2d20 The masqued world

The world is in a sad state, no one knows how it got so messed up, but we know it was after Covid-21. The world had been optimistic then. This is now. The world is no longer optimistic, everyone's buried brothers, friends, parents, children. Everyone wears masks all the time, to show your face to someone is a mark of trust and intimacy. It can make them all so very uncomfortable.

Who am I you ask? I am who I need to be. Who did I used to be? Oh, I used to be a consultant, running risk assessments for rich folk in very-high-risk areas. Used to work for BlazingPatio, Redsson, Bomber, making sure their execs were safe.

Then I got an invitation. This pair of execs, said they were working for Meaning, that was a lie of course, but I didn't know at the time. Wanted to meet, said they had a proposition.

I almost didn't meet them, sounded like a joke, or the premise to a hokey chick flick.  I didn't have anything better to do however, the game had been delayed again, for the ninth time, and my girlfriend wasn't speaking to me again.

So I meet them in Paris, in a little eatery in Cour Saint-Girondin, hadn't been there ever before, but it was nice. Off the most modern part of the Métro, then you just pop up in the middle of a pedestrian mall, with a nice wine shop in the corner. Very Nice, like the meme would say. Place looked like it had been built with straw and plywood, and decorated by nostalgic Italians straight from Roma, with knick-nacks of every description

They made me wait, I was used to it, whenever old world execs would invite me, they'd never be on time