34 GnG Planet Cafe

QJ logged off and sat up in bed. It was a bit after midnight. He walked into his bathroom and splashed some water on his face. Seeing his sister smile like that had really been nice. He glanced at his reflection in the mirror. "They deserve some happiness."

He walked back over to his bed and lay down; unable to sleep, he stared at the ceiling. Had GnG been up, he would have logged in to grind some levels. A movement by the door caught his attention. Someone stood in the doorway watching him. She held a finger up to her lips.

QJ didn't hide his surprise when Robin sat on the edge of his bed. His room had been mapped with a VRP, so she could interact with most stationary objects. He quickly got up and shut his bedroom door since that was one thing she couldn't do.

"We didn't get to spend any time together tonight." Robin reached up and let her hair down. She waited patiently until he sat back on the bed.

Her orange hair hung over her shoulders, she raised a hand toward him, stopping before it touched his chest. She knew it would push through since he was in his world's body.

He leaned back on the bed, smiling. "That definitely won't work, Robs."

"No?" She moved over him, carefully straddling his waist. She made sure not to touch him; sinking through him would break the mood. Being a rogue, she had masterful control of her body.

He couldn't feel the heat of her skin nor the weight of her body on the bed. That didn't stop him from staring. He gasped in shock when she gripped the hem of her white dress and pulled it over her head. "Robs..."

Underneath her dress, she wore a white lacey slip with thin straps. Her lips curved in a smile as she slid the straps down her shoulders. Slowly her hands caressed her breasts; her breathing was loud in the quiet room.

QJ felt like his blood was heating up. Robin was beautiful and dangerously sexy. His throat felt dry. "How far are you taking this, Robs?"

"Far," she whispered. She let one hand slide under her slip and past the waistband of her undergarments; she closed her eyes and moaned softly in the room as she touched herself. She looked down at him; surprisingly, he had disappeared. The hissing sound of a VR chamber door closing caused her to glance behind her. Her smile widened.

QJ logged directly into his bedroom a moment later; Robin was lying back on his bed, one hand still touching herself. She watched him undress and then reached up when he hovered over her. Their lips brushed softly at first, then became more urgent as their bare skin touched.

She cried out softly when he entered her, her ankles wrapped around his waist. She kissed him deeply, moaning into his mouth while pushing her hips upwards against him.

An hour later, they lay intertwined on the bed, Robin had pulled a blanket from her inventory, and they lay together beneath it. They talked quietly, sometimes seriously, other times joking. After a while, Robin rolled onto him, and they made love again. This time was slower and less urgent; the end brought them both gasping as they held each other close.

Robin watched him, her head propped up with one hand. "So, who was your first? Ru, maybe?"

QJ grinned at the rogue. "Maybe... it's a bit hazy now. How did you know that?"

She shrugged. "I heard that those Silverleaf women plied you with wine and then took advantage of you."

QJ laughed at the complete misrepresentation of historical fact. "I stole a barrel of Brandy from Leah and Em's warehouse. Then, after taking refuge in the Silverleaf tents, a group of us drank most of it."

Robin's sexy smile widened considerably. "The son of Q and Tal, stealing a barrel of brandy? That's a very roguish thing to do."

"Agreed. I only remember Ru and Belle being there."

Robin kissed his chest, her hand caressing his face. "Belle? As in Mali's Belle?"

QJ nodded. "I don't think Belle drinks often. That was two years ago; she kinda avoids me nowadays."

Robin laughed at the look on his face, "I'll make sure the Silverleaf women don't come around the Keep."

"That's fine with me. I'm surprised none of them are working there."

Robin raised an eyebrow, "Oh, they applied. I just turned them down."

Tal and Quinn were enjoying some after breakfast coffee at the kitchen island; the sound of a truck pulling out of the garage caused the blonde engineer to spring into action. She walked into her son's room and, a moment later, came out with a thick notebook.

Quinn frowned disapprovingly. "What are you doing, Tal?"

She made a face at her husband, "I shouldn't go in there, but I can't help myself. Do you know what this is?"

Quinn sipped his coffee. "Is it a secret porn stash?"

"What? Of course not; QJ doesn't have something like that."

Quinn sighed heavily. "I feel like I've failed him as a father."

"Very funny," Tal scooted closer to him and opened the notebook. It was hand-drawn plans of a building. "He's building something at Pop's old place. Naomi and I spent an hour trying to figure it out."

"Any luck?" Quinn asked.

Tal shook her head. "Both of us were stumped." She turned the notebook's page, studying the drawing. "This must be something else. Maybe it's related to what he's doing."

