University of Console Heroics: Chapter 24

Thompson and Cynthia had never been to Cafe Atebit. They were college students and it was one of the more expensive trendy restaurants in the area. The waiter led to them to their table where Professor Banister and William were waiting. They stood to greet them as they approached.

“Thank you for meeting with us.” William said as they all sat down after greeting each other.

Cynthia was all smiles even though the bruise was already starting to darken her jawline. “Our Pleasure, what’s to occasion?” She asked.

Banister was caught in the middle of drinking water, finished his sip and set his glass down. “I’m retiring from teaching for a start.” He said. “It seems like a good time to move on, and work on a new project.” He explained.

Thompson nodded. “Which is?” He asked.

William couldn’t hold back any longer. “We’re starting our own independent production company. We used to talk about making off the wall, original games, and we’re both finally in a place where we can actually do that.” He explained.

The four of them shared lunch, talking about the school, their favorite games, and the things they missed seeing in emerging and finished projects. Toward the end of Lunch Cynthia asked the question that had been on her mind the entire time. “We’re both still graduate students, there’s nothing bankable about us, and we’re completely green, are you really going to start off your company by hiring at best background fill in actors?” She asked with all seriousness.

Bannister shook his head. “No usually in these situations you lock down your staring talent. The people you want to work with to build a brand and an expected level of quality that people rarely ever see. We’re not interested in selling millions of copies, we’re interested in creating engaging, well balanced, narrative experiences, and we want the overall experience to be the star.”

William picked up the conversation. “We don’t want you to get the wrong idea, we want you because you’re both fresh and eager to work, you’re both perfectionists, and we hope that you are both ready to take this chance with us.” He explained.

Thompson and Cynthia looked at each other.  Thompson picked up his water glass nervously. “Well what do you think? He asked Cynthia.

She tapped her fingers on the table for a second. “I’m interested. Do we need to give you an answer right away?” She asked.

Banister shook his head. “Not at all. We haven’t even begun to put this thing together but when we saw you at the showcase we knew we had found people we wanted to work with from concept to completed project. Please take your time.”

The alarm on Cynthia’s phone went off letting her know she needed to administer her intro to energy final in fifteen minutes. “It was fantastic meeting both of you, I have a final to administer but I’m fairly certain we will be giving you a call back sooner rather than later.” She stood and the rest of them stood with her. They all shook hands before She and Thomson headed back to campus.

Shades Of Justice: Chapter 28

Sonya stepped forward. "We didn't lose him, our command center was attacked while we were fighting a giant squid in the ocean. When we got back the place was destroyed, Lumarion and Technarious were both gone." She explained.

Spark was chaotically moving around the wall. "You guys must be green, of course I don't just hitch a ride in a Shade, I hitch a ride in a baby Shade, fantastic." He said as he moved around the wall. "Technarious is easy, we just need to scan the area. And if Lumarion is anything like he used to be, yup here it is. We got Technarious' Chemical signature." The map of the solar system popped up and a perfect ring of light emanated from the center of the earth. It hit the moon and a bell sounded throughout the command center. "He's being held on the moon. Get yourselves prepped, you've got a rescue mission." The spark flickered in the wall.

As the others got excited Sonya pulled Dante aside. "Sonya, look I'm so-" 

she cut him off. "Yeah save it. We're a team, we don't pull solo stunts, we barely know what's going on or what to do about it and you could have died SO easily out there. So either get on board with the group dynamic or peace the hell out because I can't be worrying about when you'll come up with your next Dante's secret side mission." She was ranting as quietly as possible.

Dante let her get it all out before he replied. "You are absolutely right, I was wrong, it won't happen again." He admitted sincerely.

There was a moment of silence before Sonya spoke again. "I'm glad something came of it though, we owe you for finding Spark." She admitted.

Dante shook his head. "I didn't do anything, Spark found me. I'm legit lucky to be alive." He admitted.

Sonya nodded. With nothing more to say they joined the group in planning the moon assault.

Blood and Profit: Chapter 51

The rest of the day was hard. They talked for a good majority of the morning, everyone cried. They played almost every board game their father owned. Mew didn't win a single game.

The next morning Eamon was ready to make good on his promise to teach the Starseeds how to make books. He had one last breakfast with Mew and his father. A simpler affair, cereals, fruits, toast with jam. He and his father were basically addicted to Fruity Marshmallow Bombs. A completely un healthy kids cereal with an annoying cartoon mascot. They both had gigantic bowls as was tradition in their house, a tradition Mew broke with a modest bowl of some boring adult healthy wheat garbage. 

