People. They just always seemed to ruin her day. Alright, so it wasn’t completely their fault, it was the System’s too. But you really couldn’t properly blame a non-sentient program properly, could you? Better to blame people. It’s always worked for her in the past. Though then she hadn’t needed to specify those people were human. But she would adapt, she could blame aliens just as easily too. But then you need to start to consider their own culture, morals, and values. Which really complicates things, doesn’t it? For now, she’d stick to blaming people.

So James really couldn’t help the look of annoyance and exacerbation covering her face. Never mind that any one of the men surrounding her could probably bench press twice her weight. At least.

One of them even seemed to have a small headache attached to him. Very small, miniscule, but large enough that she could note it. And of course, that in itself was noteworthy. He was different than the rest of them. And any other person she’d come across.

He was taller than the group, with dashing good looks and striking blue eyes that captivated her to her very spot! Or at least that would have been her reaction if her first impression of him wasn’t him surrounding her in full armor and leveling a gun in her face. Not to mention her social anxiety, or how he made her head hurt. All in all, he lost all the points his good looks gave him.

“Who are you and how did you get here?” James was tired of being talked down to, besides, his words felt weird. What she heard didn’t seem to align with the way his lips moved, another headache. She had barely survived the being from the screen that morning, and that being was much scarier, despite the guns. Nonetheless, she replied in a measured voice, hoping her social anxiety wouldn’t kick in.

“Hi, my name is James. Do you have pasta?” the man blinked at her as she registered her own words and grimaced in her head. Only her experience with her weird slips of the tongue kept her face blank. She really shouldn’t have practiced all those introductions on the way over here. A beat, and then she opened her mouth again. She really shouldn’t have.

“Sorry, I’m just really hungry. I was following the doors over here and I realized I hadn’t planned for lunch when I left my apartment. I really hadn’t planned for any of this this morning, I really couldn’t have planned for almost dying now that I think about it. At least not on such short notice. I wonder if I could have done any-”

“Enough! Who are you and why are you here?” Were they speaking in a different language? Is that why the words seemed off? If the Tutorial zones lined up with what the news was talking about, the rest weren’t in the United States so far.

“Sorry, believe it or not this is probably the longest conversation I’ve had with anyone in a long time. Years probably. Unless we’re counting university lectures. Then those are much longer. I don’t like speaking much, just, too much happened today.” The man glared at her, aggravation seeming to leak out of his very pores and bringing her back on track.

“Oops, yeah, sorry, like I said my name is James. I think I got relocated to this Tutorial?” She didn’t exactly want to say she got kicked out because the Pact overseer thought she was interfering for another faction, did she?

“Is anyone else coming?” And are they more dangerous than you? And maybe sane? He obviously wanted to ask the questions but managed well enough by him slightly lowering his gun. Or maybe that meant he was open to talking. Probably both. Obviously, James didn’t register as a threat. It was almost insulting, but so true she didn’t let it shake her. She’ll just work on it, she assured herself, like she worked on anything else. Not letting her thoughts show, she just shook her head.

“I wouldn’t really know, but I don’t think my situation crops up often,” especially if the Mark of the Censured and Censored’s description is accurate. How many people did manage to get kicked out of their Tutorial? “How long have you been here?”

“How did you dodge the monsters?” he ignored her questions, and the rest of the men seemed to narrow in on her. When she stayed quiet for too long, he gave out an angry huff and raised his gun again, “are you controlling them? Are you a monster?”

James made sure not to show her disbelief on her face. This guy was the one in charge? Monsters? Even if she were a monster, a ridiculous notion that they even existed, though probably not as ridiculous as it would have been that morning, would she really declare herself? More than that, his questioning style could really use some work. She’d watched enough cop shows to know better. Keeping her real thoughts to herself, she replied.

“My status page says human, but we can get into the theological discussion if that means I’m a monster later,” hopefully never, this is much more conversing than she was comfortable with. This Tutorial was much more of a trial than anything.

“But I didn’t see any when I was coming here. So, how long have you been here? And what’s your name? Probably should have started with that…” letting out a big breath he seemed to come to a decision and completely lowered his gun, putting it away in a holster on his hip. The gesture seemed like a prearranged signal for the rest as they eyed her and left to go back to the clearing.

“I’m Arthur, and we’ve been here a week. Does the outside world know anything? Are we getting any help?” He waited patiently for everyone to clear out before asking. James just waited, not enthused about going towards the mass of people. Somehow, now that it was just the two of them, her previously discovered bravado escaped her. His own desperation was coming out too. She opened her mouth to reply, but instead it just made her sadder.

Before she could help it, she felt her face quiver in anticipation of tears, but managed to clamp down on it by biting on her lips. It seems that even people like him were outmatched by whatever they had stumbled into. And her? She couldn’t even fool herself into believing she wasn’t a liability.