Dassah stared at the offered hand. The corner of her eye twitched a little, but not wanting word of any rude behavior reaching Stella she smiled. Taking the offered hand, she said, “Nice to see you... again.”
He returned her smile with a charming grin. “Very nice to see you again,” he said. “Have you settled into the apartments?”
“Just about,” she told him. “I spend most of my time in TheirWorld, though, so.”
“That makes sense,” Jake said, looking around the place. “Looks like a nice place, that earar is... a bit much, isn’t he. I wonder where the manager is that he lets his staff act like that. You come here often?”
He is the manager, she snorted as she buried her nose in her cup.
“One Latte,” Grim put a cup on the table and slid it over to the red-haired man. Jake cowered back a bit as he looked up at the bat man. “Also, if you are looking for a manager, you can just send all your complaints to me. She’s in class, for once, thank the sky, and probably cares less than I do, anyway. At least I have the cops on speed dial if need be.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Jake said with a half-hearted laugh, going a bit red around the ears. Grim snorted but didn’t give an answer. He smirked in Dassah’s direction and left again.
Seeing a twinge of worry in Jake’s expression, Guin chuckled and said, “It’s okay. That’s just who he is.”
“Is that so?” he asked, then took a towel from a nearby dispenser, and Dassah held in her amusement as she watched him wipe down the sides of the cup in front of him. “If you say so, I guess I’ll trust it.”
Dassah pushed a stray hair out of her face and took another sip of her coffee. Trying to subtly look around the room to gain hints from observing other people in the cafe, she tried to think about how to proceed with the concept of ‘small talk.’
Next to her, Jake cleared his throat. “So. Hadassah. That’s an unusual name, isn’t it?”
“I guess,” Dassah answered, looking up. “My mother really liked biblical names.”
“Biblical?”
“From the bible,” she told him. “Earthian religion... stuff.” She fumbled with her fingers in her lap.
“I see,” he nodded. “Can’t say that I know too much about religion, let alone Earthian religion.”
“You’re a valkyrian, right?”
“Full-blooded,” he nodded with a smirk.
“‘Jake’ is a very Earth-sounding name,” she returned.
He laughed. “It’s a nickname. My full name is Jaekaar. What about you? ‘Hadassah’ is a bit of a mouthful. People call you Hattie?”
Dassah snorted. “Please, don’t call me that,” she told him. “It’s just Dassah.”
“Dassah!” he smiled with a nod. “I like that. ‘Dassah.’” Blushing, Dassah looked into her coffee cup. “So... are you enjoying TheirWorld?” he asked.
“Mmm,” she confirmed.
“I see...” he went, then stared into his cup.
“Y-You’re also in the program, right?” Dassah asked.
“Oh,” he said quickly. “Yeah.”
“Oh,” Dassah said with a nod. So why couldn’t she at least do this in-game where it wouldn’t be so awkward? Dassah cursed Stella a thousand times in her mind as she peered into the safety of her coffee cup.
Taking a deep breath, Dassah sighed and licked her lips as she choked down her gut reaction to drive the conversation further into the murky pit of awkwardness it was headed in the direction of. “Do you do anything else?” she asked.
“Huh?”
“Do you just do TheirWorld?” she asked. “I know a few people who do other things.”
“O-Oh!” he went, brightening up. “I’m also a medical student and intern,” he told her, pushing up his glasses again. “I’m writing my thesis on the medical science involved with the system behind TheirWorld, looking at some of the side effects of the way it can affect the brain. It’s really interesting stuff.”
“I see,” Dassah nodded. She’d been expecting something more along the lines of hobbies; it was surprising to find that working a sub-job was turning out to be daily common. His excitement about the subject made her think of a puppy, but he had to have a good head on his shoulders to be a medical student. Sathuren had told her he was a researcher as well. Settling down her nerves a little, she asked, “If you’re a student, does that mean you’ve been on the ‘bergs for a while?”
“Four years,’ he said, then chuckled. “Bet it doesn’t seem like that, huh?”
“Why say that?”
He smiled as he nursed his latter. “I’m a little... Shy. Awkward, I guess. I admit I am not... great with people.”
Dassah laughed out loud. “Seems to be a common affliction around here, people not being great with people. Stella seems to be an exception,” she said. “Though I imagine in your professions, it’s not a great trait to have.”
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Shrugging, Jake said, “It's not too bad. I struggle sometimes, but I think the biggest thing I run into is that I get far too attached to my patients. Many of my coworkers kind of make fun of me for that.”
“That’s not a bad thing,” she told him. Her gaze clouded over a bit as she stared into nothing. “It’s just... it’s a hard thing. Letting go is hard. For things we love and for things we hate.”
Her thoughts drifted to Tik-Tak and the White Fox Forest again. She had only known them for such a brief time, yet that sense of attachment and loss was still quite real to her—more real, perhaps, than she felt for most real people.
TheirWorld had always seemed more real to her than the Yidar did, though. Forget that White Fox Forest resembled her home on Earth; for all the monsters and magic and mayhem that made up her life game, it seemed far more grounded in reality than this place was.
