It's the end of an issue! Princess Errant I of AEGIS has just surfed Old Man Satan across the cosmic barrier, Brainstorm has been branded a fugitive and chased underground by the full force of the corporate security system, @Sarahphim has defeated an all-powerful AI in an intense laser duel, and Ferra has successfully purchased some accessories for her pet cat! What will happen in the next climactic issue!? Find out in the penultimate issue of Resurrection Roundabout!
[IC] Masks: Resurrection Roundabout
- Superhero
- Tabletop
- Future
- Advanced
- Small Group
- GM Thanqol
Join Status:
Full
Ride, slide, hop, flip... twirl! Euna is the picture of fluidity and only vaguely aware of her surroundings as she dismounts her impromptu ride, flicks a pair of restraining cuffs out of her bag, and clicks them on her perp in a single, impossibly smooth motion. It takes her dress an extra couple of seconds to settle back into place, and her hair another second after that.
"Oh," she squeaks as her eyes go wide, "Uh... yeah. Hey."
She waves. This is awkward. And even in the dim lighting of a mostly-empty warehouse, she sparkles. This is even more awkward. Euna makes it halfway to frowning, pauses, and stops at simply pursing her lips, instead. And she stares at Sara.
The disheveled Sara. The bruised and battered Sara. The "matted hair and even I can't pull off this look I've been crying so much" Sara. Everything here smells like rain and cheap beer mixed with sweat. And there's a million things she could say about any of this, but for a long and terrible moment she doesn't say any of them. She stares and she shimmers in her dress like a dew kissed flower in some idyllic painting. Underneath her feet, Mr. Lucie's head is circled by a bunch of stars and princess-themed cuckoo clocks. It's louder than it has any right to be. Euna coughs.
"Well, I uh... a-are you... like, are you o-- hm. I don't know if you got, uh. Well. Anyway. I'm... do you, I mean, I need to get this thing process ASAP but after do you need, like, a lift home? Cause I could..."
But that, I think, is as long as she'll be allowed to stammer.
POTENTIAL 2
“Euna, that is the sickest thing I have ever seen you do, and that is saying a lot.”
Euna is very, very good at looking cool, but she falls apart when the time comes to sell the performance unless she’s quoting something. But Sara? Even a bedraggled gutter trash disaster Sara knows how to say a line with conviction. And now she’s advancing, diving through that opened conversational door, acting confident knowing she’s got an audience of two and a critic of one.
“I screwed up. I get it. But you shouldn’t go.” Rip the band-aid off. “I mean, sure. Go get this cartoon pervert behind bars. But don’t go. You think I can be a role model to Ferra? You think I can stop Victor from blowing himself up in his lab? You think I can keep fighting without you?”
Whoop. There it is. Out in the open.
“...I’m not going on my knee this time. Like, clearly, you don’t like that. That’s okay. But this is me, asking nicely. I’ll fill out a form if that’s what you want: Reasons Euna Kim Should Not Be Reassigned, with Apologies Subform 3A attached. Just don’t go. I’ll be better. And I’m sorry. And, yes, I would really like a ride home. Locker wouldn’t let me drive over here to find you.”
Deep breath. Shoulders square. Look Euna in the eye and try not to melt because she looks like a fluffy frou-frou goddess and you’re a pathetic little orphan who wants someone to stay for once.
“Just don’t go. Please.”
"You saw it?"
Euna's face is strained. Her lips are pressed thin, and those typically soft honey-brown eyes have an unusual glint in them that's got nothing to do with crappy warehouse lighting. Her dress glitters, her hair makes little chiming sounds with every little motion in her neck from the chains worked into the ponytail. That's how you can tell how much she's shaking. She licks her lip in a quick darting motion, but the inside of her mouth is as dry as they are. She doesn't speak.
It's agony, waiting. It's agony, not having the words for this. It's agony, the feeling in her heart that says to fix this pulling her in half with the feeling telling her to get out, get out, get out now before it happens again. It's agony, this staring contest.
Euna closes her eyes, and the spell breaks. She has to bend down to fish something out of her mission bag, because all of her usual pockets are sitting in there uselessly. There's an odd look on her face when her fingers touch the canvas, and again when she pulls out the last of her spare tablets. Tap tap, tappa tap. She hands it over to Sara without a word.
AEGIS Official Form 776-D: Requisition of Civilian Resources For Benefit Of AEGIS Personnel (Non-Military Application)
Beneficiary - Agent Errant
Resources Requested - The services of one Sara Jiminez, alias @SARAHPHIM
To Enter Into Effect As Of - 0700 Hours
Reason - Help unpacking personal effects
Signed,
___________________ Euna Kim
******
Athena Macrotechnology is proud to present the following segment with limited commercial interruption thanks to our partners at SynthFox Pictures.
"The power of love was enough to overcome the machinations of the evil Lady Rapier, but the ancient curse still hangs heavy on the shoulders of Eternal Maiden Elvia. The Vampire-Dryad blood coursing through her veins now burns with the pain of acid whenever she tries to leave the confines of the Forest of the Ultra Darkness, cutting her off from her well won rewards and the life she hoped to live with Princess Diana.
Now she faces her most difficult challenge yet, and she'll have to face it alone. Can Elvia triumph without the power of love to see her through the deepest darkness? Will she be able to discover source of the mysterious power binding her to the forest and defeat it for good, or is she doomed to live the rest of her immortal life sweeping the empty halls of the Wode Hall and snacking on overbrave squirrels? Will Princess Diana really forget about her best friend?? Only the enchanted sword Lilyblossom knows for sure!
From the studio that brought you Duelist in the Mirror Castle and Duelist in the Rose Garden comes the hotly anticipated finale of the Elvia Trilogy: A Duel Must End At Dawn. Available for public screening on 14/2 and for streaming in all supported browsers on 28/2. Don't miss it!"
And now, the return of...
EUNA'S FITNESS CORNER
It's the first (and possibly the last) official appearance of Princess Errant I of AEGIS. The room is hardly any different from its usual self; a hanging punching bag in the middle of the room has replaced the usual chair. Otherwise it's as bright and sterile as ever. And for a moment, that's all that's there. It's troubling, just half a breath long enough to make you wonder if she's no-showing again, if the studio was so irresponsible to schedule the time slot without securing the host's promise first. But then, a fluttering of silks! Errant walks into the fame and stands next to the punching bag in all of her Hyperborean Makeover splendor.
Or, almost all of it. She's still wearing her full gown with its huge, trailing half sleeves, multilayered skirts, and all her assorted glass jewelry. Her hair's still more than twice as long as it was at the time of her last known appearance, and her silver dye still blends into the natural black where it was inexplicably (magically) grown out. But she's got it pulled into a much tighter, simpler ponytail than Princess Alina had shown her, and she's done away with the elaborate jewel-centric makeup for a very bare, basic studio look. I mean, she's here to work out, she can't completely throw away concessions to practicality. But she'd be damned if she was gonna waste an opportunity like this. When she waves, it's regal. When she smiles, it's radiant.
"Hey guys, what's up! Welcome back to the fitness corner, sorry it's been so long! Last time I promised you some cardio tips and then some... mission stuff made me have to cancel. I'm really sorry about that! But as you can see I'm back, we're back, and you've been waiting more than long enough so let's just get this show on the road!"
Errant bounces up and down from foot to foot and grins broadly. She's so excited to be back, you guys!
"So anyway I've been thinking about this pretty hard and I mean, honestly, you don't need me to tell you that if you wanna get your heart in good condition then you ought to be running. But that's not really practical advice, right? We don't all live in buildings with good, long staircases, and for those of us who don't qualify for the personal rain shield, heading out can be... uh, dangerous. There's equipment to mitigate some of that, but space or cost can still kind of hold some people back from that. And I don't wanna be that person telling you to do stuff that's out of your reach, no matter what. So! What can we do to fix that?"
Her grin is actually sparkling as much as her jewelry now. Errant gestures at the punching bag!
"Kickboxing! Martial arts to the rescue! You might already know this, but ten minutes of mid-to-high intensity combat exercises can burn off more than one hundred calories, and it spikes your heart rate like nothing else. You don't even need the bag, just enough room to move around a little bit. Now, the most important part of this is that you can't just flail around like a dork, haha" snort "You need to have control. Full follow through on every hit, controlled combos. Anything less and you're not going to engage your body if you're using any sort of cybernetic limb. It'll just wind up taking the strain, which is kinda pointless. Your servos don't care how much you work them, so get your muscles involved! Ok here, let me give you some fun combinations to get you started! When you've mastered these, feel free to make your own! Remember: follow through, full combo!"
With a tiny wave, Errant hops back into a basic boxing stance, which only looks a tiny bit out of place with her all princess-ed up the way she is. She moves around the bag like quicksilver, but her skirt is obscuring the finery of her footwork. Then she strikes, and calls every hit out loud to make it easier to follow. Jab, jab, cross! Jab, cross, hook! Hook, hook, uppercut! Jab jab cross, jab jab hook! Jab, cross, jab jab hook, uppercut cross, backspin, backfist, knee! Jab, cross, knee! Jab, cross, knee, knee! Knee, knee, jump, kick! And, lift! Roll hip, side-kick! High kick, mid kick, low kick, step forward, stomp!
She pauses to look at the camera with a mischievous smirk. Big, red text scrolls across the bottom of the screen: DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME! And she starts showing off a little bit. She jumps from floor to ceiling, making her skirts flutter dramatically when she plunges back down with a diving kick that drops into a low rolling crouch transitioning perfectly into a full backflip snap kick. Her combos get faster and faster, showier and showier, and then with one final haymaker she hits the punching bag so hard that, rather than flying off its chain it just splits in half and dumps sand all over the floor. She's slow to pull her arm back. Then she stands up straight. Turns to face the camera. Folds her hands placidly in front of her waist, and sparkles. Slowly, the smile slides off of her face.
"So, uh... you're probably wondering why the..." she waves her hand up and down her body, "all this. Right? Well, it's, uh... how do I wanna put this? I think a lot of people have a very specific impression of me. I'm a Corporate Champion, I'm an AEGIS officer, I'm always pounding this fitness angle pretty hard, so a lot of people think I'm some sort of tomboy. That's, uh, not really true. I like this sort of thing, too. I like it a lot, actually. And my point is... you don't... you're not just one thing, you know? You can be an athlete and a... a fashion designer at the same time, I guess, or...
