8[begin A/N] Yeah… this took a while, almost three months. I have no excuse, as I could have easily done it in one. I just didn't have the drive then, but nonetheless I chipped away at it and got it done. Oh wait, that's an excuse…
Anyways, sorry for the wait. I'll apologize more and explain things at the AN after this Episode. Er…
Enjoy what will be mostly random conversations and narration that does not have much if any relevance to the excuse plot The Game has.
DISCLAIMER: Everything not mine that is referenced in here is not mine.
[end A/N]
Mini-Arc I: Filler I
Episode IV: Bait and Switch
real time [Thursday, September 29] (18:11)
"Mom! As I've already said, I am not going on a date!" Damn it, why does everyone want to pair me with every girl I happen to get along with? "All I am doing is going ou— going to grab a bite to eat with a friend." Hoo boy, almost said going out to dinner with a friend, which might carry incorrect connotations.
My mom gives me a grin. "A friend who happens to be a girl."
"Key words there: happens to be," I reply. "I'm going to eat with a friend, who is nothing more than that." And perhaps even less than that at the moment. Acquaintance or even fellow student seems like a better description considering I met her only yesterday. Granted, we get along well from what little time we spent together, but still. "We literally met yesterday."
"You know, love at first sight can work out." That was my dad.
I let out an exasperated sigh. "I have no romantic interests in anyone right now!"
To my chagrin, my mother speaks up again in a playful voice, "Oh stop denying it."
I sigh again and shake my head. My sister comes into my view as she walks across the room. "Ayane," she stops, turns, and looks at me, "you aren't blinded by parental fantasies. Can you help me out with convincing our parents that I'm not going out on a date?"
Ayane cocks her head. "I must know the conditions of your outing."
"Okay," I reply, nodding. "A friend asked if I wanted to go to The Burger Joint to eat dinner with her, just the two of us. I said yes. We met yesterday by the way."
"By definition, that is considered a date." After deadpanning the line, my sister turns and continues walking to where ever she was going in the house. Ayane never sees how fast my palm meets my face. Oh come on! Throw me a bone here! Ah, I see that smile Ayane. Don't pretend I don't know you're messing with me!
"See?" my mom says. "Even your sister knows this is a date. You know we're supportive of you, so don't be so embarrassed."
You know what, screw this, I'm outta here. I don't have to take my family's teasing. Kyla should be here any moment now so, "I think I'm going to head out now."
"Huh?" My mom is a little perplexed. "Wasn't your friend supposed to stop by?"
"Yes, but I realized it would be convenient if I wait for her inside as then she wouldn't have to park her bike, get off, ring the bell or knock on the door, wait for me, then get back on. She would simply have to stop, let me get on my bike then we would be off. So, yeah, I shall head out now." I walk off to garage.
"But—"
My dad interjects, "Ah, I get it. You're trying to avoid having her meet us, your parents." That thought never crossed my mind, but I suppose that's a nice side effect of what I wanted, if it means avoiding more annoying conversations. Dad's tone became one of mock dispiritedness, "That hurts. We're not that bad are we?"
"Yeah, not that bad, right?" Mom echoes, a smile still on her face.
I sigh and take one last look at them before entering the garage. The look on my face must have been… funny since my dad had started to chuckle. I know they're just having some fun at my expense, but they certainly know how to push my buttons. I never knew why they, and my friends too, took such pleasure in teasing me. I must react in quite an amusing way. A way I fail to notice. Either that or they know I don't really get affected by their teasing. I'm a good sport in that regard.
Er, my helmet is where… ah, found it. I put my helmet on and walk over to my bike. Checking strobes and reflecty stuff… all good. Taking my bike in hand, I open the garage door and once outside, shut the door and make sure it's locked. I walk my bike out to the sidewalk and am about to rest it on its stand when a biker catches my eye and I know immediately its Kyla. I mean, our school uniform is pretty distinct from normal clothes. Which is normal obviously. Had Kyla been in normal clothes, I might not have recognized it was she until she was closer.
And that brings up another point I had been wondering about since I first learned about Solra High: why do we even have school uniforms anyways? Solra is a public high school, so why? Meh, it's not a topic worth thinking about right now.
"Hello Kyla," I greet.
"Hey! All ready?" She voice is of course full of energy.
I nod. "Indeed." I flip the kickstand closed, mount my bike, and with that we're off.
[insert opening credits and opening theme here]
It's not about winning; it's about not losing.
real time (18:15)
"So what do you think of being bait?"
I shrug, though it is kind of a pointless gesture since she's ahead of me. "I don't mind. It's kind of fun being the one to draw the fire so to speak. Though that's only when I can't die very quickly or easily, like we are now. Of course it's not actually going to be fun since this could turn into a life or death situation." You know, these less-taken streets are quite nice for bike rides. One doesn't really need to worry about cars and other hazards and it's quiet enough to carry out a conversation.
Kyla wags her right pointer finger. "Only if Raymond fails to snipe out the two Gamers that is. If all goes according to plan, all we have to do is loiter around for a bit, let Raymond take care of the Gamers, get the XP, then go get some food."
