milliways_bar | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

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?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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..."

"- Oh." Yeah, there it is. "I see."

He doesn't ask Enzo to finish the sentence.

Enzo nods. "We've got a way to not be nullified now, even if we lose, but it's a really sucky way, and the Game still trashes that part of the city. So we still can't let the User win. That's part of my function!"

"The Guardian thing," Cal says. His tone and expression have gone fairly neutral.

"Right! We learn all about Games and how to win 'em, so the civilians don't have to and so someone's in the Game who knows what's processing."

This is the awesome part of the job.

This puts a different light on things. Cal himself was in the military once. Only for a few months, but still. Someone has to do the dangerous shit, and Enzo is obviously getting more training than he ever did.

It's still not the best thing Cal's heard today, but he can deal.

"So it's pretty important," he says.

"Totally! You only have to fight viruses if one comes to your system, but Games and Tears happen all the time."

Cal nods. "Are there a lot of Guardians?" he asks.

"'Bout ten thousand. Not enough."

Cal cocks his head a little. "How many - people are there in your world?" Sprites and something else, he can't remember the other word right now.

"In my system, or in all of cyberspace?"

Pause. That distinction had not occurred to Cal. He'd just figured that cyberspace was - cyberspace.

"Uh, your system."

"About eighty thousand. It's only one city."

He's starting to lose Cal again. Cal can deal with the idea of a world inside computers as long as he doesn't think too carefully about the logistics or where things go. But once he starts trying to apply concepts like cities, he gets lost.

(Cal is aware that it's not quite the same as a physical planet, but that distinction becomes difficult to hold in mind when talking to a boy who exists physically and is not just abstract programming.)

He still nods like he totally gets it. "What would be an ideal number of Guardians?"