A loud bang and a sudden crackle sizzled through the door, awakening Nabiki where she sat uncomfortably on the treasure chest.
The door kicked open, as a orcish looking monster slammed to the ground and the splintered remains of the door.
"This does not make sense," the black-leather clad figure stated as she entered the treasure room. Her pale hair (almost blue-ish white) and red eyes were the only real feature visible of her actual self. The rest of her body was covered in a tight, leather outfit. Straps carried odd handguns and she wielded a sword with a built in cannon and trigger. Magic Runes covered the blade.
Nabiki blinked the sleep out of her eyes. "You're right, this doesn't make sense. You aren't some guy just waiting to get into my loincloth." She suddenly realized that she was sitting somewhat provacatively on the chest, legs held wide by the chains.
The albino figure pulled up a menu in the air. "This is supposed to be the romantic rescue mission. I'm sure I followed the online directions exactly."
"What? I'm not your stud-muffin?" Nabiki quipped.
"You are very talkative for an artificial intelligence," the girl said calmly as she checked something in the arcane screens. "I have discovered the issue. Someone has hacked my preferences, citing that I am a lesbian. From the juvinile trick, I would assume that it was Asuka again."
"So you will just leave me here for the next hero to rescue me?" the slave-girl said hopefully.
"No, I have triggered the scenario. You will be sent away to be called up later. Goodbye talkative A.I." The heroine turned around to leave.
"Whoa! WHOA! I don't like the sound of that at all. That sounds all too much like death, thank you very much." Nabiki gulped nervously.
"You are not alive, so can not die."
"But I feel alive. And I don't want to quit existing here. Can't you just take me with you?" she pleaded.
"That is not logical. I am not a lesbian, so I do not care to rescue a girl for a romatic interest."
"Um, well, you don't have to be a lesbian to like girls! You might be bisexual!" Nabiki was really grasping at straws now.
The girl paused. "You may be correct. How would I determine this?"
"Um, let's start this off again. Hi, may name is Nabiki! I'm a Slave-Girl! I have very useful healing abilities." She blinked as she realized what she'd just said.
"Greetings, Slave Girl Nabiki. I am Rei, Rune Sword Gunner First Class." With that Rei saluted with her Rune Gun-Sword, across her chest. "You are still very life like, A.I. Is your programming correct?"
"I'm not a program! I'm a girl stuck in this perverted game!"
"Ah. That makes sense now. You are an algorythem-pattern of a pre-impact person, reborn into the FF LXIX .net for a second life. I had understood only the very lucky would encounter 'personage'. And only once. It is good that I kept you, I think." Rei looked at her 'romantic-partner' passively.
"So I'm only a memory of a person in the game?" the Slave Girl asked wonderingly.
"Yes, but you are alive in this world, free of pain of life. As long as you play the game, you are effectively immortal." Rei studied the girl carefully. She did look to be somewhat pleasing.
"So what is real?" Nabiki asked as Rei freed her from her chains and recovered her other treasures in the chest.
"It is your reality, so you are real here." As if it were that simple, Rei turned to walk away. "Please follow. There are still monsters about."
After just a few more minutes, they were exiting the cave and into the deep forest. "Magdalene and Hiro said they would meet me here. I still do not understand the requirement that we play this game together. It seems a waste of time a effort." The Rune Sword-Gunner looked around attentively, just to make sure that no one approached them in ambush.
"Er, why were you asked to do this then?" the elvish slave girl asked.
"To build up our team working skills and work off 'stress'."
"Oh, so someone meant you to have fun. So my entire existence resolves around making you have fun."
"Essentially. As I mentioned, a waste of time resources. I could be resting."
Nabiki sat herself down. "Look, I don't want to cease to exist here. So could you please try to have fun for my sake?"
"How do you have fun?" the girl asked, true confusion now showing.
"Well, what do you like to do most of the time? Aren't those fun things to do?"
Rei thought about it a moment. "I do enjoy reading books. But this is not a book."
"No, you're wrong. Did you ever read 'choose your own adventures'? You are the heroine in the book (this game) and you get to decide to do the interesting things that the heroine gets to do! Do things that only a Rune Sword Maiden would do, not what you would do in real life!" the girl said elequontly.
Rei looked at Nabiki for a moment. "So I should pretend that this is a book that I am helping to write with my actions? Pretend to do things like the heroes would do in my book?"
"BINGO in ONE! You got it, girl!"
"Very well." And with that, Rei did something that she had always thought that heroes should have done with their romatic interest instead of angsting about wondering if the girl actually cared about them. She leaned down and kissed her slave girl on the lips with an approximitation of passion.
Nabiki froze. What was she to do?
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(Posted Sat, 23 Oct 2004 10:24)
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