Matchmaking and Setting

All VR servers, or 'worlds' as they were called by some, would usually appear on the lobby menu to the users, but those weren't all available servers.

Some of them, like the one where this 'party' would happen, were closed-off connections that needed a certain invite to join.

These would usually have stricter rules than common ones and sometimes would ban avatar customization even.

Even Amy would be unable to sidestep this much, so she was currently waiting for her friend without much to do.

“Maybe I should have avoided messing with her wardrobe to save time…”

A person's wardrobe was both based on the history and on the available pieces on the machine, and both of those were easy to mess with.

It wasn't necessary for sure, but Lily's clothes were a little too bland for Amy's taste.

“No, I am in the right here. How am I supposed to find a match for her with her clothes hiding her beauty? Changing all her clothes to be shinier is not only for my own personal gain for sure!” She shouted to convince herself while looking nowhere.

The empty white room, also known as 'the white room as death' to Amy and Amy alone, has very little to do while she waited though.

She had her unhealthy massive pink dress and all archives needed for her job ready, so it was getting quite boring.

Lily wasn’t answering the chat or any calls though, so there was only one option now…

Spam invite requests until one of them were accepted.

“I apologize to the gods of the internet for I shall now sin.” Prayed the idol with her hand hovering over the screen before unleashing hell.

And then, less than five minutes later, the two of them joined the party.

Amy on her absurd clothes and Lily wearing an overly complex dress with a fur-lined jacket on top.

These clothes were making her very uncomfortable, but she couldn’t argue against how overwhelmingly well they looked.

No matter what, two beauties had suddenly appeared in the ballroom, so now they were being stared at by all the other participants.

The room was a high-class salon filled with several small bars and food tables in which electronic music kept on pumping over the guest's talks.

It was another nonsensical combination to Amy, but that was irrelevant now.

“Good morning, everyone! Or is it afternoon already? Or maybe is night more fitting due to the scenery around here...” She started to ponder while trying to find what time was it.

“Shut up.”

“Ouch!” Amy’s cry broke her speech as she was slapped on the back of the head and then glared at by her friend.

As it was happening, whispering lightly filled the area around them and a single young man started moving closer to the duo.

He also started to talk right as he got close enough without even presenting himself.

“So you actually came, eh, sis? And brought a… A friend?”

“It seemed important, so I came, but sorry about her either way. She’s only here to provide some entertainment… We can also leave right after whatever gramps wants to say.”

Differently from the dark-haired young man with a decent face and a glistening suit, Lily’s answer was much less energetic.

She also was showing obvious displeasure on her face for some reason.

The young man appearing had calmed the whispers though, so it wasn't that bad in the detective's eyes.

How her brother kept on eyeing down the pink-colored idol while he was talking was much more bothersome.

“Is that so...” He commented while ending Amy’s appraisal. “Well then, no need to flee, sis, talk with some of my friends here and maybe find someone to settle down, eh? You can also leave your entertainer around, so I can give her a tour.“

”She’s a singer, Tom, and a very weird one at that. I own some favors to her, so you better not try something…”

“No need to call me weird, but I am indeed a singer.” Cut in the idol while smiling, as usual.

The young man seemed happy to see so, even if his sister was just staring at the exchange with a conflicted expression.

“Do you give private shows? And how fond of over-reality are you?” Tom asked with some hint of expectation in his words.

“Not much, but over-something…? Ow! You are one of the can-people, are you not?”

“Pfft…!”

The idol’s realization almost made Lily burst into laughter, which would call the attention of everyone back to her again, so she forced it in.

Her best to hold her reaction to Amy’s wasn't that good and ended up making the confused young man in front of her more confused.

“Sorry about that. You’re right, Amy, but that’s beyond the point now, ok?”

“I see, I see… First time talking with a can-person, you see?”

“Can-person? What do you mean by that?” Tome kept on asking while Amy and Lily were keeping him out of the loop, but there wasn't much to explain.

It wasn’t a common or even real term, so losing time on it was irrelevant.

Even Lilianna only knew that because she heard Amy complaining about it once and had her explain it all.

For now, all she could do was control herself to not laugh at the poor man who was blinded by the glitter and couldn’t understand that he was being looked down by the smiling singer.

“Ah, that… It is a term of mine, you see? Nothing major and nothing bad... What about we take something to drink and then talk about whatever you wish to, Mr. Tom?” Amy asked doing the best she could to change the subject, and easily doing so.

