Uncertainty
by Phantasy Star
---------------------
Part Two: Up and Down
CHAPTER SEVEN
I scratched the back of my head in frustration.
I was stumped for ideas on my project.
On top of that, the apartment was a mess, and Andrew and I were back to eating
canned foods breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
We got a letter a few days ago from Serena, but it was very brief. She said that
she was having a wonderful time and couldn't wait to see us again.
Well, she said she couldn't wait to see Andrew again.
Because the letter was actually addressed to him.
But she did mention something about saying "Hi" to Darien.
Anyway, I had decided to make my project an RPG, or a role-playing game, which was
basically a game with a story. I had managed to work out the characters and a
good but unoriginal plot. But somehow, it wasn't the same as other games.
What was missing?
"It's... flat," Andrew said when I had asked him, "There's... There's no
emotions behind the game..."
"Emotions?" I echoed. What did programming a game have to do with emotions?
"Well," Andrew said, "Playing an RPG is like reading a book. The player should
feel for the characters in the game... become the characters, even. And it just
doesn't seem to work with your game."
"It's a game for kids, Andrew," I said, "But I'll think about what you said.
I've got nothing to lose."
Over the next few days, I tried to put my some drama into the game. Throw
in a couple of deeper thoughts here and there. But it all seemed pretty lame.
CHAPTER EIGHT
A few weeks later, Andrew came to me with the news that he was going on vacation.
He said that he needed to get out for a while.
About a week later, he was off to Hawaii (where else do people go on vacation?),
and the number of roommates I had was reduced to zero.
I came home late one night. Mechanically sitting down in front of the computer,
I sighed. It was nice to have the whole place to myself, but I suddenly realized
something disturbing: The only people I've been interacting with for the past week
were the stupid characters in my game.
The phone rang.
"Hi Darien!"
I mentally ran down a list of people I knew who had an annoyingly high voice.
"Mina?"
"That's right," my sister said laughing, "How's my favourite little brother?"
I had met Mina at the orphanage where I had grown up, and we've called each other
brother and sister for as long as I can remember.
"'Been better," I said honestly.
I don't think she heard me, "Listen, Darien, honey, I need a little favour from
you."
I groaned. Seemed like a lot of people have been needing "little favours" from
me lately.
"I need to go to Shanghai for, like, a couple of days, to help out a girlfriend
of mine. And Jordan is still in Tokyo on business. So there's, like, no one to
take care of Jordan Junior."
Jordan was my brother-in-law and Jordan Junior was my three-year-old nephew.
"So take him to your parents. You said they always love to have him there."
"They're in Macau right now..."
Here's where the favour came in, I realized.
"You're asking me to take care of a baby?"
"Um, yeah, basically."
"What do I know about two-year-olds?" I protested.
"I'll give you instructions, obviously," she said, as if I had said something
stupid, "It's so easy and so much fun! Please?"
I had a thought that maybe Jordan could keep me company for a while. I was
that desperate for any kind of human interaction.
"I don't know..." I said, still uncertain, "Are you sure there's no one else?"
"I'm sure, why do you think I called you?"
That was a nice thing to say.
"All right," I said, "Just for a day or two, right?"
"Right, I'll drop him off tomorrow."
CHAPTER NINE
"Bah."
I looked at Jordan. He had both of his arms outstretched, waiting for me to pick
him up.
I took him out of the crib that my sister had provided me, and played with him for
a while. I heaved him up, then brought him back down. And up, and down, and up,
and down. Soon, he was laughing hysterically. I think I was laughing too.
(I read in a magazine a few days later that swinging a baby around like that can
actually damage his head, and one third of these babies suffer from brain problems
later on in life... Good thing Mina wasn't here to see me lower her son's IQ.)
Maybe looking after Jordan won't be so bad after all.
My sister was right, he was very well-behaved. I had no problem with him during our
first half-hour alone. And he was only here for the weekend and Monday, so I
wouldn't have to take more than a day off.
I put the excited baby back into the crib, putting an old teddy bear into his arms.
I needed to get to work, I told him.
He looked at me with wide eyes, blinking as if confused.
I sat down in front of the computer and began to type.
A few minutes later - "Waaaaaaaaahhhh!"
I went quickly to his crib.
"What's wrong, big guy?" I asked him.
He didn't answer.
"Are you hungry?"
I handed him a biscuit, but he pushed it away, still crying.
"Are you sleepy?"
I picked him up and rocked him back and forth for a while in my arms, but he
didn't stop his bawling.
