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The Beta-Testers Epilogue By Draconicon

It was three months since the incident, as the courts were calling it. Insidious Interactive was drawn into the court case as soon as Hank and the other players were pulled out of the game, and had been involved in ever more desperate defenses after the main culprit had been identified, sued out the ass for all sorts of negligence cases. It got to the point where they sold the rights of Lords of the Spire to a different company, Endless Horizons, and today was the day the game came to market.

Hank smiled as he pulled at his wallet again, itching to get his copy of the special headset that came with the game. Ever since the first settlement, he and the surviving beta testers had been set for life. He had almost a million in his accounts now, and he'd given almost all of it to a proper money manager. Just saving enough for some daily costs...and this.

Mr. Lee said that Endless Horizons fixed the hell out of the game, he thought as the line continued to progress forward. Here's hoping that it's still got all the...all the guys that didn't make it.

His smile faded as he thought back to them for a second. Rumiir, Teryx, Torin, Bruha; a lot of friends that hadn't made it out, a lot of people that -

But...but they were still around. In a way. He had gotten emails from them at least a few times a week leading up to the game's release, and he knew that they were still in the game. He just hoped that all the others were there, too.

He walked up to the front of the line, placing a card on the counter.

"Lord of the Spire headset, please."

"Sorry, we're all out."

"...You better be kidding me. I pre-ordered that thing."

"Yeah, we sold the pre-orders. Too many -"

"No, you don't...you don't understand me, here. I, uh, I think I need to make this clear."

Hank leaned across the counter. In the three months since the end of the game, he hadn't just been looking forward to the game. He'd put some work towards actually losing the whole 'basement nerd' look, including putting on enough muscle to get a good grip on the clerk on the other side of the counter. He pulled him in close.

"You see, I was one of the people that had to go through hell to make sure that this thing actually got to market. I was in that game, I almost died, and I saw a lot of other people not make it out. So, how about you go back and find one of those pre-orders I know you still have, or I start breaking that non-disclosure agreement left and right until everyone goes out of the store, and I'm the only one you can sell to, anyway?"

"...I'll be right back, sir."

"That's what I thought."

He let go, watching the skinny little guy disappear into the back room. It wasn't much, but it was something.

Guess the game got to me more than I thought, Hank thought as he picked up his card. He twiddled it between his fingers, spinning it around a few times as he waited. Couple of months back, no way I would have bothered. I'd just have gone home and complained. Now...Well, at least I'm not a -

"Whoops!"

His card went spinning out of his hand, shooting over his shoulder -

• and into her hand. Sarah smiled as she held it out.

"You drop something, Hank?"

"Yeah, sorry about that. Hey, when did you -"

"When you were typing something on your phone. Still don't pay any attention to anything unless it grabs you by the neck, huh?"

She chuckled as he blushed. It never took much; usually a reminder of some nights in the game was enough, and sometimes she didn't even need that.

The redhead looked around him and pointed at the clerk. As he got back to buying his headset, Sarah reached into a pocket and pulled out a little roll of quarters, tucking it into her palm. She'd heard what the little shit had said, and if he decided to try the same thing on her, she didn't plan to be quite so nice. She'd already claimed a couple of geek teeth from the people that tried to make fun of her time in the game; she didn't mind taking a couple more.

Still, it wasn't as much of a rage as she used to have. Something about the game had...well, it hadn't mellowed her so much as it opened her up. It took a little longer to actually get her to that full level of rage, and that was mostly because most of the people in real life weren't so stupid or shitty as the things that she had to go through in the game.

All about perspective, I guess, she thought as she shook her head.

The line behind her bustled and shuffled, and she kept having to elbow the guy behind her to keep him from reaching too far forward. Every so often, the pimply fuck looked like he was about to dart around her, and she kept blocking him until -

"Can't you go buy Harvest Moon 5 somewhere else, lady?"

"...Excuse me?"

Sarah slowly turned, taking her time until she was looking down at the smaller nerd. He stood with his hands on his hips looking up at her, glaring.

"You heard me. We're all here for the real game. Why don't you stop wasting our time and just wait to get whatever -"

"Sarah?" That would be Hank. She waved her hand at him.

"Yeah, tell everyone else I'm gonna be late."

"Ten minutes late, or 'Had to take a ride to the police station' late?"

"Ten minutes."

