Doe Ray: Punny Doe

"Certainly, deer." The tech reached over and tapped a key on her computer. "Takes just a moment. Is it for him?" She indicated the stag still standing at the other end of the room, either still carrying on a conversation on the other side of the sonic curtain, or pretending to just so she would not feel embarrassed about keeping him waiting.

The doe disentangled from her intricate thoughts and nodded briefly. "Nothing wrong with that, is there?"

"Not with offering him a drink, no. Just don't tell him this one was invented a minute ago. As a serious player he likes things to have backgrounds. Even if they're made up."

The doe nodded and accepted the new cup. Carrying one in each hand, she walked through the sonic curtain again. It was only a barrier preventing people on either side from hearing each other, but in her mind the soft
* Sssssssssssschwwwaaaaaaaa! * marked a border between being in and out of character. She had been talking with the techs as a player, now she was approaching another player as a character.

Haran turned around at her approach. Apparently the soft non-sound from the sonic curtain had been enough to alert him to her presence. That, or he had eyes in his neck.

"Care for some tea?" She held out the full cup.

"Don't mind if I do," he answered politely and took it in both hands. "What kind is it? I do not recognize the aroma..."

She swallowed. "Sola Tea. It's... a new import."

"Ah." He smiled. "Then I will have some - " and he sang the next four syllables in a rising pitch - "So-la tea, doe!"

They smiled at each other as they drank. This guy is cool! Jim thought. He not only appreciates silly puns, he makes them! I ought to look him up in real life... but then he probably wouldn't want to hang out with a boring guy like me.

"This is indeed a lucky day for me," the stag continued after another sip. "I got the whole scale from 'Doe' to 'Tea'!"

"Too bad your name isn't Ray," the doe replied. Failing to notice the way his smile disappeared, she charged on: "Then I could ask Who's your doe, Ray - me?"

The sudden silence was broken by a dull *THUMP* as Haran put down his cup with more force than striclty necessary. "That was not funny!" he declared through clenched teeth.

The doe looked at him without understanding. It had only been another variant of the scale joke, hadn't it? Was it perhaps the suggestion that she might become 'his'?

The stony silence got broken by the clattering of computer keys. Glancing in the direction of the sound, the doe saw a tech sitting behind the stag and typing on a keyboard. As he noticed her eyes on him, he moved over to show what he had typed:

> That is his real name

The gentle doe made a mental pounce at Jim's personality to keep him from swearing out loud. What a blunder!

Ray? she mouthed quietly at the tech, who nodded and put a finger to his lips as the fuming stag turned around, finally aware that something was literally going on behind his back. The tech quickly hit the Clear Screen key, so when Haran finally focused on the screen there was nothing on it.

Et tu, Brute! he seemed to be mouthing at the tech. Then they seemed to be reaching the same conclusion at the same time, to wit that it was better she knew the reason for his rage than think he was prone to random tantrums.

"I'm sorry," she whimpered, drawing his attention again. She blinked her big innocent doe eyes (!) at him as he looked at her, and actually managed to squeeze out a tear to blink away. "I did not know... I must have violated some taboo... I am truly sorry. Please forgive me."

Haran, and presumably his player Ray, seemed to pull himself together and reach a decision. "It is alright," he said. "You had no way of knowing... You are forgiven. But never speak of... that again."

He looked deeper into her eyes and wiped a tear from the corner of one with his little finger. "Please do not cry, little doe," he murmured. "To show there are no hard feelings, I shall repeat my invitation. Will you co... go with me to the ball tonight?"

She smiled through her tears. "Yes, Haran. I will. And not just to smooth over this; I had already made up mind."

"Very well. Then be here at seven. And now we must part. We both have things to do, but I shall count the seconds until we meet again." His tea had apparently cooled enough during their conversation, or else someone or something had made a minute adjustment to the VR, for he finished it in one swallow and handed the empty cup back to her.

She smiled."Like you counted the time since you met a doe as pretty as me?"

He chuckled. "You got me there, fair doe. That was meant as a joke. But this is not. Watch me!" He turned around and took a couple of steps towards the door. "One." He reached the door and opened it. "Two." He stepped outside and started walking away. "Three." Before the door swung shut she heard his fading voice count up to six,

The techs waited until they were sure he was out of earshot, then clapped their hands briefly and returned to work. "That Haran," one remarked. "Really something special, isn't he?"

The doe pondered the remark for a moment, then as she turned around and noticed the screen still displaying a closeup of Jim, she thought of something. "Does he know I'm a guy?" she asked.

"You're new at this, aren't you?" the leader asked rhetorically. "Truth to tell, this game is still pretty male dominated, so you can more or less take it for granted that most females you meet are played by men. So I'd say the player suspects it, but the character doesn't care."

"So what are you going to do now?" another voice asked, which reminded Jim of the choices he had been given at the end of the previous chapter...

1. Short cut to my next chapter: The same evening...
2. Jim goes VR-shopping AS the doe
3. Jim goes VR-shopping WITH the doe
4. Jim leaves VR and goes webshopping
5. Jim takes a break from VR and leaves it all to the competent staff

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