![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
⬣//GROWING WILDLY OUT OF CONTROL.
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.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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
no subject
[ uta isn't bothered when he turns down another song by her; it was only meant as a deflection anyway. well, part of one. she would always gladly sing for anyone who asked her to if it meant that she would be able to lift their spirts. of course, though, is ganymede asking the question that she isn't surprised to hear. ]
About the news? [ her smile drops for a bit as she's thankful for his consideration and delicacy around the news. ] ...you mean the article about how I died?
[ not that she has the full confirmation that she's truly dead but, at the same time, maybe that would be for the best. she wouldn't know what she'd do if she had that full confirmation. ]
no subject
[ The future is fluid, after all.
Either way, he knows that Uta's smile was bound to drop once he broached the subject. But he goes straight along ahead. ]
That's right. I meant that. Do you also actually...believe that? I guess, it's just, your here and all, still talking to me, and even other people — so I can't imagine I would.
[ But is it also different for her? The timing is just awful as well. ]
no subject
but she doesn't let her smile drop for too long as it's not the kind of thing she wants ganymede to focus on. especially not when he's doing his best not to come off as too insensitive to the topic at hand. it's really endearing; uta just wishes she had better information for him. ]
There isn't a way to be certain given our current situation but there are only a handful of reasons why my real name would be released to the public while I'm not there to give consent.
[ she'll take a moment to pat herself down, look over herself, and generally show off just how "real" her avatar is—just like everyone else. ]
...but you're right. I am here, aren't I? I'm here and I don't feel any different than I did before.
[ which might be concerning in its own right. ]
no subject
Ganymede isn't afraid to confront any difficult truths, and can often stumble past certain boundaries when tackling certain matters, but when it comes to people he cares about, he does exercise a great deal of diligence. Especially in sensitive matters. ]
...Yeah, there would be.
[ He's still in denial, though. Ganymede doesn't think he'll be able to believe it. Not until he can confirm it outside of CC Corp's channels. Still, watching herself pat own body, he can only be certain that Uta is alive, now more than ever. Maybe there could be another nasty reason behind it, but he's scared to consider that too, when he thinks he might not be able to even fathom that too. ]
You are. Maybe, that's what matters too. Because you're right in front of me, I can't think of you as being anything but still alive.
And if you don't feel any different, I don't see any reason to think otherwise.
[ For now. ]
no subject
Thank you for thinking that way, Ganymede; it means a lot to me. [ a statement that she doesn't make lightly or for pleasantries. the fact that he still thinks of her as being alive despite the truth touches her, and she'll lace her fingers in front of her. ] ...but if you keep thinking like that, doesn't it make you feel as though the rest of this world is alive much like I am?
[ it's been a thought that she has had for a while. what is the real difference of being alive within the world that they know? the "real world" verses those who are alive here in the fragment? clearly they've met npcs who don't fit the proper mold that you'd expect of something composed of pure coding. ]
Maybe behind everyone we've met is a real person. [ ... ] Well, except for Zelkova but I like to think of him as being alive in his own way.
no subject
I'm glad to hear it.
It's hard to say that this world isn't one all on its own. I think that I'll always consider it closer to something like reality, but...I'm not sure if I would consider it as alive as you or I am.
Maybe it's just because it'll always feel separate to me in some way.
[ Even if all the people he's met here, including Zelkova, are definitely 'alive' in the most realest of senses. It's without a doubt in Ganymede's mind that Uta is livelier than their surroundings, a virtual world that mimics reality itself. ]
Either way, I guess we also think the same about that. About everyone here we've met being nothing less than real, and well, Zelkova.
no subject
I suppose it's more normal to have difficulty relating the two than the other way around, but maybe I just have an easier time than others because of what happened to me. Or maybe I've always thought of things differently than anyone else.
[ and not in the exact same fashion as someone would consider her thinking to a response to being heavily traumatized...but also it would be impossible to say that it wasn't influenced. uta's had these thoughts even before. knowing that her physical body is no more just sort of sped things up. ]
It's enough to really mess with you, isn't it? [ ... ] I'm sorry.
no subject
...I'd like to think it's because you've always had a unique way of looking at things.
Nothing more, nothing less. But, it might be a bit of what showed up in the news concerning you too as well.
[ Also until he is back in the real world and witnessing Uta's funeral, only then will he accept she has passed. CC Corp could just have lied pulling up the bulletin as well. The copium is real, folks. ]
Still, it's not like you should apologize. It's everyone and everything that's been against us, the corporation at the head of it all, that should be getting on their knees apologizing or begging forgiveness from all of us.
no subject
Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to change the way I think any time soon. [ about how she views ai as living beings but within a digital world. ] Well, not about that anyway; I'm always open to change my mind about other things.
[ though wow. the sharpness of his words and the harshness of his words might catch someone off-guard or have then take another look, but uta just stares at him in amazement for a moment before laughing. somehow it's comforting to hear that from him. ]
Do you think that they'll end up begging by the end of everything? I have a feeling that they're not the type of people to do that sort of thing.
no subject
...I can't say I'm surprised.
[ But, at least he got Uta to laugh? That's always a good thing, honestly. Even if Ganymede doesn't feel like laughing, maybe it helps her. ]
They'll be apologizing and begging, because I'll make them. Everyone who has hurt us...I'll make them wish they had never done it in the first place.
no subject
Don't destroy yourself in the process, Ganymede.
[ because something tells her that he has the potential to run himself off a dangerous edge before he realizes it. ]
Once this nightmare passes and the dust settles, I want to be able to see you on your own two feet. I'd like to talk to about whether or not it's better to spend on something you like now or save it for a "what if" without anything looming over our heads.
no subject
...they'll pay.
[ ... ]
But, I won't destroy myself for it. They're the ones who will be destroyed.
...It's been awhile since we talked about something like that. It's actually a little funny, I don't think I ever really ended up spending much in the end. Or even now.