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“Did you fall into lava again?!” MuscleRed, or Lilia Vanrouge as he was more commonly known, cackled into his mic, which was in turn drowned out by the cursing and desk slamming from the other side of their Clamor call. A slightly modulated whine came through his headset at the same time as a message in the lower left of his screen:
Gloomurai tried to swim in lava
“There was a skeleton…” Gloomurai muttered, clearly coming down from his spike of gamer rage. It seemed his dear companion wasn’t as skilled at a game like this as he was at their usual dungeon-clearing fares. Or at least, his quick fingers had gotten him into more than one fumble and tumble into lava, to his annoyance and Lilia’s great amusement. Caveforge was a recent venture of theirs, and it wasn’t something either of them was very familiar with. Much of their time today (maybe too much of it, based on how Lilia's back ached in his chair) had been spent in the ‘trial and error’ phase. It was all in good fun, of course, with how many times Lilia himself had died in this session. Neither held back from laughing at the other, and eventually at themselves.
It was still a novelty to hear his gaming partner's voice, so each laugh and curse was a new lesson. They’d been gaming together for over a year, but had only been doing voice calls for a few weeks. It had taken some convincing for the one at the other end of the line to acquiesce, but with some voice modulators and virtual pinky-promises for no identity-revealing attempts, they’d both agreed to start playing on voice calls. It wasn’t nightly or anything, but it certainly made coordinating attacks easier (even if they rarely had a problem with that in the first place).
Lilia really had no desire to reveal himself or figure out who he was gaming with. Though curious by nature, this was a mystery he was more than fine with keeping shrouded. An anonymous friend, one who knew neither his face nor name, was appealing. Lilia greatly enjoyed his life, of course, blessed as he was, but it was fun to be away from it from time to time. And it seemed Gloomurai felt the same.
Still, there was a tingle of familiarity at the back of his mind, occasionally, when he read the messages of the other, and more so when he heard his modified cadence. It wasn’t something he could place, nor was he really trying. Lilia had met so many people in his 700 years of life. It wouldn’t be a surprise if they mixed in his mind, even if Gloomurai spoke in quite a unique way, with a digital dialect that Lilia had adopted himself, to a degree, in his online interactions. It wasn’t one he would have come across in the distant past, so where could this sense of familiarity come from…?
A shrieking sound, this time not from the other side of the call but from in the game itself, had Lilia refocus, twisting his mouse as his character swiveled their head to and fro. The dark of the in-game night wasn’t one his eyes adjusted to like a true evening sky, but it was still enough to see oddly translucent birdlike creatures circling above, likely about to swoop down at him.
“What an unpleasant noise!” Lilia chuckled, “Perhaps I’ll have to copy this sound to learn from…” Though unlikely, maybe adding a sound like this to Silver’s alarm routine would do him some good. Though his poor roommate might disagree…maybe he could sample it for his next concert!
“ICB you would want to listen to that S-tier mindmelter. If you add that to your soundboard and play it on the next call, I will be blocking you on Clamor and Smoke.” Gloomurai muttered.
“Of course, I wouldn’t dream of doing that~!” Lilias' mirth was apparent from voice alone. He truly hadn’t been planning that, but it would be quite fun. Still, these creatures were quite the nuisance. “I haven’t come across these before, have you, Gloomy?”
“Ugh, don’t call me that. IIRC they’re called phantoms. Lowkey highkey insensitive naming if you ask me, but wtvs,” He mumbled, mainly to himself. “They show up if you go too long without sleeping. Insomniacs' worst nightmare fr fr.”
Lilia hummed softly in reply, just enough for his mic to catch. What a fascinating game. There were so many creatures to be found! Some were imitations of ones Lilia had seen with his own eyes on his travels, others were ones of myth or obscurity, and the remaining were creations from the developer's own minds. It was quite interesting. Though these ‘phantoms’ were ones he was glad to have never met in the flesh. There had been far too many sleepless nights in his past for comfort if those things could’ve been circling overhead.
