Approaching the park where the three of them had agreed to meet, Hunter was distinctly nervous. He’d never really had a lot of IRL friends, beyond a handful of guys from high school that he used to game with but hadn’t actually talked to in years. He usually met people online via forums and Discord servers, and most of the time that was where their interaction stayed. And he especially hadn’t had a lot of friends who were girls. 

Now in sight of the historic lighthouse (which pretty much just looked like a regular old-timey house), he squinted at the two figures he could see loitering outside. Hmm…, yeah, it was probably them? 

He tentatively waved and was relieved to receive one in response. Getting closer, he could recognize their faces and he quickened his pace as they started towards him.

“Hey!” Mel said. “Wow, weird to see you not on the other side of a screen. Surreal.”

“Mel, are you high again?” her friend asked. “Oh, and I’m Z.”

“N-nice to meet you two. I mean, the two of you, not you also.

Mel laughed a little. “I’m microdosing LSD to see if it wards off the big sad ™. Also, I did smoke a fat one earlier, yes.”

Hunter looked away for a moment, feeling kinda awkward. Was just talking openly about drugs a thing people did? “Uh, anyway, did you want to work on the costume stuff here? Or go somewhere else?”

“Oh, no worries, my studio is near here. We can just head there.”

“...Studio? Like a studio apartment?”

“Oh, no, child, not like that at all. You’ll see shortly. I do like to preserve a bit of mystery when I can. Really adds to a sense of whimsy, don’t you think?”

“Uh, yeah.” Hunter was feeling somewhat out of his element. Usually his in-person conversations were about movies or video games that came out recently, and at this point he’d totally lost track of what Z was even talking about.

He just followed the two of them as they headed out of the park and down a nearby street.

As they walked, Mel glanced back at him and asked “How was traffic getting here?”

“Oh, it wasn’t too bad. Y’know, threading the needle between the two rush hours.”

“Yeah! Well, hopefully we’ll be done before 5, and if we aren’t, feel free to continue hanging out until after it’s over. We could get dinner or something.”

“Cool, cool. Maybe I’ll stay late either way, if that’s okay? I don’t really have any other plans today and I haven’t been out to eat in a super long time.”

Mel laughed. “Do you order in a lot, or do you cook, or do you eat, like, instant ramen?”

“None of the above, honestly. I live with my mom and she cooks. Well, she cooks dinners, at least. I guess I cook lunch, if using a microwave counts.”

“But what about breakfast! The most important meal of the day.”

“Eh, I don’t usually eat breakfast. Or if I do it’ll be like toast or something.”

“Ah, gotcha. I used to survive on, like, instant ramen and mac n cheese, or I just wouldn’t eat, but I’ve gotten way better about it. I can actually kinda cook stuff now, and I regularly consume nutrients! Good job, me.”

“Yes, I’m grateful that you continue to consume nutrients,” Z said.

“Yep, well, y’know me, I just love to vore.”

Vore? What does that mean? Is it, like, short for carnivore or something? Eh, I’ll look it up later.

Z laughed. “Why are you so cursed, Mel?”

“Y’know, it just comes naturally to me. Blessed with talent.”

Z stopped suddenly before an unremarkable door and fished keys out of their combination backpack/purse thingy. After fiddling with the lock a bit, they twisted the knob and drove their shoulder into the door, sending it flying open.

“Welcome to new Z-land!” they said.