jinx is online

jinxisonline‌:

➯ closed starter for @dcvcid. ( pre-velia, london )

Bang, bang, bang. “GET OUT OR I’LL GO TO THE ELECTRIC CHAIR FOR YE!”

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“Don’t hate the player, Mistry, hate the game.” He tossed her a silly little wink. The response had a dual meaning, although it didn’t register to him until she reminded him of their current situation.

Trapped in a freaking video game. And his expression slowly, but steadily, sobered as she began to ask him questions. Heavy ones. He could not answer for a few moments.

“Do I think….” His eyes strayed. He pondered. “I….” Decisive, he reminded himself. Firm. But this whole thing was throwing a goddamn wrench into his normal methods. “Do I think we could ever go back to the way things were?”

No matter how tough it was, he said to her, “No. I don’t think we can.”

He heaved a sigh. “Liv… things have changed. We can’t go back. But time will always progress, and sometimes we’d use to allow ourselves to just… get swept away with it, not growing, being paralysed. Change is good sometimes.”

If he hadn’t changed even slightly; he would never have let her know he was in love with her, right? Whether that was a good or bad thing, though, he couldn’t tell now. This was why he left it unspoken. He went silent then; he didn’t know how to say to her, ‘You can talk about how you got your red cursor now. If that’s what you want, if that’s what you need….’ So instead he looked at her, hoping she understood his wordless invitation.

A crease deepened between her furrowed brow as she listened intently to his words, a ghost of a frown mildly tugging at the corners of her mouth. “But it isn’t good all the time.” She turned around and rested her back against the counter, arms folding over her chest a bit defensively in preparation for whatever came next. Her usually whimsical demeanor disappeared, replaced by uncharacteristic somberness. 

“Peak English antics,” he agreed, rather weak voice juxtaposed with the sheer broadness of his grin. Honestly, he was a little dizzy from Liv kissing him on the cheek so suddenly, as though he were a schoolboy once again. Damn, he had to think to himself, it hasn’t been that long since I last got laid, hasn’t it?

Collecting himself, he joked further, “The only thing we need for the full experience right now is some chicken roast and terrible microwave rice, the kind where it’s like you’re eating cut-up cardboard.” A pang of guilt upon hearing Olivia talk about his father interrupted his lighthearted mood, however, as he’d been the one who brought up family. Still, he knew she must’ve been thinking of him, and he supposed it was better to express one’s feelings. “He’ll be fine. He’s a grown man. Not that I doubt he misses you, but he’ll be fine. Let’s focus on keeping you alive, alright? Can’t lose.”

When she told him to piss off, he couldn’t stop a brusque laugh from escaping. “Only thing I’m hearing is that it’s working. ‘Cause, you know, I hadn’t planned out all the details, but here you are giving them to me. Right, Olivia, here’s your chance: I’ll give you a few minutes to profess your love to me. I’m kidding,” he said, before she could hurl something in his direction. “Well, if you were longing to see me, and thinking of me lots, I’d imagine this would happen next.” 

He pulled Liv closer — gently, of course; he had manners, and wouldn’t want to cause her cup of tea to fall. His eyes fluttered shut, his nose inching towards hers, but not quite touching. And then he opened his eyes to whisper, “You need to be at least Level 90 to unlock the rest of this cutscene.”

He had Liv right where he wanted her, eyelids shut, chin tilted upward, breath hitched in her chest. She waited silently, lips parting at the expectation of feeling his gentle lips against hers. But then he said what he said and her lips pressed into a thin line of disappointment.

Being the stubborn woman she was, Liv had half the mind to grab him and kiss him right then and there. Then again, it wasn’t fair for her to do that and expect to resume kind of relationship with the information she was withholding. Instead of doing what she wanted, Liv sighed deeply. “You’re a bloody tease, Donoghue.” 

She turned on her heel, her back facing him as she maneuvered over to the counter by the stove. A certain melancholy filled her at the sudden revelation that her desire to simply be with Eric could potentially be forever overshadowed by the things she’d done. Would he understand? If he didn’t, could he forgive her? Could he still feel the same way about her once he knew of her misdeeds?

Taking a sip of hot tea, she lowered her cup to the counter, eyes staring down at the amber liquid occupying the cup. “Hey, Don?” she called to him without looking up. “Do you think we could ever go back to the way things were? You know, before the game?” Her teeth bit down on her lower lip as she attempted to carefully select her words. “What if too much has changed?”

Bang, bang, bang. “GET OUT OR I’LL GO TO THE ELECTRIC CHAIR FOR YE!”

“Wait, I think I’ve actually got some noodles.” In a pause, he plucked out a few packets of instant ramen from his inventory. “From Floor 52. I saw these, but they’ve only caused me to miss the real world, you know? But now that you’re here with me, we’ve got to cook ‘em.”

