Cora walked down the main thoroughfare of Cochran. Her mind was cluttered with thoughts of Nate, Gerald and Kylen. She had never wanted Nate to know anything about the mess with Gerald, no matter how stupid it sounded. It had turned out that Gerald had been a lot more prolific and dangerous than she'd thought in the first place.
Though, to be honest, she had to admit that he'd had her at first. She'd fallen for that handsome, soulful spiel he'd begun to perfect. It was only his misfortune that Heidi had once gone through a true crime phase freshman year in high school and had dug up a truly massive amount of crime documentaries from somewhere.
Cora had no idea that people liked crime so much. The sheer idea made her uncomfortable. Still, out of friendship and a freshly developed liking for shrimp and bacon dumplings, she'd stayed at Heidi's side, watching the shows.
Both she and Heidi's mom had been happy when Heidi decided she'd had enough a month later. In that month, they had to have watched close to 300 hours' worth of shows. Cora hadn't paid that much attention to them; after the first thirty or forty murders, it became a blur.
It had been an ancient show about greedy businessmen that caught the most of her attention. It had been fascinating, and Cora had actually made a little bit of cash on the side after watching. Some of those companies were still around and kicking.
Still, it was no excuse for falling for Gerald's crap. At least that's what Cora told herself. Others had been telling her that he'd tailored his pursuit, but Cora didn't feel that she was ready to acknowledge that just yet.
Cora stopped in front of a jewelry store. At least she assumed it was a jewelry store. The sign proclaimed 'Abusson's' without any further elaboration and the glass window held several displays of bracelets, necklaces and earrings that gleamed a cheerful, somewhat ominous blue.
Cora was a bit surprised at the glass. Not that it existed, but that it was being used in a town so far off the beaten path. Then again, Cochran was a renowned mining town. The combine that Kylen's family ran turned out to monopolize a decent chunk of the mining output of the town, simply by virtue of owning contracts with most of the mines and miners.
Cora had gotten that information off of the forums. She had no clue what to think about the forums nowadays. On some subjects, there was so much information, it seemed mystical but others had little to none. Cora had no clue why anyone would be interested enough to dig up such little factoids for a town not many players seem to be visiting.
"Wasn't expecting you to be a stone girl," Kylen commented as he came to a stop next to her.
"A stone girl?" Cora asked as she looked at him.
Instead of his usual dandyish outfit, he was wearing sturdy plain green pants and an admittedly flowy sleeved shirt confined by a green leather vest. A backpack was thrown over his shoulder. He looked like he was going on a field trip.
"Need more than that to make a go of a spent mine, Kylen!" A dusty miner said, passing by.
Their voice was hoarse with years of dust and their grimy clothes baggy enough that Cora couldn't tell if they were male or female. She'd been surprised by the rather even amount of the sexes involved in the trade. Enlais had told her, rather scornfully, that it was only stamina that limited the amount a miner could mine, not strength. The mine shafts grew by themselves as the material was taken out.
"My attempt at a lowkey, going-traveling outfit," Kylen said, hitching the backpack higher like he was some high schooler.
The analogy that sprang to Cora's mind reminded her that Kylen wasn't supposed to be much older than a high schooler which made him much younger than her college senior self. She fought off an internal wince, remembering that she'd forgotten to register for graduation yet again.
The first time had been because she was dealing with the Gerald situation, and now she'd been distracted by the game long enough to miss the summer cutoff point. She made a mental note to register for the fall graduation so she'd at least be in the correct year.
"It's very lowkey," Cora agreed with a nod. "I have to sell some things. My town is low on funds." She gave an internal huff at that. As far as she could discover, the only funds were her own, limited ones. "I have stones I think might work."
"Then let's go in. Jewelers are always looking for good stones," Kylen said. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a hat which he jammed over his head. It obscured his features neatly while giving him a roguish vibe. "Hidey hat. My brother is going to turn seven different shades when he realizes it's gone."
Kylen chuckled as he opened the door to the jeweler's. Cora shook her head as she entered. He reminded her of Nate for some reason.
*****
"So, just what is Cora up to in the game. All she ever tells me is that she's wandering around," Nate asked as he slid into the booth across from Heidi.
Heidi looked up at him from her phone. With a sigh, she set it down beside her placemat.
"I don't remember asking for company," she began.
"And I don't remember asking for permission to sit," Nate replied, signaling the waitress.
Heidi watched as the waitress appeared as if by magic by the booth. She flashed a toothy smile as she took Nate's order and vanished.
