Normally, I'd be forced to slap a spoiler warning on this chapter, but sense I'm not spoiling anything, I guess I get a free pass. This chapter will have a background focus on the Warcraft movie, which was actually pretty good, despite the reviews. Even my grandparents got what was going on during the movie. End rant.
I also know nothing about how Overwatch works on console, so I apologize if I get anything wrong.
Anyway it's review answering time!
Amerdism: So far, the way the story has been set up, it wouldn't make sense to add characters from Warcraft. The only one that is more or less an explanation of exactly how Brimir knew about the weapons in the first place and a few other things, but that goes into spoiler territory. Isabella is extremely unlikely to get her own magical powers. The way I've set up Earth in this story would make it hard to explain.
Potato: The first guess was good, actually. However that person will always be known as the person Isabella stabbed. The second, well, Isabella has had no boyfriend, ex or otherwise. One ex-girlfriend though. And thanks.
Boyzilla: Louise is going through a lot of culture shock. Plus, Isabella kind of said that Louise's normal behavior on the reason she's a noble isn't exactly something that will fly. Though with Isabella's parents, she is overcompensating quite a bit. Her friend's and her familiar's brother, not so much.
Ninon: Yeah, I'd actually would be surprised if it was. The technology will play parts with the story, but in Helkeginia, laptops and cellphones will only work in areas where something from Earth has been summoned. It serves as a balancing act, to keep it from getting too out of hand.
Let's get on with the show!
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Surprisingly, I was the first one up. While I had found my familiar to be a heavy sleeper, she raised herself from that slumber quite early. It must be the fact she was finally back in her own room. That room was small, nearly half the size of my room at the Academy, but it still had space. Though the wall opposite of the bed seemed to be covered by a bookshelf. A very messy bookshelf at that. Some shelf's had books in normal rows, while other times they were stacked. I didn't know that Isabell is a fan of the literary arts.
Speaking of my familiar, where was she anyway? I took a peak off the bed, noticing a lump of grey in the middle of, what was it? A sleeping bag? Isabell had retreated into the object, seemingly turning herself into a sphere. It was curious. I knew she took something with her before she went to sleep. Some strange stuffed animal, if I wasn't mistaken. Something with a strange structure on it's neck and three horns on it's head.
With great care to not step on my familiar and let her sleep, I exited the room. Normally, I would have done such, but considering the sleep shirt I had borrowed went down to my ankles, along with the fact my familiar was kind enough to give a pair of her sleep pants. While she had to roll up the oversized pants, they were surprisingly comfortable. I wasn't surprised that my familiar didn't own a nightgown. She only had one dress, and that appeared to be quite old and it had never been worn. I decided to head downstairs.
"Damn it!" I heard a slam halfway down the stairs. I balked at the cursing that followed. What was going on down there? The voice belonged to Jacob. Was this what had happened yesterday? What exactly was happening? I paused, half tempted to go back upstairs and grab my familiar. But ultimately, it would be best to let her sleep. If she was still asleep at this time, then it was for a good reason. Besides the swearing, how bad could it be?
"It's High Noon!" Another voice declared from downstairs. I paused. That was most certainly not the voice anyone I recognized. Was there somebody else in the house that I wasn't aware of? No, that was unlikely. Unless that cat of theirs actually talked (the thing was extremely vocal), there would be nobody else up. Plus, it was most certainly nowhere near noon. I stepped down the stairs, taking a look at what was happening.
It was, well, strange. The game that was on the screen (television, or T.V. for short), was familiar. I'm certain I've seen Isabell play that game before. So some games that could be played on a laptop could also be played on a console. Strange. I've never seen her play Mario Cart. Maybe it wasn't one of those games that could be played like that. What exactly was he waiting on anyway? Suddenly, the character on the screen fired his weapon, seemingly taking out three opponents, before jumping into the fray. The game his was in shortly finished.
"Looks fun," I said as I approached. He hadn't noticed my arrival, and I noticed him twitch before responding. Another similarity between him and his sister. The fact that both of them did the same thing cemented them as siblings, despite their differences.
"It is," he said plainly, "Would you like to join me?" He offered. At least he has some gentleman like qualities, swearing aside.
"Sure, you got room for one more?" my familiar appeared out of nowhere, almost like a ghost, rubbing her eyes sleeply. Jacob's face paled a considerable degree. Why was that?
"So long as you swear not to go Torbjorn," he snapped. Torbjorn? Who was a Torbjorn? And why did he not want her to play him? Or her. What type of name was that anyway?
