Eclipse's sky had become a deep shade of blue, the sun setting slowly, highlighting that dark azure in the glow of yellow and orange. Lucy yawned as she walked Acron, the toll of staying up for the game's release now seemingly creeping in.
She turned to Worm. "What should we do next? Go deeper into the forests to see if there's monsters to farm? Go asking around the town to see if any NPCs need help? Go actually try and craft something? Or something else you can think of?"
The world was their oyster, and they only had to grab it.
"Umm. . ."
Worm glanced around momentarily at the town still busy with players; many newly entering, cursing as they chased after Dafy the Duck, which the 'less new' sighed and sympathized with their plight, helping whenever they could.
She smiled.
"Actually, it's best I call it a day now," She said, "I have to work on some articles of mine. It'll likely take me the rest of the day. . .sorry."
"Oh?" Lucy laughed. "That's not something to apologize for. I think I'll do the same."
"You're going to work on articles as well?" Worm asked, raising a brow.
"No. . .I'm gonna log off too." Lucy rolled her eyes. Then she frowned. "And why did you sound so incredibly doubtful?"
"You simply don't seem like the article-writing type." The girl shrugged.
"Why you-you're right, but you kinda make me wanna kick you with my foot."
Worm summoned her Traveler's Book, chuckling lightly while her expression remained mostly placid. "Then it's best I leave before you do."
"Wait," Lucy quickly spoke, "Give me your phone number. So we can keep in contact even outside of the game."
"Umm. . ."
"You don't have to if you don't want to."
"No, I will," Worm replied, "I was just briefly thinking it over."
The two, sharing that bit of personal information, logged off.
Lucy took the vr helmet from her head and laid it besides her. She stared at the roof of her large room, took a breath within as thoughts swirled inside her. Yet, Eclipse aside, she also understood that there was something else she had to do. Something to take care of.
"Alice." She blinked her sapphire eyes. "What time is it?"
The television bolted to the far wall blinked on with the image of the artificial intelligence running their home.
"It's currently 7:30 pm, Master," The voice rang as a girl tilted her head, wavy-blonde hair shifting as her purple eyes blinked, "Why are you out of the game so early?"
Lucy hopped from her bed.
"Cause I wanna be."
Lucy grinned as she spun around and faced her television up.
"Did you scour the internet for what I asked?" She asked.
Alice nodded. "I did. The articles I found have been linked to your cloud network."
Lucy stretched.
"Any that stands out?"
"Yes." Alice smiled, face shifting away to reveal the game's website and multiple articles, including one from a website Lucy thought she recognized. "There has been a notice on Eclipse's website as well as a number of articles stating that the game will undergo an update tonight. Specifically, the game is slated to implement a native video and audio recording software, access to the internet while within the game, and an in-game and off-game player market facilitated through Encore."
Lucy raised a brow. Even in this current decade, games still did not seem capable of escaping release-date updates. Though, at the very least, it wasn't due to bugs. Yet, she also had to wonder why the update hadn't been packaged with the release in the first place.
"Thank you," She said, then turned to the next topic, "Is Maria currently in her room?"
"Indeed."
Lucy chuckled.
"Then let's start the operation, before she gets ready for dinner."
The artificial intelligence on the other side of the room grinned with her, both almost about to laugh maniacally. They had originally planned it for 8 pm but, since Lucy was already here, she thought they might as well begin now.
The first thing she did was pull a red box from her desk-drawer then walked to the lefthern side of her bed, opened the mini-fridge, and retrieved out a crudely crafted chocolate cake that had no icing whatsoever.
By the time she turned around, two robots stood before her, both taller. They were made in the shape of humans, but without any distinctive features save for eyes, and entirely bare, their full metal-plastic alloy figures showing.
"I'll take them," Their eyes blinked, Alice's voice sounding through them, and each retrieved an item from her.
Following them downstairs and to the kitchen, Lucy was glared for the conveniences of modern technology. Eclipse aside, she could hardly imagine how others could live without handy robots and an AI to boot. The past must have been a lot harder, she thought, 'And boring.'
She made her way to the kitchen, set up the dinning table, and opened the red box to reveal a '2' and '5' candle within. A lighter. A card. And a smaller box inside.
"Okay okay," She eagerly sat down, "Turn off all the lights and call Maria to the kitchen."
The area dimmed as the robots retreated back into the storage unit of the apartment, likely to enter their charging ports. Lucy's wristwatch briefly flashed.
"She's coming," A whisper reached her.
"Shh," Lucy said.
The sound of footsteps rang and descended the stairs.
"Why is it so dark down here?" Maria's voice resounded, half-part perturbed. "Alice. Turn on the lights."
Nothing happened.
". . .are you broken now of all times?"
She reached and squinted at the dinning area, noticing flames flickering on the tip of two candles.
