Page 13 of Looking for Group

Come on, come on, come on.

[Yell][Vilicus]: I HAVE…TRANSCENDED!

And with that, Vilicus sank to his knees and snuffed it, taking his ghosts and his poisonous blood trail with him.

Drew practically collapsed as well.

And Mumble went wild.

“Get in there!”

“Omigod!”

“Holy fuck, we did it!”

“I really didn’t think we were going to make that.”

“ Check out my DPS! ”

“Can I get a rez, please?”

“Well done, guys, that was awesome.”

Slowly, people began to calm down and wander round the torture chamber, bringing their friends back to life.

“And now,” announced Bjorn, “the loots.”

Drew had pretty much forgotten about loot this run. He had nearly everything he needed from CoT anyway, and the guild seemed to have quite a relaxed attitude to the whole thing, which took the pressure off gearing.

“So, let’s see what Uncle Bjorn has in his magic bag. We have a lovely ranger wep, with a beautiful thorns and blood motif. The Tormenter’s Bow.”

[Raid][Heurodis]: [The Tormenter’s Bow]

“Does anybody not already have The Tormenter’s Bow?”

[Raid][Dave]: Ill have it for my os

[Raid][Ialdir]: I’ll have it for my mantelpiece

[Raid][Heurodis]: disenchanting. if you need any purple mats apply to the bank

“And, finally, our last prize this evening, boasting an attractive hardwood handle and a blade which I feel I should point out is extremely historically implausible: The Inexorable Axe.”

[Raid][Heurodis]: [The Inexorable Axe]

Drew jerked suddenly alert.

Holy shit.

Holy, holy shit.

His axe.

Bjorn’s voice seemed to be coming from far away. “Roll MS if you need it.”

Drew scrabbled urgently at his keyboard.

Heurodis rolls a 52

Ialdir rolls a 34

Orcarella rolls a 2

Dave rolls a 98

Ignatius rolls a 41

Solace rolls a 57

Jargogle rolls a 84

Prospero rolls a 65

Morag rolls a 14

Caius rolls a 71

[Raid][Orcarella]:…

“Looks like it’s going to Dave. Well done, Dave. Round of applause for Dave.”

[Raid][Orcarella]:…

Mumble exploded again. Drew had never heard so many adults giggling at once.

Honestly, it was kind of a mixed feeling.

On the one hand, nine relative strangers were laughing at something he was not only upset about, but still felt quite embarrassed at being upset about.

On the other hand…it was also weirdly nice.

You had to know something about someone to be able to take the piss out of them. And, in a funny way, you had to care.

He was glad he was safely on the other side of a screen, because he was probably grinning like a dork.

You have received [The Inexorable Axe]

[Raid][Orcarella]: thx guys

He opened his inventory and stared lovingly at his new weapon for a moment before equipping it.

Bjorn kind of had a point. The blade was completely implausible.

It looked like a scythe stuck on a cartwheel stuck on a stick. But it was best in slot for Vengeance.

Orcarella ran around in circles excitedly and a few guildies cheered as she passed. 10

[Raid][Solace]: Hey, you know what this means?

[Raid][Orcarella]: ?

[Raid][Solace]: You’re officially the best geared tank on the server

[Raid][Orcarella]: lol

[Raid][Jargogle]: Haha

[Raid][Dave]: lol

[Raid][Ialdir]: Grats dude

“Okay,” said Morag. “We’re calling it here. We’ll finish off on Wednesday, so sign up on the forums if you haven’t already. That was a really good run, guys.”

People said their goodnights and began leaving the raid group.

[Guild][Ialdir]: Awesome night

[Guild][Ialdir]: But I need to go to bed before my husband divorces me

[Guild][Solace]: Night night

[Guild][Sindarella]: nn

[Guild][Heurodis]: anyone for a hc?

Drew checked the clock on his minimap. It was just eleven, so there’d be time, but he wasn’t completely sure he wanted to.

[Guild][Dave]: mums turning the internet off

[Guild][Dave]: ?

[Guild][Dave]: ?

[Guild][Sindarella]: me and Helen can come 11

[Guild][Sindarella]: I can storm tank it lol

[Guild][Ignatius]: I’m not healing you in storm

[Guild][Heurodis]: lol

Drew realised he was alone in an empty torture chamber. He wondered if Solace would come with them if he went on the heroic, but maybe she’d gone fishing, and by the time he was done, she might have logged off.

He stared for a while at the guild roster, and the little line that read, Solace: Online .

