Three
“What the hell am I supposed to wear to this?” Elaine asked aloud, rummaging through her closet, cursing under her breath as she dug around. Her best friend lounged on the bed, playing with her phone and waiting for her.
“Normal clothes?” Joslyn Ballard suggested, glancing up. She was dressed in skinny jeans and a long sweater, dark hair swept up into an artfully messy bun. “It’s a launch, not a cocktail party.”
“I just—” she stopped, turning toward Joslyn. “Am I overthinking this? Am I somehow confusing this for ComiCon or something random like that?”
Joslyn stared at her for a moment, then nodded once. “Yes.”
Elaine stared back for a moment, then bobbed her head. “Kay. Jeans and a jacket it is.”
“Are you suddenly worried about geek street cred or something else?” Joslyn asked as she glanced back to her phone again. “Because trust me, if any gamer boy even starts to question that I’m pretty sure that between the two of us we can knock him on his proverbial ass. Hell, you can do that on your own. You don’t need me for that.”
“No,” Elaine said, feeling her stomach twist uncomfortably. “No, that’s not it.” It was, of course, part of it and both of them knew it. She whipped off the shirt she’d been wearing, exchanging it for a cami with a hint of sparkle, then started hunting around for a particular jacket that was probably buried in some forgotten corner of her closet. “I just—this isn’t something I do.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that.” Joslyn glanced up from her phone again. “This is new for pretty much everyone. No one’s done this before—not at this level. That’s what makes it so special.”
“Do you think it’ll work the way they promised in the pitch video?” Elaine asked, making a quiet sound of triumph as she found the jacket she’d been looking for. She shrugged into it, stepping out into her bedroom and regarding her friend with a curious look. “Will it really feel real?”
Joslyn shrugged, pushing herself into a sitting position and tossing her phone onto the bed beside her. “I don’t know. I know what I’ve read in all of the game mags and it sounds like maybe it will but they’ve kept everything so damn close to the vest no one knows for sure. I don’t even know how they did it—how they’ve managed to pull off that level of secrecy. It’s mind-blowing. It shouldn’t be possible and somehow they pulled it off.”
“How many rigs are there at the café, do we know?” Elaine moved to the full-length mirror in the corner of her room, straightening her jacket slightly before she went hunting for socks that would be appropriate with her ballet flats.
“Not sure,” Joslyn said, getting up to check her hair once Elaine vacated the space in front of the mirror. “There’s only been speculation about it. Still, launch day? Place is reserved for backers and I can’t imagine there’ll be that many around here that donated enough to get passes for today.”
“You’re probably right,” Elaine said, tugging on her socks. “I don’t know why I’m so nervous.”
“Because that’s how you get when you’re about to try a new thing. Always been that way, Laney. That’s why you keep me around, to tell you to relax and try to enjoy yourself.”
Elaine laughed. “I keep you around for more than just that.”
“Oh, well, yeah. There’s also pushing you out of your comfort zone and telling you that everything’s going to be okay.” Joslyn grinned. “You ready?”
“As long as my hair looks okay.”
Joslyn reached up to adjust something, then nodded. “You look great—not that anyone’s going to be looking at us.”
“Probably not,” Elaine agreed. “But it doesn’t hurt to double check, right?”
“Right.” Joslyn threw an arm around her shoulders as they headed out into the hall and downstairs to their living room. “Drive together or separate?”
“Might as well save the gas,” Elaine said. “You want to drive, or should I?”
“I’ll drive,” Joslyn said, unwrapping her arm from around Elaine’s shoulders so she could snag her keys and purse from where she’d tossed them on the kitchen table. “You okay?”
Elaine nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Just nervous.”
“I’d be a little worried about you if you weren’t, to be honest. It wouldn’t be like you.” Joslyn grabbed her leather jacket from a peg hanging near the front door, shrugging into it on her way out of their townhouse and into the chill mid-October air. “I was worried you weren’t going to come.”
“Hadrian had to talk me into it,” Elaine admitted as she locked the front door and followed Joslyn out toward the car. She glanced up at the gray sky. The air was thick with damp and the scent of threatening rain. She sighed, glancing back toward the townhouse, then shook her head at herself. An umbrella would just be one more thing to worry about carrying beyond her purse, phone, and keys—and keeping track of those three things would likely be more than enough to handle. “I was set to stick around in the library with him and do research.”
