She meant in-game. When there were mini-quests that were just like regular quests, but with Christmas-themed descriptionsand rewards, and there were limited edition outfits and weapons that were more decorative than functional.
The Art and Story teams loved the holiday events, and since players did too, might as well keep doing them.
But last Christmas… That was when I met Kittie in the game. “You mean the event where I saved your ass in the event dungeon?”
“The one whereIsavedyourass, by being the healer you needed to get in, and then by healing your barbarian butt every time you charged into the middle of a pack of enemies.” Fallyn’s words were full of reproach, but her tone was light and missing any accusation.
I shook my head. “Nope. Don’t remember anything that happened that way, so you must be thinking of a different barbarian.”
Her laugh was delightful. “I must be.”
“What I remember,” I said, “is that you looked incredible in the event dress.” All of the outfits in game were available for any race and gender. Anyone could pick the Santa pants with the matching puppy dog ears, or the short Santa skirt and halter top, with the kitty ears. Even the male orcs could wear the mini. And true to her character’s name, Fallyn had chosen the kitty ear outfit.
“Mycharacterlooked incredible. It’s amazing how good a series of pixels can look in an outfit designed specifically for their shape.”
I couldn’t help but smile at her light sarcasm. “I’ll pass your praise along to the artists. But I meant what I said—in my head, you’re wearing that outfit, and you look amazing.”
“And you’re stripping me out of it?” She asked incredulously.
“You said it, not me.”
“You were thinking it.”
“I am now. Okay, I was before, too.” Anything to keep the conversation from getting too serious, right? Except a tiny, insignificant part of me, wished I hadn’t gone down this path.
Fallyn rolled her eyes and pursed her lips. “I promise not to tell. I also promise not to tell anyone you ripped off Sadie Sews with the design.”
“So first of all,Ididn’t rip anyone off.” This was fun. Did I want it to be? Fallyn curled up next to me on the couch, with a Christmas tree sparkling in the corner, and my puppy sleeping on my other side. Link was missing, that sucked, but— “Contrary to what you’d like the world to believe, ET Howard doesn’t make every decision for AcesPlayed. And we didn’t rip Sadie off, we licensed her designs. She was happy to charge us a fair fee.”
“You know Sadie?” Like that, Fallyn was in awe.
One of Sadie’s boyfriends had worked with us at Rinslet, and the other was a streamer who did a lot of promo for them. Grayson was almost Fallyn’s opposite—he loved most everything he played, and he was happy to hype it all on his channel. “I know Sadie.”
“Can you introduce me?”
“What do I get in return?” I was teasing. I’d make the introduction in a heartbeat. Tomorrow even, if I wasn’t either in the office or passed out from lack of sleep.
Fallyn scrunched up her face in thought. “The thrill of knowing you made someone’s day?”
“Do you really think that motivates me?” Even my sarcasm was playful. Who was I?
She leaned more of her weight against me. “I think you’re not the black void of nothingness you pretend to be.”
I rested my head on hers. “Damn. My secret’s out.”
“Just with me, and I promise not to tell anyone.”
“Because it’s not a bug, it’s a feature, so it’s not worthy of being on your channel?”
She laughed.FuckI liked that sound. “Clever,” she said. “Because I see why Link keeps it to himself. Seeing ET Howard’s good side is kind of like being in an exclusive club.”
How was I supposed to reply to that? Not with another joke about fantasizing about her getting naked. Nothing that would send her from the room in a huff, and shatter this week and reset life back to what it was before she got here.
“Only for the two of you.” Saying that made me feel more exposed than standing in the middle of the convention center and stripping naked, and I didn’t like that feeling. But I also couldn’t take it back.
21/
link