Blurred Lines

[MessengerOfDreams]

"Look, I'm about sick of the way you treat these members."

">_>"

"Why do you keep doing that? I'm entitled to my own effing opinion."

"You treat these members too nicely. Story Mode has screwed the pooch too bad to ever be invited back."

"These users are people, real people, Usu, and you treat them like cattle! Like robots only capable of ruining lives! You know, why the hell do you have your job if you're just going to be a nazi about it?"

">_>"

"Don't give me that look!"

"You know, this is getting worse than my real life."

"Oh, great, Usu's throwing another pity party."

"I'm about to leave the site."

"Go ahead. If you don't like it, then you shouldn't stay here."

"Monday, Bloody Monday." 17-year old Li Chen sighed as she watched Usuario and MessengerOfDreams went at it again from her computer screen. Several other users and even moderators tried to break up this argument between the two User Representatives, even threatening with bans. That annoying S.O.B. MoD used the card "I have a right to state my opinions, don't be an effing communist" to stop them, and eventually everyone just kept quiet while the two debated.

Chat. Li thought, Also known as drama square.

It had been this way on the website for awhile. Li went on the site on occasions for to associate with some oddly interesting internet friends, mostly Asians. That game thing that the chief made, something about Mario, held no interest to her. She just spent a long while Google-ing up gaming forums, and the first result she found was Neoseeker. Giant pervert conventions held no interest to her, however, so she just looked deeper and deeper for a forum size she could handle, and ultimately, on page 47, she found Runouw.com. She never knew what quite attracted her to the site. But she registered anyway as Ridder, adopting a whole new alter ego on the internet.

Every word she said, she tried to make as abstract as possible. Noticing that all the members were male, she decided to drop subtle hints of her femininity to toy with the users, and she had fun doing it.

One day MessengerOfDreams decided that he was going to write a revolutionary story about the forum, at least in his words. It had already been revolutionized by brandobrawl, a chill Mexican, who started the trend. But MessengerOfDreams was persistent and started asking for people to make characters. Bemused, Li created a character named Ema Felkis, who she based off of herself- quirky, happy, red hair, laughs a lot. MoD was thrilled by the character, to Ridder's curiosity, and made it one of the main characters in his story, which he had hoped to publish. Ridder had doubts but was a bit honored anyways.

Then MoD asked her if she would help him write a chapter. She decided that Li wouldn't write it, but the persona of Ridder would. The chapter was odd, abstract and, she hoped, very intriguing. She felt a bit goofy sending it in.

To her surprise, MoD loved it and said it was one of the best pieces she had read in a long time. With a big grin on her face, she decided that she'd have to write more.

It went on this way, MoD and her becoming good acquaintances, but then things took a bad turn when a he and a troll he argued with a lot got banned at the same time for 2 days. After this, MoD didn't just watch his back, he glued a second set of eyes on his neck.

Eventually, the mods, for whatever reason, found MoD suitable enough to be, well, a mod. He was promoted, but was still the newly nervous and tense person with the job. No one could say a negative word to him without him taking it as a flame. A flamer having gotten him banned before, he dealt with them harshly. Once when Ridder had tried to confront him on this, he gave her a week-long chat ban. He had changed way too far for her to enjoy his company, or as much as she could over the internet. They never talked much since.

After a group of people decided it was time for MoD to be demoted, he resigned from his job (after banning all the protesters for a week or longer, permanently banning a promising level maker that had brought innovation to the forums.) He took a new job he created, User Representatives, which would bring the opinions of the users into the Mod's decisions. As if to try to patch things up with Li, he hired her as one of the URs. She hesitantly accepted.

But MoD was even worse as a User Representative. He started to find fault with everything in the forums, still watching his back. What had really gotten the site in an uproar was his protest of the way people treated new users. He declared it horrendous and inhumane, when in reality, only one user, UsuarioThF or Usu, was even a little bit harsh to a new user. But MoD kept pressing on, much to everyone's dismay. If enough people disagreed, then he would threaten to leave the site, and then everyone would ask him to come back. He would. It sickened Li.

Today, MoD was showing that he had learned nothing from this, fighting with Usu again and disrupting forum life. While Li internally criticized Usu for taking MoD's bait, it was MoD she was really frustrated with.

