“I know where you live.”
[Group][Efthalia]: do you wanna go kill some loonies?
[Group][Aconite]: You mean in the game, right?
[Group][Aconite]: Because out of context that sounds really weird.
You’re in a hole, Drew, stop digging.
[Group][Efthalia]: um yeah in the game
[Group][Efthalia]: I wasn’t inviting you to like come hang out with me
[Group][Efthalia]: and attack the mentally ill
No, stop digging. Stop.
[Group][Aconite]: Honestly, first you tell me you go to a university named after a famous anti-Semite
[Group][Aconite]: and then you invite me to come beat up some disabled people
[Group][Efthalia]: :( :( :(
[Group][Aconite]: Aw, don’t make sadface. I was only teasing. I’m sorry.
[Group][Efthalia]: :)
They pressed on to the next area and rained arcane death on their next batch of completely innocent bystanders. By the time they returned to the quest-givers, they’d accumulated enough XP to hit level two, which meant their quests sent them each off to talk to their individual class trainer. Drew got a baseline healing spell called Nourishing Soil, and Solace got Infestation, which turned out to be completely useless at this level because between the two of them, they could kill everything they met before the DoT had a chance to tick.
Over the next few hours they massacred most of the native wildlife, collected the lost personal effects of a thirtieth-level magistrix who should really have been able to deal with this shit herself, and tracked down a highly dangerous mad oracle who, when they met her, turned out to be level four. They also spent more time talking, overanalysing quest text, and looking at scenery than Drew had over the whole of the last three years. It kind of meant that by midnight they were still level ten, even with the XP nerfs that had come in with the last couple of expansions. But Drew honestly didn’t care. He was having . . . Oh, what was that word again? Fun.
And the more time he spent with Solace, the harder it was to remember his “don’t fall for imaginary elves” rule.
[Group][Efthalia]: shit i should probably be in bed
[Group][Efthalia]: do you ever sleep?
[Group][Aconite]: I’ve got a touch of insomnia
[Group][Aconite]: And I kind of like HoL late at night
[Group][Aconite]: It’s all quiet, so the game feels like it’s just mine
[Group][Efthalia]: except when orcs come and hang out on your rock
[Group][Aconite]: I like that too
[Group][Efthalia]: :)
[Group][Efthalia]: do you want to do this again sometime?
[Group][Aconite]: Definitely
[Group][Efthalia]: Tomorrow?
[Group][Aconite]: Oh, it’s the Masqueraid on Fridays
[Group][Efthalia]: Yeah I saw that on the guild calendar
[Group][Efthalia]: I have no idea what it is
[Group][Aconite]: It used to be our night for farming RP gear
[Group][Aconite]: But it’s just sort of evolved into a be slightly drunk, wear a silly costume and do something random night
[Group][Aconite]: It’s fun. You should come.
[Group][Efthalia]: Uh
[Group][Aconite]: We’re going to do Traitor’s Spire.
[Group][Efthalia]: I farmed that to death last expansion
[Group][Aconite]: But did you ever do it in a [Lovely Red Dress].
[Group][Efthalia]: I don’t think that’s Ella’s style
[Group][Aconite]: I can tailor you the tuxedo set
[Group][Aconite]: If you want to be all Radclyffe Hall about it
[Group][Efthalia]: I don’t know what that is but it sounds like a late vanilla dungeon
[Group][Aconite]: Early 20th century novelist
[Group][Aconite]: Wrote a really depressing book about how miserable it is being a lesbian in the 1920s
[Group][Efthalia]: how do you know about this stuff?
[Group][Aconite]: Well I do go the University of Leicester :P
[Group][Efthalia]: :P
[Group][Aconite]: Seriously, come to the raid tomorrow. It’ll be good.
[Group][Aconite]: Plus I bet you can do Maladreth in your sleep
[Group][Efthalia]: All right if you promise there’ll be drinking
[Group][Aconite]: Bjorn might even sing
[Group][Efthalia]: and that’s supposed to tempt me how?
[Group][Efthalia]: wait Bjorn goes?
[Group][Efthalia]: it really doesn’t sound like his thing
[Group][Aconite]: Hanging out with his friends wouldn’t be his thing?
[Group][Aconite]: I know he’s a bit of a dick but that’s really harsh
[Group][Efthalia]: i just meant he seems all super hard-core
[Group][Aconite]: Oh he still gets to show off
[Group][Aconite]: But honestly it’s just how we hang out on our Fridays
[Group][Aconite]: Like other people go to the pub
[Group][Efthalia]: I guess I’ll sign up then
[Group][Aconite]: Yay! See you tomorrow
[Group][Efthalia]: yeah see you then
[Group][Aconite]: I had a really nice time tonight
[Group][Efthalia]: Me too
[Group][Efthalia]: nn
[Group][Efthalia]: *hugs*
Drew liked to keep Fridays clear just on the off-chance something came up, which meant, in practice, hanging out in the pub with his course mates because none of them had anything better to do. That said, he was pretty sure Sanee would still rip the piss out of him for going on a raid when he could, theoretically, have been at a trendy nightclub or gate-crashing an Embassy party. In Sanee’s estimation, raiding was basically one step