". . .don't tell me she tried to cook. . ." The maid muttered.
The lights flicked back on.
"Happy twenty-fifth birthday, Maria!" Lucy and Alice's voice combined
Maria blinked her eyes at the chocolate cake, the red box by it, and the card by its other side.
". . .when did you bake the cake?" She narrowed her eyes.
Lucy averted her own.
". . .Alice helped me. . ."
Crossing her arms, the maid was not amused.
"Alice?" She asked.
No reply came her way.
Maria sighed and Lucy patted the seat beside her.
"Sit sit, hurry and open your gift."
Of course, Lucy hadn't stayed up all night previously only to get into the game faster, though that was definitely part of it. Her real reason had been to bake the cake. After all, if Maria had seen her entering the kitchen during the day, the maid would have feared her burning down the entire house, plus the surprise would have been ruined.
Maria bemusedly stared at the situation as she sat down.
She reached for the small red box and opened it.
She raised a brow.
"A necklace? When did you get this, aren't you always gaming?" Maria asked.
Lucy coughed and expertly ignored part of that question.
"I bought it yesterday, on my way home from school," She said, "Ah! I made the card and cake myself though!"
Maria gingerly nodded and reached for the card next, opened it, as her eyes trailed it.
"Well?"
She placed it down to find a nervous looking Lucy staring at her.
Maria smiled and reached out a hand, patting the girl's silver hair.
"I love it, all of it," She said, "Thank you."
Lucy grinned. "You're welcome."
Sometimes, the maid thought, no matter how mature they could act, a 14-year-old was just a 14-year-old. On the other hand, Lucy thought seeing her caretaker's smile so brightly had made it all more than worth it.
The two, in the end, were in the same boat after all. With Lucy's grandparents perpetual busy with her inheritance, and Maria without a place she could call home aside from this, the two were the only close family they each had.
Maria blew out the candles of the cake and removed them.
"What did you wish for?" Lucy asked.
"That's a secret. . ." The caretaker replied, "Now, should we taste this cake of yours?"
Lucy's wristwatch flashed.
"I wouldn't recommend you actually eat it, Miss Williams. I could only prevent her from burning the kitchen down, not save her baking skills."
". . ."
"Hey!"
Maria placed her fork back down as Lucy glared at her watch. Maybe modern technology wasn't so useful after all.
LotsChrono
Discord Server: https://discord.gg/vwKhVUR
Want more interesting stories? Check out my profile.
Eclipse's sky had become a deep shade of blue, the sun setting slowly, highlighting that dark azure in the glow of yellow and orange. Lucy yawned as she walked Acron, the toll of staying up for the game's release now seemingly creeping in.
She turned to Worm. "What should we do next? Go deeper into the forests to see if there's monsters to farm? Go asking around the town to see if any NPCs need help? Go actually try and craft something? Or something else you can think of?"
The world was their oyster, and they only had to grab it.
"Umm. . ."
Worm glanced around momentarily at the town still busy with players; many newly entering, cursing as they chased after Dafy the Duck, which the 'less new' sighed and sympathized with their plight, helping whenever they could.
She smiled.
"Actually, it's best I call it a day now," She said, "I have to work on some articles of mine. It'll likely take me the rest of the day. . .sorry."
"Oh?" Lucy laughed. "That's not something to apologize for. I think I'll do the same."
"You're going to work on articles as well?" Worm asked, raising a brow.
"No. . .I'm gonna log off too." Lucy rolled her eyes. Then she frowned. "And why did you sound so incredibly doubtful?"
"You simply don't seem like the article-writing type." The girl shrugged.
"Why you-you're right, but you kinda make me wanna kick you with my foot."
Worm summoned her Traveler's Book, chuckling lightly while her expression remained mostly placid. "Then it's best I leave before you do."
"Wait," Lucy quickly spoke, "Give me your phone number. So we can keep in contact even outside of the game."
"Umm. . ."
"You don't have to if you don't want to."
"No, I will," Worm replied, "I was just briefly thinking it over."
The two, sharing that bit of personal information, logged off.
Lucy took the vr helmet from her head and laid it besides her. She stared at the roof of her large room, took a breath within as thoughts swirled inside her. Yet, Eclipse aside, she also understood that there was something else she had to do. Something to take care of.
"Alice." She blinked her sapphire eyes. "What time is it?"
The television bolted to the far wall blinked on with the image of the artificial intelligence running their home.
"It's currently 7:30 pm, Master," The voice rang as a girl tilted her head, wavy-blonde hair shifting as her purple eyes blinked, "Why are you out of the game so early?"
Lucy hopped from her bed.
"Cause I wanna be."
Lucy grinned as she spun around and faced her television up.
"Did you scour the internet for what I asked?" She asked.
Alice nodded. "I did. The articles I found have been linked to your cloud network."
Lucy stretched.
