Otter and Rua were seated together right from the beginning again. It looked like that was going to be a regur pattern. But everyone else in the arena wasn't shadowed or partitioned off like before. There was no more protection of anonymity this time around, which was probably for the better. WIth them spawning in as a pair, they’d stuck out before. The shadowy cloak had just made that worse.

  It didn’t take too long for ‘Pandemona’ to join them. Otter didn’t know what to make of her, or what to do about her. There needed to be some kind of conversation, or action, or something. It was funny at first. But there would probably be consequences or something if she let it keep going.

  “Hey,” Pandemona said.

  She looked awkward, like she didn’t know if she should sit down, or start up a conversation. Or maybe she was afraid they’d mess with her again.

  “Sup,” Otter said, and Rua waved a hand in acknowledgement, but seemed more focused on everyone else in the colosseum. Probably watching for potential threats.

  “Is it cool if I hang out with you guys?”

  “Sure.”

  “That’s it? Just, ‘sure?’ No games this time?”

  “Eh, not in the mood. I got cockblocked pretty hard. You want something?”

  “Can I sit?”

  “I dunno.” Otter turned to Rua, her tone thick with implication. “Can she sit?”

  “We’re trying to make allies, remember? It probably wouldn’t be good to be pying these kinds of games when we all know someone is about to die.”

  “Two someones,” Pandemona said.

  “No shit?” Otter said.

  She pulled up her online list, and sure enough, there were two names greyed out. Paul Howlett had apparently either finally bled out, or maybe died of an infection, or maybe just his own general stupidity. Running around with just one hand in the wilderness while being a complete fucking idiot was probably hazardous to your health in any number of ways.

  The other name made Otter a little sad. While her in-game name, Yumi Baird, was new, Otter recognized the streamer handle next to it. TheMightyChinchil was a popur VTuber known for her crazy antics, high-pitched voice, and general desire for chaos. Otter had always gotten on well with her, even if they’d rarely colbed.

  There was no way to tell at a gnce how she’d died in the game, but it wasn’t much of a surprise. Chinchil was a renowned shut-in, pgued by health issues all her life. Dumped in the middle of the wilderness, with no tools, food, or water? It was a miracle she’d sted this long.

  “Fuck,” Otter said. Chinchil might survive in a fight, but put her back into the world, she might just end up right back here. And then Otter realized there was a very real possibility Holt might summon her to kill her. “Fuck!”

  “Svomir’s going to lose it,” Pandemona said. “He’s been pacing around his part of the arena since I got here.”

  “What? Over Chinchil? What’s the Risk Sve care about Chinchil for?”

  “I’m not in the gossip circles, but they’re dating. It’s a recent thing. I think he’s afraid Holt’s gonna pick him to fight her.”

  “For the content,” Otter said bitterly. “Yeah, that tracks. Make a giant power py, show off your god complex, and make a more entertaining spectacle. No matter who wins, it’s a tragedy.”

  “Why do you think he’s doing this? I just can’t figure out what he gains from all of this.”

  “Tiny dick? Tired of getting made fun of on Reddit? Tired of getting made fun of on Reddit for his very tiny dick? I dunno. My guess is, he’s just really, really stupid, and thinks this’ll immortalize him or something.”

  “Ego, huh. I guess that makes sense, but something tells me it’s more than that.”

  Otter realized Pan was still standing, and waved her over to sit beside her.

  “Paul’s cronies are probably going to want revenge on us,” Pandemona said as spyed herself out across the bench. “For what we did to him.”

  “Who? STI and Beast Infection? Who gives a fuck, neither are gamers, just personalities. Bring it.”

  “I just don’t wanna get into any grudge matches. I don’t mind the idea of killing someone in a video game, but I don’t wanna kill someone for real, you know?”

  “I think you should get used to it,” Rua said. “People are beginning to square off into tribes. Tribes fight, whether they want to or not.”

