“Do you like the maple or the walnut? I like the softer color of the maple, but the dark brown of the walnut is just so striking,” Calista asked Milly as she stared at the two dining tables Tutoria had materialized in furniture section of the Emporia. “The maple begs a home-cooked family meal, but the walnut wants us to throw a party.”
“Cally, should we really be spending our gold like this?” asked Milly, drowning in the sea of Calista’s capitalism. “Shouldn’t we be getting something practical, like…”
Milly was at a loss. She’d never had money – not a single dollar – that she could afford to waste. She had spent her whole life scrounging for furniture in dumpsters and living on cheap food like potatoes and peas. She had developed a deep-seeded frugalness in her poverty that was at odds with Calista’s more laissez-faire approach to personal finance.
“… like armor, or weapons. Or Waypoint Crystals?” Milly finished weakly.
“All the Waypoint Crystals are sold out today, and the armor and weapons are… well... shit. At least compared to what we have now. No offense, Tutoria.”
“None taken,” replied the Emporia Tutoria chipperly as she sat atop the maple table and swung her legs playfully. “My armor is for players under level ten anyways, so they stand a fighting chance. It’s not meant for people stronger than that.”
“Besides, Milly, we have a new home – our first home as a couple – and it needs to be decorated. We don’t want to come back to that empty, musky floor every day, right?” Calista beamed, as she ran her finger across the glossy top of the walnut table.
“I… guess not?” Milly said uncertainly. She couldn’t help but compare their new home with her old apartment. At least their new home didn’t have cracked sinks. “I want you to be comfortable, Cally. It’s the beginning of spending our lives together. It’s just that… I don’t even know where to start. I’ve never really… shopped before.”
Calista laughed and wrapped her arms around Milly’s waist.
“You start by picking maple or walnut.”
“Okay. Umm… walnut. No, maple. Wait…” Milly said indecisively.
“Too late. You said walnut first. Retail shopping is all about impulsivity. Let go of the consequence and embrace the splurge. Tutoria, we’ll take the walnut!” Calista declared excitedly.
“Excellent choice, Milly,” chuckled Tutoria as she clapped her hands together. Two Delivery Tutorias, dressed in their blue and black uniforms, appeared and carried the table out of the Emporia to deliver to Milly and Calista’s new home. “That table, with the delivery fee, will be a thousand gold.”
“A thousand gold!” Milly exclaimed in disbelief. “Cally, that’s too much!”
“We’ll give you seven hundred, Tutoria,” Calista attempted to bargain.
Tutoria laughed. “Sorry Calista. The prices are set by the AI Director, not by me. If you want a discount at the Emporia or any other store, you’ll need to take the Discount talent. It’s in the commerce section of the talent web.”
“Well, damn. Fine, we’ll pay your exorbitant price. Now, I want to look at dressers next.”
“Cally, we have inventories. Why would we ever need a dresser?” Milly reasoned.
“That’s logic. Logic is also not allowed during retail therapy. Besides, what kind of bedroom doesn’t have a dresser?” answered Calista, as Tutoria materialized three options.
Milly couldn’t help but smile at Calista’s energy. Her girlfriend was having fun, and after everything they had been through – after the horrors of yesterday – Milly couldn’t bear to take that away from her. Milly let her defenses down.
“Okay, Cally, you win. But, if you don’t mind, maybe I’ll try out this retail therapy with… something smaller?” Milly suggested. “Like… um… soap or something? You can be responsible for the decorating. I’ll be responsible for not smelling gross.”
Calista beamed. “Of course, honey. You leave it to me! You do you.”
Milly gave Calista a peck on the cheek, then headed over to the pharmacy section of the Emporia, a section that closely resembled its Earth counterpart. The shelves were lined with all manner of hygiene products, each one with half a dozen different options.
“What can I help you with, Milly Brown?” asked a second Tutoria Emporia that suddenly materialized next to her in the aisle.
“Fuck!” Milly shouted awkwardly, jarred by the sudden appearance. “Tutoria, you surprised me.”
The Tutoria shrugged non-apologetically.
You know, after two weeks, I’ve figured out one carnal rule to this place. At their core, all Tutorias are a bit of an asshole.
“Well, I guess I need your help. I don’t know what to buy. Maybe we can start with… shampoo?”
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Shampoo was one of those few things Milly had afforded herself in her old life that felt like a luxury. She always bought a generic no-name brand, and she would only use it when the grease in her hair had built up too much to manage.
Tutoria leaned in and sniffed Milly, then cringed. She rubbed a strand of Milly’s hair between two fingers and looked disappointed.
“Listen, Milly,” Tutoria began, taking on a motherly tone. “You’ve got a girlfriend now, and you’re gonna need more than shampoo if you want to keep that fiery redhead happy. Plus – and trust me on this – you’re not going to want to go through this God Contest without a rigorous personal hygiene routine. There are monsters in the wild that will leave you smelling like a rotten corpse.”
Tutoria projected a merchant screen in front of Milly. It was filled with a vast collection of hygiene products separated into two dozen distinct categories – far more than were displayed on the shelves in front of them.
“Let’s see. Here’s a shampoo and conditioner that should work for your… rather greasy hair. What’s Calista’s favorite scent?” Tutoria asked.
“Her… favorite scent? I… I don’t… I mean, we’ve only been dating a week,” Milly stuttered.
