A Virtual Start - Chasing Normal, Arc 6

Scene 33: Kindred Soul

Experiencing the virtual world through the pods was better than Travis could have expected. She used a couple of day passes to get used to playing in the pod. Learning how to move virtually without moving physically was the most challenging part, but the cuffs pinching her wrists reminded her to settle down and let her imagination do the hard work.

Her favorite activity was collecting. When she picked up items, she could feel the temperature and texture of the materials. It wasn't perfect. Sometimes, objects in the game didn't have the same roughness or smoothness as their real-life counterparts, but those little hiccups made the virtual world seem more legitimate to Travis.

Her immersive virtual experience followed her to work. Having seen how the virtual world designers and animators presented things gave Travis a new outlook on how to shade and structure material for the interactives.

At lunch, Travis had her tablet next to her plate and doodled in between bites.

"You know, it's okay to take a break," Noel teased.

"Sorry. It's just... There's such a difference between how we animate interactives and how the virtual world animates. I'm trying to figure it out."

Noel sighed, but he watched her frantic stylus strokes across the tablet's surface. "I was thinking. We had such a nice time the other night. Maybe you'd want to try again?"

"Um. Sure." Travis erased a layer of her drawing, tapped on her tools, and then drew and erased a few more times.

"We could go up north."

"Okay." She added some basic furniture to her set.

"Argent has this great forest just on the other side of it where there are vampires and mummies."

"Sounds fun." The stylus stopped. "Wait. What?"

Nigel chuckled as Noel reached across and took the stylus. "How does Saturday sound?"

"Saturday?" Travis felt her throat tighten. "Sorry. I have plans."

"With 'the girls'." Noel set the stylus down next to her tablet.

Travis sheepishly picked up the stylus and tablet.

==

It was sort of true. Gloria and Rose were planning to show up later on Saturday. But Travis got to the arcade as soon as she was able slip out of the apartment and get across the sector. She invested in a regular pass and set herself up in the pod she'd used the previous weekend. She wanted to really explore the world and see just how different the pod was from the tablet.

It was also a good chance to knock out some of the quests and missions she'd been working through on the tablet. She wasn't looking forward to that as much because she was still working on gathering wilted flowers for one of the missions she needed to level up. The first time she came across a wilted leopard lily, she deeply regretted her decision.

"You can turn off the scent sensors." A lilting voice came from behind her.

She stowed the decaying plant in her inventory and turned around. "That would be great. How do I do it?"

The girl smiled at her. "In your inventory, there's a settings menu. You can toggle all of your sensors off and on in there."

Travis found it and switched off the scent sensor. She also took a moment to set her volume. "Thanks."

"Sure. The pods always take a bit to adjust to." The girl looked away for a moment and then back. "I'm a technical artist, too."

"How did you-"

"I checked out your profile. It shows your home sector, your monastery affiliation, and your job."

Oh, god. Does it show-

"Don't worry. It doesn't show more than that by default. You can change those settings, too." The girl shifted her weight back and forth between her feet and then held out something. "Reach out for it, and you can read it."

Travis took what appeared to be a card. Text appeared in front of her:

Home Sector: MicroTech
Monastery: Whispering Crane
Role: Technical Artist

"Oh, Whispering Crane. I saw that monastery the other day."

The girl laughed. "Yeah, everyone has to at some point while they're in New Glory." She looked away again. "I have to get going, but maybe we'll run into each other again some time."

"Thanks for the help." Travis watched the girl wander on past her.