Page 48 of Stripping Bare
“What’swrong?”
“He fucked up mygame.”
She didn’t agree. Anything could be improved with a little girl power. “Maybe he orshethought your character diversity was a littleshortsighted.”
“I don’t likeit.”
Tessa might be a psychologist, but that didn’t mean she’d ever completely understand the male ego. It was elusive and mysterious—like the Loch Ness Monster or Sasquatch. She used her gauntlet controller to select herself as the character she’d use to play the game. “Why am I wearing workclothes?”
“How the hell should I know? You weren’t even in myversion.”
She had a feeling he was also trying to keep her out of this version of his life. But she wasn’t going to let that happen. “Next time, I want cargo pants andsneakers.”
“I’ll submit a change ticket to whoever modded this,” he said, his tone as dry as burnttoast.
“Who’s the woman with long dark hair and blueeyes?”
“My baby sister Evie. Micki’s the one in the skull T-shirt.”
In the game, Jonah’s twin was dressed in skinny jeans and black boots with silver buckles running down the sides. Her dark hair was styled in a jagged cut that, combined with her delicate bone structure, made her look like a badass fairy. “She looksfierce.”
Jonah laughed. “Tell her that and she’ll love you forlife.”
He skipped over his sisters and chose his ownavatar.
Now that they both had their players, the intro scene faded and Tessa faced a crazy-realistic 3-D scene with a small inset in the lower left corner. “Why do I have twoviews?”
“The big one isyours.”
“And the otheris…”
He didn’t answer, but she could hear him moving beside her and the small inset view changed. Ah, that was what his character was seeing.Nice.
She turned her head and the full effect of the 3-D hit her. “Whoa. This is kinda wild.” By holding out her arms, she was able to convince her brain she was on solidground.
With even, controlled breaths, she studied the scene in front of her. By the looks of the background, she and Jonah were at different starting locations. Before she could blink, his character was rushing along trails surrounded by native mountain trees and rhododendron. He shimmied up a sweet gum, the leaves rustling realistically. When he dropped back to the ground a few moments later—graceful as a cat—he held a wooden sword in hishand.
“Where did that come from?” And why didn’t she haveone?
“You gotta find your ownweapons.”
“Where?”
“Everywhere.”
That wasn’t incredibly helpful, especially when her on-screen character had yet to take astep.
With some effort, she was able to walk toward a massive oak. Unfortunately, she didn’t “climb” it as easily as Jonah had. Instead, she ran into the trunk again and again.Ow!If this were real life, her forehead would be full of bark chunks. “How do I get upthere?”
All she got from Jonah was a distracted grunt. Not helpful. But it sure fueled her competitive spirit. So she moved her arms and legs until she found a combo that allowed her to jump and move her arms at the same time. With renewed determination, she made modest progress up a tree. But when she tried to inch her way out on a branch to grab for what looked like some type of water gun, it cracked and she fell through theair.
On-screen, she landed on her back with an audible thump. Although she used every move she could think of, her character didn’t budge. “Why can’t I get up?” shedemanded.
“Had the air knocked out of you,” Jonah said. “Creates a ten-second freeze on movement.” Meanwhile, he was vaulting over dead trees and finding stuff like gold coins and stashes of acorns in abandoned hunting cabins and deerblinds.
“I want treasure, too,” she said when VT—Virtual Tessa—was finally able to sit up, then get to her feet. “Is that the point of the game? The person with the most stuffwins?”
“Nope, it’s kinda like capture the flag. You round up everyone on the opposing team and disarmthem.”
