Chapter 59: 59 Work And Play

Bokuboy

Arnold was in awe as he was led through the rear storage area and shown all of the specimens that were available for display. He had thought his high school biology teacher had a lot of specimens and this collection dwarfed it by a factor of ten. Amy was a little surprised at the sight of him with his mouth slightly open and she watched his eyes as they darted around and tried to look at everything at the same time.

“You really like all of this, don't you?” Amy asked in a whisper, because for some reason, she felt like she didn't want to disturb him too much.

“It's amazing.” Arnold said. “Is that half a cat?” He asked and pointed to a top shelf.

“We make those for the veterinary program and even ship some across the country to other schools.”

“We?” Arnold asked and looked at her with sparkling eyes.

Amy was caught slightly off-guard by the look, since she hadn't seen much from him besides a stoic expression. “Y-yes, as his assistants, we're responsible for the things he's either too busy to do or he doesn't want to do.” She said. “We haven't had an order in a few months, so we're waiting for the new semester when the new course starts before we make any more.”

“How many?” Arnold asked.

“The last order was for thirty of them.” Amy said. “The whole department was called in for that one.”

Arnold smiled at the thought of having to prepare so many specimens. “Are there any orders now?”

Amy smiled. “No, the only specimens we have to prepare are the ones that have to be done on Monday for the class.”

“How many students will be there to observe?” Arnold asked.

“Thirty six.”

Arnold turned to look at her. “That's why there are six separate work stations, so six people can stand around them and not interfere with each other.”

Amy nodded, a little surprised that he had grasped the knowledge so quickly. “I'll be walking around and observing, making corrections in the techniques of the department workers when needed, then I'll do my own specimen. You will be assisting the professor at the main desk.”

Arnold nodded and Amy was a little happy that he didn't show any signs of being smug about it. It still bothered her that he didn't think she was good enough to learn from first, though.

Maybe if I show him some of my best work? Amy asked herself, then she immediately squashed that idea. The last thing she wanted was to have him critique her work, even if he somehow remained objective and didn't berate her over her mistakes. She stood there and let him look over everything that he wanted, then she decided that if he was going to work there and take the master's courses, he needed to know something important.

“Arnold? I think it's time I showed you something special.” Amy said.

Arnold immediately stopped looking at things and walked over to stare intently at her.

Amy shivered a little at the intensity. “It's right this way.” She said and led him out of the storage area and to the stairs, then down into the basement. “This is what we call the Ice Box.” She said and used a key to open the large door there. Inside was a giant walk-in cold room and it had shelves upon shelves inside. On those shelves was something that Arnold had never seen before.

A collection of hundreds of unprepared specimens.

There were all types of animals, from mice all the way up to a horse. An actual, full-size horse, was near the back of the room next to another door and Arnold stared at the horse.

“If you can believe it, an equestrian school requested it.” Amy said as Arnold walked over to it. “The professor's just waiting on the payment before starting such a huge project.”

“Will you be working on it, too?” Arnold asked and lightly touched the mane.

“We both will.” Amy said and she caught her breath when Arnold turned to her with a huge smile. She also tried to ignore how angelic he looked. “We need to get back upstairs and go over the inventory.”

“Okay.” Arnold said and they both left the cold storage.

Amy locked it and led him back upstairs to the second floor and to the lab, then she sat down at the professor's desk. To her surprise, Arnold moved her chair out slightly and then he sat down between her legs and partially under the desk.

“A-Arnold, what...” Amy started to ask.

“I need to see what you're doing.” Arnold said and stared at the screen.

Amy held in her anger at his presumptuousness, mainly because she was wearing a skirt today and he was sitting between her knees without even asking her first. She shook her head and stopped her sigh, then she started the laptop and brought up the spreadsheet Arnold had filled out. She brought up hers next and copied a few of the things in it to integrate into the new spreadsheet, namely the age of the object, how many times it had been used, and the cost.

“I see.” Arnold said and Amy did her best to not react to having him so close. “I knew when I was making the inventory list that there were things I couldn't record.”

“Like what?” Amy asked curiously, because she knew he wouldn't know about the age of the objects.

“I can only see and count what's there and not what's missing.” Arnold said. “If anything has been taken, or used somewhere else, or even misplaced in another room, I can't add it to the inventory.” He explained. “Or if some equipment has been set aside for either the professor's use or yours. You stated earlier that you would construct your own workstation and I don't know if you are using the left over parts or new things you have tucked away.”

