Bee breathed out a sigh.

“That bad, eh?”

He groaned into the coffee table, head lying in his arms. He slowly pulled up his head.

Sat around the table with him were Danny and Laura. Two of Bee’s best friends.

Danny dressed in serious butch aesthetic. She was athletic-muscular and liked clothing that showed it off a bit. Her current outfit used a sleeveless shirt to show off her darkly tanned arms combined masc jeans. Her hair was short and purple, with an asymmetric side shave that framed her face on one side. Her only obvious makeup was some eye stuff. Like, mascara and stuff.

It was for flirting, or so she claimed.

Next to her was Laura, who wore a plain black skirt that reached her knees and a white blouse that revealed the top of her ample cleavage. Her hair was long and straight and brown, maybe a little messy after coming down from a bun, and her makeup was simple and professional. She wore wire-framed glasses which emphasized her green eyes.

The three were pretty different, but they’d known each other since Highschool, one way or another. They sat outside commiserating over the last of their exams for the semester.

The weather was a mixture of cloudy, with the sun occasionally poking through. It was maybe not as nice as it could be, but there was no threat of rain and it helped keep away the May heat.

“Earth to Bee. You doing okay?”

Bee started.

“Right. Sorry. I zoned out there a bit...what did you say Danny?”

She gave him a look.

“We need to get some caffeine into you.”

He nodded his head in embarrassed agreement.

Bee stood up to grab a latte. Plus a regular cup (with 2 sugars) for Danny. Laura waved him off, pulling a can out of her purse with the lettering “ENERGY 200%” printed promptly on its side. 

They were sitting in a plaza, under a tree that had recently shed the last of its flowers, if the ground was any indication. The coffee shop. Err, The Coffee Shop. That’s what the chain was called. Was at the end of the plaza opposite the street, with a small park to one side and commercial buildings with offices above on the other. The street itself was quiet. This plaza was near the train station and most of the surrounding roads had traffic controls on them.

The shop itself was quiet for a Coffee Shop. Bee went up to the auto-till to place his order and was quickly out again with his hands full of drinks.

“-So anyway, I’m really looking forward to it.” Laura, Bee caught the end of whatever she was saying on the way back.

“What’s that?” He handed Danny her drink and sat back down.

“I was talking about this new game. It just came out of Beta; Realm of Legends: Eternal. I have been SO excited for it to go public!”

Bee smirked for Laura. He was happy to see his friend get so excited. “What’s it about?”

“It’s a dive game. Full Immersion, with quests, dungeon raids, PVP and tournaments. Basically it’s a sandbox where you can do anything you want within the game’s rules.”

“Neat.” he said noncommittally. He took a sip from his latte. “I’ve never played a Dive Game before.”

“Wait, seriously!?”

“It’s not that surprising. I only started playing them because you dragged me into one.” Danny admonished.

“Okay. Here’s an idea. Why don’t we play together?”

“I don’t know…” Bee began.

“Come on, it’ll be a great time!”

“Aren’t those games supposed to take up a ton of time?”

“Not as much as you’d think,” Danny replied.

“Beside!” Laura added. “If I can play them in the full program, then you can manage it in the free track.

He had to concede to Laura there. She had twice as much school work as Danny or Bee and managed to find plenty of time to play.

Bee took another sip while gathering his thoughts.

“Okay. What do I need to play?”

“The game itself is FTP. Err, free. You just need the hardware. You can even reserve time in a cafe if you don’t want to commit to the dive machine right away.” 

She paused.

“Oh, but Danny and I’ll mostly be playing nights. So you might want to keep that in mind...I know you don’t love staying out late.”

Bee nodded but remained silent. He would kind of like to try it out with them. There wasn’t any particular reason he hadn’t tried a dive game before, after all. He’d just never felt the need. Besides, he tended to prefer more classic stuff. The sort of games where you needed emulation software to run them.

And he just wasn’t sure if he was really up for it? Like, it sounded like a lot, if nothing else.

But he did want the chance to do something with his friends. He’d been flakey recently. Like he couldn’t motivate himself to go out and do much? And this seemed like a good way to work through that and hang out with them, all at the same time.

“How about I try it out in a Cafe at a more reasonable time? Then if I like it I’ll look into getting the tech to play with you?”

“Atta Bee!” Danny cheered. She touched her coffee cup to Bee’s.

Laura just nodded and smiled.

“I’m sure you’ll love it!”