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Post by blackrudone on Dec 13, 2016 23:40:31 GMT
Zone 4
The edge was drawn, reflecting light off the hot desert sun. A lone figure was facing the dunes stretching out in front of them.
For some reason, ~xXxRE4PERxXx777~ already had her sword drawn, even though she was as far away from combat as was possible in this game. Her blood-colored scarf fluttered dramatically in the wind. If this was a third-person game, she would have probably taken a screenshot, because if looked at from the distance, there was certainly something to it.
However, ~xXxRE4PERxXx777~ was not particularly interested in posing right now. She was here to play. Here to slay.
"Alright, let's carry these scrubs." she said, even though there was clearly nobody around to hear. Anyone who had had previous interactions with this player quickly realized she tended to do that a lot, to the point where some had distanced themselves due to suspicions that the player was possessed by some sort of ghost.
Checking the daily missions carefully, ~xXxRE4PERxXx777~ smiled mockingly.
"Really? Look at all these useless missions. Insects? Medicine? Not worth our time. There only one decent one today."
Despite seemingly having decided, the lone mercenary just kept standing there, repeatedly doing some swaying motion with her hand.
"..."
The swaying motions became more exaggerated until she also kept turning her body.
"........come on."
Eventually, after putting away her sword, a screen with the map appeared. She seemed to have forgotten it's not possible to just teleport away while in the middle of combat.
"Stupid game, what's this crappy interface? Anyway, Zone 11 is where the worthwhile stuff's at, right?"
Of course, trying to directly warp to Zone 11 failed. Making an overly annoyed face, ~xXxRE4PERxXx777~ finally managed to teleport herself to the closest possible location. A solid first step.
And so, the figure faded away from Zone 4, teleporting to the Neutral Zone.
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Post by NihilisticNoodle on Dec 14, 2016 0:00:27 GMT
"Iphi? Sure, that's fine." Iphigenia said offhandedly. Honestly, pretty much any perceptions of boundaries had almost been completely obliterated during this conversation regardless, so at this point, at least it couldn't do further harm.
That said, this conversation at least had reached something resembling stability for her, so she decided to try and carry it on, even if the destination... they'd get there. She'd had some idea of how this conversation was supposed to go in her head, but at this point knew best thing to do was to play it by ear. Breath in, breath out.
"I mean, a lot of people don't seem to be concerned like you aren't, and that's good! I don't think people should be scared by the game or anything. Don't want it to die out, you know?" Iphigenia said with a smile, which shifted into a thin line. "But... I don't know, there have been things like this that happened before..."
Well, complicated and isolated incidents that were nothing like the rumors going around now, but that's not important at the moment.
She took another deep breath.
"But like.. some protection'd be good, honestly. Can never be too careful! Maybe we could form a party? I'm not really in one in the moment and safety in numbers could be good."
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Post by gemellidreamer on Dec 14, 2016 0:25:38 GMT
Neutral Zone
"A party? Is that your way of asking me on a date, Iphi? Cute! ... I'm not the type to look up advanced strategies for videogames, but a Pilot and a Sniper sounds like a good team-up to me. I'm not as bulky as a Sentinel, but I can take more punishment than you, and we'll be able to cover a lot of ground. Like... You could shoot a monster from really far away, then we could drive away before the monsters get to us. They'll never know what hit them, they'll be stopped dead in their tracks. Oh, in case you're wondering, I picked the Jeep when I started off, so there's plenty of room for you to come with me. We'll be nice and cozy!" Jiae said. For a moment, she seemed serious, discussing the potential benefits of their team-up... Of course, she HAD to follow that up by winking after her last sentence. Because she was classy like that and stuff.
In her defense, Jiae was legitimately unaware of just how uncomfortable she was making Iphi. In her eyes, she just saw someone who was totally charmed by her and awe-struck by her obvious coolness. ... Maybe she'd be able to get a hint eventually. No promises.
"So... Anywhere you want to go in specific? Pretty sure anywhere is fine with me as long as it's with you! ... Oh, yeah... Here, I'll send a request to form a party with you... I touch your head or something, right? Try not to go as red as a tomato, okay?" Jiae said.
And then, slowly, she raised her hand and moved it to Iphi's face. She was actually trying to be considerate by giving Iphi the chance to stop her if it made her uncomfortable (not that such a thing would ever happen). Of course, this was just as likely to make Iphi feel more awkward by making the process feel incredibly slow, but she didn't think that part through.
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Post by NihilisticNoodle on Dec 14, 2016 1:33:50 GMT
At this point the flirtation that Jiae fired off railgun-style mostly didn't even effect her; it just seemed to be how the woman was for. She was adapting, things were looking up!
Then the woman made their last comment during their far-too-long setup. "It's fine, I've been in parties before, I'm not going to blush." She mumbled.
Nice, that didn't sound petulant or childish at all Iphi. 10/10.
Regardless, she motioned for Jiae to finish the process.
the request was then sent, and Iphigenia accepted it. Had to applaud the gamemakers for not making the process too convoluted.
