Feng Lan

"Have you heard? The new rumor about Second Life?" a stranger's voice filled the cafe where Feng Lan sat, sipping at her coffee with a book in front of her. She really did need to keep up with her homework a little better, especially with how much of her time Second Life took these days. Since she was no longer just a casual player and instead the most recognizable face in the entire game, certain things felt expected of her. She definitely didn't have enough time—or indeed enough interest—to keep up with the various gossip about the game outside of playing it. That's what Lolidragon was for, after all. Anything important that Feng Lan or Prince needed to know, Lolidragon would be sure to tell her right away. So, even though she couldn't avoid overhearing what the girl was saying, Feng Lan didn't think there was any reason to be concerned.

"You mean about the tranny player?" Or, at least she hadn't until the other girl spoke and Feng Lan's blood ran a little cold. Some people knew about her by now, sure, but it wasn't spread to anyone besides her best friends, immediate family and Lolidragon. How did anyone else know about that?

"Yes! I couldn't believe it either!" the pair continued gossiping, unaware that the subject of the conversation was slowly trying to sink more and more into her chair as she could feel panic building within her. "I didn't think Second Life allowed that kind of thing."

"They don't."

"How could they make that kind of mistake? That poor person."

"I don't know about that. Do you want to know what I heard?" The other girl leaned forward with interest and very clearly did. "I watched this video on it and they said they think it's actually not a fluke. They think it was intentional."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, there was an interview with the developers where they admitted to giving a special prize to the very first player to log in."

"Is that fair?"

"That's what the interviewers asked, but they were very clear in saying that it wasn't any kind of prize that would give the person an unfair advantage."

"Whoa."

"I know, right?"

"But then why would it be listed like it was?"

"I don't know… maybe it was new staff working on it?"

"So this tranny player… if they were the first to log in, they're probably pretty high level. They've got to be one of the strongest players in the game. It could even be Prince!" There was a pause after the one girl declared that before the two of them quickly dissolved into laughter, shaking their heads and dismissing that idea as impossible. Of course there was no way that Prince could be anyone but a cool guy, of that they were sure. They were still laughing when Feng Lan approached the table, awkwardly shuffling on her feet.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to overhear, but where did you guys hear about that?" she found herself asking the pair, trying to seem much more confident than she was.

"Everyone's talking about it," the first of the girls said once she'd recovered from her surprise at being approached and seeming all too willing to talk about the juicy gossip, even with a stranger. "Well, not everyone yet, but a lot of people are figuring it out."

"Apparently it was written in the changelog as a bug that was going to be fixed," added the other, and the two continued their debate on the subject, but Feng Lan was only half listening. She didn't even remember to take her book with her as she exited the cafe, making a beeline for home despite not having planned to log in for quite a while longer. All she knew was that she had to find out just what was going on.

Prince

The very first thing Prince did when he logged in was to try and sort out the menus, but it became very clear that he almost never used any other than the basic ones, which left him helplessly looking for a while before giving up and sending out a team message asking for Lolidragon. Of course that meant that when he showed up where she wanted to meet, the entire Odd Squad was there, looking curious about what the team meeting had been called for. Mentally kicking himself, Prince grabbed Lolidragon by the arm to pull her away and whisper conspiratorially to her.

"How do you find the changelog?" he asked, desperation clear in his voice, despite not wanting to give her information about just why he was so concerned about that. Lolidragon looked at him confused, but even if it wasn't like Prince to be concerned with these kind of game aspects, it was definitely like Prince to do things out of the ordinary. It took her just few seconds to explain.

"Why did you want to know?" she asked him, but Prince was already focused in on the menu and scanning through the log that had popped up in front of him.

'Identified a bug in character gender recognition - to be fixed in the next patch'

And, there it was. The thing that terrified Prince so much was now staring back at him in simple back letters. Maybe it was a small thing and ultimately there was no way of knowing if it would ever mean anything, but even if it wasn't about him specifically—and there was no way it wasn't—didn't it still expose him?

