30 Vol 1. pt. 30 Patch 6.0: The Voyage South (2/2)
>TheMemeStruggle: Don't worry about it, dork. Crazy girls are my fetish anyways.
>TheMemeStruggle: Just kidding, you're not crazy. Promise. You're just Serra Berra. Hey, if you were there, did you see if I at least got a good hit on that guy?
>HushedVoice: His nose was bleeding, but I don't know if that was from you or the bouncer. But it was really cool! Even if I still feel guilty about going, I don't regret it. I got to see you be a hero!
”The hell are you talking about? I ain't no hero. You really are crazy if you call me something like that,” Ryouta says with a blush on his cheeks.
>TheMemeStruggle: I was just trying to act tough to impress all the girls in the bar, obviously.
>HushedVoice: It worked >///>
”Why do you have to admit that? I'm going to fall for you if you make it so obvious. Seriously.”
>TheMemeStruggle: You're a dork. I'm going to be in-game in a bit. Company would be appreciated.
>HushedVoice: Sorry! I can't get on until after lunch with a friend. I guess like how you and Olly have your boys nights, this is my girls… midday!
>TheMemeStruggle: Fair enough. I'll see you in-game later then! Have a nice lunch.
With that, Ryouta gets up from his desk and lies back down on bed with the headset already around his head. Time to immerse and get back to being Fenrir.
Fenrir finds himself in the usual spot with Saya sitting across from him.
”You need to work out more, Onii-chan,” Saya says, shadowboxing in her seat.
”Says the girl who doesn't even have any muscles,” Fenrir fires back.
He regrets it.
Saya goes from being a cute little sister to being a bulked up weightlifter with a head too small for her body in the blink of his eyes.
”Please.”
Saya returns to normal, a smug grin on her lips. ”My gains are too much for you, bro!”
”Are you learning how to be a dork from Serra? Such a copycat.”
”I'm just copying what you like! I – I mean, it's not like I want you to like me or anything, Onii-chan.”
”Anyways,” Fenrir changes the subject before his heart gets going again, ”I have a question.”
”Of course you do.”
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”I remember that dude we killed talking about streaming. How does that work?”
”Just like in any other game! Well, maybe not just like it. If you are a streamer on any online platform, we can link your in-game character to the streaming service! You can either stream in first-person, so everybody sees what you see, or third-person. You'll also get a little window floating up next to you if you want so that you can see what everybody is saying, know how many people are watching, and so on!”
”Wait, wouldn't that give a massive advantage to streamers? People could point out if they see stuff, and if you can show them a third-person view of your character, they could warn you of anybody behind you.”
”No worries, Onii-chan! Us virtual assistants are required to filter out all messages that may give streamers unfair advantages. So, viewers can ask questions, say hi, talk about real life stuff, and so on, but they won't be able to help out who they're watching at all! We're like… super chat moderators!”
”Alright, that makes sense then. Wait, since the game has nudity and sex, isn't it like streaming pornography sometimes?”
”By most streaming platforms' rules, yep! That's why they have to either stream via platforms traditionally meant for sex and erotica, or they have to use one of the platforms that feature adult sections.”
”So, in a way… they're almost kind of like camgirls.”
”By your logic, maybe.”
”It's fun logic. Think about it, that annoying prick Cass killed is the equivalent of a camgirl. I mean, I'm not trying to shame camgirls or anything, but you know that he'd be super pissed off if I made that comparison to his face.”
Saya giggles. ”Alright, Onii-chan, you win this one. Anyways, ready to immerse?”
”You know it.”
Fenrir finds himself in the hull of the ship. Rock must be able to sense that he's in-game and awake because as soon as he opens his eyes and leans up, the rocky little puppy comes barreling down the stairs at full speed! And trips, and falls down the last few steps, but then continues running at full speed!
”There's my girl! You been behaving? No accidents anywhere? Wait, I don't think you can have accidents,” Fenrir says, running his hands along the length of Rock's body as she wags her tail so hard that he's worried it's going to fall off.
Everybody else is sleeping still.
”It's just me and you, girl. Come on, let's get above deck.”
Rock hops off of his lap and rushes back upstairs just as quickly as she came down them. He cringes when he's worried that she's going to trip again, but fortunately, she makes it up without any issues.
Something bothers Fenrir as he brings the ship out of the cove.
He really wanted to play the game differently this time. Like, seriously this time. This wasn't supposed to be another one of those times where he tells Spencer and Viktor that he's totally going to be different this time only to end up caving in to their demands for violence and villainy. And to be fair, it isn't one of those times.
Everything they have done to already get on the bad sides of others has been initiated by none other than himself.
”What am I doing?” he asks, leaning over the ship's wheel.
Worry fills his mind and gut. After that last attempt at doxing him and the death threats he's been sent, he really doesn't want to rise to infamy again. Yet, as much as he loves fishing, he just feels so alive and natural when he's doing the same old thing with the guys and now Serra and Cassiel.
Why can't he just play the game how he wants to without worrying about people taking it too seriously and going after him in real life? It isn't fair that he has to restrict himself so much more than everybody else does. He doubts many others are getting death threats and having dox attempts made at them just because they're having fun playing games. He could understand it better if he was cheating or hacking, but they have never done that.
What does he truly want from this game?
Is returning to his roots really worth the risk? Isn't playing games all about having fun and doing whatever he wants?
”Onii-chan, I'm detecting a lot of stress from you. You should wake and take a longer rest from the game so that you may properly consider all of this,” Saya chimes in.
”Thanks, Saya, but I'm fine. I'm just… kind of scared, but at the same time, it's exciting. I think I'm just going to continue doing whatever I feel like doing at the time without trying too hard to do one thing or the other. I'm just going to be myself and screw around. Not going to be some super villain, not going to be a vigilante – I'm not going to try and avoid those either. Does that make sense? I'm just going to go with the flow. Besides, there is a virtual assistant inside of everybody's mind who plays this. Couldn't you just warn the authorities if anybody does anything illegal?”
”Yep! That was included in the terms of service you checked without reading all of it. It isn't like we spy on you and send all your information to the government, but if we detect—for example—that you have memories of being a serial killer or rapist, then we alert the appropriate government agency so that they may place you on a watch list. Nothing we can give them counts as valid evidence in the court of law, but it can help prevent bad things from happening in the first place. So if anybody decides they are going to try and stalk you in real life because they want to kill you and harvest your organs,”
”That's a bit specific.”
”Hmph, don't interrupt me! If anybody wants to kill you and harvest your organs, we're going to warn somebody about that intent.”
”That's good to know. Thanks, Saya. It makes me feel a lot better.”
”No problem, Onii-chan! Now, go be yourself!”
”Aye aye.”
With Saya in his head and Rock by his side, a clear sky with a shining sun above, and a gentle breeze to fill out the ship's sails, Fenrir couldn't ask for better conditions to go sailing with.
Finally, the journey to the city of pirates is resumed.