JoshuaCole374
patreon
Chapter 25: A Care In The World
🕑 Added 2023-09-22 12:28:33 +0000 UTCI opened the apartment door. I’d gone into such a deep sulk I almost forgot to pick a very specific tone in which to call out, “I’m home.”
“Welcome home.” Lena grinned as we completed the exchange we’d picked up from dozens of anime translations.
I wanted to return her smile. We didn’t get to do that back and forth often. Before Third Eye we’d rarely gone out, and since, we’d gone out as a team.
Were we still? A team?
After our exchange of texts, I’d been a hundred percent on board. While I brooded over – possibly hypothetical – Third Eye injustices, I imagined us tackling them together. Hopefully Lena would figure out a way to, since I still had no clue.
Now, though, I was in a deep enough funk I could recognize it but not climb out.
I saw Lena in the doorway, standing in the same position she had when she pushed me out. Except she didn’t look small and cold in her PJs anymore. She’d armored up in a skirt and leggings and a long-sleeved tee with a mascot I was pretty sure belonged to a dead comedy magazine.
“What, Me Worry?” asked her shirt. Irritation shot through me. Why pick that one? Yes, I thought, you worry!
I guess it showed on my face, because Lena glanced away and rubbed her arms. “You still pissed at me?”
I stepped inside before I answered, because it was cold and because I needed a second to get my head in a place where I knew how to respond.
Also, because at least if things went really wrong she couldn’t slam the door in my face.
The apartment felt so warm after a morning outside. Sweat beaded on my back. I shrugged off my parka and hung it by the door. “Lil’ bit.”
“That’s not fair!” Her eyes snapped to me. “You got me back.”
Which was why I’d decided to tell her about my fight with Matt in the way I had.
So why didn’t we feel even now?
“Technically,” I said, “every word I told you was correct.”
“Technically correct is the best kind of correct,” she said, like a mantra. Then she scowled. “How’s this? Technically, you getting hurt in a fight IRL is a lot more plausible than me getting hurt by something you did in Third Eye. Oh, and so is you slipping and freezing when you’ve taken twenty minutes to throw out the trash.”
Where did that come from? I furrowed my brow. “Were you trying to get me back for that? I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“Does it matter?”
“Not really.” But on some level, I knew she had been, and it did. I hadn’t understood it. What did I understand anymore? “Are we really going to do this?”
“I hope not!” She grabbed my hand. “I want to talk about Third Eye. Your fight. All the shit on that Discord. Running into DS again, what the hell? Or, hey, let’s start with how NugsFan15 got my username?”
Whatever else we discussed, Lena deserved an answer to that, at least.
“She guessed I knew you,” I said, “based on our posting patterns on the wiki.”
She searched my face and must have decided I wasn’t joking. “Jesus.”
“Right?”
“You weren’t kidding about statheads.”
“I was not.”
I had plenty to tell Lena. Plenty to ask her.
My anger at VisibleFromSpace curdled in my stomach. It made me want to fix Third Eye, but I knew I couldn’t. It made me want to delete the app, but I knew I wouldn’t.
I needed feedback. Lena’s feedback.
I looked down at her hand on mine.
That wasn’t all we needed.
But our phones chimed at the same time.
Lena let go of me and picked hers up.
I let her.
She scanned the screen and started tapping. Without looking up, she said, “You better use the computer.”
I swallowed a sigh. “Yeah.”
I dragged myself to my PC, sank into my chair, and thumbed its power button. I felt drained and tried to fixate on that feeling because it was how I ought to feel.
What kind of asshole would I be if I were happy about the interruption?
While my PC booted, I opened Discord on my phone to check where the notification had come from. Not the official Third Eye server with an @everyone, but Erin’s. She’d switched to the Wiki Planning room and addressed her message to Lena and I directly.
NugsFan15: @Ashbird @OldCampaigner If the two of you have time, I’d love to talk about Air.
We didn’t have time.
Ashbird: Sure! Gotta complete the set, right?
Lena hopped onto the counter. She flicked a glance my way. When she saw me looking, she hunched her shoulders and fixated on her phone screen.
NugsFan15: That’s the hope.
Ashbird: It’s elements only for the Reactants?
NugsFan15: All those posted so far have been. We haven’t been able to get in touch with the person who entered a Crystal find on the wiki, but that may also be a Reactant.
Ashbird: I still think it’s fake.
Erin didn’t respond right away. I recalled the two of them disagreeing about it on the official Discord. It had happened while Lena and I were out hunting Materials, so their conversation had moved too fast for me to give my two cents.
Now, I closed out of the various game launchers that flooded my PC desktop when it first booted. That revealed the computer version of Discord. Thankfully, it didn’t need any interminable updates. I switched to Erin’s server, set my phone aside, and started typing.
OldCampaigner: The Materials list is so idiosyncratic, it’s hard to believe the Reactants will just be Aristotelian elements. We know Crystal is a thing, at least, because it’s in the cash shop.
“Traitor,” Lena said, and posted.
OldCampaigner: Don’t get me wrong. I do think that specific find is probably a fake.
NugsFan15: Why?
OldCampaigner: I just got Air this morning, and I already want to post about Reactions on the wiki. If I’d found Crystal it would be an even bigger deal.
I thought mentioning my desire to post about Reactions might prompt an interesting response, or at least hesitation, but Erin answered right away.
NugsFan15: I suppose. Thank you for waiting to post, by the way.
OldCampaigner: It sounds like you’ve got a plan for the wiki page, and I haven’t had a chance to look at the logs yet.
Ashbird: We can talk about Air, but real quick, I gotta know. What’s the difference between Earth and Stone, really?
NugsFan15: One is a Reactant as well as a Material.
Erin added an emoji with its tongue sticking out.
