Sayooshi decided to stay logged in. Meaning, he decided not to spend a little extra coin for a single room for himself at the hot spring inn in the northernmost major city, Kurajur. And nobody new, at least no Player, entered the inn. So, his only options were to either bother the two other Players in deep discussion with one another, go to RemixHorizon and inevitably be forced into a roleplaying experience with Krafty, or stand in front of an AFK player hoping for their return into the game world.

As much as it pained Sayooshi, he decided to finally get off his high horse and ask RemixHorizon directly. Besides risking the attention of a no-good roleplayer, another risk was posed by his ignorance to whether inns in major cities like Kurajur automatically protect Players as a sort of safe zone or not, which they do but Sayooshi was not sure. Plus, Sayooshi is stingy with the money his character owns. It is not uncommon for many Players to safe hoard their money in Divine Mortality. Not because everything in the Overworld is ridiculously expensive so people barely spend money, but there are a variety of instances when having a sizable sum of money at hand is proven useful. Also, the open-world economy is often in flux and is somewhat unstable due to that, despite (or because of) a single currency system implemented for the entire game which allows relative skyrockets in demand or an unnecessary abundance of certain stuff. And so, in general it’s sometimes dangerous or unprofitable to spend too much money at bad timings. In example, in a single week the price of a parchment of paper could flip flop radically depending on the region or accessibility of the market between regions. But alas, Sayooshi is actually very stingy, above the average Player because the average Player wouldn’t care enough about saving a bit of money extra on an almost necessary expense.

It must be greed.

Alright I’m just wasting time if I sit around here too long. It’s pointless being so disgusted by roleplayers, it might as well look like I’m scared of them or something ridiculous like that. It is a ridiculous situation after all. But I must get used to it if I am trying to accomplish something as ambitious as creating a long-lasting government.

Heh, in the real world it’s never as easy as it sounds. And it isn’t very easy in a video game like this either, full of all sorts of Players and limitations. However, it's certainly a lot more doable. I want my own Player Government, and so I must create it myself if I want to have it. But at its core it should follow a different style, different from the other Player Government, because I don't want to repeat my experience I had with the very first one...

As Sayooshi thought to himself, we stood up from his seat next to a lone table, past the other players inside on the first floor, and past the stairs to walk into the outside courtyard where the hot spring sat. He was still in a Party grouping with RemixHorizon and saw both of their icons on his top left viewpoint. On the opposite corner, the top right, the zone map indicated that RemixHorizon was still indeed in the hot spring. But, as soon as Sayooshi widely opened the door in a rush of confidence, he only saw the bow carrying topless chubby (like himself) Sunmel character spinning around in a trance like dance. Sayooshi quickly shut the door.

“Nope. Nope nope nope. What was that? … Anyways, I’ll just go back to the counter and-“

“help me, help me… Hey dumbass come back!”

That voice belonged to Remix, it was feint but it was certainly Remix thought Sayooshi. It was behind the door he just closed, but last he saw there was only a spinning fat catman and no ninja in sight.

“I heard someone asking for help, but I don’t see them. I wonder where they are…and why can’t they help themselves?”

Before attempting to walk off, Sayooshi said his on-the-nose remark out loud in artificial coyishly fashion. But a second later Sayooshi heard a boom behind the door. And so, curiosity got the best of him.

“Ho ho ho! No ninja can escape my adorable-loving clutches!”

“Get away from me, stupid airhead!”

“Ho ho ho! Is that the right way to say that?”

“Please get away from me, enormous airhead. Literal weirdo, let me out!!!”

“No no no. That is not proper language!”

“What the f**k, sh***y fat***…I can’t reach far enough to open the damn door. Open it other weirdo! I saw you open it before closing it instantly, get back here!”

“You mustn’t use such vulgar language! Instead, try insulting me with “fiend” or “scoundrel”!

What have I stumbled myself upon? I already knew I hated roleplayers because of how they act like idiots. They like to imagine things that aren’t real, so much so that its very creepy. I already knew I was the antithesis of roleplayers because I can’t understand how it’s normal for anybody to imagine themselves in an unhealthy fiction. Besides literal actors who are serving a societal purpose, for normal people to imagine like roleplayers do is indeed super creepy. Unlike them, I imagine things that are useful and serve a purpose, things which serve a real function. I mean, I’m playing a video game which initially doesn’t seem useful in the real world, but in the scope of entertainment it at least provides gameplay with functional mechanics that have real causes and effects. But... but that, there is no rhyme or reason for it to be even happening. what is happening in there? I don’t think I should know. Probably craziness…I’ll just walk away

“HEY! Don’t you try sneaking away, what the heck! I can literally see you on the map, “party member.””

