Kieran

  Kieran’s Saturday started out pretty much the same as always. He got up early-ish, before Natalie or the kids, and went through his morning routine. A perhaps longer-than-necessary stop in the bathroom, followed by a shower and other hygiene essentials. By the time he was dressed in his typical t-shirt and cargo shorts, there was other movement in the house.

  Aoife was up and in the living room, watching some cartoons with Kaitlyn. Kieran was dubious whether Kaitlyn understood what was happening in the slightly more complex shows that Aoife was watching these days. To be fair, that was really the difference between notable story and dialogue and the virtual lack of it for younger kids.

  Still, Aoife getting more interested in older kid shows was a good thing, and hopefully Kaitlyn would get started on them early as she tried to imitate her older sister.

  Kieran walked over toward his wife and the coffee maker to pour himself a cup. He gave Natalie a quick kiss in greeting as he did so. “Morning.”

  “Morning.” Natalie said, leaning back against the counter while watching the TV and the girls. “Plans today?”

  “Uh. We needed to go grocery shopping, right? I think we’re safe on toiletries, though.” Kieran said through a left over yawn. “I can make the run if you want to watch the girls. Or I can stay and you can go.” He said with a grin, knowing her answer.

  “All you. I hate shopping.”

  “I know. Do you need anything, though? Or any food requests?”

  “More lunch foods for the girls.”

  Kieran rolled his eyes. “I know Kaitlyn doesn’t get lunch at Pre-K, but aren’t we paying for Aoife to get lunch at school? I know they only charge us when she buys something, but she’s taking lunch in more often than not these days.”

  “Some of the school lunches are pretty questionable.” Nat said. “I know they’re designed to be cheap, decently nutritious, and easily palatable, but that also means that you get some of the most tasteless food imaginable.”

  Kieran shook his head sadly. “I suppose that’s true. I’ll make sure we’ve got stuff for sandwiches and the like. At least we know she’ll always eat the pizza on Fridays.”

  “As if any kid wouldn’t. Plus they actually get it from Domino’s, not just frozen stuff.”

  Kieran shuddered. “Never thought I’d see the day where I praise Domino’s but…yeah, they’re not bad.”

  “You’re just biased from the East Coast.” Nat said, waving him off.

  “Well, duh.” Kieran laughed. “Jersey has a family-owned pizzeria on every other street and they’re all delicious. Of course I’m biased.”

  Nat just shook her head, but the little smile on her face gave her amusement away. “Putting that aside, what’re we doing for food today?”

  “I’ll pick up something for dinner at the grocery store.” He paused. “But now I want pizza for lunch, thanks.”

  “Hey, girls.” Nat sang, “Dad’s gonna bring pizza back for lunch.”

  “Yes!” Aoife shouted, throwing her arms up in the air. Kat followed her example, shouting out a long ‘Yay’.

  “I guess it’s pizza for lunch then.” Kieran chuckled.

  “Guess so.” Nat grinned. “So, beyond food shopping, what else do we have this weekend?”

  “I’ve got plans to talk through some stuff with Rissa and the gang about game plans going forward.” Kieran said. “I know you peeked in on me freaking out last night while I was watching the stream; Mag Mell is adding raids, and we’re trying to put a team together.”

  “Oh, that sounds like fun.” Natalie said.

  “I hope it is. She wanted me to - oh, that’s right.” Kieran interrupted himself to drag his phone out of his pocket and start messaging Evan. “She wanted me to get in touch with Evan and see if he was interested. Almost forgot.”

  “Isn’t he -”

  “Constantly exhausted from being a new dad these days? Yes..” Kieran chuckled. “I honestly don’t know if he’ll have any time, but the raids are being released around November supposedly. So, baby Eli will be four months old by then.”

  Nat laughed. “I don’t know if that’s better or worse.”

  “Isn’t that the truth.” Kieran said flatly. “Maybe worse but more reliable? The first few months are hell because you have no idea what or when to expect anything. I think by four months, the kid should have some kind of daily rhythm.” He snorted. “Doesn’t mean they’ll be easy though.”

  His and his wife’s eyes both drifted toward their girls.

  “Six and four years on, and they’re still a handful.” Nat said, but her voice carried a strong undercurrent of fondness.

  “At least they understand the word ‘no’ now. Sometimes.” Kieran said, draining the last bit of coffee from his cup. As he pushed away from the kitchen counter, his phone went off.

  

  {Evan} : I’m hesitantly interested.

  Kieran chuckled, and sent back the day’s planned meeting time.

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  {Kieran} : We’re meeting tonight at 8 EST to discuss. Be there?

  “I’m gonna get rolling. Go get the food shopping done, grab lunch on the way back. Last chance - need anything else while I’m out?” Kieran asked, slinging an arm around Nat’s waist briefly as he passed by.

  “Nope, go get it done.” She said, and lightly kicked him in the rear. Jokingly, he stumbled toward the mud room door that led to the garage and the car.

  When Kieran logged into the chat at 7 his time, Marissa and Jasmine were already there.

  “Oh, nice. Hey Kieran.” Marissa said before he could even say hello. “Any word from Evan?”

  “He said he’s interested and should be here tonight to talk.”

  “Awesome.” Jasmine said. “Ash will be here momentarily, he’s just cleaning up dinner.”

  “Oh? What’d you two have?” Kieran asked.

  “Pizza.”

  “Oof.” Kieran said, acting like he’d been stabbed in the chest. Not that anyone could see him.

  Jasmine laughed. “Still missing that sweet, sweet New York pizza, are ya?”

  “Always.” Kieran said, sadly. “Especially today. We had Domino’s for lunch.”

  “...Is that because of the kids?”

