Character Name: Venus
IRL Name: Veronica, though she typically goes by V
Age: 22
Class: Longarm
Clothing and Appearance: What V wears can most easily be described as a fortified toga: not revealing anything to The World that they wouldn’t want revealed, but at the same time allowing for comfort and mobility that she imagined would be necessary for a game like this one. Thick white fabric wraps around her neck, crossing at her collarbone and comfortably covering her bosom. This meets at the small of her back, where it merges into something resembling a skirt, wrapping around the front where it sinks to a scandalously low distance below the navel, where an amber pendant rests. This skirt lands at a slant on her thighs, resting just below her hip on the left side and sinking almost to her right knee. A pair of black leggings cover her thin legs beneath that, stopping at the calves and leaving plenty of room for the high-laced Greek-style sandals she wears.

Generally, she’ll let her golden brown hair fall its full wavy length to her shoulder blades, though she carries a hairpin with her, and is adept at putting it up whenever she has to. Green eyes illuminate her delicate face, with beautifully thin, pink lips and a strong jaw line all imposed over a Mediterranean tan skin. There are no runes covering her body, nor tattoos or piercings to speak of.

Height: 5’4”
Personality: V tends to be very cynical and sarcastic. She’s completely honest with anyone she meets, which usually drives people away on account of her harsh (and generally accurate) judgments. But this judgment does not affect the way in which she treats others, because she knows how she would stand under her own scope. V also views many positive emotions like happiness and excitement to be fleeting at best, and so isn’t very easily roused into feeling them (which lends to her cynicism). The way she’s learned to go through life is without feeling anything, letting herself numb to the world and to herself. She is also an atheist, claiming that no loving God could have let her life happen to her, or even go on. It’s either that, or this loving God loves everyone except for her.

Equipment:
Weapon – Iron Spear (Triple Doom, 10SP)
Head – Bandanna (Repth, 10SP)
Arm – Wristbands (Juk Rom, 10SP)
Body – Leather Coat (Gan Zot, 20SP)
Feet – Sandals

Finding The World:
The sun had set, its last fading gifts of color quickly evacuating the sky from the dark of night. Always would the twilight chase the sun’s setting here. Whether through clouds, rain, or the clear skies, it would always be clear when the sun had left. Through the thin, jagged strip of sky that was visible over the building tops of the city, the setting of the sun was clearly announced. It wouldn’t be long now.

Two streets converged in the midst of the city, crossing in a very typical intersection. The game tonight ensured that there would be at least some traffic here—mostly locals who knew the area, cab drivers, and the occasional lost, slightly drunk sports fan. These were the one who would buy, these were the ones who would take the bait set. Night by night, the street corners were populated by vendors who sold themselves. They relied on the traffic light. When a car stopped, one or two would approach, offering their wares; warmth in the night, comfort in the mayhem of life, understanding, and all for simple money.

Occasionally there was a vendor whose wares were more legitimate, and on a night like tonight, with a big game going down, they would be out in droves. At first, traffic was slow, one or two cars passing through the intersection, neither one taking on passengers, but once the game let out, there would be a lot more opportunity. She’d seen it a hundred times before. Any minute now, the street would have more than enough customers to make ends meet for all the girls who were there with her.

There were certain things to look for when scouting for customers: typically, men were the targets, and only if they were alone. In groups they would sometimes go for it, but it was harder to get a handful of guys to pay up instead of just one. A man would also almost never go for it if there was a woman with him, though every once in a while a man would pick two or three of them to come with him. It was easier to sell when the windows were down, or when the convertible top was down on a warm night (which tonight was). Oh, and common vendors—the ones who sold flowers, watches, magazines, and the like—they would never approach the same cars as the girls, and nor would the girls approach the same cars as the vendors.

