virtual-crisis

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Buddy?

[--A Sonic AU concept/'teaser']

It started with the Time Eater...

History split in two, the present fractured and reassembled. A primordial Force of dark and exotic matter, warped and tampered with for one petty purpose: killing Sonic the Hedgehog.

It was left adrift in the space outside of time, mutilated by the power of the chaos emeralds, and imprinted on by the two mortals that used it as their battlefield. White decays into Null. Life goes on. The Time Eater hungers.

As Sonic and Eggman continue to fight, banter and fight more, what once consumed history itself struggled to cling to the present. Its only way to sate itself: latching onto mortals, entwining itself with their histories and futures in ways not easily forgotten. Terror and torment, torture and mutilation.

But a God does not easily bleed. Reduced to a body to small for its power? Torn into many pieces? Having its heart ripped out and thrown to the void? All had happened to what now called itself 'X'. Those pieces, so-called 'guardians', fragments of the god's mind shedded off in failed attempts to hold itself together.

The 'heart' was named the Phantom Ruby, when discovered on Angel Island.

Amidst the horrors X inflicted on innocents in the depths of "Null Space", it would feel the ripple of its heart passing through, from one timeline to another. A world where the face he hid his wounds under already had a name and owner. He wanted- needed his heart back, but he couldn't manifest his powers back in the 'real' world, save for holding and using a facsimile of a mortal body.

He had no proper name, only his 'title', but he didn't need one to claim the ruby… Except that it had been implanted into an actual mortal, some weakling now calling itself Infinite. He'd have to deign to biding his time, waiting for his chance, trying to blend in.

As 'the Rookie'. As 'Buddy'.

The prototype ruby was helpful for a while, and 'Buddy' was even able to... Cooperate, uneasily, with the blue blur himself. But Infinite vanished with the real phantom ruby upon his defeat....

At least, for a while. Eventually, the wolf finds his prize back home, free to be claimed...

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Virtual Crisis: Character Creation

First in a mini-series of "prologues" for my writing project, Virtual Crisis. I've had to go back to restart and re-edit this project numerous times over the years, but hopefully this time it'll stick.

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Ba-ding!

A chiptune jingle rang through the air as electrical light glinted off a logo: a crest of Earth's eastern hemisphere rotating counter-clockwise, before settling into place as it aligned with the letters 'GE' that it faded to reveal.

'Gaia Entertainment'

After a fade to black, streaks of color flew across the space: red, brown, then scarlet, then orange, yellow and lime, progressing through the color spectrum as Korean lettering revealed itself bit by bit:

벤처 렐름: 그 너머와 그 안

as a circular swirl of neon green began cycling below and to the side, the lettering converted into English:

Venture Realms: Beyond & Within

"Ugh, my eyes...."

A blue light began fading in and out within the green loading indicator, before the colors decreased in brightness as the display ended.

The previously black space then grew in color to become something like a nebula, with fog and mists of various subdued blues swirling in the distance. The speaker--the player--turned this way and that to look around, before realizing, *'Where are my arms and... Where's my body?'*

All that was present was an iridescent aura of energy, insinuated to be a player's consciousness, lacking a proper form in the worldspace of virtual reality. And then...

"Hel-looooooooooooooo, lady gentleman or otherwise!"

A crackle of electricity, swirl of pixels, and a flash of light came and went in seconds, leaving a humanoid figure made of vibrant green plasma, with deep blue "eyes".

"'Ay! Welcome to the world of- well, okay, more like the void preceding... Venture Realms! Beyond and within!" the figure said in a bright, peppy voice, like a television host. All the while, it gestured with its limbs for emphasis.

"...Huh. Wait, Mercedes? Mercedes Newton?" said the player.

The figure paused, hanging in the air and staring blankly for a few moments, before speaking again. "Oh, Mercedes, you say? Good ear, good ear, she's who I get my voice from! I ain't the real gal though, I'm an ar-ti-ma-ficial intelligence made to emulate her," it explained. "She's probably playing the game herself right now, hahah. You happen to know her?"

"Yeah. Yeah... She's a friend of mine," the player replied.

"Ooh, really now? What's your name? I can send her a friend request on your behalf once we're done here."

