[ti]scenario[/ti]Boys to Albumen

"Man..."  Orion commented between practiced breaths as he continued up the treehouse.  "The culture is WAY different over there than in the edge.  Dude, you couldn't even have those scooters over here without some junkrat scrapping them for the batteries or somethin."  Bee had opted for the rope ladder, Orion was taking the rockwall that had been mounted with tree friendly bolts that ran parallel.  It'd been a motherfucking minute since he'd done anything like this, but honestly he could use the distraction proffered both by bro and boulder alike to keep his mind from swimming down beneath the bay still.

"Something like that kinda exists..."  Orion would explain in regards to the vertical zipline.  "You ever play like...the sonic adventure games?  They have those little red handled lifts that you grab and they raise you up or down..."  He would pause, scanning the rockline for his path upwards before pushing off with his feet and leap for his next handhold, leaving him with nothing connecting him to the tree for longer than he would like, but the thrill was next to none when his hands found purchase at a rock much higher than he'd initially intended and his feet found purchase beneath him again.

"It would require you to have like...hella arm strength or something though.  Although maybe you could have it be like a hook and you wear a harness or something..." He would shake his head and manage to scrabble to the top alongside his bro.  He'd spent some time here in the past and knew to avoid Jaythen's hug right about now or else he'd turn into a sobbing mess, instead he was met with a mighty dap from Daymien that echoed loudly along the treetops.

"Brooooo" Daymien called out it awe.
"Brooooo" Orion replied with a nod.  "Sick Bandanna dude."
"Nah man, you've got the sick Danna dude, you and Bee got the fucking Duhrip!  Sheeeeesh!"  This of course would be echoed by a chorus of sheeshes echoing throughout the treetop base like a pack of wild dogs howling.  

Pleasantries were exchanged alongside a myriad of fistbumps, daps, and other memetic greetings before Orion would turn to look to the lounge and raise an eyebrow.  "Blue smoothies sound pretty rad, as for night tag maybe after Bee and I warm up?  We just spent the better part of the day diving in the bay in Ostellia so we were gonna take a dip in the jacuzzi and try to shake off the chill, then maybe we can chill yeah?"

He and Bee would break from the Bros and make their way inside.  Whoever had designed this whole thing had clearly done their homework on what every motherfucker in the world would have ever wanted from their dream treehouse from slides, to rockwalls, to ziplines and firepoles to slide down.  Anyone seeking to maneuver across the place was spoiled for cool choices, though between Bay and Boulder Orion's digital muscles were beginning to ache a bit.  The main lounge had several TV's up that rotated through a series of photos seemingly taken by Chadwick in game of cool moments shared between bros, or Broments as he'd taken to calling them.  Several bro-alitions had formed across several clusters of beanbags or other comfy chairs.  In the corner was one of the many kitchens stocked with all sorts of snacks, beverages, and ingredients for milkshakes and smoothies.  At the moment a blonde woman with her hair in a high ponytail clad in black yoga pants and a neon blue tanktop was currently working some sort of mad science across three blenders, leaving the counter and her covered in a cerulean concoction.  As if detecting the two of them with some resonance bro frequency she wheeled around with a grin, wiping off some blue from her cheek.  

"Hey boys!  Want to try my new creation?  I'm working on a shake that's equal parts tasty, healthy, and blue!"

Ah yes, the infamous prepost workout shake, bluer than James Cameron's wetdreams.

Orion would watch Bee take a sip before taking his own, ever hesitant with mixing his stimulants and proteins after one wild night with his cousins.  Waves of flavor crashed over his tongue like Guy Fieri surfing a tsunami into flavor town.  It was like, the opposite of lacroix, where instead of someone whispering the color blue through a wall you had some comically oversized speaker blaring the word directly into his eardrums.  

"Fuckin hell."  Orion quipped, puckering his mouth for a moment.  "That shit is definitely blue, thats for sure."  He would take another sip and let the energy paradoxically chase all of the blue feelings from his body that may have found their way into his chest from the bay.  What had happened had happened, and he wasn't even sure what he'd seen was re-

No, he wasn't slipping back into that again.

"But like in a good way, it's not shit, it's the shit, ya know?"  He'd add to the woman and shaking his shake with emphasis.  "You gotta send me the recipe so I can use some next time I go and train, really max out those gains so I can bring the pain."  He would throw a few faux jabs, careful not to slosh any of the fruit slush out of his cup.  His gaze would dance to a set of stairs that lead further up the treehouse.

"I'll shoot you a PM!"  Kayleigh replied with a smile.  "Just make sure you drink responsibly!"

