp. Maybe I could ask them how to get back to my city from here; I will just pretend I was visiting a friend here. I thought as I walked towards the gate but then stopped. I don't know about this; just going in there and asking. This may look like a summer camp, but looks aren't always everything. There is an old prison somewhere in Siberia that looks like an elementary school but it's really the last stop before death. I just got here and don't know how; wouldn't be wise to just walk into to a random gate that's not even open all the way.
"Hi! Did you just get here?" a female voice brought me out of my thoughts.
"Uh... yeah..." I managed to grunt out; I decided I was just going to pretend I came here on purpose so I dint scare her off.
"I'm Slavya. And you are..." Slavya asked.
"S-Semyon..." I mumbled.
"Nice to meet you, Semyon. Go to the camp leader, she will tell you everything you need to know!" She said with a pleasant smile and pointed at somewhere behind the gates. Before I could ask any questions, she had disappeared behind the gates. Well, someone that friendly and pleasant can't be a convicted felon, so I guess I will go see this camp leader. I walked through the gates and tried to find where she was talking about from where she was standing. Since none of the buildings I saw looked super important, I just picked a direction and started walking. It wasn't too long until I heard what sounded like guitar notes coming from somewhere. I followed the notes and soon found myself coming up to a stage. There was a girl with shoulder-length orange hair holding a guitar up on the stage; she looked like she was really into the notes. I heard a menacing growl from the speakers sing about leaving Earth as a white cloud while it was snowing. Is that her voice? It must be, I can see her singing into the microphone. I sat down in one of the front row seats and just watched her play.
"Where did you learn to play like that?" I asked her when she finished the song.
"I learned myself. Who are you? I haven't seen you before." She asked me; the sound of her normal voice temporarily froze time.
"Hello? You never see a girl with a guitar before?" She waved her hand.
"Oh. Sorry. I'm Semyon. Yeah, I am new here." I stuttered out; that was smooth. Rob Thomas smooth.
"I've just never heard anyone play like you except for people on the radio." I tried to distract from my earlier slip-up.
"Well if you know the basics, I can try to teach you some of the songs I know. I'm Alisa, by the way." Alisa offered.
"Meet me here after dinner; the dance is lame so you won't miss anything." she added.
She got off the stage and headed towards the cabins. Well, somehow I don't think that was the camp leader, but it was still another friendly face. I smiled as I kept searching for the leader's cabin. Finally I got to a cabin under siege by an unrelenting storm of lavender. I have a feeling this is it. I walked up to the door and was about to knock when the door opened.
"Oh hi! You must be the new pioneer. I'm Olga Demitrevna, the camp leader. You've probably already met my assistant, Slavya." a slightly-older looking woman in an almost excessively clean and sharp pioneer uniform greeted me. Well, "slightly older" is clearly relative here; she looked just barely older than the other two people I've seen so far, but not old enough to be a camp leader.
"I've got some business to attend to, but I've got something for you while I'm busy." she said as she pulled a piece of paper from her shirt pocket.
"Use this list to visit and familiarize yourself with the camp. Get signatures everywhere you visit." she instructed me as she handed me the piece of paper. By the time I had looked up from it, she was almost out of sight. I picked a direction and started walking; she could have at least gave me some directions. I soon ended up at an old building that looked exactly like the library I used to go to. When I walked inside, the door closing behind me seemed to sound like thunder. I froze for a few seconds and then started slowly moving towards the librarian's desk.
"Get on with it. You can walk faster, you know." an impatient voice suggested.
"I'm guessing you're here for a signature. I'm Zhenya." she introduced herself. I handed her the list and she quickly scribbled something on it.
"Uh... thank you..." I stuttered out; her strong sense of business and straightforwardness kind of caught me off guard. She handed me back the list, and I awkwardly walked out of the library. After a few minutes of walking and a few arbitrary turns, I found what I could swear was the House of Scientists. I walked inside and discovered myself in a technological wonderland. It wasn't that they had matter transporters or inter-dimensional wormhole generators, it was the sheer amount of everything that had gears or buttons or batteries everywhere the eye could look. It all looked like technology from when I was in elementary school, but to see it like this was still fascinating.
"You must be the new pioneer I've heard about. I'm Electronik and this is my brother Shurik. We run the Cybernetics club." a young man introduced himself and his brother to me.
"You've got quite a collection here." I said while still looking around, not really paying attention to them personally.
"Would you like to join our club? I'll sign that checklist for you if you do." Electronik gave me a smirk.
"Uh... I've already signed up for the music club. I don't think I would be able to do both." I lied; all of this technology was great, but something felt off. Something that told me not to sign up for anything just yet.
"Fair enough... I guess." Electronik sighed with disappointment as he took out a pen from his pocket. I handed him my list and he lazily scribbled something on it. I put the list in my pocket and headed out to try to find the next stop on my list. Just as I started to think I got lost, I saw a building come into view. As I got closer, I saw a sign on the door that said "Music club". This has been easy enough so far; let's hope this continues. I thought as I opened the door and walked in. I heard a soothing and comforting voice gently fill my ears, accompanied by an acoustic guitar. I must have been standing there for a while because I remember being pulled back to reality by the same voice but no longer singing.