"I cross my heart to not play Torbjorn," she said, literally making an X over her heart with her finger.
"Who is Torbjorn, and why do you not want her to play him?" I demanded.
"Dwarf Fortress!" was my familiar's immediate and not clarifying response. What did that even mean, anyway?
"She's good enough as an Engineer in TF2, and Torbjorn is pretty close. And on console, Torbjorn borderline overpower. Playing against her would be nightmare," he said, tossing me a controller. One that a barely caught. "Be careful with those. They're expensive."
"Then don't throw them," I snap back. He let out a huff.
"You know Louise is right. I payed for half of this, so stop trying to break it," Isabell chastised her younger sibling. I was somewhat surprised. From what I understood, her laptop was pretty good, so why she would spend money on this was beyond me. I finally sat down between the two, the large couch (which was little more than a massive, cuffy, chair).
"Uh, what am I supposed to do with this?" I look down at the mess of buttons and sticks. This was nothing like the extremely simple Wii controler (which was nothing more than a stick).
"Left stick is for moving, right is for aiming, the buttons on the back are your abilities and guns, press x for your ultimate when it's fully charged" Isabell quickly clarified. I placed four fingers near the buttons, before looking at the screen. From the look of it, I had the largest of the three from the split screen, the one on the bottom. That always seemed to happen.
"We're going to need a tank," Jacob's voice broke me out of my line of thought. My familiar grinned.
"Then I shall break them," she chose a character with short clipped hair (which was pink), and was very heavily build, even more so than she was.
"Zarya?" he questioned. Isabell shrugged. "You're using Zarya?"
"In mother Russia, bear wrestles you!" she declared happily. The muscular pink haired body builder picking up some type of cannon. That left me with who I was going to chose for this. Something simple would be good. That Soldier 76 character seems fairly simple.
"Soldier 76. That's a good choice," my familiar grinned. I looked at the rest of the group. Jacob himself had actually taken the role of support (as far as I could tell). The rest of the team consisted of some golem like thing, a person with purple skin, and someone who was actually really well dressed for the snow covered well, I don't know that it was. A factory that was made to make giant golems?
I quickly experimented with the abilities before the match began. This Soldier's gun was fairly accurate, and surprisingly (ok, considering the technology needed to even make this game, not so much), had more than one shot. Another increased movement so long as I held down the button, but I couldn't shot. The last two was some type of cannon shot, and something that was placed on the ground. Isabell told me the three shots fired at once was to bring down low health opponents, or to burst down health. The yellow circle was a swift heal that bring me back from one health, but she also said to never let it get that far.
What ensued was a chaotic mess of explosions, cannons, and bullets. We actually succeeded in our defense (a last minute ultimate stacking did that), but before any more games could occur, it was apparently time for breakfast.
I let out a sigh. Apparently, Isabell and I were going somewhere. Of course, that actually required getting changed, something that I had finished and something my familiar should have finished doing quite a while ago. I paused as the door opened. I was certainly not excepting that. How would one except that? She clearly looked like she was wearing armor. Of course, it wasn't actually armor. It may have had the appearance of nightmare black steel, but it made little sound, betraying its nature. It was also extremely familiar. Wait? Why is my familiar dressed up as her WoW character?
"Mom, we're heading out!" she shouted grabbing a key.
"You are not driving a car dressed like that," her mom warned. My familiar opened her mouth in protest. "Ever"
"Fine, I'll call Leo."
The fact that it took Leo a handful of minutes was surprising enough. What he used however. I knew the whole basic idea. Using an engine instead of a horse to make a cart move. But a cart made out of some type of metal?
"Everyone buckled in?" the young man asked. He hadn't changed much, though his dark hair was somewhat shorter. Wait, what exactly did he mean by that? "Louise, you know we can't go anywhere until you buckle up, right?"
"No! What does that even mean?" I said, somewhat annoyed with his tone. Isabell sighed.
"It means hold still, I'll do it for you," she turned around, taking a few seconds to pull some type of belt across my body.
"What does this even do?" I huffed in annoyance. What was the purpose of this annoying and uncomfortable device, and why was it here?
"The first reason is for safety. We get into a crash, which is unlikely, I don't think Isabella is going to be happy seeing you fly through the windshield. The second is that it's a crime," Leo shoot back. That was, actually two extremely good reasons. Didn't make it any less uncomfortable.
"It would be nice to know exactly where we're going," I say, crossing my arms.
"You haven't told her?" Leo's tone implied that he raised his eyebrow. I could almost hear the smirk. "Here is a hint, Louise. Why would she dress up as her Warcraft character? Which, by the way, I can't believe you were serious about that." I paused. Why exactly would she do that, anyway?
