"Maybe I should talk to someone…"

Through no fault of her own, Frankie Dart had lost her job. It wasn't anyone's fault, really. And Frankie had been so sure it would be the Dean's fault when Greendale finally went under. Or possibly Jeff. But no, it had to be a global pandemic.

And Frankie was doing the best she could, of course. She'd been sending emails to her late sister and taking care of her living sister. It was fine. What else could she do? Her friends… Her friends hadn't thought to check on her, their lives were in turmoil too. Several of them had also lost their jobs or had to rapidly adapt to new versions of their jobs. No one was feeling especially great about anything, and everyone seemed to exist in their own little quarantine bubble right now.

So Frankie was writing emails to someone who would never respond and considering trying therapy again, and all she really wanted was someone to talk to. But she didn't hope for it. She wasn't a hope person, she was a results person.

Poppy Li's family was on the other side of the world, and her co-workers were a pain in the ass, so she felt very alone. Incredibly, agonizingly alone. She wasn't doing well with the whole quarantine thing, mentally. She found herself struggling to take care of herself, found herself struggling to do anything at all.

She'd been working on fixing the blood ocean thing in MQ but now that that was over she realized she needed something, anything, to fill the void left in her heart.

Specifically, she needed someone to talk to, and lord knows it wasn't going to be Ian. But this was another problem to solve, right? And Poppy was incredible at solving problems.

Since it was the middle of a global pandemic, in the age of the internet, it only made sense that they would meet online.

Frankie didn't play a lot of online games but she had a little extra time on her hands so she tried out something she'd heard about from someone in her family. Mythic Quest. Sounded fun enough.

It wasn't long before she'd gotten very into it. Every now and then she thought about inviting her friends from Greendale to join, but then she'd get in her head about how none of them had reached out to her, how none of them wanted to reach out to her… And then she would go on playing MQ by herself.

She'd been trolling online forums about the game when she saw an AMA thread from someone who claimed to be a lead programmer for MQ. The thread was closed but Frankie read through the whole thing with growing interest, reading about how Poppy made it as a woman in a male-dominated field and how her ideas had led Mythic Quest to be the exceptional game it was today. Frankie looked Poppy up on LinkedIn to make sure she was legit and then, in a moment of weakness, Frankie sent Poppy a message.

If Poppy hadn't been teetering into a void of loneliness, she would have deemed a random message to her LinkedIn profile unprofessional. But it was 2020 and she was desperately searching for connection, so she responded.

Frankie's initial message read: I know what it's like to be a professional in an environment that seems to oppose professionalism, as well as what it's like to be a woman in a male-dominated field. I don't expect a response from you, but I just wanted to let you know that since the pandemic started I've found your game and it's gotten me through a lot. So thank you.

Frankie had hopped back into the game when she actually got a response.

Poppy: I'm glad MQ means a lot to you, it means a lot to me too. What do you do for work?

Stunned that she'd gotten any sort of response from the person partially responsible for her favorite video game, it took Frankie a minute to respond.

Frankie: I used to work for a community college. It was my job to improve its image and stop it from going under. And then the pandemic hit, and it went under.

Poppy: Oh, I'm so sorry. That's rough.

Frankie: Yeah, it is, but work isn't everything. I have a sister I'm currently looking after, and I know there will be other jobs. What about you? How has the pandemic affected work at Mythic Quest?

Poppy: Well, everyone's working from home now. It's kind of isolating, isn't it? It must be nice to have family around. My family lives in another country.

Poppy hadn't talked to anyone in her real life about it, so she wasn't sure why she was telling this stranger from Colorado.

Frankie: When I think about it like that, yeah, it is nice to have family around. I'm sorry your family lives far away.

Poppy: It's whatever

Poppy: Actually

Poppy: I'm not going to lie, I really miss them. I really miss people. I'm glad MQ has given you an outlet but right now MQ is just a reminder that I have nothing to work on and no one to reach out to.

Poppy: Oh god sorry to vent.

Frankie: No, I get it. I thought the people I worked with were my friends, but they're all caught up in their own thing right now, they haven't taken the time to reach out.

Poppy: Have you reached out to them?

Frankie: I've thought about it? But I don't want to bother them, things are so hard right now.

Poppy: So you just decided to message some random lady on LinkedIn instead?

Frankie: Well that makes me sound insane

Poppy: XD

Poppy: Then you'd fit in great at MQ

Poppy: But for real, you should reach out, yeah?

Frankie: Yeah. Thank you for talking to me, Poppy.

Poppy: Yw. Thanks for reaching out

Frankie: I'll think about reaching out to my friends if you reach out to yours

Poppy: I'll think about it

Poppy: And hey

Poppy: You can always reach out to me. Maybe not on LinkedIn next time

And thus, their friendship sprouted. Neither of them had any way of knowing what it would grow into.

This story has been something I've wanted to write since December of 2021. I knew in my heart of hearts that Poppy and Frankie would be friends and I knew, even more strongly than that, that I would be using that bond to get somewhere in particular, but we'll get there when we get there. This will be multi-chap!