POV: Daniel, Fritz, and Z23 on their way to the banquet hall.
Just after Z23 introduced herself to Fritz (the commander) one of the nearby guards notified him to get to the banquet hall, as it was about to start.
Unfortunately, Fritz was stuck in the main menu screen, his character just moved to wherever the area he was supposed to go was, so since the next part of the voice lines took place at the banquet hall, the character model would move to the banquet hall, and after getting inside, just stand around awkwardly.
But no one bothered to voice discontent with the commander because of his rank.
Or worse yet, Fritz would cuss them out if he overheard them through his headphones.
All three of them were in the car, with Fritz riding shotgun.
Nimi and Daniel were both guests.
Also, Daniel preferred to call Z23 Nimi instead, mainly because calling someone by a single letter and two numbers gets really strange really quick.
"Hey mister Daniel... can I ask you a question?" Nimi asked
"Yeah, what is it?" Daniel said.
"How do you know the commander?" Nimi asked.
"Well.... Its kind of a long story...." Daniel said
"Do you play video games?" Daniel asked
"What? Why would you be asking about that now?" Nimi said.
"Did you ever wonder what it was like being inside of one?" Daniel said.
"Why are you telling me about this.... Does it have something to do with you and the commander?" Nimi said.
Daniel decided to not hold back on the truth
"Well, if you are actually conscious Nimi, then you are witnessing what it's like to be a sprite in a video game." Daniel said
Nimi blinked, recoiling backwards slightly,
But a lot of crazy things were happening.
.....As unbelievable as it was, the possibility wasn't exactly off the table, she thought in the back of her mind.
"Okay, okay. So.... If we are in a video game, what does the commander have to do with a video game?" Nimi asked.
"Well, as far as I can tell, the commander is an avatar of my friend from my world, and his name is Fritz." Daniel said.
"Oh....." Nimi said, spacing out.
"And the reason why he talks to you like he's two is because he always dreams of being able to see you, but he can't because you are a video game character,
And low and behold, my ridiculous situation happens, and now Fritz can all of a sudden speak to you." Daniel said,
"Huh...." Nimi said,
"Confused yet?" Daniel said, laughing to himself.
"I think so." Nimi said, with a deadpan expression
————————
*Skreeek!
The car's brakes squeaked as it slowed to a smooth halt.
"I think we're here" Daniel said
He looked up
"Say..... that looks an awful lot like the city hall back home...." Daniel thought to himself
The buildings at and around the banquet hall were large, and very fancy.
Like as if imperial Germany had never fallen.
Only now it was the "Imperial German" knockoff in a Chinese gacha game, instead of an actual country.
A few guards in ceremonial black uniforms stood outside of the doors, greeting guests and welcoming them in.
"Guten tag Herr Kommandant, please come inside." One of the guards said
"Thank you gentlemen." Fritz said with almost a laugh in his voice, entering the building
The guards then looked at each other awkwardly because they never heard the commander actually SPEAK before.
Nimi entered the building next,
But when Daniel tried to enter, the guards stopped him.
"Wait! Why can't I get in!" Daniel said, watching Fritz's character model enter the building.
A guard pointed to a sign.
Appropriate dress outfits required for entry.
Oh,
Daniel looked down,
A Kriegsmarine sailor outfit that hadn't been washed in two days with a missing hat probably didn't count as a "dress uniform" in their book.
Daniel walked back down the stairs in frustration
"Well.... Verd**** what do I do now?" Daniel said to himself, getting away from the door
He looked over and saw a lot of higher ranking Kriegsmarine officers going in through the main door, being unobstructed by the guards.
They were mostly in their really nice grosse dress outfits,
Where was he going to get one of those? He couldn't exactly just break into an officer's quarters and steal one, especially with the fuel-less Bismarck being towed to god knows where.
All of a sudden, something very familiar happened.
The red wisdom cube from before,
It was still there, and it was glowing again,
"Hide" it said to him.