“And he rescued you from that? I think he might be my hero,” Joslyn said, her tone only mildly teasing. Elaine gave her a mock glare over the roof of the car and Joslyn just grinned, sliding into the driver’s seat.
“Cute,” Elaine said as she got in on the passenger side and slammed the door. Joslyn sighed, shaking her head as she buckled up and started the engine.
“Relax. I was just teasing.”
“I know,” Elaine said, staring at the ceiling for a moment. Joslyn watched her for a few seconds more, chewing her lower lip—Elaine could see her in the rearview mirror.
“I know it’s not the happiest day for you—” Joslyn began. Elaine interrupted her.
“That’s why I’m going,” she said. “That’s why I’m obsessing and trying to think about everything and anything other than that. Hadrian’s right. I need to find ways to make the hard days happier.”
“It’s only been a few years,” Joslyn said gently. “It’s okay to still hurt.”
“Yeah,” Elaine said. “But it’s not okay to dwell and to live in the past and if I keep letting losing them rip me up, that’s all I ever do. I need to figure it out.”
“We’ll be here,” Joslyn said, watching her. “You know that, right? I will be and I’m willing to bet Hadrian will be, too.”
“I don’t think you’re wrong,” Elaine said softly, then smiled. “Come on. We’d better get going or we’ll never find a decent parking spot and then we’ll be late and I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to miss a second of this thing today.”
Joslyn grinned and grasped her shoulder, giving her a little shake and a squeeze before she got both hands on the steering wheel and pulled out of the parking spot. “Good,” she said firmly. “Good.”
Elaine laughed and relaxed. Joslyn turned on the radio as they cruised out of the parking lot, heading toward one of the major area thoroughfares. Either way, parking would be utter hell at the mall, but at least they were on their way early enough that it shouldn’t matter one way or the other.
Somehow, she was going to make sure this was a good day.
GreySoft’s gaming café was on the top floor of the three-floor mall, tucked down one of the side wings a few storefronts down from one of the anchors. It was nestled between a high-end outdoor apparel store and the standard ubiquitous accessory store and took up much more space than Elaine had expected when she’d first heard about the company’s ambitious plan when she’d backed the Universe project—two years ago, now. The immersion rigs—what they could see of them from the entrance, anyway—didn’t look like anything that impressive, just semi-reclined chairs with headsets and gloves not so different from the headsets she and Joslyn had at home.
Elaine glanced sidelong at her friend. Joslyn looked back and shrugged slightly, her thoughts probably paralleling the ones going through Elaine’s head.
It’s a lot of hype for what doesn’t seem like much. Maybe they’ll surprise us, though. Elaine checked her watch. Twenty minutes. Joslyn took her by the hand and tugged her toward the GreySoft employee manning the door, scanning phones and playing gatekeeper. A soft curse dropped from Elaine’s lips as she dug her phone out and started searching for the email with her QR coded pass for the event.
“I should have reminded you in the car,” Joslyn said, letting go of Elaine’s hand. She slowed only slightly as she beeline for the gatekeeper.
“It’s fine,” Elaine said, finally finding the appropriate message. “I’ve got it.”
“Good,” Joslyn said, then grinned over her shoulder as the employee scanned her phone. Elaine came next, holding her smartphone out toward him. He scanned her QR and nodded slightly.
“Welcome to the launch of the GreySoft Immersion Experience,” he said with a smile. “Once we officially go live, you’ll be able to try out the rigs for yourselves. As original backers of the project, you’re both entitled to six months free full immersion experience.”
“How many times have you had to say that today?” Joslyn asked him. The GreySoft employee shrugged.
“About a dozen so far. We’ll see how many more times I have to say it. If you head on back, there are some refreshments set up for the launch party.”
Elaine nudged Joslyn gently. “C’mon. Let’s go see what’s there.”
She nodded, flashing a smile at the employee. Elaine gave him a slightly more shy smile to match her friend’s and then headed back toward the rear of the storefront’s footprint.