Orion would roll his eyes a bit as he looked down to the drink that probably had enough caffeine in it to give a moose palpitations and turned back to Bee, motioning to a set of escalators that led further up the treehouse.  

"We should go hit up the Sunset Tub at the top, shit's probably got a mad view right now."

Someone on Bee's staff had clearly been a huge fan of Codename: Kids Next Door, there was not other explaining this sick treehouse that looked like it was designed from the fantasies of every child who'd ever dreamed of a house aloft in the branches.  Orion was no stranger to a few of the rock walls, and even held the fourth fastest time for ascending up the entire tree solely via bouldering.  He would have been third, but Chadwick has imposed a ten second penalty to his time for what he declared "Improper use of non bouldering equipment" in his ascent.  Which was bullshit, he'd leaned his back against a wall on accident, but there was not arguing the big muscle clad man unless you were ready for him to give you HELLA puppydog eyes, and Orion was weak as shit to masculine vulnerability.  

Gotta support your fellow kings when they open up, yo.

Still, the place had mad youth center from paradise vibes, which were all but solidified when Bee opened the door and the two were towering over the trees.  Before them a rather sizeable hot tub bubbles invitingly, a shifting florescent light mounted on the wall faintly glowed in the remainder of the evening twilight, phantasmal stars shimmered across vinyl tiling that would only grow brighter as the sun grew dimmer.  A few chairs were placed strategically around the tub, though far enough away that any errant splashing wouldn't party foul anyone looking to perch and peer at the view.  A table or three were scattered about with coasters and ash trays, along with a couple racks of towels as well.  The view of the treeline was literally breathtaking, Orion found himself staring at the rippling waves of leaves in the wind as a gentle rustle filled the air with each whooshing gust.  

"Dawg, the people who do the environments for this game cannot possibly get fucking paid enough for this..."

The words left his lips in a breathless whisper as the young man drank in the beauty.  How strange this day had been, buried beneath endless gallons of water beneath the bay exploring eldritch and alien mysteries and confronting horrifying secrets and now?  They were here, high above it all in the open air basking in the beauty of nature.  

"This view fucks dude, and not like, gets a little play on the weekend.  This view is baggin babes every time they goes out, not even tryin that hard or buyin drinks or nothin, it's like they're at a petting zoo with a shitload of sugarcubes in their pocket.  My compliments to the chefs on this one dude."  

With a chuckle, the fighter would pull his shirt up and over his shoulders, tossing it aside to one of the nearby chairs as he walked over to the towel rack and grabbed a towel for himself and his compatriot, the latter would be proffered to his pal with an impromptu pass.  With his chair thoroughly marked with both a towel and his tanktop, Orion would simply approach the raised tub, climbing a rubber gripped wheelchair ramp to the lip and dip his toes in the water.  Seemingly satisfied with the temprature, the fighter plopped his ass down onto the tile and slide his legs into the water.  The rest of his body would shortly follow in what could only be described as both the most elegant and inelegant way to slide into a hot tub imaginable.  His body broke the surface of the water soundlessly, and nary a splash announced his entrance, but he might as well have looked like a hotdog being squeezed out of a gardenhose.  

"Oh fuck yeah."  

The words left Orion's lips in a reverent grunt, his eyes closing as he took a deep breath in.  The heat of the water and the pulsing of the jets were doing an excellent job of washing away at the malaise clinging to Orion's heart.  For bot the briefest of moments he could take a deep breath and let everything melt away, pretend that the world was just him and his homie boiling away the bad times.  

"This...was a good choice."

"Dawg, I have no idea how you guys managed half of this."  

Orion sank deeper into the water as his bro pontificated on the sheer beauty of this world.  He was right, Hydance hadn't just spanked out generic fantasy forest number 42069 and called it a night.  Someone had sat and rattled their noggin for this forest, designed, sculpted, and put it all together with a dream in mind.  They'd nailed the wonder in the world just behind your backyard fence, it gave mad "Kids on Bikes" movie energy.  Some lucky kid was going to have this be their childhood forest, a digital heaven to escape to when things were bad back home.  Rough days of school would fade away to hours whiled away with pokepals, and so many great god damn lessons could be learned raising digital homie, things like empathy and responsibility.

Orion was mad fucking jealous.

"And honestly I'm glad you have like, the next Steve Woznick and Toby Fox tucked away in your lab because god fucking damn dude..."  

The fighter trailed off, something about the moment had him fiending something fierce for a cig right about now, but he'd made a promise to himself that he'd leave most of his IRL vices outside the goggles.  Instead he just railed both his arms up and propped himself on the lips, letting every other muscle go limp.  

