A Virtual Reset (VVR AU)

»»---- Introduction ----««

"What do you mean I'm being too childish?!" A voice spoke out, trying to keep calm.

"There's no need to raise your voice, all I'm saying is that you should be keeping to yourself and getting to work on time." Said a man, much deeper than the other's.
"I'm not even raising my voice, and I've been trying to get to work as fast as I can!"
"You're bothering other workers around you, you're slowing down our progress."

The man was sat, back-straight and straight to the point. On the other hand, the person "raising their voice" was slumped in their seat, absolutely tired with this.
"It's not my fault that my coworkers are boring, did they used to be more talkative before taking up this job?" They leaned their arm on the armchair, this talk that they and their boss were having was pointless.

Out of every job they've had, it's been the same complaints, as if they don't even qualify for any. "It doesn't matter if they are boring, you're an adult, grow up." This only made the worker grimace. "Listen, I've just been trying to liven up the mood is all-" "And make a fool out of yourself!" Their boss barked, "This is not a playground for you to mess around in, stick with the program and be like all the other workers, or else." He spat, "Or else what?" A slam was heard, causing the worker to jump, "Don't talk back to your boss!" He was starting to crack. "Can't you just--" "QUIET!"

Silence filled the room, and the man slowly moved his fists off the table. "You're fired."
"What?"
"I said, you're fired."
They were flabbergasted, he was firing them for things that aren't even that big of a deal? They could've just been given another chance, but no. "You're kidding me, right?" The worker let out a breath they didn't know they were holding. No response was given, "Alright, fine, you know what?" They quickly stood from their seat, and turned their back, "I didn't want to work here anyway." Was what they mumbled before they left and slammed the door.

Keys jingled, while the door creaked open, and the couch creaked with a loud huff. The fired worker had returned home to their friend's apartment. They were lucky that their friend allowed them to stay here, since they were barely surviving with the little money they managed to make from being fired from so many jobs. It was getting late, and they supposed that they should start sleeping, but nothing was tiring them out at the moment.

So, they decided to watch TV until they fell asleep. Reaching for the remote, the TV switched on and channels were being flipped through. As they switched through every channel, searching for something good, their mind wondered off. Were they really too childish for these jobs? Really, it just seemed like every worker's soul has been sucked out of their bodies, never had they seen such dead-seeming individuals.

Back then, they thought that every worker at all the jobs they had would be a bit more alive, enjoying their jobs and having funny chats over coffee and tea. Adulthood didn't seem that hard, if anything it was intriguing. Guess they were wrong. Maybe they'll work at some farm instead of working with these lousy people.

Nothing fun was coming on TV, and before they nearly slipped into sleep, something caught their attention. "Activitude, taking place in the world of Virtual Reality, come join!" Their head perked up. It was showing images of strange objects, robots, and things they didn't really know how to explain.

Suddenly, they remembered that their friend had mentioned about the company, and suggested that they could try working there. Though it never really came to mind that they should, but they were now reconsidering.

The commercial was about working with AI clients, virtually. It sounded nearly unbelievable, and pretty much bizarre. Were they talking about the real thing? There's no way that humanity has developed enough to where AI was actually sentient. Though, it did pique their curiosity. "Well, I did get fired, and I don't have too much money.." With enough pondering, they decided that perhaps this was their chance to earn some bucks. Looking around, they spotted a nearby notepad and pencil, realizing they should be writing down the information the commercial was spewing out.

After a bit of writing, they had called the phone number of the company, signing up to join and work there. Then, they called their friend and asked for a favor. "Hey, yeah, is it fine if I could borrow a couple hundred bucks?" They sheepishly smiled.


After a few days, the doorbell rung. "I'm coming!" They yelled, rushing out of the kitchen and sprinting towards the door, a big smile on their face. They swung the door open, signed their signature on the paper held out to them, and brung their package inside. Setting it down on the table in front of them, they fell upon the couch.

"Wow, I really owe you one." They said, as if their friend were nearby, although they were out of town. Excitement was bubbling inside of them, their headset and controllers were just inside the box, ready to use for their upcoming job. Grabbing the scissors, and cutting the box open, they lifted the objects right out and admired it. "I think now's the time to head into work, can't believe I stayed up the whole time last night." They chuckled. "On second thought-- I should drink some coffee before starting my new job, I don't want to fall asleep right in front of my boss or any of my coworkers."

After taking a sip of their coffee, they made space around the room and set up the headset and the controllers. "Hopefully these sentient AI robots aren't going to be exactly like those text-to-speech sounding robots." Thinking about how silly this was at the moment, who would work for robots? Shouldn't these AI people be working in the real world, doing real things? No matter, all that was important was putting on the headset and diving into the VR world.

Finally, putting on the headset, the world around them changed. The tech that they had bought was straight from the people at Activitude themselves, it wasn't the ordinary tech that millions of other people had bought to play virtual games on. So this was very surprising to them. It was pitch black, while there was a loading screen in front of them. Then, a ding.

All of a sudden, colors spilled from the middle, and they were now in what seemed to be a blue room with a few small islands. There was a radio on the left of one, playing a joyful little tune, while in front of them was the logo of the company, Activitude. In the very middle, a plus button to create their user. Astonished by their surroundings, they couldn't help but stand there and look around for a little longer, enjoying the music while they're at it. "I can't believe they managed to program a calm introduction like this, I thought it'd be more..dull looking. Like a silent grey vast room." After a while, they lifted their hand and pressed the plus button.

The color of the atmosphere flashed different colors, while the plus was switched with a rectangular loading box. Once it was full, a chime rung out, and the environment faded back to black. The uplifting tune was gone, and now It sounded almost like typing, or some sort of code being written out at the moment. Then, a new song filled their ears, and the black void disappeared out of sight. A voice cut through the music, sounding enthusiastic as ever.

"Hello, and welcome to Activitude!"




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AGDSHA IM SO EXICTED I hopE yall enjoyed this first part!
I know some parts of it sounds weird, i probably could've rewritten a few bits here n' there and made it sound better butimstill not the best at writing so R
I'll be working on the next part tomorrow, but for now I'll be making this story public! :D
I'll also add a drawing at the top tomorrow as well, it's supEr late right now n' I don't feel like getting caught SHSD

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