Iris went into the Kitchen to prepare the meal. Kit decided to muster up the courage to talk with the new customer, Kai. Kit took a seat across from him. He glanced nervously at the large man, he could feel nausea rise in his throat. He hated small talk at the best of times, but he wanted to know what Kai was hunting for.

‘Hopefully he is more friendly than he looks. If he is on a quest, I want to join, and I’m sure Mars would as well.’

“Hello, I’m Kit. I just arrived in town today, your Armor is very fearsome.”

“Name is Kai. Armor is not for looks, it’s to protect the body.” Kai gave Kit a dismissive look.

‘So not friendly. I really want to know about his hunting though.’ Kit pushed through his discomfort and continued to ask questions.

“Are you currently questing?”

“Yes, there is an adorable shrewd shifter hunting around Sweet Meadows. They transform of a night-time into a predator, so I can only hunt it at night. They do not normally appear in this region, it is rare for them to be able to leave their homes.”

Kit was a little surprised that he had answered, he was expecting to be told to shove off. This gave him encouragement to continue talking.

“Do you need any help? My friend and I could aid you.”

Kai looked at Kit and started to laugh.

“You could not even swat a fly. How can you help? Ahh, I needed that, thanks for the laugh.”

Kit felt his cheeks redden, he ducked his head to avoid eye contact. He wished he did not start talking to Kai now. He never could understand why people like to humiliate others.

“Sorry for disturbing you.”

Kit stood up to leave, he didn’t want to be embarrassed further.

“Wait, I apologise, I have been rude.”

Kai stood and bowed in a formal apology. Kit was surprised the large man would regret being offensive. Kai remained bowed.

‘Is he waiting for me to accept his apology?’

“Um…, thanks?”

Kai lifted his head and gave Kit a small smile. Iris arrived with Kai’s dinner and Kit decided to leave this uncomfortable situation while he had the chance. Even though he was discouraged from Kai, Kit still wanted to find out more about this quest.

‘Maybe Mars and I could look around ourselves for the monster after we level a bit. This is a low-level area so between the two of us we should be able to kill it.’

Kit sat at the bar. Iris returned to finish putting away the clean cups. Kit decided to bring up the topic of a free room. Now was not the time to think of quests, he really needed to sort out a room for tonight.

“Iris, Mars and I were wondering if you had anywhere, we could sleep that was cheap. We do not have much money.”

Kit gave Iris his best impression of a sad puppy, he tried to mimic Kat when she did it.

“I already figured you two would need a bed. You can sleep in the loft above the stables for free, because you helped me out tonight. There is plenty of fresh straw and I’ll give you some blankets.”

“Thank you, Iris. That’s more than we had hoped for.”

Mars and Kit chatted to Iris to pass the time waiting for Kai to finish. Kai eventually left for his night hunt, waving goodbye.

Ding!

[CAL]

Quest complete: The Waddling Duck waiter, common.

Rewards: 100 EXP, 50 bronze crowns, 10 reputation points with Inn Keeper Iris.

Iris closed the door to the Inn and turned to Mars and Kit.

“Good job tonight I really appreciate the help. If you two could help me out for the next two nights until Rose returns, I would be grateful. I can manage the morning and lunch service by myself.”

Iris stared at the two of them waiting for an answer. ‘I feel like if I say no to her, she might not let us sleep in the loft. Oh well I enjoyed tonight, so two more nights will not hurt, plus we can have somewhere to sleep and one free meal a day.’

“Iris we would be happy to help out, I had fun tonight.”

Ding!

[CAL]

Quest accepted.

The Waddling Duck waiter, common.

Help Iris with the dinner service, do not let any customers leave angry.

Iris gave woollen blankets to Mars and Kit and then took them out the back door, across the small yard into the stables. There were four stalls with clean straw piled in the corner of each, currently there was only one horse in a stall. Above the stalls was an open loft.

‘It may not be a fancy hotel but at least it is not the cold ground.’ Kit looked at the rickety ladder up to the loft.

‘Lucky I am not scared of heights, or I would never go up that fragile looking ladder.’

“I’ll leave you two for the night. You can come in the back door in the morning, and I’ll give you breakfast.”

“Thank you, Iris. You have a heart of gold,” Mars gave Iris a huge smile.

