⬣//GROWING WILDLY OUT OF CONTROL.

[cccorp]

>>Gathering // >>Waiting // >>Can't Return // >>It's Real

⬣//STERILE WHITE WALLS

September 23rd—conference day. In the hours preceding the meeting, beta testers are supplied with information on how to access the virtual conference room and offered a set of conduct guidelines. Testers are urged to read them thoroughly and instructed to sign their name on the bottom of the page to confirm that they’ve read and understand the following guidelines:

1. All questions will be addressed. Do not interrupt speakers or other beta testers when they are asking questions or having their questions answered.

2. Conduct yourself professionally and appropriately. Do not curse, shout, or otherwise engage in disruptive behavior. Violators will be muted and their speaking privileges revoked.

3. No eating or drinking. Keep your virtual space clean and free of debris.

4. Remain seated. Excessive movement or inappropriate behavior will result in restriction of your avatar’s movements.

5. PvP is disabled in the conference room. Weapons cannot be drawn and your Fragment inventory is unavailable during the duration of the conference.

Players are generously allowed one hour to filter in and find their seats, review the guidelines, and discuss the questions they’ve prepared with their fellow beta testers.

⬣//THE LOW RUMBLE OF DISTANT THUNDER

One hour comes and goes. The room remains occupied only by the beta participants, CyberConnect Corporation’s flashy logo spinning idly on the conference room’s 80 inch display. Restlessness begins to settle in, idle chatter turning to frustration as one hour becomes two. Still, no one from the Corporation shows.

The conference room remains devoid of purpose, some forty-odd people sitting alone in a sterile conference room, a locked room, should anyone grow so restless they try to leave. Any attempts made to break doors and windows will fail.

The door is locked, as are the windows, the world beyond their stark white blinds a slurry of purple and black. Thunder crackles in that dark, endless void. Even if you could leave, where would you go?

⬣//TORRENTIAL RAINS

It’s painfully evident after three hours of silence that no one from CyberConnect is showing up to the conference, but you knew that already, didn’t you? This mandatory meeting was fishy from the start, some would argue, while others may yet hold out hope.

That ends the instant anyone tries to log out and leave. Everyone who attempts to leave will be met with the same error Shoka was some weeks ago, but this time, the error is permanent. This time, there is no connection between mind and body anymore, and any attempt to “reach” your real self will fail.

You feel no one on the other end. You no longer feel the weight of your headset on your head or the keyboard beneath your fingertips. All your worldly aches and pains have drifted away only to find you here in your new reality, every sensation so real that Fragment no longer feels like just a game. Fragment is reality.

Three hours pass from the start of the conference. The boring white walls and rickety office chairs shudder and shake and give way to the Mac Anu everyone knows. You’re back where you started, more or less. What you do from here is up to you.

⬣//LOST TO THE TUMULT AND BEDLAM

Some menus remain online. Players retain the ability to send and receive friend and party requests, access their inventories, spells, and weapons, and so on, but a few notable items are missing.

Players can no longer toggle their pain sensors on and off. Every blow you take is one you’re forced to suffer through, and what’s more, your health no longer automatically regenerates when idle. You’d better keep a stash of potions or a pocket healer handy.

While you’re at it, try not to die. The sharp-eyed among the group may notice that the respawn information nestled in the menus is no longer accessible to them. The respawn counter now reads as a series of zeros instead of the typical 20 minutes. Now is probably not the best time to continue testing Fragment’s death mechanics, but nothing’s stopping you from trying. No one’s going to save you, either.

Good luck, players. The real test has begun.

>>Navigation

Comments

[threatmewted]

[After spilling the beans and handling a bit of the fallout:]

You don't try anything funny either, got it?

[trollophoroi]

[ One final snort of laughter and then he straightens up, straightening his robes. ]

Please, everyone would be relieved if I was gone for good.

[threatmewted]

[Bud she does not have patience for this rn.]

Yeah, well, I wouldn't be, so I guess your whole "everyone hates me" shtick doesn't work anymore, okay?!

So just - shut up and actually take care of yourself here, got it?! Or I'm personally going to come find you and kill you a second time in the afterlife.

[Does any of that make sense? She doesn't really care anymore, she's starting to lose the fight against panic.]

[gluttoning]

Denied.

[Short and sharp, though he won't interrupt the conversation further. But he is giving Fandaniel a rather strong glare.]

[tinged]

No, I would not be.

[ quiet until now, hani speaks up: ]

And if you try, I will dig you out of the data and remake you.

[tylorific]

Well, that's not true.

[ Predictably, Tylor is unfazed by all of this. ]

[dissimulative]

[ just gives Fandaniel a Look ]

[fluorite]

You know that isn’t true.

[ He’d use Fandaniel’s real name here just to drive home the point, but he holds back and simply glares at him instead. ]

[sicklysweet]

You’re a moron.

[bleatingedge]

You know that's a lie.

[curvaceous]

[ Look, she doesn't really know Fandaniel all that well, but – ]

Hmm, but you still owe me pancakes.

[secondthoughts]

[ Hector heard that.

Sauntering up and resting an arm on Fandaniel's shoulder, Hector glances at him. ]

Wrong.

[legendofthelion]

[Crossing her arms, unamused.] If that's a joke it's the wrong time for one.

one reply to answer them all try 2

[trollophoroi]

[ Wow? What is this? A caring community? Fandaniel isn't used to that, online or offline, so Shoka gets her wish. He shuts up as everyone rattles off their disagreement over them being glad about him being gone, instead crossing his arms over his chest and looking away like a child sulking.

This is stupid. Everyone is stupid. If they had all just quit this awful beta before the meeting, but none of that matters now, does it?

He'll finally stir from his sulking when Hector swaggers up and throws an arm on a shoulder. ]

...tch, I know why you'd think that.

[ Okay, that's probably not true. Hector seems the over-invested type but, luckily, he moves on from that because Kara brought up pancakes. He lets out a huge sigh and looks up and around at the rest, at Swallow and Misteaks and Hani and Tylor, Oriade and Fai and Faunus and not owen Owen, KaraBear, FlameMane. Hector doesn't require a look, the guy's right there next to him! ]

Who wants breakfast?

[curvaceous]

Me!

[ She sure seems like she went from being distressed to excited real quick, but it's easier to think about breakfast than it is to think about their impending doom, or something like that. ]

Dutch babies, yes or no?

[dapples]

[ he has to do a double take. why are you eating babies, kara ]

[curvaceous]

[ IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!!!!!!! ]

[trollophoroi]

[ EAT THE BABY, BRAMBLES. ]

[trollophoroi]

Well, of course. How could I make anything but that?

[ He might throw in some other things, too, but we'll see. ]

[dissimulative]

I do!

[ Distract yourselves by feeding this black hole of a child. ]

[threatmewted]

[Breathing out a soft sigh of relief for now at least.]

You cooking?

[tinged]

Telophoroi breakfast?

[ maybe next time it'll be telophoroi lunch! ]

[fluorite]

[ That's more like it! He's glad to see everyone so thoroughly shutting Fandaniel up. What a relief.

Hopefully it gets through that thick head of his. ]

Only if you make some for me!

[tylorific]

Oh, me!

[ Tylor says it like Fandaniel hadn't just been doom and gloom. ]

[bleatingedge]

Oh hell yes.

[You don't know what hell you've brought upon yourself, Fandaniel.]