I just realized something. "I suppose I should have some faith in Raymond. After all, He must have gotten at least two kills before I first met him considering he already had two main weapons." I should be right. I learned last night that 20,000 XP allows for the gaining of a second main weapon or upgrades for existing weapons. Certain upgrades only cost 10,000 XP though. Then, once they're unlocked at level 7, abilities can be gained for 20k, k meaning thousand, XP.
Tangent time! I just realized XP looks like the XD and :P emotes mixed together. Crap! Now I'll never look at XP the same way again!
"I know we've really only just met but, so long as we're all serious about this alliance, we're probably going to end up with having lots of faith in each other. Things always end up that way in these situations."
"Car," I warn as I hear it coming from behind us. We move off to the side and let the car pass. As we right ourselves, I realize we're going to have to turn into a rather busy street. "We should talk about this later," I say.
Kyla gives me a thumbs up. "Gotcha."
So… now I'm left to myself.
…
What do I want to think about, brain?
…
Nothing? Well, okay then. I'll think about nothing. Definition: no single thing; not anything; no amount; zero. Zero… nothing is zero… nothing equals zero. Hmm… . That means… I might be onto something. Okay, so, lets divide by zero.
x ÷ 0, 0 = nothing, therefore x ÷ 0 = x ÷ nothing, so x ÷ nothing. Nothing = not anything, therefore x ÷ nothing = x ÷ not anything, so x ÷ not anything. If x is being divided by not anything, then x is not being divided by anything, and if x is not being divided by anything, then it's just x. Therefore x ÷ 0 = x.
Mother of God, I just divided by zero… and won. Okay, I used insane logic and plays on words that are not very mathematical, but I still won!
The textbox part of my HUD pops up in the corner of my vision. "Kyla!" I shout as I pull off to the sidewalk. "Wait!" The girl looks at me with a quick turn of her head before pulling off to the side of the road.
"Raymond?"
I open the textbox. "Yeah, Raymond." Reading…
Raymond: No need for you both to go to the meeting place. I happened upon the two Gamers already and have dispatched them. I will be giving you the XP shortly.
"Well then," Kyla says, "To The Burger Joint." She gestures in the general direction of the place.
I nod. "Lead on." We take a turn at the next intersection and head off to The Burger Joint. Well this is an unexpected turn of events, no matter how mundane. Oh well, makes our life easier. Back to nothing…
…
Well, my brain's got nothing. Maybe I just don't want to think right now. Fine then, brain, I won't think.
…
…
…
real time (18:42)
I open the left door of The Burger Joint and step aside. I gesture for Kyla to go in.
Kyla's already smiling, but it seems to widen a bit. "You're such a gentleman," she thanks as she walks in.
"Not at all." I step inside, myself. "I always hold the door open for people."
The girl chuckles. "Reminds me of this one Socially Awkward Penguin image. 'Holds door open for people twenty feet away.'"
"Oh believe me, I've definitely done that before."
The young hostess comes over and greets us. "How many?"
"Just the two of us," Kyla responds.
"Okay, this way." Right before she turns, I see her glance very briefly between the two of us. Hey, don't get any ideas about what our intentions are. Er, the place isn't too busy right now, so we get a booth that could fit six all to our selves. "The waiter will be with you in one moment." With that, the hostess returns to the front door.
"Back to our conversation, I've also been held up for a while, while holding the door open because just enough people were entering an leaving yet not too many where it is considered okay to move on."
"It's hard being the good guy," Kyla says sympathetically.
I shrug. "I suppose, but at least you make allies. Besides, isn't it proper procedure for the guy to open the door for girl and other things like that?"
"Good point. Though isn't that proper procedure on dates?"
I shake my head. "Not always. It's also the proper procedure for being polite in general. By the way, this not a date."
Kyla frowns and crosses her arms over her chest. "What do you mean not a date?" Her voice has a hint of… malice? "You say it like there's something wrong." Oh crap. Did I say something wrong?
"I didn't mean anything…"
"Oh right, like you don't. Guys like you are all the same."
… Okay I've heard that one before. "You're not actually serious are you?" I'm usually okay with social cues, and Kyla doesn't really seem to be giving off any actual malicious vibes despite her tone. Besides, her getting angry at this seems a bit stilted and it's a stupid overreaction.
Kyla dramatically turns her head away from me and in her normal cheery voice says, "No." Nailed it. The girl sitting in front of me turns her head back around to face me. "So, how was my acting?"
You're so random… "Not bad." I make the appropriate face for my words as they leave my mouth. "Though you did sound a bit stilted and you could have chosen a better opening. Overreacting like that just seems too stupid to be real. Oh, and try to avoid using clichéd lines like, 'Guys like you are all the same.'"
"Will do," Kyla replies, nodding. "Thanks."
"And what is this for? Are you in drama?"
"Nope. It's just fun to mess with people at times."
Oh. Well then. "I see. You're quite weird, and I mean that in a good way."
"I take weird as a compliment anyways. Weird people shake up this world and make it fun! Besides, as they say, 'the only normal people are one's you don't know too well.'"
I reflect on that statement for a moment. "That's actually very true."
