Child's Play

[BrainWalker]

Max watched as Enzo concentrated, and in front of him the makeshift chessboard softly popped and rumbled as it seemed to reform itself, becoming sometimes smoother, sometimes rougher, but overall seeming to improve, very slowly.

"Yeah... it's pretty amazing, but it's who we are now. We're going to have to get used to stuff like this."

"So, I guess you caught that news update? Looks like whatever happened in here wasn't just an attack on D-52, but the whole island. I wonder what that means?"

Max was barely paying attention to his own words. He was really focused on the rock slab that slowly began to resemble a formal chessboard. It really was absolutely incredible to be able to directly manipulate their world like that. Experiencing Enzo doing his thing, Max felt like he was gaining a slightly better understanding of what was actually going on with the data it was, essentially, made of.

Max's expression changed slightly as Enzo held up the board. "Oh, you're done with it?" he said, with a slight hint of disappointment in his voice. If Enzo was satisfied with his board for now, Max would have to find a project of his own to work on.

[ChristianC]

Alexis had kind of... spaced out once things had gotten settled. The rush from the mission had faded, and all the talk that went straight over her head... she really needed to sit down and listen to Enzo and Max, and Thirteen... and well, the others. She'd never realized that being a Wunderkind would be so complicated, but she had to learn some way, and it didn't pay not to pay attention. Thirteen and Sam seemed to be busy talking, and Enzo and Max were doing... something, so she trotted over to where Janet and Kid were... and Silvie, apparently.

"I-it's not so bad." she commented on the trail mix as she overheard it being mentioned, "I didn't use to like peanuts b-but now..." she gave the other girls a little smile and felt her cheeks growing hot again. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... to interrupt..."

[Shinigori V2]

"Interrupting?!" Janet says. "No! C'mere, get a spot, and check out these stars. We're making up constellations."

[ChristianC]

Alexis nodded quietly and scurried over to sit next to them, Percival seated next to her, the bear looking quite content with just watching for now.

She drew a hand through her hair absentmindedly as she watched too in silence, listening to the others talking for a little while, trying to remember the names the others gave to the stars. She was a bit doubtful about 'The Wienie', and she really had to squint to see the hazelnut/raisin, but she was having a good time.

"D...do you think these stars are different than outside?" she asked the others after a little while, chewing thoughtfully on some nuts and berries, "I-It's been so long since I saw the ones in the r-real world, I don't remember if they looked like this..."

[Shinigori V2]

"It's hard to see in the city; I don't know." Janet says. "I've...Never actually been outside the city..except..Y'know, maybe now."

Kid walks over with a weenie, taking a bite out of it. "Yeah. It's definitely different here. It's all different, completely....It's...Weird, but...I like it, you know?"

-----

Thirteen makes a face, looking back over the lake. "Is that how you feel?"

[Idran1701]

"Well...yeah! 'Cause it's true, isn't it? Anything we wanna do, we just gotta try hard to do it, and we'll do it if we try long enough. Mom an' Dad used t'say the same thing back outside the computer, but they just meant, like...what you wanna be when you grow up-kinda stuff. Like jobs an' stuff. It's even more'n just that for us." He grins, looking off over the lake as he thinks of all the things the Wunderkind could accomplish in the future.

[Shinigori V2]

"You realize that you will never grow up, right?" Thirteen says.

[Idran1701]

"Yeah, I know. But we don't have to, we're gonna be able to do anything anyway. We won't have to just get jobs and stuff, we'll be able to do a lot more. It's gonna be great!"

[Shinigori V2]

Thirteen nods, smiling just ever so slightly. "To understand that is part of understanding who we are. We are the eternal children, and we have our own word, but can also share that of the humans. We're special, but also no different. We are eternal."

[Idran1701]

"Eternal? Like...we'll be around forever? Wow, I didn't think about that. Neat! So how long've you been one then?"

[Shinigori V2]

"It's...Hard to say." Thirteen says. "Part of my abilities is that my sense of time and clocks are always being effected and pressured. I believe your clocks do the same from time to time when you come into contact with my portals."

[Idran1701]

"Oh, okay. But a long time, right? 'Cause you sound a lot older than you look."

[Shinigori V2]

Thirteen looks skyward. "No, I'm not. Not really, at least. I was digitized less than a year ago."

[Idran1701]

He nods. "So...were you another orphan, or did something happen to you?"