  She pointed to a few spots in the arena. The st match, mostly everyone had sat individually, with only a small pocket of people paired off. Now there were groups forming. Very rarely did you see anyone sitting by themselves.

  “Think we should join anyone?” Otter asked.

  “You’re all children in this world, and you know my thoughts on kids.”

  Otter snorted in ughter at that one, and Pan gave them a questioning look. “Am I missing something?”

  “Inside joke, sorry. Unless you want a picture in your head that won’t leave.”

  Rua gave a small smirk. “I wouldn’t let her finish inside me.”

  Pan looked a bit confused at first, and then looked between them, her expression quickly changing to one of mortification. “You… you… what?”

  “Sex talk,” Otter said. “If you’re going to pretend to be Pandemona, you should learn how to py the part a bit better. Pan’s a giant slut. She’d probably get off on talking openly about having a dick. Probably even discussing aloud that she has a dominance kink she’s suddenly into a lot more than she used to be. And that she might even be picking up a pregnancy kink that her girlfriend doesn’t want to indulge in, which, yeah, fair.”

  Rua flicked her, but they shared a conspiratorial look. Whoever this Pandemona really was, she was thoroughly uncorrupted, and they were inevitably going to break her of that one way or the other.

  “You have a dick?”

  Otter looked over and nearly swore, but instead kept a wide smile on her face. Of course that was the exact moment Sami decided to show up. Well, no point denying it. One day she’d learned to look around before talking. Or giving any thought first.

  “Yep. Big ol’ dycock. What, you wanna see?”

  Sami scrunched up her nose, as if she’d been asked if she wanted to see a particurly big poop. “I’ll pass, thanks.”

  “Right, gotcha. You’re saving it up for when you’re in the Siyan Isnds. I don’t bme you. I wouldn’t want you to have the thought of it stuck in your head, and not being able to get your hands on it.”

  “You probably wouldn’t know what to do with it anyway.” Sami looked at the side of the bench that Pan was sitting at, who had managed to take up most of it with an open-legged sprawl. “Stop manspreading and make some room.”

  “Oh, sorry,” Pandemon said, shifting her position, but Otter countered it by throwing her legs over her p and taking up the rest of the bench.

  “Looks like there’s no room,” Otter said. “Guess you’ll have to sit somewhere else.”

  “Really, Mayumi? This is how you’re going to do this?”

  “Who’s ‘Mayumi?’ I’m Otter.”

  Sami snorted at that, and then, looking insufferably smug, moved in front of Rua and sat on the ground at her feet.

  “Hey,” Otter said.

  Sami stretched out luxuriously, trying to look as comfortable as she could, and leaned her head back so that it was resting against Rua’s knees. “What? I needed somewhere to sit, and this looked comfortable.”

  Otter gave Rua a look, trying to psychically communicate to not engage with her ex-girlfriend, and better yet, kick her to the curb entirely. Some pyful banter was one thing, but this was beginning to get weird, and not in the way she usually enjoyed. Unfortunately, their link didn’t actually work like that, and Rua got a fsh of mischief in her eyes.

  She leaned forward, and ran one hand through Sami’s hair. Sami normally kept her appearance perfect, just like everything else about her. Normally, a hair was never so much as out of pce, but she’d seen better days. She’d clearly been roughing it somewhere hot and dirty, because she had sweat streaks and caked on dirt and dust covering her. Her hair in particur was a mess. She probably hadn’t seen anything resembling hygiene since arriving in the game, and probably hadn’t scrounged up a comb yet.

  Sami, for all her normal poise, jumped a little at the touch, but then leaned into it as Rua ran her fingers through her hair.

  “It’s a shame I left my brush at home,” Rua said. “I normally enjoy taking care of my belongings.”

  Sami had a great poker face, but Otter knew her well enough to see right through it. She was positively squirming under the attention.

  “Uh, what?” Pandemona said.

  “My current girlfriend is domming my ex-girlfriend, keep up,” Otter muttered.