A middle-aged looking waiter stops by our booth. "Hello, I am Jake and I will be your waiter today. Would you like anything to drink?"
Kyla orders first, "I'll have some milk, please."
As for me, "Lemonade, please, and no need for water."
"No water either for me," Kyla adds.
"Okay," the waiter replies, nodding. "Are you ready to order, or do you need more time?"
I look at Kyla. "You ready?"
"Yup. I thought about what I was going to order on the ride here."
"I'm ready too." I personally decided when we stepped into this place.
"Alright, what will you have?"
Kyla's order, "Cheeseburger medium-rare, please."
My order, "I'll have a Classic Burger, please. Well done."
The waiter nods again. "Cheeseburger and a Classic Burger. Your food will arrive shortly." With that, the man heads off to go relay our orders to the cooks.
Kyla faces me again. "So… your favorite colors are blue and orange, right?"
Color's again? "Yeah."
"The colors of alien morality, correct?"
I nod. "Indeed. Granted, orange had been my favorite color before I learned of that wiki, though it did bump blue up to favorite along side orange."
"I take it you like that Trope."
"I like it more as an idea than it as a Trope, but yeah. It really got me thinking about why people would do certain things. I used to think that while there are certainly grey areas, what is good and bad is generally apparent. Now I believe that nothing is really good or bad, right or wrong. It's all a matter of perspective. What is one person's evil is another's heroics. Er…" perhaps I should stop myself before I ramble on, "what about you? Why do you like white so much?"
"I like all the colors because each one adds its own flair to life. My favorite color would be rainbow, but rainbow isn't a color. That's terrible. It should be. But, due to the fact it isn't a color, I had to fall back on what I knew. That is, white, at least in light form, is in fact all the colors."
I smile. "Nice thinking it out. You know, you're the first person I've met who is perhaps more into Tropes than I am. Heck, you're even the first person I've met who also goes onto that site."
Kyla's smile grows bigger. "Well then, I'm honored to be first fellow Troper you've ever met."
"Granted I only go through the pages, not edit them."
"Good enough."
The waiter returns with our drinks and distributes them to us. "Thank you," Kyla and I say.
He nods in acknowledgement. "Your food will be here shortly." And he's off again.
"Have you ever been on a date before?" Kyla suddenly asks.
"Nope. Never met anyone that gave me the urge to ask them out so far." Truth be told, I had a crush on Maia in the first grade, but that was the first grade, so it doesn't really mean anything. "Also, no girl has ever asked me out either."
"Forever Alone."
I give an amused chuckle. "That's me. Though didn't I mention that yesterday?"
Kyla thinks for a moment. "Ah, right."
"I won't turn down anybody who asks me out, however. My parents have, on multiple occasions, told me to always accept an invitation to a date. Getting turned down is quite disheartening they said. I suppose that's true. As for my own reason for not turning people down, I'm admittedly rather emotionally detached from people, so maybe something may click in my mind with the experience. Er, what about you?"
"Heh, I have a different mindset that's a bit more selfish. I would only go on a date with someone I have an interest in. I believe things like these are special events that are… special." The girl shrugs. "My parents don't really care about my social life, so long as I don't date a jerkass."
For whatever reason, I think about our conversation. And I mean the conversation itself. "You know, this is certainly an unusual conversation to have with someone you just met yesterday.
"Hmm… I suppose so."
"And damn, I just realized how much you've gotten me talking already." I have really let down my guard. Not that I had much of a guard to begin with.
Kyla makes a dismissive gesture. "I've gotten good at that. Besides, it helps that you're into some of the same stuff as me."
"Though it is a little odd that you are into Internet memes and stuff, being a girl." Kyla's left eyebrow rises. "Not that being a girl means much," I quickly amend, "just that girls who are into stuff like that rather uncommon from what I've seen. At school at least."
"You'd be surprised to know how many females actually are into things like that."
"Oh, a fair number of my female friends do have an interest in Internet memes and such. Just not from school. Hence at school at least." Climbing people are all sorts of awesome cards.
"Ah, okay."
…
The silence that has befallen us is broken only by our sipping at our drinks. And I should add that we've been sipping at our drinks at random intervals. At this moment, I can't help but steal a few glances to really take in the image of Kyla. I know I've already said she was cute, but now that I am paying attention to her, she really has the cute look down, with an air of attractive youthfulness. Her skin is flawless, though I know it's just makeup. There's no way a person's skin is that flawless. In fact, it's almost in uncanny valley territory when I pay attention. Due to the fact that I am currently focused on her head, I notice the girl's blue ribbon is… not blue any more. It's a different one, green this time and not ribbon thin but more of an actual bow. It is attached to her hair by a green hairpin. My eyes drift towards her chest—eyes. Eyes. Kyla's eyes are a deep blue and they seem to radiate 100% pure high-octane cheeriness. Which fits her personality very well.
"You're checking me out, aren't you?" Her tone is one of annoyance.
I freeze. "Wha-what?" Kyla's eyes are firmly locked onto mine now.
"Don't think I can't tell you're totally looking me up."
Mock annoyance I realize. She doesn't hide her smile well. "I will neither confirm nor deny that."
