Chapter 7: Animal Farm, by George Orwell – Part 2

It’s good to have goals, dreams, and ambitions. It’s good to have drive and motivation. Without them, life is just a hollow, pointless, and meandering existence sustained and predicated on the fear of death. Throughout human history, people have struggled to find meaning in their lives. What is life’s purpose? Pondering that is called existentialism and philosophers have agonized over this question for centuries and arrived at no definitive answer. Marcus Aurelius thought one thing, Voltaire thought another, and Descartes overthought everything to the point of solipsism. The truth, if there is such a thing, is that life has no meaning. Nothing in this universe does beyond the meaning people ascribe to them. Existentialism is the simply the price humanity pays for self-awareness, just as worry, doubt, and fear is the price of having intelligence, or income tax is the price of gainful employment. The point is, people have to give their own lives meaning because if they don’t, then there really was no point.

After the spawns around New Haven deactivated, the trio made their way back to town for a well-deserved rest. This time around, they were headed towards Kluck’s, an automated fried chicken chain serving Cajun-style fried chicken in District 4 for their Wednesday special: a 3-piece fried chicken combo with choice of side and drink for only 1200 Zeni. There was a Kluck’s in every district but the one in District 4 was programmed wrong and gave unlimited refills for drinks by default. When they arrived, they found that a small line of maybe 10 people waiting ahead of them in front of the automated ordering kiosk. Then, they joined the line because that’s what civilized people do.

“Do you guys wanna eat here? Or should we go to my place?” Aaron asked.

“Dude. Unlimited refills. That’s why we came here,” said Riley.

“Yeah, man. It’s totally a waste if we don’t get maximum value,” Lucius opined.

“Melon soda’s only going to be here for another week,” said Riley.

“Honestly? Not going to miss it,” said Aaron.

“Me neither. It’s not very good,” Lucius concurred.

“Man, fuck you guys. I like melon soda,” Riley expressed with annoyance.

“Really? What are you, a hummingbird?” Aaron asked sarcastically.

Riley looked offended and audibly gasped. Then, she said, “You did NOT just say that.”

“Knock it off,” Lucius remarked. “She might have shit tastes but she is allowed to have em’.”

Angrily, Riley turned to Lucius and shouted, “That’s it! Turn off your settings – right now!”

In response, Aaron started chuckling to himself while Lucius deadpanned, “Huh. Funny you should mention that.”

It was at this point that a commotion erupted near the front of the line. Though Aaron couldn’t get a good view, whatever it was, there seemed to be a great deal of excitement as a crowd began to form there.

“What’s going on?” Aaron asked his taller friend.

“Ugh. Don’t look; it’s Chad,” Lucius replied whilst rolling his eyes.

Chad #2119 was an A-ranked ranger and also a popular male influencer with a global subscriber count of almost 300,000, which equaled roughly 3% of the estimated Post-Fall human population. He was known for peddling his personal brand of toxic masculinity, something he called Alpha-Energy, which resonated with the multitudes of young men who were desperate to emulate his life of glamour and success. In truth, everything he said was self-destructive nonsense but that didn’t stop him from becoming a male role model anyway. Chad used to be an acquaintance of Aaron’s group – not quite a friend, but they grew up in the same age division so the 4 of them knew each other. Chad had always been a bit of a git but ever since he got famous, Chad had become downright insufferable. Every day, Chad was surrounded by his harem of groupies and entourage of yes men and today was no different.

“Oh no… he saw us. He’s coming this way,” Riley groaned before instinctively trying to make herself scarce by ducking behind her friends.

That however, didn’t stop Chad from approaching the trio anyway. With a practiced smile, Chad confidently made his way through the crowd that had gathered around him until he arrived just in front of Aaron, Lucius, and Riley while his posse formed a human barrier around him.

“Hey guys, how’re you doing? It’s been a while,” said Chad.

“Nuh-uh. Move on,” Lucius said diplomatically.

“You should go,” Aaron opined.

“I will in a minute,” Chad replied smugly. “Hey Riley.”

In response, Riley disinterestedly muttered, “Oh. Heyyy...”

“I’m having a party tonight. You should come,” Chad offered.

“No thanks,” Riley politely refused.

“You sure? It’s going to be fun,” said Chad.

“Nah, I’m good,” said Riley as she bravely stood her ground.

“I think you should come,” Chad pestered.

“I think I’m good,” Riley insisted.

“Party’s being held at The Bull. It’s a Helios star restaurant. It’s going to taste way better than fried chicken,” said Chad.

“I think you underestimate how much I like fried chicken,” said Riley.

“And mashed potatoes,” Lucius added. “Anyone with half a brain does.”

“I bet your fancy restaurant doesn’t have melon soda,” Aaron chimed in.

“Come on, let’s go. She wouldn’t be able to appreciate it anyway,” said Stacy #1147. Stacy was in the nicest terms, a blonde bimbo with wavy hair and huge tits that were trapped inside a metal bikini. She had a lot of custom work done to her avatar and amongst Chad’s groupies, was widely considered the chief executive bimbo. As for her job class in the game, Stacy was a B-ranked knight but her real job was being Chad’s personal toy.