"Something to do with the guild?" I question. It made sense. Of course, Leo wasn't dressed up for the occasion. And if so was Hades going to be there? If so, I'm going to enjoy giving him a piece of my mind.
"Close, actually," it was Isabell that finally spoke up. "The Warcraft movie came out, and a few of us are meeting up to go see it." I nodded. That made some sense. But wait, Warcraft? Wasn't the game called World of Warcraft?
"The games that came before World of Warcraft were called Warcraft," she continued. This is exactly why I'm certain she can secretly read minds. Moments like this.
"Isabella, doing that isn't helping disproving rumors about you reading minds," Leo stated. So I wasn't the only one thinking that. Any joking aside, that still was creepy.
"If I could read minds, I would be able tell how you've been doing," Isabell hinted, changing the conversation.
"Well, if you must be so blunt, I've been doing fine, thank you for asking," the dark haired man shrugged.
"Leo, you visited another dimension. You expect me to believe that you haven't been doing something," my familiar responded. That was curious.
"Why is that important? And why are you so worried about it? It took both of us do that last time," I state. Why was she worried about it? Leo was normal. No magic, and only an understanding for machines. So what was the fuss about?
"Leo made a Deathstar in a Minecraft server. Somehow, the redstone used made it develop it's own personality. That just happened to try and destroy everything on the server," she said. I understood none of that, but apparently it was important.
"Hey, that was a one time occurrence and you know it!" Leo snapped back. Apparently this was some type of inside joke. Expect for the fact that she was dead serious.
"It still isn't the most ringing endorsement. No tinkering around with dimensions, ok?" my familiar responded, clearly done with the conversation at hand.
"Fine," Leo surrendered, before taking a quick look at Isabell. What was he thinking? "Have you heard?" Ok? What exactly was going on?
"Leo, I've been gone for three months. You're going to need to be more specific that 'have you heard?'" she responded.
"It's about Hu," he said. I could almost feel the temperature in the car drop. For starters, who was Hu? And why exactly did her name cause that type of reaction?
"What about Hu?" Isabell nearly spat. Ok, now I was even more curious, and somewhat worried. Anger, no, this was sadness, seemed to radiate off her body.
"She went missing around the same time you did. Any idea where she went?" Leo questioned carefully. He was fully aware he was walking on ice with this one.
"She got a scholarship to an art school. Never told her parents. Leo, you know just as well as I do exactly how well she got along with her parents," the last part was dripping with sarcasm.
"If you say so," Leo finally turned away from the clearly painful conversation. I wanted to ask my familiar, but given her present behavior, that wouldn't be a good idea. I wasn't going to try and force her to talk. We were here to have fun, not deal with crazy drama. I took a look out the window, fighting the urge to keep my jaw in place.
"What type of mansion is that?" I faintly breath aloud. The building was massive, almost the size of my own home, if not actually larger.
"That is our stop, actually," was Leo's response, clearly enjoying the shock.
"What?" I nearly shout. How was that even possible? A building that large being used for these movies! What was a movie, anyway?
"Of course. How else are they going to fit in more than a hundred people per theater?" Isabell grinned. Over one hundred! These movies must be massive events if this.
"You're meaning to tell me that there will be more than a hundred people there?" this was to much.
"I hope not," Leo huffed, parking the car. I started trying to figure out how to unbuckle the belt strapped across me. This thing was an annoyance. Isabell rolled her eyes, opening the door and releasing the buckle, finally freeing me.
I gazed up at the building. It was kind of bland, excluding the massive panels of glass that made up the front of the building. Above that was a splashing of bright red symbols, likely letters.
"Linthice!" a voice shouted, waving her hand above the crowd. The voice and the robes seemed familiar, much like Isabell's own costume. Syla, perhaps? Ok, so the girls were clearly dressing up for this. For fun? Maybe, but it still wasn't something I expected her to do.
"So cute!" was her sudden shriek, running over to me before starting to pinch my cheeks. No, I got to much of that had home. No thank you.
"Stop it," I flail finally causing her to back off. I frown. My familiar certainly keeps intresting company.
"You two are such nerds," the voice of a man said from behind me. Ok, who was he?
"Says the High School teacher hanging out with kids that could be his students," Isabell quipped back.
"Yeah! Besides, you're here to watch it with us," Syla protested. Grim raised his hands in mock surrender. The man was certainly older than the others by a good deal. Not as old as Professor Colbert, but still getting there.
