Playing Games

Lunchtime comes, with Skylar and Georgia once again joining us, and along with them, a topic that I didn’t expect to come up. “Gemma, you raised your charisma right?” Skylar asks. I nod, and I can see Mia smirking out of the corner of my eye. The maiden of shadow nods in understanding. “Ahh okay, that makes sense.”

She goes back to eating, and I can’t help but ask. “What makes sense?” She looks up at me, her face flushing, but her gaze steady and her eyes locked with mine. “There’s just something about you. You’re glowing. You’re beautiful.” Mia halfway snorts at my face, managing to pass it off as a coughing fit.

For my part, I’m slightly stunned. “Um…thank you.” I say shyly, still being unused to direct compliments despite having two girlfriends who compliment me daily. Skylar smiles at me, openly, honestly and in a way she never has before. There’s a kind of care and happiness reflected in her eyes that I haven’t really seen from her before, at least not directed at me.

“Oh my Gaia, just confess your love and fuck already!” Georgia exclaims, and Mia hits her sister. “Ow! Sorry.” The older aeromancer apologises. Skylar snorts and looks back at her plate. Georgia is still rubbing her shoulder where Mia hit her. “How have you gotten so much stronger? I used to be able to punch harder than you!” “Training dingus.” She replies amusedly.

The conversation devolves into Mia and Georgia bantering about training, with Georgia calling her younger sister an uptight hag, to which Mia jokingly berates Georgia about her complete lack of any kind of a work ethic. I listen quietly and amusedly to the banter, but my eyes are still focused on Skylar who hasn’t looked up from her food since Georgia made the joke about her confessing her love. The expression on her face indicates that she’s lost deep in thought.

We pass a few milestones that afternoon, despite only grinding two dungeons. Both Skylar and Mia level up once each, putting Skylar at level 30 and Mia at level 53. It’s not a huge amount, but every little bit helps. Ivy and I also manage to level up, putting both of us at level 45 and finally getting us over the line to raising Ivy’s wisdom to 100.

The scaling increase is minor, but that’s also understandable. Having the increase be too much would lead to Ivy being able to heal us infinitely, which would be super broken. The fact that she gets a 15% bonus to all stats is already pretty broken. Factoring in the percentage bonus to wisdom, her mana regeneration is now at an even 35 per minute. A worthwhile increase, if still relatively low.

We retire from training for the afternoon, heading back home to spend time together. We have a blast taking turns playing against each other on the first Injustice game. We decide on a system where the loser has to switch out with somebody else, and the winner stays playing. I mastered both Injustice games ages ago, so it quickly and inevitably turns into the other three against me.

“No fair, those stupid sticks are so broken!” Mia complains as I hit another long combo to knock out her character. “Maybe don’t pick Batman every time. He’s not particularly good against Nightwing.” I shrug, smirking at her. “Dickhead! Pick a different character!” She exclaims. “Nah, I’m good at Nightwing.”

“How about a bet?” Skylar asks. I turn my head towards her, to see her grinning at me. “Play against me with a character of our choice. If you lose, you have to plan our first date.” Ivy and Mia turn to her in shock. The look on my face makes the maiden of shadow smile even wider. My face breaks out into a smile as I realise what she’s doing. “And what do I get if I win?” She shrugs, her confidence on full display. “I’ll plan it then.”

‘Do it!’ Ivy mentally says her opinion. I look to Mia and she gives a nod, smirking. I return my gaze to Skylar, who hasn’t wavered once. “You’re on.” Mia hands the umbramancer her controller and she takes over, then starts to discuss with the other three what character I should use. The consensus is quickly come to that I am to play as Bane.

I pick my character, then watch as Skylar picks hers. After some debate, she picks Superman. Shit. That’s a bad matchup for me. Not that it matters anyway, I get to go on a date with her either way. I don’t wanna be the one to plan it though, I have no ideas. We randomise the arena, leaving transitions and environmental interactions on.

The match starts and we skip the dialogue. I pause for a moment to take a look at Bane’s special moves. I memorise the inputs for a few choice moves, while Skylar takes a look at Superman’s specials. Once we’re both ready, I unpause the game, and the match to determine who plans our first date (hopefully the first of many) is officially underway.

I start off the fight with an uppercut that connects solidly as Skylar tries to rush forward. “I didn’t know that Superman was in the Soviet Union.” She comments as her character is knocked back. “He is in the Red Son universe. That was an interesting storyline.” I reply, following up my earlier strike with a charging attack. Skylar blocks it and we begin trading blows.

Neither of us are super skilled with the character that we’ve picked, although I have the massive advantage of years of experience over a woman who’s first time playing a video game was two weeks ago. That doesn’t mean I’m going to hold back though. After ducking under a pulse of laser eyes, I manage to execute a small combo that knocks her character to the ground and knocks down her first bar of health.

When she gets back up again, she anticipates me staying on the offensive and manages to freeze Bane in place. She knocks him back and delivers a few more strikes before I manage to recover and counter. She activates her supermove, but I manage to block it, letting out a small “Hah!” In triumph. I send her character through an arena transition, and as soon as the animation finishes, I activate my supermove. Skylar misses the block and I win the game.

I turn to her and extend my hand. “Good game.” She smiles at me and takes my outstretched hand in her own and shakes it happily, not minding the loss in the slightest. “I guess I’m planning a date then. Tomorrow at lunchtime?” She asks. “Sounds good to me.” A hand appears on Skylar’s shoulder and she turns back to see Ivy.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” She asks simply, her voice full of genuine concern for the umbramancer’s wellbeing. Skylar smiles, her expression and voice so full of love and care that the only thing I want to do in that moment is hold her tightly against my chest. “I’m sure. I know what I’m getting myself into. With all of you. I just….need to see if it feels right. I don’t want to ruin this friendship.”

Ivy nods and Mia pipes up. “You have our full support. If things go well tomorrow, we can talk about it more seriously. If they don’t, we can go back to just being friends.” Skylar’s expression turns to one of relief. “Thank you.” She expresses gratefully. I can’t resist any longer and pull her into a tight hug. She yelps minorly, before hugging me back, giggling.

“That’s seriously the first time a girl has asked you out?” Mia asks as she shovels a spoonful of cereal in her mouth, her eyebrow raised. I nod, amused at her reaction. “I’ve had one or two guys ask me out before. They wouldn’t leave me alone until I told them that I had a dick. But yeah, never had a girl ask me out before.”

“Huh, well I guess there’s a first time for everything. Are you looking forward to it?” I groan in response. “I’m so nervous!” “Awwww, how adorable!” Ivy teases me, and I flush. “By the way, we need more dates.” Mia continues. “Gemma, you and I have only been on one, and the movie was terrible!” “Insidious 5 wasn’t that bad!” I push back. “They beat the guy by painting over a picture of a door.” She says flatly. To that, I can only agree that it was a weird ending.

“We should go on a date.” Ivy suggests, looking at Mia. “And then another one all three of us.” “All four of us if Skylar joins.” I add. “More dates it is then! And dungeon running doesn’t count!” Mia declares. I chuckle and Ivy looks my way. “You said we’d get to level 46 today right?”

“We should only need two more dungeons. Hopefully we can get you some more perks too.” I reply, eyeing the artificial spirit skill which is currently sitting at level 24. Ivy nods, satisfied with that answer. “Are we still going to the city tomorrow then, regardless of what happens today?” Mia asks. “I don’t see why not. It’ll be nice to see what we’re really up against around here.”