Discontinue (plz don't delete)

Chapter 6: Geek in the Streets, Freak in the… pt.1

Imagine meeting the love of your life at GeekCon.


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You work as a nanny for months just to save up enough money for a geeked-out bender in the city. You hone your programming skills whenever you have free time. You mod games, you play games, you build games from scratch.

All this hard work to be beaten in the Hack-a-Thon by a small-time gamer called Lyle “Behemøth” Romeo. At least Petra won the overall GamingComp award…

The two-day GeekCon festival saw Petra Hilde battle cosplayers dressed as the grim reaper and anime characters, people who have never left their mother’s basements, and hackers and gamers that were so casual that they could not tell the difference between phishing and fishing. There were some pros in the mix, but no one she felt intimidated by.

When Petra won the R.E.F.U.G.E. tournament, she heard some men say, “Wow, she won the competition?” and others say “Wow, she won the competition!” She accepted her small trophy with pride and took advantage of all the free coffee she was offered. She needed to stay focused, after all, as she still had Road Rival Alpha and Incredible Sports tournaments in the afternoon.

She was crowned champion of Incredible Sports, and placed third in Road Rival Alpha. With some guy named John placing first, and Lyle placing second. She let them have that one.

Petra spent the night in the motel room she rented, programming and hacking her nerves away. She knew her skills were top notch, but she felt disappointed in herself. In her head, despite recognising it as fantasy, she would come to the city, win everything, and swagger on home.

At 1am, a mysterious chat box appeared in the centre of Petra’s monitor. She could almost hear Lyle's faint Italian accent through the computer.

Behemøth: Rest up for the Hack-a-Thon, you’re gonna need it.
p@r@dox: you dont scare me romeo
Behemøth: Nice lingerie, btw.

Petra looked up at the built-in webcam on her laptop. The light was on. She stuck a Star Trek band aid on it, before she replied.

p@r@dox: if you get nervous, dont imagine me naked. might get too distracted.
p@r@dox: i wanna win fair n square.
Behemøth: I’ll just think about you now.
p@r@dox: perv
Behemøth: You look good in red, wear it more often.
Behemøth: ;)

…Behemøth has disconnected.

Petra had dreams of hacking him into oblivion that day.

She almost liked the competition. Almost.

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Chapter 7: Geek in the Streets, Freak in the… pt.2

The Hack-a-Thon lasted six hours. Every hour, five people were eliminated. Petra sat far away from Lyle, but when they were the only two left standing (well, sitting), they had to sit on computers opposite of each other.

Petra looked up, saw that Lyle was already looking at her, and gave him a wink.

Bring it on.

The results: p@r@dox-66%, Behemøth-90%. It was a slaughter.

“How the hell did you do that!” Petra tried to be annoyed, but she was more impressed than anything.

Lyle adjusted his silly brown sweater, “It took a while, but it payed off. Probably would’ve gotten 100% if I didn’t spend the first twenty minutes distorting your feed. I made sure to make it subtle, so you wouldn’t notice. And by the time you probably would notice, you’re in too deep.”

He smirked, “Rookie mistake, my dear.”

“No,” Petra smiled. “You’re just an ubernerd.”

“Geek.”

“A geek who would love to treated with expensive takeout tonight.”

Lyle hit his index finger against his temple, pretending to think. He raised his finger in the air, before proclaiming, “Cheap curry, it is!”

When the weekend was over, they had to return home. Turns out Lyle lived close to where Zolita grew up. Lyle and Petra kept in contact, virtual and physical, throughout the final year of high school.

When they graduated, both decided against university and moved into the apartment that Asher bought for them. It was perfect for them – the bedroom was almost half the size of the entire apartment, the perfect geek den. They played chess in their room, they woohooed in their room, they read the entire novelisation of Star Trek in their room. And most importantly, they forged careers in their room. Lyle became a software engineer. He was known for his meticulous skill in finding flaws in code. Petra became well-known gamer, and to this day no one has ever surpassed her R.E.F.U.G.E. record.

They had a child quite young, a son named Oleksy Romeo. Their room was large enough that they merged it with his nursery. They placed mirrors behind their desks so that they only had to peek out of the corner of their eyes to keep watch on him.


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Did I mention that they got married at GeekCon, of all places?