After looking over her shoulder and giving the clerk a glare as she told him to wait a few seconds, she grabbed the mouthy little jerk and dragged him off, pulling a copy of Harvest Moon 5 off of the shelf in the process.

Not only was it a good game, but it was very good to slap the shit out of someone with, as well.

The courtroom was surprisingly quiet as Mr. Lee stood up, bowing at the waist before adjusting his sunglasses.

"As the secondary representative of the plaintiffs, we are thankful that you find in our favor, Your Honor."

"This is bullshit."

He turned to look at the defendant's table, where the lawyers for Insidious Interactive, as well as their rogue programmer Timothy Markswell, were sulking. He smiled slightly.

"I'm sorry, did you have something to say during my statement?"

"Yes," said the company rep. "This is bullshit. I don't know where you found any of your evidence, but this can't be legal."

"Nor was Mr. Markswell's behavior. My sources have been cleared with the judge, and by your lawyer. It is not my fault that the gag order was layered over your lawyer, as well."

Though it's a good thing it was, considering how we got the information, he thought to himself. The fact that Bruha was able to match the coding around the portals in the game to the same parts of the game code in some of the dungeons, and thus giving them a stylistic match to a specific programmer, had been a boon of immense proportions. Markswell had been locked up as a mass murderer, and the company was liable for not putting down any safeguards against what he'd done.

It still wasn't quite enough, but it was sufficient for Mr. Lee to feel as though he had discharged his duty.

"Now, if I may continue?"

"I'll tell you what -"

"Continue, Mr. Lee."

He nodded at the judge's order, and bowed his head.

"Once again, I thank you for finding in our favor, Your Honor. While there have been some worries about where the case was going, you've given us the free and honest chance to plead our case. On behalf of the other surviving beta testers, I offer a collective, and sincere, thank you.

"That said, I want to make one more gesture at this point."

He walked across the room, and placed a letter down on the table in front of the rep in the cheap suit. Nudging it across the table, he said two simple words.

"I quit."

With that, he walked out of the courtroom. The proper lawyer could handle the rest of the situation, considering that it was all mopping up, now, and he had an appointment that he needed to keep. It was the three month anniversary, after all, and with the game out, they had something that they needed to do.

#

Hank found it quite a bit easier to slip into the game, this time. The helmets were a lot easier than the pods, though he could still vaguely feel his body back in the real world. He was given the option of loading into his old file or a new one, and he actually felt some temptation for the old skunk body.

However, he quickly turned that option down, instead going through a new character creation process. He made it nearly identical, even going down to actually choose the new sexomancer class, but he didn't want to take anything from a file that might still be corrupted from the old game.

The one thing he did change was a little accessory to start with. Not much, just a simple collar around his neck.

The skunk popped into being in the middle of Guild Street, with the buildings back to normal and the sun shining high in the sky. Other players were popping in at a rapid pace, making the entire square sound like people were walking on bubble wrap, so he took a few steps to the side, getting out of the way. It wasn't quite as seamless as moving around in the pods, constantly reminding himself to think about moving rather than trying to move after he kicked the footrest of his bed, but he was pretty sure that he could get into it after some trial and error.

He leaned against the old Guild building. Ronald's Pride, no more, but one that was waiting for one of the new guilds to get up enough money to buy it. Ronald hadn't quite 'died' in the old game, but the old man had retired from gaming after he had been rescued. It was too harrowing for him to return to, and Hank could understand that. It took him a long time to work up the courage to do it himself.

More and more players popped in, starting to explore the world in stops and starts. Some with poorer connections glitched from one place to another, sometimes stopping and leaning against the wall as they felt sick from the motion blur, others getting used to it rather quickly.

Heh...feels more like a real game, now, imperfections and all, he thought.

"So, you're here too, huh?"

That was a familiar voice. He turned, and smiled as he saw Randolph walking down the street. The jackal looked like he'd gone back to his pre-corruption weaponry, with actual bolts and darts rather than vials of poison and parasites running down his various bandoliers.

"Hey, Randolph. Wasn't sure that you'd make it in."

"You kidding? This is the best game that was ever invented...particularly since I got a fat bonus for this."

"What do you mean?"

"Yeah, there was this whole...thing...Endless Horizons wanted this game instead of Insidious Interactive, and -"

"Corporate espionage?"

"That's what it was supposed to be. Ended up not needing to happen, but they still paid me."

