A leaf flew toward Jade and he reminded the woman firmly, "No hoverboards active in the store."

According to the ID she used to buy restricted items, her name was Harmony. Tufts of silver hair escaped tight braids, and her retro-reflective riding gear was a colorful patchwork of old-fashioned hand sewn artistry.

Jade supposed that in some odd dichotic way, her appearance was harmonious, but he wasn't sure that the name really suited her personality. He reached out to catch the leaf, but missed. He let himself sigh as he stooped behind the counter to collect it, before tossing it into the trash can below the counter. He couldn't help wishing that he could borrow his game character's coordination in real life.

Harmony stepped off the board, bounced it up with her toe, and tucked it under her arm. At the same time, she called back cheerily, "Sorry Jade! I meant to stop at the door!"

Anyone merely glancing at her, would have taken the athletic shape in such colorful gear for that of a teenager. Only when she approached closely, and lifted her goggles to reveal the network of crow's feet around her eyes, was her real age hinted at.

Harmony quickly gathered up her usual choices of sweets and junk foods, using an oddly efficient route through the small store, and piled them onto his counter. Jade always speculated that either her flesh was crafted from preservatives, or she had grandchildren that she was slowly poisoning.

While he was ringing up her purchases, because his boss believed in old fashioned human supervised transactions, Jade's quest list flashed for attention. He glanced at it and saw that one line was highlighted: 'Invite a friend to an activity.'

Harmony asked curiously, "How are things? You were gone yesterday and Emily is missing today?"

Jade blinked at her. Here was another person who had noticed that he had been gone. She looked back at him with interest.

He replied uncomfortably, "Um, I'm fine. She's out sick."

"Oh, that's too bad," she said without putting any particular weight to her words. Most people would have tried to make them sound sympathetic, or spoken them as a formality, from her it was simply a comment.

Jade handed her her receipt and said quite suavely, "Um?"

Harmony lifted an eyebrow at him as she reached for her goggles.

Jade glanced again at his quest list and asked more awkwardly, "Do you play 'Living Jade Empire'?"

Harmony slid her eye protection into place and informed him cheerfully, "Oh, not in ages! I've been playing the 'Living Centauri Colony' for the last couple of years. Why?"

He offered uncertainly, "Um, the moon expansion is opening up soon."

"Oh, sounds interesting!" she exclaimed. "Maybe I'll try logging in again."

Jade somehow scraped up the courage to add quickly, "I'm building a ship for it. I'm a dwarf there." His voice trailed off as he finished, "My name there is Hisui."

Harmony stopped two steps from the door and looked back at him. She asked laughingly, "Jade is always jade?" He nodded, and she grinned and told him, "Sure Jade, I'll send you a friend request."

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She flipped her board through the open door and bounced onto it. Jade raised a hand in farewell, and smiled in relief as his quest chimed in completion. Apparently the system counted Harmony as his friend.

"Watch for it!" Harmony called out as she kicked the start, and whisked off before the door thumped closed.

Jade's smile widened into a broad grin. Harmony had to be rather chaotic to encounter out on the pavement.

--

Jade wasn't really surprised when his mother called right after his shift ended.

She would likely be clingy for days after hearing that he'd been hit by a bus. He assured her that he was still fine, and that his day had gone well.

Last time he had failed his main mission and been revived, he had drowned while on vacation. The system had taken three days to replace his body that time, and he still wasn't really sure what had happened in the ocean.

One minute he'd been following along the sunken snorkel tour plaques through the coral bed, and the next he'd been back in the system. The system hadn't had any cameras there in the ocean to show him what had happened either.

He had just completed his walk to the bus stop, when a new quest popped up. Jade eyed it and rolled his eyes. It said, 'Navigate the bus system and safely return home.'

He had already taken this route a hundred and twenty-eight times. He did keep an eye out for changes though. Just in case.

--

At home Jade was inundated by a string of small quests.

The system helpfully lined up all the little chores that needed to be accomplished before his class in the morning, almost as though it were nagging him. It did not seem satisfied with the job he did on his homework though, because it refused to reward him for accomplishing the task.

Jade decided that it was good enough since that subquest wasn't replaced by one to redo it. He estimated that it would probably get approximately a 70% mark when it was graded.

He hummed cheerfully as he did his washing, paid his bills, and prepared his clothes. The system helpfully added another subquest when he said aloud, "I should probably get a few more clothes soon."

The new quest was a bit more specific than Jade had been, and listed each article of clothing that he needed. It also described the goal as stylish. Jade raised an eyebrow at the screen, but didn't bother arguing with the air.

There was no timer counting down, so he ignored it for now.

--

After he finished his household chores, Jade logged into the game, and pulled up his quest list there.

The system and the game really seemed directly related somehow. The interface was almost exactly the same.

Jade flexed his dwarf's gloved fingers appreciatively, and got to work on modifying the airship. He planned to turn it into a spaceship as soon as the expansion arrived, and spaceflight became possible.

His dwarven hands deftly removed the tiny gears from the mechanism, and he took them to his forge and rebuilt their enchantments with practiced ease. Here in 'Living Jade Empire' his coordination never failed him, and he reassembled the mechanism quickly and accurately.

When he had finished, Jade patted the side of the pudgy little airship fondly. Even though he suspected that his time in the game detracted from accomplishing the main quest that always loomed in the system, he loved his time here.

The smithy was built into the mountain side, and the interior was comfortably cool except when the big forge was running. He looked out the smithy's doorway, across the desert sands, to where the sun shimmered above the surface in sparkling perfect waves.

A friend request arrived. Jade stared at it for a moment before remembering that he had asked Harmony to befriend him. He hit accept. Almost as soon as the acceptance message vanished, a snow cat from the high mountains bounded into his smithy. It was a messenger animal, and it was carrying a small note in its jaws.

Jade took the note casually, and the cat departed with a whisper of icy breeze.

The note said only: "It's me!"

Jade laughed.