Open | The Epicurians Present: The 1st of September Beach Bash!

[bleatingedge]

Who ► Leo & Anyone that wishes to join!
What ► BEACH PARTY!!
When ► September 1st
Where ► Δ Haggard Traveler's Reprieve
Content Warnings ► People will be drunk. Will add to if needed

[The time has come... for fun! Δ Haggard Traveler's Reprieve has been decorated with all the niceties that a beach party requires - docks for fishing, large umbrellas to hide from the sun, several tables with sets of chairs for sitting and conversing, and the most obvious addition: a massive roaring bonfire with a big cooking mesh over the top of it for barbecue cookin'!

Leo's wearing a fishing hat and aviators alongside his trademark loincloth-and-nothing-else getup for maximum dissonance. From his position on the other side of the bonfire, he waves a hand at those arriving.]

Welcome to the Beach Bash! Snacks and drinks are on the tables, bottles of sunscreen and crafting tables are under the umbrellas, and complementary fishing gear are at the docks for your convenience. Have fun, friends~

[Emperor Grunty is also here, should you wish to annoy him! He's currently laying in the sand with a reflector. What? Grunties need their sun too!]

Comments

[tablescraps]

( Well, he sure notes that weird gap that comes before "a friend," but he isn't sure if he just imagined it. Hmm... )

You enjoy them, even in games where you can't taste or feel the results?

( He assumes. )

[bleatingedge]

Yeah! There's something about finding stuff and making it into something useful for yourself that does it for me. Perhaps it's self-discovery mixed with a bit of good 'ol fashioned hard work? [Something Leo normally opposes with every fiber of his being, but pressing buttons is a lot easier than manual labor.]

[tablescraps]

( He considers this. )

... I guess. It is surprising to combine items in ways you didn't expect. Fragment is my first game, so this is all new to me - I'm not sure what the baseline is, for other virtual experiences.

[bleatingedge]

[Leo's eyebrows raise over his aviators.]

Really? This is your first game? That's surprising... and not so surprising now that I think about it.

Most games don't have anywhere near this level of realism. The majority of the time, you have to use specific materials in specific combinations in order to craft things. The World is different - there are specific recipes sure, but there's also the ability to free-form. I wouldn't be able to do my barbecuing in say, Everquest, unless the recipe existed in the game's files somewhere.

[tablescraps]

( Huh. He looks like he's mentally logging that information. )

... I see. That seems reasonable, with the level of technology that currently exists. I wouldn't have expected a game like this to be possible for another... 40, 50 years.

I guess all the problems with it are inevitable, considering how far ahead of schedule they are.

[bleatingedge]

Yeah... I feel like a lot of the weird glitches we've been experiencing can be chalked up to the new tech mixed with the fact that it interfaces directly with our brains.

I've managed to avoid most of them except for. Well... [Leo pauses. Does he really want to get into this? Not really. But let's just. Be brief.] The wind thing going on in the Unnamed Root Town.

[tablescraps]

( Ah. His gaze shifts to the fire, and the no longer flopping fishes there. )

... I was able to ignore the voices, for the most part.

( For the most part. But one particular voice got him at the very end.

He closes his eyes, the sound of the roaring waves competing with the sound of the memory. )

... I'd begun to think the person who was behind the armors and mirrors was also the one behind the winds.

[bleatingedge]

[Leo takes note of "for the most part", but doesn't say anything about it. Talking about past tragedy is for the victim to decide.

He rubs his chin in thought at Mithrun's last statement, however...]

I didn't even think of a potential rogue entity messing around. I suppose it's possible? But I wouldn't know where hacks begin and glitches end - that would take someone familiar with the game's code to decipher.

[tablescraps]

It's probably what the administrators are looking into, but can't tell us. We're seeing the symptoms of it. There is a strange, glitched user going around, mailing certain people... But I don't know if they're related to these introspective glitches, or an unrelated internal actor.

[bleatingedge]

A glitched user...? Huh. There's a lot more going on behind the scenes than I thought. Well, if the admins are checking on it, they should hopefully get around to smoothing things out.

[tablescraps]

It might take them awhile.

( The issues seem pretty complex... )

... You're not concerned about staying online while they work on it?

( He only asks since Leo didn't seem super happy about encountering those voices on the wind. )

[bleatingedge]

Nah. I've got several reasons to stick around. One, I'm having fun for the most part. Two, it's kinda my job to stick around and do as much as I can so I can write my guide. And finally... [Ugh, this is gonna sound cheesy as hell, but whatever.] ...I've met people I'd consider to be good friends on here. Hanging out with them makes me happy.

[tablescraps]

( A beat. )

... There are also people I like here. I don't really have friends in reality, ( he appears to lack the shame or the desire to hide this information, ) but here I do.

But it is strange, logging off and finding no one there.

( Makes Fragment feel a little more unreal... Or, on some days, makes reality feel a little unreal. )

[bleatingedge]

Mmm, it is a bit strange, isn't it? But when I log off, I'm greeted by my apartment, which while isn't the comfort of another person, it's my own special kind of comfort. [A place in the real world he managed to carve out with his own hands.]

[tablescraps]

( Huh. He seems to consider this. )

... I'd never thought of it that way before. ( As a comfort, or even comfortable. ) My apartment isn't very personalized.

[bleatingedge]

[Focusing his eyes back on the cooking mesh, he quickly flips over Mithrun's fish with his extra long pair of tongs. Don't want one side to burn while the other doesn't get the heat it needs to finish cooking after all!

It's also a good way to hide any complex facial contortions going on while he talks about shit he doesn't really like talking about.]

I spent a long time with no roof over my head. So while I don't have many personalized touches in mine yet either, the fact that it's mine is what brings me comfort.

[tablescraps]

( He seems to understand that train of thought. )

... Was it a matter of poverty?

[bleatingedge]

[After flipping Mithrun's fish, Leo moves over to his own cooking meat, continuing to keep his face hidden from the other man's eyes.]

Yeah. I got kicked out of the house when I turned 18 and I didn't have a job before that, so I had no money saved up. And getting a job when you're homeless is ironically difficult.

[tablescraps]

( truly poor people problems...

Peers at him little. )

How did you change that?

[bleatingedge]

Truth be cold, I got lucky.

I was staying warm at a PC cafe, playing a different MMO, and one of the employees took notice of how efficiently I was farming materials. He told me about a website that publishes game guides and urged me to write up one and submit it to see what happens.

And once I did, they hired me and I started writing 'full time' for them. Now I'm here by special invite, writing preview articles and collating data for my newest guide.