Hey, hey guys my name is Jason and today I'm going to be uploading my first chapter, of my first story so please be gentle with me. This story is going to be driven by OC's, straight up Original Characters, so if you don't like that you're in the wrong place. Flames will be ignored; constructive criticism is appreciated and besides all that please enjoy the first chapter of The Salient.
Updated Note: This first chapter is essentially a PROLOGUE, an introduction to the main cast, and with that being said this chapter can technically be skipped. Its purpose is largely reference. Of course it's also a legitimate chapter of the story, so bear all this in mind while reading it. And if you do skip be sure to come back and give it a read!
Chapter 1: Time Crunch
Brian or Thrumaticus 'Thrum' Thomil
October 7th, 2032
Brian Steele awoke with a start in his plush queen-sized bed. A piercing screech cutting into his babble of nonsense.
"What the hell-" The loud noise cut in again.
Still only half-awake Brian swung his arm to the side and slammed down on the digital clock lying on the banister at his side, failing to silence the contraption.
"Brian turn that damn thing off!" A dark-skinned boy yelled barging into Brian's room, with no shirt or shoes on to his name.
"Shut up." Brian refused to acknowledge his brother further. Reaching over he unplugged his alarm clock, foregoing the snooze button. "You know today is the day-"
"Stop talking, get out my room, and yes l know today's the day the game comes out." Brian rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes and sat up. Swinging his legs over the edge of his bed, (purposefully away from his sibling), he then threw on a pair of navy blue baggy sweat pants and a matching navy blue shirt.
Goodness my breath is hot garbage!
Smiling at the sound of his door closing, Brian threw on a pair of slightly used socks and a new pair of sneakers, stretching his frame taunt and yawning Brian is out of his room and running through his morning routine with a bit more pep than usual.
He brushed his teeth with one hand and combed his thick hair with the other. Dark skin, black hair, and a pair of expressive coal eyes. At the impressive height of six feet two inches, Brian would say he's imposing, but his lithe frame voices the opposite.
Slipping out of the bathroom of the near empty house he jogged downstairs, heading for the front door.
Today is the day.
Today is the day l get my hands on the new VR game Great Door Fantasy Online. The multiplayer game that people are waiting with baited breath to get their hands on at stores all over the country right now. A game launched a decade after the Death Game.
New platform! Better graphics! As well as a new engine that can house multiple times as many people as the first game simultaneously on a single server! The game that drops today at 5pm, the game that Brian has no doubt in his mind that he's going to get his hands on.
Checking his watch Brian smiled. Sliding outside of his parent's house his smile didn't drop for a second.
Half of a mile down the road is a plaza, in that plaza is a GameStop that Brian's friend Tball works in. That's where he's headed, walking with a step bordering a speed walk, and a smile on his face ready to break into a grin.
Raising his hand he admired the weather. Shame l won't be able to enjoy this amazing cool weather, with the game coming out I doubt I'll get much real world for a long while. Brian noted.
It's 4:05 pm and its not oppressively hot, a real nice day for a walk too.
_Great Door Fantasy Online_
Tball or Tball Skulls
4:05! Timothy 'Tball' Ballins, is the GM of his local GameStop, and he is stressed. You'd think that after working here for five plus years that he would be used to the hectic nature of fresh releases.
Or that he would factor in just how lazy his employees could be when its crunch time and he needs them at their best. In the end he didn't and now he's dealing with the repercussive effects of that mistake.
"Jared, move that rack of gift cards back, we want to funnel them in that direction!" Tball corrected.
"My bad." Jared is the new guy.
"Alright l want the rest of this finished up in the next five minutes, I'll be in the back!" Tball had been saying that all morning. From eight in the morning to now four something.
Tball walked briskly to the back of the store behind the symmetrical racks and clean counters. Turning the light on in the bathroom Tball checked himself out and freshened up before they opened shop to the absurdly long line of people all trying to get their hands on a tiny black chip with the label Great Door Fantasy Online plastered on its box.
Peaking outside of the claustrophobic washroom Tball watched his staff work silently, yep about a half-dozen bodies all accounted for, performing some menial task of some sort.
When Tball ducked back into the bathroom at least half of the people who were 'working' stop doing what they were doing.
Tball stared at himself in the mirror.
Ebony skin and a ruggedly handsome face. Cornrows going down Tball's head in neat lateral lines, and a permanent pair of dark glasses. He understands the term "Look good, feel good" and forever lives that phrase.
