"Where are you going?" Suzie asked.
"Home, of course." I replied as I got up. "I'll log out from there."
"Oh, yeah. Of course. I forgot about that."
Unlike other online games, here you couldn't just log out whenever and wherever you felt like it. Or rather, you COULD, but there would be consequences. The level of realism the game designers were going for meant that they couldn't have players just popping in and out of existence in the middle of town. So rather than disappearing, when you left the game you went to "sleep."
Of course, going to sleep in the middle of a busy street was frowned upon. To keep that from happening, players who left their avatars in inappropriate places were likely to be arrested for vagrancy, and find themselves waking up in prison next time they logged on. You could get out, of course, but you'd have to pay the fine, either in coins or items, or some form of service.
I doubted I would ever be returning to THIS character, but the last thing I wanted was to get in trouble my first time on. And besides, it was just common courtesy. I'd go back to the dance hall, log off, and make myself a new character properly.
"I'll just wait for you right here I guess." Suzie said, sitting back down.
"Well, I might be a little while." I replied, thinking of the complexity of the character generation program. "I guess I should have worked on my character in advance like you did." I grinned sheepishly. "It might take me some time to make a proper character. I'll try to hurry though."
"Well, don't be in such a hurry like you were this time." She admonished me. "Even if you DO look kind of cute." I blushed as she winked at me. "Anyway, you just hurry back home and log out. I guess I'll wait here another.. say half an hour? If I'm not here, I'll either be back at my home, or in the market somewhere, so just come and find me, okay?"
"Okay." I agreed. "I'll see you soon."
With a small wave I quickly and determinedly set out for the dance hall. It still felt odd walking in high heeled boots, and my bouncing bust was distracting, but I was getting used to it, and they no longer hindered my walking much.
I had barely turned two corners and gotten out of sight of Suzie when
