[Jaunt] Testing, testing...

[vrepit_no]

All right, let's get a headcount. This is Shiro - Takashi, might be a better plan here. Speak up with your name, faction, and if you know anyone who's infiltrating or missing please!

I'm getting the feeling we were at least partly anticipated here. Can we get a run-down of which colors mean what and whether or not people expecting us is a good thing here? It was much clearer in Questing Country.

Comments

[leftbehindagain]

And that would be the main reason I'm not dropping the honorific, Shiro-san. [Even when there's not a ready source of confusion, it helps.]

This is Naoki. I'm still with the Revolutionary faction, but considering I helped start it that doesn't really surprise me. Naoto, Kanji, and Jean haven't responded to me. I don't think Anafiel-san or Hanamura are here at all, so there's probably a walkabout.

I don't know if this means Naoto and Kanji are the same people they were last time. [And he's not sure whether to hope Kanji is or isn't, all things considered.]

Being anticipated... isn't as bad a thing here as it could be in most other places. I'm a little surprised it came from the Cryptos and not the Revolutionaries, considering three-quarters of the officer pool vanished at the end of the last jaunt.

[vrepit_no]

You really can just call me Takashi, you know. But all right, all right, whatever makes you comfortable. This is going to be a weird Jaunt. [But absolutely awesome too.]

I've got white lights - so that's... Variable, right? Except for one arm. Which I suppose I expected it to be different, but I didn't think it could actually change colors like that.

I'm missing Allura - I don't think she's here, or Keith, but that should mean they're together, wherever they are. Jean's giving me that weird busy signal - I'm assuming that means he's here but infiltrating. Tachibana's not here either. Or Kinji.

[verdeleonessa]

Pidge here. I'm with Matt and we're calling ourself HOLT-1 and HOLT-2 for now, since it seems to be a theme.

I haven't seen Allura, Keith or Thace anywhere so far. Lotor doesn't seem to be here either. At least none of them are answering me.

[vrepit_no]

Pidge! Good - glad to hear your voice. You and Matt boot up white?

[loyalrebel]

Malik here.

White are Variables, what they call Investigators here. The rest of what I know is, admittedly biased as my previous overlay was a Defender and Automata.

Red are Defenders, think guards or police. Blue are Miners, they tend to be explorers. Yellow are the Revolutionaries, they decided they were too good for rules. Green are the Cryptos, they do not get out much. Purple, like myself, are the Automata, we are... former viruses.

[vrepit_no]

Good to hear from you, Malik. Hopefully we won't need to anticipate much combat here, but it's good to know we have you on our side if it does happen. [He really doesn't want to have to fight you for real. Sparring is quite heavy enough thanks.]

...I'm guessing they're not going to be super excited to see someone partly purple, then.

[leftbehindagain]

Did you ever ask any of us why we did what we did?

[The 'like you want everyone else to do every time you do something' goes unspoken... for now. At least Malik's admitting to a biased perspective, but that only helps so much, and it's not like Naoki or Naoto have been quiet about their faction affiliation since the first jaunt.]

[scarsolderthanyou]

Stone here, and I've got white glow lines on my clothes, so I guess that means Variable. I don't know what any of this shit is, and Azure is something everyone is calling a bit and not happy about it.

[Stone sounds not happy about it, either.]

What are we supposed to be doing? This Rejuvinator thing is a lot more cramped than I'd like.

[Yeah, he's just. Grousing. Sorry, Shiro.]

[vrepit_no]

A bit's a little piece of information that can really only speak in Yes and No, if it's anything like the one's I'm familiar with. People won't expect you to be familiar with what's going on, from the sound of it, if you're in Variable colors, so you should be able to gather information pretty easily. From what I've gathered, though, we're all on a mission to explore and revive an old System.

[tookashirototheknee]

Helpful Obscure Language Technician - 1 here. Otherwise known as HOLT-1.

Now where do I get a lightcycle?

[vrepit_no]

[Sorry, he has to laugh now. Don't mind him. He's fine. Give him a minute.]

