As I pull into Oklahoma City the sun is getting lower in the sky. "Being in a strange new world is normal for being reborn. Probably happens to everyone. I'm not scared at all." Good news, I can still lie to myself. The knowledge I still have a large part of my coping mechanism available to me is comforting in these trying times.
Oklahoma City is huge and empty. It's like it was built too big in the first place with the hope that it would get filled in later. It didn't. I stop at a phone booth near the edge of town. Phone books! I'm unreasonably excited to see one. It has been a while so, after a glance around I rip it off the cord connecting it to the booth. I'll take it with me as a souvenir of less convenient times. I go to hide it in my coat, and it disappears completely. Right, spatial pocket or whatever it was called. I can feel the phone book in a space that feels natural to me. I want the book back; it appears in my hand. I want it gone; it goes away again. Super easy. Not like the sensory stuff at all. It works perfectly, but even just the book seems to take up a lot of the space I have available.
I hop in Clementine, my beautiful Lincoln lady, and open the yellow pages. I need two things right now. After some thoughts back and forth, I decide I want a pawn shop first. Secondly, I need a library. I crack open the Atlas to OKC and reference the yellow pages. Hmmm, City Library found, and right down the street Honest Pawn. Fair enough, I hit the road and arrive with plenty of sun in the sky.
Walking in, I pass a trio of parked Harley Davidson motorcycles. Entering the building, I immediately notice the astringent smell of chemicals from the back rooms. Two bikers loiter around the edges of the store, and behind the counter is a shifty looking character polishing a collection of silver coins. Other than the meth lab in the back, this appears to be a pretty normal pawn shop. There is a little bit of everything for sale. I get the nod from the counter man, and wander around looking at the goods.
As I approach him, the Counter Man stops polishing and says, "Whatcha need?"
"Let me pay for a box of 38 hollowpoints, that small gun cleaning kit, and..." I shuffle over to the closer biker and reach around him to the acoustic guitar on the wall. "Excuse me.", I say. "...And this fine guitar right here please. What do I owe you?" I pay the man and walk happily from the store.
"This spatial storage is the absolute tits", I smile to myself. I know a thing or two about picking a pocket, but with this power I could be world class. "I'll never go hungry anyway." After I turn a few corners, I pull the stubby 38 from my space. When I reached around him for the guitar, I only had to brush the pistol on the back of his belt with my pinky to store it. The gun is in pretty good shape. I'll put some work in on it anyway tonight, but I'm happy with my "purchase". It feels good to have some hardware again. No matter what weirdness is going on, a lead sandwich should put a dent in it.
My jolly mood lasts all the way until I reach the library and crack open an American history book. World War I: 1888-1894, WWII: sometime after that, and WWIII: approximately when WWII should have been. I flip through a few more pages, close the book, and lay my head down on top of it. There literally is no Germany anymore. What the fuck guys? They zero chilled their way into non-existence. "I'm not learning a whole new history. I'm just not going to do it", I muttered. "I don't even want to know about the moon landing, or IF the moon landing, I guess."
If anyone asks me history questions, I'll just play stupid. It will be easy; I'm already stupid about plenty of things. Fuck, all my dreams of using the stock market to get filthy rich are boned! I put the book back and look for a music history book. When I find it, I pop it into my space and leave the library. There is another Lincoln Continental parked near my Clementine. As I look through my trunk for a tool kit, I am thinking about what to do with my new life. Super easy mode is off the table. Using the history I know to leverage free money would have been pretty great. Now I'll have to work for it.
By the time I have swapped the tags on the two cars, I have basically decided to do something with music. "I have this music related class. You could say it was on accident, but you could also argue it was fate. If I can recreate some of the great old music I know, someone should pay for that...somehow. I don't know how the music industry works. I don't even know if I can arrange or write or sing or play anything at all. I just know how the songs sounded basically. I'm afraid it's going to take actual hard work.", I say to Clementine and pat her on the dash.
I pulled out of the library, and made my way East, looking for a motel for the night. "Ah, the Alamo Plaza Courts. Looks lovely." Entering the lobby, I say to the night clerk, "Hello young lady. I'll have one room for one week please."
She looks up sleepily from her paperback book, "What name should I put on the room?"
"...I'm hoping you will put Warren Cooper down for me. I've had a long day and am looking forward to getting to my room. Is it fine if I pay by check?"
"Sure, just sign here please."
I scrawl Sam as messily as possible and eventually make my way to room #6. Being forced to tell the truth is going to be a real problem for me. Eventually, I'm going to have to talk to someone paying attention, or they will catch me off guard like old Mr. Cooper. I was never a people person, but being so cautious around others is already starting to feel lonely. I couldn't even sign a fake name.
"System.", the screen pops up in front of me. "My full name is Sam Jones." I watch as Jones is added to my character sheet. Using my old body's last name might come in handy someday. "My name is Roger Marks." I watch as nothing at all changes on my sheet. "I am Sam Jones. Hello, Miss my name is Jones, Sam Jones." Good enough.
*
Name: Sam Jones
Race: Human
Body: 1 / Mind: 1 / Spirit: 1
Level: 1
Class: Wandering Bard
Class Features: Musical Talent, Free Movement
Professions: Musician, Fisherman, Detective, Soldier, Hunter, Automotive Repair, Gambler
Talents: Hyper-Perception / Beloved by Machines / Spatial Storage
Detriments: Inexorable Truth / Strange Luck
*
I notice my Level has gotten brighter again without me noticing. What even is a Bard really? I need to pay more attention to what makes exp go up. Lazy gamers die in the dungeon. I clean up and make a list on the motel stationary.
Step 1: Read the entire Music history book.
Step 2: Listen to a lot more "local" music.
Step 3: Play my new guitar. (I, as many young men have done, attempted to learn the guitar at a tender age. I know some chords and that's about it.)
Step 4: Learn music or whatever and write down some good songs I know.
Step 5: Business.
Step 6: Profit.