Writing update - Subreality [Chapter 1, Part 4]

 "Kyraaaa, I'm hungry."

"No one cares, Coffee," says Kyra, whilst Cream reminds Coffee that they're due to go to a meeting later on at which copious amounts of food will be available.

"You can wait," she says.

"But I want it nowww," Coffee moans, pouting and twirling a clump of his ridiculously long dark brown hair into tighter curls than it already naturally is.

"Have a drink then, and stop complaining."

Coffee takes the offer and steals Kyra's cup just before she can grab it out of his reach.

"Hey!"

"Losers weepers!"

Kyra considers punching him, but Cream has her dark brown eyes fixed on the window and doesn't look like she is going to notice if Coffee tries to kill Kyra.

Coffee and Cream are an odd pair. No one is entirely sure where they are from, Kyra included, though there are many theories. They were created in a lab, as the ultimate weapons for Government use. They are from another country where the specification for your virtual appearance is much less specific. They simply have alternate eye and hair colours by coincidence. Whatever the reason, they always look out of place in a crowd.

The wall flashes into life, informing Cream that she has a message. She glances back at it.

"View message," she says. She decidely doesn't like eyemouse control, as it has a tendency to get confused by her hyper speed blinking.

The message is listed as being from Apricot Pumpkin, and contains a generic wall of text:

Your contact, Mrs APRICOT PUMPKIN was unable to answer your call. You are requested to go and speak to her/him in person. Please do so between the times of THREE hours TWO minutes and FORTY FIVE seconds – FOUR hours SEVENTEEN minutes and TWENTY THREE seconds.

It never fails to surprise Cream that Pumpkin hates her name. She supposes that Mrs Apricot Pumpkin is a little ridiculous, but there are so many people on the Planet that your name usually has to be long, complicated and sometimes fairly silly. The Generator System can't, for some unknown reason, register more than one person under the same name. These three had got in early, though, so their names are somewhat normal.

Cream's full name, for instance, is Cream Sugar Chocolate, and Coffee is Coffee Cheesecake Chocolate. But they don't use these names for anything other than registering for the Virtual Reality – otherwise they'd have picked proper, sensible names.

Cream tells the wall to send Pumpkin an invite to meet her at the cafe on War Street, and then goes to get a meal. Eating isn't neccessary in the VR, as energy is provided by your physical self, which is kept from growing weak or old or ill or dead by very high tech equipment, but it's something to do whilst talking in case conversation gets awkward.