Dassah looked around the cafe. A jikak was furiously typing away at his holographic keyboard with his three fingers, piggy nose wiggling whenever he paused to think. A blue and yellow feathered garule was lounging, peacefully sipping his tea or coffee or whatnot as he sat people watching out the large front window of the cafe. A handful of green-skinned, elf-like tivarys women sat chatting away, showing each other pictures and giggling like school girls as they fawned over various musicians. It felt less like they were aliens and more like fantasy races in a sci-fi world. Maybe that was why TheirWorld always felt less jarring to her; it was a fantasy world.
Giggling to herself, Dassah finished her coffee.
“Uhm,” Jake coughed. “Dassah?”
“Hmm? Sorry,” she said. “You aren’t the only one who’s shy and awkward.”
He chuckled. “It’s fine. It’s good to know it’s not just me.”
“It’s not,” she said. “How do you know Stella?”
“I can’t really say that I know her, to be honesty,” he said, then laughed. “Onyx and I ran into her in-game, and she remembered us. We played a little bit together and... well. You came up. ”
Dassah scrunched her nose and attempted to hide her blushing face by looking away. “Playing with her must be colorful,” she said.
“It is!” Jake said, seemly relieved.
Dassah held back a grin as she looked up to see Grim standing over them. “Can I help you?” she asked.
“Mmm,” he went. “Take this sickeningly sweet conversation away from my bar. Shoo. There are tables aplenty. Want more coffee to prolong it? Pay for it, and it’s yours.
She looked at her almost empty cup and pushed it over with an order for a second one. Jake politely rejected the offer and led Dassah to one of the tables on the other side of the cafe. She found it curious that Grim had taken such initiative; when it came to his hearing, it probably didn’t matter how far away they were as long as they were still in the cafe.
Is he... being considerate? She wondered, amused. People do come in all sorts, I guess.
“Stella said that you liked playing games?” Jake asked as they sat down together.
Dassah paused and slowly lowered herself down into the seat. “What else did Stella say?” she asked, looking him over. He flushed a pretty shade of pink. It was much easier to see him now that she was sitting across from him and not next to him. He had a very classic suave-professional look to him. His eyes were clear, with long lashes, and his skin was the kind of pale white a person can be only when they don’t go outside very often. The style of his clothes was very relaxed but still quite smart, with a dark green button-down shirt complementing the bright mystriks on his face, khaki slacks, and comfy-looking shoes.
But his aura made her hesitate. The way he felt; the energy he gave off didn’t match the persona he presented. His body language, his voice, his words—they were all laid back, soft, easy. His eyes, however, a bright, sky blue, were sharp, alert, and clever—though he seemed to be making considerable effort to force them to be otherwise.
You’re just imagining things, Das, she told herself, trying to shake a feeling of unease. You just aren’t used to situations like this.
“Just basic things,” he said. “She didn’t mention anything about me?”
“Hm?” she started, being drawn out of her thoughts, then shook her head. “Only that you were a friend of a friend.”
Though he seemed a bit disappointed, he chuckled. “I guess that’s all she really knows anyway.”
“I’m almost certain that’s not it,” Dassah grimaced. “More likely, she expects me to find things out for myself. I’m guessing what you heard about me didn’t come directly from her. She tends not to think about those lesser of us that haven’t been born with the gift of easy communication.”
Laughing, he said, “That sounds right, knowing her.”
“The joy of not being Stella’s friend. You got to come here without being threatened.”
He paled. “Threatened? You were threatened to meet me?”
Chuckling Dassah shook her head and leaned back. “I don’t mean it in a bad way,” she waved it off. Well, I don’t really mean it in a good way, either, but, she thought and said, “Her heart’s in the right place, and I’m not unhappy to have come.”
Jake smiled a bit at the last bit as his watch started buzzing. “Sorry,” he said quickly. “I’m on call—I have to take this. “
She motioned for him to go ahead and started browsing through her own phone as he walked away.
She had to admit, it wasn’t that bad, but she didn’t get the impression that he was all that happy with the meeting himself. Was he lying about being on call? She mused. Did his friend call him to get him out of this nonsense blind date? Does he even know that that’s what this is supposed to be?
Stella had left her several messages, but Dassah chose to ignore them in favor of Elric’s.
* Elric: Noona! Will you be on today? I want to play with you! :3
* Dassah: Yup yup~
* Dassah: I am just running an errand now, but I will be on soon, I hope.
* Elric: What city are you in? I will head there now!
* Dassah: Miala De Ri. It’s in the Mist kingdom.
* Elric: Oh! That’s far from me.
* Elirc: But I just got a caravan ticket! :D I will be there soon!
* Dassah: Okay! I will look forward to it! :D
“Sorry for this,” Jake said as he returned and started collecting his things. “There’s been a bit of an emergency back at the hospital. I’m going to have to cut this short... Can I have your number? I promise I’ll make it up to you!”
Nodding, she gave him her number, and he went off hurriedly.
Grim came over and sat across from her with a cup of coffee of his own.
“If you have something to say,” she said, glaring at him. “Say it.”
He took a sip of his coffee and stared at her flatly. “Let’s just say that I hope you aren’t too invested.”