by A Uscila
“Nah, all that killing and pillaging really enlarged my pile of...” – He began, only to cough before his next words came out and pated the large cloth-covered pile behind him as they finally did – “…experimental material. I’m planning on retiring for a while and leveling up my skills” – he explained, riding off soon after, exchanging goodbyes with the crestfallen Wail before doing so.
“Traitor!” – Waving a fist at the ever-distancing back of the necromancer, Wail could only shout bitterly, his emotions soon shifting to defeat, hands dropping down powerlessly - “…well, shit”
“Well? How about you get on with your explanations, instead of aching for your boyfriend? “– Willow jeered, while looking down on the mage mockingly, arms crossed below her chest in a superior manner.
“Don’t worry boss, you still got me” – Before Wail could say something back and defend his sexual orientation, Bob intervened, forcing the misunderstood warlock to close his mouth before even a single word could come out. Interrupted so rudely.
Yet, Wail only directed his glare at the suspiciously good-natured bandit minion, all the while having a hard time figuring out if the intentions were honest or did he just indirectly call him gay. Quite the dilemma. Since either answer would demand drastically differing resolutions, yet the same method – his fingers already itched with the intent to conjure a fireball.
Decisions can always be made for him, though – as his “favorite” summon snuggled against the warlock’s side in a disgustingly adorable manner, as the Soulfiend growled in supposed pleasure – always a hard thing to discern due to the creature’s appearance.
“Finally, that fucker was really getting on my nerves!” – Sorro’s curses drifted over from the side, overwhelming Wail’s own as they were spewed out at the same time – obviously, the little demon had an advantage in vocal prowess and general obnoxiousness. Plenty room for the grumpy magician to improve.
“God damn it, enough with the circus act and get on with the explanation, you dimwit!” – Of course, Willow vehemently held to her belief that there was only one individual at fault for all the nonsense she had to endure and made it a point to vent on him just enough to keep her own sanity – adding fuel to the fire that Wail, undoubtedly was. Quite literally, even.
“Does it look like I’m in any condition to fu…” – He began, only to notice another approaching danger, from the corner of his vision, for Vivian seemed no longer able to endure being away from all the fun and dashed towards his position. A truly terrifying sight, the magician even froze up in utter terror, unable to continue or even dodge. Like a deer caught in headlights.
As luck would have it – mercy did seem to be something Vivian possessed, for she charged not at Wail directly, but at Sorro that was standing behind him, to the left. With an angry snarl, the same a cornered animals would display when faced against a superior existence, the little demon soon turned and scampered away in retreat. For the bluff he so desperately attempted to rely on – simply had no effect, as the little girl didn’t even stop. Heck, she might have accelerated her advance even.
Wail could only sigh in relief at that.
“Look, there’s this dungeon not too far to the north-west that’s just our level – and we really need both new items and a level-up, seeing as it’s gotten really hot around here recently” – Wail started explaining, in a tired tone, his figure somewhat slumped in defeat. Even the Soulfiend couldn’t force out anything else from the magician – for he seemed to have succumbed to complete acceptance.
“Level? Items? You’re seriously taking me for a fool, aren’t you? How big can your ego be? Any more and it will pop from that hot air you keep filling it with!” – Willow, obviously unconvinced, began her relentless verbal pummeling once more – “There’s definitely something more, you’re not telling me. Something super-selfish that doesn’t really give any practical gain at all”
Wail could only silently curse that that. She knew him well.
“There might be a matter related to a group of players that took over the entrance to the dungeon and demand payment for entry from everyone…” – Wail began, almost innocently.
“Ha! I knew it! Your ego can’t handle someone else being a bigger asshole than you, so you decided to crush them! What a child!” – Why would she need to let him continue? Willow was too immersed in being right, to even remotely care on what came next. That was all she needed to hear. A tactical miscalculation on Wail’s part.
Luckily, he did not need to fight a pitched battle, since luck was on his side once more, in a weird way.
Suddenly distracted, Wail noticed a red message pop-up in the corner of his vision. A message that informed him of a missed call and upon further inspection – it seems that the call was from his workplace. Or to be more exact – from his direct superior. Quite a nifty little addition the virtual reality pods possessed. As long as you connected your phone to it, before logging in – the system would inform you of missed calls and any other important information – a matter of preference, at that point.
Well, seeing as it was real life calling, Wail didn’t even hesitate, as he grabbed the opportunity while it was still there.
“Sorry, gotta go. My boss called” – Leaving behind an abrupt and half-assed explanation, he logged out before anything else could get in the way or derail his plans.
Willow could only swear in dissatisfied surprise, taken aback by the well-performed tactical retreat. Slipping away from her grasp once more – when she had the upper hand and was having fun with it.
Foiled again.
