Boiling Isles RPG

Amity’s POV

“Wait, Lazura is who!?”

“Keep your voice down, we’re in a library!” Willow whisper-shouted at Gus who immediately slunk back into his seat after standing up in shock. They were meeting during lunch and Amity had kept herself together long enough to turn in her quiz this morning but she couldn’t even look at Luz for the entirety of class without feeling a knot forming in her stomach.

Amity had her face in her hands. She had barely gotten any sleep last night and was still struggling to process this information. A few times she tried to convince herself that she must have misheard, that Lazura couldn’t possibly be Luz Noceda, the weird girl who sleeps in class while getting A’s in her coursework and laughs at Amity’s siblings’ bad jokes and- the laugh was the same. The laugh was definitely the same. God damnit.

“Okay, but like, how can you even tell?” Gus spoke at a more appropriate volume. “I’m pretty sure she’s in my history class and the only reason I know that is because she sits in the front and stares at the clock the entire time. I don’t think I’ve heard her say two words to anyone. That doesn’t really sound like Lazura to me.”

“Yeah Amity,” Willow’s concern was very apparent in her voice. “Last night you told me that Lazura said the same joke you had told Luz. I mean, the odds that they both heard the same bad joke aren’t that small.”

Amity rubbed her hands over her eyes before looking up at them. “It’s the same voice you guys. They have the same voice, the same laugh-”

“Amity, I’ve been talking to Lazura for a long time and trust me, Luz doesn’t sound like her.”

“That’s because she always mumbles in class, when she’s actually talking like a normal person, she sounds exactly like Lazura!” Amity felt her voice start to rise and took a breath to calm herself down. “Look, Luz has been tutoring me in precalc-”

“Wait, she isn’t failing?” Willow looked surprised.

“No, she’s actually gotten perfect scores on everything but class participation.” Amity pinched the bridge of her nose. “Look, the point is that she’s been tutoring me after school and when she actually talks like a normal person, she sounds just like Lazura.”

Willow and Gus shared a look with each other. They didn’t seem convinced. “You’re sure?” Gus asked.

Amity set her jaw. “Positive.”

“Okay,” Willow nodded and fidgeted a bit. “Then what are you going to do now?”

The blood drained out of Amity’s face. Slowly, she placed her forehead against the desk. Then, she cursed as loudly as she dared while the librarian shot a glare in her direction.

Luz’s POV

Luz was fiddling around with the code for an old mod idea on her private server in the Boiling Isles. Usually by this time on a Friday night her party was off turning a random dungeon into their personal stomping ground but both Salix and Caesar had canceled on her. Piercing her lips together, she took another look at the chat on discord, no new messages.

Sighing, Luz slumped back in her chair. Normally she wouldn’t be that concerned but after Witchling and Salix had left so abruptly yesterday… No. Luz didn’t want to think like that. They were her friends, they weren’t going to stop talking to her all of a sudden.

Not that past ‘friends’ hadn’t done similar things before.

Luz groaned and pressed her forehead against the desk. She knew that there was some reason that no one ever seemed to like her in real life, even if she didn’t know what that reason was, but Salix and Caesar had always seemed to enjoy her company. She’d thought Witchling had liked spending time with her too, Luz certainly liked being around Witchling.

Suddenly, Luz felt her stomach go queasy. Maybe Witchling had figured out whatever it was that made everyone in real life seem to hate her. Maybe she’d shared it with Salix and Caesar and that was why they weren’t online tonight. Luz felt herself starting to shake. Of course that was it, wasn’t it? Witchling was more than smart enough not to fall for Luz’s little charade of being a normal person that people didn’t hate and bully. Witchling was smart and nice and pleasant to be around so of course the second that she realised how much of a loser Luz really was she would-

Bling.

Luz’s head snapped up at the notification alert. It was Witchling, ‘Hey, Lazura! I’m really sorry about leaving so abruptly yesterday. I was hoping to talk to you in a voice chat but that doesn’t seem to be happening anytime soon so I hope that you’re okay with having this conversation by messaging over discord.’ There’s a pause. Luz stared at the screen, trying to decipher what Witchling was trying to say. The words Witchling is typing appeared and disappeared several times in the next series of seconds. ‘I really like spending time with you, and I was wondering if you would ever like to meet in person.’

Luz blinked. Witchling wanted to meet her in person? Witchling wanted to meet her in person. Witchling wanted to meet her in person! Luz stood up from her chair abruptly, looking around the room like the answer would be posted on the walls full of her doodles.

How was she supposed to respond to this? The deal she had with Salix was that real life sucked so online was online which kept them safe. That’s why they kept their real names secret, that’s why they kept any identifiable information secret. The last time she’d witnessed someone giving out their personal information on the internet, his parents ended up kicking him out.

Suddenly Luz paused, then sat back down. It would be a risk… But… This was Witchling she was talking about. Witchling was Salix’s friend who she and Caesar knew from school. And she was Luz’s friend as well.

The words ‘I really like spending time with you’ swam in Luz’s vision. For a moment, she considered it could be a prank or something but… Witchling wasn’t the kind of person who would do that. Witchling was nice and funny and…

‘I think I’d like that.’ Luz released her breath shakily as she pressed the enter key. There was a nervous smile on her face and she felt herself grow warm for a second, though that must just be her nerves. Then her face fell as she remembered something. Grimacing slightly, she typed out ‘I am kind of limited in terms of how far I can go to meet though. I work a lot and pretty much only get around by bike. I’m sorry if this wouldn’t be able to work.’ She felt bad as she submitted the follow up. Luz may have gotten Witchling’s hope up, hell she’d gotten her own hopes up. Witchling could be on the other side of the country for all she knew, and in what world would she be able to take the time off to actually meet her? Sure, Eda would probably give her the time off if she asked but frankly, Luz couldn’t afford to miss work like that.

