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--- Mirage: World of the Forsaken (http://www.labofabyll.com/forum/threadid.php?threadid=1444)

  Mirage: World of the Forsaken

Thread title sounds cool, doesn't it?

Okay, I had this idea in my head and decided to try it out. Still need to work out more of the details, but this is it so far:

The world is much different from the one we know. For many people, possibly all of them, reality consists of their homes and the complicated virtual reality that exists there in. Laundry, food, all necessities are in the house and managed by robots with a limited AI. And the human inhabitants never go outside. Instead entire worlds unfold for them in the Virtual reality that is connected directly with their brain. To keep from physical decay, the virtual reality consists of a suspended suit in a special chamber, and a plug directly into the brain that overrides physical sensory while in the Virt.
Outside the houses is a different world. Sort of Medieval, but with traces of previous high-tech and civilization.
It has been brought to my attention that it is sorta Matrix-y. Except nicer(if you leave out the last paragraph).
But anyways.... yeah. I'm just going to work out some more details, and a form, and then we can start. (If anyone would be at all interested.

Keep in mind, when I make these things I tend to just lay down a few basic setting rules and then set things free. So feel free to do as you wish. (When I finish making it that is.)

Alright, sounds interesting. I'll go for it.

Sound's like a good idea im in

You got my support for this,can`t wait to see what you make of it.

  w0rd

Check the subject and icon of my post XD

I'm reminded of Serial Experiments Lain. Sounds good. I'm in.

I'm in. Lets just hope I post often enough.

Okay. Yeah. I don't like any of the stuff I've come up with expanding on that stuff, so I'll let you, the players/writers, make that junk up as you go. (And me, consider I'm going to be a player/writer too.) And so... here's a dummy sheet! (if it works)

Name: (Actual name.)
Off-Line Description: (self explanitory)
On-Line Description: (should still be self explanitory)
Callsign: (pretty much the online alias. Allows for messaging and contact. But location and greater details can only be found using the actual name.)
Skills/Habits:
Interests:
Contacts: (people on your contact list. This can be either from their Callsign or name. Actual person [a.k.a Us] or npc [a.k.a. character without a sign-up sheet)

Yadda Yadda. That work?

Oh and after we start, I'll still accept new people, but no more sheets.

EDIT: Okay, nobody post any sheets or anything yet please. (That is if you want to. ) No time to explain at the moment. Okay Bye.

EDIT2: Gah, sorry. I had no time earlier and I had some revisions and add-ons, and stuff.

For one thing, the sheet should now look like this:

Name:
Off-Line Description:
On-Line Description:
Callsign:
Clan? Signia:
Skills/Hobbies:
Interests:
Contacts:
Neighborhood#/Associations:

Okay, and for a little explanation, a person that has a 'house' with the VR and all, can lose it. Either by leaving, or by causing problems for the administrators/guys at the top. And people without a 'house' can get one, though before they get it they are mindwiped to keep the peace.

Off-line and on-line descriptions can be completely different, although it is not good for a person to make an online avatar they don't like, cause they might wake up being that in reality as well. (The AIs try to make the house dwellers as happy as possible. Even modifying the persons body if need be.) Although extravegant modifications usually don't happen except for the administrators. They are the only people in the VR that also live in reality as well, the big guys. The guys you want to like you.

Most people in the VR just hang around and interat with other people, looking at stuff, wandering around, etc.
But some people take interests in things called Player Scenerios. They are pretty much games, or rpgs, except experienced in real world detail and feeling, due to the virt. Some are commanding armies, some being a soldier, some partaking in dangerous quests, or fighting arenas. The types of things are limitless. Strategy, combat, adventure. Any of these and more. And any genre ('fantasy'-type, 'sci-fi'-type, 'modern'-type)

It is often difficult to tell the difference between and npc(advanced ai that lives in the virt, interacting with people. Though sometimes they are confined to certain PSs.) and a pc(a physical person in another 'house' somewhere. And even in the PSs(player scenerios) you can't always tell. Especially in the fighting ones.

Gah. I forgot some stuff I think. Ah well, I'll post again if I remember.
And here's my sheet.

