Rising Shards

“ay gurl you online? Wanna play something?”

After receiving that text from Ko, Lillia leaned over from her bed to check the bunk above her. Oka was fast asleep.

“I would be open to having a gaming session with you, but I cannot join voice chat as Oka is asleep.” Lillia texted back.

“do you have dynne?” Ko sent almost immediately. “its faster than texting sooooo”

Lillia sent put a friend invite to her Dynne account and sent that to Ko. Even faster than the last text, Ko added Lillia on the chat service and sent another message.

“ayyy gurl. Uh again.”

“Greetings. What game would you like to play?”

“uhhhhh. Something chill. So I can focus on you”

“Alright.”

The two decided on the Tyrant Rangers MMO, focusing on the farming mechanics to have a really chill night. It had an in-game chat system, but messages were visible to everyone on the game server, so they stayed on Dynne for talking.

“hey did you know. That if you time the ‘Kiss 13’ emote right with someone and stand in the right spots, the game will do a different animation that lets them like for real kiss? Well like for real in a game way.”

“I hadn’t heard that.”

Lillia wasn’t sure what else to say, because for some reason the thought of her violet mage class character kissing Ko’s barbarian priestess made her stomach flutter. She couldn’t see Ko’s reaction, but she hoped Ko had a similar reaction.

“yeah its kinda dumb….buuuut. Ive never tried it. And I wouldn’t with the main gamer group together ofc. But.”

“But…” Lillia had to admit to herself she was curious if this was true. And excited at the thought of sharing that with Ko. “Would you like to try it with me?”

“heheheeheheheeh” Ko sent a bunch of messages just laughing like that, to which Lillia was uncertain if she was being made fun of.

“If you’re just teasing me, I’d prefer you don’t make jokes like that.”

“no im just excited dude. ok if you wanna, stand across from me ok?”

Lillia immediately stopped her character mid animation for cutting tall grass and rushed over to Ko’s character.

“wait I feel like we should go somewhere private for this lol”

“Would you like to go to my cabin on the farm?”

“that sounds so romantic lol”

Ko’s character in game did a laughing emote, so Lillia joined in on it. Then the two made their way to Lillia’s cozy cabin, one of her many homes in game. Once the two characters were situated in front of a somewhat low resolution fireplace, Ko froze. The typing bubble on Dynne stayed up for a while before she responded.

“Man im not used to gaming with my errr.”

“Your…?”

“my lovely lady, you know?”

“Ah.”

On one hand, Lillia adored being referred to as Ko’s ‘lovely lady.’ On the other, there was the heavy implication that she’d had many ‘lovely ladies’ before this. It wasn’t something Lillia was unaware of or tried to pretend wasn’t a thing, but it was somewhat uncomfortable that Ko had a lot more experience.

“not that you’re like those girls! Yuore so much different than my usual type. Wait that sounds bad too. Hold on..>”

Ko typing in a flustered manner was rather cute, which made up for the whole past experience uncomfortable feeling. “No, you’re fine. I’m curious, though. What ‘types’ do you usually go for?”

“Like more…flashy?”

“Flashy.”

“like more…like idk like. more like fashion-y types. kinda like. a lot less smart. thats mean to them but whatever. You’re different in a cool way and that throws me off.”

“Interesting. You are different from my usual, er. Infatuations, as well.”

“what that means”

Lillia sighed. If she told herself a few months ago she’d be falling for someone whose vocabulary was apparently this thin, she’d have some stern words for herself.

“Different from my ‘lovely ladies.’ Though I never get as close to mine as you seem to.”

“that just means I have to treat you more like royalty than I did for the others. They were just whatevers, while you’re my princess.”

Lillia had to stand up and walk around to calm herself after that one. When she got back on, Ko had sent a message asking if she was still online.

“didn’t scare you away did i? lol”

“No, you didn’t. Thank you for saying that, though. Shall we try out this dual emote, then?”

“h e l l  y e s”

Lillia’s character stood across from Ko’s. Lillia pressed the kiss emote Ko sent her, but Ko stayed still.

“Is there an issue?” Lillia asked.

“dude dont laugh but uh I feel more scared about this than like actually making out in person all of a sudden”

“I’ll take the lead, then. On three.” Lillia messaged without thinking.

“right ty”

“One…

“Two…”

“Three.”

Ko didn’t hesitate on Lillia’s command, and the two characters did their kiss emote at the same time. Just as Ko said, a different animation played where the two actually looked like they were holding each other as they passionately kissed. It was a bit awkward with the game compensating for their characters’ height differences by just floating Lillia’s character up to meet Ko’s character’s lips, but it was worth the slight immersion break there. The little animation of fireworks with some shaped like hearts that played after they held the kiss for a good thirty seconds was icing on the cake.

“wowowowowwowow” Ko messaged.

“Agreed.” Lillia sent back. Her cheeks burned from a silly little animation in a game.

“alright some of those nerves are gone ko matora is HERE. But saying that….my princess….something feels missing here”

With sound of crackling fire and the pleasant music of her home on loop in Lillia’s headphones, she had an idea for what to say next. She typed it out, then deleted it. It was too much. But the thought wouldn’t leave her, so she typed it out again and sent with her eyes shut.

“We could remove our armor?”

After a long pause, Lillia was about to ask if Ko was still online. But the typing bubbles reappeared.

“dude that sounds like something I would say hahahaha”

“Perhaps you are rubbing off on me. Or maybe…we’re more alike than we both realized?”

“love that. Ok the armor thing. let’s do it. If you wanna.”

“I think it’d be fun.”

Lillia didn’t like to stay up too late, but for some gaming sessions she made an exception. This was no ordinary late night on Tyrant Rangers. This felt like something far more special, and Lillia wanted to cherish it. She told herself that mashing the screenshot button on her keyboard as the two in game characters continued to make out would help her cherish this moment.