Peeling off his shades and revealing his face, something that he never lets anyone get the privilege of seeing, Tball ran the water and rinsed his face. A quick leak later and Tball left the bathroom (with glasses on of course) to enter the storage room in the very back of the building.
Sliding aside a life-sized COD poster, Tball glanced down to the smallish briefcase behind it filled with close to a dozen dark chips. GDFO is the label displayed proudly on each chip respectively.
Opening the case Tball made sure that all of the VR games are in order and slipped the case shut. Replacing the poster back to its original place.
Checking his cheap and practical watch on his wrist, Tball found it to be 4:12pm.
Walking back into the business portion of the store Tball was happy to see how much more clean it was since yesterday, his slight perfectionist streak speaking for itself though his smile.
"Good. Good. Now look alive and take yourselves a break it'll be show time soon." Tball said to his ragtag group of teenagers and young adults. Being a twenty-one-year-old himself Tball could empathize with their reluctance towards work but in the end work is work, and he believed whole-heartedly that to make ends meet you had to put in plenty of said work first.
"But we didn't even do anything since you-"
Jared was promptly silenced and drug away by his fellow coworkers, Tball being none the wiser. The employees of GameStop each found some down-time alone or amongst each other. The pleasant sound of white noise filling the retailer.
Three knocks then sounded against the store door. Tball stood from his seat to yell at the kids -again- for being so obnoxious in line and threaten -again- to send them to the back of said line, but was greeted with a familiar and expected face. Or well actually faces, friendly faces.
_Great Door Fantasy Online_
Sarah or Div
Entry 508: October 7th, 2032
11:14 am - Awoke
11:15 am - Checked Phone for messages (nope/not from who l wanted)
12 pm - Left the house (needed food)
12:30 pm - Got back home
1 pm - Bored so l messaged him
1:06 pm - l think he's still asleep
1:10 pm - Writing a poem now
1:58 pm - Didn't like the poem l wrote but l kept it
3:25 pm - Going to Jonny and Avery's house
Closing her journal Sarah McDiver straightened up her shoulder-length black hair and stepped outside of her apartment complex. Sarah has been living alone for the last two years. Taking up work since entering High School, Sarah was able to save up enough cash to move out comfortably and rent an apartment. That was almost two years ago, and now moving into the prime of her beauty at the age of twenty Sarah's enjoying the calm and peacefulness of living alone and doing whatever she wants.
The only drawback being that she's bored out of her mind!
Figures babe would be asleep NOW when l am off and doing nothing. On days like these when the hot/humid weather of Florida is being directly counter-acted with the natural coolness of October.
'How can you not walk around and enjoy this bomb weather?' That'd definitely be something he'd say. Sarah thought, fighting the urge to check her phone again, or message him. Best not to seem clingy. Or blow up his phone.
She was in the midst of a nice walk. Destination her friends' place. In her navy blue sweater (her lover's favorite color) and a black pair of jeans. Her choker and earrings the only accessories on her person. Only accessories besides the satin cap that always seems to be on her head if she could get away with it, the cap itself a startling white to act inversely to her skin pigment and accessories. Her powerful pair-shaped frame made nice time towards her friends' house, the average heighted girl walked for minutes to their apartment a few blocks down.
Later on today, her, the twins that she's going to go see now, and a few other friends, as well as her boyfriend, would all be meeting at the GameStop closer to where they live to get their hands onto the newest game on the market. All thanks to their mutual friend who works there.
"I wonder who else will be getting their hands on GDFO." Sarah said to herself. As she walked she thought about who would be getting the game, which led her to thinking about her friends, which led her to thinking about High School and how she met them.
In High School Sarah had meet the group of gamers that she plays games with now. Though an in-school club, which over time evolved into an after-school program they all enjoy. A program that even now Sarah attends, whenever she can as a graduate and busy body.
Sarah smiled and bit back a laugh at a funny thought. Oh the club's going to be so salty when they find out that the The Crew all got the only AniSum virtual video game available on the day it came out.
From there her thoughts became especially vindictive when she thought about rubbing it in the face of a few of the snobbier gamers who attended. Sarah couldn't help but bark out a shout of laughter at the stupid looks she would be given when she says that she and all her friends played during the launch of the biggest game since SAO. Oh yes, I may be wasting my life away with video games but goddamn it if I can't enjoy myself while doing it.
Entering the apartment complex, Sarah walked up the stairs of block 1b and knocked on the door to Room 509. Her own signature knock, five raps then pause.
"Oh, c'mon their home, they're always home." Sarah complained.
I swear on everything I love if l came all the way out here just for these two knuckleheads to be gone!
