“You’re dating a damn computer program!”

Josefina sighed, and loudly at that. This wasn’t a sigh that was meant be a quiet acceptance of suffering, this was a sigh that was meant to be heard.

“We’re not sure of that, actually,” she answered, after taking a long drag of her cigarette. The pause had the dual benefits of helping to calm her nerves, and annoying her mother further. “Could be some alternate dimension.”

Her mother wasn’t impressed by this line of thought, but then again, she hadn’t expected her to be. Josefina was just going through the motions.

“Besides, he’s the nicest guy to take an interest in years, and after a bit of training he even got pretty good at using his-”

She paused for a moment, lingering on the word, enjoying the way her mother drew herself up in indignation.

“Flattery. Really knows what to say to make a girl feel good,” she finished, fooling no one.

She watched her mother’s face with interest. She’d be tempted to say something crude, but she’d also refuse to stoop to her daughter’s level. She was also unwilling to engage with any serious discussion of the topic, such as might happen if she tried pressing the ‘computer program’ angle. Josefina watched her mother come to a decision on the next line of attack.

“If you hadn’t wasted all your time on those stupid video games you wouldn’t be in this situation,” she said at last.

Josefina just shrugged, and to her delight this incensed her mother even further. You couldn’t really argue with a shrug, but she knew her mom would try.

She was growing bored though.

“I have work in the morning,” she said, yawning loudly and theatrically. “Good night, mom.”

Without waiting for a reply, she closed the chat window, and logged out the chat client. Luckily she’d had the foresight to turn off her phone ahead of time, so that avenue was also closed to the woman. She could have turned off the computer, but she had no intention of actually turning in for the night yet.

Instead, she opened up the client for Dawn of the Realms, and spent some time picking out the movie she wanted to stream.

---

“This is very odd,” Viktor said, but Josefina simply shushed him.

They were in her inn, within the town of Laisos. Viktor had travelled south along with her and a few dozen others, and they’d arrived in the forest town only the night before. Technically he was here to speak with a few of the local woodworkers, as well as gather supplies and materials to return home with. In reality, of course, he was here for her.

She could never really decide if she was annoyed or relieved he hadn’t admitted as such.

“Just listen to the movie,” she said, keeping her eyes firmly closed.

The pair of them were laying back on the bed, which based upon the give was the result of the ritualistic de-feathering of five or six dozen of the softest chickens ever conceived. Despite any allusions she may have made to her mother, the two of them had progressed no further than hand holding, and the occasional kiss. Not for lack of her trying, but Viktor had been raised a good boy, and she had only had a month to work him over.

So she sat there, minus the armor but still in her red and yellow robes, with her red hair tied down firmly. Viktor’s shoulder length black hair was as slicked down as always, although he had at least removed the jacket that was part of the old-fashioned charcoal suits he almost exclusively wore.

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On the other side of the room, the new character she had created before she fell asleep sat in a chair with his mouth open. She’d paid no attention to what he wore or looked like, as he had but one job, and that just required his mouth and the microphone she’d set up. What streamed from his mouth was not just human speech, but music and special effects and every other part of the audio stream from the movie she had set to start a half hour after she thought she would fall asleep.

It wasn’t quite the same as going to the theater, but it was the closest Viktor was ever going to get.

He’d asked her, a few days before, what she normally did for dates. She’d made the offhand comment, while the pair of them had been fighting off a pack of wolves, that it definitely was a top five weirdest dating moment for her. She’d mostly said it to keep herself calm - the wolves triggered flashbacks to the event a month prior, and she hadn’t cared for that at all. So she’d used a stupid joke to keep the fear at bay, and she’d managed to make him curious.

She’d tried to explain movies to him - they did have plays here, and she’d even gone with him to one once before they left Korak - but it simply wasn’t the same experience.

She’d mulled over for it a bit, and then talked about it with Svara. It was actually her idea she was using now, and she’d have to thank her for it later. Or maybe just be nicer to Greir for a few days.

“What is that sound?” asked Viktor, eyes wide, after the scene had shifted.

“Cars, on the highway,” Josefina answered, popping a chocolate into her mouth. They didn’t have popcorn or soda here, so she’d had to settle for just the chocolate.

Viktor started to say something, but then Josefina laughed at something in the film, and he fell silent.

---

“It was an interesting experience,” he said afterward, sitting up.

Josefina paused. She realized he was upset, deeply. He was never the best at hiding such things even at the best of times, which was one of the things she liked best about him, and now he was nearly shaking.

“What’s wrong?” she demanded, sitting up herself and leaning close to him.

Viktor just looked down. “You are from a different world,” he answered, fist clenching the sheet.

She stared at him, and she tried to keep the heat out of her voice. “You knew that.”

He shook his head. “I knew it, but I did not understand. Your world has movies, and cars, and soda. You talk of machines that fly through the air, and sticks that fire small, powerful arrows. Your world is full of so many things…”

He’d trailed off, too afraid to finish the thought. She wasn’t the kind of person to let it go at that, though, and he knew it. He knew it, so he was trying. Not to change who he was, she didn’t want that, but to be his best self. He tried, every day, to be someone worthy of her. So she watched as he pulled himself together, just a few inches away from her, and said the words he was so afraid of saying.

“What can I offer you?”

She raised an eyebrow. She wasn’t going to let a line like that go to waste.

She put her hand on his neck, and pulled him in.

A minute later she let go, and he leaned back in a daze.

“I don’t need movies, or cars, or soda. I don’t need to fly, or to have guns.”

She swallowed hard, but fair’s fair. If he could be strong enough to lay it out, then he deserved for her to do it as well.

“I need you.”

And, aside from a few whispers, that was the end of talking that night.

---

“Still dating the digital boy?” her mother asked dismissively.

It was only an hour before bed, and she was almost as nervous as she was eager to fall back asleep, to enter the game once more.

She also didn’t find the sparring as fun as she had the night before.

“His name is Viktor,” she said, and that was all. She managed to say it without the acid or the biting, just stating a fact.

Her mother didn’t seem to know how to respond to a comment that seemed devoid of any attack or feint in their ongoing war.

It seemed wrong though, suddenly, to use him like that. He wasn’t just a pawn in her battles. He was his own person. Besides, he deserved more than that. So she tried something unusual. She tried the truth.

“He is the nicest man I have ever met, and when I’m with him he makes me feel special. He makes me feel like I’m the most important person in the world.”

For the first time in a very, very long time, her mother paused. She didn’t look like she was trying to find the words to use next to hurt her, wasn’t trying to find the words that would be the perfect ammo in their ongoing war. Instead, she rubbed the empty spot on her finger, and looked away from the screen.

Her reply was slow to come.

“He sounds like a nice young man. I’m happy for you.”

And, aside from a few tears, that was the end of talking that night.