There was a loud bang, and the tavern door swung open again as a youth waltzed in.

“Hello, Miss! Hello, Sir Knight!” He chimed, and a small smile pulled at Yarn’s lips, which brought a smile to Bennin’s face. Yarn rarely smiled, which meant this boy meant a lot to her.

“Who is this?” He asked, and Yarn’s smile vanished as her gruff manner reappeared.

“He can tell ya himself.”

With that, she walked into the back, and the youth came up to Bennin.

“My name is Axa, Sir Knight! The Miss told me a lot about you. Thank you for protecting our village!”

Bennin blushed.

“Oh, um, thank you. I do my best. You said your name is Axa? Doesn’t that mean harmony?”

“Yes, Sir! I’m a bard, you see, and Axa appealed to me. Besides, it reminds me of the name of a friend from the real world.”

“Ah, so you’re a player then.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Bennin looked him up and down for a moment. The boy had dark skin, which was rare to see in a character in Alphine, and blonde hair - another rare feature. The reason they were so rare was that you often had to pay extra in character creation to unlock those particular characteristics. Not that it mattered much. Alphine randomized every character. It was set up in tiers. In tier one, the base game (which was free) provided the generator with simple characteristics, such as body height and face structure, as well as common hair and eye colors. Tier two, which cost about $40, allowed more colors of hair and eyes and skin, as well as unlocking more possible classes and skills, as well as starting equipment. Tier three was the ultimate version of tier two, but cost about 100 dollars, and was the most common 'package' that pay-to-play players would buy (while free-to-play players usually stuck with tier one, or the base game). And then, there was the Diamond tier, a tier that nearly no one bought because of how expensive it was. The Diamond tier cost 5,000 dollars and unlocked almost every playable attribute, as well as all the rare and popular colors for skin, hair, and eyes. Dark skin and blond hair were among those that were unlocked with the Diamond tier. However, it was extremely rare to see someone with both, because Alphine ran character generation at random, meaning that while you might purchase Diamond tier, there was still a high chance of ending up with base game characteristics. The only thing you could pick in Alphine's character creator was the age and gender of your character - nothing more. The game's generator decided everything else. It added a fun element of surprise, but also served to confuse all the new players, who had no idea what happened once they bought a tier but still ended up with base game traits. 

“Are you a pay-to-play player? Or a conglomerate's kid?” Bennin asked, and Axa laughed. 

“Why does everyone ask me that?”

“Because your skin and hair color are pretty rare - those are Diamond tier unless I'm mistaken, so you have to be either a pay-to-play player or a conglomerate's kid.”

The boy frowned. 

“And what if I tell you I'm not either of those?” 

“I'm not sure I could believe you.” 

“Thought so. Well, Mr. Knight, Sir, you need to be less pretentious.” The boy told him, annoyed. 

“Pretentious?” Bennin demanded. “What are you saying?” 

“I'm saying I'm not Diamond tier, Sir, and honestly, it was quite rude of you to assume I was!” 

“Kid, I don't think you understand. It would be impossible to get those characteristics otherwise!” 

The kid stuck his tongue out at Bennin and then ran into the back room after Yarn. 

“Miss Yarn! Miss Yarn! The knight is being rude to me!” 

Yarn stuck her head out, raising an eyebrow at Bennin with a cigarette still between her lips. She didn't even have to speak, Bennin knew what she was thinking. 

“That kid has to be a Diamond tier!” He exclaimed. “Has to be! Look at his skin and his hair! Those are Diamond tier-only traits, and you know it, Yarn!”

She took a drag of her cigarette and looked him up and down for a moment. 

“If that's what he is, what ‘bout you?” She whispered, taking the cigarette out of her mouth. Bennin stared at her. 

“You're comparing me to the kid?” 

“Get out.” She ordered and grabbed Axa by the collar, hauling him out of the backroom and pushing him towards Bennin. “And take Axa with ya.” 

“Yarn!” Bennin pleaded, but he knew it was too late. He'd made her angry, and he knew she would take a while to calm down, so he stood up, sliding a silver coin across the bar to cover the cost of his beer. “Come on, kid, before Yarn sends those vines of hers at us.” 

“We're leaving?” Axa pouted, and Bennin nodded. 

“Unless you want to be turned into a heap of EXP, then yes. Hurry up now, Yarn isn't patient by any means.” 

The boy skipped across the room, stuck his tongue out at Bennin again, and then disappeared out the door. Bennin sighed and followed him out, stopping outside the door as the sunlight blinded him. 

I wonder what Yarn is thinking.

At that exact moment, Yarn was thinking the same thing, but about Bennin, as she picked up the silver coin he'd left on the bar. She was sure she'd told him the beer was on the house, but seeing it sparkling in the light of the rough-cut window, she shrugged. There was no use running after him; he wouldn't take it back. Best to just add it to the security funds. The sooner the basket under her bed was full, the sooner she could move out of Marksville to somewhere more remote. Then, after that, she could start saving up to pay her family's debt in the real world. 

Stupid fucking Alice... placing all of her life savings into this stupid fucking game... and Dad too... what were they thinking? 

The thought annoyed her, and she attacked the bar top with energized fury. She only had two hours left before she had to log out of Alphine and go to her day job, a 9 to 5 at a law firm. And after that, she would have to cook dinner for her sick father and tutor her sister's daughter so the girl would pass her next exam. 

