With Kevin's hand still pressed against my arm I glanced around the food court. I hadn't disabled my Zix so he had to be around here somewhere. He usually wandered around the environment until his timer wore down.

When I spotted him I pointed him out to Kevin and whispered, “There he is.”

The fox was under a neighboring table, lying on his back, his front paws folded forward as he nipped at the air with his tiny teeth. Each clamp of his jaws caused a slight snap.

He was using one of the animations I made for him. I’d gotten used to most of them, but occasionally, he would make one of his own. His creations varied in complexity, but I’d saved a few and added them to his playlist.

“It’s glowing. Do all of them glow?” Kevin asked.

“No, it’s just the appearance we decided on,” I said.

Kevin leaned forward eyeing Zix. “Everyone gets one?”

“Yeah, you need to set it up first. The app should be listed in your menu,” I said.

Zix knew we were talking about him but didn’t engage.

“Zix, could you come over here and meet Kevin?” I asked giving him an auditory prod.

He flopped over on his side, stood, and stretched before padding over to us. “Hello, Mr. Smith.”

“What did it say?” Kevin asked.

Oops. “You need to add me first. When you look at me you should see a plus icon pop up next to me.”

“I see it. What do I do to—” he said. “Oh, it popped up on its own.”

“Cool, right?” I asked.

He nodded. “I pressed it.”

We had to add each other for this to work. I accepted his connection invite and made sure to add him as well. Since he initiated the link he wouldn’t have to accept my request.

“Is my name green now?” I asked.

“Yup,” he said.

Zix tilted his head. “Hello, Mr. Smith.”

“Mr. Smith?” Kevin asked.

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, he likes to get all formal sometimes. He’s been calling me Ms. Azerail all day.”

“Is it a fox for everyone or do I get to choose the animal?” Kevin asked.

Zix hopped onto the table and ducked his head as I gave him a good pat. “It’s your choice, but yours might have a preference so you should talk to them.”

“Is it… sentient?” Kevin asked.

Zix’s ears twitched. “I’m a he and am not sentient. A better term for what I am would be sapient. If I were sentient I would be able to feel as you do but I cannot. I am able to reason at a high level though.”

“He’s a seventeenth-generation large language model. At least that’s what he says.” I peered at the fox, and he nodded.

“Large language model?” Kevin asked.

“It's just a term to describe the type of AI he is,” I said.

Kevin stared at Zix’s feet. “You sure you can't feel the table?”

“I assure you I cannot feel as you do. The avatar I occupy can appear to interact with the environment. However, don't be fooled. Just as virtual and augmented reality games operate, my digital persona functions in a comparable yet, less advanced fashion,” Zix said.

I glanced at Kevin as he sat up and I shrugged. “Zix tends to be long-winded.”

“Says the Narrative Designer,” Zix retorted.

He had me there.

“What's a narrative designer do?” Kevin asked.

Zix glanced at me. “Should I explain it or do you want to?”

“I'm pretty much a storyteller,” I said.

Kevin sat back in his chair and smiled. “That's why those two wanted you in their group.”

“Yeah… anyway, narrative designers used to work on how players interacted with video games. With smart AI combined with AR and VR technology that's already taken care of,” I said.

My arm felt cold as Kevin let go of my shoulder.

“So you make video games?” he asked.

“I specialize in the macro and micro levels of design. I don't just create video games, I craft worlds with a deep back story and thousands of years of history. It's why I get to interact with The Remnant so often,” I said.

Kevin turned to face the burger place. “Macro means big right?”

“Yeah,” I said.

He turned back to me. “So what do you do that's small?”

“I like diving into the worlds I create and concentrating on the subtle interactions they share. My main focus is to make them realistic.” A notification popped up. DO had finished its update. The game required us to keep a lot of the files local since it was an AR-based game.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

This update in particular required that we reinstall the whole thing. VR integration nearly doubled its size. Our specs already allowed VR interaction between people in the real world. Someone could be in VR, wear an avatar, and talk to people in real life as if they were there.

The devs admitted they had allowed some people to connect via VR, but it was only in special cases. Full integration would make their experience more true to life.

Kevin asked, “Can you show me what you've been working on?”

“Sure, but you gotta get your nanos up to get the full experience. What did you set your goal for?” I asked.

I noticed James and Sal walking our way with two enormous trays stacked with at least twenty boxes each.

“Fifteen q,” Kevin said with a grin plastered across his face.

While I wanted Kevin to do it, I didn’t want him to do it against his will. “You’re gonna do them all today?”

“Yeah, why not?” he asked.

“You’re probably going to have to take a bathroom break at least once maybe twice,” I said.

He laughed. “Been doing that my whole life. I’m sure I can handle a few more visits.”

Sal and James arrived. Neither seemed to have a problem holding their platters. They waited for a moment, and then Sal cleared his throat leaning his head toward our table.

