022

--The Enclave--

Here we go… Dassah sighed and leaned back and waited for the third party assessment of her life. “In what?”

“Him.”

Like I would be,” Dassah scoffed and readjusted herself in her seat. Giving him a side glance, she asked, “But why?”

“Hard to say, really,” he scratched his chin. “I don’t know enough. I do know, however, that that wasn’t a hospital that called him.”

“A friend?” She leaned forward.

“I’m not psychic.”

“Male or female?”

“My guess would be female. Young sounding, too. Threatened?”

“Tsk,” Dassah leaned back in her seat and scrunch her nose. “I did just meet the man, if you couldn’t have put that together. Why would I be? It would be typical of someone introduced through Stella, though.”

“I’m not sure about that,” he said putting his winged elbows against the table. His dark eyes held warning them. “He knew I was listening. More specifically, he knows what I really am, and was being very careful about what he and the person on the phone said.”

Furrowing her brow, she asked, “Why would he do that?”

He leaned back, twitching his dogish nose, “Because that’s what suspicious people do when the see a cop in a coffee shop.”

After taking a minute to let his words sink in, Dassah laughed out loud.

“A cop?” she repeated. “You really expect me to believe that you — a cranky guy like you, who works in a coffee shop — is a respectable police officer?”

Grim yawned and leaned back. “No one said you had to believe me. I don’t really care,” he told her. “I’m more or less only over here out of my own sense of duty and responsibility; you are free to do as you wish.” The line was spoken with such a combination of distaste and irony that Dassah almost bought it.

“If you’re a cop, why are you in a coffee shop?” she asked. “It’s still daylight.”

“Life is complicated, and we aren’t friends,” he shrugged. “And I don’t know what to say about your assumption that daylight matters in my profession.”

Snorting, she finished her coffee, but he kept staring at her. “What?” she asked.

“Are you gonna meet him again?”

“If he asks me to, I might.”

“Even though I’ve told you he’s a liar?”

“Because you told me he’s a liar.”

“What faultless logic. I don’t get females,” he sneered.

“Maybe we should both keep our generalizations out of our conversations.”

“Probably,” Grim sighed and stood back up. Taking her cup, he said, “Well, if he turns out to be a serial killer, don’t come crying to me.”

“I still haven’t ruled out you being a serial killer,” she informed him, grabbing her bag and standing herself. “But, thanks for the concern.”

“The way you treat people you suspect to be murderers is quite curious.”

“Maybe I’m just too enamored with your coffee skills. Do all cops make great coffee?”

“I wish,” he said, shaking his head sadly.

“Is it so shocking that even you can show emotion about it?”

“It’s a tragedy,” Grim sighed. “You off?”

Dassah nodded. “Yeah. I have a date with TheirWorld. I’m sure it will be far less awkward than this one was.”

“A safer one, to be sure,” he said. “Be careful out there.”

“Thanks,” she nodded. “Really.”

Grim grunted and rubbed his ear before he walked away.

Chuckling Dassah headed out of the cafe. A cop, huh? It made just about as much sense as him being a serial killer, she supposed.

Sending a quick set of messages out to Stella, Bahena, and Elric, she headed out the door — but ran headfirst into an incoming customer.

“S-sorry!” she went in a panic, looking up and bowing several times at the dark haired man she had knocked into.

The man smiled, warm, brown eyes wrinkling a little around the corners. “Are you alright?” he asked.

“Ah — yes,” Dassah fumbled, and looked down, where it seemed the man had dropped his briefcase. She picked it up and handed it to him. “Sorry…”

He laughed as he took it from her “Don’t worry about it! Just look where you are going when you walk!”

Laughing nervously, she let him pass and started her way towards the monorail.

When she got home, she plopped on her bed and finally answered Stella’s texts.

-Stella: Hey!

-Stella: Hey! Hey!

-Stella: How did it go?

-Dassah: It went alright I guess. I didn’t hate him.

-Stella: Well that’s something! Guess I wasn’t too far off on guessing your type!

-Dassah: Oh, is that what you were doing? :/

-Dassah: Could have just asked that. He was a bit scrawny for me, and his aura was weird.

-Stella: You can keep your auras. Auras. What even.

-Stella: Will you see him again?

-Dassah: Maybe.

-Stella: Maybe? >.>?

-Dassah: You gonna help me in TheirWorld today?

-Stella: Yeah! When you gonna be on?

-Dassah: Right after I finish chatting with you. My chr name is ‘Guin Grey’

-Stella: Okay! I’m waiting on getting my nails done, so I’ll be on… probably a few hours. Tonight.

-Dassah: Sounds good. See you then!

-Stella: And then you give me all the dirt!

-Dassah: Maybe.

-Stella: Maybe?

-Dassah: Maybe.

-Stella: Haha. See you, babe!

What a handful. She tossed her phone to the side and hooked herself up to the game.

“Noona!” came the excited voice of Elric on a tell screen the moment she logged on. The name ‘Drakov’ was written at the bottom. “Annyeong! Choushi wa do?”

Snickering, Dassah answered, “Annyeong, dongsaeng. Daijoubu. Comin’ to help me?”

“Hai, hai!” he nodded enthusiastically. “You said you were in Miala De Ri, right?”

“Yup.”

“Okay! I’ll be on my way soon,” he told her. “Where should I look for you?”

“Mmm,” Dassah thought for a moment. She had a lot of things she needed to do that she didn’t really need help with, but she didn’t think it would take all that long, assuming that gathering skills was as straightforward as it had been in the tutorial. “I’m not really sure, to be honest. I’ll be running some errands before you get here, and you haven’t been here before? Where does the caravan let you off?”

The young man’s dark almond shaped eyes looked away for a moment, then back to her. “All caravans take off and depart from city trading centers. Looking at the map of Miala De Ri, the trading center is by the Central Gate?”

Dassah checked herself and nodded. “Okay…,” she bit at her lip as she see looked over the map. The hunters’ complex which she assumed would have the trainers she needed was in the West, with a minor road heading into the woods. “Let me know when you get here, but can you meet me at the Western Gate? It’s the main starter hunting ground, and that’s what I am doing for now.”

“At level ten?” Drakov tilted his head.

“It’s a long story,” she sighed. “But all I can do is ganbare. Your help would be greatly appreciated!”

He laughed. “Wakarimasu! There will be a caravan leaving in about ten minutes, and it will be about thirty to forty minutes from here, I think? Depends on how often we get attacked and how skilled the other players on board are.”

“Caravan’s get attacked?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “It’s basically an escort quest event. You pay a certain amount to ride the caravan, but if you participate in defending or aiding the caravan and it’s attacked then you get money in return for services rendered. Makes it so that people benefit without getting bored, while rewarding proactive players. I like it.”

“Cool,” went Dassah, taking mental notes. “I’ll see you in a bit then?”

“Hai, hai!” Drakov saluted and the screen winked out.