And then the door opened to reveal an average looking male.
"Sarah? Huh we were going to call."
_Great Door Fantasy Online_
Jonny or Cratoos | Avery or Jak
Jonny Cane looked over to the analog clock above the door as he approached it, 4pm sharp.
"Who is it Jonny!?" Avery said from the other room.
"I don't know, checking!" Jonny replied.
The Cane twins, Jonny and Avery, did everything together. From when they were just children to present. From birthday parties every year, to menial things like having the same haircut. Even though they are not identical to each other they might as well be, the only and easiest distinguishing physical trait between the two being the fact that Avery wears glasses while Jonny does not.
Besides that, their physical differences are much more vague. 6 feet even in height and (appearing) athletic respectively. With a Portuguese mother and Spanish father between them the boys came to be pale in complexion with spots of freckles.
Mentally, the boys have distinctly different tastes in multiple things, but when it comes to their love of video games, they simply have the same everything! Avery has even forgone creating a character for a video game and just started using the character Jonny made, and vice versa.
Swinging the door open confidently Jonny was not all that surprised to see Sarah, a good friend from grade school standing there in all of her annoyed five and a half feet of glory.
"Sarah? Huh we were going to call." Jonny questioned briefly, crossing his arms.
"You gonna let me in or not?" Sarah did not wait for an answer and pushed her way inside of the two-bedroom apartment anyways.
Jonny smiled at her annoyance, "You know Sarah instead of, l don't know, walking all the way here and hurting your delicate feet, you could of just called we would of picked you up on the way."
Jonny dipped out of sight into the kitchen to grab some drinks. "Mhm l know, but l was bored, so l decided to get in my daily bit of exercise." Sarah said her grin palpable in the air, and audibly plopping onto a couch cushion.
"Mhm." Jonny mimicked, walking back into sight carrying Chips & Salsa, as well as drinks. Seeing the handful of Cheetos wrappers held in her hand and the sassy look on her face, he felt his face burn.
"Saying' my feet are delicate feet, what's this, when was the last time you went for a walk, actually when's the last time you exercised period?!"
"Touché." Jonny conceded, placing the food on the coffee table, and then taking the chip bags to the trash.
"Where is Avery?" Sarah asked, not hearing Jonny's twin, they're never far from each other.
"I'm here, was just getting ready." Avery walked into view of Sarah, still combing his moderately long hair hair and adjusting his glasses. He and his brother were doing different styles in hair again. His barely touching his ears and his brother's cut very short.
"Getting ready for what. A twenty-minute trip to GameStop. You got some hoes to impress." They were not questions.
Avery flushed scarlet at the jab, and Jonny laughed at his expense. Happy to not be the one being made fun of. "Assholes." Avery muttered.
" Aw, don't be like that~." Sarah took a chip and dipped it deep in the salsa leaving the spicy smell in the air. "Chin up, how about a chip on me?" Sarah offered the chip up to the flustered male.
"They're my chips!" Avery said in exasperation but still leaned down and ate the chip from her hand though, and biting her fingers in the process. "Ow!" Sarah screeched.
Jonny failed at stifling his laughter. "Watch out bro she's taken."
Standing and swatting Avery in his head (who's response was to flail and die theatrically) Sarah scolded, "Yeah watch where you're aiming that thing Jaws." The triplet smiled at the banter before sitting in a rough triangle eating Chips and Salsa liberally.
"So, l heard Azura Rivera is the Director & Lead Programmer for GDFO." Sarah opened.
"Yeah, but that's common knowledge, have you seen the size of the game itself? Thing is supposed to be huge in actual memory space and that's not even factoring the future DLCs," He paused to eat a chip. "I mean boy it'll be one fat game in the memory drive of my AniSum." Avery rattled off, ready to drop more knowledge.
Sarah and Jonny shared a look.
The silent conversation having one apologize to the other, and the other accepting the apology without a second glance, it's too late now Avery has been started. Sarah even pointedly looked at her phone and texted her boyfriend to see if Avery would care, he didn't even seem to notice. "But I thought the actual size of the game wasn't confirmed yet?" Sarah said disinterested and texting her boyfriend.
"Well I'm obviously talking about the estimated size Sarah." Avery corrected.
He then proceeded to rattle on all the little facts and tidbits, as well as teasers he heard about and saw of the game that'll be launching in the next few hours. And right as Sarah's ears were about to fall off and her brain was going to overheat, Avery paused in his triade and said something that made them all freeze.
"What time did Tball say to get to GameStop?"
