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located in Augumented Reality, a part of Virtual Reality is the better Reality, one of the many universes on RPG.

Augumented Reality

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Kyle Jance



Kyle looked up from his computer as the woman opened the door to his office. "Kyle, we have someone wanting to speak with you at the front." He blinked even as he rose from his seat. "Did they say what for?" the woman shook her head. "He's got an old computer with him, but he hasn't said, beyond that." He nodded and reached up to smooth out his lapel for a moment as he moved past her and into the hallway. The woman turned as she closed the door behind him, following his progress towards the front of the store.

Kyle spoke as he came around the corner, his business face already turned on, with the charm cranked up to 11. "Good evening, sir," he began, already taking his customer's form into his mind. He was tall, slightly taller than he was, but fairly thin and wiry. Tired, too, if the bags beneath his eyes were anything to judge by. "What can I do for you?" he gave a slight smile.

The man opened his mouth for a moment, but said nothing, at first. Instead, he decided that it would be a better idea to lift the console up and set it on the counter between them, probably due to it's weight. "I've had this system a few years, and I've never had a problem with it," he began, his eyes fixed on the console, rather than on Kyle. "but after I downloaded one of the games from your store's website... it just sort of... well, it's been having problems." Kyle nodded his head as the man looked up at him for the first time. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that, sir." he reached out his hands, palms up, towards his console, which he could see was a computer from about six or seven years back. Old, certainly, but still in good condition. "May I?"

The man inclined his head. "Yeah, sure." He watched as Kyle began unhooking the store counter's computer monitor from the tower, and replacing the wires with those of the customer's. All the while, the man began speaking, again. "I downloaded it sometime last night, but when I went to run it, it wouldn't start. Then, allofasudden, the sound on my computer went out." Kyle paused to take the power cord and hand it to the woman. "Could you plug that in down below, Sam?" to which she nodded and took the cord down to where the power strip was set up, beneath the counter.

Already, the man's story wasn't adding up. It was uncommon for a downloadable program to alter system settings, unless it was specifically designed to do so, like troubleshooters did. It sounded, to him, like the sound card could be the issue. Nevertheless, he continued to plug the computer into the monitor and, after Sam had popped back up from beneath the counter, boot it up. As the computer's logo splayed across the screen, he looked back over at the man. He stood, silently watching, now, his mouth partially open as though anxiously waiting for something. Returning his attention back to the computer, Kyle noticed that the operating system had already loaded. The operating system was newer than the computer, itself, which means that it was likely that the man liked to upgrade his software often. His desktop was cleaner than most, and only housed a few programs and games, including one that he recognized.

"Bend" was a game that him and his employees had created, themselves, and sold copies of in the store, as well as on the website. When Kyle went to click on the game, however, the title screen didn't pop up. Instead, the computer struggled for a minute, trying to load it, before an error message popped up. He'd seen it a few times, in the past, and he nodded. "You say that the sound on your computer stopped working after this happened?" The man nodded "Yeah, I... you can open up the internet, there, and try searching a video or something, to see for yourself." Kyle looked up at the man and smiled slightly. "No, I believe you, sir... but you're sure you didn't do anything else after you downloaded the game that could have caused this?" The man's eyes narrowed, though only just, and he shook his head. "No... no, nothing. I'm certain that it must have been the game. Is there anything you can do? I mean, since it's your software."

Kyle looked at the man for a moment longer. "Sir, did you try and update your audio drivers, by any chance?"

The man blinked for a moment, and almost looked as though he was going to lie, but said, instead. "Well... yes, I read somewhere that... but how did you know that?"

Kyle smiled again, and began to gesture at the monitor, turning it slightly so that the man could see. "Just a guess. Unfortunately, updating the drivers won't stop you from getting these messages. What's basically happening is that the game can't run on the sound system your computer currently has installed. When you tried to update the driver, you accidentally downloaded a version that was for a later system, not yours. Since they weren't compatible, your sound stopped working." The man sighed and ran his fingers though his hair. "But how much is it going to cost to get this fixed..? I don't have the money to be able to leave it overnight with you guys and hope for the best." Kyle shook his head politely and moved his hand down towards the bottom of the screen. "Oh no, you shouldn't have to do that. See, the solution is a lot simpler than you might think. All you have to do is go into your settings and roll back your audio drivers to the last version, before you updated. That should automatically restore it to working order. After that, you'll need to find an upgrade for your actual sound system before dealing with the drivers."

The man scratched his head, but nodded after Kyle had stopped talking. "That makes sense. I'll do that as soon as I get home." The man looks up at Kyle, looking slightly embarrassed. "Thanks, man.. I thought I was going to have to shell out some serious money to fix this." Kyle nodded his head and grinned. "I kinda figured that's what had you worried. And no problem, I'm happy to help." As he spoke, Kyle shut down the computer and unplugged it from the monitor, then the wall.

After shaking the man's hand and wishing him luck, Kyle turned to Sam, who had been standing quietly to one side. "Well, that went well, I think... will you be alright closing, tonight?" Sam nodded and came over to the counter to begin re-plugging in the store's computer. "Yeah, sure, I got it. You can go, if you need to." Kyle inclined his head, already starting to unbutton the first few buttons of his shirt. "Alright, then. Thanks a lot, Sam." He began to walk around the counter and head towards the door. "Have a good night." Sam smiled and called back. "You too!"

