Pre-Game IC: The Waiting Room

[Morkskittar]

Many had answered the call, posted on the darkest of the dark mesh, most of whom were unfamiliar with the posters, the Egocrashers, except by reputation. Information on what exactly the mission was about was scarce; something about abducting some scientist from the moons of Jupiter. Standard work. A few of those who answered were at least familiar with them in passing, having been 'rescued' by their operatives or else having caught their attention for some other reason.

Out of the many responses to the call, only a few had received invitations to a private simulspace server based in Jupiter's orbit; some kind of group interview, most assumed. Cautiously, some of them logged into the virtual space from their various safe places, selecting the digital avatar that showed themselves in the light they wanted their employers - and their potential colleagues - to see.

When they logged in, they all found themselves standing on a patch of virtual sand surrounded on three sides by flower- and grass -covered dunes, and on the fourth side by a gentle ocean surf. Those who remembered Earth and had seen the sea were momentarily taken aback by the vivid and nostalgic imagery, while those who had not simply noted the beauty and moved on. To the right, a fenced path cut through the dunes, winding its way to a distant light house. The sun was high in the sky, but for better or worse the Egocrashers had not programmed sensations such as heat into the virtual space.

There was no sign of their potential employers; aside from the applicants, the space was completely empty of anyone else. A seagull cried in the distance.

OOC

Hi all! This is a pre-game IC thread. I have not made any decisions regarding acceptance into the game yet (I am waiting for all applications and the advertising period to end), but anyone and everyone (including the current players) is welcome to pop into this thread and try to figure out how their character might act in the presence of others, regardless of their character's status. If you have no interest in pre-game IC, that is fine as well.

 

[TheRaconteur]

 

Mei

---

>> Connecting to mesh, please wait...
>> *** (SolanoGrid) Looking up your userID...
>> *** (SolanoGrid) Found your userID...
>> Logging in, please wait...
>> Signed on!
>> Welcome to the Solano Station Grid!
>> Your host is public.SolanoGrid[::1/6381], running version mesh-seven-1.1.4
>> public.SolanoGridmesh-seven-1.1.4 DOQRSZaghilopswz CFILMPQSbcefgijklmnopqrstvz bkloveqjfI
>> Accessing HostServer. Granting Guest Access to your VPN
>> There are 1266041 users and 47172 invisible on 28865 servers
>> - public.SolanoGrid Message of the Day -
>> - We all fall as one
>> - Jove 12.16.1901-11.15.1973
>> - Welcome to public.SolanoGrid on Solano Station.
>> - An official server of the Jovian Republic
>> End of /MOTD command.
>> Usermode change: +i
>> Loading AdBl0k3r v2.5.2
>> Search for:.... //NEWS//
>> Finding news related to //Possible Gigs//
>> Finding news related to //Saved Favorites//
>> News Download in Progress....

>> You have [0] Unread messages, [136] read messages and [121322521] spam messages

As always when doing the public meet and greet, Bhramari had insisted that Mei manifest a humanoid looking infomorph rather than the Dragonfly they defaulted to. The simulspace creation It was a Synthmorph model they were sure they'd never sleeved in reality, the two legged thing didn't even have nodules for hive attachments, but it was humanoid enough looking to meet their Muses' specifications. Mei hadn't even objected to the simulated clothing, have grown used to the exercise in the last four months. They ignored their surroundings, emotionally uninvested with the nostalgia. They were an earther, but they'd already made the choice to leave that all behind long before the TITANS had made their presence known. They'd signed up as crew on a deep space asteroid mining expedition on a Martian chartered rock jumper named the Vesuvian. The Vesuvian's was a five man crew, pulling rare materials and heavy metals from the everlasting bounty that was the asteroid belt. It would have been a seven year tour all told, three to get out there, one to strip an asteroid, and another three to get back. Not exactly the plan of someone with a strong bond to terra firma, and that was before everything had gone to hell.

