𝐒𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐀 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍. It was a strange concept to most, and she was well aware of the irony—she didn't have anywhere to go, yet she woke up earlier than those who did—but it was who she was, ingrained in the very fiber of her existence; no matter how late she slept—or early depending on how people perceived three in the morning to be—she could still be found waking up with the birds, ready to start the incredibly long day she had ahead of her.

She hummed as she climbed out of her fluffy bed, pushing back the comforters and taking the time to make her bed, even though she would immediately climb back in at some point before it was even time for her to go to bed.

She looked out her two story window, smiling when she caught sight of the small family of birds that had nested in the branch right by her window. It had started to get warmer, winter far behind her, which meant that Snow was now able to open her window keep it open without the fear of the cold and fog.

"Good morning," she chirped, smiling at the birds who tilted their heads at her quizzically as she flung open her windows, directing her attention onto them.

One of the birds hopped closer towards her, the others following suit, and she reached out for a moment to let one rest on her finger. She sighed softly, propping her chin on her other hand, leaning forward against her windowsill.

For a large portion of her life, the birds outside her door were the only company she had, and were one of the only times she was able to talk to someone who wasn't herself or her stepmother, on the off chance they actually spoke to each other. Of course, now, she had more opportunity for conversation, but the birds were the reason why she wasn't held too far behind when it came to social interaction.

Speaking of which, Snow figured that she should continue to get a head start on her homework to make sure that her stepmother didn't start to wonder what could possibly be causing her grades to drop; Snow wasn't necessarily a top student, though she was above average, but a sudden drop in her grades due to her turning her assignments in late was the last thing she wanted.

Humming, she grabbed her laptop and moved towards her bed. She didn't yet connect it to her various monitors were which were set up around her large desk that rested right across from her bed, pressed up against her wall, covering the entire expanse, as her room was shaped like an 'L,' the rest of her room dedicated to all of her other things arranged carefully around, making it seem larger as her main things were clustered in the small section farthest from the door.

She didn't let herself get too settled on her bed, however, as she did want to get herself some breakfast, so she left her laptop on her covers and stepped down, her socked feet sliding against the hardwood floor.

She liked wearing socks in the house because she could slide over the floor rather than step which meant, in the event she chose to head downstairs to grab herself more snacks during a particularly long night, or even just during the day when her stepmother was around, she could traverse unnoticed and could spare herself her stepmother's irritation.

That morning, Snow knew that her stepmother was still in the house. She normally didn't know, as they hardly ever spoke and her stepmother expected perfect behavior regardless of her presence, but Snow always made sure to be very aware of her stepmother's schedule during the days that she had important work to do, and often scheduled her own things in accordance to what her stepmother did for optimal workflow.

That day, her stepmother was going into work an hour late—eight o'clock rather than seven—and wouldn't be returning until well into the evening, as she had an event to attend and rather than coming back home to prepare, she would be getting ready at the hostess' own home as she was co-hosting the event with her.

Snow had never been to an event, though she could somewhat remember her birthday parties if she tried hard enough, and she figured that they were a great ordeal that she would love to be apart of, but only if she was with the right people. As of the current time, she didn't have any people, so she was grateful that, when her stepmother did host events, she was not allowed to attend.

She tried to convince herself of that, anyways.

Humming, she made her way down the stairs, catching sight of the newly picked apples that were resting in one of the fruit basket on the counter. She reached out for one, only to pause; she didn't know if her stepmother had a plan for all of them, and the last thing she wanted was her to barge in on her to reprimand her, especially that night.

So, figuring it was better to be safe than sorry, she made her way to the fridge and pantry. In the fridge, she grabbed the bottled coffee that she always poured into one of her favorite mugs, placing it in her mini-fridge in order to keep it up in her room without needing to bring it back down. In the pantry, she grabbed an armload of her usual snacks, chips and the like, only to drop them all onto the counter, sighing to herself.

