[ WP ] Tonight when you sleep you become the character of the video game you last played .

I had been extremely tired all day, my brain feeling overloaded after the last exam for the year. But it was finally over. Nearly fifteen years of my life in school, and I now am set to go out into the world and start my career. I was anxious, nervous, excited, and at peace. Which is why I thought playing a long-deserved session of Fallout New Vegas would be a great way to end off the semester. There was nothing like relieving stress by shooting others with laser pistols and traveling across a wasteland of chaos and lawlessness. Which is why, when I fell asleep, I thought I was only dreaming of the sleep bar that appears when you activate a mattress. As the tick winds down, I can feel myself beginning to wake up. As I open my eyes however, what greets me is not my dorm room, but the inside of a rusty trailer, and the person sleeping on the other mattress nearby is not my roommate. What gave it away? The fact that the person is a woman, and that she is wearing a pair of ripped jeans with a cowboy hat. 
 
 “ What the hell? ” I mumble, starting to get up. That ’ s when I notice the strange weight on my body. I look down, and scream. This causes the woman to wake up, brandishing the shotgun she had stowed away on her back. 
 
 “ What is it?! Vipers?! Legion?! ” She shouts, frantically looking around. I could only stare in shock at my body, and at her. I was wearing what appeared to be a black suit of Kevlar weave, with warped gray metal all over on my chest, my arm, and my legs. In fact, it appeared to be the light weight metal armor from Fallout New Vegas! But that wasn ’ t what made me scream. It was the fact that I now had two large bumps on my chest, and I could no longer feel…that between my legs. I raised my hands to my face, and felt the now long hair that was tied up in the frayed bun…like a Wendy the welder style…like my character had. 
 
 At this point, said woman…Cass, had calmed from my outburst and was looking at me, a questioning look on her face. 
 
 “ Um…any particular reason you scared off my lingering whiskey buzz? ” 
 I only stare at her, then down at my hands, then back to her. 
 “ …Um…Thought I felt a bark scorpion on me. ” I lie. She just gives me a look like I ’ ve had one too many. 
 
 “ …Sure. ” She stands up, replacing her shotgun on her back, and holds out a hand. 
 
 “ Well, since we ’ re both up and wide eyed, shall we get a move on? We still have those Khans to track down, remember? ” I just nod slowly as I grab her hand and pull myself up. The feel of a heavy object on my hip, presumably my character ’ s laser pistol, somehow feels more familiar than it should. I subconsciously look at the pip-boy that rests on my arm, and wait. Nothing happens. 
 
 “ …You sure you didn ’ t go too far last night? ” Cass asks, pointing to the whiskey and vodka bottles that were lying around the mattresses. Then I remember, the way the dials and the wheels work on the pip-boy. Pressing the far-right button, I adjust the wheel to go to the world map, and see the direction we need to walk in. 
 
 “ um…that way. ” I say, pointing. She nods and picks up a pack near her mattress. I notice one as well near mine, this one holding a few of the weapons I recognize from the game. Picking it up and strapping it to my back, we start walking. As we do, I start thinking of what to do. I was now my Fallout New Vegas character. Meridia, the red-haired courier, with a high proficiency in energy weapons that was only matched by her speech and lock picking. Being in her body…my body now, feels strangely more comfortable than I would have thought. It ’ s as if I ’ d always been her, but just randomly woke up with someone else ’ s memories of another world. I began to scroll through my pip-boy again, though this time there was no stopping of time around me as I did so. I scrolled through, and found the perks that I had chosen so far. Apparently, there are some things that are different about this world than when it was a game. For one thing, level is replaced with character age. I see the number 34 at the top, when I clearly remember it being 10 before. I also notice that perks seem to reflect more on what I do than what I choose. The cherchez la femme perk, for instance, just says that my preference for women gives me a slight advantage over female enemies. I look over at Cass, remembering that one bit of dialogue that came up when discussing guys. How she didn ’ t care who she slept with when getting drunk. I shake my head, ridding myself of the thought. Cass, even in the game, is more of a friend than a romantic interest to me. 
 
 “ That would be too weird. ” I mumble. 
 
 “ What? ” Cass asks, looking over. I jump a bit. 
 
 “ Um…just wondering if you were bored. ” I say. 
 
 “ Well, not much else to be but. ” She says. “ ‘ cept on high alert. ” 
 
 “ Right, right. ” I say, just looking on ahead. The road stretched on for miles. The heat was beating down on us. Thank god I had already been playing survival, otherwise I might not remember to drink water later on. My thoughts returned to home, of how I might return. Would I still be able to move onto a job there? Would time be moving along, and I ’ d be coming home to nothing? I look at my pip-boy again, this time at the quests. Seeing all that I ’ ve accomplished, and all that there is left to accomplish. Suddenly, I don ’ t find myself worrying about that anymore. I ’ m here now, in a world where I am needed more than back home. I begin to smirk. I reach around my back and open a side pocket in the bag. I pull out a whiskey, and hold it out to Cass. 
 
 “ One for the road? ” I ask. She smirks and takes it. Popping open the bottle, she takes a swig before handing it back. I look out over the horizon as I take a gulp myself. There ’ s a long road ahead for us. 

