Danika woke up right before her alarm went off. She did her morning exercises and then took a slightly longer bath than usual. She was eating the last of her berries with some rice cereal before she finally checked her phone.
There was a reply waiting from "Living Jade Empire" tech support: "From the honorable celestial servant of the seventh class, Lin Hao, first among his rank, serving the Jade Emperor in the maintenance of the Living Jade Empire: Thanks for reporting the quest conflict, and the suggestion. Want a job?"
Danika gazed at the message for a long minute, and then sent back: "Sure?"
Her phone rang, and she almost dropped it. When her heart dropped back into her chest, she actually looked at the screen and then answered it. It was her aunt on her mother's side.
"Hi, I'm coming into the city for a conference, so I thought we should go out to dinner tonight while I'm there," her aunt Hati informed her. "Your last message sounded a bit lonely."
"Tonight?" Danika asked.
"Are you busy with something?" Hati asked.
"Um, I can make time," Danika replied.
"Great, I'll make a reservation and send you the details in a bit," Hati told her.
"Ok," Danika agreed without enthusiasm.
"See you tonight," her aunt announced, and then hung up on her.
Danika wondered what about her last message had sounded lonely to her aunt. She'd only mentioned the job she'd worked on and the game.
Another message from the honorable Lin Hao arrived while Danika was browsing for jobs. She was looking for something small, or something that could be done over several days, since going out to meet her aunt would probably use up part of her afternoon as well as her evening.
It read: "From the honorable celestial servant of the seventh class, Lin Hao, first among his rank, serving the Jade Emperor in the maintenance of the Living Jade Empire: Sorry I was joking. You'd have to apply to the tech department normally. If you do apply though, you can tell them I recommended you."
Danika searched for the online application process for "Living Jade Empire" support staff more out of curiosity than any real intent to apply. She already knew that she didn't have the kind of degrees most jobs of that nature required. She answered the short questionnaire that sent her to a technical department application form. She was a little surprised, since degree and certification levels had been part of the questionnaire, and usually ones like it had bounced her out at that point in the past. After gazing at the form for a minute, she decided that she had nothing to lose, and began filling it out.
She didn't exaggerate her education level, but she did write a long paragraph into the "Other:" field that said: "I have played through a number of older games that would at least give me a player's experience with many of the common bugs and quest chain designs of past games." She included a list of examples, and then added, "I have also acted as a mentor or moderator in these games:" She listed three and gave her account names as well, in case anyone actually cared enough to research it. After thinking for a moment she ended with, "I have also created several competition winning story adventures for NoePets," and included links to those.
She saved Lin Hao's messages for the "Why do you think you'd be a good fit for this department:" field. The last question on the form was, "Do you have access to a stable VR connection?" Danika checked "Yes" and submitted the form.
Danika gave up on finding a job to work on for the day when the reservation information from her aunt arrived. She'd scheduled it in-between when Danika usually ate her lunch and her supper, at an expensive restaurant on the other side of the city.
Danika compared the available methods of transportation and eventually decided that if she left early enough, the city's public transportation was the least expensive and would get her about as close as anything else, since the area right around the restaurant was a shopping district restricted to foot travel. She wondered if part of the reason the place was so expensive was that supplies had to be carried in by hand.
She dressed up somewhat. Her best clothes currently were all black, which she knew her aunt regarded as fit for only weddings and funerals. She hesitated in front of the mirror with the bag that held her small supply of makeup, and then put it back. She still remembered her aunt's strict lecture about how inappropriate makeup was for people her age a couple of years ago.
Even though Danika left almost two hours early, several delays and the long winding path up the hill, resulted in her arrival only ten minutes before the reservation time. Her aunt was waiting near the doors of the restaurant.
Danika was uncomfortably conscious of the sweat that damped her clothes here and there. As her aunt solicitously opened the door for her, Danika reminded herself sharply that her aunt was probably only being considerate and not condescending.
