Андреа Хёст: Snow Day [Touchstone: Extras]

"This is so uncomfortable," muttered one of the girls sitting at the newcomers' table.

"Excruciating," Maxen agreed, mildly. "We have the private room for another kasse, but I think we can officially call it for the second Pandora meet-up of Sky Wing . If anyone wants to head out into the main part of the club, feel free. Check the guild forum tomorrow for, well, new arrangements."

There was an immediate exodus, most of those departing changing their virt-masks from their game avatars to a variety of other looks. The occupants of the second table glanced over, but then turned back to their leader, busy making a great show of being reasonable at Maxen’s sister, Oriel.

"I’m going to sit here just to spite them," said one of the two remaining guild members, called Asterra in-game. Crossing her arms, she thrust out her currently blue chin. "If they’re splitting off from the guild, then they should be the ones leaving the meetup."

"Why do all here?" the other, Space Ninja, asked, in the halting, fractured speech he affected. "Want spoil everyone night?"

"More like they want to rub Tzatch’s nose in taking a loss," Maxen said. "Because she did so well on the KOTIS intake."

"What’s that got to do with anything?" Asterra asked.

Maxen sighed. "Tzatch and I met most of the other guild officers in a KOTIS prep class. Forming a guild in the latest hot virt game seemed like a good idea at the time—common interests and all that—and it worked really well for a while. But there were a couple who joined late who would have liked to be guild leader. And then the intake exam results came out. Tzatch wasn’t supposed to be at the top."

"Supposed to be?" Asterra didn’t hide her confusion. "There’s no supposed to be in exam results."

"It’s a Tare-Kolar thing," Maxen explained, thinking that only Tarens wouldn’t have seen that immediately. "The prep class is mostly Taren, and having a Kolaren be first…"

He didn’t say it, but knew Asterra saw where he was leading when she dropped her gaze. Tarens never liked to admit that they thought they were superior to people from Kolar. It was just appropriate, correct and expected when Tarens outclassed Kolarens in all the systems that they themselves had set up.

"We all Muinan now," Space Ninja said, sounding like he believed that mattered.

The scene at the second table finally broke up, and a half-dozen people, all still looking like their blue-skinned game avatars, crossed to where Maxen sat.

" You understand, don’t you Corezzy?" said Jaxa, who had been the particular ringleader. "It’s not that there’s anything wrong with Sky Wing . We just want something a little less casual, more focused on high level content."

"I understand perfectly," Maxen replied, with the precise leavening of sarcasm to show what it was he understood.

With the virtual overlay of blue-skinned avatar, it wasn’t possible to see Jaxa flush, but the overlay could match the way her mouth flattened, and how she then smiled with carefully emphasised warmth. "That’s great! And even if we don’t run across each other as much in-game, we’re sure to do so during training. Don’t hesitate to ask if you need any advice. My family has been serving for generations, you know."

How could he not know? She never failed to point it out. And this time he was sure it wasn’t his imagination underlining family when Jaxa spoke.

"Say they’re leaving, never actually go," Space Ninja muttered, not quite low enough.

"You—" began Jaxa’s best friend, Kadol, in a sharp tone, but then he paused, smoothing edges before going on. "Let me give you some advice. You might think trying to talk like an Earth person makes you look cool , but really it’s the opposite."

Space Ninja only grinned, and said in the same halting way: "Take a lot of work, talk like this. Never slipping up, extra cool."

"You mean pathetic—"

"All right," Oriel said, coming up to cut Kadol off. "No need to start a new round. Best of luck to everyone in the future. Enjoy the rest of the night."

"Let’s go," murmured one of the less fractious former guild officers, clearly embarrassed, and they finally left.

"Don’t let door hit you on way out," Space Ninja called after them, but became more serious once the crowd were gone. " Sky Wing going to disband, hope not?"

Oriel smiled at him. "No, no reason for that. We won’t be able to participate in the next inter-guild competition, but it won’t take long to build strength again."

They’d lose a few more members, though—players not involved in guild politics, who didn’t want to wait to take on the advanced cooperative events they’d just grown strong enough to try.

"I’m going to the rest room," Oriel added. "Won’t be long."

"Will they be able make trouble for you?" Space Ninja asked, once Oriel had followed the crowd.

"I doubt it, in the long run," Maxen said. "I guess some of our future training sessions have the potential for awkward classmates, but KOTIS is big enough that one intake class won’t have much influence, no matter who has family in the hierarchy. All they could do is spoil this meet-up." He paused, hoping that was true, then sighed. "And they’ve finished off any hope of getting together enough people for a guild group for Snow Day. I was looking forward to that."

"Have you always wanted to join KOTIS?" Asterra asked.

"No, not while its purpose was primarily Ena defence," Maxen said. And when, on Kolar, joining KOTIS marked you as someone too tied to Tare. "But now that KOTIS has transitioned further into planetary exploration, it’s hard to resist. And, on Muina, it’s the only way I’m going to be able to fly anything with the current restrictions on citizen vehicles."

"You want to be pilot?" Space Ninja asked.

Maxen nodded.

"Cool. Do you have to actually learn fly properly, or is more just telling computer where go? I’m trying get boat license, and interface does everything except stop me fall overboard. Super dull."

"There’s more to it than setting the destination and sitting back," Maxen said, smiling.

"Did you have interface before come Muina?" Space Ninja asked.

"Yes, we were early adopters on Kolar," Maxen said. "Though it’s been less than a year, and I don’t think I’ll ever truly adjust." He looked down at his hands, seeing them as scarred and blue, his actual skin hidden by an interface overlay. The nanotech installation in his brain was not just a simple transmission device allowing him to play virtual games. It could alter what he saw, what he heard, could change the way he experienced the real world. A thing as horrifying as it was wonderful.

"Did your whole family come across?" Asterra asked.

Maxen did not begin to want to get into what constituted Family on Kolar, and all the carefully laid path that had led Oriel and him to a shared apartment on Muina. Technically, the answer was yes .

"Just me and my sister," he said.

"That sounds daunting. I’m the other extreme—I have ten thousand relatives here trying to organise every inch of my life. There’s three in the main area of the club right now, just waiting to pounce if I don’t respond to their constant Going okay? texts." Asterra sighed. "I really shouldn’t have told them the guild split up. They want me to leave, but I refuse to let Jaxa and those other bullies completely ruin the night."

"I wouldn’t worry about it," Maxen told her. "It’s not like we were going to stay in this room the whole night anyway."

"I’ll wait for Tzatch to come back, at least. What about you, Space Ninja? Anyone lurking out in the club ready to rescue you?"

Space Ninja laughed. "My cousin and his girlfriend. I have lots family here, too, but luckily they not trying to tell me what do. Always say should go at own pace. But—" He toyed with his empty cup. "Too many exceptional people in my family. Bit hard being ordinary one, times."