In-Game Quirk

Rey held up three fingers to the group. All of them were sat around the fountain and had settled in for a lecture.

“There are three main ways to make money from playing O2O.” She lowered one finger as she explained.

“Selling 'physical' stuff you get in game. Any items, gear or land. Technically speaking, you could adopt a profession and grind out items nine-to-five in game and make money as if it were a real job, depending on what you do.”

“Not interested. You can sell land, though?” Luara asked. She sat forward, leaning her chin onto her palm in a bored pose.

“Realty probably makes lots of money, just like in real life, right?” The others showed interest as well the moment she said that.

Rey shook her head. “Not an option for us. You can 'sell' land the same way you can in real life. Meaning, you need to acquire it first. Then you need to find someone to sell it to. The game's been around for a long time so a lot of the really, really valuable land is being sat on. The deeds and everything for those plots are upheld by in-game governments who enforce their own rules. Buying and selling land most of the time requires an actual law degree.”

“Woah! Crazy. Who'd have something like that?” Jack asked cockily, glancing around the rest of the group. They each offered a collective eye-roll.

“If you want to spend your time deciphering the laws of all the in game governments to help us out you can be my guest.” Rey said skeptically. She already knew his answer.

“Uhh... No thanks.” He bowed out.

“Thought so. If I may continue?” She passed a glance across the collected party members and waiting for any interjections before she continued.

“Alright. The second method is pretty obvious. In game currency. You can actually look up the exchange rate online right now. If we make money in game we can sell it for real cash. That is one of the most direct methods available to us.”

Xandra groaned and the group looked to her. Once put on the spot she added. “Kinda feels bad. Spending any money in game is going to feel like we're spending real money, which is obviously not ideal.”

Nyle perked up. “You have to spend money to make money, though, and anything gained is a net positive. We just have to track how much we bring in from outside and make sure that number never passes what were are taking out unless we have a plan for how to make it back. Honestly, I would probably want to make a rule that none of us spend any real money to buy something in game. That way, everything is a net positive and we can't accidentally dip below zero.” He shrunk as the whole group turned to stare at him, impressed.

“Or... Something like that.” He added passively.

“That's a good rule. I'll agree to that.” Rey said. The others nodded, save for Jack.

“I already bought some stuff with real money, but I guess I can avoid spending any more.” He admitted awkwardly.

“What did you buy already?” Luara questioned.

“Just some slightly better gear. I was a bit short and saw that I could give myself a little boost.”

Luara planted her face in her palm. “That is such a stupid investment! You bought starter gear? You basically just wasted your money.”

“You say that, but I bet I could beat any of you suckers in a duel.” Jack argued proudly. There was a collective groan.

“Chill... Not all is lost. It might actually pay off due to the third method.” Rey lowered her last finger. The others turned to listen. She smiled widely once she had their attention.

“Experience itself can be sold and bought by other players. Jack can probably grind and fight easier with what he bought which means he could sell excess experience to even out the expenditure.”

“I'm definitely not selling any of my experience, though.” He crosses his arms defiantly.

Luara looked up in thought. “It must be hard to sell experience. You all felt it, right? There was like... A rush when we gained a level and your body actually feels lighter when you spend your points. Purposefully making yourself weaker would probably feel awful.”

“You're not wrong.” Rey nodded in agreement.

“Keep in mind, all of these things are just options. None of you have to give away any of your items or experience or money. I'm just telling you what kind of stuff we can focus on as a group to make money.” She gave it some actual thought for a few moments.

“I think the best bet for all of us right now is probably going to be selling in game items and currency.”

“Agreed.” The group said in unison. They were all mostly just following her lead, anyway.

“So what does everyone want to focus on?” Rey questioned.

Nyle raised his hand. “I could take a look at in game markets.” He then lowered his hand slightly and looked to Luara. The words went unsaid, but everyone could tell that he also just wanted to do whatever she was doing.

“Probably just going to do the normal grinding stuff. Monsters, dungeons, the works.” Luara said as she stood up. Jack and Xandra both stood up with her.

“I'm down.” Said Xandra.

Jack shook his head. “I've got order stuff, but we'll touch base.”

“What's 'order stuff?'” Luara questioned, staring down Jack harshly.

Rey lifted a brow uncertainly. “He's in a 'Paladin Order.' Kind of like a guild? They do group events, right? They can be beneficial but I was kind of hoping that we would be playing together.”

“What are you planning on doing with your journeyman class?” Xandra probed.

