Gamelit Novel, 1 (Patreon)

I have this partial started about a family that grows together through gaming, if people are interested I'll run with it! This is most of chapter 1.

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Chapter 1

Pre-reqs

She was still holding the headset when her husband came home… though admittedly, not so much because she’d been stunned by her son’s invitation, but because she’d fallen asleep with it in the crook of her wrist. As usual, she hadn’t planned the nap, and didn’t realize she’d been unconscious until the kiss deposited on her head woke her. She struggled upright. “Felix!”

“No, no, don’t get up.” He sat alongside her on the edge of the couch cushion and took her hand. “How’s my favorite wife?”

“How’s your only wife,” she replied, because they’d only had this exchange six thousand times and it never stopped amusing them. “I’m fine. A little drowsy. No changes. How was work?”

“Boring as usual. Paying the bills as usual.”

“No news is good news, for both of us,” she said.

“That’s how we like things,” he said. “Nice and boring. Has the gremlin left his cave?” He fished the headset out of her grasp and set it on the coffee table. “And is he dropping random bits of VR gear while rummaging in the kitchen? Maybe we should rename him Hansel.”

“He’d last one day at school with a name like that.” She nodded toward the headset. “But yes, he did leave his cave. That was a prop he brought to pitch me his latest crazy idea.”

Felix sat back, lifted her feet just enough to set them on his lap. “This should be good.”

It was good, or at least… she thought it was good. The cobwebs were clearing from her thoughts. The line between sleeping and waking was always shifting, but she remembered that from her successful pregnancy, so it didn’t worry her. “He asked… well, he asked me to play Omen with him.”

A snort. “So, he wants in on the expansion.”

She eyed him. “You know something about this?”

“I try to keep an eye on the things using up all his spare time. So yes, I know about the whole ‘re-launch with new AI’ thing. Is that what he wanted? For you to get him into the beta?”

“It is, yes.” She looked at him, rueful. “It would be me he asks. You would have been a better choice.”

“Ah, but you’re the one he has access to. And aren’t we always talking about how we wished we did more things as a family?”

“Yes, but I meant… oh, I don’t know. Riding bicycles or cooking or playing board games. ‘Spending hours in virtual reality killing monsters’ wasn’t what I had in mind.” He was giving her That Look, the amused one that meant she should have known better. Which was fair, since neither she nor Felix were bike-riding or board-game-playing types. She did like cooking, admittedly, but it wasn’t something she normally considered a group activity. “Anyway, I looked into it since my obstetrician recommended VR as a way to keep my muscles somewhat active while on bedrest. I’m pretty sure she was thinking more ‘VR meditation app’ and less ‘VR monster-slaying’, but the Omen Galaxica site says there’s a limiter toggle that will keep the VR experience ‘safe for those with medical conditions.’”

He was massaging her sore feet now, which was making it hard to concentrate on what he was saying. “So you’re going to do it?”

“I’m thinking about it. I mean, ordinarily I’d say no…” She let that trail off. She knew Nick would never again be the happy toddler she bounced on her knees, and she wouldn’t have gone back in time if someone had given her the chance. She was proud of, and pleased by, the man he was becoming. Both she and Felix knew that once kids were in school their peers became more and more important, and their parents less so. But the teen years were hard, and she worried about him, and she wished she could participate more in his life… if only to be there for him. She knew Felix felt the same.

She would die for her son. She nearly had. It seemed a very minor thing to fumble through a game with him.

“You’ll do it,” Felix said, reading her expression. “Good.”

“I need to go through the contract first,” Amanda said. “Because it’s this weird limited time special offer thing, and there’s some kind of streaming component that’s got financial and legal issues tied up in it, and I’m not signing for either of us until I’m sure what we’re signing. But… yes. I guess I’m going to say yes.” She pretended to power-flex one of her wimpy arms. “When I return from my adventures as She-Hulk Amanda, you will love me and despair!”

He laughed. “I already love you, and I definitely despair of your mixed pop culture references.”

“I prefer to think of it as a specialty in hip mash-ups.”

He snickered. “You do that, if it makes you feel better.” He rose, setting her feet back down. “I’ll start dinner. Do you and the plus-one want some tea?”

Amanda patted her belly. Her plus-one wouldn’t be expressing strong feelings about what she ate or drank for at least a few more months, if Nick’s progression had been any indication. But she had opinions of her own. “Hot chocolate. It’s dreary out. And I haven’t had much to eat all day.”

“Nick should have brought you something besides the headset.”

