holyrelic | First Shot

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First Shot

[There is yet another new and confused face wandering around Mac Anu today. This time, it is a petite Steam Gunner. Currently her attention is split multiple ways; sometimes she is checking her Relic with a look of frustration, others she is looking intently at her surroundings as if it may clue her in on some big secret. And on some occasions, she will stare directly at your character, almost expectantly. At any rate, it is clear she will not be the first to approach, so that will be up to the other to initiate.

However… once approached, she is quick to fire off a question before any pleasantries can so much as begin.]

Where is this place? It isn’t GGO… But it can’t be SAO, either.

…Is it?

[Her voice is calm with only a slight tinge of suppressed fear. Whatever it is she’s saying, it must be some cause for concern. Why else would someone work so hard to control the tremors in their voice?]

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Then... there's no way to complete the game and leave yet-?

Not at all. And it's not like there's technically anywhere to 'leave' to anyway.

What do you mean, nowhere to leave to? Wouldn't we just get back to the real world once we were able to exit the program?

"...real world"?

...Where our actual selves are, outside of the game?

[Please... don't let her have run into one of those hardcore gamers who doesn't acknowledge the real world...]

I'm not sure what you're getting at -- unless you're thinking this is an Astral plane projection of some sort? But these really are our bodies. The pain associated with hit point loss is a pretty big indication.

...But it's not. This isn't my real body at all. I look completely different.

Isn't this all just an online game we're all experiencing through the Amusphere?

Completely different?

[He's not sure what to imagine when she says that, so he carefully doesn't.]

'Online game'? I'm not sure how much I should lean on the fourth wall here, but... This isn't my original campaign, but I'm definitely still the same Roy Greenhilt I've been all my life.

This is just my avatar for the game.

[She says it like it should be obvious, but after having talked with this guy a little, she wonders...]

You mean... Your name and appearance - that's all what you're really like?

Yes. And actually I'm fond of my family name, so I'm not sure why having it is a bad thing.

--Sorry, it just seemed so unlikely, I-

[Wait, why is she on the defensive here?]

...Either way, it's not possible for us to physically be here. If it's a game, there's nowhere for our bodies to physically be - it's all just data!

Sure, the character sheet. But that doesn't make us any less real.

[Wow, talk about old school.]

Not even character sheets. Try coding instead. This body - [she waves a hand at herself,] - it's all just coding the game randomly generated for my appearance when I joined my original game, to mask my real appearance. It isn't real at all!

I'm not sure what you're getting at by 'coding', but you're saying that this body shouldn't be 'yours', it's just an extrapolation?

Out of curiosity, what makes you sure that this is the same as your old situation?

Yeah, that's right. It's just... a virtual body made to represent me on the 'Net.

Why wouldn't it be?

If your mind can inhabit a virtual body so effectively you can't tell it from a real one, how do you know what your real one is to begin with? Because it's possible that instead of your body being fake, then this is your real body now, and it's just been changed.

...Just logging into a game isn't going to make my whole body change. And it can't be my real body - I remember what I looked like growing up. It wasn't until I started playing video games that I even got this avatar. It's just not possible.

Bodies have definitely changed, though. Take mine for example. I was a mid-high-level fighter back in my old campaign. That implies a number of reflexes and an amount of ingrained training and experience, leading me to be a more skilled combatant over time. Now, in this new campaign, despite the fact that I still have all the memories and experience of both my education and my battles afterwards, I've lost a lot of that skill. I'm not as good a fighter as I was, and that means that even though my body looks the same, it isn't. Both my mind and my body have been altered.

So if this isn't the exact same body I had, then bodies can change. And I don't believe anyone else here has this 'game' experience that you do, or believes their body is just a representation rather than the physical home of their mind.

Now, I'm not saying that you're wrong. I'd be crazy to think that it wasn't possible. Because the whole world being wrong about something is alarmingly likely as a rule. But it's probable that this is your body now, rather than just being a representation.

But isn't that just a part of the character transfer process? You lose your levels and EXP. Your character just can't keep up with your movements anymore because your stats aren't high enough.

[She sounds frustrated. This just isn't lining up at all with the logic she knows to be true!]

That's true, but as a character, this is my body, and in my old campaign, that was my body too. So what I'm saying is that even if you had a 'virtual' body before that you projected into, this one you're in now might be your actual body now.

But I already told you, something like that is impossible!

[And dammit, she's stubbornly clinging to that. Accepting that she appears to be trapped in a game is already difficult enough given all the safety features she knows are supposed to prevent that. But actually becoming her character? As if.]

There's no way something like that could happen. My real body, it's just-

[Just alone in her small apartment, totally unconscious and vulnerable once again--]

It's still in the real world.

[Roy won't claim to have the best Sense Motive, but even he can see she's getting distressed. Time to drop the argument, and try to be gentle.]

Well, if that's so, I don't know of any way for you to get back to it. I do know, however, that food and drink and sleep here will keep you going, until you can find out more about your situation.

--Tch.

I'll keep looking for a way out, then. There's got to be a way.

If there's any way I can help you, let me know.

I don't think I introduced myself. I'm Roy Greenhilt.

Yeah, sure.

[Her tone indicates she... probably won't, though.]

I'm- ...Just call me Shinon.

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greatcleavage - 2012-05-25 23:56 (UTC) - Expand

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tank_sniper - 2012-05-26 06:25 (UTC) - Expand

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