The Adventures of Brian (cont)
Finding Inspiration in Every Turn
Chapter Two: Friends
Liam and Lucas were Brian’s friends from school. They lived in the same neighborhood and walked to school together almost every morning. Aiden was two years older and lived farther away. The four of them played online multi-user, complex strategy computer games almost every day after school. Their favorite games changed between “Age of Empires”, “Mythology”, “Warcraft” and similar ones where they got to team together against other online groups around the world. Each of them had an avatar suitable to their personality, mannerism and how they’d like to be recognized in real life.
Brian’s mother died in a car accident when he was two years old, so he was raised by his father alone. He was shy and had a hard time opening up to people he didn’t know well. His father worked as a scientist at the National Institute of Science and Technology researching the quantum states of matter. This meant his father spent long hours, late into the night, when research time was available in the laboratory.
Brian was bright and an excellent student. He liked to read across many subjects simultaneously - from history, to culture, to finance. In addition, he had an interest in science - especially artificial intelligence, software simulation, and computer games.
Brian’s father's office was within walking distance from his school. He had spent many hours after school at his father’s office using the various computer systems to read online research studies of various disciplines. He surprised a scientist friend of his father once by asking questions about whether infinities are scattered on a Mobius-like strip; he wanted to know if the positive would wrap into the negative end or if there even was an end/boundary to the universe. Brian’s avatar was a quiet, introverted thinker contemplating alternative choices and planning strategies to defeat enemies and strengthen his alliance.
School seemed quite easy for Brian; he usually finished his homework within an hour after school. When he was not at his father’s office, Brian spent time alone on the computer at home. Because of his father’s late hours, many times he had to reheat leftovers and eat alone. He kept it to himself that his mind would frequently race about many ideas - thoughts which would sometimes contradict one another about loneliness, existence, reality and people, success, intelligence, fears and death. Problem solving options at times overwhelmed him: he would get stuck trying to find the best solution, and many times had been paralyzed by it. Brian knew that he lacked self-assured confidence. He depended on his close friends for support, but at times he resented or envied them for their lives that seemed much simpler and easier than his.
Liam was energetic and personable. He did not like to read or to think about complex issues. He was easy-going and talked to anyone, anywhere. He was affable and had great interest in the outdoors, nature, flowers, insects and animals. At times he astounded his friends by recognizing and successfully predicting nature as if he could hear it speak. Several times last month Liam forgot his jacket and school books at his desk and went home without them. His mother had to drive him back to school and find the custodian to open the classroom to retrieve Liam’s jacket, books and papers for homework. Liam’s friends sometimes had to pull him away from his mesmerized attentiveness to a frog, a butterfly or him “talking” to a flower. Liam had loving parents; his father was a busy manager for an airline and his mother stayed home helping Liam - who was usually struggling with his daily homework.
Liam had a habit of getting distracted easily. He focused on the task at hand for a short time, but invariably would be drawn to something else that would make him forget about the current task. Liam knew that he was not as good a student as Brian or Lucas, and he relied upon his outgoing nature to get things done. He could charm others into allowing him to borrow homework or better notes from the classroom. This enabled him to get by with the minimum requirements. Liam picked the avatar of a suave diplomat or easy-going negotiator which befitted his good listening skills. It reflected his knowledge of how to charm friends and opponents and getting away with not completely satisfactory solutions to difficult issues.
Lucas was studious and hardworking. He was able to talk about geography with kids much older than him - even as old as first year college students. Lucas was very interested in learning about places, locales, and terrain. Lucas was quite visual: he sometimes described places and sceneries as if he saw them in his mind. Lucas was the group’s tactician who provided rapid recommendations to battle and scenario management while they played online games. He had quick insights into matters at hand and could suggest competent ways to resolve problems. Lucas’ parents were quite active with the school’s PTA and donated both time and money to the school. Lucas travelled with his parents to South America and many exotic locales in the Pacific. Lucas enjoyed foods – admittedly, quite a bit more than average -- and at times was chided by his friends for being a “glutton”. He could get lazy – he said it himself - and could get reluctant to exert physical effort.
Brian’s cousin, Aiden, had a computer avatar that provides the support of robust fire power and aggressiveness to his team. Aiden was a couple of years older than the other three friends. He was an accomplished martial art expert, even at such a young age. He was strong, agreeable and very much a team-player whom everyone enjoyed being around. Aiden’s parents were divorced, and he lived with grandparents who provided him with lots of love and support. Aiden was a kind young man; he had once used his martial art skill to stop a bully with a razor blade trying to attack other students in his school before the police arrived to escort the attacker away. He was intelligent, but he was easily swayed by others’ arguments and decisions.
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