Survival Of The Fittest

Annabelle Summers sat in the middle of the cafeteria at an empty, a frustrated look on her face as she chewed irritably on the eraser of her pencil. Her half-eaten lunch was shoved aside, the crusts of a ham and cheese sandwich lying haphazardly on a pile of cold, soggy fries. It wasn't the lousy cafeteria food that brought her sour mood, however. The source of her discontent was the notebook lying right in front of her and the blond was considering just closing the notebook and throwing it at the ceiling. She sighed and dropped the chewed pencil back onto the notebook, scowling.

Scribbled up and down the page was an outline for a new story that she had decided to give a shot on. It was inspired by the short story "The Most Dangerous Game in the World", mostly because she had to read it for her English class. Of course, it wasn't a direct copy. No, her version involved giant robots and romantic troubles and drama and tragedy and friendship and plot twists and all sorts of great things. Of course, even if she had all these ideas and could even write the dramatic and tragic parts in her head, it didn't matter at all if she couldn't even think of a stupid name for the whole thing or even a good starting point.

Annabelle sighed and picked up her pencil again, tapping the tip against her outline. Character names she had gotten, although those had mostly been made by picking random names off of the student list and changing them slightly. She privately hoped that none of her classmates actively read her work. Maybe 'Fariya', 'Danny', and 'Yuki' wouldn't mind that she had totally ripped off their names. She had the major plot twists already plotted out as well as the main heroines' reactions to it. She even had the romantic struggle of the super main heroine, although it was slightly different from what she normally intended.

'I wonder if I really should just make her a lesbian like this.' Annabelle thought to herself, frowning. 'Do people have things like close childhood friends becoming lovers in real life? I mean, a ton of books and stories have it, but it seems so cliche that it's unrealistic. Wait, that doesn't even make any sense.'

She sighed again before shaking her head and flipped her notebook to a new page. She had all her tools in hand. She had all her ideas ready to be molded into a shining, multi-chapter epic work of art. If only she could get the opening down.

'Should I start with the origin or should I start at the beginning of the alien invasion and then do a background flashback in the later chapters?'

She groaned and let her head fall down on the notebook, looking at the blank pages with a helpless look on her face. "This sucks."

Edith walked through the cafeteria looking for a place to sit. However, the look on her face showed that she knew just where to sit. The sea of students did their best to get out of her way, but a few weren't fast as brushed against her sides. She couldn't blame them, this place was too small. Maybe if they let her eat some of the idiots clogging this school it'd be a roomier. Alas, all Edith would be allowed to eat was the bagged lunch she brought (like hell she'd eat the food here).

She stopped and spotted an empty seat near that Annabelle girl. Edith had been meaning on meeting her for a while. Smiling, Edith approached the young woman. Annabelle had one of the few video games blogs that wasn't filled to the brim with shit and idiocy. Plus she was kind of cute, and that's always a good thing. When she got to the table Edith said,

"Hey, Anna. Is it cool if I call you that?" as she seated herself at the table. Looking at the exhausted girl's head resting on a book, Edith asked,

"So, studying using osmosis?" Raising her eyebrows, waiting to see how'd Anna react/

Annabelle let her head lay there on the notebook for a while, halfheartedly wishing that somehow all her ideas would leak out of her ears and pour onto her notebook. Of course, nothing ridiculous like that happened. What happened instead was the appearance of another Aurora High student and Annabelle blearily looked up at her guest, blinking a few times before letting a slight smile cross her face. "If I could gain knowledge through osmosis, I'd sleep on my textbooks all the time. And sure, Anna's fine. It's not like Annabelle isn't a mouthful or something."

Her guest was one Edith West, a girl she recognized from a few of the classes she had taken. She didn't have good idea of what Edith's personality was like, considering the two of them never really had talked before at length. At the moment, though, she was here and pleasant company for the frustrated teen, so Annabelle let her smile grow slightly wider as she sat up and closed her notebook.

"Anyway, this wasn't anything important. I was just uh..." She paused, wondering how to phrase it. Telling people that you were trying to write original fiction usually either made them mock you or had them immediately shift the conversation to something that was less boring (to them, at least). She wasn't exactly sure how Edith would react. 'Ah hell, whatever. If she doesn't like it, she doesn't like it, right? Trying to sidestep around the topic is kind of lame.'

She cleared her throat. "I was actually trying to put some story ideas together. Like...I don't know if you read the blog I have. You probably haven't. I mean it was just a class project and I decided to keep going on with it. But anyway, um...well, I'm trying my hand at original fiction and it's not coming together."

Annabelle gave Edith a weak laugh and a shrug. "I always rip on RPGs because of lackluster plots, but I have to admit, it's pretty damn hard to get things started..."

