He had only just begun filling them when she quickly walked back from the other room and stopped him. “No, it’s fine,” she interjected when she saw what he was doing. She quickly popped the cork on a second bottle and then took another long drink. “I got my own bottle. You can tell me which one you like more.”

“I’ll just stick with this one then,” Lucas said.

“Nope. Mine.” She reached over, grabbed the bottle from him and took another drink. He stared at her in surprise, but she just shrugged. “You gotta try both, or you won’t know which one you like more.”

“Is that how you are with classes in a video game?” Lucas asked, somewhat curious. He had been denied the chance to pick given his in-game circumstances, and now his class was being assigned by Xun Guan, so he’d never have to worry about making a decision.

“Maybe.” She picked up a cracker that had been layered with cheese and handed it to him. “But I don’t get a chance to do that these days. I was actually thinking of picking up that game again one day, but I’m not sure what class I’d play next time. I’d probably play a barbarian or something.”

“Because?” Lucas was a little surprised about that. She didn’t seem like the type to want to get physical and up close with an opponent.

“I just really want to stab people sometimes. I want to get in someone’s face and butcher him. I feel like it might be therapeutic. I should probably do it, but I haven’t had anyone to game with, and I don’t want to do it alone.”

“Couldn’t you get a party in the game?” he asked.

“What? And have to deal with people creeping on me ‘cause I’m a girl?” Liu scoffed. “I’m an Asian girl that works in tech: I get enough men making me feel uncomfortable as is in real life—right to the point I need a shower after work. Don’t need to add more of that in my off time.”

Lucas nodded. “Ah. Right.”

“Plus, what’s the point of playing a video game if you’re not going to have a little fun with the things you can’t do in real life?”

She took another drink, Lucas mirrored her action, and the two finally sat down at the table. “What do you mean?” he asked. “Isn’t the game fun? I kind of like it. I . . . uhh . . . kind of enjoyed my session today.”

“It’s just . . . I mean, why spend all of that money to live in a fantasy world with no real-life consequences if every player is just going to be pigeonholed into doing the goody-goody two shoes, high-morality thing?”