After a good long group hug, we all decided to retire from the PVP daily. It was getting close to the next terrain shift and my close call with captain creep left Dimm and I both feeling pretty turned off to the event.

Hitting retire plopped us down in the courtyard where we signed up for the game. There were big floating screens in the center showing different perspectives on the ongoing tournament as well as listing the remaining teams slash players. We had actually been in the top 3rd when we quit. Go figure.

Dimm was sort of just decompressing and Leo was calling up some friends I think? So I decided to track down Candy and talk to her. I found her off in a corner of the courtyard, where she had a good view of one of the big screens but was kind of out of the way of all the people.

“Hey.” I stopped a couple steps away from her and gave her a little wave.

“Hey,” she smiled back at me. “How was the game?”

“Kinda scary,” I pouted.

She tilted her head in question, waiting for me to go on.

“Fighting other players feels completely different from monsters. Plus...it felt like if I died, it would have counted for more? I don’t know if that makes sense...”

Candy nodded. “It hurts more when you’re letting down your team...and sometimes, you just really don’t want to do it, too.”

I rolled that thought over in my head, then nodded back, a grin on my face. “Slimes: 2. Tessa: 1. Captain Creep: 0!”

Candy snorted. “Captain Creep?” It took her a few tries to say it past the giggling.

“That last jerk who held me up.” I nodded again for emphasis. “But at the end of the day the power of ELECTRICITY won over the powers of being a creepy jerk!”

Candy and I talked for a bit more, before Dimm called me back over and I returned to the group with the Hoppit in tow. Apparently they all decided to have a little party. Parties have never really been my thing to be honest. Too much noise and too many people. But Dimm and Leo were both into it and Candy was invited too, so I decided to go along with them.

It actually ended up not being as bad as I thought! We rented one of the big rooms from the Newbie inn with lots of chairs and stuff and just put some food on a table in one corner and talked and told stories.

Well, Leo and her friends told stories, really. I just listened. But it wasn’t too noisy at all! Maybe a few people too many, but not so bad that I couldn’t handle it. Dimm and Candy both helped a lot too, just being quiet support and stuff like that.

Eventually I decided to go outside for some fresh air. It was night time now and all the buildings that blocked out the sun were all lit up like christmas trees. It was actually really pretty, in a slightly dystopian sort of way. The upper level lights were almost like constellations, closer to earth and blocking out view of any real constellations.

A door opened behind me and after a couple moments someone sat down beside me. Candy. We didn’t say anything like that at first. Both of us just enjoying the view. 

Alas, blissed silence was not meant to be.

“Are you doing okay?”

Words, as always, were hard. I thought really hard about the question. Probably a little too hard actually. But Candy was good and waited for me to respond.

“I think I’m still processing the stress from the PVP match a bit? But honestly I feel pretty good. Really tired. But good.”

Candy nodded. “I get the impression that you’re the type who struggles to take care of yourself...well, I’m glad you’re managing it.”

“I can’t really deny that...I’m glad I’m managing too,” another long pause. Not an awkward one, but a natural one. It was nice to be able to enjoy silence with a friend.

A friend...

“Thanks for being there for me, Candy. You, uhh, really helped me out a lot last time.”

“I’m glad I helped,” she replied with a subdued tone. “I don’t like seeing people going through things like that.”

“Sorry.”

She smirked. “You have nothing to be sorry for. You were going through a crisis and needed help. I really am happy that I was able to give you that help.”

“You know,” I paused, second guessing what I was about to say. Candy must have figured out what I was doing in my head though because she nodded. A silent sort of ‘go on’ for me. 

“...You know, we’ve only known each other for like a week? But I feel like you’ve been a really good friend for me.”

Her smirk turned into a grin. “I think that people tend to get on friendly terms faster online? In dive there’s fewer barriers between who you are on the inside and what people see on the outside. Plus there’s less risk to showing those feelings.”

I nodded.

“Of course I also might just be full of shit!” She giggled. “But I think of you as a friend, Tessa. Glad to have met you!”

I smiled back to her at that.

“In fact…” she got a thoughtful look on her face. “How would you feel like playing together more? We’ve mostly just been randomly running into each other. Fuck that noise! I wanna party up and actually play with you!”

‘Yes I’d love that’ is what I should have said. Of course my brain doesn’t let me take a decision like that and just do it. I have to agonize over it first, humming and hawing and making a big production of my indecisive ass of a brain.

But I got there eventually.

“I’d really like that.”