1: The Hotel, The Gang and The Present
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Location: Lansdowne Hotel, Chippendale

 

Situated on the corner of the intersection facing both Victoria Park and Broadway Shopping Centre and only roughly twenty minutes away from the USYD campus by foot, the Lansdowne Hotel is an old bar that has become a decently popular venue for gigs of both the indie and electronic varieties. 

 

The bar area on the street level contains features you’d expect from a typical pub of its kinds, such as a pool table, a small stage for bands to play (with a small mosh pit before it), both a pokies and smoking area little further outback and, most importantly, a solid bar top where customers can order their cold beverages and hot food.

 

Since it’s a Wednesday afternoon, the bar was relatively quiet for the moment, so Gab and her friends were easily able to grab a table.

 

As they were waiting for their food to be served, the group of four ordered drinks in the meantime, with Amalia grabbing a vodka sofa with fresh lime and the rest of them sticking with their own Young Henry’s Newtowners

 

“So you’re saying I WASN’T the main inspiration for your new homebrew class?”, Amalia asked Gab, taking a slow sip from her straw as she raised her eyebrow at Gab, as if still doubted her friend’s truthfulness in this regard.

 

“Oh please,”, Gab scoffed, “ you may be from one of the more affluent parts of the Eastern Suburbs, but you are by far one of the least narcissistic, sun tanned blondes from over there I’ve ever met!”.

 

And Gab truly wasn’t joking. Whilst her designer brand blue sundress, Louis Vuitton purse and Gucci sunglasses might give people who don’t know her the impression of someone wth a decent amount of narcissism and , she was anything but.

 

Hell, the very reason she was studying at UNS was to gain noticeable qualifications to become a social worker specialising in cases related to women and children who have been subjected to various types of abuse.

 

At first, Gab and the others were confused by her career choice. After all, Amalia not only had a highly privileged lifestyle since she was young, she also apparently had not been subjected through anything remotely similar to what her potential cases would’ve experienced. 

 

When they initially voiced their confusion to Amalia, she simply stated that it’s because she experienced a relatively painless life growing up that she wanted to ensure that the people she’ll be working at the behest of won’t endure any more unnecessary pain, inflicted by people who’s only goal is to experience a paradoxical sense of power by ripping it away from their victims.

 

Would someone who grew up as the only child of an entertainment mogul father with fingers in many sectors of the Australian entertainment industry and a mother who’s a named partner of a corporate law firm be considered narcissistic after choosing to become a frontline advocate of those less fortunate than her instead of just simply donating large quantities of cash to the appropriate charities and call it a day?

 

Gab herself certainly didn’t think so.

 

“From what I deducted from your draft,”, Elina interjected, wanting to focus more on the mechanics of Gab’s latest homebrew as opposed to its inspiration, “your “Narcissism Domain” can be used by Clerics who don’t act as agents of any deities just as well Clerics who do. How’s that possible?”.

 

“Letting your inner lawyer out I see, El,”, Gab joked whilst Elina only narrowed her eyes dangerously, causing Gab to cough nervously, “but to answer your question, the highest form of narcissism is to wholeheartedly believe that you are above anyone in certain respects, such as beauty, skill and personal status despite evidence to the contrary. Even deities.”.

 

Tilting her head towards her law student friend, Gab continued by asking:

 

“In a class that draws a significant amount of its power from the concept of “belief”, wouldn’t a Cleric who believes in their  superiority to that extent have the strength to go toe-to-toe with others of the same class who gain their strength from someone they believe is far above them?”.

 

Elina tapped her chin several times before she gave her response.

 

“Whilst from a conceptual standpoint that viewpoint might have merit, but I’m sure that there must be some gameplay mechanic demerits to Clerics who take that approach, such as being more susceptible to curses and from deities who deems that type of attitude towards them to be unsavoury, as well as well as needing to roll higher die values to get the results they want than more traditional Clerics.”.

 

Nodding at Elina’s assessment, Gab let out a soft sigh.

 

“Well, it’s still a work in progress that I only started this arvo, so it makes sense that it still has a few kinks that I need to work out,”, she agreed, taking off her beanie to run her fingers through her black hair, which was styled into a spiky pixie-cut with several streaks of bright blue hair dye (which completes her punkish look).

 

Elina’s mouth twitched at her friend’s words.

 

“…of course that in-depth class profile was a draft that you wrote up today,”, Elina sighed, bemoaning the sheer difference between Gab’s fast writing speed in comparison to her slow-paced writing, “if you choose to study law instead of creative writing, working as a deposition writer would be practically easy money for you.”.

