Romantic RPG
“Let’s get this straight. You want me to teach you how to play VR games.”
“That’s what I just said geekoid.”
“But you hate VR games.”
“Oh my gawd, I know, but there’s this boy, Brad, and he’s like really hot and cool and like stuff. The only thing is that he’s like a total game junkie. So I thought maybe if I like played some of his games I could like get him to like play some of mine.” <giggle.> “But if he finds out I don’t know how to game he’ll think I’m totally 21st century.”
It happened that Riley Jetson knew Brad. He was an okay guy. They played hockey together online every Thursday. They didn’t consider themselves game junkies it’s just that there is little else to do in the 23rd century. The world’s so overpopulated that there isn’t a free patch of grass anywhere to play a real sport. So they go online once in awhile.
Riley Jetson took a good long look at his sister. Her hair was an absurdly long afro of blonde curls. She wore enough fluorescent lipstick and eye-shadow to blind a person, and her shiny silver dress would have been considered underwear 2 centuries ago. In other words she was a typical 23rd century girl. For the millionth time Riley found himself wishing that the feminism movements of the 21st century hadn’t just been a fad.
Looking at her also made Riley feel nostalgic. Him and Muffy used to play together all the time, and have real conversations back in elementary school but they went to separate high schools and Muffy spent all her time with other girls. She eventually changed, in order to fit in.
“Well…” Riley teased.
“Oh come on. Show me how to play your stupid games,” Muffy demanded.
“Alright let’s play one right now.”
“Now, really? Wait a minute. Aren’t VR games dangerous if you don’t know the protocols?”
Riley waved his hand to dismiss her worries. “Relax,” he said. “Most of the protocols are outdated. These games have tons of safety features. Besides, would you rather read instruction manuals or get right into the thick of it.”
Muffy nodded, though she felt a little uncertain.
“So which game do you want to play?” Riley showed Muffy one cartridge with a picture of a gore drooling zombie on it and Muffy immediately shook her head in disapproval. Next was a game with pictures of race cars but Muffy reminded Riley how easily she gets motion sickness. Riley took out one more cartridge and let Muffy get a glimpse of the picture but then took the box away indicating it wasn’t one he actually wanted to play. The picture was of a tropical beach. Muffy greedily grabbed the cartridge and took a closer look. On it a manga style heroine was sipping a pina colada while floating on an inner tube on a beach with a lavish mansion along the shore. Muffy turned the cartridge around but the instructions were in Japanese.
“Let’s play this one,” said Muffy.
When Riley saw the excited look in her eye he tried to suppress a laugh.
“Sis, you really don’t want to play that one with me.”
“What, what’s wrong with playing this one.”
“Well it’s a RRPG.”
“So, what’s wrong with that?”
“You don’t know what an RRPG is, do you?” Riley questioned.
Muffy didn’t want to admit she had no idea.
“We are playing this game,” she announced.
“Okay then, let’s play.”
Riley put the game inside his playstation 3, 600 and inputted his personal confirmation code then helped Muffy set-up and input her code. Riley set up all the game options which were in Japanese then changed the language settings to English, giving Muffy a dubious smirk when he was finished. Suddenly a holographic disclaimer flashed into thin air. It read:
DISCLAIMER!
THIS RRPG (ROMANTIC ROLEPLAYING GAME) HAS A SAFETY PROTOCOL RATING OF 5. THIS SAFETY PROTOCOL IS IN PLACE SO THAT PLAYERS CAN STEP INTO THE ROLE OF THEIR GAME CHARACTER WITHOUT PERMENTLY CONFUSING THIS ROLE WITH THEIR SENSE OF PERSONAL IDENTITY. IF YOUR SAFETY PROTOCOLS ARE SET BELOW 5 PLAYSTATION 3,600 WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONSEQUENCES.
WARING!
NO SAFETY PROTOCOLS ARE SET FOR GUEST PLAYER. DO YOU WISH TO CONTINUE?
YES NO
Riley expected this to be the moment of truth, but of course his sister could not be bothered to read the disclaimer.
He hit yes, and they continued.
Muffy purred with delight. She was in the softest bed, with the silkiest sheets she had ever slept in. Reluctantly she raised herself from the large double king sized bed, smelled the sea breeze and stretched. She looked at herself in a full length mirror and was surprised for a brief moment. Her eyes were freaky huge. They were like manga girl eyes. Her hair was a light auburn which flowed to the small of her back. Some of the hair formed two gravity defying antennae. She had a more slender petite body as opposed to the long legged curvaceous one she possessed in the real world. Even her bust was down three cup sizes. Muffy briefly wondered if this game had a lolicon element.