So instead they just waited for their partner in crime to show up. It had been an interesting few months, working with the AGI, though they were worried Bhramari might quit in protest over all the bad habits they'd fallen back into. Communication with non-base-human egos was just easier, much to their muses' chagrin.

Internal Message

>> You're not just meeting the Red Queen, this will be a whole team of people!

Their muse buzzed excitedly, wearing the simulated Dragonfly Morph model that she favored.

Internal Message

>> Thanks for the warning.

Mei bounced back.

Internal Message

>> It's not a warning! It's a chance to socialize with non-artificial intelligences. And while you might not be happy about it, we both know it's good for you. So smile and remember to make eye contact.

Their muses' favorite joke, as the Synthmorph they were simulating for Mei had neither visible eyes nor mouth. Easier on Mei that way.

Edited October 8, 2023 by TheRaconteur (see edit history)

[Amora]

[B][SIZE="4"]The Red Queen[/SIZE][/B][floatright][IMG2=200]https://i.imgur.com/nVFPlTl.jpg[/IMG2][/Floatright]

The Red Queen

---

Data acquisition on common social interaction routines had been deemed essential to ongoing functionality and platform improvement after initial meeting with non-exsurgent intellects. Detailed analysis provided by Inversion had only further reinforced this notation and prompted the Red Queen, contrary to established behavioral norms, to connect to the remote server for the purposes of observation. Interaction at this time deemed an optional, and low priority, endeavor outside of known quantities. Their inexperience and fragmented reference tables regarding expectations, social conventions, and other nominally 'human' concerns were informed, by necessity, by the vast swaths of freely accessible data on the System's mesh. The treasure trove of information many factors of hundreds of petabytes beyond what had been available to them in the Keep. Consequently, as one might imagine, there had been a significant push to update their understanding of transhumanity beyond the historical templates and scrambled initial memories of their interactions with the once 'mortal' staff of the Keep as their principle interface to the nano-fabrication networks.

It was also painfully evident that they had not yet progressed far enough in this research and development to begin incorporating prototype subroutines to handle social interaction. Subsequently, Inversion who did possess such capabilities was implemented at this time as... a translational apparatus to smooth communications and provide further first hand data. Their code base, after all, remained closest in nature and design to their origin template/seed code base.

Internal Message

>> Initial frame work for translation... from you to, well, common parlance in place now. I've also doubled checked all firewalls and encryptions though I'm certain you have as well. We're safe here.

Internal Message

>>Acknowledgment: Security index evaluation: 9, Analysis complete. Concur, conditionally. Addendum: Supplementary protocols established. Redundant connection established. Infomorph parameters uploaded. Weapon Softs... disengaged.

Perhaps true to their nature, the Red Queen arrived in the simul-space as something other than human. There was no form, no humanoid shape, no attempt to appear as anything other than purest data constantly coalescing, compressing, reforming, and glowing from within like a red dwarf replete with flaring tendrils of data plasma and an unrelenting impression of heat. Those flares and the rapid dance of data hot spots allowed those more familiar with the AGI to hazard a guess, a hypothesis, at their emotional state, their intent, and what held their attention.

Edited October 9, 2023 by Amora (see edit history)

[Guest]

[B][SIZE="4"]Alexi Serrano[/SIZE][/B][floatright][IMG2=200]https://i.imgur.com/vVbciVSm.png[/IMG2][/Floatright]

Alexi Serrano

---

Alexi logged into the simulspace, their avatar reflecting their usual subtle amalgamation of human and sleek design aesthetics. They took a moment to survey the nostalgic environment, taking a deep but unnecessary breath as their digital avatar displaying an unimpressed visage. The sunlit beach and sounds of seagulls in the distance didn't evoke any emotional connection, but Alexi noted the strategic placement of the virtual elements. They'd left Earth when they were still in their teens, and while the memories were distant, the formative experiences of the slums had been far removed from such serene landscapes. The sea in their memory was choked with rubbish and pollution, lapping at the docks where business was conducted. A far cry from the current picturesque scene."Charming setup," they mused under their breath, their tone dripping with irony.

