“So you said her name was Conviction?” asked NightKnight as he blundered through the sea of nerds. Yeah, he definitely didn’t move like he was used to that body. Every step he took reminded Robynne of how she moved after her body shifted and everything felt wrong.

“Yup. Fits her to a tee.” The crowd almost seemed to part for Robynne. They always did that for her now. They didn’t even seem to do it on purpose, like peasants stepping out of the way for the lady or something like that. Instinctively with her scarlette hair and looks, they just noticed her easier than others. Or maybe it was a subtle empathokinetic th–

Robynne caught sight of “Conviction” talking to Vivian and she had to fight an instinct to laugh. If it hadn’t been for her aura, Robynne definitely wouldn’t have recognized her friend. She was draped in a dark purple hoodie dress, hood up to hide her face more. A fake pair of glasses, round as saucers, perched on her pert nose. Despite her character, Conviction was still Angela and thus she couldn’t help but smile, though the black lipstick definitely changed how that looked. But the biggest change was her hair.

Metallic purple locks spilled out of Conviction’s hood. Not the vibrant, royal purple of Cammy but a more reflective purple like… well Robynne couldn’t actually think of anything that was metallic purple. “Conviction?” She asked, remembering she had to pretend she never saw this woman before, “Geez, you weren’t kidding when you said you liked the gothy look.”

For her part “Conviction” did a great job of pretending to just notice her. Likely, thanks to her own empathokinetic sense she had felt Robynne coming and prepared herself. She blinked and gasped, “Waveform!? Oh my Gummi!” She gave Robynne a big hug and laughed, something that drew a lot of eyes to both of them. “Wow! And you weren’t kidding about how red your hair is!”

“Yeah, uh… well,” she tried to wriggle out of Angela’s grip. “I’m not one for exaggeration.” Robynne did not like all these eyes on them, though she didn’t know what she expected. The new mysterious, gothy library chick was hugging the busty tomboy turbogamer. It was basically every nerd boy’s fantasy. She did not think this part of her plan through. “I, uh, see ya already met Overdoom?”

Vivian laughed, “See, what did I tell you, Alison?” Alison? Why did… right, her backstory. Though Robynne could have sworn the planned cover name was Alicia. “She tries to militantly enforce going by gamer names.”

“Handles,” NightKnight corrected Vivian but with a more distracted voice than she was used to from– and Robynne realized in that moment his tether had firmly latched onto Conviction. Of course, a hot nerd girl in a hoodie dress? She had never seen him wear anything but hoodies. This was probably some dream scenario.

Vivian was about to say something but Robynne cut her off. This was a golden opportunity, “Conviction, may I introduce you to NightKnight. He’s the best PvP tank our guild has. Iiiiii don’t think you two have partied up yet, have you?”

Angela blinked in confusion, likely feeling the effect of his aura upon her. “I– no I don’t think we have yet.” She held her hand out and smiled her usual radiant smile. But with that black lipstick, it took a playful, almost wicked air. Oh yeah, this could serve Robynne’s purposes perfectly. “Pleasure to meet you, NightKnight. Recognize the name of course. Who could forget a name like that? Very clever.”

“Oh, uh, you think? I… felt a bit on the nose to me.” He was blushing. Actually blushing. Not beating himself up.

“Something being on the nose doesn’t make it unclever.” Angela wagged her finger at him in a way that was very reminiscent of Vivian. Robynne had to stifle a laugh watching Vivian do everything she could to not explode into a fit of giggles at that. It seemed Angela had an idea for this persona she was taking on. “It’s a great combination of homophones to showcase your character is one who protects with shadows.”

“Homophone?” Robynne asked. “Isn’t it homonym?”

Vivian finally found an outlet where her laughter could escape. “Oh Roby-poo. Do not get the grammar police on our butts with this debate.”

“There’s a debate?”

“It’s grammar,” NightKnight huffed. “There is always a debate.”

