Original Notes: I am very proud of the title btw
Anyway, YOU ARE STILL HERE??? >:) I wanna see how popular this can get ao3 has 2,876 hits rn, 160 kudos, 13 bookmarks, and 37 comments. Let's see if we can top that! :D
[Skizz]: How does getting together for a game of LIFE sound
[Mumbo]: Sounds great
When?
[Skizz]: What about now
Can u guys come over
[Lizzie]: GUYS
I CODED LIFE
IT TOOK FOREVER
BUT I DID IT
[Grian]: Hold up u WHAT????
[Lizzie]: I coded LIFE :D
Here I'm going to send u a link
[Grian]: HOW
[Lizzie]: Well, I couldn't join
So I spent all the time u guys spent playing coding
It took very long but it was worth it
It's online too so we can all play at our own homes
[Grian]: THIS IS SO COOL
Lizzie, this almost makes up for u shipping me and Scar together
[Pearl]: Hi! Lizzie, I shall join u on ur scarian shipping adventure
[Lizzie]: Great! The more the merrier
[Grian]: PEARL NOT U TOOOOOOO
[Scar]: Why am I only hearing about this now
Why am I being shipped
[Gem]: What is shipping
[Bdubs]: err
well
It's when you
uh
[Grian]: Normally I'd laugh but I have trouble describing it too
[Bdubs]: It's when u ship two people romantically together
[Gem]: oh ok
So why r we shipping Grian and Scar together?
[Grian]: THERE IS NO "WE"
IT'S JUST LIZZIE AND PEARL BEING WEIRD
[Lizzie]: I like being weird :)
[Gem]: Actually there is a "we" now
[Grian]: NOT U TOO
[Gem]: Yes me too
[Grian]: ALL THE BETRAYALS
YOU GUYS ARE SO MEAN
[Skizz]: Can we get back to the part where Lizzie said she coded LIFE???
[Lizzie]: Oh yeah
I sent the link out
You can try now if u want
Just call everyone into a group chat
[Grian]: Doing that now :D
"Haha!" Joel declared. "I have rebuilt the Relation Ship!"
"Wow," Etho said. "It looks much better in Lizzie's game than it does in real life."
"Are you insulting my amazing building skills?" Joel demanded.
"I would never," Etho denied. Joel gave him a calculating look followed by a suspicious look that ended with a glare. Even if they weren't in the same room, Joel could certainly spam emojis at Etho in the game. A genius design made by Lizzie, by the way.
"We should all come up with names," Impulse suggested.
"Oh yeah," Grian said. "Good idea."
"We're the Boat Boys!" Joel declared. "First Flying Pigs, now the Relation Ship!"
"Alright," Grian said. "I'll write it down."
"The Ranchers," Jimmy suggested for him and Tango.
"I like it," Tango agreed. Jimmy sent a happy emoji in the game. (Everyone would later thank Lizzie for the great addition. After all, everyone loves emojis).
"The Homewreckers!" Bdubs volunteered for him and Impulse. They got along amazingly.
"Alright," Grian said, looking thoughtful. "Hey Scar, want to be the Desert Duo V.2?"
"YES PLEASE," Scar said. "Even if it's just in the game, the desert is still WAY better than the stinking snow," he pouted.
"Ha," Grian laughed. "I heard you fell in it!"
"And I heard you were cold," Cleo countered. "I think Scott, Pearl, Martyn and I should be the Divorce Quartet or Divorcee Gang or whatever."
"Interesting," Scott said. "But also accurate."
"I'm fine with whatever," Pearl said, shrugging.
"I'll go with it," Martyn said.
"Ooo," Joel suddenly interjected. "We could also call me and Etho "Smalletho"! Like, we can be Boat Boys, and Boat Gang, and Smalletho, and the Rocket Boys, and-"
"We get it," Grian said, amused. "You are the Boat Boys, Gang, Smalletho, and Rocket Boys."
"We could also be the Power Couple," Impulse said.
"Ooo, I like that," Bdubs agreed. "The Homewreckers and the Power Couple."