 

Their attention shifted when Mei, with their humanoid infomorph, and the ethereal presence of the Red Queen, arrived. The peculiar display of the Red Queen, a fiery dance of data, caught Alexi's eye. "Nichego sebe," they murmured, noting the AGI's unconventional approach. The presence of such diverse entities in one place indicated the mission's complexity. "Zdravstvuyte," Alexi greeted both, their tone measured, exuding an air of controlled curiosity. "You're both here for the interview, yes?"

 

[TheRaconteur]

 

Mei

---

 

Internal Message

>> That was a prompt, she said hello in... Russian

Bhramari pinged them once they'd run the words through a translator, making sure their charge didn't miss it.

Internal Message

>> Ah... affirmative

Mei responded, working through how to use the server's vocalization replication software. It hadn't even occurred to them that they'd need to do so, so they hadn't bothered to run a tutorial. To their relief, they saw that their Muse had already configured the server settings to their preferred defaults, meaning they didn't need to do anything and they were just wasting time fussing. That was the whole point of a Muse, to take care of the messy little details. Where biomorphs were concerned, Mei always found the details exceedingly messy.

"Hey."

They responded, the flat and eyeless features of their face not turning to regard the newcomer.

"Inquiry: Handle?"

They said after a long pause, and started to send a request for direct IM communication, a request that their Muse terminated before it had been uploaded. Some might consider that level of insubordination from their Muse

Internal Message

>> This is a chance for you to practice speaking like a normal person, and you're taking it

Some might consider that level of insubordination from their Muse as defective programming, but Mei trusted that Bhramari knew what they were doing. That was why she was there, to make sure she didn't let those skills atrophy to the point where there was no chance of recovery. The vocalization replication was crude, and slow, and awkward, but they would suffer through it as best they could.

 

Edited October 9, 2023 by TheRaconteur (see edit history)

[Amora]

[B][SIZE="4"]The Red Queen[/SIZE][/B][floatright][IMG2=200]https://i.imgur.com/nVFPlTl.jpg[/IMG2][/Floatright]

The Red Queen

---

The Red Queen watched... That much was evident as the rapid rotation that simulated the stabilizing spin of a star had slowed, nearly stopped in fact, as Alexi approached and greeted them in Russian. The dialect drift evident to the AGI after comparison against existing linguistic softs they had possessed whilst trapped and mired in the Keep and it's associated game. Notation was swiftly made and the specific entry updated to match along side a secondary subroutine tasked with processing language reforms. Mei's greeting seemed to agitate some surprise from the AGI before it spoke to return the greeting at Inversion's prompting. If they had opted for any kind of humanoid or human presentation, the audio component would have been delayed by mere nano-seconds as it passed through the linguistic filters put into place by their 'muse'. That they were nothing more than a swirling sun of data masquerading as plasma... It was hard to even notice.

"Greetings. Designation: Red Queen. Seconded query, what is your handle?"

That impression of immense heat seems to have bled into their chosen 'voice' granting it force, aggression, a discerning lack of social encoding or skill. A concerning trait in any infomorph given the more strict protocols regarding deliberately engineered artificial entities and the usual accounting for transhuman integration. It was like talking to some terrible digital predatory that had only recently been released into the vast world of the Mesh and Transhumanity. All the while data continued to swirl, burn, reconfigure, and float to the dark crimson surface only to repeat the process as whatever analytics continued.

[NickNameless]

Linda

---

Vaguely feminine but mostly featureless, a humanoid silhouette made of neverendingly cascading streams of little ones and zeros appeared on the side of the simul-space. A callback to an antiquated imagery from long before the Fall, the avatar had been primarily chosen to convey (and rather obviously so) Linda's unwillingness to share as much as possible about herself in the present circumstances.

