Click, tap, click, tap, click, tap,click, tap high heels clicked against the damp pavement. Besides the steady, self confident footsteps raindrops fell. Long black braids swayed, brushing against the mid thigh length skirt that swished from side to side, blowing with the gentle wind and the rhythm in her step.
Today had started off really well. It had, honestly. Absolutely brilliant. The best she'd had so far this week, not counting it was a Sunday so technically the only day of the week so far (that was just a technicality).
Her trip to the spa had been perfection. Perfection! The hot rocks, gentle soak in mineral rich waters and a nice oil massage had left her beautiful brown skin feeling smooth and supple.
She was radiant. Did you hear her? Radiant!
Her hair and nail appointment had gone as planned and there were just the right amount of people to get her in and out without any unnecessary delays.
The braids themselves, raven black and soft, were just below her shoulder blades. Just the right thickness, just the right parting.
So what was the problem? Well, Hoya Gold, apparently a side character, a mere 'cannon fodder' in a romance story, was glad someone had asked. Even if they hadn't asked, she would have mulled it over in her mind, maybe with a few heartfelt choice words.
Anyway, as anyone could imagine, suddenly finding out you are a fictional character in a novel for an online series an author wrote to get over their writer's block would ruin someone's day at best.
How exactly had he found out? WELL, Hoya inhaled deeply and took the left turn into the carpark where a sleek, midnight black hovercar was waiting for her. "Doe," she looked at the small, dough-like head of the little robot hovering by her side as she slid into the driver's seat. "Can you please run that by me again?"
"Certainly. Ahem." Doe, the round form, put its little metallic arm over its mouth and coughed, clearing its 'throat'. "This world is a book created by an anonymous writer 'Chouxbuns'. It is a futuristic romance set in a fantasy country with no link to real people or events." Doe paused, looked ahead and squinted his digital eyes.
"Doe?" What was he looking at? Hoya turned to the empty, well lit car park. No one was there.
"My apologies," Doe looked at Hoya again. "If this were a visual production, say a comic or animation, I would have been breaking the fourth wall to look at the audience."
"Ahhh," Hoya mouthed, understanding a bit of what he had said. What? She had read a few novels about a reborn villainess or people that found themselves transmigrated into books as all kinds of heroes, cannon fodders and villains. Most of them were extremely popular and ended up in visual media so a scene like that wasn't uncommon.
Wait, Hoya frowned. "Has this been made into a comic or animation?" Yes, she stressed animation. Biopics, ah, live action adaptations, had too much controversy about casting and costume for her to even think about.
Besides, she still felt like herself and not like a character someone was portraying.
In fact, why would she even need to think about her feelings to decide she wasn't an idea in someone's mind? She was looking at her own bare arms and legs wrapped in very soft white cotton trousers.
She was tangible, real, solid, a living person.
She was real.
How couldn't she be?
"Hoya?" Doe called once he realised she had spaced out. "Is there something you want clarified?"
"Ah, no," Hoya shook her head. With one hand over the other, feeling her warmth and the pulse in her veins, she said, "go ahead."
More than anything, right now, Hoya needed to know the facts about the world she lived in the roles she had to look out for. Reading web-novels had taught her at least that much: Unfamiliarity and taking the fantasy world for granted were big mistakes.
"Mn," Doe continued once he had done a preliminary check of her state by scanning her face with the basic health information online to see that she was not too distressed. "As I was saying. This is Shouxbuns's work, a fictional romance following a mechanical genius from Capital City's First University, and a male lead working as a young and highly decorated Major General in the country's army. You and everyone else are the side characters in their journey to a happy life with financial and career success. That is all."
"That's all?" Hoya, who had rested her head against the steering wheel, closed her eyes, "that's a bit vague, don't you think, Doe?" The storyline wasn't fleshed out, not to mention the lack of actual description when it came to the 'characters', who they were and what they did. Because, even though they were the same people Hoya had recognised as living, just like herself, in a story about two people and how they made it to the top, a few of the 'extras' would play certain key roles too.
