DarkKitten

The fight in Silithus was going badly for us. Two more mobs (monsters) had spawned while we were already fighting another two. DarkKitten was in 'cat' form (she was a Druid and could morph into different forms). Cat form was the best for dealing damage, and she was lashing out at the two mobs effectively, bringing their health bars down quite quickly. But the extra two mobs were a worry.

I was MoonFlower, a priest (or priestess, if you like). My main role was as a healer, and to a somewhat lesser extent, damage dealer. I could cast DoT (Damage Over Time) spells to gradually wear the mobs down, but if I overdid it they would turn on me, and quickly finish me off. DarkKitten's job was to keep the mob 'aggro' on her, as she had much more armour.

I dropped a couple of DoT spells on the new mobs, to help wear them down ready for DarkKitten to finish them off. They turned on me in an instant, but I could keep alive for a few seconds by self-casting a Shield spell. DarkKitten immediately saw I was under attack and quickly swiped the two newcomers, taking the aggro from me.

She now had four mobs on her, and her health bar was dropping fast. I dared not Fear them away from us, as there were yet more mobs standing nearby who hadn't yet noticed us, and the big problem with having fear-crazed mobs running around is they usually returned with help.

She finished one of them off, and moved onto the next weakest. I had been watching her health closely and thought it was time to get it back up. First a quick HoT (Heal Over Time) spell gave her a few seconds' breathing space, followed by a Quick Heal, that restored about 20 percent of her health. This bought me enough time to cast a slow Major Heal, taking about three seconds, but one which put her back to full health. Now we had a chance of surviving the remaining mobs, but then, disaster!

The Major Heal had caused major aggro; the three remaining mobs turned onto me. Wearing only cloth robes I went down fast, despite DarkKitten's efforts to get them back to attacking her. A moment later I was dead. The mobs turned back to my friend, but in that split-second she had morphed back into 'caster' (Night-Elf) form, and snapped off one of her precious Rebirth Spells. These could only be cast once every 30 minutes, and a Druid was the only player class who could resurrect in combat.

Quickly she morphed back into cat form, and kept up the fight. I was alive again, but only just. The spell brings you back to life with not many Hit Points. Not daring to risk another healing spell I quaffed a Major Mana Potion to get my Mana back up, and quickly bandaged myself.

DarkKitten's health was dropping fast, but she knew she could rely on another heal before she died. I didn't disappoint her. At the last moment, I threw a shield on her, another on myself, and then did another leisurely Major Heal, first on her, and then on myself, the shield protecting me this time.

Another mob died, we now only had two left. Things weren't quite so grim. Throwing on another Heal Over Time spell for DarkKitten, I helped with more aggressive damage-dealing spells to finish off the third mob, and then we teamed up to get rid of the fourth.

We both sunk to the ground drinking water, and eating food, to get our health and mana back. Through the chat interface we exchanged our first words for five minutes.

'Wow,' DarkKitten said. 'Good job.'

*

I had teamed up with DarkKitten a couple of months earlier, playing WoW (World of Warcraft) in the earlier days of the game, what some people now call Vanilla WoW. This was before the Expansion sets that added extra zones to the world.

When playing WoW you tended to get into groups quite often. A lot of quests were easier if you grouped. A mix of skills also helped, for example one to deal damage, another to heal. Most people you met, though, you didn't want to hang around with for long. They had the attention span, the planning, and the language skills, of a somewhat disorganized and socially inept teenager. Occasionally you met someone who you liked for the 'cut of their jib', and arranged to meet again.

In the case of DarkKitten we did just that. We met and played again. Soon we were arranging to meet at a certain time, so we could finish quests together. That was the sensible thing. Quests often involved killing certain mobs, or a certain boss, and if you did it together you halved the time taken, compared to doing it twice, once for each player.

After a few weeks there was a real friendship. We were both playing female Night Elves. Were we both female? It was commonly thought that most players were male on WoW, but of course there would be some females. Sometimes if you used Vent (Ventrilo, a way of using voice through the Internet) you would hear what was definitely a female voice in the group. However Night Elf females were widely regarded as having the sexiest character models, so every teenage boy with the normal amount of hormones in his body would want to make one, even if only to watch the rather sexy 'dance' emote.

