The Bright Side

Emily: Or characters in a book! Writers make all sorts of horrible things happen to their characters. Is that now sadistic? And video games! Oh, god, video games!
Dee: OK, those don't count. There's definitely a line somewhere.
Emily: Me too. Where, exactly? If it has to include the programs? Within their own universe, I mean?
Dee: I guess they exist outside of the mind, in a way... So the people that only exist in your mind or a book don't matter because they're not real.
Emily: Even if they're very real to you, seem to think for themselves, and the entire world is a simulation, dream or other illusion?
Dee: I... guess so. My earlier conclusion still stands, I think. But whether or not the people are real matters way more than whether the world is real. Although there's still the problem of other minds...
LATER...
(Emily and Dee are sitting in the front yard, playing chess and observing Ella and Alan.)
Alan: Ella, did you drive my car anywhere today?
Ella: No, why?
Alan: I swear I put it in the garage...
Dee: I'd say it's conclusive. I am as real as the world you live in.
Emily: That is... such a relief.
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Alt text: cool how you two are fictional and therefore it doesn't matter what happens to you by the end of this story!!!!!!!!!!! (: (: