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Act I: Welcome to Gartha

December 28th, Seattle Washington

E.J. Games was somewhat less crowded than usual today. A few kids here and there, playing cards or examining the latest game release, but all of them seemed a bit on edge, constantly glancing towards the terminals for Legends of Gartha, the Virtual Reality MMO that was the source of no end of media controversy at the moment.

Specifically, they directed their gaze at terminal 6, whose occupant had been in his comatose state since Christmas.

Thomas Whitman had been immersed in the game for far beyond any recommended usage limits, whether by chance or intent. The safety systems had failed, and the first thing the store had tried was to call his mother, Carly Whitman. When she arrived, she was furious and demanded they remove him from the game.

Sarah, the manager on duty at the time, had refused, citing the safety risks of that action, and when his mother tried to forcibly remove him from the pod, Sarah, along with three others, were forced to stop her. After two separate attempts, including attempting to cut the power, and numerous public outbursts, she was finally deemed a danger to public safety and placed under temporary house arrest until the situation was resolved.

Sarah, meanwhile, was sitting on the counter, gazing at terminal 6 tearfully, murmuring the same things she'd been saying for the past day.

"I should have stopped him. I knew he was upset, he always smiled like that when he was upset. I just didn't want him to miss the Christmas event. I thought..."

Despite repeated attempts by various individuals to assure her no one could have foreseen this, the brunette still blamed herself. The only reason she was still at work was that being sent home seemed to make it worse. Thus, she was allowed to stay, helping customers somewhat halfheartedly, and fiercely ejecting media vultures and ambulance-chaser lawyers from the store, even at one point fending off a particularly persistent paparazzi camerawoman with a replica of Raiden's High-Frequency Blade.

The woman threatened to sue, of course, but one of the police posted outside of the store told her in no uncertain terms that if she didn't push off, he would take her down. She left in a hurry.

And so it was that a day after the call went out, the ragtag band entered E.J. games, and for the first time in three days, Sarah recovered a bit of her usual enthusiastic self, hoping against hope that they could succeed in recovering Thomas from his self-imposed exile...

One of the members of the aforementioned ragtag band was Jan, who stepped in - or should one say limped in? - the E.J. Games, particularly reserved. Although he dressed like he might be meeting a date - khaki pants and a blazer buttoned halfway over a green v-neck, not to mention the ginger hair complimenting it - he stood one-legged with the support of a brown cane like he was inside a hospital, almost painfully formal and equally out of place.

As Jan tended to acknowledge employees fairly quickly after entering a store, he smiled and nodded to the brunette behind the counter as the others entered at their own leisure, quietly examining the store and its occupants. However, biting his lip a little, Jan tried his best not to linger on Terminal 6. He hadn't steeled himself for the trial ahead enough just yet to glance.

Not a moment after Jan had entred the store, Wyatt Keenan had followed him, a somewhat poorly withheld anxiety making it's mark across his face. However, he was thankful that this would remain a more private matter inbetween Thomas's friends an family (at least, for the moment). If all went well, perhaps the media could get their story from Thomas's own mouth before the night was over.

Feeling somewhat self-conscious about entering the store with his hood on, Wyatt let the regulars know who he was. When he wasn't working, he was at the store on a somewhat frequent basis, so perhaps that wasn't even necessary. Maybe he was more nervous about this whole deal that he'd initially admitted.

"Not a time for cold feet." he muttered to himself as he paced past Jan, "just going to have a chat."

edited 3rd Jan '15 4:11:12 AM by goodisgood

A couple of seconds afterwards, Michelle Davis set foot into the store, sporting a smile that seemed to give her an air of confidence, but that was also quite out of place given the situation at hand. The first thing she noticed upon entering was the nervous glances of the other customers towards the terminals. She couldn't blame them, though. A situation like that could make anyone wary. But it wasn't like the terminals were going to jump up and eat them either.

