[right][h2]Jay’s Catharsis[/h2]
[@silver21][@Stanifly][@DaftJive][@Tlazolteotl][/right]
Jay nodded. A lot of what Sirpa said was relatable. You can have any number of friends and loneliness doesn’t care. It’ll ambush you regardless. But what did she mean by being bothered by it? Was she comparing herself to what her social life [i]should look like[/i]?

“Do you know why it bothers you?” Jay asked.

“For me... I get lonely because I can’t see my friends as often as I want. But... with these particular people, I’m actually confident we’re friends. Like, friends, friends.”

A new window appeared in front of them: the Discord friends list, with its green dots and idle moons and gray absences.

“I’ve felt lonelier being part of this online group than I’ve ever been physically away from my friends. Which is so weird...” Their hand lifted to scroll down the list. “They’re right here. Closer than my IRL friends ever could be.”

Jay closed the window and looked over at Silver Blade as she gave her answer.

[color=lavender]“Sure. He tried to kill me, but we’re good now. He was just doing his job, y’know? I might’ve done the same a couple years back.”[/color] She waved a hand. [color=lavender]“So. You know. Communication’s good.”[/color]

That made Jay’s eyes go wide. Then, after a beat, the shock rearranged itself into a smile.

“You know what? That’s a solid friendship right there. You can be blunt with each other. Fight it out. And still be friends at the end of the day.” They chuckled, though something sad lived in it. “‘Communication’s good,’ huh? … Man. Makes me jealous.”

A long sigh left them. 

“How’d you… overcome your differences? Sure, you can say he was just doing his job, but you can’t really get more personal than someone trying to end your life, right? I imagine it couldn’t have been easy to become good friends from there.”

Out of the corner of their eye, Jay noticed one guy who hadn’t chimed in, but they let him be just in case he didn’t want to be part of the conversation.