This car was a perfect example: red convertible, stereo tuned into the post-game report, top down, and in the front seat sat a man and a woman, both of whom looked at one another with a happy smile. Judging by their dress, they’d just been out to dinner at one of the five-star restaurants less than ten blocks away, and were now on their way back to their apartment. Veronica scoffed at the thought of their cheap affection for one another, the man looking like the cat who’d caught the canary, and the woman looking like the queen of the world. A red light had them stopped, and because they were a couple, none of the girls dared to even try. This left one of the vendors to try his luck at it. He was young, and had a basket in front of him with dozens of de-thorned red roses. Approaching the man, he made his pitch, but would probably wind up being turned down—

“What?” V asked to no one, watching in awe as the man pulled out his wallet. A crisp fifty dollar bill went to the vendor, and in exchange two dozen roses were counted, bound in ribbon, and handed to the man in a brilliant bouquet. Her jaw was dropped as the man turned, holding up traffic at the now green light to give the woman the fresh, beautiful roses. The smile on her face could have replaced the sun, and she wrapped her arms around him as best she could, planting a kiss on his cheek as they drove off, never to be seen again. The audience who’d witnessed this watched the car disappear, some small hope having welled up inside, only to be quickly stifled by the reminder of where they were; of what they were. Some of the more experienced hadn’t even paid attention, but for the younger ones among them like V, the scene stuck with her. Why did she think she wanted that? She was a whore! No one would ever give her that!

A few minutes passed by, and with them a few cars. One of them picked up, but that wasn’t her concern. It was Thursday, which meant that Giles would stop by soon. He was originally from England. He’d hopped the pond with his student Visa, coming to one of the area’s Ivy League colleges. Graduating with honors, he quickly married a girl, who just as quickly turned around and left him, taking most of his money with her. That night had been their first encounter, and it had been nearly a year to the day since then. Every Thursday evening he’d pull up in his silver sedan. They’d exchange pleasantries, and then retreat to his apartment to consecrate their business. The reason she put up with it, though, was because he gave her a bed to sleep in, and would pay double for her time.

As the last ounce of the hope she’d felt was devoured by hopelessness, the car pulled up, stopping at the corner a little closer to the curb than would be necessary for someone just coming to a red light. The passenger side window, which had been tinted with the rest, sank into the door, the driver with his matted, blond-streaked hair leaning over and peering over his sunglasses.

“Evening madam,” he said, his accent thick as ever, and his smile warm and inviting, “are you well?”

“I am, Giles,” Veronica replied, coming over to the door. The lock clicked, and she got in, “and yourself?”

“Never better,” the man replied, breathing in and out in an incredibly satisfied manner. Something was different about him tonight, but she was sure she’d hear more as the night wore on. Red turned to green, and they were off.
__________

It had been business as usual. After a dinner of microwaveable portions, they had some wine, and the night began. Giles was a smooth operator by most measures. He didn’t talk too much, and certainly knew his way around a woman. When they had sex, it was more like he was giving than he was taking, which he had confirmed a few months ago after the deed was done. Tonight, though, he seemed unusually enthusiastic; like he had more to give, and wasn’t holding any of it back. He could usually hold his own until about midnight, but the experience of this night lasted a whole two hours more. So naturally, after they’d disentangled themselves and were lying on his bed covered in the mixture of both of their sweat, Veronica wanted to know what had caused this change.

“Giles,” she said, her breathing still heavy as the feeling lingered, “you seem different tonight. Something good happen?” He smiled, just as out of breath as she was, and nodded before answering.

“I landed a deal today that will make me a rich man,” he said, propping himself up to look at her better, “my salary just went up tenfold.” Giles worked the markets on his own time, trading stocks mostly online. Whether by luck or skill, he’d managed to accrue quite a fortune off Wall Street, and was at a point where his time paid for itself. It was why he was able to pay her double for sleeping through the night. Still, that he was getting even more money was shocking, and he laughed, sliding his hand down her cheek and down her chest.

“Careful what you say,” Veronica replied, looking to the hand that flirted with her, “I might just start to charge you more.” He laughed, pulling his hand away and lying down onto his back again. She could only smile, glad of his joy, but unable to take part in it.

“I think I could manage,” he replied with a sigh. For a while they lay in silence, staring at the plastered ceiling in its wavelike patterns that were illuminated by the unending city lights through the veil over the balcony’s sliding glass door. The sounds of the city streamed distantly in: wind whistling past buildings over the urban bustle from the streets below. It was late, so the city was quieter than usual, but every now and again something would catch her ears. And the gentle breeze through the door would billow the veil up, its orange shimmer invading on the room before sinking back to its normal size. Giles certainly did have a nice apartment, and she did have to admit a certain fondness for him. He had a charm about him that could doubtless win the heart of any woman he set his sights on. So why me? she wondered, her gaze now set on the man who rested next to her.

“What is it?” he asked, looking towards her, concern bleeding through his features.