Eamon noticed her choice instantly. "Seriously?" He asked pointing to her bowl.

She nodded. "Yeah seriously, I'm having breakfast, you and dad are having early heart attacks." She said as she playfully swatted his pointing finger.

Eamon shook his head. "How can you call that breakfast?" He started. "It doesn't turn the Milk into a sugary rainbow slurry, it doesn't have an annoying mascot, and it's commercials are boooring!" He accused while he dumped almost two full cups of milk in his bowel. 

Mew shook her head. "Hey it's got a slogan!" She playfully protested. For the millionth time in their lives.

Her father sat at the table with his giant bowl. "A healthy way to start the day is not a catch phrase it's a eulogy for fun." Eamon and his father gave each other a high five. "Now what time are you and your  brother leaving?" He asked.

Mew shook her head. "I'm not leaving."

They both looked at her quizzically. "At least not yet. I'm not going back to the station, and I have nothing else to do, so I figured I'd spend some time with you dad before, well just before." She explained.

Eamon nodded. "Something tells me the Starseeds are going to want you around eventually." He guessed. 

Mew shook her head. "Why me? I've got nothing to offer them, I'm a low level admin for a now defunct orbital facility. They need me like I need another hole in my head." She offered.

Eamon shrugged. "You made first contact, something tells me that's important. But I could be wrong, we'll see." He said. 

They finished their breakfasts and Eamon got himself ready to go. They said their goodbyes and gave each other hugs after Eamon had loaded his stuff into the ship. "I'll be back in about a week." He assured them as he climbed aboard.

The door shut while Mew and her father retreated to the safety of the house. Once the ship had taken off and could no longer be seen her father looked down at her with a smile. "Well now what?" He asked.

She smiled. "Tell me the story of how you met mom." She asked as they went back inside the house.

Lidarion: Chapter 23

The Womamel didn’t often dock in Lidarion. It wasn’t really a safe port for the captain or his crew, and while each and every member of the crew would swear up and down on a case of rum that they were legitimate traders only interested in running cargo from one free port to another for a profitable price, being branded pirates had less to do with how the crew felt about themselves and more about how the world saw them.

Still, the war had made it harder to find, and much less take honest transport work along the southern coast and there were bills to pay, and if you had a skill there was no better place on the planet to use it in trade than Lidarion. The Womamel stood out like a sore thumb when it pulled into port. It had begun its life as an elven coastal strider. A battle ship that had the space and windows for an excessively silly number of cannons. It had defended the norther coast of the southern continent until it was stolen by a band of pirate raiders who had taken the ship as their prized possession. It changed hands either taking care of debts in trade, or coming to new owners at the end of poker games. That happened to be how Lisa’s brother came to possess the ship. Dean was uncommonly good at card games and bluffed his way into possession of the ship while still the second mate of his pervious ship…Leaving the pirate’s island with the ship was another ordeal entirely.

With the Womamel docked, Dean stopped by the dock master's office to check his messages and found the employment request waiting for him. He had never been to Alex’s bar but there were members of his crew who swore by the place. As rare as it was for him to bring the ship to Lidarion, It was rarer still for him to leaving the shipping district. Luckily he had woken the dock master long enough to get directions and the bar wasn’t very far into the commerce district.

Growing up in his family both he and his sister had decreed that neither of them would allow the other to follow in their father’s footsteps. There were so many other possibilities as children that sailing seemed mundane and beneath them. His sister kept that promise, she had the skill and talent of magic from their mother so she dedicated her life to becoming a healer. As hard as she cried when she left for school, Dean had cried harder. He felt betrayed, abandoned, and left behind. As the years passed he found that the seas suited him. He enjoyed waking up with the horizon in every direction. He was better than most at navigation and his father grew to trust him regularly at the helm, eventually men twice his age made no complaint of taking his orders. Still almost nightly he swore to himself that when his father retired he would free himself to explore the world, get off the ship and see the dryland world. And when his father retired he did just that. He lasted less than a month. When his father’s ship docked again he was waiting for it, and the crew welcomed him home to his rightful place. As a child he swore to his sister that taking on a ship of his own would be the worst mistake of his life, the year after his father died he found himself making that mistake gladly.