Rey turned up her nose. “Journeyman isn't a bad build! I can do everything. Just... Not as well as someone that specializes. I was planning to more or less just support you guys and run logistics with Nyle.” She explained.

“Can we cover more ground if we split up? What's the benefit to grouping?” Luara unfurled her map and began looking for farming locations.

Rey also pulled out her map. She contemplated the question deeply, as it was a point she had set aside, more or less. She hated to say it.

“Technically speaking... We can do more if we split up and only group to tackle things that require more than one person. The thing about loot in this game is that it exists physically and needs to be split manually. So-”

Xandra sighed. “So, unlike in old MMO's, we don't generate a copper each by killing a level one boar. Instead, it would just drop one and we'd have to split that.”

Rey pointed. “Exactly. So it's technically better for each of us to go our own way, as much as I hate to admit it. BUT! But... I'm down to group if anyone needs a partner.” She added optimistically.

Each member of the party took turns saying their own variation of 'I'm good.' Before leaving Rey all alone in the plaza. Her shoulder's slumped. For all the good things she could say about her meta build, it was definitely not for soloing. She had kind of banked on at least one of her friends wishing to group up with her. Unfortunately, Nyle would almost always try to follow Luara around and both Jack and Xandra were predisposed towards being incredibly independent.

“They left you, huh?” Came a deep male voice from behind her. Rey turned to see a man with a large build. He was wearing no armor. Instead he chose to dress casually within the city. It was the case for most experienced players. Armor in O2O actually had weight and while characters in the game were far stronger and more capable than themselves in real life by default, it was still uncomfortable to lug around a whole bunch of extra pounds over a long period of time, especially since all of the items you carried also had weight to them.

“Yeah.” She chuckled awkwardly, inspecting him. It was not possible to see levels in game without special items, but the man exuded the confidence of a seasoned O2O player. His hair was slicked back and dark. His skin was pale and for some reason he chose a character that was below average in attractiveness in a game where you could, to a certain extent, be whatever you wanted. She thought back to Nyle's unfortunate choices and cringed at the thought.

“I overheard that you're going journeyman? It's a bold choice, but that's actually kinda a noob pick for making money.” The man explained bluntly.

Rey stared at him assuredly. “All the guides say it's the best for professions.” Still, something about the way he said it caused doubt to begin creeping in concerning her decision. She knew why she chose the build and knew going in that it had it's positives and negatives, but the way he argued seemed to cut out all those reasonable factors and just leave a single phrase hanging in her mind. 'Noob pick.'

“You read the guides, but do you really think your blunt female mind is the best tool to be interpreting them?” He spouted confidently words so offensive to her that she almost slapped him on the spot. To be exact, her arm was shaking in anticipation. Rey was disgusted immediately by the figure. She knew that this type existed pretty prominently in gaming, and online in general. O2O was not a haven from toxicity. In fact, she had left out this detail purposefully to keep the others interested, O2O was a bastion for it. Moderation was non-existent. All of the rules were created by players and the only time developers even thought of intervening was in regards to hackers that threatened the game's code and internal market. Without question, one could do whatever they wanted within the game and it was up to other players to police themselves. Critics called it the 'Virtual Wild West.'

The man leaned close, no sign of worry present on his face. He grinned cockily at her. “What's with that look? I'm guessing all your life people babied you and told you you could do anything?”

Rey was highly intelligent outside of the game. She was very independent and driven and she would never stand for this type of bullshit... Outside of the game. In real life she knew every word that was going to come out of his mouth before he said it, because his kind were predictable. She could absolutely humble him in a debate. She could humiliate him if he pulled this shit on her. However, in O2O her lip quivered and she felt shaken by the words, as if they had struck a particular chord. It was like was in a lecture and the professor had said something profound that she had not considered before. But, she thought, how was that possible when in the back of her mind she knew it was so stupid?

There was no combat log. There was no possible way to see the results of in game 'rolls' or the numerical results of skills being decided by the game's cyclopean systems. Everything was meant to be 'realistic.' Because of that she had no idea why she was faltering. Why she could not think of a witty response. Her education, much of her out-of-game knowledge and all the bravado that was armed by years of being brought up in a fairly liberal society were somehow not available to her.

“Y- Sh- shut up!” The worst part. The thing that she hated was that for some strange reason she was getting the inclination that he was right. She was being moved.