"Hi! You must be new here. I'm Miku. Do you want to join the music club? It's only me for now, but maybe you could join to make it a duet?" Every word she said felt like a rainbow shooting across a tranquil field of grass. I suddenly felt terrible for lying about being in the music club. I can't lie about joining the music club and then not join it. Especially not with someone like her as the founder; well, and only member. I remembered the escape I used at the techno twins' building.
"Yeah... sure. I... I'm Semyon." I managed to string some words together; she was glowing with happiness like a nuclear reactor core. I really hope to all that is holy, and unholy, that I am not around when she has a meltdown. I thought as I took out my list. She took it and walked over to a nearby table; I was surprised the paper didn't catch on fire from the speed with which she signed it.
"Here you go! Come visit me soon!" she gave me a beaming smile.
"Thank you." I mumbled and walked away at a slightly increased pace; something bothered me about that girl. No one is this happy about anything. She seems to be overjoyed about simply being here; don't get her started on the topic of visitors. At least the last place I had left was the easiest; the infirmary. Since I am not blind, it should be physically impossible to miss a building with a giant red cross on it. I assured myself as I walked out of the music club. Sure enough, the infirmary didn't take me long to find. I walked in and there was a woman sitting at a desk covered in paperwork. She was facing away from me and did not notice me at first.
"Uh... hi. I'm here for the checklist." I said quietly.
"You must be the new recruit. Close the door and have a seat... pioneer." She said without turning around. I sat on the hospital bed next to her and waited for her to finish her work.
"My name is Violetta but everyone calls me Viola." The nurse answered; she looked more like a receptionist in her current outfit but it's not the outfit that makes the person.
"My name is Semyon." I said and took out my list; she took it from my hand and put it on the table.
"Later. I need to check your health before you get into any camp activity." She said as she turned towards me. She gently put her hands on the back of my head and pulled me closer to her face. I felt her lips touch mine; her tongue sneaking between my lips and into my mouth a couple seconds later. A fatal exception SV has occurred at 5361:S1364. Everything in my mind except for these words abruptly vanished. I forgot where I was, what I was doing, everything. All I could feel was the nurse's tongue in my mouth. I don't know if we were like that for a couple of seconds or a couple of hours, but her voice finally brought me back to a semi-functioning state.
"Body temperature is normal. A pioneer should always be healthy." She said with the slightest trace of a smile. She scribbled something on the list and handed it back to me.
"Come back when you need treatment... pioneer." She said in a voice that almost sent me into another blue-screen. I got up and hobbled out of the infirmary. My legs were carrying me to some unknown destination while my mind was still back in the infirmary; it rapidly caught up to me when I tripped over the chair in front of the camp leader's house. I quickly got up and looked around to see if anyone saw me; all clear.
"There you are! Did you get the signatures?" the camp leader popped out of the door a few seconds later. I handed her the list; she looked at it for a minute and then put it in her pocket.
"You know someone tried to forge the signatures once? I was appalled. They knew nothing of the spirit of pioneers; such dishonesty was never seen before in the camp." she gave me a suspicious look, but I didn't take it personally; I actually went around and got all of the signatures. A trumpet fanfare went off and the camp leader came outside and closed the door.
"That's the dinner bell! Come on, I'm sure you're hungry since it took you this whole time to get the signatures." She informed me. We didn't walk really that far when she walked up to what kind of looked like a small fast food diner.
"This is the cantina. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all served here." She said as she motioned me inside. Dinner was nothing special, some beef patties and a glass of milk, but it was better than my diet of two apples and whatever random candy bar I got my hands on that day. I was taking back my dishes when the camp leader was calling for my attention again.
"I almost forgot. You're bunking with Lena. You do need a place to sleep, no?" She said with a smile. I was walking out of the cantina when I almost walked into someone.
"Oh sorry, I didn't see you there." I said; I felt my cheeks getting warm really slowly.
"Its fine." a girl with purple hair in cute pigtails said quietly. I don't know what it was, but something instantly pulled me towards her in a metaphysical sense. Sometimes when you are driving for a long time through a dark forest, something will blink in the corner of your eye; you will turn to look but you see nothing. There was something special about this girl.
"I... I'm supposed to find Lena. I've been assigned to her cabin." I mumbled.
"I'm Lena." she mumbled and slightly blushed.
"Would you mind showing me the way?" I asked. She didn't say anything, just motioned me to follow her. We walked to her cabin in silence.
"Here it is." she said almost inaudibly.
"I'll see you later." she said quietly and walked in the general direction of the library; my best guess anyway. I opened the door and climbed up the couple stairs into the cabin. I laid down on the empty bed and realized almost instantly that I could not get back up. I'm so tired I could- I feel asleep before I could even finish the thought.