“Is that so... Do you want some drinks then? I’ll get you something special, so follow me, cutie.”

“That is what he said! I will go with this person for now while you get a target. Got it, Lily?”

She was blinking and doing her best to convey the meaning of her words to Lily without saying too much, but the confused expression on the officer’s face was all she received as an answer.

“A target…?”

“Leave our law-enforcing party-pooper behind, she’s way too much for our mundane business doers and freedom-liking beings.”

“Don’t start, Tom…”

As the talk was starting to sour out, Amy hugged the arm of the young man and started to carry him away while still looking deeply into Lily’s eyes.

She had no mind powers yet though, so it did very little.

“We are going. Find a target. See you later.” She said while rushing away.

”B-but…!”

Without hearing whatever Lily had to say, and pretty much dragging the smiling man towards the drink bar, the emerald-eyed girl went away.

Almost all other eyes in the room went with her though, but her focus was still watching Lily in case she needed support.

“What are you trying to do, dammit?!”

Her target for support had no idea of what she had to do though, which was an oversight.

“Excuse me, miss…”

Luckily, it seemed that destiny was helping the officer's case as a voice she didn’t recognize called her from behind.

Lily turned around almost by reflex, but her sudden movements stopped when she saw the classy and well-built blonde man that was there.

He was wearing a lavish ornated jacket and pants, both in military fashion and that summed well for a quite impressive handsomeness.

At least, it was true for Lily.

“Hmmm… Do I know you?” She asked while fixing her posture as much as she could.

“Oh, sorry about it, miss. We know each other, yes, but I don’t think you would remember me...”

The handsome man started to apologize while keeping a proper posture and trying his best to not invade too much on Lily’s personal space.

This much wasn’t enough to make her less wary of anyone who would approach the company’s president’s granddaughter in an event such as this one though.

“So, you’re someone who works for gramps or something? I’m not connected to his business and whatnots, so don’t even…”

“No, no, it’s not about business or anything of the like... I’m your grandfather’s bodyguard, security chief, and secretary sometimes, but that's beyond the point. My name is Richard, by the way." He presented himself before going to where they met at first. "We saw each other a few times at other events, but you usually left very soon and I never had the chance to talk...”

Richard made a small curtsy as he presented himself and then smiled at the officer, bringing a little red to Lily’s face even if she was still suspicious.

“Right… So what? Are you another 'buyer' gramps sent after me? That damned old man’s shenanigans were half the reason I left this place to begin with, so don’t even try, ok?”

Lilianna’s grandfather was someone who would walk around with a lot of security, so it wasn't weird that they both had seen each other already.

Said security was usually of the very private and paramilitary kind though, so Richard was probably almost a mercenary in some ways.

It was still suspicious when a corporate goon like him went for a conversation with her about something unrelated to her position though.

This much, at least, she was being very open about by her expression.

“Well, sorry for making you raise your guard so much, miss. I only called you because, well, because I also don’t have anyone to talk with around here. And since a beauty such as you seemed free…”

“Don’t you have to protect gramps or something? I think he’s late too, but he should be here soon.”

His words were cut out mid-sentence, but the mercenary didn’t seem to mind it too much.

Nothing more than some cheap pick-up text was all he had either way, so a normal talk was much better.

“The president is just fixing his appearance once more since he’ll be giving some important news today. Giving him a customizable avatar here was the end of his record of never being late...”

“I would complain, but I don’t have the right this time.” Lily said while remembering how she almost had to be dragged to the party with how long she took.

“Well, at least it gives me the chance to talk with someone who’s not my subordinate and who can avoid the same subjects as usual... Even the ladies on our team will spend more time talking about guns and muscles than doing anything else.” The man complained with a handsome smile.

“Seems like hired-gun isn’t doing much for your social life, eh?” Snarked the dark-haired beauty as an answer.

“It should be a little better than being a cop, but I’m doing depressively bad on this front for sure." It only amounted to drawing a dry laugh from Richard and a slight counter-punch though. "And being a bodyguard for someone who now can’t do much more than spend his time on virtual reality is a little…”

”At least you’re not being led around by a pink thing you barely know if it’s a human or not.”

Both their pairs of eyes went to the pink girl having a drinking contest with the younger Norcraff and then back to each other.

“Now that sounds interesting. How did a cop end up with such a 'colorful' friend?”