*******
Heavy, occasional steps echoed across the enclosed stairwell, as Luke made his way upwards to the third floor. Pale head lowered, eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration – as if the very climb was an exercise that demanded super-human effort. Yet the gaze of this scrawny fellow did not seem to follow each passing step, nor did it seem to be busy making sure his feet were placed correctly – not at all bent on making sure no misstep took place. Distracted, Luke’s bony fingers slid along the rail during the absentminded accent, gripping it for purchase ever so often, as a means to help push the accent forward still, the actions of his limbs almost reflexive. As if the journey has been partaken more than once, the memory of it engraved within his very muscles – whatever meager amount of them his almost anorexic frame possessed.
Luke did not seem up-in-spirits at all, even more so than usual, in fact – a long and exaggerated sigh slipped out through cracked lips, as his gaze finally lifted, only to glance upon a glass door. An office seen through its’ transparent frame – numerous, busy looking figures hurrying about within, some with papers or office supplies – expressions set into serious, ready-for-business dispositions. Others with coffee mugs raised to their lips, professional smiles and unheard phrases thrown about in their passing.
Indeed. Today was meeting day and participation was mandatory. Even Luke was unable to avoid it – thus the sour and depressed look. After all – he was about to be forced to socialize with his superiors and work-colleagues. Trapped within a tight, socially prompting environment. Truly, the upcoming few hours were definitely not going to be pleasant ones – especially when the scrawny outcast did not have a very good relationship with anyone. Why? Well, beyond the well-established fact of his lack-luster and almost non-existent social skills, which undoubtedly made things more difficult, there was another reason for Luke’s pessimistic outlook.
When interacting with strangers, who know that the encounter is most likely going to be a singular occurrence, people usually avoid inputting excess effort into creating a social connection and are more than likely to act-upon emotions, or first impressions. More likely to be honest, especially when that honesty resulted in rude or offensive actions or language. Luke was well-acquainted with that fact. But in a work-environment? When the people you interact with are more than likely to be around for longer periods of time and your paths will cross more than once? When you might
be subjected to working closely with said people? Indeed, honesty ends-up being pushed aside into the second or even third plan and setting-up a pleasant environment becomes a necessity. Conflicts, unnecessary arguments are unwanted, unneeded, inefficient and simply – disallowed, which naturally ends up with people usually trying to be nicer or attempting to resolve/avoid awkward or potentially hostile situations and the people related or seen as the causes of said situations.
Of course, Luke was usually seen as that particular-cause – which made socializing here quite unpleasant. Especially when it’s mandatory. Heck, it was even painful – simply because people here tried to pretend at being nice. Avoided showing their distaste or dissatisfaction over Luke’s very presence, sometimes even initiated pleasant, shallow conversations. A glimpse at what actually-talking with people, without the usual hostility or insults, would be like. A vision that was beyond Luke’s grasp, a cruel reality, yet a reality nonetheless – and the sight of it from so-up-close always did scratch at his insides. Resonating emotionally, ripping open long-forgotten wounds, giving hope where there was none. It made him want to socialize and even attempt it – yet fail miserably and tragically each-and-every single time. Memories of those instances adding to the legion of ghosts that haunted his ravaged mind whenever Luke’s guard was down. Forcing the scrawny fella to crumble-up from self-pity and self-deprecation.
Disappointment, no matter how often experienced, can never be a pleasant. Like a bulldozer – it wrecked whatever foundation for any sense of self-respect or confidence Luke managed to build up while playing Alternative Reality, the need for the game more clinical than he could possibly imagine.
Finally – with great reluctance, the pitiable coward gathered enough courage and stepped inside, darting to the side and into a cloakroom, bent on firstly gathering-himself up and discarding an additional layer of clothes. Unluckily – another individual was present at right that exact moment, an unplanned encounter that somewhat unbalanced poor Luke. After all, as anti-social an individual as he was, Luke relied heavily on memories of similar circumstances to plan out and prepare for mostly anything, thus avoiding getting lost and being forced to actually think in an already stressful situation. Which would derail everything with increasing effect, from the built-up distress in failure, starting from being unable to anticipate what went about and continuing towards an additional failure in reacting to the unexpected properly, nor doing it in a timely manner for that matter. Any additional delay or received comments and uncontrolled, barely audible or unintelligible replies being the finishing touch to a completely ruined day or at the very least – part of it.
Still, this was not the first time when a similar situation arose and Luke did not lose his head completely, as he quickly followed up by side-glancing with the intent to inspect the counterparty. A quickly undertaken first step, as the identity of the individual would dictate what comes next. If it was a stranger – a simple hello would suffice, yet even that was not mandatory as first impressions were not something the scrawny outcast placed much emphasis on. A futile endeavor it was, since maintaining a positive one even after a successful initial stage proved to be an almost impossible mission, a reality that smacked him across the face after numerous phases of trial and error. Heck, in such circumstance – error was all that he would experience. Why waste effort and suffer through frustration and the feeling of powerlessness? Pointless!
Well, luckily enough – the encountered individual was not the worst-case scenario, for it was a woman that Luke rarely interacted with, if at all. His definition of the word being the few hello’s and goodbye’s exchanged before and after work, or the rare occasion of eye-contact and half-smiles or nods thrown at each other in polite acknowledgment of each other’s presence. If he remembered correctly – her name was Vicky, a pleasant enough glasses-wearing brunette of relatively short stature. At least shorter than Luke himself.