In the end I guessed that DarkKitten was really female, that is, female IRL (In Real Life). I never told her one way or the other what I was, but I think she might have thought I was female too. She said things from time to time that indicated she was an adult, a mother. Things like 'I gotta take five minutes to put my kid to bed.' Sure, a Dad might have said that, but more likely to be a Mum.

My guess was confirmed when she told me her real name. I won't repeat it here, as it is my way of knowing if someone claiming to be DarkKitten really is her.

*

We trusted each other completely. In a battle we knew the other would do whatever it took: heals, bandaging, finishing off a mob, resurrection. We knew without asking and without wondering whether we would be let down. We didn't waste precious time typing 'heal please' -- we knew it would come without asking. It was like being married. There was total trust that your partner would do the right thing. Sometimes we died (in the game) but we both knew that this was despite the best efforts of our partner, not because of some stupid mistake, or carelessness.

We would give each other anything they needed. Once, in the Burning Steppes, a rare item dropped (a purple for those that know WoW). DarkKitten got the loot. She couldn't use it, it wasn't suitable for a Druid. It would be worth 1000 gold on the Auction House, and she was perfectly entitled to sell it for whatever she could get for it.

'Here, take it,' she said, trading it to me, for nothing.

'Are you sure?' I asked.

'We are a team, aren't we? You need it, you have it.'

*

The game had 'emotes'. You could type something like '/dance' and your avatar would burst into a dance, and on the chat screen you would see:

DarkKitten dances with you.

We would dance with each other, in-game. We would flirt, too, by typing '/kiss'.

DarkKitten kisses you. You kiss DarkKitten.

You could also use the '/flirt' emote, and the game would pick some random flirty phrase from about ten it had and rattle that off. We did that a fair bit when not being busy fighting mobs, and finishing quests.

Things were getting a bit serious. I liked DarkKitten more and more. She was someone totally dependable, fun to be with, had a wicked sense of humour. I liked her style. We would meet every night. I would tell my wife 'I'm just playing some more WoW.' She accepted that, and indeed it was the truth.

*

DarkKitten loves you.

She had used the '/love' emote. Arrgh! Was this just flirting? Was it true? Was our friendship turning into something else? I had no idea where she lived, even, but I suspected the USA.

You kiss DarkKitten.

I responded with a kiss, not the L-word. I couldn't do it. I was married. Even over the Internet, just in a game, to say 'I love you' would be unfaithful. To walk down the dark path, that would be.

I didn't want to build up her hopes. What if she really loved me? What next? Exchanging email addresses? Photos? Phone numbers? Home addresses? Meetings? I was married, I had children. It was too much, exciting and sexually stimulating though it was.

Besides, she thought I was female? Or did she? Was she a lesbian? Did she hope for a gay romance? Or had she guessed I was a man? Was she a single mother? I didn't know. I didn't really want to know.

Maybe she was stunningly beautiful. Maybe she wanted sex twice a day. Who knows? Maybe she was a c-r-a-z-y woman. How could I tell?

Maybe it wasjust a game. She didn't love me. It was just in-game harmless flirting.

*

DarkKitten loves you.

She used it again. What could I do? I am not a heartless cad, leading on some poor woman into thinking that she could find love with another WoW player. But I enjoyed playing with her so much. The best partner I had ever had, in the game.

I fielded her with '/flirt' and '/kiss' but never '/love' as far as I recall.

*

Level 60

In those days the game ended at level 60. Once you reached that there were no further quests (that there was any point in doing), no further progression. Just endless Battlegrounds. We tried doing a few together but they didn't work out. One of us would die, and be respawned 30 seconds later somewhere else. Then the other. We weren't a team. It wasn't fun any more.

Maybe it was a horrible thing to do, but I just left her. I made an alt (alternate character) on another server. Somewhere where I wouldn't see her name in chat, or anywhere. Did she cry? I don't know. I hoped that it was for the best. Maybe she simply got really angry.

I logged back in after a month of playing my new character on a different server. There was a letter for me from DarkKitten. I kept it, but sadly after a number of server upgrades the text of it has disappeared. From memory, it went like this:

It looks like I'll never see you again. I miss you, and enjoyed our times together. DarkKitten

*

I still think of her from time to time. The best damn World of Warcraft partner I ever had, either before or since playing with her. I wonder what happened to her? Does she still play WoW? Any games at all? I'll probably never know.

My in-game name wasn't really MoonFlower, but it was similar. If the real DarkKitten wants to message me here, she will know two words that other people won't know. Her real first name, and my real character name.