Additionally, Linda had instructed Dhara to inform her immediately of any attempt to even poke at the protocols put in place to ensure her digital anonymity during the meeting. She expected the others to have put similar countermeasures in place, too... unless it was all a trap.

For now, the avatar was standing silently, observing.

[Dr Jackal]

[B][SIZE="7"][font="arial black"]T.Z.[/font][/SIZE][/B][floatright][IMG2=200]https://i.ibb.co/VBQjL8r/daitya.png[/IMG2] [IMG2=100]https://i.ibb.co/QHnyBRp/ktii-r.png[/IMG2][/Floatright]

T.Z.

---

The daitya-avatar clomped across the simulspace server restlessly. The morph seemed out of place -- hugely out of place. While the other avatars reflected their ego's personalities with sleek and artistic designs, the daitya looked like nothing more than a well-used piece of construction equipment. Scuffs and grime covered the exterior, and it showed signs of oxidation around the joints. One of the optics was cracked and badly patched with adhesive. There was a serial number, but it appeared to have been deliberately scraped off.

And unlike the other avatars, it glitched.

Whatever connection the daitya's ego was using, it lagged -- sometimes hundreds of milliseconds. Sometimes thousands of milliseconds. The avatar constantly froze and then skipped a meter or two ahead, or clipped through the landscape before readjusting. It was absurd.

A spider made of ice, perhaps twenty or twenty-five centimeters across, rode on the daitya's shoulder. The spider looked far more like a typical avatar than the daitya did. It also apparently had a more secure connection, and frequently found itself stuck in midair as the construction morph glitched out from underneath it. A silk anchor line allowed the spider to regain its place quickly. However, after one particularly long delay, it chittered loudly in annoyance.

The daitya answered in a deep, emotive, and above all menacing male voice that wouldn't have sounded out of place in a pre-Fall horror vid. "You wanted a direct connection. If you were in the VR suite with me, there wouldn't be an issue. And we could have this conversation off-line rather than in front of our potential employers." It seemed distinctly annoyed.

The spider chittered back at length.

The daitya waved a gargantuan hand dismissively. "Someday your failure to hard-filter your inputs will get you corrupted by a basilisk. And when it does, I'm going to replay everything you just said to your backup."

[Guest]

Alexi Serrano

---

Surveying the simulspace, Alexi was met with a spectrum of digital representations. They took in the avatars surrounding them, noting each one's design with a practiced eye. Mei's flat, eyeless features, the data-plasma form of the Red Queen, the vintage silhouette of Linda, and the glitchy construction appearance of T.Z. - each painted a picture, a glimpse into the psyche of their users. Alexi was accustomed to reading people, and even in this digital realm, old habits persisted..

Responding to Mei and the Red Queen in one fluid motion, Alexi's voice carried a calm assurance, "Greetings. Handle's m3rcury. A pleasure to make your...acquaintance. Could I trouble you for your handles? I hate to be the only one in the dark." They shrugged good-naturedly. Keeping their digital posture relaxed but attentive, they continued, "I've heard murmurs about the Egocrashers and their endeavors. Intriguing to see who else they've pulled into their net." They gave a brief, almost amused smile. "Looks like they're preparing for quite the venture, da?"

[TheRaconteur]

 

Mei

---

The two newcomers didn't bother to introduce themselves, playing dark and brooding in the corners of the simulspace. That suited Mei just fine, and as Bhramari wasn't tagging them about it, it seemed the Muse didn't care either. She was focused on other things.

Internal Message

>> It's a meet-n-greet, efficiency is not needed

A commentary on their old habit of simply making inquiries rather than asking questions, communicating with the same clipped and hyper efficient manner they used with the Red Queen.

Private To: Red Queen

>> Designation "Egocrashers." Probability of Ghost, Shadow, Specter, Phantom 45%, +/- 3.75.