Jesus Christ, girl. You're letting a website get you worked up. How would Ridder react to your behavior? Li thought to herself, and then she morbidly chuckled at herself for asking her fictional alter-ego for advice.

Back on chat, MoD was still ranting, saying "You know what, I'm sick of it. Everyone's always after my head."

A Moderator, Blablob, had the courage to say "No, MoD, you're overreacting. People like you here."

Why they do, I can't imagine why.Li thought. Then she decided it was her turn to post in the chat.

Her choice of words? "Yo MoD, I'm really happy for you and Imma let you finish, but a lobster in a boiling pot had the best pity party of all tiem!"

"Shut up, I didn't ask you guys." MoD replied.

"For the good of Russia, mon, release the sitch, tis burning." Riddah continued.

"You know what? Suyo still hasn't taken away my chat banning abilities." MoD threatened.

Li glared at the post. It was time to be serious. So she started typing.

"MoD, people are not always on your back. And your threatening to leave is really starting to get old. And for the love of God, stop fighting with Usu. He's done nothing wrong." She slammed into her keyboard. And before she had time to read his probably annoying reaction, she pressed the "Away" button, not leaving a reason. It was time to leave internet business alone.

She got out her phone, a dinky trackphone, and dialed a number. A number she knew by heart. Pressing the phone to her ear, the familiar and fitting ringtone played, singing OneRepublic's "Good Life." She never really knew or liked the song, but it fit him. After 10 seconds, he picked up.

"Yo babe." the guy on the other end said cheerfully.

"Hey, Danny, how are you?" Li asked, smiling. Nothing like even the shortest phone conversation with Danny to lighten up her day.

"Doing good, but more importantly, how are you?"

She didn't know how to answer that. She gave it a bit of thought and said "Meh, fretting about insignificant things. It's no big deal."

"Ah, wanna tell me about it?"

"Nah, like I said, no big deal." She replied, a bit forcefully. She knew Danny wouldn't think of her as a geek, but she still would feel weird telling him it was about a jerk on a website.

"Oh, no problem." he said, and she could visualize a grin. "But listen, Li, I've gotta see you. It's been too long." he finished with a dramatic flair.

She giggled. "Dude, it's been two days."

"Two days too long." He said, laughing.

"Well, OK. Meet you at McCoy Park? That's not too long of a commute for you, is it?"

A pause filled the phone lines as Danny considered it. It was an hour's commute for him, a 5-minute walk for her. He laughed and said "Just an hour? That's no time at all. Sounds good. Plus, I downloaded some new music, so I'll be occupied the whole way."

"Thanks! I'll see you then!" Li said.

"See you then. Love you, Li." Danny replied as he hung up. She hated when he did that, before she had a chance to return the affections, but she shrugged it off as she got her jacket on. She passed her mom on the way out, giving her a wave and a smile. Her mom understood, and returned the smile and wave as she turned a page of her Home and Garden magazine.

Li took a seat in the park, popping in her MP3 Player, prepared to wait 55 minutes for him.

*****************************

Danny approached the park off of a clunky bus 15 minutes early. A bit surprised, Li pulled out her headphones, Death Cab For Cutie fading into silence. Danny walked over with a big awkward grin and his arms open, ready to accept a hug. She was happy to comply.

For the millionth time, Li took a look at her boyfriend. His hair was nearly glued into a purple wave, and he had his nearly trademark leather jacket on, but most of all Danny wore a smile, all the time. It always looked a bit awkward, but Danny was very sweetly awkward.

"So, great to see you." Danny said. "What's up? How's school?"

"Good. My report card came in a week ago." she said as they sat on the bench. "I got 3 As, a B, and a Couple of B minuses. Oh, and a D- in biology. I just don't get it. Any of it, really."

"Meh, me either." Danny said with a chuckle. "But, let me guess, if anyone asks, you'll just say that Mrs. Dean just doesn't like you, right?"

"Well she doesn't!" She protested, hand on her hip.

"Meh, she doesn't like anyone." Danny commented. Despite the fact that they lived 7 miles apart, they shared the same school. "What did you get in writing again?"

She raised an eyebrow and said "I got an A. Mr. Pearson said my short story was one of the best works he's seen out of a student in a long time."

"Wow," Danny grinned. "What was it about?"

