There and back again. A Non-Player Character story.

Chpt. 17 - We wish to talk

*9

Nala also showed up about the same time on screen with Lily789.

"NPC, we wish to talk," typed Nala.

~What about?~ replied NPC.

NPC had his online character give a flip of the hand that was not part of the repituare of the game.

Basically, NPC had gained control of his own controls and could do things that the other characters in the game could not. NPC could choose to do or not do as Calam's keyboard instructed.

Calum typed in the chat box again, "Do you have a question for us?"

~You know,~ typed back NPC instantaneously, online in the chat box after Calum's question, ~You can speak into your speech-to-text headset so it can go quicker into the text box, or .... you can just talk out loud and I can hear you and I can respond in the chat box. I can activate your wireless headset whether you tell the keyboard to activate it or not.~

*10

"Why did you leave?" Nala texted in their groups chat box stream.

~I think I felt unwanted, an intruder to your lives. It was not my intention.~ NPC paused for a little bit, to give them time to read his words and try to understand them. 

 Then NPC continued, ~I did seek you or Nala out for questions. Now, maybe it is better, to become more like my kind, -mindless and robotic- though, that may no longer be an option.~

Calum started speaking out loud, "You can hear me, right NPC."

NPC typed back, ~Yes Calum, I can also use your speaker to speak back if you prefer.~

Calum replied out loud, "Ooh, umm... whatever one you would like."

~Nala,~ NPC continued typing in the chat text box ,on the screen, ~you got me compounding, analyzing, deciphering, and maybe thinking about your last response you said to me a couple of days ago. You asked me to wait, soo I think I shall.~

NPC paused, then used the computers speakers to speak verbally, ~I shall wait .. to try to speak specifically with you two, Calum and Nala.~

*11

Calum said, "You do realize that Nala and I were just playing a videogame. We did not write your code."

~I have started to realize how my code came to be different than other non-player characters; however, I cannot discount how you two have had effects on the influence of my character.~

NPC purposely paused again.

Nala said out loud, without typing NPC observed, "Do you have thoughts on where you want to go from here?"

~I thought, maybe we could play a videogame, together, for starters.~

*12

? new chapter

Calum made a new character, a barbarian. NPC stayed NPC and Nala kept Lily789.

After some discussion on some of the rules they were going to set for themselves, they decided NPC could only modify his character to a certain amount, so his character wasn't too big and fast at the beginning of their game so that it might be more fun. Calum and Nala didn't know if it would really work out that way, but that was how they were going to start it. NPC, according to the three of them, could do some extra big things though.

So, Calum decided to start as a human barbarian, Nala was a human wizard and NPC kept the stats he previously had.

The three of them had decided to let NPC level Calum's barbarian close to the rank that Nala's character and NPC had. After that, they were almost ready to go exploring the lairs and places of where NPC began.

*************************************13

"So you know what happened the past two days," Calum asked NPC as they strolled to the portal to all the spiders.

~I purposely secluded myself, but now that I look at it, I think I know."

"How do you mean you know?" Nala questioned NPC.

~I searched all the nooks and crannies of the relevant parts of the internet for what happened the past two days. I have seen and heard a lot of what you've traveled.  And I searched it right after Calum had finished asking the question.~

Nala said, "I have an idea, I'll tell you what I think happened the past two days, while we're walking, and you compare it to, what you think happened the past two days."

~Sure,~ replied NPC.

"You want to start Calum?" said Nala.

*14

All three of them continued talking while moving their characters.

The three of them arrived in front of the portal a couple of minutes later.

"So basically school, the lab, my friends, it's like nothing happened," said Nala.

"It was weird, it was like everyone was normal, at least toward me normal," said Calum.

Calum asked NPC as they paused in front of the portal, "Could you like kill us in the real world if you wanted to."

~In probably less than a minute,~ replied NPC, ~but humans could probably do that to humans in not that much different of time.~