Maybe he’ll tell Sebek about them tomorrow, as if they were a new species. Just to make sure he keeps up with his sleep schedule, of course….
A rattling at the other end of the call caught his attention, followed by a shriek. Has Gloomurai fallen into lava again? There was no death message in chat–
“What’cha playing, Babe?” A new voice floated through his headphones, muffled and distant and familiar, like they were speaking from the opposite side of the mic. “Ooooh, is that Axeforge? A total classic that manages to stay top of trending, right? Of course you’d have good taste, Idy-chan~.” The voice giggled. Its lilting, upbeat, and slightly teasing tone was enough to ring some bells in Lilia’s mind, despite the overlaying warble of the voice modulator. “I’m always seeing it on my Wescreen and Magicam FYPs. It highkey makes me want to give it a try! Maybe you can teach me–”.
Ah. So that’s who it was.
All Lilia heard was an audible glub and an airy giggle before the call cut out. A glance at his second monitor with Clamor pulled up showed Gloomurai had muted himself. Lilia was a little surprised he hadn’t left it entirely (or the whole server, with how jumpy the guy could be). Well, that was fine with him.
He had a couple of revelations of his own to grapple with.
If he wasn't mistaken, that truly must’ve been Cater Diamond, clubmate and friend, who suddenly appeared on the other end of the Clamor line. That tone and vocabulary…his way of speaking was truly unique (and this was Lilia who was saying that). And though the redhead was far more secretive than he tried to appear, and more obvious than he seemed to think, at least to Lilia’s senses, he had seemed happier recently. He typed on his phone just as much, but this time with a light fervor in his fingertips and the occasional light flush on his cheeks and ears. He’d been tightlipped about this newfound giddiness, responding to teasing from his clubmates with the slick roundabout way of speaking he used often. Kalim was swept up easily, and Lilia went along with it for amusement's sake. He wouldn’t press too hard if the other didn’t want to talk about it.
But with the call’s empty line still sitting open on his computer, Lilia would hazard a fairly decent guess on the truth. Who would’ve pictured Heartslabyul’s resident Magicammer and Ignihyde’s reclusive Housewarden to get together? (The gossipers on campus would go wild, though Lilia wouldn't be the one to spill.)
They seemed quite different, like the kind who wouldn’t get along at first glance, but in Lilia’s humble opinion, those types often worked the best together. Lilia was almost ashamed he hadn’t predicted it.
How endearing, Lilia thought. Young love is so very sweet.
And to find out the identity of his dear friend at the same time? What a day of coincidences!
It wasn’t what Lilia had expected. Truthfully, he wasn’t sure he ever wanted to know. But if someone were to ask if he was disappointed, the only answer he could have given was ‘No.’
Now, now, what was the best teasing method to serve as the perfect way to let them know he knew…
–
“I told you to knock! Always knock!!” Idia squeaked, face flushed red as he covered it with his hands. He’d muted the call, but definitely not fast enough. There was no way MuscleRed hadn’t heard Cater come in…thank the Seven Cater uses pet names more than anything. It may be bad for his heart rate, but at least it helped him not be doxxed. It wasn’t like Red would recognize Cater, or Idia’s, just from a cutesy nickname, right? No, that would be totally improbable...right??
His boyfriend (his extroverted, flirty, and way too pretty for him boyfriend) was draped over the back of his chair, soft curls tickling the skin they skimmed against. Cater's breath was warm against his neck, and Idia could feel his chest move as he laughed.
“Sorry, sorry, “ Cater giggled, turning his face to plant a quick, placating kiss on his partner's cheek. “I just got so totes excited to show you this thing I saw, I forgot you were doing your online bonding thing tonight.”
“Gaming, not bonding.”
“Of course, of course.”
“...Do you really want me to show you Axeforge?”
“Absolutely, babe, now scooch over!”