Member
Mixtape Ghost N
SunDuckRaime regained his consciousness to a black screen with a timer counting down 24 hours. "Huh. Getting strangled to death was surprisingly not that bad compared to what I've experienced." The now dead scout mused to himself as he looked around. As if expecting something like a pop-up to continue option if you paid real or in-game money. But as he waited, the more he realized the semi-permanence of his death. "Eh. It was worth a shot to wait a bit." With a dismissive shrug, he logged off CaCo and returned to the main hub of his Full Dive Device. Deciding to make it look futuristic but cozy at the same time.
Not too shabby if he were to say so himself.
The passage of time within the main hub was significantly faster than when in-game but it was still slow enough to allow Raymond to move at his own leisure within the personalized space. A godsend to most, but merely a convenient place for Raymond to spend time in given no better options.
Sitting down on one of the available seats, Raymond willed a browser screen into existence and began informing himself of the going ons of Wakeford, the rest of Canada, and the rest of the world.
Being 2038, it was of no surprise to Raymond that the biggest piece of news was, once again, to do with the midterm elections in the US. This season promised to be the most tumultous of elections since the one in 2020, after all, with looming environmental issues such as the gradual loss of coastal land being scrutinized as a political concern. Was President Alex Wang doing enough to put forward policies to ensure America's future? It was up in the air, for sure, and analysts were predicting a loss of the majority he had enjoyed during the first two years of his presidency as a result of this mismanagement. Plenty of columnists, Canadian or otherwise, had strong opinions on the candidates of the three parties, but this late into the campaign, there weren't any particularly hot takes from the editorials that caught Raymond's attention.
More interesting was the Food Network's latest Top 100 Across the Nation reviews. The family restaurant had been visited by one of the people about five months past, and it had been a bit special, to see their diner being paid any attention at all by one of those fancy magazine reporters, but, disappointingly enough, the Moreno family diner didn't seem to have made the cut. A shame, but they were mentioned in the 'names to watch out for' section of the article, alongside about 50 other restaurants that were great, but not great enough.
A new PV was released for Mobile Suit Gundam: Ascalon, rumored to be the final installment in the series. It certainly looked like something final, with gorgeous 2D animated mechas duking it out over a busy cityscape as panicked citizens fled to bunkers amid raining rubble. Though somewhat apocalyptic in its tone and music, perhaps that was to be expected. Profits for Sunrise had been falling in the last couple of years, and there were rumors of bankruptcy.
Still, it wasn't all that bad. Raymond's social media feed was alit with moments, after all, the sweetest of which was the engagement of one of his high school buddies with someone he met playing Beat Saber: Relit with. Bit of a weird romance, but Raymond had been invited to the wedding in three months time as a groomsman...and looked like Zack wanted him to figure out catering for the wedding too. Maybe a bit forceful then.
Of course, e-mail hadn't died either; there was at least 20 waiting for him to click on, but the struggle was certainly real when the subjects of them all sounded so painfully dry. Promotions from banks or alumni events from that culinary school he had gone to before. Inconsequential, but occasionally interesting.
Until a small ping of a notification took his attention away from the articles he was reading. Discord's familiar symbol wiggled in place with a bright red box with a white 1 smackdab in the middle. With a simple thought, the semitranslucent chatbox appeared with a name that brought a smile to his face.
[Frankiestien]: Yo brochacho. I see that you've died in Cacophony Concord. Your name on my friends list being all grey and all. Not surprised though. Hahahaha. Raymond snorted good naturedly at his younger brother's jab at his skill.
[Frankiestien]: So...what did you in?
[Raiman]: I let Stanislaw kill me.
[Frankiestien]: What? Why?
[Raiman]: Necromancer.
[Frankiestien]: Ah.
[Raiman]: Yep. Well, I've got a couple more hours to do whatever till we need to prep for opening. I thought about passing the time with the 3D model program I got.
