Ready Player One

[twoplayergay]

[First thing Michael notices is that his ass isn't planted in the beanbag chair he fell asleep in. What is being a senior for other than late night video game benders with your best friend in the world, right? Yeah.

Man is he stiff, though. He groans and shifts around, trying to get comfortable again. It fails miserably.

A moment later he opens his eyes with a big frown and sits up.

Definitely not his bean bag. Not his room??? He didn't even drink last night what gives...]

Yo, Jeremy, this isn't funny.

[He stumbles to his feet and stretches to get life back into his limbs. He's in some like old-fashioned sitting room? In a really uncomfortable chair. There's like a fireplace and shit.]

Who's house even is this?! How did you get me here? Jeremyyyyyyy!

Comments

[twoplayergay]

[It was confusing enough to have the door open and have Jake Dillinger come busting in. It had to get worse all over again with him greeting Michael like they're best bros.

Please excuse his staring. He has a lot of questions but of course the first one that manages to gain power enough to be spoken is:]

"Big M"?

[jakey_d]

[Jake crosses his arms, seeming quite proud of himself.]

Duh dude, you saved the school from becoming cyborgs: of course you get a cool nickname!


Oh, uh...but if Chloe or Brooke show up, maybe don't mention the whole evil robot...thing? They still thinks it was drugs. Pretty sure Jenna remembers as much as I do but I'm not too sure.

[twoplayergay]

[Opens mouth, closes it. He speaks out loud, softly, without realizing he's doing it.]

Jake Dillinger is giving me a nickname and thinks I'm a hero...

[Clears his throat.]

Right, right, sure. But uh, Jake. What do you mean "show up"? What's goin' on?

[jakeyd]

More self confidence, dude: you are a hero. But, uhh...

[Jake looks around for a window as if it's going to help prove what he has to say. But it's not like you can see the edge from there. This would sound like a prank even to someone who trusted him one hundred percent.]

Actually, it might be better if I showed you, if you're okay with that?

[twoplayergay]

[He stiffens up and blushes a little.

What's a self-confidence can you eat it.]

Uhh, yeah sure. You're being weirdly cagey, though. You're making me nervous.

[jakeyd]

[Jake holds his hands up in a sort of placating gesture.] Oh, sorry man, I didn't mean to freak you out or anything! It's just a lot easier to explain if you see for yourself.

[As in, easier because you'll actually believe him and not think this is all some sort of elaborate prank.]

I think there's a window at the end of the hall that will help!

[He points behind him with his thumb.

Okay, so his new plan is to show Micheal the window then the edge of the island. That's like, easing him into it, right?]

[twoplayergay]

No, no, it's chill, this is all just. Making very little sense. I'm wondering if I got some unpure leaf or something and I'm having a bad trip dream. But lead away, man, why not.

[He still thinks this all sounds fake. He needs some empiricism up in this. Too late, dude, his first assumption was that it was a prank.]

Let's go...

[jakeyd]

[He rubs the back of his head a bit awkwardly.]

Ha, yeah, I get that. I was thinking something similar when I got dropped here.

[Unfortunately Jake can't actually assure Micheal anything is about to make sense, even with an explanation; so instead he just waves for 'Big M' to follow him to the nearest window and leads the way. Once there he'll just sorta stand by and wait for Micheal to absorb the new, bizarre scenery.]

[twoplayergay]

[At least Jake is acting more or less normal. Like Jake. That's comforting, sort of. At least it makes sense.

Unlike the view Michael is getting from this window. He squints. Rubs his eyes, taps the glass, opens the window and sticks his arm out. He frowns.]

Impressive trick.

[Please tell him its a trick.]

[jakeyd]

Uh, do you mean the floating island or are you still in denial? Because, I hate to tell you this bro, but... [Jake gently puts a hand on Micheal's shoulder to keep him feeling as grounded as possible.]

I can actually lead you down there. To the edge, I mean--it's pretty freaky. Like, it would be a lot cooler if someone hadn't kidnapped us and we had come by choice, but it loses a lot of charm when we're just stuck up here. Oh, uh, we're stuck up here, by the way.

[He rubs his face with the hand not on Micheal's shoulder. That was a terrible way to introduce Micheal to the place! He's definitely going to be freaked out now.] Ah, shit, that was a lame explanation; sorry dude I haven't had to do this before.

[twoplayergay]

[Please excuse Michael while he opens his mouth to speak and then just. Stays like that for a minute. Eventually his voice finds him.]

Like I don't mean to be rude, bro, but this really feels like a bad trip right now. Like, none of that makes any sense! Who brought us here? And how? You... don't know. Or you would have told me.

[Rubs his temples.]

Is it... safe?

[jakeyd]

No, I get it dude, I thought the hospital had given me something weird when I got here.

[Jake hesitates when the question of safety comes up.]

