There is a lot about me you don't know -Tales of Arcadia ENG

11- Portals

Nari nodded with a small movement of her head.

"So many quests!" The blond's tone was so excited as he tapped the bottom of the cutlery on the table with a big grin on his face. "It's like being in a video game. Like Final Fantasy 7!"

"Pft. The risks are a little bigger than in a video game, but you want to look at it," asserted Archie, starting to lick his fur after a couple of seconds.

"Hmm. I wouldn't be so sure," Douxie commented, arching an eyebrow, then barely smirking, "some people would smash Computers and Playstations over someone's head after a game, Arch..."

Archie sniffed, waving his tail. "I know that. A lot of almost murdering. A lot of screaming. And a lot of cheating."

"You're acting as if you wouldn't have made an overdramatic fuss just for a Roasted Salmon," muttered Douxie, receiving a mild headbutt from the dragon and then chuckling. "So much drama in that case."

"That's a different department." The Familiar sounded quite annoyed.

"Their survival depends on it, partly. So the danger is the same. Especially on some of them!" intervened Toby.

Douxie and Archie looked at each other without saying anything.

"...The Youtubers, the Influencers..."

"Mary herself," quickly added Claire, nodding. "Oh, yeah. You should have seen her reaction when she lost all of Love Nikki's saves." She was somewhat pained for a moment just remembering that. It had been a nightmare.

"And the ones who create them," Jim chimed in.

"Oh! Pepperjack was trying to create one. I didn't understand much about it, but it was pretty cool." Steve ran his finger across the cell phone screen as he ate, nearly losing it from his hands and retrieving it more by luck than anything else, although he exhibited a satisfied expression. This drew a smirk from Claire.

"Wingman," commented Aaarrrgh out of the blue, receiving a big smile from the nominee. "Play Go-Go-Sushi."

"Video...games? Final Fantasy 7? Go-Go-Sushi?" Asked Nari, more than a little lost at that point -Youtuber and Influencer had been a topic already covered in the previous day's meme talk- as authorizing Toby and Steve to throw themselves back into a, somewhat tentative, general explanation.

Archie seemed more than mildly exasperated for a moment -maybe because they had strayed almost entirely from the initial topic- but after looking at his wizard he recoiled and let it go.

Douxie chuckled, starting to fiddle with a piece of carrot before bringing it to his lips, but without biting or doing anything else. He simply placed it on top for a couple of seconds, before turning serious again suddenly and wrinkling his nose, casting silent glances at the Familiar and receiving them in return.

It did not go unnoticed as a change. Neither by Claire, nor by Jim, nor by Blinky. And after a couple of seconds, the boy blinked several times, opening and closing his mouth, asserting a simple "True," neither from the others.

"What's true?" asked Claire, almost instinctively, causing him to raise his head in surprise and probably realize that he had spoken verbally. And not mentally responding to whatever mental conversation he was almost certainly having with Archie, whatever it was.

"Uh..." Hisirdoux waved his hand hurriedly, then brought it to the back of his neck. "It's nothing, just a thought. You can keep talking, pardon me for interrupting."

Claire frowned, puzzled. And she was not the only one to show confusion, quite the contrary. Plus, nobody resumed talking. That was perhaps why the boy ended up sighing and responding.