Name: Jenra Tekkeran
Off-Line Description: About 6'2, with light-brown hair and eyes. His skin is very pale due to never once seeing the sun. And like most house-dwellers, he never knew his parents. He makes sure he keeps himself from getting all that physically out of shape, and he tends to be a sort of dreamer. Wears the standard dark-blue jumpsuit of his neighborhood, with the signia of his clan over the right breast. Once while he slept, his ears got genetically modified into elven-points.
On-Line Description: Approximately the same height, with the elven ears. He looks pretty much the same exept for dark-blue hair and eyes, and large (still dark blue) Angelic wings. His main attribute is speed, and through his wings he can actually fly. He has his personal symbol (which is in dark blue yet again, a stylized bird in flight) 'tatooed' on his chest. Usually wears only pants (with his clan's signia on the hip), a sash, and boots. And a short sword on each hip.
Callsign: Diatt-En (pronounced Dee-et-On
Clan? Signia: A flying bird over a mountain.
Skills/Hobbies: He used to participate in a lot of PSs, and though he has become fairly skilled, he spends more time making/assembling them now then actually playing.
Interests: He likes archery, and swordsmanship, and other forms of combat and hunting. Though he holds contempt for things like guns. In his heart he is a little bitter (even if he doesn't know it) because he doesn't know if he is really skilled, or if the computer is cheating and making him skilled.
Contacts: Na214 - desk of clan headquarters.
(will insert more later.)
Neighborhood#/Associations: Neighborhood #346, and part of the Yamadori Clan.

Name: Satoshi
Off-Line Description: pale with a very skinny body but what little he has is well toned,his hair is black and sits in a mess on his head,trailing down his back,wears a black body suit with no markings or insignia.
On-Line Description: Effectively the same but a bit more handsome and also more muscled but not to a large degree,his main skill being agility,wears a black ninja outfit which lacks any real definition.
Callsign: Shomedamuna (prounced show-me-da-money)
Skills/Hobbies: playing any PS that requires subtegufe or sneaking around,but also became skilled in fighting ones
Interests: sneaking up on females and give them a good shock
Contacts: none,hes pissed off too many people for that
Clan : none,got kicked out of several theif guilds

Thanks Cor. And now I think I'll throw in some more details.

If I didn't say it before, those who lose their houses are tossed into an almost medievil world with a feudal system, and the Virt Administrator's are the lords/nobles. The peasants, or those who lack a house with a Virt connection, are captured (when possible) and forced to do maintenance and repairs on the mainframe that is the virt, and all it's AIs. They also must repair robots, etc.


And remember, if I didn't say you couldn't do it, you might as well. Be an admin, or hacker, or whatever.

I know I'm forgetting something...

Name: Inokichi Kimura
Off-Line Description: Same build and height as online counterpart. Long, messy black hair and black eyes. Typically wears a black jeans and t-shirt with old black sneakers.
On-Line Description: Black eyes. Hair is long black and messy. Fairly tall and of a medium build. Wears whatever shinobi uniform blends best with his surroundings. Carries around many concealed weapons, including a ninja-to.
Callsign: Mirai (pronounced me-rye)
Skills/Hobbies: Sword skills. Likes origami. Can pick locks. Stealth.
Interests: Treasure. Adventure. Practical jokes.
Contacts: Diett-An, Shomedamuna, Snotty
Neighborhood#: 14

Well, I haven't used Sting (or a variant thereof) for a long while.


Name: Jeren
Off-Line Description: Tall, emaciated, black hair (eye length, very greasy), bright green eyes
On-Line Description: Tall, thin, long limbs, bright green eyes, slightly bent foreward. Fairly long fingers. Wears black, smooth pants, green shirt, and has fashioned himself a Freddy Crueger claw.
Callsign: Sting
Clan? Signia: Chameleon
Skills/Hobbies: Infiltration, information gathering, gaining people's trust, using other people's emotions against them.
Interests: Hurting others, and staying in.
Contacts: Admin #3, the only reason he hasn't been booted out.
Neighborhood#/Associations: information blocked by admin #3, for authorized personelle only

Just tell me if there's anything you want changed at all, I'll be happy to do it, though I can't think of what to make the Neighborhood thing, and this was as dynamic a character as I could come up with.

heck, I'm just surprised no-one wants to be an Admin themselves.
>.>
<.<

Eh.

