A Fairy Out of Her Tale - Dear Diary - 31. Scene 31

12th January 1995

Dear Gamer Diary,

Lóránt is the best guardian angel ever!

They came to check on me when I was so bored I was counting the number of flowers on my bed cover (I stopped at 128) and they rescued me from this terrible destiny of mind-numbing non-tasks! They stormed in like a superhero and swept me from the bed, carrying me like a princess all the way to the library/office. I was made to lie in the middle of the couch like a Queen surrounded by tasty snacks, and just as I thought things couldn’t get better, the video game controls landed on my hand.

‘Would you like to play something?’

‘I didn’t have this console at home. I don’t know how to work it.’

‘You have plenty of time to learn.’ Lóránt sat as close to me as their wings and the barrier of snacks allowed. ‘It’s better than being bored in your room all day, and it’s unlikely to make your injury worse. I can help you out until you get the hang of it.’

‘Aren’t you supposed to be doing adult things instead of playing video games?’

Lóránt laughed. ‘I suppose there is a pile of paperwork waiting for me…’ They glanced at the desk so full of papers I couldn’t see the chair behind it, but smiled at me as if to say they would rather ignore its existence until the end of times. ‘But believe it or not, playing games with you is part of my job too.’

I raised an eyebrow. ‘How so?’

‘I’m supposed to help all those under my protection.’ Lóránt grinned. Their tone turned sickly sweet and cheerful. ‘It’s my job to make sure you’re happy, safe, and not making irresponsible decisions that could put yourself in danger because you think your life needs more excitement.’

I felt the indirect jab. ‘Are you talking about last night?’

‘No, actually. That last bit wasn’t about you at all.’ Lóránt still grinned. I couldn’t figure out if they were telling the truth (were angels even able to lie?). ‘Actually you’re the only one here who hasn’t made an irresponsible decision that put yourself in danger because your life needs more excitement. Your housemates, on the other hand…’

I kept waiting for Lóránt to tell me what my housemates did that was so irresponsible and dangerous, but they let their sentence hanging in the air, teasing me.

‘How about you choose a game, then? We have quite a few…’ Lóránt handed me a pile of game cartridges. All of them had the name of the game written in that overly complicated local alphabet, so Lóránt had to read it to me and explain what the games were about. I hadn’t even heard of that console until now (it’s called Midento 46, apparently), so obviously I knew none of the games. I wasn’t particularly interested in any of them until Lóránt showed me one with a picture of a forest and a little fairy.

‘This is called Fairy Fun Greenhouse. You play as a fairy who is trying to build the best garden to win a competition.’

Lóránt must have known I would immediately jump to the chance of playing such a game. They put the menu settings in Fadalesh and helped me navigate the controls (why were there so many buttons?) to create my own fairy avatar (who coincidentally looked a lot like me). I started to play and then…

I don’t know where the next 5 hours went.

That game is addictive, even if it gets more absurd and unrealistic the more you advance. You start out with a few seeds for common plants and trees. You talk to them, tell them jokes to make them grow happy, and then once they grow you can sell their fruits and seeds to get money to buy different plants. You make a little funeral for them when they die and make compost out of their remains. All this levels you up, and when you reach level 5 you start getting plagues attacking your plants. You can have the plants fight back by growing spikes or try your luck convincing the plague to go to your neighbour’s garden. The spike thing reminds me too much of Morumpi, so I always go for the other option. All my neighbours hate me now (and that means they drop all their litter on my plants and I have to clean up. I’ve had a fridge thrown at my rose garden. A fridge!).

And then at level 7 you start unlocking the weird plants. I have a plant that lays eggs, a cheese plant, and cat plant, and I haven’t even unlocked everything yet (the cat plant is really cute, though).

I got stuck at level 11 because the plague refuses to move along when I ask. That’s why I left the game (and because apparently I missed lunch and the mid-afternoon snack while I was playing, so I need to eat something that’s not just unhealthy junk).

When I was messing around with the menu, I saw that all my housemates (including Lóránt) have created their own fairy avatars. The menu also shows how long they’ve played the game for. I wouldn’t have paid too much attention to it if I didn’t notice that Kris played this game much more than everybody else. A lot more. I’m talking 245 hours compared to Lydia’s 10, Unn’s 23.5, and Lóránt’s 7. Looks like he’s addicted to it? Has he got some sort of fairy fixation I don’t know about? Maybe he hates me because I’m not really one anymore?

Also his avatar is female and dark-skinned. If it wasn’t for her having straight, shoulder-length hair, I would be really creeped out that Kris chose a fairy that looks so much like me before we even knew each other.

It’s stil creepy, though. Another reason to stay away from him…

Thanks for reading!
What is Kri's fixation with fairies? Surely it has to be plot-relevant if a nearly 1000-words scene is dedicated to that discovery...
Maybe it's his dead girlfriend who is suspiciously similar to Nessa? And so now Kris acts like a jerk around her because he's battling his feelings for the lover who died on his arms in the most traumatic and dramatic scene ever? 
I bet nobody saw that coming...

We'll be back on Tuesday with more gaming and more housemates! It's about time we hear from people other than Kris and Lóránt!
(Or you can sign up to my Patreon right now and read about Nessa's new crush - oh, no, look, a spoiler! )