Winterfresh Takes Interest

The office was still as large and disturbing as ever. Lightning flashed out the windows as Winterfresh now stared over a crimson sea. When the light danced across it Dithers could almost swear it glowed a little. The moon and sun were both simultaneously visible, both meant to look so that you could not tell which one was rising and which one was setting. “Fucking stellar, isn’t this shit?” Winterfresh asked. “How do I look? Brooding? Like I’m thinking about something intense? I had them make some slight changes, just to give a real sense of dark-bright beauty,” he added. I told him I was intimidated and the A.I. laughed. “Listen, I wanted to ask you how things were going. With your suspension from ‘World of Realcraft’. You’ve been playing other games, right? How were those?” I was a bit surprised and puzzled at the A.I.’s interest in all this, but then again it was able to keep track of all its employees so it shouldn’t have been a huge discomfort. “Alright. None of them are as fun, but…I don’t know, it’s not just that. The people aren’t the same either. There was this girl in my game,” I explained. “Kaylee, right? You and her were quite serious in your digital forms, from what the controller A.I. told me. Is that correct? Did you think of seeing her outside of your game?” Again, I was a little surprised at just how much these A.I.’s seemed to know. “Er, yeah. I was hoping to see her again. We were going to go out on a date tonight. I downloaded a little Sushi joint and thought we’d meet there,” I answered. Winterfresh nodded and paced up and down the room, achieving the desired effect of intimidated awe in moments. “I’ve been feeling a bit guilty about how out of place you must feel being excised from your game and your mate. So, as a company treat, I’d like to offer you two free passes to a gourmet restaurant,” Surprise isn’t the correct term for what I was feeling anymore. A.I.’s were a lot of things, but feeling guilt or generous were not one of their known attributes. Not that it necessarily bothered you when you worked for one, since you were all treated the same way. It just was odd for it to be happening at all. “There is one thing though. You’ll both have to go uptown to eat there. It’s in a real restaurant,” Winterfresh added.