Adam grinned as he let his thumbs guide through the muscle memory of the combination attack he wanted to use to take down his opponent. On his television screen there was a simple 2d Fighter he was playing. Two characters, shown in profile, with health gauges at the top, and a count down timer in between the bars. The games background and characters had a futuristic theme to them, with lots of transhumanist and cybernetic enhancement. Adam’s character, Shin-ryu, was one of the lesser used characters in the roster of 34 due to being viewed by the public too much of a clone of the simple martial artist archetype of so many other fighting games, but Adam didn’t mind.

Finishing the Combo, Adam watched as the gi clad character started throwing kicks and punches onto his opponent for that round, a robot named Wendigo that had moves which would shift the character between a large humanoid figure to that of a wolf with a completely different move set. When Wendigo recovered from and countered the last few strikes of Shin-Ryu’s combo Adam could tell that whomever it was that he’d been matched against had some skill.

Going on the defensive, Adam scooted forward in his sitting position on the couch. Shin-Ryu pulled his hands up to block any potential attacks. The robotic opponent initiated their own combo, which involved a few strikes, transforming into the wolf form, a bite, and then with Ryu still in it’s maw shifting back into it’s original form. The animation for the robot reverting back to the default, while still holding it’s opponent displayed Adam’s character getting smashed in a very unpleasant manner. Shin-Ryu was eventually knocked back away from Wendigo and stood on the screen stunned momentarily.

Adam heard the door to his apartment open and he noticed out of his peripheral vision his girlfriend walk in, “Hey babe!” she called, carrying in some bags of groceries, “You ready for tonight?”

He tried to split his attention between Windego and Shannon, “Uh, tonight?” he asked as he moved in again with a series of multiple swift strikes. He heard her walk into the kitchenette area and drop the groceries on the counter.

“Yeah, you know, the- Wait . . . did you forget?” Shannon asked as she walked back into the living room where Adam had his gaming set up.

His mind raced trying to think of what event could possibly be going on that night that he had forgotten. It wasn’t their anniversary. Her birthday was in the next month. None of their out of town friends were visiting . . . He was at a loss. He barely hit the block button in enough time to stop Wendigo from finishing him off.

Shannon leaned over the back of the couch to look at his face. “Oh my gosh, you did forget didn’t you!” a hint of anger crept into her voice, “I can’t believe this!”

Adam wracked his brain. His mind completely off the game at that point. The last thing he wanted to do was get Shannon upset. What was it that he’d forgotten? He decided to come clean and admit he honestly had no clue. The television screen announced in a deep sonorous voice, “You Lose!”

“Sorry hun, I’m not sure what it is you’re referring to.” Adam admitted sheepishly.

Shannon walked around the side of the couch and stood over him with cold stare. She slowly and carefully reached for the controller in his hand. Not wanting to upset her further he put up no resistance to her taking it from him. Once she’d pulled it away from him, the look on her face changed drastically. Shannon grinned at him impishly and winked, “Tonight, is the night that you put away the groceries while I work on unlocking the next Vault.” And with the controller in her hand, she quickly logged out of Adam’s gaming profile and logged into her own, then switched the game that was booted up on the console.

He couldn’t believe that he’d been hoodwinked. “Oh, is that so?” he asked as he saw her sit down on the couch, snuggling a little bit next to him. He chuckled a little internally. Banter like this was one of the things that he loved about his girlfriend. She was just as much of a gamer as he was, but not always on the same games or even the same style of games. He stood up from the couch as the looter-shooter that was her game du jour booted up. He leaned down and kissed her forehead.

“So, given any thought on food for the night? Or were you just thinking about VaultRaider.” He asked as he headed for the groceries.

“I got something at the deli after the groceries. It’s there with it.” Shannon called over her shoulder, “Depending on how long this takes we could Netflix and Chill.”

Adam grinned, and found the sandwiches she was referring to with the groceries. He started unpacking and putting away the groceries when his phone from the kitchen counter charging station pinged with an e-mail notification. As he moved back and forth from groceries to fridge to pantry and back, he raised an eyebrow at the contents of the email from RMO.