  “Does she have to do it in front of us?”

  “She’s trying to make me jealous. It’s working.”

  Rua was pretending to ignore them, but she was being a little too obvious about it. Faking not hearing what they were saying while cooing over Sami’s hair. But there was a self-satisfied air about her at hearing that Otter was jealous. Probably because she’d never had anyone be jealous over her before. Well, Otter could be supportive. If Rua wanted to experience high school drama for the first time, she could go along with it.

  “Wait,” Pandemona said. “SamiRai is your ex-girlfriend? And your real name is Mayumi?”

  “Oh, the hamster wheel in her brain is finally spinning, guys, she’s about to figure it out.”

  “Finally,” Sami said.

  “Even I figured it out, and I don’t even come from your world,” Rua said.

  Pandemona pushed Otter’s legs off her p, and scooched further down the bench away from her in horror. “You’re Pandemona!”

  “No, I was Pandemona. I’m Otter now. I can’t believe I have to expin this every time it comes up. You’re Pandemona now. Have fun with it.”

  “But… you were one of the best VR PVPers in the genre!”

  “Uh, I still am?” She’d killed Nightmare in front of a crowd of people only a few days ago. Maybe she was a little rusty, and still unfamiliar with how her combat abilities worked, but she’d straight up kicked his ass.

  “You disappeared! Why?”

  “Yes,” Sami said, her tone very pointed. “Why?”

  Otter knew if she engaged, they’d keep pestering her about it. So she just crossed her arms and focused on the arena. Still, she could feel Sami’s eyes on her.

  “You said, if I were by you with Rua, you’d tell me,” Sami said. “That she’d be able to tell me if you were lying or not, and that you’d expin yourself.”

  She had said that, hadn’t she? Fuck. She never did know when to keep her mouth shut. And yet, now that it was time to actually open it, she found she couldn’t. She tried to get the words out, but they failed her. They normally couldn’t stop spilling from her, and the drought season had finally arrived.

  “Give her time,” Rua said. “She’s hurting, and doesn’t know how to express it.”

  “She’s not the only one hurt,” Sami said, standing up.

  Otter tried to get her to stay, but it was too te. Even if she could say it now, it wouldn’t matter. Pride was the mightiest, yet weakest, force in the universe; unyielding to all things, but bowing always to injury. A fragile titan, a conquering rabbit. Impressive and powerful until challenged.

  “Give her time, too,” Rua said.

  “You don’t even have a link with her.”

  “But I have eyes.”

  “Should… should I also go?” Pandemona asked.

  “Nah,” Otter said. “Sami and me just have drama that needs to shake itself out. That I need to shake out. This day was going so well until Holt messaged. Can he please just get on with his sadistic death game already?”

  “We’re going to need new allies,” Rua said.

  “Probably. Good luck getting them now, though. No one here knows ‘GrandTheftOtter,’ you don’t even understand streaming culture, and Pandemona here is a phoney who can’t even expin herself without sounding like a crazy person.”

  “What? I wouldn’t sound crazy. I’m not actually Pandemona, I just impersonated her because I thought she was cool and took her identity and I can totally see what you mean now. But you’re Pandemona! We can just tell everyone that.”

  “And then we have that conversation on loop,” she countered, waving her hand at Sami. “You know how many friends I ghosted? How many bridges I probably burned?”

  “Have you tried just, I dunno, apologizing?” Pandemona had a very dry delivery, and her sarcasm game was all the stronger for it. And it also made her sound completely reasonable.

  “I can’t just… apologize. It… it wouldn’t work. Wait. Do I need to apologize to you? I still don’t know who you actually are.”

  “I’m Pandemona now. Whoever I was before doesn’t matter, right?”

  “Fine, use my own logic against me.” Holt’s giant screen finally lit to life, his smile beaming down at all of them. “Oh finally, we get the crowning event to this shitshow. Let’s get this over with.”

  DorenWinslowe