Chương 101: Chapter Nineteen - Log Off

"If you don't know your Mesh etiquette, then you'll end up being the one caught walking around with your fly down. The one that others shy away from because you're too loud at the wrong time. That's why, in collaboration with Nimbletainment, we're presenting this five-part series on the etiquette of the Mesh! Strap yourselves in, kids, because we're going to be learning a whole lot today!" --Meshy the Manatee, a Nimbletainment Education Mascot/Vtuber. June 2036

"Thanks you two," I said.

"You've been surprisingly helpful." Dial-Up scoffed, shaking his head enough that his wild mane of white hair wiggled around.

"Think nothing of it. You could do with learning a bit more about the Mesh though." I shrugged my kitty shoulders, and when the room turned into a grand library without so much as a twitch, I didn't startle.

"I'm getting used to it, I think. But I have something waiting for me in the real world." Lag shook his head with a rusty squeak.

"This is the real world," he said.

"It's perceptible, and follows its own set rules. It's even, technically, physically present. It's just different enough that some of us like it better here than in the IRL."

"But you still call it the IRL?" I asked. He moved his arms in a sort of 'what can you do' gesture.

"We need to call it something." I looked around the library, at the dusty shelves and old books. Daniel looked entirely out of place hovering there.

"Well, I'm off to go scare the truth out of some mercs. Thanks again. I'll get the girl to send you some digital flowers or something once I get her ass out of the fire." Dial-Up barked a laugh.

"Sure. I think I'd like that. You know where the exit is," he said with a gesture behind me. A glance back showed a heavy double door at the end of the library.

"Can't I just log out from here?" Daniel sighed.

"She's real clueless, sorry," he said.

"What?" I asked.

"You can't just... that's like walking into someone's house and not taking your boots off, you know."

"I'm not taking my boots off for anyone," I said. Daniel slumped in mid-air, like a squid that had just been stepped on.

"Dammit. It's like, uh, someone opening your fridge without permission, or someone not leaving the room when you want some alone time with Lucy."

"Right, right, it's impolite, I get it. I'm not entirely daft." Surprising!

"Shush you." I turned and strutted over to the door.

"See you two geeks around," I said.

"Good luck, Stray," Lag said.

"Don't die!" Dial-up added. Daniel flew past me and opened the door. A good thing, since I couldn't actually reach the handle at all. Though it wasn't a real door, so maybe there was a way to open it without actually interacting with the handle? There had to be something in place for the non-human avatars out there. Or maybe the digital world was just as ableist as the real world. We didn't end up on the same catwalk as before.

Instead the door led into a sort of bazaar, or at least a spot behind a stall set in a row of them. The stalls were wildly different, some looking like authentic wooden things from back when wood was a thing people could afford, and others looked like the sort I'd seen in pictures of conventions. Some decided to raise their middle fingers to gravity and were just floating there, or weren't actually stalls being geometric things hovering around.

"What's this place?" I asked.

"An NPC marketplace," Daniel said.

"The people behind the stalls are programs. They sell stuff."

"People can't navigate a shopping site here?" I asked. There were a few dozen avatars walking past the kiosks and staring, but for the most part the room felt way too big for the number of people present.

"It's more of a personalization thing," Daniel said.

"You know, meeting someone, bartering, having a face to match the item." This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

"But that face is a program with no one behind it?" I asked.

"Right, internet weirdness."

"You're way too young to be shitting on Mesh culture," Daniel said. I snorted and sat down.

"So, where's the log-out button on this thing."

"You can't log here," Daniel said.

"Come on, let's step out of the building first."

"Are you serious?" I grumbled to myself as I followed after Daniel. I wasn't expecting a hand to grab me by the scruff of the neck and lift me off the ground.

"Oh, aren't you a cutie!" I was turned around to come face to face with a young woman, a young woman with a man's voice.

"Put me down or I swear to fuck I will end you," I said. I swung my arms around, but I couldn't reach the idiot's arm.

"This model is top. The fur isn't even a texture, it's all modelled. The poly count has to be insane," he said. I assumed it was a he, there was no way what looked like a Japanese school girl had a voice that bassy.

"Myalis," I said. Deploying weaponry! I felt something on my back shift, and suddenly I had a pair of guns poking over my shoulder.

"Oh, wow, it's some sort of mecha-shift too."

"Um, yo dude," Daniel said.

"Put her down, would you?"

"How much for the model? Or at least tell me where you got it." A pair of reticules appeared in my vision, handy little circles with a plus in their middle. I centred both over the idiot's face, then with a mental command, pulled the trigger. The idiot didn't explode or burst apart, there weren't even any particle effects or anything. His avatar froze, twitched once, then disappeared. I landed on all fours, my guns already folding back into my back.

"Right, that's enough internet for today," I said.

"Myalis, let's log off." Understood. The world turned the comforting blue of a BIOS screen fritzing out, then black for just a moment before I opened my eyes to see an unfamiliar ceiling. A glance around confirmed that I was back in the real world, in the living room I'd left. Though I had a few more pillows around my head and my lips were wet. Had I been drooling? Daniel was still knocked out on the sofa, legs over the edge and arms splayed out above him.

He was twitching just a little, his eyes moving under the skin of his eyelids. Nice and creepy. With a sigh, I pushed myself up and got to my feet, only to find myself pausing as I wobbled a bit. Everything felt just a little bit off. I bounced on the spot a few times, stretched my arm out, then bent my knees close to my chest to get everything back in order. It seemed to work.

"Cat?" Lucy asked from the corridor. She stepped in, her face lighting up with a smile the moment she saw me standing.

"How did it go?"

"Eh," I said. She pulled me into a hug, then planted a wet kiss on my mouth.

"So, I experimented with a bit of somnophilia," she said.

"You did?" I asked. She nodded.

"Yup. I kissed you real good. But it's just no fun when you're not reacting to it." I snorted and returned the kiss.

"Pervert."

"Come on, you'd have tried the same thing," she said.

"No. But I might have copped a feel," I said before giving her an example of what I meant. Daniel sighed.

"Can you guys at least let me set up something to record this before you start?" I rolled my eyes and pulled back from Lucy. The moment was kinda ruined.

"Dammit Daniel," I said.

"You're lucky that you're useful enough to keep around." The boy laughed and shifted on the sofa until he was sitting up, legs over the side and toes squeezing and letting go restlessly.

"That's my goal in life, to be moderately useful."

"Keep trying," I said.

"But, yeah, thanks for acting the guide."

"No problem. Oh, and I got lots of screencaps for Lucy. I bet you could talk her into petting you."

"What?" Lucy asked.

"Nevermind that," I said.

"Come on, we have some things to plan out. Like how to hit up a mercenary base."

"You're doing what?"