In a small one-bedroom apartment, a young man in his early twenties reclined in a large computer desk chair, feet propped up as he stared at the ceiling."Well... just finished another challenge run of Fallout 4," he muttered to himself.
"What should I do next?"He had long, dirty-blond hair, a light dusting of stubble, and wore a grey t-shirt with blue jeans and a black sweater tied around his waist. Swivelling his chair to the right, his eyes swept over a bookshelf packed with memorabilia: Vault-Tec bobbleheads, Nuka-Cola bottles, a replica Pip-Boy 3000, and even the New Vegas canvas bag.
Beside them sat physical cases for every game in the franchise, save for Tactics and Brotherhood of Steel. He stood up, pulled one of the cases from the shelf, and examined the cover.
"Hmm... I haven't played Fallout 3 in a bit. But I'm really not in the mood for another challenge run."Mumbling to himself, he glanced back at his PC. Suddenly, a spark ignited in his mind.
"I've never tried a playthrough with all S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats maxed at 10."After mulling it over for a moment, he swapped the Fallout 4 disc in his drive for Fallout 3. He booted up the game, settled his feet onto a small footstool beneath the desk, and started a new save file.
He breezed through the intro, watching the birth scene before arriving at the character creation screen. After a bit of debate, he chose the first Caucasian male preset, opting for dark brown eyes and a pushed-back chestnut hairstyle known as the 'blast back'. To refine the look, he smoothed out the facial features, narrowed the jawline into a sharper point, and slightly decreased the size of the nose. Satisfied with the clean, classic look, he clicked confirm.
A quick roll of a name generator landed him on a first name: Jayson. No last name required. Next came the childhood scene where S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats are traditionally distributed. Because he intended to cheat, it didn't matter where he placed the initial points.
As soon as he gained control, he tapped the tilde key to open the console window and punched in the commands to artificially jack all seven attributes straight to 10. Leaning back with a satisfied smirk, he clicked through the childhood birthday sequence, intentionally picking the friendliest dialogue options. When the G.O.A.T. exam rolled around, he decided to actually take the test for nostalgia's sake rather than skipping it.
Knowing the answer key by heart, he tailored his responses to secure his three favourite Tag skills: Sneak, Small Guns, and Speech. The resulting aptitude test assigned him the career of Vault Shift Supervisor.
As a veteran of the franchise, his absolute favourite playstyle was the silent sniper and gunslinger. There was a unique satisfaction in picking off targets from the shadows, and he always prioritised Speech because it helped with most quests.
This playthrough is supposed to be a chill one anyway, he thought. Might as well play the way I love. But as his digital avatar stepped out of the classroom, a sudden, heavy lethargy hit him. His eyelids grew impossibly weighted. He tried to blink the drowsiness away, but his vision blurred, and within seconds, he drifted into total unconsciousness
He had no idea how much time had passed before faint, muffled noises began to pierce the void. The sounds grew sharper and louder until an oddly familiar female voice began calling out to him, accompanied by a frantic hand shaking his shoulder.
Groggily opening their eyes and shielding them from the light, he sat up.
Sirens were blaring all around him as he blinked their eyes a bit to take in their surroundings. They immediately opened them wide as they took in the familiar sight of Amata and the main character's vault bedroom from the game.
They also felt incredibly weird in all ways possible, with their mind feeling very muddled as information and memories they never knew started to swirl around them and the feeling of an unfamiliar body. Before he could think, the young woman, Amata, let loose a torrent of panicked words.
"Jayson! You have to get out of here! Your father's gone and my dad's men are looking for you!"
He was so confused and couldn't get his thoughts focused.
All he could say was a confused W-what?"
"Your dad! He left the vault! I don't know how he did it. My dad though... well, he's kinda gone crazy." Amata replied as she let go of the bed and stood up, but still
with a frantic look on her face.
He just couldn't get his mind around any of this, and placed his right hand on the side of his head as he shifted to sit on the side of the bed.
Amata looked at him, a bit concerned "Are you ok?"
"Y-yeah. Just can't get my head around this." He then looked at the real life,
looking at Amata standing in front of him, taking in her worried and scared appearance. "Are you ok?"
"No. My dad's men, they... they killed Jonas!" Amata looked down, and he could see she brushed away a tear. "They went into his office and... oh god...
After a bit of silence, she then looked back up at him with a very sad and troubled expression.
"I'm sorry you have to find out like this; I know Jonas was your friend." She paused a bit, taking control of her thoughts. "I'm sorry, but... I don't think you can stay here; my dad's goons are after you."
He looked at Amata, and then around the room, finally understanding the situation. He didn't know how, but he somehow instantly understood what was happening when his head stopped swimming.
He then looked back at Amata. "You're right. I can't stay here anymore."
"Yeah. I think you should escape the vault and go after your dad." She then paused for
a bit reluctant, but then continued, "I know this isn't my place to speak, but didn't your dad say anything about leaving?"
"No, he didn't."
"Oh, I'm sorry. He probably had his own reasons, and maybe Jonas was supposed to explain everything to you?"
"Well, that all doesn't matter right now. I can help you escape! I have my own plan."
"How?"
"Listen, my dad has a secret exit out of his office. Use these." She passed some Bobby pins. "That's how I always get in." He nodded, "Sounds good."
"Oh, one more thing." She then pulled out a 10mm pistol and handed it to him with some ammo. "I snagged myfather's 10mm pistol, just in case."
He gently took the pistol and ammo from her, the weight and shape somehow feeling so familiar and comfortable even though he never touched a gun in his life. He then looked back up at her. "Thanks. I'll only use it as a last resort, I promise."
"Ok. I'll meet you at the exit when you're ready!"
She quickly dashed out of the room. Watching around the hallway a bit before she left for the vault entrance.
After Amata left, he just sat there on the side of the bed with the gun in his hands for a bit, taking in everything that happened so quickly. He had no idea if this was real, a dream or even a hallucination.
Everything felt so real, and for some reason his body filled with energy, and his mind felt clear; things he couldn't comprehend before suddenly made sense, like a switch flipped.
'Could it be?'