"Oh no, are you sick?"
What if he had a fever? Has he caught the flu going around? What was I going
to do? Should I take him to the doctor?
Jordan was looking really distressed.
Better safe than sorry.
I grabbed my green jacket and began throwing some clothes on Jordan.
Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.
Mina!
I flew to the door. I opened it to find not my sister, but Serena standing on the
other side, looking the same as she did when she left, but even more stylish.
A dream? I pinched myself.
"Surprise!" she said.
"What are you doing here?" I stuttered, after my ears stopped ringing.
She put on a pouting look, "Yeah, well, I missed you too. I just got back from the
tour, in case you've forgotten."
"So, where's Andrew?" she asked cheerfully, having recovered from her brief moment of
fury.
"Not here."
Then she peered over my side, "Um, I don't remember a baby living here."
I stepped aside to let her see the still-crying two-year-old behind me, "My
nephew, Jordan."
"Oh, he's so cute!" she said in the way that all girls do.
Then she walked over to the blubbering baby, now crying and hiccuping at the same
time, "What's wrong, Jordan?"
"I don't know," I answered for him, "I think he's coming down with something.
I'm taking him to the doctor's. Want to come?"
For some reason, I really wanted her to say yes. I have to admit I was scared
about handling the situation myself.
"Oh, he needs to be changed." She said casually.
What?
"Changed?" I asked.
"Yeah, Darien. Babies don't go to the bathroom to do their business. They kind
of, well, they do it right where they are."
Oh.
CHAPTER TEN
In a few minutes, Jordan (or Jordie, a nickname Serena made up for him) had quieted
down, and was sleeping peacefully in his crib. I went into the kitchen and got
out two mugs of hot chocolate for her and me.
"So, where are you living now?" I asked her, joining her on the couch.
"I haven't really found a place yet," she admitted, "So I figured I'd live here for
another couple of months, but... Now that Andrew's not here, it's only going to be me
and you, and that's... that's..."
She trailed off, so I finished for her, "Awkward."
"Yeah."
The word "awkward" seemed to take effect immediately, and we sat silently for a
minute.
Then I realized that I wanted her to stay for a while longer, because that I was getting
tired of living alone, probably.
"Well," I started, "There _is_ a baby here. What can happen?"
She looked thoughtful.
"Yeah," she nodded, "Not like it's only you and me."
"And, you know, that's not even something we'd consider. I mean, we're not exactly
good friends to start with."
"Yeah, we hate each other. You're a conceited, self-centered jerk."
"Yeah, and you're a clumsy ditz."
For the first time, she didn't react to my insult. Instead, she picked up Jordan who
had just woken up to stare at us in bewilderment, as if he was listening to our
conversation.
"You're going to need me here, aren't you Jordie?" Serena said, holding him up,
"I wouldn't trust you with your dim-witted uncle here."
"Hey, I can take care of him fine," I protested, "But I'll let you stay."
"So it's settled then?" she said with a smile, "I'm going to unpack."
* * *
Jordan was actually quiet for the rest of the evening.
But later that night, when Serena was out buying groceries (I had nothing in the
fridge but half a can of pop) and I was finishing up work - "Waaaaaaaaahhhh!!"
I began to think.
Maybe... Maybe if I covered up the box with a blanket, he'll think it's
nighttime and stop crying. That was how you put a bird to sleep, by covering
its cage with a towel.
I found a blanket and put it over the crib. To my amazement, Jordan was quiet
for a minute. I quickly sat down and continued working.
As I had predicted, I didn't need Serena, I could handle Jordan all by myself.
A half hour later, when my eyes were starting to hurt staring at the computer,
I heard a sound.
A small cough.
I sat up, fully awake now.
Uh-oh.
I ran to the crib and threw off the blanket.
Jordan had his eyes shut.
Was he always this pale?
First thought: Is he okay?
Second thought: Oh my goodness, is he dead? Have I suffocated my only nephew?
"Waaaaaaaaahhhh!!"
He was okay.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
"I'm going out to buy grocceries" was what she said that Saturday night. Yeah
right. She returned with big colourful bags of baby clothes and toys.
To my amazement, Jordan cooperated with Serena while she tried seven sets of
outfits on him.
I used the time to get some work done.
"The light blue one," she said, "That one is definitely the best."
I nodded, paying more attention to the monitor than to her.
A moment later -- "Nope, I was wrong" she announced, "This one matches him
even better. It's perfect!"
"Great," I said, not even bothering to look enthusiastic.
"C'mon, Darien, take a look!"