Even after the countless attempts, she couldn't help but eat something healthy, she knew better than to only eat junk food. If she wanted to do the best she could, she had to take care of herself, and try as she might to just relax and give herself a day, she knew better than to think it would be fun.

So she made herself some oatmeal with fruit and called it a day, balancing everything in her arms and climbing back up. The oatmeal had enough to last her well into lunch, so all she had to do was make herself a grilled cheese and then she would be fine to eat her chips without worry.

It had been an ordeal, carrying everything up the stairs, but she had been doing it long enough that there was only minimal panic and slipping as she made her way up the expansive staircase. She had quite a scare when she thought she heard her stepmother approaching, causing her to nearly slip and fall, but she righted herself well enough and, with the silent reminder to bring a basket or something to carry everything next time, she disappeared back into her room.

Humming, she dumped all of her items onto her bed, holding onto her bowl of oatmeal, adjusting her mug to make sure she didn't crush it, letting everything else sit while she ate her oatmeal, pulling up the homework that she was going to do that day.

She was already ahead by two weeks, and she would've been ahead by three if two of her teachers hadn't messed up and not unlocked the next unit of lessons. But it was fine, she was still ahead, but she wished that she could just take a day or two to finish everything so she wouldn't have to do anything but what she wanted, but the last time she had done that her stepmother had been alerted to possible cheating and there had been problems for everyone as Snow desperately tried to explain that, no, she didn't cheat, she just didn't have anything else to do with her time; and besides, she didn't know how to use the internet to that extent.

Those had all been lies, and the last one was particularly ridiculous, but her stepmother had been more concerned with people looking too deep into who Snow was to care all that much of whether she was telling the truth that she didn't know how to do anything more than the research needed to complete her assignments.

If only she knew.

Snow hummed to herself as she went about working, trying to keep her singing quiet enough that her stepmother couldn't hear so she wouldn't start complaining. She decided not to put on her headphones until later on in the event that her stepmother decided to make it known that she was going out; she hardly ever did, and especially not directly to her, but the sound of the door closing, as well as the occasional sound of the garage depending on whether or not she was taking her car, usually gave it away.

Fortunately, Snow did hear her leave, and she couldn't help but jump up from where she had been lying on her stomach writing a paper about Italian statues to do a quick celebratory dance; she couldn't help it, the world always seemed so much brighter and lighter once her stepmother left the house.

Taking off her socks, she stood up and placed her now finished bowl on one of her shelves, not wanting to place anything in the sink lest her stepmother return and remember to force her to clean the house like she usually did; she had too much to do that night to risk that.

With a newfound sense of freedom, she jumped back onto her bed and continued to work. She didn't expect this paper to be finished that night, especially since she had more small assignments that she could complete and focus on, but now that she was able to have sound in the background, she immediately pulled up the soundtrack to a movie she watched that had Italian statues in it, which was rather helpful, but if she was being honest, she just loved the way the music made her feel.

It wasn't yet summer, but it was getting close, and San Fransisco wasn't necessarily notorious for its sunny weather, so Snow was willing to take anything she could get, and the song she put on repeat gave her visions of intensely blue skies that melted into oceans and bright green leaves fogged by the mist of waterfalls blown by a cool breeze fighting against warmth.

She had listened to the song three times before she realized that she was just staring out her window doing absolutely nothing.

Shocking herself back to work, she sat up from where she was lying on her back, figuring that laying on her stomach wouldn't do herself any good either, settling against her pillows against the wall, pulling her laptop into her lap to finish as much of the paper as she could before moving on to start doing her math homework.

By the time she stopped working as the sun went down, she had made herself a grilled cheese sandwich and took a break to watch a movie online, though she wound up doing her math homework while watching the movie since it wasn't too emotionally investing, though still entertaining.

Standing up, she groaned as she stretched, moving everything to her desk, getting ready for her very long night. A very productive, very rewarding, very long night.

