Rising Shards

It took Kalei a second to notice we brought Roux with us back to our room.

“Now, we don’t have a lot of rules in the Fortress of the Badass Raiders,” Kalei said. “But I’m pretty sure Roux is not allowed in our room.”

“Pfft, as if your barriers can stop me,” Roux said. “If anything, they make me more eager to invade your privacy, Koridia.”

“Whatever,” Kalei said. “Why are you three hanging out, anyways?”

“Oh, wouldn’t you like to know?” Roux snickered.

“Yeah, that’s why I asked, Roux.” Kalei said.

“Koridia wants to know our secrets, gender trio,” Roux said. “Shall we oblige?”

“Roux, don’t call your group the gender trio.” Kalei said. “I will concede that it’s fairly sick you figured out your enby thing, but you need a better name than that. Let me in on this group.”

“You’re not transgender, nor art thou nonbinary,” Roux said. “I vote nay. Koridia has been exiled from this room. I, Arielle Roux, are your new roommate and leader.”

“Yeah, but I just figured out I’m gay as hell, so it can be like a thing like that.” Kalei said.

“You have a way with words as always, Koridia.” Roux said.

“Says the person that just said ‘I are your new roommate.’” Kalei said. She had her game console set up in the mini room and turned her attention back to playing, rocking back and forth on her new gamer chair that she was really proud of.

“What are you playing?” Marmalade asked.

Roux gasped. “That’s what I was going to ask!”

“I’m doing a Tyrant Rangers marathon before Remeberencing of the Guardians comes out,” Kalei said. “I’m at the sixth game and am determined to get the best weapon. I have to jump 999 times in the same exact spot.”

“That sounds…annoying.” I said.

“Mrggh.” Kalei said as she made her character jump over and over.

“I got that weapon easily,” Roux said. “I know a secret cheat code as I have an uncle at the studio.”

“No, you don’t,” Kalei said. “So what’s the deal with your little meetup? I can talk and play this at the same time, by the way. Talking might help me deal with how robotic this challenge is.”

“Well, the girlies were down in the dumps, and I wanted to brighten their spirits,” Roux said. “So we’ve all been sharing rousing tales of our nonconformity.”

“Ah.” Kalei said. “It’s kind of a downer, week, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…” I said.

As Kalei continued her challenge, we went toward the other end of the room. Roux was not allowed to be near Kalei’s top bunk, so they ended up sitting on top of the desk cross legged as Marmalade and I sat in our beds.

“Hmm, what next for our little meeting? I wonder…” Roux said. “What else ails the ladies?” They pondered the question as though they just asked something deeply philosophical.

“I’m not sure what to talk about now,” Marmalade said. She drummed her fists on her bed anxiously for a few seconds. “I’m sorry. I never talk about this out loud so I’m pretty terrible at this. I usually just rant on Dynne about all this so actually verbalizing it just feels weird.”

“Well, I have Dynne now if you ever wanna message me,” I said. “It might be weird if we message right by each other, though.”

“Dynne is for fools and cowards,” Roux said. “But also very cool people. Like me.”

“Do you two want in on my trans group?” Marmalade asked. “I can send you an invite. They helped me figure myself out, so maybe they could help you two as well.”

“I’d be interested!” I said.

“That would be…most excellent.” Roux said.

Marmalade typed something on her phone. “OK, I sent you invites. I don’t know if I’m ready to talk about a lot of things out loud but I…have definitely vented a lot in the chat.”

The chat group looked nice. It was the first I was in that wasn’t mostly just my friends, so the amount of people online and al the sections were a bit intimidating. I was now in three whole chats already which was neat, though.

“Just be prepared as sometimes everything is drama on the server,” Marmalade said. “I can give you a heads up if something's, er, up."

“Question for the girlies.” Roux said. “I am curious about when you two did the figuring out of your whole deals.”

“Ohhh,” I said. “I started…way long ago. Stella was really good about helping me have lots of tools at my disposal. And tried maybe way too hard making sure she didn’t push me in any specific direction. But that helped me get to this here girl.”

“I did like two years ago. Maybe a bit earlier, but I didn’t know what I knew.” Marmalade said. “I only started actually transitioning like a year ago.”

“I have you both beat,” Roux said. “I only just figured out approximately fifteen to sixteen days ago.”

“Roux…they know. You told us already.” Kalei said.

“Shut it, Koridia.” Roux said. “But did they know that it’s partially due to Marmalade that I have found my true form?”

“Huh? Me?” Marmalade asked.

“Partially.” Roux said. “You and that Michi fellow introduced me to the idea of ‘they,’ of a life outside the prison of binaries. And then I talked to Faleur’s library sibling, and she pointed me in some cool directions. So you have my most gracious thank you.”

“Oh, wow,” Marmalade said. “Well, I’m honored to be a part of that, Roux.”

“Heh,” Roux said. They pointed at me suddenly. “Faleur, I demand tips on accomplishing girlfriend collecting.”

“On accomplishing what?” I asked. “Where is this coming from?”

“That’s a subject we could all learn from.” Roux said. “I am merely continuing the conversation.”

I could tell Kalei was trying not to laugh at this.

“I would like a cute girlfriend someday, so…” Marmalade said. “And you do have a girlfriend. So I’d maybe. Yeah. Like some tips, please?”

“We demand them, Faleur.” Roux said. “What’s your secret?”

“I don’t know!” I said. “Just try to be nice, and if someone’s a cool friend and the friendship, er, deepens? Let it, I guess?”

“That was terribly delivered,” Roux said. “But the advice…sound it may be. Hm. A conundrum.”

“Oh, and take it slow,” I said. “If someone randomly shows up and seems too perfect and things move super fast, that can go very bad.”

“But what if I want to kiss someone imminently?” Roux asked.

“I dunno,” I said. “Kissing booth?”

“Hmm.” Roux said.

“You’d probably get in trouble for that.” Marmalade said.

“I’m kidding about a kissing booth by the way, if that wasn’t clear.” I said.

“It wasn’t at all!” Roux said. “If I’m to attain Lillia Cadence, or an equally bodacious babe, perhaps it truly is patience as the social stat I need to level up.”

“You have a lot of social stats you need leveling up.” Kalei said.

“How’s that challenge going, Kalei?” Marmalade asked.

I squinted at Kalei’s screen. “She’s still jumping.”

“Her dedication is admirable.” Marmalade said.

“Oh my god, my thumb hurts so bad,” Kalei said. “Why did I think this was a good idea?”

“Don’t give up now!” I said. “How many more jumps do you need?”

“I don’t even know…” Kalei said.

“Do you want us to cheer you on?” Marmalade asked.

“I mean, maybe,” Kalei said. “You three can sit over here, if you want.”

As we joined Kalei in watching her video game character jump up and down an absurd amount of time, I realized what had started as a shaky, bummer day had turned into a lovely evening hanging out with friends.