3

[final_letter]

[After his conversation with Mulder, Matt's curiosity about the one other person he knows was born in Template has been renewed. It's a bonus, probably, maybe, that he's been told that same person is someone he's supposed to be friends with. He's sort of bopping in and out of second level, half-paying attention to finding creative ways to get his

Comments

[ambitions_are]

[Ping'd by the sound of his name, Mello pops up on the second level.]

So long as you're not gonna lecture me or make with grabby hands or anything, yeah, I'm here.

[final_letter]

Hey, nothing like that. Wouldja let me indulge my curiosity a little, though?

[ambitions_are]

[Eyes suspiciously]

'Bout what?

[final_letter]

This city. We're the only people I know of who were born here. But we're more like all the imported people than we're like the other natives. Doesn't that seem weird?

[ambitions_are]

How d'you figure?

[final_letter]

We can see the people from outside, for starters.

[ambitions_are]

Wait, you're talking about the people who can't see us, right?

[final_letter]

Yeah. And I don't know what makes us different. Maybe it's that we left and came back?

[ambitions_are]

Maybe.

[Shrugs]

Why do you even -

[And he's abruptly cut off by unintentionally dropping the level - more like the level drops him instead. He manages to pop back on a minute or two later, looking more than a little annoyed.]

Dammit.

[final_letter]

Why do I care? [Discreetly ignoring the interruption.]

I'm trying to figure this place out. That seems like a good starting point.

[ambitions_are]

[Annoyed]

Well why do you care so much about figuring this place out, huh? It's not like you can do anything about it.

[final_letter]

If I can't do anything, why does it bother you?

[ambitions_are]

It doesn't. I don't really care, man. If you wanna waste your time, that's -

[Drops the level and returns, scowling, a minute or two later, just like before.]

[final_letter]

[And now he's wondering about that too much to keep being polite.]

Dude, is your, like, connection broken or something?

[ambitions_are]

I don't fucking know, it's been happening for like, a week now, and it's really starting to piss me off.

[final_letter]

Huh, weird. If I knew more about how this thing works, I'd try to help, but I can't even get to the real net.