MTFF: Vacation's All I Ever Wanted

[Mystic Mina]

Noel had enough. He had enough of not being able to pay his bills on time. He had enough of being stuck in a dead-end job as a waiter. He had enough of hearing his useless, spoiled wife whine and moan while she did nothing but spend even more money. He had enough! HE WAS TIRED OF IT! HE. NEEDED. A. VACATION! He needed some time to think about his terrible situation, some space to just relax without someone breathing over his neck... And Travel Beyond was going to do it for him with a virtual vacation!

Some of his friends recommended it, the price was cheap, reviews on the internet praised it. He had no doubt in his mind that Travel Beyond was what he needed to release some stress and figure out what he was going to do with himself. So, with his own private savings, he whisked himself away to their headquarters in California, along with someone else...

[Victorious]

...Someone else by the name of Marcus. An longtime friend, Marcus could be grating in his own way sometimes, (It didn't help that he'd actually been at least halfway successful since they both left college), but at the very least he reminded him of a time when his wife was still his girlfriend, he had a bit of money in his wallet on a daily basis, and he'd been sure he wasn't going to end up stuck as a waiter the rest of his life.
Marcus himself, of course, was there mainly for the novelty of it all. His job as a pencil-pusher, at least let him live somewhat comfortably, if hardly extravagantly, and he'd been taken in by Noel's description of this new wonder of technology. It certainly sounded amazing...

[Mystic Mina]

It sounded amazing because it was amazing! Noel still didn't fully understand how it worked... Something about machines synchronizing with your brain or whatever... And at first, he found it hard to believe. Word of mouth and good ol' desperation were enough to change his mind on the matter, and now, standing in front of the building that was Travel Beyond's headquarters, he was even more convinced that he spent his money on the right stuff. It was a grandly designed building, with sharp edges, an immaculate white paint job, and shimmering silver windows that were as bright as the sun itself.

"See, Marcus, if it was a scam or something, they wouldn't have such an expensive place like this!" Noel chided his friend as they exited the taxi and looked at what would hopefully be the spot for their best vacation ever.

[Victorious]

Marcus couldn't help but nod in agreement to his friend's assurances. He's had his doubts...but it certainly looked legitimate, didn't it?

"I...I guess you're right. Let's just hope they've spent their money on more then the building itself, eh?"

Pausing, he takes a glance at his watch, more out of habit then necessity, before shaking his head. He was on vacation--no need to be keeping track of appointments.

"Well, no better time to find out. You've got the reservations, right?"

[Mystic Mina]

"Yep. Got them right here. They're a bit torn up, but I think the people inside'll still accept it." Noel pulled from the pocket of his jeans two paper tickets, slightly damaged but still usable. His wife, when she found out that he was going on a vacation without her, got into a fit and tried to destroy them, but he managed to keep them mostly intact. "C'mon, let's go in. We're wasting valuable vacation time!"

Noel walked through building's sliding doors and into what appeared to be the entrance lobby. It looked like something out of a sci-fi novel with its strange, bubble-shaped chairs and colorful flower-like ceiling lights that seemed to float in mid-air. In the front, behind a white wide desk, sat a pretty young woman with dark blue hair, bright green eyes, and a smile that seemed to take up most of her face.

"Welcome to Travel Beyond, sirs! I suppose you and your friend here have booked a virtual vacation with us, yes? Could I see your reserve tickets please?" Noel handed the requested items over to the girl. "Thank you! It will take me a minute or two to process these. Please wait here."

[Victorious]

Marcus gives a small whistle as his eyes wander around the room. And the woman, naturally. He often joked that he was lucky to not have been stuck with poor Noel's wife, (and, well--he was that)...but in his job, he didn't get to meet a lot of women.

"No expenses spared...I admit, I'd been expecting this place to be a bit smaller. I mean, if they really specialize in computer games..."

Giving a shrug, he resolved to enjoy the atmosphere. No reason to look a gift horse in the mouth, right? Here he'd been expecting it to be cramped.

"So...what do you think it'll be like? Some kind of...virtual beach or something?"

[Mystic Mina]

"We could just go to a beach, sure, but with a virtual vacation, the possibilities are endless! One moment, we could be flying through the deepest reaches of space in a starship, and the next, we could be walking through a fantasy forest filled with mythical creatures!" Noel blurted, sounding very much like a commercial as he did. In fact, he copied all of that word for word from the Travel Beyond's advertisements. Already, he completely trusted everything that the company promised... But could you blame him? He was desperate and stressed.

"Hello, sirs! We've processed your tickets, and you're both ready to proceed! Please, follow me into the next room, and we'll start your virtual vacation soon." The woman flashed Noel and Marcus one last bright smile before getting up from behind the desk and walking deeper into the building. Her attire, which consisted of a low-cut white blouse and a short miniskirt, gave the two men quite a view as she walked.

[Victorious]

"No need to read me the brochure, I get the idea..."