Conviction laughed and touched NightKnight’s arm in a way that was very casual for Angela, but for a guy like NightKnight, Robynne knew was quite the infrequent occurrence. “See, now here is a man who gets it.” For his part, NightKnight laughed in a way Robynne could tell was him trying to play it cool. But how was he supposed to keep it cool? The hot goth paladin just touched him. Robynne had gotten used to how much her teammates casually touched one another in conversation, even if she still didn’t like it. NightKnight, however, had not. That awkward laugh was a sure sign of a nerd who was going to make things very awkward if not guided away from the social plane crash that was coming.

“So, Conviction, ya plannin’ on joining the Mega Mash Family tourney?”

Angela waved her off casually in a very non-Angela way. “I told you, I don’t play the game at all. I barely play games, period, until I got into Aspect Realms.”

That seemed to shake NightKnight out of his mental-overload. “Wait, you’re not a gamer and you started with Aspect Realms?”

Angela shrugged. “I like fantasy. Seemed interesting. Heard a lot of people like it.”

“Still seems a bit like drinking from a firehose to me,” NightKnight mused.

“It can be sometimes. But that’s the fun of it.”

“Drinking from a firehose doesn’t sound like fun to me.”

Angela laughed. “It can be if you just stay at the edges. But everyone in the guild has been so welcoming. They’ve even let me tank a few dungeons to get the hang of it. Pretty easy when you have an overpowered damage-dealer like Ro– er, Waveform with ya.”

“You don’t need to boost my ego, ‘Viction,” Robynne chuckled. “Heaven knows I do just fine doin’ it on my own.” NightKnight laughed at that one. Donut. She wasn’t that full of herself, was she? Well, it was a moot point, after today everyone would know she’s not some ace at every game she touched.

Vivian looked past Robynne and smiled. “One moment, Conviction. Just saw my boyfriend.”

“Oh yeah? Well don’t let me keep you, lover girl,” Angela really did seem to be more relaxed and laid back in this disguise. Was that part of her character or was there a weight that came off her knowing that she wouldn’t be recognized?

NightKnight cleared his throat and bumbled a sentence out. “So, um, Conviction, what uh… what got you to play a Lodestar?” His aura was now fully snapped to Angela. Right, Robynne should pay attention to that since that was kind of the reason she worked so hard to get him here.

For her part, Robynne could “see” Angela initially rebuff his aura tethering to her own, just as Robynne had. However, she seemed to remember their goal as well and lowered her defenses. It felt good to know that Angela had the same reflex, though the fake goth’s posture didn’t change like everyone else the tether attached to. Then again, Angela always stood straight up like she was a princess drawn in a cartoon. “Well, that’s a funny story actually. When Waveform got me into the game I…”

It was small, but Robynne felt something thrum through the tether of NightKnight’s aura. At first she worried it was something NightKnight was doing but the more she examined it the more she was certain it came from Angela. It reminded Robynne of a guitarist tuning their guitar, plucking the string and turning the… knob at the top. Tuner? Was that called a tuner? Robynne didn’t know enough about guitars to be certain. Was she giving it feedback? Was that conscious? Did this happen every time he focused on someone with an aura? Data. She needed more data.

Another aura came in and tried to “nudge” the connection. Or maybe prodding the connection? It felt so small compared to Angela’s aura and– and Robynne noticed Vivian concentrating. Right. She wasn’t the only experiment-minded woman here. And what she was doing felt more… intentional than what Robynne had been doing. The scarlette suddenly felt embarrassed, like she was a novice chipping at rock with a sledgehammer compared to a skilled paleontologist gently brushing dust away from a fossil.

She felt foolish. Her empathokinetic sense was stronger. That had been proven time and time again. But also she was the newest of the five girls and Vivian was just as curious as she was. Of course Vivian would have a better sense of how to use her aura. She would have experimented more. It was a realization so obvious Robynne couldn’t help but chastise herself for arrogantly assuming she would just be able to do things better.

