Leander ran laps along the track, feet tapping out a fast, steady pace that would be deemed ‘punishing’ if maintained for as long as he had been running.

  Outwardly, he was calm and focused, but internally, he was a bundle of nerves. It was mid-afternoon and he still had hours to fill before it would be time to log in to Fantasia… where he was going to find Fey to ask her out.

  Leander picked up his pace even more. There was no doubt in his mind that his intended course of action was the correct one, but plenty of misgiving that something would go wrong.

  Okay, not ‘something’. Only one thing concerned him, and that was Fey’s answer. He was fairly certain that she liked him as a person, but whether that ‘like’ extended into the realm of the romantic, he had no idea. After all, what had they done together so far? They’d completed a quest, talked over PM, eaten a few meals, played laser tag, nothing outside the bounds of regular friendship.

  And now he was dissuading himself from even asking. He tried to focus on running, the exertion only partially countering the effects of the nerves that made his hands clammy and gut tight.

  Leander’s wristband chirped an alert and vibrated in a distinctive pattern that told him he had received a message related to work. He slowed to a jog, then a walk, breathing hard – he had overdone it, and would feel the consequences tomorrow. Tapping the interface, he brought up the message.

  

  

  

  
  Thanks!

  -Lina>

  Leander dismissed the message with an aggravated gesture of his arm. He really did not need any additional concerns right now. His sigh was a deep exhale disguised as cool-down breathing.

  He inhaled just as deeply. Well, work was work. He appreciated the boss lady’s subtle assurance that the collaboration would end as quickly as possible. He could talk to Fey as soon as she logged in, sort everything out before Allison arrived, then focus all his efforts on generating the required data as quickly as possible.

  Leander headed off to shower, nerves paradoxically settled by the complication in his plans. His negative reaction to Allison only highlighted just how differently he felt about Fey. He knew that if he did not at least try to win her affections, it would be a regret that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

  ???

  “Leander,” came a singsong voice from above.

  Leandriel looked up to the unwelcome sight of a golden-winged form swooping downwards toward him.

  Allison’s avatar – Allia Sunwing, he knew from his data files – made a somewhat clumsy landing, stumbling forward a few steps to bump into Leandriel. He caught her by the shoulders before she could land against his torso, letting go as soon as her balance had stabilized. He could not tell whether the action was real or feigned; after all, flying was difficult and she had only been at it for a few weeks.

  He hated having to analyze people’s actions for ulterior motives.

  “What are you doing here?” Leandriel asked, tone just short of hostile.

  “Looking for you, of course,” Allia answered, shifting out of demi form into human, her wings disappearing into her back. “What are you doing in the Elvenwood, anyways?”

  “…Nothing.” Leandriel was not about to share any information about private matters with someone he distrusted.

  Allia looked like she did not believe him, but did not pursue the matter. “Let’s go, then! We’re supposed to try basic aerial maneuvers today, no fighting involved.”

  Leandriel could not think of a plausible excuse to do otherwise, so he reluctantly spread his wings and launched himself into the air, glancing briefly in the direction of the Moonwood before heading the opposite way.

  ***

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “I’m bored,” Sirena complained.

  Boredom could be considered a strange thing to be experiencing, given that the team was geared up for another laser tag match, set to begin in less than ten minutes.

  Fey shrugged. “This loot can’t be passed up. Just think of it as gold farming.”

  In addition to the official matches occurring almost every day, teams could choose to enter as many unofficial matches as they had time for in order to gain more of the limited-edition items being awarded during the tournament. Including Blade’s poison neutralizing earrings, the team had won a pair of rogue boots that increased the efficacy of Shadow Cloak, a ring that increased speed by 5, a batch of high potency healing potions, numerous rare crafting base materials, and about 50,000g.

  In order to win all those prizes, they had played matches for their entire game days during the first and now second tournament days, with breaks to eat meals. Given Mimi’s skills, the matches never timed out, and they got through two to three every hour.

  The matches were extremely boring for everyone but Mimi. The team generally relied on Plan A, which involved everybody else hiding and not getting hit while Mimi methodically sniped away at the opposing team. Occasionally, Fey would help by using Critical Sight to tell Mimi where the players were, and once, Blade managed to take down a fellow warrior, but that was the extent of their involvement. For Sirena, whose physical abilities simply were not advanced enough to compete with the other classes, there was nothing to do; she never even had to recharge her teammates’ guns before their opponents were knocked out.

  Sirena signed dramatically. “Yeah, buuuut…”

  Fey decided it would be a good idea to divert her friend’s boredom before it exploded into outrageousness. “Plan E?” she proposed.