Her aunt Hati said critically, "Aren't you getting a little plump?"
Danika sighed and replied, "My weight is not even a whole kilogram more than it was two years ago, when you told me that girls my age shouldn't be dieting."
They were led to their table by a petite young woman who nervously rearranged the chairs for them, dropped their menus at their places and then fled. Danika kind of wished that she could follow the girl, especially after her aunt's next comment.
Hati examined her face across the table and told her niece, "You should try wearing a little makeup and dressing up more when you come out to a nice place."
Danika wanted to protest, "That's not fair!" or "That totally contradicts what you said before!" but she refrained. She suddenly recalled "The Way of the Cat" on ZipZing's character sheet and the line that said, "Everything is deserved except for that which deserves a swift revenge."
Danika replied with saccharine sweetness, "I hadn't realized that makeup was supposed to gradually increase in quantity as we age. I'll try to follow your excellent example in the future."
Hati blinked at her and then narrowed her eyes. She didn't reply though, she simply picked up her menu, browsed it briefly and then set it down again while Danika was still struggling to interpret the ingredients in the pasta dishes.
"The wild salmon on the daily special looks good," Hati suggested.
Danika glanced at it, it didn't even list a price but said that it was topped with pears stuffed with blue cheese. She tried not to make a face and reminded herself of another line from the way, "Indifference is as sharp as the claw that slits the belly."
After she finished calmly reading the menu, Danika said, "I think I'd rather have the Cascade Sushi roll, if you don't mind." That one was still at least ten times what she'd pay for a meal at home, but at least it listed only things that she liked in its mix.
"Of course, have whatever you like," Hati encouraged her agreeably.
After they'd placed their orders, Danika asked with honest curiosity, "What made you say that I sounded lonely? I haven't been feeling lonely."
"You only mentioned work and games, nothing about having people in your life," Hati replied in a scolding tone.
"I've been playing with both an older friend and a new friend lately," Danika said.
"I mean real people," Hati clarified.
Danika replied sharply, "Everyone is real."
Hati replied just as sharply, "People can pretend to be anything online. It's not real."
Danika's jaw dropped and she stared at her aunt. "Are you kidding me?" she questioned after a moment.
Hati frowned at her and replied seriously, "Of course not, I'm worried about you."
Danika took a deep breath and began what she knew was going to sound like a rant, but needed to be said. "Being able to change your appearance or even gender online doesn't matter, people are still real. If you were afraid to change how you look, you wouldn't wear makeup. I think it's actually more honest than real faces, because you get to see how people really want to look, which can tell you a lot about them."
"I'm not just talking about appearances," Hati snapped. "People lie about who they are!"
Danika's jaw tightened. She replied as calmly as she could, "The people who will lie to you in a game are pretty likely to lie to your face too. That doesn't make them less real. The people who will drop everything to come rescue you in a game are usually the same kind of people who would drop everything to rush you to the hospital if you needed it."
Her aunt opened her mouth but Danika overrode her reply and finished, "The people who make time for you are people who care about you, no matter where you are spending that time together." She wasn't being hypocritical, she understood that her words applied to her aunt as well.
Her aunt seemed to be aware of that as she replied after a moment, "I am very glad that you made time to come out to dinner with me, even though we always seem to find things to argue about."
Danika gave her aunt a tight smile, and nodded.
Hati sniffed and quoted the old adage, "Oh well, sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me."
Danika grinned a real grin at her aunt and told her, "I could argue that too."
"I dare you," her aunt replied.
"Humans are the only creatures who will cross the entire world because of a single word from the right person at the right time, and the only ones who will die because of a single word from the wrong person at the wrong time. The whole purpose of words is to convey feelings and ideas and that can definitely bring you as much pain as joy," Danika explained wryly.
Hati surprised her by laughing and agreeing, "Ok, you win! I think you're probably right, but the point of that old saying is that you shouldn't let everything anyone says hurt you."
"I know," Danika agreed with a smile.