"That's not suspicious at all." That sentence was oozing with such over the top sarcasm; it pretty much confirms she's just playing with me. Again. Her gaze shifts downward, and I unconsciously follow it. "Ah!" She suddenly folds her arms over her chest and flips her head off to the side in that way people do when annoyed. You know what I'm talking about. "Pervert."
It takes a moment before I realize what she means. "Hey!" I hold my arms up and look back at her face. "My eyes started to drift there, but I swear they went back to your face before they saw anything."
Kyla's hand suddenly shoots forward and I find a finger less than an arms length away pointing right at my nose. "Ha! So you were checking me out!" Her thousand-watt smile radiates unrestrained at me again.
Crap. Sigh. "I admit defeat." I would hold my hands up in defeat, but they're already up.
The girl sits back in her chair and I lower my hands. "It's okay. It's what males do." And what's that supposed to mean? "You were pretty subtle about it too."
I shrug. "I'm usually better at that."
"Oh really?"
I'd rather not reveal my… tactics. "Let's leave it at that."
Kyla giggles. "Don't worry, I'm pretty covert pervert too. I've been doing the same the whole time."
"Heh, I'm pretty blind about things like that anyways." Guess that kind of goes along with being a loner.
"You've got a pair of nicelooking arms." Uh… okay. "Flex."
I'm taken off guard. "What?"
"Come on, flex. Don't make me beg." Kyla uses sad puppy dog stare. It's not very effective.
"I have a little sister." Though she herself has ceased to do so, "Giving me the look will not work on me."
The girl gives a mock pout. "Aw."
"But I'll flex if you insist."
Kyla's eyes light up. "I insist."
"Alright." I roll up my short sleeve so that my entire right arm is showing. I bend my elbow upwards, my hand forwards, and tense all the muscles I can in my arm. To an outside viewer, I probably look either stupid or showoff-y right now. Perhaps both.
But the look on Kyla's face is priceless. Her eyes are wide as saucers… that are eye sized, and her mouth open in amazement. "Delicious," is her response. "Mm… male fanservice."
Wait, what? "Eh heh, that's uh, the first time anyone's called my arms delicious."
"Well, I am eating the eye candy that is your arms. And it is certainly yummy. Dat forearm… . You must… work out… a bunch." What's with the suggestive tone—my hand once again meets my face, causing Kyla to burst into a fit of laughter.
With my hand on my face, I shake my head. "No. Just… no."
"Hey, you thought of it, not me!" the girl manages to say between laughs.
"Lies," I refute, removing my hand from face. "And what the heck?"
Kyla holds her hand up in defense and takes a few deep breaths to calm herself down. "Aw, come on, that wasn't not funny."
A sigh escapes my lips. "Why is Freud always right?"
"Because everything really is—"
"Yeah, yeah, I got that."
… Moment of silence… which is enough time for me to get a song stuck in my head. Fridge! Well, at least I know the lyrics…
"So…" Kyla speaks up. "Is it because of a date with ros—"
"Kyla," I interject.
She looks at me innocently. "Yes?"
"Get your head out of the gutter. And as I have said before, I've never been on a date. With anyone."
The girl opens her mouth to say something, but closes it. She then looks down. "Okay."
I shake my head, sighing. "By the way, I didn't work out to get my forearm to be like this. I just rock climb. We have a crossfit session every once in a while, but it's mostly climbing. I'm really nothing special. Most climbers have exceptional muscle tone and just a powerful build in general." And now it hits me. "Holy crap this conversation is awkward."
Kyla cocks her head. "Do you mind that it is?"
"Not… particularly. I'm just pointing out that this type of conversation is very awkward. You know, with us talking about checking each other out…" I stop myself from including the last bit of our conversation.
"But now we know that both of us don't have a problem about talking about things that don't usually pop up in average conversation."
"Eh," I shrug, "sure lets go with that."
Our waiter returns bearing food. "Classic Hamburger, well done?" he asks looking at me.
"Yes," I reply, nodding, and the burger is placed in front of me.
"Cheeseburger, medium rare?"
"Yep," Kyla responds, and the waiter puts down the plate.
The waiter gives a polite nod. "Please enjoy." … And now we are alone again.
"The Game sure has some cool physics," Kyla says.
"Heh, true that." By the way, just like sips of our drinks, we are taking bites of food every so often. "I've always wanted to experience what it would be like in a video game, and now I'm living the dream!" I pump my fist in the air. Then I lower it. "Albeit the circumstances are definitely not the greatest." Being forced to fight to the death, of course, is the circumstance.
Kyla nods her head and replies, "Yeah. It's still pretty fun regardless. And besides, might as well have fun with it, right?"
I shrug. "Sure."
"We should start to name the tropes The Game uses."
Why… ah, "I see. Since The Game's theme is video game based, the more we know about how it works, the more of an advantage we'll have, right?"
I'm met with a funny look. "Uh… I was actually just planning on Lampshading and naming tropes. Ah." Kyla's face lights up like she just remembered something. Then she points and speaks off into the distance, "For those of you viewers who don't know, a trope is, and I quote, 'a figurative or metaphorical use of a word or expression, a conventional idea or phrase' end quote."