"It was about a severely Autistic writer who, detached quite a bit from reality, blurs his writing life with real life."

"I gotta read that sometime. Seriously cool." Danny said. "You're definitely going places."

"Aw, thanks!" Li replied, kissing him lightly on the cheek and watching with a smile as he turned red. He stared into space for a bit.

"You present?" she asked, waving a hand in front of his face.

He shook the daydream out of his eyes and said "Oh, yeah. I was just remembering how we met."

Li chuckled. "One of my favorite memories."

It was a leisurely kickball game in the park, the very place they were at right now. A badly aimed kick from Danny caused the ball to hit Li, the pitcher, square in the face. She fell to the ground in a slump, so Danny, being the nice guy he is, ran over and lifted her up and started to carry her in the direction of the bleachers, Li too dazed to protest. One of the outfielders threw the ball at Danny in an attempt to get him out, and hit him in the arm, causing him to drop Li onto her head again. Two lumps on her head in one day was a bad way to start a relationship, but Li took it anyways after the two started to talk on the bleachers. She fell for his odd charm almost instantly.

Li rubbed her head and said "I swear, I still have a lump or two from that."

"That was 6 months ago." Danny said with a smile.

"So, how's your sister?" Li asked with a smile that read comfort. Upon hearing this, his smile started to fade and he sobered up, saying "Well, doing better. She's starting to act like it never happened."

Danny's older sister, Camille, had been an epileptic her whole life. She rarely had strokes, so she lived a relatively normal life. A week ago, when she was on Youtube, some tool had created a new rickroll involving a lot of flashing lights. It started as part of the video for "Like a G6" but turned into the lights which threw her into a seizure. It may have only been a week, but Danny still couldn't watch a Youtube Video without being scared of something popping up.

"Well, that's good, right?" Li asked.

"Sorta... but the thing is, it did happen. And it could happen. I wonder if Camille's taking this seriously enough." he said, still frowning.

"To be honest, I think maybe you're taking this a bit TOO seriously." Li said quizzically.

"Well, she had a seizure. Of course I am." he sighed.

"I think that Camille's spirit is good." Li replied. "A positive attitude in tragedy really helps recovery."

"Yeah, I suppose I'm a bit too protective." He said with a slight smile. "It's a bit of a role reversal."

"You're her brother. Of course you should be." Li said. "I'll tell you what. Tomorrow at school, I'll send you a joke book to let her loan. Laughter is the best medicine, after all."

"Thanks, Li. That means a lot to me." Danny said, catching her arm.

The two smiled at each other, leaning in for a kiss when Li's phone rang. She gently pulled away and answered the phone. "Hello... oh hi Mom... right now?... ok, I will... see you in a minute." was the content of the short phone call. She turned to Danny and said "Well, that was Mom. Dinner's ready. I gotta go."

"Aw..." Danny said, embracing her in one last hug. "I'll see you tomorrow."

She nodded. "Oh, and Danny?"

"Yes?" he replied.

"I love you too." she said, finishing the phone conversation from earlier.

Danny chuckled. "Yeah, I really gotta stop doing that. Love you." he said with one last smile as the wind blew leaves around them. The whole scene must look like an Anime scene, Li thought with a smile. Soon, their gazes pulled apart and they went their separate ways.

Danny sat on the curb of the bus stop, his heart fluttering as he plugged in his MP3 Player.

*********************************
Danny walked through the door, passing his mother. "How was your visit?" she asked.

"It was nice." he said with a blush. His mother smiled as Danny started to walk to his room.

He sat at the computer desk and plugged in his headphones. He sat at his keyboard and typed in a website.

www.runouw.com

He pressed the login button and entered his username, MessengerOfDreams. He sighed as he clicked on the "View Active Topics" button. I must be a glutton for punishment, he thought. He looked at the last post of the Leaving/Returning thread, and saw it was by Ridder. He sighed as he took a look.

"Meh, It's my time to go." the post started. "Call me when MoD stops acting crazy. Call me when the forums stops chewing its own ♥♥♥. Call me when I can go on chat without becoming a battle casualty. You say hello, I say goodbye."

MoD glared at the post for a whole 5 minutes. He never knew who this Ridder character was, but whoever she was, she had some impact on his forum life. One tear fell out of his eyes as he realized he drove one of his first website friends away.