"Before five in the afternoon." Sarah and Jonny said in unison. All three of them checked the time, though a different outlet.
4:42 pm. Crap. GameStop is almost twenty-five minutes from here, on light traffic.
The trio was out of the door and marching towards the car at a pace that any bystander would find dizzying, "Didn't Tball say if we showed up any later than five it would be our ass-" Jonny started, jogging behind his brother and their friend.
"Less lip more zip boys we're runnin' late!"
The dark-skinned girl was leading the charge.
_Great Door Fantasy Online_
Nick or Smoke | Murphy or Wolfgang Van Houten | Josh or Ultorem
Three good friends were walking casually to the newest game on the market. Why they didn't drive was all based on a whim.
Fletcher Murphy is one of those friends. He was born in Annapolis, Maryland and during his youth, he and his family moved to Florida so that his father could return to where he'd grew up. Only having vague memories of living in Maryland, Murphy fancies himself a native Floridian. The only pastime worth noting from Maryland is Murphy's fondness of videogames, but not playing. He was far too young to understand a controller then, but he did have vivid memories of watching an elder cousin play them. So if he had to trace his love of videogames anywhere it would probably be to there.
At seventeen years old Murphy is a bit on the skinny side but not overly so, he is also average in height which makes him feel short around his good friends Nick Vantreska, and Josh Clair, who are each a bit over six feet tall themselves. Pale and simply average in build Murphy never really had many friends, an introverted boy turned man, but the friends he did make in the video gaming crew that he is a part of have always been more than enough for him.
Scratching his brown hair back and rubbing his light stubble, Murphy was content in listening to his other two friends bicker about, Murphy listened more intently. Nothing of importance apparently.
"Well, from what l understand after watching the trailer, and from all of the little teasers and different screenshots online, GDFO is supposed to have a lot of PvP and less PvE than people thought when news first came out about it a few years ago." Josh said walking along-side his best friend Nick Vantreska.
"And, what's your point? That we should all pick the Assassin class just because you think it's the best, or is it because you always pick assassin classes when you play any game that lets you?" Nick bit back, annoyed that his blond-haired bifocal using best friend is really trying to use flawed logic to get his way.
"I'm just trying to help you understand-"
"Yeah, yeah shut up." Nick says.
The two conversationalists had gone to all the same schools before graduating and decided to not go straight into college, and immediately got jobs nearly at the same time.
Nick has always had an independent streak, smoking before the age of eighteen, getting arrested at fifteen, graduating at seventeen, moving out of the house after graduation and moving in with his older brother, Nick has always been a troublemaker.
And that's what made him so popular, his charismatic attitude and devil-may-care disposition. The only people who could truly ever curb his recklessness would be his older brother and Josh. In school all of his not-so-close friends would call him 'Rocky', nobody knows why though.
Josh, on the other hand couldn't help but constantly be the party pooper, bringing about his nickname 'Latrine'. Though none of his actual friends call him that. Between Nick being unable to see consequences, and Murphy simply going along with the young man's hair-brained schemes, it seemed like the most intelligent and the eldest of the three had to be the voice of reason in almost every case. Thankfully they weren't doing anything crazy today.
"What time is it?" Murphy asked.
"Um. . . 4:12 we'll get there early, like really early." Josh replied.
"Why don't we stop for something to eat, l'm hungry?" Nick said, moving to detour the group. Josh caught Nick by the back of his shirt and pulled him back on course, "You practically cleaned out your fridge on the way out, no detours, no potty breaks, Tball said he rather we show up early than 'By the skin of our teeth' as he put it."
"Alright, but afterwards we stop for food." The trio nodded in agreement and continued in silence for the remainder of the walk. Or well part of it, Nick made sure it wasn't quiet for too long at a time. They arrived at GameStop at 4:21 pm to be greeted by the longest GameStop line they have ever seen in their lives. Catching their stupor at the line, they approached.
Each of the teenagers had a distinctive way of walking, Nick with swagger as he passed the people lined parallel to the store, Josh with a nonchalant confidence, and Murphy with a little bit of anxiousness and pity for the line-sitters. An odd trio to observe as far as the GameStoppers were concerned.
Once reaching the front of the line, and bypassing a few pre-teens making faces though the store's window, Josh stepped forward and knocked on the window. The man at the very front of the line opened his mouth to tell the teens off for skipping, but the entrance to the store promptly opened cutting him off.
Tball looked a little shocked to see the trio there. Probably didn't expect us so early. Josh figured.
