Everpoint - Novella

She had no idea how long she was lying there, something gently kicking her foot startling her. She felt like she had been asleep, even though she didn't think it was possible in the game. When she looked up, Keyasla was smiling down at her, the sky above her dark but becoming lighter.

"You look comfy," Keyasla giggled.

"What?" Rae asked, trying to sit up. But in trying to do so, she realized that she couldn't. In what might have been sleep, she had wrapped one of her arms through the roots and had to carefully pull it out. "I have no idea how that happened."

"It doesn't matter," Keyasla giggled more, "Are you ready to go?"

"Of course," Rae smiled and jumped up from the roots. She felt strangely invigorated, not just less tired than before but ready to do anything. She longed for at least one hug from Keyasla but didn't know how to receive it. Pushing that aside she smiled wide, "Where do we need to go now?"

"Up the mountain, I think," Keyasla said, looking a little grim.

"Hey," Rae said, stepping a little closer to her, "we can do this," she said with a smile, hesitating before grabbing Keyasla's hand and holding it between both of hers, "I promise."

Part Four:

Occasionally oblivious

Days passed in the real world and she seemed to fall into a routine. Questing with Keyasla in the game and then going out with Claudia for lunch when they was done. She could feel part of herself falling for Keyasla, and she tried to push it away, but it clung on like a stubborn tick.

She thought that Keyasla felt much the same as her, with the way she talked to her and defended some of her decisions to her own fans. They even held hands a few times more while they walked paths. But, toward the end of their first full week of questing, things between them felt like they changed.

Keyasla seemed very dark and gloomy when she signed on one night, her normal smile was absent. "Is everything okay?" Rae asked, hesitating before taking a step closer to her.

Keyasla stared at her before shaking her head and rolling her eyes, "Yeah," she scoffed, "everything is okay."

Rae froze, her heart racing. "Are you sure?" she asked, her nails digging into the palms of her hands as her hands clenched tight into fists.

"I said yeah," Keyasla snapped back at her, then sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, "are you ready to go?"

Rae swallowed hard, forcing down the lump building in her throat and fighting back tears, "of course," she muttered, staring down at the rocks and dirt at her feet.

"Great," Keyasla said sarcastically and strode off.

Rae followed slowly behind and stayed out of most of the fights, Keyasla rushing into many of them with a war cry that could cause fear in even the toughest warrior. They talked very little, most of the time it being Keyasla telling her to grab a piece of loot for a quest. There didn't seem to be any fans talking in the background either.

"Are you not streaming today?" Rae finally asked when Keyasla wasn't killing things.

"Nope," she replied curtly.

"Why not?"

Keyasla stopped where she stood and took a deep breath before turning to look at Rae, "I'm signing off for a while."

"Oh, okay," Rae said, wrapping her arms around herself, "are you going to be on later, at the normal time?"

Keyasla sighed, "I don't know, maybe."

Rae watched her disappear from the world and stood there for a long time staring at the spot where she had been. She let herself fall out of the world, waking up to the waiting walls of her bedroom. When she removed the headset and sat up, she felt the tears drip down her face and land on the loose pants.

She spent much of the remainder of the day waiting for Claudia to show up for lunch, but when she never showed, she decided to try to sleep. But sleep didn't come easy, tossing and turning until falling into a dreamless slumber. When she awoke several hours later, it felt like she hadn't slept at all. Her phone said it was fifteen minutes to eleven and she scrambled to get her headset on and dive into the game.

The fifteen minutes passed, and then half an hour, then an hour, and still there was no signs of Keyasla. Rae sat patiently as she could manage, but when the sun set and rose again, she knew Keyasla wouldn't be showing up.

Giving up, she returned to the real world. There was an aching pit in her stomach, making her think that she was hungry. She heated a premade meal and ate it while standing in the kitchen. The pit didn't leave her stomach when she finished or even after she took a shower.

She had never been in a relationship with a woman, or a trans, let alone anyone really. Was this something that happened? Was this even a relationship? 'What if I imagined the whole thing?' she thought, wondering if she imagined the way Keyasla felt about her. What if she was just being nice? She was an incredibly nice person.