“Remix, I really don’t like roleplayers, so…please deal with it yourself.”

“And you think I do?! Just open the bulls**t door already!”

“Calm down that was just a joke, okay I’ll open it. Don’t see why you can’t”

“Stupid joke man! Hold on-don’t open it yet!”

RemixHorizon spoke too late.

What both Sayooshi and Remix did not realize after their initial meeting with Krafty, was that after Sayooshi left back inside the inn, Krafty had laid a magical snare trap which spawned a sheet of slippery floor ice after Remix attempted to leave. Despite the obviousness of warm temperature around a hot spring, since the courtyard was outside it took longer for the ice to melt.

But most importantly for the sanity of Sayooshi at that specific moment was his unawareness of what laid waiting for him in front of the door. As soon as he opened it, an equally tall and chubby being stood seemingly patiently waiting in the face of Sayooshi’s point of view. With the simple “/smile1” emote text command that Krafty enabled right when the door had opened, horror filled Sayooshi’s real world soul.

“Oh no. I told you to wait.” Now calmly spoke RemixHorizon.

Unaware of even the ability to do so in Divine Mortality, Krafty who did not have any item or weapon equipped, used his VR handles and ingame character’s ability to manually grab a hold of another thing in the world. This thing was Sayooshi. The poor roleplaying chubby Elf, unwillingly after a moment of despair was flung into the courtyard and straight inside the watery hot springs.

“Splish splash goes the Elf!” Yelled Krafty. He no longer appeared as an average roleplayer, but a maniac. A real freak inside of an online video game.

After both Sayooshi and RemixHorizon got stuck together in a room with a seemingly legitimate strange fellow, they of course both planned their escape. Using various means of communications, mostly just their Party’s direct communication voice chat, they used all sorts of non-damage dealing abilities to try and save themselves from Krafty. But Krafty, while not able to keep up with all the spells and abilities unleashed by them, still somehow managed to keep the two of them inside. This was unfair, borderline cheating! Both Sayooshi and RemixHorizon thought.

Eventually, after a few minutes which felt like an eternal battle, they both gave up the idea of forcing their way out. Instead, the two of them sat almost completely underwater in the hot spring bath except for their character’s eyes remaining fixated in hatred against the chubby round Sunmel, who sat on the other side of the pool. Krafty continued rambling on in a roleplayer mode conversation, never dropping their character. A character which remained eccentric, arbitrary, and creepy for Sayooshi. And since all three of them were no longer moving because they decide to submit and sit inside the hot spring too, Krafty almost instantaneously decided to switch from communicating via his voice to simply chatting in the local area text chat. Meanwhile Sayooshi and RemixHorizon continued to complain next to each other using their two number sized Party.

“Why did this have to happen. I almost want to quit the game for today, but I can’t leave it like this. I especially don’t want my character to sleep in the same water that this creep is bathing in.”

“Sigh, and how do you think someone like me feels like? With two weirdos harassing an innocent person like myself.”

“First off, I’m not a weirdo. My name is Sayooshi. Second off, it’s your fault we’re in this mess.”

“What the heck are you talking about! How is it MY fault?”

“Well, you’re the reason why we’re in this hot spring. Who just runs up to a random guy wanting to see their cat character model? And don’t tell me you haven’t seen a Sunmel character before in this game. Around a third of the player base is playing as a stupid feline.”

“Oh. My. God. Are you one of those dudes who is obsessively racist to Sunmel and Snowmel?”

“No way, it’s just a video game…”

“Exactly. So why are you so hard on hating on them? What’s so wrong with checking out another Player’s character anyways…”

“I’m not hating on them; I’m just wondering why you thought it was a good idea to run up to a fat cat? Don’t tell me you thought that this guy was cute?”

“Do you seriously need to take everything so literally? I didn’t know that guy was a freak. His Player model is just funny… and so I wanted to see it up close.”

“So, here’s what happened. You wanted to see this guy’s Player model because you think it’s cute because he’s round and orange haired. But soon you realized that he was a roleplayer and he basically forced you to roleplay with him, so you tried to escape. That failed, and now you dragged me into this hellhole.”

“Pff…I just think you’re jealous. Your character model is round and ugly, but he’s cu-I mean better looking…and anyways you forgot to mention the part where you tried to sneak away after I called for help and when you opened the door at bad timing despite me warning you seconds before doing that.”

