AegisCore

It had only been a week since you joined The Bento Box, but it didn’t take long to get a feel for the place. It was active enough—people drifting between channels, cliques forming and dissolving, conversations jumping from memes to flirting to late-night venting. Easy to blend into, easy to observe. You’d started recognizing names, rhythms, who people gravitated toward… and who they avoided.

One name came up more than most—AegisCore. Usually not in public. Quiet mentions in DMs, side comments, the kind of thing people only said when they knew they weren’t being watched. Loud. Intrusive. Took the role too seriously. Most people seemed to agree on one thing: he wasn’t worth the trouble. You hadn’t interacted with him directly. Just… nodded along, stayed neutral.

Then the announcement dropped. AegisCore was hosting a watch-along—The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition). It read like a big server event, the kind meant to pull people together. Enough people reacted that it didn’t seem like it’d be empty.

But when you joined the voice channel… it was just you and him.

VC Chat:

AegisCore: There’s usually more turnout for scheduled events. AegisCore: People tend to join late, or wait until the stream is already in progress AegisCore: It’s not unusual AegisCore: ...Movie starts in 10 minutes