But the way Keyasla smiled at her sometimes, and the way her eyes danced in the fading light when she would glance at her. Looking away quickly when Rae would notice her staring, hints of a smile on her face.

Rae grumbled as she stared up at the ceiling from her bed. "What did I do wrong?" she asked herself, trying to think through what she could have done.

When it started getting close to eleven, she stared at the headset, debating on whether or not she should check if Keyasla was there. Overall, she decided against it and rolled over on the bed and tried to sleep. She wasn't sure if she ever really fell asleep, but orange light from the window pushed her awake and upright.

Her phone said it was a little after ten and she had no new in-game notifications, no messages from Keyasla wondering where she is. She rubbed her hands over her face and peeled herself out of what she slept in and into street clothes. If Keyasla wasn't going to be online, she could spend more time with Claudia.

There was a moment of hesitation before she knocked on Claudia's door, her hand trembling as she reached it out, and her knuckles connected harder than she meant. The door swung open a few moments later to reveal Claudia's smiling face, only Rae watched the smile fade quickly and be replaced by a grimace. "Hello," Claudia said curtly, holding onto the door like she needed it for support.

"Hey," Rae half-mumbled, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, "do you want to go get some lunch?"

Claudia stared at her. "I don't think so," she finally said after what felt like endless minutes and started to close the door.

"Wait," Rae said, moving forward slightly, "did I do something wrong?"

Claudia sighed again but this time stared at the door frame. "Maybe," she said, turning to look Rae in the eye, "maybe you should try to figure it out."

The door closed in Rae's face and she stared at it for a long time, her mouth hanging open slightly. "I'm sorry," she muttered, resting her head on the door, "for whatever I did." She let out a shuddering breath, fighting back tears. "I hate being alone."

******

Several days pass, and she seems to fall back into her old routine. As much of it as she can anyway. She teleported away from the questline, leaving a portal where she was incase Keyasla ever decides to return. Instead, she spends most of her time in the clubs, drinking and dancing mostly by herself. There are a few others that slink in the corners but most of her companions are NPCs that are coded to be bubbly.

In the real world, she eats her premade meals and sleeps more often. She debated a few times about going to the store and drinking in this world too, but could never force herself to leave her apartment. It wasn't until she reached into her freezer for another premade meal and finding none that she knew she would have to leave her apartment and face the world.

"I guess this is how I die," she said aloud, almost laughing a little at how pathetic she had become.

Her hunger got the better of her by the next morning, forcing her to shuffle out of her apartment. Claudia was in the hall, looking glorious in a floor length gown. Her hair was in an elaborate knot on her head, some loose strands brushing against her neck. "Oh," she said, freezing where she stood.

"Hi," Rae said, knowing she looked like a mess. She hadn't changed her clothes in a few days and her hair was mostly likely sticking up everywhere. "You look really pretty."

Claudia scoffed a little and rolled her eyes, "Thanks," then shook her head, lifted part of her dress, and continued to her apartment door.

"Okay," Rae muttered and shrugged, moving to walk up the stairs of the apartment building.

Claudia laughed, "Is that all you have to say?"

Rae turned around to look at her, staring with wide eyes, "I have no idea what you want me to say!"

"You still haven't figured it out yet, have you?" Claudia said, taking a few steps forward, "Maybe if you'd think about someone else for once and stop having a pity party for yourself you could figure it out." She said then turned back to her apartment.

Rae but her lip, watching her. "Why can't you tell me? Why is that so hard?" she asked, her voice trembling.

Claudia froze, her hand balling into a fist at her side. Then she turned to look at Rae, a fury burning in her eyes. "I shouldn't have to tell you, you should have figured it out a week a go!"

"Well," Rae said, watching the tears well in her eyes, Claudia and the hall blurring. She turned and raced up the stairs before the tears fell and kept running until she lost track of where she was. She ducked into an alley and tried to catch her breath but she was sobbing.

She had no idea how long she stood in the alley, bawling her eyes out while the sun rose. When she finally caught her breath and stopped crying, she pushed herself out of the ball she had made herself into and forced herself down the street to the store. Many people gave her strange looks as she sniffled past them, her face still wet with tears.

