Sean found the portal to Erea without hassle – he simply retraced his steps and barely had to look at the leading line. He felt better the instant he entered the portal – must've been Omega's modifications affecting him inside. His game-clothes were in the wardrobe: cleaned and fixed up, including the undergarments with all the coins. Heavy armor was also fixed and freshened up for a whopping eight coppers – he counted as he collected the change from a shelf. No tips taken, apparently.
Funnily enough, it seemed cheaper than fixing his leather armor – that had cost seventeen at the blacksmith and taken the rest of the day to finish. That armor had also been delivered to his wardrobe. He figured that light damage on heavy armor was cheaper to fix than severe on medium, presumably, or however the game economy worked. He didn't dwell on it, though, and simply put on the undergarments with the Jack of plate on top, then grabbed his axes and a few silvers to buy better weapons. His phone was unresponsive, so he left it in the wardrobe. It seemed the locker room was assigned to him and as safe as a bank, so he just stashed everything he wouldn't be using in there.
The Portal Travels building was much busier than when he had left late in the evening – but then the whole place felt empty at night. There was heavy cloud cover, so he couldn't tell the angle of the sun, but the clock back on Earth had read game time 14:24 – plenty of time before sunset for all kinds of quests and experiments.
Emma was sitting on the same bench in front of the Realm Defenders building, and of course on her phone. New jeans, not tattered anywhere.
"Long time no see," Sean greeted her on approach.
"Hi," she said and looked at him with a strange mix of happiness, relief… and contempt, maybe? Or perhaps that was how she always looked.
"You summoned?" he tried, unsure how to bring up Omega relaying the message.
"What?" she asked.
He started, "Well, I got a message asking–"
"Right, that thing," she cut in. "I was just asking if you were playing or not , and where to find you if yes – they offered to let you know." She shrugged and got up from the bench, grabbing her wand-staff.
Sean frowned. It sounded like a different story than what Omega had told him – but he wasn't sure if he could trust Emma either: what if she was an NPC! Or, more realistically, she didn't want to admit that she couldn't find a party.
He decided to ask: "Do you remember what it said, and who brought up my name first?" She only stared at him, so he added after a couple of seconds, "Was it you or Omega?"
"What does it even matter?" she complained. "You're here – let's go kill some rats, whatever."
"Sure, but…" He hesitated, then pressed the issue: "Did Omega nudge you toward asking about me?"
"Why would she do that?" Emma asked sharply. "Or it, whatever."
"I don't know 'why' it might – but did it?" Sean insisted. "Or did you request it, 'unprompted' ?"
She glared at him for a moment, then sighed and admitted, "Fine, you're irreplaceable – my knight in shining armor! Happy now?"
He began, "I didn't mean to–"
"Whatever, can we go now?" she broke in.
"Okay-okay, I was just…" He trailed off as she was already walking to the wide-open double doors. He followed and figured that the 'unprompted' part was fairly conclusive after all – and Emma simply didn't want to admit her dependency on him. But it came out awkwardly, so he tried to explain, "Look, I didn't mean it like–"
"It doesn't matter," she interjected, passing through the six-foot-wide entrance.
"Look– Stop," he said firmly and sighed. She did stop and turn around to face him as he continued, "There's no need for drama, this isn't high school, and I'm just trying to explain: I was only asking if it was Omega who arranged that message, that's all. So you can stop overreacting, okay?"
Emma glanced to the side and remarked, "Is this why you're making a scene?"
Sean looked around and… they were blocking half the doorway, people moving around them – and the place was rather busy today. He stepped aside and offered, "Oh, right– Sorry, I didn't–"
"Can we go get that quest now?" she cut in, so he nodded and followed her inside.
He caught up with her, pulled her to the side, and asked, "Why are you so defensive about this? I'm not trying to–"
"Are you making a scene again?" she broke in.
"No, I'm just trying to have a conversation like a responsible adult," Sean explained. "You are an adult too, right?" Emma stopped and stared at him with such scorn that he was seriously getting worried about PVP – so he added, "Simply asking a question, yes or no?"
"Yes," she uttered through clenched teeth.
"See? That wasn't so hard!" he said with a smile. "But you're clearly going through some issues – wanna talk about it?"
"No," she replied, now with a hateful glare – which felt like an upgrade.
"Ah-hah! So there are issues," he reasoned. "Did you get into PVP again, is that it? Mixed up spell casts–"
"No, that's not…" Emma interrupted and sighed. She ran a hand through her hair – only now did Sean notice that she must've pocketed her phone. That was a first! She asked, "Why are you so…"
"I'm so what ?" he started, then tried to tread more carefully: "Look, there's no need for drama, you know. But if we're supposed to fight together, then I'd like to know if you have any pent-up insecurities or whatever else you're conflicted about right around now. If you don't mind?"