 

Looking at the law student from the corner of her eye, Gab gave a small laugh at the sight of her normally serious friend sulking over something like writing speeds.

 

“El, you’re studying to become an advocate for the rights of people in our community,” Gab reminded her, “if I were to potentially become one of your clients, I’d rather you take your time writing you legal documents and get all the minutiae down pat, as opposed to blazing through it only to find out on the day of filling you forgot to add a few key details.”.

 

After hearing that reaffirmation from Gab, Elina let out a wistful sigh and developed a slight blush from embarrassment.

 

“Our soon-to-be birthday girl is right El,”, Maria chimed in, carrying another round of drinks (which she seemed to have ordered when Gab and the others weren’t looking) before placing them on the table.

 

“Even though she writes up her homebrew classes quickly, Doug often finds mistakes, balance issues and all sorts of problems that she needs to fix before it can be considered playable in the game’s setting,” she continued, referencing their DM in the process.

 

“Whilst she could simply rectify her mistakes in her documents, you won’t necessarily be able to do the same thing when you file yours.”

 

“Speaking of,”, Maria drawled, turning her gaze to Gab, “are you still sure about letting me choose our destination for your 21st?”, she asked, unashamedly not bothering to her mischievous smirk.

 

Feeling a sense of trepidation at the sight of her friend’s expression, Gab gave a nervous chuckle before answering.

 

“So long as it’s not a BDSM club or anything similar, I’m cool with you surprising me,” she answered.

 

“Besides, you’re the best I know at discovering good venues across Sydney, considering you played at a fair few of them.”.

 

In addition to studying music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (the more music-orientated branch of the University of Sydney), Maria is a freelancing member of a few music bands that each play different genres of music.

Jazz, Rock, Classical, Maria can play those genres and more.

 

It is thanks in part to her interest in experimenting with different types of music that only comes second to Gab’s interest in RPG Character Classes that she played across quite a few venues across Sydney that host live music performances, giving Maria an edge over her friends in regards to finding bars and clubs that suit their purpose at any given time for going out.

 

“…Tempting, seeing as how you considered what you did to me earlier as appropriate!”, she snarks, punctuating the end of her sentence by gently rubbing her, what appeared to be, still sore nipples, causing Gab to wince.

 

“But worry not my Nipple Twister friend,”, she paused, her smirk reconfiguring into its friendlier variant, “for your 21st birthday you will be taken to a fun place where liquids are poured freely, the music doesn't make you feel like ripping both your cochleas out and dancing is keenly encouraged.”.

 

After letting out a sigh of relief, Gab took a deep pull of her second beer.

 

“Plus, the ladies in attendance will make you want to test whether or not your new age will give you three times the luck in getting a root!”.

 

Gab suddenly started coughing on her drink after that particular endorsement, the timing of which she didn't believe for even one-tenth of a femtosecond was not deliberate!

 

“Speaking of which…”, Amalia started as she stared at her with clear worry.

 

“That's the reason why we decided to meet up with you earlier than usual.”, Elina finished as she was gently patting her black and blue-haired friend on the back.

 

Just as she was getting over her coughing fit, Gab suddenly felt the urge to cough up blood.

 

“Your birthday, ”, Maria quickly clarified, “not you getting laid on your birthday!”.

 

Not looking at her friend’s confused expression, Maria started rummaging around in her decent-sized Kathmandu backpack for something before letting out an “AHA!”, confirming that she found what she was looking for.

 

“An early 21st birthday gift, from us three to you.”, Maria said, as she placed a good-sized rectangular box with blue gift wrapping obscuring the contents and a cardboard birthday card with the words “Happy 21st” written in large and colourful text.

 

Slightly miffed over receiving a gift on Wednesday when her birthday was on Saturday, Gab opened her mouth to question them before Elina beat her to the punch.

 

“We know that this is a particularly early gift, ” she admitted, “but due to its nature, we figured that this is the best time to give it to you.”.

 

Raising her eyebrow slightly over how secretive her friends were acting, Gab first open the premade birthday card, seeing all three of her friend's names written in it before smirking at the three condoms placed  inside, obviously for what Maria will encourage her to pack when going out for a night on the town

 

As soon as she unwrapped her gift in short order, Gab suddenly let all the air in her lungs out in a sharp exhale.

 

Lying on the table at the centre of the now torn gift wrapping lay a laminated white box.

 

She did know what specific model rested with the spotless box, but she knew exactly which specific device was lying in wait for her. One that could very well change her world forever.

 

All from a line of black text that was inlayed on top of her astonishing present. 

 

“VRMMORPG: Arbitrium”.

 

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