Elsa fingered the infochip in her pocket and smiled, imagining the glee her sister would have at the contents. Anna's eighth birthday party had been the day before, but because of the number of kids who had shown up, Elsa had decided to wait to give Anna her present.
Anna sat in one of the loveseats that surrounded the oval coffee table in front of it, humming and gesturing at whatever images her implants projected before her. Elsa sat beside her younger sister and tapped the red head's temple, allowing her to see what Anna was seeing.
In front of the girls, a hologram of a dog whirled around the coffee table, stopping only to jump onto Anna's legs for the briefest of moments as if to say "Come on, let's play", and then returned to its circle. Had the dog not been going through the table, Elsa would have thought the dog to be real, but cheap AI programs for children were not known to be programmed to be smart enough for outside object detection.
"Hey sis," Elsa said quietly to the young girl that sat beside her. "How about a present from me?"
Immediately, the dog shimmered away as Anna turned the AI program off and turned her excitement towards her elder sister.
"What is it?" She practically yelled in her excitement. Elsa grasped at the infochip again, then tilted her head coyly.
"I dunno..." she said, moving her gaze from Anna to one of the pairs of French Doors that lead to the second floor balcony. "Have you been good?" Her eyes refocused on Anna and she saw her sister shiver with excitement.
"Yes!" Anna practically jumped on Elsa, her patience almost nonexistent. "I have! Give it to me!"
The girls tumbled off of the loveseat and rolled underneath the coffee table. Not wanting either of them to get hurt, Elsa rolled a little farther over so that they were free of obstructions, and then smiled Anna.
"Okay, you've proven yourself," the elder said, taking the chip out and holding it up in front of the younger. Her sister took it and held it to her right temple, letting the Near Field Communications reader in her augments read the infochip in her hand. Elsa got up and helped Anna to her feet, tapping her sister's left temple again, allowing her to see O.L.A.F.
"Hi," said the projection in front of them. "I'm the O.L.A.F.- the Optical and Logical Artificial Friend. That's not to say I'm a fake friend; I'll be your pal through thick and thin!"
Anna looked at Elsa, tears noticeable in her eyes. "Thank you," said the younger, throwing her arms around her sister. Elsa smiled and returned the hug.
The two girls broke apart and looked at O.L.A.F., who stood watching them quizzically.
"So Elsa," said Anna, turning back to her sister. "Can you run The Magic for me again?"
"What's...'The Magic?'" O.L.A.F. tilted his head to the side, confused. Elsa gave a half grimace, half smirk as she thought it over.
"Okay," said she, tapping her own left temple twice to allow Anna to see what she was seeing. "If only for Olaf's sake."
She made a gesture that started with what looked like a relaxed point, then ended with her fingers all flicked open. From the bottom of their visions, green digital rain drifted up, a couple strings at first, then more and more as time went on.
Elsa took a moment to look at Anna, and was amused when she saw her younger sister's mouth agape in awe.
"I'd seen this on the screen before, but when it happens right in front of you..." Anna trailed off, unsure of how to end the sentence, and not really wanting to.
In front of them, only O.L.A.F. and a corner of the fancily furnished room remained, the rest was replaced with a black background overlaid with green and white symbols that streaked like shoot stars from the floor to the ceiling. As more and more of the corner became digital, the corner squashed and stretched, looking as if the girls were moving towards it, then quickly retreating. Finally the last little bit of the white room was completely snuffed out, replaced by the green and black spectacle.
Slowly the reverse digital rain faded to static, and then again to the fancy room. Anna stood, still awed at the first-hand experience with the augmented reality the new eyes gave her.
Elsa backed up, patting her little sister reassuringly on the shoulder. "You'll probably be able to do that too, someday," said she as she returned to the loveseat.
The room was modeled after a 19th century English royal's visiting room, complete with two white, plush loveseats attempting to box an oval, oak coffee table between themselves and a matching chair. The draped French doors on the two outside walls were always covered to keep the dark reality of the outside world away from the still young eyes of the two Aren sisters.
Unbeknownst to her parents, Elsa took peeks out the window to see the world outside. Despite the overly white and historic inside, even the exterior of the house proved the interior to be nothing but an oxymoron. Not twenty feet above the balcony of the south door was the unmistakable asian curl of the angled roof, and Elsa was sure the roof itself was adorned with green, clay tiles in the cliched half-pipe formation.
And then there was the city itself. Neon lights glowed from the first level of the streets and giant electronic billboards adorned most of the skyscrapers. It was as if Times Square of old New York had become its own city on that level.
Levels two and below were mostly invisible that high up. Being in the "rich" part of town, the best Elsa could see was the neon of level one and the signs in the distance.
Elsa was snapped out of her thoughts by Anna nudging her with her arm.
"I asked you a question," said the younger one, continuing to nudge impatiently..
Elsa grabbed her sister's elbow and patiently held it still. "Well, you've got my attention," she said, her patience being the yin to her sister's yang.
Anna sighed despairingly before she repeated her question. "Why do you call that 'The Magic?' It was nice, but I wouldn't consider it 'magic.'"
Elsa thought for a moment, trying to remember why she had named the program what she did. "I think," she said after a few minutes of thought. "...that it was the first program that I had made myself. So I called it 'The Magic' because it was the magical start to whatever I would make in the future."
Anna chewed her lip as she nodded and walked away, the disappointment from the answer apparent in her face.
"That's a really stupid reason." Elsa overheard O.L.A.F. whisper before the two were out of earshot.
Elsa just smiled at the place the two had disappeared and whispered, "Yes, yes it is."