Audio's Back Online
Amity’s POV
Amity sat, smiling at the headphones in her hands. She and Luz had made their exchange shortly after the peanut butter debacle in Eda’s restroom. Amity had handed over a wad of fives and tens that had been collecting under her mattress for years and Luz had returned a pair of headphones that looked as good as new. Luz let her test them out on her computer and it was so clear she almost thought the people in the youtube video were in the room with her. The microphone check went perfectly too so she was fully ready to have the conversation she’d been preparing for with Lazura tonight.
She was in a much better mood after that time with Luz as well. She had felt so good going into the day, then Boscha had thrown a wrench into things by being her usual self. Amity was actually very glad that Luz had let her help her out earlier, it gave her a chance to apologise even if Luz made it clear that it wasn’t her fault. It was weird seeing her without the hoodie though, honestly, Amity hadn’t had any expectations but she hadn’t thought that Luz would be that lean. Maybe she should have though, considering she rode her bike to school every day. Luz was thinner than Amity had expected too but she was also tall so that probably contributed to the displacement of her body weight.
All in all, Amity was just happy that she was able to help. Getting her to laugh afterwards had made Amity feel good, even if she was just repeating that crappy joke that one of the twins had spouted out on the way to school that morning. She wasn’t quite sure why, but she kind of liked Luz’s laugh, she was pretty sure she’d never heard Luz laugh before but it still sounded familiar in some way. Maybe she’d heard it in the hall before, whatever it was, it didn’t matter at the moment.
Her eyes snapped back to her screen. Amity had had discord set up with the voice chat visible on screen. Willow and Gus were present and accounted for but Amity had remained out for the time being. She’d been waiting for Lazura to show up and at some point while Amity was lost in her thoughts, the ranger had joined.
Amity felt her breath catch in her throat and her face flush a deep crimson. It’s all been leading to this. She had her game plan: hang out until the others inevitably left the server, then tell Lazura that she wanted to meet her, facetime with her, voice chat more often, literally just learning her real first name would be enough. Then hopefully, whatever Lazura was comfortable with would progress into the other things.
And maybe more beyond that...
Amity’s face started to grow hot again.Taking a deep breath, she plugged in her headphones. It was finally happening. She was ready.
She joined the voice chat and was immediately greeted by Lazura’s voice, loud and clear as the ranger’s icon lit up clearly with every word she spoke. Except…
“-and asks them what their blood type is.”
Wait.
“The rabbit looks around a little confused-”
That voice.
“And says ‘I think I’m a typo!’”
Amity’s face goes pale.
Willow and Gus laugh. So does Lazura. And Amity recognises it.
The voice. The joke.
The laugh.
Amity swallows the lump in her throat. This can’t be right.
“Witchiling is that you?” Lazura calls out. No. Not Lazura. That isn’t the name that that voice belongs to.
Amity flinches. God, that voice. Careful not to make any noise, she presses the key that manually mutes her microphone, it still looks like it’s on over discord. Her hands are shaking as she types out, ‘Yeah it’s me, looks like my mic still isn’t working. I can hear you guys okay though.’ It’s a lie. Her microphone works perfectly, all thanks to the girl on the other side of the call, but how was she supposed to explain that?
“Oh no!” Gus’s voice comes on, as clear as if in real life. “I thought you got them fixed.”
“Yeah,” oh god, that voice. “I mean my offer to take a look at them still stands.” No! “But as long as you can hear us, I was just telling everyone a really funny joke I heard earlier today if you want to hear it too.”
Amity bit down on her lip hard. She typed out ‘I’m sorry, I actually have to go. I’ll talk to you guys later.’ She exited out of discord before they could respond and nearly slammed her laptop shut.
She sat in her desk chair stiffly, staring into space as she struggled to wrap her mind around what the hell was happening. It felt like hours but must have only been a few minutes. She heard her phone buzz and barely glanced at the screen before swiping the green bar and holding it up to her head.
“Amity? What’s going on, is everything okay?” Willow's voice came through over her phone.
Amity was frozen. She didn’t know what she was supposed to say.
Willow continued, “I left the chat so you don’t need to worry about-”
“It’s Luz.” her voice was a whisper.
“What?”
“Lazura.” Amity said more clearly. Her throat felt tight. “It’s Luz Noceda. From precalc.”
Luz’s POV
Luz frowned as she and Caesar sat in the usual pub. Witchling had left really abruptly and Salix had left to talk to her so they definitely weren't going to go on a mission as a party tonight but that didn’t mean the two of them couldn’t hang out in game at all.
“Do you think Witchling is okay?” Luz asked. In the pub she was drinking mead but in real life she was stress fiddling with a rubber band.
“I’m sure she’s fine, just a little nervous probably.” Caesar’s voice came back but he didn't sound as calm as his words would suggest.
“Why would she be nervous?” There’s a small squeak on the other end, followed by silence. “Caesar?”
“Oh yeah! Um, yeah, there’s just this test coming up soon that probably has her worried is all!” Caesar laughed for a little too long. “Yeah, between that and her microphone still not working right, it was probably just a little too much. Yep!”
Luz nodded, “That’s right, I keep forgetting you guys all go to school together.” She started stretching the rubber band a bit more, she knew that Witchling had something that she’d been wanting to talk to her about. At first Luz had figured it was just something about the game that Witchling had wanted to talk about without needing to wait for each other to finish typing but the more the talk keeps getting postponed, the more nervous Luz has been getting about it.
She likes hanging out with Witchling in game, but Luz knew that she could be a bit much when she got excited about something. She knew she had a tendency to ramble when talking about things that interested her and sure Salix and Caesar would listen, but Witchling really seemed to enjoy the conversation. If Luz was being too much, she wanted to know so that she could tone it down a little. “I know that her main reason for joining the game was for stress relief and I know that there’s something that she’s been wanting to talk to me about… I’m not quite sure what it is but, if I’m making her uncomfortable in any way-”
“That’s not it!” Caesar shouted over his microphone, startling Luz into accidentally shooting the rubber band across the room. “I- I mean, it really is just the test that’s coming up.”
“Are you sure? I just don’t want to-”
“Lazura, trust me. You’re fine. Salix is probably already sorting things out with Witchling and I’ll talk to her tomorrow too.” There was a slight pause on Caesar’s end. “We all really appreciate your company Lazura, and I’m pretty sure Witchling was going to let you know that anyway but just in case, I’m letting you know now, she does like spending time with you just like Salix and I do. You’re a good friend.”
Luz felt herself nodding. She was really lucky to have the friends that she has. “Thank you Caesar, you guys always know just what to say.”