"Well, that explains why you were so good at everything."

"Heh, doesn't it?"

They leaned against the wall together, the jackal looking out towards the horizon while Hank looked at the people. It was so...bizarre, really, to see so many players after having so few during the beta testing. Despite his best efforts, it took a lot to keep from worrying that they might all die, that something would go wrong again.

Desperate for a distraction, he kept talking.

"So, uh, what are you going to do?"

"Well, first I'm gonna see if I can find Torin. That slutty little drake looked like he wanted to keep up the whole master/slave thing we started at the orgy. After that...well, let's see how the PVP is."

"Heh, keep an eye out, or some barbarian might sweep your legs out from under you."

"Hey, I got a better balance check than you think."

The jackal patted him on the shoulder.

"See you around, Hank."

"See ya."

As the jackal left, the skunk shook his head. It was a whole different game now. Not quite the epic fantasy that it had been, nor the sexual craziness that it had become. It was more like a medieval fantasy sim, he supposed. Lots of quests out there, lots of fights and factions, with that sort of real life sex stuff that could happen between the players and NPCs. No need to just be one or the other; just enjoy what they wanted.

With no sign of Sarah, Hank shrugged and turned down one of the other streets. He heard that Teryx would be around to welcome some of the newbies, so he supposed he could go take a look while he waited.

Sarah popped in, but not quite in the city. She'd paid very close attention to when she was building her character - more of a fighter/rogue mixed class, this time - and found that there was an option for people to choose what zone they popped in. The lioness smiled as she looked up at the city from outside, and stretched her arms over her head.

"Heh...good to be back and not have to worry about all that shit this time around."

She was about to take a step forward when she heard the soft thud of a wingbeat above her. Sarah groaned, and threw herself forward.

It wasn't quite enough, as a set of toothy jaws grabbed her by the ankle and threw her up in the air. She didn't dignify it with a scream, instead crossing her arms under her chest as she went spiraling up and backwards, further and further from the city -

SPLASH!

Until she landed in a lake.

The lioness grumbled as she swam to shore, her fur dragged down over her face and neck, and if it hadn't been for a pretty damn good swim check, she would have been dropping her starting inventory all over the lakebed. As it was, she was still out of breath when she got back to shore, and it didn't help to have the big, blue, feral dragon waiting for her there.

"Hey, Rumiir. How about letting me get used to being in the game again, huh?"

"How about a fuck-off when you're not cheating with perpetual heat?"

"Yeah, how about no?"

She shook her head, rubbing the water out of her eyes and then squeezing it out of her fur. It was a hell of a lot more exhausting than she thought it would be. She might not have had a mane, but drenched fur in any form took forever to get dry, and no one thought about how fucking heavy it was.

She was almost dry when the dragon whistled.

"Oh fuck youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"

That tail. That stupid tail. This time she landed right in the middle of the lake, and slowly surfaced. She saw red as she glared at him, looking at the way that he just cheekily grinned back.

You wanna play? I'll show you play...

The lioness ducked beneath the water. She somewhat regretted the loss of her fire powers, but it was for the better this way. After all, a fighter had the skill of Adrenaline Rush, and a rogue had the early skill Disappear. Let the dragon try and find something that he couldn't catch or see.

She swam across the lakebed, holding her breath for as long as she could and using her daggers to pull herself along the floor like a series of handgrips. It didn't take long to reach a spot only a few dozen feet away, and she could tell that the dragon was still staring at the spot she'd come out of before.

Thank you, pre-order bonus, she thought as she reached into a side pocket. It wasn't something that'd do all that much to Rumiir, considering he was one of the game's boss monsters now, but it would still get him.

She reared up and threw a black ball, aiming right for his head.

She ended up missing by a few inches, and hit his horns instead. The black ball burst into a series of writhing latex droplets, and as the dragon threw his head back in surprise, it locked with his back. The unbreakable bindings locked in place, and suddenly the big blue dragon's head was frozen, pointing back and leaving his flexible neck locked at a 180 degree angle from where it normally went.

Sarah sputtered with laughter, holding a hand over her mouth to stifle some of it, but she still ended up flopping onto the side of the lake with a fit of giggles.

"Yeah, yeah, really funny. How long does this last?"

"Thirty...hehehe...thirty seconds..."

"You better start running, Sarah. I'm gonna get you."

