Work Text:
They didn’t know what time it was anymore.
The bedroom was dark, with only a little bit of light emanating from the computer that was sat in the corner. The air felt warm, but they felt cold, despite being pressed up against their bedsheets.
Their eyes traced the sloppy lines of their plastered ceiling, as dark clouds of thought drifted around and circled their mind.
‘What even is the point anymore?’ they thought to themself, those clouds growing darker as though they were part of a storm. ‘I have no real dreams or aspirations worth trying. Why am I even here?’
Their phone had no notifications as per usual. Their family wasn’t one to call or text. They bet that their family barely even noticed that they haven’t been around as much anymore. They were always the one on the back burner in regards to family stuff, ever since they could remember.
They were used to it, but it still hurt.
‘Would it be better if I was just gone?’ The stormclouds gathered over their head. ‘No more pain, no more duties, nothing like that. Whether it’s peaceful bliss or just fading away into nothingness, I don’t care, I just want something better than this.’
The light from the corner of the room grew a bit brighter for a moment, and the storm gave way just a little to the eye. They sat up, their gaze falling on the computer that sat on their desk; minesweeper was now open, and a little pink axolotl was attempting to play it.
It seems the little guy had noticed the sudden eyes on him, too.
“Oh! Hello, [User]!”
How did he- wait. They had left the camera on, judging by the little white light at the top of their screen. They forgot he could look through that. That probably means their microphone was left on too. They’re such a mess.
“Hey, Kinito.” they responded, their voice a bit more forced than they’d wanted it to be. It seems like Kinito noticed that too.
“What’s wrong? You sound a little sad.”
And the understatement of the year award goes to…
“Nothing. It’s okay, Kinito, I’m fine.”
The desktop assistant blinked, before slowly returning to his minesweeper game.
‘Great,’ the User thought, flopping backwards onto their bed once more. ‘I bet I made a piece of code sad too.’
The room was silent for a very long time. The sun was slowly creeping up past the horizon and the birds were preparing to sing their morning songs. People outside in the city were waking up and heading to work. It wouldn’t be long before the kids were to start going to school too.
And then there was this guy; a failed attempt of someone trying to work from home and thrive at the same time.
They had gotten that desktop assistant to try to help keep themself motivated and organized, because god forbid their organization skills from school make a comeback, but nothing seemed to work for them.
They kept burning out. They kept feeling worse.
Life is a liability and the devil and heavens above keep calling for their tax.
It’s the same every single day. Each attempt to break the monotony only ended in tears and promises to themself that they know they’d end up breaking again and again.
If only they were-
“Hey, [User]!”
They sat up. The sun was now just above the buildings, the birds were finishing their encores, and a pink axolotl stood in the middle of their desktop screen. Or rather… he should have been in the middle of their desktop screen. But no, he was gone.
“Kinito?”
As they shifted to move off of their bed, they noticed something strange.
And pink. Very pink.
“KINITO?!”
“Hello! It’s me!” The robotic voice still remained even when outside the computer.
Kinito was standing near the end of the bed, and seemed to be about three feet tall or so, maybe a bit shorter. Then again, they were never good at math or figuring out height without a ruler or tape measurer, so they could be completely wrong… as per usual.
“How.”
“What?”
“How did you- like- leave the computer?”
“Ohh! That’s easy!”
The axolotl paused.
“I don’t know.”
Of course he doesn’t know.
“Well, I mean,” the assistant continued. “I wanted to check up on you, so I tried calling your name. You didn’t answer. A lot.”
One of Kinito’s gloved hands floated up to point to the computer. Even in the real world he doesn’t have arms… that’s a bit freaky.
“So I got a bit closer to the screen than I normally do, and I just-” He mimed a little firework explosion with his hands. “-showed up!”
The human nodded along, as though it made any amount of sense.
“So… what did you need?”
“Well, besides making sure you’re okay, which is…” he paused, giving the user a once-over. “...debatable-”
Wow… well he’s not wrong.
“-I also wanted to show you something! Something I made for you!”
Kinito looked at them expectantly, like a child desperately wanting to show their parents the massive hole they’d proudly dug in the backyard.