[Shinigori V2]

"Remember what I told you before." Thirteen says.

[NebulaQueen]

Silvie grinned wider at Kid's comment, and said, "Yeah...it's not the same, but does it have to be? It's nice the way it is, I think."

[Idran1701]

Sam looks a little confused. "Um...what did you tell me before?"

[Shinigori V2]

"I've seen the stars outside." Kid says. "These are better." she adds, as she falls back into a laying position on the hill. "I'm startin' to get butterflies just thinkin' about all the awesome stuff we're going to get to do like this."

-----

"Not just you. All of you. Where you came from doesn't matter. Nothing had to have happened. Wunderkind simple...Are. And I was simply Wunderkind. Weither or not I had parents, or was in an accident, those have nothing to do with it. I would have been converted eventually anyway; all Wunderkind eventually digitize one way or another."

[Idran1701]

"Oh, right. Yeah, but that's kinda boring for talkin' about. I'm not askin' 'cause I wanted to know how you turned into a Wunderkind or anything, I'm askin' just 'cause I was curious. But if you don't wanna talk about it, that's okay, we can talk about somethin' else."

After a short pause, he continues. "But I don't think it doesn't matter where we came from. 'Cause even before the stuff that made us a Wunderkind happened, it's still stuff that happened to us. An' it's still important too, 'cause we'd be different people if it was different. We'd still be Wunderkind maybe, but everything else could be different." He shrugs. "Like for me. If I got shot instead, then I bet I'd've been digitized 'cause of that instead. But I'd probably be a lot different in here, 'cause different stuff happened to me before."

[Shinigori V2]

Thirteen thinks, then nods. "I'm one of many children. We found out at a check up nearly two years ago that I am Wunderkind, and I was given the task of studying it and honing my abilities before my digitization. My family was very supportive, and made light of it by placing bets on which machine I would digitize into when my time came. I had to continue regular checkups to see how I was progressing, and it was discovered that I have a rare type of code, and preparations were made immediately for my digitization. A few days later and I had been completely digitized, and was contained on a flare-drive. It was all very exciting."

[Idran1701]

"Oh, wow. Cool! So like everyone knows about Wunderkind where you come from? That's neat. Were you scared or anything, or just excited? Have you seen 'em any since you got digitized?"

[Shinigori V2]

"I was very nervous, especially when they told me about my code. But I had visited home multiple times in a PDA, and once when I was given my body."

[Idran1701]

"So are you from the Deck too?"

[Shinigori V2]

"No."

[Idran1701]

"Where're you from?"

[Shinigori V2]

"It doesn't really matter, does it?" Thirteen asks.

[Idran1701]

"Why's it hafta?"

[Shinigori V2]

"Exactly."

[Besyanteo]

Enzo had heard Max talking about the board, but didn't care to comment on it. He picked up where Max left off instead:

"I'm done with it for now. It's getting better for sure, but it's kind of frustrating to work on for too long."

He put the board down and looked up at the sky now instead, layying back on the grass as he did.

"... I wonder how far this all goes. Are the unformatted lands a sphere? Can we try to reach those stars? Or is it a pretty backdrop, pretty but insubstantial? I guess it doesn't matter, but I'm still curious, you know?"

[Animala]

Lauren was lying on her back a little ways away, looking up at the stars. Soccer had been so much fun! She hadn't had a chance to play like that since...well, since everything went wrong. She felt the warm weight of Ambassador Leafshade shift on her chest, as the ferret lifted her head to look at her in concern. Lauren gently stroked Leafshade's head.

"I'm okay," she whispered. She knew she had complete control over Leafshade when she wanted, but it was surprisingly easy to let her mind relax and let herself surprise herself with what she was thinking.

Louder, she said "I wonder if any of this was even here before us." She laughed a little, "I mean, if we can make stuff with our thoughts, maybe all this," and she gestured to the sky, "is here because the first one of us to get here wanted it to be, and we haven't really tried too hard to change it." She scratched Leafshade behind the ears. "Maybe Robert really wanted to be out under the sky again."

[Shinigori V2]

"..Or maybe we did." Janet ads to Lauren's comment.

[ChristianC]

"I-I still think this place is a bit scary..." Alexis whispered, "There's just so much we don't know about it, and it could be really, really big." she sighed and tried to relax a bit, "There's just so much I don't understand. And I'm afraid I'm not... paying attention when I should. Max and Enzo... they make everything seem so simple, to make so much sense."