Dean didn’t usually think about his family much, and felt strange that he should be thinking of them today. With his mind distracted by thoughts of the past he nearly tripped over the Bar. He shook off clawing grasp of memory and opened the door to the bar, only to see his sister sitting at a table with a bunch of people he had never met. He should feel warmth and relief, excitement and happiness. But the first thought that crossed his mind was turning around and leaving the bar before she saw him. She had obviously left the note, remembering the name of the ship he jokingly chose as a child. What would she think now that it was not only not a joke but a point of great pride in his life. She had done what they promised each other and he had done the exact opposite. She had left him behind but now he felt like the one who betrayed her.

Dean had frozen at the front door. An older woman behind the bar noticed him standing there and warmly shouted for him to seat himself. Lisa and the others at her table turned to look out of curiosity and they saw each other. Dean smiled awkwardly. Lisa was on her feet before he could shrug and before he could move they were hugging. A full body hug that destroyed any worries he had, any hatred he harbored and any anger he had kept for either his sister or himself. They had taken different paths but in this moment he had without a single word reminded them that they were family, always had been, always would be.

The XP: Chapter 23

Volnado began to rage. “You’re insects! Playing your little greedy games, trying to manipulate the loot tables and player economies!. I was always the best of us!” He began to grow significantly larger until he was three times the size of a normal player character.

Stygian looked past Volnado to Torcano who was still stuck to the wall. He then looked back to Trart. “He’s not mad at you.” Stygian said out loud.

Trart looked back at Stygian. “What?”

Stygian Threw a knife that Volnado stuck his hand out to block, the knife embedded itself in his hand. And Volnado instantly moved a less than half his normal speed. Stygian used the time to talk to Tart. “Volnado doesn’t hate you, he hates his brother and us. We need him so mad he won’t be able to think straight.” Stygian explained.

Trart looked over at Torcano still trapped on the wall. “You want me to try and free Torcano?” He asked.

Stygian nodded. “Ten or less bombs should take care of the thing holding him to the wall, and you’ll both be resurrected pretty quickly.” He explained.

Trart nodded. “So we free Torcano, then what?” He asked.

The poison of Crippled Time wore off Volnado. He and Trart Charged each other, Volnado batted Tart of out of the way like he was swatting a fly. He made a bee line for Stygian, bearing down on him, Stygian threw up his shield to protect himself from Volnado’s now giant, pounding fists. Impacting like a car being dropped on him, suddenly his shield cracked, breaking in half on the next blow.

Stygian stood tall and tossed the wasted shield aside. No sword or shield. Just his old black and blue armor. Volnado Turned to gloat to the assembled spectators but came chest to barrels of both Torcano’s pistols, from the look on his face it was pretty much the last thing he expected. Torcano pulled both triggers and for the first time Volnado’s health dropped significantly. “How!” Volnado gasped.

Torcano cocked his guns. “It’s been a while since you played a gunslinger brother. They have an ability called soul fire. Takes my base damage and multiplies it by the number of times I’ve died in an area or dungeon.” Normally the death rules keep it limited to double damage.”  He unloaded the last five bullets from each of his pistols.  “Apparently, the insects figured out a way around that limitation.” He reloaded his guns as Volnado got back to his feet.

When was back on his feet, Torcano had his hand out. “Let’s end this fight. I’m a dick and I’m sorry. I need to learn to share and treat you with you re –“ Volnado crushed Torcano's head in his giant hand. Then dropped his lifeless body to the ground. The move so infuriated Bob that she stopped her song of mana regeneration and unleashed a thunderous wave of force that blew past Stygian and hit Volnado like a hundred trucks knocking him back against the far wall of the Arena.

Once Tart had freed Torcano from his prison, he had quickly begun placing stacks of five mines while Volnado was distracted by his brother and the others. In the few minutes of freedom that he had he had placed almost five thousand mines.  Not paying attention to anything but placing as quickly as possible he had pretty much painted himself into a corner.

Volnado landed right in the middle of the giant half circle of death Trart had been laying out. Both of them had a split second of realization before the mines went off. Volnado looked at Trart with resigned annoyance. “Really?” was all he was able to say before they were enveloped in the expanding fire of Trart’s rainbow of death. The Arena went nuts as the explosions continued for almost ninety seconds.

As the mines exploded line after line the arena announcement board and all the screens outside the Area Brightly exclaimed that The End of the World Club had won.