"Sup guys, head into the back-room storage there are a few chairs back there." Tball said stepping aside and letting the three younger males step inside of the store.
"Cool." Nick breezed past.
"Thanks for helping us Tball." Murphy thanked as he walked inside.
"Yeah thanks man." Josh agreed.
"Don't worry about it, you guys still have to pay, but it's really not a problem for me to get you guys the game without the hassle of a line." Tball said.
"Do you know when the others are coming?" Tball asked Josh as they walked to the back.
"Nah don't know when. But they'll be here." Josh replied, silently happy to be back under air conditioning.
"Mkay, don't let Nick do some crazy shit in my store." Tball said turning back to go to the front of the store.
"No problem bud." Josh assured entering the back room and lounging with his friends.
Murphy heard the important bits of Tball and Josh's conversation and grew a mischievous smile as they got to the back and sat down.
"Hey, Nick see that thing," Murphy said.
"What thing?" Nick replied.
"Everything." Murphy said cheekily.
"What are you talk-"
"Yeah, don't touch it." Josh finished, giving Nick a gimlet eye.
"Wasn't going to. . ." Nick muttered.
And they all shared a good-natured laugh.
_Great Door Fantasy Online_
Daniel or Charles 'Bendazi' Rancliff
Daniel Swain left his parent's home and got into his car. Running through his pre-driving ritual in it, he buckled his seatbelt and got ready to pull out of his parent's driveway. Daniel adjusted his glasses and smiled at himself in the mirror. Caucasian skin, and curly brown hair, Daniel felt as if he'd already turned his day into a very productive one. Now it was time to go get the icing on the cake.
Ok, I'm lookin' good. Daniel thought to himself. Pulling out of the driveway, he started driving towards a GameStop far southward, checking the time in the process. 4:10.
l should head Brian's way he's probably already walking.
Daniel and Brian have been really good friends ever since Brian was invited to The Crew by a mutual friend, Murphy. The duo played plenty of sports together in High School and over time grew to branch out into other area of entertainment, one of such being videogames. Whatever platform it may be they made sure to get it together, and when GDFO was confirmed the pair set out to buy it's platform AniSum as soon as possible. Before it raised up in price.
He probably just started walking to GameStop without telling anyone a word, either that or he's still sleeping knowing him.
Within ten minutes, Daniel made it to Brian's house. He was not home, which means he's already there or walking there now. Pulling out of Brian's driveway Daniel drove in the direction of GameStop and lo and behold, there the guy was, walking with his hair barely combed in a presentable fashion, and not an accessory on him.
"Brian!" Daniel called.
The tall guy swiveled his head backwards to see who was calling him. Slowing down, Daniel drove beside him. "Get in bro."
"Yeah man," Brian got inside of the black Toyota Camry. "Thanks for the lift." Brian smiled at his best friend, before frowning in thought, "You stop by King's on the way here?"
"Nah l actually just started diving this way as soon as l got in the car." You want to pick up King too huh.
"Hm, we should go pick up King, or at least see if he left the house, because it is only 4:25 and we have time. I mean he is on the way bro." Brian reasoned.
"How did l know you were going to say that?" Daniel laughed, and Brian joined him.
"Cause you already know!" Brian grinned at being caught. "C'mon man, it's really not that far out of the way." Brian smiled a winner's smile trying to coax Daniel to his way of thinking.
"Ok," Brian smiled at the answer he wanted.
"You're paying for gas though." Brian's smile turned into a grimace, and Daniel laughed all the way to the gas station.
_Great Door Fantasy Online_
King or Kingster
Patrick King was just getting ready to walk out of the house when two of his friends pulled up in front of his grandmother's home. King's been living with his Nana for close to a dozen years. After his parents died in a car accident in Ohio, King had moved south to live with his grandmother Alicia.
Red-headed with a bit of baby fat still on his face and his freckles, King had never had a problem with attracting the opposite sex, in fact, King to the layman would appear to be a bit of a player. Though after a particularly ugly break up with a girl in-which King was in love with, he fell into a bit of a depression.
Seeing this, Nana recommended to King a sort of carefree de-stressor that her son, King's late father seemed to love when he was alive. Videogames.
From there, King played them, Console, PC, and his favorite, Virtual Reality. It wasn't the most fun to him, and there were a few games he conceded he would never understand but it made him feel closer to his long past father, it also was nice to see Nana smile whenever he played. When she thought he wouldn't notice.
