Once again, this is for the Proboardians.
Beta-ed by: elven dreamer and treneka.
Enjoy.
Ganheim: I need a tutor. Have exam tomorrow.
Me-Nuriko: What subject?
Ganheim: Maths...
Me-Nuriko: Alright. I can help. Immerse? You host.
The two chatter’s names flashed and disappeared from the bar. On the VR, one could do anything. Some, as May saw, used it to do homework.
"That's gotta be the worst use," she muttered to herself. She was an experienced gamer. Right now, she was in six 'chatboxes' - the latest slang - simultaneously.
She switched to the next box. This one sounded more interesting.
OptiMoose: A quest?
KarotsaMused: Yes, for sapphire and emerald orbs.
elven dreamer: how many can play?
KarotsaMused: 9
treneka: Who hosts?
cesmith: I will
May was about to type in to immerse in the game when her brother yelled up the stairs.
"May!" OptiMoose, KarotsaMused, elven dreamer and treneka all disappeared off the screen into private chat, where they would create their characters and set the rules.
"What?" she yelled back with more than a tinge of annoyance. Another player, therhoda, immersed.
"Have you seen my credit chip?" Next D-chan disappeared, followed by BloodDebt and Althelas.
"No," she bellowed, "try the kitchen drawer!" She moved to click on cesmith's name when the last person, rasinah, joined and the hoster's name, too, disappeared.
"JIEN! You made me miss the cut off!" she wailed.
"Sorry!" came the muffled apology. "I'm coming on too, anyway." They both had their own VR headsets, he entered the small room and sat next to her, picking up his own Comm-puteŽ.
They shared the tiny apartment, oh-so-kindly provided by the government. Well, she lived with him because she was underage, but liked to claim that they shared the home. 'May looked at his sable eyes - they used to be blue - and pondered again the odd circumstances that led to their current living arrangements. After he had turned his mother in, they had relocated and had changed everything, also courtesy of the government. They hadn't been found yet. The most important operation had been on their eyes; iris ops. May had changed her irises to crimson, to match her hair. That, they had allowed her to keep. They were forced to continually wear fingertip gloves, which she now used to brush away the two annoying strands of hair that continually fell in her eyes. The strands were like cowlicks, sticking straight up like antennae. Jien used to tease her when they were younger, calling her a cockroach. No teasing nowadays, though; they had to wait a few more years for that - a few more years before they could live a normal life again.
It was all their mother's fault. Or rather, Jien’s mother - May’s stepmother: the half-siblings had the same father, but May was a lovechild. When her true mother died bearing her, she was sent back to her father's wife to be raised. Step-mum was a drug addict and a dealer. She had abused May severely; there were two scars on her cheek no amount of plastic surgery could erase. She could disguise them, yes, but when May touched her face she felt the scars that none could see. One day, when she was beaten almost unconscious, Jien had forcibly subdued his mother and turned her in. She was locked in a mental institution now. Sometimes, May wished that the woman she called 'Mum' had died, rather than having to live the rest of an empty life in a padded cell. But it wouldn't make much difference, she and Jien weren't hiding from her, but from her mother's friends and customers.
"What chatroom are you in?" Jien asked.
"35, 89, 58 and 39," she recited, each screen popping up as she spoke. Her brother peered over her shoulder, typing without even looking at the keyboard.
"Interesting name," he commented.
"Wha- oh. I just slapped the keyboard," May admitted. Her gaming name was Gojyo. Jien imitated his sister and whacked the keys with a large palm.
"Dokugakuji."
"You got big hands, bro." She lit up a cigarette - she had contacts who could get them for her, even though they were illegal.
"May," Jien said in a warning tone. "You know I don't like you using those things. Who did you get them from?" May blew out the smoke, and sighed loudly, but all the same, stubbed it out on the foil ashtray next to her.
"Ji, I ain't gonna tell you where I get my fixes from."
"Another one of your boyfriends?" No reply. "May. Please. For me."
"Alright," she said grudgingly. Always the scrupulous one, Jien was 'an upstanding, conscientious member of community'. The mayor had said that, whilst presenting Ji the scholarship to Cambridge. She, on the other hand, had letters of warning sent home, saying 'May has done this, May has done that'. She had even been suspended once. All of it had been done to try and get 'Mum' to notice her, and it finally became a real part of her personality. She wouldn't stop smoking altogether, but she was trying to cut down on the drugs anyway. The calming effects didn't last very long anymore. Probably inferior quality. Damn ‘drug tolerance’.
Jien's SN (screen name) appeared in all her chatboxes and she snorted.
"Hey, Dokugakuji, keeping a close watch on your lil' sis huh? I can take care of myself, y'know." He gave her a look that brooked no argument.
"You don't know anyone on the double g. You can't trust anyone."
"Okay, okay," she submitted. "I'm gonna start a game."
"Which room?" enquired her ever-cautious guardian, pen poised over the Comm-puteŽ. May gave another sigh.
"35."
So, would you like to review? You know you would. It's so easy...(j/k)