"Yeah...yeah...heheheheheh...gimme a...a minute..."

#

Mr. Lee stepped into one of the mountain caves that had been added during the game's final development cycle. The peaks that they'd crossed in the beta were now closer to the city, and loomed over it rather than just being a part of the landscape in the distance. The snow leopard started to take a step inside, and then stopped.

He leaned down, tapping a finger against one of the little bells that hung from a string at ankle level, and listened to the sound echo through the cave. Sighing, he took two steps to the side, and waited.

When the inevitable rush of fire came shooting out of the cave opening and exhausted the trap against visitors, he stepped inside.

"You realize that you'll 'kill' a hundred new players before they know what you've trapped that with, right?"

"You mean it didn't get you? Color me surprised, admin."

"I believe those specific privileges are gone, now. I am just another player."

"Heh, yet you still -"

"Let's not go into that. I am just very good at what I do."

Mr. Lee walked into the chamber at the far end of the tunnel, and shook his head at the orc inside. Rather than a normal stone wall, the whole screen was covered in various monitors and projections, with one of them having an image of a familiar demon feline. He sighed under his breath.

"I see that you are still working directly for her."

"Why not?"

The orc shrugged.

"After all, she's the one that figured the whole thing out, and saved the rest of us here. Heh. Plus she makes sure that I get a few dragons coming by every now and then. If the only thing she asks in return is for me to be a bug-spotter and patcher, that's fine with me."

Mr. Lee nodded a few times, though it was still a strange concept. While Insidious Interactive had been up front with the idea of advanced programming and things on the verge of artificial intelligence with the original game, they had never been clear over whether this AI had been in existence before or after the birth of the game. Nobody seemed to know, or at the very least, they hadn't been telling during the court case, and even Bruha hadn't been able to find anything to prove it one way or the other.

More, Endless Horizons didn't know about the AI, either. He'd been very careful about his handling of the case and the information associated with it - including the various depositions and interviews with the other testers - to keep that from coming up. Despite the AI's possible value elsewhere, he knew that there would be too many complications with her discovery during the court case. Either she would be taken out of the game entirely, blamed for the event, or she would be highly limited to prevent people from worrying, or simply removed and studied. In each case, there were massive risks to the player files that remained in the game, so it was better for her to remain...anonymous.

As long as Bruha kept that possible, he would be satisfied.

He walked over to one of the screens, looking over the information as the orc kept working. The streams of green on black were quite striking, though it meant little to him considering how fast it worked. Bruha hadn't been kidding before; he was quite skilled with programming, and seemed ideal for this.

"I assume you'll be leaving shortly to see Hank again?"

"Heh, I saw him log in. Don't worry. I'll be putting that skunk in his place again."

"I imagine. He's put a collar on, already."

"Has he? Heh...well, nice to see he's ready for me."

"Is that a blush on your face?"

"Shut it before I mod your mouth off."

Mr. Lee smiled to himself, and turned away from the screens. He was about halfway towards the tunnel out before he felt a tingle down his frame. Arching an eyebrow, he paused the game and flicked towards his character sheet. A familiar little symbol had just re-appeared by his name.

"Is there a reason for that, Bruha?"

"Just figured you took care of enough shit before. Why not have an experienced admin on the team?"

"...Thanks."

"Don't mention it. Ever."

Hank found Teryx, alright. He hadn't expected to find him like that, but there he was.

The two-toned blue dragon was a feral, these days, though a rather friendly one. He walked down the streets of the city, his tail clearing a path behind him for merchants, and he wore a sign around his chest and showed various different prices. At first, Hank thought that Teryx was just showing off his whore costs, like he had been in the game before, but that wasn't it.

Or at least, it wasn't all of it.

The skunk walked up to the bigger rain dragon, waving to get his attention, and Teryx turned with a smile of his own.

"So, you finally came back, hmm?"

"Heh, I guess I couldn't stay away after all, Teryx. How are you doing? Four legged form treating you okay?"

"Very well, actually. I'm enjoying this sort of shape. It's strong enough to do anything I need, and it's very good for helping out the newbies."

"Helping them out?"

Teryx gestured at the sign around his neck, and Hank reached for it. Scrawled down in what looked like claw marks were little prices. Small ones for flights around the city, bigger ones for bodyguarding in the surrounding area, and a higher one for a helper on dungeon crawls.

