i wanna feel lethal on the inside, i wanna read american psycho again

> Dave: Explore.

"You... You guys are seeing this too, right?" You read over the pop up for the umpteenth time. Guess Jade was right about it being the game after all. God damn it.

"Yeah," they all reply in unison. "Why would we need extra lives..?" Jade wonders aloud, and you don't want to think about the implications that has. So, like any respecting Strider would do, you rant about it.

"Well, I mean, it is a video game. I would expect there to be a system like that in this game, especially with how off-putting the whole demeanor of it is. The whole 'three lives' thing is so cliche, though," you roll your eyes, "what is this, Mario? Or, actually I've never played any original Mario games that aren't some variation of Mario Kart. Holy shit, now that I'm thinking about it, that's actually crazy. Does the original Mario game even have three lives? Or is it five? Why did Bro never teach me about the fucking radness that is the original Mario games? I'm assuming they're rad, obviously. If something got that popular in such a short amount of time, it's gotta be like the greatest game in existence. Shit, man, I gotta play this now. John, do you have any of the original Mario games? You seem like the type of guy to have the whole collection or some shit. Aw fuck, I'm getting off topic, but that's a good question, Harley. I don't think any of us are in immediate danger at the moment, but maybe it gets harder as it goes on? I hope that we don't, like, actually die. Do you think this is like Jumanji? If we die in the game will we die in real life? I sure fuckin' hope not, I got a whole life outside of this game, you know, with my Bro and shit. Like, macking on girls and stomping down the streets of Texas together like two total douches, but nobody really cares cause we're just that cool. Come to think of it, I haven't been outside the apartment that much recently. I should get on that, spread my wings or whatever. Like a fuckin' bird leaving the nest except I'm not leaving I'm just going to get food cause despite my bird dad's bird job, and his obscene amount of bird currency, he just can't seem to provide for our little nest of two. Best thing he ever does is sleep, and he barely does that. We're still talking about birds here, let's keep the bird dad talk strictly metaphorical. You know how it is. Shit man, I wonder how he'll react realizing I just fell through the floor. He'll probably be, like, bird worried. Pulling a bird handkerchief out of his bird pocket and-"

"Dave, I mean this in the kindest way, but please shut up." Rose's voice cuts you off, and by the sound of it, her headache hasn't subsided. "Yikes, sorry Ms. Lalonde. Headache that bad?"

"All this chlorine," she says the word chlorine like it's the bane of her existence, "definitely isn't helping."

"Chlorine?"

"Yes, my good acquaintance, John, chlorine." You don't miss how John got demoted from friend to acquaintance, and neither does he, because he lets out an offended, "Hey! You haven't even told us where you are yet, why would I know that there was chlorine with you? Isn't that stuff deadly?"

"Yes, the element Chlorine, also known as Cl, is deadly. What I'm talking about is the chlorine they put in pools to help sanitize it."

"... you're in a pool?"

"Yes!" She says exasperated. "I am in a cold, chlorinated, indoor pool, John."

"Well that doesn't sound so bad-!"

"Fully clothed!"

"... oh. I didn't think about that." You almost snort at him.

You've been sitting here talking to your friends for a little over seven minutes now, and you love them, you really do, but it's starting to get boring as fuck. The pop up in front of you dissipated awhile ago, so you look in front of you and the opening to the abundance of lemon colored corridors and suppose it's about time to go walking about. Not like there's anything else to do here, anyways. Your friends are still talking in your ears as you take a deep breath and straighten your back against the wall you've been leaning on. Once you're sure you won't fall over from dizziness, you start walking.

"Hey guys," you break into the conversation, "I'm walking around a bit. Just thought I should let you know." You hear them all say "okay," or "alright," and then Rose sighs heavily.

"I suppose I should also get out of my... watery imprisonment."

"Cool." You check out of the conversation once you hear water splashing and dripping against tile, but are brought back into it abruptly when you hear someone say your name. You've officially left the room you spawned in, and holy shit you think that's the only kind of "room" in this whole place. You marvel at the plentitude of square golden arches in front of you, and now that you're thinking of it, you kind of want McDonald's.

"Dave, what does your place look like again? I remember you saying it was yellow, but that's about it." Jade questions you in her usual upbeat voice. You walk through a threshold, noting the different patterned wallpaper that still seems familiar.

"Yeah man, it's just like, really fucking yellow. And there's just a bunch of walls kind of randomly placed perpendicular and/or parallel to each other, and there are those cheap ass rectangle lights and..." You look up. "Smoke detectors, I guess." You huff out a laugh. "Random as hell," you mumble, and Jade hums in the way that she does when she's thinking.

"That is really strange."

"Yyyyup." You run a hand through your hair and take a left. "It's kinda like a maze." You hear Rose's heels echo in the background. "Listen guys, I'm gonna put you in my sylladex so I can focus. I'll check back in an hour or so."

"Are you sure that's a good-"

"Okay, Dave! See you later."

"Bye Dave!"

"Later." You captchalogue your headphones and look behind you. A series of walls form separate pathways, all familiar but so disconcertingly different and artificial, and if it hadn't been for your starting room being different, you wouldn't think that you had progressed at all. You run a hand through your hair again and look back in front of you. The walls pile onto each other, all decently smallish but adding up to miles quickly. You can't see an end. It's all yellow.

This is gonna be a long ass game.