Name: Kirai
Off-line desc: Stands at about 5'8'' tall and has dark-red almost brown hair with blue-grey eyes. Lean build because he spends nearly an hour a day exercising outside of the vert. Due to artificial sunlight, he has maintained normal skin tone. Typically wears the dark green jumpsuit of his neighborhood but occasionally doesn't, in favor of a suit of clothing smuggled in without admins knowing. His ears were given a point one night and his eyes tilted back to resemble those of his online avatar.
On-line desc: Typical elf standing 6 feet tall and pointed ears. Also has titled back eyes that change shades to help camoflage him wherever he is. Wears long pants that are a dark green/grey color and a sleeveless open vest the same color. When in a 'cold' area he wears a cloak that is a grey/white color and a long sleeved vest and pants of a mid-grey color. On the right breast of his clothing is a sakaba sword, his own personal crest. Physically he is built for agility and speed, but lacks great physical strength. On his left side is a sakaba sword and strapped to his back is a traditional katana for emergency situations.
Callsign: Kyoku
Clan Signia: no clan
Skills/hobbies: hacking, swordsmanship. skilled participant in many PSs.
Interests: Loves RPing in PSs, especially ones set in the fuedal Japan era. Likes swords, especially katanas but prefers sakaba swords because they aren't used for killing. Has high regards for human life. However, he detests one admin by the Callsign Ketsunoana because he evicted one of Kirai's online buddies from his 'house', or so Kirai thinks (he doesn't know if the buddy was real, but believes he was). So he has become a master hacker and constantly makes life difficult for Ketsunoana at his 'house'.
Contacts: Diett-An - friend from a few PSs
Neighborhood#/Associations: Neighborhood #0978

Admin, eh?

Name: Clive

Offline: Tall with a little bulk. Bleach-blonded hair worn flat down. Brown eyes.

Online: Average size and height. Always wears a tuque that says "01" over his black hair. All black apparel (shirt, pants, trenchcoat, 'choch' boots), red chrome glasses, bronze ring of no real detail.

Callsign: Gemini A (A stands for Admin)

Clan Insignia: Two kids, with a thunderbolt in one of their hands.

Skills/Habits: Genious when it comes to the virtual world. Newly appointed admin. Knows the basis of hacking and tries to improve himself on preventing hacks in his designated area.

Contacts: Admin #3, Admin System Board.

Neighborhood#/Associations: Classified to users.

Hmm... I'm reminded of Pixel's world in Diadem... especially when he found the slave labour place that provides supplies

Name: Theodore Granger
Off-line Description: Aging man, pretty old, has to walk with a cane and such. He would have grey hair, but the 'bots dye it red occasionally. Also has false teeth.
On-line Description: Large, muscular guy, in mid-twenties. Plays as Camila's twin brother. Wears bear-skin briefs and a sheath for his sword strapped onto his back (you know, like a quintessential barbarian). He has mid-length red hair, brown neko ears, a tail that comes out a hole in the back of the briefs, and glove and boot-like fur over his hands and feet. He has yellow, cat-like eyes. Oh, and retractable claws and fang-like pointed teeth. His sword has a silver, jeweled hilt, inset with the clan symbol.
Callsign: Kareem Thrend (Car-eem)
Clan insignia: An anvil
Skills/Hobbies: Master swordsman (online only, of course), and knows most foreign or even dead languages.
Interests: Hanging around the communities and participating in fighting/adventure PSs with his "sister"
Contacts: Diatt-En, Mirai, Kyoku, and, of course, Camila. Also some other PS buddies and people from the guild, like Kumonawannago, Dakindgaiyuluftahait, Kumonankikme, and so on.
Neighborhood#/Associations: #357, the Aryan clan