Another bling sounged on her computer signaling Witchling had responded. ‘I live in Boonesborough, Massachusetts by the way. I’m not sure if you’re anywhere close but we can try to figure something out.’

Luz stared at the message like a deer in the headlights. There was no way right? This was too much of a coincidence. But there was also no way that Witchling could have known right? She’d never given any indication of her location online and computers and coding were her whole thing, she’d know if someone had hacked her. ‘That’s where I live too, actually.’

‘Woah, really? That’s crazy! You’re not messing with me, are you?’

‘Yeah, no, I’m definitely not messing with you.’ Luz responded back. At least Witchling recognized that it was weird as well. She did want to make sure that this wasn’t some kind of trick though. ‘It’s okay if you don’t want to answer this but… what school do you go to?’ Luz wasn’t that well versed with every high school in the area but she could probably recognize-

Bling. ‘Hexside Academy. What about you?’

Luz nearly fell out of her chair. Holy crap.

Luz’s fingers hovered over the keys. Was this real life? Was she dreaming? This felt like too much of a coincidence to be real. ‘That’s where I go too.’

A pause. Then, ‘You’re kidding me. The same one with Principal Belos and Vice Principal Clawthorn?’

Luz shook her head. This was real, wasn’t it? ‘The very same.’ There was a smile on her face now. She was going to meet Witchling. She wasn’t on the other side of the world, just the other side of town. This was a thing that could actually happen. ‘So, where do you want to meet?’

There’s a pause on Witchling’s end. The indication that she was typing appeared and disappeared a few times. Luz’s foot bounced up and down in anticipation. Holy crap. She was really going to meet Witchling wasn’t she?

‘I mean, we both go to Hexide.’ The message appeared but Witchling was still typing. ‘Do you know about the winter formal coming up?’

Of course she had. There’s been posters around the school for a month, not to mention Eda had been complaining about it while simultaneously asking Luz if she was planning on going. Luz’s answer had always been a solid no, but that was before this. ‘Yeah, I guess I was planning on going.’

There was a long pause. Then, ‘Would you like to meet there?’ She was still typing, ‘We can both wear something with our party’s sigil on it, that way we’ll know who we are.’

‘Yeah! I think that sounds like a good idea.’ Luz was smiling widely at this point. She couldn’t help it, she was excited.

‘Perfect! I’ll meet you in the center of the gym floor at 7:30?’

The dance was set to start at 7:00, this would give her plenty of time. ‘Sounds like a plan!’

They talked for a little while more about how crazy it was that they went to the same school before Witchling had to wrap up the conversation and logged off. Luz was smiling when she shut her laptop after their conversation.

She was going to meet Witchling. She and Witchling went to the same school. Wait a second. Luz’s smile faded. She and Witchling went to the same school, that meant that Salix and Caesar also went there. To the school where she had been labeled as a loser since her first day. She started running numbers in her head, the number of different people she had classes with, the ones who had seen her in the hallways getting pushed around by Boscha, the ones who she’d heard whispering about her being the weird, loner just in normal passing.

The odds that they didn’t know who she was were… probably as close to zero as they could be.

But on the other hand… They knew more about her from talking on this site than anyone knew about her from school. She was much more herself here than she was there and whatever it was that Witchling liked about her was the real her. And besides, she wanted to meet Witchling too. At that moment she really had no idea who the girl could be, but she did feel a lot safer about meeting someone in person for the first time in a room full of witnesses.

Yeah. Luz took a breath and leaned back in her desk chair. This was going to be okay.

She was going to need something to wear though.

Amity’s POV

The second Amity shut her computer, she grabbed a pillow off of her bed and squealed into it. She’d done it! She was going to meet Lazura in person! Well she’d already met her technically, but this time they’d both know who they really were. They were going to laugh at the situation, then talk, then… she didn’t know, maybe go on a date? Holy crap her heart rate was high and for once it wasn’t because of anxiety.

“I can’t believe you did it! It really is Luz huh?” Willow’s voice came over her phone. She and Gus had been helping her write out the messages to Luz because all three of them knew that she would have spent the entire time babbling instead of getting to the actual point.

“It’s her, guys. It’s Luz and I just asked her to the dance!” Amity nearly shouted into her phone before quieting herself down again. Her parents were already in their room so there was minimal chance of them hearing her, but still.

“I’m really happy for you Amity.” Gus’s voice came on. “Then after you guys make out or something, Willow and I can introduce ourselves and we can all go out for tacos or something.”

“Gus!” Amity scolded, a blush prominent on her face.

“I’m just kidding, Amity!” He was laughing and maybe it was just the built up nerves but Amity was chuckling as well.

“We are very proud of you Amity.” She could hear the smile on Willow’s voice, but could also sense a ‘but’ coming on. “But…” There it was. “Are you sure you don’t want to tell her who you are beforehand? I mean, you already know who she is.”

“Yeah, but she doesn’t know that I know that.” Amity fiddled with a pencil on her desk. “I just think it’ll be easier if I pretend that I don’t. This way, she’ll think that we’re both realizing it at the same time. She’ll be shocked and I’ll pretend to be shocked, we’ll talk somewhere private, then everything will be okay!” Amity knew that this sounded like a sitcom plot that was bound to go wrong, but she felt confident that this would work. She liked Luz and Luz was willing to meet. This was going to work. She could feel it in her gut.

“As long as you’re sure.” Willow said, she still sounded a bit skeptical.

Amity smiled widely. “Don’t worry, I am.”