It was about 11pm on a Saturday night, in the living room of your typical Canadian household where Estelle sat upon the armchair of a couch. Around her were various people, some sitting together and talking, other standing and talking, some playing beer pong and some doing who knows what, who knows where. And what was Estelle doing? None of those. In one hand she had her phone in which she was scrolling through aimlessly, and in the other hand a green solo cup that matched the rest of the ones in the house which she brought to her lips every couples minutes or so to take a sip, obviously not drinking enough to affect her mind in the slightest. Her peers didn't seem quite interested in speaking to her either, to which she didn't mind. Even while not playing Terrasphere she was browsing the webs(on Incognito mode, of course) for more information on it, trying to find any posts about secret places to explore, hidden stuff she hadn't found yet.
"... Estelle? Estellleee!"
Glancing up at the voice that finally broke through her concentration barrier, she found her friend Kyla, who was sitting on the armrest of another chair, leaning slightly against a guy next to her who must be her new boyfriend. Estelle hadn't met him, infact she hadn't met any of the new people that had joined the group since Terrasphere came out. She had either been too busy immersing herself in the world or bringing it back into the real world through one of her many paintings that were currently left strewed in her apartment. She was getting the right amount of people connection through that, and quickly found herself growing apart from her friends. It was by chance she had been able to come out that night, and even then she wished to be back hooked up to her machine, off to explore a colourful and magnificent world. "... What?"
"Awh, come on. You know exactly what! We haven't seen you for a while and here you are, with us and still on your phone," Kyra whined, leaning her head against the guys next to her who just smirked in reply to her. She was obviously a little intoxicated, to which Estelle rolled her eyes at and went back to her phone. It was then that the phone was ripped out from her hand, causing her to look up in confusion as Kyra leapt back onto the arm chair, stuffing the phone in her pocket.
Letting out a heavy sigh sigh as she got to her feet, Estelle held out her hand towards her, raising an eyebrow and waving her hand slightly as a gesture of 'Well?'. Intoxicated or not, that wasn't cool. "Give it back, Kyra. This doesn't make me want to hang out with you guys more than I already do."
Scoffing loudly, Kyra waved her hand at her as if dismissing her sentiment, "More than you already don't, more like. Look, I know that Brandon introduced you to that VR game or whatever, and between that and your painting you don't really go out often, but we're you're friends! Don't look so scary. And you haven't even met Cody yet. Right, Cody?" Wrapping her arm around Cody's head in an odd way that made Estelle inwardly cringe slightly, she squished his cheek up against her. Cody just shrugged at her and let her do her thing, giving Estelle a cheeky little grin. It was in that moment that Estelle sprung forward, snatching the phone from Kyra's pocket when she had conveniently leaned over more. Letting out a 'Hey!', Kyra sprung up as Estelle quickly backed away from them, the latter turning on her feet and heading for the door, sticking her phone in her pocket. Kyra followed up after her, "Estelle? Estelle! Where are you going?!"
Stuffing her hands into the big puffy jacket she was wearing over her outfit, Estelle hopped quickly down the steps of the house, only stopping once Kyra yelled out 'Stop!'. She paused and turned, eyes narrowed as she rested them upon Kyra. Nothing else really mattered that she had done except her comment- Don't look so scary. Estelle was tired of being judged and based on her outward appearance. Not that she really cared much for those who did judge her, but it was an exhausting experience when even your friends and loved ones couldn't help but comment on how grumpy or angry you looked. That plus Estelle really wanted to be somewhere else didn't mesh well, and she was now tired of this situation. But Kyra didn't budge as some party-goers loitering outside the building gave the two looks, causing Estelle to sigh uncomfortably.
"Y-Y'know, if you leave right now, you might never have friends. Who knows if I'll even want to be your f-friend!" Kyra cried out as Cody came up from behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist as he tried to bring her back into the building. There was some mumbling to her left and right, and Estelle glanced around at the people around her. Most of them were giving her a dirty look, some upon Kyra with pretty, and the odd confused. It was enough to make Estelle click her teeth in frustration, before turning and heading off in the direction of home, leaving the party and her 'friends' behind her.
As she walked home, her pace quickened until it had turned into a jog. It took her only a couple minutes to arrive home, open the door quickly and closing it shut a little more than she had wanted to, throwing her jacket to the side on a hook and stepping into the room. She lived in an apartment with no bedrooms- Just a room, with a kitchen to the side in the wall, one door to the side leading to the bathroom, and another to a closet area. What balance this out though was the high ceiling and large windows that looked out into the city around. It wasn't very high up, but it still gave quite a nice view. The rest of the things in the room was her bed and dresser, off to the side in a corner, paintings laying here and there with various different art- Beautiful blue butterflies here, Hylands Ascent there, a forest off to the side. Most if not all were Terrasphere related it seemed, as that was what her inspiration was lately. And then, laying on a table besides a half painted canvas in the middle of the room was it- Her trusty VR headset.
Kicking off her shoes, Estelle crossed over to the kitchen to grab some water to cool out her frustration. Who needed friends like them, anyways. Gosh, why did people have to be so annoying? She'd met annoying people in Terrasphere too, but they didn't seem to bug her as much. Maybe it was the way she had looked? She had designed Sol with the intention to make her serious but more soft in the face than herself, showing she meant business but also having the base look of someone approachable. Putting down her empty glass as she wiped any excess water off her mouth, she crossed over to the VR machine. It was fine if she had no one, she was better off alone anyways. At least, in real life she was alone. In Terrasphere, it was easier for her to make friends, to meet new people. Well there was the ever looming threat of death as well, but it's not like that was real. And even if it was, I like myself better as Sol anyways.
Pausing just as she was about to grab her headset, her hand flinched back as she seemed to snap to reality, realizing where her thoughts were going. Why was she even considering that? Terrasphere wasn't real. Dying in game and then in real life wasn't real. But since it wasn't real... Then what did any of what she did matter? What was her end goal, her purpose? Who even was Sol?
Stepping away from her headset, Estelle bent over with her hands on her knees, taking a deep breath to calm her raising heart rate before standing up and running a hand through her hair with frustration. It only took one glance upwards to spot a perfectly empty canvas lying in wait for her, and a couple more seconds for her to sit there in silence, thinking, before she moved forward.
And then she grabbed her paint.