Name: Kathrien Kasa
Off-Line Description: 16-year-old girl, short, black hair, wears a pink jumpsuit.
On-Line Description: Tall, slender, blonde, twenty-something. Plays as Kareem's twin sister. Wears minimal armour & a breastplate (think Xena). Has all the same cat-features as her "brother" but with a leopard spot pattern in the fur, and one of her eyes is green, the other brown. On her back are a quiver of arrows and a bow with a silver jeweled handle w/the clan symbol .
Callsign: Camila Thrend
Clan? Signia: an anvil
Skills/Hobbies: Archery, some basic martial arts. Photographic memory.
Interests: Hanging around the communities and participating in fighting/adventure PSs with her "brother."
Contacts: Diatt-En, Mirai, Kyoku, and, of course, Kareem. Also some other PS buddies and people from the guild, like Kumonawannago, Dakindgaiyuluftahait, Kumonankikme, and so on.
Neighborhood#/Associations: #642, Aryan Clan

Yes, they consider eachother brother and sister, and act like it too, even though they've never met in real life. Kareem's also very protective of Camila.

Wheeeeee

Name: Maverick Strife
Off-Line Description: About 6'3", deceptively strong, as his muscles aren't very noticeable. Shoulder-length block hair that spikes off, the tips ending in red.His clothing varies, and some have noted that he never wears the exact same outfit twice.
On-Line Description: Basically exactly the same as off-line, except he has vampyric fangs and a megaman-ish armor, which is black with golden outlines. However, he hides said armor under a tattered black cloak, which allows for the sight of part of his legs. Although, like off=line, his appearence varies, though not as much.
Callsign: FinalGenesis
Clan? Signia: Sword pointing down to the left, in front of a rainbow-colored orb.
Skills/Hobbies: Hacking, fighting PS's (mainly sci-fi and oriental, won a tournament or two), sword-fighting (in and out of the VR)
Interests: *points above*
Contacts: None.
Neighborhood#/Associations: Neighborhood 0066, Head of the Ioli clan.

OOC: Oh yeah. And one last thing. There is a currency, in the Virt. You can get money doing various things. If you make something, such as a PS, or an item, you can pretty much sell it. If you made a PS you would get money every time it was used for a limited amount of time (depending on the complexity). You could also get money inside the PSs. Such as winning a fighting tournament, etc. Loads of other stuff as well. And you can only get your items by buying them or receiving them as a gift. What we start with is there immediately, but if you want more expect to either pay, or have a very good friend somewhere. And here we go!!!


Bright light beat down on him from the infinite of sky above him. He was running, faster and faster, the world blurred around him, but when he looked back it was exactly the same. The men with the nooses and black metal rods were advancing ever so slowly. But no matter the speed they always seemed to gain on him. One raised a peculiar device and pointed it at him.... he felt odd... THE PAIN!!! He screamed.

And awoke with a start in the cool blue conditioned room where he slept. He'd been having dreams lately, and they were all different. They were almost like the Virt, only much less vivid in coloration and spectacular in design. It was... different. Maybe that's what its like outside... No. That couldn't be it. Jenra had never been outside, so of course that couldn't be it. Shrugging to himself he swung around to sit on the side of his bed as the little service robot brought him his breakfast. Its sameness was comforting to him as he drank the energizing grean liquid and devoured the thick meaty substance of the meal. Slowly, and carefully, he stood. But for all his caution he accidently knocked the plate over to clash on the floor with harsh sound to his modified ears. Wincing he made his way to the VC to plug into the Virt while the little robot cleaned up the mess. After settling himself into the harness, he let the machinery carry him upwards. Unseeing he took the jack into his right hand and methodolically plugged it into the receptical behind his ear. The world around him faded away replaced with one of more real than life sensations, and vibrant color.

Kirai woke slowly, and stretched. As he sat up one of the servbots that worked throughout his house zoomed forward with a plate of hot food for breakfast. Quickly downing the food and the cool beverage, Kirai made his way to another room and began his morning workout with a few laps around the small room. And so for an hour he went through various exercises to keep fit. He didn't really trust the Virt to exercise him while he was inside the simulation. After his hour of daily exercise he drank down the glass of energizing liquid offered to him by the nearby servbot before chaning from his current jumpsuit to a fresher one and then heading to the virt simulator. Climbing into the harness, Kirai plugged in the Virt and his vision started to cloud but slowly it started clearing minutes later. As his vision became clear, Kyoku, as he was known in the Virt to his few friends, saw floating in the 'air' a few messages addressed to him.

