"Play peasant?"Lancelot asked teasingly.
Merlin shot him a sheepish look."Something like that.Anyway, now we're here together, we can go hard.The trick will be getting Morgan into the game.How do you get someone who doesn't give two shits about video games to try a brand new, max level game?"
Lancelot gave him a look."What's her name in this world?"
"Still Morgan,Lance."
"Martin," Lancelot retorted with a grin."Why not do ityourway?Well, one of your ways."
Merlin laughed."Sorcery or seduction?I guess.Feels like cheating or something, but I guess that's a dumb way to think about it."
"She wouldn't hesitate if your positions were reversed.She'd—" Lancelot forgot everything he was going to say as Merlin set a plate in front of him that was heaped with so much food it could feed his entire apartment floor.It would last him at least a couple of weeks if he stored everything properly and doled it out carefully."Is this… is this all for me?"
"Yes, every bite of it.Eat up.We'll pack what you can't finish, or throw it in the fridge for later."
Lancelot nodded.Times like this, his past memories and his current ones clashed and matched in strange ways.He'd been poor for most of his previous life, as he'd not taken his mother's wealth and power with him when he'd set out, and even after being 'Arthur's greatest knight,' he tended to live frugally, like Merlin, rather than extravagantly like so many of his so-called peers.Most knights eschewed living like the nobles who kept the court thriving.When you were worried about whether or not you might survive the next battle, how many silk tunics you owned became irrelevant quickly.
Though he was sorely tempted to just start grabbing food by the handful and shoving it into his mouth as quickly as possible, Lancelot forced himself to act like he was more or less civilized and used chopsticks instead."What kind of meat is this?"
"Beef."
"Like, real beef?From real cows?The ones raised like northwest of the city or something?"
Merlin smiled sourly."Yeah.We get weekly deliveries: beef, pork, and chicken.Daily deliveries for things like dairy and vegetables.Goat, mutton, other things are by request.So what do you do for a living when you're not back to work as a knight?"
"You mean when I'm not getting my ass kicked by—" Lancelot stopped, anguish ripping through him, chopsticks slipping through his fingers.
"What's wrong?"
Lancelot laughed, the sound cracking in the middle as the urge to cry nearly got the better of him."That knight we fought, that you saved me from just in time.It's Gale."
Merlin's eyes widened."No.How did I not— Oh,no.Lance, I'm so sorry."He jumped clear over the bar as though it was nothing and pulled Lancelot into a tight embrace."We'll get him back.Whatever it takes, we will bring him back to you."
Lancelot nodded jerkily, sniffling against Merlin's shoulder before drawing back and retrieving his chopsticks."I couldn't believe it when I realized.He has a collar around his throat with Maleagant's marks all over it."
"Collar of Binding, more often called a Collar of Enslavement.I can break it, though not easily, and the longer it's been in place, the harder it will be, but itcanbe done."
"Good."Lancelot resumed eating."This is delicious."
"I'm glad you like it."Merlin walked around the bar this time, retrieved his own plate, and they ate in companiable silence until Lancelot was near to bursting with food.And still his plate was a third full.He watched as Merlin put it all away, then followed him up a set of stairs that seemed plainer and more utilitarian than everything else in the house, then down a lavish hallway into a bedroom that could fit at least twenty of his apartment."Who needs this much space?"
"Rich people, for their fragile egos.Come on, my personal set up is through here.I've got sufficient for three players, and I've already started ordering what I need for more.Going to do an entire setup downstairs in one of the spare rooms, enough for ten people."A door slid open as they reached it, and lights snapped on, revealing three fully-immersive VR sets, the phonebooth style, though Lancelot hadn't known what the hell a phonebooth was until he'd played a retropunk game back when he was a kid, had been dragged into it by a fellow student he'd been crushing on.They'd moved away months later, and Lancelot had gone back to the high fantasy games he preferred.
There was constant debate over what was better for long gaming, which was a gaming session that lasted more than eight hours.Everyone agreed sitting wasn't great, but between lying down and standing up, there was endless arguing.Wasn't even a price-point debate, as they evened out by the end of it."Nice rigs."
"Thanks.Even before all this, I've always been an ardent gamer.I thought that was something we'd all have in common, but Morgan could not give less of a damn about VGs.But as this is clearly going to be vital to the war we're trying to win, I've already ordered some more.Had to do some finagling, order them all from various places, with alt addresses and reroutes and forwarding, so nobody would question why so many top of the line rigs were going to one address, but they should all be here in a couple of days.In the meantime, we've got enough to get by.Shall we do some exploring together?Morgan won't be home for a few hours."
"What about your other friend?The one you were with before?"
"He can only play on his days off, and he's on a ten-ten schedule.We won't see him for eight more days."He looked pensive but said nothing, only stepped into one of the booths and motioned Lancelot to take the one on the right.
"You think he might be one of us?"
Merlin hesitated as their booth doors closed, and their conversation shifted to the built-in coms."Maybe.I think he uses an alt-av not a match-av, which makes it hard to know which knight or mage he could be.If he is one of us, I'll figure it out eventually, and at worst, we'll realize who he is when it's time to wake him."
"Why couldn't they just wake with you?"Lancelot asked with a sigh.Merlin didn't reply, but Lancelot hadn't expected him to.The answer was that nothing involving fate or magic was straightforward or easy."Well, let's see what trouble we can get into it while we wait for your lady love to show up."He mashed thegobutton and closed his eyes as he was pulled intoEdge of Knight.
For once, they didn't start at the tavern, but at a campsite by the lake.Lancelot made a face at it.He loved water, but the lakes around here could all go fuck themselves.