Using some of the educational programs (which were the only things available to VR platformers before) for schooling, King was extremely disappointed to find that this amazing platform had no games associated with it. But not anymore, Great Door Fantasy Online is coming out today, and while King was planning on biking it there, his ride seems to have delivered itself to his lap.
Walking down the steps King was slightly surprised to find Brian, a fellow Crew member and friend of his frowning in the passenger seat. "Heya guys, didn't expect to see you here at my house. Hehe." King smiled awkwardly. You'd think that with his striking good looks, King would be less socially awkward, regardless the ladies usually came to him, so he never had to say much.
"Sup Kingsterboy!" Daniel greeted cheekily around Brian, using one of King's online usernames as his greeting. Brian stayed defiantly silent.
"Brian?" King asked curiously.
"Don't worry about him, get in, we decided to pick you up, got anywhere you need to go? I just filled up on gas." Daniel asked with a devious inflection in his voice, leaning back into his seat.
Brian looked over to the grinning Daniel with a deadly serious look on his face. "I'll kill you."
"Oo-Kay" King said. Daniel's grin doesn't drop for a second.
Saying bye to Nana, King opened the door to the back seat, got inside, and they were off. They made good time by taking the roads with much less traffic, and arrived just about fifteen minutes before GameStops throughout the country would release the game of the decade.
They barely found a spot in the open plaza of interest, and pulling into an empty lot, they got out of Daniel's car. To gape dumbly and bug out their eyes at the ludicrously long line in front of their destination (one much longer than the one Nick, Josh, and Murphy got to see).
_Great Door Fantasy Online_
4:50. Four-Fifty. Four. Fifty. Jonny had to drive like a gat out of hell to get there with so much time spare. And the ride was deathly silent as well, not a person on this side of the planet can say that these young adults don't care about their video games. To the trio it was almost physically painful to watch the time on the car's clock tick by.
In the end what broke the awkward silence was Jonny pointing out the funniest thing any of the three had seen all day. "Ten bucks says they catch flies." Jonny joked pulling into the plaza and looking directly at the one black kid, and two white kids gaping openly, car doors open at the line across the street.
Avery looked over and laughed, "Hah they're burgers!" He said using his favorite insult.
This is what he was doing all this time! I messaged you FORTY times! From the look on her face Sarah was pleased.
Jonny pulled into a space next to his younger friends and turned off the car. Brian, startled at the sound so close to his person, closed his mouth and turned to see his girlfriend as well as two other good friends.
"Hey lover! Took you guys long enough, thought you-" Brian's smile died at the look of death on Sarah's face. In a preemptive knee-jerk reaction, akin to birds flying away before a natural disaster or old Grandpa getting joint pains before a bad storm, Brian promptly turning 180°.
And ran away. Directly towards his salvation in the GameStop across the street.
"WHERE THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOUR GOING!?" Sarah screeched marching after him. Brian didn't know what he did, but didn't really care it was more about survival at this point than anything else.
"Hey Daniel, King." Jonny said rolling his eyes.
"Sup. . . Bros." King replied amazed at how fast Brian was running.
"Burgers. What's up fellas." Avery greeted.
"Bro look at him run," Daniel burst out laughing at the sight, "Yo what did he do?!" He was almost crying.
They looked to each other and between them couldn't come up with a decent enough guess, so gave up. And as a group of four guys, they walked directly to the GameStop across the street.
_Great Door Fantasy Online_
Tball heard an erratic knocking on the glass door and it made him a bit pissed. Okay more than a bit. It's almost 4:52 and most of his friends still haven't showed up, he couldn't keep the people outside waiting any more than 5, they had to open then and from there the store, including himself would be too busy to give favoritism to his friends.
Stepping up to the poster-covered metal and glass door Tball opened it and was greeted with a frantic looking Brian.
"Hey Tball," Brian said, turning back to see a fuming Sarah stomping her way toward him. Swinging his head back around to his older friend the growing panic in his eyes became more apparent with the passing seconds.
"Tball I don't know what I did, but let me in. She's mad for no reason!" Brian exclaimed, to the amusement of anyone who cared to watch.
"You can't run forever. You know that right?" Tball said contemplating not letting him in just to spite 'em. Blocking the way.
"C'mon please let me live." Brian said in sad finality. Tball rolled his eyes (though no one could see it behind the shades), then stepped to the side. Allowing Brian to dart inside, he quickly found his hiding place of choice.
"Hey Tball." Sarah said sweetly as she breezes by entering and instantly finding Brian. Or at least that's what Tball figured from the 'manly' screams of pains he could hear. Tball nodded in acknowledgement and smiled at her playful wink. So, he hadn't made the lady too angry, she's just annoyed and was looking to relieve her frustration. At her lover's expense of course. Or maybe she wanted to see blood those screams sounded serious.