I turned around and looked, then found my mouth hanging open in horror.
Serena had dressed my nephew dressed in pink and yellow clothes with bunnies all over!
"That's a girl's outfit!" I cried, alarmed.
I immediately went to rescue poor Jordan, who looked more like Jodice or something now.
"No it's not!" she protested, "It's unisex!"
"Pink and yellow are _not_ unisex," I told her as I unzipped the zipper on the little
pink shirt.
"A lot of women find men in pink attractive."
"Probably a lot more _men_ find men in pink attractive."
She was berated.
"You know what?" she said, "Forget it. I'm not about to argue clothing with a
person with no fashion sense what-so-ever."
After several other incidents like that, I was starting to regret letting her
help me with Jordan. When I criticized her babysitting abilities, she would give
me long lectures as to how she was trying her best and that I wouldn't be able to
do better if the paid me. Or something like that.
I wondered how I could have ever missed her.
Wait, I never did, did I?
* * *
That night, while Serena was in the bathroom, I fixed Jordan a bottle and watched
him take it. Somehow I envied him. Everything was simple. He cried when
he was hungry, sleepy, or needed to be changed. No worries beyond that.
But there are a lot of good things in life he was missing too, I guess. Like the
feeling of accomplishment. Friendship. Love.
Along with a lot of doubt and worry.
I began to wonder why I was feeling a tugging inside of me. I was confused, almost.
As if there was something bothering me, but I couldn't even grasp what the problem was.
I sighed.
"Bah," Jordan said softly, looking at me with those big eyes of his.
"Don't worry, Jordan," I told him, "I'm fine. Just thinking, that's all."
He turned his head a little, still not completely reassured, but went back to his
milk. When he was done, I burped him and put him to bed.
* * *
The coming Monday, Mina came by as promised and picked Jordan up. While I was
glad to be single with no children again, I was going to miss the little guy.
But not as much as Serena, who shared a tearful goodbye with Jordie.
"Are you sure you don't want me to pay you back for all the clothes you bought
him?" Mina asked.
Serena shook her head, still looking sad, "It's okay. They're my gifts
to Jordie."
"Well, thank you," Mina said, looking wistfully at us two babysitters,
"So you know my brother pretty well, huh?"
"Oh no, I'm just here for Jordie. Darien doesn't know what to do with him."
"That's not true," I said, "She needed a place to stay 'cuz she's sort of
homeless right now."
She glared at me.
If she wasn't holding a baby, she would probably have punched me then and there.
"Well, you be good now," she told Jordan, handing him over to my sister.
"Listen to your mum," I added, "and don't get into any trouble."
"Bah," Jordan said in response.
We watched Mina as she and Jordan drove out of the building.
"Cute kid," Serena said softly, with a faint smile on her lips.
I nodded.
I don't remember how long we just stood there, but soon, Serena was walking back
into the building and I was following closely behind her.
CHAPTER TWELVE
I was worried that Serena would move out now that Jordan was gone, but she didn't
mention it, so I didn't either.
During the day, she spent most of the time in her room, practicing. Sometimes when
I came home at night, I could hear beautiful violin music through her door.
Now that Andrew was gone, I decided to let her be my official game tester.
To my surprise, she said the same thing Andrew did, but was more specific.
"See, this part," she said, "where the hero meets the girl, we need a bit more
drama there. There is obviously some chemistry between the two."
"It's a kid's game," I told her, "Not a romance novel."
"Well, it's never too early for a little romance..." she said thoughtfully.
I groaned.
She played my game for a while longer, and I was excited to see she was somewhat
into it.
"Don't look over my shoulder," she said, "I get nervous."
I went into my room.
* * *
A few days later, I brought my game to my colleague Steve's house. He was a
professional game designer, so I thought he would be able to help. The first
thing he noticed about the RPG was that there was no sound.
"I'll work on that later," I had said.
"You should do it as you go through," he advised, "Music is just as important a
component as the plot. An RPG without sound is like an ice-cream cone without
the ice-cream."
Right...
I faked an agreeing nod and hid a growing smile. Poor Steve has obviously spent
too much time in front of the monitor.
That night, I went home tired and frustrated. The project was taking up more of
my time than I had intended it to.
"How's the game going?" Serena asked when I came into the apartment.
"Still working on it," I said, "I need some music. Because, apparently, a game
without sound is like an ice-cream cone without ice-cream."
