Open | The Epicurians Present: The 1st of September Beach Bash!

[bleatingedge]

Who ► Leo & Anyone that wishes to join!
What ► BEACH PARTY!!
When ► September 1st
Where ► Δ Haggard Traveler's Reprieve
Content Warnings ► People will be drunk. Will add to if needed

[The time has come... for fun! Δ Haggard Traveler's Reprieve has been decorated with all the niceties that a beach party requires - docks for fishing, large umbrellas to hide from the sun, several tables with sets of chairs for sitting and conversing, and the most obvious addition: a massive roaring bonfire with a big cooking mesh over the top of it for barbecue cookin'!

Leo's wearing a fishing hat and aviators alongside his trademark loincloth-and-nothing-else getup for maximum dissonance. From his position on the other side of the bonfire, he waves a hand at those arriving.]

Welcome to the Beach Bash! Snacks and drinks are on the tables, bottles of sunscreen and crafting tables are under the umbrellas, and complementary fishing gear are at the docks for your convenience. Have fun, friends~

[Emperor Grunty is also here, should you wish to annoy him! He's currently laying in the sand with a reflector. What? Grunties need their sun too!]

Comments

[tablescraps]

It might take them awhile.

( The issues seem pretty complex... )

... You're not concerned about staying online while they work on it?

( He only asks since Leo didn't seem super happy about encountering those voices on the wind. )

[bleatingedge]

Nah. I've got several reasons to stick around. One, I'm having fun for the most part. Two, it's kinda my job to stick around and do as much as I can so I can write my guide. And finally... [Ugh, this is gonna sound cheesy as hell, but whatever.] ...I've met people I'd consider to be good friends on here. Hanging out with them makes me happy.

[tablescraps]

( A beat. )

... There are also people I like here. I don't really have friends in reality, ( he appears to lack the shame or the desire to hide this information, ) but here I do.

But it is strange, logging off and finding no one there.

( Makes Fragment feel a little more unreal... Or, on some days, makes reality feel a little unreal. )

[bleatingedge]

Mmm, it is a bit strange, isn't it? But when I log off, I'm greeted by my apartment, which while isn't the comfort of another person, it's my own special kind of comfort. [A place in the real world he managed to carve out with his own hands.]

[tablescraps]

( Huh. He seems to consider this. )

... I'd never thought of it that way before. ( As a comfort, or even comfortable. ) My apartment isn't very personalized.

[bleatingedge]

[Focusing his eyes back on the cooking mesh, he quickly flips over Mithrun's fish with his extra long pair of tongs. Don't want one side to burn while the other doesn't get the heat it needs to finish cooking after all!

It's also a good way to hide any complex facial contortions going on while he talks about shit he doesn't really like talking about.]

I spent a long time with no roof over my head. So while I don't have many personalized touches in mine yet either, the fact that it's mine is what brings me comfort.

[tablescraps]

( He seems to understand that train of thought. )

... Was it a matter of poverty?

[bleatingedge]

[After flipping Mithrun's fish, Leo moves over to his own cooking meat, continuing to keep his face hidden from the other man's eyes.]

Yeah. I got kicked out of the house when I turned 18 and I didn't have a job before that, so I had no money saved up. And getting a job when you're homeless is ironically difficult.

[tablescraps]

( truly poor people problems...

Peers at him little. )

How did you change that?

[bleatingedge]

Truth be cold, I got lucky.

I was staying warm at a PC cafe, playing a different MMO, and one of the employees took notice of how efficiently I was farming materials. He told me about a website that publishes game guides and urged me to write up one and submit it to see what happens.

And once I did, they hired me and I started writing 'full time' for them. Now I'm here by special invite, writing preview articles and collating data for my newest guide.