The next day was Sunday, and my laptop lay unused on the couch cushions as me and Mateo got around to exploring the upper layer of the warehouse. There were some super sketchy stairs leading up to it. The door was locked, but Mateo had a hanger handy and he picked the lock before I could even suggest smashing the window.
We stepped cautiously inside. You never knew what to expect in abandoned buildings. In this case, it was musty couches and some desks. After poking around a bit, I dropped into a rolling chair.
“The water works.” Mateo reported. “It’s orangish though.”
“Hey, cool. I’ll bet it’s flavored too.” I spun a bit.
“I’m not about to try it and find out.” Mateo reappeared. “We could bottle it and sell it online as Gatorade.”
“That’d wreck my amazon ratings all right.” I said. “Anyways, who buys Gatorade online?”
“Says the guy who runs a videogame restaurant.” Mateo stomped on something, presumably a spider.
“I’ve heard our burgers are amazing.” I leaned back. “What shall we do with up here?”
“I vote fire-pit.” Mateo grinned. “It’d be good while it lasted.”
I glanced at the wood floors. “I’m looking for something more permanent.”
“Gaming lounge.”
“I second it. Suggestion passed with no objection.” I glanced around. “TV there.”
“TV? I was figuring an immersion rig or two, and maybe one of those touchscreen wall computer things you always see in the movies that they finally got around to inventing.”
“You’re buying, right?”
“Like bricks I am.” Mateo inspected a wall. “You’re the rich dude with an online restaurant.”
“Heh, if only there was a way to get rich quick on there.”
“There is.” Mateo said. “You just cash in all your XP, and boom, you’d be rich. Maybe. I sure as bricks wouldn’t be.”
“What?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Newb.” He said. “You can cash in your XP for money. Everybody knows that.”
I resolved to ask around and see if I couldn’t find somebody else who didn’t. “So, why don’t more people do it?”
“Cause once you do it, the XP’s gone. Zap. Blip.” He made some weird hand gestures. “Not many people want to make that sacrifice.”
“Cause XP is so valuable.” I shook my head. “It’s amazing what some people would rather have than money.”
“You’d rather have a sombrero.”
“Yes.”
“Then I don’t think you are really the one to be delivering this sermon.” Mateo grabbed some stuff. “It rained yesterday. Maybe we got lucky and the stuff in the alley washed away.”
“You’re taking that all the way downstairs…on those stairs?” I jerked my thumb over my shoulder.
“No, I’m gonna stuff it in my Mary Poppins bag and dump it all out in the park.” Mateo rolled his eyes. “Where else we putting it?”
I pointed at the window. “This place came with a pre-installed garbage chute.”
“We’ve made so much progress since the 1750s.” Mateo nonetheless lugged the box over.
~<>~
Monday we organized a small soccer tournament between our school and two others, so it wasn’t late till I got on. Mateo was just spending the night over, so he was beside me on my couch, taking up more than his share of the cushion.
I was greeted with a crammed full inbox, hundreds of friend requests, messages, and notifications about my placement on this week’s chart.
At the top was a screaming message from my co-owner Boomer, telling me to get myself over to the Steakhouse and work for a living, because he was running on two hours sleep and a bag of M&Ms.
I nonchalantly walked over, only to realize that he hadn’t been kidding when he said he needed help. The place was crammed. The building had been built for about 100 users, more than enough to fit the entire active CONmunity of the board into it at one time.
There was a flashing notification above the door that told me we were over capacity. I quickly made an adjustment to the perimeters, and the building auto-expanded. I’d customize the new area later, when it quieted down.
-last edited on Jul 19, 2018 20:36:06 GMT by TheGreatCon
Post by TheGreatCon on Jul 19, 2018 20:34:59 GMT
Okay, trying two parts today...let me know if it's too much for you, LEGO.
It never did. As soon as I showed up, the crowd seemed to redouble. Boomer patted me on the shoulder, told me we were out of burgers in some town in Spain, and logged off.
I juggled orders and CONversations all evening, wondering what insanity had prompted me to make this place. That insanity showed up in person and helped shoulder the load of orders.
Sweetcrazy6: okay i think i’m done being famous.
TheGreatCon: Yeah, this is work.
Sweetcrazy6: big fat paycheck coming up, right?
TheGreatCon: you work for tips.
Of course, Celeste dropped in and tried to act casual. I tried to ignore her without it seeming pointedly. She eventually ordered something, though, and I had to go over.
TheGreatCon: W’sup?
Catvideos157: Remember me?
TheGreatCon: Of course.
Catvideos157: Nice restaurant.
TheGreatCon: I liked it better empty.
Catvideos157: Not used to being famous?
TheGreatCon: Not used to famous following me to my home hub.
I got her order and hurried back to the kitchen. It still felt wrong. But there was nothing to be done about the situation, so I just stuck her order into processing. Then I remembered we didn’t have catering down here, and I wondered why the bricks she ordered something. And then I wondered if we did, in fact, have catering down here, and I didn’t know about it. That made sense, I guessed, though I think we all knew the real reason she had ordered something.
Let's see...El Paso is more of a desert, Amarillo is more of a prairie/tundra, Dallas/Fort Worth is a little bit like the north-east states and Houston is like a swamp.
They really ought to chop Texas up into a couple smaller states.
Actually when Texas joined the Union we reserved the right that if we ever wanted to split the state into five other states we could. We're also the only state that can legally fly our flag at the same height as the American flag.
They really ought to chop Texas up into a couple smaller states.
Actually when Texas joined the Union we reserved the right that if we ever wanted to split the state into five other states we could. We're also the only state that can legally fly our flag at the same height as the American flag.
You really are proud of your home state, aren't you?
Great parts!!! 
![[derp]](http://storage.proboards.com/6672327/images/YqNTPqyQUocVMYXZgUAI.png)
![[lenny]](http://storage.proboards.com/6672327/images/7elNEqtPK2hcSAiIMFNh.png)