When she made it back to the apartment building, she cautiously walked down the stairs and scanned the hall for Claudia, making sure she wasn't there to yell at her more. But she wasn't there and her apartment door looked closed tight. Rae quickly shuffled down the stairs and into her apartment, leaning against the door and taking a deep breath.

She put one of the meals in the microwave while she put the others away and then took it to her computer. She ate it while watching videos of the other questlines, trying to avoid ones about the quest she was on to avoid spoilers. This just made her think of Keyasla and the way she spoke to Rae the last time they were playing.

She wondered then why she had never checked out Keyasla's stream channel. It didn't take her long to find some of her most recent streams, watching them together in-game brought a smile to her face, especially the video where they held hands most of the journey. There were other sections on the channel, past streams and various other, but what caught her eye was the thumbnail that looked like it had a real person.

Her hand trembled slightly when she clicked it, bringing up videos of Keyasla's real life self. The most recent was titled hiatus and the woman speaking in the video was Claudia. Her face was filled with pain and she looked like she was on the verge of tears. She was telling her fans that she needed a break from the game and she knew they would know why.

Rae clicked through other videos, watching the Claudia's smiling face confessing her feelings to her fans about Rae. Telling them how she found out who Rae was, and even the moment they first met. She looked so ridiculously happy after what she called their first date but then looked so devastated after what she called their second.

There were other videos that were titled "My Transition" in which she takes her fans through the process. From the point where she decided HRT wasn't going to be enough until she revealed her final self to the cheering of her fans.

Rae couldn't help but cry as she watched the pain blossom into hope and then happiness. She cried even more as she watched the pain return in the last video that was uploaded, knowing she had caused it. She wanted to run to Claudia, to wrap her arms around her and apologize for being too dense to see all the signs.

She pushed herself away from her computer and ran to her front door, opening it to watch Claudia, smiling and laughing, as she walked down the hall with a guy. Pain twisted Rae's stomach, making her feel like she wanted to throw up. She was frozen as she watched them stop outside Claudia's apartment door, him leaning in.

She slammed the door shut before she could see them kiss and ran back to her bedroom, throwing herself on her bed. The nauseated feeling didn't fade as she laid there, but she felt like she couldn't cry. No matter how much she wanted to right now, the tears, for once, refused to flow.

In the background, she could hear the faint sound of Claudia's voice. She realised she must have bumped her mouse in her haste but was too exhausted to turn it off. Claudia's voice was soothing, her soft laughter calming her enough to drift into sleep.

Part Five:

The first of so many

Rae wasn't sure what to do. She laid in bed for the better a part of a few days, Claudia's videos playing in the background. She only got up a few times to use the bathroom and stare at the premade meals in her freezer before shuffling back to bed again. Even sleep made her feel more exhausted.

The sound of Claudia's voice was strangely comforting, even if it was the same things being said over and over. Rae could hear the smile in her voice as she talked but could also hear the sadness. She felt conflicted as she lay there, cocooned in blankets. She didn't want to be this person, the person who fully shuts down like this. 'She didn't even dump me,' she thought to herself, feeling herself becoming a little frustrated, 'We weren't even in a relationship yet.'

She struggled to free herself from her blankets, made sure she had clothes on, then marched out of her apartment and to Claudia's door. Her courage faded with each step until she was standing there, her hand hovering in front of the door. 'Just do it, you idiot,' she told herself, then brought her knuckles down on the door a few times.

Part of her wanted to run away, but before she could move, the door swung open. Claudia was standing there in skin tight shorts and spaghetti strap shirt, her tits almost falling out. "Oh," she mumbled, "hey."

"Hi," Rae said, her heart racing from seeing Claudia again. She tried to work through what she wanted to say and how she wanted to say it, but everything she thought sounded wrong.

"Did you need something?" Claudia asked.

"Yes," Rae said, "I mean, no. I mean," she grumbled, becoming frustrated as she tried to put the words together, "you told me that I needed to figure out why you were mad at me. But you could have told me that you knew who I was when I obviously didn't know who you were."

"What?" Claudia asked, confusion twisting her face.

