Chapter 2 - The Part Where We See What Happened

[Anna]: About time!

[Brent]: What?

[Anna]: I've been waiting for ages!

[Brent]: How did you know I'd do it?

[Anna]: Of course you would, it's part of who you are. I noticed you signed up as Brent, glad you're getting into character.

[Brent]: Umm, yeah...So where did you go anyway?

[Anna]: Writers are only allowed one chance to convince someone to be their Main Character. They're not allowed to intervene after that.

[Brent]: I see.

[Anna]: But I knew you'd do it, and now that I'm your writer it means I get to do cool stuff like this!

*****

"Hi, Brent, honey. How was your first day at school?"

"Mum! Why are you calling me Brent?!"

"I thought you were over that B-Man stuff."

[Brent]: What's going on? I'm not talking, but this sounds and looks like what I said to my mum yesterday.

[Anna]: It's a flashback. Now that I'm your writer, I get access to all of your memories so that I can add flesh to your character with flashbacks. Plus, it gives me a better idea of who you are. I only watched you for a few days before I met you for the first time.

[Brent]: You were watching me? What are you, a stalker or something?

[Anna]: No! It's called research! Anyway, let's just let this flashback play out.

[Brent]: So I guess my name really is Brent now.

"Anyway, sweetie, what did you do at school today?" Brent's mum asks in an annoying falsetto.

"Nothing much." Brent replies.

"You should be more excited! It looks like we're going to be staying here a bit longer. Your dad had a really good day today. Doesn't look like it'll be a repeat of last time. The owner of the building is willing to let us rent it without having to pay 3 months in advance. That means we can get that new oven!"

"That's good." Brent says, gloomily.

"Stop being so cheerful! Big smiles means more friends, cheer up!" Brent's mum squeezes his cheeks, then walks off humming to herself.

[Brent]: Urgh, my mum is so embarrassing, did you have to include that part?

[Anna]: I just write what I see.

Brent walks up to his room, glad to finally be away from everything. Lying on his bed, the full weight of the day's events hits him. First days are always bad. Having three first days in a month is worse. The thought of being able to stay in this place for more than a week was both tempting and repulsive to Brent. New places always meant new people, new ideas for spells. The last place they moved to had a mage who used his fire magic to temper glass, but unlike most glassmakers, he managed to shape glass inside a large mound of compacted sand, while keeping the rest of the sand intact. So every festival, there would be a large mound of sand in the town square, and people would look forward to the unveiling, where young children would brush away the sand and reveal that season's masterpiece.

Although, new people meant making friends all over again - trying to break into the well-established cliques, and making small talk with people who are about as interesting as a potato peel in the hopes of some spark of friendship. The worst part of it all was falling in love with girls he would never see again.

[Brent]: No it's not. How is that the worst? You clearly know nothing about moving around a lot.

[Anna]: So what? It sounds good.

[Brent]: ...

Given his father's track record, they would probably be staying in this town for six or seven days at most. No point in getting attached to anybody, because all it would result in was yet another PaperMail address to add to the long list. Though the letters shortly died off once the transit time started to reach months in length. The last PaperMail he received had taken 5 months to reach him, and had 17 mail-forwarding spells cast on it. Brent was almost certain the mail-magi knew of him by now, he was keeping them busy at least.

A thought suddenly occurrs to him - maybe the Writer had brainwashed the people around him, but surely all the mail he had received over the years would have his name on it. A quick search through some boxes turns up a large pile of mail.

"Brent, Brent, Brent... Why do they all say Brent?! I swear they said Harold." Brent starts digging through the other boxes strewn about his room in an attempt to find any semblance of his life as Harold. Old pencil cases, homework, exams, reports from teachers, birthday cards, everything he had kept from his former life were marked with Brent.

"Anna! What's going on? Change my name back, I want to be Harold. I am Harold! Anna?" Brent screams at the ceiling.

[Brent]: Were you actually there?

[Anna]: Nope. This is pretty funny to watch actually.

Brent starts pacing around, thinking about the things that had happened to him. Bullying was pretty standard. Comes with the territory - Brent couldn't help that he enjoyed learning new spells, it felt good doing something he hadn't done before, even though most of the things he accomplished were pretty useless. The ability to slow water dripping down a wall is hardly the kind of feat that impresses the girls. They want to be the one dating the guy with shiny new things, or the guy who can command balls of flame into performing incredible shows. They didn't want to be the one dating the guy who spends all of his time with his head buried in a book, trying to work out the best way to freeze water into ice, while expending the least amount of energy.

He lived by the motto: "Think before you act" and it has served him well so far, why should he change? The only problem now was that he had no idea what was going on, but it was time to find out.

"Mum, I'm going out." he yelled as he walked out the front door.

"Okay, be safe!" she replied.

He began considering what he knew so far. Something called a "Writer" had approached him and asked him to be a "Main Character" in her "Story". She was able to conjure food, so that indicated some sort of magic, which mean she had probably studied at an academy of some sort. The best place to find information on someone like that would be the Mage Registry. He starts making his way over to the library, when he suddenly remembers the scroll with terms and conditions. Then he also remembers that he threw it into a fireplace.

"Great. Just great." Brent slumps down onto the ground in resignation. He suddenly gets up and starts looking around for something. His expression changes to one of concern, and then confusion. And then...

[Anna]: Huh? What happened there?

[Brent]: What do you mean?

[Anna]: You were looking around, and then it went all blank.

[Brent]: Yeah, that's when Jurin appeared.

[Anna]: Jurin? Who's that?

[Brent]: He's a writer, like you. He gave me another copy of the terms and conditions. That's how I was able to register.

[Anna]: Hmmm. That's really strange. Writers aren't meant to talk to other Main Characters. What happened next? I can't seem to access it, the next thing I see is us talking about you finally signing up.

[Brent]: We talked about some stuff. He told me what it meant to be a Main Character. Anyway, we're supposed to be heading to the training grounds, aren't we?

[Anna]: Oh, yes! I'm so excited! This is going to be the first time I've seen a Main Character in training, I've never been allowed to watch before!

[Brent]: Well, hopefully it all goes well, and I'll be allowed to be your Main Character.

Following the instructions in the scroll, Brent heads off to the training grounds.

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