Quinn leaned closer as Tal went through the first few pages. "It looks like an apartment building. Lots of amenities, including pool, exercise area, and rec room. It even has a cafeteria."

Tal shook her head in amazement. "The walls are embedded with virtual overlays and real-time mapping. It's designed to exist in both worlds at the same time. Every door, every appliance can be operated in VR and the real world." Tal whistled softly. "Real-time overlays, several pages are missing from the middle."

"Maybe he's worried about snoops," Quinn stated.

"I have to show Naomi these designs." Tal glanced up, ignoring his words. "Do you know what he's trying to do?"

"Make it so families that include virtual people could live together." Quinn leaned closer when she turned the page and read the notes in the margin. "All real groceries would exist virtually; when you cook something, the virtual equivalent would also be prepared."

Tal pushed the notebook toward him. "I could spend more time with my daughters, more time with Leah and Mojo. Talk to your son, Quinn."

"Huh? What for?" Quinn closed the notebook.

"I want you to have it built; get QJ onboard." Tal snatched the notebook back and headed out toward the front door. "I'm going to talk to Naomi real quick before I put this back."

Quinn raised an eyebrow causing her to pause. "Might be overstepping a bit, Tal."

Tal looked down at the notebook, her pretty face turning red. "I... of course, Quinn. Talk to QJ first; I shouldn't have snooped."

"No worries, I'll keep it secret. I'm good at that." Quinn smiled to himself; he had noticed a certain person had logged into the house for several hours the night before. He made sure to delete the log record before his morning run.

"Isn't it early to start munching?" QJ grinned at his co-pilot; she had opened the bag the moment they pulled out of the driveway.

"No such thing." Lotte noisily chomped on her chips, occasionally offering QJ one. "I skipped breakfast, you know."

"Why would you do that?" QJ had picked her up at 0800; after stowing her wheelchair in the bed of the truck, he helped get her situated. She had brought several bags worth of junk food.

She smiled at him, "I was too excited." She wore white capris with a light blue buttoned shirt. A blue ribbon in her hair completed the look. "Think Breeze is crazy in real life?"

QJ laughed and nodded. "Without a doubt." He glanced at the dash hud, he could program the truck to auto-drive, but he liked the feel of doing it himself. "We'll stop in Henderson and pick up Sato, then turn South towards Flagstaff."

An hour later, they pulled into Henderson; QJ tried not to laugh. There was literally nothing in the town. It had two gas stations and a grocery store. "Didn't I tell you?"

"Oh... well, I'm sure it's a nice place to live." Lotte had the window rolled down while she scanned the area for their classmate. "There!" She pointed toward one of the gas stations.

A carrot-top teenager with a big smile waved at them; he hugged the older woman that he'd been standing with and then ran towards the truck.

"Nice truck!" Sato threw his bag on the floor and jumped in the back seat. "Wow, it's great to see you both in real life!" He shook hands with QJ and high-fived Lotte.

He was covered in freckles; his bright hair was nearly orange. He had recently been out in the sun, evidenced by his red face and nose that was peeling.

Lotte turned in her seat so she could see him better. "I hear the servers will be back sometime tomorrow night."

"I can't wait. I didn't get a chance to explore the keep before we had to log off." Sato reached into his bag and pulled out a small cooler. "Drinks?"

"Yep." Lotte accepted a coke and then handed one to QJ. "Chips?" She offered Sato her half-eaten bag, which he gladly accepted.

"There's a lot of extra stuff that comes with the Keep. Quests, Instances, and all sorts of gear." QJ gave them a mysterious wink.

"You're a Baron! Have you seen your property yet?" Sato was a second-generation gamer like QJ; both his parents played GnG on the Legends server.

"Nope, not yet. It's called Briar Rose; kinda excited to see it."

"My dad says that you really have changed events on the server. The first title usually takes more than a year."

QJ shrugged and grabbed some licorice that Lotte handed him. "We just got lucky, really. Everyone in the guild scored some major faction points with the Keep Raid; it won't be long until more titles are given out. Try and do some faction quests."

Sato nodded. "That's my plan. I guess Briar Rose is supposed to be really awesome. According to lore, it's a bit run down, but you can fix it up.

Lotte looked surprised. "Does anyone own Briar Rose on the Legends Server?"

Sato brought up his hud and showed them images of the property. "This property remained empty in the other servers; it eventually burns down and is never rebuilt."

"Wonder why it was never awarded." QJ sent Anna a quick note asking her to look into everything involving Briar Rose.

Sato glanced back down at his hud and continued reading. "Lore says it was the property of the King's Uncle. He died of natural causes, and the place remained empty ever since."