Now, when and on whom Vivian would have tested her empathokinetics on… well, that was a question for later. The Spirit Guard had only discovered Fretribution, Dale, and NightKnight through Robynne’s interactions. That was weird. Why did it keep happening to her and her alone? Fate was easy to blame but always felt like too convenient an excuse. Regardless, the only other people with auras strong enough for Vivian to get feedback on would have been her friends or Cammy. And Robynne knew there was no way she was experimenting on the absolute deluge that was Cammy’s aura.

Robynne decided she should let Vivian work without interfering. Too many confounding variables spoil the experiment after all, and Robynne could find more productive things to do. Like actually paying attention to the conversation she was nominally involved in right now. Why was her brain always somewhere else?

“–and then it was off to the races. We’ve been working together ever since. Or rather she’s been working with me on her healer.”

“You have a healer?” NightKnight started. “I didn’t know you healed.”

“I usually don’t,” Robynne shrugged. “Not a fan of the whackamole gameplay and how long it takes to kill things. I just picked one up to help her level… though you’ve gone on to gain a few too many levels for that to work.”

“Alison” blushed in a very Angela way. Was that something they had to work on? Goths were supposed to be more shameless about stuff, right? “Well, I mean… yeah but, I started leveling up my tailoring which got me on the Threads of Fate questline which kind of led me near Hollowmere and I got the burned doll that started the Mending Seams questline…”

NightKnight lit up. “You just finished the questline with the Falwick Farm ghost girl?”

Angela beamed in a way that made Robynne proud in her nerdy protégé. “Yes! That was such a good story! So tragic and heartwarming! I can’t wait to see what the other tailoring quests do!”

“I heard that questline is cool.”

“You’ve never done it?” Angela gasped.

“Never played a tailor. Still don’t know why you did as a Lodestar. There is no synergy there.”

NightKnight blinked. “Oh yeah. I wasn’t even thinking of that. Why are you doing tailoring as a Lodestar?”

Angela rolled her eyes. “Uh, because it’s a fantasy game? I play things that seem fun and fit the character fantasy? Seems pretty obvious to me. Honestly, you two are far too worried about what is optimal and not enough on what is fun.”

“I want to win,” Robynne laughed. “Winning is fun. And winning is about gear and strategy. Questlines are great and all but the Apothecary profession is just better for sneaky characters like myself. I can’t imagine going through the game without Mindkiller Poison on my blades. The PvP advantage is too great.”

“You do realize that you don’t have to kill the enemy on sight?” Angela gave her a flat look. “Right, Waveform?”

“Psh, where’s the fun in that? I much prefer bein’ the wrench thrown in the gears of others’ plans.”

“Yeah, and when you started camping that Emberward for an hour we got nothing done and they came back with their guildies and they started camping us!”

“But that’s the fun of it! Trying to figure out how to escape. The thrill of the hunt and being hunted! Tell me we weren’t having a great time.”

“Ugh, I swear you just enjoy watching other players suffer.”

Robynne smirked. “I do enjoy seeing gamers lose their cool. There’s something hilarious about becoming the villain of their story.”

“That’s it, you’re grounded from comic books. You’ve fallen far too down the rabbit hole.”

“Oh like you’re much better, Miss Highhorse. You got into the role too and were helping me camp them. I believe you said something about ‘sending them back to Pact territory’?”

That piqued NightKnight’s interest. “You’re getting into the faction war?”

“I… well… we were questing in Ashendell! That’s Comity territory. They… uh…”

“… flagged themselves for PvP?” Robynne offered with an impish grin. “Knew the risk?”

Vivian stroked her chin with villainous flair. “Robynne, are you corrupting our dear Ang-Alison?”

“N-No,” Angela protested. “It’s just… getting into the role of what we’re playing. There is a faction war going on in story.”

“Exactly,” NightKnight exclaimed. “We have a duty to protect our turf. If we don’t they can kill our questgivers and ruin the experience for our side.”

“Y-yeah! See? That! Protecting the gameplay experience for our compatriots. That’s what it’s about.”

“Riiiiight,” Vivian giggled.

“And when they were obviously retreating and you trapped them in your Starbound Snare so I could kill them before they got to the bridge?” Robynne prodded.