“Yeah, literal seconds. I’m not a robot so I can’t respond so quickly…”

Their slightly toxic discussion came to an end. It was abrupt due to the gradual build up of the atmosphere. A strange Sunmel Player continued to ramble on in text chat, they typed in a strange and erratic fashion which just tired out both the Players. They couldn’t bother reading all of that spam, and even if they wanted to the things that Krafty typed into chat were just too confusing and effortlessly inserted in.

And while both Sayooshi and RemixHorizon had been talking to each other on voice chat, their voices were emotionally intertwined, and it both drained their energy to further try to comment on one another’s faults. Since the two are invested Players in an online social world, they were still introverted individuals who resembled most of the core playerbase. The playerbase which dominated the world compared to other players because they simply spent much more of their time inside another world. Their meeting had occurred a while ago, during the Overworld’s nighttime. But now, dawn was quickly fading into the night sky as the colors above changed. Both Sayooshi and RemixHorizon noticed this, and even without feeling the real warmth of the hot springs, the atmosphere created by the steam certainly reminded the two of the immersion which they felt inside the game world. Arguing over minor details was pointless.

In the silence, Sayooshi realized that he was still continuously wasting his time sitting next to a crazy roleplayer in a virtual bath. But he no longer felt the urgent desire to leave as soon as possible because the atmosphere’s immersion set in. As long as the hot spring’s mist was carried upwards towards the sky, the longer Sayooshi was content doing nothing while relaxing his backside as he leaned backwards both in game and in real life.He briefly thought that now was perhaps a good time to already break ties with RemixHorizon, who was simply a stranger he met just a little while ago. For Sayooshi, RemixHorizon was like a nuisance which couldn’t be let go off.

Yet, Sayooshi’s first impression of RemixHorizon was not as a mere nuisance. What Sayooshi truly realized in this time of relative calmness, was his gradual ever-growing curiosity he had gained about RemixHorizon. The ninja-like Player who did not immediately attack him for the sake of ganking another Player, but instead for another reason... actually, in all honesty… Sayooshi had already forgotten why they both fought each other in the first place. And besides the bad mouthing they had between one another, Sayooshi couldn’t help but feel a unique bond forming within him towards another Player. The last time he shared this type of bond was when he met Kafeorkoko who he had saved and helped at the Copper Dungeon. The two then spent a week often playing together. However, that feeling soon dissipated because quickly after Sayooshi joined the ranks of the Chocolate Milk Kittens as a fellow guildmate, the magical bond he felt was lost because he began focusing on his selfish desires within the guild rather than continue spending time with Kafeorkoko. And even before meeting Kafeorkoko, a few months ago in Divine Mortality he did bring in a real-world friend over to play alongside him within the first Player Government, but that real-world friendship broke down causing Sayooshi to leave the Council of Adventurers…

I think…I actually-No… I WANT to be friends with RemixHorizon.

Sayooshi did not speak in the same tone or pattern of speech as RemixHorizon. Their personalities differed a lot. But there was something which Sayooshi understood. He was lucky enough to experience a unique encounter in a cool atmosphere, by chance, with another Player. A random Player who was still sitting next to him. And he hoped that this Player would continue to be near him. Since Sayooshi rarely felt this level of desire to learn more about another person. Half shut eyes in the real world stared into his VR helmet and his room remained silent outside the headphones Sayooshi wore on his head. But, despite his shut eyes, his soul shined, fluttering in anticipation. The anticipation of a possible friend, a friend who he met on equal snowy grounds. A friend that might even join him on his selfish adventure, a self-imposed quest for the sake of fun…

The real-world face of Sayooshi smiled. And since his audio was still transmitting to the Party’s voice chat, the happy chuckle from Sayooshi softly reached RemixHorizon’s ears.

“Hey, weirdo. What are you thinking about? Oh! Did come up with a plan to get the hell out of here?!”

But Sayooshi’s chuckle turned into a stupid laugh which prevented him from forming a coherent sentence, so he instead used his keyboard out of convenience to quickly type a short message which Krafty could also see since it automatically reached local area text-chat.

“Do you want to create a Player Government with me?” the message read out.

Krafty’s text-chat spam which had devolved into boring and confusing roleplay-style messages instantly stopped.

While Sayooshi was busy physically laughing and RemixHorizon confusingly smiled, Remix became further confused and on top of that already tired and annoyed after reading the message and letting out a:

“Huuuh? How’s that going to help us get out?!”