After a bit of thought, he opened a post after Ridder's. He typed up 16 words.

"Hold on, Ridder." it read. "Whether or not you like it, I will follow you into the dark."

[MICrophone]

…that's it?

This is a great start, and the possibly surreal concept is very good…but that's it? You should keep going with this. There is more to be had, I say. But yeah, writing's good, concept's good, self-awareness is good, but I want moar.

[MessengerOfDreams]

Really? O_o

O_o

o_O

I'm at a loss.

[MICrophone]

I mean, it starts out with Li/Ridder on the forums watching MOY and Usu fight, and then Li tries to intervene, then leaves. Then in real life Li and Danny meet up and that whole segment is good. The line about the autistic author who blurs real life and reality is the critical one, because it introduces a surreal aspect to the story. Then there is the revelation that Danny is MOY, and when Ridder leaves MOY follows, but then what? It seems to have no resolution.

[MessengerOfDreams]

...I have as much of an idea of what happens next as you do.

Nonetheless, I will probably try to add more to this.

[Ridder]

"Look, I'm about sick of the way you always think I'm going to order Lasagna, damnit, I wanted a bowl of rice and bell peppers."

">_>"

"Why do you keep doing that? You know you're allergic to bell peppers."

"You treat it as if I could die from eating too much. It's just a vegetable!"

"These bell peppers are forged in the fires of hell, and you treat them like simple edible vegetables! Like regular peppers added in homemade mustard sauce! You know, why the hell are you South American, and yet you don't know anything about spices?"

">_>"

"Don't give me that look!"

"You know, I think my master is calling to me."

"Oh, great, Austin's getting roped by his slave master again."

"I think he's going to hang me."

"Go ahead. If you don't like it, then you should run for your damn life."

"Remember, Remember the 5th of November." 17-year old Li Chen sighed as she watched Austin and Bryan went at it again during lunch in Olive Garden. Several other people and even law enforcement officials tried to break up this argument between the two people engaged in a Nigga Moment, minus the Nigga. Even threatening to throw them into prisons frequently referred to with anal rape didn't faze them. That annoying M.I.B. Austin used the card "I have a right to expose you as an alien, quit acting like you're a human communist." to stop Bryan in his tracks and eventually everyone just kept quiet while the two debated.

Olive Garden. Li thought, Also known as Jon Stuart repellent.

It had been this way in this particular restaurant for awhile. Li went here on occasions to associate with some oddly interesting friends, mostly Asians and Italians. The Game held no interest to her. She just spent a long while browsing Yahtzee videos and old shows on the internet that she used to watch, and the first result she found was Unforgotten Realms. Forgotten Realm Comedy + Harry Potter parody held no interest to her, however, so she just looked deeper and deeper for a website, and ultimately, on page 47, she found this wasom video gaming website. She never knew what quite attracted her to the site. But she registered anyway as ******, not being able to tell us due to various reasons.

Everything she watched, read, or played, she couldn't stop lol'ing LIKE A BOSS. Noticing that all the members were pretty wasom, she decided to join the fray that is their forums, and she had fun doing it.

One day Bryan decided that he was going to write a revolutionary story about the his lost little doll, a "Sackboy", at least in his words. It had already been revealed there was to be a sequel, Little Big Planet 2. So he decided to celebrate by hanging out with Austin at Olive Garden. But Austin was persistent and requested that he be served anything but Lasagna. Pissed, Li facepalmed as the commotion of Austin and Bryan was so powerful, she spilled some soup on her chest, which she was in the process of eating, but now not only was her lunch ruined, she'll have to clean her JUST CLEANSED clothes again. Bryan was thrilled by Little Big Planet 2, to Ridder's understanding, and he often went ♥♥♥♥ insane when people would insult it, which is exactly what Austin did. Ridder had doubts but called some other friends to help.

Then Bryan asked her if she would pay for whatever Austin wanted, and from there, just ragequitted into the bathroom.

Not surprising her, Austin loved the meal she was paying for, and said it was one of the best meals he's had in a long time. With a big grin on her face, she decided that she'd it was alright, as long as he was enjoying it.