"Here dude I got you!" Tball heard one of his employees say behind him and from there Jared's screams accompanied Brian's.
After Sarah entered Tball looked outward and saw a few more men walking directly toward the store. And here comes these fucking guys, walking like it's a Sunday stroll. Tball thought to himself.
"Straight to the back and take the 'happy' couple with you." Tball said to the group of guys walking up and joking conversationally about how many new holes Sarah is going to tear her boyfriend.
"Ok boss." Jonny was the only one to respond verbally as they piled into the building, single-file. Still enjoying themselves at Brian's expense.
"Yo! What the heck man? You let like ten people in five min-"
Tball cut off the complaining line-sitters with the only thing that could, "Are you ready for the drop of the biggest game of the decade?!" His random question was met with a rictus, and very mixed, cry from the crowd.
Pleased with the affirmative response, Tball looked down at his watch to see just how soon he would have before being forced to make good on his promise in delivering said game.
4:55 pm.
_Great Door Fantasy Online_
After having his ears blown up and pulled by his girlfriend for being 'An inconsiderate boyfriend of the highest order', Brian was glad to be dragged off by Daniel into the -now slightly cramped- backroom, and was even more glad when Tball rushed in about thirty seconds later, cutting off Sarah from having any more fun biting his head off.
My poor virgin ears. Brian thought, nursing his ears conspicuously. "Ok babe, next time I'll be sure not to accidently leave my phone at the house," Sarah was not impressed. "Or forget to check it altogether when I woke up. Or sleep in so late."
"Shut it." Sarah responded.
Brian was the only one to laugh at his misfortune, Sarah was looking less impressed upon by the second, and everyone else was too focused on the small black briefcase to notice.
"You guys took forever," The six late-comers looked pointedly away. "So, let's be quick, we have. . . Four minutes to get this over with so here. " Tball promptly gave each person there a black chip, and closed the briefcase with a single chip inside for himself.
"Why did l expect more?" Nick looked even less impressed than Sarah at this point. Inspecting the small chip and waiting, as if willing it to do something amazing.
"It is supposed to be the newest, sleekest, and badass game on the market, what l want to know is why we had to wait so long for you to give us this-" Josh was cut off mid-sentence, by Tball.
"I wanted the moment of us all getting the thing to- l don't know. . . whatever. Everyone out! Store's gotta open in like now, l blame you for being late." Tball rattled, visibly twitching at every tick on the analog clock on the wall, and pointing his hate-filled finger at Brian.
"What?" Brian squawked. A few in the group looked to each other trying to figure out Tball's reasoning for blaming him out of everyone.
"All of you out. Now." Tball swung the same finger to the exit. Grumbling about having to get up The Crew filled out like sheep, shuffling and complaining all the way.
"Don't see why you blame me Tball, but guys remember, get on at eight sharp. Because that's when the game launches, and l'm really not looking to wait up on you guys." Brian practically demanded.
There were grunts of assent, and one blatant 'no', but that was all in good stead. Nobody in The Crew will be missing the launch on their lives.
Tball escorted the entourage out and as he let his friends out, he let the line-sitters bustle in, leaving his employees further inside to deal with the actual task of keeping order.
"We'll catch you in-game Tball, alright man?" Jonny said at the rear of the group.
"Yeah." Tball replied coolly, giving away little behind his glasses.
_Great Door Fantasy Online_
The Crew did not stay together. Usually they would, but today is special, and no one wants to stray far from their homes. No one wants to stray away from their AniSum.
AniSum was created by Data Summer Inc., the corporation that bought both the Cardinal System as well as NerveGear that Argus was forced to sell after going bankrupt. The North American company had soon afterward gone silent. The atrocities happening in SAO over the course of the two years in which the players were trapped assured to the company that telling the world about their development of the Animation Summoner could wait until nearer to launch-time of the eventual game it would host. Of course, hiding such hot information failed, but hype for the platform and then game -that did not even have a name yet- was speculated about by generations abroad. The old and young, of many ethnicities and nationalities across the world. And the only thing that all of the people arguing on social media could agree on is that 'We are more than ready for the release of a publicly successful VR videogame, be it a MMO or not like the last!'
Data Summer lnc. used the NerveGear as a base for the AniSum, which is why the AniSum looks so helmet-esque. With a sleeker design and a vibrant customization aesthetic, the AniSum was accepted and successfully launched into the market a few years prior to the launch of Great Door Fantasy. This brought back VR schooling. Which persisted as the only avenue of VR until now.