There was a knock on the door. To Muffy’s surprise she was already descent, sleeping in actual pyjamas. She said come in, in a girly high pitched voice that caught her off guard. In walked Riley. He looked the same as usual. He was scrawny and wearing coke bottle glasses. The only thing different was his old style Hawaiian shirt and swim trunks.
“Hi.”
“Hello,” said Muffy in a ‘cold oh so you’re here too’ voice.
Riley then closed the door and opened it again to say Hi. Next he closed the door and opened it one more time.
“What are you doing,” Muffy demanded.
“I am building my points. You see in this role playing game, I get 100 Energy points a day and it takes 20 Energy points just to talk to you. However every time I talk to you my fp increases and every time I answer a question it increases even more. My goal is to get as much fp as possible.”
“That’s stupid,” Muffy dryly commented. In response Riley closed the door and opened it again two more times.
Muffy looked outside. The sun went down, and words appeared in the sky in a blazing light.
DAY 1 COMPLETE
CHARM: 5 MAGIC: 4 INTELLIGENCE: 20 MONEY: 0 ENERGY 0 FP 7 BEGIN DAY 2
Instantly the sun rose again.
Muffy got out of bed and decided to check the place out. Not wanting to go downstairs in her pyjamas she approached a large oak dresser and opened the first droor. It was filled with what seemed to be the loveliest dresses. She put one on and stepped outside. She walked down a long staircase and entered a dinning room. Dozens of girls grouped around a large breakfast table stared at her. You see, Muffy was wearing nothing but underwear. Normally this would be fine, but the game takes place in 1993 so she was somewhat underdressed. The only girl who dressed in the same amount of clothing as her was still wet from a swim, and had a towel around her waist.
Always concerned about fitting in, Muffy went back into her room to change.
The next few days went smoothly. It turned out the girls were all computer controlled characters, so they were dumb and forgot the breakfast incident. They spent there days playing volleyball, and drinking virgin pina coladas. The game had no alcohol. Riley was off somewhere, doing something or other. It didn’t matter what. Every so often the day would change. She would see Riley’s stats then go through a two second sleep and wake up ready for a new day.
One day she read the following:
DAY 59 COMPLETE
CHARM: 1000 MAGIC: 1000 INTELLIGENCE: 5000 MONEY: 500, 000, 000, 000, 000 ENERGY: 0 FP 7 BEGIN DAY 60
Apparently Riley knew some cheat codes.
On day 60 Muffy ran out to meet her friends. She took the volley ball into her hands and delivered her best dynamite serve. The other girls just stared into the sunrise, possibly dumbstruck by her magnificent serve. Then members of her own team looked into the sunrise. “What’s up?” Finally Muffy turned to look.
His eyes were deep with intelligence. His teeth glowed with a charm that outweighed the luminescence of the sun behind him. Magic allowed him to levitate in the lotus position. It was a charming, intelligent, magical, and probably wealthy Riley. As he approached the other girls collapsed, there knees weak from the very sight of him. He walked up to Muffy and gave a simple hello.
A voice roared from nowhere and everywhere.
FP EXCEEDS 100STATUS ELEVATED FROM AQUAINTANCE TO FRIEND.YOU MAY NOW ASK QUESTIONS
“What’s your name?” Riley asked.
She wanted to say ‘I’m your sister you moron,’ but Suddenly Muffy felt a tingle as the computers voice moved through her. To her utter shock she answered I AM NARUE NANAKO, PLEASE CALL ME NARU-CHAN.
Riley smirked. “That’s enough for now.” Then he walked away.
Muffy was shocked at what just happened. She looked around; the other girls were staring at her with jealous glares. She asked one girl “What’s my name?” The Girl she asked was Shinobou the games meek domestic character. She answered “You’re Naru-chan of course.”
Muffy sat down in the sand concentrated for a moment, then said “I am Muffy Jetson.” It wasn’t like she couldn’t say it. She was perfectly capable of saying I am Muffy Jetson. Only when she said it there was this uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach. Somehow she new she was telling a lie. From then on she was Narue Nanako.
That was the only break Riley gave her. From then on he asked five questions a day and each day the voice put answers inside of her.
DAY 61
1) WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE COLOUR?
Naru answered “WHITE,” which she suddenly realized was more pure than fluorescent pink.
2) WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO EAT?
“I like BANNANAS.”
3) WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE SUBJECT?
“MATH,” she answered to the greatest shock yet.
4) WHAT KIND OF TELEVISION SHOW DO YOU WATCH?
Please God don’t let me say something nerdy Naru-chan pleaded in her mind, just before she answered “I DON’T WATCH TV. I PREFER TO READ.”
5) WHAT IS YOUR EMAIL?
