At the turn of the century, there was a pandemic. Organs failed left and right, and people dropped like flies. It was only thanks to the timely arrival of GeneCo that humanity saw a chance at new life. But even though GeneCo had saved them from one pandemic, that didn't mean they could do it again. In 2057, a second pandemic struck the globe. This one was from the east, from the ruins of China, and it was called the Corona virus.
The moment it began, people panicked, neither ready nor willing to face another pandemic, but it was too late, the virus was already sweeping across the globe. Sanitarium was quick to respond, enforcing very strict laws surrounding masks, gloves and quarantine. In some rougher parts of the city, one could even be shot for not following the new safety regulations. But that was only because nobody wanted to see the Corona virus turn into the next Neuro-Overstimulation Syndrome.
But though Sanitarium was, understandably, viciously strict, there were some places in the city where the rules were almost nonexistent. One of those places was, ironically enough, GeneCo itself. Although it was indeed forced to undergo a lot more health and safety precautions on the medical side of things, the entire company was still up and running. Amber would even still throw parties, plays and operas! She decided that performers were essential workers, so they remained in business while everything else was shut down.
As many would come to realize, Amber was not as strict of a leader as her father, but that did not necessarily make her better. She was extraordinarily selfish, and whenever she decided that quarantine was too boring, she was more than happy to break it for her own benefit. For example, she still snuck out to meet with Graverobber all the time, for Zydrate. Even though she now owned GeneCo, she still liked the street stuff, and having an excuse to get out of that accursed old building.
It was during one of Amber's Zydrate runs that she brought Graverobber a laptop.
"A house with working wifi probably should've been your first gift," he snarked as Amber gave him the laptop.
"This is the only way I can stay sane during quarantine!" she snapped back.
"By giving me gifts?" This was a snide remark too, but there was a genuine question in it. But the answer would make itself clear very soon…
ooo
"Oh, come on!" Graverobber snapped in frustration as his videogame character died yet again.
"Isn't that like the sixth time you've been killed by those mobs?" Shilo snickered through the voice chat. Her character was still alive and fighting!
"Shut it, kid," came the unamused reply. He was quickly drowned out by an obnoxious laugh from their third player, Amber Sweet.
"Guess the big boy is all bark and no lung!" she taunted, her character also still alive and kicking.
"Well excuse me, princess," Graverobber growled. "Not all of us usually have such easy access to this fancy-shmancy gamer-gizmo-gadget stuff!"
"That's called using what you got!" Amber bragged back.
"You got to eat out of the palm of Daddy's hand, so of course you have an unfair advantage!" Graverobber continued to complain.
"It's not my fault you're not rich!" Amber snorted. And on they continued to fight, both with each other and the monsters swarming the screen.
Yes, that was right, Amber had given Graverobber a laptop so she could play videogames with him. It sounded absurd, but she argued that she'd done a decent job handling this new pandemic, so she deserved a break every now and then. Videogames were escapism for her. It was the least she was owed after being a good girl and installing lots of new safety protocols for the city. And if anyone wanted to laugh at or question her, she had an army of Repo Men they could talk to instead.
From that day on, Amber and Graverobber were videogame buddies. Shilo joined not long after. Even though she and Amber had started out as enemies, as time passed, Amber realized that Shilo was not a threat to her in any way. After that, Amber warmed up to her quite quickly, seeing as something of a little sister that she could pamper, protect and possess. Just like with Graverobber, Amber had given Shilo a free, fancy laptop just so she could play with them. She was surprisingly good, too!
"Well, remember, Dad never let me out of my room, so games were all I had," Shilo admitted bitterly.
"Ah, a keyboard samurai, eh? Nice," Graverobber grinned, trying to lighten the mood. Neither he nor Amber were good at cheering people up.
"I guess," Shilo gave him a rueful smile, still a little upset, but she knew he was doing his best to try to help her think positively again. She was grateful for it, because like him and Amber, she wasn't good at cheering people up either.
ooo
But even though none of them liked dealing with emotions, they loved to game! And Shilo was a beast at it!
