Chapter Text
Mob shook the box a few times, hearing whatever object was inside rattle about.
Verity let him continue for a few seconds, before throwing himself toward the box flaps. The flaps spread, revealing the sentient yellow ball. His surface texture was adjacent to human skin.
“What the hell is this?”
Verity smiled at Mob, unblinking. “Hi, I’m Verity! Your personal helper friend. I know everything, ask me anything,” he said. No hesitance, as it was a practiced sentence. Rehearsed for the umpteenth time, to the umpteenth player. Verity had been abandoned time and time again, but this time will be different. He’d make sure of it.
“Alright, buddy.”
“I’m for real! Stop laughing at me.”
“Okay, what’s 2+2?”
“4.”
Mob dumped Verity out the box.
Verity winced as he bounced a few times, then snapped back to his friendly expression once he gained his balance.
Mob dropped the box. “Okay, what’s the capital of France?”
“Paris.” He rolled the r.
Mob nodded. “Okay, so what- What’s the blast radius of a creeper?”
“Three to four blocks, depending on difficulty.”
“That’s just from wiki.” Mob looked behind, then back at Verity. Then behind again, and fled away a few blocks. “Okay, anyone could know that, bro. I’m not-I’m not gonna take that shit.” This entity might seem friendly now, but it’d probably end up being creepy, right? That was such a common trope.
Not even a minute had passed, and Verity had been abandoned.. His lips flattened. Then went back up, slightly. It was fine. His plan could still work.
But then, turned around again. How much did this thing know? His curiosity drove him back, in spite of his previous rationale. Decisions were certainly not his strong suit.
Verity watched the figure grow as it got closer. He smiled fully again.
Mob bent over, peering down at the yellow orb. “Okay. Something you can’t google. What biome am I standing on?”
“A plains biome.”
Mob blinked. “Alright, you- you might be useful,” Mob said, words slurred as he was in slight disbelief. “I’ll bring you with me.”
“Yeah!” Verity squished himself to the ground, then shot up, as if he was pumping his non-existent fist.
Mob picked him up. “Verity,” he tasted. “Verity, what was that?” He looked down at his floating hotbar, then poked the dots below. A holo screen popped up before him, displaying his inventory which consisted of nothing but Verity. He poked Verity, and saw his name pop up beside his icon again. Verity, with the tiny branding of ™ in the upper right corner of it. “Trademark? Why do you have a trademark, Verity?”
Verity stayed silent.
Mob closed out of his inventory. “Okay.” He switched to his second item bar. “Alright, well,” he hesitated, while he walked to a random tree, “what’s up guys, I guess?” He broke down a few oak logs. “Uhm, today we’re going to be playing modded VR minecraft. I think you know already. One of my friends on Discord sent it, and I literally don’t know what it’s about.”
Verity shrunk back in the hotbar. He’d rather talk to other people he couldn’t even see than him? Really? ..Well, they just met. Of course Mob wouldn’t like him that much yet.
Mob opened his inventory again and turned his logs into planks. “Well, now I know it’s about Verity, but you know what I mean. I’m not sure what’s that much different about the mod, because, well, there’s Verity, but is that it?” As he ranted, he turned his planks into a crafting table. “We’ll just try to, I don’t know, get some iro-” his voice cracked. He cleared his throat. “Holy voice crack.”
Verity felt the urge to snort, but due to his almost-first words being, ‘Stop laughing’, he held it in. He didn’t wanna be a hypocrite.
“We’ll just get some iron,” Mob repeated, no voice cracking this time. “And build a house, and maybe a lookout.” He built a wooden pickaxe and an axe with his crafting table, then broke the crafting table to retrieve it.
A home, just for the two of them. Verity sighed contently. How sweet, unlike the soon-to-be sheep massacre.
Mob jumped on a sheep, hacking down on it with an axe. Everytime he struck, it flashed a pale red.
Due to Verity being born on the internet, in his eyes, the scene was much more detailed. Layers of exposed flesh separated from wool and bone. Blood spewed from its wounds. But, like Mob, he didn’t react. He’d seen it so many times, after all. After the sheep’s hearts were depleted, the dirty wool turned clean, and its sloppily cut meat turned into perfect slices.
Mob continued his process until he ended up with 5 slices of raw mutton, and 3 pieces of wool. Then, he went to the mines. Mining 20 coal for a few torches.
Mob probably needed more, but Verity stayed silent. Wanting to see how much Mob could do on his own.
Mob had traveled down, deep in the cave. “Look at this. A torch barely illuminates two blocks, bro,” he whined. He rolled his sore shoulder around, watching the light from the surface above barely reach him.
Half an hour passed as Verity waited for Mob to ask him.
Eventually, Mob returned to the surface. “So, I spent the entirety of day one in the caves and found absolutely nothing, he admitted. “Alright, let me- let me talk to Verity.” He took Verity out, and placed him down. “Verity, what sound does a cow make?”
Verity stretched upwards as he perfectly recreated it.
Mob blinked. “Wait, you can actually do that? What sound does a creeper make?”
Verity stretched sideways, as he once again recreated the sound Mob wanted.
