All art is by Aisaku.

Dida

Part 4 - Avatars

I would have to call Orantes before Kary though. Breakfast arrived before I made my first call. Suk-Chul answered with a playful little growl. The blue, satin-skinned tiger boy swam around in the air and flicked his ears. He then licked his paws and asked, “What meat do I smell?”

I held up a slab of dull, amorphous ‘meat’ and explained, “Plant-based.”

The little figure gave a huff and shook his head. “Rowr! Disgusting…I need real meat!”

A little animation of a hunk of meat with a pearl white bone through it bounced around the area. Suk-Chul darted after it, kicking it around and off the virtual walls, to finally chomp in and tear a juicy hunk off.

Kevin had at least broadcast the avatar on a semi-private channel. Since we started having our chats in public places he’d become better about such etiquette.

Suk-Chul beamed an overhead emoji at me as I nibbled on a bit of plant-meat.

I asked first, as always, “Tell me one note of positive progress you’ve made since our last chat and one thing you’re still working on.”

The avatar purred. “I had meat and I need to have more meat!”

“I’m speaking to Kevin, please.”

The tiny tail flicked around. “Hmm…Kevin? Should I go talk to Kevin nyow?”

“Yes. And please relay my message.”

“Absolutely!”

Unlike some prixies, I knew that Suk-Chul wasn’t an AI. Kevin was controlling him live.

Suk-Chul dashed to one side and meowed a bit, as though calling to someone far away. I waited patiently and sipped my tea.

After a few moments, Suk-Chul reported back. “Kevin wanted to tell you that he kept his promise of limiting his time with me on weekends. And he still needs to work on hygiene. But he’s trying.”

I bowed my head. “Thank you, Suk-Chul.” Sometimes I would check records to see if clients were honest about their progress but, despite the walls Kevin created, I trusted him to be honest to me, especially through Suk-Chul.

Leaning back in my chair, I opened up the discussion for Suk-Chul.

He was especially chatty about guilds. I listened calmly and at the same time quietly asked Dida to ping my brother to see if he was active.

As it turned out, I made a good choice of call order since Kary was away. I set aside my personal concerns and focused solely on the feisty little tiger boy arching his ears over a flurry of half-opened issues.

He bared his claws at the sky and flailed at them when he pronounced, “Tu2ki is such a meanie! She won’t let Kevin show me around because she had a thing against cats! I’m a tiger! She said it’s the same thing. I’m not! Grrr!”

I folded my hands. “Was she set as a head clan-peer?”

“Nope.”

“Could she have turned off the distinctive qualities of Suk-Chul?”

“Oh…I think she did make me a blank.”

I pressed my chin. “So, she set her personal options to not display your particular qualities…”

“Yeah! That’s so mean! I mean…she’s part of the clan. She’s a friend of my friends. Why can’t we just be friends about it? I mean we accept her thing for turning people into giant sugar crystals then licking them.”

I felt a faint smile at Kevin leaning less on third-person.

“Do you consider her a friend personally?”

The little tiger just hovered. “I’m not sure. I mean she’s one of us. Why can’t she just go along with my thing…with Kevin’s thing?”

“We’ve mentioned this before, but it seems she just doesn’t enjoy feline avatars and most prixies to the same level you do. What did I mention to you a few times so far?”

The color of Suk-Chul’s fur shimmered in a ray of sun. “Oh…to not take the stuff other people do personally…like it’s a personal affront to Kevin.”

“Yes, Suk-Chul. As well, you like to see friends connect with friends and you like to connect with those other friends. But you’re also putting unreasonable expectations on some to see you in a certain way and respond to you a certain way as well.”

Suk-Chul’s tail flipped a few times. “I just don’t understand why she doesn’t like cats and tigers. They’re so cool! Rowr! Maybe if I just explained it to her better, right?”

I bowed my head. “Here’s a thought. You could try listening to see what she likes first. Could you do it for me this week?”

The little tiger crouched and looked wistful. “She has a profile girl that bangs a drum and says all sorts of things she enjoys. She’s too noisy for my big ears. Nya… You want me to copy that?”

“No, Suk-Chul. I want you to put the questions right to her primary avatar or her directly if she talks more without a prixie.”

“Why?”