Nodding along with Anna's reply, Edith took out a bag of Funyons, opened it, and started eating them one by one. Not how she would like to eat them, but eating the bag whole might make Anna run away. Beside chuckling at the comment about sleeping on text books, Edith let her talk.

Bitches love talking.

She gave an encouraging smile when Anna paused to tell her what she was up to, and stopped eating to fold her hands under her chin with interest. When Anna finally revealed that she was working on a story on her blog, Edith gave a nod. Good to know she's working on another post. It was odd talking to someone who wrote a blog you followed, and see them working on stuff for it. Still Edith didn't want to come off as pushy, so she ate another funyons.

After adding about the difficulty of writing plots Edith countered while taking out her turkey breast sandwich,

"Yeah, but they get millions of dollars for their crap, and have years of college education." Edith took a bite out of the sandwich, chewed, and swallowed. Adding when she was finished, "And you're a high school student, and I've enjoyed your stuff a lot more than some of the games I've played." She said, rolling her eyes at memories of intolerable games she tried to play.

"Like, Tales of Symphonia. I couldn't stand hearing that kid, what's his name, talk." She complained.

Annabelle felt an embarrassed blush come to her cheeks as she heard Edith's compliment on her writing and she fidgeted a bit, holding the notebook to try to cover her growing smile. "A-Ah...well, if you keep speaking like that, you're going to give me a bigger ego and that certainly wouldn't be good at all, would it? A-Anyway, if you honestly like my work, then I'm really glad. I try to put as much effort as possible but..."

She simply shrugged, managing to control her emotions enough to be able to lower her notebook without wearing her giant smile. As Edith brought up Tales of Symphonia, she barked out a short laugh and grinned. "Ah, well, yeah, that wasn't exactly a shining example of the JRPG genre. I mean, it had its bright points, but it can't exactly be held up as a great game. But hey, it somehow managed to get enough money to garner a sequel. A shitty, shitty, mind-bendingly bad sequel."

Annabelle sighed and let her head sink back down on the table. "God, I hate that game so much. Stupid fucking monster capturing system and the bland characters and the dumbshit story and god everything about that game was shit besides the fact they actually let you free-run across the battlefield."

She paused for a bit before peeking up at Edith. "Am I talking too much? Feel free to shut me up if you want to."

Nodding more when Anna ranted about the game, Edith smiled. Anna was adorable like this, and since she was so shy Edith felt like this was a private show. She didn't know there was a fucking sequel, but that was a good thing. Seeing that shit come in the mail via Gamefly would've ruined a perfectly good day. She lied and said,

"I didn't even bother with the sequel." So she wouldn't have talked more then she knew. Anna said to shut her up Edith shook her head and waved Anna away saying,

"Oh, don't worry about talking too much." Taking a drink of water, Edith swallowed before adding, "I mean, I read your blog for a reason." This was going great. Talking to a pretty girl was a great way to start a new year.

"Ehehe, well then, if you don't mind me talking, I guess I might ramble on for a bit. It's kind of nice to just talk to someone about this stuff that just typing it down on a word document or something." Annabelle replies with a slight smile, her blush still present as she dipped her head to give Edith a half-bow. "And um, thanks for reading my blog. I try my best to keep all my material good, but if there's anything off, feel free to tell me how horribly wrong I am. I welcome criticism."

She broke for a moment, chuckling and scratching the back of her head. "Or, well, I feel like I'm supposed to say that but please don't be too harsh because you'll shatter my fragile self-confidence. Anyway..."

She trailed off, wondering what exactly she could talk about. There were plenty of things, actually. New games coming out like Soul Calibur V and Final Fantasy XIII-2 (although she had very little interest in either) and there was also Kingdoms of Amalur. 'Now there's a game I cannot wait to play. I hope it's as good as the demo made it feel, because if it isn't, it'll be...it'll be like the next coming of White Knight Chronicles.'

Annabelle gave a brief start when she realized she was lost in thought and she looked back to Edith, a weak smile on her face as she fished for her cell phone. "Anyway, hey, um...I don't think we've ever talked that much before, have we? It's one thing to read my blog, but it'd be nice to um...well, I'd like to know about you too, you know? Like, uh, your preference in games and stuff like that. It'd be nice to know so I can help cater to my readership."

((Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorr))

Chuckling along with Anna, Edith listened to the girl pass the speaking pole to her. She took awhile to choose her answers, thinking over them carefully. This was going well, and Edith didn't want to ruin it with one wrong answer. To stall she started with,

"Well, I like RPGs. That's kind of why I read your blog." She grinned while quipping, mocking herself a bit. Then, getting down to business, she said,

"I also like the Uncharted series. They're no masterpiece, but a fun play on the whole. Arkham Asylum and City were good, as was Assassin's Creed." She meant to play the other two, but had never gotten around to it. Plus, Edith felt like she was listing off too many newer games and decided to list of some of the older ones she liked (even if she hadn't played them as often as she should).

