My Virtual Lover

Live 24: Meeting Tempesta, the Walking Storm

Anthony watches Tempesta from the windowsill, peeking from the slight gaps of the curtain. She’s currently sitting on the couch with someone. Anthony’s online friends elbow him, telling him to be brave and socialize with Tempesta. He seems too fond of her company, her courageous heart along her straightforwardness.

They arrived at another part of the Holorealm map called Brownwood Forest, the sighting of pine trees is common in the area. Wild animals lurking in the corner, even if they’re fake it’s mostly just a visual NPC. None of the avatars could perform an interaction with the animals, regardless it’s a relaxing place to stay.

“Geez, that Tempesta loves to choose a quiet place as her home” Anthony’s online friends nudges him. “There’s nothing here but pine trees and NPC animals, you can’t see beautiful avatars and girls chattering outside your house! What’s so fun about that?”.

“Maybe she just likes the quiet atmosphere? Don’t judge her” Anthony answers bitterly. “Everyone had their taste, so you do you”.

It was strange for Anthony to even answer sarcastically and annoyed at their words, they decide to apologize to Anthony for their rude remarks. They’re all standing in front of a wooden windowed door, they can see Tempesta talking to a glasses man with a blue hoodie. They’re pushing the shy Anthony to talk to her.

Come on, just man up and talk to her! Knock on her door!” they nudge the awkward Anthony. “You wouldn’t want that girl to be taken by someone else, right!?”.

“What!? It’s not like what you think guys, I just want to be her friend since she knows a lot of things about games” he sighs heavily.

“Then knock on her door! Why are you being shy!?” one of them nudges his head.

“Well, she’s a famous Holorealm celebrity! Of course, I would be flustered geez” Anthony frowns as he ponders his life decision, his hand is standby on the door.

Nullworld or in this case, Anthony swallows his saliva as he knocks on the girl’s door. Tempesta answers with a yell, as expected as her loud personality. She tells the man to wait for her as she rushes to the door.

She opens the door, seeing the fidgeting man fiddle his thumbs. He introduces himself as Nullworld, Anthony bites his lips unknowingly letting her see his uncomfortable side. Tempesta tells him to chill as he lets him inside her house. Tempesta’s interior is full of minimalistic furniture along with monochrome decoration.

Games posters and anime posters are plastered on her walls, a true hardcore game player. Her username is suitable for the condition of her bedroom, her sheets are messy for everyone’s eyes to see. She apologizes for her messy bedroom, she’s planning to move her bedroom inside a room after this since he’s not exactly a clean person herself.

On the couch, he sees another man sitting on the couch while crossing his legs. He waves at Nullworld as he fixes his glasses. He gets up from the white couch and introduces himself as Kani, he’s been a friend of Tempesta for a while. The two of them return to their couch, they’re talking about a foreign topic that Anthony doesn’t understand.

They’re talking about APEX’s newest season and rumors that follow an upcoming character that might be released. Tempesta tells Anthony to sit next to her, she still focuses her gaze on Kani who’s been talking about the newest heirloom. Anthony clenches his fist as he looks at the two figures talking amongst themselves, the man feels left out from the bunch.

“So have you seen the newest leak of a scout character?” Tempesta asks Kani curiously. “He looks pretty overpowered to me”.

“True, his scanning ability is beyond Bloodhound” he nods. “However, in terms of movement speed then Bloodhound is better when he uses his ultimate skill”.

“I think the ultimate works better for him alone though” Tempesta gives her opinion. “He can see the enemies within the radius for himself only, while the newest character can make the enemies visible for the whole team with the device he throws”.

They discussed APEX’s newest character, something that is foreign for the man to even know about. Noticing Anthony’s discomfort, Tempesta looks at him and asks if there’s something he would like to say. He is at loss for words when Tempesta suddenly bangs him with a spontaneous question.

“Do you like games? We can talk about the games you know” Tempesta tries to include him in the conversation. “What are you into? We’re talking about APEX earlier”.

“Oh, I see” he nods. “I don’t understand lots of APEX, rather I’m not good at FPS games”.