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Chapter 8: Celebrity Heaven

"Lilalicious" had 9.5 million subscribers between her website and YouTube channel. Her makeup tutorials and interesting vlogs won over the hearts of millennials across the world. She regularly featured her boyfriend, Aden Lovelace, goalkeeper for the San Myshuno Llamas. Who knew that he looked so good with winged eyeliner…


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Viewers loved her set up – celebrity boyfriend, perfect apartment, twin sister down the hall. Daily updates and weekly features. Whenever her well-respected family (full of artists, musicians, and scientists to answer questions) or her man’s teammates came over, Lila took advantage of it. She was blessed to have a supportive and interesting network to create content with. However, she also knew that you could not rely on status for success; her fans were deserved nothing but high-quality content.


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Lila declined to star on a reality TV-show about soccer girlfriends, but she still appeared in episodes as she had become friends with some of the women. Sometimes, she felt like their relationships were a bit superficial, but they were lovely girls despite being materialistic. The girls loved to be test subjects for Lila’s weekly makeup tutorials. They encouraged Lila to become a makeup artist, which she ended up doing casually for a while.

The Llama team’s captain, right-midfielder Grigorij Hana, got hit by a car the night after a game. He and his girlfriend, ironically named Hannah, died within hours of each other. It rocked the entire sporting community. Aden was close to Grigorij, and Lila was not sure if he ever made peace with his death. She stuck by his side, for better or for worse, and eventually Aden was in his best form ever. His soccer was phenomenal and he dedicated every victory to his lost friend.

For people who broadcast their relationship to the public, Lila and Aden decided to get engaged low-key. They had been together for years and even had baby Grisha, already. Grisha was named after the deceased, Grigorij. The two went engagement ring shopping together and decided on a simple ring with a singular gem. They got cheesy infinity tattoos on their wedding fingers, too. Aden’s teammates teased him about that move.

The wedding itself, was even more low-key. Lila and Aden set up a wedding arch in their own living room. They let their son decorate the place with paper flowers and, unfortunately, he thought that his toys were included as decorations as well. When decided on the guest list, immediate family and as much friends as they could invite were included. They did not want it to be too large and fancy. Lila did, however, share wedding snaps with the world – all taken by guests!


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Felix and Zolita saw their last daughter married that day. It was beautiful to see them all so happy. Gustav and Ishka were most certainly watching on with smiles. The bride and groom, though, were outshone by three very energetic toddlers… Lots of cake was eaten and even more nappies were soiled.

Meet Mr. and Mrs. Aden and Lila Lovelace (+Baby Grisha)!


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Chapter 9: Bestseller

Kassidy came from a broken home. Her mother had a child (her) with her step-father. They all stayed under the same roof – you can see how that was a toxic environment to grow up in. Kassidy’s half-sister/aunty, Macy, and her were really close, and often spent time together outside of the home to get away from family trouble. Didier and Constance took the children under their wing, inviting them over for playdates and sleepovers ever since daycare. Nikola took a particular liking to a certain blonde…


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Nikola and Kassidy were both hopeless romantics. They watched the most cheesiest rom-coms together, ones that neither Beatrice nor Macy could stomach. Beauty and the Beast was probably the only movie that their sisters could watch with them.

Despite the two having tunnel vision for each other, they never made a move throughout their early adolescents. They spent hours talking about their dream romance, princesses and prince charmings, and planning weddings to imaginary lovers. Kassidy decided to channel this imagination into writing, and found herself writing popular fanfiction. Nikola would beta read all her work. He encouraged her to pursue a career in writing, something Kassidy always thanked him for.

The two went to formal together as friends. They danced together as friends. They won best dressed couple as friends. They kissed each other as friends. And then they finally said “I actually really really like you” to each other. They ended the night as way more than friends.


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Kassidy published her first novel at a young age – “Capoeira”, a story about the daughter of Angolan slaves falling in love with the rebellious son of a cruel Portuguese slavemaster. The story was set in Brazil during the mid-1800s. It became a bestseller, and the first thing people would read when they opened the novel was “For my love, Nikola Hilde.”

Nikola decided to get into business. He spent years interning before he landed a lucrative job as an angel investor. He had an eye for the job, even though he was nothing like the men he worked with. He and Kassidy bought a lovely apartment from a family called the Jang’s – it was unique and colourful, a dream home for a couple with their head in the clouds!


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Kassidy had quite the online following, with some claiming to have been fans since her anime fanfiction days. Once she made an appearance on Lila’s makeup webseries. Her episode focused on how to match makeup with colourful hair. It became Lila’s third most popular episode.