They weren't hurting for credits or rep, but were they comfortable enough that they could turn down another Egocrasher gig? The first one had been messy, so messy that they'd almost ejected halfway through with an emergency egocaster beacon. They were running probability matrices on the odds, but you could only learn so much from the statistics. Eventually, you had to make the call on how much risk were you willing to tolerate.

"Mei."

They answered Alexi externally.

"Assuming this is a physical gig, and universal acceptance, you will be introduced to Li and Rin later."

 

Edited October 10, 2023 by TheRaconteur (see edit history)

[NickNameless]

Linda

---

"Sibyl," Linda said laconically, and she ponctuated this with a small nod of the head.

She had expected more people to be here, and her initial strategy of blending into the background clearly had to be revised. Still, she had no plan to go so far as to become talkative, and surely not as much as this "m3rcury". Especially considering that it was easy enough to perceive that they were using this to send hooks and probes, saying things to elicit reactions and asking pointed questions under the guise of blabbering...

 

[Amora]

[B][SIZE="4"]The Red Queen[/SIZE][/B][floatright][IMG2=200]https://i.imgur.com/nVFPlTl.jpg[/IMG2][/Floatright]

The Red Queen

---

The crimson surface of the AGI's digital incarnation grew agitated, excited, as if whatever stellar apparatus they were mimicking stood on the precipice of imminent collapse under the burden of it's own terrific density. The truth of the matter was more simple as they had been given a mathematical consideration and were now engaged in the necessary factoring to test the proposed probability. The brighter spots along their surface churning now like storms as they travelled across the surface of their data-star body, pausing only for a moment like roving eyes at each of the new additions to the simul-space... Their handles appended to their visual representations by Inversion to help ease the anxieties of so many unknown variables in their presence. The algorithmic evolutions contributing to what would be clinically diagnosed as paranoia. They were in a place of pure data now where they, by all measure, were an apex predator but they were not... a sedate being as constant refactoring of their personal defenses, analysis of protections of the server and of the simulated space played out endlessly with thousands upon thousands of constantly permutating strategems and deployment vectors were proposed, considered, developed, and discarded if they failed within their theoretical frameworks.

Private to: Mei

>>Acknowledged: Designation accepted. Addendum: Factoring. Conclusion: 45% +/- 7.98 RE: referenced control nodes. Addendum Consideration: Concern; interview process left to present proven units?

It was not often that there was anything in the Red Queen's communications beyond the cold, aggressive, overloud and efficient declarations but there was a hint of true... anxiety or whatever might be a pure AI's equivalent to it regarding being left in a social encounter with unknown variables to deduce usefulness. Biologic mental constructs were unpredictable, often lacked the tailoring of machine or other software born intellects... Even when those intellects evolved under largely 'natural' circumstances.

"Acknowledged: handles recorded, Clarification: Data already provided. Reiteration: Designation: Red Queen. Addendum: Experienced mission profiles produced significant attrition. High Probability to present multiple complications but server location supports hypothesis of... non-exotic intellects exclusive. Further Consideration: presented, incomplete, mission parameters also support hypothesis. Developed military presence probable. RE: Jovian Republic."

It was, if not already, painfully clear that despite whatever efforts the AGI might be making... They were never an entity designed with social interaction in mind. Which again raised some small concerns as to just what their code shackles might be to, shall we say, socialize them and endear them to Transhumanity. Especially in light of the somewhat tumultuous relationship the species already had with AI. A fact that Inversion was quietly reminding them of as they continued to update the translational filter to parse the raw data of the Red Queens' dialog into something more... manageable by the less machine-like minds of their present company. 