Browsing through his messages he began to throw some out and keep others. "PS invite... toss. Sword lesson request... toss. Fighting Tournament notification... toss. Ah, here's a good one, fuedal japan PS, I'll look into this later." Quickly he cleared the messages, finding none from his few friends and but that one worth keeping. "Okay, now down to the days fun. How can I mess with Admin Ketsunoana today? Yesterday I ruined his dinner, so today... I'll twist his Virt settings!" And so Kyoku had decided. He sat down and started moving his way through the Virt network until he had reached where he wanted, a random house in neighborhood 6521. Poor guy. If they trace it to him he'll get evicted. From that house he began to access other houses, creating a veritable spider web so that the admins would have an almost impossible time tracing it back to anyone specifically before he broke into Ketsunoana's Virt and rearranged his settings before pulling out.

"There, I've ruined his life for today. So onto some other things," Kyoku said as he began to wander around the Virt in search of something to do.

Diatt-En soared above the city streets. He couldn't understand why most people didn't have wings, flying was in itself luxurious. Of course, that was likely because in the Virt, the air was always fresh, the sky never too bright. Everything didn't itch, or scratch, or bite. Not unless there was some specific reason for it too. The only real problem Diatt-En could find with the Virt was it's lack of reliability. You could never tell if what it showed you was the truth, or if the mainframe was merely humoring you.
He swooped down low over the city below, scanning for a specific building. When he landed he gave a little mental torque, and the familiar transparency of the item/utilities subscreen opened before his eyes. Yes, he was right. He only had 3,512 credits left. He would have more, but for some reason the AI of his house had seen it fit to spend most of it to genetically modify his ears. Not that he would have minded, but for the cost. Luckily, or not, he had nowhere near enough for actual wings. If he did, he might wake up one day to be flat broke. And then he'd be stuck with plain, boring, food and drink till he built his creds back up. Checking again to make sure that his files for the new PS he made were still there. (It was the same fantasy based he normally made, where the participants could either be the heroes trying to destroy a monstrous dictatore, or the bounty hunters trying to stop them. And it had plenty side monsters and NPCs to make things interesting. It would definately boost his creds a lot.) He stepped inside the building. The PS distribution central building. Once loaded into the system, the computer would judge the complexity and credit gaining possibilities of the PS, and players would be charged accordingly. And for an period of time he would recieve due income. After he had finished uploading, Diatt-En stood torn for a moment at the mouth of the corridor which had doors branching off of it to head into PSs. Eh. I'll give it another go. After messaging his clan so that they would know where he was, he entered a waiting room and... changed his mind. Maybe some other day. Almost dejectedly he headed back out, and took once more to the skies.

Mirai crept silently through the undergrowth, watching his prey carefully. He normally despised PSs that were little more than glorified deathmatches but this one offered a considerable amount of creds. He figured he would take advantage of the situation. There were a few things that he wanted to purchase and his sword needed repairs.

The two gunners he had been stalking turned their high-powered rifles to a traget out of his field of vision. A third gunner walked slowly toward them, hands in the air. The first two visibly relaxed and went over to greet their teammate. Mirai used this opportunity to get closer.

The fools. He thought. They let their guard down so quickly.

He had been able to secure a position only a yard away from the three gunners. He was absolutely silent in the tree he took refuge in and examined the movements of his quarry. They were restless. They knew he was in the area but his exact location was a mystery to them.

Far too easy.

Mirai lept at them, sword at the ready. With one stroke he decapitated the nearest gunner. The other two were so shocked they simply stared as he ran off into the shadows. Regaining their sense they gave chase only to find no sign of Mirai.

Then a second fell, clutching his side. He was bleeding profusely and screaming in horror and pain. The third gunner began shooting madly into the darkness. Fear had consumed him completely. Mirai ended his misery by piercing his heart.

"Game over."

"58...59...60!"

Clive tossed the bench press onto its safety. He had gotten up to 95 pounds altogether today, without including the bar. He started to breathe heavily. He brought himself up from the bench and wiped his brow. Not even a sweat dared appear. He got up and waved at the servbot. The small, light brown handed himself a squeeze bottle filled with water and a dish towel. He sprayed it over the equipment just for the sake of using it again. Especially the places he THOUGHT he sweated on. He tossed back the rag and the bottle and the bot caught it with its robotic hands.

