It had been a long, stressful day so everyone was keen on spending what was left of it in a more relaxing way. I certainly felt like I needed some time to unwind and process everything that had happened. Sigrid's warning was fresh in my mind. Why'd she feel the need to tell me not to fall for Jane? For the briefest instant the idea that she was jealous passed through my thoughts, but was quickly chased away by more rational ideas. I could see Jane being a bit of a man-eater. She was certainly a shameless tease. A narcissist? I could see that too, I guess. What else had Sigrid called her? An attention whore? I suppose I could see that too. But it was difficult not to pay attention to her. She had this magnetic pull. As, I think, any good hero should, or at least would, have.

As for me actually falling for her? Pffffft. No way that was gonna happen.

I also couldn’t help thinking about what Stratos had said to me. The part about what kind of Player I was. His words kept churning around in my head, and the more I thought about it the more it bothered me, which only meant I thought about it even more.

What kind of Player was I?

We were all in the courtyard at the clan dorm, trying to think of a low impact way to close out the night when Sigrid suggested we all have a bath.

“I find nothing chills me out more than a nice hot bath,” she said. “And besides,” she wrinkled her nose, “I’m feeling a bit grimy.”

If Stratos had been there they probably would’ve said something about how counterintuitive that is, getting chilled in something hot. After interacting with them more, I had since come to the conclusion that what I had thought were straight-man jokes at the convention were really just the confusion of an alien who was unfamiliar with the nuances of our language and took things too literally.

“Oh hell yes,” Jane said. “I could get on board with that. I’m a filthy girl.”

When Sigrid had suggested we all take a bath, she really had meant all of us. The dorm wasn’t equipped with showers, only shared baths. The kind where you rinse yourself off first, then climb into a large, shallow pool of steaming hot water, like they have in Japan. Thankfully there were separate bath areas for men and women, so although we could all bathe together, it was not together-together. In certain types of romance anime there’s always an obligatory episode that either takes place on a beach or at a pool so the fanboys can see their 2D waifus in swimsuits, or else in a mixed gender shared bath, where much naked hilarity ensues. I was not in the mood for naked hilarity, and this was definitely not a romcom. Wrong genre, wrong guy.

I’m really more of a shower person, and the fresh body I had received after dying still had that new car smell so I technically had no practical need for a bath, but after the day I’d just endured, soaking for a while and doing nothing sounded pretty darned good.

I don’t know how, but Andy and I took longer to wash and rinse off than the girls, so they’d already settled into the women’s bath by the time we started soaking in the men’s. It was my first opportunity to have a real conversation with him, so I decided to eschew my usual shyness and break some ice as we chilled in the hot bath.

“So Andy,” I said after settling into the water, “what do you think of all this?”

“Is it bad that I’m actually pretty pumped about it?” he said. “I’ve been playing D and D since I was twelve, and to actually get the opportunity to play it for real?”

“Yeah, I know,” I said. “It’s every gamer’s dream.”

“Totally.”

“I’m a bit concerned about dying. My D and D characters have a bad habit of getting killed, but I don’t know if that’s because I’m reckless or if my DM was a malicious sadist. But as long as we can respawn, I guess it’s okay.”

I didn’t bother mentioning that just because we could respawn that didn’t necessarily mean we would.

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

“Probably best to tone down the recklessness, just in case.”

“You may as well ask me to tone down my animal magnetism,” he said. “Some things are just a part of me. But don’t worry,” he added quickly, “I’m a team player. I was a running back in university.” He must’ve seen the look on my face and thought I was worried about him putting the rest of us at risk by taking unnecessary risks that could get not just him killed. If so, he was right.

“Let’s do our best together,” I said.

“Agreed. We’re here now, let’s make the best of it.”

“Think you’ll miss Earth while we’re here?”

He rubbed his hair with one hand, feeling the bristles of his nearly shaved head and looking sheepish. “Probably not. I mean, I’m 27 years old and still live with my parents, and they’re Chinese. Not old-school Chinese, but still. You might not know what that means, but having a son my age still under their roof is, well, let’s just say it doesn’t make for a happy home life.”

“I get you,” I said, even though I didn’t.

“I almost got married a few years back, but shit happened and here I am.” That I did understand. He didn’t seem keen on explaining more than that because he quickly turned it back on me. “What about you, Daniel?”

“Me? I’m not really missing much back on Earth either. I don’t really have a job, and I recently moved so I don’t really know anybody where I was living, so...”

“What about a girlfriend?”

“I was living with a girl but that ended a few months ago.” I didn’t elaborate either, I could tell by the look on his face I didn’t need to. Silent commiseration.

He leaned closer, conspiratorial. “So what about those girls, huh?”

“You mean Sigrid and Jane?”

“Yeah. I had no idea gamer girls could be so hot.”

I chuckled, imagining what Jane would say if she heard herself called a gamer girl. Or even worse, if she heard what I was about to say in reply.

“I gotta admit, they are painfully attractive,” I said.

“I know, right?” Andy said, a big grin on his face. “How lucky are we?”

We looked at each other for a few moments then both started laughing.

“In our dreams,” I said.

“Speak for yourself,” he said. “I’m the sort of guy who makes his dreams come true, especially when it comes to women.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. I’m just a dreamer, I’m afraid.”

“If you say so. But if you could, which one?”

I’ve never been comfortable with this kind of locker talk. Even if the girl wasn’t around to hear it, even if it was in a twisted sort of way meant as a compliment, it still felt disrespectful to me.

“Oh man, I don’t know,” I said.

“I’d go for Sigrid,” he said without missing a beat. “I got a thing for blondes.”

“Sigrid is an amazing person,” I said.

“You two close?”

“How close can you get to someone in a day?”

He didn’t seem satisfied with my answer.

“What I do know is that I’ll be pretty lucky if I can become her friend,” I said. “She has all the qualities I admire in a person.” I left out the end of that sentence: she’s everything I’m not. “I know for a fact that if we do get that close, she’ll have my back no matter what.”

Andy nodded. “Yeah, that girl is fit!” he said, the narrative disconnect making me suspect he hadn’t actually listened to me.

“I’m definitely looking forward to getting to know her better.”

He gave me a curious sort of look, like I was a dish he’d ordered off a restaurant menu that was printed in a foreign language thinking I was going to be one thing but when I got to the table I tasted completely different than what he’d expected. “You really like her, huh?”

“Yeah, I really do.”

“But just as friends, right?”

“Of course,” I said. “What else?”

There was a bit of a lull in the conversation, then out of nowhere Andy said, “I get it. You’re a ginger man.” When he saw my confusion he added, “You go for the redheads, huh? Like Jane.”

That made me smile, imagining the torment I’d get from Jane if she ever heard that, but I think Andy mistook it to mean something else.

“Hell yeah, there it is.” Andy grinned like I’d just made his day. “Look at you, Mister Smiley. I knew I’d get it out of you. That’s cool, Jane’s beyond smokin, man, and you heard her: she’s a filthy girl. Just your type, I bet.”

I chose not to correct him. I was too tired to bother.

It did not take me long to regret that decision.