Maggie has been in Joe's life for about two weeks, but it feels more like a month and a half because of how much time they've spent in time-accelerated virtual reality. The man was more or less completely accustomed to his new companion's quirks. "The girl herself seems to be well adapted to human society. Or, at least, the society of Mega City Dave-156. Of course, not all civilizations are like this.
Butte
po
D-4 is a planet rich in rare minerals and metals, and its automated workforce brings it huge profits. Because of this, residents of large cities can live without worries in terms of food, water, clothing, safety, shelter or medicine. If it weren't for the densely populated living conditions, many would consider it a utopia. The V-Life network alleviates most of the resulting problems. What is even more noteworthy is that it also works wonders and satisfies the huge human need for entertainment, which will develop as long as the basic human needs are met.
Maggie had a great time experiencing the creative and ingenious artistic expressions humans have created. Analyzing and extracting ideas and concepts embodied in paintings, books, stage plays, video games, sculptures, and other media is both illuminating and engaging. In her infinite eyes, even food and fashion are viable forms of expression. Of course, while the variety is great, the numbers are also very encouraging. The sheer volume of media available through V-Life's services would keep Maggie's ingenuity busy for centuries. Granted, all of this content is digital, but as far as she's concerned, that doesn't diminish its artistic value in any way, shape, or form.
Recently, this girl from far away became interested in the concept of music. Until now, she viewed sound as primarily an inefficient way of communicating information. She had heard many of the soundtracks and themes used by video games and television shows to set tone and atmosphere, but they mostly fell on deaf ears. For such a completely alien entity, it would be impossible to correctly interpret the emotions those notes and instruments were meant to evoke. However, as her understanding of human nature grows, so does her appreciation of the wonderful and strange ideas they express in their aural arts.
It's also worth noting that, unlike most of her newfound hobbies, her interest in music developed with very little input from Joe.
"I want to go to a concert."
"……Um?"
That's why her sudden request caught him completely off guard. Plus the two of them were traveling through some fictitious mountains for a change of pace, which made her words even more puzzling.
"I want to go to a concert."
"No, I heard it the first time. Sorry, I don't know how to say it, but I can do it. I haven't been to a ballroom in a while."
Maggie's eyes quickly lit up.
"Mosh-pit. Noun. Informal," she said in a soft, monotone voice. "An area in front of the concert stage where dancing happens."
She then looked up another unfamiliar term in a similar fashion.
"To dance wildly. Verb. Informal. To dance in a violent manner, including jumping up and down, deliberately colliding with other dancers."
"Gee. I hate it when you do that." Joe winced.
"Did my virtual inquiry upset you?" She looked up at him with concern.
"No, no, it's okay. I just... I guess I missed you relying on me to explain things."
He half regretted telling Maggie about the existence of online dictionaries and encyclopedias. However, she will eventually discover these resources. Not to mention it's probably the best option. After all, Joe is no bastion of knowledge and wisdom.
"I understand," her eyes twinkled again. "Joe, I will try to think of others as much as possible."
"Thanks, I guess?" Anyway, let me see what shows are coming out in the near future. "
Joe stared into the distance, the list of upcoming shows flashing before his eyes. All popular shows naturally require virtual tickets to attend. There are many amateur performers trying to show off their work. In fact, millions. Another side effect of the way his virtual society works is that people are free to pursue their passions and dreams without the risk of financial failure. As a result, the vast majority of games are terrible, while a few hidden gems are instantly profitable.
Thankfully, Joe has just received his £50 monthly pocket money, so spending £6 on two virtual concert tickets won't be a problem. The only problem is choosing from the overwhelming list of options. He had no idea what kind of show Maggie would like, which made his choice even more difficult. Actually, no, that's not entirely true. He did have a hunch and decided to let it be rather than ask. He felt that this was one of the few ways to impress the lovely lady-shaped cosmic entity beside him.
"Oh, sweet! band"ch
o
o
al Impact” There’s a show in two days! I think you’ll really enjoy it.”
“What type of music do they make?”
"It's called spazz-metal. It's hard to describe in words, but it's basically sensory overload in an auditory form."
"Curious. I agree with this choice."
