A non-game interlude
Nov. 22nd, 2008 04:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
avevale_intelligencerWe didn't socialise much outside working hours—the elephant in the room was just too big. I knew a little about my co-workers, of course. Nick went home to a posh house on the outskirts, perched high on a hill commanding spectacular views of the city, and a determinedly “county” wife who was known to ride to hounds. Asher lived in a squat on one of the decaying estates, with a pink-haired skinny girl called Allie who came from Glasgow and was prone to go junketing around the countryside in a psychedelic double-decker bus with a coven of chaos magicians. And Taz was living with her mum, till the boy she had been engaged to at the age of eight could afford to come over and marry her. But that was enough; none of us felt the need to deepen the acquaintance. And I didn't have any other friends anyway.
But after a day like the one I'd just had, I needed a drink. And while I could have got a jug of mead from the shop and consumed it in solitary hedonism in my horrible flat, I felt it would probably be better for me if I went somewhere where other people could at least be in the same room as me drinking.
The nearest pub to the mall was just across the street. I pushed open the doors and entered the warm fuggy bar—since the air quality got so bad outside, a spineless government had relaxed the smoking ban, and there had been a slight increase in the number of smokers anyway, probably on the basis of “what the hell.” I was not one of them, so I bought my half-pint of cider, found a seat as far away from the smoking area as I could, and sat down.
Three half-pints later, I was just starting to feel more like a human being again when I saw Liliana, at a table on her own with a cigarette and something pink in a glass, looking rather the way I'd been feeling. I collected my coat and things and headed toward her.
“Don't you have a home to go to?” I said, trying to sound jocular.
She looked up, startled, and then smiled ruefully. “Not much of one at the moment,” she said. “Roger's in Saudi for another three months, and Jenny's in hospital with chicken pox. Not one of the mutant strains, just the ordinary stuff, but with her condition they thought it best to keep her in. I was with her till they threw me out. I just--” She shrugged. “I didn't fancy staring at the walls and worrying all evening.” She stubbed out her cigarette. “Why don't you sit down?”
I did so, without spilling too much of my fourth half.
“Celebrating your victory?” she said.
“Wondering how the hell I managed it,” I said.
“Why wonder?” she said. “You did it. That's what counts.”
“You'd have done it better,” I said.
“No I wouldn't. There's a reason he likes you to play. You've got...” She gestured vaguely. “Something. You get involved.”
“That's not actually an advantage,” I pointed out.
“Not always, but he likes it. He thinks I'm too detached. Another?”
“Well, I....yeah, why not.” I hadn't intended to, but the first four had taken the edge off things nicely, and I was enjoying sitting and talking to a very pretty woman and not feeling either embarrassed or terrified. Liliana stood up and took our glasses back to the bar.
“So what about you?” she said as she sat down again.
“Me?”
“Home to go to?”
“Such as it is, yes, but I don't want to just yet.”
“That's all right. Do you mind?” Liliana took out her cigarettes and offered me the pack. I shook my head, and she took one and lit it. “It'll still be there at closing time,” she said, blowing a wreath of smoke.
“One can hope.” I didn't say what for.
“I hate it when Roger's away,” she said inconsequentially. “I know he has a job to do and so on, and it'll be over soon enough, but that doesn't make the actual days and nights any easier. Specially when Jenny's ill.”
I didn't know what to say to that, so took refuge behind my glass.
“That's why I'm doing this.” Liliana regarded her cigarette with distaste. “I don't usually, except, you know, socially. But sometimes it helps.” She finished her drink, and mine was nearly empty, so naturally I offered to get the next round in.
“Do you ever wonder...” she began, a little later.
“Wonder what?” I said.
“If they allow immigration.”
I didn't even have to ask who she was talking about. “I wouldn't have thought so.”
“Well, stuff gets here from there, something must go there from here. Why not people?”
“I don't know if I'd want to, “ I said vaguely. “All that fighting...”
“But it's only the soldiers that do the fighting,” Liliana said. “You could be a hunter, or a weaver, or a baker.”
“I can't do any of those things,” I said. “And they don't have computer nerd as an option.”
“I can,” she confided, leaning closer. “I've been learning. Took evening classes. Just in case.”
“You going to ask him?” By now it didn't seem strange at all that she was talking about emigrating to live in a computer game.
“I dunno,” she said. “I don't know. I don't know which would be worse, if he said no, or if he said yes. Besides, I'd want to take Jenny.”
“Maybe we could ask together,” I suggested. “Maybe it would be harder for him to say no to two of us.”
“But you said you couldn't do anything,” she said.
“I could learn,” I said. “If you can, I can.”
Two or three rounds of drinks later, we were standing outside in the chilly dark, holding each other up to some extent, waiting for a taxi. We had made firm plans. We would insist that Zoltan-hound-of-Dracula allow the two of us and Liliana's daughter to go and live in the game world. Liliana would be a weaver and I would be a fisherman, or possibly an engine driver. It was all going to be splendid. Somehow Roger had dropped out of the conversation.
Sitting in the back of the taxi, leaning against Liliana with her hand in mine, I felt perfectly happy and at peace with the universe for what seemed like the first time in years. Even the fact that I was almost certainly going to be horribly sick at some point wasn't spoiling it.