Would it be weird to just ask her if she wanted to hang out?

What if it was weird? What if she said no?

To [Solace]: you fishing?

[Solace] whispers: Yes

[Solace] whispers: It helps me wind down after a raid

There was the text-based equivalent of an awkward silence.

[Solace] whispers: You can come join me if you like

[Solace] whispers: you don’t have to

[Solace] whispers: if you dont want to

To [Solace]: omw

[Solace] whispers:

Solace has invited you to join a group: y/n

Solace is now group leader.

Drew activated his bindstone, then hopped a skyship across continents and flew south to Alarion. He flapped over the ruins looking for Solace, and found her on the same bit of fallen temple. She was sitting on the edge in her battered fishing hat, her line arcing into the purple-blue water.

Ella took off her helmet and plopped down next to her.

[Group][Orcarella]: good run tonight

[Group][Solace]: Yeah, it was fun

[Group][Solace]: Nice work on Vilicus

[Group][Orcarella]: you too

[Group][Solace]: I died

[Group][Orcarella]: yeah but heroically

[Group][Solace]: Heroically hit by a ghost while trying to get off a Greater Heal

[Group][Orcarella]: well you died so others might live and stuff

[Group][Solace]: First rule of healing is healer heal thyself

[Group][Solace]: We pretend to be all nurturing but actually we’re just trying to keep lots of warm bodies between us and the enemy

[Group][Orcarella]: like emperor Palpatine

There was a long—for lack of a better term—silence, and Drew wondered if he’d blown it. Dead kobold, fine. Comparing her to Darth Sidious, not so much.

[Group][Solace]: Sorry, I’m trying to make a Star Wars joke but the Emperor has no decent lines.

[Group][Orcarella]: I find your lack of healz disturbing

[Group][Solace]: That’s Vader.

[Group][Orcarella]: wow you’ve put way more thought into this than I have

[Group][Solace]: *blush*

[Group][Orcarella]: no its cool

[Group][Orcarella]: you’re right, I can’t remember any of his lines

[Group][Orcarella]: except like you know

[Group][Orcarella]: DIEDIEDIE

[Group][Solace]: For a guy called Darth Sidious he’s kind of

[Group][Solace]:…

[Group][Solace]: not very insidious

[Group][Orcarella]: lol

[Group][Orcarella]: i hadn’t even noticed that

[Group][Orcarella]: you know what I find weird about star wars

[Group][Solace]: I’d love to hear what you find weird about Star Wars

[Group][Orcarella]: i have to go google this because it’s so weird

[Group][Orcarella]: brb

[Group][Solace]: kk

[Group][Orcarella]: okay so this epic saga of love and war and space and good and evil and stuff opens with:

[Group][Orcarella]: The taxation of trade routes to outlaying star systems is in dispute.

[Group][Solace]: lololol

[Group][Solace]: Hey, I played a republic in Crusader Kings II.

[Group][Solace]: Trade embargos are hardcore.

[Group][Orcarella]: You play CKII?

[Group][Solace]: I may have the body of a weak and feeble Dark Elf

[Group][Solace]: But I have the heart and stomach of a king, and a King of England

[Group][Orcarella]: don’t you mean a concrete elephant

[Group][Solace]: And he likes Blackadder too

[Group][Solace]: Be still my beating heart

Drew flustered at his keyboard, typed about five responses and deleted them all. Then panicked because it looked like he’d panicked.

[Group][Orcarella]: lol

[Group][Orcarella]: but seriously you’re into strategy games

[Group][Solace]: CKII isn’t really a strategy game

[Group][Solace]: It’s an RPG with a big map

[Group][Orcarella]: i never got into it

[Group][Orcarella]: too easy

[Group][Orcarella]: i took over Europe on my third playthrough

Shit. Now he sounded like he was boasting.

[Group][Orcarella]: sorry i just sounded like a dick

[Group][Orcarella]: i just like figuring out games

[Group][Solace]: No, I get that

[Group][Solace]: But sometimes it’s nice to experience stuff

[Group][Orcarella]: i’m not very good at that

[Group][Orcarella]: i like to know what my goals are

[Group][Orcarella]: so I know when I’m doing well 12

[Group][Orcarella]: I guess it’s why I like raiding

[Group][Solace]: You’re really good at it

[Group][Orcarella]: thx

[Group][Orcarella]: but it kind of stopped being fun

[Group][Orcarella]: i mean until I joined you guys

[Group][Solace]: The most fun I’ve had in CKII was when I’ve been losing

[Group][Solace]: There was this one time I got usurped by my evil uncle and banished to a tiny corner of Sicily

