A revelation in the light of day;

[meowterspace]

[lance honestly could do a lot better with his dps, but he's better at it than he is at anything else. at least he's never in the way. being an archer kind of helps with that.

[but being a low-level archer running dungeons for exp does not help his reputation. he's a little temperamental, he's quick to blame mechanics over himself, and he only grudgingly listens to advice. it's the other dps in the dungeon, the shitty little miqote monk, that really pisses him off the most, though. in fact, the rest of the team left as soon as the boss was done! but the two of them have stayed to argue.]

"i don't get what your problem is? we won. you're just mad bc you didn't get commendations for being a shitty dps."

[lance, you failed the mechanic and had them wipe twice. your tank was a saint and is the only reason you stayed together and tried the third time.]

Comments

[temperedwill]

"You're implying that I care about commendations. I can just go on tank and queue in for that kind of crap."

[Keith had very low patience for dealing with most players. It isn't to say that he didn't and he was usually at least good enough to go with the party, but he was always a hair trigger as soon as someone else decided to give sass. Especially a DPS that wanted to give him grief.]

"I was the one who said what the mechanics were. You were the one who failed them. So, really, my problem is you."

[meowterspace]

"oh so your problem is ME. great."

[lance has little patience for this guy. also most people.]

"i dare you to be useful at your class before you throw all the blame on me."

[really, if they were in person, he'd just be waiting to get hit.]

[temperedwill]

[Is this guy a literal idiot? This guy is a literal idiot isn't he?]

"Excuse me? What do you want me to do? All I do on this class is punch enemies and that's exactly what I did. I punched them because that's the point of this class."

[It's too bad he can't punch this guy either.]

"I can't save stupid."

[meowterspace]

[lance is about to argue when the screen flashes white. it flickers, and lance leans back from it, fearing something happening to his monitor. then it flashes again, bright enough that he covers his eyes with his arms.

[and when he lowers them, it's with a look of wonder on his face. this isn't his bedroom.]

What..?

[temperedwill]

[If Lance is looking confused, then so is Keith. The Miqote that Lance was arguing with has his ears laying back against his ears and he has a puzzled expression as he regards the other and then looks down at his hands.]

What the hell.

[meowterspace]

[the au ra in front of keith is spinning in a way the character models can't, twisting to look over his shoulder, and then whipping back around to face him.]

What the fuck is going on.

[temperedwill]

[The fact that Keith's ears continue to lie flat against his head and the tail swishes back in an irritated manner is telling that the other isn't going through an average emote of some kind. Keith probably hadn't used any emotes at all throughout the dungeon to begin with.]

This is bad.

[meowterspace]

Uh? Yeah?

[lance's voice is probably not what keith would expect to come out of someone this size.]

This isn't real. This isn't happening, right? Like we're hallucinating. Or something.

[temperedwill]

[He stares at the other for a moment. He lets out a breath.]

Hey, calm down for a moment. Freaking out isn't going to help. Let's take a moment to kind of figure things out and working from there. That's the best we can do for now. [He wants to say it isn't real, but he can feel the way his ears twitch and the way his tail moves when he's conscious of them.]

[meowterspace]

How the hell are we supposed to figure this out?!

[he reaches out and flicks keith right on the nose. which he can feel.]

[temperedwill]

[Keith swats at his hand. His tail fluffs up and he lets out a low growl.]

Don't touch me.

And I don't know, but we might as well consider what we can do instead of you flipping the fuck out.

[meowterspace]

Oh, because it's totally unreasonable to be freaking the fuck out in this situation. Where is my body?!

[temperedwill]

You're putting words in my mouth.

I didn't say it wasn't unreasonable. I'm saying that there's nothing that can be done, so we should try and stay calm and figure out something.

Also, technically that is your body.

[meowterspace]

Uh, no. This is my character. This is not my body.

[he is not helping at all.]

I don't have scales and a tail, dude.

[temperedwill]

It is now.

It's not like I just thought I've always been a goddamn catboy. Look, we're in the same situation right now. You gotta work with me a bit here.

[meowterspace]

How can you just accept this?!

[why is this guy so fucking infuriating.]

[temperedwill]

I don't really need to freak out when you're freaking out more than enough for both of us.

[He sees how the other is reacting and it helps with not wanting to be like that.]

