This is what I’m good at, being alone, just me and the computer screens.
I already had a little bit of experience with technology before the Decrypting. I was a teenager, living alone. Sneaking into empty school buildings or houses when families were away onvacation. I could socialize on a computer: chat rooms, forums, social media. All of it was accessible, even if you couldn't show your face in public. For years it was my only real form of social interaction. When the Decrypting happened I was so excited for the chance to properly enter human society. Only to discover so many of the things that I loved to watch humans do and wanted to try myself, weren’t very accessible to many cryptids. Particularly me.
Bars are crowded and noisy, regular movie theaters are cramped and uncomfortable, shopping centers, malls—all the places I wanted to walk freely—are too loud and bright for Mothman eyes.
Nearly everything I was interested in was difficult for me to enjoy. Except for technology. That was available 24/7. I could navigate it easily and in quiet, dark isolation. Computers, the internet, coding, video games—all of it was accessible and came to me easily.
So that’s what I threw myself into.
And I thrived.
In college, I started a crypto security business with my two best friends. Magnes Loch, and Sacha Kwatch, a Lake Monster and a Bigfoot, respectively. They run the business and financial aspects of Cryptech. I contributed most of the tech portion. Sure, my part is important, but I never would have had a chance without them. They probably could have turned any half-decent idea into a thriving business.
They take care of expenses and customers and let me stay in my cave and do what I am best at—writing code. I wouldn’t be anywhere without them. They are my best friends and have been looking out for me for the past decade of our friendship.
It’s only a few minutes before Magnes Loch’s name pops up in the video chat window my screen. It’s not uncommon for either of us to be working on a Sunday afternoon. I assume hewants to ask me some work related question as I press the accept call button and adjust a little so he can see me on the camera.
“So, where is she?” Ness asks the second his green scaly face appears in the video call window.
“Where is who?”
“You know, the new woman. The one you met a couple weeks ago.”
I swallow. I may have misled Ness about the situation. I didn’t want him to know I’d found my mate. Not when his brutally rejected him four years ago.
“Is that why you video called me?” I frown. “To try and get a peek at her?”
“You’ve been MIA all weekend, I figured you must be with her. Nothing else could pull you away from work for this long,” Loch says, his smooth green brows flexing in the middle. He’s completely hairless and covered in green scales, the way every Lake Monster is. “I’m just glad you aren’t with that Tiffany chick anymore.”
I roll my eyes. “I thought you said she was hot.”
“She was hot. She wasn’t nice.”
“She was nice enough.”
“Not nice enough for you,” Ness says. “I could help you meet dozens of hot women, nice ones, who would be happy to date a wealthy cryptid.”
“It doesn’t matter. They won’t be Piper.”
“Well then, where’s the babe? Is she there with you?”
“Don’t call her a ‘babe’.”
Ness huffs an annoyed breath. “The dame! The hottie. The woman who isn’t Tiffany! The one who has been monopolizing all your spare time!”
“Piper Hamilton,” I correct him. “She has a name. I don’t want to talk about her.”
“You’ve only wanted to talk about Piper Hamilton for the last three weeks.” He smirks.
I stare at my keyboard. It’s backlit and mechanical. It makes the most satisfying click noises when I press the keys and?—
“She’s your mate, isn’t she?” Ness cuts through the silence.
I don’t answer him.
“It’s alright, lad, you can talk about it,” he says in his soft Scottish brogue.
“She doesn’t want to talk to me anymore,” I blurt out.