Either they were secondary, helping characters, comic relief or more crucially, the villains of the story.The bad guys at the top of the food chain were usually the hardest hit, embarrassingly, painfully so. But the story would have to be reaching its resolution for that to happen. The real, painful take downs were the minor villains who were there as stepping stones to the protagonists rise to the top. Their storyline was over before things even got good.
Being the benefactor, friend or ally wasn't either, Hoya admitted. Depending on the plot they could be in some serious, life threatening danger, most of which was just orchestrated for the main characters to grow or flex their muscles as they lent a much needed hand, thereby earning them a favour and increasing their protagonist's halo. But in the end, the friend would be saved. Now, Hoya would have repeated that 'depending on the plot' caveat again. But, as her trusty AI, the only one with inside information, had said, this was a romance story, a sweet little text about two people getting together, so there was no real, life at stake, drama…
Right?
Anyway, friend was better than foe in a context where a happy ending was pre-determined for the good guy, at least by default.
"I agree. Like I said before, it just hit me and the information is fragmented and distorted. My processor can't seem to decipher the bulk of it right now." Doe responded, closing his eyes the way Hoya had taught him to, to show he was going through his information system.
Ah, thinking about it now, the events that led to this point were strange. They had just left the salon and Hoya was on her way to a local bakery to, ironically, buy some custard choux buns that had become quite popular when Doe suddenly froze. His arms retracted into the stealthy compartment at his sides and the screen where his eyes were turned dark. All at once, he became a little round ball that dropped to the ground.
Had Hoya not caught him reflexively, he would have landed on the pavement with a loud bang! And she would have had to foot the bill to the local council to have it repaired.
The local engineer said he just needed charging, but who knew something like this had happened?
"Ah, maybe it's a virus?" Hoya tried, "Maybe it could have installed some funny programme that's messing with you now?" There was always the possibility that that was the case, Hoya thought as she reached out to her cupholder where a bottle of water had been perched.
"Please never say such a thing. I am a state of the art bot with built in antivirus technology, thank you very much." Does eyes opened at the preposterous suggestion.A Virus? Him? Doughball, the AI of AI personal assistants? "That would be ridiculous."
For someone with an installed voice software, his gruffness was communicated very smoothly. In fact, all his speech was easy flowing and natural, even if it was a little exaggerated at times, like a voice actor switching between roles.
"Yes, yes," Hoya smiled and placated the offended dough-ball that looked at her with serious eyes, resisting the urge to laugh. "My bad. You're very hightech, super high-tech. No virus in our world could ever- AHA!" Hoya sat up with a start and her black eyes flashed with an intense light. "No virus in our world could hit us, but what if it's an external one? From the author's PC? If the world were powered by it then it would affect us, right?"
"That, that does not sound realistic." Doe scratched his cheek, " even if the virus corrupted the file, how would it have the power to do this."
He was right. As much as Hoya wanted to hold on to some sliver of hope, Doe was right. Knowing the truth of their existence was an almost Godlike interference. If it wasn't the writer who did it, then…Hoya had no idea. The only thing she could think about was that she had no knowledge of what was really going on, or what was really…real.
"Haa," Hoya gripped the steering wheel. Slotting the activation key into the ignition, brought the hovercar to life with a ping, and the lights from the dashboard glowed softly without irritating her eyes.
That's right. She could react and feel too. Hoya reminded herself as she veered off into the street.
A few hover-cars passed beside her. Below her own vehicle, road cars, those that followed the traditional, classic model with better energy sources revved a low sum as they set off at a steady pace.
In each of them was a drive. Some had passengers. They were all going somewhere, home, out for the night, late shifts…they were all living their lives. These things were all real to them. They were real, just like her.
"Our lives don't stop because our world is made of words," Hoya exhaled softly, "once they came into existence, so did we."
Above her head no real high-flying cars occupied the top level of the road marked out by radio signals and navigation inbuilt into their devices, and the starry night sky was unobscured.