[Frankiestien]: You can do that or...maybe you wanna play some Minecraft for a bit? My classes don't start until a little bit later.
[Raiman]: Sure. Send an invite my way.
Just as sudden in its appearance, the message window disappeared and was replaced by a window containing an invite to play the aforementioned game. The last remaining hours before the prep for opening was spent happily goofing off with his little brother.
Doing the usual routine of readjusting his eyes to his room's light level and stretching before setting aside his FDD, he got ready for the work ahead. But as he left his room and down to the diner, Raymond noticed that the family owned restaurant was more busy than expected.
He knew that weekends were a little busier than weekdays due to their customers having more free time but this was a little excessive. His grandmother and grandfather were already in the kitchen preparing enough ingredients for the diner's signature dishes to easily serve a dozen starving men. His mother and father were setting up the tables, booths, and counter seats; making the positioning of the plates, utensils, and glasses in an aesthetically pleasing way. The last time they were this busy was when the mayor celebrated an event here. But it was weird that they didn't bother to get him...
"Raymond? What are you still doing here?" His mother asked confused at the sight of her eldest son while he gave her a confused look in return. His father soon broke the silence. "<Oh God.> Did you forget what today was?"
Then it clicked in his head.
He forgot.
Quickly pulling out his phone and looking at its calendar and associated events, his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as his face contorted to abject horror and terror. "Oh shit." Was the only words that escaped his lips before the tall Spanish-Canadian man dashed out of the building. Hopped on his bike and began biking like a man possessed out into the streets of Wakeford.
For today Raymond did quite a big oopsie. For he forgot that today was the day he was supposed to pick up a Ms. Charlotte Delacroix from the train station nearly an hour ago.
The very same Ms. Delacroix that served as a seasonal musician of the Saskatoon Philharmonic Orchestra, a beloved daughter of Wakeford's own mayor, one of the pride and joys of Wakeford, but most importantly Raymond's childhood friend and lover of over five years.
The man in question had just left his second and final stop and was only a few minutes away from the station. Hoping to high heaven that a bouquet of flowers along with a box of her favorite sweets would be enough to say 'I'm sorry that I goofed up and accidentally made you wait for nearly an hour. Please don't be that mad at me.'
If worse comes to worst, he'd just have to give her the sad puppy look to some effect.
Not too shabby if he were to say so himself.
The passage of time within the main hub was significantly faster than when in-game but it was still slow enough to allow Raymond to move at his own leisure within the personalized space. A godsend to most, but merely a convenient place for Raymond to spend time in given no better options.
Sitting down on one of the available seats, Raymond willed a browser screen into existence and began informing himself of the going ons of Wakeford, the rest of Canada, and the rest of the world.
Being 2038, it was of no surprise to Raymond that the biggest piece of news was, once again, to do with the midterm elections in the US. This season promised to be the most tumultous of elections since the one in 2020, after all, with looming environmental issues such as the gradual loss of coastal land being scrutinized as a political concern. Was President Alex Wang doing enough to put forward policies to ensure America's future? It was up in the air, for sure, and analysts were predicting a loss of the majority he had enjoyed during the first two years of his presidency as a result of this mismanagement. Plenty of columnists, Canadian or otherwise, had strong opinions on the candidates of the three parties, but this late into the campaign, there weren't any particularly hot takes from the editorials that caught Raymond's attention.
More interesting was the Food Network's latest Top 100 Across the Nation reviews. The family restaurant had been visited by one of the people about five months past, and it had been a bit special, to see their diner being paid any attention at all by one of those fancy magazine reporters, but, disappointingly enough, the Moreno family diner didn't seem to have made the cut. A shame, but they were mentioned in the 'names to watch out for' section of the article, alongside about 50 other restaurants that were great, but not great enough.
A new PV was released for Mobile Suit Gundam: Ascalon, rumored to be the final installment in the series. It certainly looked like something final, with gorgeous 2D animated mechas duking it out over a busy cityscape as panicked citizens fled to bunkers amid raining rubble. Though somewhat apocalyptic in its tone and music, perhaps that was to be expected. Profits for Sunrise had been falling in the last couple of years, and there were rumors of bankruptcy.