“It’s nothing,” she said quietly, looking back up to the ceiling. It didn’t matter anyway. In a few hours she’d be back on the streets, trying to sell herself to someone else. He shrugged, sharing in her stare at the ceiling as the veil beside them continued its slow, steady breathing.

“You still awake, V?” Giles asked after a few minutes.

“Yeah,” she said, propping herself up to look at him in the dim lighting, “what’s up?”

“I heard something the other day that made me think of you,” he began, turning his head to look at her and letting his eyes wander down her form before returning to her eyes, “something you might try looking into. I was at a bar with one of my friends, and he said that his girl had found some interesting computer program online-”

“Let me stop you there, Giles,” V said, her finger pressed over his lips, “I don’t have a computer.” He took her wrist and kissed her palm.

“I can fix that,” he said, “but I wasn’t finished. It uses something called a ‘hypno-helmet’ to induce pleasure. My friend said that sex with this thing was amazing.” She’d heard about the hypno-helmet before. Supposedly it was being marketed for use in The World: one of the most popular computer games of all time, and was supposed to make it feel like you were actually there. If it could do that, then it made sense that someone would use it to make a sex program.

“You’re sweet,” she said with a smile, leaning forward and planting a kiss on his cheek, “but the hypno-helmet is just more money that I don’t have.” Giles returned the kiss, and she reclined.

“I just thought you’d want to know,” he replied, his eyes traveling down her again before he continued, “might be a good investment or something.” She laughed, a feeling she hadn’t felt in a very long time.

“We’ll see,” she said, letting a yawn out, “but you should try and get some sleep. After all, don’t you have to work tomorrow?” He shrugged, also yawning.

“Then goodnight, Veronica,” he said, finally letting himself settle as he began to fall asleep. She followed minutes later.
__________

The sun had returned, its brilliant glow so much more warm and inviting than the pale orange from the night before. Her city was awake now, probably had been for some time. For the first time in a long while, she woke up satisfied, calm and rested. With the balcony door open, the room was warm with the day, leaving no need to reclaim clothing from the ground. How late was it, anyway? Not that it really mattered: the later it was, the more she’d be able to get out of Giles. As sweet a boy as he was, he sure was easy to sucker money out of.

Wandering from the bedroom left her in the kitchen. Immediately to her right was the fridge, and stuck there by magnet was a note on yellow paper:

What could he possibly…? she wondered, having plucked the note off the fridge. A few more steps would bring the living room into view, and when she rounded the corner, there, sitting on the table were boxes. But not just any boxes, mind you, the boxes; brand new laptop computer, and next to that, the latest model of the HypnoHelmet, including a copy of the hit game, The World. Her jaw dropped in amazement. Had he really just spent $1,500 for her?! She’d have to smack him when he got back. A growl from her stomach reminded her of other, more pressing matters, and returning to the kitchen granted her toast with butter, an orange, and a bowl of cereal for “breakfast.” Closer to lunch, really—it was two thirty in the afternoon.

After showering and donning a set of Giles’ silk pajamas (which were notably big on her), Veronica returned to the living room. Clicking the big-screen TV on to a random channel, she set to opening the gifts that her client had bestowed upon her. First was the laptop, which took all of five minutes to set up. Technology really had improved since her last encounter with it – a computer from the 90’s retrofitted with Altimit after the catastrophe of Pluto’s Kiss. She remembered the teacher saying that it was a miracle the machines could hold the operating system, let alone run it. Individually, they took about half an hour apiece to turn on; the computer Giles had given her was instantaneous.

Next would be installing the game to get the helmet working. Sliding the disk into the machine’s side let off a low hum as it copied the thing onto itself. Within another five minutes, it was done, and the game menu popped up. A screen-by-screen tutorial explained the installation of the helmet, which took another three minutes, and wearing the thing as it started to kick in really got her attention. Her fingers were flying across the computer at a pace she’d never known before, precisely and finely tapping all the right keys to get the system set just right. It was like she’d done it a million times before, even though this was her first time touching a computer since the eleventh grade. Although she was a bit concerned that a computer could have this much influence over her, she couldn’t help but wonder what kind of a game could require and make use of this technology.

The option came up to play, and she couldn’t help but click yes.

Username: Venus
Password: **********

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Kidding! Closin' ya up now. You know what to do.