[chapter_2]

"I can't believe you actually ate my pudding," Leah says, but rather than disbelief, her tone is one of acute shock. "You really did that."

"I really did," Bella says distractedly. She is currently preoccupied with a very important task - repairing her laptop. As with any computer repair, there is a certain delicacy that must be used. Inserting a graphics chip isn't the most difficult task, but she needs to be careful about the surrounding circuitry. The job itself can be done within ten minutes, but there is always the possibility that she might have to reconfigure her default settings and that always takes time. She can be picky about that sort of thing.

Bella uses a tiny screwdriver to replace the backing on her laptop, and with her head still down, casts a glance to Leah. She bites her lip to kill a smile and focuses back on her task.

Leah, standing in their shared common room, is looking down at the silver mesh wire wastebasket and the incriminating evidence sitting shamelessly right at the top - a double-pack of triple chocolate pudding, the sides of the plastic scraped clean. Bella had enjoyed the pudding more than usual. Because it was revenge pudding? Probably. She'd eaten it with certain relish, had taken a selfie with it, and had boldly posted her crime to Twitter.

She'd even used a very appropriate #retribution to punctuate the post.

Leah had not been and continues to not be amused. "This was reward pudding for after midterms," she tells Bella forlornly

"The pudding was delicious. Too bad you missed out, huh?"

Leah makes a strangled noise. "You're an awful best friend! I want a refund."

Bella side-eyes her childhood friend as her laptop is rebooting, clicks her tongue, and then reaches down to pop open the bottom drawer of her desk. She reaches in, shuffling aside papers, a selection of sour gummy candies, and a half-empty box of ballpoint pens, and emerges with a pristine pack of butterscotch pudding. She plonks the pudding on the desk. "I'm not totally heartless," she declares.

Leah darts forward, hugs the pudding to her chest. She blows Bella a kiss. "You're the best, a living gem, we should name you Queen," she says quickly. "I never doubted you, not even for a second."

"Uh huh."

"Ah, it's butterscotch…" Sensing Bella's stare, Leah laughs. "Not that butterscotch is bad, of course. Not my favorite, but infinitely better than vanilla. You know me so well!"

And isn't that the truth?

It isn't an exaggeration to say that Bella and Leah have known each other since they were in diapers. Before Renee Higginbotham had jetted off to glamorous lights and greener pastures, leaving her infant daughter in the care of her taciturn ex-husband, she had been best friends with a certain Sue Clearwater. Renee and Sue had organized playdates in the hopes that their daughters would grow up to be just as close - but in truth, Leah and Bella are even closer than their mothers before them. Maybe this is because they have similar personalities, or maybe because they clung to each other in sisterhood surrounded by rambunctious, stupid boys as they were. Maybe their closeness is a simple side effect of being step-sisters since their freshman year in high school.

Whatever the reason, there isn't a person alive who knows Leah better than Bella; and there isn't anyone on the planet who knows Bella better than Leah. They might as well share a brain.

Which is why Bella knows Leah is lying through her pearly teeth right now. Butterscotch is her favorite pudding.

All the same, Bella likes to play along with Leah's antics when they come along. Too often Leah can get lost in her head, and while being hyper-focused and driven has won her a place at a top rated school, it hadn't come without sacrifice. She can be stubborn and implacable, and when her mind is made up there isn't anything that can make her falter. Sam Uley and his broken heart is a testament to that.

Bella thinks it's all part of growing. For Leah, growing had been something marked by hardship. She cut her teeth on grief when Harry Clearwater's heart failed; she met hunger so she could keep Seth fed when Sue was working two jobs and still not making ends meet; she found strength in honesty and freedom in outrage. It is only now, when Leah has walked on coals to find herself, that her personality is blooming. As her sister and her best friend, Bella will do all she can to support that.

Because Bella might have seen all 20 years of Leah's struggle, but she can only relate to it vicariously. All of Bella's hardships have been softer, muted, insulated. Bella knows loneliness instead of grief; heart-stopping worry instead of hunger; strength in ambition and freedom in a virtual world. Bella hasn't walked on coals so much as she has slipped across ice, sliding and shivering, but never quite falling. She is secure in herself, certain of her worth, and content in modesty.

If Leah is a loud and vibrant firebrand, then Bella is a humble breeze and the cool reflection of lake. And like water, Bella is willing to go with the flow when it suits her.

