Private Finished Learning How to People

The moment the game started, Sela felt solidified. They were in the moment, making their first move, waiting to see what Symlink would do next. It wasn't exhilarating as much as it was calming. For at least this moment, they were awake.

"Is it okay to talk while playing? I like silence sometimes, but... I want to stay awake. I don't want to fall asleep. Not yet." One of the few times they could genuinely say they weren't interested in sleeping. All the other times were out of necessity because of the school.

"It's complex to me too," they said in reply to what they should speak about. "I'm still learning about games here. It's fun playing with someone who's new too." Their face turned into a pout. "All my game partners here know the games already. I always lose and then I feel bad. I don't think that's fair at all."

Sela paused when their move came. Something about what Neon said confused them. They understood the basics: losing isn't bad when you're improving. Still, they felt off.

After half a minute, Sela made their move and resumed the conversation. "When I win, I'm happy, even if I don't know why. When I lose, I'm sad. Or angry. Or confused. Sometimes I'm happy if the game is really fun. I don't think about that stuff. My counselor says I live in the moment and that she isn't being metaphorical."

Sela failed to notice that Symlink hadn't understood what they said. They just brightened that Symlink seemed to understand their struggle.

"Really? What is it like for you? It's hard for me to think about the future. The future doesn't exist. The past exists a little. The past is weird," they replied with certainty in their thinking.

Neon explained perfectly why thinking about the future was too hard: things happened unexpectedly. What if Sela suddenly had to take care of a child? Logically, the school would take the child first, but Sela might still have responsibility.

They shook their head a few times. All of this was annoying to think about.

"I don't have any ambitions. I have ideas, but that's all... But... when I'm allowed to invite people to my dream, we can build a world together, Symlink. If you build a digital world first, I want to see. What will your world be like?"