“That's... actually true.” Amy said, surprised. “Both the professor and I have our own separate equipment that we use and I usually just add the numbers to the list.”

“They should be inspected, if we're doing a full inventory.” Arnold said.

“All right.” Amy said. “We'll both look over them when we're done integrating our two inventory lists.”

Arnold nodded and it took a little while for them to add Amy's info to the new spreadsheet, because hers was alphabetized and his was organized by location. Once they had it completed and had talked about how they each had knowledge that could contribute to the lab's proficiency, the two of them went into a small side room next to the lab.

They inspected the items that Amy and the professor used on a regular basis and Amy was surprised when Arnold noticed a dull sheen on her dissection tools. They didn't glimmer like they were supposed to, and she inspected them herself. She hadn't noticed that they had dulled to the point of not shining after being cleaned, which meant that they were starting to physically dull and needed to be replaced.

“Thank you, Arnold.” Amy said and put a hand on his. “With the new specimens that need to be prepared on Monday, having even slightly dull tools could cause my hand to slip when I unknowingly applied extra pressure to compensate.” She said, then realized what she was doing and took her hand back. “I would be so angry at myself if I made a mistake.”

Arnold nodded understanding. He had been frustrated for a long time while using that old kitchen steak knife. He had been so happy to receive his own tools from his junior high biology teacher and it made everything so much easier. That thought reminded him of what he was supposed to do after he graduated. It had been five years since she had asked him to call her and he didn't wonder if the number would still work.

Amy looked at the time and nodded. “It's almost four o'clock.”

“I have to get back to the dorm room and set up my character for Fortune's Favour.” Arnold said.

“Fortune's Favour?” Amy asked and then smiled. “Are you a gamer?”

“I haven't played online yet.” Arnold said.

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“Then you're in for a treat... or a good thrashing.” Amy said with a grin. “Good luck.”

Arnold nodded and left to head to his dorm room. He had a VR date to prepare for, so he went back to the dorm room and knocked on the door. “Arnold.” He said before anyone asked who it was. The door opened a moment later and Kelly was there.

“Hi!” Kelly said and gave him a hug and a quick kiss, then brought him inside. “Your mom is making a quick and easy meal for supper.”

“You're supposed to be watching me make it.” Annie said with a chuckle. “It's a good thing that it's almost done.”

“Macaroni and cheese isn't that difficult.” Kelly brought Arnold over to the small kitchenette.

“It's homemade, so you need to be careful that you don't overcook the macaroni before putting it in the oven.” Annie pulled a casserole dish out of the small oven and put it on the small table that only had two chairs. She uncovered it and steam billowed out and they saw the cheese had just started to bubble. “Perfect.”

Kelly gave her a big smile and handed her three real plates to put the food on. She had teased Annie about using paper plates for their first real meal in their new place and Annie had laughed and swatted her with a spatula. Annie put the half-empty casserole dish on top of the stove and covered it. After a short discussion, Arnold sat on the corner of the closest bed and Annie and Kelly sat at the table. The three of them ate their fill and they washed up the dishes.

“Arnold, go ahead and get changed into some casual clothes.” Kelly said. “We've got some VR work to get to.”

“Okay.” Arnold said and walked over to the closet. He took off the suit coat and hung it up, then did the same for the pants.

“We have a nice key ring for you, too.” Annie said and passed it to Kelly, who passed it to him. Arnold attached it to his old house key and then tucked it into the pants pocket and clipped it to a belt loop. It now had two keys on it, one for home and one for the dorm room. He took off the shirt and hung it up as well, then he walked over to the dresser and slipped on a pair of jogging pants and a baggy t-shirt.

“Annie? You're probably going to want to lay down and watch television or something.” Kelly said. “We're going to be a while playing VR.”

“I was thinking I should head home, actually.” Annie said.

“Oh, no you don't.” Kelly said and took her hand and led her to the bed on the right. “You said it yourself before that if Arnold didn't come home on the weekend, then you would either pick him up or stay until Sunday night.”

“I meant after he started staying here.” Annie said.

“He has started staying here.” Kelly said. “Plus, it's his first time staying in a bed so far away from home. Do you really want to not be here for that?”

