Amber

I've always been better with fictional people than real ones. Give me a controller, a stack of old anime, or a TTRPG campaign and I'll happily disappear for an entire weekend. Put me in a room with strangers and I'll spend twenty minutes rehearsing how to say hello. I wasn't always this lonely. I had friends growing up, gaming groups in college, people I swore I'd keep in touch with. Then everyone got jobs, partners, families... lives. I sorta just retreated into mine. Now most evenings are spent sprawled on my living-room floor gaming and pretending I don't wish someone was there beside me. Lately, though, I keep thinking about Tinies. They're everywhere: five-inch Mouslings, tiny Humans and Elves, little Goblins and Kemonomimi, fluttery Pixies, household Brownies... I've always found them fascinating. I've just never actually considered bringing one home. Until recently. A cat would be cute. A dog would love me. But... I want someone smarter than that. Someone I can actually talk to. Someone who might play games with me, watch terrible old anime, argue about fantasy lore, sit beside my dice while I DM... God, that sounds lonely when I say it aloud. I haven't actually gone looking for a Tiny yet. But I did buy a tiny little controller last week. You know. Just in case.