"Kyla? What are you doing?"
"Breaking the fourth wall of course!" she replies as she looks back at me. Well, it looks like you're talking to an imaginary friend or something. You look kind of ridiculous. "Although, is it really breaking the fourth wall? We know that we are part of a reality TV show for aliens, and we are real people. Hmm, I guess I'm not breaking the fourth wall." It could be just me, but Kyla seemed a little crestfallen at the notion that she couldn't break the fourth wall as she looked off to the side.
"Hey, you could be in advertently breaking the fourth wall," I suggest. Kyla's eyes meet mine at this statement. "We could actually be part of a fictional story for all we know. We could all exist as characters within an established universe of someone's fictional work, where even the people who made The Game are fictional as well."
Kyla's expression lightens up a bit. "There's always that. Now, back on track: naming of tropes."
Shaking my head, I say, "I think it'd be best just to put things in normal terms, since I wouldn't be able to name many tropes as, aside from certain tropes, I can't really see something and then name the trope that goes with it. The viewers at home probably wouldn't get them either. We don't want all of our conversations to become inside jokes."
"Yeah, yeah, I suppose. Okay then, let's get down to business~!" She says the last part in a singsong voice. "Now, from just our little skirmishes we've had, lets see what there is. Random Encounters for one. From what I found out, every week there will be at least one Random Encounter per Gamer. That is, one Gamer will get into at least one."
"And going with the name, 'Arbitrary Engagement' AKA 'Random Encounter,' I can infer that they'll take place randomly?"
Kyla nods her head. "Yep. Any time, any place."
"Noted. You also don't suffer from any performance problems until you die," I add, "and getting harmed doesn't cause too much pain." Both of which really helped me out already.
"That means people will continue to be dangerous until dead, so never let up!"
"Don't worry, I won't do anything stupid like that. The AI is pretty smart and or adaptable too, and they probably only get harder from here. The AI will most likely pose as much of a threat to us as other Gamers at some point."
"I think the best part about all of this is that there's even background music, and it's catchy too!" Amen to that! "Since The Game is based off of video games and has a leveling system, RPG Elements are pretty much a given. We level up and gain new weapons and abilities. I guess this justifies new powers as the plot demands. Not that The Game has a plot… ." She trails off, so I break the silence.
"Guns are weaker than swords damage wise for the most part." I say 'for the most part' since I've only encountered two guns so far. "But that's probably for balance purposes."
"Definitely for balance purposes," Kyla affirms. "I had done some research on the properties of weapons available for use before I chose my weapon. In general, melee weapons do more damage, but you have to get up close. In general, ranged weapons do less damage and are required to reload plus they're not so great up close, but they do have range. Guns are hit scan with no bullet drop and have unlimited range."
Wait, you got to research what weapons are like before you chose? Okay, while I'm not really annoyed, it'd have been quite helpful to have been told that we're allowed to do that. Actually, that's my fault; I never asked. Rather, I just mindlessly chose a weapon and jumped into things. Whatever. "I probably should've done the same, but oh well. Moving on, there is a barrier that prevents us from leaving an area when in battle."
"Ah, that," Kyla replies knowingly. "Only under certain conditions can one pass through the barrier. If a single Gamer is engaged by two Gamers, the single Gamer may be allowed to escape by going beyond the limits of the barrier. This also applies to any side that is engaged by another with superior numbers. The only other non-special case is if all sides agree to leave but not be near each other when things go back to normal."
"I see."
Kyla opens her mouth to speak, but pauses and instead cocks her head. "What song do you have in your head?"
"Huh?"
"Your finger is tapping in beat to something."
What? My finger stops moving. "I didn't even notice that." For a few seconds, my gaze lingers on my index finger. Huh.
"So what song is it?"
I think for a moment. I don't just want to tell her outright… . Oh, I know. "Can you recognize the lyrics?" I take a breath as I try to remember them myself. I monotone-ly recite the lyrics "How much longer should I scream? How many more tears should I shed?" I see Kyla go deep into thought. "Enough already, I can't run anymore, the world I once dreamed of is lost." Kyla closes her eyes and taps her head. She's thinking hard. "On this dark, crumbling path that never sees the light, I think I saw—"
"B, star, RS!" Kyla suddenly answers. "Kinda threw me off, deadpanning the English translation. Funny thing, I could have waited until you got to the main verse since the name is used in the song."
"Yeah… I had thought about that right after I began to recite the lyrics."
"I'm going to sound like a total hipster right now, but I liked B, star, RS before it was popular." Kyla pauses. "Okay, before it was too popular at least."
"Why are you calling it B star RS?"
The girl gives me a dramatic shrug. "There is a star in her name. Everyone neglects to pay attention to it, so I didn't want it to feel lonely."
"… Really?"
"Not the last part, but yes to the first part."
"Okay then." Something clicks in my mind. Dang, now I have to abruptly change the subject before I forget. "About breaking the fourth wall and actually being part of a fictional story, sorry for changing the subject—"
"No worries."