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Post by DreadLasagnaArchduke on Dec 14, 2016 2:02:41 GMT
Neutral Zone
More sand. As if by instinct, she lowered the bandana to spit on the ground, then covered her mouth once more. There seemed to be a sizeable number of other players here. Probably others who shared her common goal. She took a look at the missions for the day.
Sand Moths. They had sand in the name, so getting rid of them would be helpful, probably. Sand sickness. The bastards had started targeting people now. She wasn't going to let that slide. Once more, she spit in the sand. Also there was a big moving fortress thing or something, but that wasn't important. Two opportunities to deal strikes upon her sworn enemy, at least for the day. Crafty sons of guns they were, she couldn't take on them alone in such vast numbers. She'd have to find someone to work with.
There were far too many people to ask all of them, not that she'd want to anyway. They could have spies planted among them, or those who didn't realize the gravity of her cause. She'd have to find some way to signal those who were on her side, yet confuse all those who weren't. There was only one thing to do.
The Gunslinger began twirling her gun around on her finger, trying her best to do it quite quickly but not doing it very well, and staring about the crowd with a menacing glare on her face.
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Post by kwanramen1313 on Dec 14, 2016 2:21:33 GMT
Neutral Zone
~xXxRE4PERxXx777~ looked around the neutral area. Sure, there were the usual bands of people, looking for groups to party up with.
"Hmmph. Just a bunch of noobs.", ~xXxRE4PERxXx777~ said, seemingly to herself.
Her eyes rolled.
...
"We're just going to go to the desert, right? I could let out some stress... ugh, people today at school just being the worst..."
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Post by instantsy on Dec 14, 2016 2:54:12 GMT
Neutral Zone
Some may think Beef Armstrong is a lazy man with no discipline. But that could not be further from the truth. Beef Armstrong was a man of principal who stuck to his rules and knew his priorities.
And he knew doing his work was second on the list, right there, underneath; "Lounge around for nice good while."
And Beef made it his mission to uphold these principals in the name of him. And he valued his own name quiet a bit.
So he leaned back in his chair.... and fell right out of it.
"Ouch."
He slowly got up and folded his chair. Strapping it to his back he wipes his hands. "Welp, time to get to work."
With that we began surveying the streets, his job wouldn't necessarily be easier with other players but it would be more enjoyable. The best idea to him would be to join a premade group, as then he wouldn't have to look for more players. Looking around he saw a pair, a human and a Chatalian.
"Yep, I'm sure they won't mind." With that, he walks on over to them.
"You guys looking for fun?" He asks, "Mind if I come too?"
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Post by gemellidreamer on Dec 14, 2016 3:53:03 GMT
Neutral Zone
"... Huh. Your refusal to blush is really cute too... So pretty..." Jiae said, once again saying her thoughts out loud without any regard for how dorky she likely sounded. A smooth operator, totally. She felt herself blushing, which wasn't how this was supposed to go... Oh well.
She was then distracted from the moment when someone else showed up. A very large Droid Sentinel, someone who seemed like a likely candidate for the tank role. Well... Jiae wasn't attracted to droids, obviously, but she was pretty sure that whoever had this game avatar wasn't actually a robot in real life. That would just be silly... Why would an actual robot be playing the game? So... She just had to SENSE how cute the real-life player was! And... Yes, of course! The person controlling this Droid Sentinel had chosen to wear sunglasses too! Only absolute geniuses wore sunglasses. It was scientifically proven.
"Whoa! You're as cool as steel! Literally. Yeah, we could use a Sentinel. The name's Jiae. Iphi, what do you think? Please say yes... The harem must grow further..." Jiae said, whispering that last part to herself because clearly she had tons of self-control.
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Post by NihilisticNoodle on Dec 14, 2016 5:26:37 GMT
Neutral Area:
So overall Iphi had been thrown completely off her game and spontaneously shoved out of her comfort zone within the span of probably 5-10 minutes, and it really was nobody's fault but her own, probably.
But aside from that, she thought things were more or less going her way.
She took a deep breath, tried to compose herself. Be Iphi. Just don't think about the last conversation. Don't. The Sniper closed her eyes, clapped her hands. Back to normal. Oh right, Jiae (aaaand the memories started to flood back. Didn't take long.) had said something. She needed to respond.
"Hm? Yeah, he looks pretty dependable, I suppose..." Iphi stated, her eyes running the metal figure up and down searchingly for a moment. Couldn't do any harm.
"S-So! Basically, the goal here is to gather more information on what's happening in the game. With the rumors and all that. So we formed a group to kind of... check up on that, and stuff. Do you want in?"
Hardly the most persuasive speech she'd ever given, but the catgirl really didn't have a thorough gameplan to begin with, and the fragments she'd assembled were long forgotten.
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Post by instantsy on Dec 14, 2016 7:18:54 GMT
Neutral Area
"Checking into the rumors huh?" Beef asks stroking his beard.
"Sure, sounds like fun." He says, with a chuckle.
Beef looks over to the human, who apparently is a pilot, "So, do you guys have any place in mind? Or are we just gonna roll on out? I mean, as you can see I'm good for anything!"
