"So Pear already got his staff back?" Jim asked Willow as he accepted the tankard of ale and took a sip. "And Axel's gone looking for your dad in some sort of mine?"

"Right on both counts," Willow nodded at him as she polished the bar with a rag and ran a careful eye over the patrons filling the tavern's tables for an early dinner and drinks. "It's almost like I just told you that."

"I just like to make sure I hear what I'm told correctly," Jim said before taking a longer drink of his ale and trying to savor it.

"Hearing problems?" the pretty Wood Elf bartender asked him as she finished looking for patrons in need of service.

"I used to have them," Jim said. "Really, I just didn't pay attention to what people were saying. Got myself into a few fights when I said the wrong thing because they were looking at me waiting for an answer. That's how I met Axel actually."

"You and the pup got into a fight?" Willow asked as began to fill two more tankards of ale from the barrel behind the bar. "That must have been something. How old were you two?"

"We got into a fight, but it wasn't with each other," Jim told her. "He was running his mouth at some other kids and I wasn't paying any attention. He turned to me and said something and I told all five of them that he was right. The other four went after me first and Axel jumped in to help me. Been all but my brother ever since. And we were maybe nine years old."

With a laugh, Willow took the now full tankards and moved over to the two patrons that had just entered the tavern. After depositing the ales and taking the empty bowl from another table, she returned to her place at the bar as Jim polished off the rest of his ale.

"Get you another?" she asked him with a smile.

"I'm good," he told her. "Do you have rooms for rent here or maybe somewhere you'd recommend instead of the street?"

"Dad and I don't have any spare rooms, he filled them all with either stills for stronger liquors or barrels to ferment new beers and ales," Willow told him. "Always tells me that Stouthammer Dwarves are known for cracking skulls with hammers and beers, but between the two of us, I think he just likes to experiment with new brews."

"Sounds like he's got things figured out for himself," Jim said, nodding at her words.

"You'd think, but all this business with that mine he won for himself in a game of dice doesn't fill me with confidence," the Elven woman told him bluntly. "As for somewhere I'd recommend you get a room tonight, there's a place closeby that's always empty but the owner keeps everything in good condition and clean. It's the Stamping Pig, two blocks to the left and a right for one block. Can't miss it. It's the only place with red and green paint."

"Interesting colors," Jim said as he stood up. "How much do I owe you?"

"Two Copper," Willow said. "That's the same regardless of whether you're getting food and drinks or just drinks. And that price is the same across the whole city unless you're going into the noble's part of the city."

"Huh, thanks for letting me know," Jim said as he passed the coins to her. "But that seems super low, given that you charged us all five Irons for eight ales earlier."

"I told the pup and the Elf that I was willing to serve them, but I'd be charging extra since it was so early in the day," Willow explained. "Drunkards might keep taverns in business, but places like this don't like them so we upcharge for serving drinks without meals outside of meal times unless the fifth afternoon bell has rung. We serve good food with our drink and having a bunch of dirty, drunk, fools filling our doorways at all times of the day leaves less time for us to clean, cook, and prepare for our mealtimes and evening services. Plus, I had just woken up and wasn't in the mood to deal with all of you."

"Next time," Jim told her with a grin, "do what my aunt used to do when they all came to my house and she didn't want company, kick them onto the front steps and give them some juice and a few toys. They'll entertain themselves."

Laughing, Willow waved at Jim as he left the Barfing Minotaur and followed her directions to the Stamping Pig inn further down the streets. Entering, Jim quickly spent five Copper on a room for the night and after placing his full pack on the ground sat on the bed and logged out.

Blinking blearily, James looked up at the darkened ceiling of his room. With a muffled groan he opened the cover of the Pod and rose from the slurry filling the container. After running a hand through his hair in an attempt to remove some of the thick, clear fluid, he pulled himself up the inner ladder that had been installed for easier exiting and stood on the tilted tray that was meant to catch more of the slurry that dripped off of him. Finally out of the Pod, he pulled the constricting mask off his face and gasped as he breathed fresh, cool air for the first time in what felt like hours.

"I guess Dr. Richards was right about having a little soreness despite the molded bed," he groaned as he massaged his lower back where something had dug into him. "I wonder if Mark is almost done with his stuff and wants to get food?"

Musing to himself, James looked over at his friend's Pod and saw the lights filling the decorative pear tree on the side as they indicated that the Pod was in use.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Guess not," he said. "I should take a shower and get dressed before I leave the apartment."

Following the decided upon plan, James stepped into the shower two rooms down, cringing at the trail of slurry he had left on the floor.

Dressed in simple jeans and a T-shirt, James examined the path he had taken and saw no signs of the slurry having been left on the floor.

"The tech did say that they made the slurry to be easy to clean up," he muttered to himself. "Oh well, what sounds good for lunch? Mark might want something."

Looking out the window, James frowned and pulled his phone out to check the time.

"Did C99 say that they were working on having time pass differently in Astrana?" he asked himself, seeing the same date that he'd started in with a time showing almost five hours had passed. "Looks like it's four ingame to one real. Cool, no wonder I feel like it's only lunch time and not that I haven't eaten all day."