“We’re the same then!” Tempesta hits his back in a friendly gesture. “You know I’m into APEX because my favorite Vtuber Kano is an APEX pro player game! I want to be as good as him!”.

“That’s an impossible dream to achieve Tempesta, considering how bad you are with your surrounding” Kani chuckles as he reminiscence about something. “You’re one piece of work, you never pay attention to your surrounding, also your aim is a bit you know”.

“No need to remind me Kani, I understand sheesh” she growls. “In any case, are there other games you play Kani? Don’t you play RPG games?”.

Kani doesn’t seem to be that interested in RPG games, his chuckle is replaced with a slight frown. He drinks a glass of water on the coffee table while telling them the story of him being bored with RPG games since he was young. Kani states his distaste for repetitive leveling games that requires him to be diligent in gathering leveling materials.

Tempesta sighs heavily, telling Kani that he loses his childhood by letting his laziness overtake his senses. Her first RPG game would be the Pokemon series that she plays almost every day when she had Gameboy Advance. Kani and Anthony raise their eyebrows, their heads jerk up when she mentions Pokemon.

“Wait, you’re into that series as well? Pokemon is different!” Kani nods passionately while fixing his hoodie. “It’s the best game I’ve ever played since I was little, so that’s also an RPG huh?”.

“I think so, it is role-playing, no?” Anthony adds. “My first game was Pokemon Red and Yellow, it’s the first generation of Pokemon”.

The three of them are conversing as if they’re close friends, their talk is endless. Anthony occasionally peeks at the cheery girl next to her who talks about games enthusiastically. It is as if her world revolves around games and entertainment. Kani is also enthusiastic, seemingly guiding her.

“Are the two of them close?” Anthony looks at the two people talking non-stop, they look pretty close. He wants to ask about it, but he just knew them recently thus it feels impolite to ask more about their privacy. However, he feels right at home when he sees her talking about games, she is somewhat different from any girl he knew.

She is more honest, blunt, and somewhat insensitive to her surroundings. Even so, she tries her best to include Anthony in the conversation, even if they end up talking more. Anthony’s introversion and nervousness don’t help with the fact that he just talked to them; thus he’s stuck in the corner.

“What’s wrong? You’ve been pretty quiet” Tempesta notices Anthony’s discomfort. “Are we talking too fast? Sorry about that, Kani and I can be like that sometimes”.

“You two are close friends?” the questions escape Anthony’s mouth by accident.

Anthony gasps slightly as he covers his mouth, he can’t believe that the questions he spewed out might be the end of the beginning of his friendship with the girl. However, Tempesta just shrugs it out and replies calmly.

“We’ve been playing APEX together for weeks, I guess we’re close gaming mates” Tempesta doesn’t seem to understand the innuendo, she answers it calmly.

However, Kani twitches his eyes, he glances at Anthony curiously before returning his attention to Tempesta.

“Are we going to play on the weekend again? APEX? Didn’t you want to duel me this time?” Kani grins. “I can’t wait to see your ‘remarkable’ skills”.

“I know damn well that you’re trying to be sarcastic” Tempesta elbows Kani playfully. “I know that you’re laughing at my skill, geez just let me beat you once”.

“As if I would let you do that, you would hurt my gamer pride” Kani winks as he leans closer to Tempesta. “You know I don’t like to hold back when it comes to a game duel”.

“I’d like to see you try” Tempesta grins, crossing her arm. “Alright then, don’t hold back”.

Anthony feels as if he’s interrupting the two having fun, they’re somewhat slightly flirtatious toward each other. He just wants to know Tempesta better, not to see her flirt with another man in front of him. It was quite awkward for him to see nevertheless. Anthony excuses himself as he exits the house awkwardly doesn’t want to bother the two having their moments.

“Oh, where are you going Anthony?” she tilts her chin. “We’re not finished talking about games yet”.

“Yeah, we’re still talking about Pokemon” Kani nods. “Just join us”.

Anthony shakes his head quietly, excusing himself as he sees himself out. His heart thumps faster the moment he goes out, closing the door behind him. He’s back at the Holorealm Brawnwoood Forest.