"I still think that you should let me do that for you. Either that or I'd be scrap metal," the bot spoke to Clive. He snickered.

"I just don't think that you should be cleaning up my messes all the time. Here and there, I'd like to do things myself. Then I won't feel so incompetent." He sighed.

"Don't worry boss," the servbot replied, "We're just glad to serve you." Clive smiled.

The videophone rang. Clive cursed. It was probably one of the higher ups with another problem in his neighborhood. He picked up the receiver as an aged man appeared on screen.

"Hello Mr. Ferguson. What do I owe you your-"

"Can it, Clive. This is no time for pleasentries. There is crime and hacking rampant in the Virt. We need all available admins to-" Clive cut the connection. He didn't want to hear the old man flap his chunky gums at him anymore today.

Clive slid on the Virt suit and activated the system. The change to virtual was blinding at first, but he adjusted and was fine.

A slur of messages were brought to his attention as soon as he felt well again from the change. Most were from newcomers, wanting a helping hand with site changes or information. He pointed a finger at them and brought them into a folder that was labelled, "To do list". Others were PS' that he had no interest of joining. He had a lot to do today. A trashcan appeared and swallowed those messages up.

From the masses, a golden piece of paper emerged from his stack. It was from Ketsunoana. He wanted to talk at his house domain. Something about a constant hacker on his settings and database. Gemini sighed and snapped his fingers. A TRON-style bike, blue with black rims, appeared from random data. Gemini got on and raced through the Virt Net to the preput domain.

"Damn, do you people never check the entire list of participants?"

Mirai felt and heard a bullet barely skim past his left ear, the shot bouncing off the ground with a large clang.

"Though I must thank you, it's always nice when other players do all the work for you..."

Several more warning shots wizzed past Mirai's ears, bouncing off the ground again. Maverick smirked from his perch, silently jumping from tree to tree, continuously shoots shots that just skimmed past or barely scraped Mirai's sides, toying with him.

So ignorant people seem to be these days...

OOC: Umm... perhaps you should not use another persons character Maverick? Unless of course G24 gave his permission but... if he didn't that is not the best of choices.

OOC: It's not really using if I say the bullets miss. Besides, even if I said some hit him, he could just say he dodged. =P

Besides, whats wrong with using another character to introduce your own?

OOC: Because it's not really introducing your own character if you don't even Make a Reference to them.

OOC: All in due time, mieun friend. I'm a lazy bastard anyway. It's late, I'll type up a description when I feel the need.

Theodore rose out of his bed slowly, with the help of one of the robots. He leaned heavily on it, though in actuallity he weighed far less than would be normally healthy for a human, and it helped him to his cane. From there, he gradually made his way to his chair at the table, where the meal was prepared and waiting. As usual, he was having some variety of soup, and had his teeth waiting in a glass next to the bowl for when he was finished. After the soup was done and he had fitted his teeth in, he lifted himself up on the cane and went through his methodic routine of getting ready for the day, aided by the servbots all along the way. Finally, he made his way to the harness and relaxed back into the chair as the servbots hooked him up. Everything faded away, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

Kathrien sat up groggily, yawned, and climbed out of bed. She showered, ordered a generic sort of porridge with some flavoring for breakfast, and after that was done, checked herself in the mirror. She tried her hair in a few different positions before deciding it didn't really matter if noone was going to see it. She stretched back and forth, and climbed into her chair. After everything was rigged up, she tapped the button and was pulled into the Virt.

"Hi, Cam. What took you so long?"
"I'm sorry, were you waiting long?"
"Naw, I got some more programs translated, and fixed up the grammar in another automatic translator."
"How come you never make them work the first time?"
"If you sell a man a fish, you feed yourself for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you lose a valuable customer. Now come on, let's find something to eat in here."
Camila giggled, "You know it's just a waste of creds to eat in the Virt, right?"
"Oh, but it's so much cheaper! And anyway, you wouldn't want me to have to face any PSs if I skipped breakfast, now would you?"
They laughed and walked along together.

Satoshi sighed as he woke up,still in his chair and ready to enter the virt,he was plugged almost immediately and stretched,making sure his hood was over his head he headed off to find an interesting PS.