Bella spins around in her desk chair, eyebrows raised and eyes blinking innocently. "If you're really salty about this pudding, you can always request a different roommate next year," she suggests slyly.

Leah rolls her eyes and traipses to their bedroom. "That's exactly what I'll do!" she calls over her shoulder.

They both know she won't. They have a solemn agreement to request the same room for all four years of college and so far the Stanford housing administration has been accommodating. They've even been lucky enough to be placed in a quad dorm with Alice and Rose. It's been an inside joke that they must be the scholarship dorm, since everyone else on their floor has deep enough pockets to pay for their education without any help. Maybe that really is the reason for their luck rooming together. Regardless, Bella is grateful to have made good friends with good people, just like she is grateful that she has her sister by her side.

It makes this whole experience just a little less intimidating.

Their dorm suite is one of several quad dorms in Roble Hall, situated on the second floor on the west-facing side. The suite itself is something of a butterfly, opening to the common room in the center and two dorm rooms on either side, two beds in each room, and then a shared bathroom at the head. The oblong common room has two pine desks with attached overhead bookshelves on each of the longest off-white walls, while the center of the room has a cluster of beanbags in muted shades over a garish eyesore of rug Alice had insisted on spreading across the floor. They have dedicated an entire corner of the common room to being a clear, blank space where any of them can create content for their various social media side hustles; the corner is used the most by Bella and Rose, who each have set schedules to record content.

The dorm room on the right belongs to Alice and Rose. It is a place that is an explosion of vibrancy, rich with hues in every color of the rainbow. This is in part because of Alice's love of fabrics and her dedication to creating her own clothing, and partially because Rose just has a lot of stuff. As an Instagram model, Rose is sent everything under the sun to promote, and since she can't use everything, things just tend to pile up. But both Alice and Rose aren't bothered by the clutter, and neither are Bella and Leah provided the common room is kept clean.

The other dorm room is a stark contrast. Both Bella and Leah have a love for minimalism, and with both of their majors being focused on technology, their room is neatly organized with bins of Leah's camera equipment and Bella's stockpile of flashdrives and hardware, all in shades of greyscale. But while their dorm mates might be happy with the west-facing rooms that let in endless amounts of afternoon sunlight, Bella and Leah have had to get creative. Their hobbies are not things that are done easily in brightly-lit places, after all. The sun is the enemy to sensitive screens and electronics, so they have put up black-out curtains that keep the room cool and dark.

It is a home away from home. Sometimes it is a place that feels more home than home back in the Pacific Northwest. Funny how that happens, how people adapt so completely - how Bella adapts so quickly.

With Leah gone to their room, surely working on editing her latest video, a task she usually relegates to Sunday's for the sake of managing her course load, Bella can again turn her attention to keeping her own schedule on track.

Bella navigates through the electronic files and settings on her hard drive, going through all the reconfiguration for the graphics chip manually rather than letting the computer do the work. Check. Double check. Run a quick performance test. Everything looks good. With a mental pat on the back for a job well done, Bella launches Dawn of Warcraft on her computer.

She always loves watching the game load, the graphic artist in her admiring the rendering of all the different characters and environments that are in the game. The game design itself is industry standard for RPGs, a first-person view that clips through all the game play, the pixilated images smooth enough for when the game launched over five years ago. Bella has been playing for three years and has been taking notes - things she would change and improve if she had the chance. How would she design characters? How would she want them rendered during game play? Is there a way to make everything more lifelike?

She's in college, majoring in Computer Science with minor in Software Engineering, so she can find out. Her dream, her biggest aspiration, is to help build a game that reinvents and revolutionizes gaming. She wants a hand in breaking new ground. She wants to help bring a new world to life.

Bella logs into her account, selects Swansong, and waits for the game to load her previous progress. She is always meticulous about her saves, makes sure that she never loses ground in any of her quests. Progress can only be made with dedication.

The screen materializes into an empty glen surrounded by craggy rocks, Swansong's slender red form right in the center, standing still and staring straight forward. But Bella hardly spares her character a glance, her eyes drawn to the black dialogue box that pops up in the corner of her screen.

Relentless: meet me at Phoenix Ridge

Relentless: I need to run something by you

Bella is surprised to find that Relentless has a message waiting for her. Unusual. And the message itself is odd. Formal, almost.

Swansong: is it important?

Relentless must be lurking online because his reply comes immediately.

