PftA Book 2 - Chapter 9

Chapter 9 – Schedules and Breaks

It took me seven hours.

Seven hours of Mediation to contemplate Mage Stella’s insights and comments. As much as I hadn’t appreciated being abandoned in Antarctica, it was a lot easier to consider the Space Mage’s words when she wasn’t scrutinizing me from nearby. She was probably still judging me, but at least I didn’t sense her presence anymore.

And she was right. My own inaccurate assumptions had limited me in ways I hadn’t realized. I still likely didn’t fully understand the impacts of the shackles I’d *hopefully* broken free from. But at least I’d overcome them.

“You did it,” Rhona said with relief seconds after I appeared in the teleportation room where I’d set my Anchor. Stella was standing next to her with a small grin. Her presence explained how Rhona had arrived so quickly. They must have been waiting for me to return.

“Yes. You did,” Stella agreed. “It’s a good thing, too. I wouldn’t want to waste my time trying to teach someone hopeless. Since you managed to return without cheating—”

I wasn’t sure how she knew I hadn’t used Phase to Teleport back, but I was glad I didn’t have to jump through hoops to prove I’d managed it correctly.

“—I’ve agreed to continue training you on better using your Space magic. Unlike today, this won’t count toward your work hours, so we’ll have to find time to meet. I understand your schedule is limited?”

I nodded. I definitely wanted the training she was teaching. Improving my capabilities would be important no matter the path I took forward.

“It is. Let me send it to you,” I said before having Lisa send the information to the other Mage’s interface. “I haven’t gotten a chance to finalize the martial or weapon training yet, but my IA has added the most likely sessions to my schedule, along with the classes I’ve registered for.”

Atlas conveniently had its own network of sorts, and Lisa was able to tentatively schedule me for physical training on the restricted side of the building. She’d only done so when we arrived at the headquarters building that morning, so I hadn’t looked everything over yet.

“What classes did you decide on?” Rhona asked as Stella considered my schedule.

“Modern History – I guess it covers the last few hundred years?” I said questioningly. My boss nodded. “Current Political Structures, Economics Across the Alliance, and Modern Sociology. I’m also taking two classes at both magical academies. I would have taken more, but…”

“No, that’s a lot, even for a full-time student who isn’t working and dealing with world-changing issues.”

“What classes are you taking at the Mages’ Academy?” Stella asked.

I looked at the violet-haired noble. She seemed genuinely curious about my answer. “Critical Skills – it’s supposed to cover all the most important skills that are needed for a Mage.” The Space Mage nodded. “And Chrono-Melee. It covers melee fighting as a Time Mage. Both should be included in the schedule I sent since classes start next week.”

Stella blinked at me a few times before saying, “Right, I see it now. I wasn’t even considering your Time affinity.” After a few seconds of awkward silence, the woman coughed lightly and said, “With your schedule, it’s probably best for us to plan our lessons on your weekends instead of trying to squeeze it in during the normal week. How is Saturday?”

“Early morning?” I asked after a moment of consideration. While anytime was technically fine, I had scheduled weekly delves with Robert on Saturday afternoons.

“That’s fine.”

After settling the details, I was dismissed for the day, and the two women disappeared. I was glad Rhona didn’t expect me to work the rest of the day since I was mentally spent. While I could go through the motions, it wouldn’t have been my best effort.

= = =

When Wednesday arrived, I checked with Bell to see if she actually wanted to go to Justin’s for dinner. We hadn’t really discussed it since the initial offer was made – mostly because we hadn’t seen each other much in the days since moving in.

I’d started martial training that day, leaving me with little time to shower, change, get food, and travel to Justin’s house. Especially if I wasn’t going to use magic to make it easier. But since I was working and training on the restricted side of the building, there was no reason not to use magic, so I did. It created enough breathing room that I didn’t have to rush quite so much.

Thankfully, my roommate was ready when I returned to the apartment, and we were able to leave right away.

“I hope you like Thai food. Amie’s favorite is yellow curry chicken, so I wanted to surprise her,” I said as we journeyed the short distance to the restaurant I’d ordered takeout from.

“Of course I do. You should know that! As long as it isn’t too spicy…”

“It’s not. Amie can’t handle the heat. Everything is mild except for Justin’s Pad Thai. He likes it spicy. I wasn’t sure what to get for you, so I grabbed some soup and a second type of curry with pork. We usually do it family style and share, but if you don’t like that…”

“Duo, we eat together in the game all the time,” she said blankly.

“Yeah, but eating in the game and sharing food in real life isn’t the same. Some people are really sensitive about stuff like that,” I said defensively. “I just wanted to be sure.”

Bell offered to pay for part of the meal, but I declined.

“No, you’re a guest. If you really want to join us for weekly meals, we can add you to the meal rotation. Maybe we can do dinner at our place sometimes,” I said, checking my schedule on my tablet. Lisa had a direct connection to the device, so I was able to interact with her without it seeming odd. “I have to work at eight, but it’s online, so if dinner takes too long, you’ll be stuck there for a while. Just a warning.”

“Oh my god, is that your schedule?” she asked, glancing at the tablet.

It didn’t have anything too crazy, so I angled the tablet so she could get a better look. Training with Stella was labeled as such, and delving with Robert was listed as ‘going out with Robert.’

