A Virtual Start - Chasing Normal, Arc 6

Scene 34: You Have a Problem

Spending weekends at the pod arcade quickly became Travis' routine. Her girlfriends often joined her on Saturdays, and then she snuck out before Lydia arrived to make breakfast and hid out at a park a couple of blocks from the arcade until it opened on Sundays.

A couple of Saturdays after her date with Noel, Travis was hard at work on the final stages of a quest. She thought she heard a knock on the pod's door at one point, but dismissed it as another pod door closing.

A few minutes later, Elenaria walked up to the work table. "What are you doing?"

"Sorry. I just need to do a couple of things to complete this quest."

"That's cool." Elenaria looked away. "Oh my god, how many hours have you spent on this?"

"What?" Drea continued to wave her hands over the table. Somehow, the animation hadn't caught up to the fine motor skills of a craftsman, much to the apprentice animator's amusement.

"The system says you've logged nearly two hundred hours in game. You haven't been playing long enough to have that many hours."

"Oh." Travis went still in the pod. Has it really been that long? "I just get involved in things and want to finish before I quit."

Elenaria said nothing for several moments, and then, "So, how's Noel? Have you guys gone out again?"

"He asked me out, but I already had plans with you guys."

"Travis, log out. Now." Elenaria's sharp tone threw Travis, and Drea stopped moving immediately.

"But...I only have a couple of things left to do."

"You turned down a date with a cute boy to sit here and make a fictional gi. Come on." Elenaria vanished.

Drea looked at the half-crafted outfit on her work table, and a few moments later Travis could see Gloria's face peering in the pod's window.

This isn't going to be pretty.

==

Gloria took Travis' card as soon as she was out of the pod. "For your own safety."

"I think you're overreacting. It's just a few quests. I'm trying to catch up with you and Rose."

"You don't need to catch up with us. We aren't even the same level because of Rose's addiction problem." Gloria led Travis out of the arcade. "You're headed down that same road."

"No, I'm not." Travis had to lengthen her stride to keep Gloria from stretching her arm too far.

"You are. When we get back to your place, you're messaging Noel and apologizing. Maybe he wasn't the best date, but he didn't deserve this."

Travis shook her arm free, but couldn't manage more than a shuffle as she followed Gloria.

As they reached Travis' apartment building, her phone went off with a message from her grandfather: If you have some free time soon, we can work on your designs.

Travis nearly squealed. Their previous crafting session had been interrupted by an all too familiar phone call, and she'd been grounded from everything including her grandparents' house after the party. She quickly sent back: I'm free tomorrow.

Within moments, her grandfather responded with a time and a dinner invitation. Travis hugged her phone.

"Who was that?" Gloria leaned over, trying to see the phone's screen.

"My grandfather. We're going to hang out in his workshop tomorrow."

"That's great! Don't forget to message Noel." Gloria walked off toward her own apartment building and Travis nearly floated the rest of the way home.

==

The next morning, she slipped out of the apartment and headed over to the arcade. I'll just play for a couple of hours, finish my quests, and then head over to Oma and Opa's.

She purchased a new card, and swiped into her favorite pod. But shortly after she logged in, she ran into the technical artist while gathering materials. "I haven't seen you in a bit."

"Yeah, I've been busy at work. It looks like you're coming along. Have you gained a couple of levels since we met?"

"Three. About to be four." Travis' excitement translated into Drea bouncing on her toes.

"Wow," the girl replied. "You might want to pace yourself there. Leveling quickly never bodes well for higher levels."

"Really?" Gloria and Rose didn't mention that.

"You're a fighter class. If you don't spend time in each level learning all the skills and abilities, you won't have them to build on later."

"Oh." That would have been helpful to know sooner. "I'll be more careful."

"See you around." The girl left.

Drea stood there for a moment as Travis surveyed her inventory. She couldn't see any skills or abilities that were unusually low, but she wondered if she'd recognize if they were. She reviewed her quest lists. Finally, she decided to go ahead and finish the ones she was working on. She could deal with everything else at the next level.

The final quests took much longer than she had expected, and by the time she finished it was dark outside. Just as well. I'm dead tired.

She pulled out her phone to check the time, and found a handful of messages from her grandfather asking where she was, letting her know he had called her house. Strangely, there were no messages from either of her parents. Not that it mattered. She'd forgotten her grandparents and her designs.

This isn't good.