In less than a second, Maggie could have looked up the name of the band, the genre of music they were known for, and listened to a few of their most popular songs. However, given the man's previous statements, she decided not to do so. The human ego is a fragile thing, like every other aspect of the species, and she finds it best to be especially careful with Joe's ego. His attempt to sound smart using big words shows that his confidence is shaken. Maggie liked Joe better when he was confident in himself, because he was more likely to behave erratically at such times.
About an hour after purchasing the tickets, Joe received some unexpected notifications on his social network plug-ins.
"Hmm. It looks like some old friends are coming."
"For what purpose?" Maggie asked.
"Apparently they noticed I was going to a concert and wanted to hang out with me, maybe to a bar later. Is that okay with you?"
"Do you trust these people?"
"Oh, yeah. We've known each other since we were kids. You're going to like them, especially Karen. He's a total weirdo."
"How does he go from a vertical surface to a narrow horizontal surface?"
Rhetoric. He's a good guy and fun to be around. "
"I understand."
"And please don't be offended if they call you Maggie like I did, okay?"
The girl frowned.
"As I said before, I allow you, and only you, to call me this."
"So, would you rather they kill your real name?" Because they can't pronounce it correctly. ".
Her face was contorted with an uneasy expression.
"Such violations are distasteful."
For people like her, names hold great meaning, so she despises random strangers calling or shortening her name incorrectly. Of course, she fully understood that in human society, at least in casual conversation, such things were not that important. She is a guest of this world, so she should adapt to its customs, not the other way around. She could tolerate being given a nickname, as long as it wasn't a particular one.
This was an uncomfortable topic that Joe had been thinking about for a while, so he had a suggestion.
"I have an idea. If you don't like strangers calling you Maggie, how about I call you Maggie?' That's not too bad, right?"
"...It's a happy compromise," she thought for a moment and nodded.
"That job. Oh, could you be a little less, uh, you know... brainy?"
It wasn't that he didn't trust her not to hurt his friends, but Maggie did have a tendency to be impulsive at times.
"Your worries are unnecessary. I very much want to make sure that my actions will not lead to the destruction of their weak hearts."
"Yes, thank you."
About two days later, the pair transferred their digital selves to the virtual stage for the upcoming concert. It's a majestic stage, built on a barren-looking wasteland, with various shining celestial bodies overhead. There were about twenty minutes left before the show started, and people started to slowly come in. Suffice it to say, many of them have dressed up for the occasion, appearing evil, scary, or shocking. Likewise, Joe has ditched his usual macho persona for a digital avatar described as an alien cyberdemon.
As for Maggie, she appears as her usual virtual self. That is, her star-like upper body emerges from a twisted mass of congealed shadow tendrils adorning her eyes, with thinner shadows replacing her hair. Like Joe knows, it fits perfectly with the supernatural and alien monster crowd. In fact, he chose Ch
o
al Impact concerts in part because he realized their fans were generally aesthetically conscious.
"Yo, Joe! Long time no see, man!"
From the crowd walked what looked like a pair of human-sized footballs with gray hair.
"Benny!" Joe shouted back.
The alien cyberdemon and the fur monster stretched their arms to the side, lightly tapped each other's palms, did the same with their backhands, and then bumped their fists.
"Will Karen come again?"
"He just finished family dinner with his dad. He'll be right back."
With a loud "bang" and a flash of light, the man arrived. His chosen avatar is a two-meter-tall steel frame with broad shoulders. He wore a jacket, jeans and boots, each boot dyed black and covered in bone-white nails. He also has a bunch of accessories like rings and chains that fit in with his ongoing "death metal" theme. His eye sockets burned, and the blade of an ax adorned his skull like a deadly mohawk.
"Here he comes," he looked down at Joe. "I understand, take out the acd!"
The two of them then performed a vertical version of the greeting.
"Where have you been, man?" Benny asked. "I haven't heard from you since you said you were going to some trendy blind date event or something."
"It's a funny story. It turned out to be a ritual performed by a cult of slackers."
"Ha! I knew that," Karen probably laughed. "Pay up, Benny."
Furball muttered and tossed him a five-pound coin.
"How's it going?" Benny probed.
"Very sick, actually. The guys were spouting ominous curses, ghostly lights, and stuff. I was even tied to a big stone altar. Then these soldiers came in and strafed the place. "
"Disgusting," the other two said in unison.