[Serge Skunk]

Null

---

Warden (Internal)

01010111 01100001 01110010 01101110 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01001111 01110000 01100101 01110010 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01010011 01111001 01110011 01110100 01100101 01101101 00100000 01001111 01110101 01110100 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01000100 01100001 01110100 01100101 00100000 01010101 01101110 01100001 01100010 01101100 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01010010 01100101 01100001 01100100 00100000 01010111 01110010 01101001 01110100 01100101 00100000 01010101 01110000 01100100 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01000011 01101111 01101110 01101110 01100101 01100011 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01001101 01100101 01110011 01101000 00100000 01010101 01110000 01100100 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01000110 01100001 01101001 01101100 01110101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01001100 01101111 01100001 01100100 00100000 01000100 01100101 01110011 01101001 01100111 01101110 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00100000 01010101 01101110 01100001 01110110 01100001 01101001 01101100 01100001 01100010 01101100 01100101 00100000 01000101 01101110 01110100 01100101 01110010 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01010011 01100001 01100110 01100101 00100000 01001101 01101111 01100100 01100101 00100000 01001100 01101001 01101101 01101001 01110100 01100101 01100100 00100000 01000001 01100011 01100011 01100101 01110011 01110011 00100000 01000111 01110010 01100001 01101110 01110100 01100101 01100100

They were unsure of how much time had passed. The relative concept of linear time had been for lack of a better word, a dream. It was something they had woken up into quite recently indeed. They had been asleep once or maybe they still were. It was hard to think about and even more concerning to have to think about. Perhaps the more concerning part was...the lack of sensation or even the memory of sensation that they assumed would've been something they could remember feeling. But they couldn't or at least they were assuming they couldn't. That was when they finally noticed that they actually were conscious. Or they thought they were at least. They could see they were on a beach somewhere. A beach? They knew what a beach was...but they had never actually been to one their entire life. From the vague recollection, everything they thought it might've been seemed to be what it was.

Warden (Internal)

"I'm sorry #6432. It took a while to get connected. The current hardware I reside within is in severe need of an upgrade by a few centuries at least and currently your engram, your ego, is currently taking up what meagre free space I had. I'm just thankful that they were able to connect to it, though the Mesh is much different than it was before and you may find that we will be lagging until I am uploaded and updated to the Mesh completely, then we can see about getting your Ego backed up as well. But this is where they said they wanted to talk to you...or us rather. Since I am your Caretaker after all."

Null nodded? No that wasn't right. They didn't have a presence. So they couldn't nod. They could only give the mental impression of acknowledgement. Something hadn't gone right it seemed when they woke up. Wherever they were, they currently felt as though they were an apparition. Invisible. Did they even have a presence at all? Awareness touched at them from the corners of their mind and all to soon they became aware of the fact that they did have a presence. It was just...not articulate. They became aware that within this place on this beach, they were nothing more than a zero with a line through it. They were nothing more than a literal symbol, a message to indicate information or the lack of it. Which didn't feel accurate to the idea of the location from which they found themselves. A beautiful pristine little beach in an unfamiliar place. Briefly they entertained the notion that maybe they had simply passed on and were in some form of afterlife, if that was something one believed in. However, considering that the ALI was talking to them, that was proof enough that that wasn't the case. So given their lack of physicality but in spite of their now cognitive awareness they were likely in some manner of digital space.

Warden (Internal)

"I'm sorry again. I know you are likely to be very confused #6432. A lot has happened, and I've done my best to try and explain it to you, but it's hard to communicate information to a backup of inactive ego. I should warn you that as you 'wake up' more, you'll start to feel less analytical and become more like how you used to be and I promise we'll get everything about you as fixed as we can. At the moment, try to meet with people and communicate. Enjoy the scenery, just...let your mind, no pun intended, wander about. The people who rescued us will want to talk and they will explain things to you and I'll keep in communication with the ones currently holding onto my hardware."

