Synth

The game Vik was working on was interesting to say the least. Mechanically, TO felt like it was something they could get lost in: A platform style racing game with elements from a genre that Vik called a rhythm game. If the player jumped from platform to platform, timing their leaps so that they landed with the beat, then the character could go faster. There were a few problems with this though, some of which Vik pointed out and some which TO could see for themself. The visuals became clumsy when the character got up to a certain speed, and the rising of the highly saturated, brilliant background made TO feel dizzy. When Vik passed them a small controller and let TO try the demo he had created, the experience nearly made TO throw up once they had gotten good at it. The levels were all the same as well, to a point. Yes, as you progressed the platforms got smaller and the necessary maneuvers needed to progress got more complex, but aside from that they all looked and sounded the same.

There was one larger issue that stood out to TO though; if the player was too successful then the music sounded strange and distorted. The act of successfully landing the jumps at the right time which had originally been satisfying became jarring and unpleasant. Eventually the beat became impossible to follow. Even TO with their keen eyes and quick reflexes couldn’t keep up once the screen became a blur and the beats merged into a single dissonant sound. When that happened, the best TO could hope to do was land awkwardly on a platform, breaking the streak they had built up and causing the music to jangle as though all the instruments had suddenly fallen down. It was disappointing, and the streak up to that point had lost its fun anyway. The worst that happened was falling off the platform, at which point the music cut suddenly and they were left looking at a black screen with blood-red letting that said ‘Game Over.’

After racing through the level with li ghts and sounds blasting at them, this very much felt like hitting a sudden brick wall.

“DH came up with the idea of adding music to a platform racing game, and it’s a good idea but I can’t make it work.” Vik said. “The music gets too fast, it accelerates too much…” He shrugged. “Maybe it’s just two ideas that can’t work togeth-“

“Why does it have to always accelerate?” TO asked. “I mean, music doesn’t.” They frowned as they considered this, realizing that though they enjoyed music and listened to a lot of it, they didn’t know the terms to describe what the music was doing. “Some songs get really intense, really fast, and then suddenly just drop off after this big explosion of sound.” They frowned, their ears warming as they realized how foolish what they were saying sounded. “When we ran racing simulations in training, there were ways to go faster depending on the environment: using gravity to help accelerate, wind, water running through rapids… there were lots of ways, but none of them were constant.” They turned, their wings shuffling as their ears lifted, “In flying simulations, it was one of the best things to catch an updraft! I’d rise up into the air really fast, and then if I dove down at the right angle, I’d pick up speed rapidly before pulling up before hitting the ground. See, the skill there was knowing how close you could get to the ground before you risked crashing. If you pulled up too fast you lost valuable acceleration but too late, and you could crash. It was so satisfying to get the timing just right!” They gestured to the screen which currently still glowed with the red lettering. “Here… it’s like a constant dive, but with no satisfying ending. Either I stop too soon, or I crash.”

Vik leaned back, staring at the screen along with TO. They got the feeling that he wasn’t actually looking at the screen though: he seemed to be looking past it as though he could see the inner workings of his game. After a moment he nodded. “You know, you might be right. I’m thinking about bass drops. That might work here. Something like boosts in other racing games…” He frowned, his little ears twitching, “Ugh, but then what do you get for getting perfect hits on all the other beats.”

A puzzle indeed. Thankfully, TO liked puzzles. While they were considering that, the elevator opened. TO had been ignoring this the whole time but this time the sound of the elevator door sliding open was accompanied by a happy squeal of “TO!” Which was pitched enough that TO’s ears flicked down protectively. They turned, and before they could really understand what was happening they felt a jolt of pain as something connected with their bad knee. They yelped, hissing in pain, their eyes watering from the intensity of it as they doubled over and grasped their bad knee.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” The voice said, now sounding on the verge of tears. When TO looked up, their vision clearing, they could see it was Constance. The child looked like she might cry, and her face was pale.