Gemini blew across the Virt net like a blur. This bike was given to him as a 'present' of sorts, for his first day on the job of an admin. He knew that lots wanted the job of Administrator for its almost unboundared power or respect. But, there were others that believed that there was too many hackers roaming the Virt world.

Fixing their mess wasn't pretty.

Gemini's bike slowed and stilled to a halt at a domain sign. It was the one that Ketsunoana had told him to go to. One would think that the admins would share their domains freely, but with the amount of breaking and entering going on nowadays, they were forced to delete their contact list of other Admins. Gemini touched the sign, and in an instant, the Admin and bike were gone.

As Kyoku wandered around the Virt world he started checking out various places and scanning their menus for cred costs. Nothing in particular seemed to catch his eye that was worth spending his creds, he having precious few of them lately. He just didn't feel like doing anything to earn them. Several times he had almost talked himself into 'borrowing' creds from other annonymous users but his sense of morals overcame him, deciding that ruining Ketsunoana's life was the only reason he should use his hacking skills. His only option now was to find a way to earn some creds. And as he walked one of the many instant messages from unknown users caught his eye.

It was yet another pesky request for sword lessons from a new home owner, but this one was offering money but was asking for a rather long amount of time each week. But money was money so Kyoku sent a reply stating that he would teach him but expected pay in advance with the first payment immediately. Rather than recieve a reply from the man, Kyoku's cred total popped up and his total creds lept from a mere 2,000 to 4,000 and an attached message read: Be at my home site in one hour. PS: this is two weeks in advance.

"An hour? Damn, that isn't enough time to do a thing but wander around."

Kareem looked through his mail carefully on the way to the common-grounds, opening and reading each one and asking Camila's opinions.
"Honestly, sometimes you're so naive. A quick glance will tell you there's a few from the guild, and the rest is junk."
"Hey now, some of this junk might be junk I'm interested in."
She sighed and waved her hand across his pop-up window, clearing everything. "The guild messages weren't anything important either, you know, except for an invite to a battle PS later today. Team match, you know."

Mirai grinned behind his mask. He knew that this opponent would be difficult to defeat. And frankly, he didn't care enough to take the time and effort to fight him. He reached into his pack.

"We shall meet again later." He said. "I have other players to eliminate right now."

Mirai threw down the flash bomb and disappeared as his attacker was blinded by the light.

Maverick brought his hand up to shield his eyes from the light that seeped through the branches around him. Once Mirai was gone, Maverick jumped down from the tree, his tattered cloak/poncho swirling around him as he landed.

"*sigh...* Looks like I'll have to find someone else to kill. Oh well."

Just as he said that, Maverick found hismelf surroundedby about ten rifleman, who were hiding in the high grass around them. Maverick msirked, and just as the rifleman fired, he jumped back into the tree above him, jumping out again and shooting down the remaining rifleman, most having been shot by their teammates. Maverick landed and holstered his gun, disappearing after Mirai in a small concentrated flash of lightning.

A vid-window opened next to Diatt-En, and showed Camila's smiling face, with the commongrounds behind her. "He-yo! We," she elbowed Kareem, who was halfway through a caramel-coated apple, "don't have any plans for today, so we were wondering if you wanted to find a PS we could go in together."

Diatt-En was slightly startled when the window popped up next to him, he hadn't talked to any of his friends, or aquantainces is closer, in a while. But his shock didn't last long,
"Hold on a minute. I need to land.", he spoke.
"We can wait."
"Okay." The vid-window followed him down on his spiraling decent, and he found himself absently wondering if both of them were real. It would be just like the computers to send someone after him, just to make sure he didn't get lonely. But he discarded that idea when he saw them laughing together through the window. They're like a real family. That's more than most people can boast... The chances that one of the AIs were that complex were very slim. Not that it mattered anyways...
"Okay. I can talk now. But I truly, I haven't PSed in a while..."
"And?"
Diatt gave a mental sigh, "Alright. Where do you want to meet? I just finished a new PS, so if we do that one we can get some price bonuses. But whatever/wherever you prefer."

