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The letter arrived to the home of Buck and Libby Bookman in an inconspicuous letter.

Leaning forward, Vanessa rested her elbows on her knees and propped her chin up on her hands. ”Growing up was not easy when I was approaching my teenage years. This is known by some people who know me or used to know me, and I know there are rumors, but I do want to officially come out and say it: I am a trans woman.” Nessa sat up straighter, a weight lifting from her.

”I’m really fortunate that I am as passing as I am, and I want to acknowledge that and shout out to any trans sisters or brothers who aren’t, because you’re still wonderful and valid. I grew up feeling out of place and not quite right, and I grew up with parents who thought I was going through a phase and eventually kicked me out because I was going to pursue a medical transition. I was lucky to have some friends who had my back through that hard time, and no one was better to me than my brother, Booker, who is my family, and who has always supported me as his sister. The other members of The POW Block Party and the people close to me all know this, but I want the community to know, because I don’t want any trans followers to think they have to hide who they are to be loved.”

There was a jump cut where Nessa clearly took a sip of water and composed herself between cuts, as she returned setting down a water bottle on the side table. ”I really am not looking forward to the comment section of this video. I trust so many of you to be amazing and supportive and good to each other and me. Sadly, I can feel the oncoming storm of hate and trolls here. The transphobes, the alt right, the far right, the TERFs, the cis gay girls that might call me a ‘liar’ or something. I’m already bracing for it, and it’s gonna suck. That being said, they might not make up the bulk of the hate, because I do have one more big thing I need to share.”

Vanessa had already spoken to Benny, the CEO of The POW Block Party, and he was going to be sending out a company email when she was ready, but it was important for her to do something face-to-face first. The members of her recording team in the Let’s Play division of the company were some of her closest friends. Booker was her only family and Gina was earning a special place in her life, but her team had earned to right to be considered brothers in their own way.

There was a lull in production where everyone was gathered together for lunch. Their last video was a hectic shooter guessing game and they spent the last ten minutes of it enduring the scents of hot hero sandwiches. Someone ran out to everyone’s favorite Italian sandwich place, and the scents of meatballs, chicken, veal and eggplant parm filled the air. The team of six gathered up once the cameras and recording feeds were closed.

Everyone was starving, including Vanessa, but she was too nervous to start eating right away. In an uncharacteristically quiet voice, she piped up. ”Hey guys, can I say something?”

“Can I eat my sandwich while you say this?” Johnny asked it lightly, but he was surprised to notice Nessa’s unsure expression. “Sorry. What’s up?”

”No, no, it’s okay. I just… you guys have been so good to me since I’ve been here, and I wanted to be honest with everyone.”

The guys all had their sandwiches set down, listening in curiously. “Of course,” Jamie said with almost fatherly concern. They were not used to Nessa getting serious like this.

The girl of their group gulped. ”I’ve been… keeping something to myself for a long time, but I’m finally being open with the people who matter, and you guys… well, matter. So, here it is: I’m a mutant.”

She expected silence, but it was quickly broken by a British-tinted, “Woah.”

“David,” Vince spat.

“What? I didn’t see that coming! It’s cool, but I didn’t guess.”

Jamie rolled his eyes. “Why would you have guessed?”

“I dunno. I thought I had good mutant guessing capabilities. I knew Dori was one!”

“My hair changes color, you idiot.”

While the boys bickered, Gian had stood up and walked over to Nessa. The tattooed, mustachioed man wrapped the younger woman in a tight hug. “Nessa, we’re gonna be here to supp—wait, is this a mutation that is bad for hugging?”

Nessa was already feeling teary eyed in the hug, shaking her head. ”No, I’m just a telepath.”

“Oh, good, a—wait, really?” The guys all shifted and looked at each other awkwardly. “Um, sorry.”

Nessa laughed, realizing what they were all thinking. ”You’re all fine. It’s only when I make contact, and… people have weird thoughts. I promise it was only ever surface-level stuff.”

Gian chuckled as the other guys got up to join in hugging their teammate. “Well, dicks. Okay, try to ignore when you accidentally catch the dirty s*** in our heads, but otherwise, we’re here for you.”

”Thanks. I love you bastards.”

“Aww.” There was a pause before Johnny finally asked, “So now can we eat our lunch, Miss Dramatic Reveal?”

”Oh, please. I’m dying.”

