"We've got a couple more people to hook up with online. Told them we'd be on about nine o'clock, our time. Should give us plenty of time to get you guys set up and grab some food n'stuff before we start."
"Sounds good to me," Jake said as he started to set up a folding table. "We're just doing this in the garage, I'm guessing?"
"Yeah, Dad's still got the basement all tore up, so this is the only spot that's big enough. Sam, could you grab an end of this table?"
Within short order, the garage was set up for the marathon gaming session to follow. The folding tables had been arranged in a square, and a few extension cords allowed them to power up all their machines. Steven brought his tower down from his bedroom, leaving him panting heavily from moving that monster. As he wiped the sweat from his brow, he heard his sister cluck her tongue behind him.
"Seriously? Why can't you just use one of our laptops? That'd have been way easier."
"No way. I want to see this baby at max graphics."
"It's not like you're going to see much of a difference, anyway," Jacob said as he read through the various provided documents. "Says here that this is not the final graphics set. Jesus, these settings. This could halfway cripple my machine as is, and they're trying to make them better."
"What else does it say?" Sylvia asked. She'd just gotten back from running home for her laptop which, despite her monochromatic wardrobe, still remained pink and flowery, much to the private amusement of Samantha.
"Standard NDA stuff. Can discuss on our private site forums, but nowhere else, blah, blah, blah, game is not yet fully balanced, experiment with everything, especially the new multiplayer feature. Honestly, the list goes on and on."
Syl leaned over Jake's shoulder and let out a low whistle. "Wow. Is my comp even going to be able to run this?"
"I got a spare in my truck if yours won't, but it should be fine if you put your graphics to minimum." Steven was unquestionably the tech junkie out of the four, and seemed to have the latest of everything, and often multiples to boot.
"Kay, cool. Is this me over here?" Syl pointed to the sole empty table and began setting up without waiting for an answer. As she set her stuff out on the table, she kept talking. "Not sure if making it so graphically intense is such a good idea. That'll really limit their pool of buyers, won't it?"
"Hard to say. Anatal has always been a blend of RPG and turn based tacticu-holy shit...!" Steve had turned towards Sylvia while speaking, and was greeted with quite a sight. It was already a bit warm in the garage, and undoubtedly would only get worse. Because of this, Sylvia had decided to take off her sweater, and he just so happened to look at precisely the moment she pulled it over her head. Underneath, she'd been wearing a white spaghetti strap top, which did nothing to hide her lacy blue bra or the titanic assets it was trying to restrain. She was firmly an E cup, if not an F, and given her slim build and petite frame, her breasts looked absolutely huge on her.
Sylvia slowly became aware of Steve's unblinking stare, his jaw moving wordlessly. Already regretting her decision, she slowly pulled her sweater in front of herself. She'd been fairly self-conscious of her body for a lot of years by this point, and was quite uncomfortable with just how well endowed she was. Sam had always been telling her to loosen up, but that was easier said then done. She figured she'd be fine around her friends, since she'd always seen Steve and Jake more like brothers, but apparently she could even have an effect on them.
Steven eventually found his voice. The two blushing teens couldn't look at each other as he picked up from where he left off. "A-anyway, as I w-was saying, Anatal has always been a blend of RPG and turn based strategy, so it's kind of a niche market to begin with."
"And that niche market just so happens to have the most powerful PC's on the planet, do they?" Jacob was currently trying to funnel the extension cord to the outlet under the work bench. He grunted and finally let out a sound of triumph as he felt the plug connect. "You might have the latest thing on the market, but my stuff is generally mid-range, at best."
"We got power," Sam said as she walked over and plucked Sylvia's sweater from her hands. Despite the petite woman's wordless protests, she placed it up on the top shelf, well out of her reach. She turned around and mouthed to her, "If you can't get comfortable around them, you can't get comfortable around anybody. Trust me. Relax."
"Besides," she continued aloud, "maybe they'll have better optimization at launch. Alright, now for those of us who haven't played any Anatal games since the third, what do I need to know?"
"Oh, don't worry. Blackstone reset the time line to the end of the first game."
Samantha just rolled her eyes. "Steve, it's been like, six years since I played ANY of the games, let alone the first. And unlike you, I don't replay the original every summer like a religious ritual. Just humor your older sister and give me a rundown of the story."
"You're only older by, like, 19 minutes!"
"Ah, ah, ah, 13 years."
"Oh for... I don't age a quarter of your speed because I was born on February 29th!"
"Um, guys, could we focus a little here? Backstory? Details? Sam's not the only one who needs a refresher," Jake said, eager to avoid the twins wasting most of the night bickering.
"Alright, alright, alright," Steve said, turning towards the other two. "What do you want to hear about first?"  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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