Lyon rubs his eyes as he finally looks away from his computer screen. 

“Hey, Bryce, wanna hit up that new pizza shop downtown?” Lyon calls from his desk. “They give discounts to people that work for the Crown-”

A loud bell stops him in his tracks. His eyes widen and he immediately clicks on the developers program tab for Odessa Dates.

“Wow, haven’t heard that in weeks. But yes to the pizza. Heard they’re vegan-friendly too,” Bryce says, gathering his bag and phone before walking around to his side of the cubicle. He notices the silence coming from him and looks down into his screen, chuckling lowly.

“Wow, Lyon, guess it's your lucky day,” Bryce says with a smirk. Lyon's eyebrows furrow as he looks at his computer screen. In front of him is a notification for a person from $!{player_hometown}. He's used to seeing this screen pop up, but not with the percentage amount.

"$!{player_first_name} $!{player_last_name}, a 99 percent match," Lyon reads aloud, "Sweet peaches."

Bryce snorts at both his reaction and his euphemism. "You can take the boy out the country but…"

Lyon glares up at his deskmate who quickly gives him an apologetic smile. 

"Sorry…so, ready for pizza?" Bryce asks with a huge grin.

*page_break

[b] [i] NOW PLAYING AS: $!{player_first_name} [/i] [/b]

Light streams into your room early the next morning through your half open blinds. You groan and roll over on your side, picking up your phone to see what time it was. 

“Great, 8:30,” you mumble, swiping through all the notifications that came in through the night. Most were just from old apps you didn’t even use anymore.

There was one text from your roommate, saying that ${roommate_he_she} left breakfast for you in the microwave. Since you didn’t have to be at work until 10:00 a.m., you’ll actually have time to enjoy it. 

As you eat your breakfast on the couch, you scroll through your emails, trying to see if you got one from Odessa Dates yet. After searching your inbox and your spam folder, you find nothing. 

You sigh a bit, wondering what the hold up could be. The website advertised a quick turnaround with matches and you’re pretty sure you filled out everything last night. 

No use in worrying about that now, though. It’s time for you to leave for work, otherwise you’ll be late.

How do you usually get to work?
*fake_choice
    #I hop in my car and drive to work. The office is less than 15 minutes away with good traffic.
        *set vehicle "car"
        Your good ‘ol hatchback has carried you for years still manages to get you to and from work everyday. It’s old and familiar, what you’re used to.

        You turn on the radio during your drive, wanting to catch a few of the morning headlines before you get to work.

        “Good morning Lox! It’s Sally Sal and here’s your morning headlines!”

        You turn the radio up a bit more as Sally continues.

        “This just in folks! The Royal Family will be having a press conference today at noon to discuss Odessa Dates. It is unknown at this time what exactly will be addressed, but sources close to the King say that it’s a press conference that you don’t want to miss!”

        You turn towards the parking deck that you typically park in and speed up the ramp after flashing your badge at the security guard. A press conference about Odessa Dates?

        If the King and his whole family will be in attendance, then it must be something big. Maybe they broke a world record or one of his children are joining the platform to get more publicity? 
        
        Either way, noon was your lunch break so you’d definitely turn in, if for no other reason than to have something to talk about at lunch than the weather or office politics. 
        
        *page_break
        *goto_scene chapter1_work

    #I call a rideshare. It’s starting to get pretty expensive, so I’m thinking about investing in a car.
        *set vehicle "rideshare"
        There are many times that you wish you had a car. Like this morning. You usually have pretty pleasant drivers, but this one just insisted on talking the entire ride without allowing you to get in any words except, “wow,”, “what?” and “really?”

        “Hey, I don’t know if you’ve heard, but apparently the Royal Family is having some sort of announcement at noon today,” your driver says.

        “Really-”

        Your driver interrupts you for the hundredth time this ride. 
        
        “That bloody family. Bet it’s some marriage announcement for that younger lass. Everybody focuses on the heir but it’s that lass people need to keep an eye on.”

        You wondered if it would be rude to stick your headphones in so you could tune out your driver, but by the time you decide that it’s not, you’re already at work. It does give you a bit of satisfaction to cut your driver off with a slammed door before he began his spiel of reminding you to rate and tip. 
        
        *page_break
        *goto_scene chapter1_work

    #I catch the bus. I don’t mind public transportation plus it’s a good excuse to watch people.
        *set vehicle "bus"
        *goto_scene chapter1_busride
    
    #I ride my bike. It's eco-friendly and I get to exercise every day!
        *set vehicle "bike"
        *set brawn %+10
        It’s a good 20 minute bike ride in the morning and in the afternoons, but you still enjoy the ride. After a few unfortunate accidents with your phone and breaking on your bike, you don’t listen to music on your ride anymore.
        
        It gives you a reason to look around though as other people move about the city. 

        While breaking for traffic, you glance over at a nearby shop window with a bunch of television screens on. They had all had various prices listed on them, but they all showed the same thing, a bubbly blonde girl chatting with somebody else in a chair about Odessa Dates. 
        
        Obviously you were unable to hear what the two were discussing, but a quick glance at the subtitles revealed something to do with an announcement.

        You decide that you’d find out more at work and once the signal was green, you continue your ride to work. 
        
        *page_break
        *goto_scene chapter1_work
    #I ride my motorcycle. It's definitely a conversation starter.
        *set vehicle "motorcycle"
        *set cunning %+10
        Motorcycles are a bit hard to come by in this region of Odessa, but you took pride in yours. Everywhere you went, people would stop and point or watch in awe as you took to the streets. The amount of time it took to get to work and come back home everyday really varied for a variety of factors.
       
        You tried not to be late to work, but sometimes you'd be caught up in gushing about a particular feature or part on your motorcycle to a stranger that you'd lose track of time. Other times, the traffic would be so terrible, you might as well have been in a car.
        
        Like this morning.
        
        You're stuck on the road in traffic, surrounded by people in cars of varying models and years. With nothing to really do until the traffic let up, you turn on the radio just for something to listen to. Cringing at the sound of a song from deep south Odessa, you continue flipping until you get to a news-like station.
        
        "Yes, that's correct. The Royal Family will be going live today at noon to talk about Odessa Dates. Here to discuss this breaking news is this morning's expert panel."
        
        You recognize the voice as Shelby Rhyne, a pretty well known radio-show host in this region of Odessa. Though you really had no intention of listening to a group of people argue back and forth for 10 minutes, you were definitely interested in tuning in to whatever this announcement was supposed to be.
        *page_break
        *goto_scene chapter1_work
        
    #I walk. Luckily Lox is pretty temperature consistent throughout the year so it’s never really too hot or too cold. 
        *set vehicle "feet"
        *set brawn %+10
        For many, walking might seem boring or a chore, but for you, it was nice. 

        You give a nod towards an individual working the newspaper stand on the sidewalk and another person is even able to get you to buy a bottle of juice. You sip at it while waiting for the walk sign to come on. 

        All of a sudden, your watch begins to vibrate. You see it’s a push notification from a gossip website you swore you unsubscribed from weeks ago. 

        “‘Royal Family to announce big news about Odessa Dates,’” you read. Your eyebrows raise at this. What could they even announce? A new feature? A new update?

        A little more scrolling on your watch reveals that the announcement is at noon and that every channel and website throughout Odessa will be airing it. This has to be one of the biggest announcements ever for the Crown. You’re pretty sure the country’s war declaration 10 years ago wasn’t this televised. 

        Nevertheless, at least your lunch break would be interesting. 
        
        *page_break
        *goto_scene chapter1_work