Paige awoke with a headache. She usually did; her powers had faded over the night, but she was still stuck with the aftereffects of a night of drinking. Her stomach had woken her up. Pains in her stomach were growing more frequent as time went on, and she knew too well it was tied to the symptoms of excessive use of Ambrosia. She was stuck in an awkward spot; the Ambrosia was killing her, but if she stopped taking it, her employer might kill her first. More than that, she still loved the feeling Ambrosia gave her. To live as a mutant. To more easily forget the past.

She untangled herself from Skye. Over the months, her fellow dancer was the only woman who was allowed to know Paige’s secret. Skye was the only person Paige trusted with the truth of her humanity, and because of that, they were made closer for it. Paige reached over the woman’s body for the glasses on the nightstand. Another effect of the Ambrosia; her eyesight was deteriorating, so whenever she was not on stage, she was now wearing glasses.

Letting her friend, or whatever Skye was now, rest in bed a while longer, Paige threw on a pair of shorts and a shirt that rested off one shoulder. She sauntered into the kitchen, turning on the television and the coffee maker. Over the soft hum of her coffee brewing, she caught the tail end of a news report. ”There is no saying if this will stop or if this ends with the closing of the Rift we all grew used to for the past year. We will be bringing you ongoing coverage of the shrinking Rift throughout the day.”

Paige stood there, stunned. Ever since Gawain-then-Maya made an appearance at the club, Paige had been considering making her way over to the other world for one reason: Booker. She had asked one of the girls working on the other side to look into the possibility of a Booker Bookman living in the other world. It was possible the name would be different, but she had to find out. And when she did, she had to spend months wondering about her alternate universe brother.

She always found reasons not to go visit him. He was not her Booker; not really. He might have his own Paige, or might not have a sister at all. And what if he saw her and he was just… disappointed. That fear kept Paige from making a move.

Now, though… now her window was closing. She wondered what to do; what if the Rift was closing forever? She ran the risk of being displaced from her own life for the chance of knowing the man who was sort of her brother? It was a weighty choice to make. When she left the apartment, she was still undecided, but she did have her wallet and her ID in her back pocket, just in case.

She finally made it to the Rift, and even as it shrank, it still put the feeling in her gut that something was wrong. Maybe it was best that she just return to her apartment, curl up with Skye, and—

It was him. Through the Rift, it was hard to tell right away, and he looked older than she remembered, but sitting there, eating ice cream without a care in the world, was Booker.

Paige did not know what she was going to do and her feet seemed to move on her own, but before she realized it, she was running toward him. She would deal with the consequences and what could and could not be undone later, but she saw her brother there and she had to give herself the chance to get to know him. She could almost feel the pull of the Rift, ready to bring her over to the other side.

And then it was gone. Paige actually tripped at the unexpected shift, leaving nothing in front of her but her New York City. She looked around in a panic, but she knew in her heart she had not made it. Booker was nowhere to be seen. There was a numbness that filled her as reality hit her. She had a chance and it was gone now.

“Do you need help getting to your feet, dear?”

Paige looked up at an older gentleman offering her a hand and accepted it with a polite nod, but she did not speak. The Rift was closed. Booker was dead, but the Rift did not change that. She did not have her brother, but maybe she could take solace in knowing he was out there in another reality, alive and happy and eating ice cream. Maybe if she focused on that, the pit in her stomach would go away.

Nessa was not the subtlest of people, and she was transparent when it came to arguing or compelling, but that worked with Gina. Honesty was the hallmark of their relationship, so if Nessa wanted Gina to do something, the best move was to be honest about how much she wanted her to do it. And then to whine and be adorable.

Inevitably, she won and Gina let her know how unfair she was in her thoughts. Nessa kissed her cheek closer to the top of her jawline so she could whisper in her ear, ”Oh, I know.” She took Gina’s hand and led her to the couch.

Nessa’s return was met with a chorus of “Finally!” from her friends, which she met with a single well-chosen finger. Gina was met with a much nicer chorus of greetings. Dori was especially nice, being the mutant member of the team and all around cinnamon roll of a person.

Taking her seat at the end of the couch, Nessa patted her lap. ”Right here works. These guys could use a handicap because I’m just too good at this mostly-luck based game.” Vince naturally called that bulls**t but Nessa ignored him. Since she was at the end of the couch, Gina could sit on her lap at an angle, letting her wings out off the couch so they were not in the way. Nessa had gotten better at accounting for her girlfriend’s mutation with little aspects of life.

