SAVE POINT 5

Dormouse

Why'd I ask to do this? Just me, opening my big stupid mouth too late again...too late to catch Maude before she ran out the coffee shop door. ...Or, maybe, it was that I'd waited on purpose. I'd wanted Maude to be gone, somewhere deeply subconscious and engrained in my body, because I knew I'd never have the guts to face her.

Apparently, I only felt I could face this girl, Maude's friend—the one sitting alone at a small table near the door. Sunlight filtered through the window there, lighting up hordes of freckles dotting her angular, pale face. Her skinny fingers rolled a coffee cup around in her hands, the edge dancing on the fake wood of the table like she was drumming out a rhythm or...just insanely bored. Curtained by straight, brown locks of her chin-length bob, her eyes were far away.

Lost in thought somewhere.

...Grand Dragon, I knew I'd do something stupid like this! —Miss the one opportunity to talk to the girl I'd been crushing on forever. And here on Earth, no less! Maude had walked straight out that door—straight out! She probably hadn't even seen me... I was such a hopeless basket case when it came to girls. Why couldn't my brain function normally?! I had to be all intense and analytical and overthinking all the time—

With a huffy sigh, I tried to push down the self-depricating thoughts before they rendered me immobile again. I had to make my move before it was too late and talk to Maude's friend. Rosabella was watching and probably that lame-ass Vodyaracka Skydrake too. ...Maybe they were even having a good snicker behind my back at my expense. 'Poor Dormouse—completely incompetent when it comes to women.'

—Sheesh, I hated being micromanaged.

And I hated when the haters were right.

Maude's friend was definitely more approachable than the blonde, at any rate. Thank the Grand Dragon. Any more intimidation today and I might have keeled over. She was just the friend. Her face was oddly pleasant and relaxing...for a girl, I mean. It was like spotting the nicest cheetah ever in the wild, and my shoulders slumped forward a little with relief as I took a few, timid steps towards where she sat.

She turned inquisitive eyes up at me as my shadow crossed over her table.

"Uh—hi," I started. Admittedly, not my best work—but not wrong, right? Maybe pretty okay? …For me?

The girl's delicate brow creased, and she flashed a smile at me, but it was a little more faded than it seemed she was capable of. "Oh," she bustled, her hands waving in front of her, "I already have a coffee but, thank you."

I blinked at her, feeling confused and sluggish as I watched a blush control her cheeks.

She blinked back. "Oh, my gosh, I'm sorry, I just thought—" her words came out jumbled and rapid as her hands explained mid-air again. Her flush only deepened—candy-apple color now—"I usually come in here with my friend, and she gets hit on constantly—people asking to buy her a drink, and she has to turn them down 'cause she has a boyfriend and all. I just figured—"

"Maude has a boyfriend?!" I blurted.

Grand Dragon, I’d just said that.

Out loud.

Grand Dragon, Maude had a boyfriend?

I was too late. …Who was I kidding, I'd been too late my whole life! My whole life, I'd never had the guts to—

But the girl was speaking. Her fairy-like face tangled with perplexation for a second, "Yes—wait, how do you know Maude?"

And that awkward moment ensued. ...When a stranger was staring at you and you were staring back at said stranger, and they expected you to talk, but you were all up in your head and want to clam up and run in the opposite direction... Yep.

And I opened my mouth to speak—I did—but I guessed it wasn’t fast enough.

"You know what, I could do with another coffee," the girl interrupted.

And her statement made me want to melt into the floor further because—

"I don't have any money to buy you one," I admitted, the words leaking too easily out of me and probably making me look stupid...again.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

The girl shrugged with a disappointed smile, "It's okay, I don't either. Maude took it with her. She keeps a stash of Earth money for—" She broke off, her eyes widening as she realized what she'd just said. Her expression looked like she wanted to crumble into herself.

My sentiments exactly, but...well, I'd never wanted to alleviate someone's uncomfortableness as much as I wanted to right then. I sank into the chair across from her, leaning forward. "It's cool," I rushed to tell her, whispering quickly, "I'm from The Game."

Relief smoothed her face over like an answered prayer, "Oh my God, thank goodness," she gushed, "...I guess that's how you know Maude?"

"Yep. We—we trained together."

I’d definitely said that too quickly. I lowered my eyes to the table stand on the floor, chewing on my bottom lip and trying to forget about the blonde which really wasn't happening... Probably couldn't happen. Shit, I was such a fool. I should have known Maude was 'taken'. All the cute ones usually were...

"So, you're a guard?" the freckled girl guessed, shyly-—maybe skeptically—as she looked my thin form up and down.