It had taken Heidi nearly shouting to get the woman's attention when she'd first been seated. She tried not to let that get to her.
"And I'm not telling you what I don't know," Heidi said with a shrug. She glanced at her silent phone, willing it to ring.
"She won't tell me anything anymore. Where did the cute little kid who followed me everywhere go?" Nate moaned as he sank back against the booth cushions.
The waitress appeared with both Heidi and Nate's drinks. Heidi glanced at the table a bit bewildered. She hadn't even noticed that her drink hadn't arrived before Nate showed up.
"Thanks, beautiful," Nate said as he eagerly grabbed the glass and shoved a gold straw into it.
Heidi watched as the waitress nearly melted, her eyes on the straw. Heidi wasn't even sure Nate registered the attention since he was currently drinking with closed eyes.
"I'll bring you a pitcher, okay, sugar?" The waitress cooed before sashaying off.
Heidi could feel a vague sense of outrage building. She'd been here first. Where was her offer of a pitcher?
She looked back to see Nate's dancing eyes.
"She's a girl. Girls like me," Nate explained simply, flashing his teeth at her.
Heidi fought off an eyeroll. 'Insufferable' was pretty much what she wanted to toss back at him, but Nate had never taken any of her or Cora's insults seriously.
"Why are you interested in what Cora's doing? And, more importantly, why aren't you in the game? Isn't your guild supposed to be doing some sort of mighty raid?" Heidi asked, stripping paper from her plain plastic straw.
She eyed Nate's with faint disfavor; a gold straw always struck her as a waste of materials.
"I'm stuck with a quest. It requires me to be offline because the other quest-takers I'm doing it with keep pissing beings off," Nate groused. "So far, I've been kicked offline for about three days or so. If Cora would just give me my keys, I'd be busy moving instead."
"Then shouldn't you be packing?" Heidi asked, leaning back as the waitress half-dropped her burger and fries in front of her. "Thank you?" She managed, watching as Nate's was gently set in front of him along with ketchup and what had to be the waitress's number scribbled on a napkin.
"Why, thank you!" Nate chirped, brightening at the sight of his own burger.
"For you, sugar? Not a single problem," the waitress purred before vanishing again.
Heidi grabbed the ketchup and liberally dosed her fries.
"Well, moving isn't an issue. Most of my stuff is still in storage from when I went hiking. Only took out my clothes and a couple pieces to keep me comfortable. I'm usually in the game," Nate explained as he doctored his burger.
"So, back to Cora," Nate said before taking a bite of his burger. He made appreciative noises as he chewed and swallowed. "What's she doing? All I can see if that she's not dead."
"And again, I don't know," Heidi replied. She shrugged and leaned back. "Cora's busy playing the game and making money. You know these days, it's not separate issues for people anymore. Plenty of people are making money with the game."
"Still not sure how that works, but it does," Nate shrugged. "Some newbie bought one of my swords off of me for real money. Was enough for me to get another straw made." He sipped more soda before topping up with the pitcher. "Soda?"
Heidi shook her head. She glanced to the floor to see the waitress gathered up in a knot with a few others. They kept sneaking glances her booth's way.
Heidi sighed internally as she ate her burger. Nate wasn't a wallflower, and in game, he used his regular appearance, unaltered. That, coupled with the nosy news crews that followed top players, ensured that anyone who was curious could learn all about them. It was just her misfortune that Nate and his guild were considered top players.
Nate was the poster boy for the guild at the moment, mostly because he didn't shy away from the publicity. It would probably change in a month or so. His guild was enormous, after all.
However, it would take longer than that for the female population to forget that Nate existed. Especially since the last news feed about him had played up his 'poor little rich boy' image.
Heidi hid a smile. Nate must have gone ballistic over that. No wonder he was wondering about Cora now, quest notwithstanding.
"Well, if you find anything out, let me know," Nate said, polishing off his burger. He shoved half his fries towards her. "Here. I'm going to go grab a smoothie."
Heidi watched as he fished out a fifty, dropped it on the table and stood up. Then he ruffled her hair and sauntered away, waitress phone number securely tucked away.
Heidi frowned, attempting to smooth back her hair. Then she picked up her phone and dialed.
"Cora? This is a message for you for whenever you get out of that capsule. Nate's now interested in just whatever it is you're doing now."
Heidi hung up her phone and laughed. At least he wasn't bothering her for more info she didn't feel like giving.
She eyed her phone for a long moment before checking the game forums. Heidi still had no idea why anyone would post a quest for information about corn of all things. Still, it offered a good payout if she could find any.