She decided not to comment on that, "Sure, Darien... But you know, all ice-cream
aside, I might be able to help you with that music thing..."
by Phantasy Star
---------------------
Part Two: Up and Down
CHAPTER SEVEN
I scratched the back of my head in frustration.
I was stumped for ideas on my project.
On top of that, the apartment was a mess, and Andrew and I were back to eating
canned foods breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
We got a letter a few days ago from Serena, but it was very brief. She said that
she was having a wonderful time and couldn't wait to see us again.
Well, she said she couldn't wait to see Andrew again.
Because the letter was actually addressed to him.
But she did mention something about saying "Hi" to Darien.
Anyway, I had decided to make my project an RPG, or a role-playing game, which was
basically a game with a story. I had managed to work out the characters and a
good but unoriginal plot. But somehow, it wasn't the same as other games.
What was missing?
"It's... flat," Andrew said when I had asked him, "There's... There's no
emotions behind the game..."
"Emotions?" I echoed. What did programming a game have to do with emotions?
"Well," Andrew said, "Playing an RPG is like reading a book. The player should
feel for the characters in the game... become the characters, even. And it just
doesn't seem to work with your game."
"It's a game for kids, Andrew," I said, "But I'll think about what you said.
I've got nothing to lose."
Over the next few days, I tried to put my some drama into the game. Throw
in a couple of deeper thoughts here and there. But it all seemed pretty lame.
CHAPTER EIGHT
A few weeks later, Andrew came to me with the news that he was going on vacation.
He said that he needed to get out for a while.
About a week later, he was off to Hawaii (where else do people go on vacation?),
and the number of roommates I had was reduced to zero.
I came home late one night. Mechanically sitting down in front of the computer,
I sighed. It was nice to have the whole place to myself, but I suddenly realized
something disturbing: The only people I've been interacting with for the past week
were the stupid characters in my game.
The phone rang.
"Hi Darien!"
I mentally ran down a list of people I knew who had an annoyingly high voice.
"Mina?"
"That's right," my sister said laughing, "How's my favourite little brother?"
I had met Mina at the orphanage where I had grown up, and we've called each other
brother and sister for as long as I can remember.
"'Been better," I said honestly.
I don't think she heard me, "Listen, Darien, honey, I need a little favour from
you."
I groaned. Seemed like a lot of people have been needing "little favours" from
me lately.
"I need to go to Shanghai for, like, a couple of days, to help out a girlfriend
of mine. And Jordan is still in Tokyo on business. So there's, like, no one to
take care of Jordan Junior."
Jordan was my brother-in-law and Jordan Junior was my three-year-old nephew.
"So take him to your parents. You said they always love to have him there."
"They're in Macau right now..."
Here's where the favour came in, I realized.
"You're asking me to take care of a baby?"
"Um, yeah, basically."
"What do I know about two-year-olds?" I protested.
"I'll give you instructions, obviously," she said, as if I had said something
stupid, "It's so easy and so much fun! Please?"
I had a thought that maybe Jordan could keep me company for a while. I was
that desperate for any kind of human interaction.
"I don't know..." I said, still uncertain, "Are you sure there's no one else?"
"I'm sure, why do you think I called you?"
That was a nice thing to say.
"All right," I said, "Just for a day or two, right?"
"Right, I'll drop him off tomorrow."
CHAPTER NINE
"Bah."
I looked at Jordan. He had both of his arms outstretched, waiting for me to pick
him up.
I took him out of the crib that my sister had provided me, and played with him for
a while. I heaved him up, then brought him back down. And up, and down, and up,
and down. Soon, he was laughing hysterically. I think I was laughing too.
(I read in a magazine a few days later that swinging a baby around like that can
actually damage his head, and one third of these babies suffer from brain problems
later on in life... Good thing Mina wasn't here to see me lower her son's IQ.)
Maybe looking after Jordan won't be so bad after all.
My sister was right, he was very well-behaved. I had no problem with him during our
first half-hour alone. And he was only here for the weekend and Monday, so I
wouldn't have to take more than a day off.
I put the excited baby back into the crib, putting an old teddy bear into his arms.
I needed to get to work, I told him.
He looked at me with wide eyes, blinking as if confused.
I sat down in front of the computer and began to type.
A few minutes later - "Waaaaaaaaahhhh!"
I went quickly to his crib.
"What's wrong, big guy?" I asked him.
He didn't answer.
"Are you hungry?"
I handed him a biscuit, but he pushed it away, still crying.
"Are you sleepy?"
I picked him up and rocked him back and forth for a while in my arms, but he
didn't stop his bawling.