"That makes five of us! Is anyone else coming?" Syla cheered. She was clearly in a good mood. I didn't see much of her face under the white hood she was wearing.
"Likely just Hades at this point. Everyone else is busy," Grim sighed. "Which means I'm on babysitting duty." Everyone shoot he a glare for the remark, forcing him to raise his hands in surrender.
Isabell and Syla quickly fell into a conversation as we waited for the last and final member to arrive. I hanged back somewhat. These were her friends after all, but I didn't know the first thing about them.
"You know she hasn't seen of us for quite a while," Leo said, leaning against a wall nearby.
"I know that!" I snap in response. Part of me didn't like him. I don't know why, but part of me just didn't.
"I see," he hummed. Ok, exactly what was he doing? "Then why are you jealous?" I paused. What was he talking about?
"I have no idea what you're talking about," I cross my arms with a huff. He let out a sigh.
"I'm not talking about Syla. I'm talking about Kirchie and Siesta," Leo said plainly.
"What?" I said in shock. How did he know those two, and what exactly was he talking about?
"Siesta's straight as far as I can tell, and if Isabella liked Kirchie, she would have already responded to her advances. You have nothing to worry about," he continued, either not hearing me or just not wanting to.
I have no idea what you're talking about," I snap in annoyance. Leo squints, before shrugging. I'm beginning to see where my familiar had developed some of her strange behavior.
"Fine. Can you answer this then. Have you ever heard of any of Isabella's weapons before, or Azeroth?" The sudden change in topic caused me to pause. What exactly was he doing? What was the point of all that?
"No," I snapped, annoyed with his previous questions. "And I fail to see why that's so important." Leo rolled his eyes.
"Look, Isabella having that power means one of three things. One, that whoever made that rune knew about our world, and somehow knew about Warcraft. The second means that Azeroth not only exists, but is also somehow connected to your world. The third. Well, with that type of luck, that person would have never lost a bet," he crossed his arms. I didn't get it. Concerned, yes. But he clearly overthinking it. It was far more likely that what she was playing was the cause. After all, certainly weapons like that would have been recorded, even if just in passing.
"Hey Dorsa," someone said was they approached. Black hair that was similar to Siesta, with blue-grey eyes. He wore jeans, alongside a blue and white shirt, that had something run straight up the middle.
"Hello, Hades," Leo smirked, "I'd like to introduce to my friend, Louise." This was Hades? The look on his face told me he knew exactly what was coming.
"Wait, that's," he didn't get to finish, after a swift kick to the leg made him yelp in pain. "What was that for?" he shouted.
"That's for asking a lady that type of question!" I shout back, noticing my familiar was howling with laughter in the background.
"Well, if I knew you were twelve, I wouldn't have asked!" he shouted back. My eyebrow twitched.
"Way to dig your own grave, Saito," Isabell shouted. I smack him in the head. Hard. How dare he make fun of my height! And other things. I would have hit him more, too, if she didn't decide to pick me up.
"That's enough tiger. Saito may disserve that, but we don't need him dead," she had picked me up from behind, as to stop me from doing any more damage. I finally stopped flailing about. Which resulted in my reunion with the ground.
"Come on kiddies, the movie is going to start in less than a half our," Grim broke up the laughing that most of us were enjoying, causings use to all give him an evil look.
*Around two hours later*
"That was much better than reviewers made it out to be," Syla said, stretching her arms.
"If that was supposed to be bad, then what are the good movies like?" I ask. Barring the elves, the movie proved to be quite enjoyable. Though I think I'm going to have to explain it to Isabell, considering I nearly jumped out of my seat in fright each time one showed up on screen.
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And that's a wrap. Sorry that the update was so late. I've been doing a lot of writing for my summer class, so I'm beginning to develop a bit of a writer's block. I'm just writing so much, I'm going to take a little bit more time between updates, simply so I don't burnout.
The most important thing in this chapter is that we finally know who Isabella's ex-girlfriend is. Who is Hu? Why does she matter? The second is Leo. He has been working on something, and he does have a few valid questions on the origin of Isabella's powers. What is he working on? Well, like with Hu, that's spoilers, so I'm not saying. But what do you think?
And Hades is Saito, and Grim is a highschool teacher. Syla, like Isabella (formerly) and Leo, is a college student. This is likely to be their only physical appearance in the story. Sorry if Siato is out of character (though I think he would ask that question if ever given the chance, being a hormonal teenager).
I've posted a poll on my profile. If you like (or dislike) this arc, then I would recommend checking it out and voting.
Hopefully you enjoyed, and I hope to see you next time.