“Male brains and female brains are just built different, honey.” A fact so obviously wrong on its face sneaked past her perception and arrived in her uncertain in-game mind as a truth. It had convinced her. It was a strange feeling for her to actually feel her mind changing. There was the odd contrast between who she was when she entered the game and who she is in the game. It was like they were becoming different people. The more it happened, the less she realized it was happening. Rey the feminist, Rey the scientist, Rey the intelligent orator; none of those existed in O2O.

She calmed herself and convinced herself to start battling back with questions. But they were weak. She had no skill in debate or inquiry so the man's social skills lowered her own relative ability to converse with him. “Built different how?” The man stepped close and draped an arm over her shoulder, pulling her into him. She was uncomfortable, but not enough to say anything.

“Girls are dumber than boys.” He dropped a bomb such as that so simply and so easily on her, and she almost began to believe it. But thankfully it was such a statement that she was able to avoid having her psyche completely altered by it. He continued, unsure of his progress since she was still stunned.

“Think about it. In your experience has it every been true that the smarted girl is on part with even the dumbest guy?”

That one did not pass. She looked up angrily, feeling empowered to fight back with actual argumentation. “Y-yeah! Of course it has. That's bullshit.” She began to squirm.

“It's-”

The man rolled his eyes and cursed his luck. As he held a finger up to her lips he tried again. “Sorry... On average, girls are going to be dumber than guys...” She settled down and nodded slowly to signify that that one slipped through her defenses. He grinned and stared into her widening eyes. He was resolved to just layer it on at that point.

“Men should be in charge of most things.” He stated.

“Women belong in the home, raising the kids.” Another.

“Independence is a sham!” He just kept going and going with talking points and platitudes that she could not fight back against until his acolyte had absorbed all the information he wished to impart.

Rey only viewed the relevant articles and not the controversial ones. Due to a quirk in how the game worked a character could easily be overwhelmed and altered into something completely different from the real life individual. It was because the moment a person entered the game they were no longer actually themselves, but an 'instance' of themselves. It was truly impossible to place someone's brain inside of a computer, but they could create a copy that was a close copy, then make the individual outside feel like they were them. It was the workaround for truly immersive virtual reality. The quirk meant that an individual could change inside of the game, due to in-game systems, in ways that would not be possible otherwise.

Zern sighed. “Listen... That was uncalled for.”

Rey snapped back. “S-sorry?” She had just been bombarded by information and arguments and what amounted to propaganda. She had been radicalized. She had lost a debate so bad that her ideology flipped to be diametrically opposed to her out-of-game self. Because of the way the game made her feel like her character, she felt it. She believed what her character believed. She was her character. Rey blushed.

“No no, it's fine. I was out of line.” She said accommodatingly. He was a guy, so to her that meant he deserved a bit more leeway. All of the things he said felt reasonable to her. She was just being a bit of a 'bitch' for no reason, she realized after the fact.

Zern laughed. “You were being kinda uppity, huh?”

The comment that would normally be the catalyst for a slap or a kick to the groin instead triggered in Rey and light chuckle, and only mild discomfort. She was changed, but not different. She still felt the sting of everything that was said. It still felt bad. The change just meant she thought it was the right thing to tolerate it and accept it.

“Yeah...”

“I can tell you need some help, sweety.” He said in an utterly demeaning tone. It made her feel small, but she also kind of felt good knowing that a guy was looking out for her. She reluctantly nodded.

Are you hooked up to anyone yet?” Rey shook her head. She was not sure what that meant.

“Really? Pretty girl like you? Surprising. You mind slipping over there and sucking my dick while I explain it to you in a way you'll understand?” He asked bluntly.

Her jaw dropped, but she could not find the words, nor the reason to say no. She shook her head lightly out of reflex but ultimately just cringed passively and said.

“Y... es? Ok...”

A minute later Rey was staring up at a pale, smelly monster of a cock. The woman had not had sex in real life for a couple months and she had certainly not sucked a man off for longer. She never liked it. She did not like the taste, the smell or the feel of it in her mouth. The feel of being reduced to sucking a man's dick itself always seemed demeaning to her. She hated it especially when they had pubes and sure enough she was staring down a dark tuft in front of her.

“You love sucking dick, right?” He pressured.

Rey gulped and added nervously. “Y-yeah... What girl doesn't?” The version of her that existed in the game lacked the ethical underpinning to say no. The man's 'skillful debate had basically sent her back to the stone age in terms of relations between sexes, to the extent that she felt strange even considering a refusal. It felt wrong to deny the man, since he was being 'nice.'

