Game Boy

9 - Accept

"How may I help you, sir?" the smooth-talking NPC asked as she set down a glass water on the table across from where Kenneth was sitting. She swung her hips around and leaned into one, looking down at him with raised brows.

He didn't look up at her face, just toyed with his hands. Sadly the time old trope of click-bait NPCs still existed. He kept his mouth shut until eventually her action timed out and she walked away. It wasn't her fault some horny computer nerd had decided to sprinkle in a little bit of eye-candy, but he couldn't say he approved either way. He just needed to wait a couple more minutes until the figure that had been sitting over in the left corner spawned again. While a rare few NPC's offered one-time quests--usually first come first serve and once they were done they vanished from the map--but most had a buffer of 30 seconds before respawning for the next set of players. Kenneth tapped his fingers against one another, counting off in his head as the various bartenders and servers made circles around his table. He kept his eyes on the table when he wasn't checking the corner.

Ten more seconds. Almost there, he thought. His eyes flickered to the clock in his upper bar. It had been an hour since he'd logged back in and his last check on Byrd revealed she was still out of the game. He lowered his eyes to the wood of the table as another server passed by him. Her cheery voice rang in the back of his mind, but he ignored it again. He scratched his nail in the wood, but it did no damage. Byrd will get back eventually, she's just got family stuff. His shoulders still slumped mildly at the thought but he shook that off too. He couldn't blame her for his life. She wasn't his mother.

Again, he raised his eyes to the corner. There. Returned to his original spot, the figure sat right where he'd been when Kenneth first spotted him. He cursed under his breath at the player who'd gotten there first and made him wait, but he rose and ambled over there quickly. Carefully, he slid into the seat across from the leather draped character. The NPC slowly raised his head, the dull glow of grey eyes peered out from underneath strands of greasy black hair.

"Whaddya want?" he rasped, leaning forward. "Yer no grafter..."

Kenneth nodded and folded his hands in his lap. "I'm not," he said but turned his shoulder just ever so slightly to flashed the sympathizer badge. "But I'm here to help." He hunched forward, hoping this NPC could pick up on signals like that. Some were simple, but this NPC seemed complex enough.

The NPC man's brow lifted an inch and he squinted as if trying to see it better. Then he nodded slowly, allowing his chin to sink into his chest. He slouched back, steepling his hands in front of himself. "You lookin' for work, then?" he questioned.

Kenneth nodded. "Just a little." His eyes cut back to the doorway where new players continued to flood into the establishment. Probably guys looking for a little break for their eyes. His lips curled and he looked back.

"Solo work?" the NPC questioned.

Eyes falling to his hands, Kenneth eventually nodded. Byrd, please don't hate me, but there's not much else to do here, and it's a single-player quest. His stomach clenched a little at the thought of potentially leaving her for the quest, though. He looked up at the NPC as the man stroked his chin and while the NPC continued to decide, Kenneth slipped up. He put his head down and walked out, sighing. "This was a bad idea," he thought. "If I go into a quest and then she comes back alone, she'll think I abandoned her. I can't do that." He frowned and started to briskly walk back towards where he'd left Byrd's outline standing.

A couple of streets down, he spotted a group of noisy players and slipped into the side alley to avoid them. Coming out the other side, he glanced around the corner to make sure they were gone. Something brushed his leg. Looking down, he spotted the generated figure of a little black kitten twining between his legs. He stepped back instinctively and knelt down on his knees. Putting out a hand, he let the kitten bump into his figure. It twirled around, dragging its lithe tail over his fingers. He smiled briefly. Cats used to have mini-quests attached to them that were near impossible to find or complete. Too many complaints and they'd removed them, but the cats remained. Kenneth let the cat make another round, catching one of its delicate ears in his fingers and rubbing the sweet spot right behind it. A low purr drowned out the light background music of the game as the cat flopped onto the pavement. He stifled a laugh and rubbed at its belly.