Whilst working on her second novel, Kassidy got in a bit of trouble. All she could think of was her own love life. Her characters were parallel with real life, and she was fine with that, until she ran out of material. Kate and Gale were childhood friends who spent years together before admitting their love. She was from a broken home, he was from a wonderful family. They both got successful careers, moved in with each other, and then… then… She did not know what to write. Her life was not boring, in fact it was perfect, but it got her wondering what was next.

The Romance Festival was back in town one night. Kassidy had not written one page of her novel for two months. She thought that it would be a good thing for her and Nikola to go – they wanted to celebrate their love and she was hoping that she would be inspired by all the love around her. They started off the night with a love reading from a guru. After that, they viewed the flower garden. Maybe it was whatever was in that pink juice, because they then decided to get married in the heat of the moment!


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Chapter 9: Italian Dreaming

She was bewildered by the sight.

Beatrice was hanging out with her cousin, Petra, when she set her eyes upon a Greek God… Well, an Italian God… Technically an Italian-South African-New Zealander God… That is beside the point. Anyways, she saw Franklin Romeo, brother to Petra’s boyfriend (now husband) Lyle. He was kind, and polite, and quiet – Beatrice was in awe. The muscles were just the icing on a very nice, sensitive cake.


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Franklin and Lyle were born in Cape Town, South Africa to Sergio, their Italian-South African father, and Jade, their Italian mother. Their parents decided to raise their children in Prato, Italy, so they moved there when the boys were two and four, respectively. By the time Lyle was ready for high school, they decided to move to New Zealand. They learnt how to speak fluent Italian and English, but their Afrikaans was scrappy.

Franklin knew from a young age that he wanted to be a bodybuilder. He was born to be an athlete - he loved the feeling of being strong, and even the act of exercising was cathartic. Growing up, all he did was eat healthy, balanced meals, work out, and play video games that his brother modded. His life was simple, and he loved that, but like all straight, teenage boys, he was curious about girls. Lyle laughed at the fact that he had better luck with women than Franklin. He would always say, "You could get anyone you wanted, Frankie - Girls love muscles!"

To which Franklin would reply, "I don't want just anyone!"

And, of course, the girl he did end up wanting was the daughter of the Police Commissioner.

He only knew her from pictures. Lyle caught him looking at a picture of Beatrice and her many cousins online, telling him to, "Pick his jaw off of the floor." He teased his little brother for weeks before suggesting that they meet.

"Uhhhhhh... No?" Franklin replied at the suggestion.

"Dude, come on! Now or never!"

So Franklin took a deep breath, brushed his hair, and psyched himself up in the mirror. He met his dream girl the next afternoon.

They got along really well. Franklin was more of a listener than a talker, and Beatrice loved how interested he seemed. She talked about following her artistic grandparents' footsteps. Instead of becoming an artist or an art curator, however, she wanted to be an art critic. She was good at painting, but she felt like she could make a career out of appraisal. She had, after all, been exposed to a lot of great art in her life. Beatrice encouraged Franklin to talk about his career goals, but he felt a bit embarrassed talking about how much he loved sports to her. He knew that once he started, he could not stop.

Their passions for their future careers is what brought the two together. Franklin would join art classes that Beatrice would hold at the local art gallery. Beatrice would join him at the gym, with Franklin showing her proper techniques. They both thought that the most attractive feature of the other was that look in their eyes when they were doing something that they loved. Franklin also realllllyyy loved her freckles.


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After Franklin and Beatrice had been dating for a while, Franklin asked Didier an important question: Could he take his daughter to Italy to start a life with her? He told Didier about the bodybuilding opportunities where they would be going, the art gallery within walking distance of their home, and the fact that their home was just a plot of land. They would start a life from scratch, together.

"I'll even teach your daughter Italian, sir!"

Didier tried to be serious the entire time Franklin was speaking, but he was highly amused. Franklin was pitching this idea with such ferocity, as if Didier was a king and he was a villager who needed funds to feed his goats.

"She is going to love it there. I think that there is this bakery with litt-"

"Son," Didier stopped Franklin mid sentence.

"Yes, sir."

"Do you love my daughter?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then take her to Italy, and make her happy."

"Yes, s-"

"Didier, call me Didier."

When Franklin asked Beatrice to move to Italy with him, she was overcome with joy! She had never travelled before and was excited to see the country that her man was from. She also went crazy when Franklin spoke Italian around her, and she was happy about the prospect of hearing him speak it more often!


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