The evening air was much nicer than it was closer to downtown Portland, and the sun was just now setting over the horizon, painting the clouds all different shades of red and orange. He'd always loved watching the sun set with his father, when he was a boy. Smiling to himself, Kyle made his way to his car, parked where it always was, at the back of the parking lot, unofficially dubbed "employee parking".

* * * * * * * * * *


The metallic bowl that sat on the table next to the front door shrieked as his keys slid along it's sides before settling at the bottom. After his jacket had been hung up on the coat rack, Kyle made his way towards his bedroom, kicking off his black dress shoes as he went. As he entered his room, a very energetic golden retriever pounced on him, which always seemed to surprise him, though it was a daily occurrence. As Kyle laughed and rubbed his faithful companion's head and back, he peered into the master bathroom to see that his bowl was empty. "Alright, alright, I'll top you off, boy, don't you worry." After taking care of Reddit's food and water situation, which then occupied all of the dog's attention, he turned to his Cinq.

Virtual Reality, for Kyle, was something of a second life. More than simply a different world to mess around in, or to exploit, however. There were different rules, for him, different places to go, and different things to do. There were new people, there, and fewer people who knew who he was. In fact... no one knew who he was.

When he went online, he was no longer Kyle Jance.

He was this mysterious entity...

...the ultimate unknown.

He was unreadable.

A legend.

A hero, to some, and the death knell, to others.

He was The_Game.

For Kyle, virtual reality had become an escape from it all, and the beginning of an entirely different persona. It didn't mater who he was, out here, in the real world. It didn't matter what he'd done, or who his parents were, or that he even HAD parents.

All that mattered was the game.
All that matters is The_Game.

Kyle sat down in his chair and picked up his headset, which fit his head like a glove. As he put it on, he happened to notice the picture of his father, which sat on top of the Cinq. He smiled, internally, as he thought of him. Setting those thoughts aside, for now, he picked up the controls and watched as the world around him began to fade.

He watched... as Kyle Jance began to fade.



The_Game



Wind whipped around him as he traveled through the connection and into the main world, which was represented by a Star Wars-esque animation of him flying through a field of what appeared to be purple stars at high speeds. As the white dot in the distance began to expand rapidly, The_Game rotated in place as the ground rushed up to meet him. In a flurry, he drew his hookswords, one in either hand, and spun through the air in an intricate pattern, stirring up the dirt beneath his feet as his login animation concluded with him poised as though ready to strike, his face towards the ground. As he looked up and around, he could see that he was in the center of the City of Fate, which was where nearly everyone logged in, save for those few who had set the City of Turmoil as their spawn point. While The_Game certainly relished in the challenge of PvP, he recognized the wisdom of checking in town for any sales for potions, scrolls or enchantments whenever he could. As he took a few steps forward, he was greeted with the customary notification that You_Lose_The_Game.com had been granted access to his account information. Closing out of the window, he continued forward, well aware that tens of thousands of people around the globe were now seeing the world from his perspective.

As he peered around town, he could see that several players were busy interacting, nearby, some with NPCs, and some with other players. It was at this time that he also noticed several of the game's NPCs looking in -his- direction. Some waved to him excitedly, while others curtsied respectively, and still others simply inclined their heads or even gave him a stern look. He had, at one point or another, completed quests for every NPC in this city, more or less to their exact specifications... but the manner in which he had completed their tasks didn't bother him, overmuch. The fact of the matter was that the jobs had been done, and he had yet to receive any real penalty for doing a task in a less-than-orthodox manner, other than the occasional dirty look.

Not bothering to return any of the gestures, he instead focused his attention on a small cluster of players over by the river. Some kind of gathering, he surmised. Forming a party to take on tougher content, perhaps. One, a gryphon, by the looks of her, intrigued him somewhat, after he had determined that she was not, in actuality, an NPC mob. It was the first time he had seen a player build for themselves a character model like that. Of course, when he had first started, humans and elves had made up 80% of the server, which irked him, slightly, since he, too, was a human. Either way, it made little difference, now.

The Gryphon was near two other players, from what he could see. One was a Neko, which was basically a female Beastmaster, or Beast Man, while the other appeared to be a- oh, would you look at that? A Beast Man. The_Game watched for a few moments longer, but began to notice that more players were logging in around him, and more than a few were taking notice to his presence. Whenever he came online, more tended to follow, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. It was a good thing he had private messages and friend requests disabled, or he'd likely be overwhelmed with pop-ups right about now. Even so, he could hear several of them talking, even greeting him as they passed close-by. It was probably time to move on.

First things first, however; he needed to check the NPC stores for any new or on-sale items. Walking from the center of town towards several of the market stalls, he began to browse through their inventory, as the other players slowly began to create distance from him, their attempts at communication having failed. Meanwhile, the general and trade chat windows were likely blowing up as people became aware that The_Game had logged in, though these, too, were disabled, for him.

He looked back over at the group of people. Perhaps it was time he created a new character. Maybe later...