...Kiiinda? Not really. Mostly? Sort of? Like, nothing too horrible has happened but Rich almost choked on a ring inside a cupcake and I ran into some kind of possessed anime cat girl with a haunted doll. Plus the castle...sorta has a squip? I told it to fuck off pretty fast so I don't know what it's doing here.

[twoplayergay]

Not that I think you'd lie to me, dude, but I'm still pretty sure I'm high right now. Maybe it'll sink in eventually.

[OH GREAT THAT ALL SOUNDS REALLY AWESOME AND FUN AND GOOD.]

Fffffffantastic. We should probably stick together, then. We shouldn't leave Rich alone. Where is he?

[He lifts his hands, palms pressed together, to his chin. He takes in a breath and points them out.]

How the fuck does a building have a squip.

[jakeyd]

[Jake holds his hands out as he shrugs.] I have no idea dude! I ran it off so it couldn't figure anything out it could use against me. It's weird as hell! It shits emojis!

Oh, uh, but Rich is either back at the cake room or in his room.

[twoplayergay]

It... shits.... emoji.... [He just puts his hands up in defeat] Of course it does.

[Clearly some research and recon needs to be done around here. But first he should make sure his friends don't get themselves killed.]

Well, uh, lets go make sure he doesn't choke on anything again. Or get creeped on by the SQUIP, or something.

[jakeyd]

Oh shit dude, I didn't even think of the squip creeping on him, yeah. Let's try the rooms first so you know where they are.

[After all, Rich knows about the gem spiked cake so he's less likely to choke now. Jake waves for Micheal to follow before leading the way.]

[twoplayergay]

[What are friends for other than protecting each other from malicious omniscient technology?]

Oh, sure, yeah, that's good. So there are just like... rooms? Empty rooms like in a hotel? But nobody claiming to have brought us here?

[jakeyd]

Yeah, nobody we've met seems to know how we got here? It's the same story for all of us and everybody's blaming the castle itself. [He shrugs.]
I mean, it's kinda magic and floating and it healed me and Rich so I could see that I guess? But I dunno, it's pretty weird dude. Rich still says we were kidnapped.

[Hey, wait. Why hasn't Micheal brought up his legs working? The castle too much of a shock or something?]

[twoplayergay]

Kidnapped by a sentient flying castle. Sure. Why the fuck not.

[He throws his hands up into the air.]

Wait, whaddaya mean 'healed you'? Did you get your stupid selves hurt again?

[Concerned mother hen mode: activate.]

[jakeyd]

Again?? [Jake stops and looks back at Micheal, confused.]

Dude, we were brought here straight out of the hospital. Like, you just saved everybody. The place took my wheel chair out from under me and dropped me on my ass.

Waaas...that not the same for you? [It feels like magic shenanigans are afoot.]

[twoplayergay]

[A very uncomfortable lightbulb moment goes off for Michael. Jake and Rich came right from the hospital... but he doesn't think they're missing.

For the second time in his life, Michael is very, very glad he is exactly the kind of nerd that he is. He can make almost immediate sense of that thanks to his love of the fantasy genre. He takes a breath and lifts a hand to gesture with.]

No, it wasn't. It was the end of the year for me. Summer has just started. We must have gotten taken from... different points on the timeline? Possibly you and Rich came together because you had close proximity. That's good to know...

I love this icon because it can be angery or thinkin real hard

[jakeyd]

[Jake tilts his head a bit as he thinks this over, arms crossed.]

So you're like...future Micheal, then? I guess this is definitely some sort of weird other dimension, then. Like, I thought maybe it could just be a magic castle floating over earth and no one had noticed because magic, but. Not if time travel is involved.

[Guess that means trying to make parachutes is out.]

Oh! Have I apologized to you yet? Like, in the future?

god i love his face

[twoplayergay]

[Michael nods along. Yes, he is Future Michael then, probably. Weird. He could get into that, though. The future is pretty tight, all things considered.]

No, dude, I'm pretty sure this is another dimension or a pocket reality or some shit.

[Please don't try to parachute. Please.]

Yeah, you have. [His face softens and he fidgets a little.] Really, bro, it's okay. You don't need to apologize as much as you do. We're cool now, promise.

smooshes all their faces

[jakeyd]

Pocket reality? So it's small?

[I dunno man maybe they could at least find out what's down there, if anything. It might not be so 'pocket' if they do! Getting back up here could be a problem, though.]

I mean--if you're sure? [Jake goes a bit pink, and he rubs the back of his neck; looking away for a minute.]

I just wish I'd been treating everyone right from the start, you know?

smooshes their faces TOGETHER

[twoplayergay]

Smaller than a whole Universe maybe. Depends on if there's anything.... you know. Past the edge.

[Michael is usually all for adventure dude but that sounds suicidal. No thanks.]

Yeah, I'm sure.

[He smiles encouragingly, waits until Jake is looking at him again and slings an arm around his shoulders.]

If we never made mistakes we'd never learn anything new, dude. It's fine. You're a good guy just trying to survive high school. Like all of us.