  Sirena’s eyes lit up while Mimi nodded.

  

  

  “Hahahaha,” Sirena laughed. “Did you see how pissed they were?”

  Made up of a warrior, two archer subclasses, and a mage, the opposing team had expected a victory when the arena settings had turned out to be flat plains under the noonday sun, negating much of the ability of Shadow Cloak to completely hide Fey and Mimi.

  Instead, three of them had been eliminated in the first two minutes of the match, with the warrior lasting a few minutes longer.

  Plan E involved Mimi aiming Sirena’s shooting arm and Sirena pulling the trigger whenever she was told to. While Mimi could not simply take the mage’s gun and use it herself, she could guide Sirena’s arm and thus take advantage of the double damage the mage class had. This strategy was not particularly useful in rougher terrain, as Mimi would have to haul Sirena through trees and mountains and other obstacles, but it was perfect for situations where stealth was useless.

  “Only three of them were pissed,” said Fey. “The first guy didn’t even have time to look surprised before he was out.”

  “He’s probably looking pissed now,” said Blade in a subdued tone. He was the only one of the team concerned with the amount of ill-will they seemed to generate.

  “If they didn’t want to lose, they should have gotten a Mimi,” said Fey cheerfully, briefly hugging the sniper from behind as she talked.

  Mimi smiled, the expression a subtle shift in her lips and eyes, before turning her attention to the prize box that had materialized (*loot*). When everyone had gathered around, she opened the lid.

  A large, silvery egg was revealed, the shell reflective.

  

  

  The players looked around at each other. This was by far the most valuable prize they had won so far.

  “Mimi should get it,” said Fey.

  Blade agreed readily. Sirena pouted but did not disagree. After all, Mimi was the only reason their team was winning prizes in the first place, and she was the only one of the team who did not have a pet.

  “Someone else can have it,” Mimi offered in her quiet voice.

  Sirena shook off her avarice and hefted the egg into Mimi’s grasp. “Take it. You deserve a totally kick-ass pet.”

  Mimi accepted it with a nod, briefly closing her eyes in order to initiate the soulbinding process.

  Soulbinding was a ritual that players generally enacted with pieces of equipment. This ensured that the items would travel to the rebirth point with the player; other items had a 10-90% chance of being left behind, depending on the player’s level of infamy. The downside to the process was that the item could not be unequipped without destroying it. Pets generally did not need to be soulbound, as they automatically travelled with the player.

  A ghostly line of midnight blue, the colour of Mimi’s mana, formed between the egg and the sniper. As it connected, the egg began to change colour, losing its reflective properties and taking on a pattern of swirling black.

  

  

  “I really want to see what comes out,” said Sirena. “Let’s go buy some growth accelerant.”

  Mimi shook her head. “There’s no need for it to hatch during the tournament.”

  Fey sighed. She was also consumed with curiosity as to what manner of creature ‘matched Mimi’s heart’, but the pragmatic sniper was correct, and growth accelerant was somewhat pricey. “Want to stow it somewhere while we’re laser tagging?”

  Mimi nodded and the team left the egg at Kallara’s. The Feypets were not present when the team visited the healer’s abode, but used it as a base between the unknown adventures they went on in the forest.

  “Next match?” Fey said after they were done.

  Blade nodded and entered the team into the queue so that the game system would find them a new team to compete with.

  ***

  Amethyst poked at the shadowy egg settled securely in a crate on Kallara’s counter and squeaked curiously.

  “Careful now,” cautioned Kallara. “There’s a new friend in there when it hatches.”

  Amethyst, who had presumably come into being through spontaneous generation or mitosis, was quite fascinated by the idea of a pet hiding inside a hard shell. She tapped the egg again, this time a little harder.

  “Bad!” Kallara bopped the slime on the nose (or where her nose would be if she had one). “Your friend will come out when it’s ready. Unless you have some growth potion lying around, making it come out early will only do it harm. Now, come away and help me with these roots.”

  A chastened Amethyst dutifully pounded away at a mortar full of roots that looked vaguely humanoid (totally ignoring the screams of distress coming from the roots). Leaving the paste for Kallara’s concoctions, she snuck back to the egg and secreted a drop of emerald green liquid before being called to another task.

  Footnotes:

  Spontaneous generation is a theory preceding cell theory that life regularly and spontaneously arises from non-living material. This theory was largely abandoned in the 1800s when experiments using sterilized material stayed free of growth for extended periods of time.