Taking deep breaths, Alex stared up at her eggshell-white ceiling, the VR gear opening around her, objectively quickly but much slower than she would have liked, angry energy rattling around in her limbs.

 

“Fucking assholes!” she yelled, nearly hitting her head as she jumped out of the now-open pod. “Why the fuck would he even..?”

 

The truth was, she knew exactly why she’d have been killed. A legendary rune. On the integrated trading site that used real money, common runes sold for a few cents, if they ever sold at all. Moving up the rarities, however, multiplied the price to a ridiculous degree, until the insanely rare legendary runes. With only forty or fifty discovered in the game’s four-year history, the bidding usually started at five thousand dollars.

 

Still, though. Most bosses that had anything approaching a realistic chance of dropping something like that were, like that one, over level one-hundred-seventy, and the remainder of the portal raid could have easily turned out enough blues to match the over-an-order-of-magnitude increase in price. Admittedly for the whole guild versus, but that was a risk they’d said they preferred over paying her flat rate. So, like an idiot, she’d put faith in the guild’s reputation for being honorable to keep her from choosing between running and hurting her own reputation.

 

Fucking Hyrd. The conniving asshole.

 

Annoyingly, she couldn’t have even used the item, regardless of the fact that she was guaranteed to drop it after being killed. She was a Fighter; that sort of thing would only ever have been useful to a Crafter. It would just have been sold. Possibly even right back to The Alliance, though they wouldn’t have been fantastically pleased about the price.

 

When she got to the table in the front of her small apartment, she found herself not even blaming the guild leader, and more in a state of annoyance with the world. She sat down in a kitchen chair, then allowed her head to drop onto the table, messy blonde hair draping around her face.

 

One hour… she thought, looking at the time on her phone that proudly proclaimed it to be 3:31pm.

 

The moment hit her like a blast of cold water. Why do I even play that game?

 

The question being asked, even if just within her own head, gave rise to blankness, followed by a moment of horrified realization. She wasn’t playing for fun, like she had been at the beginning, but to fulfill some kind of obligation she felt to the inanimate thing. Looking sidelong at the VR gear, she thought for only a few seconds before walking over and sitting back down in it.

 

It took far less time than she had thought it would to set all of her character’s items up for auction. Before she would even have been able to log back in to the game normally, Novsha was stripped of everything but her character levels.

 

Delete Character <Novsha>?

 

Alex hesitated, thinking of the thousands of hours she’d poured into the game, the reputation she’d built up… then summarily selected “Yes” and exited the machine.

 

Feeling as though a weight had been removed from her shoulders, Alex changed into a yellow tank top and jeans, pausing only to clean up her hair before heading out the door, a hint of a smile on her face. A short walk and even shorter wait later, she paid for the sandwich she ordered at a small deli, sitting down at a table to wait for her name to be called.

 

“Alex!”

 

Not exactly who I’d like to see right now… she thought, turning around to see one of the guys from her electronics design and logic classes waving to her. Taking one hand from the table in front of her to wave at him lightly, she was annoyed to discover that he was walking towards her.

 

In moments like this, I wish I was an avid bubblegum consumer… if only so that I could snap it obnoxiously.

 

“Hello…” she began.

 

“Hey,” he said, putting far too much effort into the word, “You ever going to tell me the name of your Rune character?” Alex laughed, remembering his name now.

 

“Sure, James. Her name was Novsha.”

 

She regretted not having set up some sort of hidden camera upon seeing his reaction, and scanned the upper corners of the shop for one that would have a good angle with her eyes. Unfortunately not finding one (though she couldn’t be sure if it was because her laughter at his falling out of his chair was clouding her vision), she turned her attention back to the conversation.

 

“You’re a Fighter?” he asked, incredulous.

 

She shrugged. “I thought you’d be more surprised at me being mildly famous. Or that I told you after you’d been bugging me over it for so long.”

 

He waved a hand, sitting down again. “You don’t really lie, even if you do continually forget my name. Plus, I figured there was some reason you didn’t tell me. I’m just surprised that someone in our classes wouldn’t be crafting in-game.”

 

Laughing again, Alex heard her name called and stood up, grabbing the sandwich from the lady at the counter. When she returned to the table and unwrapped the food, he response was light and noncommittal. “I find that kind of thing interesting, but it’s not something I could spend my whole life at. Besides, I used them, even if I didn’t make them.”

 

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Past tense. First time, I ignored it, this time I’m asking.”

 

“I deleted the character earlier.” She said, flatly. His incredulous look seemed like a freeze-frame before his name was called, and he walked up to the counter, grabbed two sandwiches, and left without another word.

 

“Ooo… kay?” she said, looking at the door through which Jeremiah had left.

 

Putting the odd encounter behind her, she finished her meal, walking home and preparing herself for her next class. Around 18:40, she left the apartment to get to her classroom at seven.

 

The weirdness of the deli had not prepared her for the stares as she walked into the classroom comprised almost entirely of certified nerds. Some appeared pitying, some were accusatory, and some had a weird appraising quality. That wasn’t to say that everyone was looking at her; only a few of the people sitting around Julian appeared to be paying attention to her (Ell in particular, but they had made a habit of boring holes in her head with stares anyways and she couldn’t tell if they were reacting to the news or just doing their standard glare), but the small group still generated an oppressive ray of attention that made her glad when class started.

 

While the lecture itself was nothing that she didn’t know, participation was unfortunately important enough that she stayed the whole time, and was therefore glad for the excuse that came in the form of a phone call almost the instant class ended.

 

Putting the phone to her ear faster than strictly necessary while striding out, she greeted her caller.

 

“Hey, Matt,” she said, greeting her boyfriend.

 

“Hi, yeah, Alex… I don’t think I’ll be over this weekend.”