The plastic crinkled under his fidgety touch, an anxious tic of his fingers. “Like I said, I miss the real world. I want to see my family again. That’s… been on my mind these past three years.” He wanted to tell her he’d been thinking about her endlessly, but he’d probably reiterated enough times this past hour alone that he’d missed her so badly. He bit his tongue.

“How about you?” He didn’t know if he could bring himself to ask her why her cursor glowed red. He tried keeping those thoughts out of his mind for the time being, the Celtic lilt to his words thickening as he teased: “Aye, I bet you’ve been thinking of me lots these past few years. It’s okay, I know I’m irresistible. Do try to control yourself a bit when you tell me about how much you’ve been longing to see me again, Liv.”

“No way.” Olivia looked on, unsure of whether or not to believe him until the packets finally materialized. At the sight of them, Liv jumped to her feet, immediately advancing on Eric/the ramen to see for herself. “Don, you absolute legend, you!”, she exclaimed, not thinking twice about planting a big kiss on his cheek. “It’s been ages since I’ve had instant noodles. Had I known I would’ve gotten a dinner date, I would’ve run into you a lot sooner.”

Her teasing grin tugged at the corner of her lips as she scampering over to the table to pick up her tea before guiding them over to the stove. “I feel like it’s somehow very English of us to be having tea with our noodles,” she laughed. The mood took a little dip at the mention of families, her own lips pursing to the side of her mouth. “Yeah... I really miss my dad. It’s hard thinking about how he’s managing out there knowing that I’m in here and all.” It was a thought she constantly had to force into the back of her mind, knowing it did no good to lament over things she couldn’t control.

Thankfully, the thought came and went once he redirected the conversation, Liv biting back an almost embarrassed smile as she gave him a playful little one-handed shove. “Oh, piss off, Eric.” With her tone tinged with amusement, she took the opportunity to sip her tea and eyed him suspiciously over the rim. “Was this your plan all along? You come to my house, romance me with instant ramen, I profess my love and jump your bones like that?” Her fingers snapped loudly to emphasize the final word, a humored scoff passing through her lips. “And so what if I did? Let’s say, hypothetically, that I was ‘longing to see you’ and thinking of you lots. What then, eh?” she challenged, her brow quirking. 

He raised his eyebrows at “same ol’, same ol’”. They both knew nothing here was same ol’ anything, but it was one way of coping. “Well, you always had a place to crash if all else failed. Suppose that hasn’t changed, though.”

When she passed the handle, he stood up and moved over to sit next to her. Taking a long swig and putting his free arm around her, David pulled her in close. “Nothing is for nothing,” he said quietly. “We can’t waste time thinking like that, yeah?”

olivia automatically sank into david’s arm draped around her, the familiarity of a touch from someone who knew her before all of this mess feeling so comforting. “yeah, i know, i know,” she sighed as she scooted closer to rest her head on his shoulder. “i just...” olivia cut herself short, knowing that there was no point in turning this into a moanfest when they’d still be stuck here. “i just really fucking miss Nando’s,” she falsely finished with a small, somewhat sad smile.

(though now that she mentioned it, she really did fucking miss Nando’s.)

her eyes rolled upwards to peer at him through her lashes. “at least you’re here, eh? unless you want to keep up our tradition of only running into each other at clubs for the first few weeks.”

“It’s all about the art of distraction darling,” she said taking a long swig from the bottle Jinx passed to her. Granted she hadn’t thought it would work out this well but Skittle wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth and stick up her nose at it. Skittles leaned towards her friend now, waving for her to come closer conspiratorially before whispering. “ Npcs are smarter then they look, and they have a very long memory.” was all she offered up as an explanation before giggling into her bottle as she took another swig. Skittles had become a savant at acquiring things. NPC or players, it didn’t matter. The rule of thumb was, give them something that they want and they will give you what you need. Resting her head back on the log behind her, skittles chuckled.

“ I’m pretty sure if you wanted to fix the whole nun bit you could.” the young woman turned to look towards the other wagging her brows before continuing…

“-cause we both know you’re into that kinky shit. One of us should get some carnal pleasure from this place.”

Truth was, Skittles was in the same boat. Though it didn’t really bother her that much. She could feel that familiar itch that wanted to be scratch ( and the need for it grew daily.) Her mind was focused on - bloodier pursuits at the moment. Skittles couldn’t even pretend to be shocked at Jinx calling her out on her lack of innocence. Of course, she would be able to see past that veil she wore for the rest of them. All to busy with their melodrama’s to see past their own nose at the danger in front of them. Skittles liked it that way, like that people thought her to good, too kind, too…unity, to do anything bad. It was the one thing that gave her a leg up. Though a part of her desperately wanted to be like Erebus and Kitty and the rest in Circus. If she was playing the long game… having an air of innocence would help her in the long run.

