21. Thomas
CHAPTER 21
Thomas
“Mate, you gonna actually take advantage of this opportunity to rest? Or are you just gonna drive your eyeballs mad, and us too?”
Holden’s good-natured sleepy drawl is drifting down from the top bunk. Kai’s below him, and mine’s the bottom on the opposite side, sort of back about five feet so we’re not just staring at each other. Above mine, Nico’s already snoring away. Kai’s probably not drifted off yet but he’s got headphones on and eyes shut, hands clasped over his chest. Shoes still on.
It’s only just gone 9 a.m. and we’ve got about an hour and a half til arrival, but then we’re parking up and hanging in the bus until we want to venture out for food before sound check time as we can’t check into our hotel until after 3. But 9 a.m. is always a good time for a nap when you’re up til at least 2 most nights. And Holden seems more exhausted than the rest of us.
“I can turn it down if you want,” I offer. The music in this game is at least half the reason it’s so immersive. Lush, evocative, and transportive. But I’m not paying as much attention to the game as usual.
I’m still kind of pissed off at Kai, truth be told. What he said last night wasn’t cool, for multiple reasons. Not least of which is that he acted as though if Jesamine Jacobs was going to be involved with any of us, it would only be him .
I don’t think of myself as a jealous chap, but as we left the stage he elbowed me a few times with a cackle, not saying anything. I need to speak to the other guys. We need to have a come-to-Jesus moment where we get all this shit about Jez out in the open. It’ll have to wait until we grab food though because we sure as shit can’t do it when she’s on the other side of that door.
But none of that’s what’s on my mind as much as the t-shirt Jez wore when she raced up on the tour bus and turned to stare out the window. No doubt she got the same questions pelted at her from the media people as Kai did. One of them shoved their device in my face though and asked if I’d given any thought to inviting Jez into our pack, or if she perhaps, secretly, already was.
If it’s a secret, I’m not telling you. That’s a bloody silly question, was all I’d said, breaking my tradition of saying nothing to the media whatsoever. Then I’d headed out at a casual pace, duffel hooked over my shoulder. I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of a swift departure. But neither was I giving them ammo to use against Jez.
Come to think of it, they probably asked her even worse questions.
The t-shirt, though. That’s what got me shook.
I glanced at it because, well, I’m a hot-blooded Alpha, and it was quite tight. And she has incredibly nice breasts.
But it’s the character screen-printed on the white babydoll shirt that grabbed me by the throat.
The character. Yfrette. The girl in the game I’ve been playing alongside. Helping with side quests. Chatting with.
For over two years.
I mean, I didn’t take for granted that the player behind the character truly was female when we’d met. Anyone plays anyone in online games. But my character, a satyr rogue named Azalaun, had been working on a particularly tricky side quest that night and there was already a female hybrid cat-human called Yfrette there, her name bobbing above her character as she farmed a pile of sapphires. I recognized she was on the same quest as I was, but much further ahead, when I reached the cliff she was picking at with a two-headed axe.
It was in the wee hours, maybe 2 a.m. on our European server, and it was nice to have company. We worked alongside each other for maybe a half hour before her first words popped up in the chat box in the left corner of the screen.
Do you want to chat while we do this? Kinda lonely.
I was surprised. I loved this world and this game, the enormity of it, the ability to get lost in any direction. I’d been playing it for a few years by this point. But I rarely talked to other players. I was part of a company but for the sole purpose of saving up to buy an in-game house together. We shared items when needed but we didn’t really socialize. I didn’t even play with a mic.
Sure. I can chat in text, but I don’t have a headset with a mic.
Yfrette stopped working and put her hands on her hips. After a few seconds, she started to tap her foot. It was incredibly cute. You’re free to set what idle activity your character pulls out when you’re not moving them around, and she’d chosen a very feisty one.
Fitting. From what I’ve seen.
Really? You’re level 87. And you don’t chat IRL with people on here? I thought that was the whole point for most people.
Nope , I replied. Haven’t. Do you, a lot?
Her reply took longer than normal. I thought maybe she’d gone to bed when she came back with, I don’t have a headset either. I just like to wander around and do quests on my own. Free therapy.
I smiled behind my screen. And our friendship was born.
Five out of seven nights I can log on and Yfrette’s sent me a note in my in-game letterbox, with either a gift of some item, or just a message, or asking what quest we should tackle next time. I’d made other friends on the game over the years but usually they joined companies and then I never heard from them again.
But Yfrette—a female hybrid-cat human with one green eye, one blue eye, and a custom-dyed set of dragon warrior armor in sea-blue with purple details, green hair, a tiny sun tattoo on her left cheek, and earrings in the shape of one of the game’s famed monsters, could be only one person.
She was wearing a t-shirt custom-made with her character on it.
It had to be her.
My heart jumped to my throat. What were the odds? I mean, okay, European server, probably what, thousands of players?
The only clue I could’ve had was that she played mostly on the continent with the absolute best ambient music. The one I always gravitated toward because the music swept me away with its grand orchestral themes, its dark, rock-ier moments, and its entirely hummable, emotive melodies.
That first night we both admitted to working in the music industry. For a brief second I entertained the dream that Yfrette was Nyah. But that was stupid. And it should’ve just been a nudge to stay well away.
But we never pried into each other’s business. We’d left it at that. And if I’m perfectly honest, I think knowing she was in the industry but we both seemingly agreed to not discuss it for even a second attracted me to her even more. From day one.
Maybe it was a subconscious connection. Maybe fate. Maybe stupid coincidence.
But here she is. And there she’d been, in my arms, in my mouth. My cock inside her. And she has no idea I’m Azalaun. But now that I know something more connects us, can I tell her? Would it send her running?
Would I lose a person I’d quickly grown to care about in two worlds?
I grumble to myself and open the menu to log out. She isn’t online right now, but she’d left a note last time she was logged in, and I’d read it straight away, before Jez in the flesh had boarded the bus:
Sorry I haven’t been around. Been pretty busy with real-life stuff. It’s been tough, too. But hopefully more time once I get used to this new work schedule.
Ding ding ding.
Before I switch the console off, I send her a quick message in reply.
I know what that’s like. I’m currently working a really busy schedule, too. And it’s only been a few days so far, but it’s been—interesting. I met someone. Someone I’d met a few years ago and hadn’t gotten the chance to know. I think I have that chance now. But I’m not sure if she’s interested in more. I don’t blame her if she isn’t.
Anyhow, sorry for rambling. I hope to see you soon, Jez.
Then I log out.
Then—and only then—I fucking realize what I’ve done.