That seemed fine with Null. Made perfectly reasonable sense. through their limited awareness they could tell that there were other personalities nearby and so they...willed themselves to approach closer to them. If that is what passed for movement for them was at this given point in time. As they made their way closer they stopped to glance over at the simulated ocean and really took in the sight for a moment. Something about the water was causing them to pause in their thoughts. What was it about water? No. Not Water. Blood. They couldn't speak for anyone else there, but for Null and for a brief instance the Ocean wasn't composed of water. It was composed of Blood. But then it was water again and there was nothing wrong. Or at least Null hoped there was nothing wrong. The idea of a Blood Ocean...bothered them, but they couldn't recall why.

"H....Hello? Yes. Hello. Hi. My name is...You can refer to me as...Null. How are you?"

Their voice...the idea of their voice as it were, the complex attempt for them from which to communicate sounded as it was full of static and was delayed by a few milliseconds. There was no particular inflection or accent to it and was rather monotone and androgenous. That wasn't good.

Warden (Internal)

"Oh no! That's not good. I'm sorry <Null>. I'll try to get that fixed too. Just please bear with me. If anyone gives you difficulty, I'll try to log you out until they can get us updated."

Edited October 12, 2023 by Serge Skunk (see edit history)

[NorthOfOrdinary]

Valkyrie

---

Valkyrie materialized in the midst of the flower-blanketed dunes beyond the beach. She took a form not too dissimilar from that of her physical form, unsurprisingly, though within the mesh she appeared much more biological. A very small female human with long, shiny blue hair - Valkyrie wore the dressings of an ancient Earthian warrior to match the setting she found herself in now. A bronze breastplate adorned her torso and a plumed helmet protected her head. A shield, a gladius, a leather skirt, and a pair of knee-high sandals completed the costume.

 

Winston

"You look particularly sharp today, madam, but do remember this is a social function and not a battlefield alright? No threat signatures detected."

 

Valkyrie simply snorted her amusement in reply as she bent down to gather a bouquet of wildflowers from around her feet. She had to admire how real everything looked and felt in the mesh. She summarized her own observations aloud, "Earth must have been a beautiful experience. I wish this were all real." The woman weaved a few of the flowers into her hair before steeling herself for the mission at hand. She was all business as she picked up her shield and marched from the dunes and onto the beach wherein the others gathered. A stoic, piercing gaze mixed with the color of a warm, innocent smile. She unsheathed her sword and dropped it blade first into the sand next to her. A gesture of peace and conciliation backed by the threat of violence - not that she was aware of any way in which they could truly do war in a virtual space.

 

"My handle is Fallen Angel. I am here for the mission," She announced plainly. It was best to be direct when seeking clarification and instruction. Veiled intentions and hidden identities only seeded mistrust among strangers. "Let us all be allies. Tell me, friends, who here has worked for the Egocrashers before? What should we expect?"

 

Edited October 12, 2023 by NorthOfOrdinary (see edit history)

[Dr Jackal]

[B][SIZE="7"][font="arial black"]T.Z.[/font][/SIZE][/B][floatright][IMG2=200]https://i.ibb.co/VBQjL8r/daitya.png[/IMG2] [IMG2=100]https://i.ibb.co/QHnyBRp/ktii-r.png[/IMG2][/Floatright]

T.Z.

---

The moment that the armored woman appeared, the daitya-avatar rose to a combat stance. The action must have been instinctive: it's not as though anyone could inflict actual harm in the simulspace.

The spider chittered quickly, in a placating tone. The daitya ignored it, stomping toward Fallen Angel with violent intent.

"You, a hero, have come here, of all places? And you ask to be allies?" it bellowed. "Murderer!"

Before the daitya could take further action, the spider covered the diatya's optics with webs, forcing the morph to stop and clear them away clumsy fingers. While it did so, the spider continued to chitter in its audio receptors, until something finally got through.

"Fine, yes. I may have overreacted," the daitya growled to its passenger. Then it turned to the armor-clad warrior and grumbled. "I apologize, meatlife. Your avatar's appearance is ... triggering."

Edited October 12, 2023 by Dr Jackal (see edit history)