Still, it wasn't all that bad. Raymond's social media feed was alit with moments, after all, the sweetest of which was the engagement of one of his high school buddies with someone he met playing Beat Saber: Relit with. Bit of a weird romance, but Raymond had been invited to the wedding in three months time as a groomsman...and looked like Zack wanted him to figure out catering for the wedding too. Maybe a bit forceful then.
Of course, e-mail hadn't died either; there was at least 20 waiting for him to click on, but the struggle was certainly real when the subjects of them all sounded so painfully dry. Promotions from banks or alumni events from that culinary school he had gone to before. Inconsequential, but occasionally interesting.
Until a small ping of a notification took his attention away from the articles he was reading. Discord's familiar symbol wiggled in place with a bright red box with a white 1 smackdab in the middle. With a simple thought, the semitranslucent chatbox appeared with a name that brought a smile to his face.
[Frankiestien]: Yo brochacho. I see that you've died in Cacophony Concord. Your name on my friends list being all grey and all. Not surprised though. Hahahaha. Raymond snorted good naturedly at his younger brother's jab at his skill.
[Frankiestien]: So...what did you in?
[Raiman]: I let Stanislaw kill me.
[Frankiestien]: What? Why?
[Raiman]: Necromancer.
[Frankiestien]: Ah.
[Raiman]: Yep. Well, I've got a couple more hours to do whatever till we need to prep for opening. I thought about passing the time with the 3D model program I got.
[Frankiestien]: You can do that or...maybe you wanna play some Minecraft for a bit? My classes don't start until a little bit later.
[Raiman]: Sure. Send an invite my way.
Just as sudden in its appearance, the message window disappeared and was replaced by a window containing an invite to play the aforementioned game. The last remaining hours before the prep for opening was spent happily goofing off with his little brother.
Doing the usual routine of readjusting his eyes to his room's light level and stretching before setting aside his FDD, he got ready for the work ahead. But as he left his room and down to the diner, Raymond noticed that the family owned restaurant was more busy than expected.
He knew that weekends were a little busier than weekdays due to their customers having more free time but this was a little excessive. His grandmother and grandfather were already in the kitchen preparing enough ingredients for the diner's signature dishes to easily serve a dozen starving men. His mother and father were setting up the tables, booths, and counter seats; making the positioning of the plates, utensils, and glasses in an aesthetically pleasing way. The last time they were this busy was when the mayor celebrated an event here. But it was weird that they didn't bother to get him...
"Raymond? What are you still doing here?" His mother asked confused at the sight of her eldest son while he gave her a confused look in return. His father soon broke the silence. "<Oh God.> Did you forget what today was?"
Then it clicked in his head.
He forgot.
Quickly pulling out his phone and looking at its calendar and associated events, his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as his face contorted to abject horror and terror. "Oh shit." Was the only words that escaped his lips before the tall Spanish-Canadian man dashed out of the building. Hopped on his bike and began biking like a man possessed out into the streets of Wakeford.
For today Raymond did quite a big oopsie. For he forgot that today was the day he was supposed to pick up a Ms. Charlotte Delacroix from the train station nearly an hour ago.
The very same Ms. Delacroix that served as a seasonal musician of the Saskatoon Philharmonic Orchestra, a beloved daughter of Wakeford's own mayor, one of the pride and joys of Wakeford, but most importantly Raymond's childhood friend and lover of over five years.
The man in question had just left his second and final stop and was only a few minutes away from the station. Hoping to high heaven that a bouquet of flowers along with a box of her favorite sweets would be enough to say 'I'm sorry that I goofed up and accidentally made you wait for nearly an hour. Please don't be that mad at me.'
If worse comes to worst, he'd just have to give her the sad puppy look to some effect.
