Zoe was tired already and it was only her lunch break. She let out a sigh and slumped down in the cheap plastic chair she was seated in. Her back hurt, too, which was a sad complaint for a twenty-five year old to make but she was certain all of the blame for that particular issue fell at the feet of her shitty corporate overlords and their inability to get nice chairs.
The particularly cheap plastic chairs that lined the break room were certainly not helping matters, either, she thought as she shifted around to try to give her back a break.
She was only vaguely paying attention to her surroundings while scrolling through her phone when Cassandra walked into the break room, massaging her temples.
“Someone save me.” She muttered, moving to sit across from Zoe, where she promptly dumped her head onto the table. Her hair also got the message, dramatically spreading out over the tabletop in a massive wave of dirty blonde.
Zoe clicked off her phone and placed it on the table, careful not to put it on Cassandra’s hair. “Rough day?”
“Zoe, it’s 11:30 a.m. and I’ve had three phone calls from irate customers that just would not give me a chance to talk. I swear, they just call us to shout at someone and don’t actually want us to fix anything.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right.” Zoe said, leaning on the table idly. “I’m honestly surprised, too. When I first got the job here I thought for sure most of it would be like…troubleshooting internet or cell phone issues for people. But nope, like 80% of it is people complaining about billing.”
“As if the customer support line can miraculously make that extra twenty dollar fee go away because you called and yelled at us.” Cassandra muttered into the table.
Zoe chuckled wryly. “I don’t think most people think about that. Let alone that they’re just yelling at people that go through the same shit. It’s not like I get some crazy good deal because I work here.”
“Don’t let the bosses hear you say that.” Cassandra muttered again.
“What, like it’s not the truth? They say it’s some employee discount, but we just get a renamed version of the same discount we give out to people when they threaten to change providers. It’s bullshit, Cass.”
Cassandra angled her head up a little, allowing one of her eyes to peek through the veil of her hair. “Not disagreeing with you there.”
Both women sat there for a moment in silence in the otherwise empty break room before Zoe moved to pick her phone back up, still lightly fuming. “By the way, did you see the link I sent you?”
“What, the one with the Clan recruitment ad?” Cassandra asked.
“Yeah. What’d you think?”
“What do you mean, ‘what do I think’?” Cassandra chuckled. “I told you I was game to give it a go. If we want to do the raids in November, we’ll need a group to do them with. And then I told you if you want to find a group, I’ll just tag along. I’m not picky.”
Zoe rolled her eyes. Yes, Cassandra had told her she would just tag along wherever Zoe ended up. They may not have been friends for very long, but in the two years or so that they considered each other friends, Zoe had learned that Cassandra was definitely picky.
There was no way that Zoe was going to settle on a raid group without at least a preliminary yes from Cassandra.
“Cass, we should both be giving input on this. It’ll be the first time we’re raiding together in a game, not to mention the six other people we’re going to be with. At least make sure you’re on board with the general information in the ad.”
“Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, eight to eleven, yeah? That’s fine. They said they wanted a non-Muse healer and a primarily melee DPS. That’s perfect. And they said they don’t bite, which is even better.” Cassandra said dryly.
Zoe smiled at her phone, looking at the post. The little gremlin did read it.
“Alright, then. I’ll try to contact Hibiscus tonight after work. It’s only been a day since they posted the ad, so hopefully we’re not too late.”
Cassandra stared at her for a moment, and Zoe raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”
“What caught your eye about that ad, anyway?” Cassandra asked, finally deciding to sit back up. She groaned as she repositioned in the chair.
Zoe pointed at the still steeping styrofoam cup of tea she had started when she first got into the breakroom. And then immediately moved to remove the tea bag, realizing how long it had been steeping. “The Nettle Tea Clan name, plus ‘Hibiscus Jade’. The leader clearly likes tea, so it stuck out a little.” She shrugged. “It was also a little luck of the draw, and the times worked out.”
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Cassandra shrugged and got to her feet to retrieve a drink for herself. “Fair enough I guess. Are we running dailies together tonight, or are you going to set aside the time to chat with Hibiscus?”
“Let’s hit one or two of the dailies first, then I’ll try to message them. I’ve been itching to play all day, so I’m gonna need to scratch that itch when I get home first.”
Cassandra nodded. “Sounds good to me.” She glanced at the clock as she filled a cup of water from the cooler. “We’ve still got like 45 minutes for lunch. Want to go grab a bite?”
“Sure.” Zoe said, “Thinking anything specific? Or are we just going to hit up that hotdog cart outside the office again?”
“I was thinking about the sandwich place down the block. I was craving a breakfast sandwich on a bagel.” Cassandra said, running through a quick stretch before they went for their small walk.
“Works for me. I could go for a bacon, egg, and cheese.”
Cassandra nodded toward the door. “Let’s go then, before we get told to end our lunch early.”