Man. I'm sorry, I wrote a whole speech that's supposed to go here but I'm not following it at all. What I'm really trying to say is, you're beautiful. Whoever you are. Whatever you are. No matter how far down life's pushed you, no matter how much of you is augmented or how much of it is what you were born with, you're beautiful. And you deserve to feel like a princess or a prince or... whatever's special to you. Live healthy. Get the most out of life. Your body is wonderful. You deserve to love it. And... that's, you know, how I feel. See you."
The camera catches the wet shimmer in her eyes as she flashes her stupid dork "idol" v-hand sign. She quickly turns and walks away, looking every bit the princess that Alina and all of her new friends thought she was.
Dear [Insert Reader Name here]!
We at AmzNoble Publishing know that you, our readers, are a discerning crew, and no doubt have grown fond of certain characters. However, following unfortunate recent events, we regret that your subscription to "The Brainstorm and Friends Power Hour" has been cancelled indefinitely.
But don't worry! We understand the value of a good distraction from your impending mortality! As such, and based on your read history, we've graciously decided that you'll like some of our other comics of an antiheroic bent! As such, we've subscribed you to "Angel: Rogue Discordian," and "Corporal Popp: Guardsman of the Gods." Your subscription cost in AmzBucks has been adjusted accordingly.
You're welcome.
Sincerely,
Jordan Beesknees, Junior Assistant Editor-In-Chief.
We at AmzNoble Publishing know that you, our readers, are a discerning crew, and no doubt have grown fond of certain characters. However, following unfortunate recent events, we regret that your subscription to "The Brainstorm and Friends Power Hour" has been cancelled indefinitely.
But don't worry! We understand the value of a good distraction from your impending mortality! As such, and based on your read history, we've graciously decided that you'll like some of our other comics of an antiheroic bent! As such, we've subscribed you to "Angel: Rogue Discordian," and "Corporal Popp: Guardsman of the Gods." Your subscription cost in AmzBucks has been adjusted accordingly.
You're welcome.
Sincerely,
Jordan Beesknees, Junior Assistant Editor-In-Chief.
Tatterdemalion Trickster-in-Veils
Member
Seen
7 hrs ago
Sara takes the tablet, uncharacteristically careful. If she touches Euna's hand, the spell will break. The princess will turn, hike up her skirts, and book it down the street with her awesome cyberlegs. If she does everything right, if she respects Euna's space, if she doesn't do anything stupid, please don't do anything stupid... if she is good, if she is worthy, she might be allowed to have this moment go right. Please. Let this moment go right.
She signs an illegible squiggle at the bottom of the form with her finger. She could carve her name perfectly in a wall, barely a centimeter deep, and in cursive, but tablets? Tablets defeat her finger every time.
"Requisition approved, your highness." She salutes, and hears Angel-IKA's muffled squeal behind her. When she smiles, she can feel hot pricking tears in her eyes. Don't you worry. It's relief. Relief that she hasn't fucked everything up this time. That this time, she gets a second chance. That Euna is willing to stay, at least a little longer. "I will report to your quarters at 0655 hours." She clasps her hands behind her back and bows, really milking the servile angle, and there's a soft thump behind her as Angel-IKA just straight up passes out.
***
Three kids sit at a table together, lunchboxes sitting in front of them. They're wearing school uniforms, naturally, studded with buttons and self-applied holologos.
KID #1: Are you kidding me? There's no way that Djinniphim doesn't win. She's wearing the least, so she's got the most flexibility, perfect for acrobatic dodges and air cancels!
KID #2: Technically, the Tigerphim is wearing the least.
KID #3: Yeah, but Ninjaphim? She's mastered both the shadows and the light! Her tormented soul is torn in two, between honor and desire, her duty to her murdered clan and her love of the noble samurai who is the bodyguard of her nemesis...
KID #1: You wish! The Desert Sands will scourge away all who stand before Djinniphim!
KID #3: Just wait until their rematch!
KID #2: There's no reason to wait, actually...
NINJAPHIM, DJINNIPHIM and SARRRRRRAPHIM drop down onto the table, doing dramatic poses. The kids gasp, and then the three superheroes lunge at the camera.
Cut to game footage!
PHIMMY bending and bouncing her way through one of SWEET SARA'S candy-themed barrages, giggling the whole way!
SARRRRRRAPHIM's GLORIOUS GALLEON unleashing a hardlight broadside!
WITCHERPHIM dashing forward with her SILVER AND STEEL HARDLIGHT BLADES, carving through bullets!
TIGERPHIM using her TIGER PAW CRUSH on an unlucky DOCTORPHIM, scattering hardlight syringes everywhere on impact.
@SARAHPHIM CLASSIC doing the iconic hair shot before punching out @SARAHPHIM, AGENT OF A.E.G.I.S.!
And finally...
DJINNIPHIM uses her LIGHT LASH to cut straight through NINJAPHIM... who disappears in a puff of darkness, leaving behind a perfectly cut log. DJINNIPHIM spins around, the SOLOMON'S SEAL swirling around her, as NINJAPHIM throws three of her hardlight shuriken. As they impact the seal, cut to white, and then fade in the title:
@SARAHPHIM DIMENSIONS!!
(Available EXCLUSIVELY on the AEGEAN GAMES STORE)
She signs an illegible squiggle at the bottom of the form with her finger. She could carve her name perfectly in a wall, barely a centimeter deep, and in cursive, but tablets? Tablets defeat her finger every time.
"Requisition approved, your highness." She salutes, and hears Angel-IKA's muffled squeal behind her. When she smiles, she can feel hot pricking tears in her eyes. Don't you worry. It's relief. Relief that she hasn't fucked everything up this time. That this time, she gets a second chance. That Euna is willing to stay, at least a little longer. "I will report to your quarters at 0655 hours." She clasps her hands behind her back and bows, really milking the servile angle, and there's a soft thump behind her as Angel-IKA just straight up passes out.
***
Three kids sit at a table together, lunchboxes sitting in front of them. They're wearing school uniforms, naturally, studded with buttons and self-applied holologos.
KID #1: Are you kidding me? There's no way that Djinniphim doesn't win. She's wearing the least, so she's got the most flexibility, perfect for acrobatic dodges and air cancels!
KID #2: Technically, the Tigerphim is wearing the least.
KID #3: Yeah, but Ninjaphim? She's mastered both the shadows and the light! Her tormented soul is torn in two, between honor and desire, her duty to her murdered clan and her love of the noble samurai who is the bodyguard of her nemesis...
KID #1: You wish! The Desert Sands will scourge away all who stand before Djinniphim!
KID #3: Just wait until their rematch!
KID #2: There's no reason to wait, actually...
NINJAPHIM, DJINNIPHIM and SARRRRRRAPHIM drop down onto the table, doing dramatic poses. The kids gasp, and then the three superheroes lunge at the camera.
Cut to game footage!
PHIMMY bending and bouncing her way through one of SWEET SARA'S candy-themed barrages, giggling the whole way!
SARRRRRRAPHIM's GLORIOUS GALLEON unleashing a hardlight broadside!
WITCHERPHIM dashing forward with her SILVER AND STEEL HARDLIGHT BLADES, carving through bullets!
TIGERPHIM using her TIGER PAW CRUSH on an unlucky DOCTORPHIM, scattering hardlight syringes everywhere on impact.
@SARAHPHIM CLASSIC doing the iconic hair shot before punching out @SARAHPHIM, AGENT OF A.E.G.I.S.!
And finally...
DJINNIPHIM uses her LIGHT LASH to cut straight through NINJAPHIM... who disappears in a puff of darkness, leaving behind a perfectly cut log. DJINNIPHIM spins around, the SOLOMON'S SEAL swirling around her, as NINJAPHIM throws three of her hardlight shuriken. As they impact the seal, cut to white, and then fade in the title:
@SARAHPHIM DIMENSIONS!!
(Available EXCLUSIVELY on the AEGEAN GAMES STORE)
GM
SUBSCRIBER COUNT: 24
"Hey guys, it's @Sarasylph here with my - Siri play drumroll.mp3 - long awaited AMA! It's been two weeks since I started asking for questions and in that period I got a new record of four questions! But before I get into that I wanted to say a sad goodbye to Jiffles and Manix630 who unsubscribed last week, and you know, if you're still watching know that I'll do better to try and win back your hearts! And also a big welcome to new subscriber ContentIDBot! Great to have you with us!"
@Sarasylph couldn't afford an advanced multi-angle automated megacamera array like some of her interdimensional colleagues so her show was done in the more traditional shaky hand-held cell phone camera way. She had had the idea to do celtic spiral-circle cybertattoos before this show but, lacking the budget for the fancy versions, had opted to draw them directly onto her face with a sharpie. She'd realized very quickly that wasn't working out and had tried to cover the black lines on her cheek with a heavy layer of foundation and instead realized her ambition of being a beautiful druidess by mixing some glitter into her green eye shadow.
In the background there was some kind of high tech facility. Screens displayed the Perseus logo in black and yellow.
"So, question one, from ContentIDBot - wow, getting off to a really good start! And it's a long one too! Question one: Your account has been flagged for using copyrighted music -," @Sarasylph abruptly stopped smiling, stopped talking, and scrolled down as hard as she could. "Sorry, uh, sorry," she mumbled, "Uh. Um. Q-question two? Question two."
From off camera, someone yelled "Hey you're not supposed to be here!" @Sarasylph made a gesture that was not at all caught by the camera and the chimes of hardlight were swiftly followed by a yelp, a crash, and a thud.
"Question two," said @Sarasylph, trying to get her composure back. "JamesHard asks, 'Are you the pirate one?' And, haha, the answer to that is no -" SUBSCRIBER COUNT: 23 "Oh, um, sorry to see you go... um... but I think that question kind of touches on a bigger topic. You know? And that is, um, how does it feel to be in a world where there are like twenty alternate yous, all of whom are successful and famous? Oh, hold on, I'll remember to flip the vision this time, hold on,"
After a moment of concerned expressions, she manages to flip the cell phone's camera. Six security guards and a fully armed main battle TAG are advancing towards her, assault weaponry aimed. But this is a cell phone camera and it has automatic zoom and focus features, and those are optimized for taking photographs of faces. Unfortunately, with all but one of the guards wearing a balaclava, the system only identifies one human in the photograph and automatically starts zooming and focusing on him. His expression goes from professional determination to shock, to horror, and then to a blurred distortion as he's drowned out in a blast of pixelated green light.
