Violet was once more dreaming. It was her day off from work, a weekend, and she was getting ready to spend the day playing video games with her husband, Lee. They had already gone to the grocery store earlier in the day and picked up some snacks to last them most of the weekend. They were both fortunate enough to have jobs where their two days off a week coincided to be on the weekend.
For Lee, he had a job as a floor supervisor at a package management warehouse. Almost every employee who worked there would get Saturdays and Sundays off. The shifts varied with some people working super late at night to super early in the day, others working closer to a nine to five, and then there was night shift that worked late in the afternoon to late at night. That was the shift that Lee used to work, but now he only had to work eight hours a day because he had been recently promoted to a salaried position.
Where he used to be a normal worker who had to move heavy packages, loading them on and off or trucks, using heavy machinery, etc. he had worked hard to become certified in all of the things he could. He volunteered to be part of workplace teams, like one for safety, and easily became well known by all of his superiors. When his lead gave up, quit, and went to work for a different company because he kept getting turned down for promotions to the supervisor position, her husband had applied for his position.
That hadn't gone as planned. His job was very much about trying to keep their diversity numbers up, not an overall bad thing, but they went about it very poorly. They promoted a less qualified man who had zero experience with that company, much less the account and snubbed her husband. Later, the new lead ended up causing so much havoc that he got fired and her husband got the promotion.
Getting his newest promotion had been just as difficult. Too many people who worked under and above him didn't like him for whatever reason. One lady who worked under him kept reporting him to HR for nonsense with the case being dismissed every time as the other employees working under him would back him up. Then, the lady ended up being put on an ignore list since she was clearly trying to cause drama.
Still, the guy who was in charge of deciding on promotions decided to pass her husband up for the supervisor position for a woman from a different shift. At least, she had more of a clue how the company worked, but she was under-prepared for the position and didn't want to work the night shift as it made it difficult to spend time with her family. She ended up quitting to get out of the position. Then the customer for the account her husband managed and the building manager put pressure on the guy in charge of promotion decisions and her husband ended up getting the position. It was a hard journey, but she was still proud of her husband.
As for Violet herself, her workplace was a lot less dramatic. She didn't have a position of any real importance and she got along with her coworkers fairly well. She, unfortunately, had to work a different shift than her husband during the week, but she had been fortunate enough to be hired on with the weekends off, as she had wanted. So, she couldn't complain too much, she actually really liked having the weekends off to spend time with her husband and they were well enough off financially that they could both afford to pursue whatever hobbies they wanted.
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For Violet, she had played "Goblins Must Perish!", the original, in high school. It was a game her father had introduced her to and she had become almost obsessed with mastering every level. She spent her own money to buy the DLC for it and rushed through her homework so she could spend hours trying to get a better score on the levels she had already played dozens of times.
So, when "Goblins Must Perish! 3" finally stopped having an exclusivity contract and was released to PC, her husband agreed that they would both get it and play it together. The first had been single-player, but the second, which she never played, and the third both had multiplayer capabilities.
Her husband was new to the game, but they both loved playing games together. They had played most every decent multiplayer game together by this point. Survival games like ARQ or Kronin were definitely favorites, but they had also played more peaceful games like Starview Vale as well.
Violet was excited as the game loaded up. Most of the [Traps] were familiar as they had stayed the same since the first game, but there were also new ones. Of course, most of the [Traps] were locked until she completed the levels required to unlock them. However, the spike wall and floor [Traps] were always unlocked towards the beginning and they were classics.
As Lee didn't want to take away from his wife's fun, he let her decide how to set up the [Traps], content to just shoot the enemies once the round was started. Violet smiled as she confidently set up kill zones to do the most damage, ensuring the goblins would die en masse, just as her father had taught her back in high school.
The first few rounds were easy. Lee quickly learned how to play the game, protecting the portal to ensure that no stray goblins made it past the [Trap] and snuck through the portal, costing them a win. Violet continued to set up [Traps], making sure more and more goblins would die as they came through each round.
After a few rounds, the two took a break. It was good to stretch, take a bathroom break, and get some more snacks between rounds. Since both were used to playing games for an entire day straight, neither really needed an extensive break. Besides, it already genuinely felt like spending time with one another. Their PCs were set up in the same room and they played without headphones on so that they could still talk to one another as they played.
It wasn't until late that night that they called it a day. They would likely spend another hour or so watching TV in bed before going to sleep. It was good to wind down and spend some time cuddling together before going to sleep. Still, Violet was quite eager to wake up and continue the fun the next morning.