Chapter Text
Imogen’s head ached. Hours of sitting, staring at a screen wasn’t terribly out of the ordinary for her, being a social recluse and self-employed. Still, waiting for her bitch of an expansion to load had taken its toll. She certainly felt that her skull was paying the price.
The Slayer’s Take Expansion: newest DLC for hit MMO Exandria Unlimited, and currently, the bane of Imogen’s computer’s existence. As the whirring of the fan only accelerated, Imogen wondered distantly if there was a way for her PC to take flight. She’d miss Flora, of course, but not the terrible noise it made to keep itself from overheating. A small price to pay for The Slayer’s Take, though— she’d been on the ball when it came to pre-ordering, but she’d heard horror stories of people camping outside GameStop the night before launch. Well, launch was now. Assuming Flora didn’t spontaneously combust.
Imogen didn’t run with a guild, so she was used to all sorts of roles when it came to solo questing. There was the occasional team raid, but those teams were short-lived. She’d learned the hard way that running with a crew had an expiration date, and she wasn’t about to lose another 20k to some bastard who farmed low-levels with her. Still, rumor had it that The Slayer’s Take required co-op, and since it was only advertised with two new limited edition characters to choose from, she figured she’d partner up briefly just to see what the expansion had to offer.
sendingsparks is online.
She heard the familiar theme for the loading screen. The backdrop was different— instead of showing Imogen the default roles and her daily wheel, she had two options to choose from. Right, the DLC characters. The tiefling girl, Zahra, was a caster. Imogen figured from her stats she’d make decent crowd control, or DPS in a pinch. Imogen much preferred DPS. She’d tried playing Pike for a bit to get a feel for the healer role but never really got into it. DPS and tanking were where she really shone. Combat was difficult enough with all the sights and sounds, she really didn’t want to have to worry about spell lists on top of everything. The other character, Kashaw, was a healer, but Imogen didn’t pay him much mind. She liked Zahra’s design, and her invocation mechanics seemed similar enough to default Fjord’s. Maybe not easy, but certainly doable, especially for eight hours of gameplay. She let her cursor hover for a moment, watching Zahra’s tail swish, then clicked.
funscary is online.
Interesting. It seemed the game paired her up with someone, recognizing she didn’t have a guild. funscary hovered over Kashaw’s icon. So the rumors were right. Imogen typed in a quick /greet, and watched as Zahra’s model waved, each finger falling gracefully one after another. Kashaw’s model quickly waved back, though his was far less graceful. His model seemed to be armed not only with divine magic, but a perpetual scowl. Imogen could only hope his player was more agreeable. Though if funscary didn’t run with a guild, Imogen tried not to get her hopes up. She’d heard far too many horror stories of guild drama, even lived through a few, but guildless players did have a reputation for being… well. Fickle.
funscary would like to open chat.
Imogen clicked accept, a bit warily. She kept to herself for the most part, guildless as she was. If this was co-op, she figured she might as well try to be friendly. Besides, if anything went wrong she could just log out and try for another teammate later. Sure, she’d miss out on the early bird achievements, but it wasn’t like the loot didn’t respawn.
funscary: Hi! I saw we got paired for Slayer’s Take, and I hovered over your username and saw you got the Diarchy achievement. That’s really quite impressive, especially for someone without a guild!
Curious, Imogen let her cursor hang over funscary’s name, and her eyes widened. She wasn’t paired with just some casual. Their crafting stats were maxed, and they boasted several titles that would’ve taken Imogen years to earn. She’d bet money that they were one of the original players, before Exandria went sort-of mainstream and picked up all sorts of casuals. Somehow, funscary had even managed to get through the Sun Tree horror mini-adventure, the one that had given Imogen nightmares for weeks. She really hadn’t needed more nightmares.