“Consider it your big project for the week. And keep in mind our long-term goals, right?”

It gave a little nod and curled up into a little half-human ball. “I hope she’ll like me though…Oh! Mu…Are you leaving already, Mr. Glossian?”

I shook my head. “I’ll still be on-call if you have a panic attack or if you need some advice. I’m just cutting the session short because I might be having some technical issues on my end.”

“Oooo…” The little prixie sat up and seemed to watch me. “I hope you fix your problems soon! Take care! ROAR!” Then he dashed off, bounding on all fours, and faded into the distance as a haze.

Dida, who had been quiet all through the session, hummed to herself.

I cut a piece of the fake meat. “Can you put a call through to my brother now, Dida?”

She didn’t give an immediate affirmative or negative to my question.

“Is there another problem, Dida?”

“No! Of course not, Mr. Glossian. It’s just…I wish I could do more for you when you’re working. You’re really good with Mr. Orantes.”

I thumbed my lower lip. “Honestly, Dida?”

“Truly! Since you’ve taken him on as a patient, his social behavior has changed significantly.”

“Thank you, Dida. Is my brother available now?”

Dida’s volume lowered to a faint murmur. “Not yet.”

I rubbed my temple. “Understood.” I returned to my breakfast and traced what was left of my plant-meat through some corn oil. The excess gobs splattered on the plate in little dots.

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I was aware of my mind wandering this time. I felt concerned for Dida. But, still, I let the memory sift through me.

------

“Bro! You gotta hear this other idea!”

I’d been absorbing ideas from my brother for the past hour since I first said ‘hello’ to his little science experiment.

“…Also, I have this great neologism for marketing! Prixie! A personal proxy in a tiny form like a pixie. But that’s just the beginning! One of our teams wants to exploit new avenues of universal wireless in conjunction with what we’re working with here. Now, our ultimate goal is in the realm of fully-augmented reality. Say you want to really be Arphendess, the dark elf huntress, when you look in the mirror. Isn’t that why so many people are logged on in their free time? But what use is it to go look on a screen with some image of that reality when it can be…here! Right here!”

I really wished I’d brought a sandwich. I rubbed my eyes but tried to add to the discussion with, “Projection in a pair of glasses?” It was something I’d read in a magazine when magazines were still paper.

Kary scoffed and nearly spat at me in laughter. “What have we been talking about since you got here?”

“How you finally…sorta convinced me to have your gooey fungus put in my head so I’ll never have to use a keyboard again?”

He waved his hands and shook his head. “My dreams are much bigger than just that. Imagine everyone broadcasting their own personal reality on wireless right from their own computer growing right in their brain to the world! How does that sound?”

It quite frankly sounded terrifying and I told him so.

Kary sighed. “And that sounds like dad.”

“I thought you agreed we would both leave dad out of things today…” I clenched my hands.

Kary frowned. “You’re right. I did agree and I’m sorry. I just can’t get his eyes out of my head whenever I’m trying to explain my ideas to you.”

I turned away.

He pursued. “What about this scares you?”

“The whole thing.”

“Really? Or is it just the part where I may be better able to take care of the problems you can only touch the surface of with medication?”

I pressed my hands together. “Are you trying to say something?”

Kary leaned back. “You know I’ve never liked your choice of profession…”

“Same as dad never liked yours…” Shit.

He shook his head. “That was low bro…that was low. So...you’re making the association that I’m transferring my feelings about dad onto you because…what…I want to be like him or something?”

I shrugged. “What do you want me to say?”

Kary slammed the table with his hand then pretended that it didn’t hurt. He looked at me, half-pleading. “Nothing…I just…I want to move forward. I want the world to move forward to something better. I want us to move forward.”

“And you want to set that path, huh?”

He seemed ready the hit the table again, but he just rapped it with his knuckles. “Listen. We're past the troubles of the 2020s and no one in the world yet has the clear vision to see what’s ahead.”

“Did your marketing guys come up with that one too?”

Kary pressed his finger to the table. “What I’m doing here now will change everything forever. By the time I’m done, it’ll be a new world. And I want my brother to take the first steps with me…”

He offered out his hand.

I stared at it till his eyes fixed on me. Cautiously, I took hold of it and he relaxed.

“I knew my bro would come through for me.”