Then her eyes landed on terminal 6, and her smile disappeared almost completely. To think that he had been online since Christmas... it must have been quite hard for his family. She was honestly looking forward to meeting him again, but in a situation like this...

She quickly shook her head to distract herself from her thoughts. After a couple of seconds, her enthusiastic smile returned to her face, and she headed towards the counter, waving her hand at the woman behind it. It was clear that she was not doing well, but staying optimistic and hoping some of it would rub off on her was all she could do at the moment.

After a brief delay, Ernie was next to stroll in. Dressed up as he normally would be with his hands stowed in his pockets, his casual demeanor belied the determination he'd been building up the last few days. This isn't to say he wasn't anxious about the whole situation, but he was at least trying to keep his cool and make it seem like he could deal with the issue.

He gave his greetings to the employee with a small smile and walked in further, stopping in his tracks as he saw the terminals for the game. He had decided not to go to the Christmas event in the end, telling Thomas that he would be stuck home all day with the family. That wasn't exactly true, he just didn't particularly feel like going out again after having to do some last minute Christmas shopping and wanted to relax at home.

He was regretting this decision now that he was actually looking at terminal 6. It couldn't possibly have hurt to go out for an hour or two, he thought. He might not have gotten stuck if he was actually playing there with him, he thought. Ernie smacked his face a couple of times to shake off those thoughts. "What-ifs" wouldn't be doing him any good right now.

He looked completely out of place for the E.J. games, differing greatly from their average customer. He wore a $7000 black suit with a purple shirt, as well as a matching fedora. A pair of Aviator Ray-Bans concealed his eyes, and carried himself with a grace that only years of partying could teach. As he opened the door, he checked the time on a gold-chained pocketwatch as if it were habit, and performed a half-spin as he entered.

But he was here to prove something. He was here to prove that he was more suitable as a father than that bitch Carly. She had nearly killed the kid, so the lawyers were already celebrating that particular development.

He pulled a one-hundred dollar bill out of his wallet in a single fluid motion, and held the Benjamin out to a man in a hoodie with a full beard. "Look I dunno who let you in, or why security ain't doin' anything," he said, revealing his Jersey Shore accent. "But we got something really important to do here, all private-like you understand. Take this and go beg at the Wet Seal instead, capisce?"

edited 6th Jan '15 11:09:29 AM by nman

Edward sauntered in, later than everyone else, moving with an un-earned air of importance. He looked around the store, giving the group a quick once over. No one he recognised, but all potential voters. However, he was struck with worry when he saw Giovanni. This guy seemed to be real money. He definitely had a better suit than Edward did anyway. He would be hard to sway over to his side.

He then looked at the terminals. He didn't really understand how they worked, although the fact that one seemed to be in use was proof enough for him that they did. Wait, that pod in use- that must be that boy, Terry? No Thomas. His ticket to congress. And also a child to be saved, he supposed.

He approached the group, introducing himself to the assembled gang.

Wyatt wasn't sure how he was going to handle this one. He'd swallowed the initial spurt of indignation at being confused for a hobo, but it'd take a few more moments just to be sure that wouldn't turn into a grudge. It was clear enough that this guy was here to help out Thomas (was it? Really?), so perhaps he'd just...pretend he didn't hear that? No, he was looking at the guy....

"I'm here to help Thomas", Wyatt said somewhat curtly, "That, and I'm a regular." He quickly glanced down at the hundred-dollar bill before meeting the sharp-dressed man again with a an amused smile.

"Though I'm sure someone at the Wet Seal would appreciate the charity."

And right out of the corner of his eye, Wyatt thought he saw the damned senator blustering his way in. This was getting weird.

Giovanni looked at Wyatt with a straight face. "Oh, sorry 'bout that misunderstanding, pal. My apologies," he said. "But we're all here for Tommy, you understand? Why don't you just keep that, and we forget this ever happened, huh?"

He tucked the bill into the pocket of Wyatt's hoodie.

