Tacks’s stats were up next. A rowdy chorus of boos. It appears I was not part of a popular squad. Yay.
Player: @tacks181 Squad: #81 Rating: 9 Value: 86%
A sight better than mine. No wonder she was ticked. DeadBeat was a bit behind there, a rank-7 player, and Argo’s hard-earned 6 was displayed. They finally moved on, and I stood up and dumped my tray into the trash before stalking off to class. I fell asleep before Julianna showed up, thus escaping confrontation, and only woke up as she breezed past me.
I told the teacher “thanks for class” for kicks, and then dragged myself out the door.
~<>~
I ordered a taxi to take me to the shop. I eyed the charge bar ticking up as the self-driven hovercar spun through the airflow. I was the only human being in this hovercar. And I was in no way in control. Comforting. It did drop me off at the right place though. And it only took a small fraction of the dues paid by Ojo. Good, I’d need the rest to pay the mechanic.
The shop was just an over-sized apartment with a garage, at least from the outside. I knocked on the door cause it didn’t appear to have a lobby. Nobody answered in the first five minutes, so I eventually just invited myself in. I invited myself to a mint as well, and headed into the back. I found a door that led to the garage, and pushed my way in.
Ah, here was the action. There was a clanking coming from somewhere, at the very least. I walked around for a bit, checking out the gear and looking for the guy. He found me.
“Are you stealing stuff?” A voice arrested me.
I gently set down the fan motor I was fondling. “I should’ve brought a bag.”
“Did I say you could come in?” I was confronted with a fellow standing in the shadows. I couldn’t see much besides the glint on the wrench in his hands, and his eyes, which unsettlingly enough were a deep blue. Like, the whites were blue. The rest appeared to be black. He looked like something out of Avatar or something so far.
“No, but your mat said ‘welcome.’ And so far, I like your mat more than you. More civil.” I twisted the mint around in my mouth.
“Them stupid neighbor kids keep sticking that thing there.” He snorted. “They’re hoping I’ll stick a key under it.”
For some reason when I read this my brain said "Rome!" but I don't really know exactly what caused it. XD
He's pretty good at it. I know the feeling. I had one for forever too, by Sam. Rome was really good too before he went out of the business. YEy! What are your two favs?
He is. So many good designers. Cats and Foxes are my two favorite animals.
Yep. They're doing a spiffyrific job! Foxes are the best and I do like cats if they're gentle and nice. : D Do you have a favorite kind of cat?
Same tho. Does her more brutal side appeal to you as well?
Not especially. That part reminds me of dirt-brained jerks I had to deal with when I was younger, but I think I can appreciate a good character when I read one.
Ah okey, that satisfies my curiosity. Yea people like that are definitely making bad life choices. :/ Makes me wonder what kind of stuff she's going through. 3:
I almost didn’t show up. In fact, I was still in bed, wide awake and grinning like maniac up till fifteen minutes before the game began. August was watching the time, though, and I just ended up being a few minutes late, which just made things worse with my little band of buddies.
“You’re late.” Tacks said.
“But I’m here, which is more than I bargained on.” I tugged at my armpit.
“I thought there could be nothing worse than playing shorthanded out here, but I get the feeling you’re gonna prove me wrong.” Tacks stepped into the airlock.
I paused on the threshold. “Shouldn’t you brief me in or something?”
“I should. I would’ve, if you’d shown up on time. If we aren’t out there in thirty seconds it’s a forfeit.”
DeadBeat shoved me into the elevator as he climbed in. Argo hopped in and pressed the appropriate button. The ride down was brief and intensely awkward. I yanked at my suit, aware it was accenting all my worst features.
They were all clustered around a screen on the wall, having an intense conversation that in no way included me. That’s okay. I could form my own little group. Me and my metal limbs. Team cyborg.
The door revolved. The playing field stretched out before us. “Good luck.” Tacks shot out of the opening. The other two followed. I got the feeling they didn’t expect me to follow. There was no way I was going to keep up anyways. I watched them disappear around a corner, and then finally realized that this was no longer training field #7.
My eyes widened. It was glorious. They didn’t need immersion gear. This was the real deal.
I stepped out of the gate and into an Eastern metropolis. Symbols were grafted onto the buildings, and the city was lit by hundreds of neon signs and pink street-lamps. People bustled all around me, pixelly pre-programmed people that had more of a social life than I did, obviously.
They also had jobs. I watched one fry a batch of fish on an exposed grill for a restaurant. The details. The coding. It was insane.
It was such a waste that they had turned this into a high school sporting event.
I spent the next fifteen minutes wandering around the game, getting ran over by very-material people and ogling at the exotic sights. I remembered way too late that this was a spectator sport, and walked into a building to escape the eyes of my tormentors. They weren’t privy to my personal awe of this place.
I ended up sitting on a couch, watching anime. There was literally a movie on. It wasn’t looped or anything, the whole film appeared to be playing out. I was actually getting really engrossed, when all of a sudden I wasn’t alone.
![[y]](http://storage.proboards.com/6672327/images/WYWPH2VRo26pOFDid7QZ.png)
I know the feeling. I had one for forever too, by Sam. 
Rome was really good too before he went out of the business. YEy! What are your two favs?
Does her more brutal side appeal to you as well? 
