A Raid is Like A Box of Chocolates

The great beast roared. It's hideous gnarled maw dripped with seething hunger for those that cause its rage. The unbound mage, the bloodthirsty knight, the savage barbarian, and the unflinching cleric. A party of ruthless adventurers that wouldn't stop until this beast was a trophy on their mantle. 

"Are you guys ready?" Arrie called out to the rest of her party. "I have like, six more greater mana potions left and all of my skills are reset. So I can spam buffs and healing." 

Irvyll spoke into the mic with a stifled yawn. "I believe I have enough lighting scrolls to stun it from going into damage bypass for at least a minute. But after that, I can only really do my AOE for burning and poison. The rest of my spells don't do enough damage to warrant the cool downs." The game was Archangel 4. Arrie had talked him into playing with her and her friends. He wasn't much of a fan of RPGs, but he treasured her company enough to at least try and enjoy whatever she felt like playing that day. Cooperative horror wasn't a very large market, and he couldn't recommend most of the titles that had come out in the recent wave of indie developers. Following her lead was easier anyway, and he couldn't deny he had a knack for the game fairly early on. 

As all of them barraged the beast, its health rapidly fell. Getting to a fourth of its total health bar before it finally broke out of the stun lock they forced it into. The AI targeted the furthest players with launching acid attacks, leaving Irvyll's mage on barely any health. Arrie tried to send her cleric to him before his health fell to nothing, but by rerouting her attention, their Knight was crushed swiftly under the beast's close range slam attack. The barbarian's rage was on cool down, which left Arrie with a choice. Buff the barbarian to possibly out-damage the boss, or heal Irvyll to keep a steady form of burn damage going from afar to avoid getting too close to the one hit kill. 

In a stroke of genius, Arrie pulled out an action speed buff. Enchanting her own cleric to quickly heal and buff before fully depleting her mana pool. The barbarian's hits left the beast preoccupied while Irvyll sent forth the final fire charge. Setting the ground around the beast alight and scorching the last of its health to nothing. The cry of the beast echoed as it tumbled and collapsed into a heap at the center of the stage. Dropping several legendary items for each of them. 

"Good job everyone! We finally kicked that asshole into the grave. Since KDuel got knocked, do you think you could bring his armour over to him at spawn? I wanna look around the rest of this stage for potions." Arrie ushered the barbarian off with the armour and their own respective great axe. Leaving her and Irvyll alone on the stage. 

A knock at Arrie's door made her pause. "Hold on Irvy. Someone's at my door." Spinning in her chair, she tugged the headset from over her ears and stood at the other side of the door. "Who's there?" The voice on the other end was unfamiliar. Probably one of the people attending Jousah's party. "You got something in the mail. Looks important." She raised an eyebrow, pulling the door open enough for an arm to slip the heart shaped box through. It appeared someone sent her a Matentines gift. She brought it back to her computer, looking over the box in her hands. "Hey uh. Did you send me something?" 

A smirk crept over Irvyll's face. "So it arrived finally. I planned out your gift to arrive on the day of our raid." A gift indeed, he hired one of the best gourmet confectioners he could find to craft the perfect flavour profile for her. White chocolate and caramel filling, chocolate cherries, almond and nougat, heart shaped pineapple in fudge. Each chocolate is based on the perfect balance of sweet and savory to make each one a different experience. "Please open it. And describe your thoughts and opinions on each. I promised I would give a proper review." That was a lie. He simply wanted to hear her gush over the gift. 

Arrie slipped a nail under the ribbon holding the box together. Once it was unsealed, she tugged the box open and selected one of the chocolates at random. The sweet fluffy marshmallow filling and light salty chocolate shell complimented each other. She couldn't help but let out a pleased hum. "It's a bit much. How much did this cost you? You really didn't have to get me anything." She didn't want to admit it, but having someone send her chocolates did make her feel special. She didn't meet many people outside of her games, and any she did meet were usually too drunk to remember her clearly. This was as sweet of a gift as she could have asked for. 

"Do not worry about it. I'm just glad you enjoy them. Consider this my payment for that save. You pretty much rescued that whole boss fight." Irvyll used that as an excuse. The chocolates were coming regardless of the outcome, he just wanted to come across more modest. "Thank you for playing with me today. I know you probably had better people to join your party."

Arrie scoffed at the notion. "As if. I don't hang out with you because you're good at Archangel. Shit, you actually did really well for being under leveled as you are. But I asked you to play because you're cool as fuck. Even if you play way scarier of games than I can handle." She popped another chocolate in her cheek mindlessly. The milk chocolate spreading over her tongue like a smooth sip of yoe-hoe. "I'd probably give ya a smooch if you were here. If you're into that." She leaned back in her chair. He never really mentioned it before, but she had no idea what his type was. 

Irvyll contemplated the offer. It was not very often anyone actually offered physical affection. Considering the kind of gift he sent, that would be the expected response on such an intimate holiday. "I would probably accept. It's only fair I reciprocate given the circumstances. Not to mention, it would be an excellent way to sample the chocolates together." 

Arrie felt her cheeks flush. It was uncharacteristic of him. But the delivery was so matter of fact, she wondered if it was intentional. She composed herself for a moment, looking down at the chocolates in front of her. Nestled snugly inside their heart shaped box. "Okay Irvy. If that's the case. How about I swing by."

Irvyll looked at the clock on his wall. The second hand ticking down as he pondered his choices. "Hmm. Give me about thirty minutes. I need to clean the house a bit."