Siren Plays Zeperno

Thelsea is struggling to move on after her mother’s sudden death last year. Her father doesn’t tell her they’re moving to a new city until they’ve arrived. A reclusive girl, Thelsea deals with it all as she usually does: playing video games and writing short stories starring Siren, an alluring secret agent who lets nothing get in her way.

The latest game Thelsea enjoys playing is Zeperno: a free-to-play online digital card-collectible game themed around disabled protagonists known as Ables. She meets two vivacious teenagers – a boy and girl, each hard-of-hearing – who like Zeperno as well. In fact, wherever Thelsea looks, she finds more fans. Grown beyond it’s target audience and played by anyone, Zeperno commands a presence in the esports scene: competitive video gaming involving players from around the world.

Easy to understand yet difficult to master, Zeperno engages Thelsea like nothing else. She and her new friends team up with an aloof Asian boy to dive head first into an online video game streaming service. There, they’re shocked by a viewer’s vicious act that sends her reeling.

As Thelsea contends with well-meaning people and trolls alike, she considers playing Zeperno professionally. A girl competing in esports? She would be completely out of place! That’s okay: being totally deaf for her entire life, Thelsea is used to being out of place.