*hacker voice* I'm in

[runawaystory]

[Somewhere during the Dockside portion of this Liminal Space...

The entire network--shudders. Voices and feeds abruptly cut out, then flicker back to life, then out again. In and out, in and out. Finally, the network stabilizes, though it still wavers, thoughts not getting through as clearly as they ought. Also, there's now an unfamiliar voice in everyone's head.

Well. Sort of unfamiliar. It's still Rosalie's. But it's also not her at all.]



Wow, you guys really went all out on this one, didn't you? But you should've spent a little more on your security~



[Those wanting to find Rosalie, or whoever she is at the moment, can find her lounging on an out-of-the-way rooftop. Her current overlay will only be familiar to the few remaining veterans, as it comes from a long-ago Jaunt: the Spark.]

Comments

[happyhalloween]

What security?

[It's a little girl's voice.]

[runawaystory]

That's exaaactly what I'm talking about! "What security", she says.

[happyhalloween]

I think there's things that people can do to keep stuffs private. But I forget how half the time.

[runawaystory]

You and everyone else in here, judging by how easy it was to get in.

[happyhalloween]

Ooooh, did you hack your way in? Can you do that to the psychic network? I can hack, but I can only do that stuffs with computers. Papa taught me.

[All the modern people may now be very disturbed by the prospect of Maria hacking into things.]

[runawaystory]

Obviously I hacked my way in. I saw a secure network and I thought to myself, I wonder what they're talking about in there? Maybe they'll have any explanation for how I got sucked into their play pretend.

And then I got distracted by how incredibly shit your security is.

[...Rosalie will feel bad about swearing in front of a kid. Eventually. Once she's no longer a flashback.]

[happyhalloween]

It was probably the big bullies that run this place. They take everybody.

[runawaystory]

Oh, really.

Tell me more.

[happyhalloween]

They don't share their toys. We tried to punch them once but Malik was the only one that actually got one on the nose.

[runawaystory]

Well, that doesn't sound very nice.

[Roz sounds rather gleeful at the idea of someone new to hack. It's okay, they probably deserve it.]

[happyhalloween]

I know they have servers. I saw them in the conversation space.

[runawaystory]

Conversation space.

[Roz's attention is all on Maria now, her mind kicking into overdrive as she slots this new information into what she knows about the Spark's VR worlds.

...The servers are a little weird, but some people like that retro aesthetic.]

Tell me more.

[happyhalloween]

There was cocoa! It had twelve marshmallows. And a mirror and throne and empty boxes.

[runawaystory]

Okay, but who did it belong to?

[happyhalloween]

The dumb old Trumps. They're meanies that don't share and don't want to let anybody else be as good as them, so they try to get rid of anyone that's gonna become like them.

[runawaystory]

[Wouldn't be the first time that a VR's admins have gone a little crazy with power. That's not very interesting, though.]

Mmm. What else?

[happyhalloween]

They keep yanking all of us into conversation spaces. But the one right now is a lot spookier. Naoki showed us.

[runawaystory]

And? What are they doing in there?

[happyhalloween]

Talking.

[runawaystory]

That's it?

[Not that talking can't be interesting. But she'd be kind of hoping for something a little juicier.]

[happyhalloween]

They gave us chairs and beverages?

[whydoyoushine]

Oh, big whoop, you found the network.

Call me when you do something really interesting.

[runawaystory]

Can't be that uninteresting, if you were trying to hide it in the first place.

[whydoyoushine]

Who says I was trying to hide it?

[runawaystory]

Well, not you in particular, I guess. But somebody.

[whydoyoushine]

How do you know it's not just me in particular?

I could just be messing with you--all this could just be one big game.

[runawaystory]

[she laughs raucously (yes, even in her thoughts) before responding.]

Oh, my god. This is too good. This could just be one big game! I need to archive that for when I need a laugh.

[whydoyoushine]

Or I could just be distracting you for something else to happen...

[Or he could just be bored, done with people flashing back to infiltrations, and is dicking around to compensate, as one does.]

[runawaystory]

[Roz is utterly convinced that she's been nabbed by a virtual reality gone haywire aboard the Spark, so as far as she's concerned, everything he says a joke that only she (as the one person who isn't part of the virtual reality) understands.]

Oooooh, I'm sooooo scared.

[whydoyoushine]

You should be. I'm kind of a big deal.

[runawaystory]

Only "kind of"?

[whydoyoushine]

What, you never heard of understatement for dramatic effect?

[solvethepuzzle]

[Well. This is alarming. Or it would be if Near were more given to such things. Interesting is probably a better word.]

And what makes you say we went 'all-out' save for the security? [He'll humour this for as long as he needs to.]

[runawaystory]

Nice work on the atmosphere, for one. It doesn't look pre-made, or at least not obviously. And the network... I mean, points for effort, at least. I'm sure it adds...something...to the proceedings.

[solvethepuzzle]

The atmosphere rarely disappoints. Though I suppose the network can be a bit of an intrusion at times.

[runawaystory]

So bounce to a different world if you don't like it.