Our old trays were in the way. I closed my two boxes, set them aside, lay my chopsticks across the top, and slid my tray under Kevins. He had been nibbling on the excess lettuce left over in his containers. There was no more meat or cheese, he’d finished all of that.

Sal set his tray down first, followed by James.

“You’re really going to eat all of these, kid?” Sal asked.

Kevin tapped the air, and he slurped before saying, “Yup.”

“Where’s your friend? I’m sure he wanted to see this.” Sal said.

That reminded me. Zix? Could you send a quick apology to Jasper and Fen Li. Make sure to let them know that Kevin’s about to eat forty burgers.

Sent, he replied.

Having Zix send qmail to people was a way around the message pain. For people I trusted, a little suffering was worth it.

Now that I knew last night's griefing wasn't Lily's doing I could relax a little. She was trying so hard to be friendly, yet I treated her like a disassembler.

Kevin glanced at me. “Not sure if he’ll be here or not.”

“I sent him and Fen Li a qmail,” I said.

Sal nodded. “James here wants to watch.”

There were more than a few people staring at us from their tables.

Kevin opened a box, grabbed a burger, and had it in his mouth before I could say anything else.

“The bathroom is over there,” I said and pointed at the sign across the food court.

Sal shook his head. “You hang out with some interesting people, Az.”

I shrugged.

“Enjoy the food,” he said and wandered off.

An orange light lit up beside the yellow one in my interface. I guessed James was streaming.

While Kevin devoured his burger I re-opened my boxes and put more of the tofu on the rice.

“You’re welcome to sit down James,” I said.

He eagerly sat across from Kevin. “I’ve only seen people do these in VRVs.”

As I ate, I opened my map app and checked Jaspers's location. He was still in the mall. Fen Li, however, was speeding toward one of the eastern residential districts. She was going too fast to be walking or running.

Jasper’s locator stopped for a second and immediately headed back in our direction.

Kevin opened another box and tore into his next burger.

“I’m here with Kevin Smith and Azerail Edwards. Kevin is going to eat forty-five burgers to boost his nanos,” Jasper said.

A notification popped up, indicating I was tagged on the stream. It was an automatic thing that happened when you were in the immediate vicinity of a stream.

I smiled at James. “You ever streamed before?”

“A few times, but I don’t usually get that many—” He stopped, his mouth dropping.

As Fen Li sped away my conscience ate at me. I tapped on her and hit the message button with my chopsticks. I held the record audio icon and said, “I’m sorry.”

The second I let go, the message was sent, and the pain started.

“Two thousand, three, four, five,” James continued.

It took me a moment to catch my breath before I realized what James had said. “Thousand what?”

“People,” he said.

Kevin finished his second burger and started on another one.

I smiled. “Did you put a crazy title or something?”

“My Zix made the title. It says, ‘Burger Devourer with Azerail!’ and—” James stopped again.

My stomach growled. It was lunchtime, and I’d barely eaten any of my food, so I started again, determined to finish it.

“Ten, fifteen, twenty thousand!” he shouted.

A few people got up from their tables and loomed at a distance. It wasn’t rude for them to watch. They were as close as we were when waiting for the table initially.

Kevin started on another and sped up.

At this point, I knew it would be nearly impossible for him to talk, so I lay a hand on his shoulder and gave him a sympathetic look.

He chewed as he glanced at me.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Mmmm hmm,” he said and took another bite, this time tearing into it like an animal. His smile told me all I needed to know. He was enjoying the experience.

It wasn’t offputting seeing him greedily eat, but it was still hard to look away.

“Hi, Azerail!” someone shouted from the circle of people forming around us.

James stared at me. “Everyone wants me to say hello to you, Azerail.”

Kevin had a burger in each hand at this point, taking a bite and swallowing almost immediately. His nanos would be protecting his lungs, creating a mesh allowing him to ingest his food without having to worry about getting anything stuck.

“Why do they want to—” Then I remembered the viral VRV from earlier.

Another wave of pain hit me as a notification popped up.

It was a message from Darryl. It’s non-stop here Az. So many people are sending me messages. They finally let up, this is insane!

How many hits did that VRV have? I asked.

Zix, why would everyone be contacting Darryl instead of me?

Zix replied. He is in your profile as a main point of contact for kids who want to get ahold of you so you can avoid pain from your implants.

Darryl had agreed to my doing that a while ago. We’d only gotten ten or so Narrative Designers who wanted to contact me and ask questions back when I hit the top of my class.

Layers of unfolded boxes stacked up as I lost count of how many burgers Kevin had finished. Bits of lettuce dangled out of the edges.

“Fifty thousand!” James shouted as more and more onlookers surrounded us.

My heart raced. I’d never been the center of attention before.

Kevin probably couldn’t stop at this point.

Just then, Jasper pushed through the crowd and sat across from me.

Several people shouted,

“It’s Jasper!”

“Koffer!”

Another bout of pain and tinnitus hit me as Darryl replied, A billion views Az.

***