It was Monday, which meant that Tom and Dan's mother and father were home early from work. The parents each worked within Vestigial Accounting, a once very small firm that had grown in size due to taking up litigation against tech-based companies both in their local area and around the United States.
They had each been in on the ground-floor and were managers of their own selective group of employees, and as the company grew, so did their incomes. As such, while they didn't exactly spoil their sons Tome an Daniel (or so they thought), they did have the means too if they so choose.
Due to their parents substantial income and their desire not to let the money go to their heads, Tom and Dan still lived in the same old two-bedroom doublewide they'd grown up in all their lives. Though it wasn't the nicest neighborhood, it was home, and the family knew that in this economy, there was no reason to risk moving elsewhere or changing schools.
Even with their funds, Tom and Dan shared the same room. The twins had grown up knowing each other's company, and rarely fought. Usually when they did, it was over some girl or who's house to spend the weekend at. They were in sync more often than not, and liked doing just about everything together.
Usually if one them disobeyed their parents, so did the other, and tonight was no different. After dinner, the two of them went to bed early as they 'always did' on Monday nights. The returned to their rooms, laid down in their bunk-beds (Dan on the top) and took a nap with their alarm clocks set to go off around 1AM.
With the room completely dark, the alarms went off around 1AM, and the two boys got up out of bed and quietly made their way to their computers which were in desks facing towards each other, their monitors back to back. They always tried to get in a few hours sleep before getting a few hours worth of PHUCK in on Monday nights, and tonight would be no different... or so they thought.
"The developers of Prince Herald's Unfinished Kingdom would like to inform the players," Tom began as he read of the screen. Dan looked around his monitor over at Tom, as he double-clicked to open up the PHUK pre-loader. Tom continued to reach the warning message, and sat back in his chair as he did so. When he was done, he gave a deep sigh, "Well... I guess we would rather play someone than no one at all," he agreed with the developers.
"Hey, wait. Our accounts are linked," Daniel noted, a finger tracing down his screen as he was reading a Forum post. Tome looked around his monitor at Dan, waiting to hear the end of that thought. "It says here in the Patch Notes that accounts remained linked... and that those accounts that have already been linked will stay that way," he said.
Tom blinked, taking in what Dan had said. "So... our accounts are linked, so we get the same amount of experience. Not everyone does that, but some do... so what you're saying is that we'll only have swapped accounts with other people who's accounts are linked?" he asked, and Daniel nodded. "So... other brothers, or sisters, or married couples, or girlfriends and boyfriends, etc," he noted.
"Or just friends who hung out together all the time," Daniel shrugged in Tome's direction. "Either way, while they wont be our own characters, it means we can still run together and do whatever," he said. It was true, too. Linked Accounts had a 'Summon Partner' ability, so even if the two characters were on the other side of the Kingdom from each other, they could end up together.
"I'm up for it if you are," Tom shrugged, knowing Dan would be. As such, he stood up and tip-toed over to the trunk at the base of their bunk-beds. Inside were easily the most expensive Total Immersion units that money could buy. Full suits that were completely skin-tight and designed to fit either one of their bodies. The build in cooling systems and breathing units made sure that whatever their avatars were supposed to feel, they did completely... like swapping places into another living breathing person.
"Course I am," Daniel said, his hand out to Tome as he took from his brother one of the two suits. "The real question is, what our choices are?" he said, his Character Select Screen appearing as Tome got out of his underwear to put on his formfitting suit. Daniel smirked at Tom's eagerness as he himself began to undress to put on his own suit.
Tom finished sliding on all of the suit, and tapped a button next to his eyes to calibrate his own Character Select Screen. The visuals were in 3D, and he could walk the isles to view all the characters. Firstly, though, he got into his bed to lay down, and then proceeded to move the camera among the linked-choices who were all standing together.
Daniel finished putting on his own suit, climbed back up into his top bunk, and laid down. He spoke over the linked chat (instead of aloud in the room), "So. Who shall we be tonight?"