  “No.” Kieran sighed. “It’s because the only good pizza place near here is like a half hour drive to get to, and Domino’s scratches the pizza itch, but isn’t real pizza. So I’m not always disappointed in it.” When there was a beat of silence, he added, “Yes, I have feelings about pizza, okay?”

  “It’s that East Coast in you.” Marissa laughed. “I got used to New York pizza while I was in college, too. And the bagels. Damn, now I’m hungry.”

  “Girl, you are literally a baker. Figure out how to transplant bagels to the West Coast properly.” Jasmine said.

  “Don’t you think I’ve tried that?” Marissa shouted back. “I know there’s the whole urban legend about it being the water or whatever, but there’s definitely something that I just can’t replicate over here. It’s just not the same.” She whined.

  Then a ding sounded as Ash joined the chat. “So we’re just waiting on Evan, then?”

  “Seems that way.” Marissa said.

  “Do we want to get started with some of the basics?” Kieran asked.

  “And just what, exactly, are those?” Marissa asked. “I figured we’d want everyone to start.”

  “Well, for starters,” Kieran began, “is everyone planning on sticking with their current character and class? We have three months - you could potentially swap if you wanted to.”

  “I’m sticking with Hibsicus.” Marissa said. “I enjoy the Arrow gameplay a lot, but I can flex if we need other DPS Paths.”

  “As if I’d change Aleister.” Jazz scoffed. “I plan on continuing mostly as an Ebon, but I’ve been playing Ravager as an off Path on occasion and it’s fun. No interest in Plate or Fencer, though.”

  “I’m also planning on sticking with Mellody.” Ash said. “I’m definitely most comfortable on Muse, but I could probably play any healer with a bit of heads up.”

  “Are you about to tell me you’re abandoning Caoimhe, Kieran?” Marissa joked. “Is that why you brought it up?”

  “Hardly. I’ll be sticking with Caoimhe, of course. And Slayer is still my main class. I can also flex around in the DPS slot if need be.”

  “That’s what I -”

  Marissa was cut off by the ding that accompanied Evan’s arrival.

  “God, guys, sorry I’m late.” Evan said, sounding half-dead.

  “You’re not that late.” Kieran said. “How’s it going?”

  “It’s…going. I was trying to give Sam a break for a while and was sitting in the rocking chair with Eli. I fell Asleep.” Evan chuckled awkwardly. “Sam noticed and got me up. She’s with him now.” The laugh sounded over-acted.

  Thankfully, plenty of laughter echoed in the chat.

  “No worries.”

  “Not a problem.”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Now, Evan,” Marissa said, taking charge, “I want you to be perfectly honest with us. You’re obviously exhausted from parenting these days - as is expected. Are you sure you can commit to raiding with us?”

  The chat went quiet, waiting for an answer. While everyone was very supportive of Evan and his having a kid, this wasn’t about that. And Evan understood that too. Everyone in this group had had experiences with friends not showing up to things they had agreed to. And when it came to making regular, weekly plans like a raiding static, this was a serious question.

  Perhaps the most serious one when it came to recruiting for it. The only other really serious consideration was the general approach to the whole thing - whether everyone was expecting to take it very seriously, or if your group was more aimed to have a good time, or somewhere in between.

  “It’ll depend on the schedule, I think. And how many hours are in each block.” Evan said, seriously. “To that end, I think the four of you should set the schedule, and I will either join - or not - accordingly. You shouldn’t need to adjust to the one with a new baby in the wings.”

  There was a beat of silence that followed before Marissa took over again. “That sounds fair. What do we think, then, guys? Who has scheduling issues?”

  “You all know my schedule.” Kieran said. “I’m typically at work until around five, sometimes six. But I can move my later days around if we decide sooner, because most of my ‘late nights’ are office hours, not classes. They can be moved.”

  “And I can be available any day after four PST.” Marissa chimed in. “So, hilariously, I may be the one with the most open availability for our potential time slots.”

  “I’m working regular hours now,” Jasmine put in. “Eight to Five, everyday. I’m home by six. Worst scenario is that I need to check on something at home, but I have a work laptop for that. I’m not technically on call, either, so I can miss a call if we’re in the middle of something without getting worried.”

  Then all the proverbial eyes turned to Ash. “Y’all, I’m a freelance writer. I can afford to block out a few hours for two or three days out of the weeknights.”

  “Okay!” Kieran said. “Then let’s say…a three hour block, from eight to eleven EST? That’d be seven to ten for me, and five to eight for Rissa.”

  A chorus of agreements came over chat.

  “And…well, let’s see. Weekly resets on dungeons and things are on Tuesdays, so let’s say Tuesday and Wednesday nights? Or did we want to add Thursday as well?” Kieran asked.

  “Fuck it. Let’s go all in.” Jasmine said with a laugh. “Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, three hours each night. We can always scale it back if it’s too much.”

  Shouts of approval went up, then silence followed.

  “...You’re sure that an 80% attendance rate is okay?” Evan broke the silence, his voice hesitant.

  “Evan, if you really want to play, it’s fine. We just expect you to show up more often than not. And to let us know well beforehand if you think you can’t make it - emergencies aside, of course. Communicate with us, and you’re good.” Marissa said.

  Kieran was glad he didn’t need to be the one trying to soothe his friend. Not that he wouldn’t, of course, but hearing others say it all unprompted was reassuring that it wasn’t Kieran that was causing trouble by pulling for Evan to be included.

  Evan took a deep breath. “Then you’ve got your second tank. I’ll be playing with Fiona. Predominantly a Plate.”

  Cheers erupted again.

  “Oh.” Jasmine said, sounding as if she suddenly realized something. “Shouldn’t you ask Sam if she’s okay with this?”