Instead of riding with Daniel again, Brian rode with Sarah, Jonny, and Avery. He actually left his AniSum at Sarah's, knowing that today would be launch day, looking to take advantage of the quiet nature of Sarah's home instead of his rowdy louder home. Pitfalls of still living with your parents.
Daniel was given the unfortunate task of driving King, Murphy, Josh, and Nick to their homes. With the conversation going something like, "You guys should ride with Daniel. He just filled up on gas, save yourselves the walking time." Brian offered.
Everyone seemed to be in agreement, or well everyone except for Daniel, who could not find a decent reason to not give his friends a lift. I'm going to be driving back and forth all across town getting these guys home! Daniel thought to himself.
And from the look on Brian's face as Jonny backed out of the lot, he knew as much when he suggested it. You sneaky bastard! Daniel couldn't help but grin at the fact that, in the end, he was played.
The ride towards the twins' and Sarah's part of town was uneventful. Small talk and lazy conversation kept the ride from becoming overly quiet. With the game in-hand everyone was content to allow brief lapses of silence to permeate the air. Pulling into the apartment complex in which Sarah lives, the twins said their farewells and the young couple replied in-kind.
"Hungry?" Sarah asked, looking to Brian.
"Depends on if you have any meat or seafood in the house." Brian joked to Sarah before taking her hand, they walked and talked to her apartment building. Sarah was a bacon-lover turned vegetarian, and after an especially horrible experience with seafood, she went cold turkey with that too. . . or well, cold fish.
"You're funny." Sarah started airily, before her tone became reprimanding. "You know l can't even stand being around seafood anymore!"
"Mhm." Brian smiled and kissed her deadpanned face. Ignoring his jab Sarah changed the subject.
"Babe, seriously, what do you want for dinner?" Sarah asked genuinely, taking out her keys and unlocking her two bedroom, one bathroom apartment.
"Why don't we order out, l'll pay. I found this one pizza place that delivers bomb pizza." Brian suggested as he checked the time on Sarah's phone, 6:43pm.
"They deliver bomb pizza?" Sarah joked from in the bathroom out of sight, making fun of her boyfriend's style of Ebonics and phrases.
"Mhm, the bombest. It's bombastic I'd bet on that." He replied, calling for the pizza delivery.
The plan was to have the pizza delivered to the house before they dived into the Ani, but apparently someone is having a birthday party at the pizza place as he called. Weird and annoying seeing as how the pizza place is takeout only. How they managed to get a birthday party of all things started in there was a real brain teaser.
The couple was able to order pizza anyway at the pizza restaurant, they'd just have to logout and collect it while they were playing because that was around when the party would end. Sarah suggested getting something else, or pizza from a different place but Brian was adamant that it would be much better for them to wait it out. So planning on logging out and eating their dinner before slipping back into the world of GDFO, they forwent eating right then.
Lounging and being cute over the next couple of hours, as well as a healthy sprinkle of annoying the life out of each other, Brian and Sarah were finally lying in bed together comfortably and patiently at 7:59 pm waiting for that last minute of eternity to pass.
. . . And it sure was taking it's ti-
8 pm. Finally.
With the awkward helmets on their head Brian looked over to his lover and said, "Ladies first."
Sarah smiled and activated the voice command to turn on both of their Ani's and bypass the directory menu, going straight into the game simultaneously. "Command four. Link," Dramatic pause. "Start!"
A starburst of light flashed, and the two lovers went lax in each other's arms.
_Great Door Fantasy Online_
Big thanks to my betas AwesomeA909, Kipopo, and Ancient Glory! These three did an amazing job cleaning up my mistakes wherever l made them.
Updated Note: Save you guys the trouble. In order of appearance.
Brian Steele - Thrumaticus 'Thrum' Thomil
Timothy Ballins - Tball Skulls
Sarah McDiver - Div
Jonny Cane - Cratoos
Avery Cane - Jak
Fletcher Murphy - Wolfgang Van Houten
Josh Clair - Ultorem
Nick Vantreska - Smoke
Daniel Swain - Charles 'Bendazi' Rancliff
Patrick King - Kingster
I know a lot of new faces here, but it's my job to make them come alive, and if you stick around with this story you'll watch these characters come to life. If you got this far, give this FanFic a chance. Oh and please review, l write for those. This is Jason signing out. Just Jason.
Uploaded September 6th, 2016
Updated January 8th, 2018