Page 13 of Control

“Sometimes it’s best to attack something like this head on,” I said. “And if things go sideways…well, I guess I can always just rely on my ‘motherly’ charms.”

“Oh God,” Giff said with a laugh. He was well aware of my past. “Do people still call you that? Didn’t you stop escorting like a year and a half ago?”

“Once you’re their ‘Mommy,’” I said, “you’re always their ‘Mommy.’ It doesn’t really bother me all that much. At least they’re not calling me Queen.”

“Still hate that royalty stuff?” Giff asked me. “At this point, I don’t even care anymore. If they wanna call me Prince or Spin or Giff, it’s all the same to me.”

“Which do you prefer?” I said, half-joking.

“Shit,” Giff said. “Maybe they’ll call me Daddy!”

“No way I’m calling you that,” I said with a light chuckle.

I ended the call with Giff and sent him my customary leather bound gift, deciding on the song Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush. I knew he was getting into her stuff so I felt it was appropriate. I looked back over to Clover who was laughing and smiling with the group I’d introduced her to. I watched over her a moment as she conversed with her new friends, glad that I was able to help her find some people who would keep her wellbeing in mind.

As I had with Giff, I went into my HUD and prepared a black, leather-bound notebook for her as an in game gift and applied my signature to it as well as a song to help commemorate our meeting. After some thought, I decided to go with the song Two Weeks by FKA Twigs which felt like a good choice given our little adventure. I set a timer for the gift to be delivered 30 minutes from then.

I went back over for a bit to wish them well and to let Clover know that if she needed me, she could send me a message anytime she liked. Seeing that I was needing to head out, she stood up and hugged me as tight as she could. I gave her one last kiss on her cheek, but I could tell she wanted it elsewhere. Instead, I raised my hand up to her face, extended my finger and playfully touched the tip of her nose while making an audible “boop” which caused her to laugh. I waved goodbye to everyone and within a second, I was back in my personal domicile where I could think for a moment on who I would or should call on to see if they had the information I was looking for. I realized I could very easily find myself going down a deep, dark rabbit hole and I needed to make sure I was ready for it. Even with all the protections in place in Aurora, there was still the chance for a certain level of damage to ones’ mental state. Most of the people in the game are decent and aren’t looking to cause anyone else harm, but for others that is their only goal.

CHAPTER 7 - THE HOUSE OF FLIES

I TOOK A some time to look over the messages that had accumulated in my inbox as well as the gifts that were sent my way. I made sure to send back thank you notes for them all as I didn’t want to appear to be dismissive. Most of them were digital trinkets and gold from old clients that were hoping that I might one day return to escorting in some capacity. It probably wouldn't happen unless something life altering changed how I operated within Aurora. One of them was from an old friend named Sylvio that I met back when the game was still in Alpha. He and I were among the first to get into the game which is why I was able to secure a simple three-letter name like Ana.

Back then, there were plenty of significant bugs and unfinished parts of the game so if we ran into a major problem, the game would automatically port us back to a central room that was stable. We’d run into each other there often as both of us loved to explore the various maps Aurora had back then and they’d often bug out. This was long before player created rooms were available. Those went live a few months after I started when the game moved into open Beta.

I knew going in to any room and asking questions with my title displayed wouldn’t be a good idea. I didn’t want to immediately be recognized so I went into my HUD and turned it off. There were plenty of places I’d never been to in the game since new rooms pop up every day, but my face was all over Aurora. With all the photos I’d taken with other players over the years, the videos post of me online, and my overall popularity, there was a chance that even though I’d not actually met someone that they could still recognize me. I knew I could always change my looks up enough to not be recognized by my face, but I couldn’t hide or change my name so they’d see through that ruse easily enough. Plus I was certain if I changed my looks and got found out, it would only make me appear as if I were doing something shady. The one alteration I chose to make to my outfit was to add a small hooded cloak to help conceal my high ponytail which had quickly become a signature style I was known to use most of the time. If I later felt this was unnecessary, I could always turn it off in my HUD and it would simply disappear from the view of other players completely.

I chose to check out a room called The House of Flies where people like to gossip and it doesn’t take long for rumors to spread from there. I knew a few people that liked to go there and figured I could also look around and listen for any random chatter that might be going on. Before heading out, I did check the World Chat Boards where people from all over the game can talk about any random things without being in the same location and I’d not seen any mention of a hack.