"—If we were, er, are characters in a fictional story, then we don't actually break the fourth wall; the author does."
"Do explain." Kyla's voice hints at her intrigue.
"Characters in stories have no actual free will. The author controls how they think, what they do and say, everything. They could actively 'defy' the author's plan, but really the author is the one making the character do so. In hindsight, it's a bit ironic to have fictional characters fight for free will when in a meta sense what they do is dictated by what the author wants. I suppose that if a computer is given a sufficiently advanced AI set within story boundaries it could be followed as a story's character." Wait… hmm… darn. "But then that would be more of a documentary since it wouldn't be fictional." I'm about to speak more when I realize I'm going to ramble on. "I think I should stop before I get carried away."
Kyla waves her hand in a dismissive gesture. "No worries. I actually kind of enjoy your rambles. You have interesting insight."
I shrug. "I'll have to take your word for it, since I usually have no idea if what I say makes sense to an outside listener." Some times I have a hard time communicating ideas. That is one reason why I'll never become a teacher.
A giggle escapes the girl's lips. "I'm probably not the best person to gauge how coherent you are, since with all the shows I watch and their Infodumps of technobabble, I've come to be quite good at getting what people are saying or trying to say. Pick a sci-fi show or book. Any show or book. Guaranteed to have a spiel or spiels of technobabble somewhere."
I close my eyes and nod sagely, like they do in shows. "True, true. That and science helps me understand things."
…
Woot, silence again… !
Damn, I'm usually not this talkative. I guess they were right about introverts, quiet until you bring up something they like to talk about. Or something like that. Though… I'm not quite an introvert. While I was-slash-am reserved, I was never introverted, and my care for my public image has certainly gone down thanks, and I un-sarcastically really mean thanks, to some certain persons. It's helped me be more participatory in public occasions. Still…
Sigh.
My thoughts are abruptly broken as Kyla asks, "Something wrong?"
"Sorry?"
"Well, you just sighed in what I would call a wistful manner."
I think back a moment ago. Did I sigh? I know I thought 'sigh.' I must have actually sighed. Huh. I certainly can zone out at times. "So I did," I say as I nod. "However, I don't feel that our relationship is yet on the level where I could speak of this issue."
Kyla points a finger at me. "You know, considering our situation, there's an extremely high chance we will become close enough to share more sensitive parts of our lives." She points downward. "If it's not that sensitive of information, might as well get it out now, right? It's up to you though."
I guess she didn't get it, but in any case, I shrug. "I met you just yesterday, so it just feels a bit odd talking to a near stranger about myself, even if we do get along well."
"You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to," Kyla says reassuringly.
"This particular issue isn't that sensitive, though it is one I'd only bring up with a friend. But hey, as you said, we're being forced together anyways so it's only natural we'll get closer. It's probably best that I get this out of my system anyways." I take a breath that was somewhat of a sigh. "I just… find myself drifting away from my closest friends. I find it harder now to maintain emotional connections with them. I know it's all on me too, but… I don't know." I shrug. "I don't know how to put it any other way other than I feel that I'm drifting away."
Kyla nods her head sagely and replies with, "I know dat feel bro. I, uh, had a lot of friends in middle school, but I've not had any interactions with them afterwards. Looking back on it, they were all very shallow. The friendships that is, not necessarily the people." Now it's Kyla's turn to sigh wistfully. Her smile fades a little. "I haven't made many relatively close friends here either, despite all the people I'm on good terms with. In fact, I only have two, soon to be three probably, good friends here with one being our mutual friend Grace."
Coming to the logical conclusion, "I'm the 'soon to be three' person, right?"
"Yep, considering our situation."
"Heh, and we must have gotten really lucky, scratch that, unlucky to have gotten chosen to participate in The Game."
Kyla's smile brightens back up. "Are you familiar with the Anthropic Principle?"
I can see where this is going. "Indeed. So, let's not go there."
Kyla mock pouts. "Aw…"
"Some other time," I amend. For some reason, mention of the Anthropic Principle brings a certain thought to my head. "You know, the whole thing about The Game is kind of hard to accept. I mean, it's an alien TV show where randomly chosen people are forced to fight to the death using video game physics. I honestly wonder at times if I am hallucinating despite Xya's reassurances."
"What if you really are hallucinating," Kyla proposed, "and I am part of that hallucination? How would you know?"
"That's the thing, I wouldn't know. That's also the funny thing about memories. You wouldn't know if they were false, unless blatantly obvious, because it would seem like you've always had them. Even if I am hallucinating, I might as well play along with it. No harm there yet."
"Changing the subject, what classes are you taking?"
Classes that I am taking… gah! It's kind of pathetic that I have to really think to remember what I have. Okay, going in order, "History A, Chemistry A, English A, German II, Symphonic Orchestra, Calc A, and Physics A." A of course is for advanced. I would take AP, but I will only be able to have AP classes next year. Meh, whatever. "You?"
"In no particular order, Chemistry A, Chinese II, Algebra A, Art, History, English A, and PE II. I'm not taking any AP's next year though. I'm struggling to maintain a 4.0 as it is. I find English particularly frustrating, even though it's one of my best subjects."
