"Hey Sam, I didn't expect to see you here."
Abel spotted Sam the technician as soon he stepped in to the main house. He wasn't sure what he was doing here exactly, the pods should come connected and useable right away. He reckoned Frankie gave him a call and asked him to swing by to check out the new pods they got, but it might also have to do the mishap that was mentioned in the message.
"Hey Abel, Frankie asked me to install the sock-portals for their new pods."
"Don't they already come installed from the manufacturer though?" Abel lifted his brow.
"Nope, they don't actually. They come in a separate box and you'll have to hire a technician to do the job for you."
"What… why though? I thought it comes pre-installed upon purchase."
"It's a little side-hustle these corporations take advantage of to make some more money. Most people aren't aware of this until they send over the pods, so these customers end up asking the companies technician to do it for them but they'll get charged at least 200 credits per pod in the end."
"What! I didn't see any mention of this when I signed off on the purchase…" Abel was both angry and confused, how could a large company be so despicable. It was absolutely contemptable behavior that should be against some commerce and trade laws of some kind.
"Don't bother being angry bro, I found out after the pods came. Those damn delivery guys were quite nonchalant about it. I gave Sam a call and asked, he filled me in on this legal scam and then offered to swing by and finish the installation for us free of charge."
"It's all in the fine print but most people tend to ignore all the agreements and clauses they sign off on. I don't blame them, who would read hundreds of pages filled with legal jargon whenever they purchase something." Sam added from the side as he drank his tea.
He seemed used to such behavior and it might be one of the many reasons he disliked working at such places. Abel still recalled their first meeting and the disdain the technician showed when he mentioned these big tech companies, as though it would be a stain on his soul if he worked for them one day.
"Thanks Sam, I owe you one. I had no idea these bastards did such a thing."
"Don't worry about it, I didn't have much going on this morning" Sam waved him off, not minding coming by to take care of this little task. He carried on in a much happier tone, "and Esme went shopping with some of her old girlfriends. I'm supposed to go meet up with them later on to have lunch, she's finally introducing me to her best friends."
"Why don't you and Esme come buy for dinner when you two are free? This time I'll cook, so I promise it'll taste even better than last time."
"What do you mean by that?" Frankie widened his eyes, insulted at the prospect of his cooking being put to question. But one sentence from Abel shut him up real fast.
"Who taught you how to roast meat?"
"Hahahaha… I didn't know that dinner wasn't even the best you guys could offer. It seems you let us off easy last time."
"I was in the middle of an important quest so I really didn't have the time to cook." Abel replied as his face tinted red. He was genuinely thankful for Sam's help so he didn't want it to sound like he was being inhospitable to them last time. "Actually, I'm about to start another important quest after tomorrow that should take a few days. Why don't you talk it over with Esme and see when you two are free next week, I'll definitely make the time to cook even if I had to fail this quest."
"It's fine, we can come by whenever you're done. What's this quest about if you don't mind me asking."
"It's a monster expedition. I'm joining the kingdom's army to exterminate some kobolds but since I'm much lower leveled than the NPC's, I'll mostly be shooting arrows from the back and taking care of their chores like cooking. That means I'll be forced to stay online for long stretches of time. But overall, it should still give me decent EXP and other rewards by the end."
"Sounds like fun… By the way, where did you get this rug? This boar looks like it's real! I have to get myself one." They talked about the game for a few more minutes before Sam asked something out of the blue.
The room went silent as Abel didn't know what to say while Frankie was simply laughing his ass off at the side. Sam was confused, he was genuinely curious about where they had gotten it, the level of detail was surreal and its color was beautiful.
"You can't buy that anywhere Sam. Let's just say it's… it's unique." Frankie finally said but that only spurred Sam's inquisitive nature.
"Even if it's a custom job, I'm sure they can make another. Just give me the name of the place."
"You're looking at him. If I have to give you a name then I guess you can call it 'Abel's Extracurricular Goods' Hahahaha…"
"Wait… was this the boar we ate the other night?" Sam widened his eyes in surprised as he looked at the majestic boar rug.
"No, this one is older. The one we ate was a fresh catch but it's fur wasn't any good so I'm still in the process of tanning its pelt…" Abel explained the different steps to tanning animal pelts and how long it would take. They talked for a few more minutes before Sam got up to take care of the installation. Frankie led him to the extra bedroom where the pods were placed. It was then that Abel realized he hadn't seen Melissa around.
"Hey Frankie, where's Melly? Did she go out?"
"Heh, she's upstairs probably writing a negative review on the company website. She was quite pissed off when the delivery guys told us about the sockets needing installation."
