callie wasn't always a gamer. she didn't used to be — that was the thing about growing up poor, it didn't give you much opportunity to have stuff and stuff is exactly what you needed in order to be a grade-a gamer.

[break][break] at least, most of the time.

[break][break] in her youth, she'd spent much of her time either hanging out with @sole or Alexandra Briarwood but that didn't mean that was how she spent her whole time. sometimes the best thing to block out astra's belligerence was to shove on a pair of headphones and blast my chemical romance to full volume while she watched youtube videos on how to fight gacha game bosses on her phone.

[break][break] as an adult, it was much easier to be a gamer, especially when paxton concordas had just signed her recent check.

[break][break] (did her boss know she planned to cash out her recent earnings at a pc cafe?

[break][break] no.

[break][break] did he need to know?

[break][break] also no.)

[break][break] "hell yea!" the office said with a grin, kicking back in her chair as her last hit swung at the boss with a critical hit, sending the beast into an explosion of confetti. callie was about to leave the party — she wanted to do some solo missions — before a dm popped up on her screen.

[break]

DOGLOVER0000: sure, noob.
[break] DOGLOVER0000: have you done all your dailies yet?

[attr="class","ooc"] CALLISTA MOON [break]

aaron has a single-minded focus: grab the loot. the chat flashes with a fresh notification, but he takes a moment to run his ugly character over to the boss drops and pick them up. he enters his inventory and hovers his cursor on the new weapon he just got, staring hard at his screen for a long moment. [break][break]it's too bad he can't read because this thick block of lore text is probably sooo cool. not. he just cares if the weapon looks sick and does a lot of damage. the top of the text box helpfully supplies an answer to the latter. [break][break]
he remembers the notification after clicking through the other drops. he opens the chat, barely skims the messages, and immediately clicks around to invite DOGLOVER0000 to his party. then, he takes his hand off the mouse for a brief moment to actually read her second message and hammer out a reply, 

NOOBKILLER1117: yea[break]
NOOBKILLER1117: im tryna do another boss[break]
NOOBKILLER1117: wbu?

+ pkmn hunter 4 CALLISTA MOON

unlike aaron faust 's character, callie's character is incredibly buff. and epic. and hot. and did she mention buff? like this meme right here.

[break][break] she has her character walk over to the loot, but n00bkiller's character gets to it first, which leaves her the leftovers. she frowns as she clicks through the remaining loot, putting it away in the slots of her inventory that she plans on putting on the marketboard for extremely scalped prices. because, fuck those n00bs.

[break][break] maybe not this one.

[break]

DOGLOVER0000: congrats on the drop
[break] DOGLOVER0000: yeah, have you gotten this weapon yet?
[break] DOGLOVER0000: diamond reaper
[break] DOGLOVER0000: i think you get it in glastrier's ultimate trial.

[attr="class","ooc"] CALLISTA MOON [break]

aaron had learned his lesson about girl characters years ago. they're never actually girls in real life, just guys who like to watch cute girls run around. doglover's character is buff and hot and epic, sure, but that just cements the idea that the person behind the screen is some dude with very specific tastes who made their ideal girlfriend in a video game. some guys make hyper-feminine characters, some guys make hyper-ugly characters (him), and some guys run around as default-looking male characters. 
[break][break]
the common thread between all these characters? the sweaty tryhard dudes making him feel some type of way about their pixels.
[break][break]
he watches doglover's character walk over to the loot and feels a laugh bubble in his throat. he knows he only left shit behind and watching her stand idle as she undoubtedly roots through her inventory makes him stifle his devious snickering behind the side of a closed fist. 
[break][break]
sorry, man.
[break][break]
he sobers up to the sound of the chat pinging. he squints at the item doglover linked. "diamond reaper..." he mumbles, face clouded with gamer concentration like a researcher about to come across the next big discovery for humankind. he hovers his mouse over the text, eyes widening as a box pops up and displays the sickest shit he's ever seen. "holy shit."

NOOBKILLER1117: ty bro[break]
NOOBKILLER1117: yo that weapon looks fire[break]
NOOBKILLER1117: lets go fuck glastrier upp[break]

his character shuffles in one direction, then the opposite way, then returns to his buff companion as if reeled back in by fishing line.

NOOBKILLER1117: u go first[break]
NOOBKILLER1117: idk where it is lol[break]

+ pkmn hunter 4 CALLISTA MOON

callie would've been more butthurt at having all her loot stolen by someone named noobblaster, if she hadn't done the exact same thing several times herself. plus, there were in a group now which meant she could definitely do the same back to him, without any remorse.

[break]

DOGLOVER0000: pfft. dumbass

she pops a marker onto their shared map, which doesn't seem that far off, and then has her character promptly teleport over to the location. if noobblaster waits a second or two, he'll be teleported over too.

[break]

DOGLOVER0000: so idk if you ever watched the vid on this one [break]
DOGLOVER0000: u dont need to grab the mobs — just run straight thru. don't forget the talisman at second warp tho [break]DOGLOVER0000: then we'd be fucked

[attr="class","ooc"] CALLISTA MOON [break]

dumbass? aaron pouts at the screen, eyebrows knitted in mild indignation. he hunches over the desk and types back:

NOOBKILLER1117: ur the brains[break]
NOOBKILLER1117: im the brans[break]
NOOBKILLER1117: so i can b ea dumbass

as he's typing, a marker flashes on his map. he spins his character with heavy thunks of his keyboard until he's teleported next to DOGLOVER0000. as if he isn't annoying enough, he starts running in circles around his teammate as new chats appear in the corner of his screen. he stops moving suddenly. then replies begin to show up:

NOOBKILLER1117: ok[break]
NOOBKILLER1117: ignore trash mobs and grab talisman ez[break]

should be a simple task to follow. he even repeats it back to DOGLOVER for good measure. his character runs through the dungeon, pulling aggro on mobs as he goes.  [break][break]
"oh shit, wait." he stops short of going through the second warp, pixels away from accidentally fucking up everything for them. holding his breath, he turns his ugly little creature of a character around and beelines through mobs to grab the talisman. 
[break][break]
a sigh escapes his lips as he runs back to second warp.
[break][break]

+ pkmn hunter 4 CALLISTA MOON