u/Not-sure-here

Back in middle school (2001-2003), a classmate introduced me to a fantasy/sci-fi book series. I really enjoyed it but never finished it and for the life of me cannot remember the name of the series or how many books there were. I've tried searching over the last couple of decades but have not been able to find it. This sub started showing up on my feed and thought I would see if maybe anyone here could help me.

The series followed 3 main characters from different worlds and are eventually transported to a new world where they meet. One was a street kid from like NY or some other similar urban city that did card trick scams or something. The next was another guy from a world where everyone never went outside and only interacted through a virtual reality program. The last was a girl, I think her name was Helene, and she was pretending to be a boy at first. I'm pretty sure she was princess in her home world but wanted so badly to be a knight.

They eventually meet another character that I think was called The Oracle that would help them in the new world they ended up in.

Names are very important in this world. So much so that you should never give your real name to people you do not know or trust.

There is also another written language (might be a coded language) that three characters have to figure out. The VR guy figures it out and realizes it's the normal English alphabet but reversed.

Thanks in advance to anyone that knows or can help me figure out the name of this book series!

It’s going on midnight on a Wednesday. Regardless of the time and day though, you are still being way too fucking loud. Especially if I can clearly hear you in your backyard (directly behind my backyard on a 1 acre property) while I’m inside my house. I’m also extremely hard of hearing so the fact that I can hear you over my TV is even more aggravating. But to start calling ME a crackhead and other obscenities because I politely asked if you could bring the volume down a bit as I can hear you over my TV is fucking wild. Take the party inside. Or call it a night. Or just shut the fuck up already.

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I’m typing this after I already called and filed a noise complaint. I didn’t know their exact address so the officer had to call me to confirm which house it was. The officer said that while driving up and down the street they could hear them but wasn’t able to pinpoint exactly which house. Seriously? I hate calling the police for anything but I have to be up in six hours and I’m not trying to get into an altercation with a bunch of drunk people. Y’all can deal with the police.

Mostly just venting because the whole thing feels so odd.

I applied to a remote paralegal position that I found on Indeed today. I tailored my resume for this position and wrote out a thoughtful cover letter like I’ve been doing for any job I apply to. Was out running errands and saw that I received an email asking me to take one of those pre-hire personality assessments. When I got home, I opened my email and clicked the link. The assessment took me 2-3 minutes to complete.

As soon as I finished the assessment I went back to my inbox and saw I already had another email from the hiring manager again. I assumed it was the typical “we received your responses” email but instead it was an email stating they had decided to not move forward with my application. I then realized the email had been sent 2 minutes prior, so it would have been right as I clicked the link to go to the assessment or right as I started the assessment.

I started to think maybe it was sent in error as the timing didn’t seem to make sense. While contemplating sending an email to ask for clarification, I received another email stating they received the responses from assessment but had decided to not move forward.

Part of me thinks their automated email is setup with the wrong template, but given the second email I’m not sure. I did end up sending an email explaining I had completed the assessment before I saw the email that they had decided to not move forward but wanted to thank them for taking the time to consider my application nonetheless. I guess between the time they sent the assessment and when I was able to sit down and take it, they decided they didn’t want to move forward with me? I’m not sweating it too much as I’ve already accepted another remote position that has not started yet and does not pay as much as I would like, hence why I’m still applying. I just found the timing of the first rejection email to be so odd. Has anyone else ever been rejected like this?