sendingsparks: you’re not so bad yourself :) it’s not every day i see someone who made it through sun tree
funscary: Gods, it was a grind to get through. But as a horror aficionado I felt it was my duty :D
sendingsparks: the opening scene still gives me shivers
Waiting for a reply, Imogen hummed and popped open Zahra’s journal and mini-map. It looked like the expansion was set in Vasselheim. She wasn’t the most interested in all of the religious lore it had to offer, but she had to admit, she was eager to put Zahra’s skills to the test. A purple lightning bolt– her customized in-game chat icon– flashed at the corner of her screen. It certainly seemed like funscary was chatty. Still, they seemed nice enough. She had to admit, as a writer herself, they had a certain sort of melodic flow as they typed. It tickled Imogen a bit. In a good way.
funscary: Exactly! But, in a way that’s fun for me. Like my name- funscary. Anyway, shall we get to it?
Imogen checked her watch. Plenty of time before therapy. She could push off work as much as she wanted, Imogen being the only one suffering for it, but she’d somehow managed to double-book herself with a session on the expansion’s release date. Imogen let out an exaggerated sigh. The Slayer’s Take was only supposed to be about eight hours long, so if she pushed, she might be able to get halfway through it before she had to leave.
funscary would like to join your party.
Something about them felt calming, right in a way she couldn’t explain. For the second time, Imogen clicked accept.
She’d been playing for nearly four and a half hours when her alarm went off. Zahra was charging up a Hold Monster on the Kuo-Toa priestess when the sound made her jump. In her shock, Imogen targeted funscary instead, cursing her clumsy fingers. Luckily, Kashaw fought the spell off with funscary ’s boosted spellcasting stats, but Imogen still dreaded the blame she’d get in the chat. If not worse. She figured she might as well beat funscary to the punch. She typed a quick /sorry emote with one hand while firing off a few beams of Eldritch Blast with the other.
funscary: No problem! I still have trouble with the controls
Imogen cringed inwardly, thinking of how easily they could’ve wiped had Kashaw not resisted the Hold spell. This priestess had wiped the previous pair who came by, the usernames littlemoon and scalestorm highlighted on the side of the screen beside matching skulls. She had Zahra drop concentration and switch over to Black Tentacles when she saw Kashaw start charging for a Flame Strike. If she could pull off a Restrain on the priestess it would maximize Kashaw’s damage, but that was a pretty big if. Kuo-Toa were slimy fuckers, with resistances against grapples from their slimy skin. It was more irritating than anything.
Imogen checked back up on Kashaw’s charge– nearly done. The priestess was trying to disrupt him with a couple summoned guardians, but she could try to have Zahra take some hits in his place. She may have been a squishy caster, but her concentration was maxed, and it’d take more than a couple mooks to disrupt her Black Tentacles. Maybe it was a bit strange that funscary was playing Kashaw more as DPS, but she’d stocked up on potions before this crawl, so she didn’t mind. It suited Imogen’s current play style anyway— she was less damage-heavy, more interested in terrain manipulation and control debuffs. She took a few hits for funscary, hoping that letting them charge up for a 5th level was worth the HP drain on Zahra. Kashaw couldn’t heal while loading that powerful a spell, and she hoped funscary was quick enough to pull it off. If the combo attacks in the last dungeon were anything to go by, it’d be worth it.
Maybe due to Flora’s overheating system, maybe due to the magic of the moment, it came together in pieces. First, the tentacles shot up from the temple floor, darkening the chamber and holding the priestess in place, and then Kashaw’s hands came together with brilliant light, and then a millisecond of brilliant-white lag, and then Imogen’s screen went black and she wondered if it had died on her then and there—
And then, the screen faded back to the temple. Standing amongst the carnage were Zahra and Kashaw, bloodied and beaten, but still standing. funscary had managed to shape the spell to keep Zahra out of the line of fire, but in doing so, had got caught right on the end of it. It was selfless, sure, and probably more than a bit stupid, but it warmed Imogen’s hardened little gamer heart all the same.