"A Warden," I threw back, liking that I could finally use that line. I hadn't really used it on a girl before because...well, I didn't usually talk to them. “Well, I mean,” I amended quickly, “I was a Game Warden before Reordering. Now, I’m—I mean, I’m a Coder since the Warden class was discontinued so…” My spindly fingertips, left with nothing to do, drummed on the tabletop till I constrained them to my lap. But, when my gaze darted up again, I noticed my initial words had the reaction I'd been looking for. The girl’s eyes got huge with newfound respect which made me feel kinda badass for a minute.

"Why're you here?" she probed, casually, but I could see she was going to analyze my response. Her eyes were sharp and intelligent; I could almost view my reflection in their gloss.

"Business," I said, folding my arms for a minute like I imagined a Earth mob boss would do and keeping myself tight-lipped—also like a Earth mob boss would do...someone powerful. "Why are you here?" I asked instead.

The girl didn't seem to care about the mob boss bit or looking official. She let a sigh rake through her shoulders and spun her coffee cup on its side on the tabletop between her two thin-fingered hands. "Break...well, actually," she amended, glancing up from her makeshift spin-the-bottle, "it was Maude's break and my end of shift. We guard the Trading Portal and other traffic in the area, you know. …My name's Mimi, actually, and you are—?"

She spoke so fast—was it a nervous thing or just a ‘her’ thing? Her hand extended across the table, waiting for me.

"Dormouse," I grasped her fingers quickly, surprised at how cold they were.

She smiled. …And it, suddenly, didn't feel weird sitting there, shaking a stranger's hand in the middle of a Dunkin Donuts.

"Your name—it’s original," she said, smiling, "I like it."

Honestly, I didn't think I'd ever seen anyone smile as much as her. ...Or else, I'd just been hanging around Joy for far too long...

...But the girl had said she guarded the Trading Portal and dimension traffic...

"Hey, wait, can you trace people?" I rushed, "I mean, like, you patrol the portals. Do you know who comes and goes?"

"Of course," the girl piped, "Kind of our job. You learned this in training, didn't you? I mean, I was probably a class or two behind you and in a different sector, but I learned it. Or were you asleep that day?" she jested.

"No, I just—" my heart jumped in my chest. My hands, suddenly, felt shaky even without the caffeine—excited, "So, did you happen to catch the last person that came through the portal—"

"Yeah, it was you two," she waved at the table where Rosabella sat in the back, "that's why we even ended up in this area to grab drinks—"

"But there was another," I interrupted her, sweating again, but for different reasons, "before us. A man. Maybe he didn't use the Trading Portal?"

The girl took a minute to think and, then, waved her hand at me easily, "Oh yeah, he set off all the alarms because he had an Escaped Prisoner tag, but I couldn't stop him before he jumped. Of course, something like that would happen on my watch." She leaned her chin into a distressed hand, propped up on the table, blowing hair out of her face, "My manager's going to have my head—"

"Where did he go—the Escaped Prisoner," I fumbled, trying not to completely fidget out of my chair which seemed easier contemplated than done.

The girl looked me straight in the face, "Here. He's here too. In New York somewhere wandering arou—oh!"

Her exclamation was because I’d leapt from my seat. I grabbed her arm.

"Come on!" I rushed, "I need you for just a second—"

Despite the skinny girl's protests, I dragged her past the brightly-colored walls to the back table where Rosabella and Sparo lounged. My feet and tongue couldn't move fast enough—

"Guys!" I spouted, looking between their two surprised forms, "This is Minnie—"

"Mimi," the girl corrected swiftly, with a half wave—although her fingers still darted to mine, throwing my hand off her wrist.

I recoiled from her like she’d burned me, but it wasn’t her touch. I’d messed up her name?! I was such a klutz! "Oh, I hate when people do that—I'm sorry," I sputtered, "Listen, Mimi, I need you to repeat exactly what you just told me to them."

My eyes flashed between everyone, expectantly.

"Oh...okay," Mimi said, unsure. "The last portal transfer before you guys was an Escaped Prisoner who, also, transferred, here—New York," she repeated when it didn't seem like there was much of a reaction.

"I knew it," Rosabella whispered determinedly, "I knew he'd come here."

"She's got some places narrowed down where we might want to search," Sparo said, nodding to Rosabella, "Starting with a McDonalds two blocks up from here."

The corners of Mimi's eyes crinkled, "Wait, you're looking for this guy? This Prisoner?"

"You bet your ass we are," Sparo snarled.

Mimi ran a I-can't-believe-it hand through her short, brown hair, "Oh my gosh! I—I'll help you! Man, it'd be such a feather in my cap to say I turned this guy into the authorities. I might get my old slot back! I'm off my shift. Oh, please let me come!"

I couldn't believe she was so exuberant about the whole thing...

"Sure," Rosabella nodded, “Another person on our team wouldn’t hurt.”

...And, just like that, we were finally onto something...