The place was actually more subdivided than she suspected, with several banks of rigs separated from each other by partitions. Hanging from the ceiling in the center of the storefront was a series of monitors showing realtime gameplay on various Universe worlds, couches set up in a ring around those monitors, set up at optimum viewing angles and distances. Along the back wall was a massive monitor that currently displayed the GreySoft logo spinning lazily on a pale gray background. Tables laden with food were spread out in that back quarter of the gaming café and there was a temporary bar set up in the corner. About a dozen people—most of them looking like they weren’t employees—milled around there, some seated at more permanent appearing tables, laptops out, playing the game, others deep in conversation, haunting the space between the food and the bar.
“This is a little swankier than I thought it might be,” Elaine murmured.
“Yeah,” Joslyn agreed, canting her head to one side. “But the initial launch has gone well and sub numbers have been good. This is a big deal for the company, too.”
Elaine nodded, glancing back toward the ring of monitors hanging in the center of the café. “It’s a nice setup.”
“Seems like it.” Joslyn straightened her sweater. “I’m going to get a drink. You want something?”
“Whatever you’re going to have is fine.”
Joslyn nodded and headed for the bar, leaving Elaine to watch the gameplay monitors. She crossed her arms, gaze flicking between the screens. Science fiction worlds—Titan and Extremis, unless she missed her guess—were displayed side-by-side with fantasy realms Acadia and Tuatha. One of the larger screens was showing gameplay in the world she and Joslyn played on, Triskelion, a cross-genre world—one of the more unique places, largely shaped by backers of the project even before the beta for the original version of Universe had launched. It wasn’t one of the more popular realms, though it had been gaining players recently. There was a part of her that half wished it wouldn’t, that the community there could stay small and close-knit. She knew it wouldn’t, but it was nice to hope. Elaine was more than half certain that Joslyn knew most of the people who played on Triskelion and most of those people liked her. As for herself, Elaine knew a far smaller number but got along with most of them.
Most of them.
“What are you—?” Joslyn broke off as she followed Elaine’s gaze to the screens even as she nudged her friend’s elbow with a glass of white wine. “Oh. That’s actual—huh. I wonder how they choose who to follow.”
“Employees, maybe?” Elaine guessed as she took the glass. “Or maybe we’re watching things through NPC eyes. Pick an NPC in one of the cities or in the wilds at random and just…watch.”
“Maybe,” Joslyn said, then lifted her glass. “Salut.”
Elaine mirrored her friend’s actions and took a sip of the wine. It was cool and sweet and she knew it would be more than enough to help start taking the edge off her nerves—probably part of the reason why Joslyn had suggested it in the first place.
He best friend knew her far too well in some ways.
“I didn’t read the whole email about this,” Elaine said, still watching the screens. “How’s this going to work?”
“Well, café’s open all night for us if we want to stay all night—which I doubt but who knows, right? Launch is after some telecast speeches, and those are supposed to start in like fifteen minutes. Then they officially flip the switch and the immersion experience is live.” She glanced sidelong toward the rigs, brow furrowing. “They really don’t look much different than what we’ve got at home, do they?”
“No,” Elaine said, studying them. “But I’m sure they must be.”
“For sure,” Joslyn said, though she sounded as uncertain as Elaine felt.
Give it a chance. They’ll probably surprise you.
At least that would be the nice kind of surprise.
Elaine took another sip of wine. “Was Ascalon going to do the immersion experience?” Her gaze slanted toward Joslyn, who blushed slightly, staring into her own glass.
“He and I honestly didn’t talk about it.”
“Seriously?” Elaine blinked. “I think I’m shocked.”
Joslyn gave an eloquent shrug. “It just didn’t come up, not really. I mentioned that I was going to do it and he said that was cool, but he didn’t say anything about doing it on his end and honestly, I didn’t want to ask.”
“Why not?” Elaine asked, brow arching. “There must have been a reason.”
“It just didn’t feel right,” Joslyn said, then smiled a little. “It wasn’t the time and it didn’t feel like the place.”
“You guys seem to talk a lot,” Elaine said, staring at her over the rim of her glass. “How close have you two been getting? You sure talk about him enough.”