"Uh, Joshua. Beckett."

The AI facsimile of 'Mercedes' clapped its hands, then gave a thumbs up and a wink. "Funny! My records have you listed as one of her friends! I'll make a note of that for later."

The AI hesitated again, more briefly. "Anyway, back on topic," she started, snapping her fingers a few times as she reoriented upright. "Welcome! Like I said, to Venture Realms! I'm the AI guide for players in this region: Matrix-Affiliated Recreational Catalyst and Informant. You can just call me Marcy for short, heh."

"Yup...? Can we get to the character creation?"

Marcy blinked. "...Oh, ain't got time for my rambling, huh? Alright, yeah yeah, fine, I'll move it along:"

Marcy put her hands up to her sides, palms up. "So, this here's where we'll begin creating your *avatar*, the persona you use, play as, and can *be* within the virtual world. First thing's first, a name:

"...Your name is Joshua Beckett, you say. That your *legal* name?"

"Yup." Joshua said, mildly disengaged.

"Right, riiiight. Quick question: would you like to consent to me accessing available data on you outside of the game, to fill in information for your profile more quickly? You're free to opt out at any time, and we never save more than basic, relevant information on players, nor do we share your information with people outside our moderation teams."

Joshua opened his mouth to speak, invisible within the virtual world, but hesitated. "Uh... Okay, sure."

"Right-o! As a reminder, you can tell me to wipe any of our saved data on you at any time, unless there are extenuating circumstances like, you know, an ongoing criminal investigation on your person that we've been made aware of. Hopefully not relevant!"

"Yeah, that... Won't be a problem."

"Heh, here's hoping. Now, lemme take a read and rundown... Age seventeen?"

"Yes."

"Living in.... Boston, Massachusetts?"

"...Uh, no, New York City, New York."

Marcy smirked, turning her head to the side and pointing a finger coyly at Joshua. "Hah, making sure you're paying attention, I said that wrong on purpose."

"Yeah, sure you are."

"Correct-a-mundo! Now: gender male?"

Joshua paused, looking down, then off to the side. "I, well.... I'm... Sort of male? I guess."

"Oooh," Marcy cooed after processing. "That mean you're genderqueer? Nonbinary? Demi-gender? We're all about that whole 'respecting people's identities' stuff, heheh."

"Well duh, your voice credit is genderfluid. I'm- *I'm* not genderfluid, I'm, uh... I'm demigender, I guess."

".......Gotcha, noting that down. Now, would you like to base your avatar on your, ah, 'meat-space' body?"

Joshua paused again, thinking. "I... I'd rather not, but..." he trailed off.

"Okay, alright, we can do some'n else then. Human, or some other type of entity?"

Joshua perked up. Outside of the game, he put a hand to the front of his virtual reality headset, as it was covering his face. "No, wait, I was gonna say, I'll... Use my real life self as a base."

"Oh! Oops, I'll go change that," Marcy noted, shrugging. "So. 'As a base', you say. Any modifications or such you'd like? I mean, *hopefully* you wouldn't want to be JUST an average human in a sci-fi fantasy RPG."

"Oh obviously not, uh... Can I be, like, a... A were-dragon? Or like, able to transform from human form into a dragon form and back."

"Oh yeah, totally. Human-dragon form-shifter, huh... What kind of dragon?"

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The exchange went on for a while, Joshua dictating his desired self for the game, and the AI making developments and changes to narrow down to his liking.

All around the world, countless others were having similar interactions. Instances of MARCI aided players all around the United States' northeast states, but in other regions, different AI personas appeared to players, representing the various locales they were from.

"¿Ángel? ¡Qué buena elección! ¿Hablamos de representaciones contemporáneas o de algo más 'bíblicamente exacto'?"

"Schockierend, sogar! Mit solchen Kräften wirst du einen Riesenspaß haben!"

「制限については申し訳ありませんが、制限があるにもかかわらず、アバターを楽しんでいただければ幸いです。」

Venture Realms was a runaway success in its week of release, many regions experiencing slowed game performance due to the volume of new players.

