About a week later…

Boredom… this word sums up my Saturday morning. No college, German course and especially without Carlos, who is working, as always. And to keep the routine, I turn on my computer that already logs directly into the RLC. I notice that Mr. X is online, but I prefer not to call him , I still need a good dose of caffeine to wake up. I put Talia in a club to dance, and I’m going to prepare my coffee.

After I have my breakfast, I go back to my computer and notice that there’s an open dialog window:

Mr. X (online) — Good morning or good afternoon… maybe a good night, Talia.
Mr. X (online) — How are you?
Mr. X (online) —?
Mr. X (online) — Are you there, Talia?
Mr. X (online) — Why aren’t you responding?

I take a deep breath, smiling, and then I write,

Talia (online) — Hello, Mr. X, sorry if I didn’t answer earlier, I was having a nice breakfast. I’m very well, and you?

Mr. X is typing…

Mr. X (online) — I am very well, but intrigued by your profile.
Talia (online) — Intrigued by my profile, why?
Mr.X (online) — Here it says that Talia is 27 years old, sign of Virgo (Hummm… Virgo) is bisexual (Hummm), speaks German, and was born in Madrid.

Yes, I know I lied about some things, but who tells the truth in virtual life?

Talia (online) — What would you like to know about my profile?
Mr. X (online) — Do you really speak German?
Talia (online) — Ja, ja, Sir. Ich nahm an deutschen und endete Anfang dieses Jahres.. (Yes, no doubt, sir. I took the German course and finished it earlier this year).
Mr. X (online) — Beeindruckend, Talia (Great, Talia). Are you bisexual?

That simple question almost made me choke. I wonder whether I tell my true sexuality. I smile at the screen and write:

Talia (online) — No, I was just curious…
Mr. X (online) — So what are you looking for in this game?

Talia (online) — I’m not looking for anything, I’m just curious about the game. And also how someone can feel horny for an avatar without knowing who is behind the screen.

Mr. X is typing…

That typing was a long time on my screen, almost killing me with curiosity.

Mr. X (online) — If you’re really curious, I can kill your curiosity.

My stomach seems to be full of butterflies. For some reason, your words move me.

Mr. X (online) — Who is the woman behind Talia?

I face the screen seriously… I observe my entire room. I feel the silence that pervades my home and the solitude that has become my most faithful companion… Who the hell am I?

Talia (online) — A married woman, no children. I play for just over a month every day, usually in the morning. But lately… I’m playing at night. RLC has become my big distraction to my loneliness… Now enough about me, who is Mr. X?

Mr. X is typing…

Mr. X is typing…

Mr. X is typing…

Mr. X seems to be typing infinitely, or it was just my anxiety to know more about him…

Mr. X (online) —I’ve been playing for two years, I’m 37 years old, married, I have a son. When my wife gave birth to our son, I started playing. I go in two or three times a week. I always have different partners and I never talk to anyone under 25. Nothing against younger women, but they tend to associate sex with love, which in my view are two different things. I guess that’s why I don’t notice those “perverts” that chased you the other night.

His words seem sincere to me, which makes me question why he’s telling me all this. If that’s true, I’m just one more on his web and soon to be changed. But, it’s like he says, just sex, without love.

Talia (online) — Why are you telling me all this?
Mr. X (online) — Because you are different.

We talked all morning about the game and how it is for the game for him in the last 2 years. From that day on we talked every day, honestly do not know where we got so much subject. And gradually I discovered new things about him like the fact that he knows German, French, English and Spanish, but prefers to speak French and that he works in a large corporation as an account manager, fighting for a promotion that would change his life.

***

Although we talk every day, I decided to agree to go out with a user who had met a few days before meeting Mr. X.

Sexyman (online) — Let’s play?
Talia (online) — Come on.

Our avatars are in a club. , we go up to one of the rooms where we position our avatars for our “action”.

Sexyman (online) — I love your breasts… you so sexy! I will take off all your clothes and lick it all… from head to toe. I’m going to stick my dick all over you and make you moan. You like that? You like that, bitch?

As much as he had a line, I confess that I did not feel comfortable and was supermechanical, since the avatars did all the work… I did not feel anything. Maybe it was in my head, and then I went to my favorite club and accepted the onslaughts of a “pervert” and once again felt nothing. Maybe I was right, and Filomena and Mr. X wrong: There is no pleasure in virtual sex.

Talia (online) — I will abandon the RLC.
Mr. X (online) — Why will you do this?
Talia (online) — Why I do not see grace in virtual sex… I do not feel pleasure in seeing avatars doing … sex.
Mr.X (online) — You need to try with other avatars before you flip the flag.
Talia (online) — I have tried and came up with nothing… since the game is about sex, there is no reason for me to stay here.

Mr. X is typing…

Mr. X (online) — You need to give me a chance… try it with me before you leave the game.

His words shock me: He had never proposed anything about it. I believe that’s what made me so close to him, the fact that I don’t see myself as just a piece of meat, or rather, a sex-hungry avatar. I confess that, deep down, I sometimes wondered why he never tried... Now he makes me this proposal. I didn’t want anything programmed, but that was spontaneous. However, in the RLC you’re either in the mood, or not. And at that moment, I’m pretty curious.

Talia (online) — I accept, but if it gets weird, we give up. All right?
Mr. X (online) — As you wish, ma'am. I am at your disposal.
Talia (online) — And what will it be like? Where will it be? I know some clubs…

Mr. X (offline) .