"Horse Bros for us," Ren and BigB said together.
"Great!" Grian cheered. "We all have names now!"
"I want to get back to feeding my Jellies," Scar said. "Look how cute she is! Oh who's a cute Jelly, you are!"
"Scar," Grian sighed, exsasperated. "Please leave your Jelly talk off mic."
"Whatever you want," Scar said, spamming shrugging emojis.
"Ship," Gem whispered to Pearl and Lizzie.
"Ship," they agreed.
"I CAN STILL HEAR YOU!"
"Well, I'm off to fight the warden for real this time," Etho said, throughing out there one second and disappearing the next.
"AGAIN?" Joel demanded, exasperated. "Didn't you already do that the first time?"
"Yeah, but for real this time," Etho grumbled. "Mumbo ended the session on me."
"Oh yeah," Joel agreed. "That did happen."
A while later, Etho shouted an "Oh my," sounding a bit panicked.
"You okay?" Joel called.
"There are five wardens here!" Etho said, sounding WAY too calm in the context he was in.
"WHAT?" Joel said. "Eefo, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
On Etho's side of the story, he was listening to Bdubs scream "SHIFT! SHIFT!"
Yeah, Etho wasn't worried.
[Joel]: Lizzie, I luv ur game
[Lizzie]: Aww thx! <3
[Pearl]: It truly is amazing
Sorry u couldn't join this time
[Lizzie]: It's okay
I like coding anyway
Hey, @Grian, can u possibly send over ur ideas for future LIFE games?
I could code them now that I'm done coding Double LIFE
[Grian]: u sure?
We could all play the original next season
[Lizzie]: It's no problem
It's a hobby, not a chore
[Grian]: Alright!
But don't spoil it for anyone else
I want it to be a suprise!
[Jimmy]: Who wants to go to the arcade and hang out
[Grian]: I'm in
[Joel]: Me too
[Scott]: Honestly I think everyone's in
[Impulse]: Yup
[Scar]: I'm coming!
[Lizzie]: Okay what about this
Everyone who wants to come meet up at the arcade in 15 minutes
[Bdubs]: Omw now!
"Okay," Grian said. "So, I think we should all buy, like, one to two-hundred credits and meet up around two hours later. How does that sound?
"What?" Scar asked, who hadn't been paying attention. He had just shoved all his life savings into a machine and marveled as it spit out a card at him. "Look!" he declared, brandishing the card. "I have a thousand credits on this card!"
"Scar," Grian muttered, his head in his hand. "Why would you do that?"
"Why not?" Scar said, shrugging.
"How are you even going to afford school lunch now?" Grian asked.
"Uhh," Scar mumbled. "I dunno, honestly. Maybe I'll go get a job or something."
"Well," Cleo said, poking the machine. "I'm going to be sensible and only buy a hundred credits."
"I might only buy fifty," Etho paced around a machine and checked the prices.
"Etho, you would barely be able to play like, ten games with that," Joel said, rolling his eyes.
"Hmm, good point."
"I think we should play in pairs," Impulse suggested. "I mean, a lot of the games are two player after all."
"Also a good point," was Etho's answer to that.
"Alright," Grian said. "LIFE soulmates, anyone? Lizzie, I think you could go with Mumbo for this."
"Alright," Lizzie said while she fumbled with the machine. "A little help here? I want to buy a hundred and fifty credits but it won't let me."
"I'll help," Joel offered. They both toyed around with the machine for a bit before it finally spit out two cards in their faces.
"Two?" Lizzie complained. "I only need one. Hey, Joel, do you want this?"
"Sure," Joel said. "Here." He handed Lizzie some money to pay for it. "Aww, only a hundred-fifty? I wanted two hundred-fifty!"
"Too bad," Jimmy said, walking up to the machine. "My turn."
[Gem]: Hi
What r u guys doing?
[Jimmy]: Oh hi
We're at the arcade
I'm taking a break with Tango rn
We got some drinks
[Gem]: There's an arcade in town???