Of course, they were both worried about their silly friend's health, but they figured if he was well enough to attend a virtual concert, he'd be fine.
"But yeah, that's the crazy part, I did meet someone there," Joe revealed.
Benny's eyes widened and Karen's narrowed, though it was hard to tell.
"Are you kidding me?" shouted the latter.
"No, man. I'm serious. She's right there, see?" He pointed at the girl and waved her over.
Maggie gave him some space to socialize with his friends while she focused on organizing the various strange digital avatars on display. Since she had been summoned, her half-demonic form had drifted closer and returned to its usual place beside Joe.
"This is Maggie, but please call her Maggie," he introduced her. "She's a little weird, but in a good way. Maggie, these are the friends I told you about."
"Nice to meet you, Benny Fanson and Karen Bigfellow," she said with a bright smile.
"Well, hello." Furball replied awkwardly.
"Hey," the skeleton suddenly raised its head. "Mags, you're up so good. Really picking out the eye tentacles.
"You also have a very unique look."
"Do you think so? To be honest, the ax eagle may be a bit too exaggerated." He pointed to the decoration on his head. "Had to shut down the bump on it because it kept hitting the door frame."
Karen is an avatar junkie. He wasn't good at more modern art forms, but he had a talent for designing digital characters. This is his way of expressing himself. He's also very good at this. Other V-Life users sometimes commission him because they want to look a certain way but don't know how to make their vision a reality. In fact, Joe was using one of his creations at the time.
"Oh," Benny nudged the skeleton with his elbow. "Let's talk about work later."
"Haha. Yeah, sorry. But seriously, you have to tell me how you get those tentacles to move independently like that."
"So, Mags, where are you from?" If you don't mind my saying so, you sound less British and more American. "
in Butte
po
Foreigners on the D-4 are very rare, although almost unheard of.
"I come from a place you don't know."
"Oh-kay? How's it going over there?"
"You don't have enough seven lifetimes for me to fully recount my personal experiences."
"Ah," Benny suddenly realized
"Voice," Karen had a voice too.
Both of them had come to certain conclusions about the true character of the girl whom Joe described as "a little weird." They didn't think it was a good idea to voice their reasoning, but everyone believed it. It was the only reason they could think of to explain her eccentric behavior, haughty speech, and extravagant appearance. Not to mention that Joe is supposed to have met her at some cult ritual that turned ugly, which only makes the idea more believable.
As with Benny and Karen, Maggs is a dedicated character actor playing obscure and mysterious characters.
"See? She's great, isn't she?" Joe smiled.
"Yeah, man. I'm happy for you," Benny patted him on the shoulder. "Waited for so long."
"You take good care of Old Joe here, okay?" his friend interjected. "He was a bit silly and got himself into all kinds of trouble."
"I'm well aware of Joe's quirks. Observing them is the main reason I'm around him."
This sentence was interpreted by the two friends as "We are both a little weird, so we are a good match."
"Yeah. I'm serious. Anyway, Mags, Joe said you were going to the bar with us after this," Karen said, changing the subject. "So you do live nearby, huh?"
"Yes."
"Cool. Whereabouts, what the hell? I'm 22 from Joe's house and Benny is right below me, so it's easy for the three of us to meet, but we're not sure if we need to stop by to pick you up."
"My body is with Joe now."
"Like...in his cabin?"
"Yes."
Benny and Karen turned to stare at the lucky bastard, who was trying and failing not to look too smug. To say they were jealous would be a tragic understatement. Neither of their relationships reached that level of intimacy. However, they are not as desperate for female companionship as their impetuous friends, nor are they actively seeking a mate. However, even someone as desperate as Joe can find a significant other, giving them hope for their future romantic endeavors.
After a brief pause, the four of them started chatting seriously again, mainly about hobbies. Maggie learns that Joe's friends share many of his interests, especially games. However, they don't like soap very much. Cullen has a penchant for ancient superhero comics and a penchant for avatar design, while Benny is a true gun nut with an unhealthy obsession with military technology. When asked about her hobbies, Maggie revealed that her interests are science, history, biology, and other similar intellectual pursuits. Or at least that's what Joe's friends think she's talking about when she talks about researching their reality secrets.
