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It was hot that night and you sat by yourself at the reception tent, sipping on some cold water and staring up at the stars. The others had headed in for the night but you couldn’t sleep, not after seeing her. You couldn’t help but feel bad, her wedding dress covered in blood and you can’t help but wonder when you stopped being scared of these anomalies and instead became interested in them. You swear the symbol on your back burned at your thoughts and you quickly left them alone, choosing instead to perk your head up at the sound of footsteps. It was Ren, holding his phone up and grumbling about missing out on his dailies.
“Hey Ren,” you greet, waving slightly at him. He stopped his pacing and looked you over, quirking his eyebrow up.
“Are the camera’s on?” You tried not to show your distaste for his dismissive voice and instead shook your head. “Then you have no reason to be talking to me.”
“You play Luminary Odyssey right? Haru mentioned that you talked about it alot. I was wondering if you could give me advice on how to build Lumi?” He snorted at that and made his way over, and you hid your smile behind your glass. Mission successful, as he sat next to you and looked at you skeptically.
“You play Luminary Odyssey? Shouldn’t you be more interested in Infinity Sally?”
“Why because I’m a girl? And yeah of course I play, the characters are super cute.”
Ren rolled his eyes at your response, pouring himself some water from the pitcher. “If you really played then you wouldn’t even bother building Lumi because you would know she’s useless until you reach the grasslands.”
“Yes, I already got there but I don’t know how to handle the element, would the honey blade be best for her?” He scoffed and sat back down.
“Now I know you’re faking it, who would ever think that sword would be good for an elemental based team?”
“I’m not lying, ask me anything about the game and I’ll prove it to you.” He gazed at you skeptically, the moon putting a faint glow around you both creating an intimate atmosphere.
“Fine whatever, we’ll start off easy. Who is the first person we meet upon getting done with the tutorial?”
Now it was your turn to scoff at him underestimating you. “Barbados obviously, god of Favonia the city of peace and parties.” Ren huffed at you getting it right, clearly not expecting it but a subtle look of hope came from him. You know that no one else at the school is really into games, not to the extent he is. So you can’t help but wonder why he is so hesitant to let you in, playing co-op can be fun.
“Ok fine, I guess that was too easy for you. Who was featured in the limited edition event to celebrate the Chinese new year?” You went to answer but he held a hand up to stop you. “The first year of the game being created.” You moved to sit closer to him zeroing in on his eyes as he smirked at you.
“That has nothing to do with playing it now. However, since you asked, it was the god of that nation Snorlax and his soldier Spector.” Ren narrowed his eyes at you calculating, moving closer to you as well and you refused to back down, tired of his arrogant attitude and laziness.
“What's the exact, precise percentage chance of pulling a 5-star character on a standard banner before pity, and what's the soft pity threshold?" He leaned back with a smile and you tried not to show that you were stumped, already seeing him gloating in your mind. You took some time to rack your brain, you never looked at the percentages you just pulled when you had enough saved up and the character looked cool.
“Um well, soft pity is sixty and as for the percentage..” You trailed off as he gestured for you to continue and you sighed in defeat. “0.6%? I think, or maybe 0.7.” You waited for the gloating but it didn’t come, Ren instead looking away, his ears a faint red.
“Close enough for a casual I guess, soft pity is fifty. Still, I’m surprised someone like you plays games.” He looked back at you and you shrugged, pulling your knees up to your chest and gazing back at him.
“Why wouldn’t I? I had a life before I was forced here you know. A family,” you thought about your mom and dad, wondering why you hadn’t seen missing person’s flyers anywhere when you went out into the city. Only to sigh inwardly because you knew why, Darkwick would take care of that.
“I get that, being forced I mean. I am not cut out for Jabberwock, it's so much work. And Haru, he won’t even fix things making us do odd jobs for the money just so he can grow his savings account. As for Towa,” he trailed off and gave a long sigh and you found yourself reaching out to pat his head in sympathy. You were surprised when he let you, even leaning in a tad.
“You’re not half bad inspector, would you want to play a few games when we get done with this quest?” You smoothe his hair out and go to retreat only for him to grab your hand and intertwine your fingers with his.
“If you promise to actually perform for the camera’s then yeah I don’t see why not.” You squeezed his hand and he coughed looking away again and at the moon, not letting go of your hand.
“Ok then deal. It’s a date, I guess.” You leaned in and rested your head on his shoulder, feeling tired.
“Hey I’m not a resting place for you,” he grumbled, pushing you away only for you to laugh and let yourself go.
“Ok ok, I’m going to head to my tent, what about you?” You asked him, tilting your head as he pulled you back to his side.
“You can lay here or whatever, just give me some warning next time.” Now his face was blushing and you tucked your knees closer to your chest as you leaned more onto him.
“Ok then.” You woke up to cameras in your face and the host talking to the camera’s like a regular gossip about your scandalous rendezvous with one of the contestants. Ren predictably was having none of it as he pushed you off and ran from the camera’s yelling at them to leave him alone as they followed, leaving you to look at the rest of the ghouls who were surprised to say the least.
“Hey guys!” You got up and made your way to the film set, feeling content as you finally knew who to hand the bottle over to.