It went on this way, Austin mooched as much as he could off her they became good acquaintances, but then things took a bad turn when a he and another Asian was insulted by the fact that Austin didn't use chopsticks. He argued "YUU ARE NOT TRU ASSIAN UNLESCH U UESC CHAWPSTEEX." and attempted to backstab Austin, Li barely saving his hide. After this, Austin didn't just watch his back, he glued a Razorback Surfboard onto it.

Eventually, the M.I.B, for whatever reason, found Austin to be suitable enough to be, well, a M.I.B. He was recruited into their ranks, but forgot to erase his birth certificate, and therefore, he's still known as Austin to Li. No one could backstab him without being electrocuted by 1.21 Gigawatts. An Asian Spy, nearly having backstabbed him for an insta-kill before, he dealt with them with his Jarate. Once when Ridder had tried to confront him on this, he told his teammates "ENEMY SPY DISGUISED AS Li!". He had become way too paranoid for her to get close to him, or as much as she could during missions. They never talked much since.

After a group of terrorists decided it was time for Austin to be losing The Game,
He painted his face to look like Heath Ledger's Joker and said-" You can't be serious."
He took a new job he created, Psychotic Murderers, which would bring an UNSPEAKBOL EVIL to the land of Feudal Japan, even though it no longer existed. As if to try to patch things up with Li, he made her a shapeshifting master of darkness, gladly, she accepted.

But Austin was even worse as a bad guy (turned himself into a troll. An bridge guarding Internet one, to be exact.). He started to find make Gay 9/11 jokes, still watching his back. What had really gotten the internet in an uproar was his newest line,

"Steve Job owns a PC. ".

He declared it completely true, when in reality, Steve Jobs didn't even own an iPad, But Austin kept pressing on, much to everyone's dismay. If enough people disagreed, then he would become far too powerful for even god to smite him, even worse, he was Atheist. It frightened Li.

Today, Austin was showing that he had accumulated a ton of power, fighting with Bryan again and disrupting the balance. While Li internally criticized Bryan for not getting his power level over the appropriate number which would cause the world to make him a meme , it was Austin she was really frustrated with.

Jesus Christ: Girl, I know you don't believe I exist, but believe me, this will all work out, just like the time I was crucified. Jesus spoke to her telepathically, and then she chuckled at herself for even thinking about "this will all work out" from the guy who got betrayed by Judas.

Judas: ahh, good times.
Jesus Christ: Get out of this girl's head!
Judas: Weren't you reading this a few seconds ago? Shapeshifting Master of Darkness. even if it's a girl, I can haunt those kinds of minds.

Li was in for another headache.


Back in the bathrooms (yes, several days and he's still in Olive Garden), Bryan was hopping around in it like a Big Playground, Li walks in casually, new dress and all, and tells Bryan "Sit." as she pulls a chair from a table.

Bryan had the courage to say "No, Li, you and I both know that's not gonna happen."

When you finally decide to do what I say, I'll just be over here dissing LBP2 and GoW III.Li thought.

As if reading her mind, Bryand sighed and sat down."Okay fine, as long as you don't ♥♥♥♥♥ about my favorite games."

"Shut up, and listen." Li responded.

"For the good of our dear friend, we need to hunt down a killer." Li continued.

"What!?" Bryan shouted, shocked.

Li glared at him and kept a steady face. .

"Bryan, a killer from Kyoto has come here, and he's hunting one very important person, I intercepted some info, and came across the fact that is indeed Austin." She gently messed with her bracelets for a few seconds.

She got out her phone, well, more of a living animal than a phone, and inserted a piece of paper into it's beak with a phone number on it. A number she knew by heart. Bird-Phone to her ear, the familiar and fitting ringtone played, wailing The Trashmen's "Surfin' Bird." through her eardrums She never really knew or liked the song, but it fit him. After 10 seconds, he picked up.

"Yo bebos Dos Equis." the guy on the other end said in a stereotypical Mexican Accent.

"Hey, Austin, how are you?" Li asked, smiling. Nothing like even the shortest phone conversation with Austin to tell her the baseball scores.

"Doing good, but more importantly, the Giants are winning, quite cool, eh??"

She didn't know how to answer that. She gave it a bit of thought and said "Meh, Giants are average. They're no big deal."

"Ah, let's have this argument later."

"Fine, but like I said, no big deal." She replied, a bit forcefully. She knew Austin wouldn't think of the Giants any less than Demi-Gods, but she still would feel weird not being a malevolent shapeshifter, even over the phone.