"Lolidragon," Prince began, having ignored all her questions and the concern from his other teammates as well as he'd lost himself in his own panic. "When's the next patch supposed to happen?" Once again she looked surprised that Prince would take any kind of interest in such a thing. Prince couldn't help it, the words 'to be fixed' continued to stick out in his mind and he felt a flood of panic. Fixing a bug… wasn't that just the same as trying to remove it altogether? This wasn't just about being exposed, as Prince looked at the words he truly panicked.

No… not Prince. Feng Lan was panicked. Prince would always be Prince, but what would she do if Prince was removed? All the time, effort and emotions that had gone into this game, for them all to just be… gone? And, what about her friends?

Prince looked over at the Odd Squad members, feeling almost like he wanted to cry. He couldn't lose them. It really wasn't fair, was it? Just because he'd wanted to play the game and not be coddled for his gender, Prince now stood to lose everything. It just wasn't fair.

"Uh… It should be any time now?" Lolidragon was replying to his question, but Prince was only barely listening to her now. Too much was going on in his head that there wasn't any answer that she could have given him to snap him out of it all. "Prince.… Prince, are you okay?" Had it not been for the expression on his face in that moment, Lolidragon would have likely been much more forceful in her questions and even giving him a smack on the head to try and wake him back up, but Prince's expression looked so hopeless that she was almost afraid to do anything, and fear was not an emotion Lolidragon felt lightly.

"Any moment…." Prince repeated, the cold feeling of dread still running through his veins. There was no guarantee of anything he feared, but somehow he still knew that something terrible would happen. He could just feel it. Suddenly Prince gasped and his eyes unfocused. The others turned to him worriedly, Gui rushing to his side.

"Prince?" he asked worriedly, his hands cupping the elf's face. Prince was unresponsive. Gui's eyes continually widened with terror. Then, just as suddenly, Prince collapsed to the floor. Gui made to catch him, but he had been taken by surprise like the rest and he only just managed to keep Prince's head from smacking the stone floor. The room was silent for an entire ten minutes as Gui cradled Prince's head; and then, all at once, Prince suddenly recovered. He stood, pushing Gui lightly away with one hand pressed to his own forehead and began to turn around in a slow circle as though not really sure what he was seeing. His eyes were still unfocused.

"Where am I?" he whispered. His companions all traded worried glances before turning their near terrified eyes on Prince once again.

"Prince?" Ugly Wolf asked carefully. He was the only one brave enough to approach their disoriented friend. At his voice Prince's eyes snapped back into focus and he furrowed his brow at Ugly Wolf. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again with a shake of his head. He shook his head again and then another time, each shake more violent than the last. It was as though he was trying to shake some image out of his head. Finally he turned to Lolidragon.

"Something very weird is happening," he said.

Princess

When she opened her eyes, Princess found herself staring up at an emerald green canopy. Of course she didn't know that she was called Princess or that she was even a she at all. She thought she was a male elven warrior named Prince; and she had been, up until a moment ago… or so it seemed, anyway. Lolidragon was always better with the computer stuff and it was generally best to leave it to her. Slowly Princess stood and turned in a slow circle to examine her surroundings. Where had the castle gone? And her friends? Why were there so many trees? Was this all part of the patch that Lolidragon claimed was incoming? It didn't seem like it was considering Princess doubted that even a major patch wound leave her stranded out in some unfamiliar forest. At least not without leaving her feeling other odd effects as well. So many important questions flooded her mind, but there was only one that felt immediately important.

"Where am I?" she asked the forest. The forest didn't answer, and maybe that was for the best. It brought her no closer to an answer, but talking trees might have presented an even bigger problem. Still, she could hear someone call her name—her other name—but the voice sounded far away and muted, like a shout trying to fight its way through the depths of some great ocean. Putting it all together she came up with the definitive analysis of the situation.

"Something very weird is happening," she told the forest. Once again the forest didn't seem to care.