No use arguing that, either. Nick was a good kid, just… oblivious to other people’s needs when he was intent on his own. And he was very intent on this.

*** 

“Are you kidding? You actually found someone who’s never made an account to invite to the beta??” Fish sounded incredulous. “Should I say ‘congrats’ or ‘what the heck, man, when’d you find time to go to sub-Saharan Africa’?”

“Even sub-Saharan Africa’s got internet,” Shellie said. “Mars, now…”

“No way, Omen Galaxica was old when aliens started watching our rovers on their realityTV shows.”

Nick shifted against the tree trunk, trying to ignore the distraction of their voices so he could sink into the experience. “Five years isn’t that old.”

“It is when a new game’s out every month, and it’s better than the last,” Falcón said.

“Hey, Falcón, where are you?” Blythe asked. “I know Nick’s farming leather. I could use some help leveling the alt, she’s almost level-capped.”

“Yeah, that’s fine, I’ll log my witchhunter and meet you at the Abattoir. Fish? Want to work on your druid?”

But Fish was ignoring them with all the singlemindedness of his flirtation with the spectrum. “So when’s the new gear arriving? And do you know what class your victim wants to play?”

“Seriously, Fish? Victim?” Shellie said.

“What else? Come on, spill, man.”

Nick said, “I haven’t convinced her yet.”

A chorus of ‘ooohhhs’ floated over his headset. The game superimposed the voices over the in-game data, but with a metallic echo that was supposed to be the ‘sound of telepathy.’ Nick was used to it but he wondered what it would be like with the new wireset. What would ‘hyperreal’ feel like? How would they make that work with the out-of-game communications? The devs weren’t telling.

Fish, garrulous as always. “It’s a girl, Shellie, you’re in trouble.”

His girlfriend sounded like she was rolling her eyes. “Uh-huh. This is me, being sooooo worried.”

“But really, Nick, a girl? Where’d you find a girl who hasn’t heard of Omen? I thought every girl who gamed logged in on launch day when they found out they could play elf deer furries.”

That dig was so old it shouldn’t have smarted, but it did. Nick sat on his reaction… out-of-game anyway. In-game, his oveate ears flicked back. Fortunately—sort of—Shellie was already on it. “Some of us aren’t into elfy girly things, you know.”

“Yes, we know, murderhobo-ess.”

“Trolls are sexy,” Falcón opined. “Hey, watch my eight, Blythe.”

“On it. So, Nick… the suspense? Killing us faster than these diabolicals?”

“Until I know if she’s going to say yes I don’t want to talk about it,” he said. “Get my hopes up.” A windalo spawned and he slid down the tree into the shadows at its base.

“It’s a cute girl, then,” Fish said.

“He’s got a girlfriend,” Shellie said dryly.

“No other reason to hide it, if it was any of us we’d be talking nonstop about it, Nick included. Right, Nick?”

Fish had been his best friend since sixth grade but right now he wanted to punch him.

“Maybe she’s from out of town,” Blythe offered.

“Maybe he met her on a porno app,” Falcón said.

“Maybe it’s a guy catfishing him from a porno app?” Fish said.

“It’s my mom!”

Silence.

“I asked her, all right? She’s got some time off, so why not? The worst that happens is she doesn’t finish the quest. I’ll still get a chance to see the content before it’s out of beta.”

More silence. Then, finally, Falcón: “Uh… isn’t that going to be kind of awkward? Like, your literal mom?”

“Moms play games,” Blythe said. “Rattie’s parents play with him.”

“Rattie’s an idiot,” Fish said. “Thus, the name. Besides, it’s not about hypothetical moms that may or may not play VRMMOs, which I guess might exist. It’s about Nick’s actual mom, who… forgive me, my dude, is not a gamer.”

Nick would have been the first person to agree with this, ordinarily, and in fact he had serious qualms about his mom sticking with it long enough to let Nick keep the Evolved class, abilities, and gear the new AI was going to develop based on the beta data. Also, yes, he’d be playing with his mom which… well, he loved his mom but not ‘I want to have fun with you doing stuff I actually enjoy’ love. But he didn’t like hearing this kind of thing from his friends, either. “I don’t see any of you going above and beyond to get into the beta.”

“Yeah, well, there’s above and beyond and there’s ‘no thank you,’” Fish said. “Seriously.”

“We’ll see what you’re saying when I’m in the beta and you’re grinding your last alt up to cap,” Nick said.

“Got you there,” Falcón quipped.

“I think it could be fun,” Blythe said. “And at least she won’t be interested in ninja’ing your stuff.”