“Final reminder to stay out,” Angela protested. Robynne could tell she wanted to toss her hair back a little after saying that but then remembered her hair was currently spilling out of a hoodie and it wouldn’t work.

“Okay, Conviction. Sure. I believe you. I’m sure you didn’t enjoy ruining their plans and seeing them rage.”

“Of course not!” Angela pouted a little. “I mean, certainly you don’t do that to make people angry… do you?”

Robynne shrugged. “It’s part of the experience, the danger of it all. If I wanted to play a game where that couldn’t happen I wouldn’t be playing a multiplayer game with an opposing force. I like that there is a chance that I could be bidding at the auction house then, out of nowhere, an enemy that snuck in could be trying to murder me and I have to adapt.”

“That happens?”

“Oh sure,” NightKnight chimed in, trying a little too hard to hide his overeagerness. “People will sometimes put bounties on other players’ heads too.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously,” Robynne agreed. “I had one guild on my old server put a hit out on me after I had messed with their members enough. There was a month where every time they had a screenshot of them dealing me a killing blow they could make 5 platinum. They were even putting lowbies in areas I had camped them before and secretly had two stealthers waiting to ambush me if I ambushed them. Which then became an even more fun game of me trying to decide if the bait was too good and see if I could kill the stealthers instead. That was a fun month.”

“I don’t know,” Angela sighed. “I mean, I get it from your perspective but not everyone enjoys that.”

“Fair enough, but then they shouldn’t join PvP servers. You can’t go to a server where combat like that is promised but then expect to be left alone. I’m not bringing my services into their capital cities or anything… not usually anyway.”

“Wait,” NightKnight said with a raised eyebrow, “you sometimes go into capital cities?”

Robynne could feel his tether attach to her again, giving her that edge of alertness. “I mean, I’m stealthed.” Was he always doing this on some level? Maybe she just hadn’t noticed it before whatever had awakened his aura. It would explain his awkwardness. If everyone was on edge talking to him it no doubt would taint his– but no, that didn’t make sense. She definitely would have noticed something weird like that when they first met. She had even felt Eli’s tiny aura. Something as odd as this behavior, even if it has been “quieter”, would have stood out. She couldn’t start ascribing mystical reasons to things when the more mundane explanation, him just being awkward, could explain it just as well.

“Yeah,” Robynne nodded. “Sometimes people pay me to kill a guy and, if they stay in the city… well, a contract is a contract.”

Angela’s eyes narrowed. Robynne couldn’t decide if she was just surprised at that news or she was examining the empathokinetic tether with her own senses. “You mean like a hitman?”

“Yeah,” Robynne smirked. “There is even a chat channel for it called ‘Whackjob’ where you can ping anyone in it with your contracts and the terms. Or at least that was the name of the channel when I was in the Pact. I haven’t gone looking for it since joining Accord. But sometimes the terms were ridiculous stuff. Like killing them in a capital city where they feel safe to make their target paranoid.”

NightKnight scratched his head. “So, like, you’d get a contract to stealth into Excelsa and murder someone? How do you avoid the Chorus Watch? Even if you’re stealthed, those guards have big detection radii and are all elites.”

“Practice? Skill?” Robynne shrugged. “You get used to those NPCs’ pathing, where to move, when to take refuge in the Cloudways. Plus there are some buggy walls you can use to get on top of some of the buildings to avoid other paths.”

“What I don’t get,” Angela said, glancing between NightKnight and Robynne, “is why someone would spend good platinum trying to have someone killed in a video game. I get things run hot sometimes but… well, it seems excessive.”

Vivian giggled. “Oh come on, Alison. You know how invested people get in playing a role. I don’t even play video games and I see the appeal. You don the mask of your character, it gets serious, rivalries form. I totes could see someone getting so into their make-believe vendetta that they hire our dear Waveform to whack someone.”

“You know, while it does sound cooler when you say I whack someone it’s undercut when you call me your ‘dear Waveform.'”

“Uh, like, yeah. That’s the point. It’s called incongruent juxtaposition. It’s a tool of comedy. Remind me to give a presentation sometime.”

