Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

Alright, boys, don't let me down!" HC commanded his pad, rubbing his hands together. "Time to find out who's the best bullshitter in America."

"Oh, it's Wyoming over Florida every time," I retorted.

"Fighting words, Sam," he laughed, then shrugged his shoulders, "Though you did write a poo song. And an ass cheek eating song, so I guess you're two points ahead already."

We all collapsed into giggles watching the Discord feeds before us. We were in a line. HC and I in the middle of the couch, pads hovering in front of us, Rhoda to my left and Paddy to the right of her Hawaiian-shirt wearing Santa Claus husband.

RabbitGuano: New girl! Yes! Are you evil?

IWannaSake: Define "evil"

Buttle: LOL! You'll fit right in.

Lily: Sometimes it's fun to watch chat

Aloha: Sometimes it's fun to eat cats

DahrkDragon: I like to open chat and just sit here confused but laughing

GingerBollox: I've just watched a donkey eat a lemon

HC: irl?

GingerBollox: of course, where else?

PageCount: do you ever get so pissed off snot comes out of your nose?

StarStream: they have donkeys in Britain?

InnerFire: we have everything in Britain. The planet belongs to Britain.

FirstBorn: This news comes as a surprise to me

Ayela: if that were true, the world would be polluted with bad food, but I've just had sweet hush puppies and Tripel, so the assertion is false

Cady: Logic, finally.

GingerBollox: Beer is essentially British

Aloha: via Germany. The dominant player in any conversation.

SipiritdeCacao: Let's not forget rakija

Luna_Phile: long live plum wine

Lowland8675: Long live plum liquor!

Burning: Long live rakija!

ArlenKnight: All hail the Balkans!

WarMarsupial: And the Aussies!

LordTyrant: We all know who the dominant world power is

Sascha: Are you trying to say it's Australia?

ApoPlex: the whole server just erupted in laughter

MoodyBoots: well, if they exported the fauna, Australia could rule the planet

PageCount: Aussies aren't the only ones with deadly beasts

LordTyrant: Oh yeah?

Ayela: Those toe-eating Serbian crickets sure give me pause

HC: Not to mention the ass-devouring roaches

SpiritdeCacao: Serbia is actually a very nice country

DickDaddy: Oh, I'm convinced

Lorca: anyone who can develop rakija has my vote

MagicMark: Serbia for world dominance!

ArlenKnight: Serbia!

Cartoonist J.: Serbia!

SassySword: Did we ever get that food teleportation upgrade working?

B: Got in the next update

SoXOXO: don't worry, it won't be late

Bartt: no need to hesitate

CarlaCee: I sure could use a brake

Smote: wanna touch my snake?

ReverieKnot: it's pretty great

HC: do any of you go on dates?

IAmSoImportant: chat killer question for sure

Aloha: good, I needed to write today. anyone want to sprint? 45 minutes? race me?

Cady: I will

Lily: me too

MerFolk: see you in #sprint

Stolen novel; please report.

CorkyCash: What's this?

GingerBollox: Writers writing?

HC: Productivity?

Ayela: Didn't we outlaw that?

GingerBollox: No, that was straight people.

CoolBeans: Right. I'm really worried now.

InnerFire: That straight people don't exist?

CoolBeans: no, that everyone is going to go work

Buttle: what will you do instead?

CoolBeans: make myself fucking sexy and post pictures so you all have to deal with it

GingerBollox: 👀

Ayela: why not just ass pic us?

RabbitGuano: fr? I'm game

B: we can finally see if anyone's moderating this server

RabbitGuano: did you want my whole ass, Ayela?

Ayela: why not?

CoolBeans: you sharing?

Ayela: I've got a bikini nearby

RabbitGuano: 👀

Buttle: 👀

CoolBeans: 👀

InnerFire: 👀

Lily: 👀

HC: point for Ayela

Ayela: I'll show mine if you show yours, HC

HC: damn! shoulda seen that coming.

RabbitGuano: HC, you're up

HC: I don't see your ass on my screen.

RabbitGuano: brace yourselves. maximum damage incoming. Link to image of stripper-like black fits and fire ass wearing a g-string

Ayela: 🔥 whew! somebody hose me down

RabbitGuano: your turn

Ayela: Link to image of some rando hot bikini ass pic.

CoolBeans: HC, you promised.

HC: Link to image of plumber butt

Ayela: point to you

Aloha: I'm meant to be sprinting, but I can't tear my eyes away.

Cady: You dingus, I can't sprint either

Aloha: This is my fault?

MerFolk: You broke stride, now we're all off kilter

Aloha: That is stupid

Cady: It's logic

BeadBuddy: can you not call us all stupid regularly?

MagicMark: dingus is your middle name

Aloha: I'm feeling put upon

HC: this surprises no one

Ayela: should I make you some cookies?

GingerBollox: she means biscuits

BalMichi: biscuits are NOT cookies

CoolBeans: blood is NOT pudding

Ayela: British is NOT food

HC: damn. too many points.

MosterLover: this server is not real

WarMarsupial: I wrote a chapter

StarStream: dammit!

CorkyCash: the fun will end if everyone writes today

Exclamation: we need to spice things up. gif of a suit of armor with a hard on

LordTyrant: that one gave even me pause

RabbitGuano: are you meant to go into battle with a stiffy?

HC: holy shit, history worries me

LordTyrant: I mean, with that sort of image, I cannot believe anyone ever voted to outlaw war

SoXOXO: we've proven there are no moderators.