"I don't know how much of like...making all of this you're involved in, but like, the fact that you played a part in this is like, the coolest thing ever.  You might just have the coolest job out of anyone I know, and my gramps owns a fucking casino dude.  You've literally got your name in the credits for a game some kid is going to get weepily nostalgic over in 15 years.  People have like, met on here that might get married.  Fuck, I got to meet you and Blue on here!  My life has literally changed for the better because of this place.  People are currently, and will continue to write long winded video essays about how fucking magical this game is and how perfectly you guys captured both the whimsy and nostalgia that IS pokemon for so many people, but also made the perfect jumping off point for people new to the franchise AND somehow you managed to capture how fucking horrifying pokemon fights can be without going too far with it?"

He hadn't meant to ramble, but as his worlds left his lips they just kept coming and wouldn't stop.  

"So like...thanks my dude.  Next time I'm in town I owe you and like, the whole ass dev team a fucking rage of a thank you party."

"Well shit dawg," Orion gestured around them.  "Mission fucking accomplished my man.  Look at all the shit we've seen today...hell even in the lil bit we've been here at the base?  None of those homies down there are NPCs, not that you could tell Chadwick apart from a real chad anyways.  This guild is the most rated E for everyone party pad for people who like to bro down and throw down.  I'd bet you twenty bux, a round of Za at my uncles place, and all the pac man you can fucking play that at least TWO people down there getting ready to play flashlight tag are probably going to participate in A marriage together.  Maybe someone's meeting their partner, or their best bro for life, or maybe they'll never talk to eachother again.  But a core ass memory is being made down there,"  

He'd gotten off his perch to move closer to the "front" edge of the pool to get a better look over the edge before turning back to Bee and letting out a smile that radiated all of the same glory as the freshly setting sun.  "Shit dude, I think that I'm having one of those moments with you right here n right now.  Though, that's not saying much cause I feel like we have those magical moments like, every time we find something to do together."  A jolly chuckle would erupt from his chest as he slunk back down into the water.

"I knew you were a bro the moment I saw the sick Danna, but I had no clue how much of a homie you would turn out to be."

There was a long pause, as his gaze drifted away from his bro and up into the sky as the last fiery fingers of orange were beginning to yield to the umbral stands of night.  The first of the stars were beginning to shine as he chewed his lower lips softly.  "Have...I ever told you what it is I do for a living?  What my family does?"

"I mean..."  Orion paused, his jaw setting tight as his mouth turned into a prison locked beneath ivory bars.  His fingers tapped anxiously along the plaster edge of the pool.  "You're not wrong bud, defo not something I'm super comfy talkin bout."  One knee bounced lightly under the water, ripples barely obscured by the jets of bubbles.  "But like..."  one hand would wave through the air as if to summon the right words to say.  "I feel like the shit gives greater context to...everything?  Or maybe I just feel guilty for not telling you?"  With one last sigh he would close his eyes and lean his head back onto the edge.

"I do backroom fights in virtual reality."

The words hung heavy in the ensuing silence as he let that sink in.  "And like, one good win is enough to set me up for a couple months livin comfy but...shits grizzly and I've had to deal with some fucked up shit."  His hands would cease their tapping, balling into fists as he continued.  "So I gotta say man, the joy this place brings to me.  The...help that it's offered after a long night of getting the digital shit beat out of you, or worse, it feels real fuckin good to log in and hang with a the homies in a beautiful world filled with beautiful souls."  

He'd force his eyes to open, glancing upwards to the now shimmering stars.  "And man...the therapy this place has been, and the way its given me a healthy outlet for so much shit...fuck.  I owe you a couple beers."

"People sure do love to watch the show and don't think twice about what it takes to make the elephants dance."  

He'd hardly even thought about it, Bee being broiled alive in the videogame industry.  He had no idea how much Bryan was involved in the actual dev cycle of the game.  Though the PR nightmares this game produced alone would probably drive him to drink.  "But like you said, it's something I'm damn good at.  And when the going is good it's better than drugs dawg.  The thrill of clawing a win and a bag out of nothing is..."  A chuckle would bubble out from his throat like the warm jets around them.  "Hoo boy dude.  They say don't do drugs, but Adrenaline is all natural baby."

As Bee wrapped an arm around him, he'd mirror the bro's gesture, opening his eyes and shaking his head.  "I think about all the shit in my life I wish I could change, and what I would do differently if given the chance.  But then I think about it and..."  the silence that followed him trailing off was disturbed only by the gentle sway of branches in the wind, and the distant shouts of joyous revelry.  Slowly the stars emerged from hiding, and the inky black canvas of the heavens was filled with a litany of technicolored blurs and blips.


"Between like you, Lucky...Abs...I don't think I could justify changing a fuckin thing."