“You can be honest with me.” He offered. That one lifeline after so much beratement and forcefulness warmed her so much to him in such inexplicable ways.

“I mean... I honestly don't really like it all that much and-” She gulped. His expression shifted subtly, but she was tuned in enough to notice. Rey bit her lip and changed course for his sake.

“But honestly I could probably learn to like it.”

He smiled and patted her on the head. “Good girl. Thanks for being honest.” He stared down at her.

“Well?”

“Oh...” She reluctantly began stroking his cock at the base, then with a fair bit of **** she leaned forward and licked around the head. Even though it was a game, the feeling was real. The taste was real. It was as bad as she remembered and the feeling gave her the same sense of belittlement that, while unwelcome, felt inevitable to her now. She was a woman, after all, and he was a man.

“I always say a girl listens best when her mouth is occupied.” Zern joked. The odd thing was, Rey was aware of a version of herself that existed before she lost the argument that would kick herself. Absolutely scold herself until the end of time. She would hate anyone who laughed at that joke but in that moment, without any inhibitions, she giggled. It was genuine. That joke hit so hard and felt so true to her. She stared up affectionately because she did actually quite like a man with a sense of humor.

“Oh yeah? You like that one?” He smirked, obviously enjoying himself. It was unclear whether he was more engrossed with the feeling of her licking his dick in an inexperienced fashion like a lollipop or the humiliation of getting her new self to genuinely laugh at a sexist joke.

“Want to hear a really funny joke?” He asked. Rey nodded. She did.

“Women's rights.” She was so shocked by that one that she full-on laughed, even though it was the most basic, stupid joke pulled from the cesspit of an early 2000's internet era.

“I had to get more tablets for my dishwasher. Her head was hurting.” She continued laughing and even held her stomach with the one free hand she had that was not stroking him off. Eventually it died down and she just continued powering through the awkward blowjob. After a long pause he asked.

“So, do you love sucking dick, yet?”

Rey looked up uncertainly. She did not. She was one-hundred percent certain she still did not. She was not enjoying herself, yet the way he stared at her expectantly provided so much pressure. It was a pressure she never paid any mind. If a man had done this to her outside, he would be out of luck. She would be out the door. So many red flags. Instead, she smiled weakly.

“I think I love it.” She admitted falsely. Him cheering up filled her with relief. She sucked the head of his cock between her lips and began awkwardly pulling it deeper. She almost could not take how real it felt. It was like she was really blowing a dude in an alley. He rested a hand on her head and pushed her down without care, causing her to gag. Without much consideration he kept doing it until her eyes began to well up with tears. She groaned and just kept powering through. Eventually he gripped her head with both hands, pulled her down deep over his uncomfortably long member and came into the back of her throat. A bit of it went up her nose and a bit was swallowed, but the rest just sat there until he pulled out. She panted and leaned over, letting it seep out her mouth onto the simulated ground. The processing power was such that it did not disappear and instead just sat there in a gross pool. Just like in reality. He patted the back of her head.

“Add me.”

“W-what?” She questioned, wiping her mouth. Rey looked up.

“Add me to your contacts. We're hooking up again, obviously.” He said bluntly. It was not a request.

“Oh, sure.” She added him without thinking, making it possible for him to track her to an extent within the game.

“If you ever log back on again...” He smirked. She made a face and wondered what that meant, exactly. She did not know until she logged off and everything came rushing back. Her real self. The version of her that wanted to find that man in real life and kill him. The demure girl in the game was gone, leaving only Reyna, the real version sitting in her computer chair with all the gear still hanging off of her. She was staring at the O2O login screen in stunned silence. Finally, after a minute she found the appropriate words.

“WHAT THE FUCK!?” Reyna panicked as she tore off the gear and stood up. The girl paced back and forth in her room. Her character had been turned into a trad-girl and sucked a dick in an alleyway while laughing at sexist jokes he told. If there was a closer thing to a nightmare she had ever experienced she could not think of it. She was still her out of game, of course. The game could not change a persons mind, otherwise the law would likely start getting involved. She lived in a libertarian hellscape, but rules in society still existed, thankfully. No, she simply remembered how it felt to think like that. She could perfectly trace back the thought process and the failings. All of those things, she realized, still existed with her character and the moment she logged back in all her lucidity would disappear, presumably. She immediately understood what he meant by 'if she ever logged in again.'

***

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