(Day 1) ==> Adelle: Enter

[elegantsyringa]

Your name is Adelle Pteroi and today is shaping up to be a pretty AWFUL DAY! Between meteors hitting the planet and the tremors you can feel from the shore as they land into the ocean, you are not looking forward to the waves that will eventually hit, sooner or later. Which is perhaps why you have shuffled along to get Selach started on your entry, as soon as you managed to confirm Lyn was not dead.

It's not even 10 minutes later that you're making weird, vaguely screechy noises because somehow the outfit you were working on has ended up in your kernelsprite. Your despair over the hours of work on the lilac embroidery on it that is now wasted is INDESCRIBABLE.

This is perhaps an exaggeration, but you are still quite upset about it.

}!{ Nooooo!!
}!{ Selach, what happened?
}!{ That was five hours of needlework!
}!{ Five!
}!{ Oh goodness and now it's all just -- sitting there on a game construct that can't even talk.

DANDYSPRITE is kind of hovering uselessly in a corner, considering it's really just a bunch of clothes with a tail that moves vaguely to give the impression of there being an actual person.


...

You had been expecting quite a few things to happen; after everything it was hard to not believe that anything could happen at this point. You simply weren't expecting to end up in a place with absolutely no water, and to see your lusus flop around on the floor desperately as you watch him struggle to breathe. Your composure slips away from you rapidly as it sinks in that there is nothing that either you or Selach can do about this.

...Well, there is ONE THING you can do.

It's another 15 minutes before you finally come back online. Not that you plan to stay on for long.

-- elegantSyringa [ES] has signed on. --

Comments

[artful_transgressor]

You've been agitated ever since your own entry was completed, and your immediate fate settled, as your concerns had then promptly shifted from yourself to your friend-slash-server-slash-tailor. He hadn't been responding to you much during his entry - unsurprisingly - and you'd tried to keep your messages to a minimum so as not to distract him from the necessary process. But you saw him drop off Trollian, and you've been waiting less than patiently for him to sign on again so you can be sure he's all right.

-- artfulTransgressor [AT] began trolling elegantSyringa [ES]. --

hey adelle
you got in right
im assuming thats where you Vanished to just now
unless your husktop just lost power

[elegantsyringa]

}!{ Oh!
}!{ I am in the game now, yes.

You don't care to explain why it took you so long to get back online.

[artful_transgressor]

good
eVerything okay?

[elegantsyringa]

}!{ Everything's fine.

Actually, everything is NOT FINE but you don't intend to tell people that, not when there's already been so many PROBLEMS as it is.

[artful_transgressor]

However, you were not hatched yesterday, and you know Adelle pretty damn well. And that response seems extremely curt and devoid of details.

you sure
you sound kinda preoccupied
at best

[elegantsyringa]

}!{ Oh, do I?
}!{ I'm fine though, really.

[artful_transgressor]

you sure
i mean was the entry rough or anything

At another time, in another context - or without any context - this would be hilarious.

[elegantsyringa]

}!{ A little!
}!{ One of the outfits I was working on ended up getting prototyped.
}!{ But I'm fine.

...You are starting to think insisting this might not work with Lyn.

[artful_transgressor]

you found out iVe been sleeping on like 90% of the shirts youVe made me
cant imagine thatd bug you that much
so what else did you prototype
your lusus?
or haVent you done a second prototyping yet

[elegantsyringa]

}!{ Ah, but I didn't spend five hours doing embroidery for your shirts!
}!{ It's just sad seeing my hard work all wasted on a ghost that can't even talk.
}!{ I haven't decided yet.

...You choose to not comment about your lusus, though it seems a lot of the others have dead lusii now too.

[artful_transgressor]

i know i prototyped mine
but he was dead
though i guess that doesnt matter one way or the other if my ancestor prototyping himself while he was aliVe means anything

is your lusus okay still
i mean i guess you can prototype him eVen if he isnt but obViously its better if he is

[elegantsyringa]

}!{ How did that turn out?
}!{ Prototyping your lusus, I mean.

[artful_transgressor]

horribly
as with all things in my life
but i blame that entirely on my ancestor and his prototyping
i think the theory itself is sound

also if you think i missed the fact that you completely dodged the question youre outta your goddamn pan
what happened

[elegantsyringa]

}!{ Oh, urm.
}!{ My lusus is...
}!{ Dead.

[artful_transgressor]

...shit
i mean i kinda figured you werent being all eVasiVe about it for good reasons but still
sorry man
you can always try prototyping him i guess?
like
you can barely tell i prototyped my lusus at all but i think thats cause my ancestor came before him
and hes kinda taken charge of the sprite and my lusus just couldnt compete with that
but all youVe prototyped is clothes
so at worst youre gonna end up with some kinda finbeast in a suit

[elegantsyringa]

}!{ I...
}!{ I'm not sure, to be quite honest.
}!{ I don't think I'll be able to do it.

[artful_transgressor]

hunh?
why not?
like eVen if it doesnt work perfectly isnt it better than him staying dead

[elegantsyringa]

}!{ Well...
}!{ I had to kill him.

[artful_transgressor]

wait
what?

[elegantsyringa]

}!{ When we entered, there was no water.
}!{ And...

...You're not sure if you want to finish that sentence.

[artful_transgressor]

oh
holy shit
just
god
im sorry
that is pretty much the worst thing i haVe eVer fucking heard
just
fuck

There don't seem to be words to accurately convey how terrible you feel for Adelle, or how shitty you feel for prodding him into talking about it. Pity isn't something you feel often, partially because - at least up until you entered the game - there weren't many people who were in a situation as terrible as your own, but this is even worse than what you went through. You knew intellectually that life could suck as badly - or even worse - for seadwellers as it has for yourself, but this is honestly the first time you've actually seen it do so.

And you do feel pity. A lot of it. It's...kind of unsettling, actually.

POST-ENTRY

[debonairbelletrist]

There you Are, Adelle! Is everything Alright? Did you enter the medium sA7ely? You hAd better hAve entered the medium sA7ely! DisAppeAring like thAt.......

It is only after you have sent your message that it occurs to you that you may be being NEEDLESSLY DIFFICULT. The abrupt disappearance of your friend from Trollian, however, was a blow against your poise that you did not suffer lightly. Losing a friend is not on your list of things to do tonight. It is also a very REAL possibility that you have no immediate means of effecting, a fact you have acknowledged and grown increasingly frustrated with despite your resolution to explore the planet upon which you found yourself in the hopes of ascertaining your next move and shedding light upon that of your fellow players as well. You believe it will be an infinitely easier task once all players have entered the game safely. Right now, you will settle for news of your friend's safe entry into the medium, after which all but one player will have entered.

Re: POST-ENTRY

[elegantsyringa]

}!{ Ufufufu, I apologise for that.
}!{ But I am fine and well.

This is something of a lie, but not technically untrue, all things considered. Thus it's not really a lie, and you're keeping to that thing where you don't say things you don't mean. You don't want to worry her any more than you already have, of course.

[practicullity]

Wha7? Don'7 you like clo7he5?
You can 7hrow 5ome7hing el5e in 7here now. Maybe 5ome7hing 7ha7 can 7alk. And i7 will look dapper and o7her word5 you u5e 7o de5cribe fa5hion-5uave people.
I don'7 under57and 7he problem here.

You really don't understand your childhood friend.

[elegantsyringa]

}!{ I was hoping to actually wear it, Selach!
}!{ As dapper as it looks now.
}!{ I'll go prototype something else after I get in.