Zoe nodded and quickly followed Cassandra out, her tea in hand. They’d never actually been told to end their lunch early, but it had been threatened. More than once.
[Nyx Alaion] > Hello Hibiscus. I saw your recruitment post on the forum and was interested. I’m a Shroud main, and I have a friend who mains Soul. We were hoping to join you as a package deal, if possible.
Zoe leaned back in her chair, waiting to see if she’d get a response. The whisper had gone through, so Hibiscus must at least be online. What they were doing was up in the air though; if they were in a dungeon or something, they may not even notice the message.
“So? Anything?” Cass asked over their voice chat.
“Not yet.” Zoe said. “But I wouldn’t really expect -” She cut off when she heard the system chime that denoted a whisper. “Oh, hang on.”
[Hibiscus Jade {NTEA}] > Hi Nyx! We’re still looking, and your Paths line up pretty neatly with what we need. Did you have any questions for me about anything? Need clarifications on anything in the post?
[Nyx Alaion] > I don’t think so? Your ad was pretty cut and dry on details.
[Hibiscus Jade {NTEA}] > Yeeah, sorry bout that. I wasn’t sure exactly what really needed to be said in there so I left it pretty sparse.
[Hibiscus Jade {NTEA}] > As a group, we have two major sticking points for us. 1, We’re definitely not going to be world first raiders or anything like that. Our goal is to do content together, have fun, and clear as much as we can.
[Hibiscus Jade {NTEA}] > And 2, while we aren’t planning on being world firsts, we want everyone involved to take the game somewhat seriously - mostly in regards to wanting to get better and improve.
Zoe nodded to herself, and repeated the information aloud for Cass’ benefit.
“I’m more or less in agreement with them.” Zoe said. “I’ve never really ‘raided’ in a game before. And while I’m really excited to do so, I don’t think taking it super seriously and going for world firsts would suit me well. But I do want to get better at the game as we go.”
“No complaints here.” Cass agreed. “I think something like a mid-core group is perfect. I don’t want to raid with a group that’s too blasé about the whole thing, but I’m also not trying to join a full throttle group either. This sounds like a good, fun medium.”
“As long as we all get along.” Zoe added.
“As long as we all get along.” Cass echoed.
They had learned the hard way, together, how things go when the regular group of ‘friends’ aren’t really friends at all. And that sort of situation was one that they had promised each other they would avoid in the future.
[Nyx Alaion] > Both of those tenants sound like solid ones to me. I’m also relaying this stuff to my friend, and she’s on board as well.
[Hibiscus Jade {NTEA}] > Perfect! What are you two up to right now? Are you both online? Free?
“They’re asking if we’re free.” Zoe said.
“Are we?” Cass prodded. “We could go finish up our dailies if you want. But it’s not like we really need to these days.”
“Hm.” Zoe grunted noncommittally. “I guess we can see what’s up.”
“I will say, if they want to do, like, an ‘interview’ or something, I’m out.” Cass said firmly. “Not a fan of groups that do that sort of thing.”
“I don’t think it’s that big a deal, but okay.” Zoe muttered.
[Nyx Alaion] > We’re both on, and free. What’s up?
[Hibiscus Jade {NTEA}] > We’re actually meeting up with team member #6 for the first time right now. The two of you are welcome to come join us to hang out and meet everyone if you’d like.
[Hibiscus Jade {NTEA}] > Or, just about everyone, anyway. One of us is a new parent and hasn’t been on much. But he assures us that he’s working on it and will be back in time for raiding, so no worries!
[Nyx Alaion] > My congratulations and condolences to that one. Seems exhausting.
[Hibiscus Jade {NTEA}] > He may be tired all the time, but he seems happy, even if he is exhausted. In any case, what do you and your friend think?
“It looks like most of the group is in the middle of a meet up right now. Hibiscus said they’re meeting another new team member for the first time, so it might not be a bad idea to swing by if we’re free.” Zoe said.
“Sure. Ask them where to meet up and we can head over that way.” Cass said. “Give me a sec though, I want to make a good impression. Need to put on a better glamour.”
Zoe chuckled. “As long as you don’t look like a patchwork mess, I’m sure it’s fine.”
The [Fae Glamour] system allowed players to overlay an illusion of other appearances over their actual gear. Not only did it allow everyone to avoid looking like their outfits were stitched together from several different armor sets - which they usually were - but it also allowed people to really dive into fashion at the end game.
Cass offered an awkward chuckle in response. “...I was horribly mismatched, actually. But I’m fine now.”
Zoe sent Cass a party invite before sending a message back to Hibiscus to ask where to meet up. When Cass joined the party, Zoe eyed her name in the party list.
“I feel like you should be more embarrassed by the reference in your name than showing up in bad fashion.” Zoe teased.
“Hey! What’s wrong with my name?” Cass exploded.