Marcus lets out a small chuckle. Noel...well, he was like that. But you couldn't fault his enthusiasm, certainly not. Hell, he'd managed to drag him all the way to California, hadn't he?
Taking in the view, the man turns to follow the smiling woman along with his friend. Was it going to be worth their trouble...? Maybe not, he wasn't so convinced as Noel--not just yet anyways--but it was most definitely a tantalizing premise, wasn't it?

"...Well, then, in that case, what are you thinking about trying first? If you've committed all that to memory, surely you've hit on a game plan eh?"

[Mystic Mina]

The happy look on Noel's face quickly turned into one of confusion when he heard Marcus's question. He had been so excited about going on the virtual vacation that he didn't even bother to think about WHAT he was going to do once he was in it. Silly, yes, but like Marcus said, Noel was like that.

"Well, I, uh... Oh look! We're here already!" That was totally not Noel trying to buy time for his answer; they were actually there! The three arrived at a room completely washed over in pure white, giving them that feeling that they were floating in an empty colorless space. In the middle sat two back to back pods, one for Noel and one for Marcus, and there were things that looked like stylized headsets attached to the top of them.

"Please, take a seat and wait for a moment. Your vacation guide should be here shortly to begin your virtual experience. I hope you enjoy it!" The lady gives Noel and Marcus a quick bow before walking out of the room, leaving the duo alone in the whiteness.

[Victorious]

Marcus cuts himself off halfway through rolling his eyes as he enters the white room. Excuse or not, this was unmistakeably the place. It looked like something straight out of a science fiction movie...but he supposed that was the point. The company was clearly very visually focused, wasn't it?

"W-wow. Quite the place. Janitors must be paid a fortune to keep it so white, eh?"

Awkwardly, the man makes his way over to one of the pods, peers inside it, and then shrugs before trying to ease himself into it. No one had mentioned that they'd be needing to crawl into cocoons for this, but for an unusual experience, he could stomach an unusual chair.

[Mystic Mina]

Apparently, Noel never watched any movies or read any books, because after he slid into the pod and made himself comfortable, he uttered the dreaded line that doomed almost everyone who spoke it.

"Well, now I'm positive that this isn't a scam. Nothing can go wrong now!"

As if on cue, the pods suddenly slammed shut around the two men, trapping them like flies in Venus fly traps. Before either of them could even react to what just happened, a fine white mist began to flow into the cramped insides of the pods, and they found themselves starting to grow tired...

"What the!? This can't be a part of the... Vaca... Vacation..." Noel managed to gasp before succumbing to sleep.

[Victorious]

"No need to jinx i--Wha!?"

Cut off in the middle of his no-doubt quite witty retort, Marcus is suddenly slammed rudely into his own pod! He'd been expecting to see the woman come by again, have her maybe show them the ropes and give a liabilities form...Or at the very least have some kind of warning message! With such an abrupt start, someone could be seriously injured! On vacation or not, Marcus could just see this kind of complaint crossing his desk...but...

...hell...somehow...


...he didn't seem...to have the energy...



...to complete his thoughts...

[Mystic Mina]

For an indeterminate amount of time, Noel and Marcus slept in their strange little pods. No one could say for sure what was going on in the latter's mind, but in the former's... Well, let's just say he didn't have a very pleasant nap.

"AH!" Noel shouted in panic as he sat up from his "bed," lines of sweat running down his face. For a moment there, he thought his wife really was going to eat him! "What... Where am I... Right, that vacation stuff! Me and Marcus got knocked out!"

For some reason, the doors of the pods were now open, allowing Noel to step out and walk over to his friend's pod to see if he was awake.

[Victorious]

Groggily, Marcus opens his eyes, his first sight being, of all things, a hazy Noel. Peering blankly for a moment...he lets them fall shut. He couldn't quite remember what he's been dreaming, but it was probably better then dealing with a panicked, sweaty Noel.
...
Wait.
What?
Blinking suddenly awake, he shakes his head, sitting up out of the pod.

"What the--what happened? I just sat down, and then..."

Trailing off, he hesitates, and then quickly climbs out of the pod, lest it snap shut a second time.

"M-maybe there was some kind of malfunction? Though...you'd think they would send someone to be here when we woke up."

[Mystic Mina]

"A malfunction? Hardly. In fact, everything is going completely according to plan."

"What? Who's there- WHOA!"

Noel turned around to see who was speaking to them and was shocked to see a man in a black overcoat sitting on a reclining chair in a spot that Noel swore was empty a few seconds ago. He wasn't sure whether to be scared or relived by the arrival of this stranger... But Marcus being there with him made the worried man feel a little more secure.

"Sorry for making your entry so rough. We find that people tend to not stick around if we don't force them to." The man in black motioned for the two to sit down on a pair of chairs much like his own. Funny, those weren't there before either... "Go on, sit down. Make yourselves comfortable."