“She’s right,” said Riley. “All I want to do is eat paint chips and lick batteries.”

“Come on, girl. What’s it gonna take for you to gimme a chance?” Chad asked Riley.

“Dude, I wasn’t interested then and I’m not interested now. Why can’t you just leave me alone?” Riley asked.

“Don’t be like that. Everyone has a price,” Chad said persistently. “Just name it.”

“Excuse you; I think you have me confused with a lawyer… either that or a whore. They’re basically the same thing,” said Riley.

“Well, there you have it – not everyone can be bought,” Aaron declared.

“Yeah. Only lawyers and whores,” said Lucius.

“Stay out of this,” Chad warned. His smile was gone now and his face turned stony.

“Mmm, no. I don’t think I will,” Aaron said defiantly.

“Move along Chad. It was pathetic before but now it’s just painful,” said Lucius. “Or is that your move? You wear girls down by making them feel bad for you?”

“Shut up. This is between me and her,” said Chad.

“Nah, it’s just you,” said Aaron.

“What, you think you’re funny? Think you’re tough? How about I challenge you to a duel?” Chad asked aggressively.

“Oh yeah? How about I challenge you to stay the fuck away from us?” Aaron retorted.

“What’s going on?” a voice in the crowd asked while the rest began to murmur.

Stacy looked around, assessed the situation, and then said to Chad, “Come on baby, let’s go. Who cares what they think? They’re just a bunch of losers.”

“Oh hey Stacy! I didn’t recognize you,” said Aaron.

Stacy turned to Aaron and dramatically enunciated, “Fuck. Yewww!”

“Yeahhh. Now it feels like high school,” Aaron remarked.

Feeling humiliated, Chad shook his head and said, “Yeah, whatever losers. Enjoy your shitty chicken.”

“Mmm, okay,” Riley replied without any hesitation.

And with that, Chad raised his nose at the scent of sour grapes and walked away while his lackeys followed close behind, leaving the trio to safely order and enjoy their humble meals.

“So what do you guys want to do after this?” Aaron asked while licking the grease off his fingers.

“Well I’ve gotta go to dance practice,” said Riley. “Harvest festival’s coming up. Just think! Only 3 more weeks until we can shotgun cheesy fries and tacos!”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that,” said Aaron. “I’m glad you’re still doing dance.”

“I can’t believe your dance troupe is still around,” said Lucius. “What’s it been? Like 12 years?”

“Yep. Just about!” Riley proudly replied. “Ever since we were 10!”

Lucius turned to Aaron and asked, “Hey, remember when we used to do karate?”

“Bro, I still remember karate,” Aaron replied. “Shame it doesn’t do anything here.”

“I know. Real World knowledge, right?” Lucius asked sardonically.

“Yeah. Well, I gotta take off,” said Riley before she started wiping her mouth and fingers with a virtual napkin. “I should be done by 20:30. You guys still wanna hang out?”

“Sure, I’m up for that,” said Aaron. “Oh, how’s your equipment holding up? Does it need fixing?”

“Nah, mine’s still in the green,” Riley replied. “Why?”

“My armor’s in the orange so I’m going taking it to the smithy. I’d have taken your stuff with me if yours needed fixing too,” said Aaron.

“I just tuned it up yesterday so I’m good,” said Riley. “Made a whole bunch of ammo too.”

Aaron turned to Lucius and asked, “How about you?”

“Well I’m a healer so I basically never get hit and healing costs very little durability,” said Lucius. “Saving on equipment maintenance is pretty much the only perk.”

Despite their skill-set being very much in-demand, healers are the one of the least popular job classes inside Butterfly’s Dream because being a healer has lots of drawbacks. Healers for example, don’t have much raw damage output so they can’t defeat any mobs without assistance and must join a party to level. Being a good healer is hard and many people verbally abuse healers, even when they’re not at fault. Healers as a job class, aren’t unionized and very prone to exploitation. As a result, compensation is horribly low because the invisible hand has determined that getting remunerated in scraps is the optimal solution. This is why most healers will eventually switch classes to become something else because it’s much easier to switch classes than it is to fight for better conditions. The exodus of healers and the bad reputation of the class stymies healer recruitment, leaving healers in perpetual demand. The job class is broken but no one is willing to do what’s necessary to fix it. Basically, healers are EMTs or nurses only without the sex.

“All right, I guess it’s just me then,” said Aaron.

“Nah, I’ll go with you,” said Lucius. “I need to buy some stuff too.”

“Cool,” said Aaron before he turned his attention towards Riley. “You need anything?”

“Just consumables like high-potions,” Riley replied.

“All right, I’ll pick some up,” Aaron promised. “We meet back at my place?”

“Okay,” said Riley.

“Okay. Then we’ll see you when we see you,” said Aaron. “Have fun at practice.”

“Will do!” Riley chirped before walking off.

After a few steps, Riley abruptly turned back and shouted, “And don’t watch Shogun without me!”