Both exchanged a polite non-verbal greeting, one that Luke prepared for the second he identified the other party – the sight of her maintained at the corner of the pale creep’s vision throughout the whole process of hanging the recently worn jacket. Luke didn’t want to accidentally miss the timing and the whole greeting all-together, after all – since he wasn’t sure if initiating it himself was appropriate nor did he want to get on her bad side due to something as similar as this. A conclusion made by shuffling though memory and bringing up a few similar occasions when a missed greeting devolved into semi-hostile indifference and eventually – into aggressive hostility and the occasional unpleasant argument.
A possibility avoided.
Without further ado, but making sure he wasn’t the first one to rush out of the coatroom, Luke prepared himself and stepped into the battlefield, all the while maintaining his utmost concentration – making sure not to miss a single person, a single greeting that followed after a mere second-long instance of reaffirming eye-contact, an action needed to make sure his presence was acknowledged and a reply was forthcoming. He could read the body-language at least that much – a result of years of observation from the sidelines. Yet a skill one undoubtedly gained much quicker if one actually participated in conversations and socialized. Not to mention that it was highly doubtful that this “ability” demanded so much effort and such a high level of concentration as Luke unconsciously invested into it.
As he glanced about in swift passage almost erratically – a nod here, a hello there – one that seemed more like a mumble than an actual greeting, while at other times all he needed was to observe in passing, just to, once again, make sure that a back-handed greeting was not missing. After all – even though the hello, or whatever form the acknowledgement came in, was more subconscious or reflexive than willingly given – a person will always take it personally if what came in reply was below their demand line. Which was usually more than what was given. Perfectly normal and something that carried dire consequences if ignored or disregarded. An opportunity for payback would always present itself when the opposing parties were mulling about in a relatively small space and the crossing of paths was more or less – inevitable. Something to be noted – even though payback is always weighted and given in accordance to the moral compass and scales each individual possessed within their minds, from Luke’s standpoint, it always seemed like payback came at him two-fold and rarely in accordance to the perpetrated “crime”. People really took things personally.
“Hey there Luka-roo!” – Luke’s left eye twitched at the sound of his weirdly-twisted name, the sucker-punch greeting coming from the side, moments before slipping away towards the territory that was under the section Luke was working in. Its’ population consisting of over a dozen individuals, tasked with evaluating public establishments and related personnel. What greeted the not-so-slippery Luke, was a fellow co-worker that belonged to the same section – one of the few overly-friendly, obnoxious and surprisingly charismatic individuals within it – Timothy. Weird name. Luke was way better – a petty thing to draw confidence from, but he needed as much of it as possible. Beggars can’t be choosers – “How’s it going? It’s been a while since I saw you at the office! Still managing your reports from home?”
Somewhat put-off by Timothies attitude and intrusion into personal space, Luke barely managed to shake-hands in time and properly, instead - getting the timing off and gripping before both appendages were in proper positioning for the action. Awkward, the pale creep could only slightly flinch and due to the momentary distraction ended up delaying the reply.
“H-hello, yes I am” – Not only did he end up stuttering, but even managed to miss a question all-together. A realization of the fact coming too late to do anything about it. Luckily – no further inquiries followed or any signs of being offended caught Luke’s scrutinizing eyes, for the two have already arrived within their part of the office and Timothy swiftly turned away and darted towards the rest of the gathered, exchanging energetic hello’s and making sure to talk plenty about himself. Heck, he didn�
��t even maintain eye-contact long enough, turning away with barely-visibly disinterred before Luke could even finish replying – the last word spoken towards the counterparties back. If you were maintaining formalities and the social-role – the least that obnoxious fellow could do was do it properly. Talk about half-assed. Luke would have been slightly offended or hurt, if not for the relief that washed over him after being freed from a poor-follow-up and the stress of maintaining a conversation. Heck, not only that – but the rest of the gathered were distracted enough by Timothy, to help the anti-social outcast slip towards his assigned work-space with a few barely audible hellos and awkward nods.
At least he tried to be polite – while some of the colleagues didn’t even bat an eye or return the gesture. Mostly the females for some, incomprehensible reason. Truly, weird.
Sadly, he wouldn’t be able to properly avoid them or maintain a comfortable distance – for today was meeting day and before long, the whole social gathering had to get up and gather into a nearby meeting-room. A new addition to the group entering soon after, while sitting down at the very head of the long-table, a laptop placed under his nose.
That, was Jonathan, the manager of the detachment that Luke worked in and the two did not get along at all. Or to be more precise – Luke felt an almost instinctual dislike for the man, though it was hard to say, why. For no concrete arguments were present to validate the dislike – even though it always felt like the manager enjoyed making trouble and putting Luke into uncomfortable situations.
Such an example came up in today’s meeting as well.
After everything rolled through the initial stages of general announcements, news, opinions and disclosure and discussion regarding various uncommon events and the methods of coping with them – Jonathan could finally reach for desert. Complaints.