Then the camera flips around back to @Sarasylph. "The Woad Wind technique! I practiced it for weeks! A-anyway, um, so I think it's encouraging that all the other Saras made it big, you know? I mean, I'd be a superhero no matter what, but there's a lot of inspiration in seeing alternate versions of myself." She passes by the charred wreckage of the TAG, three meters of advanced combat robot reduced to slag in the out-of-focus background. "And they're all really sexy, you know? Like... really, dominantly, grabbing-ly sexy. Um. And apparently that's what the audience wants! So look out, world! Ladies! E-Errant! It's not going to be as easy to ignore me in the future! Pow!"
There was an off camera explosion, and @Sarasylph walked through the wreckage of a burned out door. She turned to the left and there was a glimpse of something enormous and out of focus back behind her shoulder.
"Question three comes from RacoonMart! She asks, 'Hey @Sarasylph, love the show -' awwwwww! 'and congratulations on hitting twenty five subscribers!' awwww... 'Have you ever considered trying out for Aristeia!? I think you might have the moves and you'd benefit a lot from the support staff and camera crew. Good luck with hitting thirty!' Thanks, RacoonMart! And, you know... wow, um, professional sports?" The camera finally focuses over her shoulder. She's in some kind of launch tube - and that looks like a space ship behind her. It's a massive thing, layers of booster rockets, a huge and elaborately spiked satellite attachment at the top. "T-that's a lot of pressure. But I'm glad you think I could make it! I've had a crush on Parvati since forever and... no. That's not who I am, though. I know I could inspire a lot of people from there but I'm a superhero. I'm here to protect people. The fame is, you know, n-nice... but it has to come second."
She lets out a heavy sigh. It looked like saying that took a lot out of her. She then steels herself, flips the camera so that it's facing a sealed steel door, and blasts through it.
On the other side is Turbo Knight. Two.
There is a flash of lasers, then a thud and darkness as the camera hits the floor.
"Who the hell is this?" snapped Victoria's voice, distorted by her armour's voice filter. "Sara-who? It doesn't matter, I don't care," there's another flurry of sound and footsteps. "Back off! I've lost three subscribers this week and I'm feeling pretty upset about it!" There was a deafening explosion, so intense that it flipped the phone over to give it a view of the ceiling instead.
"See, Perseus? This is exactly what I'm talking about," said Victoria over the sound of soft choking. "Nobody respects me. I've essentially taken over the entire world and nobodies keep thinking they have the right to break into my workplace and challenge me to single combat! It's not enough to just have power if nobody knows I have it!!"
A dark shape rapidly passed overhead - and the phone's automatic camera dutifully picked out @Sarasylph's face from it as she flew past.
"I can't believe the old bastard was right," said Victoria. "People... remember Turbo Knight. They think of me as Turbo Knight. Even now! Their fucking brains can't comprehend how much more I am! So I need to reach them on their level. I need to do some big, stupid, comic book scheme and brutalize everyone who comes to stop me so that they realize that not only am I better at being a person than grandpa but I'm also better at being a supervillain than him."
SUBSCRIBER COUNT: 24
"It doesn't matter how much better you are than him..." said a muffled voice off camera. "Because you'll never be better than me!"
With the camera on the ground, facing up, it had that rarest of things: an absolutely perfect in-focus view of @Sarasylph's new Woad Wind technique. Intricate blasts of hardlight scorched overhead, curved and twisting and impenetrable. It was one of the most intensely complex battle-patterns ever put to camera, a true act of genius and total mastery of the form. There were crashes and explosions, and then a howling siren started.
SUBSCRIBER COUNT: 25
Then, a scrabble, and @Sarasylph's face was back on camera. "H-hey! Um, sorry about that. I..." she took a deep breath. "So, question four, from Ripperdactyl: 'are you the pirate one?'." Her face changed and her voice hardened. "No! I'm not! I'm @Sarasylph! And if you want to unsubscribe then that's fine but I'll really miss you and won't stop working to improve the show!"
She waited.
SUBSCRIBER COUNT: 25
"Good!" she said. "That's settled then! Stay tuned! There is a crossover episode coming up! Because there's like seven hundred guards coming at me and I'll need to get m-my team together to help me destroy this doom satellite!"
STAY TUNED FOR ISSUE 4: THE FINAL SHOWDOWN
"Hey guys, it's @Sarasylph here with my - Siri play drumroll.mp3 - long awaited AMA! It's been two weeks since I started asking for questions and in that period I got a new record of four questions! But before I get into that I wanted to say a sad goodbye to Jiffles and Manix630 who unsubscribed last week, and you know, if you're still watching know that I'll do better to try and win back your hearts! And also a big welcome to new subscriber ContentIDBot! Great to have you with us!"
@Sarasylph couldn't afford an advanced multi-angle automated megacamera array like some of her interdimensional colleagues so her show was done in the more traditional shaky hand-held cell phone camera way. She had had the idea to do celtic spiral-circle cybertattoos before this show but, lacking the budget for the fancy versions, had opted to draw them directly onto her face with a sharpie. She'd realized very quickly that wasn't working out and had tried to cover the black lines on her cheek with a heavy layer of foundation and instead realized her ambition of being a beautiful druidess by mixing some glitter into her green eye shadow.
In the background there was some kind of high tech facility. Screens displayed the Perseus logo in black and yellow.
"So, question one, from ContentIDBot - wow, getting off to a really good start! And it's a long one too! Question one: Your account has been flagged for using copyrighted music -," @Sarasylph abruptly stopped smiling, stopped talking, and scrolled down as hard as she could. "Sorry, uh, sorry," she mumbled, "Uh. Um. Q-question two? Question two."
From off camera, someone yelled "Hey you're not supposed to be here!" @Sarasylph made a gesture that was not at all caught by the camera and the chimes of hardlight were swiftly followed by a yelp, a crash, and a thud.
"Question two," said @Sarasylph, trying to get her composure back. "JamesHard asks, 'Are you the pirate one?' And, haha, the answer to that is no -" SUBSCRIBER COUNT: 23 "Oh, um, sorry to see you go... um... but I think that question kind of touches on a bigger topic. You know? And that is, um, how does it feel to be in a world where there are like twenty alternate yous, all of whom are successful and famous? Oh, hold on, I'll remember to flip the vision this time, hold on,"
After a moment of concerned expressions, she manages to flip the cell phone's camera. Six security guards and a fully armed main battle TAG are advancing towards her, assault weaponry aimed. But this is a cell phone camera and it has automatic zoom and focus features, and those are optimized for taking photographs of faces. Unfortunately, with all but one of the guards wearing a balaclava, the system only identifies one human in the photograph and automatically starts zooming and focusing on him. His expression goes from professional determination to shock, to horror, and then to a blurred distortion as he's drowned out in a blast of pixelated green light.
Then the camera flips around back to @Sarasylph. "The Woad Wind technique! I practiced it for weeks! A-anyway, um, so I think it's encouraging that all the other Saras made it big, you know? I mean, I'd be a superhero no matter what, but there's a lot of inspiration in seeing alternate versions of myself." She passes by the charred wreckage of the TAG, three meters of advanced combat robot reduced to slag in the out-of-focus background. "And they're all really sexy, you know? Like... really, dominantly, grabbing-ly sexy. Um. And apparently that's what the audience wants! So look out, world! Ladies! E-Errant! It's not going to be as easy to ignore me in the future! Pow!"
There was an off camera explosion, and @Sarasylph walked through the wreckage of a burned out door. She turned to the left and there was a glimpse of something enormous and out of focus back behind her shoulder.
"Question three comes from RacoonMart! She asks, 'Hey @Sarasylph, love the show -' awwwwww! 'and congratulations on hitting twenty five subscribers!' awwww... 'Have you ever considered trying out for Aristeia!? I think you might have the moves and you'd benefit a lot from the support staff and camera crew. Good luck with hitting thirty!' Thanks, RacoonMart! And, you know... wow, um, professional sports?" The camera finally focuses over her shoulder. She's in some kind of launch tube - and that looks like a space ship behind her. It's a massive thing, layers of booster rockets, a huge and elaborately spiked satellite attachment at the top. "T-that's a lot of pressure. But I'm glad you think I could make it! I've had a crush on Parvati since forever and... no. That's not who I am, though. I know I could inspire a lot of people from there but I'm a superhero. I'm here to protect people. The fame is, you know, n-nice... but it has to come second."
She lets out a heavy sigh. It looked like saying that took a lot out of her. She then steels herself, flips the camera so that it's facing a sealed steel door, and blasts through it.
On the other side is Turbo Knight. Two.
There is a flash of lasers, then a thud and darkness as the camera hits the floor.
"Who the hell is this?" snapped Victoria's voice, distorted by her armour's voice filter. "Sara-who? It doesn't matter, I don't care," there's another flurry of sound and footsteps. "Back off! I've lost three subscribers this week and I'm feeling pretty upset about it!" There was a deafening explosion, so intense that it flipped the phone over to give it a view of the ceiling instead.
"See, Perseus? This is exactly what I'm talking about," said Victoria over the sound of soft choking. "Nobody respects me. I've essentially taken over the entire world and nobodies keep thinking they have the right to break into my workplace and challenge me to single combat! It's not enough to just have power if nobody knows I have it!!"
A dark shape rapidly passed overhead - and the phone's automatic camera dutifully picked out @Sarasylph's face from it as she flew past.
"I can't believe the old bastard was right," said Victoria. "People... remember Turbo Knight. They think of me as Turbo Knight. Even now! Their fucking brains can't comprehend how much more I am! So I need to reach them on their level. I need to do some big, stupid, comic book scheme and brutalize everyone who comes to stop me so that they realize that not only am I better at being a person than grandpa but I'm also better at being a supervillain than him."
SUBSCRIBER COUNT: 24
"It doesn't matter how much better you are than him..." said a muffled voice off camera. "Because you'll never be better than me!"
With the camera on the ground, facing up, it had that rarest of things: an absolutely perfect in-focus view of @Sarasylph's new Woad Wind technique. Intricate blasts of hardlight scorched overhead, curved and twisting and impenetrable. It was one of the most intensely complex battle-patterns ever put to camera, a true act of genius and total mastery of the form. There were crashes and explosions, and then a howling siren started.
