✅3️⃣ Treating the Babysitter [Camp NaNoWriMo July 2023]

4. New Game Plus

"Let's play!"

"Sounds atmospheric, anyway. Is the screen supposed to be blank?"

"I think it might be a stylistic thing."

"Maybe the servers can't handle everybody starting at once."

"You'd think they would think of that before they built the thing with a countdown timer."

"Oh!"

"Wait, it's not first person?"

"Doesn't look like it."

"Think I'm getting the hang of the controls."

"The sewage system is leaking. I think that confirms it's a derelict ship."

"Or just not well maintained. So much of the flavour in three was talking about stratocolonies degrading."

"Is that a zombie? Hard to tell in this light."

"Yeah, very atmospheric, but... Oh, talk or wait. Guess that means he's human."

"Think I should ask him what's going on?"

"Talk's probably good. But it's your decision."

"Maybe we can be a democracy. Until it gets serious. I'll talk to him."

Adam and Claudia both went silent when the old man on the screen started talking. And after hearing his creaky voice, they were both glad that Claudia had decided to play with subtitles turned on. As they learned more about the character they were playing, and got the first hints about what the forbidden mission might actually be, they were both paying too much attention to the screen to add much commentary. There were occasional words, but mostly their attention was on the plot that was being expertly spread out in front of them. A storyline which had one obvious path to pursue, but also suggested a whole bunch of other places they could investigate.

Adam noticed before long that even when he made some flippant comment about the characters on the screen, Claudia was barely responding. The game was the only thing on her mind now. So he contented himself with trying to keep up with all the deductions she was making as she mastered the controls and learned how to navigate the unfamiliar world of New Earth. Neither of them had really expected the story to be a murder mystery, but it made perfect sense in the way it was presented.

Adam made sure to replace the can by Claudia's hand with a new one once it sounded empty, although he decided not to open the various snacks until dinner arrived. When his phone chimed to let him know that dinner was on the way, it was a big surprise to find that they had been playing for nearly an hour.

"I'll get dinner," he said. "You should probably look for a good place to pause."

"Do I have to?"

"Well you don't want to get carried away playing and miss dinner, do you?"

"Yeah, okay," she said with a shrug, and Adam quickly jogged down the stairs. He reached the front door just a couple of seconds after the delivery guy knocked, and thanked him for the food. They he hesitated for a second, and decided that it would be better to plate everything up before calling Claudia; giving her a few extra minutes to finish what she was doing.

He found everything he needed in the kitchen quickly enough. A poke bowl turned out to be a couple of little plastic trays, as well as a package wrapped in foil. Thankfully, given that the restaurant had only just opened in this area and knew that some people would be unfamiliar with the dish, they had included a little card suggesting different ways to serve it. Adam lifted out two bowls and decanted the tubs of rice into them, and then covered the top of each with an arrangement of different pieces of meat, fish, and vegetables. It looked something like the little pictures on the serving suggestions card, although not quite the same. That used all of the rice, and about two thirds of the other stuff; but he saw that another suggestion was snacking on all the little things, which seemed like it would be perfect.