A faint blush stole across her cheeks and she shook her head. “It’s really nothing major.”
“That blush says otherwise.” Elaine watched her, smirking slightly. “Come on, Joss.”
“I don’t even know his real name,” she said, rolling her eyes and tossing back half of the wine in her glass in one unbroken swallow.
“Does he know yours?”
“No. It hasn’t come up.”
“Is that by design?”
Joslyn shot her a look, brow furrowed and lips pursed slightly. “What do you mean?”
“Have you just decided not to?”
“Not to what? Talk about real life? Of course we talk about real life. We just don’t know each other’s real names, that’s all. It’s not a big deal either way. He’s a nice guy.”
“So you’ve said.” Elaine shrugged. “I was just curious.”
Joslyn smiled crookedly. “Trust me, if it becomes more than being friends, you will be the first person I tell.”
“I wasn’t—”
“Oh, you were totally going in that direction and it’s okay. It’s fine that you were going in that direction. Hell, if it were me, I would be, too.” Joslyn shrugged, swallowing the rest of her wine. “Not like any of the guys I’ve dated the past few years have been keepers in any sense of the word.”
“There haven’t been many of them,” Elaine said, watching the images on the screens in front of them instead of watching Joslyn’s face. “For either of us.”
“Well, there’s good reasons for that.” Joslyn nudged her gently and Elaine glanced at her, managing a smile. “I’m going to go get some more wine. Think we should check out the food?”
“Probably,” Elaine said, checking her watch again. Ten minutes. “Think we’ll want to be sitting for the speeches and whatnot?”
Joslyn shrugged. “Maybe. Probably be fine not sitting, though—and probably get a better view.” She looked toward the tables nearer to the screen at the back. “I’m sure there’ll be enough seats either way.”
Elaine looked back toward the doors. There were only a few more people trickling in, two girls and a guy, all around their age. Her attention drifted back to the screens for a moment, recognizing the city on the screen. “Look. Coronet.”
Joslyn followed her gaze and cocked her head to one side. “Huh. Guess they’re running around in Elfaedil. That’s cool.” She pointed to Elaine’s glass. “Want some more wine?”
She shook her head. “Not yet.” Her glass was still half full. Joslyn nodded.
“I’m going to get more,” she said again, then walked away, wandering back toward the bar in the corner. Elaine exhaled, watching the screen for a few moments longer, the vaguely familiar streets and buildings, the winding path up toward the coastal cliffs where the Lord of Elfaedil’s manor perched overlooking the sea. The frame focused on that view—looking up the rocky hillside and winding path toward the manor—then the screen faded to black, apparently switching perspectives to someone else on Triskelion.
She turned away, drifting toward the refreshments table. The spread was generous, hot appetizers and meat skewers, fresh fruits and vegetable plates, snacks and desserts. Elaine snagged two plates, balancing one on her arm and holding the other in hand as she started loading both, one for herself and the other for Joslyn. Her brief stint waitressing had paid off in that regard, and she smiled wryly as she finished loading the plates and reclaimed her glass from the edge of the refreshments table. Joslyn was already on her way back, a fresh glass of wine in hand. A few of the people who’d been idling across the room had gotten up for refills on their drinks—more than a few beers, but a few other things in the mix, too.
Joslyn plucked the plate from Elaine’s arm with a smile. “Thanks.”
Elaine nodded. A flicker to her left drew her attention and she turned, looking at the large screen at the back of the café. It had gone blank, the GreySoft logo no longer spinning there, replaced now by a dark screen.
“Guess it’s starting,” she said softly.
Joslyn grinned. “Guess so.” She hooked an arm through Elaine’s and tugged her away from the refreshments table and toward the center of the floor for a better view of the big screen. An excited flutter raced through Elaine’s stomach and she shifted her weight from one foot to the other and then back again. It was exciting.
I’m glad Hadrian made me come.
He was right, she probably would have regretted not being there for it.
The screen stayed dark for a few more seconds, long enough for the lights to dim and for the last threads of conversation to fade. The employee watching the doors closed them, further dimming the café.
Then, a voice: “Thank you.”