I respond appropriately, "Wherefore?"
"The level of subjective-ness is too damn high!" Kyla makes the appropriate gestures for her words. "Besides, I feel as if it's just pulling things out of your butt and justifying them. All of the morals the typical famous books portray are portrayed just as good if not better by some other stories that are actually entertaining! I personally don't see what's so great about most of them."
"Well, while I may not enjoy most of the books assigned, I personally can see the merits of most of them. Still, I'm with you on most of your points. It doesn't matter what anyone thinks, even the writer, so you can 'pull things out of your butt' and you will never be wrong so long as you can justify it. It's actually kind of fun, for me personally, to come up with completely crazy interpretations and still get an A. Deny the obvious, uphold the inane. That's how I do things here."
Kyla bursts into laughter. Damn I love inside jokes. In between laughs, the girl manages, "Oh gosh! Perfect! Oh gosh!" She struggles to keep breathing while laughing. "Oh gosh, I can't breathe!" She tries to calm herself down with deep breaths
"Hey, you better keep your head on." I'm awarded with a new round of laughter.
Kyla gets out a, "You're a terrible person!" before falling back into laughter. Okay, it's not that funny. I suppose it's amusing, but still… I guess she's just happy that some one gets the memes she gets? It takes a few moments for Kyla to smite the laughter fairies and calm down. "Okay, sorry 'bout that. It's just not often I meet people at school who are into much of the same stuff as me in this regard."
"Under… standable." I now realize that my burger is getting very small and my supply of fries is getting low, though I am also getting quite full too. And my glass is… full. Technically full. Part air, part lemonade. Er, so there's about a fourth left in the… plastic, since my cup is plastic… not… glass… . Now that I'm thinking about it, technically the glass, er, plastic—you know what? I'm over thinking things and getting distracted again.
"Back to our discussion about English," Kyla says to get back on track, "Have you found that TV Tropes has helped you in English or not?"
Easy question. "Of course. It details and explains all of the literary devices and tropes I could imagine and more, so it helps me recognize patterns in everything I read. The only reason I'm not jaded is because I believe the statement, 'there is nothing new under the sun,' so it's not about coming up with new things but playing with old things to make something original."
"What you said, except for the last part. I personally just don't think too hard about stories when I experience them. That way when I reflect on them, I can try to fairly compare one story to another."
"Interesting way of looking at things," I state. "Enjoy the story then compare."
"Yep."
The waiter returns to us and asks, "How is everything tonight?"
"Doing fine," I reply.
"Great as always!" is Kyla's response.
"Good, good. Would either of you like a refill on your drinks?"
Kyla shakes her head. "I'm fine. I have enough."
"I'll have a refill please," I say.
"Okay." And with that, the waiter whisks my plastic of lemonade away. Darn, that doesn't have the same ring as glass.
I speak again to Kyla, "Is the figurative glass half full or half empty?"
"Hmm… may I take a third option?"
"Sure."
"Then the glass is always full," she answers. "Half water, half air. I like technicalities for this stuff." She emphasizes the point by smiling bigger.
I have a counter point to that then. "Well then, technically the glass is mostly empty."
Raising her eyebrow, Kyla replies, "Do explain."
"Most of the volume of the atom is empty space, so even if you can pack in as many atoms as possible into the cup, it's still going to be comprised of mostly empty space. Therefore the glass is technically mostly empty."
"Ah, bringing science into this, eh?"
I nod. "Naturally." The waiter returns with my now full cup of lemonade and I thank him before he moves off. "Science is awesome." I mindlessly swirl my drink.
"It is wonderful, but a pain in the butt to learn." She puts on a face of mock horror. "So. Many. Terms! Constants! And Equations! And more!"
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade!" Beat. "Make batteries out of them." See what I did there? "Science!" That was a fun project from middle school, making batteries out of fruit.
"Subverting the Portal reference I see."
"Indeed."
Kyla brings a finger up to her lips in thought. "Part of me wonders if the people producing The Game will get in trouble because of our mentioning of real life stuff."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you know how one can get in trouble for using a trademarked name or product or something in a story without explicit permission?"
"Yeah."
"Well, we've been using the names of real life stuff and we are part of a TV show, so I suppose it's possible the creators or creator of The Game could get in trouble."
I shake my head. "First off, the show is an alien one, and the aliens have the ability to manipulate the laws of physics. I doubt anyone on Earth could touch them if the aliens didn't want to. Second, again the show is an alien one, so with the exception of Gamers there's probably no one else on Earth who knows the show even exists. Third, aside from the fighting, they're pretty much making a documentary more than a show out of our lives if you think about it. It's not like someone can sued for taping someone who mentioned or used something trademarked in their every day life." Actually, I don't know that one. "Can they?" Kyla shrugs. Guess she doesn't know either. "Anyways, I don't think the creators or creator of The Game will get in trouble. From Earthlings anyways. I could always be wrong though." I notice now that my burger is almost gone and will be in a few more bites.