"Odin Sphere was cool, as was Chrono Trigger and Cross." Tapping her fingers on the table she thought before adding,

"And I guess I have a weak spot for Final Fantasy Seven." Edith shrugged before adding, "Like everyone else." Sure, not the best game in the world, but a classic.

Hopefully those were the right answers.

((y Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry))

Annabelle let out a small giggle as Edith began and she gave a few nods as the other girl continued her explanation. Edith named a few of the more highlighted series and games. After all, who hadn't heard of the Uncharted series (A fantastic set of games, in Annabelle's opinion, although she was lousy at shooters), the Arkham Asylum/City games, and Assassin's Creed as well. All of them rather safe bets for a good gaming experience in her opinion, although none of them were really in the niche that she dealt with. Sure, they were RPGs (and damn good ones at that), but Annabelle's focus was definitely on the JRPG sector...although admittedly in recent days it was beginning to disappoint.

Her interest definitely perked up when Edith mentioned Odin Sphere, however, and she chuckled as she heard Final Fantasy Seven get mentioned. Edith seemed like she was finished for now, so Annabelle spoke up with a happy grin, saying, "That's a pretty nice selection of games. I was surprised you knew about Odin Sphere, though. It didn't get hyped up at all, but you definitely have good taste for getting it. Vanillaware has such great artwork for their games and the gameplay of Odin Sphere was so nice! I loved it so much, although I liked Murasama: The Demon Blade even more!"

She realized that she had raised her voice and looked around to make sure she wasn't disturbing anyone else. Lowering her voice a bit, she continued by saying, "Hehe, sorry, I get really excited about these sort of niche-type games. Ah, I love Atlus so much, but I really wish they would release more copies of their games. They're always so rare..." She slumped against the table. "Oh well, as long as they keep releasing them, I guess I can't complain."

"Thanks." She replied to Anna's complement on her tastes. Sighing internally, Edith allowed herself to relax a bit as Anna talked about Vanillaware's stuff. Edith said,

"I never got to try Murasama, but I'll try and get my hands on it." Edith shrugged off the apology for the raised voice. It was cool to see someone get so enthusiastic about video games. Hell, Edith wished she could. When Anna finished talking about Atlus' lack of releases Edith asked,

"Wasn't that Catherine game the newest one by them?" She took a moment to replace a few loose strands of hair behind her ear, and fix her hairband before saying, "That was an interesting game. Took me a while to beat it, but I don't really wanna pick it back up yet." She played with the moral choice system towards the good, and had no interest in finding out what happened when Vincent was even more of an asshole.

"Yeah, that's the one. I tried playing it, but I'm really not that good at those types of games. It's really interesting, though. I don't think there's ever been a story-heavy puzzle block moving game, right?" Annabelle replied. "I really should finish it someday, but I keep wanting to get gold trophies so it takes me forever to just try to run it through perfectly. Ahaha...I should probably just blaze through it any way I can, but I guess you could say it's the achievement whore in me?"

"Anyway, if you want Muramasa...I could always lend you my copy." She offered. "I already fully completed it, so there's nothing left for me to do with it. Although I guess, if you were to actually buy a copy, it'd help support Atlus more. But that's only if you can actually find a new copy of the game." She cleared her throat. "Sorry, I'm rambling. Anyway, if you want it, I can bring it over to school tomorrow and lend it to you."

Annabelle fell silent afterward, waiting for Edith's answer. All this talking was making her thirsty.

Right. Lunch. Yes. Good, good start there Owen. Lunch is generally thought of as a positive part of the day. Most likely more important than getting your book back from Amy too. Seriously, spending five minutes trying to persuade her not to doodle all over it is like trying to persuade Fernando Torres to actually score for Chelsea.

Owen sighed as he walked into the school canteen, although he also had a smile on his face. After being friends with her for the past five or six years or so, Owen really should have known better than to give his English book to Amy Bachelor. He was absolutely certain that she'd give it back after lunch, and also certain that it would be covered from front to back in drawings, doodles, song lyrics and quotes from Sherlock or Doctor Who. He wasn't too concerned. It had happened many times before and he was fairly certain that Mr. Shigen was used to it by now.

Anyway, that could all be put on the backburner for now. Lunch was the most important thing now. He scanned the cafeteria for available seats. Normally he'd have sat with someone like Jack or Corey or Amy herself. But Amy had said she had to finish some coursework in the library, and Jack and Corey were nowhere to be seen.