I managed to get out of the taxi outside my block, and I watched it recede into the night, taking Liliana back to her empty house. Then I let myself in, climbed the stairs, or most of them anyway, remembering halfway up that I had left my bike in the mall car park and not being on the whole too bothered about that, and after a somewhat painful interview in the bathroom, and several large glasses of water, I fell over on the bed and knew no more.
But after a day like the one I'd just had, I needed a drink. And while I could have got a jug of mead from the shop and consumed it in solitary hedonism in my horrible flat, I felt it would probably be better for me if I went somewhere where other people could at least be in the same room as me drinking.
The nearest pub to the mall was just across the street. I pushed open the doors and entered the warm fuggy bar—since the air quality got so bad outside, a spineless government had relaxed the smoking ban, and there had been a slight increase in the number of smokers anyway, probably on the basis of “what the hell.” I was not one of them, so I bought my half-pint of cider, found a seat as far away from the smoking area as I could, and sat down.
Three half-pints later, I was just starting to feel more like a human being again when I saw Liliana, at a table on her own with a cigarette and something pink in a glass, looking rather the way I'd been feeling. I collected my coat and things and headed toward her.
“Don't you have a home to go to?” I said, trying to sound jocular.
She looked up, startled, and then smiled ruefully. “Not much of one at the moment,” she said. “Roger's in Saudi for another three months, and Jenny's in hospital with chicken pox. Not one of the mutant strains, just the ordinary stuff, but with her condition they thought it best to keep her in. I was with her till they threw me out. I just--” She shrugged. “I didn't fancy staring at the walls and worrying all evening.” She stubbed out her cigarette. “Why don't you sit down?”
I did so, without spilling too much of my fourth half.
“Celebrating your victory?” she said.
“Wondering how the hell I managed it,” I said.
“Why wonder?” she said. “You did it. That's what counts.”
“You'd have done it better,” I said.
“No I wouldn't. There's a reason he likes you to play. You've got...” She gestured vaguely. “Something. You get involved.”
“That's not actually an advantage,” I pointed out.
“Not always, but he likes it. He thinks I'm too detached. Another?”
“Well, I....yeah, why not.” I hadn't intended to, but the first four had taken the edge off things nicely, and I was enjoying sitting and talking to a very pretty woman and not feeling either embarrassed or terrified. Liliana stood up and took our glasses back to the bar.
“So what about you?” she said as she sat down again.
“Me?”
“Home to go to?”
“Such as it is, yes, but I don't want to just yet.”
“That's all right. Do you mind?” Liliana took out her cigarettes and offered me the pack. I shook my head, and she took one and lit it. “It'll still be there at closing time,” she said, blowing a wreath of smoke.
“One can hope.” I didn't say what for.
“I hate it when Roger's away,” she said inconsequentially. “I know he has a job to do and so on, and it'll be over soon enough, but that doesn't make the actual days and nights any easier. Specially when Jenny's ill.”
I didn't know what to say to that, so took refuge behind my glass.
“That's why I'm doing this.” Liliana regarded her cigarette with distaste. “I don't usually, except, you know, socially. But sometimes it helps.” She finished her drink, and mine was nearly empty, so naturally I offered to get the next round in.
“Do you ever wonder...” she began, a little later.
“Wonder what?” I said.
“If they allow immigration.”
I didn't even have to ask who she was talking about. “I wouldn't have thought so.”
“Well, stuff gets here from there, something must go there from here. Why not people?”
“I don't know if I'd want to, “ I said vaguely. “All that fighting...”
“But it's only the soldiers that do the fighting,” Liliana said. “You could be a hunter, or a weaver, or a baker.”
“I can't do any of those things,” I said. “And they don't have computer nerd as an option.”
“I can,” she confided, leaning closer. “I've been learning. Took evening classes. Just in case.”
“You going to ask him?” By now it didn't seem strange at all that she was talking about emigrating to live in a computer game.
“I dunno,” she said. “I don't know. I don't know which would be worse, if he said no, or if he said yes. Besides, I'd want to take Jenny.”
“Maybe we could ask together,” I suggested. “Maybe it would be harder for him to say no to two of us.”
“But you said you couldn't do anything,” she said.
“I could learn,” I said. “If you can, I can.”
Two or three rounds of drinks later, we were standing outside in the chilly dark, holding each other up to some extent, waiting for a taxi. We had made firm plans. We would insist that Zoltan-hound-of-Dracula allow the two of us and Liliana's daughter to go and live in the game world. Liliana would be a weaver and I would be a fisherman, or possibly an engine driver. It was all going to be splendid. Somehow Roger had dropped out of the conversation.
Sitting in the back of the taxi, leaning against Liliana with her hand in mine, I felt perfectly happy and at peace with the universe for what seemed like the first time in years. Even the fact that I was almost certainly going to be horribly sick at some point wasn't spoiling it.
I managed to get out of the taxi outside my block, and I watched it recede into the night, taking Liliana back to her empty house. Then I let myself in, climbed the stairs, or most of them anyway, remembering halfway up that I had left my bike in the mall car park and not being on the whole too bothered about that, and after a somewhat painful interview in the bathroom, and several large glasses of water, I fell over on the bed and knew no more.