Making sure that her door was locked, Snow opened one of the chip bags and set it in its usual position, turning on all of her monitors, singing along as they hummed to life, the black screens lightening to a gray before finally showing her various desktop backgrounds that, when connected, revealed a white castle with blue roofs resting on a cliff just above the ocean on the shoreline.

Humming, she opened up a familiar desktop link, feeling a growing excitement stirring in her stomach as the screen began to shift to the usual opening screen that she used to sign in, making sure that she wanted to use her usual account—she did—and if she wanted to play in the server that correlated to her general area—of course.

That was what truly drew her to Fantasie. Of course, she loved the idea of a game set in a fantasy world that was both story driven and player chosen, updated so regularly that one could never be bored, but it was the connection that she truly adored. Of course, anonymity was given and encouraged, almost enforced, but when it came to someone as lonely as Snow, proximity towards anyone, and the ability to communicate through headset and keyboard, was a blessing.

Putting on her headphones, she wirelessly connected both the audio and microphone to them, whistling and humming as she reached over and grabbed her phone to pull up her group chat, preparing the other screens for once they were ready. She double checked that her VPN's and other precautions were all in place, and once she was sure, she went back to the game and her phone.

to: Everyone (6:56 pm)
We on?

The responses were instantaneous, but with seven other people in the conversation it was hard to keep track.

from: Doc (6:56 pm)
I'm on but a little lost,
let me find you

from: Happy (7:57 pm)
That sounds so deep out
of context dude love it

from: Sneezy (7:57 pm)
Bash and I dropped in on
the mines, we'll just convene
around Snow

from: Bashful (7:57 pm)
Sneezy and I are in the mines

from: Sneezy (7:57 pm)
Hap why are you like this

from: Bashful (7:57 pm)
Oh sneez yo said it already

from: Grumpy (7:58 pm)
Guys can you just get here
already we have a lot to do

from: Sleepy (7:58 pm)
Yeah sorry ima be a little
late my moms making me
eat dinner w her new boyf

to: Everyone (7:58 pm)
Don't worry sleepy when
are you going to be done

from: Sleepy (7:59 pm)
Soon like it's pizza and I said
I had a lotta homework and
he wants me to like him so

from: Happy (7:59 pm)
Yo bring me some

from: Grumpy (8:00 pm)
God go back to 2013

from: Dopey (8:01 pm)
Hey guys sorry I'm here
I was baking

to: Everyone (8:01 pm)
Aw that's so nice! We're all
in the forest so just meet up
w us

Snow smiled as she looked back over to her screen, seeing the pop-ups asking her for permission to connect her headset communication with the others, to which she happily agreed.

"I forget, do they track us when we talk on here?" was the first thing asked by Sneezy once they were all connected, now just waiting on Sleepy.

"We don't really know," Snow said, searching for the document she had typed up when she had dug into it, "They claim the location feature is the exact same as it is for games, to add to their data to know their demographics, but they are an online game that has access to our audio and location to the point where we have servers based around our locations and while there's discrepancy on how specific the regions for servers get, it's safe to bet that all the people we play with are in The City, so they could just toss away everything they have but better safe than sorry."

"Not to mention we talk about using VPN's on other stuff, so they could have trigger words. I think it would actually be really cool if they wanna catch predators online, but I'm pretty sure there are civil rights violations for that," Grumpy added, and they sounded less grumpy than usual, but Snow still worried about them.

"Yeah, you know, we're always watching—no, wait, we're always watched," Doc said, and Snow tried not to laugh because she knew he had trouble with words and that was totally fine, but the way he said it always made her smile.

"You know, I'm pretty excited about this one, it sounds fun," Bashful said, and they sounded as timid as always, but excited, and Snow had missed being able to talk to Bashful, the two of them never really partnered up when they all just met online to play together.

"We got a game plan, Snow?" Happy asked, sounding rather nervous, and Snow often played with him and Dopey, so she knew he didn't get nervous lightly.