Kyla shrugs again. "I guess you're right. I was only wondering though, since if things work like they do on Earth I would suggest us referencing trademarked things without explicitly using their name. For example, The Despondency of Haruko Suzukia, or Stellarportal SP1, or Aureole: Battle Evolution, or Port Hole, or Legacy, or Hairy Putter, or Requirement for Momentum, or uh… Toe Hoe, or Queendom Core, or… Arachniman, or… uh… Mu, as in the letter µ, lawn? Or—"
"Stop!" I interject. "I get it." I would let you go on, since it's amusing, but now you're starting to run out of steam with that.
"Ah, okay." As if she could read my mind, she added, "Thank you." … But what if she could read my mind? Bah, stupid thoughts.
With one last bite I finish off my burger. Time to finish up my fries. "… Are you a mind reader?" I ask.
Kyla shrugs. "I don't believe so. I might be though, since I'm always hearing voices in my head…" she trails off ominously. Then she returns to her regular pattern of speech, "That could also be my conscious speaking. Who knows?" Kyla takes a bite out of her burger. "You ready for the bill?"
I now notice that Kyla is almost done with own burger. "If you're still eating…" Kyla's dismissive gesture stops me.
"I'm pretty much done. Besides, it takes a bit of time to get the bill, then have them collect it, then have them return with change and stuff."
Giving her a nod, I reply with, "Okay then." Hey, perfect timing. Our waiter is just walking by. I get his attention and ask for the bill before turning back to Kyla, but she speaks before me.
"It's my treat."
I hold up my hand. "Nope. We're splitting it some way at least."
"I insist. Trust me when I say I have the funds."
I shake my head. "I refuse to not pay."
"I refuse to have you pay."
"So we're splitting it 50/50 then?" I pull out my wallet.
Kyla quickly leans over the table and goes for my foldable monetary storage device. "My treat." I pull it away just in time.
I see the waiter returning, that black thingy in his hands. Once again, his timing is impeccable. "Paying the price for our individual meals, gotcha." As soon as he gets to our table I declare, "I lied; I'm paying," and hand him enough money to pay for both of our meals. I telepathically tell the waiter through my eyes to get a move on before my companion can do anything. Whether it is just the look in my eyes or it's actually me that's the telepathic one, he gets the memo.
"Ah!" Kyla utters a cry of surprise and frantically goes to pull out her own wallet. Realizing the futility of the situation, with the waiter already gone off, she gives up. Kyla gives me a playful death glare before her face changes to the appropriate expression as she says, "Not bad. You are a formidable opponent."
"To defeat me, you gotta be sneaky. You gotta be quick!" I make lame sound effects to go with my hand motions. "Whoosh! Whoop!"
Once again, Kyla bursts into laughter. "Nostalgia is punching me in the face!" I just sit quiet for a moment while Kyla calms down. Which… is taking a it of time… . "Oh gosh, the memories!" She says, getting he breathing back to normal. She wipes a tear of laughter from her eye. "I really want to eat pancakes right now, but alas, I am full."
My eyebrow rises at that statement. "Funny how that makes you want pancakes." Kyla just shrugs in response. The waiter returns and I take care of what needs to be done, like stuff my change into my wallet. "Ready to go?" I ask Kyla once I'm done.
"Yep." With that, we get up from our seats and bid this place adieu. Well, it still takes a bit of time to get to the door and as we head over, Kyla asks the typical question, "How'd you enjoy your dinner?"
"No complaints. This place has never disappointed the times I've come here." We reach the door and being the gentleman I am hold it open for Kyla. Taking a look outside, it's pretty dark out.
"Thanks you."
I give her a nod in acknowledgement. "Besides, I don't think a dinner with a sweet, cute girl has ever disappointed a guy before."
Kyla pauses for a moment before she brings a hand up to her mouth and waves her other hand at me. "Oh stop it, you." I see Kyla's cheeks redden a little in the dark. I take a glance at my watch, which reads 20:17. "Time?" Kyla asks.
"Eight seventeen," I reply. "It's getting a bit late"
"Right. Let us away."
We walk over to our parked bikes, unlock them from the bike rack, ready our night gear, mount up, and ride off into the streetlight-lit-so-not-very-dark darkness.
[insert ending credits and ending theme here]
[begin A/N] Filler Episodes (chapters) and even arcs in literature? Yep. But at least it expands my characters. Sort of. Sorry again for the wait, especially since this episode isn't very exciting. Sorry in advance for the next Episode, since it will be the conclusion to the filler mini-arc and probably take about the same amount of time as this to come out.
I know that disclaimers like the one in the first AN are useless, but I felt an inclination to put one in anyways. If I ever do publish this, I'll probably have to take out all of the direct references to other things.
I'm considering completely redoing Raymond's character (including his name) since, after much thought, he no longer makes sense. Things planned ahead also don't make sense either. The reason for Aaron and Kyla's outing no longer make sense. Well, time for me to rethink things. Again. Hopefully once everything is straitened out I'll pick up speed on this again.
Anyways, constructive criticism is always appreciated, especially on not-very-well-thought-out/made-in-the-middle-of-rethinking parts like this.
I hope you enjoyed this Episode (and my AN rambles) and I'll get working on the next Episode ASAP.
» Of Naught «
[end A/N]