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He was just…lost.There, he admitted it to himself. He was fucking lost, and he didn't know how to find himself—if that was a possibility at all.
"Tiger is dealing with some stuff at home and Ginny has a doctor appointment. You're stuck with me today, Blue," curiouscat26 said.
"Right, just my luck," he grumbled under his breath.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing," he smiled. Curiouscat was feisty. He didn't know if she was a woman, or a man pretending to be a woman, as sometimes that happened, but she had a pretty volatile temper. Still, he couldn't deny that for all their bickering, curiouscat was entertaining. She'd made him laugh on days he hadn't thought himself capable of any levity, and she certainly always helped him immerse himself in the game and forget the outside world for a few hours.
They'd all met in the game a while back. Curiouscat had already teamed up with Tiger and Ginny, and together they'd reached out to him to complete the team. Back then he'd been a solo player, his experience enough to help him get by. But after a little back and forth and a correct solution to a tricky riddle, he'd accepted to join them. The final formation consisted of two girls and two guys, though he had no idea if any of the people on the other side of the screen were who they said they were.
He, himself, was an impostor. He couldn't discount on everyone else being one either.
"Good," a pause. "We shouldn't start without the others, right?" she asked, slight hesitation in her voice.
The game itself came with a system that allowed for easy anonymity. While they talked to each other via their headsets, their voices were changed inside the game so they wouldn't be recognizable outside of it.
Curiouscat had an annoyingly high-pitched voice that more often than not gave Raf a headache, though he didn't know if it was the effect on the voice or the fact that he just disliked the person behind it. Though, technically, dislike was too strong of a word. It was something more like…antipathy.
They only ever played in their original formation, since it was a moot point to have only half the team. Raf could see why curiouscat wouldn't want to continue without them.
"Then I'll log off. Talk to you next time," he said, his hands already on his headset to remove it.
"Wait," she burst out. "You're really leaving?"
"Well, if the others aren't around and we can't actually play, why would I stay?"
"I don't know… To talk?"
There was a hopeful quality to the tone that made Raf pause.
"About what?"
Although they all got along in the game, they'd set some rules from the beginning, the most important one beingnotasking any personal questions or prying in the others' lives.
At the same time, Raf suspected they were all in the same boat. They had no one in the outside world and simply relied on digital friendships. Certainly, something about the way curiouscat said those words struck a chord in him.
"Is blue really your favorite color?" she suddenly asked, the question so inane it made him smile.
He could sense another person in need of company.
"No, my favorite color is violet," he answered cheekily.
"Violet? Why isn't your handle violetbird then?"
"It sounded too girly."
"Oh, so you wanted to make sure people knew you're a guy. Are you trying to pick up girls in the game?" she sounded scandalized, and Raf could barely hold back a grin.
"So what if I am? I'm clearly not trying to pickyouup," he fired back.
"What if I told you I have violet eyes?"
"I'm sure youdon'thave violet eyes."
"How do you know? I very well could. Would that make you fall for me, then?"
"There is no such thing as violet eyes," he smiled. "Unless you're an anime girl."