"Any that stands out?"
"Yes." Alice smiled, face shifting away to reveal the game's website and multiple articles, including one from a website Lucy thought she recognized. "There has been a notice on Eclipse's website as well as a number of articles stating that the game will undergo an update tonight. Specifically, the game is slated to implement a native video and audio recording software, access to the internet while within the game, and an in-game and off-game player market facilitated through Encore."
Lucy raised a brow. Even in this current decade, games still did not seem capable of escaping release-date updates. Though, at the very least, it wasn't due to bugs. Yet, she also had to wonder why the update hadn't been packaged with the release in the first place.
"Thank you," She said, then turned to the next topic, "Is Maria currently in her room?"
"Indeed."
Lucy chuckled.
"Then let's start the operation, before she gets ready for dinner."
The artificial intelligence on the other side of the room grinned with her, both almost about to laugh maniacally. They had originally planned it for 8 pm but, since Lucy was already here, she thought they might as well begin now.
The first thing she did was pull a red box from her desk-drawer then walked to the lefthern side of her bed, opened the mini-fridge, and retrieved out a crudely crafted chocolate cake that had no icing whatsoever.
By the time she turned around, two robots stood before her, both taller. They were made in the shape of humans, but without any distinctive features save for eyes, and entirely bare, their full metal-plastic alloy figures showing.
"I'll take them," Their eyes blinked, Alice's voice sounding through them, and each retrieved an item from her.
Following them downstairs and to the kitchen, Lucy was glared for the conveniences of modern technology. Eclipse aside, she could hardly imagine how others could live without handy robots and an AI to boot. The past must have been a lot harder, she thought, 'And boring.'
She made her way to the kitchen, set up the dinning table, and opened the red box to reveal a '2' and '5' candle within. A lighter. A card. And a smaller box inside.
"Okay okay," She eagerly sat down, "Turn off all the lights and call Maria to the kitchen."
The area dimmed as the robots retreated back into the storage unit of the apartment, likely to enter their charging ports. Lucy's wristwatch briefly flashed.
"She's coming," A whisper reached her.
"Shh," Lucy said.
The sound of footsteps rang and descended the stairs.
"Why is it so dark down here?" Maria's voice resounded, half-part perturbed. "Alice. Turn on the lights."
Nothing happened.
". . .are you broken now of all times?"
She reached and squinted at the dinning area, noticing flames flickering on the tip of two candles.
". . .don't tell me she tried to cook. . ." The maid muttered.
The lights flicked back on.
"Happy twenty-fifth birthday, Maria!" Lucy and Alice's voice combined
Maria blinked her eyes at the chocolate cake, the red box by it, and the card by its other side.
". . .when did you bake the cake?" She narrowed her eyes.
Lucy averted her own.
". . .Alice helped me. . ."
Crossing her arms, the maid was not amused.
"Alice?" She asked.
No reply came her way.
Maria sighed and Lucy patted the seat beside her.
"Sit sit, hurry and open your gift."
Of course, Lucy hadn't stayed up all night previously only to get into the game faster, though that was definitely part of it. Her real reason had been to bake the cake. After all, if Maria had seen her entering the kitchen during the day, the maid would have feared her burning down the entire house, plus the surprise would have been ruined.
Maria bemusedly stared at the situation as she sat down.
She reached for the small red box and opened it.
She raised a brow.
"A necklace? When did you get this, aren't you always gaming?" Maria asked.
Lucy coughed and expertly ignored part of that question.
"I bought it yesterday, on my way home from school," She said, "Ah! I made the card and cake myself though!"
Maria gingerly nodded and reached for the card next, opened it, as her eyes trailed it.
"Well?"
She placed it down to find a nervous looking Lucy staring at her.
Maria smiled and reached out a hand, patting the girl's silver hair.
"I love it, all of it," She said, "Thank you."
Lucy grinned. "You're welcome."
Sometimes, the maid thought, no matter how mature they could act, a 14-year-old was just a 14-year-old. On the other hand, Lucy thought seeing her caretaker's smile so brightly had made it all more than worth it.
The two, in the end, were in the same boat after all. With Lucy's grandparents perpetual busy with her inheritance, and Maria without a place she could call home aside from this, the two were the only close family they each had.
Maria blew out the candles of the cake and removed them.
"What did you wish for?" Lucy asked.
"That's a secret. . ." The caretaker replied, "Now, should we taste this cake of yours?"
Lucy's wristwatch flashed.
"I wouldn't recommend you actually eat it, Miss Williams. I could only prevent her from burning the kitchen down, not save her baking skills."
". . ."
"Hey!"
Maria placed her fork back down as Lucy glared at her watch. Maybe modern technology wasn't so useful after all.
LotsChrono
Discord Server: https://discord.gg/vwKhVUR
Want more interesting stories? Check out my profile.
