Terracotta Contingency

"I'm going to end this call if you don't shut up this instant!" I threatened. I had to remove my earbuds so that I wouldn't be deafened by Teddy's celebratory screeching. Even with them three inches away, I could still Teddy cheering. I felt bad for his roommate.

"Okay, okay," Teddy reassured at a normal volume. I heard him fumbling with his headset while he got back into his seat. "But you have to understand that this is so exciting for me! It's like winning the lottery!"

"I'm just agreeing to play a video game with you," I said in a pacifying tone. "It's nothing worth getting all worked up about."

"Maybe not for you, but for me, this is three and a half years worth of effort paying off. Oh, and I have a low-level alternate account too. I'll be able to join you for the initial missions. Help you get used to the game. "

I g.r.o.a.n.e.d while navigating to the game's website. "You're already making me regret my decision. Anyways, the download is at 'na.terracon.com,' right?"

Without waiting for confirmation, I hit enter on my keyboard. I was greeted by an ill.u.s.tration of an urban battlefield. Soldiers in fatigues and armor were hiding behind the ruins of a collapsed skyscr.a.p.er, firing at an enemy in the distance. After a few seconds, the scene changed to a battle in a forest environment. Below the slideshow were headings for news and patch notes. I didn't scroll down. Instead, my mouse moved to the top right corner where large letters stated, "Play for free now!" with a bright, orange download button.

"Yep," Teddy responded, "The download button should-."

"Yeah, I see it," I interrupted. "Oh, only a five-minute download? We have pretty high internet speeds, but isn't that a bit too fast?"

"The game is huge," Teddy explained. "What you're downloading is the game client. That, in turn, will download and install the game. Because of the constant bug fixes and new content, the client helps keep the game up-to-date. It also acts as the TerraCon community forums and messenger. You can chat with friends without having the game open and interact with the rest of the community and such. There's more, but I'll explain when it becomes relevant. All you have to do right now is get the game installed."

"Can my laptop even handle the game?" I asked.

"Talya," he responded with exasperation, "your 'laptop' is a high-end gaming laptop. Honestly, I don't know where the science bowl competitions are getting their money from. A $1500 laptop for third place. Jeez. Anyways, the graphics card on it is a bit dated, but it should handle the game fine on medium to low settings."

"Alright. Well, it sounds like it's going to be a while either way. You going to stay here the entire time?"

"Eh. No reason not to. It shouldn't take too long. I'll wait."

******

"Gods above and below!" Teddy cursed, "Can you hurry up? You're taking forever, Talya."

I swallowed my mouthful of mac n' cheese. "What? You said you could wait." I took another bite.

"Yeah, through the download and install. That only took 45 minutes. But for the last hour, you've been dawdling on the character creation menu!"

I gulped down the cheesy pasta before responding. "Is that bad? Didn't you joke about how you spent three hours making your character for that Elder Texts Skyedge game or whatever?"

"Skyedge had an advanced character creation system. The plethora of features results in tens of thousands of possible combinations. TerraCon only has twelve traits that are customizable at the start: gender, hairstyle, hair color, eyes, eye color, eyebrows, eyebrow color, nose, mouth, face shape, ears, and skin tone. There's only so much you can do since much of your character's endgame appearance is affected by in-game choices and actions. So I am thoroughly amazed that you can spend seventy minutes configuring these few choices."

As Teddy ranted, I took my time scraping together the last spoonful of mac n' cheese. I chewed slowly, savoring the cheddar flavor. Tossing the plastic containing into my trash can, I took a swig of water before settling back at my seat and responding. "Chill out, Teddy Bear. I'm almost done. A few more minutes and... Wait."

"Huh?"

My lips curled into a smile upon hearing Teddy's confusion. "You can have heterochromia eyes?" I gasped in delight. "The possibilities!"

"GAAAAHHH!"

Following Teddy's wail of frustration, was a loud THUNK. I could only assume it was his head meeting his desk. I snickered and continued to play around in the character customization menu.

******

I spun the model of my character a full 360 degrees before leaning back into my chair with a smile. I was finally happy with my in-game avatar.

A pair of mismatched eyes stared back through the screen. The right iris was electric blue. The left was a warm hazel. Her ash grey hair was tied back into a small ponytail. Her bangs were swept to her right so that it wouldn't obstruct her view. She had a petite mouth with thin lips. At the moment, they were curled to form a sly, mischevious smile.

"Done!" I informed Teddy.

"Finally! What's your IGN?" Teddy responded. "I'll add you as a friend."

"IGN?" I asked.

"It stands for in-game name, also known as a gamertag."

"I didn't see an option for a name," I replied innocently. But sure enough, when I clicked the completed button, a popup box asked me for a name. "Oh, I see it now. Let me think of one!"

Whimpers emanated from Teddy's side. Ignoring them, I leaned back in my chair. Names were important, no matter the situation. Beyond simply referring to a person or object, it gives them an identity. I thought about why I decided to play TerraCon. Was it really because I had nothing better to do?

No. I'm was tired. Tired of the coursework. Tired of the monotony in my daily routine of classes, homework, and sleep. I wanted to do something to have fun. To let loose. To do something I'd never done before. Something bold and exciting. I wanted... to go on an adventure.

With that realization, I suddenly thought of a story from a manga Miyu shared with me before she was completely immersed in her studying. A story about a girl and her friend going on a one-way journey to meet her mother in the depths of the netherworld. A name came to me and I typed it in.

ShiroFue.

With a smile on my face, I pressed enter. And just as quickly, my smile disappeared.

"Damn it," I swore out loud.

"What?" Teddy asked, startled.

"The name I wanted was already taken."