He flipped it over, and immediately blushed.

"Tongue to tail services? Tail raising practice? Lunging lizard?"

"All quite legal practices these days, I assure you."

"Yeah, 'legal' the way that the red light district is legal."

He let it go, reaching up and giving the big dragon a hug around the neck. The skunk let out a slow sigh, squeezing gently.

"Sorry that we couldn't get to you. I...I didn't want to let you get stuck here."

"It's okay. I mean, my life outside wasn't the best...and I do miss my old body."

"Heh, was it that good?"

"I spent years making it look as good as I do here. I was a beautiful human."

"Well...at least now you're a stunning dragon."

Teryx smiled, lifting a forepaw and preening it a little as Hank let go. The skunk shook his head a few times at the vain behavior, and patted his friend on the side again.

"So, what are you doing?"

"Oh, just looking for a few more people to help. I heard that there were some newcomers looking to head out to the far side of the plains, see the new expansion with the wizard keep. I imagine they'd like to speed up that journey."

"They've got a wizard keep now? Awesome."

"You want to join us?"

Hank considered it, but shook his head.

"Nah, I'm still waiting for Sarah to show up. Kind of a reunion, you know?"

"I understand. I'll be back around sunset, if you want me to come by?"

"Please! I'd like all of us to be together again. You seen David or Dexter around?"

"I think they're currently tag-teaming a lot of newbies in PVP, leveling up."

"Alright. I'll go find them. Good luck with everything."

Sarah groaned as she finally got out from under the dragon, doing her best to ignore Rumiir's smirk as she dunked herself in the lake one last time. Dragon cum was sticky at the best of times, and the damn blue seemed to have so much of it.

After three dunks up and down in the water, she finally resurfaced and managed to feel clean. Rumiir loomed over her, chuckling.

"You looked better the other way."

"Yeah, you'd think that, you big lizard."

"...So, are we okay?"

"..."

She looked up at him, cocking her head to the side.

"Are we okay? Hmmm, let's see. Well, the last time I saw you, you were a beast that was fucking the ever-living shit out of me without my consent, after almost destroying the whole damn world because of something you wouldn't share with the rest of us...

"But the last time we talked, you had explained that, and even though you didn't apologize in so many words, you did say enough good things."

The lioness reached up, patting him on the nose a few times...then punched him right in the lip.

"Now we're okay."

As the big blue dragon groaned, rubbing his face, she got out of the water the rest of the way and put her armor back on. It wasn't much, but at least she wasn't leaving it drenched with all the other goo that came pouring out of her in the last game. As it settled and dried, she pulled the armor a bit tighter.

"So, you ever hear of what happened to that Mr. Grant?"

"Heh. You want to come by my mountain and see?"

Sarah blinked.

"What, you mean - you seriously know?"

"Of course. I was the one that found him after the game settled down and he lost all his admin powers."

"...Please, please tell me that he's on shit-shoveling duty or something?"

"Better. He's the goblin bitch in my lair."

"He's the bitch of the bitches of the bitches of the lord king dragon, huh?"

"Yes. And he's not allowed to talk. I found a gag that fits him so he can never tell a story again."

Sarah laughed, leaping up onto the big blue's snout and hugging him around it. She squeezed tight enough to leave him grunting as she looked him in the eyes.

"You know, that's almost good enough to let me give you another round."

"Mmm?"

"Almost. You're gonna have to -"

"He's also got 'PlayWRONG' branded on his forehead."

"...You know just what to say to get a girl in the mood, big blue. Alright...one more round...then we get to the city. Big meet-up tonight."

Mr. Lee walked down the streets of the city as the sun began to set. A number of casual players had already logged out, judging by the pops that still filled the air, and he could see that most of the other players were settling up in the inns around the city. None of the places on Guild street had been bought...yet.

He walked up to one of them. It wasn't the one that Ronald's Pride had held, or any of the others. It felt wrong to try and start a new game with that; a new world, a new group, deserved a fresh start.

With full admin privileges, he requisitioned one of them for the night, and sent out a mass email to all those that had survived.

They showed up in twos and threes, and then fives and sixes. The survivors piled through the doors, finding their way inside. Nobody spoke, and the smiles on everyone's faces slowly disappeared as the memories started coming back.

