Setting: SILICON VALLEY, CA

Date: February 13th, 2026. (1 days until Launch)

Already aware the he was going to have the rest of the day, and pretty much the weekend to himself, Patrick used his time that Thursday afternoon helping his wife pack for her trip and clean up around the house. She was happy to have the extra hand to help out, and Patrick made sure he had a well stocked fridge for the expansion launch. TV dinners, chicken nuggets, and various salads made sure the kitchen was full of things that were easy to whip up and consume. Pat also had some sodas stocked but also made sure there was plenty of alternatives like juice and milk as well. He was confident everything would be alright and that would make his wife feel more comfortable leaving him behind to spend time with her mother. It seemed like a godsent as Pat know how busy things would be. The new launch was going to take up a lot of time and he was going to be super busy for at least several days.

"Don't worry about me," Emma said as she carried her bags to the door. "I'll text you once I'm at moms. I'll be back around Monday or Tuesday."

"You can stay longer if you want," Patrick said, trying to be cool about things.

"While I appreciate the thought," Emma said, walking over to give him a hug, "I still have a job to report to as well. And as much as I love my mother, I can only handle her in small doses."

"I know the feeling," Patrick concurred, "I feel the same way about my parents."

"I am going to miss you," Emma said, kissing her husband.

"I'm going to be too busy to notice you're gone," Patrick said, laughing.

Emma playfully slapped his arm. "You are such a liar."

"I know," Patrick agreed.

There was a loud honking come from the driveway.

"That's my ride to the airport," Emma said, grabbed some of her bags.

Patrick grabbed the others and walked her to the car that was hired to give her a ride to the airport. She didn't pack very much and the bags were light. She was only going down for a few days, not even a week, so she didn't need that much to travel.

"Call me when you get there," Pat said, giving her one last kiss. "Loves you."

"Loves you too," Emma said, before slipped into the back seat. Patrick closed the door, and waved at the car as she drove away. Waiting until she was out of sight before walking back into the house.

As much as he didn't like not being around his wife around Valentine's Day, Patrick had a plan that would more than make up for it. He was going to be clocking some major overtime over the weekend, so that allowed him to splurge on a gift that he was going to give Emma after she returned from her trip. He planned to surprise her with tickets to her favorite band, which was doing a stadium tour in the summer. Not his favorite bad, but he was willing to tolerate it just for her. And he also know that all the chocolate was going to he over fifty percent off after the big day so he'd buy a ton of it to eat while playing the game but also when she returned. Things were going to work out, Patrick thought to himself as he strolled back into the house. He popped a tv dinner into the microwave and quickly nuked it up while sucking down a bottle of diet doctor pepper. He planned to log in for several hours and help out a bit with players that were finishing expiring quests, and then would get some rest before the big day. He knew better than to not rest up before what was going to be a very, very long day.

When the dinner was ready, Pat took the meal into the living room and watched the news just to make sure the real world was still in one piece. He liked to do that every now and then before logging into his virtual world for work. While he was watching the cable news channel, they were talking about the new expansion, and how the company was very excited about the launch that was taking place the next day. It also showed fans that were camped out in front of stores, eager to by the limited edition VIP packages that were not available online. Those who bought those boxes were given special codes that allowed them to get extras that no one else would be able to use. No one except the GMs like him, cause he had to text them out for the last several weeks to make sure there were no bugs. Watching the GM stroll around the realms with amazing new gear was also like a walking billboard for the VIP boxes, which made players so desperate they were camping out in tents outside the game stores, which were going to reopen at midnight to sell the new boxes early. That would give the players plenty of time to install and get ready for the official launch, which was going to take place tomorrow at noon.

According to the news channel, the game had already sold millions of units of the new expansion. People were excited and eager to give it a try. All that meant to Patrick was that he and the other GMs were going to be very, very busy for the next several days. As hard as any company tries, bugs always manage to slip through the crack and plague and new game at the worst possible time. The key was to remain calm and work the problem. He had managed to survive several other expansion launches, so Patrick was confident he would be alright for this one too.

"Well," Patrick said to himself, as he turned off the television. "No rest for the wicked. Time to get back to work..."