Taking her controller back (and finally taking her turn,) Nessa spoke into the camera as her character hit a dice block on screen. ”For those of you who haven’t heard me getting all sappy and gushing about my girlfriend, this is Gina. She makes amazing clothes and she makes me happy because she’s basically the best thing ever.”

“Then what’s she doing with you?” Vince retorted.

”She’s with me because I’m charming as s***, d***face,” she said smugly. She placed a hand on Gina’s knee, hoping she was not too anxious about being on camera. ”She even brought a cute little picnic for when this is over. It’s all very adorable and gay.”

“Everything about you is very gay,” David pointed out.

”Yeah, but Gina brings the adorable. She’s a vital part of it all.”

“So Gina, do you play games?” Dori asked inquisitively. “It’ll do my heart good to know you’re kicking her ass when she’s off camera.”

Nessa came from such humble beginnings, and she was well known in such a new and ever-evolving medium, it still felt weird when people hit her with the “internet celebrity” moniker. It was true; she was recognizable by a weird but not insignificant portion of the population. Her face and quotes were on merchandise. There were compilation videos of her “best moments,” which was a trip in and of itself since she would argue she had no best moments.

The best way to handle it was to be humble, but not falsely modest. ”Somehow, yeah. Booker can attest, I get animated when I play video games. Thankfully, there are people that love that kind of personality and will spend hours a week watching me yell at pixels and co-workers.” The world she lived in was a bizarre one, to say the least.

Nessa had promised she would not intentionally read Javier’s mind, but she was pretty sure Booker underestimated the burden that was an “always on” power. It was natural to look a person in the eyes, particularly when you made a habit of it your entire life. She did not catch much; when Booker got a hair too far, which he did rarely, she caught snippets. Javi seemed pleased to be doing “well” in their conversation, which was honestly sweet. Not as sweet as stray thoughts of what seemed like respect for what she did or what she dealt with.

Oh, the comments sections. Booker had to chime in about a recent comment blitz, and Vanessa glared at him. ”Yeah, a debate started by our personal channel, for some reason. The only people on your side are the fans who want to see me rage,” she reminded him indignantly.

She sighed and took her seat, quick to grab a tortilla to start compiling ingredients for a delicious shrimp taco. ”They can get nasty, honestly. Sometimes it’s just trolls. Other times it’s people who want to throw homophobic or sexist comments about the gay gamer girl ‘diversity hire.’” There was some extra disgust on that last phrase she caught in a recent video, literal years after her hire date. ”It’s a vocal minority. Most of the fans are chill and supportive.”

With some lemon, pico de gallo, salsa verde, and guac, she took her first delicious bite of the taco and had to commend Booker for making one almost as good as her own. ”At least, I hope there are more of the latter than the former. If not, it’s gonna be a real b***h when I come out as a trans mutant in my upcoming video,” she admitted nonchalantly.

Nessa could be rough around the edges; it was a flaw she would freely admit to. Crass comments, blunt delivery, and occasionally rude questions were all not unheard of for her. If she wanted to be difficult, she would have gladly done so, but she was making a real effort. They were going to eat delicious tacos and her brother managed to bring someone home she trusted the intentions of, so there was no real reason to be a challenge.

She was going to be a team player, but she was still going to tease Booker. She wanted Javier to get a genuine impression of them together, and genuine for Nessa and Book meant bickering and teasing.

Javier freely admitted to knowing about Booker’s dorkiness, which boded well for the pair; he saw her brother at his nerdiest and did not go running. Booker took the moment to ham it up and act betrayed, and Nessa promptly rolled her eyes at the display.

They were settling into small talk, with Javier explaining his job as a tailor with some budding cosplay experience. Booker was weaving in and out of the room, so Nessa was instinctively doing her best to maintain eye contact with Javier. She did not want to pry, but at the same time, she had a decade of life experience that made her most comfortable when she could peer into someone’s thoughts. If Booker strayed just far enough away from her and Javier, she could get small snippets of what was going on in that handsome shaved head of his.


Fair was fair, of course, and Javier was curious about what Vanessa did for a living. She loved talking about her job, but it was not always easy to explain to people who were not familiar with the online entertainment space. ”Well, I am a member of an online production company. I do a few things, honestly. Some small animation and editing work. But mostly, I am an online personality for our content.” Which sounded very vague and could mean anything from making websites to smut films. ”It mostly amounts to being snarky when I host one of our podcasts and yelling at people as we play video games online for peoples amusement.”

She nodded, very curious what Javier might be thinking about her job. ”It’s a very awesome, very weird job.”