Filed to story: Outplayed Story (Brooklyn & Ethan) Book PDF Free
That would be great. I think the challenges will get harder. You need to react quicker. The character is fast, but the reflexes are all yours.
Bravura:
Thank you. I’ll work on it.
He remembered what Flick said to him about how this was more to the newbies than it was to them.
Blaze:
Well done for today. We live to play another round.When Brook took her headset off, Niro was standing next to her, bouncing up and down.
‘You did it! You made it into the next round!’ Niro threw her arms around Brook.
‘I know! I really didn’t expect that. I was so rubbish.’
They jumped up and down a bit more until Brook stopped to pack up the headset.
‘What if you win the big prize?’ asked Niro.
‘I won’t.’ Brook carefully put the headset back in its box. ‘We just got lucky and squeaked in at number eight.’ She sat down and stared at the Syren3 box. ‘I’m glad we did, because I’d have felt terrible if I’d let Blaze down.’
Niro sniffed. ‘He wasn’t very nice to you, was he? Bit snappy, I thought.’
‘Can you blame him? I was awful. I nearly got killed in the first fight with the sloths. I was so slow responding. If he hadn’t pulled me out, I’d have been a goner. We both would. And then the one time when I could have rescued him, I missed. He rescued the situation, but I still missed.’
‘But if you hadn’t grabbed the tablecloth, you’d still be stuck on that monolith.’ Niro put her hands on her hips. ‘He didn’t even acknowledge that. I don’t think this guy is as nice as you seem to think he is.’
‘No. He’s lovely,’ said Brook, firmly. She reopened the box and removed the headset.
‘What are you doing?’
‘I’m sorry, Niro. I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to get some practice in. I said I would. So I must.’
Niro shrugged. ‘Fine by me. Netflix still works on my laptop.’
‘Thanks. You’re wonderful.’ Brook lowered the headset and took herself to the training ground. The second round was the following Monday. She had four days to level up. She was damned well not going to hold Blaze back next time.
It was still dark when Ethan chained his bike in the racks by the side of The Nest. Since his nights were taken up with SyrenQuest, coming into work early was the only way he was going to get everything done. He unclipped his bike helmet and went to the side gate. The main doors didn’t open until eight. It wasn’t quite seven yet.
He swiped himself into the building, dropped his bag off in the office, and went down to the showers. There were two, one at each end of the building. After a stern memo a few years ago, people had stopped leaving their own shampoo and soap in there. These days, Ethan kept his stuff in the office where annoyed cleaners couldn’t chuck it out.
The regular cleaner, Darota, was pushing her trolley down the corridor. Ethan flattened himself against the wall to let her pass.
‘You’re in early,’ Darota said.
‘Work to do.’
She paused and turned. ‘You’re not sleeping in your office again, are you?’
‘Oh come on, I only did that once.’ Ethan peeled himself away from the wall. ‘I’m sure I’m not the only person who’s ever done that.’
Darota grinned. ‘You’d be amazed at the things that I see in this place.’
‘I bet,’ said Ethan. He gave her a wave and carried on towards the showers.
After, he managed almost an hour’s work before his stomach reminded him that he needed breakfast. He went down to the cafeteria and bought a big bowl of porridge and coffee. Spotting Brook sitting by herself, reading something on her phone, he went over.
‘Mind if I join you?’ he asked.
She looked tired and, the way she was sitting hunched over her coffee, dejected.
‘Are you okay?’
Brook nodded and put her phone facedown on the table. ‘Yes. I’m fine. Just a bit tired.’
‘Working late?’
She covered a yawn with the back of her hand. ‘Something like that.’ She glanced over at his breakfast. ‘Oh my god, that smells amazing. Is that porridge with golden syrup?’
‘It certainly is.’ He gave it a stir. Thick and creamy, just the way he liked it. ‘It’s my favourite thing.’
‘I haven’t had porridge in ages. I’ve just had a granola bar. I feel deprived of hot comfort food now.’ She took another sip of her coffee.
‘I could get you a bowl, if you want …’
She shook her head. ‘No. I’ll be fine. I’ve had breakfast, even if it was just a granola bar. But I might treat myself to that tomorrow.’
They sat together, eating and drinking in silence, for a few minutes. It was surprisingly relaxed. Ethan mentally patted himself on the back for not jumping in and filling the silence with something stupid.
‘Do you always come in this early?’ Brook asked him.
‘Not always, but I needed to get my head down today,’ he said. ‘In fact, I’ve been here an hour already. I only came downstairs because I was starving.’
‘Really? Me too.’