A New Sky. Chapter 1.
Summary: Al is depressed, stoned, and just wants to game. So what happens when a storm throws you into the game you just bought? Hopefully nothing too crazy.
Triggers for most things canon to BG3, like violence and spice. Full of spoilers and people are gonna be OOC cuz of how they'll react to Al.
Ao3 Link as well
16:04.
One hour. Fifty-six minutes.
"You're seriously charging for sauces?" The woman sneered, fist slamming against the counter.
Before her stood a young woman, exhausted and smiling sweetly. "Yes, ma'am."
"Well, they didn't last time! I want to speak to your manager!"
"Yes, ma'am," The woman said cheerily. "Mel!"
Fast food. God it was hell. Every day something was breaking. Every day someone was angry. Somehow she was the brunt of the joke while also being one of the quote-unquote "core members of the team!" How delightful.
Yet still, she stepped back to allow herself space to keep the line moving.
Okay. This order needed fries. The nuggets are still cooking…
She pressed the red button and looked over. "Go ahead and park that order on the food. The next two cars have drinks anyway!"
"Got it!" The teenage boy croaked, voice cracking.
16:20.
One hour. Forty minutes.
Beeps sounded everywhere as the customer continued to belittle and snap before the manager turned her away. Mel came back to her side. "Thanks for covering. What a piece of work. You okay, Al?"
"Yeah. Just counting the minutes. Once we get caught up, I'm gonna dip to the bathroom to catch my breath a bit."
"Mm, good. You need to not carry everything on your shoulders, sweetie," She said, passing her the completed order. "Window."
Al nodded and went to hand out the order.
Another day, another shift. Thankfully, her bills weren't extreme. She had her basic amenities paid and her vices while saving up for a new car.
Once the rush calmed, she slipped into the bathroom. Reaching into her pocket, she found her vape and took a slow hit. The THC hit her system fast, numbing her mind a bit. It was exhausting, smiling and interacting with people.
Al let her head thunk lightly against the stall as the weed set in. Just enough to keep her calm during the shift. Sure she was dulled but it was better than dealing with the hell that she was trapped in.
Washing her face, the cold water soothed away the feeling of grease and sweat from her skin. That was when her eyes caught sight of that damned red welt.
A welt was a bad word for it. It was more like a mountain had made itself comfortable on her cheek. She groaned, poking at it once.
"Seriously…" She grumbled as the door swung open.
Three teenage girls walked in behind her, chatting away as they glanced at her. They shared a look she recognized. Once upon a time, she was like them, rolling their eyes at workers.
"We're so much better than the working class!" It was how she saw the world once. Back when she could enjoy things more normally.
She could blame the economy and she could blame the patriarchy. Reality was, her own choices led her to the mountain growing on her face.
She dried her face and went back in, glancing at her phone.
16:27.
One hour, thirty-three minutes.
She rolled her bike into the shared apartment. It wasn't run down. Oh no. She never let it get messy. She never let anything fall apart.
It was pleasant at least. Clean. On the couch was a man wearing gym shorts and a huge hoodie. His eyes were glued to the TV as he clicked rapidly at his game controller.
He grunted as Al walked by, putting her bike on the nearby hook they kept for their bikes.
"Hell?" He asked.
"Yeah. Here," She said, setting a bag of food in front of him. "Made it myself cuz our grill team was ass."
"Life saver, man," He sighed, moving his character to a safe spot. "Thanks. Oh. Your PC came in."
Suddenly, life breathed back into her. No longer did the exhaustion of the day weight her down, no longer did the grime clinging to her skin leave her grimacing. It was like the gates of Heaven opened and the angels sang.
A squeal left her as she trotted happily to her room. There by her desk was a box with her name on the shipping label.
"Fucking finally!" She beamed. "This is gonna be so fucking awesome!"
"Set up is gonna take a while," He reminded her.
"Yeah but I get to play awesome games. I can finally actually play that Claire Obscura thing!"
"I bought you that months ago!" He laughed. "You could've asked to play on mine."
"No offense, but your keyboard has seen so many nacho nights that I don't trust it."
He held his hands up. "Okay. Fair. Need help?"
"Nah. Thanks, Matt."
With that, Al stripped off her uniform and threw it into the hamper. A three day weekend of gaming, smoking, and more gaming.
She grinned as she got to work happily. A simple pre-built model but one she saved up for, for ages.
Once she got it plugged in and booted up, she made sure to install a few games she hadnt played in ages.
Shower, snack, game, she told herself as she hurried about her nightly routine.
No longer was she weighed down by the chains of capitalism. No longer was she wallowing in self pity for working a deadend job.
Now free of grime and small bowl of pretzels in hand, she eagerly holed herself in her room.
Hours of gaming, running around fantasy worlds and killing monster spawns. She was having a blast.
As the clock turned to one in the morning, Al stretched out her limbs happily.
If only i could have a real adventure, she thought wistfully.
Outside the dull hum of a storm came rumbling in. Al sighed before cleaning up her desk area as a notification came onto her game account.
You've been gifted a free game! It read.
Curious, she clicked on it. She made a face. "Isn't this like sixty bucks?" She muttered absently.
Baldur's Gate 3, the title read.
She thought about it a moment longer and checked the username. She didn't recognize the username at all.
A random conglomeration of letters and numbers. It felt like a bot.
A shot in the dark, she sent a message to the user.
GamerRaccoon420: Hey. I just got a free game from you. Am I the right person you wanted to send it to?
1492DRBG3: …
1492DRBG3: Yes.
1492DRBG3: Trust.
1492DRBG3: It is destiny.
Al stared at the message and squinted.
GamerRaccoon420: If this turns out to be malware… <_<
1492DRBG3 is offline.
She sighed, staring at the message. Could she trust it? She wondered.
After several minutes of running the program through an antivirus, she found nothing suspicious in the coding.
"Destiny, huh," She murmured aloud.
What joke was this? Then again, it'd been on her wishlist for a while. It has happened in the past. She played a game in a PVP lobby and some player bought a random game on her wishlist.
Hell, she'd even done it herself once or twice out of goodwill.
"Fuck it." She clicked the Install button and let the game run as she cleaned up her mess.
As she stepped out, the power in her apartment flickered as the wind picked up. "Shit. Matt?" She called. No response. She sighed. Probably asleep already. Big shot, so responsible going to bed at a reasonable time.
She sighed and set the bowl in the sink, heading back to her room. The power suddenly went out. Yet, her monitor stayed glowing.
Now all that remained was a loading screen. Confused, she approached, studying it warily.
As the game finished installing, the glow blinded her. Al shielded her face, blocking the blinding light.
All at once, her center of gravity shifted and she felt like she was falling. Opening her eyes, she no longer saw the oasis of her gamer bedroom.
Instead, she was surrounded by stars.
