Second Life?

A bear huh? We will see.

-=-

“WAUUUUUUUGGGGGG!!!!”

That scream was brought to you by the ground, which was coming up to meet me at a speed that would have normally made me need new underwear, if I had the option of that bodily function anymore.

Yes, I know you can’t get hurt hitting the ground, but can you really ever believe that when traveling toward it at high speed with the wind whistling past your ears?

And can I watch at a safe distance and laugh when you make the same sound?

The ground came up, I kissed my kiester goodbye…

And went right on through the ground without even slowing.

Damnit. I was in the grey again.

[Son, what happened?]

I sighed and told him.

[Good! It at least didn’t tell you that you were stuck there. Try it again.]

I took the ticket that appeared and ripped it in half.

Falling. Ground coming up to meet me. Prepared for the grey place again.

Another ticket appeared. I tore it in half automatically.

And I was greeted by a VERY solid feeling ground.

Nah. Didn’t hurt. Really.

“Son, how ye doing?”

I looked up from the ground and saw Foolish and Botany kneeling down next to me. The orc was nearby, talking with the demon. The elf was nowhere to be seen.

“Much…” I savored the way there was sky above me, and nice hard ground I could smash my body into again if I wanted. “… Better.”

When I got up, all of us walked across the hills for a while. Foolish was adamant about not trying to teleport or move too quickly from Sim to Sim until a little time had passed. Something about the Asset Server possibly being unstable for a few minutes.

“When you’re in a sim, lad, you are actually being moved from one tiny part of the world to a new one. The Asset Server is the accountant that coordinates this, and if it goes haywire, we can accidentally get sent to the Void.”

I nodded. “That’s where I was, right?”

“Aye, lad. Nasty bit of work, that. It’s not a place, but the absence of a place.” He shook his head. “Purgatory for an avatar.”

Botany spoke up. “I’ve been there once or twice myself.” She shrugged. “Not something I want to repeat.”

It was a long walk. Foolish must have been hunting a while for the Sim to pull me to. We finally were able to fly the rest of the way, and passed a tower that looked a lot like Foolish’s Tower.

We landed on a bridge attached to it and walked to the end.

Of the world, it seemed.

The bridge ended suddenly, with nothing beyond it except strange looking ocean.

“Where are we?”

Botany was seething. I put two and two together.

“The tree is gone?”

Foolish was quiet as he rezzed his phone and dialed. “The whole bloody Sim is gone, lad.”

I blinked. “You can lose a Sim?”

Botany nodded. “Just like first life, Avatar. Anyone can make a bomb and knock down a building. Anyone here with the right knowledge can wreck a Sim.”

“Why do they let people do that?”

Botany shook her head and Foolish started talking to someone on his phone. “They can’t stop them for the same reasons that you can’t stop a first lifer from making a home made bomb. They use the available tools to do this kind of damage.” She shrugged helplessly. “You can’t have places like my tree without leaving the door open for someone to make a bomb the same way...”

It was sudden, and beautiful as well. The ground became visible like a thick fog had fallen away. In the distance, the bridge literally formed from the air, materializing before us piece-by-piece in mere moments. Foolish began walking across without a word.

We arrived to utter devastation. Botany’s tree was ruined.

Really, the most horrible thing about it was the way half of it was just… missing. The Commons had no floor, and the trunk of the tree itself was missing huge chunks. Even the standing stone circle was damaged, missing two out of its four majestic stones. The iron ring above it just hung in midair.

I must have made a whimpering sound, because Botany put a hand on my shoulder and nodded toward Foolish. “It’s okay, Avatar. Watch.”

Foolish did something that caused me to nearly choke. He began waving his staff around in sweeping gestures, causing everything nearby to begin vanishing. Within seconds, the land was bare, with no sign it had ever been there.

“The tree is a funny thing.” Botany’s voice came from behind me. “Did you know many breeds of tree will not flourish unless razed by fire and allowed to re-grow?”

Foolish’s staff came up a final time. With it, I watched as roots appeared in midair, followed by the huge trunk of a tree. The leaves exploded from it’s top, shrouding the newly restored Commons.

And in total silence, it lowered into the ground and sat.

Foolish’s grin as he looked at me spread quickly. “There’s a good lesson for you, lad: Always carry a spare.”

-=-

No joking. Make a spare of all of your builds. I have been able to make copies of just about everything I've ever done. You don't have to link them, just set your tools to only select things you own and grab as much of the build as you can in one chunk. Then take a copy.

Did you know: We're up to nearly 1000 views and 10,000 words of story.

That's 10% of a novel, folks.

-=-

We were still chatting near the base of the tree when a guy flew in from somewhere and landed next to us. He was dressed in the some clothing that I first appeared with in the game, and really did not even look like he had changed his avatar much, if at all.

In his hand materialized a nasty looking item that screamed ‘weapon’ to me. I looked down the barrel of the thing…

And the next thing I know, I’m flying through the air at high speed and a sneaking suspicion of how I got there.

Another ticket appeared in my hand, and I tore it in half with a frustrated rip.

I was back. The new guy was pointing the gun at foolish and firing a devastating onslaught…

Foolish for his part nodded at him as he sat on his rock, a friendly smile on his face that didn’t look quite right to me.

“Boyo, I want you to know that you have actually spited me today. It’s a feat I’d not envy you for, but…”

Foolish raised his hand. The maniac was thrown bodily from the ground nearby, and slammed into the side of a nearby hill.

Botany looked at me. “You can eject anyone you like from land you own.”