[Group][Solace]: Where I sat plotting my revenge for 18 years

[Group][Solace]: And another time my entire dynasty died out because my only heir was a pious homosexual who hung out in Jerusalem with a poet

[Group][Orcarella]: lol

[Group][Orcarella]: you should have had him assassinated

[Group][Solace]: O.O

[Group][Orcarella]: sorry that sounds really homophobic

[Group][Orcarella]: i just meant because it was game mechanically suboptimal

[Group][Solace]: *snerk*

[Group][Solace]: Some people are game mechanically suboptimal. Get over it.

[Group][Orcarella]: ?

[Group][Solace]: I might get that on a T-shirt. 13

[Group][Orcarella]:

There was another silence-equivalent. Drew really wanted to move the conversation on, but he wasn’t sure what to say.

He stared at Ella and Solace sitting on their rock. The moon was full and silver. And it suddenly occurred to him that he was using this game, for which he paid a monthly subscription, as a glorified chat client.

But he was having such a nice time he didn’t mind.

It was a bit stressful because he was used to having something specific to talk about in most of his social interactions.

With the guild, it was raiding. With Andy, it was Frisbee.

With his parents, it was did he have socks and was he eating properly.

With his coursemates, it was gaming and the course.

There’d been this one time when Sanee and Steff had got into a big argument, and Sanee had sat in Drew’s room crying for hours, but that had been weird and a bit uncomfortable, and they’d never mentioned it afterwards.

But with Solace, it was just sort of…being with someone you like being with.

And that felt…nice. And seemed kind of important somehow.

Which made him wonder if it was important to her as well.

And then he wondered if she was wondering the same thing.

So maybe he should tell her, so she would know.

But he wasn’t sure how to put it, in case it came out wrong, and sounded all intense and creepy.

[Group][Orcarella]: I like the way you play games

[Group][Orcarella]: you seem to get a lot out of them

[Group][Solace]: You don’t think it’s weird?

[Group][Orcarella]: well maybe a bit at first

[Group][Orcarella]: but what’s weirder? playing a game because you like it or playing a game because you feel you have to?

[Group][Solace]: Is that how you feel?

[Group][Orcarella]: sometimes

[Group][Solace]: ?

[Group][Solace]: *hugs*

[Group][Orcarella]: but i enjoyed tonight

[Group][Orcarella]: reminded me how it used to be

[Group][Orcarella]: and i liked running that heroic with you 14

[Group][Orcarella]: and this is nice too

[Group][Solace]: Yes, it really is

[Group][Solace]: Um

[Group][Solace]: If you wanted, we could maybe roll some alts

[Group][Solace]: Go all the way back to the beginning and say goodbye to the old world before they nuke it in the next expansion

[Group][Orcarella]: they’re really doing that?

[Group][Solace]: I saw something on MMO Champion this morning

[Group][Solace]: It’s going to be called Genesis and crazy machine gods are going to rise up and try to remake the world

[Group][Orcarella]: what? again??

[Group][Orcarella]: i thought we stopped that shit two patches ago

[Group][Solace]: No, that was foreshadowing

[Group][Orcarella]: lol

[Group][Orcarella]: so what’re we going to roll?

[Group][Solace]: Something new? For both of us

[Group][Orcarella]: my old main’s a human

[Group][Solace]: And I’m not playing a high elf on principle

[Group][Solace]: They betrayed my people man

[Group][Orcarella]: kk, that leaves kobolds medusas or dorfs

[Group][Solace]: Also I kind of want to be hot

[Group][Orcarella]: so no kobolds then?

[Group][Solace]: How about medusas?

[Group][Solace]: I’ve never seen their starting area

[Group][Orcarella]: me neither

[Group][Orcarella]: so when’s good?

[Group][Solace]: I can do whenever

[Group][Orcarella]: how about tomorrow

[Group][Orcarella]: o wait shit

[Group][Orcarella]: got a thing

[Group][Solace]: Wednesday’s raid night

[Group][Orcarella]: thurs?

[Group][Solace]: It’s a date.

[Group][Orcarella]: cool

And it was only later, after they’d said an awkward goodnight and Drew was lying in bed running over the conversation in his head, that he tripped over the d-word.

He knew he was probably overthinking, but that didn’t stop him from overthinking.

It was probably just a turn of phrase.

But if it wasn’t, then that was…

…good?