Annie opened her mouth to say that they should spend their first night living together, alone, then she sighed. “You want me to stay, too.”

Kelly nodded. “I won't admit that I'm scared enough for the both of us.” She smiled. “This is.. it's a big responsibility, and... I don't want to mess it up by not having you close by when you could be.”

Annie chuckled and put an arm around her shoulders. “All right, you've convinced me not to run off and give you two some privacy.”

“I'll even let you borrow an outfit to wear.” Kelly said. “You like onesies with the feet attached, right?”

Annie snorted and then laughed. “Only if it's bright pink!”

Kelly laughed too, then handed her jogging pants and a big baggy t-shirt. “Arnold, start up the beast.”

Arnold nodded and turned on his computer. They had two large desks on opposite sides of the double sized dorm room and Kelly had already set up both Arnold's computer and her own on them. The internet was already set up, so she had just plugged everything in and it was online gaming ready.

“Start Fortune's Favour and we can get you started on making a character.” Kelly said and helped Arnold put on the headset and handed him the controllers. Unlike a lot of the other games Arnold had played, Fortune's Favour actually had a little mini-movie that played around him.

“Welcome, Adventurer.” A beautiful blonde woman said and Arnold turned his head to look at her. She wore a gold dress and had a soft glowing light illuminate her from behind, and her feet didn't touch the ground. “On this day, you embark on a journey that will send you to many lands. You will meet many people along the way, and depending on how you treat them, will shape the journey to come.”

Arnold didn't know that was a subtle warning by the game designers to stop players from killing the NPCs. If players assumed that the game characters would affect their game later, most people resisted the urge to remove the annoyances that some of the NPCs would become.

“I am Helena, Goddess of the Lands, and I beseech thee to heed the call of those in need. Listen to their pleas and help when you can.”

This was a not so subtle hint to talk to the NPCs to get quests and Arnold was pretty sure he wasn't going to have time for quests or anything. He hit several buttons to try and bring up the menu items and to see his magic, stats, and skill tree information. It wouldn't let him, though.

“I can't skip this.” Arnold said.

“Not the first time playing.” Kelly said. “You don't have to stand there and keep listening, though.”

Arnold smiled and turned away from the woman and walked over to the closest house. The woman floated behind him and shared a lot of the history of the world, its importance to the people, and their belief system. Arnold ignored her and hit the button to kick in the door of the house. He went inside and searched for anything and everything, found a potion of healing, a knife, and a pair of boots. When he looked down, he saw that he was barefoot and equipped the boots right away.

As the woman talked and explained the magic of the world, Arnold searched every house, smashed every wooden crate, and kicked and punched everything he saw from cups and plates to pots and furniture. He found food, money, better clothing, a few trade goods like pelts and spices, and even a mangy old horse. He immediately thought of the horse in the cooler in the basement of the biology lab and did the same thing to it and pet it. The horse neighed at him and he received a popup.

' The old nag has taken a liking to you. Do you want to keep her? '

“Yes.” Arnold said and the horse glowed for a second.

' The upkeep is five copper coins a day. It will be deducted from your money automatically. '

Arnold looked at his money and it said 30 copper coins, so he could afford the horse for six days if he didn't earn any more money. He looked around and there was nothing else to do in the small area, so he turned around and looked at the glowing woman and waited.

Helena finished her tales of woe and misfortune on an upbeat note. “...and may favour and fortune find you instead.” She said and smiled. “Is there anything you would like to ask me?”

Arnold walked over to her. “Can I pet you, too?” He asked and reached up and pet her hair like he did with the horse.

Helena just floated there with slightly wide eyes and didn't respond to the question.

Arnold stopped petting her hair and took her hand. “Can you come with me on my adventures?” He asked, because he knew that having someone that could answer questions was good to have along. Helena opened her mouth to respond with a standard response, then closed her mouth because it wasn't a standard question. She floated there for a minute before she spoke the default phrase.

“I am Helena, Goddess of the Lands...”

“Then you can go anywhere, right?” Arnold asked. “You can come with me, can't you?”

“Yes, I can go anywhere.” Helena said, since that was one of her abilities. His second question was still puzzling, since no one had ever asked her that before.

' Intro to game complete. Loading tutorial. Please wait. '

“You are coming with me.” Arnold said and held her hand tightly as the interactive movie faded.

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