“It’s lilac!” shouted Calista, clearly eavesdropping.
“Lilac shampoo and conditioner. That’s twenty gold,” Tutoria said as she materialized the items from her merchant screen and set them on the counter. “Oh, we have lilac soap too. That’s another ten gold.”
“Thirty gold? That just seems so much. I don’t think…”
“She’ll take it, Tutoria!” Calista said, trying to contain her giggles. “I do love my lilac.”
Milly couldn’t help but grin at Calista’s giggles, and she felt her inhibitions start to fade.
She’s enjoying this more than her own shopping! That little minx.
“Then… maybe a hairbrush next?” Milly requested.
“Centaur hair or goblin hair?” Tutoria asked.
“I… what? Goblin hair? Eww… no,” Milly protested. “How would that even work?”
“Centaur hair it is,” Tutoria concluded, pulling the brush from the merchant screen before Milly could protest. “Okay, Milly, what’s next?”
Milly spent the hour buying the simple luxuries she had denied herself in her old life, and the pile on the counter began to grow quickly. Lotion, creams, and facial cleanser. Three fluffy bath towels – each a different color – and soft cotton bedsheets. Her final purchase was a three-wick candle, also lilac scented, that Milly pictured burning on a small end table next to their bed while they cuddled together. The thought made her smile.
Our bed. This whole relationship still feels surreal. I’ve been alone for so long that I’d given up hope I would find anyone who cared about me, let alone someone who would love me.
“I… I think that’s it, Tutoria,” Milly finally said after her pile of purchases covered half the counter. “I think I’ve stretched the flexibility of my frugalness to the breaking point today.”
“Just one more thing, Milly,” Tutoria said with a smirk. She pulled a bright pink razor blade from the screen and stared down at Milly’s legs. “Calista, do you like hairy or shaved?”
“That’s none of your fucking business, you little pervert,” Calista called out, not bothering to turn away from the four full length mirrors she was intently studying.
“We’ll just go ahead and add this to the pile,” Tutoria said to Milly with a wink. “On the house.”
* * *
By the end of their retail therapy, Calista had made considerable progress furnishing their new home. She’d picked a deep, brown oak color for their bedroom, which now had a dresser, end tables, lamps, a full-length mirror, rocking chair, and a dozen wicker baskets, though Milly could not fathom what Calista wanted to put in them.
Calista had also outfitted the north-eastern office as a second bedroom for Rain, with a lighter maple color for the furniture. The open area between the two rooms was now a large dining room, with the walnut table placed against the eastern window so they could bathe in the morning sun as they stared out at the vast blue ocean.
The early stages of a living room had been started along the southern wall off the elevator, but Milly had held her girlfriend back after the purchase of a leather couch, marble coffee table, and more throw pillows than Milly believed could be reasonably placed in any single room, let alone on a single couch.
By the end of their retail therapy, the couple had spent nearly ten thousand gold and dwindled their savings below a thousand.
“Well, what did you think?” Calista asked as they exited the Emporia and headed for the northern mountains to meet Lightpaw.
“It was… fun,” Milly admitted, her fingers circled around Calista’s wrist. “It took my mind off Rain, and the fairies, and Stone and Brass, and everything else, if only for an hour.”
“When my dad was sick, I used to go to the mall every day after school so I could forget about what was happening to him, and what I was going through. I wanted to forget about my pain and the loneliness that I knew was just around the corner,” Calista said softly. “My dad was all I had in the world. Mom abandoned us when I was three, so dad raised me by himself. We were inseparable.”
“He sounds like a great dad,” Milly said, not knowing what else to say.
“He was the best. I just… wasn’t a good daughter, when he really needed me to be. I was angry, and I took that anger out on people around me, including him, even as his illness stripped away who he was, piece by piece. We didn’t… depart on great terms.”
“He’d be proud of who you’ve become, Cally,” Milly assured her.
“You know what the worst part was? After he died, I couldn’t feel happy without drowning in a deep sense of guilt. It was like I was punishing myself for moving on – for living when he no longer could. My school counselor called it Survivors Guilt. I let that guilt consume my life, and soon the bitterness and anger became a bit part of who I was, and it turned me into the bully you knew at work.”
“Cally, you’re not…”
Calista spun around and placed her hands on Milly’s shoulders, her piercing eyes filled with determination.
“Milly. This God Contest… it’s a cruel game built by cruel gods. In two weeks, we’ve seen the horrors of war and re-lived the worst moments of our lives. Rain almost died, and tomorrow it could be me, or it could be you. We’ve attended more funerals than I ever thought possible, and they will not be the last.”
“Cally, why are you telling me this?” worried Milly, and was surprised when Calista smiled.
“Because despite all that we have lived through in two weeks, I’ve never been as happy in my life as the moments I am with you. But I don’t want our happiness to become poisoned by our guilt. Whatever comes our way – whatever terrible things this contest has in store for us – I want us to treasure the moments we have together, without guilt and without remorse. Rain would want that too.”
Milly embraced her girlfriend and held her tight.
“Even if that means we spend all our gold shopping?” Milly laughed weakly as she let the guilt she harbored fade.
“Especially if it means spending all our gold,” Calista laughed. “I love you, Milly.”
“I love you too, Cally.”
With that, they headed into the northern mountains towards fairies’ new home, their steps just a little bit lighter.