"This puzzle may look hard, but it's actually not," she cried as everyone's characters moved onto the next part of the dungeon. "The answer just isn't what common sense might dictate."
"Is that not the very definition of hard?" Amber sneered, disdain evident even through a voice chat.
"Well, I mean that it won't necessarily take brainpower or knowledge to pass," Shilo explained patiently, well-used to Amber's rudeness by now.
"Well, let's take a look," Graverobber moved his character closer. It was a room with a door at the end, but it was blocked by a wall of fire.
For a while, the trio pondered what spells or tools they had at their disposal, but none of them were useful.
"Should we go back and buy a water spell or something?" Amber finally asked, growing frustrated with the lack of results.
"No, these puzzles promise that everything needed to solve them is already in the room," Shilo insisted.
"But we've already clicked every inch and there's nothing anywhere!" Amber whined.
Shilo had no answer to that, because Amber was right, but she still felt certain that they didn't need anything extra to solve the puzzle. Everything they needed was supposed to be right there in front of them… Or behind them!
As Shilo turned her character around, she noticed a mirror hanging over the door they'd entered through. When looking through it, the flames were gone. Shilo knew it could've been a glitch, or lazy rendering on the developer's part, but she suddenly got a crazy idea…
While Amber and Graverobber continued to spam-click everything in the room and argue with each other, Shilo began walking backward towards the flaming wall. All the while, she continued to look in the mirror. She was able to pass through the flames as if they weren't even there.
"Holy shit! How'd you do that?!" Graverobber cried.
"The mirror!" Shilo answered triumphantly. "Turn around and see! There must be a mechanic where, if you walk through forward, you'll die, but if you walk through backward, you live!" she mused as Amber and Graverobber quickly followed her lead.
"Not bad, puzzle master!" Amber sounded approving as she and Graverobber joined Shilo on the other side of the door.
"Heh, thanks, it's what years of gaming does to ya," Shilo smiled sheepishly. "Sometimes I forget I'm in lockdown, because this feels so normal! Locked in my bedroom, nothing but videogames to entertain me all the day long. It's like a really weird, messed up throwback!"
"Can't relate!" Graverobber joked. "I've seen a decline in customers and increase in cops! It already wasn't safe to leave my little dumpster, but now it's nearly impossible!" It was a good thing Amber had also paid for his laptop to have service wherever he went!
"Oops," Amber said, not sounding sorry at all. "I'll just send masks and gloves next time I visit."
"Bitch," Graverobber snorted.
The trio spent the rest of the day in the dungeon, going room by room. There was plenty of banter, jokes and epiphanies to share.
"Oh! Next boss fight!" Shilo cried. At the same time, boss music began to play as smaller enemy mobs swarmed the chamber. Fingers dancing across the keys in a blur, Shilo made all sorts of combos and critical hits.
"God damn! She really is a keyboard samurai!" Graverobber murmured in amazement.
"Get your ass in gear and come help!" Amber shouted at him as her character followed Shilo into battle. She was not quite as skilled in the art of fighting games, so she didn't get quite as many crits or combos, but she certainly was not half bad either.
"Alright, alright, calm the fuck down," Graverobber snickered, the last to join. He was definitely the worst, but he still had use on the team.
It was a very strange world they lived in, but in a year as crazy as this, the weird was almost normal. So yes, the CEO of a megacorporation that sold human organs, a homeless graverobber, and an introverted orphan girl could absolutely spend days and nights at a time just playing through MMORPGs and dungeon-crawlers. It was as wild as any opera, and twice as fun!
AN: In case it wasn't clear, this is an OT3
And this is inspired off how many gamers this pandemic has created, since we now have time to just sit around and play, LOL
And I think I've just been suckered into a DND campaign, so I'm about to get started too (even though it's not technically a videogame)
Either way, Happy Pride! I'll post the last story tonight!