Cheerily, James left the apartment and moved to his favorite take-out place in the city, calling ahead and placing his order for pickup as he went. As he walked, he looked around at the early spring weather and wondered if he should talk his aunt into letting him plant flowers at her house again this year. She'd complained that he hadn't done it right last year, but she'd still smiled happily when they all bloomed in her favorite colors as she watered them. Since she was getting older, he wanted to make sure that she didn't overexert herself, so he'd have to make sure he came by at least once a week and weeded the bed after he planted them.

"James boy!" the wife of the owner of the Thai food place he entered greeted him in her exaggerated accent that he knew she put on to screw with customers. "Good to see you! Been long time!"

"Only been a few days Mrs. Suwan," he greeted her with a smile that she returned before laughing and dropping most of the accent.

"Kasem told me you called ahead with your order and told me to make sure I gave you extra sauce," she smiled as she spoke in her normal voice. "He also wanted me to tell you to have fun in your new game."

"Thanks, Mrs. Suwan," James said as his smile stretched wider at her words. "Can you be sure to thank him for me?"

"I give him big kiss," she returned his smile as she returned to the exaggerated accent while the bell over the door chimed and new customers entered the restaurant. "He be very happy!"

"Have a good day, Mrs. Suwan," James laughed as he accepted his change and the bag of food he'd ordered before making his way out the door and back to the apartment he shared with Mark. On the way, he thought he might have heard the older woman greeting her new customers loudly and happily.

Back at the apartment, James happily dug into his spicy noodle dish after putting the food he'd gotten for Mark into the fridge and pulling out his phone. Dialing Pear's dad, he dipped his appetizer into the sauce and waited for the older man to pick up the phone.

"James?" George Pearson's voice came through the speaker. "What's up, son?"

"I just wanted to ask how things might have gone today," James told him. "Pear told us ingame that you and Aunt Marie were going to see the doctor about Pear's idea and since I was taking a lunch break, now seemed like a good time to ask you."

"Well then," Uncle George said, his smile showing through his voice, "I have some good news for you boys then. The doctor said that the company, C-whatever, was so excited about the opportunity that they were willing to fund the whole thing. Even offered to give me a place on company property so they could keep a close eye on me and see how things go more easily. Of course, they also said they'd keep an army of doctors on hand if I needed them, so things are looking up in that regard."

"That's great," James said, trying not to slurp his noodles loudly at the news. "Can't wait to have you in the game with us. Show us kids how they gamed back in your day."

"You mean when Pong was new and the best graphics were badly colored pixels?" Uncle George laughed as he joked with him. "That's gonna be a good time if you ask me, you kids'll be throwing your fancy spells and then there's the old man in back wondering why the tree isn't a blocky blob of pixels he can't touch."

"We both know you're not that old," James chuckled at his words. "I think it'll go more like, we'll be trying to figure out how you made circular logs into square cards that fit in your pocket."

"There's an idea," Uncle George laughed. "Oh, I can't wait to tell Stephen the news. Do you know when he might take a break? His mom and I have been home for an hour or so and he's been in his Pod the whole time."

"No clue," James said. "He might try to log out when he puts his character to sleep, that's what I did cause I was hungry."

"No idea how long that might be?" his friend's father asked.

"Nope," James answered. "It could be a few more minutes, the sun was going down when I left, or it could be hours because he put some of the nutritional slurry in the mix so he could go for a full run."

"Well, I hope it's not too much longer," Uncle George said. "I'm sure he'd want to know sooner rather than later that his idea was a hit."

"You can probably text him and let him know," James told the older man. "The personalized Pods allow you to connect your phone so you don't miss messages and calls while you're under. Even Axel hooked his phone up and told his mom."

"Yeah, Jenny's been talking with Marie all day to keep herself from bugging him too much," Uncle George said. "She wants to hear how much fun he's having, but she knows that she can come on a bit strong."

"She can ask him to call him when he leaves the game," James suggested. "Or one of us could tell him and let him know it's not an emergency."

"There's an idea," Uncle George said, his voice taking on the slower tone that meant he was considering the whole thing. "I could have some time alone with my wife while we cooked dinner if Jenny was talking with Axel. I might do that. I'll shoot Axel a text message after this. Thanks for the help James."

"No problem, Uncle George," James said as he tried not to laugh at the older man's plan to spend time with his wife. "I'll let you go so that you can get around to that and I'll root for you catching Axel at a good time so he can log out and you won't have to wait for long."

"Thanks for calling, son," Uncle George said. "It's always good to talk with you boys."

As James ended the call, he looked at his now gone food and wished that it had lasted him longer.

"Next time," he told himself, "I'll get a pizza or something. Maybe then it'll last a while for me."

Cleaning up after himself may have been tedious, but it didn't take him long as he prepared to reenter the Pod.

"I wonder if I'll wake up and it'll be morning or not?" James wondered to himself as he put on a new suit. "Maybe I'll be able to ask Eve. She should know."