"Oh, no problem." he said, and she could visualize a grin. "But listen, Li, I've gotta see you. It's been too long." he finished with a dramatic flair.

She giggled. "Dude, it's been two days."

"Two days may be short, but I'm in Moscow and you're in London." He said, laughing.

"Well, OK. Meet you at the Red Fort? That's not too long of a commute for you, is it?"

A pause filled the phone lines as Austin considered it. It was an a Gauntlet Trek for him, a 5-minute leisure walk for her. He laughed and said "Haha, no problem, I'll just use the teleporter Bryan installed last week in the abandoned buildings nearby."

"Thanks! I'll see you then!" Li said.

"Love you, Li." Austin replied as he hung up. She hated when he did that, before she had a chance to admit she was madly in love with the liddle troll, but she shrugged it off as she got shapeshifted a full metal jacket on, getting up from the table.

"Okai, so who's this "Killer" you speak of?" Bryan asked as Li hung up the Bird. "Oh, just some weirdo named Kira, or something like that." waved it off, knowing he was an infamous killer in Japan, but thought she could take him on.

*****************************

Austin approached the park off of a clumsy cart 42 minutes early. A bit surprised, Li pulled out her headphones, I Heard It Through The Grapevine fading into silence. Austin walked over with a big awkward grin and his arms open, ready to accept a hug. She was happy to comply.

For the millionth time, Li took a look at her boyfriend. His hair was black, orange streaks here and there to show his uniqueness, and he had his nearly trademark shirt,




but most of all Austin wore a troll face all the time. It always looked a bit awkward, but Austin was very sweetly awkward.




"So, great to see you Li." Austin said. "What's up? How's school?"

"We have no time for that, Austin, plus you know to call me Saeko when you're talking about school, anyways, you're in danger."

"Meh, me- WUT." Austin said in an OMG position. "But, let me guess, it's a spy, right? That means I'm in no mortal danger."

"Well, actually, no, you're being hunted by some guy from Japan. " Li broke it down to him.

"Meh, the Japanese don't like anyone. Especially Internet Bridge Trolls." Austin commented. Despite the fact that they lived several countries apart, they chatted the day away in the Red Fort as if they were never apart.

"So, what's your opinion of fried chicken?" Austin asked Li, quite bizarre, given the conversation they had a few moments ago.

She raised an eyebrow and said "Fried chicken, boy is that sh*t good. I actually brought some from London."

"Wow," Austin grinned. "Can I haz fried chicken??"

"Hell no, you had me pay off an entire freaking buffet restaurant not three days ago!."

"I gotta eat sometime, else I asplode.."Austin said. "You wouldnt want infected attracting bile all over your nice clothes, right?."

"Aw, well, yeah, actually, but then, is it possible for the infected to reach this place? I mean, it's as well hidden as planet Reach was to the Covenant..............oh wait......" A startling realization dawned upon Li, she looked up and watched with a frown as she saw an arm pop up from the cliff hills in the distance.

"You serious?.......Oh F*ck me." she sighed, stopping Austin in his tracks "Not you, Austin."

He shook the daydream out of his eyes and said "Oh, yeah.I was just.......uh.........remembering how we met?"

Li chuckled. "One of my favorite memories."

It was a leisurely kickball game in the on the space deck of the Death Star. A badly aimed kick from Austin caused the ball to hit Li, the pitcher, square in the face and achieving a critical hit. She fell to the ground in a slump, so Austin, being the nice guy he is, ran over and lifted her up and started to carry her in the direction of the bleachers, Li too dazed to protest. One of the outfielders threw the ball at Danny in an attempt to get him out, and hit him in the shin (wtf?), causing him to drop Li onto her head again. Two lumps on her head in one day was a bad way to start a relationship, but Li took it anyways after the two started to talk on the bleachers. She fell for his odd charm almost instantly.

Li rubbed her head and said "I swear, I'm going to kill you one of these days."

"That was 6 months ago." Austin said with a deviously trollish smile.

"So, how's your life been lately? Spotted any suspicious Japanese people?" Li asked with a smile that read comfort. Upon hearing this, his smile started to fade and he sobered up, saying "Well, I'm starting to get better at awareness of my surroundings. I'm pretty sure a Spy can't sneak up on me now."