"Let's say that her way of evading questioning is finding the person who holds the answer, even if you can never guess how she does so..." Lilianna hinted with the few times Amy solved her problems in mind.

"Looks like a useful friend to have."

"She kind of forced her way into this position, so I would spend more time complaining about her than praising her good deeds."

Finally seeing as if Lilianna had lowered her defenses, both of them started to smile at their complaints.

They seemed to have some very similar ones though and it eventually brought the proposal that their far-away viewer was waiting for.

“What about complaining together over a drink?” Asked the mercenary while trying his best to look well.

“I would love to."

"Ladies first then" Continued Richard while signaling for the lady to move first.

The moment they left the middle of the party room was well-aligned with the moment a new colorful drink arrived at the idol's hands.

The young man she was competing with was already fainted by her side though.

“It seems my help is unneeded now...” She remarked as her main job for today was done and she closed the small camera screen only she could see. “I was not expecting this… But since Lily got distracted by herself, let me finish my side job so I can prepare my stage.”

With her eyes still glowing in an emerald color, the girl in pink focused on a new side-screen and connected herself to the streams of data around her.

As it was expected, this private server was very safe and it took a while to find the right access point, but it was only a matter of time.

As she was doing so though, the unresponsive AI barman was subjected to all her complaining.

“This whole server is very abnormal, you see? Too many safety locks and extra procedures... It is as if the creator wanted to be sure nothing would be able to enter or leave this place easily." She said as the first line of firewalls fell. "Too much safety is stupid and dangerous, even more in this kind of server where people connect their spines to, you know? Killing someone with it would not be that hard and you could even do something worse with the right hardware... This much is very far from what one needs to stop me though.”

It was, in theory, an easy job of replacing a few files and leaving now that she had managed to connect.

Amy wasn’t even paying much attention to her movements in the simulated ballroom while she did so by this point.

Cracking her access to NorCo’s main server and then, to its president’s safe folder in search of the right document took almost no time.

What she was doing would change the fate of many people though.

The original document was theorized to be something that would throw one of the biggest companies in the city into the hands of the worst possible people.

Either a can-stuck playboy with no business experience or some random mistress were the available options, so it had to be solved.

This much was only the view of Amy's contractor though, the girl herself couldn't care less about who would have the damn thing.

All her interest was in the fact that she would be giving something to Lily with this.

“Here it is, but… What a heavy encrypted file this one is, I will not be able to read it with this much security.”

Even if she cared little about things unrelated to her fame and music, Amy still had a weird voice in her head that loved collecting information.

The more dangerous the data, the more she would want to store it.

Such an old voice was easy to overwrite if following it would lower her free time though.

“I guess it will be 'erase and replace' then!” She concluded as if it was the right thing to do.

In the end, the safely stored will that could easily eat a few hours of Amy’s time to crack was instead erased.

It was a less work-intensive method and replacing it was no problem at all, so now this big megacorp would be fairly split.

It was, of course, as long as no one double-checked the thing, but that was beyond the point.

“Easy as cake… Now this one is a weird phrase, is it not, my drunk friend?”

She then slapped the back of the sleeping man on the counter, who didn’t react much, for obvious reasons.

Part of them were some extra spices on his drinks though.

Amy's focus was more on the unresponsive barman AI that she could talk with though, so she just ignored Tom for now.

“Making a virtual world that is as faithful to reality as possible is a very weird thing if you want to know. Even more when how late people are is simulated too...”

Her complaints reached the ears of the AI bartender and then continued coming without ever being answered.

This was as much of a conversation as it was a way to pass time while she finished her preparations, so it was all fine.

“In the end, we came in late and there are still logging in guests now, but no host in sight... How will I ask for permission to sing if the host is nowhere in sight?! It is very troublesome, but…”

There were more than a hundred people around the ballroom.

Most were staying on the many counters meant as drink bars or close to the canapes, but their groups were mostly isolated.

It was very weird when the host had, from Lily’s words, called this party for something important, but, as usual, it wasn't Amy's problem.

“Now that I think about it, I could just go for it, could I not? You agree, do you not? Very well! They do not seem to mind, so let me get some modifications on my specs around here and some extra props for the performance there, and then…”

All lights across the room dimmed and the music stopped, drawing the attention of the guests to their surroundings and then to the odd girl climbing a nearby counter.

In her wake, beams of pink-colored light moved around and then converged on top of Amy.

“It is now showtime.”