The Mysterious Rattle 14

Original Idea: Sophiie93

Copy Editor: Leena (@myLifeIsARPG)

James felt good the next day. His shoulders felt lighter. The stress and tension was gone. That conversation with Melany was just what he needed. Maybe things would work out after all. He went to work with a smile on his face, letting Melany sleep in.

He went about his work as normal, wondering what steps he would take with Melany next.

“James…”

Maybe he could help her find a good place to live.

“James!”

Or they could go clothes shopping again, that would be nice-

“JAMES!”

“Huh what? Who?” he looked up from his cubicle to see Tom tapping his watch.

“Look at the time man! We have the conference with the new director today!”

“Oh crap!” James said gathering up some papers. “I was distracted, let’s go.”

“Thinking about the mutant girl at-“

“Stop! Tom. Not now.” James hushed him up. He had already had enough of his lectures.

“You know she has to-“

“We had the talk. She’s registering for school today.” James said, cutting him off again.

“Wow, uh… OK. Cool. I guess, congratulate her for me?”

The two had an awkwardly silent walk to the conference room door.

“Oh good it hasn’t started yet,” came a voice from behind them. It was Caroline, carrying her own binder of notes and charts.

“Oh, hey Caroline…” James said nervously. “No it seems the boss hasn’t gotten here yet. Should we sit down?”

The three opened the door and took their seats. It took another 15 minutes for their boss to show up, along with some important investors. They always were fashionably late.

“Let’s take a look at the market trends,” their project director said. “As you can see, the light novel ‘I became a samurai in my own game!’ has broken sales records. It has been picked up for an anime adaptation and there are talks for all sorts of merchandising, from pop-up cafes to stage shows. Why do you think that is?”

Everyone was silent for a while until James meekly raised his hand. “Uhm, because the main character is a mutant?”

“Right! Mutants!” the director said excitedly. “Mutants are very big right now. They are a demographic with a lot of purchasing power that has rarely seen representation in games and media. Not to mention, non-mutants for some reason love em. Maybe it’s the exotic allure. Hydra Games needs to get on this trend,” he said banging his hand against the whiteboard. “So step one, we make a game with a mutant protagonist. Any ideas?”

Caroline raised her hand, “How about a mutant with dragon features?”

“Go on,” said the director with piqued but skeptical interest.

“We were kicking around ideas for a medieval fantasy style game, right? Well dragon features would fit right in to that setting. We could give her two heads and six arms. It would allow her to essentially have two classes at once. Think of Cho’Gall from Warcraft, where one’s a mage and one’s a fighter, except we let the player choose what classes to be. We open it up with a really intricate equipment system. Let them use different weapons in each hand. Really make being a mutant protagonist feel different from a standard human one.”

Caroline went about sketching the new character concept as the director listened along. “That’s certainly a fresh take. We could make it work.”

As Caroline’s sketch became closer and closer to complete, James froze up. He knew exactly where Caroline got her inspiration from.

“Look familiar?” Tom whispered. James gulped and nodded.

The meeting went on for some time with James and Tom fading into the background. Caroline’s idea was a hit, both with the direct and the investors. They came up with a mutant with two heads, six arms, two large wings, and a dragon tail named Shize. She would wander the world awakening mutant specific powers based on different colored dragons. The details would be hashed out in further planning meetings.

James went back to his desk and nearly melted in his chair.

“Sooooo….” Tom said with a hesitant tone.

“It can’t be a coincidence!” James said. “She met Melany the other day and Shize looks just like her!”

“Looks just like who?”

“YEEP!” James practically jumped as Caroline’s voice came from the other side of the cubicle.

“You are jittery today. Hey, I wanted to talk to you about something,” she said, stepping around to meet James face to face.

“Uh, w-what do you want to talk about?” stammered James.

“Not here, after work. Why don’t we go for a walk?”

“Oh uh, sure!” James said, turning red.

“Great, I’ll see you then.”

The day was agony. It felt like it stretched on for hours. James could do nothing but hyperfocus on Caroline and Melany and Shize and how unbelievably tangled his life had gotten. When the 5PM alarm sounded he almost jumped out of his chair… again… and Caroline was right there waiting for him.

“Oh great! You are already up. I figured we could walk home today. You know how I like to get a workout in every day.”

“Oh, y-yeah. OK” James said in an almost robotic tone. He got up, gathered his things, and left the building with Caroline alongside him.

“So, about that new character” she said in the middle of the walk home.

“Y-yeah, it’s a good idea,” James muttered.

“Don’t you see?” Caroline asked, truly dumbfounded that James seemed to have not noticed.

“See what?”

“It’s Melany! I mean she even has six breasts, the boss would have never went for something like that usually.”

“Oh uh, I guess she does look a bit like Melany,” James said feigning ignorance.

“Come on, you have to have noticed. I hope she likes it.”

“Likes it? You mean you did this, for her?”

“Well, yeah. Word has been getting around about how you took her in when she had nowhere to go.”

James gritted his teeth. He couldn’t believe his friends were blabbing so much. “Yeeeeah, just… trying to do the right thing.

“I know! And I think it’s wonderful so I want to pitch in too.”

“I don’t…” James tripped over his own words. “I don’t, really get what you mean.”

“Well, if the game takes off she could be a marketing rep! She has the perfect body. We give her a pair of wings and a foam sword and boom, she has a job.”

“Wait so, you thought about all of this… for her?”

“Yeah. She seems like a nice enough girl. Everyone needs help now and again. Anyway, nothing is set in stone. Just let her know” They stopped in front of James’s house.

“I will! We are going to go get her registered for some adult classes today, I’m sure she will be thrilled. Thank you so much!”

“No, thank you. It’s good to know that someone is out there looking out for the people who need it.” Caroline smiled and James smiled back before hugging her tightly.

Inside, Melany watched through the window, wearing her favorite dress as a surprise. She saw James and Caroline in a loving embrace. Her heart broke. She felt numb inside. She tried to calm herself down, but she just couldn’t. She couldn’t bear to see him… hold her like that. She wanted to be the one in his arms. She wanted to…

Without thinking she bolted out the back door and ran off into the night. She moved like a scared animal, weaving between houses and trying to get anywhere, anywhere but here.

“What was that?” James said hearing the back door slam. He rushed inside. “Melany? Melany!?”

He looked around everywhere. The kitchen. His room. Nothing. Melany was gone.