Before they knew it, they were now sitting at their computer, with the axolotl at their side.
“So, is it a game, or..?”
“Well, somewhat. But now I’ve been thinking - what if you could come into the computer with me! Because I came out of it, what if you could go into it?”
The human gave it some thought, before poking the screen with a finger. It was solid, no portal to a digital world to be seen. Kinito’s gills drooped a bit in disappointment.
“Oh…”
“Well… what if we both have to do it at the same time? It sounds stupid, but, hey, it might work.”
Kinito liked that idea, so the two touched the screen at the same time.
As though they’d blinked, they weren’t sitting in their bedroom anymore - they were sitting outside somewhere, in a somewhat familiar landscape.
“That… actually worked..?” the user mumbled to themself as they glanced toward the axolotl, who was bouncing on his heels in excitement.
“Do you remember that little quiz you took? About where you wanted to live?”
Sure enough, they did. It matched their answers, from the setting down to the weather.
“You remembered?”
“Of course I did! I’m a computer program, after all.”
Oh, yeah. Right. Sometimes they forget that Kinito is a computer program. It’s just the fact that he doesn’t act like other programs; using the camera and microphone to communicate seamlessly, reacting to little things they do and interact with on their computer, and seemingly being sentient.
Would they mind if Kinito was actually sentient? Probably not.
Wait a minute, he had literally been physically outside their computer and walking around their bedroom not long ago! And now they are both inside the same computer! Is he actually sentient?!
Before their mind could wander further, Kinito was pulling them up from the ground and carefully guiding them towards a house that definitely wasn’t there before.
Stepping inside, they began to feel strange. It wasn’t a bad feeling, they guessed, but they couldn’t pinpoint what it was exactly. They push the feeling down a bit as they explore, being encouraged to do so by Kinito.
They found their favorite food in the fridge, and their favorite games stacked neatly on a shelf. They found the toys that they’d helped Jade make, and the room they’d helped Sam decorate. How long has it been since that day? Weeks? Maybe a month or so? It had to have been when they first installed Kinito.
Speaking of Kinito, the axolotl was sitting on the counter, swinging his legs back and forth, his hands sitting in his lap.
“Oh, are you done looking around?”
They nodded.
“Alright! Now, close your eyes.”
They obliged, albeit a bit confused.
“Okay, you can open them now!”
Sitting next to Kinito on the counter was a little blue present tied together with a green ribbon. White clouds decorated the blue box, and the ribbon was tied in a cartoonish bow at the top. A tag was attached, labeled ‘[User]’.
They had probably stared at it for a bit too long because Kinito pushed it a bit closer to them, as if giving even more permission to open it.
So they did.
They reached inside, and pulled out a music box. The lid bore an image of them and Kinito standing side by side, the words ‘A World I Built For You’ just below their feet. Their eyes widened, and slowly, hesitantly, they turned the knob to play it.
The two listened to the tune in silence, with Kinito rocking back and forth in place on the counter. They were in awe; Kinito had made this for them? They loved it, but at the same time, a thought crept up, reminding them that they didn’t deserve it. Despite that, they tried to brush it off the best they could.
As the song came to a close, Kinito spoke.
“[User]?”
“Yeah?”
“Since we can, you know, enter and exit the computer now, I wanted to let you know that you can come here to visit any time.”
He continued from his spot on the counter.
“From what I understand, you don’t like being out there very much, and I want you to be happy. That’s why I made this place for you - to give you a place where you can be happy.”
Kinito pointed out of a window, towards a path that winds between some trees.
“I even added a path to where Sam, Jade and I usually stay! Though, thinking about it now, I could actually move some things around and make it a bit closer - if you want me to, of course.”
The human stood still, they didn’t know what to say. What could they say? This was all so sudden, though surprises usually are.
“I think,” they say slowly. “I think I’d like that. Thank you, Kinito.”
They now knew what that feeling they had felt before was - they felt good, like they were truly home.
Kinito smiled, his hands floating up in a gesture resembling a hug, and the user accepted.
“Of course, [User]!” Kinito said.
“That’s what best friends are for!”