“I-It’s fine.” They said, breathing through the pain. “Just be careful around my knee…”

“I’m sorry!” She said again, “I always used to…” she paused, and whatever she was going to say seemed to slip from her mind. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok.” TO said, “It’s not hurting badly.” Their ears did twitch with their deception as they spoke, but they were confidant that she wouldn’t catch that. “What are you doing down here?”

“She missed you yesterday.” Petra said as she stepped out from the elevator, followed by Lendulin in her chair. “She was worried about you, and she wanted to visit.”

“We were worried too, you realize.” Lendulin said, “I know you’re busy, but please come see us more? It’s not fun to just sit and worry about you.”

“Ah… apologies.” ” TO said, their ears flicking down as they glanced down at Constance who now clutched to the side of the chair as she looked up at TO.

“I was worried.” She said, “I heard you weren’t feeling well, so I didn’t come down yesterday, but I had to come down today!” She frowned, her little head-fins flattening against her scalp, “Everyone’s getting sick upstairs, and you’re already sick, and I didn’t want you to get sicker!” Her grip tightened on the chair, and suddenly TO understood her precious anxiety and her exuberance once she saw TO looking relatively well. Her father had been sick, got sicker, and died. It wasn’t from the sickness that he had died, but that didn’t change the fact that he was dead, and that his weakened condition had ensured that the shot was fatal. And of course, they remembered what Mark had said before everything happened, how he asked if TO would take care of her if something happened to them, how he suggested that he should stay behind. They had no doubt that Constance remembered it as well.

With a slow, hesistant movements, TO put their hand on her shoulder. They were prepared for her to jerk away, but instead she looked up at TO, her ears and fins out so much like Synth ears, her big dark eyes wide as she looked up.

“I’m ok.” They said, “I’m not sick, not really. I just wasn’t feeling myself.”

“No?” She asked as she looked up at them, “Why not? What’s wrong?”

TO sighed, forcing their lips into a smile that their ears did not reflect. “Sometimes, you just have a bad day.” They said.

“Is today any better?”

They opened their mouth to respond, but stopped as their uncertainty caught them. Originally, they were going to say that it wasn’t really better today. Their conversation with GiDi had been absolutely awful—worse than their confession to DH! In the minutes after their conversation with GiDi, the day had absolutely been worse than it was yesterday. Somehow, that seemed far more distant now than it actually was. They had enjoyed talking to Vik about their game and coming up with ideas to make it better. Constance’s enthusiasm to see TO was also refreshing, despite her inadvertent attack on their knee. Seeing Petra and Lendulin, knowing that The two were worried about them also seemed to soothe their heart.

"I also brought my art tablet." Lendulin said. "A gift from my former *Patron* so I could design stuff faster." Though she said ‘patron’ in a tone of abject disgust, even TO could catch the almost sad way she looked down.

"He was a jackass." Petra said as she looked over the tablet for a moment before looking to TO, "Can you believe she feels bad for taking that when she ran?"

"It wasn't actually a gift! he lent it to me!" She protested. “I stole it!”

"He should have just given it to you! Of course, even if he bought you ten of those it wouldn't have been enough to repay all the bullshit you dealt with." She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms awkwardly so that the wings which connected her arms to her body stretched out oddly. "Consider it severance pay."

"Anyway!" she said as a light flush rose in her face, "The point is that i brought it so I could teach TO some art stuff..." She looked to TO, "If you still want me to, I mean. If you don't, I understand..."

"I want to learn too!" Constance said, her tail flicking behind her quickly. She looked up at. TO again, "I want to be an artist like Len when I'm older! She said her art was in shows, and that people paid lots of money for them!" Her eyes got somehow ever wider, "Can you imagine just getting lots of money for doing some fun!?"

Despite everything, TO couldn't help but chuckle softly, their ears twitching slightly. "IT does sound good." They said, "I suppose if that's what you want to do, then we should get to learning, right?" They shifted, moving their chair carefully so that they could get closer to the others. "If one of you would help me out of this chair, it might be easier to do this on the floor over there, on the pillows." they said with a nod to the sleeping area. They willed the chair forward, stopped, and turned back to Constance.

"Oh, and yes: Today has been better."