Freebie Mondays: The Computer Whisperer (Prompt Novel Chapter 9)

For 2024, I have decided to devote my prompt writing time to a novel. The twist is that the novel plot will be generated entirely by the writing prompts I chose to use for the project – which were rolled randomly using my trusty dice and a few online prompt lists. You can find the Table of Contents here.

For Chapter 9, the prompt was: “using only dialog show two characters having their first date.”

I selected this prompt because I liked the challenge. Only by completely cutting narrative prose can you appreciate how much work it does. I committed to cutting description and internal monologue from this particular scene to focus on the conversation. But upon reflection, I quickly realized that an unbroken box of dialogue was going to be miserable to read.

It’s not really natural for a person to describe out loud the things surrounding them, and I wanted this scene to feel like it fit in with the rest of the scenes to form a somewhat coherent novel. So while I stuck to the spirit of this prompt, I did bend the rules a tad. I allowed myself to use dialogue tags and any minimal amount of description I could fit into those dialogue tags. This granted me enough to form a sketch of the characters’ surroundings and make it clear throughout the scene who was speaking.

There were still several times I wished to include internal monologue – but I refrained. That seemed, to me, to sit outside the spirit of the prompt. I’m mostly happy with how this turned out, though there is a distinct lack of sentence variation since my only form of narrative was dialogue tags. Still an overall interesting writing experience!

If you’d like to see this chapter come together, you can watch the VoD on Youtube!
. . .

“I’m sorry if I seem nervous,” Alyial murmured around a soft, self-deprecating chuckle. “It’s been awhile since I did something like this.”

“It’s just dinner,” his companion countered as an oddly amused smile brushed her lips. “It doesn’t have to be a big deal.”

“Right,” Alyial agreed, hating how awkward his voice sounded. “As you may have noticed, I’m not exactly the king of social situations.”

“I think we all secretly feel that way,” Ira countered on the tail end of a light chuckle – a sound like the soft tinkling of bells. “Kudos to you for being willing to admit it. I think most of us just hide behind a smile until we get home. Then we lock ourselves in the closet so we can scream into the unending void.”

“I’m glad I’m not the only one who has ever stayed up till three in the morning wondering what stupid thing I said during a dinner conversation,” Alyial laughed, suddenly a lot more relaxed than he had been a moment before.

“How did you get into computer engineering?” Ira asked after a moment of comfortable silence passed between them.

“How did you know I’m a computer engineer?” Alyial demanded, just barely resisting the urge to gasp. “I don’t remember mentioning it.”

“Oh…” Ira murmured, and a sudden blush ignited her cheeks before she could raise a hand to hide it. “I suppose I just assumed, terrible as that sounds. I watched you sitting at that coffee shop typing away on your tablet and I suppose I just assumed you must be writing code.”

“And why code?” Alyial countered, allowing amusement to dance across his lips this time. “Why not the next great American novel?”

“Well… Even authors that like to be among people have a tendency to block distractions while they’re writing,” Ira explained while absently sliding her fingers along the rim of her water glass. “So they’ll bring headphones with them to their favorite haunts. Usually the big noise-blocking kind. If I wanted to get the attention of someone like that, I’d pretty much have to put on a bright orange vest and perform a light-stick rave.”

“Fair enough,” Alyial conceded, though it was hard not to dissolve into breathless laughter; at least he wasn’t fidgeting with his fork anymore. “I am a computer engineer,” he admitted, though he supposed it was obvious. “And I’m not really sure how I ended up on this path. It just kind of drew me, I guess.”

“Computers speak to you?” Ira suggested, and Alyial did not get the impression she was speaking ironically, especially since her tone wasn’t remotely patronizing.

“I don’t know if I’d go that far. But I do seem to have a natural affinity for it. It’s kind of like… When most people look at lines of computer programming, they just see gibberish, right? They see squiggles and numbers and words that don’t mean anything. But when I look at that, I see a picture or a bridge – or whatever it is the programmer is trying to create. That sounds crazy, doesn’t it?”

“Not at all,” Ira reassured with a light shake of her head. “I kind of do the same thing except with blueprints and design briefs. Maybe it’s a little easier for other people to see when the framework is lines and shapes instead of pure mathematics and some odd alien language. But it’s all just patterns really. How do you think I got so good at noticing things about people?” she asked as an afterthought while the smug grin briefly returned to her lips.

“I was going to ask,” Alyial admitted and was surprised to realize he felt completely relaxed in this strange woman’s presence – how odd that she could so easily set his mind at ease! “In fact, I’m tempted to ask what else you know about me, since you’ve clearly been thorough in your observations.”

“I know you like coffee and companionship,” Ira retorted and tilted her head to one side as if she were making a fresh survey of him. “But you’re too shy to sit down at another person’s table and engage them directly in conversation.”

