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bffhreprise · 4 years

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Entry 322

I didn’t join in when James guided everyone in magical practice, being allowed to sit and watch, but I roamed the room watching instead. “Magic is real.” The words repeated in my head over and over as I saw the things these people could do. The first step, from what I was told, was getting to a point where I could see the energy floating around us. From there, he’d be teaching me how to orient the energy into spells.

When James called the lesson over, I was honestly disappointed, wishing I could see more spells in action. What was practiced was nothing like what James had performed, but each little spell delighted me.

“Iris, do you have time to work a little longer?” questioned James as the others either practiced a little longer or wandered out.

“Yeah. I was planning on it.” I replied, hoping he didn’t really think I was bailing out so quickly on my second day.

“Excellent. I appreciate your enthusiasm. Don’t forget to take advantage of our numerous benefits too. Oh! If you paid for Ancient Tribes of Earth, we’ll refund you, since the game is also a perk for employees here.

“Never tried it.” I replied with a shrug.

He stared at me, blinked, and kept staring for a moment. Ignoring the fairy who obviously still wanted his attention, he said, “Let’s go get your account set up.”

“Huh? What about work?” I questioned.

“Consider yourself being employed to play the game for the next couple hours.” he replied, guiding the way. James obviously enjoyed the video game, gushing praise about the graphics, options, and gameplay.

When we reached the foyer, there was a crowd of people carrying presents of numerous sizes. James stopped and asked, “What’s all this?”

The fairy had vanished and was no longer sending images to my head, which was a bit disappointing now that I had grown accustomed to her… ramblings? What would I even call a bombardment of sensations to my brain?

Mila curtsied and said, “Courtesy callers with gifts for Lady Pendreigh, Master.”

The entire group of people bowed to James, spotting him after Mila curtsied.

“Am I supposed to bow to you?” I questioned nervously. Once again, I was wondering about my new boss. Who was he that would have strangers bowing to him?

“Please don’t.” he replied in a whisper. “You are very welcome to attend the party tonight if you wish. My fiancée’s celebrating her birthday today with a surprisingly small party. Apparently, she’s accustomed to only celebrating once every four years, but I’m not letting her get away with that here.”

“What? Why so rarely?” I asked in surprise.

“She was born on the twenty-ninth and had a most peculiar mother.” whispered James, obviously not wanting the others to hear. “Unfortunately, the other birthday girl is currently out of town on a job, or we’d be celebrating with her as well.”

“I’ll be relaying everything to her tonight.” stated Mila with a smile.

Nodding, James said, “Still won’t quite be the same, but I’m sure she’ll appreciate it.”

Following James into the large, octagonal room with floor-to-ceiling mirrors, I asked “Do people normally work on their birthday here? I can if needed. I just usually celebrate with my family.”

“Everyone’s free to take their birthday off. Most do. Portentia’s current assignment is like a gift to herself, really. You’ll never meet someone more motivated than she is. She’ll quite literally work ceaselessly, never stopping for food or rest, until she’s accomplished a goal if she really wants something done.” he stated matter-of-factly.

“That’s not healthy.” I told him out of concern for the girl.

He smiled and said, “Portentia’s incapable of sleeping and doesn’t need sustenance, so she’s very different in that regard.”

I took a moment to try to make sure I didn’t mishear him. Someone working here couldn’t sleep, and didn’t need to eat or drink. I opened my mouth to ask him about that, but didn’t get the chance.

“Iris’ father is interested in having Best Friend For Hire join in his company’s baseball league, so Iris may be feeling concerned over us competing.” announced Mila, standing behind James and looking humble as ever.

My eyes had to be bulging in a cartoon-like fashion as I asked “What? How did you know about that?”

“Your father sent an email to us a few minutes ago.” she explained.

“Please tell him that we’ll accept. We’ll get some practice in restraint.” replied James, smiling again. “That’ll be for this summer, correct?”

“Yes, Master.” she confirmed.

Meanwhile, all I could think was that I needed to stop this. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? Dad’s really competitive, and um… you… this place… Isn’t that unfair?”

“Incredibly.” agreed James. “They probably won’t ask us again next year, but we’ll happily oblige this year. Making new friends is part of what we do here, but I assure you that all of us have practice at holding back. I’m not honestly sure what would even happen if I hit a ball with all I’ve got.”

“Neither the ball nor the bat would survive impact, Master.” insisted Mila.

“Ha. Imagine Raine going all out.” he replied with a grin.

“That would be quite catastrophic for the surroundings.” agreed Mila.

Still grinning, James looked into my eyes and asked “Going to warn your father?”

I shook her head and said, “He wouldn’t believe me even if I tried. I still can’t believe what I saw just this morning.”

“I do hope you enjoy working for us, even if there’s an adjustment period.” he told me with obvious sincerity. “Oh, I should mention that the party tonight will be informal, so there’s no need to dress up for it.”

Nodding and looking around, I asked “You use this for video games?” The room was gorgeous, though the circle of outward-facing chairs in the center seemed a little out of place to me.