"Forget what ever happened?", Wyatt asked, raising tilting his palms upwards.

Though he expected a hundred-dollar bill didn't mean all that much to the man, he wasn't about to resent someone who was willing to make amends with that kind of change. He wasn't all that familiar with carrying that much around at a time; was that a strange sense of guilt welling up in his stomach?

"How do you know Thomas?", he went on to ask. "I started hanging out with him not all too long ago."

Elaine Layton shivered as she walked into the game shop and unwrapped her scarf. Stupid freezing weather, and stupid her for not realizing it'd be this cold out when she'd set out from her house to walk to the shop. She glanced around quickly. There were supposed to be other group-people, weren't there? Elaine hoped she wasn't late as she walked over to the counter and said hello to the workers.

In her peripheral vision, she spotted a guy in a suit talking to someone who... might be a regular, though she had a hard time telling people apart if they didn't have any particularly distinguishing traits, and - was that the politician guy running for Congress? Thumb or something. "Um, why are those guys in here? They don't exactly seem like the gaming type," she asked the store employee.

"Bold adventurers come to answer the call, to rescue the gentle Thomas in his darkest hour!" Sarah replied, rubbing her hands together enthusiastically.

It seemed she really was back to her usual self, because she promptly jumped up on the counter and raised her arms, assuming a strange "Y" pose.

"Praise The Sun!" she cried, before covering herself and hopping down. "Ahem. Hello and welcome to E.J.'s, though I wish it were under better circumstances. So, for those of you who have played, you know the drill, pick a terminal, I'll be by to upload you in a moment. For those of you who haven't... a bit of orientation is necessary," she gestured to several clipboards on the counter. "And a quick bit of paperwork."

John was about to reply to Wyatt's inquiry when a particularly boisterous employee began to shout and do some bizarre calisthenics on the counter.

"Jesus Christ, lady," Johnny said. "In case you haven't noticed, we're dealing with something serious here."

"Now, now, sir, let's try and not be as brusque. There's a child's life in the balance!" Edward said, attempting to not only paint himself in a good light, but also to achieve social dominance over this clearly superior man. "I say we get these signed as soon as we can, and head in and save the poor squirts life. Are you with me?"

"Very well." Jan meant it respectfully, although he realized as he approached the terminals he could have been confused a little for being impatient there, or even a little uncaring. Admittedly, he wasn't as worried about the latter - no one should have any problem understanding his demeanor here, he reasoned.

Jan approached Terminal 5, took a breath, and looked to the neighboring terminal, where Thomas' body was currently residing, his mind adrift in the game who knows where doing who knows what. For all the concern and distress Jan felt at the sight, he was also experiencing a funny sort of discomfort, that which unnerved him without his control - knowing Thomas through the game only and being so acquainted with the vision of him and their relationship in-game, it struck him that the person he considered in no small part his mentor was... actually younger than he was by a couple years. It's a shame i'm meeting him in real life but he's not meeting me. A tad bit unfair to Thomas, i'd say.

Resting his cane against the terminal, Jan settled into his space, taking time to assure his foot was not in an uncomfortable position and following by slow breathing exercises to calm himself while the store manager handled the others. His eyes were trained on the manager's interactions with the others, however - he had a suspicion at least one of them would be using a DEMO character and he needed to be sure how many.

edited 9th Jan '15 10:02:03 AM by InfiniteParagon

"Yeah, yeah, I understand," Johnny said.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a mahogany pen. "Now, about this paperwork?"

"I'm aware of the gravity of the situation— I've been coming in to see Thomas' comatose state for the past three days," Sarah replied with a note of resentment. "You lot are the first good news I've had since then. Oop, paperwork. It's the usual waivers and such. You affirm that you are at least sixteen years of age or have parental consent (we usually don't allow anyone under the age of sixteen to use these, parental consent or not, store policy, but the circumstances, you understand...) ahem, you have familiarized yourself with the risks implicit in Virtual Reality simulations, you understand that we accept no responsibility for any psychological trauma you may receive in the course of utilizing our facilities— facing down a dragon, or worse, dying, is terrifying the first time, et cetera. You also understand that damaging the facility will incur a fine, yada yada yada, sign the paper and get in the pod."