“Would you be surprised if I told you I wasn’t?” Skittles said giving her a look as if to say ‘ of course i was.’ In the real world though, Emery was a rabble-rouser and actress it made sense she had a flair for the theatrics. Though it wasn’t done out of malice. Emery was a trickster, always in good fun and to get a laugh from people. She loved making people laugh; where had that girl gone? “ I don’t know man. I think, I think this place changes all of us. Turns us into something darker then what we use to be. I have a green cursor and I’m so fucked up I might as well have a red one.” she shook her head chuckling ruthfully. “ - an asshat of a directer use to tell me that my one saving grace was that I could embody any character I played so fully. He thought I was a psychopath .  Then proceded to tell me I needed to go get my hair straighten if I wanted any jobs of merit and not ‘sassy’ ethnic person roles. After rehearsal, I sliced the pricks tires… all four of them.” 

“mmm,” jinx hummed in agreement, her head tilting back to look at the stars as she contemplated the other’s comment. lifting her bottle in a silent ‘cheers’, she chimed before taking another swig, “you’re preaching to the choir, bruv.” despite how much everyone wanted to play it off as it just being ‘a game’, jinx knew firsthand that velia had its way of sinking its hooks into people.

her eyes widened at the director’s shitty comments before she burst out into slow, highly impressed applause upon hearing her friend’s retaliative measures. “wow, what a dickhead. good for you, mate. you know, my first kiss ever told me that i had curry breath. curry breath. i wish we were old enough to drive back then because i definitely would’ve considered some tire slashing.” a ‘tsk’ clicked at the tip of her tongue, replaced by the sting of alcohol on her taste buds. she winced a little at her hard gulp and straightened up, a new realization striking her. 

“wait, wait, wait, so you’re an actress then, yeah? famous? should i be rushing to get some pen and paper from my inventory for an autograph?” she wiggled her eyebrows at skittles, pretending to slowly reach for her inventory before her hand fell back to her lap. “maybe this is  the portion of the night where we get stupid-drunk and philosophical.” she cleared her throat and rested her handle between her legs, extending an invisible microphone to skittles as she put on her best interviewer tone. “who is the real agentskittles?”

David’s smile grew when she called him a sight for sore eyes. He knew she probably just meant because they’d know neach other before, but he liked to pretend it was because people thought he was good company. “They’ve certainly been,” he said with a shrug. “I do get to own my own place now, though.”

He rented a one bedroom flat about thirty minutes from his job; he’d been there nearly two years before he’d be found attached to this game in it. David put his hand out for her to pass the handle back; “what about you?”

“Oh, you know, same ol’ same ol’,” she casually shrugged as she took the handle back into her possession, bringing the mouth of her bottle to her lips. “It was fun in the beginning but the novelty’s definitely starting to wear off.” She pursed her lips together, cradling the bottle in her arms. “The bright side is I don’t have to travel an entire decade on the train to reach a good club.” She certainly didn’t miss haven’t to plan out which weekend she would be able to spare the travel time to get out to London for a grand night out when she could just teleport to Nova. At least the game was good for something. 

“I know we’re not nearly drunk enough for this conversation but I guess I should ask...” She paused, wondering if it was even smart to ask the question. Nobody really wanted to be reminded that their fate was hanging in the balance of some tech bro with a God complex. Still, she continued, taking another sip from the bottle before passing it back. “Do you think they’ll actually let us out of here? Or is this all for nothing?” 

jinxisonline.

He laughed at her question and said, “No, I certainly did not.” His tone growing a bit more solemn, he said, “I probably would’ve saved up for a trip in Europe. I’d have gone to Spain, maybe. Not Benidorm.” Benidorm, of course, was notorious in the UK for having its charms dulled by the sheer number of Northern Europeans visiting it. “Somewhere else. Somewhere lovely, uncrowded, sunny, and….”

He looked down. “Um….” The words ‘with you’ threatened to escape from his mouth, but he decided against uttering them. 

But he really would’ve wanted to go places with her. Dwelling on this would’ve achieved nothing, however, so he just went on. “Yeah, I’ll meet you in a few.” Eric desperately wished to grab her and pull her in for a kiss; he knew that wasn’t going to happen right now, though, so he simply shut the bathroom door as she left.

Several moments passed and he finished his shower. Another silver lining of being trapped in a video game was how easy changing garments could be, and there he was in his informal wear: a plain white shirt, comfortable trousers. “Good as new, don’t you think? How do I look?” He grinned. “Kidding. I’ve got some food in my inventory. To, uh, thank you and everything.” 

A freshly clothed (and dry) Liv twisted in her seat to see Eric, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips as his cozy apparel and offer of food took her back to their college days. “Only if it’s cup noodles,” she teased, draping her arm over the top of the chair while looking him over. “Otherwise, you can properly thank me with cup noodles and a sleepover once we’re out of here, yeah?” 

(Admittedly, there was a significant part of Liv that believed that the game creators had no intention of releasing them from the game but this wasn’t the time to bring that up.)

“Cheeky, aren’t you? Piss off.”