"Oh no, are you sick?"
What if he had a fever? Has he caught the flu going around? What was I going
to do? Should I take him to the doctor?
Jordan was looking really distressed.
Better safe than sorry.
I grabbed my green jacket and began throwing some clothes on Jordan.
Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.
Mina!
I flew to the door. I opened it to find not my sister, but Serena standing on the
other side, looking the same as she did when she left, but even more stylish.
A dream? I pinched myself.
"Surprise!" she said.
"What are you doing here?" I stuttered, after my ears stopped ringing.
She put on a pouting look, "Yeah, well, I missed you too. I just got back from the
tour, in case you've forgotten."
"So, where's Andrew?" she asked cheerfully, having recovered from her brief moment of
fury.
"Not here."
Then she peered over my side, "Um, I don't remember a baby living here."
I stepped aside to let her see the still-crying two-year-old behind me, "My
nephew, Jordan."
"Oh, he's so cute!" she said in the way that all girls do.
Then she walked over to the blubbering baby, now crying and hiccuping at the same
time, "What's wrong, Jordan?"
"I don't know," I answered for him, "I think he's coming down with something.
I'm taking him to the doctor's. Want to come?"
For some reason, I really wanted her to say yes. I have to admit I was scared
about handling the situation myself.
"Oh, he needs to be changed." She said casually.
What?
"Changed?" I asked.
"Yeah, Darien. Babies don't go to the bathroom to do their business. They kind
of, well, they do it right where they are."
Oh.
CHAPTER TEN
In a few minutes, Jordan (or Jordie, a nickname Serena made up for him) had quieted
down, and was sleeping peacefully in his crib. I went into the kitchen and got
out two mugs of hot chocolate for her and me.
"So, where are you living now?" I asked her, joining her on the couch.
"I haven't really found a place yet," she admitted, "So I figured I'd live here for
another couple of months, but... Now that Andrew's not here, it's only going to be me
and you, and that's... that's..."
She trailed off, so I finished for her, "Awkward."
"Yeah."
The word "awkward" seemed to take effect immediately, and we sat silently for a
minute.
Then I realized that I wanted her to stay for a while longer, because that I was getting
tired of living alone, probably.
"Well," I started, "There _is_ a baby here. What can happen?"
She looked thoughtful.
"Yeah," she nodded, "Not like it's only you and me."
"And, you know, that's not even something we'd consider. I mean, we're not exactly
good friends to start with."
"Yeah, we hate each other. You're a conceited, self-centered jerk."
"Yeah, and you're a clumsy ditz."
For the first time, she didn't react to my insult. Instead, she picked up Jordan who
had just woken up to stare at us in bewilderment, as if he was listening to our
conversation.
"You're going to need me here, aren't you Jordie?" Serena said, holding him up,
"I wouldn't trust you with your dim-witted uncle here."
"Hey, I can take care of him fine," I protested, "But I'll let you stay."
"So it's settled then?" she said with a smile, "I'm going to unpack."
* * *
Jordan was actually quiet for the rest of the evening.
But later that night, when Serena was out buying groceries (I had nothing in the
fridge but half a can of pop) and I was finishing up work - "Waaaaaaaaahhhh!!"
I began to think.
Maybe... Maybe if I covered up the box with a blanket, he'll think it's
nighttime and stop crying. That was how you put a bird to sleep, by covering
its cage with a towel.
I found a blanket and put it over the crib. To my amazement, Jordan was quiet
for a minute. I quickly sat down and continued working.
As I had predicted, I didn't need Serena, I could handle Jordan all by myself.
A half hour later, when my eyes were starting to hurt staring at the computer,
I heard a sound.
A small cough.
I sat up, fully awake now.
Uh-oh.
I ran to the crib and threw off the blanket.
Jordan had his eyes shut.
Was he always this pale?
First thought: Is he okay?
Second thought: Oh my goodness, is he dead? Have I suffocated my only nephew?
"Waaaaaaaaahhhh!!"
He was okay.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
"I'm going out to buy grocceries" was what she said that Saturday night. Yeah
right. She returned with big colourful bags of baby clothes and toys.
To my amazement, Jordan cooperated with Serena while she tried seven sets of
outfits on him.
I used the time to get some work done.
"The light blue one," she said, "That one is definitely the best."
I nodded, paying more attention to the monitor than to her.
A moment later -- "Nope, I was wrong" she announced, "This one matches him
even better. It's perfect!"
"Great," I said, not even bothering to look enthusiastic.
"C'mon, Darien, take a look!"