Kit headed up the stairs with held breath. He made it to the top without any mishaps, Mars followed close behind. Kit stared around the large open area at all the fresh straw. It looked like it would not be that comfortable to just lie on top of all that straw.

Kit tied the ends of one of his blankets together, this created a blanket parachute. Kit then started to stuff the blanket with straw. Once he had finished, he looked at the lumpy round ball. Bits of straw poked through the blanket at random places. Kit was happy with his makeshift mattress even though it looked a little odd. Kit flopped down on it and started to make a nice nest right in the middle.

Mars was watching him the whole time, trying not to laugh at his antics. Mars must have decided his bed looked ok, because he started to make his own round lumpy ball mattress. Once Mars was settled, he turned his head to Kit.

“Thank you for being my friend, and getting us somewhere to sleep tonight. I don’t think I could have slept in the cold again tonight. I wanted to play this game without having to ask my brothers for help. But if I was going to have to sleep outside again, I might have changed my mind.”

“Your family plays CAL?”

“My mother and father just play for fun, it is something to do together for them. My two older brothers make a living in a large guild, they compete in the PvP tournaments for money. They are incredibly good and have amassed quite a fortune already. They are your typical idols for playing CAL, rich, skilled, and good looking.” Mars tone was flat as he talked about his family.

‘That is funny he didn’t sound like he was proud to be their brother. Most people would be bragging nonstop if they had brothers like that. I wonder if they have a good relationship?’

“Are you going to be like your brothers and PvP?”

“No, I will find my own way in the game. My brothers and I don’t get along, they are 10 and 12 years older than me. I was a surprise for my family, and when I was born, I caused a little strain on finances. At that time, my brothers went to a prestigious school. Because I was born, they had to drop out due to the financial strain I caused. I don’t think my brothers ever forgave me for that, even though I had no control over it.” Mars took a breath and continued.

“My brothers have always been close. Because I was younger, they never wanted to play with me or if they did it was only hide and seek. They would tell me to hide then leave me hiding for hours. It wasn’t until I was 12 years old, I realised that game was an excuse so they could play together uninterrupted by me.”

“Mars that’s horrible. I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok. That was one of the nicer things they did to me, I just stay away from them now.”

Mars had a sad look on his face when he was talking about his brothers. Kit thought he would stop there, but he continued with his story.

“The thing I cared about the most was how close they were, I was always jealous they had a best friend. I wanted to be included in that so much. I was a bit awkward growing up. My mother told me I could be a bit intense towards others because I wanted a friend so much. I also get over excited a lot. I tend to make people uncomfortable, I have tried to rein it in as I got older. Ah, I’ve over shared again.”

Mars’ sad look turned into one of embarrassment. He ducked his head and avoided eye contact. Kit had not felt Mars had been intense or awkward from their interactions so far, maybe his family was conservative so thought being overactive was intense. The only thing that could be called intense about Mars was his clothing.

‘I already had a wrong impression of him once, so I will wait and see how this friendship goes. Should I share a little of my past with him to make him feel more relaxed? I did promise Kat I would try to make friends in game and sharing is part of being a friend.’

Kit took a breath and decided he would see how opening up went as well.

“I had a tough time in the last two years of school, my father died. I did not know how to cope and my friends, I guess they did not know how to respond to me anymore. I was not in a space to try to continue our friendship. I ended up losing all my friends. I miss having friends to talk to, though this is the first time I have said it out loud. So, I know how you feel about being jealous of a friendship.”

Kit gave Mars a warm smile. Maybe this game really is what I need. I can make friends again like now through playing together. Kit felt good about sharing a little.

“I’m sorry to hear that Kit, it must have been hard. I know I would have fallen apart if I lost my dad, so I’m sure your old friends would have understood. If you reach out to them, you might be surprised that they also wish to reconnect again.”

“Thanks for the advice, Mars.”

Kit gave Mars a small smile. What he did not tell Mars is that he had once tried to reach out again to who he thought had been his best friend, but it had ended badly.

“Kit, I know this is really corny, but thanks for being my friend.” Mars blushed once again.

Kit gave a little laugh. “No worries, Mars. I’m happy too. On that note, let’s go to bed. I’m exhausted after all that running around today.”

“Good night, Kit.”

“Goodnight Mars.”

Kit closed his eyes and snuggled into his mattress.

‘I wonder what adventures we will have tomorrow.’

Kit continued his streak of looking forward to the next day.