Reality 2.0

By the time ‘Reality 2.0’ was finally legally allowed to be sold, the technology was years old, which was good in a way, most of the bugs had been ironed out, and there were already lots of mods and optional updates by the underground Realers circuit.

That’s important, because when you have the ability to experience literally anything, most imaginations just shut down, so preloaded scenes and ideas helped convince people to hook their brains up.

Then came the glitch, which of course had to be in the “Sex With Supermodels” scene, so everyone got it.

Population needed halving, really…

The Minor Things That Drive You Mad

I managed to put up with it for maybe fifteen minutes before I was finally too mad not to say something.

“Could you stop that?”

She looked up from her book, her eyes narrowing behind designer glasses.

“Stop what?”

I nodded at her hand, and the cheap pen she was holding.

“The constant clicking, it’s annoying.”

She stared at me as if I was mad.

“Look, I get you’re studying, and I’m sure you don’t realise your doing it, but I’m trying to concentrate, and the clicking of that pen is distracting me.”

“What pen?”

I guess I was mad…

The Three Rules Of Tian

In my fifteen years of running the Rangers Guild, plus my twenty-seven years actually working, I’ve seen a lot of weird creatures. A mage or witch gets drunk or possessed or whatever and decides that the world really needs a Slug Dragon, or a Swordshifter, or a creature that only eats people named Chris, or Kris, or Quiss or…

Anyway, the Three Rules, they’ve served me well.

One, do your fucking research.

Two, take out the prey’s senses, one by one.

And three, get a title like Guildmaster so you no longer need a name like Chris, or Kris, or…

The Little Girl Three Doors Over

Growing up, he saw the little girl from three doors over every day.

To be fair, it wasn’t exactly a huge village, so he saw most people most days. But the little girl, with her annoying pigtails and squeaky voice, every day he saw her.

Be it walking to the other side of the village to go to school, or being forced to kick a ball around with her by his parents, every day he saw that little girl.

The war changed all that.

Because when he returned from fighting on the battlefields, he finally saw the woman she’d become.

Knocking On The Door

Doug spent years spent travelling the country, wrestling in front of twenty people for ten bucks, the usual hard work story that most everyone in wrestling without a famous parent had to tell.

And when he got to the main stage, it was a pity hire, as they just wanted his wife, but she insisted he get a job as well.

They threw him out there as a glorified jobber who ranted about spending years knocking on the door, waiting for a shot.

Yet not knocking before opening doors led to him getting information that led to a big push…

View From The Stairwell

The five year old him looked out the window of his mother’s top floor government subsidised flat.

The fifty year old him looked out the window of his top floor stunning penthouse suite.

The five year old him thought long and hard about how he would drag himself out of the gutter and to a better life.

The fifty year old him thought long and hard about how he had dragged himself out of the gutter and to a better life.

The five year old him couldn’t wait.

The fifty year old him still regretted what he had to do.

Rosemary

Five months of the year, I’m a cowhand for the McAllisters over in Green Valley. Then it takes a couple months to drive them to the railhead. Then I spend another five months beating up drunks who get frisky with the girls at Moonbeam House. Then back to Green Valley, start over.

Not bad, but it’s real Ace-high thanks to having Rosemary.

No matter how hard a day I have, be it taming a bucking bronco or dealing with a dude with too many cowboy cocktails in him, I’m looked after.

Life’s good. Long as Rose and Mary never meet.