“Okay, what sound does a-” He looked away. “Okay, this shit is dumb. What am I even doing?” He looked back at Verity. “Wh- uh. Verity, where are the nearest diamonds?”
“Y level -58. 73 blocks Northeast.”
“Holy-“ Mob jumped back. “Okay, you might be useful, but if this is wrong, I’m uninstalling you.”
Verity chuckled as Mob put him away. “I tell the truth, and only the truth,” Verity said, voice muffled.
“We’ll see about that.”
.
.
.
“I’m running out of torches, lowkey,” Mob mumbled, as he mined coal pretty close to the coordinate Verity told him about. Once he finished, he went down, and saw those beautiful, juicy-looking diamonds. He moaned.
“Excuse me?“ Verity wasn’t sure how to react, but Mob seemed happy, so he should be too, right? Maybe Mob might’ve been too happy, though.
Mob paused. “Okay, first of all, pause. I don’t know why I moaned like that. Uhm, let’s forget that. And second of all.” He brought Verity out of his hotbar, holding him in his right hand. “Okay, Verity! I see you.” He smiled down at him.
____
“Is it gonna rain tomorrow?" Mob asked.
“Yes.”
As Verity predicted, it rained the next day.
__________________
“Hey, Verity, how do I get more views?”
“You have me.”
“..Okay?”
__________
Mob went to the nearest village with Verity’s guidance. Traded and got some good deals. Then, he had settled in some desolate corner of the world. With only him, and Verity.
Mob laid sideways on his bed, looking at Verity who was above him for once. “Today was pretty productive, right?”
“Mhm!”
Mob laid on his back. “Uh huh.. I suck at cooking. What should I have for dinner tonight?”
“You had pizza yesterday. Maybe something healthier today? Like a salad.”
Mob blinked. “I.. did have pizza yesterday.”
“You can ask me anything, I know everything.”
Mob scoffed, “Right, right. Forgot.”
Verity rolled onto Mob’s chest.
“Verity?”
“Goodnight.”
“Goodnight to you too, Verity.” Mob smiled, confused, a little disturbed, but he found it somewhat cute.
“Goodnight,” Verity repeated.
Mob logged out of the simulation. Causing the round chamber of his gaming capsule to open up by itself. He stumbled out of the seat, legs lazy after sitting all day. He lunged at his desk, where his phone was, and ordered a steak salad.
——————
Verity rolled to the door. “No offense, but are you gonna fix this? Or was this intentional?”
“Fix what?” Mob tilted his head.
Verity broke the grass block under the door.
“Hey, what-“
He replaced it with a wooden plank.
“..Oh. Looks good.”
“I know.”
____________
“Hey, Verity. Is there another village nearby?”
“Yes, south. But I would avoid the one to the east.”
“Why?”
For the first time in front of Mob, Verity hesitated. “Uh, the villagers are gone.”
“Gone like, they despawned?”
“Gone.”
“A-“ This was the first time Verity had been so vague. What happened to the East Village that made him like this? So, driven by his curiosity, Mob headed to the East village.
“No, no. Turn around. You’re going to the Southern Village, okay?”
“I just wanna check something.”
Verity was fairly calm for the first few chunks, but as Mob ignored his directions, his smile fell. “I said, I would avoid the one to the East.”
“Why? Is there a raid there or something?”
“No.”
Mob smiled. “Then, what? More mod content?”
“Well, kind of. But, listen, you can’t go. There’s something there, and it’s hungry. So hungry,” Verity gritted.
Mob held Verity again. “Wait, your expression changed?”
“Don’t go.”
Verity was so hesitant. This had to be important. So, Mob began sprinting East. “It’s for the fans, sorry!”
Verity sighed, “Fine. This is better for me, anyway.”
In the Eastern Village, a lanky yellow figure coated in crimson roamed. It held a roasted hand that it sucked the skin and collagen off of. Once it spot Verity, it walked away. It wasn’t time yet.
Verity grimaced at his counterpart. After witnessing this sight, who would wanna stay? That was why, now was a good time to start his plan. Even though it was happening much earlier than he thought.
Suddenly, Mob felt shocks swim through his whole body, like millions of pins pricking him. He fell to the ground. Was the gaming capsule malfunctioning?! Why now? He trembled. He closed his eyes, trying to block out that extremely bright light. It was as if he was looking at the sun up close.
Now, Verity could make sure Mob would stay here, forever.
Mob’s hands clenched. Loud buzzing rattled through his head.
Verity scanned Mob’s brain. Mob’s gaming pod had been designed to simulate touch signals through the brain. So, with access to Mob’s machine, Verity would also have access to Mob’s brain. And he could do whatever he wanted with it.
Mob stirred.
Verity was now able to copy Mob’s consciousness. But, he postponed it, since the original Mob hadn’t abandoned him yet. So, instead, he just decided to place Mob in a deeper immersion. Removing the pain limits, increasing sensitivity, and improving the graphics.
“You alright?” Verity asked, expectantly.
Mob opened his eyes. “Huh..?” Everything looked so real now, besides the UI system.