Fish started laughing. “Wow, low bar. ‘My mom won’t steal my upgrades.’”

“That didn’t come out right. I meant she’s not going to be competing with you for things. She’s your mom, she’s going to want you to have the best stuff. That’s how it works.”

“Maybe for your mom,” Fish said.

“Look, she’ll probably say ‘no’,” Nick said to get them to shut up. “At least I tried.”

“You really did,” Fish said. “You tried everything. They should make an achiev for that.”

Falcón tried to stifle his snicker, but failed. “Right. ‘Selling Out the Fam for Fame’ or something.”

“Good one!”

“You guys are jerks,” Blythe said, exasperated. “Also, Birdbrain, would you pay attention here? Your summon is training half the cavern onto us.”

Nick had crept all the way to his quarry. The mob looked like a muppet buffalo, with what looked like ragged gray twists hanging down its enormous sides and covering its pebble-sized eyes. Those twists weren’t fur, though, but tiny whirlwinds. A Greater Windalo could yield up to a half-stack of Tornado Seeds, useful for every profession from alchemy to blacksmithing… but the mobs rarely spawned and, despite being a normal monster and not an elite, had Every Hit Point. Few people farmed them because killing them took forever. Even Nick, whose level-capped Assassin class specialized in ridiculous burst damage, needed several minutes to burn one down. It was tedious, but the money was good, and he liked the area: the plains bordered the starter zone for the Cervinaethi and the memories were good. Back when everything was new and wondrous and every day he logged in hoping to see what happened next.

That’s what he wanted. That feeling, again.

“Hey, my dude.” Fish, private messaging. “Sorry about that. You know me and easy kills.”

Nick rolled his eyes. “Jerk. Find a better target.”

Fish hehed. “Yes, sir.”

Nick snorted, and his friend dropped the connection.

Halfway through bagging his loot from the windalo skinning, Nick pinged Shellie. “You’ve been awfully quiet.”

A long pause. Then: “Sorry, I was pickpocketing.”

“Sorrow Manor?”

“Templars’ Heights, actually.”

No wonder she’d been quiet. TH might be four years old, but it was the first expansion raid and stealthing through it was no joke. Shellie was also an Assassin, but she’d specced into the stealth path, rather than the damage path Nick had chosen. “Any luck?”

“Lots of gems. Can’t wait to hit the Auction House.”

“You’ll be making more of a killing than I am here.”

“I don’t know why you’re so into the buffalo hunting, hon.”

He’d tried explaining the nostalgia to her once but she’d laughed, and he’d felt strange… like he couldn’t tell if she was laughing with him or at him. He’d never mentioned it again. “It’s easy money.”

“Maybe, but boring.” Another long pause. Maybe she was stealthing past something? The big guards on the chargers, maybe. Nick finished organizing his bags and returned to his blind to wait for the next spawn. He’d been in the tree for several minutes when she spoke again. “This is just for the beta, right? This thing with your mom.”

“Yeah?” he said, confused. “What else? It’s not like she’s going to want to play seriously. She has… you know. Adult things to do.”

“You gonna put her in the guild?”

The thought of his mom being in the guild chat with his friends gave him nausea. Instantly. “Uh, no.”

“Good. Because that would be all kinds of gross.”

Gross… wasn’t off, but… “It would be awkward, yeah.” He smiled, halfheartedly. “Of course, she’ll literally be a scrub….”

“We named the guild Scrubs because we wanted to be ironic. Not descriptive.”

“I know,” he said. “It’s not a big deal, Shel. She might not say yes, but if she does, I can’t group with you all until we finish the quest. Even if we could, I wouldn’t. Because that would be…”

“Gross.”

“Weird,” he said. And added, “I thought you liked my mom.”

“Sure. She’s nice. But we kind of outgrew playing with our parents in kindergarten.” A pause, then a laugh. “Unless you’re a homeschooled weirdo, like Rattie.”

Since they only saw Rattie at extracurriculars, calling him anything felt like a stretch. But he didn’t feel like fighting about it, and he had no idea why everything was irritating him. Nerves, maybe. He wanted to know if his pitch had worked. “Right.”

“Want to come pick pockets with me? It’s more exciting than sitting in a tree all night.”

“Nah, I’m not specced for it. I’ll just slow you down.”

“All right, hermit. Save me a hoof or something. I’ll vendor it and buy a deer-elf smoothie.”

“And drink it thinking of me?” He smiled a little. “Romantic.”

“That’s my hero. Nick, the provider. Talk to you in a bit, this part’s gonna suck.”