Project RE:Vive

“How do I… summon the wings? You said you didn’t want them to be equippable anymore.”

With a slow breath, Xeira shoves her UIs away. They bob a little bit as they move back. Shifting, she turns towards me, and steps to stand behind me, just a bit.

“There’s an activation phrase. Cheesy, but… I didn’t want it to trigger in casual speech. Say… Windfall.”

I nod, and straighten myself, and reach up to adjust the bow on the back of my head. Xeira steps back.

“Windfall!”

I can feel them. I don’t know how. I can just feel them appear on my back like their spawning bursts the air. Their weight— barely feathers, actually— kind of presses on my back from where they hover, not even really touching.

A UI chime comes from behind me, and a mirror unfolds itself from the blank space in front of me.

“They’re… autogenerated based on avatar data.” Xeira practically whispers. “No two wings are alike. Shape, color, patterning…”

The— my wings stay frozen where they are. So does the rest of me.

They’re… gorgeous.

Four wings, two on each side. Angular like polygons, thin, sharp at the tips like hard-cut diamonds. Glimmers of white shine on their surface, pale pink and… maybe glowing just a bit. The glimmers shift every time I go to turn, even just a bit.

Another chime, and a smaller mirror appears in front of me, giving me a view of my back.

Swirling, circling geometric shapes bloom out from the center of my back, layered until they reach the edges of my wings. None of the pieces are connected, even though the center probably is meant to make it look like the wings are. But it just looks like glass shards breaking into sunbeams.

I flex my shoulderblades. My wings flutter once, and gold sparkles burst out from them, subtle but visible. The sparkles had been falling like trickling water before, when I was still— but I can see how each flap is going to look like a starburst if you’re close enough.

“Flight is more… gliding, than actually flying.” Xeira chuckles.

The noise that leaves me is usually reserved for seeing a world wonder. Probably somewhere closer to a sob than a laugh. Not a bad sob. Xeira steps forward to be beside me again.

“Do you want to go, or did I— is this too much? This is too much for an MMO, isn’t it? Rose, this needs to be playable, this isn’t a feelings circle—“

I didn’t even realize I was covering my mouth until I feel my own laugh hit my fingers. I drop my hand back to the pommel of my sword, and shake my head. “Nah, nah, it’s totally fine! People play Ninerealms because it’s pretty, yeah?”

She shrugs, and tilts her head. “If you say so. Anyway…”

Lucky’s gaze locks onto the chat for a second, frozen in a smile. Then they read something back.

“Rose is one of those fairy girls? You mean NineRealms, dude? Yeah, well, I’m not sure why you think Saber Wars is any more mature.”

They freeze again, then laugh. “Oh, that was not a negative— you’re also a NineRealms player? You see her fight in a world raid yet?”

I sit up straighter. Lucky nods again.

“Scary.” They affirm, before leaning towards me with a smirk. “They say you’re scary.”

I press my free hand to my cheek, and my voice goes high and traily. “Oh noo…!”

The chat UI goes pink with sakura emotes. My cheeks get warmer.

“Well, that’s a good place to start— let’s talk NineRealms. Now, I haven’t played, but it’s currently the top MMO in Asgard. Legend has it that you’re a beta tester. How choking is the NDA?”

“…N…D…A?” I repeat, blinking. “I don’t think we have one of those!”

“Awesome! So you’ll spill everything for me?”

“Pff—!”

I clamp my mouth shut, thumping into the back of my chair. “I mean, it’s a lot… But I can tell you how weird it was when the world map was basically a big field of grass with a couple landmarks!”

“Okay, that’s creepy.”

“It got worse when the day and night cycle was put in—“ I gesture, making an arch with my free hand. “A big flat plane of grass at night… you can’t see the edge of the map, right, it’s the size of a whole island, so if you weren’t near anywhere that had gotten built yet…”

They raise their eyebrows, laughing without dropping their smile. I keep talking.

“So eventually one of Xeira’s friends— Athena— she’s like ‘we need to at least add some ambiance’— but suddenly there’s just wind and some vague crickets and other rustling sounds, but most of the map is still just a dark field…”

My voice trails off with a squeak. Lucky starts laughing properly.

“No, you’re kidding.” They whisper, loudly. “That’s so freaky. But NineRealms is one of the biggest Realized Spaces out there now. Did you all even sleep?”