CoolBeans: who's up for headlight pics?

GingerBollox: 👀

IAmSoImportant: 👀

Ayela: 👀

CoolBeans: Link to image of hot gal in a black, lacy, skin-tight dress

InnerFire: damn, my pad melted

Ayela: I melted

GingerBollox: what're you doing later?

RabbitGuano: what're you doing later?

Buttle: what're you doing later?

Exclamation: who're you doing later?

ArlenKnight: 🔥🔥🔥

Lily: I love how friendly things have been lately

Cady: you have an interesting definition of friendship

ArlenKnight: inhibitions are gone, for sure

HC: are we gonna sing camp songs?

Ayela: and light our farts on fire?

RabbitGuano: 🤣

SpiritdeCacao: I tried that once

FirstBorn: you lived through it?

SoXOXO: "lived" is open to interpretation

HC: I've never felt more alive than this moment

Ayela: that's what Discord friends do for us: make us feel alive

Cady: or drive us to distraction

Aloha: I wrote an 800-word chapter, thank you very much

HC: care to share with the class?

Aloha: #workshop

HC: brb

Ayela: there's nothing quite like my besties here for keeping me from writing

CorkyBanks: you're supposed to procrastinate for a week then suddenly write 10,000 words in a night

LordTyrant: not according to my outlines

GingerBollox: does watching looped makeup tutorials count as procrastination?

IGrabYoGun: did you ever write that kiss scene, Bollox?

GingerBollox: no comment

RabbitGuano: who's writing smut today?

Ayela: I write smut everyday

SpiritdeCacao: I thought you were a comedy writer

Ayela: only on Tuesday

IAmSoImportant: the Tuesday thing again

B: yeah, seems like a repeater

BearyBeast: gotta watch that

HC: @Aloha, I think I read that chapter on another server last week

Aloha: can't be. they're always deleted after 24 hours.

Ayela: I can write comedy that is smut, @SpiritdeCacao

HC: Oh, I thought the deletions were only on Tuesdays

BearyBeast: or every third night

GingerBollox: if we're in a fight

WarMarsupial: gotta make it right

DysblurbicPedant: I'm here for a light

StarStream: go fly a kite

smack_pans: sometimes you eat the bear. sometimes the bear eats you.

Ayela: or the wolf

smak_pans: aye

"Whew! Hot damn, we're on fire, Sam. Look at this. We've got admissions that they aren't alive. We've got them saying they're deleting content. They're noticing you say the Tuesday thing regularly. Do we need more?"

"Maybe we need to look at another server; see what else we can find. Whaddaya think, Rhoda?" I asked.

"Are there any books you've got an eye on, Sam? New servers you can join?" she asked.

I was already looking up someone I'd seen in the #SpecialStreaksGeneral. AnnieTheTiny, and yes! There was a Purple Road book! Menudo: WindBreaker.

I read through the opening chapters. Another fun story, but completely different. I reminded myself to not get caught up in the action and to scroll for the Discord invite. It took ten chapters before I found it. Bingo!

Oh! Totally different! This server was hopping. They were chatting, but I decided to lurk and get comfortable with the group.

#MenudoGeneral

Bait: I'm buying strawberries, want some?

AnnieTheTiny: yussss!

PineSol: me too!

AnnieTheTiny: and milk chocolate

MistleToe: there is only one chocolate

AnnieTheTiny: 👀

MistleToe: and it isn't milk

AnnieTheTiny: blasphemy!

PineSol: gotta agree

AnnieTheTiny: @Ayela! New person! Milk or Dark?

Ayela: dark. every. time.

Bait: I can get dark chocolate AND strawberries, right?!

AnnieTheTiny: this server is expiring before my eyes

Rakshasas: I don't see what the big deal about chocolate is. And don't get me started on mint

AnnieTheTiny: are you a chocolate hater?

Rakshasas: Imma not answer that. It feels like a trap.

MistleToe: strawberries will never let you down

AnnieTheTiny: I see we're feeling fruity

Rakshasas: that's pretty groovy

Bait: I'll see you when it's Tuesdy

Mistletoe: not if I'm feeling moody

"They're doing it, HC! The rhyming thing! On #MenudoGeneral. Look! And talking about Tuesday again," I showed everyone the convo on my pad.

"It sounds different, but there are echoes of what we've seen on other servers," Paddy mused.

"Well, at least we know we can lead them, bait them, goad them some of the time from the #SpecialStreaks, and now we're seeing patterns in other servers too. None of this tells us the why, though HC! I mean, what did they get out of pushing me to panic attacks?" I groaned.

"Well, if they were human, I'd say they want you to stay centered on them. That's what manipulative people do. If they can't get your attention with charm, they use other tactics to keep you engaged. Bullying. Pity parties. Dramatic stories. Whatever it takes so you're always focusing on them," Rhoda said with determination.

"Let's keep track of everything that repeats. The phrases and ideas. We can use that to continue our research. The more information we have, the more it'll start to make sense," Paddy proposed.

HC blew out a breath. "Fucking hells, what a mess. I can't think anymore tonight. Let's get a few hours sleep and regroup tomorrow?"

Rhoda and I nodded and picked up our things.

"HC? I'm really glad you're a person," I told him.

"Oh Sam, dear girl, you have no idea how glad I am you are too."

We hugged HC and Paddy, and Rhoda and I made it back to our resort where we collapsed, unworried about Discord or computers that picked at people and fucked with their brains.