Relentless: time sensitive

Bella checks the time. She has a few minutes before the guild meeting starts. She has some time to spare, and her curiosity drives her to quickly agree. She figures Relentless wants to enter another competition - he's insatiably competitive that way and there is always a new competition around the corner. Any time he hears about one, he always jumps on the chance to sign them up.

Something tick-tick-ticks away in her brain. Is it strange that he wants to meet at Phoenix Ridge? Kind of. Actually, it's more than a little odd.

Phoenix Ridge is a place on the game map that doesn't see a lot of action - in fact, there are no formal quests or side quests that involve this spot on the map at all. Phoenix Ridge, the place where old things die and new things are reborn, is only visited for a scant handful of reasons. She knows some players of certain character races who do not respawn quickly have a default setting to take advantage of Phoenix Ridge's 49 second respawn rate. But the majority of players know Phoenix Ridge for other reasons - it is the place where alliances are made and broken.

Swansong appears in Phoenix Ridge, surrounded by rock formations of carved phoenixes, their long tails creating winding paths through round, grassy knolls. There are cherry trees and pink blossoms, the sky forever a shade of blue with cottony clouds. If she had her headset plugged in, she would hear a bubbling brook in the distance and the faint, musical call of mythical birds. Phoenix Ridge is, without a doubt, one of the most lovingly crafted parts of game map.

This is only the second time Swansong has been here. The first was back in October, when Swansong and Relentless created their alliance. Nostalgia drives her to visit the place where it all started - and she supposes that Relentless must share the sentiment, because he is already waiting atop a gently rolling hill, tall and golden.

He does not hesitate when he catches sight of Swansong.

Relentless: let's dissolve our partnership

On the other side of the screen, Bella raises her brows and sits back. He's full of surprises today, she muses with a vague feeling of interest. Relentless is not being relentless, at least not in the way she knows. He certainly seems determined about this.

Swansong: okay. let's go to Concordant Rock

Concordant Rock is the reason why most players visit Phoenix Ridge. The rock, a towering stone figure with an androgynous face, stands in the middle of a mossy lake, two hands held out palm-side up as if in offering. The face on the statue moves in only two ways; a smile for when alliances are made, and a single tear when alliances are broken.

Swansong and Relentless step up to Concordant Rock at the same time, the virtual characters each grasping of the statue hands. On the screen, a new gold-lined dialogue box opens up.

Do You Consent to Disunion?

Yes. Bella clicks the appropriate option and the dialogue box changes again.

Swansong and Relentless Have Dissolved Their Union. May Parting Bring New Journeys.

The entire affair is rather anti-climatic. Bella wishes her parent's divorce was as amicable and free of conflict as this instead of the long, drawn-out custody battle it became. This is much more preferable.

Relentless: I'm sorry about this

Relentless: you've been a good partner

Swansong: it's fine, no hard feelings

Swansong: we only allied for that inter-server competition

Relentless: right

Swansong: I'll see you around

Relentless: maybe we can fight a dungeon together sometime

Relentless: for old times sake

Swansong: sure. talk to you later

Swansong and Relentless part, and for the first time in over six months, their private game chat closes. Bella doesn't have any particular feeling about it. It is what it is. Friends in games come and go, and this is just another case of an alliance ending.

Swansong navigates to another portion of the map, heading directly to her guild's meeting place, the grand palace of the Illuminating Lotus Guild. Her guild is one of the larger groups on this server, frequently sharing the burden of hosting newbie players and giving aid for challenging dungeons. Like any decent guild, they share resources between them, pooling medicines, herbs, and weaponry to help each other level up. This meeting is a monthly event, mostly a time to introduce new guild members and take stock of the guild store, redistributing whatever resources each guild member has. Swansong donates several rare herbs she has been collecting, along with the yin iron she keeps getting as reward.

When the meeting is over, Swansong turns to navigate a new place on the map, but a new private chat pops up on the screen.

Janeway: hey, saw the system announcement

Janeway: he actually did it

Janeway: wow

Bella shoudn't be surprised that Janeway already knows about the dissolution of her alliance. Janeway somehow always knows everything, sometimes even the instant right after it happens. She hasn't asked, but she assumes that Janeway lives online for a reason - any time Swansong is logged on, Janeway is there too, no matter the time of day. Games, she knows, can be an escape. But it isn't her place to probe.

Swansong: what's so wow about it?