Beef begins to smugly flex his arms. But suddenly he stops and a certain look crosses his face. One a shopping parent would make leaving the grocery store and realizing they forgot the milk they came for. "Oh whoops." he mutters. "Shoooooooo-es, I totally forgot. I have a little business to take care of."
Putting his arms down he half turns away from the group, thinking.
Tho not for very long. Beef knew his priorities and he knew what is most important.
"Eh, it can wait." He says dismissing the thought. He turns back to the group, totally lazy energy restored.
"Besides, I might be able to get it done while we're out looking anyhow!"
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Post by gemellidreamer on Dec 14, 2016 12:49:33 GMT
Neutral Zone
"We don't have any specific plans, do we? We can cover a lot of ground on my Jeep, but I'd rather not think about how much gas and time it would take to go to every area. I was going to suggest going to Area 2 to do the quest there and see if we found anything out while we did it, but maybe that'd be a distraction? And heroes don't get distracted." Jiae said, before getting lost in her thoughts again about what her dream harem would be like.
She hadn't suggested the quest in Area 2 for no reason. She knew that the others were more specific about factions winning the territory... And Iphi was in a different group than she was. So she wasn't sure how that would work. But again, maybe doing quests would just be a distraction. She would wait to see what the others thought.
"Whatever you two decide, we can probably get there quickly. ... Oh, right. Let me add you to our party... Uh... I didn't get your name before. What poor manners from me. I'm sure you have a wonderful name too. Try not to blush! ... Wait, I used that line already..." Jiae said.
Jiae then reached out to touch Beef's head to send the party invite.
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Post by instantsy on Dec 15, 2016 2:34:43 GMT
Neural Area
"My name?" Beef stares blankly, after accepting the invite.
It only then occurring to him he hadn't said it at any point up to now. But just saying it seems kinda dull for a man like Beef Armstrong so...
"Oh, so sorry for forgetting," Beef says with a little nod
He pauses for a very brief moment, and then turns to a the nearest wall.
Activating his Artillery Suit he suddenly opens fire! Bullets firing out, blowing holes in the wall, throwing up dust! Players jumping out of the fire despite being immune to it.
In a couple seconds the dust settles and the words BEEF ARMSTONG are formed by the holes.
"The name's Beef Armstrong." He proudly proclaims, oblivious to his... minor screw up.
"At your service!"
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Post by NihilisticNoodle on Dec 15, 2016 3:00:41 GMT
Neutral Zone
Honestly, Iphigenia had heard stranger names around here- she remembered some dude in her faction that called himself ShingancrimsonZ. He was roughly as.. edgy, she supposed was the term, as the name implied and the two, as a result, rarely talked. Armstrong's rather grandiose display did catch her off-guard, admittedly, but a simple shake of her head was enough for her to reorient herself, then redirecting her gaze back up to the player in question. "Well, it's a pleasure Mr. Armstrong! I'm Iphigenia. Welcome to the group!" She said with a nod.
Iphi then turned to Jiae. "I honestly wanted to stay around here, simply because if there is going to be a good place to gather information, I'd probably expect it to be in a more, well, neutral area, you know?" She decided to keep the fact that the exact METHOD of info-gathering wasn't something she'd really pinned down, yet. But that was fine.
Then she paused for a second. On the other hand She didn't want to potentially alienate either of them either. She then turned to Jiae. "But if you want to do the quest, I'd be happy to lend a hand. Looks simple enough." Iphi gave her as bright a smile as she could.
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Post by gemellidreamer on Dec 15, 2016 3:21:16 GMT
Neutral Zone
"Neat. Beef Armstrong... I'll just call you Beef. So you're a Droid Sentinel... That DOES make you pretty Beefy, huh?" Jiae said. She hadn't intended on making a pun, but it kind of just happened and she wasn't going to apologize for art. Yes, art. Her coolness and ability to charm people was totally an art form.
She turned to Iphi next. Looking around in the neutral area? ... Well, she had no objections to it.
"Ah, no, forget about the quest. You're right, we should stick here where there are plenty of people. If we did the quest, we'd probably just talk to NPCs who don't have that kind of info. Maybe we can ask some other players if they know anything. Preferably the cute ones..." Jiae said. Ah, so, so close. She had managed to give Iphi a friendly, reassuring smile and had almost seemed reliable for a moment... Until that last comment.
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Post by blackrudone on Dec 15, 2016 4:06:21 GMT
"Don't mention school. Fuck school, we're here to do some real work." ~xXxRE4PERxXx777~ said. Some other players strolling around in front of her took quick glances, unsure if they had been addressed. They quickly decided to just move on.
"But yeah, don't see anyone here who can play the game. That's why they need to party up, LOL. Anyway..."
A decisive glint appeare din her eyes as she tried to draw her sword... which she couldn't draw due to combat being forbidden here.
"Pfeh, let's go before somebody steals our kill." ~xXxRE4PERxXx777~ said, heading off to Sector 11 on foot.
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