[Tango]: No
Next town over
It's pretty big too
[Gem]: We have an arcade over here too
But the credits are rlly expensive
[Tango]: I think they're pretty cheap over here
Jimmy wants to play another game gtg
bye
[Gem]: Bye!
[Grian]: Hey everyone!
Me and Scar found a great VR experience
Two player
It's at the back of the archade
Bit expensive though it's 26 credits
[Joel]: ooo sounds fun
Has anyone else done it?
[Bdubs]: Me and Impulse did
It was great
Simulation of a rollercoaster
[Joel]: I'm in
dragging Etho other there rn
"It's that one I think," Joel said, glancing at his phone. "Yup. That's the one!" He then proceeded to drag Etho over to the arcade and swipe both their cards.
INSUFFICIANT FUNDS the computer screen screamed when Etho swiped his card.
"I'm out," he said.
"I told you you should have bought more credits!" Joel threw his hands in the air.
"I did," Etho protested. "One hundred!"
"I still have like, forty credits left," Joel said. "I could swipe my card for you."
"Really?" Etho raised his eyebrows. "You'd do that? You don't have to."
"Nah," Joel said, swiping his card. "I wanna see what the others are so excited about." Etho gave him a grateful look before putting the VR set on.
"How many credits do you even have left?" Grian said, motioning at Scar's card.
"So many," he said, swiping it for a claw machine. "Look, I'll get parrot plushie this time."
"You've been playing this for almost an hour!" Grian protested. "I'm tempted to abandon you for flappy bird!"
"Wait, don't go!" Scar said, his eyes still focused on the claw. "Look! I almost have it!" Just then, Pearl came walking over, waving.
"Hi Grian!" she said. "Ooo, claw machines? What's the one Scar's doing?"
"Birds," Grian said. "He's trying to win the parrot for me."
"Ooo," Pearl said, a glint in her eyes. "So romantic." Grian went red.
"Pearl!" he said, whacking her arm. Just then, Scar shouted a "YES!" followed by a "Nooooooooooo-"
"What happened?" Grian said, looking over. The parrot was just hanging over the edge of the winning box.
"WHYYYYYYYY," Scar complained. "WHYYYYYYYYY CAN'T I JUST GET THE PARROT?"
"I'm telling you it's rigged," Grian said. "I think all of them are rigged except that candy one over there-"
"WHYYYYYYYY," Scar continued, ignoring Grian's attempted to one, calm him down, and two, talk some sense into him.
"Let me," Pearl said, swiping her card. Grian watched skeptically as Pearl grabbed the parrot. Then, his skepticism turned into confusion and then awe as the parrot dropped perfectly into the hole and out of the machine.
"Tada," Pearl said, showing off what she had won. "Here. Scar, take it." She shoved it into Scar's arms. "Give it to Grian."
"Why didn't you just give it to me in the first place?" Grian asked as Scar proudly presented the parrot to Grian again.
"Then it wouldn't be romantic," Pearl said, already starting to leave. This time, both Grian and Scar turned red with blush.
[Grian]: Look at my new parrot plushie
I named him Professor Beak!
[Grian] sent a picture
[Scar] liked a picture
[Pearl]: That was all me
I'm the queen of claw machines
[Grian]: All hail queen Pearl
For catching me a Pesky Bird
[Pearl]: You owe me a favor now
[Grian]: ?
Fine
[Pearl]: I'll tell u later
[Grian]: Hmm
Very ominous
[Pearl]: When am I not ominous hmm?
[Grian]: Fair point
Anyway, I have to stop Scar before he spends all his life savings on candy
He's using that claw machine non-stop now bc it's the only one he can actually get anything in
[Pearl]: Tell him if he wants claw machine lessons, I can give them to him
[Grian]: Nah
At this point we won't have any tickets to cash in at the end of the day
Just a bunch of candy
[Pearl]: Whatever you say
Cry cry cry
While copy-pasting this chapter I realized there are two DIFFERENT prof beaks in my story I had to edit one out cry