"Once you're in, you need to just stay calm. You might feel motion sickness, vertigo, and memories might drift back to you. Just let them be, and when they pass, let them go. The harness needs to be in place before you affix the headset. That's to prevent people from just dragging you out, rather like Thomas' mother attempted to. She's lucky security got to her. I was about to go Aveline on the bitch," her last two sentences were somewhere between a mutter and a growl. "I've also got a short list of locations Tom mentioned liking, as well as some of the people he mentioned adventuring with. I'll add it to the Journal for the Demo characters, since I have the permissions for that. I'll use that feature to keep in contact with you."

"She's a fuckin' bitch, alright," Johnny said in agreement, nodding his head vigorously at Sarah. He would sign whatever paperwork was necessary before getting into the pod and waiting with everyone else.

Elaine walked over to Terminal 7, but did not hook herself into the harness. She peered over at Jan. "So. Do you have any particular ideas where to start looking?"

Jan turned his head to Elaine briefly, listening to her question. A reasonable one to ask here - goal-oriented, too. Unfortunately, he could only shake his head and return to how he was, eyes on the paperwork. One player had already signed up for a DEMO character by this point.

"No, I don't. I run a raiding guild and i've had its members conducting searches in high-level mob areas all around our hub town. No sign of him when I left for here and my phone would be blowing up right now if he'd been found. The only areas we haven't checked... well, we're absolutely certain Thomas hasn't been there." Even as he said this, Jan pursed his lips in disappointment, trying to keep himself calm by breathing. "I don't suppose you have any information on his whereabouts?", he asked rhetorically, if only to promote communication. Jan knew he'd have to learn about each member of the party in time, and the non-DEMO player who was talking so far seemed to be a good start.

Elaine shrugged. "Not a clue. I've looked around some of the areas where he liked to help newbies out, but no luck."

"To be honest, I'm not even sure of where to start looking," Michelle admitted, shaking her head softly as she entered terminal 4. "I didn't even know he played until this whole thing blew up. Maybe I met him already and didn't notice, but it's not very likely."

Ernie chuckled a bit at Sarah's reaction to everyone's presence, a little light-heartedness never hurt, especially given the circumstances. Since both terminals at Thomas's side was taken, Ernie settled on terminal 8, though he decided not to strap in just yet. Overhearing the other three at the terminals talk, he leaned over his own to pitch in.

"I was thinking about starting from where the Christmas event took place and going on from there," he said, "...Starting to think someone else might've beat me to that idea, though. Dunno if he actually even participated in it now that I'm thinking about it some more..."

Edward signed the paperwork, trying to not look too worried about the potential health risks mentioned. Maybe he should have given the waivers sent to his office more than a brief once over.

As he made his way over to the pod, Edward leaned in towards Sarah, and quietly whispered, "Listen, this thing isn't dangerous, is it? I won't end up in hospital, will I?"

"The hospital is unlikely," she assured him. "For the most part, our facilities are harmless to your physical body. The worst that might happen is you bump your head against the terminal on your way out. We actually added a bit of padding to Terminal Six at Tom's insistence. He kept hitting his head as he pulled himself out of it."

"Now, the potential for psychological harm is there. I mean, how would you feel if someone came charging at you with a claymore? A bit frightened, I'd expect. And having a dragon the size of Mount Saint Helens bearing down on you is far worse. Fortunately, the technology is designed to inhibit your fear response to a degree, so rather than being terrified through the fight, you're more 'on edge'. Still, I'd stick to trash-mobs (the small, worthless enemies) for now, until you get settled. And fortunately, Thomas frequented a few low-level zones, so you'll have time to adapt during the search."