off a Greater Heal
[Group][Orcarella]: well you died so others might live and stuff
[Group][Solace]: First rule of healing is healer heal thyself
[Group][Solace]: We pretend to be all nurturing but actually we’re just trying to keep lots of warm bodies between us and the enemy
[Group][Orcarella]: like emperor Palpatine
There was a long—for lack of a better term—silence, and Drew wondered if he’d blown it. Dead kobold, fine. Comparing her to Darth Sidious, not so much.
[Group][Solace]: Sorry, I’m trying to make a Star Wars joke but the Emperor has no decent lines.
[Group][Orcarella]: I find your lack of healz disturbing
[Group][Solace]: That’s Vader.
[Group][Orcarella]: wow you’ve put way more thought into this than I have
[Group][Solace]: *blush*
[Group][Orcarella]: no its cool
[Group][Orcarella]: you’re right, I can’t remember any of his lines
[Group][Orcarella]: except like you know
[Group][Orcarella]: DIEDIEDIE
[Group][Solace]: For a guy called Darth Sidious he’s kind of
[Group][Solace]: . . .
[Group][Solace]: not very insidious
[Group][Orcarella]: lol
[Group][Orcarella]: i hadn’t even noticed that
[Group][Orcarella]: you know what I find weird about star wars
[Group][Solace]: I’d love to hear what you find weird about Star Wars
[Group][Orcarella]: i have to go google this because it’s so weird
[Group][Orcarella]: brb
[Group][Solace]: kk
[Group][Orcarella]: okay so this epic saga of love and war and space and good and evil and stuff opens with:
[Group][Orcarella]: The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute.
[Group][Solace]: lololol
[Group][Solace]: Hey, I played a republic in Crusader Kings II. [Group][Solace]: Trade embargos are hardcore.
[Group][Orcarella]: You play CKII?
[Group][Solace]: I may have the body of a weak and feeble Dark Elf
[Group][Solace]: But I have the heart and stomach of a king, and a King of England
[Group][Orcarella]: don’t you mean a concrete elephant
[Group][Solace]: And he likes Blackadder too
[Group][Solace]: Be still my beating heart
Drew flustered at his keyboard, typed about five responses and deleted them all. Then panicked because it looked like he’d panicked.
[Group][Orcarella]: lol
[Group][Orcarella]: but seriously you’re into strategy games
[Group][Solace]: CKII isn’t really a strategy game
[Group][Solace]: It’s an RPG with a big map
[Group][Orcarella]: i never got into it
[Group][Orcarella]: too easy
[Group][Orcarella]: i took over Europe on my third playthrough
Shit. Now he sounded like he was boasting.
[Group][Orcarella]: sorry i just sounded like a dick
[Group][Orcarella]: i just like figuring out games
[Group][Solace]: No, I get that
[Group][Solace]: But sometimes it’s nice to experience stuff
[Group][Orcarella]: i’m not very good at that
[Group][Orcarella]: i like to know what my goals are
[Group][Orcarella]: so I know when I’m doing well
[Group][Orcarella]: I guess it’s why I like raiding
[Group][Solace]: You’re really good at it
[Group][Orcarella]: thx
[Group][Orcarella]: but it kind of stopped being fun
[Group][Orcarella]: i mean until I joined you guys
[Group][Solace]: The most fun I’ve had in CKII was when I’ve been losing
[Group][Solace]: There was this one time I got usurped by my evil uncle and banished to a tiny corner of Sicily
[Group][Solace]: Where I sat plotting my revenge for 18 years
[Group][Solace]: And another time my entire dynasty died out because my only heir was a pious homosexual who hung out in Jerusalem with a poet
[Group][Orcarella]: lol
[Group][Orcarella]: you should have had him assassinated
[Group][Solace]: O.O
[Group][Orcarella]: sorry that sounds really homophobic
[Group][Orcarella]: i just meant because it was game mechanically suboptimal
[Group][Solace]: *snerk*
[Group][Solace]: Some people are game mechanically suboptimal. Get over it.
[Group][Orcarella]: :(
[Group][Solace]: I might get that on a T-shirt.
[Group][Orcarella]: :)
There was another silence-equivalent. Drew really wanted to move the conversation on, but he wasn’t sure what to say.
He stared at Ella and Solace sitting on their rock. The moon was full and silver. And it suddenly occurred to him that he was using this game, for which he paid a monthly subscription, as a glorified chat client.
But he was having such a nice time he didn’t mind. It was a bit stressful because he was used to having something specific to talk about in most of his social interactions. With the guild, it was raiding. With Andy, it was Frisbee. With his parents, it was did he have socks and was he eating properly. With his coursemates, it was gaming and the course. There’d been this one time when Sanee and Steff had got into a big argument, and Sanee had sat in Drew’s room crying for hours, but that had been weird and a bit uncomfortable, and they’d never mentioned it afterwards.
But with Solace, it was just sort of . . . being with someone you like being with. And that felt . . . nice. And seemed kind of important somehow. Which made him wonder if it was important to her as well. And then he wondered if she was wondering the same thing. So maybe he should tell her, so she would know. But he wasn’t sure how to put it, in case it came out