Thundering footsteps reverbrated above her head raining down dust as the floorboards shook with each step. Nezumi frowned, bringing her cowl up to cover her face. The last thing she needed was a sneezing fit because her neighbor was being inconsiderate for those below. Well, neighbor might be a bit generous. It's not like they had ever met nor did she have any intention of striking up small talk. The fact that she was barely 5 inches tall and living in his walls certainly didnt help.
"SHIT!" thuds and clatering followed like somone had run into some furniture and knocked everything on top over.
Now, nezumi may not have officially met her neighbor but she knew enough about his habits to know that this was not exactly normal behavior for him. It was also after 12 on the weekend so its not like he was running late for work which would have made his current mad dash more understandable. Unless he got a schedule change... or maybe he's going to have company. But DnD saturday was yesturday...
"Ugh..." Nezumi groaned, now she was curious. "Just a peek." She thought.
Giving a quick shake to remove the fallen dust from her coat, she turned and began walking in the opposite direction from her initial heading. She could have ignored the clamor above and simply returned to her nice cozy bed to chase off the fall chill as she had intended, but no! Instead she was off to spy on her nieghbor like some degenerate all because her stupid curiosity would not let this go. Her nosiness was going to get her in trouble one day.
Carefully she padded down the hall, her slippered feet not even making a whisper. She had to be careful becuase the vent she walked was metal, top to bottom, and could echo like a yodeler in a canyon some days. Whatever has her neighbor in a fuss might distract him if she made a sound but Nezumi wasn't willing to chance that. Finally she came across a large vent, streaks of light flutter in from between the slats. standing on her tip toes she reached up and slowly moved it to the side, just far enough for her to pull herself up and peak her head out.
The apartment above was nice, a large couch faced a tv connected to various game systems. Closer to the kitchen was a table that was small enough for one person to use without feeling to big but was capable of expandng for when guests came over for the saturday game night. The counter that seperated the kitchen from the living room had a bowl of grapes and some petzels for snacking throughout the day. There were various nicknacks and memorabilia on the wall or on shelves, though she didn't have time to see if there was anything new before a whirlwind of activity blew in from the bedrom.
Her neighbor was looking just a little frazzeled. Brown-red hair going every which way like he hadn't yet brushed it and his signature headband was nowhere to be seen. Despite being well past morning he was also still in just sweatpants and a tank top so whatever he was rushing around for must not be something he needs to leave the house for. Though if it is he has no hope of leaving on time if the full basket of dirty clothes she can see in the bedroom is any indication.
In one arm he seems to be juggling a large box with a picture of a bulky helmet of some sort on the side and his other he seems to be doing his best to choke himself by shoving a convenience store masubi down his throat. By the time he makes it to the kitche table and drops the box he seems to have succeded. Fist thump his chest a few time while coughing before opening the box and pulling out the helmet and a bunch of cords.
It isn't until Nezumi catches a look at the calendar on the fridge and sees November 6 circled in bright red that she remembers something. Her neighbor was definitly a gamer, she's fairly sure he had set up the game system before anthing else when he first moved in. He had also been one of the first, along with his friends, to pick up the new system that came out in May to try it out. It was call NerveGear, supposedly it would allow you to experience games on a level no system had been able to do before. A fully immursive system that allowed the player to experience the game in a virtual environment as if they were truly there. They called it Full Dive.
There weren't too many games out that used it since the system was still a fairly new. Her neighbor had probably boxed it back up when he got bored with the small time games currently out, but she had heard news of a new game in the works. A revolutionay online multi-player which would allow the player to fully immerse themselves in a fantasy world. If she remembered correctly, her neighbor and his gamer friends, had signed up for an open beta of the game a while back. There had been a closed beta a few months ago to help flesh out the broad details of the world experience and hammer out the basic flow of the game. Now the development team was looking for a larger demographic to help fine tune the game before launch. It was supposed to start at 1pm today, the developers had requested those participating in the open beta to log in on time for an orientation of sorts.
Nezumi wasn't sure why he was rushing, sure it was only a couple of minutes to 1 oclock but she couldn't imagine all 10,000 testers would make it on time. The devs would probably give them some time to acclimate and arrive before starting any kind of orientation. She watched as he looked over the nervegear to make sure everything looked ok, double checking the manual to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything since he last used it. Nezumi ducked down when he suddenly turned, helmet in hand. She held her breath as he passed by to the bedroom, only letting it out once she heard the door close. She waited a couple minutes more to see if he would leave again.
"Link Start!"
Nezumi smiled, moving the vent grate aside further to climb fully out. "That should keep him busy playing fantasy hero for atleast a few hours, i'm sure he won't miss a pretzel or two in the mean time."