University of Console Heroics: Chapter 23

Ten thirty am on the Wednesday of finals week. The Rho Sigma Gamma house has been throwing its nightly ‘end of finals’ week party since the Saturday. Lacey was frozen out in the front yard. She had seen the kind of girls that went to these parties, and heard what the guys said about them in the days after. She had promised herself she would NEVER step foot near the house, much less go inside voluntarily, and if she hadn’t made a promise to Faith she never would have. She walked up the front steps and covered her mouth and nose with her hand as she passed a pledge who was covered in vomit and asleep in a bush near the front door.

The inside of the house wasn’t much better. There were students and brothers passed out in what seemed like every corner of every room. Every piece of furniture seemed to have at least one person drunkenly passed out on it. She found clay passed out on the floor in one of the bedrooms the brothers had converted to a room for beer pong. His mouth was wide open and he was snoring around a ping pong ball. She carefully made her way around the room, avoiding trash and piles of empty beer cans to reach Clay.

The first time she lightly shook his shoulder and limited herself to a whispered. “Wake up Clay.”. Which got her nothing. She shook him more violently the second time.

He snored around the ball again in response. She slapped him lightly on the cheek. His eyes opened in a flash. He spit the ping pong ball out as he sat up, looking around the room, everything filtering through his hang over. “Wha?” He looked at Lacey in confusion and rubbed his eyes. ‘What are you doing here?” He asked her.

Lacy rolled up the sleeves of her cardigan. “ I’m checking up on your sorry butt.” She explained. She tried to get Clay up on his feet but he just folded himself over with his head between his knees.

“I think I’ma puke.” He warned.

Lacey rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Ok lets get you into the bathroom.” She said putting everything she had in getting Clay to his feet.

In the hallway they ran into Porter who was coming out of his own room. He saw Lacey and immediately dove under Clay’s free arm. “Here let me help you.” He offered as he took most of Clay’s weight.

Lacey struggled to give him a polite smile from under Clay’s other arm. “Thanks.” She offered. The pair of them dragged Clay to the bathroom and got him to the toilet. Lacey had just turned away from him before he started emptying his stomach into the toilet. She stepped out into the hall and Porter followed her, closing the bathroom door behind them. “He’s a mess.” She gestured to Clay.

Porter nodded. “A five day bender will do that.” He explained.

Lacey was shocked. “You let him stay drunk for a week!” She almost shouted.

Porter nodded and waved his hand in a motion for her to quiet down.  “I’m not his mother, I did what I could but he is hurting pretty bad right now. Personally I would rather have sloppy drunken Clay instead of angry smash things Clay.” He explained.

Lacey nodded at this explanation. Inside the bathroom Clay sat hard against the wall and sighed heavily. “I feel way better now.” They heard him say.

Lacey checked her watch and then looked at Porter. “Do you know if he has any finals today?” She asked.

Porter shrugged his shoulders and knocked on the bathroom door. “Clay buddy, you got any finals today?” He asked.

There was the sound of frantic movement from inside the bathroom. “Oh my god is it finals week?” They heard him say as he got up off the floor and stumbling out of the bathroom when he tripped over his own two feet, hit the opposite wall and then the floor. Lacy and Porter look down at him on the floor. “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.” Clay burst into laughter at his own joke.

Lacey checked her watch. “I’ll get us some coffee. You try and figure out when and where his finals might be.” She instructed. Porter nodded and watched her walk down the hall and into the kitchen.

Forty minutes later Porter had gotten Clay to a bench outside the building his psychology final was in. Clay looks worse for wear, he is more hung over than he has ever been in his life. Lacey walked up with a bottle of water and a tiny travel bottle of pain pills. She handed them to Clay. “Here, these should help. Your final starts in fifteen minutes.” She said pointing at the building behind the bench.

Clay looked up at her. “I don’t wanna be rude by why all the assistance today? I thought I was to be shunned?” he asked.

Lacey shook her head. “I‘m here because you haven’t answered your phone in a week, I’m here because Faith and I quit the sorority, but mostly I’m here because Faith was worried if she showed up you wouldn’t talk to her.” She wasn’t trying to make him feel bad but he did look worse than he had thirty seconds ago.

“Who’s got two thumbs and feels like an asshole?” he pointed his thumbs at himself. “This guy.” He gave a halfhearted laugh.

Lacey suppressed a smile. “You should go and get a good seat for your final.”

Clay nodded and headed toward the building. He stopped and turned back around.  “Lacey!” he called after her. She turned back toward the building. “Thanks, for everything.” He said. She nodded and turned back to the student union. Clay went inside to take his final.