SUBSCRIBER COUNT: 25
Then, a scrabble, and @Sarasylph's face was back on camera. "H-hey! Um, sorry about that. I..." she took a deep breath. "So, question four, from Ripperdactyl: 'are you the pirate one?'." Her face changed and her voice hardened. "No! I'm not! I'm @Sarasylph! And if you want to unsubscribe then that's fine but I'll really miss you and won't stop working to improve the show!"
She waited.
SUBSCRIBER COUNT: 25
"Good!" she said. "That's settled then! Stay tuned! There is a crossover episode coming up! Because there's like seven hundred guards coming at me and I'll need to get m-my team together to help me destroy this doom satellite!"
STAY TUNED FOR ISSUE 4: THE FINAL SHOWDOWN
GM
@Saraphim!
Locker: hey. spotted one.
You are being hunted.
It's not easy being the best version of yourself. The first time one of your dopplegangers approached you on the street and challenged you to a 1v1 duel for the title of champion it made for fantastic ratings. By the third time it was exhausting. To be entirely honest with yourself, two of those three fights were total coinflips. Whatever their gimmicks, these alternate-yous are, well, you and every time you duel one it takes the majority of the afternoon and leaves you utterly exhausted. For each of them it's the final showdown and they're totally free to bring their absolute all. For you? You have to work tomorrow. Unless you want to move into dominating yourself full-time it's starting to make increasing sense to just... avoid them, where you can.
So, where are you - and more importantly, what are you wearing?
Locker: ive seen her b4 somewhr
Angel-IKA: Where? I can't see her!
Bode: Me neither.
Dominus: IS IT NINJAPHIM?
Locker: no shes got like black scars on her face
Locker: only saw her 4 a second
Angel-IKA: Oooooo, Mordorphim?! The terrifying demon-queen of the underworld who fights with beams of molten lava!?
Locker: don't think so
Angel-IKA: Is she heroine or is she villainess? Her friends say one thing and her enemies say another!
Dominus: WHAT ARE YOU, PRESIDENT OF HER FANCLUB?
Angel-IKA: I'm doing commentary for a school Aristeia! game, so I'm practicing my MC'ing!
Ferraphim1tp: Didn't you say you were on the team yourself, Angel-IKA?
Angel-IKA: yeah ._.
Angel-IKA: was.
Ferraphim1tp: Oh dang I'm so sorry!
Bode: This grounding has gone too far.
Dominus: SOMETHING MUST BE DONE.
Angel-IKA: Haha guys don't feel bad for me, I'll be fine. I've always wanted to do commentary!
Locker: do u need a co commentr
Angel-IKA: Awww, that's sweet of you to offer! But, um. It might be a little weird.
Locker: u don't think I can break into a hi school
Angel-IKA: I didn't say that
Locker: how dare. youll see.
*
Errant!
You are in an interrogation cell. It's an informal interrogation. The door is open. Your hands aren't cuffed. Agent Buddy got you coffee.
"So did you know that Victor was planning to betray us all like this?" said Agent Bargain.
"Not implying you were in on it," said Agent Buddy.
"Betrayal is always shocking," said Agent Bargain.
"And there's no way you could have known that he'd try to murder the chairwoman of the board in cold blood," said Agent Buddy.
"But maybe you know other things."
"Maybe you thought he was doing vigilante things."
"Or where he'd go to ground afterwards!"
"Or if he came into contact with any mind control villains lately."
"We just want everyone to walk away from this horrible situation with a smile upon their face!"
*
Brainstorm!
You have gone underground. You have retreated to your secret lab. You have had time, information, years of preparation and the assistance of your old AI. You have a mission to destroy a corrupt government and overthrow the president (of AEGIS). I have two questions: Have you built a mecha suit? And, how big is your mecha suit?
While you're telling me about your preparation work for what will be the grand struggle of your life, tell us a bit about your secret lair, your downtime and what you're doing to stave off the descent into outright supervillainy.
Locker: hey. spotted one.
You are being hunted.
It's not easy being the best version of yourself. The first time one of your dopplegangers approached you on the street and challenged you to a 1v1 duel for the title of champion it made for fantastic ratings. By the third time it was exhausting. To be entirely honest with yourself, two of those three fights were total coinflips. Whatever their gimmicks, these alternate-yous are, well, you and every time you duel one it takes the majority of the afternoon and leaves you utterly exhausted. For each of them it's the final showdown and they're totally free to bring their absolute all. For you? You have to work tomorrow. Unless you want to move into dominating yourself full-time it's starting to make increasing sense to just... avoid them, where you can.
So, where are you - and more importantly, what are you wearing?
Locker: ive seen her b4 somewhr
Angel-IKA: Where? I can't see her!
Bode: Me neither.
Dominus: IS IT NINJAPHIM?
Locker: no shes got like black scars on her face
Locker: only saw her 4 a second
Angel-IKA: Oooooo, Mordorphim?! The terrifying demon-queen of the underworld who fights with beams of molten lava!?
Locker: don't think so
Angel-IKA: Is she heroine or is she villainess? Her friends say one thing and her enemies say another!
Dominus: WHAT ARE YOU, PRESIDENT OF HER FANCLUB?
Angel-IKA: I'm doing commentary for a school Aristeia! game, so I'm practicing my MC'ing!
Ferraphim1tp: Didn't you say you were on the team yourself, Angel-IKA?
Angel-IKA: yeah ._.
Angel-IKA: was.
Ferraphim1tp: Oh dang I'm so sorry!
Bode: This grounding has gone too far.
Dominus: SOMETHING MUST BE DONE.
Angel-IKA: Haha guys don't feel bad for me, I'll be fine. I've always wanted to do commentary!
Locker: do u need a co commentr
Angel-IKA: Awww, that's sweet of you to offer! But, um. It might be a little weird.
Locker: u don't think I can break into a hi school
Angel-IKA: I didn't say that
Locker: how dare. youll see.
*
Errant!
You are in an interrogation cell. It's an informal interrogation. The door is open. Your hands aren't cuffed. Agent Buddy got you coffee.
"So did you know that Victor was planning to betray us all like this?" said Agent Bargain.
"Not implying you were in on it," said Agent Buddy.
"Betrayal is always shocking," said Agent Bargain.
"And there's no way you could have known that he'd try to murder the chairwoman of the board in cold blood," said Agent Buddy.
"But maybe you know other things."
"Maybe you thought he was doing vigilante things."
"Or where he'd go to ground afterwards!"
"Or if he came into contact with any mind control villains lately."
"We just want everyone to walk away from this horrible situation with a smile upon their face!"
*
Brainstorm!
You have gone underground. You have retreated to your secret lab. You have had time, information, years of preparation and the assistance of your old AI. You have a mission to destroy a corrupt government and overthrow the president (of AEGIS). I have two questions: Have you built a mecha suit? And, how big is your mecha suit?
While you're telling me about your preparation work for what will be the grand struggle of your life, tell us a bit about your secret lair, your downtime and what you're doing to stave off the descent into outright supervillainy.
Tatterdemalion Trickster-in-Veils
Member
Seen
7 hrs ago
POTENTIAL 2
Let’s get one thing out of the way first, okay?
Yes, her hair’s turquoise now. And, yes, she is rocking the shaved sides and back, with fashionably spiky bangs. It’s eye-catching and stylish, and combined with the dangling chain earrings, the aviators and the grav-biker jacket with GODDESS emblazoned across the back? She’s leaning hard into her image as the cool @SARAHPHIM. Untouchable.
Sure, she vanished. Sure, there’s tabloid gossip about What Exactly Happened. Sure, the shipping wars are burning fast and furious in her more casual fan base, as the True Ending faction (Ferraphim) unloads full salvo against the Tragic Duelist faction (Eunaphim), while being stabbed in the metaphorical back by the newly resurgent Wincest faction (Sarastorm).
And Sara does not give a shit.
It’s refreshing as hell. She’s established! She doesn’t have to pander to them. She’s receiving so many franchising offers, her agent is having to compile them into a daily update. As long as she doesn’t shit the bed in public so bad that nobody trusts her to be the hero this city deserves, she doesn’t have to worry about the future.
Isn’t that amazing?
But blowing up this cafe is not a good look. So she sighs, startling the Shiny, Sharply-Dressed Representative of Asmodeus Fashions (worth your very soul) sitting across from her.
“It’s not you, chill,” she says, rolling her eyes behind the tinted lenses. “It’s... hero stuff. Just sit tight and I’ll be right back. Don’t spill coffee on your tablet or anything, and I promise I’ll think it over while I work.”
Hot swig of her vanilla double caramel flavor-blasted cappuccino. Stand up, collar pop, stride confidently out the door to the sound of phone cameras, click click click.
Hands on hips, look up at the sky, ears sharp, muscles tense. Game face on.
“Look, can we reschedule?” Her voice has to carry, so that the alternate dimension version of herself can hear, wherever she lurks. Probably drawing a bead on her right now. Her hardlight generator flares to life under her shirt. “I’m kind of in the middle of a business meeting, but I’d be happy to pencil you in around 3:30?”
A pregnant silence. She stretches her fingers and visualizes her new Prydwen defense matrix, a spinning whirlwind around a fixed point, silver as Euna’s... well, now her tips. But silver’s Euna’s color. A quiet way to say she’s serious. She really is.
“Hell, I’ll even get you a coffee. You take yours molten black, right?”
Let’s get one thing out of the way first, okay?
Yes, her hair’s turquoise now. And, yes, she is rocking the shaved sides and back, with fashionably spiky bangs. It’s eye-catching and stylish, and combined with the dangling chain earrings, the aviators and the grav-biker jacket with GODDESS emblazoned across the back? She’s leaning hard into her image as the cool @SARAHPHIM. Untouchable.
Sure, she vanished. Sure, there’s tabloid gossip about What Exactly Happened. Sure, the shipping wars are burning fast and furious in her more casual fan base, as the True Ending faction (Ferraphim) unloads full salvo against the Tragic Duelist faction (Eunaphim), while being stabbed in the metaphorical back by the newly resurgent Wincest faction (Sarastorm).
And Sara does not give a shit.
It’s refreshing as hell. She’s established! She doesn’t have to pander to them. She’s receiving so many franchising offers, her agent is having to compile them into a daily update. As long as she doesn’t shit the bed in public so bad that nobody trusts her to be the hero this city deserves, she doesn’t have to worry about the future.
