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Bone Diggers - Chapter Forty One

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Some parkour was just practice. You had to train and work towards being able to control your movements. But some moves were also a matter of commitment. The gym's fourteen-foot warped wall was one such feat. Charlie ran up three-quarters of the wall in only two steps before jumping to reach the ledge above. Once on top, they moved back to make room on the platform. "Tonight's a big night for the stream, isn't it?"

"Yep," Owen said, without paying too much attention. But it was still somehow too much of his focus. He ran up the wall, but even three steps didn't give him enough boost before he had to bail and slide back down. Owen bounced on his feet to shake off the attempt, and glanced up to Charlie. "There's going to be a guest NPC and everything."

"London is treating you well I see."

Owen ran up the wall again, with solid footing this time, and within seconds was above it all with Charlie. London was alright, but he really didn't want to talk about it. "How's Spain?"

"Pretty good," Charlie said, "Luca is fun to play. She's a different class, but I doubt that's why people treat her differently than Lucas."

"What do you mean?"

Charlie scrunched up their nose debating if they wanted to explain this. "People hit on Luca more," they said, hoping that would explain everything.

Owen took a second. The game's population was mostly female, so you'd think that would prevent some things—like female passing characters being aggressively hit on—but apparently not. Another problem was that Owen didn't know what to say about it. That never happened with Daniel. "No romance for the thieves guild newest, I take it?"

"None for me, nor Luca," Charlie said. "Gotta try to cosmically balance out Daniel's all-consuming romantic attraction."

"How sweet of you." Owen slid down the warped wall again, and got up with a few quick steps.

Charlie sat down on the ledge. "Where are you going?"

"It's past five. I'm gonna be late to fnVR if I don't head over now."

"Oh." Charlie glanced about the gym, wondering if they wanted to hang out here or call it as well. "You should have done a flip and made it interesting for me."

Owen turned around to face Charlie, and placed a hand over his heart. "I'll try to do one tonight, and you'll know that flip was for you."

"Get out of here." Charlie gestured towards the door and laughed. "Happy streaming."

A single taxi ride over and Owen was greeted with a definite "you're late" from Andreah. She didn't have to stream tonight, but she did have to be here. Maybe even more to her annoyance was he wasn't late. There was still another two minutes before he had to log in.

"Oh really, Miss Bourne," Owen said, mirroring the same inflection Jorge had when he said it. It pissed her off every time, and he noticed. "Thank you for the update."

Andreah grabbed her soda, only to frown when it was nearly empty. "Fuck you, Owen."

He gestured up to the headset that was already on. "I'm sorry, can't right now. I don't want to be late."

God dammit, walked into that one. Despite herself, Andreah grinned over at him, thankful he couldn't see.

The fact that Daniel seemed stuck in London for a while was much to the chagrin of Spanish players. Suddenly the game was being promoted, and suddenly events were no longer on their turf. It was a valid concern, but for Owen it was a nice change of pace. It was easier to play without Amilia in a city that didn't remind him that she was missing. When Daniel, Lance, and Chloe got a place together in Britain, some feared the move would be permanent.