Patch 1.17

"Bwah!" I yelled, my mouth flubbed and my eyes fluttered with the sudden influx of light and sensations that seemed almost foreign to me.

But the noise that came from my mouth… it came not of my own volition, no, but some sort of natural and instinctive reaction. It woke me from the deep slumber forced upon me by the pod I had been given. The sun set harshly over my face forcing me to raise my hand to block out the light.

I stretched, hand over hand, and let my back crack the kinks that seemed to so stiffly place themselves within my body. Once I was done I placed on another set of clothes, showered, and readied myself for another day.

By the time I had gotten out of the pod, out of the game, more than half a day had already passed. 'Weird' I thought to myself. It was like I had spent days… weeks in the game but in reality it was a mere…

I turned on my phone and checked the date.

"That makes more sense…" I muttered. 

There was a knock on the door. It startled me, I wasn't expecting any guests, especially since I had been AWOL for so long. But either way I opened the door slightly and peered outside.

Only to be met with a burst of green hair. She pushed the door open and plopped herself down on the cramped couch. I grumbled for a moment before closing the door and walking to the kitchen.

I grabbed two cups of ice water and placed them on the coffee table.

"Yes?" I drawled, my eyes rolling over to meet hers.

She looked at me oh so innocently and took a sip of water. It dripped down her face and onto her… ample… breasts. I looked away, respectfully too, then again humphed out my question.

"You're killing me here~" She pouted, green eyes forcing their way into my view.

"And I'll continue doing so." I countered.

Her pout continued for a second, letting pillowy lips flutter and teary eyes sparkle. Only to stop moments later.

"See, crocodile tears, crocodile tears I say~" The pout that had just disappeared was replaced with a smile and a slight punch to my arm. Jade let out a mirthful laugh before tittering in place.

Her body vibrated with excitement as she recounted tale after tale. Apparently - just as I had - Jade had played for the better part of a day and a half. 

"And! And!" She excitedly recounted, her hands waved in the air trying to convey the sheer excitement that emanated within her bones.

"Mmm~" I hummed to her tune. Letting her rant about all the troubles and trivial blocks she had faced. Whether that be trying to scrounge together money for a room to bunk in, or trying to find a weapon that she liked.

It seemed that she had spawned in some large city, it had a presence within every part of the area. And because of that there weren't many opportunities for combat.

However she was hearing talk of a war. There was a divide between those that wanted to stay out and those that wanted to go to war.

And it wasn't just that but…

I tuned out the rest of the details, idly categorizing them in my mind for later. It wasn't like they were too important but given that this was to be some large scale war it might affect me so… eh…

She hugged her arm around my own and tugged at me. It was early in the morning. When all the early birds would go out on their morning jog or grab a morning coffee. 

"C'mon! C'mon!" She yelped excitedly.

I let her drag me, an almost… homely smile on my face. Jade kept pulling and pulling until we were sitting, coffee in our hands - or in my case hot chocolate - There wasn't really a reason. Other than that I disliked coffee of any kind and I wanted something hot regardless.

I didn't know the owner, nor did I know the cafes' name. But I would mark the location down in my head. I took a drag of the hot chocolate and thought to myself again.

'Yep'

I'll remember you.

"So~" Jade hummed, almost vibrating in her seat, a side of her she rarely ever showed. It just went to say how much she enjoyed Sanctuary.

"Where'd you spawn?"

I nodded my own head and regaled her of my tales. It was quite boring compared to what she had told me. Partly the fault of mine own censoring. 

"So, you just wandered around killing these… these… - don't remind me I'll get it - creatures and you used a gun?"

I nodded.

"That's…" She gasped. Jade's hand reached out for mine. She cupped my fingers in hers. "So cool! I thought that it was strictly fantasy but… but no!"

My hand reached to my mouth and concealed a well hidden smirk. I laughed and let her suffer in the misery of not knowing what she had said.

Just for a few moments though.

"Did you not look at any of the promotions?"

"No?" Jade tilted her head and placed her index finger on her chin. It was surprisingly cute in a confused sort of way.

"Ah~ That makes sense then."

Now she was pouting.

"C'mon. Tell me~" Jade whined.

"Alright~ Alright~" I placated, letting my hands wave about in a similar gesture.

"Supposedly - I'd have to look - but there should be multiple planets, their size varying on the country that they are placed in."

"Then each country has a planet to themselves?"

"Yeah. But the genre and resources within it are all different. Like us, we seem to be in the midst of maybe the… I want to say seventeen hundreds but that doesn't seem quite right. Ah, either way we're a mix of fantasy and magic."

"But to answer your earlier question, yes. I used a gun, though I did run out of bullets eventually so I had to use the bayonet."

"Ah~ that must have been so fun."

"Yeah… it really was."

I took a last drag of my drink before picking myself from my seat. By the time that we had finished regaling both our stories, idle talk, and whatever we found fancy in. It was already mid morning, almost afternoon.

The sun was high in the sky and Jade walked next to me, she threw her drink away too. 

We said our goodbyes. Jade had shopping to do, meal prepping and I too had other duties to attend to.

"See ya~"

"Yep, let's meet again in Sanctuary."

"Mm~"