Abel shook his head with a smile, this sounded just like something Melly would do. She could be very fierce against those she thought took advantage of someone she cared about.
"You guys go ahead, I need to go check on the pelts and bacon."
Abel swung by the kitchen and checked on the bacon in the fridge. Although it had been in there for nearly a week, it looked like it still needed a couple more days. The time would vary depending on many factors but it would usually take 7 days at least and 10 days at most before it was ready for the next step.
The bacon would simply be washed and rinsed in cool water to remove the excessive cure before patting it dry with some paper towels. Some would cold-smoke it to impart a distinct smoky taste but none of them cared for such a thing and they didn't have a cold-smoker at home so Abel simply skipped this step.
Once he stepped back out, he paid a visit to the drying rabbit pelts and took them off the stretcher. They were complete and useable now so he put them aside and checked on the boar pelt soaking in the tub of water.
The water was mixed with the residue of the pelt so he just washed it a couple more time and then dried the pelt, placing it on the stretcher after having squeezed the excess fluids. It would take another couple of days before it dried out and then he would have a perfectly useable piece of natural leather! He cleaned up after himself and tidied the storage before swinging by the bathroom to wash up.
When he stepped back into the house to make a light lunch, he saw Melly coming down from upstairs.
"Hey Mell, done with your review?" He asked with some mirth in his voice.
"Those despicable bastards kept deleting my reviews. No wonder all they have is 4-star and 5-star reviews on their page. I had to go on different forums and blasted them there. A lot of people joined in on the fun" She replied with smile, some of her anger seemed to have been vented.
"Frankie and Sam are in the spare bedroom but they should be done soon. By the way, have you thought about your avatar name?"
"Yeah, I'm planning to go for Mellific. It's a combination of Melissa and Terrific." Melly seemed quite pleased with the name she came up with. If she had a tail then it would probably be wagging form side to side by now. Abel chuckled and asked about Frankie's name but Melissa didn't know.
"That big lunk said he wanted to keep it as a surprise, what's there to surprise us about? We'll find out soon enough" She couldn't help rolling her eyes, Abel worried she'd go cross-eyed from her boyfriend's antics but he smartly kept his thoughts to himself.
"Well remember to add me, you guys should know my handle by now but I'll write down my account number in case there's actually another Red Sky out there."
"You never told us how you came up with that name."
"I-It… It was a dream I had, let's just leave it at that Mell"
"See, I'm not the only one being secretive! Abe isn't explaining himself either." Frankie's boisterous voice came from behind them, standing with Sam the technician.
"I'm not being secretive, it's really from a weird dream alright!"
"Heh, sure bro what ever you say. Anyway, Sam is done working his magic so we are all set to go." Frankie said before he turned to his friend "Are you sure you can't stick around for a light lunch?"
"Yeah, I should get going. Esme's on the Isle of Aether with her friends and the ships going there are always packed, I wouldn't wanna be late. They'd give me hell, especially since this is the first time I meet them."
"Thank you, Sam. Remember to get back to us after talking to Esme." Abel thanked the technician and reminded him about coming again for dinner.
"Just let me know whenever you finish that quest, Esme's basically on vacation so she should be free but I'll talk to her anyway."
After Sam left, Frankie and Melly had a light lunch with Abel as he filled them in on a bunch of stuff in the game. He reminded them to go and pay Coinweaver a visit after the training citadel and assured them they can get whatever they want from him. He told them that the merchant owed him some money so if they refuse then he'd just be losing out.
"There's also a small party that you could join when you're done. They're decent people that won't scam you or fight over loot and stuff like that so add this girl when you're ready to go out leveling." Abel gave them the name and account number for Sophie and filled them in on some other small things they should watch out for.
"You know girls? Are they cute? How old are they? Where did you meet? Which one do you like?" Melissa's gossip meter was about to break after she heard what Abel said and she fired off one question after another.
"They're the girls that tried scamming me into carrying them on my first day, I told you about it already. There isn't some secret love story or drama so calm down Mell."
"Bro, you just said they wouldn't scam us. Set your story straight, come on…"
"They wont scam you over coins and loot, they're loaded so they don't care about these things. Besides, they've already graduated from the training citadel so they should be able to handle themselves by now. Just give it a shot and go out leveling with them one time. If it doesn't work out then no worries, I'm just offering a suitable party."
"Alright alright, we get it mother. You've already mentioned these things before. No need to worry about us, we're big kids now." Frankie joked as he got up, ready to log in to the game while Melissa habitually rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's words but she followed her lover out of the kitchen.
"The first time is always special." Abel mischievously spoke out as the couple left but they didn't reply. Whether they didn't hear him in the first place or simply chose to ignore him wasn't known.