Chapitre 19: Really World Intermission
It was me who came through the window first if you can call it a window. When I turned around, I watched Luca slip through the perfectly square entrance. As we landed, then stood in front of one another, we studied our own bodies and then each other's.
We were wearing silvery-white one-piece jumpsuits that glittered under the copious lights overhead. We were covered in flashing dots of light with Luca in cobalt blue and me in chartreuse green like motion actors over a green screen. The brightest points were at our joints then connected in a skeleton shape.
Luca and I pulled at the tight necks of our suits. We were beginning to sweat. I noticed I that we both had boots which wasn't helping with staying cool but once we were finished staring at one another and playing around with our shiny dots we moved on.
The room was set up in a semi-circle with pewter-colored metal floors that clanked as we walked over them. Their surfaces had convex quarter-sized hexagon shapes that lit up under our feet depending on who was standing on them. Luca and I traded places getting on and off one, waiting a few seconds then returning, stepping on them out of order, then simultaneously and yet, the specific square only lit up for one of us.
The colors beneath our feet coincided with the light points that our suits were lit with and if we stood there long enough, a strange vibrating sensation came over us that never peaked though we suspected might be different upon learning a sequence we were not yet aware of.
The rest of the room was in a semi-circle. A railing was constructed and on the floor was an enclosed glass space that appeared like the gap between the smile of a mammoth-sized mouth. As we gazed down into the glass abyss a cafe au lait-tinted vapor-like essence tickled the edges of the glass leaving tiny droplets of water. Upon initial inspection, it seemed benign, perhaps even enjoyable to look at but then tapping of blue fingers and then a slam of a hand against it made me jump.
"Don't worry. I'll keep watch," Luca whispered as he held onto the pewter-colored railing. At once we saw a smiling face that had the likeness of a human, but the skin was toned cornflower blue and their hair was platinum with a hint of gold. Their eyes were sparkling intermittently between canary green and teal blue.
The being hovered in the vapor, smiled, and then left. Luca leaned to me holding his chest.
"What the devil was that?" he whispered, shakily his eyes still on the encased vapor. When the blue person bumped the glass again, we heard them laugh lightly like a human woman and then disappear again. Luca jumped.
"I don't know," I said shrugging. "But they seem friendly."
"But what if they break through that glass?" he asked with a whimper. "They're the same color as my dots. I bet they'll glom on." I was taken aback with Luca's fear so much that I chuckled. "Don't laugh!" he whispered fiercely.
"I'm sorry. It's just that I've never seen you afraid … of anything," I said. "I don't count you being leery of my desire to bite you. Even then you were still smiling." I gave him a once over. "That's really impressive, actually, to be sure fearless."
"Is that so?" Luca asked, placing his hands on his hips with an exaggeratedly confident toss of his head but then the blue figure bounced against the glass again. At once he jumped and cowered behind me. I laughed loudly unable to control myself. "All right. I see how you are," he sputtered into my ear.
"No, I'm so sorry but how can you be afraid? They're ... smiling."
"Let's just move on, shall we?" he asked. As he bravely stepped in front of me, I thought I could see him trembling.
While we explored, we noted there were several computers overhead blinking and ticking, their fans whirring intermittently. The area had the feeling of a room that hadn't had a window open in years. After noting the hanging hardware, we checked out the TV screens around us. They were flashing with commercials of different scenarios.
When we peered in closer, we could see that there were people running through the worlds. Luca and I exchanged glances at one another periodically to see if this were truly happening or if we were in another trick world. Neither of us dared to speak, yet.
"These are other simulation worlds in real time, right? Those are other people like us, aren't they?" I finally dared to ask.
"It certainly seems so, don't it?" Luca breathed staring at the screens in awe then at me, then back up. He leaned over the railing to peek closer, clinging with his gloved hands, but then he caught a glimpse of the vapor blue being. This time when they came up, they grinned again and but added a wave in Luca's direction. He looked like he was fighting the urge to cringe but he managed to waved back.
As we continued to search, we found several empty chairs that when sat upon, were comfortable yet ergonomically set up for people of varied height and weight. Those chairs were beige in color and stretched down a long hallway seated in front of computers. The screens were currently blank but were flickering as the monitors were indeed on, but a computer connection was needed to use them.
Overhead was more hardware encased in the same pewter-shaded metal. Their parts were visible behind glass or transparent plastic like homemade PCs built not only for function but for show. Their lights rotated between blue, green, and yellow with the glow bright enough to spill upon us.
As we cautiously continued along the railing around the metal smile area, we could see two devices that were not unlike ATMs that had light-brown plated metal exteriors and a slot to insert something. Their screens had a list of numbers with brief descriptions.
In Luca's left breast pocket of his full-length shimmering bodysuit was the ticket from Really World. It illuminated his chest with a lime-colored flicker as he stood in front of what could only be a ticket machine. He glanced down at me, his onyx-black bangs bouncing, the green illuminating his face. I could see how much more he was sweating now.
"What should we do?" I asked him.
"I was about to ask you the same thing, mate. What I'm concludin' is that these machines--" he pointed to the screens with the commercials--"will tell us about the worlds and this one--," he waved his fingers at the ticket machine--, "will help us choose. The thing is how do we bloody decide, eh?"
"Yeah, and how long do we have in here?" I asked scanning the room.
"I don't get the sense that we must leave by force. We're welcome and besides those blue people, I feel rather calm here."
"It does feel good to have a little bit of a rest," I replied, wiping my forehead of the sweat. Luca glanced at me for a moment.
"Though the heat of these machines is sure to soon force us out no doubt. So, let's have us a look." He pointed up to some of the screens.
Out of the seven screens directly in front of us we could see scenarios of nurse/doctor, wolf shifters, Halloween party, 1950s, criminals, trading bodies, and boss/employee options. Luca and I paused in silence both glancing up then to each other.
"Is it up to one or both of us?" I asked him.
"Haven't a clue. I'd assume one ticket works for both since we're always together."
"Which one do you like?" I asked.
"Let's see. Perhaps we should take on the ones that would seem the easiest and then go from there."
"But which ones do you think are easiest?"
"Well, the human scenarios I reckon."
I watched Luca's face and hair once again become illuminated by the ticket's glittering lime-colored aura. He looked handsome as he waited for an answer.
When we glanced back at the screen new options were there. Student/professor, aliens on another planet, Chase and I having alternate personalities, cop and prisoner, robber/teller, harem, magician/assistant.
Luca chuckled.
"Bloody hell. These all seem both comical and difficult."
"Let's do the bank one. I think that should be straightforward, right?" I asked.
"Oh, don't go jinxin' us, mate." Luca tilted his head with an amused look in his eyes.
"I think that's the one."
Luca picked up the ticket, flashed it at me, and then slipped it in the slot. It was snatched from him instantly. He put his hands up as if not doing so might provoke a ticket booth attack.
"I think the bank is number sixty-two," I offered. He nodded, using down arrows.
"This bloody company makes billions and I'm playin' on a word processor here," he muttered. I laughed under my breath. "There we are." He pointed. "You ready?"
"I am."
He gave me a smile and clicked on sixty-two.
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
AL_Grey
AL_Grey Intermission is when they are temporarily out of the sim worlds.
Also, updated for basic edits.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone