Pizza Time!

Seigefell was so pleasant at night. Magical lanterns and other lighted objects bathed the whole thing in a romantic glow. Above our heads was the twinkling night sky, adding even more passion to an already beautiful sight.

The fragrant smell of all different types of food danced its way into my virtual nostrils. Anything from a hardy roast to baked treats, all of which our angel fairy was very excited to try a sample of at each stall on the street.

Even though Rose and I were a screen apart, I still found peace in knowing we were both sharing this moment together. It felt like we were side by side, maybe even holding hands down this somewhat neatly cut cobblestone road.

-This reminds me of our honeymoon, remember? We went to Paris and walked along the lake under moonlight (@˶˘◡˘)♡ (˘◡˘@)-

That was something the two of us planned for a while. She’d always wanted to visit France, and I wanted to pick a very particular time when the moon was full just to make it extra special.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t think about that, Rose.” My heart beat slow and easy, warmed by the memory. “Things were so great back then. I felt like we were king and queen of the world.”

It was even better that the game studio just released a title that put us on the map. Square Complex: Reborn. That game sent shockwaves through the industry. I never imagined how success was going to make things harder for us in the future. There were so many expectations from shareholders and fans that were hard to meet.

No matter what we made though, it always seemed like Rose enjoyed it at least. Not just superficially either, because she always played with the purpose of critiquing. She saw what we were trying to make and gave me so many suggestions to make it feel better.

Am I crazy for finding that a little sexy?

“When I get back to the real world, want to go back there?” I suggested. “I wouldn’t mind another walk by the Eiffel tower.”

-Actually, could we visit Japan this time? I hear they have an Eiffel tower in Tokyo too!-

She had to have been referring to Tokyo Tower, which I’d seen before on a trip the studio had to take there last year. She was going to like Japan a lot, I could feel it.

“That would be just fine with me,” I said.

Rose sat me down on a balcony overlooking the river. Boats were finally getting docked and unloaded after being stuck in line for however long they were.

-Are you feeling okay, Ray? I’m not pushing you too hard, am I?-

“Well, if you weren’t pushing me, I wouldn’t be moving at all.” I thought that was funny, but Rose didn’t chat out with a laugh or anything. “Are you feeling more confident?” I asked her.

-I think I need more practice with the game's mechanics, getting to know the numbers, because the more I’m learning, the more I feel like things are going to be okay.-

“Well, lucky you.” I smiled. “I happen to be the one who designed those very mechanics. So there’s no better person to train with.”

The problem was that I was a little rusty on a lot of the details. So we both would be doing a little experimenting to level up our fighting skills.

“I’m back!” Tensei announced as she handed off a kabab to me. “Here, try this! It’s super yummy!”

One of the nice things about this being a huge trading outpost was that they had a lot of different foods from many cultures. I was surprised how good it tasted, even more so how kind the NPC’s who gave it to Tensei were. She didn’t have much money, but they were happy enough to give us a sample and discount for a few coins.

-Ray, I’m starving. I’m going to AFK and order some food. That OK with you?-

“When did you last eat?” I asked her.

-It was this morning. I had a little cupcake not long ago, but I need something a little more substantial.-

“Oh! Yeah, go eat!” I told her. “Ten and I should be fine hanging out here for a little while. I have to read these spell books anyways.”

-Alright. BRB!-

🌹🎮🌹

When the heck did it become 4 Oclock?! I hadn’t eaten anything since that lousy little cupcake! No wonder my stomach was so angry with me.

Alright, well there was only one thing to do. Order a pizza! But not just any pizza… No… This lovely lady had been doin’ the work and needed something extra special!

Enzo Giovanis!

Oh yeah. There wasn’t a better pizza place in town than that. Deep dish, stuffed crust, extra cheese, spinach peperoni… A carb paradise! I never got to eat that because earning those calories was hard work. A day at the gym barely made up for it.

I happily called in the order. They said it would be delivered soon. ‘Nobody made quality faster than them!’ That’s their slogan.

For a moment, I was tempted to head back into the man cave and veg out with Ray and Teny-chan, but my eyes were burning from staring at the screen and I needed a little sunlight and fresh air.

While sitting outside on the balcony, some thoughts came to mind. That HR gal from Ray’s work hadn’t called me back yet, so either she hadn’t heard from Paul, or she forgot.

“Ray got those spell books, but if we could figure out how to spawn items…”

Maybe I needed to make another call over there. There had to be someone else in the studio who knew how to do anything, right? I’d understand if they were all rookies or somethin’ but at least the vets had to be smart.

“Let’s see if I can get some names…”

Ray kept a little address book full of his friends and coworkers' numbers in our den. He was always so old fashioned and insisted on keeping things written down. His excuse was that he would forget things otherwise.