She sighed, then said, "I'm not– What's with the psychotherapy talk? Weren't you supposed to be a systems engineer?"
"I was, actually, but… maybe a hidden calling?" he half-joked, then calmed down. "Seriously though, what's with the– Did something happen again?" A small pause. "Like when you tried to solo yesterday."
"No – do I look like something happened?" she countered.
Sean glanced down at her clothes: no tattered pants, no claw or bite marks anywhere. He remarked, "Not really, but… I don't know, appearances can be deceiving?"
"Why are you like this?" she asked.
"Like what?" he replied, genuinely confused.
"What's with all the questions?" she complained.
"I mean, you're kinda asking me that…" Sean countered, then smirked and added, "Irony much?" She rolled her eyes at this, so he clarified, "But come on, why are you so defensive all of a su–"
"I'm not being defensive!" Emma cut him off defensively – he nodded at it in silence. She sighed, glanced to the side for a moment, and finally admitted, "Look, it's been a long day and… can we get the quest and get going already?"
It occurred to Sean only now that this used to be his line – he had been the one constantly pleading for one more quest . Well, he had done two of those yesterday, but clearly something had changed for Emma. He also realized that there was no point in pushing the topic while she was being defensive about it, so he simply nodded and said, "Of course, ladies first." He motioned to the room with all the quest boards.
Emma gave him a quick, puzzled glare, but promptly turned to the side and led the way without a word.
Sean followed, but decided to ask a less loaded question: "What's with the crowd today?"
"I have no idea," she remarked.
He began, "No, but there's a lot more people than–"
"I started playing yesterday, same as you – remember?" Emma cut in and stopped at the entrance to the quest room.
Sean stood next to her, and the room was clearly packed. Players moving in and out, almost like a constant stream – but they seemed new-ish: starter kits rather than fancy high-lvl gear. Many even still had their player tags on – all low levels. There was audible chatter from the inside, but seemingly about taking quests rather than random discussions. He gently poked a guy in leather armor standing beside him and said, "Sorry… or actually – do you know what's going on?"
"It's an event," the guy explained. "Grab some Gremlin-quest in the docks and keep moving."
Sean nodded. It reminded him of that 'docks werewolf outbreak' quest that the high-lvl Paladin took the previous day – maybe that was an event too, but for more experienced players? Either way, he turned to Emma to relay: "Apparently there's an event, so just take the docks quest with Gremlins and let's regroup here."
"Uh-huh," she said – already back on her phone.
The crowd kept moving through the room as people took their quests and Sean learned why this event attracted so much attention: the payout for a normal lvl 4 quest was three silvers with some change – 'Exterminate 16 Gremlins in the East Docks' was level two and paid seven silvers. More than for a lvl 7 quest! Then again, there was a lvl 8 one paying fifteen silvers – but it would clearly be too difficult for him.
Also, he noticed why the NPC interactions were going so slowly today. The locals sometimes refused to give the 'Gremlins in Docks' quests on the grounds of: "You're too experienced for this task, adventurer, leave it for the newcomers." Except the players kept arguing with them and with each other. A female caster was trying to explain that she was in a party with low-lvl friends and then claimed, "Level eight isn't too high, and please, it's only this one time!" The middle-aged NPC man finally relented and gave her a candle.
'What a silly mechanic…' Sean thought to himself.
He had no trouble taking the task – apparently his lvl 4 'all classes' wasn't too experienced for this . He retreated from the crowded room and had to wait for a while. It took Emma three more minutes to return with her candle.
"What took you so long?" Sean asked, mildly annoyed – he was quite eager to find out what the whole Gremlin-craze was all about, but he promptly softened it with: "Everything alright?"
"Yup, let's go," she answered, already heading to the exit – their candles both flamed in that direction.
Sean walked with her, but he asked to make sure: "You took the Gremlins in Docks quest too, right?"
"Uh-huh. Docks quest. Let's go," she insisted.
Sean began as they exited the building, "It took so long that I was worried you left without me or maybe–"
"The place was packed, chill out," she interrupted, and he merely nodded.
The candles led them across the plaza, and the directions seemed wrong – the previous day's quest at the west gate wasn't even remotely opposite, but maybe these labels were simply colloquial.
Halfway through the plaza, Sean finally decided to ask: "What happened to stupid everything ?" She looked at him, confused, so he added, "Yesterday everything was: stupid game, stupid rats – and now–"
"Whatever, let's go already," she broke in.
"But we are going," he commented with a smirk, then added, "And why are you so eager to do these stupid quests today?"
"Whatever!" she snapped and focused on her phone.