“You do have me there.”

“Pardon the interruption,” the waiter sniffed as he sidled up to their table and poised a small notepad in front of him. “Are we ready to order?”

“Oh, certainly,” Ira replied without hesitation and rattled off the list of menu items she had chosen to sample for the evening.

“And for you?” the waiter demanded as he turned his dour gaze on Alyial.

“Uh…” Alyial choked for a moment before managing to express his order in a far less graceful manner than his date.

“Yikes…” he murmured as soon as the waiter was gone, going so far as to raise a hand in hopes of blocking his face from the man’s vision. “I can’t tell if that guy hates his job or just us.”

“Who cares?” Ira replied with a reassuring smile. “We’re here to have fun and we shouldn’t let anyone interfere with that. Tell me about your latest project,” she added without pausing to draw breath.

“I’m not sure how much I can say,” Alyial admitted. “It’s a government contract. There are a lot of strict NDAs. Which is a shame, really, because I actually think it’s the most exciting project I’ve ever worked on.”

“Is it what you were working on in the cafe?” Ira pressed gently, her tone and expression curious.

“No,” Alyial admitted, and the confession somewhat surprised him. “Lately, I’ve been delving into a personal project. I’m not entirely sure why. The idea just kind of struck me one day.”

“The ghosts in the machine spoke to you,” Ira suggested with a whimsical smile.

“I guess maybe they did,” Alyial mused, unable to dispute that the suggestion just felt right. “I’m not sure anything will ever come of it, but I think it will feel good to get it done. That’s why I’ve allowed myself to be so absorbed by the work that I haven’t paid attention to much else.”

“You took a sabbatical from work?” Ira asked, and the way she narrowed her eyes suggested surprise – or suspicion, it was hard to say which.

“I-” Alyial started, but hesitated when he realized that didn’t exactly make sense – not at this point in such a volatile project. “Not a very long one,” he insisted, though he was no longer sure if he was trying to convince Ira or himself. “Our newest build is just barely stable. I seem to remember something about stress-testing and quality verification,” he mused and, as he spoke each word, the actions associated seemed to come into sharper focus in his mind.

“It sounds like you haven’t checked in for awhile,” Ira replied, and her words snapped Alyial out of his thoughts back to the moment. “Isn’t that dangerous if you’re working on something volatile?”

“Is that what it’s like when you’re building a new office tower?” Alyial countered, momentarily put off by what felt like prying into his personal life.

“I wouldn’t know,” Ira replied with a light shrug and another of her easy smiles. “I don’t actually build the towers, I just design them.”

“Must be nice,” Alyial muttered before shaking his head to clear it. “I assume if something had gone horribly wrong, my team would contact me. They’ve never been shy about it before, not even if it’s the wee hours of morning.”

“Still, the suspense must be killing you,” Ira insisted. “I know as soon as I become aware that one of my projects has broken ground, I just can’t contain my giddy excitement to see the finished product. Even if it takes six or ten months for the building process to come together.”

“I suppose I could check in,” Alyial conceded, though he couldn’t shake the feeling Ira had been trying to nudge him toward exactly this conclusion. “But it will have to wait until Monday,” he added, despite the sudden piquing of his interest to hear the latest news on the current stable build. “Government offices don’t do weekends.”

“Right, Monday,” Ira replied as if she had suddenly forgotten how the calendar worked – a shockingly awkward response for a woman who had spent the entire conversation both relaxed and self-assured. “Well,” she added, recovering quickly, “you’ll have to let me know how things are going. I know you can’t give me specifics, but I imagine your team must be struggling without their computer whisperer to smooth the usual bumps in the road.”

“I don’t know,” Alyial countered with another self-deprecating chuckle, “lately it feels like everything I touch explodes. That’s why I wanted to get some distance, you know? Re-center, re-calibrate, remember why I got into this line of work in the first place. Have you ever done something like that?”

“Constantly,” Ira admitted without even pausing to think about the question. “I mean… it’s a bit different for me. I do a lot of high-profile contract work. So I don’t just design buildings, I also handle the interior layouts of specific offices. Or, depending on the needs of my clients, I help develop management techniques that will improve productivity or cost efficiency. You could say I have a wide range of skills when it comes to establishing a structure that allows certain types of creativity to flow.”

“Ah…” Alyial murmured as understanding washed over him. “You are a fellow noticer of patterns.”

“I suppose I am,” Ira agreed with a chuckle that was interrupted by the arrival of their food.

“Say…” Alyial mused after several minutes of comfortable silence to enjoy the first bites of their meal, “you wouldn’t happen to be familiar with tarot cards, would you?”

“You make it sound like you’re dropping a bomb by asking that question,” Ira teased, her tone gentle but direct as her fork paused in the act of scooping her next bite off her plate so she could eye him sagely.

