Adventures in MMOing [Cecil]

...wait-
WAIT.
AAAA IT IS THE SAME SEALED!

Petals_In_Soprano: SEALED, IT IS YOU! FROM THE MUSIC FORUMS!
Petals_In_Soprano: I didn't know you played Armageddon Online; I just thought it was someone with the same username!
Petals_In_Soprano: This is awesome! ^v^

Cecil grinned a mile wide at the confirmation. This...this worked way better than he'd hoped. This was perfect!

Sealed_Stars: Yup. In the flesh!
Sealed_Stars: ...sprite.
Sealed_Stars: Pixel?
Sealed_Stars: Not important!
Sealed_Stars: But yeah, it's me. I tend to stick to one name.
Sealed_Stars: Unlike you, obviously.

...did he...?
Why not?
Click, and...there. Friend request.

Sealed_Stars: Nice to find you in-game.

Internally, Calanthe is cheering so loud, she would have woken up her parents. But she's grinning externally.


Petals_In_Soprano: Yeah, I tend to swap usernames a lot
Petals_In_Soprano: Just because, if there's a hacker breach in the game, I'll stay safe!
Petals_In_Soprano: It's nice to find you in-game too!

Petals_In_Soprano has accepted your friend request!

Petals_In_Soprano: Now I have a friend I can talk to about music and stuff!

A shot of warmth shoots through Cecil as the request is accepted. He knew, in his head, that he didn't really know this person well. That having them as a name on his friends list wasn't actually something amazingly meaningful in itself. It was basically just a list of people he'd associate with in-game.
But that was on an intellectual level.
On an emotional one, seeing that he officially had a 'friend' after being so deprived made him kind of happy.
It looked like Orchid...Petals? Flowers, was happy about this too.

Sealed_Stars: It's nice having someone to talk to, isn't it?
Sealed_Stars: Much easier this way than in person, too.
Sealed_Stars: Anyway, though, we're still playing Armageddon, aren't we?
Sealed_Stars: Let's stock up and get some grinding done while we talk.

It went on like that, for a while. They talked, they grinded, and they didn't accidentally bait too many mobs at once again. It was nice.
Cecil proooobably ended up playing for longer than he should have, but right now, he didn't really care about that...Ankou's repeated prodding aside.
It had been a long time since he'd spent time with a friend, and he was making this count.

Calanthe smiled as she read the messages. Sure, she didn't know Sealed well, she just knew them as a user. A person behind a screen, just typing away. But knowing that someone actually was excited to see her and being friends with them in-game, even though it was on a list...made her feel a small spark of happiness.

Petals_In_Soprano: Yeah, it's nice.
Petals_In_Soprano: You know, it's way easier for me to talk on here than offline; in real life.
Petals_In_Soprano: Maybe it's cause I feel more comfortable on here?
Petals_In_Soprano: IDK. But let's get moving!

It went on like this for a while. The two users chatted, they grinded and didn't really bait too many mobs all at once like last time. It was kinda nice, kinda relaxing, getting away from the struggles of reality.

Even though her thoughts kept nagging at her that she was staying up too late, that her mom would ask why she's so tired, Calanthe didn't care. She had someone to chat with, someone who actually wanted to talk; she had a friend, even though it was online.

She was going to make this work.