Isn’t that amazing?
But blowing up this cafe is not a good look. So she sighs, startling the Shiny, Sharply-Dressed Representative of Asmodeus Fashions (worth your very soul) sitting across from her.
“It’s not you, chill,” she says, rolling her eyes behind the tinted lenses. “It’s... hero stuff. Just sit tight and I’ll be right back. Don’t spill coffee on your tablet or anything, and I promise I’ll think it over while I work.”
Hot swig of her vanilla double caramel flavor-blasted cappuccino. Stand up, collar pop, stride confidently out the door to the sound of phone cameras, click click click.
Hands on hips, look up at the sky, ears sharp, muscles tense. Game face on.
“Look, can we reschedule?” Her voice has to carry, so that the alternate dimension version of herself can hear, wherever she lurks. Probably drawing a bead on her right now. Her hardlight generator flares to life under her shirt. “I’m kind of in the middle of a business meeting, but I’d be happy to pencil you in around 3:30?”
A pregnant silence. She stretches her fingers and visualizes her new Prydwen defense matrix, a spinning whirlwind around a fixed point, silver as Euna’s... well, now her tips. But silver’s Euna’s color. A quiet way to say she’s serious. She really is.
“Hell, I’ll even get you a coffee. You take yours molten black, right?”
Errant drums her fingers on table while she waits for her chance to say more than two words. She's still not entirely used to the sensation of, y'know, actual touch with each little tap, as opposed to the complex web of simulations and guesses the little computers used to try feeding into her brain. Granted they're still doing that, but now she can tell for herself what that means and whether it's wrong. Are they still going? God, they're still going.
To her credit, she hasn't messed with her hair once yet during this entire Buddy/Bargain session. And she still hasn't quite gotten used to it being so long, especially not when she's wearing it untied like she is today, so it's actually a minor miracle that she's been so controlled. Actually, she'd just been coming out of a meeting with Production when she'd been ambushed. They'd wanted concessions for her new look. If she wasn't going to present herself the way people expected her to, that side went, it was going to be impossible to sell her anymore. And that was already getting too hard with all the extra @SARAHPHIM...s going around, so if she insisted on keeping the 'princess hair' she had to agree to stay in uniform, with no concessions for formal or casual events, for at least the next two months. And it's not like she minded having it on or anything, but it was a bit rich telling her she couldn't wear her running gear when she was working out when regulations clearly indicated she was required to--
Oh, they're looking at her like they're expecting something now. Errant frowns.
"We're just calling her the chairwoman now? You guys aren't, like, at all concerned about the conflict of interests she represents? And we're a hundred percent sure her acquisition is legal?"
She's been asking these questions a lot since she got back. How the fuck could Victoria god damn Messermitt get the investment capital to buy out AEGIS? And then why the fuck would she? And why the fuck was everybody so calm about it, anyway? There were already little tweaks and policy adjustments getting called out every half day by Perseus, and pretty much all of them sounded to her like AEGIS was shifting from a public safety and security corps to more of a BlackSun style CorpSec goon squad. But the closest she got to acknowledgment was a crack by one of the newbies saying she was mad she'd have to cram a new set of rules up her ass. Which, hey, come on. Rude. And Sasha wasn't even taking her calls anymore, which either meant she was undercover somewhere, or their friendship was good and dead.
"In any case like I keep telling you, Victor couldn't have 'betrayed' us. In the first place he's not an employee, he's not on payroll, and citizens doing volunteer service work aren't subject to company loyalty regulations. It's Section 12, Paragraph C. Come on, guys. And... and even if he was, he's not... you know, a murderer. This whole case is opening backwards. We're better than this."
She frowns again, and picks up her coffee. Her eyes glance at the open door. Speaking of regulations, it was highly unusual for an informal interrogation to take place down here to begin with. Even with the door open, bringing her down to the underground levels was a clear indicator they thought of her as a hostile witness. Which just didn't make any sense, no matter how much she thought about it. This was her home, these people were her family. Did they really think that she, that Errant would want to handle things any way but by the book? God damn it, Victor, what did you do? And why did you have to go an do it while she was away? Why couldn't you have said anything?
She takes a sip of the coffee. It'd be rude not to.
Blech. Ugh. Three sugars, she'd said! He'd even asked! Three sugars! Three! Not... none sugars! Three!
...Nobody trusts her anymore. It sucks. Errant frowns again, and probably not for the last time today.
To her credit, she hasn't messed with her hair once yet during this entire Buddy/Bargain session. And she still hasn't quite gotten used to it being so long, especially not when she's wearing it untied like she is today, so it's actually a minor miracle that she's been so controlled. Actually, she'd just been coming out of a meeting with Production when she'd been ambushed. They'd wanted concessions for her new look. If she wasn't going to present herself the way people expected her to, that side went, it was going to be impossible to sell her anymore. And that was already getting too hard with all the extra @SARAHPHIM...s going around, so if she insisted on keeping the 'princess hair' she had to agree to stay in uniform, with no concessions for formal or casual events, for at least the next two months. And it's not like she minded having it on or anything, but it was a bit rich telling her she couldn't wear her running gear when she was working out when regulations clearly indicated she was required to--
Oh, they're looking at her like they're expecting something now. Errant frowns.
"We're just calling her the chairwoman now? You guys aren't, like, at all concerned about the conflict of interests she represents? And we're a hundred percent sure her acquisition is legal?"
She's been asking these questions a lot since she got back. How the fuck could Victoria god damn Messermitt get the investment capital to buy out AEGIS? And then why the fuck would she? And why the fuck was everybody so calm about it, anyway? There were already little tweaks and policy adjustments getting called out every half day by Perseus, and pretty much all of them sounded to her like AEGIS was shifting from a public safety and security corps to more of a BlackSun style CorpSec goon squad. But the closest she got to acknowledgment was a crack by one of the newbies saying she was mad she'd have to cram a new set of rules up her ass. Which, hey, come on. Rude. And Sasha wasn't even taking her calls anymore, which either meant she was undercover somewhere, or their friendship was good and dead.
"In any case like I keep telling you, Victor couldn't have 'betrayed' us. In the first place he's not an employee, he's not on payroll, and citizens doing volunteer service work aren't subject to company loyalty regulations. It's Section 12, Paragraph C. Come on, guys. And... and even if he was, he's not... you know, a murderer. This whole case is opening backwards. We're better than this."
She frowns again, and picks up her coffee. Her eyes glance at the open door. Speaking of regulations, it was highly unusual for an informal interrogation to take place down here to begin with. Even with the door open, bringing her down to the underground levels was a clear indicator they thought of her as a hostile witness. Which just didn't make any sense, no matter how much she thought about it. This was her home, these people were her family. Did they really think that she, that Errant would want to handle things any way but by the book? God damn it, Victor, what did you do? And why did you have to go an do it while she was away? Why couldn't you have said anything?
She takes a sip of the coffee. It'd be rude not to.
Blech. Ugh. Three sugars, she'd said! He'd even asked! Three sugars! Three! Not... none sugars! Three!
...Nobody trusts her anymore. It sucks. Errant frowns again, and probably not for the last time today.
Brainstorm!
You have gone underground. You have retreated to your secret lab. You have had time, information, years of preparation and the assistance of your old AI. You have a mission to destroy a corrupt government and overthrow the president (of AEGIS). I have two questions: Have you built a mecha suit? And, how big is your mecha suit?
While you're telling me about your preparation work for what will be the grand struggle of your life, tell us a bit about your secret lair, your downtime and what you're doing to stave off the descent into outright supervillainy.
Why does everybody always assume that Victor has a giant robot suit? Look, go to any of the local hacker forums, ask a random person what size their giant robot is, and you'll get a blank stare. Building a giant robot is all well and good for corporations. After all, they steal enough money from their workers and tenants that they can measure each other's robot dicks against each other. But for the average person, who doesn't have nigh-infinite resources, building a giant robot is a sucker's game. The corps' robot is always going to be bigger than yours, or they'll have the resources to fund an army of smaller robots. And even if he did have a robot capable of going toe-to-toe with all of AEGIS's might, you know that a robot like that would invite all of the other megacorps to temporarily put aside a their differences for an all-corp smackdown of this arrogant pretender.
That's why not one of his suits is larger than an above-average TAG. Smaller suits are more efficient; they can pack enough of a punch to be a credible threat, they're a harder target to hit, they can be faster and more evasive, and it's much easier to buy parts for them. (Seriously. Just go to the supermarket and try to buy alumisteel in the amounts needed to provide armor for a hundred-foot-tall kaiju-slaying robot. He'll wait.) It also means that he doesn't need to put all his eggs in one basket--this one can be the zoomie suit purpose built for out-flying and out-maneuvering missiles, this one packs power armor into a bracelet, this one is built to counter hardlight technology, this one shoves every chameleon technology he could smuggle or steal into one package, and so on.
As for the lair... do we have to call it a lair? Heroes don't have lairs. Heroes have hideouts. You don't call the ManCave a lair, and it's quite literally built in a cave, complete with stalactites and dripping ceilings that are a nightmare to keep out of the supercomputer. No, his hideout, thank you very much, is sensible, clean, dare he even say a little bit cozy? He made it out of what used to be a subway station, back before some megacorp or other decided that public transit was less profitable than forcing everybody to purchase their own individual one-man vehicle. Its entrances are boarded up and cemented over, and most of them only show up in old archival metro maps. But it's a decent enough shelter--spacious, with plenty of room for a rudimentary workshop, some storage, a quick backdoor through some plastered-over sheetrock, and even a computer, though the lag is atrocious down here.
And Victor is very, most definitely, not descending into supervillainy. He's been pondering. Thinking over what Victoria said, right before she punched him through several walls. After all, why not build up his own power? Make his own corporation? Decide to use his mind to... to... He can't quite bring himself to even think it.
Oh, sure, he can invent. He can create. His nanobot designs are well-patented, and those alone would probably make him a millionaire if he went public. But the problem he keeps running into is that he's only one man. And if he brings in other workers to produce his product, then he is morally obliged to pay them what they're worth. If they produce something worth two hundred dollars, then their work is worth that full amount, and that's what they deserve to take home. The only reason he'd make a corporation is to build enough power and money to compete with the other corporations, and the only way he could do that is to descend to the same strategies he started out to fight.
