Round 1: Anatole

Amara Anatole is an Adult.

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Amara had always been happy with her simple life. She worked at the same tech support job she’d had since high school, she played video games, she went jogging, she watched cartoons. She had a little house just big enough for her, and small enough that it was easy to keep clean. She didn’t need to be a high-powered lawyer like her sister in SimCity, or married with three kids like her other sister in Pleasantview. She had everything she needed, and she was content.

Only ever since she had officially crossed the line into middle age, she had started to get these twinges.

Twinges that made her start learning programming after work, so that if she ever got promoted out of tech support she’d be ready.

Twinges that made her focus a little harder at work, in the hope of catching her manager’s eye.

Twinges that made her wonder what it would be like to have a relationship that lasted more than a couple of months.

She and her friend Dawn couldn’t be more different. They were about the same age – strictly speaking, Amara was a little older – but Dawn had gotten pregnant while she was still in high school, and now her daughter Autumn was all grown up. She’d been trying to have a second baby for years. Amara couldn’t imagine ever feeling mature enough to take care of a baby.

She tried asking Dawn about it one day – about what exactly she had done to become a real adult, and when, and whether she had really felt ready. But she could tell Dawn didn’t get it.

She talked about her doubts with her friend Stella next. She and Stella normally just talked about the latest video games, but one day she casually mentioned some of what she had been feeling. Stella told her that maybe she should try making some changes in her life – get a better job, find a boyfriend who she could see marrying someday. As if it were that simple.

Then one day, Amara got to work and found that her extra effort had paid off – she had been promoted. After working in customer service for longer than she could remember, she was being moved to quality assurance.

She didn’t know how she felt. She was happy, of course, but she also felt deeply uneasy in a way she couldn’t explain. As usual when she felt like this, she tried to distract herself with games. But this time, it didn’t really work.