“Yes. Ancient Tribes of Earth, mostly. Ready to give it a try?” he inquired hopefully.

“I guess.” I told him, never having gotten hooked on video games. Why would I blow my time pretending to do something when I could go out there and do it?

“We could do something else if you’d prefer.” he suggested. “Emma told me that you seemed to like the zoomies. Kayla was going to join you, but her brother made her get back to work before you were finished with the paperwork. Whatever the case, you’ll be paid for your time today no matter how we spend it.”

“Well, shouldn’t I be studying or something. Mila had said there was a great deal to learn.” I pointed out.

“There is.” insisted Mila.

“No doubt, but I can’t believe you haven’t tried this.�� he told me, looking as surprised as he sounded. “Mila’s mother made it.”

“Her mother?” I asked, wondering how an A.I. could have a mother.

“Aaliyah Sypher, my secretary, is also the president of Global Princess Entertainment, the company which made this game.” he explained.

“She’ll be thirteen this year.” stated Mila.

“Your secretary is thirteen!?” I asked incredulously.

“She looks far younger. You’ll see.” he replied, looking amused.

Before I could organize my thoughts on how to get a better explanation, two of the enormous mirrors lit up, showing an opening video of a dazzling, fantastical world. “A thirteen-year-old made this?” I questioned aloud, not being able to picture a girl that young making such a life-like video, much less a whole game.

“I believe she was twelve at release. She might have been eleven when she started working on it. Hard to say.” stated James in reply.

“Very.” agreed Mila. “Mother enjoys confusing people with her age. If you don’t mind, I can import your information for account creation directly from our company database.”

“Uh… sure.” I told her.

Smiling and motioning toward one of the screens, Mila said, “There you are. Simply input your account name and password.”

“What about payment?” I asked, noticing the monthly subscription section, which was greyed out.

“Free subscription is one of the perks you have as an employee of Best Friend For Hire.” explained Mila.

“So it’s not taken out of my pay?” I confirmed.

“Of course not. The Master would be devastated if Mother secretly charged employees.” insisted Mila.

I nodded and followed Mila’s instructions as I went through the process of designing a character. Noticing that I missed some options, Mila was quick to point out the extra features, demonstrating that I could change every last detail of my character, even adding precise blemishes to the skin. She, of course, controlled the screen mentally… electronically…? This place made things confusing. Mila’s first character example looked exactly like her, so I asked her to do me, which was just a bit great to see. My brothers would love seeing me in a video game! Well, they’d be jealous and want to try it, but this was cool.

“Make me taller!” exclaimed Iris with a grin. I always wanted to be a little taller.

Mila obliged, and then said, “You can also be any of these other species.” She explained the benefits of each different species while also listing off who-played-what. Then we continued on to other options.

“So what do you actually do in the game?” I questioned.

“Socialize, adventure, and try to save the world from evil.” replied James, his screen… mirror…? nearly covered in different chat windows.

“Other than saving the world, can’t you do that stuff in real life instead?” I pointed out.

“The Master is quite capable of saving the world in real life.” insisted Mila with no sign of joking.

I had trouble believing in obvious, world-threatening evil in the real world, but I said, “Then that’s even less reason to do it in a game.”

“But in the game, you don’t have to worry about the ramifications of your actions as much. If someone dies here, they can be resurrected. In the real world, consequences are far more permanent.” explained James, sounding all too serious. He was a wizard, and I didn’t have a clue what all he could do with magic. Maybe he already had fought evil?

“Fine, I’ll try it.” I assured him, continuing on with the character creation. “What should I name her?”

“Have a favorite name?” he asked.

“Trixie.” I told him, typing the name in myself. “These keyboards are so strange.” The keyboard wasn’t real, just being some sort of projection on a tray.

“Mother will be disappointed that you didn’t go through the chair tutorial, but no one does the entire thing.” replied Mila. “Mother is, however, flattered by your name choice. Her middle name is Trixibelle.”

“Oh. That’s cool.” I absently told her. Then what she had said finally registered. “Did you already tell her?”

“Of course. We talk continuously most days.” replied Mila with a smile.

James asked me to accept an invitation into his guild, casually brushing off the number of members as if that was nothing. I could hardly believe tens of thousands of people followed James around in a game world. How did he manage that?

Mila showed me how to alter the chat, so I’d only see when people were talking to me. There were so many options just for the chat program. I could set filters for keywords that would add anyone mentioning them to my viewable chat as well. James, on the other hand, seemed to be absorbing everything, despite his chat scrolling by at incredible speed.

After getting through the initial quests, James and I took some quests together, which was more fun than I expected. Eventually, I did pull myself away to do actual work, which turned out to be more gamelike than expected. The company’s tutorials were apparently written by Aaliyah as well, so that explained the similar design, carefully walking through what would be expected, how training worked, and the benefits of schooling through the Institute of Autodidacticism over a normal college. My parents really weren’t going to believe this place.

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