So that's been fun.
Really, he's mostly just been working to figure out ways to contact Bound Eage, Mami, and Sara without immediately having every corp down on him. He needs Bound Eagle to... well, apologize would still take priority. And then negotiate, and then plan. Baby steps.
GM
“Look, can we reschedule?” Her voice has to carry, so that the alternate dimension version of herself can hear, wherever she lurks. Probably drawing a bead on her right now. Her hardlight generator flares to life under her shirt. “I’m kind of in the middle of a business meeting, but I’d be happy to pencil you in around 3:30?”
A pregnant silence. She stretches her fingers and visualizes her new Prydwen defense matrix, a spinning whirlwind around a fixed point, silver as Euna’s... well, now her tips. But silver’s Euna’s color. A quiet way to say she’s serious. She really is.
“Hell, I’ll even get you a coffee. You take yours molten black, right?”
For a moment you think you see her - a thin waifish girl who looks kind of a bit like you, but it looks like someone's drawn on her face with a sharpie? She's trying to talk to you but you don't really hear her over the bustle and...
"Can't drink coffee," said the wet-leopard growl of Witcherphim. Oh, right! Wow, she can be stealthy when she wants to be. This makes much more sense, that other girl was probably just a fan. "My body filters out all toxins."
Her sword is silver too. She's just as serious as you.
"All I need," she said with the voice of a thunderstorm in a collapsing gravel quarry, "is a ticket home. I have people waiting for me back there. And defeating you," she conjured a second sword with a flex of her Hardlight generator. "Is the fastest way to get back there."
*
Ferraphim1tp: How is her voice like that~
Locker: hey
Ferraphim1tp: It's like the manliest thing I've ever heard, but it's got this soft, feminine, caring edge too.
Locker: hey ferraphimf1tp
Ferraphim1tp: And her eyes! And that jawline! I mean, Sara is buff, but she is BUFF
Locker: hey ferrapignmf i need blueprints of a hi skol
Dominus: WHILE YOU'RE BREAKING IN, SEE IF YOU CAN TAKE A REMEDIAL SPELLING COURSE
Locker: stufu
Oh, they're looking at her like they're expecting something now. Errant frowns.
"We're just calling her the chairwoman now? You guys aren't, like, at all concerned about the conflict of interests she represents? And we're a hundred percent sure her acquisition is legal?"
"In any case like I keep telling you, Victor couldn't have 'betrayed' us. In the first place he's not an employee, he's not on payroll, and citizens doing volunteer service work aren't subject to company loyalty regulations. It's Section 12, Paragraph C. Come on, guys. And... and even if he was, he's not... you know, a murderer. This whole case is opening backwards. We're better than this."
"Conflict of interests?" said Agent Buddy.
"Oh, of course! This is your first corporate merger!" said Agent Bargain.
"It's exciting, isn't it?"
"But think of it like this: It's civilized!"
"Back in the day when two nations went to war they kept going until one side was eradicated."
"Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!"
"But nowadays some money changes hands and suddenly all those Blacksun chaps are our co-workers!"
"And some of our other co-workers become our temporary opponents."
"It's how it goes!"
"So don't stress! Today we're going to work on catching Brainstorm..."
"... and tomorrow we're sure he'll be right back on our side!"
"It'll probably go much faster and easier if we can bring him in for questioning though."
"So again, it comes back to this," said Agent Bargain, leaning forwards. "Do you have any idea where he is located?"
So that's been fun.
Really, he's mostly just been working to figure out ways to contact Bound Eagle, Mami, and Sara without immediately having every corp down on him. He needs Bound Eagle to... well, apologize would still take priority. And then negotiate, and then plan. Baby steps.
Saraphim and Mami are both, as the kids say, hot calls. They're both being carefully observed specifically for you reaching out to them. But Bode? Nobody knows who he is, nobody has any idea that you might have a connection to him, and getting in contact with him is trivial in comparison. What you weren't expecting to also be trivia was convincing him to show up - but it was! Two hours after you reached out, there he was, standing in your hideout, like it was nothing.
"Hello, Victor," he said, unlimbering his enormous sniper rifle. Even folded it looks like the main battle cannon of a TAG, and the Thermo-Optic Camouflage cape he's wearing is Corporate Champion grade. Prometheus didn't spare a dime when it came to outfitting Bode. "Did you know that Angel-IKA is commentating an Aristeia! game? I was thinking about going to watch. I suspect Dominus is planning something related to that."
Errant has to close her eyes to keep from doing something stupid. She takes the deepest breath of her life, and takes her time with letting it go.
"...When I accepted a position here, the thing that everybody sold me on was that AEGIS maintained its own operational control. Public Security wasn't supposed to be a market with enough action for an invested ownership interest. That's what the Commander told me while I was in surgery. We control our own future. Maybe Atlas would start footing the bill instead of Athena or something, and... honestly? If that was happening right now? Fine. Maybe we shake down some assets, cut Animation, take a few higher profile defense contracts or something around the city, I get that. I don't like it, but I get it. I'd get over it. But we just ceded day-to-day control over to a woman who was just last week at #2 on our threat board. I think she's actually still there on the spreadsheet. That really doesn't... seem off to you?"
Blank stares. Probably. Maybe? It's hard to tell through those stupid sunglasses. It's moments like these that the rumors that PR doesn't have eyes start to feel unnervingly literal. In any case, there's no stirring of hearts and a change in the conversation. They lean. And they insist.
Errant's halfway to bringing the coffee to her lips again when she stops herself. She stares into the shiny black liquid and sees her wobbly reflection staring back at her. Damn, she looks tired. She should probably make a better effort to sleep tonight instead of reviewing corporate memos and security footage. Her coffee-reflection glares back up at her, like it's mad at her for taking so long to do the right thing.
"I don't know where Victor is. How the fuck would I? I was literally off-world when he went to ground, and Command hasn't let me outside since I got back! And frankly, you're a lot dumber than he says you are if you think he'd ever tell me about this kind of thing!"
...That one stings. He's said all of those things to her, both nasty and nice, but at the end of the day she'd always believed they were on the same side. And he didn't even leave a hint for her to follow. What a team. What a leader she turned out to be, huh?
She stands abruptly, sending her hair over-dramatically tumbling like a black and silver waterfall. It did that a lot these days. She glances down at her coffee, and makes for the door.
"I'm getting sugar."
"...When I accepted a position here, the thing that everybody sold me on was that AEGIS maintained its own operational control. Public Security wasn't supposed to be a market with enough action for an invested ownership interest. That's what the Commander told me while I was in surgery. We control our own future. Maybe Atlas would start footing the bill instead of Athena or something, and... honestly? If that was happening right now? Fine. Maybe we shake down some assets, cut Animation, take a few higher profile defense contracts or something around the city, I get that. I don't like it, but I get it. I'd get over it. But we just ceded day-to-day control over to a woman who was just last week at #2 on our threat board. I think she's actually still there on the spreadsheet. That really doesn't... seem off to you?"
Blank stares. Probably. Maybe? It's hard to tell through those stupid sunglasses. It's moments like these that the rumors that PR doesn't have eyes start to feel unnervingly literal. In any case, there's no stirring of hearts and a change in the conversation. They lean. And they insist.
Errant's halfway to bringing the coffee to her lips again when she stops herself. She stares into the shiny black liquid and sees her wobbly reflection staring back at her. Damn, she looks tired. She should probably make a better effort to sleep tonight instead of reviewing corporate memos and security footage. Her coffee-reflection glares back up at her, like it's mad at her for taking so long to do the right thing.
"I don't know where Victor is. How the fuck would I? I was literally off-world when he went to ground, and Command hasn't let me outside since I got back! And frankly, you're a lot dumber than he says you are if you think he'd ever tell me about this kind of thing!"
...That one stings. He's said all of those things to her, both nasty and nice, but at the end of the day she'd always believed they were on the same side. And he didn't even leave a hint for her to follow. What a team. What a leader she turned out to be, huh?
She stands abruptly, sending her hair over-dramatically tumbling like a black and silver waterfall. It did that a lot these days. She glances down at her coffee, and makes for the door.
"I'm getting sugar."
Tatterdemalion Trickster-in-Veils
Member
Seen
7 hrs ago
POTENTIAL 2
“Mierda.” The shining mandala begins to form around her. Close combat is so not her speed, and of course Witcherphim probably has a hot, sexy relationship with Euna the... other Witcher? Sexy witch? What’s the deal with witches and Witchers anyway, is it a sworn enemies thing or are Witchers like witches but upgraded and— right, yeah, fight.
“How about some milk?” She spits bullets at Witcherphim, and scowls as they’re torn into shining prisms of regular non-zappy light by those really dangerous swords. “I’m sure you drink a lot of that in your backwards backwater Game of Thrones-ass ripoff.”
Of course there’s a crowd gathering. And her fan’s hand, waving as she jumps and tries to get her attention. Maybe she’ll give her an autograph after this if she doesn’t get splattered instantly on those swords. Really, all that magical power and you go for swords? Lame and really deeply inconvenient.
[6 on Assessing the Sitch.]
“Mierda.” The shining mandala begins to form around her. Close combat is so not her speed, and of course Witcherphim probably has a hot, sexy relationship with Euna the... other Witcher? Sexy witch? What’s the deal with witches and Witchers anyway, is it a sworn enemies thing or are Witchers like witches but upgraded and— right, yeah, fight.
“How about some milk?” She spits bullets at Witcherphim, and scowls as they’re torn into shining prisms of regular non-zappy light by those really dangerous swords. “I’m sure you drink a lot of that in your backwards backwater Game of Thrones-ass ripoff.”
Of course there’s a crowd gathering. And her fan’s hand, waving as she jumps and tries to get her attention. Maybe she’ll give her an autograph after this if she doesn’t get splattered instantly on those swords. Really, all that magical power and you go for swords? Lame and really deeply inconvenient.
[6 on Assessing the Sitch.]
"Hello, Victor," he said, unlimbering his enormous sniper rifle. Even folded it looks like the main battle cannon of a TAG, and the Thermo-Optic Camouflage cape he's wearing is Corporate Champion grade. Prometheus didn't spare a dime when it came to outfitting Bode. "Did you know that Angel-IKA is commentating an Aristeia! game? I was thinking about going to watch. I suspect Dominus is planning something related to that."
