Eleven at the Eleventh Hour

Twenty-five days after the public availability of Tetris...

Fifteen days after the Lucas-Graphics Group deal...

Six days after the Golden Globes...

And two days after the Challenger disaster...

January 30, 1986 came into the corner.

There are really not a lot of notable events to talk about on this day. After all, everything outside is still prolific-ly putting their attention on the Challenger.

However, this day was quite noteworthy in the Creed household.

The 30th of January happens to be Alexander's birthday... and this was the day he turns eleven!

A celebration is in order.

However, they have to address a little something first.

These kinds of things are usually straightforward but it becomes a bit complex when the birthday boy in question is just quite quirky.

It has also been established that said birthday boy has become even more quirky in the days leading to this special day.

There was no denying that the boy has established himself to be really goal-oriented and steady. However, his steadiness seems to have become a bit too much.

Alexander was still Alexander but there was something subtly different about his actions for these past couple of days.

He was quite engrossed with his new computers, Chaos unit project, and Pixar's submitted technologies... that he's hardly had time for anything else.

He even went back to long-term leaves of absences from school... which isn't really that concerning since he's done that a lot of times.

What's concerning is the fact that he wasn't sleeping because of all the all-nighters and didn't do any morning runs anymore.

To those who know him... no matter how busy he was, he always managed to set aside some time for regular sleep and morning runs.

Clearly, something was up.

-----

Old Sullivan, who is finally home after many months of far-location film production, had long been clued in and it was time to see the extent of it.

He was already by Alex's door but he had reservations about going inside. His old bones were apprehensive of what he might uncover in the room.

Hopefully, it wasn't as bad as he thinks it is.

"Alex went computer crazy, Grandpa Sullivan." Seeing grandpa Sullivan pausing, Little Milla pointed out. "Now I get why he seemed scared and gloomy when he looked at the computer during his last birthday."

"I should have known better." The grandpa could only sigh as he shook his head in dismay. "It's his art phase all over again."

"Art phase?" Courteney, who was visiting in to celebrate along, was curious.

"It's Alex's mourning process that leads to certain fixations and habits." Old Sullivan still remembered it like yesterday. "As shocked and hurt as I was of the news that I lost my son and my daughter-in-law forever... the toll of the whole accident was so much more on little Alex."

"You need to know that the boy lost both his parents at a very young age." There was only so little that could be done to help with the trauma of a young one, especially if oneself is in mourning as well. "Although I was present, I was not any help at all."

"Cute little Alex became quiet, closed off, reclusive, and became the odd person you know him to be." Old Sullivan kids most of the time about Alex's apathy, indifference, and emotionless-ness but it is something quite deep-rooted. "You know him to be quite the artsy and creative boy... but to get to that point, he drew and doodled a lot... and he's done that as a coping mechanism and a way to remember the times that he had with his mom."

Of course, that doesn't explain the sudden spike of art skill that Alex had when he made the Back to the Future picture book and onwards after that... but that is a detail that a proud grandfather didn't care for when his grandson had become more proactive and driven.

"Sorry..." Now, Courteney felt bad. "I shouldn't have asked."

"Don't be." Old Sullivan didn't mind. "I thought that everything is relatively fine with all that has happened, however, something clearly isn't."

"The computer that Milla mentioned happened to be my son's... and this current development might be another round of coping and mourning." Old Sullivan didn't discount that the computer must have triggered something that Alex repressed. "In retrospect, it was careless of me to gift something like that as a birthday gift."

"It is nice of you guys to worry but I'm fine." A voice came from the room and a tired-looking Alexander opened the door himself.

"I'm sleepy though... so..." He yawned. "...can we discuss your theories about my computer craziness for another time?"

"That apparent lack of sleep is a problem already." Old Sullivan pointed out as he barged right in to get to the root of things.

The computer was in the same spot as always but there are a lot of other computer-like boxes in the room as well.

With the name Pixar branded on these unfamiliar machines, it is safe to assume that these are from his grandson's recent business deal.

Aside from this techy stuff... there are a lot of papers littered and piled around some nooks and shelves of the room.

Piles of papers aren't a surprise in Alexander's room with all his comic book draftings of all the future Creed Comics titles.

The problem is that the boy is usually organized when it came to doing things like this.

Also, the legible phrases in these papers were indicating things that are not comic book related.

"What are these?" Old Sullivan asked.

"Uhm... I got a bit engrossed with what I was doing..." Alexander had to admit that this wasn't looking good at all. He wasn't usually a slob but the combination of Chaos and the Graphics Group's proprietary 3D software he's recently gotten hands with was quite enthralling.

He was someone who appreciates good codes and programs... and him having unprecedented freedom with them... is well... free-ing to say the least.

The grandpa had a lot to say about the grandson's engrossment... but his old bones were sort of engrossed with the papers he was picking up.

Old Sullivan had to admit that the content that was written in them was something else.

E-Sports. The gradual competitive development of video games.

32-bit and 64-bit. The shift to 3D gaming and graphics.

ChaosWall: Better than Firewalls.

Creed Map: 3D Map of the World.

Creed Account. Achievements, Badges, Experience, and Loyalty. E-mail?

VFX. Creed Graphics/Pixar plus Creed Pictures plus Creed Costumes.

Chaos. Rendering costly render farms obsolete.

Creed Chaos Cloud. Theoretically Infinite?

Creed Chaos Network. Hive-like? Bluetooth? Internet?

All-round Emulation. PC, Home Console, and Handheld Parity.

Pixar plus Creed Animations. Importance of drawing pads and touchscreen.

AI-ification of Chaos? Jarvis-esque.

As Old Sullivan read on and piled these messy papers up... he was quiet... he didn't know what to say... he didn't even know what most of this stuff was.

However, it felt bold. Grand even. If this was keeping up Alex for most nights, then it was understandable.

Of course, the boy still had to be admonished. "Don't overdo yourself next time, Alex."

Alexander was already snoozing in his bed though.

-----

A quirky birthday boy indeed.

He was so quirky that a birthday celebration was so close to not being able to happen.

Fortunately, with a bit of sleep, Alexander had the motivation for it.

The feast, the cake, the singing of happy birthday, and the giving of gifts... along with relatively comfortable people.

It wasn't much but it'll do. It's just how Alexander likes it.

It isn't exactly ideal with the whole process being gone through when it was already very late evening... but hey... it is what it is.

Besides, isn't there something poetic about commemorating turning eleven at the eleventh hour?