NARU4U@AOL.COM
DAY 62
1) WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE?
“AMUSEMENT PARK,” she answered trying desperately to say night club.
2) WHAT DO YOU WANT TO STUDY?
“ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE.”
3) TELL ME WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE GIFT?
“TEDDY BEARS,” she answered trying to say jewellery.
4) WHAT CLUBS ARE YOU IN?
“THE ART CLUB AND ARCHERY CLUB.”
5) WHAT SORT OF PET DO YOU LIKE?
“CATS.”
DAY 63
When Riley approached, Narue begged him not to ask any more, but he just went straight to a difficult question.
1) DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY.
“MODEST AND HARD WORKING,” she found herself saying.
Suddenly she fell to her knees and screeched, embarrassed by the two piece swimsuit she was wearing. Chivalrously Riley gave her a towel before continuing.
2) WHAT SORT OF MAN DO YOU LIKE?
“INTELLIGENT.”
3) HOW DO YOU SPEAK?
“POLITELY AND PROPERLY.”
Suddenly the booming voice of the computer interrupted:
FP EXCEEDS 1000STATUS ELEVATED FROM FRIEND TO GIRLFRIEND.YOU MAY NOW GO ON DATESDO YOU WISH TO GO ON A DATE NOW?
Riley selected yes.
Five scenarios appeared:
Beach $0Café $20Festival $100Aquarium $200Amusement Park $400
Riley selected Amusement park.
Suddenly Naru found herself in a white dress. She wore a handbag and her face was painted with make-up. Not trashy fluorescent make-up like Muffy used to wear. Most men wouldn’t think she was wearing make-up at all, but they would notice her more.
Before her stood the most fantastic amusement park she had ever seen and beside her stood Riley.
On the tea cups she asked Riley if he remembered her favourite colour, and Riley answered white. His fp rose.
As they rose up a hill on a roller coaster Naru asked Riley what she wanted to study. As the coaster rushed downwards Riley screamed environmental science.
As they had there pictures taken together she asked “What is my favourite gift?” Riley handed her a teddy bear he was keeping in his backpack.
Then Naru sat Riley down and begged him to tell her why he was doing this.
Riley sighed. “There was this girl I used to like. She loved kittens, fantasy books, drawing. She would take a bow and arrow and pretend she was an Amazon princess. She was polite and proper and a bit shy, though not around me. Something changed in her, and I missed my sister. Then I found a video game with a character that was just like her. The object of the game is to woo all the girls, but I only had eyes for her. When I played we were together again.
Naru choked back a tear and asked one more question. “What does fp stand for?”
Riley smiled. “Feeling points.”
Suddenly fireworks painted words in the sky:
DATE SUCESSFULKISSKISSKISS
They went on more dates. He gave her more bears. One day the screen said:
FP EXCEEDS 1,000,000STATUS ELEVATED FROM GIRLFRIEND TO LOVER.YOU MAY NOW MAKE LOVE
Naru-chan asked if they were supposed to have waited for that message. Riley shrugged.
Two weeks later, in the real world.
Narue knocked on Riley’s door. He bid her to enter. Riley had left Naru-chan alone for the past fourteen days. He was just wondering how to approach her when she came to him.
Narue came in. She wore a bathrobe and had a towel wrapped around her hair.
“What’s up Muffy,” he asked.
Naru closed the door, and then scolded him for using that name. She new it was her given name but Muffy sounded awful. It sounded like something you wear in cold weather; a thought that used to appeal to her. She shuddered at the memory.
Then she told Riley that she had just gotten an A on the qualifications exam to move from remedial to honours biology in school. Naru had decided to celebrate by treating herself. She unwrapped the towel to reveal long straight hair of a light auburn colour. Riley was impressed. She even managed to reproduce the antennae somehow.
She joked that going from blonde to brunette, felt like creating an artificial intelligence.
“This isn’t all she said. Slowly and suggestively she took off the bathrobe to reveal a new outfit. Riley was shocked a girl would wear something like that. The skirt went all the way down past her knees, stocking climbed up to just above the knee, and he couldn’t even see her belly button, it was hidden by the tank top. Though he’d seen her naked many times, somehow this outfit left something to the imagination that had him in awe.
“Are you actually going to wear that in public?” Riley asked.
Naru still missed the petite body she had in the game, but she would just have to get used to the big breasts and long shapely legs. There was nothing she could do about it.
Turning shy all of a sudden, she asked Riley if he likes the way she looks. He said yes. Then she asked if he wanted to kiss her. Riley sincerely asked if she was okay with it. They were brother and sister.
“We are,” she said. “We’re also strangers who found love in an exotic tropical paradise.”