Her alarm went off again in the background. Fuck.
sendingsparks: sorry, have to go AFK for a bit. got an appointment
sendingsparks: i should be back in an hour or so if you want to finish the expansion then
funscary: Sounds lovely! Hope your appointment goes well :D
With a panging in her chest she couldn’t yet describe, Imogen slammed Flora shut.
(“Playing hours of Exandria Unlimited a day is a form of escapism. You said so yourself last session. So, Imogen, what are you trying to escape from?”
“The voices, my mother, the nightmares. All of it.”
“And have you made any progress when it comes to making connections? You mentioned something about local guilds.”
“I’m uh… well, I’m working on it.”)
sendingsparks is online.
funscary: Welcome back! I’ve been thinking about how to divide the loot, based on our stat arrays. You mentioned trying to get a mount and how much you enjoyed playing Vex in the main game, so I figured I’d let you have the animal handling pack
sendingsparks: oh! oh wow, you didn’t have to do that..
sendingsparks: sorry, what should i call you?
funscary: Oh, where are my manners
funscary: I’m Laudna :D
funscary: It’s not my legal name, but it’s what I’ve always gone by online
Imogen thought it over in her mind, rolled the name soundlessly in her mouth. Laud-na, like lauding someone? Loud-na? L-oh-dna, like in French? They all sounded pretty to her. They all made sense on her tongue and her teeth.
sendingsparks: that’s really sweet of you, laudna. i wish i had a cool online nickname, but back when i ran with guilds they always called me sparks
(Or they called Imogen other names. Worse names. Schizo, psycho, dyke, snowflake. Some hurt worse than others. Some were even true.)
funscary: I like Sparks :D it’s better than being called Sending, right?
sendingsparks: yeah, i guess that would be kinda weird
sendingsparks: but since you’re letting me have the beast rider gear, you should have first pick of the loot
sendingsparks: that residuum looks like it’d be good for crafting
funscary: Oh, I don’t need residuum. In the main game I tend to quest in Jrusar rather than Whitestone
funscary: But it’s kind of you to offer!
sendingsparks: okay but seriously, you deserve something for that clutch banishment in that incubus fight
funscary: The one you set me up for with that Bestow Curse scroll
Imogen watched as Kashaw went through his /eyeroll emote, one that seemed more playful than anything next to Zahra.
funscary: I really don’t have a need for most of the loot, I play more for the experience than anything
sendingsparks: and yet you’re guildless
sendingsparks: and not a casual
funscary: Alright, I’ll take something small if it makes you feel better. But don’t sell yourself short :D
sendingsparks: thank you
funscary has taken Raven Skull from Kuo-Toa Priestess.
Imogen typed a quick /sulk emote, and Zahra crossed her arms. Kashaw, ever the dick, winked back.
funscary: I have big plans for it, don’t you worry
Imogen found herself a bit too curious as to what those plans were. God, she needed friends. A real job. A life.
Wait. A friend?
sendingsparks: sorry if this is overstepping, but would you be down to quest again sometime?
sendingsparks: together, i mean. in the main game. i quest in gelvaan, which isn’t too far from jrusar
She held her breath. Let it out. For several too-long moments, Laudna wasn’t typing. Kashaw stood eerily still, just a couple squares from Zahra. Shit, Dr. Eshteross was wrong, wasn’t he? She didn’t know what she was doing, she didn’t have the skills to meet anyone new, she couldn’t even make a friend over a fucking video game, she-
funscary: I’d love to! Our styles synergize quite well, and you’ve been a delight to quest with. I’m on PST and tend to come online during the early morning and evening
sendingsparks: i’m PST as well, so that works out perfect
Imogen felt bold, all of a sudden. Maybe it was the mix of Eshteross’s gentle pushing and the easing of her migraine, but she felt on top of the world. Powerful. Mere seconds ago she was spiraling, and a simple response from funscary had changed that. Perhaps there was hope for Imogen, yet.
sendingsparks: here, let me send you a comms invite so we don’t have to type all of this out-
funscary has joined sendingsparks’s private comms channel.
…And she sounded like music.