Victor opens his mouth. Victor shuts his mouth. You know what, that wasn't how he planned this conversation going, but fuck it, it's as good a place as any to start. "I didn't, no. What exactly is there to heist at one of those games?"
He's boiling with questions, but if there's one thing he's learned, it's that he didn't pay enough attention to Prometheus. And he'll be damned if he makes the same mistake now. So as he listens to Bode, he's doing all he can to... shit, does the same body language even apply? Bode is something new entirely, but he's doing his damnedest to try to figure out what he's thinking. Like, does he actually like Victor?
Somehow, that question is topping all the rest.
[4 on pierce the mask. Marking XP.]
GM
“How about some milk?” She spits bullets at Witcherphim, and scowls as they’re torn into shining prisms of regular non-zappy light by those really dangerous swords. “I’m sure you drink a lot of that in your backwards backwater Game of Thrones-ass ripoff.”
Of course there’s a crowd gathering. And her fan’s hand, waving as she jumps and tries to get her attention. Maybe she’ll give her an autograph after this if she doesn’t get splattered instantly on those swords. Really, all that magical power and you go for swords? Lame and really deeply inconvenient.
[6 on Assessing the Sitch.]
You're going to lose. That's all your instincts are screaming at you. You can smell the venoms and oils and poisons, you can see how she shifts her weight, you can see the faint shimmering barrier of magical energy around her. You're tired and distracted and unmotivated and this is not your day and not your fight. You need to do whatever the fuck it takes to weasel your way out of this situation because otherwise that girl is going to put you on your ass and take your reputation with her. That, or figure out some kind of cheating advantage.
"Harsh words from a future Celebrity Survivor semifinalist," rasped Witcherphim, taking a threatening step forwards.
*
Ferraphim1tp: Oh NO she DIDN'T
Dominus: OH YES SHE DID
Locker: whiteys got this imo
Angel-IKA: @Sarahphim will be victorious with the power of love!
Locker: domins you do biotek, whats do you think
Dominus: A LIMITING FACTOR ON A LOT OF WHAT I DO IS HUMAN ENDURANCE, AND IF WITCHERPHIM GETS AROUND THAT WITH MAGIC THEN... SHE COULD BE REALLY SCARY WITH ACCESS TO A MODERN PHARMACY
"I don't know where Victor is. How the fuck would I? I was literally off-world when he went to ground, and Command hasn't let me outside since I got back! And frankly, you're a lot dumber than he says you are if you think he'd ever tell me about this kind of thing!"
...That one stings. He's said all of those things to her, both nasty and nice, but at the end of the day she'd always believed they were on the same side. And he didn't even leave a hint for her to follow. What a team. What a leader she turned out to be, huh?
She stands abruptly, sending her hair over-dramatically tumbling like a black and silver waterfall. It did that a lot these days. She glances down at her coffee, and makes for the door.
"I'm getting sugar."
"Say hi to your new co-workers!" said Agent Buddy with a wave as you went.
Maria - the BlackSun corporate champion - is there by the coffee machine. She's an Amazonian black woman with a similar suite of cybernetics to you except everything is built to emphasize strength and power. "Bonjour," she says, tilting her head as you make your way to the sugar. "We are to be on a team together now, yes? Do not worry, small girl, I will look after you."
Victor opens his mouth. Victor shuts his mouth. You know what, that wasn't how he planned this conversation going, but fuck it, it's as good a place as any to start. "I didn't, no. What exactly is there to heist at one of those games?"
He's boiling with questions, but if there's one thing he's learned, it's that he didn't pay enough attention to Prometheus. And he'll be damned if he makes the same mistake now. So as he listens to Bode, he's doing all he can to... shit, does the same body language even apply? Bode is something new entirely, but he's doing his damnedest to try to figure out what he's thinking. Like, does he actually like Victor?
Somehow, that question is topping all the rest.
[4 on pierce the mask. Marking XP.]
"That is what we are going to find out," said Bode, heading right for the door again. "Come on."
And suddenly you're scrambling to keep up. Bode single-mindedly heads out into the outdoors and starts moving across the city, dragging you along in his wake as you struggle to keep up, heading single-mindedly towards Neo Chaos Spire. It's a hell of a place for a wanted man to go but... you can't figure out Bode's body language. Maybe this is important to him, a test, and what kind of creator would you be if you ditched him now?
So how do you get into the most secure district in the city, Brainstorm? And how do you deal with the broken-reality vertigo and heights of Neo Chaos?
Tatterdemalion Trickster-in-Veils
Member
Seen
7 hrs ago
POTENTIAL 3
#horny-nerd-convention
@SARAHPHIM: hey @everyone so hit me up with some of that Witcher knowledge
@SARAHPHIM: ideally, how long their pow-ups last, their weaknesses, that sort of thing
@SARAHPHIM: OH SHIT THAT’S FAST
[12 on seeking help from audience. Never say I didn’t do anything for you.]
#horny-nerd-convention
@SARAHPHIM: hey @everyone so hit me up with some of that Witcher knowledge
@SARAHPHIM: ideally, how long their pow-ups last, their weaknesses, that sort of thing
@SARAHPHIM: OH SHIT THAT’S FAST
[12 on seeking help from audience. Never say I didn’t do anything for you.]
Now look, if--Bode--come on man, I have a camouflage robot right there--okay they're doing this this is happening right now.
Heading out into public was not part of the plan, not before he had at least one fall-back relationship established. But if this is what Bode wants, this is what Bode gets. He has to have a plan, right? Right?
Gulp.
Right. So, Neo Chaos Spire. The rich and powerful, the elite, playground of the riche-nouveau. He's not important enough for there to be wanted posters on every corner, disturbing the fantastically wealthy, but it's still unnerving to see his face staring out at him from under "have you seen this man." So, the best way to do this? Probably two best ways that he can think of--jam as many cameras as he can. Make it seem like it's just a malfunction and pray that the security guard playing on his phone doesn't think to question how come all the cameras surrounding an intersection are going down at once. And that the cameras are all broadcasting on the same narrow band.
Okay, so plan A has its flaws. Which is why plan B--assume holographic disguise--is probably the one he'll go with. It has its flaws, as there are cameras that can pierce this kind of stuff, and he needs to sync up his actions with the disguise, but most of the things in the spy-counterspy actions are focused on invisibility and the piercing thereof. Hopefully, just looking like someone else will keep him from more than casual glances.
[Always Prepared: 8.]
Heading out into public was not part of the plan, not before he had at least one fall-back relationship established. But if this is what Bode wants, this is what Bode gets. He has to have a plan, right? Right?
Gulp.
Right. So, Neo Chaos Spire. The rich and powerful, the elite, playground of the riche-nouveau. He's not important enough for there to be wanted posters on every corner, disturbing the fantastically wealthy, but it's still unnerving to see his face staring out at him from under "have you seen this man." So, the best way to do this? Probably two best ways that he can think of--jam as many cameras as he can. Make it seem like it's just a malfunction and pray that the security guard playing on his phone doesn't think to question how come all the cameras surrounding an intersection are going down at once. And that the cameras are all broadcasting on the same narrow band.
Okay, so plan A has its flaws. Which is why plan B--assume holographic disguise--is probably the one he'll go with. It has its flaws, as there are cameras that can pierce this kind of stuff, and he needs to sync up his actions with the disguise, but most of the things in the spy-counterspy actions are focused on invisibility and the piercing thereof. Hopefully, just looking like someone else will keep him from more than casual glances.
[Always Prepared: 8.]
...What was the point of all of that? Urgh! What the f... god! Why do dumb shits like this get to have cushy jobs where they're in charge of anything more important than keeping the cafeteria clean? They rank above her! Like, way above her! Just, just think about that for a second! How messed up is that?
What is the point? What is the god damn point?! Why send all of these hostility signals, why march her all the way down here and put her in a criminal interrogation room to ask her so many questions they god damn well know she can't answer and then just... smile and wave when she goes and tries to challenge them? What if she didn't go and get sugar like a good little girl, huh? What if she just left? What if she resigned and took her billion dollar body and got rich playing Aristeia! or something? What if she just disappeared and that was the last bit of edge they got to squeeze out of her? What then, huh? Jerks.
Errant glides through the hall on autopilot. One slow, floaty, spaced-out step and then the next and the next, while her mind spins in an angry loop. Why? What? How dare they? Why? And so on. She's so deep into it that she runs face first into Maria and is only saved the embarrassment of spilling her coffee everywhere by the magic of skillwires. She looks up. And up. And up. Holy crap, was she this tall last time?
"Oh great, it's the woman who tried to break my spine! So happy to be working with you, see any good movies lately?"
Her face is so tense she's not sure she can move her lips any more. She doesn't make the slightest effort to smile or look at least a tiny bit more polite. Or maybe it's more accurate to say she can't make that effort. The last time she met Maria she only survived because a reactor core was in the middle of exploding and it turned the fight from a 1v1 beatdown by an invincible tank into a mad scramble to get out while the getting was good. Though granted that was two sets of limbs ago; if this murder goddess hadn't undergone any significant upgrades since then she might actually be able to--
!!!!!!
Errant freezes up completely. She's standing there, looking at Maria while a bead of sweat rolls down her forehead. Her fingers are clasped tightly around three sugar packets, held just barely above the dispenser. Her heart is hammering inside her chest like she's just run a marathon. Cyberlimbs don't shake, not unless something's gone horribly wrong with them, but Errant's magical connection with hers fills her with the sense that they'd very much like to be. She swallows. Then she slowly, carefully brings the packets over her coffee and pours the blissful white crystals into her cup.
"...Excuse me, I need air."
She zips away like she's been fired out of a cannon. Fuck. God. Now she's thinking like Victor. Calm down, Euna, calm down. Think about this.
But what else could it mean? They're testing her. They don't care if she knows anything about Victor or not. There's been a merger, and someone in Command wants to know if she's going to respond to this as the obedient soldier or the wide eyed idealist. And if she fails... a-and if she fails...
She shakes her head. She's doubling back to the interrogation room. Someone's watching her in there. Someone more important than Buddy or Bargain. She's being ridiculous. She knows she is. But she has to ask anyway. She has to know.