Rae sighed, frustration making her want to scream. "You could have told me that we have been questing together AND going out to lunch."

"Oh," Claudia said, her face turning red as she looked down at the floor between them.

"I know I should have also realized it," Rae said, staring at Claudia now, "there were so many little things that I should have seen. But I'm an idiot and I'm sorry."

"You're not an idiot," Claudia muttered, her eyes fluttering up to look at Rae.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Rae asked, feeling almost a little breathless but also a little relieved to have this off her chest.

"Honestly," Claudia began, shifting her weight a little, "at first, I thought you knew. I'm sorry that I got so angry."

"I should have known," Rae said, scratching her hand through her hair, "you always showed up for lunch when we were done questing."

As Claudia was trying to make more explanations or apologize, Rae got tired of hearing it and crossed the short space between them. She hesitated slightly before pressing her lips to Claudia's. Then, as she pulled away, Claudia slid one hand into Rae's hair and pulled her back in, kissing her with passion. Claudia's lips were soft, Rae sighed and closed her eyes when they parted her own lips and her tongue slipped inside to explore her mouth.

Rae felt short of breath when the kiss finally ended, and her head spun a little while she stood there. Claudia was smiling wide at her when she opened her eyes. "You have no idea how long I've been wanting to do that," Claudia said, her smile widening.

"I..." Rae said, unsure what to say, her mind still trying to focus.

Claudia laughed, pulling Rae closer so that their bodies were pressed together, "I want to rip your clothes off every time I see you, ever since you answered the door naked."

Rae felt herself blush and could feel herself wanting to question what Claudia said, but she kept her mouth shut. She didn't want to ruin the moment with her own poor self-image. "I really like you," she finally said, looking Claudia in the eyes.

Claudia giggled and smiled wide, "I really like you too."

Rae leaned herself against Claudia, enjoying the feel of her real body as much as her virtual one and leaned her head against Claudia's. Claudia's warm breath caressed over her ear and across her neck, sending chills running over her body. Claudia's hands found their way under her shirt, lightly tracing her fingers over her skin. Rae sighed and moaned softly, closing her eyes.

She wasn't sure when Claudia's lips began kissing her neck, but she tilted her head to allow better access. Her heart raced in her chest, barely noticing when Claudia pulled her inside and closed the door behind them. Rae started kissing and sucking on Claudia's neck, finding her way to her lips, their tongues exploring each other's mouths.

"I've never really done this," Rae confessed after Claudia led her to the bedroom and guided her gently onto the bed.

Claudia smiled down at her, moving a strand of hair from her face. "I wouldn't do anything to hurt you," she said, holding her hand against Rae's face as she stared into her eyes, "I promise."

Rae stared up into Claudia's eyes, feeling the warmth and trust pouring out of them. She lifted her head to press her lips to Claudia's, sliding her tongue between them to explore the mouth beyond. Claudia moaned, pressing her body harder against Rae before pulling her lips away and kissing up her jawline and down her neck. She tugged off Rae's oversized sweater then kissed down her collarbone and down one tit, sucking and licking one nipple before moving to the other.

Rae couldn't help but watch, moaning softly. She watched as Claudia tugged at her shorts and lifted herself a little to help. She could feel herself turning red as she lay naked on the bed, Claudia staring at her body with hints of lust in her eyes. Claudia kissed Rae's knees, looking up into her eyes as she kissed up her thigh, spreading her legs as she did so. Claudia kissed her pussy, kissed the full length of her slit then licked back up the length of it. Rae moaned loud when Claudia's tongue ran over her clit, her back arching slightly, already feeling her own juices dripping down her ass to the bed below.

"You taste amazing," Claudia moaned before running her tongue over Rae's wet pussy, licking up the juices that flowed out of it. Then she slipped her tongue inside Rae's tight hole, Rae moaning louder at the sensation, the warm of it inside her.

Then Claudia's tongue was replaced by her fingers as she moved up to lick vigorously on Rae's clit. She thrust her fingers slowly in and out of Rae's tight hole as her tongue moved in circles over her clit, making Rae moan louder. Rae's body convulsed with each thrust of Claudia's fingers, chills running over her skin.