As Owen was looking around, he caught a couple of words from Edith and Annabelle's conversation, in particular "Odin Sphere", "Muramasa" and "Atlus". From most other people, they might have just been coincidental, but from Annabelle and Edith? They could only have been talking about video games. He considered whether he should sit with them or not. He was cool with Annabelle; she was friendly, despite her passionate views on RPGs. Edith, however, was a slightly less friendly person most of the time. She seemed pretty friendly right now though, and Owen figured he'd much rather talk with them than sit in awkward silence with some other people he knew less well.

Owen walked towards the table, clearing his throat to try and get their attention. "Hey guys!" he said jovially. "Sorry if this is kinda abrupt and all, but I kinda overheard your conversation about Catherine and Muramasa and all that and..." Owen cleared his throat again, this time as if he was about to embark on a huge, long winded speech. "Golden Sun; discuss."

This was going great! She shrugged when Anna asked about it being the first of the kind. It was likely that it wasn't, but Edith had no evidence to prove it. When anna offered to lend her copy of the Muramasa game Edith said,

"That'd be great. I could barrow my brother's Wii for it." For once she wouldn't have to deal with Monster Hunter Tri, and the dying monsters being the background noise in the living room. He'd wine until she let him barrow the PS3, as these deals usually went.

"We can meet before school. You know, I wish I had a game to let you play." She tried to think of something she knew Anna hadn't played, but was interrupted by Owen Key. Edith was less than pleased, and would have done more about it if Anna wasn't at the table. Autism much, Owen? Forcing a smile on her face Edith replied,

"I didn't get to play it a lot. My friend gave me his copy, but he had to move away before I got too far in it." Maybe she could work him out of the conversation, but if that didn't work she still had Anna's friendship. That was as good of starting point as any.

"Don't worry about it~" Anna said cheerfully in response to Edith's offer to let her borrow a game. "If you can find one, that's great, but you don't need to worry yourself needlessly over it. Anyway, anytime to meet is fine. I'll just bring it in my backpack tomorrow or something."

She was about to excuse herself to go buy a soda at one of the vending machines when she heard someone speak to the two of them and she turned to see Owen Key walking over to them with a lunch tray in his hands. Annabelle gave him a small wave as he approached and she couldn't help but snort at the dramatic way he posed his question. She tapped her chin as she drew up memories of the Golden Sun games. She had played them all, of course, and had even written a small post about the series but she guessed it couldn't hurt to talk about it some more.

Her dry throat forgotten, she listened to Edith's brief answer before speaking up. "Ah, well, I mean, it's a fine RPG series, I guess. Pretty cut and dry role-playing game, I guess. Nothing too out of the mold? I mean, sure, you could say the Djinn and Summon systems are unique to it and I guess I'd agree, but like I said, it isn't that unusual to have stuff like that. Anyway, it was fun...although I'd like it more if they, you know, actually released games at a pace faster than molasses."

She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "And I didn't really like the DS game that much. I mean, I could see how they wanted to do a callback for the first game, but there really too many similarities for me to enjoy. And I wish they didn't make most of the female characters kind of lousy. I mean, two Jupiter adepts? Kind of bullshit."

She cleared her throat, looking a bit embarrassed. "Anyway. Uh...I guess that's my opinion on it. It might change after a few years and they finally bring the sequel to the DS game out."

The two replies to Owen's question were vastly different. Edith's was short and to the point; she hadn't played it much, so she couldn't give much of an opinion on it. Fair enough. Annabelle, on the other hand, was tapping her chin, and looked prepared to give a small speech on the subject. If she had a beard, Owen was sure she'd be stroking it.

Sure enough, her answer seemed to analyse everything about the series, from its apparent "cut-dry" ness, to the speed of how long it took for each game to be released. A grin formed on Owen's face as she spoke. His thoughts on games were normally along the lines of "It's literally the best thing ever" or "It's pretty bad, yeah" when asked. Owen didn't think he could say as much as Annabelle, but he couldn't really do his usual routine after that, could he?

"Well... I guess it is a smidge generic, yeah." Owen said, head slightly tilted as he thought. "But, y'know what? I still love it, because it was actually the first RPG I ever played. Seriously. Unless you count Pokemon." Owen thought for a moment before speaking up again. "Oh, and of course the music and graphics were pretty damn good, in my opinion."

Now, as for the DS game... Owen hadn't actually completed it yet. He'd gotten pretty far, at least he thought he had, but he'd been sidetracked by Dragon Quest IX, which he had to admit, was slightly superior. Still, he could vocalise at least one thought about the game. "Oh man, the DS game. Y'know what annoyed me the most about Dark Dawn? The fact that you could only rename Matthew. That was the single most disappointing part of the game for me, when I entered the naming code thing and nothing happened."

Owen sighed, although he had a smile on his face. As he did so, however, Owen's stomach growled, and his hunger, which had vanished whilst he was speaking, suddenly reappeared. Owen looked at the two girls, slightly embarrassed. "Oh, uh... is it okay if I sit here too?"