[meowterspace]

Wh--wow?!

[he doesn't know what else to say to that. oops.]

[temperedwill]

So...?

[Is Lance done...?

At the very least, he somehow got the other to be speechless for a moment.]

[meowterspace]

... What do you want to do.

[grudgingly]

[temperedwill]

Let's get out of this dungeon first of all. We can head back to the closest town and work from there. Getting to safety would be important, especially if we can be bodily harmed.

[meowterspace]

... How. Do we just... walk back??

[HOW DOES THIS WORK NOW??]

[temperedwill]

[By the Twelve, let them somehow get out of this without completely destroying Keith's patience.]

I guess so. We have to walk back to the entrance of the dungeon.

[meowterspace]

... This is bull.

[he turns and starts walking, though--and almost immediately trips and has to flail to keep balance. how do tail. how do walk with legs like this.]

[temperedwill]

Well, it's definitely something.

[For whatever reason, Keith seems to be doing a better job at the whole walking thing despite the tail part. It's probably because Keith is basically a human cat. It helps probably that miqote physique isn't terribly different from his own stature.] You need help...?

[meowterspace]

No.

[maybe.]

Why am I 75% legs?!

[this is ridiculous. he's going to start walking slowly this time.]

[temperedwill]

That's kind of an exaggeration of how much leg you are. Besides, aren't you the one who decided how you were gonna look? You did willingly choose that race.

[There might be slight amusement from the other as he walks alongside him.]

[meowterspace]

Okay, first of all? Fuck you. Second of all, I didn't choose to literally be this race.

[don't be amused, you cute little shit]

[temperedwill]

[Okay, but Keith laughs a little and it comes with ear wiggles and tail wagging.]

I'll concede on the second one, but still. I guess it could be worse. You could have been any other guy who wanted to go cat girl or something. [Lance could have been a potato girl.]

[meowterspace]

[don't be CUTE???]

... At least I'm not a Lalafell. [muttermutter]

[temperedwill]

[All the cat functions are unconscious. He isn't doing them willingly, damn it.

They just twitch naturally and flick when there are sounds around them.] Not a fan of potatoes? [He's probably way too calm for this. Or maybe he's just taking his amusement to ignore the fact that he's stuck in a video game.]

[meowterspace]

Not a fan of being one.

[he shoots an indignant look to his apparent new partner.]

How are you not freaking the fuck out right now?

[temperedwill]

I'm anxious, don't get me wrong. But if I freaked out, nothing would really get done.

[And maybe he found real life kind of crappy. He didn't mind it and he was happy with what he did have, but he can't say that this isn't also kind of interesting.]

Just rolling with what we got.

[meowterspace]

... How. We are in a video game. I don't even know if we have skills, and there are monsters.

[temperedwill]

Well, I wouldn't know if you have any skills. I kinda grew up with roughing it.

[He knows how to fight and survive at the very least.] We're heading back to town anyways.

[meowterspace]

I meant in-game ones, jerk. And there are monsters between town and here, how are we supposed to tell what's gonna come at us or not?

[he is going to do all the complaining and freaking out for both of you, keith.]

[temperedwill]

The same way you're supposed to tell anything is coming at us? I mean, you can hear and see, right?

[Oh man. Lance just doesn't get any less obnoxious, does he? Jeez.] We'll get back to town and ask someone to contact GMs for us. We just have to get back to town first, so let's just assume we won't run into anything in the meantime.

[meowterspace]

Oh, yeah, let's just walk halfway across Eorzea to get to the nearest town, there aren't any aggro mobs between here and there.

[temperedwill]

You know, you'd probably be pretty good at this game if you spent as much time complaining actually getting better at your job.

[Man, he can be a realist and all, but he feels positively optimistic comparatively right now.

Besides, Keith is actually pretty good at scouting and sneaking by. He's careful as he travels.]

[meowterspace]

[lance just.

[stops walking.

[and stares at him.]

[temperedwill]

[Keith stops and turns to look at him.]

If you want to get back to town sooner, you can't just stop.

[meowterspace]

Maybe I don't wanna walk back with such a jerk!

[really lance]

[temperedwill]

If you want to go back by yourself, be my guest then.

[Keith isn't going to force Lance to be in his company and he doesn't particularly care to keep company either.]