Was it weird that I found it kinda’ cute though? Silly boy.

“He has so many papers on this desk…” I said while folding them up. “I need to clean this up… Aha! Here’s the book!”

This book was adorable. It had one of those random Japanese Power Fighters on it from that show he watched as a kid. He made me sit through 25 seasons of that. It was like an action soap opera for young boys.

I flipped through a few of the flimsy pages and was hit with a wave of nostalgia at how far back he recorded things in here. He had my first number, my mom's old house before she moved, even the Chinese place we used to order from every Friday night.

“Aww… I remember all of these numbers by heart!” I squealed.

I flipped through the next couple of pages until I saw a list of Ray’s coworkers. There was a sudden switch in the hand writing from pen to pencil, and a lot of the lines looked like they'd been erased a few times.

“Let’s see… Micky O… Niles J… Dan D Lions...” Ray took me drinking with those guys. Too bad they didn’t work at the studio anymore, ‘cause they were fun.

“Nagi K… Kurimoto H… Hana O…?”

Wait! I didn’t know he knew Japanese people too! But I guess he did mention before that his game was going to be a big deal in Japan, so maybe he had some friends he made over there.

“Oh here’s a guy!”

Mark Bigs! He was one of the top brass at the studio and was good friends with Ray a while back.

“I’ll give him a call.”

*Booooop…*

*Booooop….*

*Bo–ooo…*

*Plunk Kunk!*

“Hello?” A guy answered, but definitely not Mark. “You’ve reached the office of Mark Bigs. Who am I speaking to?”

“Uh, yeah hi,” I replied. “My name is Rose Roberts. My husband…”

“Rose!” the guy shouted loudly. “Hey, how are you? Do you remember me?”

“Uh, no…” I nervously snickered. “Sorry, but can you give me a hint here?”

“It’s me, Micky!”

“Ooooh, Micky!”

No wonder he sounded all friendly with me. It'd been too long since I talked to this guy.

I started chatting with him for a few. Apparently after he left the studio, he got a nice job with the publisher they worked with. When they heard the game wasn’t doing so hot, they called him in for a little ‘creative consultations.’

“Micky, it’s great to hear from you again, but I gotta’ ask a question…”

I debated whether I should give him all the details or not. This was kinda’ crazy, so I didn’t want to just spill the whole story out.

“Ray’s a little sick right now, but he’s doing some work from home and had a question.”

“Sure, what’s he need?”

I asked if he knew how to spawn items into the game through cheat codes or something. Micky put me on hold while he stormed the office for the info. When he got back, he told me a console command to get tier 1 starter items, whatever those were, but nothing more special than that.

“Sorry I can't get anything better,” he claimed. “All the people who would know more are out of office right now.”

Wait a minute… More people were away?

“Hey, thanks a ton,” I said, trying not to sound too shocked. “Listen, I have another question. Are a lot of people gone today?”

“Mmm…” he hummed. “Yeah. Most of the big wigs are out on paid leave, apparently. It's actually why I had to answer the phone for Mark. Plus, a lot of other guys and senior staff have just refused to show up the last few weeks without notice or are sleeping on the job. We’re working with a skeleton crew here.”

“That's…weird…” I said.

“This crunch has been the worst yet. I tell ya’, Rosey, things aren't great over here. I…I shouldn’t have said any of this, but since Ray’s a friend and all…”

No wonder the game was falling apart. Nobody's working on it!

*DING DONG! BZZZZZZ!*

“Oh, darn it…” I uttered. The pizza guy was here. “Uh, hey, Micky? I have to go answer the door, so I'll call you back later. But please please please take care of yourself. And, uh… don’t answer any weird emails about saving the world. Okay?”

“Gotcha’. Take care. And tell Ray I hope he feels better soon. We need him!”

After a few more so-longs, I hung up and put my phone on the desk.

“You need him more than you think…” I said in a sullen voice. “Man… All those people are out of the office? What the heck…”

*DING DONG! BZZZZZZ!*

“I’m coming! Sorry! Give me a sec, would ya’...?”

…A FEW PIZZA SLICES LATER…

I was pretty sure my belly was about to burst. I ate like three of those deep dish slices, which was A LOT… Now my stomach hated me for a totally different reason.

When I got back to the computer, I jiggled around the mouse until it turned back on. Once I exited the pause menu, I almost laughed myself sick.

“Why is Ray being tied up by rainbow pirates?”

Like, I couldn’t make that up. He was tied up on a boat by pirates in the most unicorn vomit looking outfits I'd ever seen since I was little and thought it was a cool look.

I shouldn’t have laughed, but I left those two alone for like half an hour and they were already in danger! Just a reminder that they were hopeless without me.

“Ray… Teny-chan… What did you knuckleheads get yourselves into?”