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The dog had woken up, and had energy. It wanted to climb up Elliot, crawl on me, and hide in Fallyn’s hair. The group of us probably looked ridiculous to anyone else, three grown adults giggling while a yipping ball of fur used us as its own personal jungle gym, but people would assume what they wanted to.
“She needs a name.” Fallyn extracted it from her hair and tried to hold it. “We can’t just call herDog.”
If we named it, there was some sort of rule about keeping it, wasn’t there? I’d never owned a dog before. Or a cat. Or even a goldfish. Our work was too hectic for that.
“What’s wrong withDog?” Elliot grabbed it mid-air as it jumped from Fallyn’s arms.
Fallyn’s growl-sigh was as adorable as the puppy. “That’s not how floofs get named.”
“That’s how Link names his characters.”
I liked the idea of me being compared to a floof. It was fun.
“I thought the name was like the cartoon. Archer?” Fallyn looked between us.
The what? “Like a ranged fighter, in game.” My character was a gunslinger, but the concept was the same. “An archer.” The dog climbed onto my lap, and tried to claw its way up my shirt. I extracted him with care and held on as best I could.
“So… what are your other character names?” Fallyn asked.
Duh? “Monk, Mage, Gladiator, and Aragorn.”
“Is Aragorn your Ranger?” The grin on Fallyn’s face was perfect.
I nodded. “Of course.”
“I love it.” She took the puppy from me and cradled it.
The way Elliot watched her, I wasn’t sure if he was upset or captivated. “If you don’t want to call itDogwhat would you call it?”
Holding it up, Fallyn studied its face. She scrunched up her nose and ityipped. “Queen Puppinald the First.”
“First of all, you don’t know that it’s asheand second, once you shortenPuppinaldit’sPuppyand how is that better thanDog?” Elliot thought he had a point—he must’ve, or he wouldn’t have said it.
But I saw Fallyn’s logic. “It’s cuter,” I said,
The vet assistant saved us from having to decide. “Only one of you in the exam room,” she said when we all stood.
“I’ll go.” Elliot was already following her before we could argue.
Which left Fallyn and me sitting alone in an empty waiting room… waiting.
I’d never been good at small talk. I hated discussing the weather or sports. Give me deep, philosophical conversation about the pros and cons of Java versus Python, and I was happy.
Fallyn fiddled with the zipper on her jacket, sliding it up a few inches before letting it drop.
This was nothing like in game, but there, we had Elliot to bridge the gap. Not always, though. There were times when she and I had talked long into the night. Late enough that it left me a zombie the next day at work.
“I never got to hear that story,” I said. “Of what the infamous Fallyn is doing with my Director of Development.”
Her smile was probably sad, but with her head turned down it was hard to tell. “Not much of a story. The woman you’ve been talking to online—Demon Kittie—is me. I didn’t know I was talking to AcesPlayed programmers. I thought maybe you were just a couple of random basement dwellers.” Her laugh was dry. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. We all kept our details private for a reason.”
“Elliot doesn’t like me.”
I shrugged. “Elliot doesn’t like most people, including Online Fallyn. Elliot doesn’t know you. I’d like to.” Was I allowed to say that? Flirting wasn’t my thing. Or talking to people in general. I always said too much or not enough.
“Me too.” She finally looked up, and her smile reached her eyes. “Did you know he has a guest house? You probably knew that.”