Daniel immediately took cover behind some trees, without even thinking.
And that's when he realized, that the cube TALKED to him.
"How can you speak?!" Daniel said in a high whisper
"No time for explaining, take this!" The cube said once again.
And instantly, a rather nicely folded uniform appeared in his hands.
"So, wait, wait, wait, you can just manifest anything at will?!" Daniel said, in a louder voice than he would've liked.
*Thup
*Thup
*Thup
FOOTSTEPS
The clicking of leather boots
"I swear the anomalous thing was over here...." A voice said.
Daniel covered his mouth
But it was too late,
He was found
A smaller figure with a white uniform,
Big ceremonial epaulets,
And a mustache straight from one of those history books full of old people from Prussian times.
"Kid, what are you doing over here?" The man said.
"Uh, I was changing my clothes?...." Daniel said, making up an excuse.
"We have changing stations you know." He said.
Daniel got a good look at the uniform of the person who just found him
The nameplate on the front said "Schmekelberger" in extremely old-looking writing
What an.... interesting name
"Also, kid, did you happen to see anything..... out of the ordinary?" Schmekelberger said
"Uh.........
No?......" Daniel said
"Well, if you see anything please feel free to notify me." Schmekelberger said as he strode off.
.
.
.
.
"Huh, out of the ordinary? Wonder why he'd ask about that?" Daniel said.
"They know exactly where I am when I talk.." the cube said, immediately shutting off
"They? Who's they?" Daniel said
The cube didn't respond.
"Huh, well I'd better get changed...." Daniel said
———————
Daniel left the changing rooms from a building just near the side of the banquet hall.
He had a Kriegsmarine Chief Petty Officer uniform,
It was very similar to the uniforms that Captain Lindemann and Admiral Lütjens were wearing, however he had epaulets instead of sleeve bands to denote rank,
"God this uniform looks good, especially the hat!... better not lose this one..." Daniel said
He walked back up to the entrance to the banquet hall
This time, the guards let him in, without a word
When Daniel got in, his breath was immediately taken.
Huge marble walls and banners were everywhere,
Extremely elaborate designs were plastered all over the walls,
The floor was also made of marble, and luxuriously carpeted, it all felt something akin to a world class cruise ship, just much bigger and far more open.
Someone was playing nice music on a gold trimmed piano.
Whoever these Iron Blood people were, they took Banquets and luxury very seriously.
He looked to the right,
A humongous painting dominated the wall, depicting a lovely view of the city of Hamburg,
It looked very similar to the Hamburg he knew as home, but now with a bunch of almost dystopian consecrate structures in the background, all hanging with red banners displaying the Iron Blood cross.
Whoever made this was an excellent artist.
There was a signature of the artist at the very bottom corner.
"I wonder who made thi-" Daniel began immediately stopping
Hamburg's sunrise
By Adolf H.
"A-a-adolf.................?" Daniel said.
"Yes, mister Adolf Hitler, widely known as the best painter in all of Austria." A voice said from behind him.
Daniel's neck almost split open with the speed he turned his head around.
"Oh.... oh it's you, mister Schmekelberger... why do we keep running into each other?" Daniel said.
"Must just be fate I'm afraid." He said.
"I must say, this is a very nice banquet, better than any I've ever been to..." Daniel said once again, staring at the wall with even more paintings.
"Say, I made that one over there" Schmekelberger said subtly pointing
The painting that mister Schmekelberger pointed to was still nice, but there were a few small errors here and there, slightly worse overall than Adolf's
"Say, I never knew you were a painter?" Daniel said.
"I was, but unfortunately my art academy couldn't see that in me." Schmekelberger said,
"Oh....." Daniel began
"In fact, Adolf took my place...." Schmekelberger said, getting visibly angry
"But enough about the past, come, let us enjoy the banquet." Schmekelberger said, going towards the tables.
Daniel soon followed, but not after taking a last look at Adolf's painting,
"What crazy timeline is this....." Daniel thought