Joyce sighed as she closed the door behind her. She slipped off her shoes and padded to the kitchen, tossing her keys onto the counter with a metallic rattle. Tonight was supposed to be a fun night. After the last few weeks of nonstop studying, she had been looking forward to a night out to celebrate the end of midterms. But her friends had a little too much to drink and she ended up taking care of them for most of the night instead of getting wasted herself. Perks of being a heavyweight drinker, Joyce lamented. Then, just now, she had passed Daniel in the hallway. Joyce knew he was one of Rebecca's closest friends, but she never really got along with him. Part of the reason was that Daniel was always trying to hit on her, and even when he wasn't, she could feel him staring at her, his eyes studying her body. Needless to say, she wasn't a fan.
Grabbing herself a bottle of vodka, Joyce walked over into the living room and dropped onto the couch next to Rebecca.
"What's with that VR thing?" Joyce nodded towards the sleek headset resting on the coffee table.
"Hmm?" Rebecca murmured absentmindedly.
Rolling her eyes, Joyce grabbed the headset and waved it in front of Rebecca. "This headset."
Rebecca's head jerked up, her eyes snapping to the headset before she visibly relaxed back into the couch.
"Oh, that's the final project for our game design class. Daniel finished it today and brought it over for some testing," Rebecca replied nonchalantly.
Joyce raised an eyebrow. "Is this that class that you asked for like fifteen extensions? I hate to say it, but this project might be a lost cause. I remember some of the early demos you showed me, and if this is anything like that..."
Rebecca snatched the headset back. "I only asked for three extensions, thank you very much," she huffed. "And no, this is way different. Daniel completely redid the entire thing. It only needed some calibration at the beginning, but other than that, it's actually really good."
"Huh," Joyce said, taking a swig from her bottle. "That's good, I guess. I hope it's as good as you say, since, you know, you kinda need it to be in order to not fail." She grinned at Rebecca.
"Shut up, I'm not going to fail," Rebecca pouted. "It's a good game."
"I'm kidding, I'm sure you'll be okay," Joyce laughed. "So tell me then, what's so good about the game?"
"Umm, it has, um, it's really..." Rebecca stammered. "...I...I'm not too sure actually."
Joyce paused mid-drink. "You're not sure?"
"I just know it's good," Rebecca said sheepishly. "And it was my first time playing it, you know how I am at forgetting things. I guess it slipped my mind or something."
Joyce shook her head ruefully. "Maybe you should test it a little bit more, make sure it's as good as you remember. Or don't remember."
Rebecca laughed embarrassedly. "Yea, maybe you're right." She nodded to the bottle clutched in Joyce's hand. "What about you though? Tough night?"
"Don't even get me started," Joyce groaned.
...
A few hours, and many drinks later, Joyce was passed out on the couch in a drunken stupor, while Rebecca sat on the floor, mulling over the headset she held in her hands.
Why couldn't she remember why she thought the game was so good? In fact, why couldn't she even remember what the game was about? How could she know the game was good if she didn't even know what it was? She must've played it. She knew she liked the game, so she must have played it. But why couldn't she remember? Groaning, Rebecca pulled herself up and slipped into her room. She could always just play it again.
Sitting at her desk, she held the headset to her face and pressed the power button. A swirl of bright, pulsing colors welcomed her back. Rebecca sighed contentedly. The colors are so nice. So calming. It's so easy to let any thoughts drift away. So easy to just get lost in the colors. Daniel really did a good job with the calibration sequence. Rebecca felt like she could spend hours on the calibration screen, staring into the colors, and not even need to play the game...wait...wait, this was...this was the calibration. Not the game. But it couldn't hurt to look at the pretty colors for just a little longer right...
Her finger slowly grazed the power button. No, she had to play the game. Can't get distracted again.
She pressed down. The screen went dark. Slowly, she lowered the headset.
That calibration is really relaxing, Rebecca thought sluggishly. My brain feels so fuzzy. The colors were so nice to look at...why did I stop? Oh. Right. The game.
She sat there for a few more minutes trying to collect herself, before finally feeling awake enough to text Daniel.
...
R: hey im trying to play the game again, but the calibration sequence is showing instead. is the game in one of these other modes?
Her phone buzzed. Daniel replied immediately.
D: wait I'll call you, the setup is a little complicated, I'll walk you through it
...
On cue, Rebecca's phone lit up. Putting in her earbuds, she swiped to pick up the video call.
"Hey Daniel, thanks for offering to help!"
...
On the other end of the call, Daniel's heart raced. Why did Rebecca want to try the game so soon already? Did she see the calibration sequence? Did she try any of the other modes? And where's Joyce? What if Joyce saw her go into trance? Am I fucked??
He focused on Rebecca's face filling up his screen and tried to steady himself.
"Yea, of course. The game should've played automatically, but you said you got stuck on calibrating?"
Rebecca's brow furrowed. "Oh, that's weird then. The first thing that popped up was the calibration again, but I already did that before."
Daniel feigned concern. "Hm, maybe I coded it wrong, so that the calibration restarts every time. Did you turn off the headset maybe?"
"Ah, wait, I did when Joyce came back. You think that might be why?" Rebecca asked earnestly.
"Yea, I'm guessing that could be a reason you have to get calibrated again..." Daniel pretended to be deep in thought. "...Oh, and speaking of Joyce, does she wanna try the game? We could use more playtesters, let us polish it up before we send it in to Parker."
"Right now?" Rebecca laughed. "Joyce is currently blacked out on the couch, but I'll pass along the offer."
Whew. Joyce hadn't caught Rebecca falling into trance. One obstacle out of the way...and maybe the beginnings of an opportunity...but not something to think about right now.