Janeway: well it wouldn't be so wow

Janeway: except that the timing is suspect

Janeway: I guess he's the kind to care about rumors

Rumors? Bella arches a brow at the little purple figure, a Human class Rogue, standing beside her character on the screen.

Swansong: rumors?

Janeway: about you

Swansong: there are rumors about me?

Janeway: always

Janeway: you're ranked in the top 10 of the server

Janeway: everyone is always talking about you for some reason

Honestly, Bella wouldn't know. She doesn't pay attention to gossip unless someone - usually Alice or Janeway - is shoving it under her nose and demanding she acknowledge it. She knows some people trade in information, but she hasn't ever been able to put any stock in that kind of thing. A rumor is nothing more than a game of telephone.

Janeway: anyway these are different rumors

Swansong: just spit it out

Swansong: its weird for you to dance around a topic

Janeway: fair

Janeway: fine here it goes

Janeway: people are saying you're actually a man and you're just playing a female character

Bella fairly gapes at the computer screen. People are saying what now? Why?

Swansong: that's not true

Swansong: but even if it was true, why would it matter?

Janeway: it wouldn't and it doesn't

Janeway: except that people are saying this for 2 reasons

Swansong: let's hear it

Janeway: reason 1 is that you must be male because girl gamers can't possibly be as good as you

Swansong: ridiculous

Swansong: next

Janeway: reason 2 is that you must be a man because you didn't participate in that server beauty contest

Swansong: what

Bella is not prone to fits of violence, but right now she really wants to hit something. Is this really happening? She wonders in dismay, shaking her head in exasperation. What is it with beauty contests? Is she being haunted by the damn things?

Janeway: this is apparently irrefutable evidence that you can't prove that you're a woman

Janeway: obviously it doesn't occur to people that you wouldn't participate because you aren't vapid

Janeway: you're here to game, not to date

"Thank you!" Bella whispers sharply, ire nipping at her fingertips as she types, her keystrokes harder than normal. "Someone understands!"

Swansong: people are stupid

Swansong: I'm offended on behalf of all girl gamers

Janeway: of course you wouldn't be offended for your own sake

Swansong: this stuff doesn't matter to me

Janeway: not even when you lose a partnership because of it?

If these inane rumors are really the reason Relentless wanted to break things off, then Bella figures she's better off without that kind of fair weather friend.

Swansong: not even then

Swansong: we paired for that competition in October

Swansong: there's nothing to be torn up about

Janeway: if you say so

Swansong: I'm sort of relieved

Swansong: he was getting annoying

Janeway: oh?

Swansong: kept asking for pictures, wanted to meet up, that kind of thing

Janeway: and he wouldn't give up huh

Swansong: nope

Janeway: men are gross

Swansong: they can be

Janeway: good riddance then

Janeway: how does freedom taste?

Swansong: like I get to start whatever side quests I want to now

Janeway: atta girl

Janeway: may I join?

Swansong: sure

Swansong: let's improve your kill count

Swansong and Janeway spend the next hour or so taking down prey, but all through it, Bella's mind keeps wandering back to those stupid rumors. She doesn't exactly care about it, but it still bothers her that people are talking about her like that. And it really bothers her that the collective opinion is that only boys can be skilled gamers - the implication being that female gamers are not talented or only there to latch onto a male gamer. The whole ordeal is irritating and Bella finds herself growing increasingly vexed, so much so that she cuts her game off sooner than planned, bidding Janeway good-bye and logging off with a bitter glint in her eye.

"What's with all the sighing?" Leah asks as she passes through the room. She rummages around in their mini-fridge, unearthing a bottle of green tea and cracking it open with an expectant expression. "It's just been sigh after sigh after sigh for, like, an hour now."

"I'm lamenting the fate of humanity," Bella replies bluntly. She'll fill Leah in on this ridiculous problem later, after she sorts her thoughts out about it. She needs a little bit of time to establish her opinion one way or another.

Leah nods sagely. "Understandable. People suck."


Bella Swan ʘthelittlecygnet

No one:

Me: rumor does not have it, rumor never had it, rumor doesn't know what rumor is talking about and should mind its own business thanks

Jakey Wakey ʘjbisnowhere

Damn girl who hurt you


By Wednesday afternoon, Bella has put the whole thing behind her. She has more important things to occupy her mind - like acing her midterms and keeping her scholarship for next semester. She's been studying her butt off for weeks in preparation and at this point just wants to get everything out of the way.

