Pull Your Weight

Nathaniel struggled to compose words, choosing to awkwardly shift in his seat before leaving her alone altogether, finally getting the message that she would rather not associate herself with him.

It had been an hour or so since she had arrived, so she thought it prudent to call it a night and leave for home. She usually got very sleepy after drinking.

She said goodbye to her friend, who danced to the music and sporadically enjoyed a drink and booked a cab for herself. She felt lightheaded as she came home and found herself playing the game in her clearly buzzed state.

She reached the apartment and stumbled into her computer chair.

In her half-drunken haze, she opened up the game and looked through the server. She was having a gala time on the world server when a message popped up.

[RayKon53: Don't worry. You haven't scared me off. I was just surprised by your random arrival.]

Katherine was thankful as she started typing her reply.

[Rinten: That's my style. *flips hair* I don't do anything half-assedly.] as the words were typed out, she giggled to herself.

[RayKon53: I like your style, little girl. I don't mind your attitude one bit. Are you a yandere loli? I get a tingling feeling that you are!]

She was indeed a closeted yandere who had shown off her impression dominatrix chatting style on the world forum, but it was the first time someone had called her out on her behaviour. She was quite enjoying the banter.

[Rinten: I do dream of bathing in the blood of my senpai. *reaches out*]

Alcohol brought out the dark humor she tried to suppress in her heart, but it slipped out regardless. She was happy with how the conversation was going, especially now that she didn't have to wait for days to hear back from RayKon53.

[RayKon53: There, there. *pats head*]

[Rinten: Time for the drunk girl to shower! Yeay.]

In which world this information was necessary to send to a stranger, she didn't know, but she didn't mind the little tease. She liked it, let them think raunchy things about her. See if she cares!

[RayKon53: Okay, little drunk girl. I'm sorry I got you all hot and bothered. Take a nice cold shower to calm your racing heart.]

Katherine chuckled at the comment. Defeated by her virtual opponent as she was, she got up and took an icy shower.

When she came back, a longish message waited for her.

[RayKon53: I have to get going, little girl.]

She pouted. She was having so much fun chatting to this person, but he was already gone when she had explicitly asked them to wait for her.

[RayKon53: I would like you to know that I, in no shape or form, am a 600-pound man who is thirsty for a little loli to play with them. I don't want the authorities running behind me and taking me to prison. For your information, a lot of people I know have trainers, and none of them is morbidly obese.]

So, RayKon53 was a guy. That was good to know. At least, she was virtual flirting with a man and not doing anything that would question her established sexuality.

It was also quite nice that it wasn't a 600-pound man who was playing online games all day long. She couldn't say if he were a kid living in his parents' basement, but this much was clear: he was entertaining to talk to.

She was much sober now and could truly appreciate the humor in his words. Earlier she had gone on instinct and typed out whatever had come to her mind, but now when she read the messages she had sent in her drunken state, she wasn't embarrassed. He had reacted quite well to her provocation.

She played for a few hours, re-energized by the shower. At last, she felt her eyes drooping with sleep.

She pulled out the chat and sent him a message.

[Rinten: So, I don't have to worry about Driger having to pull your weight and see you through your BayBlade matches. What a relief. And I am glad to know that I am not playing a minor, Sir Ray Kon, lord of the sacred bit-beast.]

With that, she logged out of the game and went to sleep.

- - -

It was late in the evening where he was. City L was hours ahead of his hometown, and he was feeling sleepy already. The past two days had been filled with interviews and photoshoots for magazines. He had taken some time to go to a party the night before because he was feeling sociable but nothing more than that. The late-night had sucked all his energy out.

He sat patiently as she scrolled through his phone. The server was on, and he was conversing with his fellow teammates when his manager came up from behind him.

"What has gotten you grinning, Prince Charming?" Stephen's cheery voice brought him back to reality. He had wanted to play a nice game on his laptop on the way back home, so he had carried the massive thing with him. On being asked what it was for, he gruffly replied 'work.'

"People in my clan are marrying and doing quests," he said, a small smile on his face.

"In the game?" he asked, curious. Cage nodded. "One of these days a crazy fan is going to realize they are playing you, and it will be all over the media." Cage rolled his eyes, knowing that most of his fans were not interested in the mythical games he liked to play. "So when are you finding a hot gamer to hook up with?"