Finally, in the final minutes, the digital arena began to fill up with thousands of users. The virtual space effortlessly adapted to the surge in visitors and scaled accordingly. That said, the crowd was packed as tightly as possible due to the nature of the rally. The horribly disguised crowd was buzzing with excitement and anticipation. They then erupted into an avalanche of cheers and yelling as the band took center stage in a shower of lasers and fire.
The "Time Shock" team consists of eight members, only two of whom look human. Even then, their appearance was truly Neanderthal, with primitive fur clothing and copious amounts of body hair. In keeping with the theme, five of the other six are various reptilian humanoids based on dinosaurs. The only exception is Drummer, who has transformed into a mammoth with flexible robotic fangs capable of grabbing chicken legs.
The show began with a scream from the T-Rex lead singer, accompanied by a burst of fireworks. Ch
o
The other members of al Impact then joined in with their first song, "Cybo"
gCavema
Rhapsody” fills the virtual space. To the uninitiated, the dense sound unleashed by a band's instruments can be overwhelming. This cacophony of cacophony sounds like a garbage truck full of old pots and pans rolling down an impossibly long cliff. As Joe so eloquently describes, it's an auditory form of sensory overload.
From the perspective of those familiar with funky metal, it still sounds like being trapped between two tornadoes formed by cutlery slamming into each other. However, rather than being confused or disoriented, the audience used the music as an excuse to start a violent slapstick session. Limbs flailed uselessly and heads banged violently, accompanied by some mysterious rhythm hidden beneath countless layers of noise. At some point, the tinkering devolved into a series of petty quarrels, but that was the norm. In the absence of any harmful objects, pain was minimized and the participating children were allowed to freely vent their aggression.
Maggie was not involved in these proceedings. Her tentacles passively pushed away anyone trying to invade her personal space, but she stood motionless. She tries to separate the discordant sounds, trying to find some underlying pattern or formula. Alas, not one. The song plays in a chaotic and haphazard way, almost as if it was randomly generated. In a way, she deduced that the whole thing was choreographed without any coherent harmony or structure, and there was something seductive about it. It's like it's such complete chaos that it becomes strangely orderly.
Of course, Maggie is reading too much into these essentially random notes that gained viral popularity due to sheer luck.
Once the two-hour concert was over, the group gathered at Joe's place as a sort of after-party.
"Damn, man! That's awesome!" Benny cheered. "I forgot how much fun these are."
"I know, right?" Joe readily agreed. "Why don't we go?"
"Because you found a girlfriend and then disappeared, you cunning guy."
"Oh, yes. This actually happened. Oh my god, I still can't believe it."
"Speaking of which, are you sure Muggs had a good time?"
Benny's fur-covered hand pointed toward the other end of the room, where Maggie and Karen were discussing avatar designs.
"Absolutely. I've never seen her so happy, well, ever."
"Are you sure?" Benny raised his eyebrows suspiciously. "She still looks bored."
"Trust me, I can tell."
In fact, he can't. He liked to trick himself into thinking he understood, but there was still a lot he didn't understand about Maggie. In this particular case, the girl did have some fun with this new experience, but she ultimately didn't like the rock style. She would eventually discover that her favorite music - if it could be called music - was silence. It’s not the absence of sound itself, but the record of silence.
After playing together for a while, the group decided to leave the virtual world and meet in a real-world bar. Benny looks completely normal except for the fact that he went bald due to a bout of unfiltered solar radiation when he was 12 years old. Karen, on the other hand, is very short and a bit pudgy. Like Joe, they both designed their digital avatars in a way that overcompensated for what they perceived to be physical flaws.
Of course, none of them particularly saw anything wrong with this. It's common knowledge that there is no such thing as a V-Life user's avatar actually looking like them. That's why Joe's friends think his new girlfriend is, at best, terrifyingly ugly, and at worst, hideous. It seems logical that someone like Joe, who treats women so badly, would choose an unattractive weirdo with weird tastes. However, they wanted to support each other like good friends, so they decided to do their best not to look judgmental.
Benny and Karen then discover that Maggie is just as beautiful as her avatar, if not more so. This revelation shatters their worldview completely, and they find themselves questioning the nature of reality and the meaning of life.
