Porygon-A-Stray

He’d never been…? Wow this young boy was missing out.

“Well- it’s the atmosphere, for one. the quiet concentration dedicated to learning. There is a sort of calmness in the place when you enter, and the knowledge of potential- you could access so many things just by picking out a book from a shelf. Or you could sit down on somewhere comfortable with a good storybook and spend the day just reading.” Emmie was a frequent presence in many libraries- all of the things above and more gave her a sense of profound peace, of resting, and allowed her to decompress.

Realizing that she was rambling, though, Emmie cut herself out with a rueful chuckle. “Or maybe I’m slightly biased, since I like libraries. They’re really good places to think at- and certainly different from the internet, I’d like to think.” Looking things up online was very well and good, but they just…lacked that sense of contentment from figuring it out from a book. 

Atmosphere?  Polly frowned.  They got quite a bit of that back home.  There were whole rooms that were devoid of sound save the study thrum of power threading through the place.  Sitting and reading--well reading--could be done there, people’s thoughts, people’s work, people’s fantasies, all there to peruse at will.  Maybe they had been to a library after all.

Online was a wealth of information, factual and opinion.  Sometimes you had to dig for what you wanted, and rather than figuring it out, the sense of accomplishment was in finding it. 

If you give Polly your email address, they will more than likely hack into it and read your emails.  They won’t make demands, they won’t blackmail you, but they will use it as a means of guessing what your interests are in order to more easily engage you in conversation.  They might even do so right in front of you.

“Gosh, I’m sorry about you bein’ an orphan an’ all…” Fred slumped forward. Well that was a downer on the conversation. But it didn’t excuse the kid’s behaviour. He straightened up, trying to look as mature and adult as a boy who still had anime figurine’s in his bedroom. 

“You still shouldn’t leave the door open when you leave the house! What if someone steals all your stuff, huh? And you gotta tell the people who care about you where you are! If somethin’ bad happens, they gotta know where you are so they can help! It’s jus’ how things are.”

“Oh, it is not your fault?  I have my siblings, so it is not like I am alone?”  Polly shrugged, not sure why this guy was worrying so much.  The door was only usable by family anyway.  Well...okay more than family, but you had to know where the door was?  They puffed their cheeks out, thinking.

“My family knows where I am all the time.”  GPS tracking was great that way!  “And, well, all my stuff is here.”  They gestured at themselves.  They had things like MMO subs and items of that nature, but anything someone could physically pick up and take away was on Polly’s person.

Porygoner: hey red alert over there they updated the poster Porygoner: its all over the web Porygoner: mostly some guy on imgur has pics of you Porygoner: askin if you an the poster look similar enuff

Polly stared at the private messages.  They’d never had full family approval, and the unsaid “I told you so” behind these four lines of warning were palpable.  Polly hadn’t even found a job.  Hadn’t done half the things their online friends had said to do.

To be fair a lot of suggestions were food...and swimming, or just things that cost money.  Money Polly didn’t actually have, despite several online subscriptions.

Polly typed out a reply, erased it, tried again.  Another private message popped up.

Porygoner: u should get a headband

Right, another change of appearance.  That should work!  It worked for a little but, the first night they’d broken out of that lab.  Yeah...yeah that could work!