Shades of Justice: Chapter 27

The elevator door opened and Dante carefully stepped over the two unconscious soldiers he had defeated earlier. He groped blindingly for the nearest wall and fond it The light poured through Dante’s closed eyes. it Lit up his eyelid, like cloth over a flashlight. He ran his hands along the wall of the hallway until he reached the end of the hallway. “Great, just great. Twenty five hundred years trapped in a shard of fractal darkness and when I finally find a way out I get trapped in some dumb human stuck inside some dirt hole outer rim mining market.” He clumsily felt along the wall looking for a door or a sign of any kind. He forgot to pay attention to his feet though, tripped over debris on the floor. He hit the ground hard. He sighed heavily. “I am an immortal being of pure light and energy, and I have been bested by legs…frickin’ fantastic.” The glasses in his block lit up and began to vibrate. He reached down and pulled them out and felt them in his hands. “Oooof course this kid is a shade, because that’s the kind of  luck I have.” He put the glasses on. “Hello?” He asked,

Sonya’s voice came through loud and clear. “What the hell is your problem Dante! We just got enough power back to find you, let alone bring you back and all because you got a wild hair up your butt to visit an asteroid out beyond Jupiter! ARE YOU INSANE!” She raged.

Dante shrugged his shoulders as he pulled himself up off the floor. “ I don’t maybe!” he replied putting the shades on.  Sonya growled form the other end of the call. The glasses lit up and Dante disappeared from the hallway.

Sonya and the other shades were waiting in this command center. Dante appeared as the teleport beam faded away. The light from his eyes was being almost completely held back by the shades, only a little light was escaping from either side of the glasses. Sonya charged up to him ready to tear him a new one when she noticed the light. She silently stumbled  over the words she was going to say as the question decided to come out first. “What’s going on with your eyes?” She asked.

Dantle turned away real quick. “Nothing, just uh, side effect of gas in the Asteroid market. I guess.” Dante explained, grimacing as he realized how stupid that sounded.

Sonya looked incredibly skeptical. “There was some sort of gas in the asteroid marketplace, that turned, your eyes, into flashlights?” She tried to repeat the guess without laughing or exploding.

Dante nodded still facing away from the others. “Yup, darn those crazy aliens!” His fake anger didn’t fool anyone.

Sonya got close to him. “Dante turn around we can figure this out together.” She started.

Dante turned around and took off the shades. “Ok look this is, awkward. I’m not actually Dante, I’m just hitching a ride in his body for a bit till I find a place I can safely stay.” He saw Lumarion’s busted light wall behind the others. “Like that wavelength chamber right there!” He said as he streamed out of Dante as a giant beam of light right into the light wall. Once he had transferred over completely Dante held his hands up to his eyes. “ahhhh That sucked!” He fell to his knees and Sonya knelt down next to him.

The light wall was lit up again but this time by the new intruder. Gordon and the others were more than a little pissed. “I don’t know what you are but you need to get the hell out of that wall.” He growled.

The wall flickered. “Would you relax? I just got here. I’ve been in prison for almost three centuries, I don’t know what your problem is yet but I’m almost positive I can help.” The light explained.

“Help yourself maybe, you didn’t even ask if I would carry you.” Dante accused as he got to his feet.

The light wall was twinkling but said nothing for a moment, then finally. “That was my bad, sorry. I had one shot to get free and I took it.” From the looks of things here you’re missing a Shimmeron. I think I can help you find it.” The light explained.

Sonya stepped forward. “You’re skipping a few steps, to even begin to trust anything you say or do, we need to know who you are, what you are,  where you came from, and why you possessed our friend.” She demanded.

The light flickered in silence for a moment again, and then dove right into answering questions. “I’m a Shimmeron, you can call me Spark. I needed a physical force to pull me the last little bit of the way out of the shard of fractal darkness I had been imprisoned in. Dante happened to show up at the right time.” Spark explained.

Dantle glared at the wall. “And by that, you mean you made a deal with the witness to lead me to you.” He accused.

The like wall showed brighter reds and purples clearly proud of itself. “Time and the universe are impossibly complicated systems, if you want them to work in your favor you need to finesse them a little bit.” Spark explained.

Dante stepped ahead of the others, putting himself between them and the light wall. “Don’t get to comfortable in there, you’re going to be looking for a new home once we bring Lumarion back.” He growled.

The light wall twinkled quickly “Lumarion! You lost Lumarion?!” Spark shouted.