I turned around and looked, then found my mouth hanging open in horror.
Serena had dressed my nephew dressed in pink and yellow clothes with bunnies all over!
"That's a girl's outfit!" I cried, alarmed.
I immediately went to rescue poor Jordan, who looked more like Jodice or something now.
"No it's not!" she protested, "It's unisex!"
"Pink and yellow are _not_ unisex," I told her as I unzipped the zipper on the little
pink shirt.
"A lot of women find men in pink attractive."
"Probably a lot more _men_ find men in pink attractive."
She was berated.
"You know what?" she said, "Forget it. I'm not about to argue clothing with a
person with no fashion sense what-so-ever."
After several other incidents like that, I was starting to regret letting her
help me with Jordan. When I criticized her babysitting abilities, she would give
me long lectures as to how she was trying her best and that I wouldn't be able to
do better if the paid me. Or something like that.
I wondered how I could have ever missed her.
Wait, I never did, did I?
* * *
That night, while Serena was in the bathroom, I fixed Jordan a bottle and watched
him take it. Somehow I envied him. Everything was simple. He cried when
he was hungry, sleepy, or needed to be changed. No worries beyond that.
But there are a lot of good things in life he was missing too, I guess. Like the
feeling of accomplishment. Friendship. Love.
Along with a lot of doubt and worry.
I began to wonder why I was feeling a tugging inside of me. I was confused, almost.
As if there was something bothering me, but I couldn't even grasp what the problem was.
I sighed.
"Bah," Jordan said softly, looking at me with those big eyes of his.
"Don't worry, Jordan," I told him, "I'm fine. Just thinking, that's all."
He turned his head a little, still not completely reassured, but went back to his
milk. When he was done, I burped him and put him to bed.
* * *
The coming Monday, Mina came by as promised and picked Jordan up. While I was
glad to be single with no children again, I was going to miss the little guy.
But not as much as Serena, who shared a tearful goodbye with Jordie.
"Are you sure you don't want me to pay you back for all the clothes you bought
him?" Mina asked.
Serena shook her head, still looking sad, "It's okay. They're my gifts
to Jordie."
"Well, thank you," Mina said, looking wistfully at us two babysitters,
"So you know my brother pretty well, huh?"
"Oh no, I'm just here for Jordie. Darien doesn't know what to do with him."
"That's not true," I said, "She needed a place to stay 'cuz she's sort of
homeless right now."
She glared at me.
If she wasn't holding a baby, she would probably have punched me then and there.
"Well, you be good now," she told Jordan, handing him over to my sister.
"Listen to your mum," I added, "and don't get into any trouble."
"Bah," Jordan said in response.
We watched Mina as she and Jordan drove out of the building.
"Cute kid," Serena said softly, with a faint smile on her lips.
I nodded.
I don't remember how long we just stood there, but soon, Serena was walking back
into the building and I was following closely behind her.
CHAPTER TWELVE
I was worried that Serena would move out now that Jordan was gone, but she didn't
mention it, so I didn't either.
During the day, she spent most of the time in her room, practicing. Sometimes when
I came home at night, I could hear beautiful violin music through her door.
Now that Andrew was gone, I decided to let her be my official game tester.
To my surprise, she said the same thing Andrew did, but was more specific.
"See, this part," she said, "where the hero meets the girl, we need a bit more
drama there. There is obviously some chemistry between the two."
"It's a kid's game," I told her, "Not a romance novel."
"Well, it's never too early for a little romance..." she said thoughtfully.
I groaned.
She played my game for a while longer, and I was excited to see she was somewhat
into it.
"Don't look over my shoulder," she said, "I get nervous."
I went into my room.
* * *
A few days later, I brought my game to my colleague Steve's house. He was a
professional game designer, so I thought he would be able to help. The first
thing he noticed about the RPG was that there was no sound.
"I'll work on that later," I had said.
"You should do it as you go through," he advised, "Music is just as important a
component as the plot. An RPG without sound is like an ice-cream cone without
the ice-cream."
Right...
I faked an agreeing nod and hid a growing smile. Poor Steve has obviously spent
too much time in front of the monitor.
That night, I went home tired and frustrated. The project was taking up more of
my time than I had intended it to.
"How's the game going?" Serena asked when I came into the apartment.
"Still working on it," I said, "I need some music. Because, apparently, a game
without sound is like an ice-cream cone without ice-cream."
She decided not to comment on that, "Sure, Darien... But you know, all ice-cream
aside, I might be able to help you with that music thing..."