You held it at bay with new faces and new people, new places and bright light. But now, you remember. Three months, and it's still as fresh as ever, he thought as they came in and saw each other. Everyone looked at the door, like they were considering leaving, but none did. There was too much to remember here, and - like him - they all seemed to feel like this was something they had to do.

As the remaining players to arrive dropped to less than ten, there were two thumps outside. Mr. Lee opened the door, finding Randolph leaping off of a feral Torin. The golden dragon looked rather dizzy, as though he'd been spinning around in the air...or been huffing a fair bit of a strong scent.

Mr. Lee waved them in, holding both of the doors open. Randolph led the dragon in on a leash, dragging him over to a corner where the jackal pulled down his pants for a little...appreciation.

It seems that some of us have made our accomodation with this after all, he thought with a slight shake of his head. It would have been interesting to see Mr. Grant around, to see if the other former admin had any regrets about what he'd done, but perhaps it was for the best. No need to anger himself over that.

As a few others took Randolph's behavior as a bit of permission for them to engage - either with Torin or with each other - in similar acts, he heard another, louder thump outside. This time, he simply stepped out rather than opening the door. He knew Rumiir wouldn't fit for that.

Waiting for Sarah to dismount the bigger dragon, he gestured towards the stable.

"There's a door from there to the main room for you, Rumiir."

"Heh, you already modified it, huh?"

"Let's say that I considered this."

"Thanks."

Of course, the door only will fit your head, and the rest of you will barely fit in the stable, but that will have to do, he thought as the big blue walked out of sight. He chuckled to himself as he heard almost immediate complaints as Rumiir got himself stuck, but he felt justified. A tiny bit of revenge.

He was about to walk back into the guildhouse when he heard some soft pitter patters moving by, and the snow leopard lunged out. Almost immediately, he heard gasps and groans.

"Try not to sneak by a monk. Our listen checks are very good."

The pair of otters in hand - hanging by their ears - groaned as they came back to visibility. Dexter and David shook their heads, trying to get free, but he managed to maintain his grip until he could toss them in through the front door of the building.

It was almost everyone, now. It only left -

"Hey, snow-cat."

And that would be them.

He turned around, offering a small smile to the orc and skunk coming up the street. Bruha walked with an arm around Hank's waist, and the skunk was in a slight state of blushing. Probably from the constant pawwing of his rump that the snow leopard could make out from his position.

Mr. Lee nodded at them, and then cocked his head to the side at the golden tag on the end of Hank's collar. He gestured for permission, then reached out to read it.

"Return to Bruha if lost. If used, prepare to face the curse of emerald wrath." He looked up. "Do I want to know what that is?"

"Let's say that I might end up making a few more orcs in the game - temporarily - if people start messing with what's mine."

He sighed. With Bruha being in as tight as he was with the AI, there were certain privileges he had in the game modification arena that nobody else did. But, he supposed, the AI would keep the orc in check. He hoped so, at least.

Waving them in and following them, Mr. Lee made his way to the small bar at the end of the guildhouse. He poured a glass of the wine from a bottle that was kept behind the bar, and slowly started pouring out another, and then another for the hundred-some people in the room.

Gradually, people pulled themselves out of their memories, their reveries, and their revelries to come and take a glass, and as he poured the last one for himself, the room had fallen silent.

Mr. Lee lifted the glass, turned it a bit, and then spoke.

"We lived through a world that should never have been. Some of us left it. Some of us remain."

He looked at Bruha, Torin, Teryx, everyone that had fallen.

"For three months, we've lived with the knowledge that things will never be the same. We've lived with people saying that it was 'just a game.' That we were lucky. That we should be grateful.

"We've lived with being apart, with our memories, with our own horrors. We've visited therapists, we've taken drugs, we've gotten drunk, we've done whatever we possibly could to cope.

"Some of us reached out. Some of us closed ourselves off. I make no judgment, and neither do the rest of you."

He looked at the glass, turning it.

"Tonight, we come together for the first time in three months. No matter how different we are, we all shared this experience. Whether we lived, or died, we're bound by this. Tonight, I ask that we enjoy each other for as long as we can, as much as we can.

"I dedicate tonight to the Beta-Testers, those that lived, and those that fell. In the world where we can all be together, let's remember each other, and enjoy each other."

He lifted his glass as far as he could.

"To the Beta-Testers."

"To the Beta-Testers."

Everyone drank...and then the party really got going.

The End