Three hours later, they arrived in Flagstaff; their prearranged meeting place was the GnG Planet Cafe.

They pulled up, and QJ unloaded Lotte's chair before helping her in. Sato held the doors for them as they walked into the airconditioned restaurant.

QJ couldn't help but smile when he saw Breeze. She was standing near a table and waving with both hands. "I guess that's our table."

"Breeze!" Lotte grinned and accepted a hug from her favorite Chero.

Breeze squeezed her tight before letting her go. She then hugged both Sato and QJ. "Wow... I didn't realize how orange your hair was." She ruffled the redhead's hair with both hands.

QJ Removed a chair from the table and let Lotte park herself. Breeze, in person, was a very attractive girl. Long black hair and dark skin, she had mentioned she was half Navajo on her mother's side. Her dark brown eyes always seemed to shine with humor.

"Nina's not here yet?" QJ looked around the restaurant; it had a Guns and Gore theme. There was even a poster of Chained Lightning on the wall. He smirked when he saw it. "Hey, look, it's the second fastest gunslinger of all time."

Lotte pinched his side when he sat down next to her; he knew she had the same poster in her room. "Technically, the fastest since Q is not actually a Slinger."

QJ laughed at his classmates, who were all nodding in agreement. "Oh, come on, that's lame. Dad being a TAP player shouldn't matter."

"I agree." A pretty Asian girl with short black hair smiled at QJ. She had approached when his back was turned. "I'd say it was definitely a fair match."

QJ picked up his menu and glanced through it. "Just a Bacon Cheeseburger for me, please, Coke to drink."

"QJ," Breeze whispered his name, causing him to look up. The rest of his classmates were all staring at him.

"Hmm? You guys not ordering?" QJ glanced back at the woman, who surprisingly took the chair next to him. "Wait... you aren't Nina, right?" He'd only seen her Avatar, so he really had no idea what she looked like irl. (In real life)

"Definitely not Nina." She pulled out a pencil and wrote his order down. "How about you guys?"

The rest of the table stared at her, their eyes wide. None of them said a word. The woman's dark eyes didn't leave QJ.

"Are you fast like Q?" She leaned toward him, one perfectly manicured hand playing with her short hair.

"Me?" QJ shook his head. "Nowhere near as fast. Perhaps .28 on a good day, but honestly speaking, I'm way more accurate."

"That's a serious claim." She laughed lightly, "can you back it up?"

"Um... for a free meal, I'll back it up." QJ grinned at her; nothing like a wager to liven things up.

"Gutsy. How about a game of Squares?" She stood up without saying anything and motioned for QJ to follow her.

Squares was a mid-range handgun game. Bizzaro had huge tournaments every year. There were 36 small squares set into a large square. These squares had two sides, one blue and the other red. When you shoot a square, it will flip colors. To start, there were 18 blue squares and 18 red ones. The object was to claim the most squares inside of one minute.

"Wow, this is a really nice setup." Two generic Navy Colts were locked to the game; no reloading was required. He noticed that his opponent took the blue side, so QJ stepped into the red area. "I'm QJ, by the way."

She smiled pleasantly. "Chainy."

"...." QJ.

"Let's wager, anything you like if you win." Chainy grabbed the holster and belted it on.

"Sweet Mother..." QJ looked back at his friends who hadn't left the table. A purple-haired girl had joined them; apparently, they were filling her in. "That's a big waver; what happens if I lose?"

"Q's your dad, right? I want a rematch." Chainy crossed her arms in front of her; she could definitely see the resemblance between QJ and her nemesis.

"Er... that's not my call." QJ brought up his hud and waited patiently until his dad's face popped up.

"Hey QJ, what's up?" Quinn was obviously in Ravenwood; his twenty-year-old avatar hadn't changed.

"Kinda stepped in it a bit," QJ explained the wager and how he had thought Chainy was their waitress. His dad burst out laughing halfway through the story.

"Heya Chainy. How're things?" Quinn grinned from his son's hud.

Chainy leaned closer so that he could see her. "Hey Q, been a while."

"You have my permission to wager QJ; however, I'm going to need a favor." Quinn grinned at his son; he loved it when things fell in his lap.

QJ sighed. "What favor?"

"I happened to see your notebook with the VR/RL building plans. I want to push ahead and have it built. Our family needs to spend more time together."

"Just happened to see it?" QJ frowned at his dad, "it's not even finished yet."

Quinn shrugged as if he didn't care. "That's fine. Yes or no?"

QJ nodded, "Yes."

Chainy grinned at Q. "Be seeing you soon."