[vrepit_no]

I'm not sure yet, Helpful, but when I find out I'll let you know ASAP. Someone said there are personal fliers around here somewhere, so I'm on the look out for those too.

[crouching_sin]

Naoya here. Variable here. I'm still looking around, but I'm also interested in exploring what I can do with this control panel thing...

[vrepit_no]

Control panel? [color him interested]

[butthemiracleneverhappen]

Mean Integer Refining and Calculation Logic reporting in, booted up white.

Better known as Bernkastel, but given that my probabilistic Oracular abilities are fully intact and that I was able to appear as myself, it seemed appropriate.

Do be on the lookout for any program named RIKA or RICA or BERN, though. If that sleight of mind I just performed worked as I think it will, the being who would otherwise be my Overlay will also be present.

[vrepit_no]

....you're calling yourself Miracle?

[stopinthenameofawe]

Melissa. I've booted up fucking purple, which may be a problem.

[It's definitely going to be a problem.]

[vrepit_no]

Yeah, I'm getting that feeling. I've got some purple to me as well, so maybe we can look out for each other. Were you here last time?

[failgoyle]

Jules here, I'm a Variable, and I do better with computers on the outside, thank you very much.

[There's a very long pause.]

Squeak's also a pissy little blinking thing, anyone want to take him for a while?

[vrepit_no]

Pissy little... You mean a Bit? Little blue ball type thing that looks like someone was trying to make a d20 and failed? Spikes into lots of red shards or into an orange d8?

[forcechanic]

Jaina, I'm in half infiltrator mode as a Revolutionary named JEDI.

Phillip and Thorne are definitely both infiltrated. So's Claudia, but I'll get to that since Thorne can't.

[vrepit_no]

[He's not saying anything about the name. He's not saying anything about the name. He's not. He really isn't. ..........he is.]

Any idea what JEDI stands for?

Thanks for taking care of Claudia. She'll really appreciate that.

[unapologeticallyaffected]

Eliot, I don't believe we've met before. They put me in white, thank god, all these other neon colors are just tacky. [Nevertheless, Eliot sounds delighted to be here.]

[vrepit_no]

Good to meet you, Eliot, so to speak. The neon LEDs are pretty normal in this sort of environment, so you're probably going to be seeing a lot of them, but they are very bright. They're not something you can change unless you alter which group you're identified with, from what I can tell.

[repeatitinred]

Uhhh, Ushiromiya Battler. I don't know what faction I'm in, I guess...but I'm in a white outfit. This is my first time in a computer.

[vrepit_no]

[Shiro's going to go with 'Japanese', judging by that name... Let's see if he can manage his honorifics.]

You're in good company there, Ushiromiya-san. [That's a pretty safe bet, right?] If you're in white, then you're a Variable - we don't have ties to anyone and don't have to follow their orders unless we want to, is what I'm getting.

[portinari]

Beatrice Portinari. I am in white, at the moment. And somewhat alarmed that the residents of this place seemed to know to expect us.

[vrepit_no]

Good to hear from you, ma'am. This isn't the first time they've known to expect us - our last visit to Questing Country they held a welcoming party. [Now that was weird.] Still, it's something to be cautious about, I agree. Have you had bad experiences with welcomes like this before?

[bite_the_hand]

[It's about an hour after they arrive before Eren finally speaks up on the Network.]

This is Eren Jaeger. I've been pulled back to myself, but I'm still partially Infiltrating as a Revolutionary program named ERR-N, one of SHIRO's lieutenants. If anyone has any questions, I should be able to answer most of them!

[He's trying to remain professional with his report, but he sounds incredibly pleased and even excited when he says he can answer questions. Since Eren's usually the one that needs to ask questions, he's rather happy to instead be the one with the answers this time.]

[vrepit_no]

One of-- Oh! Right. Thanks Eren. I know Jean's infiltrating, but I haven't seen any of the other Scouts around yet. I'm getting the feeling they may have gone on walkabout.

Any idea what the Revolutionaries are doing here? We're not on the Grid anymore.