Gemini stepped out from the sign he had entered earlier. Ketsunoana's mess was fixed, finally. Whoever screwed up his settings decided to do a quick, but thourough job of it. The traceables were webbed beyond his tracing power, though. Gemini readjusted his glasses in disgust.

He pointed a finger to the "New Mail" sign that was conveniently put in a few days ago. A few messages popped in out of nowhere, rolled up with a brown elastic. Underneath the messages were the usernames who were the creators.

Gemini noted that most were just newbies needing a hand. He would leave that for last. But, one of the messages caught his eye.

It was from Admin Central.

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To: Gemini
Subj: Personal Scenario problem
From: ACB

Admin Gemini,

There has been a break in and tampering at the Personal Scenario Central HQ. We believe that a hacker or a group of hackers are trying to tamper with the credit system. One would think that they would pool all credit into their Personal Scenarios, make them quick to do, and escape with their credit. At the same time, the total influx of credit to a few will decrease the credit value of the rest of the Scenarios to be played. The group or soloist should still be inside PSHQ, as the security is still holding, but falling at the same time. We have notified two other administrators about this problem, as a full scale assault would most likely tip them off and leave vital sectors open for attack/hacking. Please respond to this letter as soon as possible.

Yours Truly,

ACB (Admin Central Board)

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The message rolled itself up and vanished without a trace. The disintegration backed up the fact that no other fleeting eyes would see the message. Gemini got on his ride quickly. The Taurus (bike's name) started to humm.

{Please enter destination}

"Personal Scenario Headquarters," KS said to the bike. The AI let off a low humming sound as it registered the coordinates.

{Accepted. ETA 5 minutes}

The Taurus burst to life and cut a line of cyberspace dust in his wake, en route to PSHQ.

OOC - I just put that to keep me occupied. Seeing as I'm the only admin an all Anyone whos hackers can play the role IF they want to.

OOC: Well, it shan't be me who takes that, for as I said, Kyoku's got enough ethics and morals and crap to not do that sort of thing. He only does it to make Ketsunoana's life hell. And BTW, I don't mind if you use Ketsunoana again. I kinda created him as an enemy for my guy. Maybe soon I'll create a profile for him.


Kyoku walked over to the PS HQ and started checking the menus of current PSs available to see if any were worth spending credits on. But so far he didn't see much of anything. There were many fighting ones, some war ones, and quite a few that placed emphasis on firearms. None of these interested Kyoku. But as he scanned the list he saw one made by Diatt-En and was intrigued. He'd been in several of Diatt's and they were all pretty good. Unfortunately this one lacked a description thus preventing Kyoku from making a set decision. Maybe I should message him to ask him about it.
Kyoku stops and calls up a message box and sends a text message only to Diatt-En that reads:

Hey Diatt, I saw the new PS and it lacked a description. Mind filling me in on it? Thanks, Kyoku.

"Sure, we can do the one you made. Let's meet at the entrance to PS Central, 'kay?"
"Um, sure."
"See you then."
She stepped on Kareem's tail and cleared her throat, "Ow! Hey, that hurts."
"Oh, grow u-" and the window closed.

Diatt-En was about to take off again when a transparent new message warning flashed in front of his eyes. Sighing he opened it. It was a message from that one... elf? guy he had met once. After studying it for a moment, he started his reply.
It's just sort of a standard medieval adventure type game. It's very complicated actually, but I was about to try it out with some friends. I think you'd be welcome along, just meet us at the PS Central building and we can try it out.
--Diatt-En
After sending his message Diatt-En once again took off, and backtracked his route. Heading back to PS Central.
**************
An indescript hacker cast his mental projection about. To the casual observer he was just one more person who fell asleep in Virt. Or to any observer. But leaving his 'body' behind was easy with the right programs. And it also made him nigh untraceable. Plus with that credits diversion on the PSs would help to keep the Admins off his trail. It was really quite easy. Scanning a PS list he found a fairly complex one. Another one of Diatt-En's. Those were usually a little to complicated for his work, so the hacker had left them alone before now. And this one was top of the line. Perfect. Among all AIs, and loops, and variables, things this small virus would be undetected. And upon completion of the quest... excellent. The entire Virt would feel his wrath.

OOC: The plot thickens.