 

“Oh, that sucks. Is the next one still ok?”

 

“Err… Well, this is awkward. I’m not going to be coming over, like, any weekends. I’m breaking up with you.”

 

Alex paused mid-step, then turned her back to face the school and leaned against the brick. “Ah.”

 

“Look, I just can’t do the commute thing, I…”

 

“Just stop,” Alex said, cutting him off, “It’s fine. I’d be annoyed by the impersonal breakup, but you live a long way away and half our relationship’s been by phone anyways. I’ll see you.” She finished, and hung up.

 

She got in her car, waiting a few minutes of controlled breathing to leave the parking lot. It was a strange feeling, being single. It had been years, and the feeling wasn’t entirely pleasant. Pulling out of the parking spot, she headed the opposite direction of her apartment, finally coming to a stop in front of a small, brownish house.

 

Getting out and walking to the door took very little time, bringing herself to knock took a while longer as she worried whether it was alright to show up at someone’s house two hours before midnight unannounced, regardless of reason. When the door opened as soon as the first knock hit, though, she knew that the woman standing in front of her had been waiting for it.

 

“What–” she started, then was interrupted by Alex hugging the slightly taller woman, burying her face in the tee.

 

They stood there for a while before Kayla spoke up. “Usually, I might not be averse to a crying girl on my shoulder, but I think you should step in a bit further so we aren’t standing in the doorway.”

 

Alex’s laugh was shaky, but she did as suggested and stepped in, allowing her friend to reach around her and close the door. About a minute and a half later, without letting go, she spoke.

 

“Sorry, Kayla.”

 

“No problem. What’s up?”

 

“Breakup.”

 

“Mm,” Kayla hummed, then brought Alex over to a couch in the obsessively neat room, “Let me guess; nice again?”

 

Alex recoiled, wincing. “Not that nice…”

 

“Something like: ‘I won’t hold it against you’ and a really casual closing statement?”

 

“Well, yeah…” Alex began.

 

Kayla’s laugh filled up the room, warming it. “You aren’t normal, girl.”

 

Alex flushed slightly, mumbling incoherently.

 

“Well, I know you’d reject drowning your problems in ice cream or sweets, so what do you want to do about them?”

 

“Cuddling is nice.” Alex said, adjusting to lean further into her.

 

“Oh come on. Now you’re just blatantly taking advantage of your gay friend with an undefined state of attraction towards you.”

 

Alex laughed, lighter this time and looking at her, an eyebrow raised. “As if.”

 

Kayla began to speak in a dramatic voice, “A tale as old as time. The hero, in their quest for romance, brings all their maudlin woes to their friend of many years, oblivious as they pine for the taboo romance between two lovers of the same sex.”

 

“Oh, stuff it!” Alex responded, grinning. “Get a better taboo! Maybe even one that would be a problem!”

 

“Catastrophe of the worst variation! What wretchedness befalls this one!”

 

“But truly, thou hast granted thine glorious majesty of forgiveness to this mortal, hast thee not?”

 

“Was that grammatically correct?” Kayla asked, tilting her head.

 

Alex reviewed the sentence in her head. “I think so? It should be, but don’t hold me to that.”

 

“Nice.” Kayla said, holding her hand in front of her for a high five. Alex rose to the occasion, smacking the hand and taking a moment to freeze in a ridiculous pose with her hand reaching at an awkward angle over Kayla, an overexaggerated determination and joy on her face.

 

With drawing her hand, she adjusted her position slightly, settling further towards Kayla. “Still don’t wanna move though.”

 

“That’s fine.” Kayla began, “What would you usually do after something bad? Not that I’m complaining about you coming over, it’s just weird.”

 

“I’d play Rune, probably do something stupid and get myself killed a few times, but that’s no longer a viable option.”

 

“Did you let your subscription lapse? You don’t seem like the type to–”

 

“I deleted the character.” Alex interrupted, finally. A pause grew between them, neither moving or speaking.

 

“Ah.” Kayla said, prompting Alex to explain more.

 

“I mean, at the beginning it was all fun, trying out strange things with the runes and fighting solo just cause it was fun, but then I started doing the fighting…” she paused, collecting her thoughts, “And I was good at it. I mean, mercenaries don’t make it into the top twenty-five players just on principle, so the fact that I stayed there for three months? Ridiculous. But even if I was good, I was always dependent on the good will of guilds to stay there, ‘cause only the top few guilds ever did the stuff where enemies drop good loot, and I need those drops to stay competitive. ‘n then…” she groaned, “I fell off the list and the next four groups to hire me killed me over stupid shit.”

 

“So… you just quit?” Kayla asked, slowly, “Deleted the character, but you still have the subscription?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“I know your parents pay for school… But… Didn’t you take a bunch of spending money from selling stuff from the game?” Kayla asked.

 

“Yeah. But selling my stuff should get enough for a while at least.”

 

“So you’re going to pick up a new hobby?” Kayla asked, calmly.

 

“I… you’re doing this on purpose.” Alex began, accusingly.

 

“A Devil’s advocate is important to decisions.”

 

Alex sighed, letting her head fall against Kayla’s shoulder. She was only a couple of years older, but sometimes it seemed like a lot more than that. “You know though, I think you’re right. I hated how people were treating me, but the game might be worth playing.”

 

“Do you think you can go back after quitting like you did?”

 

“Oh, easily. Everything’s already paid up for the rest of the year, so I’d have six months before even paying… YOU!” Alex turned to the grinning Kayla. “You don’t even play! You–”

 

“Honey, you act like I don’t see you on a regular basis. You’re happy when you come out of the game.”

 

“Okay.” Alex said, turning back away. “Fuck it. I think I can do ice cream, just this once.”

 

Kayla responded with maniacal laughter, finishing on a drawn-out, “Eeeexcellent.”