I teleported in at the rear spawn point where most people don’t hangout. Not all rooms have spawn locations in the back of the room but this one did, usually to avoid any mass grouping of people in a single area which can cause major pile ups of people trying to enter all at the same time. Once in, no one paid me any mind which was exactly what I wanted. I didn’t try hiding my face because I felt it would make me stand out even more so I just acted casual as I used to when I was out escorting and looking for a job. The cloak did enough to conceal most of my recognizable features.

Looking around I did see a few familiar faces, but didn’t really remember them unless I looked at their profile which, for a number of them, I did. I found a good spot by a table where it looked like a large group of people, perhaps 20, were all talking amongst themselves. I pantomimed going through my HUD with my fingers like so many other players do as to not seem out of place. After about ten minutes of listening, I didn’t hear of anything having to do with hacks or personal information so I moved on. I started walking over to another area of the room when I spotted someone in the crowd who I’d not thought to contact as we didn’t talk much anymore after a small clash of personalities.

Dutch was someone I met shortly after the game moved to Open Beta. While not among the first players like myself, he did manage to secure himself a simple and memorable single syllable name. He’d made a name for himself as a gifted and suave lady’s man, having managed to get a vast number of them to join him back at his apartment for a night of lustful action. To any other man, he was a stud while most others viewed him as a womanizer or a “Fuk Boi.” During my time as an escort I’d run into him various times and even stuck up for what I felt was a decent friendship with him. After finding out that he’d taken to convincing women to send him real world money, I lost a lot of respect for him and we eventually got into a heated argument.

He’d argued that they didn’t have to send him money if they didn’t want to, but he’d never turn it down if they offered. He also argued that it was no different than what I did as an escort. The problem I had with his approach was that while I made it very clear what service I was offering in exchange for their payment, he used manipulation, coercion, and even gaslighting to get them to give him money. We were absolutely not the same. Still, I knew he always kept his ears open and often stumbled upon various bits of information about certain individuals that I’d find in my orbit which is why I was willing to talk with him this time.

After a moment of hesitation, I decided to approach him since he was alone and having a drink at the edge of the short but well adorned bar the room had to offer. I carefully crossed the carpeted inner portion of the room which held several round tables where other groups were congregating to discuss the latest hot gossip from around Aurora. I took the barstool next to him and waved off the bartender when they approached me to take a drink order. I was certain the barkeep recognized my name, but in keeping with his profession said nothing and went about his business serving other customers. Dutch didn’t turn to me as I pulled myself up to the bar. Instead he took another sip of what looked like whiskey with a single cube of ice out of an unfrosted glass tumbler. After sipping, he clinked the ice around inside his glass as if looking for a way to amuse himself.

“You lost?” he said while still looking into his glass as he held it in his right hand, the ice still moving around inside. “We don’t get a lot of royalty down in these parts.”

“And you still don’t,” I said back to him, making sure to keep my voice low as to not draw any unwanted attention to us.

“I know it’ll piss you off if I call you Queen,” he spat back to me. “But you can’t deny most people treat you like one. At least to your face.”

“I don’t ask them to do that,” I said as I looked over his face from the side, his profile showing me his stern and strong nose that jutted out as far as his grizzled and scarred chin did. “And I’d strongly prefer if they’d stop but I’m not going to be a bitch about it.”

“Still Miss Considerate,” Dutch said as he took another sip. “Kind of crazy. In the real world if you were that nice you’d get your ass handed to you, but down here with all of us mental illness junkies, people just love you.”

“Being a decent person isn’t that hard,” I said to him, resting my fore arms on the edge of the bar. “But I guess you wouldn’t know much about that.” Hearing my words, he stopped clinking the ice around in his glass. He sat there motionless for a moment, after which he took the remaining amount of his whiskey down with one large gulp.

“I don’t do that shit anymore,” Dutch replied as he sat his glass back down on the bar. “Got to be too cumbersome. Too many people coming back and getting angry with me.”

“That tends to happen with you manipulate people.” Although I was there for other reasons, I couldn’t help but give Dutch a little hell for what he’d done.

“If you wanna talk shit to me about it I won’t stop you.” He tapped the side of his whiskey glass with his fingers as if somewhat nervous, motioning to the bartender that he’d like a refill. The barkeep strolled back over and refilled his glass with a couple of ounces and set it back down on the bar top over a napkin before sliding it back in front of Dutch. “If it makes you feel any better, that fight we had back then got me thinking.”

“About what?” I asked, wondering if I had made some sort of impact with the harsh and angry words I’d thrown at him at the time. I remember getting so worked up over it that I’d made sure to give him the full slate of points I’d thought of as to why what he was doing was not only unethical but also immoral.

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