John settled into his seat, getting out a slice of pizza as he poured himself a drink.

The game, even on his boosted tower with optimized RAM, took a couple seconds to load. A slice of pizza half to his mouth, he looked back at the screen and balked. His cup of Valley Rain almost toppled over onto his keyboard when he realized it was his werewolf toon on the screen. “Oh God...dess, the irony,” the gamer laughed out, leaning back as he shook his head. ’May as well try to get used to it…’ He resigned himself to the idea that his may be his fate. If he was a similar creature now, and today wasn’t some kind of fluke, he could use some way to relate it back to the life before his powers. Loading into the world, he checked his messages before getting started on his guild work.

Long, tedious hours were spent gathering resources and doing petty tasks for his guild’s leaders. Everything from running an easy raid a few times for a specific piece of gear, to some herbalism work, and, of course, ‘donating’ some of his gold to the guild’s hefty coffers.

The sun was coming up when he heard the shuddering groan of the garage door. John scrubbed his face with his hands, surprised by the hour as Brenda didn’t often work this late. Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to really relax all night, even playing the game he’d most often used to chill out. His eyes burned, his nerves felt raw, and the dull throbbing in his head seemed to be pulsing with every blink and beat of his heart. He signed off with a sigh, scarfing a couple pizza bones and washing it down with his flat soda before getting up to start the day.

He felt groggy and sluggish, like he was fighting through water, as he pulled a spare uniform out of his closet and tossed the pieces into his inventory. His alarm screeched through the room, and he smacked the button to stop the blaring sound as soon as possible. The second the ringing stopped, a new window appeared in his vision.

New Quest: Don’t get beat up at school
Successfully end your day without getting beaten up or otherwise injured.
Reward: 31xp, $10.00, Variable surprise mechanic
Accept Refuse

’Really?’ John grumbled to himself as he smacked the ‘Accept’ button in front of him. ’Surprise mechanic? You’re lootboxing me?’ He didn’t believe he had a snowball’s chance in hell of passing the quest, but the possible rewards were too good to pass up. ’At the very least I can find out if I lose anything for failing.’ His weak attempt at self-rallying fell short, and he went to his bathroom to follow his daily routine of masturbation in the shower. Misery and disappointment washed over him as he walked into the plain, empty bathroom. After seeing Tala drying off the last time he went to shower, the stark white tiles felt cold and sterile in comparison.

A pang of loneliness ached in his chest and John sighed. He didn’t even want to jerk off in the shower anymore, breaking his running record of every morning since he hit puberty. Instead, he just washed himself under the tepid water and stepped back out to dry. Towel around his waist, he stared at himself in the mirror, poking the bags under his eyes before spotting a slight bruise on his neck from where Tala bit into him. He touched the area lightly, it felt warm and was a little pink but could probably pass unnoticed. Curious, reminded of the bite, he checked his teeth for the elongated canines he noticed in Tala’s family. A thorough examination eased his concern that his new life would have such a noticeable change, and he brushed his teeth before he tried to pull his uniform out of his inventory. He blinked when it didn’t work and tried again.

Error - Inventory access unavailable

’What the hell? Why?’ He flipped open his character sheet, the window hovering before his eyes above the sink. Scanning every word, John’s eyes chose to focus on his scrawny naked form. Suddenly in a rush to hide it, he tried dragging his uniform into place like he removed his boxers yesterday. Nothing. He wrapped the towel around his waist and went back to his room. He put on a pair of clean boxers, watching his inventory for the outline of the squares to stop being red, it seems that was the sign of not having access. ’Still red…’ He grabbed yet another pair of uniform slacks, putting them on manually, and was slightly surprised when the red indication was gone. Using his inventory, he put on the rest of his uniform and tossed his, now extra, spare pants into the closet.

“Okay,” he mused to himself, “I guess I need pockets to access my inventory?”

Ding - You guessed it!

He jumped at the sudden sound, dismissing the patronizing notification. He snatched his cup off his desk and made his way downstairs to eat a quick breakfast, playing with his inventory had taken up the time he’d saved by skipping masturbating. He still felt groggy, the shower had done nothing to clear the fog in his brain or ease the headache throbbing behind his eyes. Rubbing his eyes as he walked, John actually bumped into his mom in the kitchen.

“Stay up all night gaming again?” Her tone showed a hint of humor through her obvious exhaustion, though her face had a disapproving look.

“Uh, yeah, sorry. New update yesterday that unlocked some new abilities…” he lied quickly, noting that treating the magic in his life like any other game was getting easier in conversation.

She raised her hands in surrender, chuckling. “I barely know what that means, just don’t forget about your grades. Your dad gave you a real opportunity with Ashcroft.”

“I know, I know,” he placated as he sat at the table, tucking his sketchpad and pencils into his backpack. “I’ve got the easiest Biology assignment. I just have to draw an animal.” He smirked, knowing Brenda was constantly raving about the quality of his art.

She set an omelette and toast in front of him with a smile. “That’ll be easy for you. What are you going to draw?”

Between bites of food, he told her about his trip to the woods, “I figured it would be too easy to just find a picture online like everyone else will probably do. I did a little hiking, saw rabbits and stuff.”

The mom leaned over the counter with her coffee, “You haven’t been out hiking in years.” She looked him over, “And what do you think you’ll draw for your assignment? A rabbit isn’t all that interesting”

“Yeah,” he paused, unsure of what he could tell her. “I did see a little wild boar out there, though.”

“A boar?” Brenda gaped at her son. “In Springfield?”

“Well, the woods, but yeah. Figured I could draw it.” He made a mental note to check and see if wild boar were common here or if it was just because of the barrier.

“John, I don’t want you-”

“I was safe, Mom,” he lied. The lies flowed easier now.

“Oh. Good then.” She awkwardly sipped her coffee to hide her concern, and John watched her, having only eaten half his breakfast, the toast untouched. “Are you okay? You usually scarf down your food.”

“I’ve got a bit of a headache,” he rubbed his eyebrows, hoping to dull the pain. “I doubt it’s anything to worry about.”

“I bet it’s from that love bite on your neck.” She nodded towards him, eyes fixed on his neck, and he quickly covered the spot where Tala had bitten him, and Brenda smirked. “Are you sure it was video games that kept you up all night?”

John felt his face growing hot, pushing away from the table to get away from her scrutiny. “I’m sure. I was online all night.”

“Mhmm,” she teased him, enjoying his uncomfortable reactions to her ribbing. “If you don’t have any tests or anything today, why don’t you stay home and rest? Going in with a headache isn’t all that productive.”

He blinked at her in surprise before shaking his head. “No, I should go.” His voice lowered to a mere mumble as he fetched a thermos from the cupboard, “I could use some normalcy.”

His mom watched him fill the cup with steaming water from the kettle in obvious confusion, normally he’d jump at the chance to stay home and explore a new update in a game. “You okay?”

John turned, grabbing his torn bag. “Yeah, just, gotta run. Thanks for breakfast, Mom.” He scurried out the door to catch his bus, afraid of revealing too much to her. “Later!”

He heard his mother shout after him as he shut the door and ran out to the stop.