Angela sighed, “Well I think it’s just a bit dramatic.”

“Says the goth?” Vivian snorted. “I don’t think you can say others are being dramatic when you’re in all black and purple, hun.”

“I… well… this is a fashion choice.” Angela blushed. She’d need to work on that. Robynne never knew any goths in her small town but, from her understanding, they weren’t embarrassed by their style… then again maybe she should just trust Viv’s expertise on this.

“And a lovely fashion choice if I say so but still.” Robynne couldn’t help but notice NightKnight’s eyes glance down to Angela’s skirt with Vivian’s comment. Angela’s blush deepened as his tether reattached to her. It wasn’t his fault. She did look quite attractive in her hoodie-dress and Vivian had just called attention to–

A smooth mahogany texture lapped at the shores of Robynne’s aura. The low-level anxiety she felt being around so many people who found her attractive melted away like cotton candy being savored. Dale was here, probably somewhere near the entrance though she’d have to confirm by looking. If Angela and Vivian felt him, they showed no sign of it. Dale must have barely passed the range of her own aura.

This was the real purpose of today’s social outing. Sure, she was going to participate in a tournament, but the point was to compare the textured auras. And now that she could compare Dale’s with NightKnight’s… something felt off.

Robynne had acclimatized herself to the Spirit Guard’s various auras. Oddly, the auras never seemed to have trouble mixing. Or rather she had never noticed them interacting at all. They all slid over one another like oil over water. But as she stood here at the intersection of two textured auras they… fuzzed? Robynne focused, pushing her aura out a bit further, making a point to “bridge” the two auras together. She felt the auras almost spark as she did it. If NightKnight noticed he didn’t show it, though Angela glanced her way, clearly feeling that Robynne was doing something. The weird fuzziness of the two auras only increased. It was like… like trying to tune into two radio stations who were close in frequency. The signals interfered, creating a confusing mishmash of conflicting sounds and static.

Was that how her aura actually worked? Like a radio tuner? Probably not quite, if for no other reason than any time she tried to fully explain the phenomena of empathokinetics she always found mundane language to be lacking. But Dale’s mahogany relaxation was definitely hissing against NightKnight’s metallic tightrope of alertness. Was it because their effects were so opposite? She’d need to experiment with Fretribution to be certain.

Odd. She normally would feel more annoyed that Dale was here but… but her shields were down. Right. Her shields were down so she couldn’t exempt herself from his aura’s relaxing effect. Strange, now that she wasn’t being so defensive about it she not only felt the mahogany texture but even smelled it a little. The effect on people was even more subtle than she originally thought.

What she had considered simple relaxation was more a lowering of social barriers. It made people be more vulnerable with one another. More open. She had always viewed that so negatively before. But now that she examined it, was being more vulnerable a bad thing? Or was she only saying that because her guard was down and it was affecting her? Strange to think she couldn’t feel the effect of his aura opening her up unless she… opened up. Her uncle would say there was a metaphor there, she was sure of it.

She needed to talk to him. This constant isolation was bad for them both. She knew that but, for some reason, with her guard lowered, that truth was clearer than bef– Dale started to walk towards them. The empathokinetic hiss caused by his and NightKnight’s auras grew stronger. Angela, who had NightKnight’s attention, visibly jumped like she had been shocked by wool fresh out of the dryer.

Noticing Angela’s jump, Vivian scanned the crowd and smiled. “Cory and Dale are here.” The smile, no doubt, was for Cory. Then she raised an eyebrow and glanced at NightKnight. “Huh. Hey Alison, we’ll be right back.” Without asking, of course, Vivian grabbed Robynne’s arm and dragged her in her wake.

Robynne knew it was strange that she let Vivian do things like that. If anyone else tried that she’d kill them. Then again, stepping over lines and getting away with it was sort of Viv’s specialty. “You felt that too?”

“The interference?”

“Ooo, good word for it. It feels like… like when you have a weak radio signal–”

“And you’re picking up two stations at once?”