[NebulaQueen]

"Hey, there's nothing to be scared of," she said, with a smile on her face. "There's a lot we don't know, yeah...but we're going to learn, aren't we? The more time we spend in this place, the more we'll find out. Besides, it's not like we're alone here - we're in this together."

[ChristianC]

Alexis hugged her knees a little and nodded, smiling a little, "I... yeah, you're right... I just feel like there's so much we don't understand, and I thought we were just... well, you know, just going to help people. All of this weird stuff, it's just..."

[BrainWalker]

Max sat next to Enzo and stared up at the stars that seemed to have everyone's attention.

"You know, I've wondered that exact same thing. I mean, this place is apparently big enough to have weather. So who knows how high, and how far we can really go."

The stars, numerous, clear, and beautiful, are somehow soothing.

"... you know, that's something Emmy and I are going to have to test out sometime. Once we can figure out how to get vehicles out here."

[Besyanteo]

Enzo replied simply:

"Or how to make them on our own."

He kept staring at the sky. This place was very pretty, very relaxing. It was nice to be able to come here. He wondered how long it would be before some techie requests that some of it be formatted, so that they could make use of the additional storage space for some project or other. A few gigs here and there. Maybe it wouldn't happen. That would be nice.

[Kelne]

Emily had her eyes turned to the sky, and was periodically zooming in on specific stars and regions. It was like having a telescope in her head. The night sky was certainly detailed; she hadn't found any obvious gaps yet. One question stood out - were all the points of light stars, or were there planets out there?

"I don't think there are limits," she said quietly in response to Max's comment, "I think it goes on for as far as we could want to travel." It was an amazing and somehow reassuring thought. No matter how long they might stay here, there would always be somewhere new to explore, something new to see. They might be going to live practically forever, but they certainly wouldn't be bored.

[Shinigori V2]

Mission: 03- Ruins.
Deck City: The Database- Unformatted Land
June 16, 3756.
09:00 AM

Morning comes to all Wunderkind, wakefulness finding it's way to them via internal clocks and a message from D-52.

Morning is cool, but the kids are warm enough, half in part to their suits, and from a small camp fire Kid has started specifically for the purpose. The day is overcast and foggy, but the tents have also served to keep them dry and warm.

Janet has obtained a notebook, and a pencil, and has begun to write something. Kid stokes at her fire, occasionally looking up at the cloudy, sunless sky. Thirteen...Has disappeared.

For now, it's up to the Wunderkind to gather and receive their message, flagged important, as well as high priority.

Max, Emily:

Spoiler:

Maybe it's better that Thirteen has disappeared, come morning. Strangely, you've both shared a strange, shared dream over night.

You both stood at the bottom of a large building in driving rain. Thunder rumbled in the sky as lightning cracked the heavens, and looking down was Thirteen herself, though her eyepatch was gone. Her stare was unsettling, at best, and you knew, somehow, that she was infected with some sort of virus.

As you contemplated it, a number of other Wunderkind- None of them familiar- Surrounded you in the streets. All viral, they slowly moved in, intent on infecting the both of you.

[Kelne]

Emily awoke shivering. That dream had been seriously creepy. It put her in mind of a zombie movie; one of those ones where nobody survived to the end. She'd never been able to watch much of those movies, even when she'd gotten older. Being scared for the sake of it wasn't fun for her. It just left her with her heart thumping and unable to sleep.

On this occasion though, there was no obvious reason for bad dreams. Maybe it was her mind reacting to Kid's infection, but even so it seemed different to any dream she remembered having before. For starters, the details were still fresh in her mind, not fuzzy or fading like most. Max had been there too, which didn't really count for much, except... he had that same worried, puzzled expression on his face that she knew she was wearing.

"Max?" she asked quietly, leaving the others to deal with the urgent message waiting for attention, "Did you have a bad dream just now?"

[Idran1701]

Sam stretches as he emerges from his tent, making his way first thing for the campfire. Having slept fairly well, he's eager for the next day; especially now that they've got some important message or something. It's a bit chilly, but he hardly notices, eager simply to meet up with the other Wunderkind. He smiles and waves to Janet and Kid, taking a seat next to Kid by the fire and seeing that they're the first ones up. "Good morning! How'd you sleep? I slept pretty good. Oh, should we start makin' breakfast for the others or anything?"