Lena groaned. “This is no good.”
I cocked my head. “Hm?”
“I’m starting to like her.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“When she bans me, it’ll actually kinda suck.”
I laughed. “You are a barbarian.”
She flexed the nonexistent muscles in her arm. “Yes, by Crom!”
“You know,” I said, “even in the movie, it was a plot point that Conan didn’t swear by Crom all the time.”
Lena did her impression of Erin’s emoji.
NugsFan15: Seriously, though, ShakeProtocol has a fantastic demonstration of what Earth does.
I started to scroll up, but the conversation moved too fast.
Ashbird: So were you just waiting to get the lowdown on Air before you put the page up, or what?
NugsFan15: We don’t want to encourage more people to get Reactants yet.
So Erin had chosen the direct approach, huh? What would it be like to tackle your problems that way?
I felt myself flushing and flicked a glance at Lena. She either didn’t notice my reaction, or didn’t understand, or kept her commentary to herself. Considering how fast she’d seized on a distraction, it wasn’t like she had room to talk.
OldCampaigner: Why?
NugsFan15: Once someone has a Reactant, they can engage in PVP.
Ashbird: Damn skippy!
Ashbird: Oh hey, I didn’t read the rules, can I swear in here?
NugsFan15: Fuck no.
Ashbird: lol!
One thing about Lena. When she typed lol, she meant it. For as long as I got to hear her laugh like that, I could accept any number of distractions.
NugsFan15: I take it you’re a fan of PVP in other games, Ashbird?
Ashbird: Of course.
NugsFan15: Have you done any in Third Eye?
Lena chewed her lip.
“You should probably just tell her you can’t yet,” I said.
“I joked about getting banned,” Lena said, “but you sure I’ll be allowed in her ‘castle’ if I don’t have a Reactant?”
I shrugged. “If she kicked you over that, we’re better off outside the walls.”
“I guess.” Lena scratched her chin. “You know, technically, another player did take some of my HP.”
“That doesn’t count.”
“Yeah? How come?”
I fixed my eyes on my computer screen. “I don’t want it to.”
OldCampaigner: I’ve done Third Eye PVP. It’s why I brought it up this morning.
Which was both true, and spared Lena from answering the question one way or another.
NugsFan15: Arranged or invasion?
OldCampaigner: Invasion.
“Holy shit, there’s invasions in this?” Lena hopped off the counter and scurried over to stand beside me. “When you said you got in a fight I pictured, like, the other dude came up and challenged you. Some real stags in rut shit.”
I shot her a glance. “That’s what you pictured, huh?”
“Vividly.” She grinned and wiggled her eyebrows. When I didn’t turn away, though, her grin slipped and she looked back to her phone. “Anyway,” she muttered, “invasion is way cooler.”
NugsFan15: How did you like it?
OldCampaigner: ngl, it scared the shit out of me.
Ashbird: What a wuss!
OldCampaigner: You’d like some dude to sneak up and attack you IRL?
“Uh.” Lena tapped something on her phone, but didn’t send it. She shifted her feet. “I mean. It’s fine if it’s part of a game.”
“It doesn’t feel like a game,” I said.
NugsFan15: I’m really worried about it.
NugsFan15: I can tell you I found it absolutely miserable. What’s more, we don’t know how it relates to players being suspended from the beta. XP loss? Win/loss record? These are things we need to discover and I understand we’re expected to do so ourselves.
I thought Erin and I were on the same page, but Discord told me she was still typing.
NugsFan15: More importantly, it’s just a matter of time before someone gets hurt.
I frowned at my screen.
Lena frowned at hers.
I knew we were both thinking about the Plastic covering her face. But that made no sense.
Right?
OldCampaigner: I don’t understand.
NugsFan15: Even though you got invaded? It’s terrifying.
OldCampaigner: Yeah, but it’s not like the guy actually hurt me.
NugsFan15: Oh, no. I don’t mean the game would hurt you somehow.
The tension melted out of Lena.
Mine ratcheted up, because I had a bad feeling I saw where this was going.
NugsFan15: Someone is going to get scared and lash out physically.
“Well,” I said.
OldCampaigner: Shit.
Ashbird: You mean I can’t invade people because they’ll throw a fit and punch me?
Ashbird: Screw that.
Ashbird: If some sore loser comes at me, Cam, you have to punch him first!
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, no.”
“Dick.” Lena’s fist bumped my shoulder with enough force to leave no question as to why she couldn’t do her own punching.
NugsFan15: No punching!
NugsFan15: And no invasions!
NugsFan15: It Is Too Dangerous!
Erin bolded and underlined her last sentence.
Ashbird: Kidding!
NugsFan15: Please don’t. Not about this.
Ashbird: Geez, fine. But you’re our wiki admin, not our mom. It’s nice you’re looking out for us and all, but don’t you think you’re overdoing it?
NugsFan15: No.
Lena tapped my shoulder.
I glanced at her phone screen and read the message she intended to send. I grimaced. “You’re not exactly wrong, but we probably shouldn’t say it.”
“Hm.” Lena swiped her finger over the screen, adding something to the start of her message before she posted.
I chuckled when I saw what.
Ashbird: I get it makes me sound like a heartless bitch. Oh noes! But seriously, why do you care so much?
NugsFan15: Because I will not be party to a legal problem for Third Eye Productions.
Shit started to click for me when I read Erin’s line. Like a handful of magnets, it jumbled up and stuck together. I needed time to pull it apart and understand each piece individually.
Each piece of shit?
I also needed a better metaphor.
Point was, I’d gotten only one thing right about Erin. She wanted desperately to remain in the Third Eye beta. What worried her? It wasn’t being outplayed. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that cockiness but I could probably respect it.
She worried the game would be canceled.