“Well… it must seem strange,” Alyial admitted. “I mean, doesn’t it? I’m supposed to be a scientist, a man of cold hard logic and numbers. Isn’t the mere suggestion of a tarot card reading childish for a man like me?”

“Not necessarily,” Ira countered with another of those infuriatingly relaxed shrugs. “Science and spirituality don’t necessarily need to be mutually exclusive. It’s an odd construct of the modern world, I think, that we believe everything has to be either ordered and logical or complete chaos. The world works via a balance of opposites. Entropy slowly erodes at every structure we create be it physical or societal. Seeking answers outside the beaten path doesn’t invalidate your field of study.”

“So you do know about tarot,” Alyial concluded, unable to resist the urge to laugh.

“I may have gone through a phase in my teens,” Ira admitted. “I’m not going to claim I memorized the meanings of all the cards, but I do have a basic knowledge of how tarot is supposed to work when it’s practiced in its proper form – not that mumbo jumbo about flipping a card and telling someone they’re going to have a baby. That’s just hogwash.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Alyial agreed, which allowed him to overcome the rest of his hesitation with a single deep breath. “Know anything about the Queen of Pentacles card?”

“I know that it tends to represent a feminine figure,” Ira replied without skipping a beat – and something about the way she looked directly into Alyial’s eyes rocked him to his very soul, as if she knew exactly what he was thinking before he even asked the question. “Not necessarily a woman,” she clarified. “People have different energies at different times, but typically a feminine figure who is good with finances but also critical and demanding. Depending on the position the card is drawn, she might influence the future plans of the seeker.”

“Sounds like you did a little more than dabble,” Alyial responded and waggled his eyebrows; he certainly hadn’t expected such a comprehensive response.

“People like us have a tendency to retain information,” Ira retorted, her tone slightly cold. “Why?” she added and, when Alyial shot her a confused look, she clarified, “Why did you ask about that card?”

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I’ve only ever had my cards read once. Actually I’ve never admitted that to anyone,” he added in a rush as his cheeks once again burned with embarrassment. “I think if my coworkers found out, they’d laugh me right out of the industry. But of all the cards that came up during the process, that’s the one that sticks in my head.”

“There’s nothing wrong with seeking guidance from outside forces, even if others consider the methods esoteric,” Ira reassured with such confidence, it instantly banished all of Alyial’s discomfort. “Especially if you’ve already plumbed the depths of more traditional sources of advice. No one ever knows exactly what they need to move them in the right direction until they find it, and who are we to judge what works for another person?”

“So you believe in magic?” Alyial exclaimed, not quite able to swallow the words before they escaped his lips.

“What is magic?” Ira countered with a tolerant smile. “I have experienced numerous events in my life that science cannot explain. Yet I have come to accept that merely means we have not explored or discovered the aspects of science that can define my experiences. Someday, we will know the cause and meaning behind what I’m currently forced to label as odd. If that makes those things magic, then isn’t magic simply a science we have not yet discovered?”

“Fascinating,” Alyial murmured and blinked several times in rapid succession; Ira moved through concepts with such speed and precision, it was hard to keep up! “But how do you explain the accuracy of a tarot card reading if the cards drawn are merely the result of random chance?”

“The meaning of every card is extraordinarily personal,” Ira replied with a shrug and a grin. “Not even the person performing the reading can accurately predict what the card will mean to the person receiving the reading; only they can do that because only they know the full extent of the circumstances surrounding their query in the first place.

“One could say the meanings of the cards are simply categories that make it easier to measure and organize our thoughts, thus allowing us to set aside preconceptions or overwrought hang-ups in order to see answers more clearly and efficiently. After all, how can we prove that every card is not equally relevant to a situation? We don’t draw every card during a reading – that isn’t how tarot works.”

“So you think tarot actually works via a complex series of ingrained social norms and thought patterns that influence the way we think about a situation due to hearing certain key words or phrases?” Alyial demanded, his voice rising in pitch with every word he spoke to express his growing incredulity.

“I’m not saying that tarot doesn’t work that way,” Ira replied, her tone once again tinged with amusement. “It’s just another form of pattern recognition, isn’t it? Does that really make it magic?”

“Fascinating,” Alyial said again and shook his head to clear the haze of wonder that choked it. “I could honestly talk about a subject like this one for hours.”

“Me too,” Ira admitted with no small amount of eagerness.

Which was why, when their dinner was finally concluded and the bill had been settled, Alyial caught Ira’s gaze and said, “I know this is crazy forward considering we just met and all but… Would you like to come back to my place and continue this conversation?”

“As a matter of fact, I would,” Ira replied – and Alyial was so gratified he chose to ignore the amount of shock that occupied her voice.