What is the point? What is the god damn point?! Why send all of these hostility signals, why march her all the way down here and put her in a criminal interrogation room to ask her so many questions they god damn well know she can't answer and then just... smile and wave when she goes and tries to challenge them? What if she didn't go and get sugar like a good little girl, huh? What if she just left? What if she resigned and took her billion dollar body and got rich playing Aristeia! or something? What if she just disappeared and that was the last bit of edge they got to squeeze out of her? What then, huh? Jerks.
Errant glides through the hall on autopilot. One slow, floaty, spaced-out step and then the next and the next, while her mind spins in an angry loop. Why? What? How dare they? Why? And so on. She's so deep into it that she runs face first into Maria and is only saved the embarrassment of spilling her coffee everywhere by the magic of skillwires. She looks up. And up. And up. Holy crap, was she this tall last time?
"Oh great, it's the woman who tried to break my spine! So happy to be working with you, see any good movies lately?"
Her face is so tense she's not sure she can move her lips any more. She doesn't make the slightest effort to smile or look at least a tiny bit more polite. Or maybe it's more accurate to say she can't make that effort. The last time she met Maria she only survived because a reactor core was in the middle of exploding and it turned the fight from a 1v1 beatdown by an invincible tank into a mad scramble to get out while the getting was good. Though granted that was two sets of limbs ago; if this murder goddess hadn't undergone any significant upgrades since then she might actually be able to--
!!!!!!
Errant freezes up completely. She's standing there, looking at Maria while a bead of sweat rolls down her forehead. Her fingers are clasped tightly around three sugar packets, held just barely above the dispenser. Her heart is hammering inside her chest like she's just run a marathon. Cyberlimbs don't shake, not unless something's gone horribly wrong with them, but Errant's magical connection with hers fills her with the sense that they'd very much like to be. She swallows. Then she slowly, carefully brings the packets over her coffee and pours the blissful white crystals into her cup.
"...Excuse me, I need air."
She zips away like she's been fired out of a cannon. Fuck. God. Now she's thinking like Victor. Calm down, Euna, calm down. Think about this.
But what else could it mean? They're testing her. They don't care if she knows anything about Victor or not. There's been a merger, and someone in Command wants to know if she's going to respond to this as the obedient soldier or the wide eyed idealist. And if she fails... a-and if she fails...
She shakes her head. She's doubling back to the interrogation room. Someone's watching her in there. Someone more important than Buddy or Bargain. She's being ridiculous. She knows she is. But she has to ask anyway. She has to know.
GM
POTENTIAL 3
#horny-nerd-convention
@SARAHPHIM: hey @everyone so hit me up with some of that Witcher knowledge
@SARAHPHIM: ideally, how long their pow-ups last, their weaknesses, that sort of thing
@SARAHPHIM: OH SHIT THAT’S FAST
[12 on seeking help from audience. Never say I didn’t do anything for you.]
Locker: she can do magic
Locker: fusrodah, shield, fire, hypntosim, stuntrap
Ferraphim1tp: These are arcane signs of the Elder tongue, not spells proper - a true battlemage is capable of much wilder feats but a Witcher's spells are brief, sudden invocations and
Ferraphim1tp: I was getting to that Locker!
Locker: got to go fast
Ferraphim1tp: Outlasting a Witcher is unlikely as when they come into a battle prepared their alchemical compounds can endure for the majority of the day in their bloodstream. They are at their weakest when caught unprepared, without being able to tailor the precise blend of potions and poisons to their opponent!
Bode: That seems unhelpful in the current situation.
Locker: yea nerd
Dominus: INCOMING
You're so focused on avoiding the blurring slices of that Hardlight assault that you barely hear the helicopter until it's almost too late. You hear rifle fire and the scorching blasts of rockets as chaos breaks out in all direction. Dominus' crew is actively shooting up the place, targeting CSU robots and security cars, shattering enormous multi-holo billboards and signs.
You look up at Dominus right as she's looking at you. You see her mouth move but the word appears on your visor from her text-to-speech: CATCH. And she drops something - a nano-injector, a pistol shaped construction that if placed point blank against your opponent's skin will seamlessly transfer the biotech within without even seeming to pierce skin.
Witcherphim looks up and around at the chaos for a moment, people running for cover in all directions. She misses you catch the nano-injector. Instead she just grunts "Not my problem," re-ignites her blades, and starts coming straight at you again.
She zips away like she's been fired out of a cannon. Fuck. God. Now she's thinking like Victor. Calm down, Euna, calm down. Think about this.
But what else could it mean? They're testing her. They don't care if she knows anything about Victor or not. There's been a merger, and someone in Command wants to know if she's going to respond to this as the obedient soldier or the wide eyed idealist. And if she fails... a-and if she fails...
She shakes her head. She's doubling back to the interrogation room. Someone's watching her in there. Someone more important than Buddy or Bargain. She's being ridiculous. She knows she is. But she has to ask anyway. She has to know.
"Welcome back!" said Buddy. Behind him there was an extremely traditional one-way mirror.
"Sorry about the sugar," said Bargain. You know that you'd just need to pull down your multispectral visor and you'd be able to see right through it.
"He'll forget his own head next," said Buddy. They keep up their background patter, same as always. It could be normal if you let it.
"Ha ha! It's not my fault, forgetting things is so easy!"
Is it?
Right. So, Neo Chaos Spire. The rich and powerful, the elite, playground of the riche-nouveau. He's not important enough for there to be wanted posters on every corner, disturbing the fantastically wealthy, but it's still unnerving to see his face staring out at him from under "have you seen this man." So, the best way to do this? Probably two best ways that he can think of--jam as many cameras as he can. Make it seem like it's just a malfunction and pray that the security guard playing on his phone doesn't think to question how come all the cameras surrounding an intersection are going down at once. And that the cameras are all broadcasting on the same narrow band.
Okay, so plan A has its flaws. Which is why plan B--assume holographic disguise--is probably the one he'll go with. It has its flaws, as there are cameras that can pierce this kind of stuff, and he needs to sync up his actions with the disguise, but most of the things in the spy-counterspy actions are focused on invisibility and the piercing thereof. Hopefully, just looking like someone else will keep him from more than casual glances.
[Always Prepared: 8.]
[As Always Prepared is a buff to Unleash Your Powers, I'm assuming you're going with the 'temporary solution' from that move's results]
So, Brainstorm. The mission calls for you to impersonate a high school student. And while you did a bunch of preparation to disguise yourself you never thought you'd have to infiltrate a high school.
It's not too bad. You're the right age, you know, normally. But you quite reasonably preset all of your holographic disguises to make you look like an old man thinking that would be much more useful in the places you were likely to infiltrate. Plus, you know, I don't know how in touch you are with the styles and fashions of the millionaire kids of Neo Chaos Spire.
So you're able to do a little reprogramming on the fly... but however you do it you're going to look extremely How Do You Do Fellow Kids. It's enough to get you past security but you're going to collect a lot of Looks.
Why don't you tell me about what that looks like, Victor? And while you're at it, have you ever been to a school before? If no, what do you imagine it to be like? If so, why did you drop out?
Tatterdemalion Trickster-in-Veils
Member
Seen
7 hrs ago
POTENTIAL 4
Showmanship. It’s all about the showmanship. Sure, she could try and just smack Witcherphim in the face with a laser, but that’s not sporting. That’s not a good show. That’s not going to leave the audience hungry for more.
So when she lunges forward, it’s with her own hardlight blade and a shimmering rainbow cloak over one arm: useful both for disguising the biotech injector in her hand and for disrupting Witcherphim’s strikes.
Go fast. Go hard. Go unexpected. Then just jam the injector up against her like it was a hidden knife and let it do its work. That’s the plan. But what’s a plan without a little flair, right?
[Snake Eyes on Unleashing her Powers.]
Showmanship. It’s all about the showmanship. Sure, she could try and just smack Witcherphim in the face with a laser, but that’s not sporting. That’s not a good show. That’s not going to leave the audience hungry for more.
So when she lunges forward, it’s with her own hardlight blade and a shimmering rainbow cloak over one arm: useful both for disguising the biotech injector in her hand and for disrupting Witcherphim’s strikes.
Go fast. Go hard. Go unexpected. Then just jam the injector up against her like it was a hidden knife and let it do its work. That’s the plan. But what’s a plan without a little flair, right?
[Snake Eyes on Unleashing her Powers.]
Errant sips her coffee, because that's something she can do to delay this. It's sweeter now, but she's got even less taste for it than she had when it was straight. She forces herself to laugh, which feels harder than winning a staring contest with the Shogun. It's awkward as hell. But she does it anyway, because the alternative is screaming.
She watches the mirror. Right now, it's just a mirror. It could stay a mirror, if she wants it to. That's a choice that she can make. She doesn't have to do this. She doesn't have to do this. She can sit down, crack off a reference or three, and ask for her next assignment.
This is a good job. It's a good job that pays... well, not amazingly, but the health benefits are otherworldly. More importantly, it's a job she loves. This is a place she loves, full of people that she loves. Isn't she allowed to put her faith in her home? Can't she trust the people who raised her up from a cripple to keep their souls? It's only a new boss. She's had new bosses before. All she has to do is smile, promise to find Victor, and her life will snap right back to normal. Maybe she can ask to shift her focus to future Fitness Corners and more programming-centered jobs and just hand the position of Champion over to Maria full time.
She could do that. All of it. Any of it. Almost anybody would. Almost nobody would blame her.
...But a True Princess would never, ever look away.
Errant reaches up and clicks her visor on over her eyes. Loving something means that you can't look away when it starts going bad.
She watches the mirror. Right now, it's just a mirror. It could stay a mirror, if she wants it to. That's a choice that she can make. She doesn't have to do this. She doesn't have to do this. She can sit down, crack off a reference or three, and ask for her next assignment.
This is a good job. It's a good job that pays... well, not amazingly, but the health benefits are otherworldly. More importantly, it's a job she loves. This is a place she loves, full of people that she loves. Isn't she allowed to put her faith in her home? Can't she trust the people who raised her up from a cripple to keep their souls? It's only a new boss. She's had new bosses before. All she has to do is smile, promise to find Victor, and her life will snap right back to normal. Maybe she can ask to shift her focus to future Fitness Corners and more programming-centered jobs and just hand the position of Champion over to Maria full time.
She could do that. All of it. Any of it. Almost anybody would. Almost nobody would blame her.
...But a True Princess would never, ever look away.
Errant reaches up and clicks her visor on over her eyes. Loving something means that you can't look away when it starts going bad.
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