I watched as the… Griefer? That’s what Foolish has called him… He got back up and waved his own hand. A large collection of bars, balls, and cubes began forming next to him.

Foolish smiled. “Not again, ye of little wit.” He hit a button on his phone.

The griefer was getting ready to do whatever he was going to do, and never saw the Linden appear behind him. I watched as Linden’s glowing blue eyes turned into red flaming storms. He didn’t even move as I watched the griefer become frozen in place with a startled look on his face.

“MALTOKICA BRELLACORE. YOU HAVE BEEN FOUND GUILTY OF DISRUPTING THE BALANCE OF THIS SIM. WHAT HAVE YOU TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?”

The griefer’s mouth seemed to unfreeze. “Ths aint your deal, go way and let me go.”

“YOU DISRUPTED A SIM. YOU MADE THIS MY BUSINESS. THE EVIDENCE IS HERE WITH YOUR PHYSICS CRASHING DEVICE, AND IN THE RECORDS OF THE LINDEN. THIS IS YOUR THIRD OFFENCE IN ONE MONTH, USING TWO DIFFERENT AVATARS.”

The Linden pointed at the griefer.

“I SENTENCE YOU TO PERMANENT BANISHMENT. EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATLY.”

I watched in horrid fascination as the griefer vanished in a slow, and very permanent looking fashion. The sounds he made as he faded from view would stay with me for a while. They didn’t sound pleasant.

When I looked back at the Linden, his eyes were normal again. Foolish for his part looked tired, but undisturbed by the scene. The orc looked a little greener than normal.

The Linden approached. “Is everything in order?”

Foolish carried a grin that didn’t reach his eyes. “I had hopes for that boy. Pity.”

The Linden nodded. “He was a very talented scripter. Not that it matters now.” I saw a moment of sympathy. “He chose his path.”

“Aye. Right off a cliff.” Foolish stood up and held out his hand. “Thanks for the save, Linden.”

“Better late than never?”

“You weren’t late the second time.”

The Linden vanished without even letting go of Foolish’s hand.

Foolish grimaced. “I could use a drink.”

I looked at him and shrugged. “I thought you said you can’t drink here?”

“Nay, lad. I said you didn’t HAVE to. I need a cup of the Ishkabaha, and I’m buying.”

We went back to the commons and found our cups.

-=-

What next?

Heh.

Wait and see...

Excellent Foolish!



You know it would be kind of cool to really watch a griefer disolve like this.

One arm, then the next, then one leg, then the next, shrieking as each particle falls away, all the while being able to note the look of abject horror on their little AV face.

.

Welcome to the end of the first chapter. Hope you liked it.

-=-

“Soooo…” I sat back in the chair, drink in hand. The Commons looked just like before, without even a picture out of place on the wall.

“Aye?” Foolish was kicked back on the barstool closest to the fireplace.

“What was all that…” I waved my hand around vaguely. “…about?”

“Ah.” He slumped slightly and shrugged. “Difference of opinion on a philosophical issue, I’m afraid.”

I waited quietly, turning his own patient look back on him.

“Right then…” He took another drink. “When a new person comes to second life, many will go and take them under wing. Offer lessons and help, as just a part of common courtesy.”

I cut through the fog. “You helped him out like you did me, and he turned out to be a jerk.”

He winced, and raised his glass to me. “Nothing as simple as all that, but…” He nodded assent.

Botany was sitting on the bar itself. “He seemed nice at first, but got worse quickly.” She shook her head. “It’s easy to make a good mask to fool people for a while, but with the nastier people…”

Foolish finished for her. “They can’t keep the blackness of their twisted little mind from showing eventually.”

I took a guess. “But by then, you had already taught him what he needed to know to be a problem.”

This time he didn’t just wince, he flinched. “Aye.”

“So why are you acting like it’s your fault? He was the one doing it.”

He shook his head. “Nay, lad. You misread me. I don’t balk ‘cause I think I did something wrong. I just had high hopes for him, and he turned out to be a braggard bully in need of a hiding.” He shrugged. “I usually have better taste than that.”

Botany grinned evilly from behind him, but let it pass.

So did I, considering I was supposedly his current pupil.

Everyone else had gone for the night, and I was getting a bit tired myself.

Foolish stood up. “Well, lad. It’s about time for my beauty rest. Lord knows without it I’m even a sorrier sight than I am now.”

Botany nodded. “I need to go too.”

I remembered something then.

“WAIT! How do I log out?”

Foolish looked at me and showed me a gesture. I tried it.

-=-

I was sitting in front of a computer, in a heavy body that would never fly under it’s own power. It was tired, and telling me I needed to take care of basic needs I had neglected for far too long. The blurring of my vision told me that sleep was one of them.

I had to go back. Soon.

Very soon.

-=-


10,253 words. 43,837 characters. 5 days to write it.

At this point, any criticism is acceptable. Keep in mind, the copy here is not always perfect considering grammer or spelling, but the edit copy I have is always being cleaned up.

I wonder if I should start a new thread, with the first chapter as the first post and add on chapter two from there, or just continue adding to this thread.

Yeah! And you could tape it happening, and have the tape playing continuously in the WA to show others what'll happen if they don't behave themselves.

This is getting exciting.... I'm glued to the forum waiting for the next chapter.

This story is SO making me wish I was home, instead of at work, so I could go in-world. It's only data stored on servers and computers, and yet it's amazing how much you miss the place when you can't be there, how real it becomes after a while. The story is really bringing that home for me.... great work, Foolish, thanks!