“Yeah. My weekdays are pretty packed. Aside from penciling in social stuff like gaming, I kept Sunday clear. I’m also going to make sure I sleep at least eight hours disconnected from Atlas Online every weekend. I don’t think the time dilation is bad, but it can’t hurt to get regular sleep sometimes, too.”

My roommate nodded. “I’ve been doing the same thing. Not Sundays, but just making sure I get regular sleep every once in a while. I feel fine without it, but I really love sleep. And dreaming. I don’t like that forced sleep doesn’t include dreams.”

I didn’t necessarily agree since my dreams were strange, but I nodded anyway.

When we arrived at the apartment, Amie immediately became shy when she saw an unfamiliar person standing in the doorway. Instead of the energetic toddler I expected, she hid behind my brother, peeking shyly at Bell.

It took less than ten minutes for Amie to completely forget her initial nervousness. As we ate, Amie excitedly chattered about the magic plants she’d seen at daycare. I raised a brow and eyed Justin.

He shrugged.

“I think Atlas is expanding into kids’ entertainment. They have a cute animated show that has magic and seems to follow the Atlas Universe pretty closely. They probably had one on plants today. I watched some of one when I picked her up early one day. It’s cute,” he said before shoving a forkful of noodles into his mouth.

I tried to remember hearing about Atlas kids’ shows before. It wasn’t really a genre I would have followed, so even if it was something Atlas had done in the previous timeline, I may not have known about it.

It was smart, though. They could teach the youngest generation and their parents about the upcoming changes without getting them into the game. It would be written off as a silly children’s show aiming to create interest in the game early. I wondered if they had something else targeted more toward older children who were beyond Amie’s stage but too young for the game. Those who tried to play before thirteen or so could log in and interact with the world, but they weren’t given affinities.

It was one of the biggest complaints about the game.

I glanced at Bell. At the toddler's insistence, she was sitting next to Amie, and Justin had chosen the seat beside Bell, allowing me to have the other spot beside the precocious toddler. I watched as Justin snuck glances at my roommate before looking away when she did the same.

I didn’t know how to feel about their little dance.

I wanted Justin – and Bell – to be happy, but I didn’t want him to get hurt again. Though I’d been friends with Bell for a while, I didn’t really know her – not like that. She seemed more like the ‘go out and have fun while we’re young’ kind of person than the step-mom/responsibility type. But that might have been a product of our shared environment.

At the same time, I had no idea how the divorce might have changed Justin’s perception of relationships. In the other timeline, he’d never brought another girl home, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going out. He might not be the right kind of person for her.

But they were both adults, and it didn’t feel right to interject myself into…whatever might be happening.

“Oh! I meant to tell you,” Justin said suddenly. “I’ve been hinting to Mom and Dad that they should move closer now that we’re both here, and I shouldn’t be moving due to my assignment. I think your moving out really shook them up because Dad called yesterday and said he was going to start looking at federal job openings in the area.”

“Really?” I asked. I was surprised by that, though I’d also mentioned the possibility of them relocating before I’d moved out. The topic had never even come up in the other timeline. Maybe having both of their children in the same location had changed something?

Dad had retired after his assignment in Missouri and had immediately gotten hired doing pretty much the same thing he’d done as a service member. We all expected that to be their ‘forever home.’ Knowing they’d almost certainly died in that home…I had no issues with them moving.

It would be infinitely better, especially if they were close by. The only downside I could see was the chance that my parents might discover something they shouldn’t, given the nature of my Dad’s career field and his natural curiosity.

“Is there a demand for federal investigators here?” I asked.

“He mentioned a supervisor job like the one he has now in Eglin, and there is one that would be a step-down locally. I looked at the federal jobs website when he mentioned it, but most of what’s posted there doesn’t seem like a good fit for him.”

“Too bad Atlas doesn’t need an investigator,” I said.

“Ha! I thought the same thing. I even mentioned it to Rhona when I saw her in the nursery earlier. I got the feeling they like to promote from within more than hiring new blood – aside from beta testers. I even mentioned his time in D.C. working protection, but she didn’t seem interested. She was really nice about it, though.”

“It’s probably better to let Dad take care of his own career,” I said lightly.

“You’re right. I just got really excited.”

Bell glanced between the two of us. “Your dad is an investigator? What does he investigate?” she asked.

“He mostly supervises felony investigations that have some kind of military connection. He used to do the investigations himself, but that was a while ago. Now, he just makes sure everyone else does things right,” Justin answered.

“And he has to talk to high-ranking people a lot,” I added. “You know, maybe it would be better for Dad to do something less stressful. He never gets to relax,” I said to my brother.

“Didn’t you just say we should let Dad handle his career?” Justin smirked.

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah? Still. I’m just saying…maybe he could get a less stressful job if he moves here.”

“Well, why don’t you tell him that next time you talk to him?” Justin suggested as he picked up his empty paper plate and headed toward the trashcan. Thankfully, the conversation moved on to lighter topics once Justin returned to the table.

After everyone was finished and the leftovers were put away, we played a game of Uno. Amie sat on Bell’s lap, ‘helping’ her. It was pretty adorable, and I had to admit, Bell seemed good with the toddler. I just didn’t know if she’d be good for my brother.