Bella rushes around campus in the early morning. She sits for an exam for one of her software classes, then treks back through Huang Center to visit two different professors just to turn in her midterm projects in person. Three classes down, two more to go. She sits for her last midterm test on Friday, but her group project is due tomorrow, which is why Bella hastens to a café just outside of campus once she has finished turning in what she can.

The café is one part coffee house and one part internet café, something which is extremely useful to have so close to a college campus. The Coffee Circuit has a relaxed vibe appropriate for California, not quite hipster but not quite mainstream either. The front half of the café operates much like any other boutique coffee chain, with a low recycled wood countertop standing between harried baristas and caffeine-deprived customers. There is a display case of baked goods and sandwiches, and she zeroes in on a blueberry muffin that calls her name and pairs well with a simple mocha.

Seeing that she is the first in her group to arrive - she has a terribly annoying habit of being early - Bella scouts out a table big enough for her classmates. The table is tucked between the coffee house and the hub of long desks populated by dozens of computers. She is just near enough to notice who is gaming and who is frantically working on last minute projects.

Bella finishes half her muffin, all of her coffee, and still has over half an hour to kill before her group arrives. If Alice was working on shift today, she might have flagged her down and wasted a few minutes talking - but Alice only does shifts at the café on the weekends, so Bella has to find a way to fill her own time.

By habit, Bella's ivory laptop case has traveled along with her denim backpack, accompanying her through her busy day. It's only a matter of minutes to unload her computer, plug it into the nearest power source, juice off the café's internet access, and start up Dawn of Warcraft. Not having enough time to complete a quest, Bella contents herself with duels.

Janeway had not been exaggerating when she indicated that Swansong being ranked in the top 10 on the server was a big deal. Half the time she logs in, if she lingers too long in public spaces, she is inundated with duel requests. She doesn't take too many of them on, mostly out of a sense of self-preservation and an effort not to offend too many people when she wins. Because, as a simple statement of fact, she always wins.

Swansong accepts a duel from a member of the Hoard, his visage nightmarish and scarred. The player calls himself Thunderclap and has a tendency to use elemental-based attacks. He's good, but Swansong is better. While his compatriots watch, Swansong shifts into her cat form and runs literal circles around Thunderclap. It's actually kind of fun, taunting and goading like this, and she takes a certain glee when she wins and Thunderclap finally loses all his mana.

Thunderclap: you're good let's go again

Swansong: sure, I have some time

They duel again, and this time Thunderclap seems to be more aggressive. He was probably testing her earlier, since it's obvious that he does have some skill. She wonders where he is ranked. Higher than Relentless? Probably. Thunderclap can meter out serious damage and coaxes tricks out of Swansong that she usually saves for big boss fights.

Now this is fun, she thinks, a small smirk tilting at the corner of her mouth. Her fingers move quickly and with precision, and the screen glows as attacks are landed and returned. She draws Thunderclap into a clever trap, then takes advantage of the limited range of his attacks, ducking and darting through until her cat form is tearing his throat apart.

Bella grins in triumph at the screen, elation singing through her body.

But her triumph soon turns into confusion, then a deep flush to her cheeks, as she overhears a pointed, probing comment not too far behind her.

"You should go talk to her and ask about her game," says a gentle male voice.

There is no answer and for a moment Bella chastises herself for thinking that someone was talking about her. But - well, from what she can see, she is the only female in the café who is on a computer. During her time playing, the café had cleared out some and is much quieter than before. The only girls in the café are Bella, the barista, and two girls with shopping bags gabbing about something that makes them laugh. The only plausible conclusion is that someone is being urged to talk to Bella.

Yet still no answer comes, and for that reason, she finds herself curious. But when Bella turns around, all she sees is a politely baffled blond man starting after the retreating back of his silent companion.

Bella turns her eyes forward before the blond man notices her watching.


A/N: Ah, Relentless, you poor dumb bastard.

Handles:

Janeway is yet to be revealed

jbisnowhere is yet to be revealed

As a side note, there will be interlude chapters like the last one where it is important to pay attention to the Posted Dates. Some of the interlude chapters will be non-linear to provide context and the like. Some interlude chapters will be present-time and will glimpse other parts of the story that are relevant. Stay on your toes, dear readers.

As always, be brutally honest. I can take it.

~Rae