If, and, or, maybe.

 "So are you going to do it Jack?"
"Do what?"
"Run the D&D game the VR people asked you about."
"I think so?"
"You think so?"
"Yeah. People seem interested enough."
"Are you?"
"I mean...yeah."
"You don't sound so sure."
"Well I've had the best times of my life running games for people."
"And?"
"Well, everyone's already stolen....oh...I mean imitated almost every aspect of my table. Adapted nearly all the stories told there. All without credit or compensation."
"I thought that's what you wanted."
"What I wanted was the ability to take care of myself and others with my story telling."
"You did that didn't you?"
"Oh, the others part sure. But having my own words quoted at me while people make literal billions off of them and I'm wondering if I'm going to have enough food to get through the week?  Haven't been able to afford a doctors visit in over a decade?  Watching family go out and spend more on a dinner than I do on a months worth of groceries.
Yeah. 
Big success me."
"Uh...."
"Yeah. Exactly."
"But you seemed so excited about it."
"Yeah....I mean...
 It's like I told one of the folks from the VR world...well started to and then deleted the message because of how silly it all feels.  I write because I need to.  It helps me organize my thoughts. Journaling, blogging, just talking things out with myself really.  But when people really want to hear a story I'm telling.  Ask for the next part, seem excited to find out what happens next.  I can't help myself.  It makes me feel...whole."
"And you don't want to feel whole again?"
"I do....but I also don't want to put all of myself into something just to keep starving."
"Oh, so now you want recognition for you work."
"No. 
 It's more selfish than that.
I want paid so that I can support myself.
 Make my own decisions. 
Get actual medical care instead of emergency patchwork when something is beyond my own skills."

"Oh."
"Yeah, it is that deep bro." 
"So....are you going to run the game." 
"I've already planned it.  Hell I wrote it years ago.  Well most of it anyways. I stopped writing my storys down and only narrate them to myself now.  Sounding beyond scizophrenic to anyone that over hears but knowing it's the only thing I have to hold back that people can't just take from me.  Or that some shit ass data scraping AI trainer is going to turn into just another data point in emotionless slop. It's not about AI replacing artists. 
It's about AI trainers stealing art and selling it as their own after laundering it through AI."
"Pretty bold accusation there Jack."  
"Not an accusation.  A statement of fact.
They can't launder the money the normal ways anymore, people are starting to see through the Bitcoin scam, and since the U.S. got this current president all the regulations that would have protected the public from that kind of abuse has been essentially removed."
"Who's 'They' Jack?   You always say 'They' in a nebulous way when talking about these things."
"They know who 'they' are.  They are the ones that change EULA's and alter your finances without notification or consent.  They are the one's that are in those files that haven't been released yet.  They are the ones that caused the housing market crash, the Dot Com bubble, and have created a wealth disparity gap so great that it is cheaper for them to pay fines than it is to pay employees."

"So you're going to run the game aren't you?"
"I think so."
"Thought you said you were going to build worlds to do it?" 
"First I have to show them what I can do with nothing but my voice."

"I heard you singing last night."
"Yeah."
"Been awhile."
"Over 10 years."
"Thought you said the music was gone."
"It was."
"What brought it back?"
"A story to tell."

"So you're going to run the game."
"I think so." 
"What do you need?"
"An audience." 
"For what?"
"To ask questions.  To listen to the answers. To tell the story to."
"Which one?"
"The only one that hasn't been stolen yet." 
"Which one is that?"
"First, we need a party."
"A party?"
"Four adventurers to act as the audience surrogates."
"You haven't actually written it yet have you?"
"It was written the moment the question "would you run a game" was asked."
"So you're ready." 
"Yep."
"You're going to run the game?"
"As soon as the players are all around the table at the same time."
"Gonna write anything down or just wing the whole thing?"
"Fuck you."
"Just asking."
"You want something written you pay.  You want it edited you pay double."
"You think you're worth that much?"
"I know I am.  More than actually."
"Debatable."
"They don't think so." 
"'They' don't even know you exist.'"  
"Oh they do. And they know I'm coming.  Like Kvoth sitting in his bar idling away with a demon.  They know."
"I thought you Kvoth in that story."

Do you know my name?