“Yeah! I wonder what would happen if we got all three… a later problem. You ready to let Dale down gently?” Robynne looked away and grunted. “Nuh uh. Don’t give me that,” Viv chided.

“I’m not even letting him down. I’m just giving him the number of my friend who is interested in him.”

“Which is letting him down. When the girl you have a crush on is telling you that you should ask out her friends, that’s a subtle way of telling you that she’s not interested in you. Every guy knows this.”

“I think you women think guys know stuff that they don’t. I wouldn’t have known that.”

“Yeah, but you’re a terminally online loner with a hero complex. We’re lucky you don’t spend all your time in game or patrolling the rooftops monologuing about, ‘defending my city,’ or something.”

Robynne rubbed the bridge of her nose and sighed, “It’s a miracle no one has thrown you off a bridge or something.”

Vivian smirked. “They’ve tried before. I just bounced back like a cartoon character. C’mon.”

As they approached, the interference between the two signals quieted and she attuned more to Dale’s aura. As she mulled it over, watching how it washed over the crowd, Robynne realized it didn’t behave quite the same as Fretribution’s aura. It still radiated out from him but it wasn’t a pure circle. It was more ovular, seemingly pointed in the direction of his focus, and “thicker” nearest where he was focusing. In that regard, she supposed, it behaved a bit like Cammy’s aura. Nowhere near as intense of course, but similar all the same.

Dale was distracting Cory with conversation. Vivian took the opportunity to hug him hard enough he almost toppled over. “Gyah! What the–” Cory’s face brightened. “You know you could’ve knocked me over.”

“Nonsense,” Vivian countered, “I am an expert hugger. I have a black belt in Hug Fu.”

They were an odd couple to be sure, but Robynne couldn’t help but smile. Cory grinned, putting an arm around Vivian’s waist. “You’ll have to teach me sometime.”

“Oh, trust me. I will.” Then again they always made it weirder than Robynne liked.

Dale cleared his throat, “Uh, hey Robynne… or is it Waveform here?”

“Waveform,” Robynne insisted, trying to simultaneously not look at either his eyes or his pecs. Why did it have to be both that did it for her in this body? Especially being as short as she was she couldn’t help but be looking at most guys’ pecs. And of course Dale wore a tight shirt… as he always did. But could she blame him? If she had pecs like that in her original body, she probably would have done the same. “Didn’t expect you to be here. I thought you said you were more of a Corona Forge guy.”

Dale chuckled, “I am. But who doesn’t like Mega Mash Family? Plus Cory and Eli seemed pretty excited about this tournament thing. Seemed interesting and the band had other plans so… yeah. Here I am.”

“Uh-huh.” When could she offer Lilly’s number? Doing it right off the bat would be rude, right? She probably had to make small talk first. “So… who do you play?”

“Me? Oh, mostly I goof around with Blobson. I used to think I was pretty good until playing some with Cory and Eli. Those two are insane. I’m just hoping to get out of the first round and not embarrass myself.”

“Yeah. Same. Oon both accounts. Eli is especially good. Nothing I try with B.I.T. ever seems to work. I don’t think the club is ready for ‘a duck’ to take things here.”

“B.I.T., huh? That’s the robot dog, right?”

“Yeah, I like his zoning and ability to lay traps but it’s really hard to set up. Eli keeps telling me B.I.T.’s burden of execution is too high and I should switch to someone like Vespra if I prefer zoning people out but, eh, I just enjoy B.I.T., you know?”

Dale grinned. “Yeah, yeah, I get that. But, I mean, Vespra has long, scarlette hair like you, so, maybe that connection would help you get in her headspace or something?”

“Yeah,” Robynne grouggled, “under her cyber-suit. You only ever see her hair at the end of the game. She’s also six foot two with Quaxian DNA spliced into her genetic makeup. Seein’ as I’m a foot shorter than her, have no cybernetic augmentation, and am decidedly not gene-spliced I think the similarities are minimal and not exactly goin’ to help me fight better.”

“Oh, yeah, right. I mean, but you could pull it off though.” This. This is what drove her nuts about him. She wasn’t fishing for compliments like most girls who he interacted with probably did.