Austin's older brother, Raomne, had been an sneaking up on him in an attempt to annoy him when Austin swung his leg back, hitting directly between the legs, and causing Ramone sheer pain. He always swallowed sadness like a boss , so he lived a relatively normal life now was not one of those times he would do that. ( Ramone ended up having to have some things removed, and ended up less of a man. But that's a story for another day.)

"Well, that's good, right?" Li asked.

"Sorta... but the thing is, I've become inhuman, I no longer care about the emotions of others, I don't consider what may be driving into an argument I may have started, and I think I'm starting to piss off people for the lols." he said, still frowning.

"To be honest, You've always been like that, even when you weren't an Internet Bridge Troll." Li said sarcastically.

"Well, I don't care, either way, I think I should apologize to Bryan for the Olive Garden incident before we get into any of this "Killer" buisness." he sighed.

"I think that's a good idea.." Li replied. "A positive attitude in tragedy really helps recovery."

"Yeah, I suppose I'm being a kind of humane person right now." He said with a slight smile. "It's a bit of a role reversal."

"You're Asian." Li said. "I'll tell you what. Tomorrow at midnight, I'll send you my copy of "Evil Laughing in other peoples faces: A guide to being a douchebag." You like that kind of ♥♥♥♥, right?"

"Thanks, Li. That means a lot to me." Austin said, catching her arm.

The two smiled at each other, leaning in for a kiss when Li's phone rang. She gently pulled away and answered the phone. "Hello... oh hi Jack... right now?... ok, I will... see you in a minute." was the content of the short phone call. She turned to Austin and said "Well, that was the guy from the Underground Nations, another Journalist is trying to be expose a company we're working with. I gotta go, Cya!."

"Aw..." Austin said, embracing her in one last hug. "I'll see you tomorrow."

She nodded. "Oh, and Austin?"

"Yes?" he replied.

"You still owe me money." she said, handing Austin a blurry piece of paper, which when read closely, reveals to be a fine for all the food she's been buying for him.

Austin chuckled. "Yeah, I really gotta stop mooching off more than I can pay. Love you." he said with one last smile as the wind blew leaves and infected people around them, The whole scene must look like an Anime scene, Li thought with a smile. Soon, their gazes pulled apart and they went their separate ways.

Austin leaned on the curb of the bus stop, his heart fluttering as he got down on the ground and opened his mouth to bite onto the curb. As ordered by some guy I won't tell you about.

*********************************
Austin walked through the door, passing his mother. "How was your visit?" she asked.

With a resown jawline and a bandaged wound on the side of his forehead "Aow deh 'ell you chink It went?." he said with a blush of anger. His mother smiled as Austin started to walk to his room.

He sat at the computer desk and plugged in his headphones. He sat at his keyboard and typed in a website.

http://www.youfail.org


Later, he actually bothered to get onto runouw.com.
He pressed the login button and entered his username, brandobrawl. He sighed as he clicked on the "View Active Topics" button. I must be a glutton for punishment, he thought. He looked at the last post of the Leaving/Returning thread, and saw it was by Ridder. He sighed as he took a look.

"Meh, It's my time to go." the post started. "You see, in the year 2525, Space travel will have become possible, sending mankind into places of which he has never dreamed of. And I'm on a first class flight to Ireland, so see you beoches.."

Brando glared at the post for a whole 5 minutes. He never knew who this Ridder character was, but whoever she was, she had some impact on his forum life. One tear fell out of his eyes as he realized he drove one of his first website friends away.

After a bit of thought, he opened a post after Ridder's. He typed up 38 letters.

"This sentence has exactly thirty-eight letters." it read, he paused, and decided now's not the best time to be thinking of Riddle School, and typed instead "Whether you like it or not, I'm going to go play Through The Fire and Flames on EXPERT, but not on a BIKE. Why am I talking like this? Because I'm Mexican, therefore, I can say whatever I want."

[brandoprojectm]

PLOTTWISTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT*asplodes*

Anyway, it was greatly written, and while lacking much of a solid plot, it was....interesting. It probably IS one of your best works yet. If you are willing to write more, I'd be gald to see it. But if you wanna keep it as a one-shot, it be fine too.

Also I thought we had gone over the whole Riddah = girl thing.