Andrea Hest - Snow Day [Touchstone: Extras]

"This is so uncomfortable," muttered one of the girls sitting at thenewcomers' table.

"Excruciating," Maxen agreed, mildly. "We have the private room foranother kasse, but I think we can officially call it for the secondPandora meet-up of Sky Wing. If anyone wants to head out into the mainpart of the club, feel free. Check the guild forum tomorrow for, well,new arrangements."

There was an immediate exodus, most of those departing changing theirvirt-masks from their game avatars to a variety of other looks. Theoccupants of the second table glanced over, but then turned back totheir leader, busy making a great show of being reasonable at Maxenssister, Oriel.

"Im going to sit here just to spite them," said one of the tworemaining guild members, called Asterra in-game. Crossing her arms, shethrust out her currently blue chin. "If theyre splitting off from theguild, then they should be the ones leaving the meetup."

"Why do all here?" the other, Space Ninja, asked, in the halting,fractured speech he affected. "Want spoil everyone night?"

"More like they want to rub Tzatchs nose in taking a loss," Maxen said."Because she did so well on the KOTIS intake."

"Whats that got to do with anything?" Asterra asked.

Maxen sighed. "Tzatch and I met most of the other guild officers in aKOTIS prep class. Forming a guild in the latest hot virt game seemedlike a good idea at the timecommon interests and all thatand it workedreally well for a while. But there were a couple who joined late whowould have liked to be guild leader. And then the intake exam resultscame out. Tzatch wasnt supposed to be at the top."

"Supposed to be?" Asterra didnt hide her confusion. "Theres nosupposed to be in exam results."

"Its a Tare-Kolar thing," Maxen explained, thinking that only Tarenswouldnt have seen that immediately. "The prep class is mostly Taren,and having a Kolaren be first"

He didnt say it, but knew Asterra saw where he was leading when shedropped her gaze. Tarens never liked to admit that they thought theywere superior to people from Kolar. It was just appropriate, correct andexpected when Tarens outclassed Kolarens in all the systems that theythemselves had set up.

"We all Muinan now," Space Ninja said, sounding like he believed thatmattered.

The scene at the second table finally broke up, and a half-dozen people,all still looking like their blue-skinned game avatars, crossed to whereMaxen sat.

"You understand, dont you Corezzy?" said Jaxa, who had been theparticular ringleader. "Its not that theres anything wrong with SkyWing. We just want something a little less casual, more focused on highlevel content."

"I understand perfectly," Maxen replied, with the precise leavening ofsarcasm to show what it was he understood.

With the virtual overlay of blue-skinned avatar, it wasnt possible tosee Jaxa flush, but the overlay could match the way her mouth flattened,and how she then smiled with carefully emphasised warmth. "Thats great!And even if we dont run across each other as much in-game, were sureto do so during training. Dont hesitate to ask if you need any advice.My family has been serving for generations, you know."

How could he not know? She never failed to point it out. And this timehe was sure it wasnt his imagination underlining family when Jaxaspoke.

"Say theyre leaving, never actually go," Space Ninja muttered, notquite low enough.

"You" began Jaxas best friend, Kadol, in a sharp tone, but then hepaused, smoothing edges before going on. "Let me give you some advice.You might think trying to talk like an Earth person makes you lookcool, but really its the opposite."

Space Ninja only grinned, and said in the same halting way: "Take a lotof work, talk like this. Never slipping up, extra cool."

"You mean pathetic"

"All right," Oriel said, coming up to cut Kadol off. "No need to start anew round. Best of luck to everyone in the future. Enjoy the rest of thenight."

"Lets go," murmured one of the less fractious former guild officers,clearly embarrassed, and they finally left.

"Dont let door hit you on way out," Space Ninja called after them, butbecame more serious once the crowd were gone. "Sky Wing going todisband, hope not?"

Oriel smiled at him. "No, no reason for that. We wont be able toparticipate in the next inter-guild competition, but it wont take longto build strength again."

Theyd lose a few more members, thoughplayers not involved in guildpolitics, who didnt want to wait to take on the advanced cooperativeevents theyd just grown strong enough to try.

"Im going to the rest room," Oriel added. "Wont be long."

"Will they be able make trouble for you?" Space Ninja asked, once Orielhad followed the crowd.

"I doubt it, in the long run," Maxen said. "I guess some of our futuretraining sessions have the potential for awkward classmates, but KOTISis big enough that one intake class wont have much influence, no matterwho has family in the hierarchy. All they could do is spoil thismeet-up." He paused, hoping that was true, then sighed. "And theyvefinished off any hope of getting together enough people for a guildgroup for Snow Day. I was looking forward to that."

"Have you always wanted to join KOTIS?" Asterra asked.

"No, not while its purpose was primarily Ena defence," Maxen said. Andwhen, on Kolar, joining KOTIS marked you as someone too tied to Tare."But now that KOTIS has transitioned further into planetary exploration,its hard to resist. And, on Muina, its the only way Im going to beable to fly anything with the current restrictions on citizen vehicles."

"You want to be pilot?" Space Ninja asked.

Maxen nodded.

"Cool. Do you have to actually learn fly properly, or is more justtelling computer where go? Im trying get boat license, and interfacedoes everything except stop me fall overboard. Super dull."

"Theres more to it than setting the destination and sitting back,"Maxen said, smiling.

"Did you have interface before come Muina?" Space Ninja asked.

"Yes, we were early adopters on Kolar," Maxen said. "Though its beenless than a year, and I dont think Ill ever truly adjust." He lookeddown at his hands, seeing them as scarred and blue, his actual skinhidden by an interface overlay. The nanotech installation in his brainwas not just a simple transmission device allowing him to play virtualgames. It could alter what he saw, what he heard, could change the wayhe experienced the real world. A thing as horrifying as it waswonderful.

"Did your whole family come across?" Asterra asked.

Maxen did not begin to want to get into what constituted Family onKolar, and all the carefully laid path that had led Oriel and him to ashared apartment on Muina. Technically, the answer was yes.

"Just me and my sister," he said.

"That sounds daunting. Im the other extremeI have ten thousandrelatives here trying to organise every inch of my life. Theres threein the main area of the club right now, just waiting to pounce if Idont respond to their constant Going okay? texts." Asterra sighed. "Ireally shouldnt have told them the guild split up. They want me toleave, but I refuse to let Jaxa and those other bullies completely ruinthe night."

"I wouldnt worry about it," Maxen told her. "Its not like we weregoing to stay in this room the whole night anyway."

"Ill wait for Tzatch to come back, at least. What about you, SpaceNinja? Anyone lurking out in the club ready to rescue you?"

Space Ninja laughed. "My cousin and his girlfriend. I have lots familyhere, too, but luckily they not trying to tell me what do. Always sayshould go at own pace. But" He toyed with his empty cup. "Too manyexceptional people in my family. Bit hard being ordinary one, times."

"I know that feeling," Maxen said, thinking of his own results on theintake exam.