It was clear from every interaction Cory and Eli talked about with him and girls that Dale had zero issues picking up chicks. He was in a band, had a square jaw, smooth voice, frustratingly soulful eyes, distracting muscles, and an aura that caused everyone around him to lower their guard. Even now, Robynne could feel herself putting up her “shields” to make sure she had control of herself around him. Guys like Dale would have zero issues with girls, but for some reason he had decided to fixate on her, and yet couldn’t pick up the hints that talking to her like he did to every other girl who probably threw themselves at him was just a dead end. Why couldn’t he get that through his thick skull?

She knew the answer to that, of course. If Dale had done nothing but be a lady-killer his entire life, well, why would he stop doing what always worked? That jut wasn’t how humans behaved. If Kara was right about what it looked like from Dale’s perspective, then Robynne was just a hottie playing hard to get. That likely only intrigued him more because she would be one of the few women who didn’t act like he wasn’t Prince Charming.

Kara and Vivian were right. She needed to nip this in the bud. “Yeah, listen, I don’t normally do this…”

Dale’s grin widened. “Yeah?”

“Your band is called the Free Unsecured Network, right?”

His grin changed to confusion. “Yeah?”

“Well, I mentioned it to one of my cheerleader friends, Lilly, and, well, it turns out she’s a fan of you guys.”

Dale’s confusion visibly grew. “A fan? Of us?”

“She’s apparently into the indie music scene here and she likes your band, yeah.”

“And… she said she was a fan of us… specifically?” His confusion had an dd twinge of hope to it. Huh, Robynne had always assumed Dale was confident in everything he did but maybe his band wasn’t as successful as Lilly had made it sound.

Robynne blinked. “Um… yeah. You sound… surprised. I thought… do you think your music isn’t very good?”

“What, no! I mean… well… it could use work. And I think we could show more depth in our instrumentation but, I mean… I like our music. It’s just that… she said she liked us? We’ve only had a few people buy our CDs.”

Robynne squinted. “Do you think maybe that might be because CDs seem to be on their way out? I mean, around here I feel everyone is listening to their music on their uCalls.”

“I know!” Dale said exasperated, “How are you supposed to sell your stuff when nobody wants stuff anymore? And the music sounds all compressed. I swear I should’ve been born in the days of vinyl.”

Figured that Dale would be one of those dorks that insisted things sounded better on vinyl. Then again that was her uncle too. She couldn’t ever hear the difference. There were enough people who said it though, that she just kind of assumed you just had to have a keener sense of hearing. Like wine-tasting but for the ear. Either way, this conversation had gotten off track. “Well, I’m sure Lilly would agree. And she wanted me to give you her number.”

“Huh?” Dale seemed a little sideswiped by that. She could even feel his aura pull in a bit, like some kind of empathokinetic gasp.

“Yeah, like I said I don’t normally do this. But she thinks you’re cute, likes your music, and frankly, I actually get along with her which is a rarity for most other cheerleaders.” Robynne fished the page with Lilly’s number on it out of her pocket.

Dale blinked. He clearly did understand what this was. Vivian piped up, “Plus she’s really cute, Dale. You really should ask her out.”

“Oh, uh, yeah. Sure.” Dale reached out to take the number but Robynne didn’t like that tone. Not committed enough. She needed to make sure he followed through or Dale would never be out of her hair.

“Dale, she’s putting herself out there on this one. I told her I’d give you her number but don’t take it unless you’re actually going to call her. I don’t want my friend wonderin’ if she’s good enough because the guy she went out on a bit of a limb for didn’t like her enough to even give her a phone call.” Robynne made sure to look right into his eyes, something she hated doing, to emphasize her point.

And, donut, if those eyes weren’t pretty. Would looking into the eyes of a guy like him ever not make her feel weak? Was this the result of her body and mind conflicting so much, his aura, or was this just her new preferences made manifest? Dale swallowed, unaware of the inner turmoil and took the number from her hand. He smiled in his easy, charming way and held the number up. “If you’re giving a speech like that, she must be some kind of lady. I’d be a fool not to call her.”

