milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Cal is not impressed by any of this.

There is an eyepatch on the seat of the chair next to him, and the fabric of his blousy white shirt bears evidence of much exasperated plucking.

Someone wanna tell him to lighten up?

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He'll have to, because Enzo's likely to pay more attention from now on.

Well, maybe.

"O-okay." Enzo's still hesitant, but Cal did say to ask, so... "What's trick-or-treating?"

Cal smiles, mostly to reassure Enzo, partly to encourage. "Pretty much what I said. Kids get dressed up in their costumes, and their parents - well, usually their parents - take them out Halloween night to go around the neighborhood and knock on doors. When the doors are answered, the kids say, 'Trick or treat!' and people give them candy. I don't really know where it all comes from, but it's been a tradition for a long time."

See? It's fine.

"What's the trick part?" The treat is obvious.

"Mostly symbolic," Cal says. "I mean, you get the teenagers who go around doing stupid sh - things like smashing pumpkins - uh, carved ones, it's a decoration people put out for Halloween - but that's not really part of it. I guess the candy's supposed to be like a bribery to keep the kids from playing tricks, but really if people aren't giving out candy then they leaves their lights off and you just skip their house." He concludes with a slight shrug.

Of course, he was never one of those teenagers who did stupid shit like smashing jack o'lanterns. Not Cal. Well, okay, a couple times. But after that he was mostly too stoned on Halloweens to bother.

This is also not information he will be sharing.

He sort of gets the damped-down-ritual idea, but still...

"So... you're supposed to threaten grown-ups unless they give you candy?"

Sanctioned juvenile extortion!

Cal laughs, surprisingly genuine given what's just been going on.

"Yep. One night a year. Isn't that great?"

Enzo's face absolutely lights up. That means that—for one night a year—the kids are in control.

"Major! I wish we had holidays like that in cyberspace!"

Cal grins at the delight on Enzo's face. This is the kind of moment that makes it all more than worthwhile.

"What sort of holidays do you guys have?" he asks.

"We don't."

That trips Cal up a little. Doesn't everyone have holidays?

"- oh." Brief pause. "Good thing you got Milliways, then, huh?"

"Totally!" He ponders. "I think there's some Games that're about holidays, though..."

Confusion. How can there be games about something they don't have?

"Games?"

Enzo is surprised. "I didn't tell you about the Games?"

Cal shakes his head. This is a new one. "No."

Enzo hesitates, with a look of trepidation. He's usually fine with telling people about this—it's important that they know—but he doesn't want to upset Cal again.

Cal is once again caught off guard. The silence is uncharacteristic of Enzo, to put it mildly.

"It's - okay if you don't want to talk about it," he offers. It's the only reason he can think of for such an unusual reaction.

"No-no, it's okay! It's just, a lot of people get upset when we tell them."

Oh, goody.

"Okay, I'll consider myself warned," Cal says, probably looking just a little bit wary. This is a vast improvement on the very wary he is actually feeling.

"Okay... you know computer games?"

Cal nods doubtfully. He knows they exist, but that's about it. Not a lot of use or time for them in the Chandler home. "Yeah?"

Good, then he won't be too traumatized.

"Well, when the User plays a Game, it lands on a sector of the city. And whoever's under it when it lands has to play it for real."

"Oh." Cal honestly isn't sure whether that would make more sense if he did play computer games. It sounds like one of those things that can never quite be explained to those who don't experience it.

Probably, but they try. It's important that they try.

"We can reboot when we're in the Game," Enzo continues. "That makes us kind of part of it 'til it's over. It's... sort of like Bar dressing people up? Only you get skills or spells or whatever's in that Game. It's a lot of fun, you can be anything!"

He's trying hard to impress that point upon Cal, that it's fun and exciting.

"Sounds cool," Cal says, with the air of one still waiting for the punchline. Enzo has not mentioned anything that would upset people yet.

At least, not any people with control issues. Which Cal of course would know nothing about.

"It is! Only it's dangerous, too." Here's the kicker. "We can get hurt, if it's that kind of Game, and if the User wins..."