"Once Sleepy gets here I'll divvy us up, I'm gonna open up our chat room so I can send you my findings. Sneezy, I know you did some stuff too, you wanna share?" she asked, because she always believed in giving people credit and the opportunity to be recognized.

Sneezy laughed through his mic. "I don't think I got anywhere close to what you got, Snow. I've got more research on their impact, I know we all only got so much before, but for game plan? That's on you."

"No, that's perfect," Snow blurted, unable to help herself, "We can put out flies and documents, but if we have more information for ourselves from the get go, it helps a lot, especially when we send everything to the papers. But, I mean, I will do a read through to write up extra."

"Want some help with that?" Grumpy asked, and she made a sound of assent, excited for the help, especially from them.

"I'm here!" Sleepy shouted through his mic, "Sorry, it was hard to get out, the guy is really nice, so it was hard to ditch him, but I got my coffee and took my Adderall a few hours ago, so I'm ready."

"Sleepy, don't mess with your medication, you know better than that," Doc chastised as they all moved to check the chat room in other windows, Snow turning to upload her files.

"Are you really a doctor, Doc?" Dopey asked, and he didn't get a response, but they all figured the answer was no.

"So what're we up against again?" Happy asked, and Snow could hear him trying to take some deep breaths; she knew there was a lot at stake for him especially if they got caught.

"Just your standard, run-of-the-mill corruption," Grumpy said as they all began to set up their scrambling software, "Money laundering, systematic harassment, we're mainly focusing on how a big name corporation is getting away with basically having a sex cult and forcing employees into situations through forcible consent and blackmail, which isn't consent, in return for pay, which is, you know, illegal."

Happy snorted. "Okay, I know we haven't been doing this for that long, but we've done enough to know what standard is. This isn't."

"Either way, this is gonna be a big hit, but we're gonna need a lotta time," Sleepy said, unable to help himself from yawning, "So it's a good thing it's a Friday. Snow, Grump, Hap, you think you can give us enough wiggle room to get everything? I know you can give us hours, but they've got major security."

"We're going in teams," Snow said, setting up her system and the various other windows she needed, listening to the sound of Happy and Grumpy doing the same, "Doc's jumping around to help if we get breached or if a team is having trouble. Check the document, I put them there and what you're looking for and need to get, but don't hesitate to get everything you can. Say when you're good to go, once the three of us break in, it's full speed."

"Copy, Snow, give us five," Sneezy said, and Snow made a sound of assent, taking that time to rearrange her snacks and pour herself another coffee.

Five minutes passed longer than expected, but by the time everyone finished, there were no doubts about what they had to do and how to do it.

Because this was her life. Contrary to popular belief, Snow was excellent with computers and all the time that she had to herself paid off in ways that she could never be thanked for. After all, being apart of an online vigilante group bent on exposing corruption and scandal to the harsh light of the public eye wasn't necessarily the safest nor most legal profession, but it was one she enjoyed and was proud of, so she did it.

"We're right as snow, Rain, you ready?" Doc asked, flubbing his words again, but with a steadiness that needed no cause for wavering.

Snow felt her lips pull into a smile as she readjusted her headset and cracked her knuckles, placing her fingers over her keys.

"Off to work we go."

𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄

( 04.27.19 )

Here's the first chapter! I'm gonna be very real with you guys, the way I'm going about this story is more along the same vein of how I went about writing Sleeping Beauty rather than Little Mermaid, meaning that I'm not adapting the movie so much as I'm taking the characters and their story and adapting it all, so it's not adhering so closely to the movie, but it's still recognizably Snow White, so just if ya'll are wondering, but it'll be a time, I hope ya'll will trust me.

But anyways, so this is Snow! She's a really sweet girl who doesn't wanna cause conflict and the guys and nonbinary pals she associates with love her a lot 'cause she's just a good girl, she's very easy going and just deserves better.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!