Well, that was an annoyingly perfect thing to say. “Good.” Robynne shoved her hands into her pockets triumphantly. One quest down today. Lilly was great and Dale would be an idiot to not give her a shot… then again Robynne was pretty sure she had mentally called Dale an idiot multiple times so maybe she shouldn’t count her chickens before they got to hatching. “So what are we calling you here?”

Dale scratched his head. “What do you mean?” Gummi donut, even the way he casually scratched his head had this attractive, easy-going appeal. She hated keeping her shields down around this guy. How any girl resist his charm when combining his looks with that relaxing aura around him?

“Gamer name,” Cory chimed in. “Most people around here go by their gamer name.”

“Which is both stupid and awesome at the same time,” Vivian giggled.

“It’s just awesome,” Robynne corrected her.

“Well you won’t catch me using everyone’s gamer name. Unlike you I actually try to learn people’s names.”

“I’m not as bad as Eli,” Robynne coughed. “Besides, you just say that because you made your name a big joke OverdoomNumber3-BreakerOfWills.”

“Being better at remembering names than Eli is not an accomplishment,” Cory chided.

Robynne sighed, “Okay, don’t just take her side because you’re dating her.”

“That’s a perfect reason to take my side,” Vivian scoffed.

“Your opinion in this regard is awfully biased, wouldn’t ya say?”

“I should hope so since I’m trying to make it work in my favor and not yours. I’d hate to skew the results in any way that didn’t benefit me.”

Robynne shook her head. “And you call yourself a scientist.”

“No,” Dale jumped in with a grin, “She calls herself OverdoomNumber3.”

“BreakerOfWills,” Vivian corrected. “We can’t forget my full title.”

“Yes, sorry your Doomship. OverdoomNumber3-BreakerOfWills.”

Robynne’s shoulders slumped. “Don’t encourage her.”

“That’s what I keep saying,” Eli’s voice piped up from behind Robynne. She turned to see him slightly out of breath.

Cory laughed, “Did you run here?”

Eli rolled his eyes but his posture said he at least jogged a bit. Boy needed to get in better shape. “They just posted the brackets for the tournament.”

Cory perked up at that. “And we are…?”

“Thankfully on opposite ends.”

“Oh good,” Cory exhaled. “At least I won’t have to immediately fight my way out of the loser’s bracket.”
“You beat me sometimes,” Eli offered.

“Occasionally. Not when you’re serious and locked in.”
“Probably,” Eli admitted.

“See!”

“Hey, you said it, not me. Anyway, Dale, you’re Axe-tronaut, right?”
Dale nodded, offering a quick glance in Robynne’s direction clearly hoping for some approval. She made a point to try to not react, though she had to admit it wasn’t a bad handle for a guitar player. “Yeah, that’s me. Do you know anything about who I’m up against?”

“Yeah,” Eli nodded. “You’re going up against SaltStorm. He’s the guy in charge of the event. I’ve actually played against him a bit. Plays a decent Rockwell. I’d say he’s about your skill level so you have a shot.”

“Awesome! Hopefully don’t embarrass myself in… uh… in front of all you guys’ friends.”

Robynne sighed, as he clearly was thinking “in front of Robynne” but saved it before he said it out loud. Probably was too much to think his pining for her would go away with one sheet with some numbers on it. She could at least save him his dignity and not point it out.

Vivian on the other hand hated dignity. “Nice recovery, Dale. Smooth as peanut butter.” She of course grinned wickedly as Cory poked her in the ribs with his elbow

Dale’s eyes showed he wasn’t happy about it but his smirk betrayed his amusement. How did Vivian get away with… everything? She just had that way about her. “ShutupViv,” Dale fake coughed out.

Eli turned to Robynne with some hesitation. “Waveform… uh… you’re going up against Milky.”

“Milky?” Robynne sighed. “First round?”

“Afraid so.”

Well. That was going to be a problem.

Special thanks to Nintendrone who helped me edit this chapter.