"So, bipedal dragon dude, username 'Nocturne of Umbra': can craft weapons from shadow magic, and can project your voice to damaging and debilitating frequencies. Lookin' in the mirror, whatcha think?"

"Yeah... I like it. That all? Can I start the game?"

"That should be it! You ready to start? Gimme a yeah or nah!"

"Yes! Of course?"

I know I'm no celebrity or pro gamer, and maybe the whole darkness motif is kind of edgy and weird, but hopefully I can make up for it with the... ‘Eventful’ content of my story.

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I dont??? Even know what kind of emotions this brings me? All i can think now is Slug-girls and i hate it

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i really could write an essay on how shit is that we’ve completely abandoned the monster-of-the-week episode format even when rebooting shows that relied on it to replace them with grimdark edgy plotlines where nothing feels good or accomplished at the end of the day

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Some Stock Photo Sign Reminders To The RPC From Your Friendly Neighborhood Psychotic Because As Much As I Love Halloween I Am Actively Scared Of This Shit!!

happy goddamn halloween (some of these have captions)

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Will humanity ever be free of the influence of Edna Mode? Can any of us so much as consider the character design for a hero or villain without her manifesting in the room, fully aware of our sins?

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The Radium Girls were a famous group of women who worked as dial painters in the late 1910s to the 1920s. While there were dozens of women who worked in these factories, only a small group of women challenged the company they worked for over their illnesses, which they eventually came to believe (rightfully so) were due to the radium they worked with. All other medical professionals and owners of the companies were aware of the dangers, but failed to warn the dial-painters of the dangers of radium, which had previously been marketed as a miracle element. In fact, the luminosity it gave to one’s skin was considered beautiful and desirable.

The girls painted radium onto the dials of watches in the factories, and often tipped the brushes, still coated with radium, in their mouths. Other radium companies also faced lawsuits after the initial court case, as they had used similar procedures. Numerous girls died due to radiation poisoning, and their battle to recognize the source of their suffering was a long and arduous one. 

Kate Moore has written an excellent book about this topic, aptly named “The Radium Girls,” that I’m reading now. So far, I’d highly recommend. It embellishes points of view and some details to kind of keep the reader in the era, but it’s very well researched and written. There are some graphic descriptions of what happens to these girls, so be wary of that. 

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Counterpoint: The Devil, Lucifer, Hell-prince of Pride knows you know he's fully capable of destroying you. He lets others 'win' against him because Pride is not only a deadly sin, it's HIS deadly sin.

I think my favourite take on the dichotomy between the scriptural Devil and the folkloric Devil is “the Devil is fully capable of kicking your ass, but he chooses to act like a cowardly dumbass because wisdom and courage are virtues”.

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Date a robot with a TV or monitor head.

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Imagine hating homeless people so much u find ways to make their lives shittier instead of providing them with the resources they need

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anyway here’s floridaman

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IF YOU DON'T INTERACT WITH FANFIC AUTHORS, HOW ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHAT YOU'RE ENJOYING?

I mean, seriously; if a fanfic author says "I don't know if I should post x", but you really REALLY think they should - tell them! Go in their ask box on anon and say "hey, x sounds really cool, I think you should post it!". DM them and say "y'know, x sounds good and I'd love to see it".

INTERACT WITH FANFIC AUTHORS! LEAVE FEEDBACK ON THEIR FICS!

Christ, for fuck's sake, how many times do I have to keep repeating that? How many times do I have to keep repeating myself - over and over and over?

How many times do I have to keep begging for people to leave authors feedback, and to interact with authors?

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Time to write book 5 in my series that doesn’t exist yet

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Normal People: I spent like 6 hours designing this OC and I’ll probably redesign them another 5 times before I’m actually satisfied

TheMeatly:

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Fun fact: Egyptian gods do not have ‘animal heads’. The depictions of gods are meant to contain a duality, as is important in Egyptian Religion (life/death, red land/black land, chaos/order, human/animal). So when you see, say, Anubis with a man’s body and a Jackal head it represents both his human form and his Jackal form, meaning he might appear in either form. But never as a human with a Jackal head. That is only something you’d see on temple walls for the duality aspect.

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Virtue requires a delicate balance.