The girl takes after her mother, she thought, with a sigh. Her sister, Alice, had always been somewhat thoughtless, even back when she was in school, and paid no attention to the teacher during class hours, preferring to doodle her time away. And that hadn't changed when she became an adult. She was always lounging around the house while Yarn was forced to work her butt off to keep everyone fed. Alice didn't work - well, she didn't before she dragged the whole family into debt - but after that rude awakening, she'd taken a job as a photographer for a fashion magazine. It didn't pay much, but photography was the only thing Alice was good at, and with her high school grades (Alice didn't attend college), there weren't any other places willing to hire her. As a result, she worked most nights and most days, leaving her daughter, Hailey, in Yarn's care. Hailey took after her mother, a girl who was on the thoughtless, ditzy side but did have a streak of responsibility, which Yarn took advantage of to ask the girl to look after her grandfather after she got home from school while Yarn was at work. This alleviated some of Yarn's burden, but the duty of earning money to feed everyone, pay off the house, and pay off the family debt fell onto Yarn, the only one in the family with a college degree and a decent job. 

Yarn! A voice interrupted her thoughts. Yarn, you'll be late, you have to log out now! 

She glanced up at the cabinet that was on the wall to her left. Sure enough, her black cat Zero sat on it, staring down at her with his golden eyes. ‘Hurry,’ he seemed to say, and she knew he meant it. Zero didn't use the tiny bit of magic power he'd been given unless it was urgent or in Yarn's best interests, as he felt he owed her. She'd found him nearly killed by player killers who had tortured him for fun, and made the long and dangerous trek to Necart, where there was a temple run by a guild of healers, who healed Zero, but at the same time, accidentally blessed him with the power of some of their 'gods', giving Zero an undetermined amount of magic energy, enough that he developed a sense of self and could talk telepathically with those whom he trusted, which, in this case, was only Yarn. 

Hurry! 

“I'm goin', I'm goin’!” Yarn growled and slid her hand across the table. The game menu popped up in front of her, and she flinched. It was 17:08 in-game time, meaning it was 7:08 in real life. She WAS going to be late. She flicked her hand across to the log-out button and hit confirm, closing her eyes. 

When she opened them again, she was sitting in her room, still wearing the VR gaming headset, which she quickly took off, and ran to the mirror. Her red curly hair had puffed up like a bush, which wasn't unusual, but the VR gaming headset had left her with goggle marks, which was one of her worst nightmares. But just then her watch beeped, and she remembered she didn't have any time left, sprinting to her bedroom door and throwing it open. 

“HAILEY!” She yelled. “You'd better be ready to go in five minutes! Make sure Dad is up too!” 

“Sure!” The girl yelled back from the kitchen. “Hurry up, Auntie, I made breakfast!”

Yarn's stomach dropped like a bowling ball, and she ran to the kitchen faster than she thought anyone could. 

“You're cooking?” She gasped as she flung open the door and froze in horror. Her fears had come true. Hailey had cooked breakfast, sure enough, but the kitchen was a mess, and the stove was smoking as some charcoal lump writhed and hissed beneath the gas flame as if gaining life. 

Yarn grabbed a cloth towel from nearby and dived for the fire detector. But she didn't reach it in time. The detector went off, and so did the fire sprinklers, sending water pouring down on them, putting out the fire on the stove, and dampening everything. Yarn sighed and glanced at her niece, who stood awkwardly at their small round table, clutching a plate. 

“Auntie…” The girl sniffled, and her hands that held the plate trembled. Yarn sighed, walked across the room, and gave her niece a one-armed hug. 

“It's alright, Hailey.” She sighed and kissed the girl's forehead. “I know you meant well, so don't cry. Here, I'll clean up. You go change and go tell Dad it was a false alarm, okay?” 

Hailey sniffled but did as her aunt asked and left the room. Yarn sighed again and realized she'd have to go get her cell phone to call the landlord and let him know the flat wasn't actually on fire before he called 911. Then, not even seconds later, she heard a siren wail down the street, and she knew it was too late. 

She was going to be late to work again. 

Sure enough, by the time Yarn had pulled herself together, dealt with the angry firemen, dropped Hailey off at school, and left for the office, it was already past 8 o’clock. As she pulled into the parking garage, she knew she was in for a scolding. 

As long as they don't dock my paycheck... as long as they don't dock my paycheck... maybe if I explain... they can't hold a fire against me, can they? Shit... what does it matter? This is the fifth time I've been late this month; they won't go easy on me. I might even get fired. 

She tried to push that thought from her mind. 

But it reappeared as she walked through the glass doors of her office and saw her boss waiting for her.

“------, you’re late again.”

“Ms. Kelpsi, I -”

“No, I don’t care. This is the fifth time this month. What is your excuse this time?”

“The fire alarm -”

“You know what? Nevermind. You’re fired. Get your things and go home.”

“Ms. Kelpsi, please!”

“No. Leave.”

Yarn took a deep breath.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Slowly, she turned back to the parking garage. As she walked, she could hear her coworkers whispering about her. 

“It was bound to happen one day. She was always late.”

“I feel a bit bad for her.”

“Don’t be. She brought this on herself.”

Yarn just quickened her steps, trying to block their comments out. She was tired, still damp from the fire sprinkler, and stressed. She didn’t even want to think of what her father would say when he found out she had lost her job. She was the main breadwinner, and their family relied on her.

As she reached her car, however, she thought of something Bennin had said about adventuring, and made up her mind.

“If I can’t make money in real life, I’ll make money in the game. I have nothing to lose.”

She kept thinking the entire drive, and snuck back into the house so her father wouldn’t see her before sitting down on her bed and reaching for the VR headset.

“Please, Bennin, please be on. I need your help.”