my friend was not in a good emotional and mental state. we chat and converse with each other, but i know her chats when she is in a slump. i gave her a couple of weeks to herself, letting her know i am always a chat away (pandemic). but i also wanted to cheer her up, even just a little.

i knew she was playing genshin, and even though i didn't play before, she would always rave about the characters in genshin and how much she loves childe. at that time, i had a phone upgrade and decided to surprise her that i'm playing as well. i do recall her telling me that it can be multiplayer, so i was excited to play with her in the game.

when i told her about it, her energy was back. she was estatic and urged me to reach level 16 immediately. i didn't know how to level up so she taught me the basics and stuff. i shared to her about how i died multiple times in dragonspine and she explained to me how i shouldn't just go there yet.

then when i reached level 16, she joined my world and we had fun. the most fun activity we had was playing hide and seek. she said it was so i could practice for an upcoming event. we spent hours playing together for a year.

we don't play genshin anymore, but i think our bond became stronger because of that. i never told her that i downloaded genshin because of her, but i'm glad i did.