Quinn laughed at her statement. "Yeah... dream on." He signed off without another word.

QJ strapped on the holster and looked at his opponent. "Anything I want is too vague."

Chainy shrugged. "Name it then."

"If you lose, you start a new character on the Phoenix Server and join our guild." All of QJ's advice came from either Anna looking it up or his dad. Chainy was a legitimate GnG player who had played high-end content on the Legend Server.

"You want me to play on the new server and join your guild?" Chainy threw her head back and laughed loudly, "I didn't expect that."

QJ held out his hand. "Step up or tuck your tail between your legs and retreat."

Chainy shook the offered hand. "I'm in, let's do this."

"No way." Nina stared at her classmates. "Holy shit... Did QJ challenge Chained Lightning?"

Breeze shook her head, "nope. It was actually Chainy that challenged him."

"A bit of a sneaky way to get a rematch with Q." Sato had never been a huge Chainy fan; his parents knew her fairly well. "I'm gonna stream this." He brought up his hud and started streaming it to Ringo.

Lotte clapped her hands, "Let's go, QJ!! This is so awesome!" Her loyalties weren't torn at all. QJ had become someone important in her life. She would root for him even against her childhood idol.

[GnG Planet Cafe System Message] Squares will begin in 10 seconds and last for one minute. 10...9...

QJ took aim at the first blue square; there were many different strategies. You could play defensively and reflip your own squares after your opponent flipped them. You could try and flip a few squares and then play defense. He preferred his own strategy, complete blitz.

He took a deep breath and waited patiently with this finger on the trigger. The squares lit up, and QJ tapped the trigger three times; the first three squares in the top blue row flipped to red. He continued shooting and making his way down; he wasn't paying attention to his opponent yet. When he reached the bottom of Chainy's rows, he saw that he was two full rows ahead of his opponent. He immediately started on the last square she shot and moved upward, quickly flipping them back to red.

Chainy finished the row and started chasing him upward. He never missed, his finger pulling the trigger and flipping the squares methodically. By the time the buzzer went off, he had extended his lead.

[GnG Planet Cafe System Message] Red Side Wins 26 to 10

Chainy stared at the Squares, then down at the gun in her hand. She flung it at the game and then stomped off without saying a word. QJ watched her storm away; he felt a bit embarrassed when his classmates started clapping, and the rest of the cafe quickly joined in.

Nina stood up when he came back to the table; she hugged him. "Holy crap, you really pissed Chainy off."

"Hey, Nina!" QJ grinned at his purple-haired companion. She was one of the few GnG players who didn't insist on being called by her character name.

A waitress had come by during the Squares game and took everyone's order. She had also notified them that lunch was on the house.

The group ate lunch together, talking and laughing. At first, Nina felt awkward; her juniors often teased her in school. Everyone at the table ended up challenging QJ to a game of Squares; it was a ridiculous beat-down.

"Damn, QJ, I didn't realize how fast you could shoot." Sato shook his head and glanced back at the table. "So... three months on an island, Nina or Lotte?"

QJ laughed, "this again?"

"Answer QJ!"

"Lotte."

After the restaurant, the group found a Go-Kart track and spent a few hours racing around the track. Lotte won half of the races; the rest of her friends only won once. Afterward, they found a nice park and relaxed under a pavilion.

Nina opened up the cooler she had brought and passed everyone a beer. "Thanks for having me; I like meeting up in real life."

"I see QJ every day; we are neighbors." Lotte clinked her bottle against his.

Breeze sighed heavily, "that's so lucky. I want to see you guys every day."

Lotte snuck a glance at her neighbor, "QJ has a house. An empty one."

"Huh?" Breeze.

"Pardon?" Nina.

"For real?" Sato.

QJ smiled, "it has six bedrooms. Way too big for just me."

"I'll room with you, QJ!" Sato also lived with his parents; they would probably cheer if he moved out.

Nina stared awkwardly at her feet. "Are you inviting us, QJ?"

Breeze and Lotte grinned at each other and then turned their smiles on him.

"Um... sure, okay. Let me look into it, and we'll talk about it in a few days." QJ wasn't in a rush; he enjoyed having his parents and Anna close.

They visited late into the evening before finally saying their goodbyes. QJ put the truck on Auto Drive and joined his two classmates as they slept all the way back to Henderson.

It was after midnight when QJ pulled back into his garage. He escorted Lotte back to her front door. "Thanks for coming today!"

Lotte smiled and opened her door. "What are you doing in the morning? The server is still down.

QJ tapped his chin. "Let's see... Going to work on a project for the first half of the day. Then I'm going to help you with physical therapy, then check in with Ringo."