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Aeon - The Odyssey


Phoenix
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Aaaaaand stop. "Well. You could 'ave done worse, ben, zis should be fine. And send... Ehm, I do not sink all forty sousand of zem will be 'ere today, but, maybe a good sousand? Two sousand? I 'ope zat ees not a problem, zese megasims are 'uge, as I know zem from images." Melanie went about watching her phone, smiling as the numbers on the tick started to go up. "Shall we, zen? Eet would probably be good to get zere and start setting up before people show, non?" It would be amusing to see that dolt from before having to deal with such a crowd, and no Mewlanie to control it, but that would probably end up reflecting poorly on Hitomi.

"Sank you bose, by ze way. I am sure zat was not easy."

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“I see.  I didn’t even consider that.  That would definitely be more useful than just showing highlights; especially in a more structured team setting,” Friedrich began to scan for a few more clips which were less showy, but showed the general use of his frame’s modes.  He made sure to include the full teamwipe that Venitus had pointed out as the opening clip for the Thunderbird to capture interest and compressed them into two showcases; one for each mode.

The clip discussion, however, would come to a halt as Hitomi called for the next applicant.  “Well, that’s my cue.  Here’s hoping all three of us make it in,” Friedrich let out another hearty laugh as he approached the table.  Hope they don’t find the mask too off-putting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The loud noises of the arcade were oddly calming to Friedrich.  Despite being a little unaccustomed to the noise, there was a sense of familiarity as memories of last year’s BatCon came flooding in.  He had only been in once before when he was dragged to it by a few overzealous players that wanted to take him on.  He defeated them soundly, but that was just one game that he played just to humor their request.  Today was different, as he stood amongst other potential Team Odyssey members he potentially would have to learn to work with.

The quick trip down memory lane would have to wait.  If what the cat-eared girl said was true, there was a 2,000-something crowd on the way and they were nowhere near ready and with one MegaSim, things were going to take awhile.  Friedrich began to eye each MegaSim; gauging the activity level between each of them.  I’ll see if I can get another one for us,” Friedrich called to Hitomi as he went to look for the attendant; hoping to get another one reserved.  Hopefully it won’t break the bank too much…

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Oh, Karina was glad she was out of that café already. They had certainly overstayed their welcome. Still, her goal was met. While in the grand scheme of things a confident tryout mattered less when so many people auditioned before her, Karina still counted her chances on the live trial. What better way than to speak with your actions instead of your mouth?

Still, things already weren't going to be that easy. Mew had roped Monika into some garbage PR thing to rope in people for an... audience? Karina just remained in the sidelines, thankfully. She was fine as long as she got to play the game. "Good job, I guess." It's not like she had an allowance to break on these things. Still, following and helping set up could be a good idea...

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Being small and diminutive, Helena found herself able to squeeze through the crowds and followed the flow to the arcade. 

Bounding forward, the dusky skinned girl made her way for the Megasim, "Heeeeey! Got a room in the first round of tryouts!" Clapping both hands together in a form of prayer, Helena added, "I promise I won't disappoint!"

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"It sure wasn't," Hitomi forced a big smile at Melanie, "So are we just going to head over to megasim two and wait for the fans to come charging in?"

Come to think of it, if she was going into a megasim, she really ought to get changed into something more suitable. It wasn't her first time, and the cockpits they used for these machines were realistic. Even the control schemes were customizable just prior to a game, and not just the 'button layout.' Hitomi's rig at home could be approximated with a simple data sync. Kind of necessary for the Valkyrie pilots, but a big luxury all the same. Thankfully this wasn't just a feature of the megasims. Control mimics were becoming more affordable in general.

Meanwhile ...

"Bad timing," one of the male arcade goers said, shaking his head at Helena. He missed the part about 'tryouts' but wasted no time in pointing his thumb at Megasim #1 and all the action happening over there. Since they were on the main floor, what passed for the 'top floor' on this side, as anyone drew closer to the view ports, they would be able to see the simulated frame from roughly a sixty degree angle, depending on its height. Megasim #1 was currently in use, and quite crowded. The machine inside was a sleek, winged, sky blue terror, shooting it out with other frames in a space environment. There were also displays around showing more interesting angles, as well as a view into the cockpit. Anyone who wanted even more control over their viewing experience could always use their own devices or a nearby smartglass display to find just the angle they were looking for, either on the machine, or the girl piloting it.

"Kirara's doing her thing but I think there's a servbot around here somewhere you can get a reservation with," the man said, scanning the room a little hoping he could find one to send her over to. No luck, but the traffic near the entrance was heavy, so that was no surprise. "It's Batcon though, so don't get your hopes up for playing at Stratus today," he added with a pitying smile.

Edited by Phoenix
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"Gods above, why is it so loud in this joint?" Venitus asked himself aloud, already knowing the answer. Arcades were naturally loud, a combination of machines set to maximum volume, and a variety of people celebrating whatever achievements they had just, uh, achieved. Despite being a larger man, Venitus was being pushed around to and fro by the whims of the crowd, to the point he had lost any of his new friends, or really anyone who he could recognize. He was able to squeeze himself out around a couple of Frame Ops themed skee ball machines.Taking a look around, he saw where the crowd he had just gotten out of was heading towards. The Megasims, hulking behemoths that were way too large and way too loud for Venitus's tastes, there were seven if he had counted correctly. They seemed to be gearing up, I imagine Team Odyssey grabbed a few for try outs, since they're great for publicity and entertainment. I should go grab one of the normal sims, not only are they cheaper, but they're better since less people will be gathered around them. Venitus took a more roundabout way towards the normal sims. They're certainly not as elaborate or fancy as those large hunks of metal, but they work just fine. Venitus got to his destination and grabbed a timeslot with a normal machine around the time those Megasims would be ready, although at the rate set up seemed to be going, from whatever Venitus could see, he might've scheduled it a tad too early.

Edited by DarthR0xas
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"It seems like it's very quickly becoming something I'll just have to get used to." Monika replied with a gentle sigh, after Melanie cut the recording and sent it off to the internet as bait. The girl's dual suggestion seemed to be the long and short of it, now that Melanie had called in the hordes, all that seemed to be left was moving to the simulator that this Motherloader fellow had surprisingly managed to acquire.

"That seems about right, yeah. I can't think of anything else we'd need to do beforehand, aside from heading over and setting up."

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" Er- ... hurry, everyone! You're going to want to see this up close!"

Retick, like. LunaTicks user, xX [M3Wz] R33LZ M00KZ33Z @ BATCON HYYYPE!!1! (* ^ ω ^)  Xx - felt the swell of his instant dopamine trip drop through his toes as the playback ended. His thumb traced a trail of sweat from a fingerprint-pocked blotch scrambling Mewlanie's digitized face into a spectrum of rainbow refraction.

Makala nearly aced his 1st flesh-and-bone encounter with his idol. But now she was bucking up with Hitomi? And the meek redhead was The Keizeren? He couldn't abate another haunt of his reality that Mewlanie would always be another step ahead of his station. Almost as if she could never be the same if she was brought down anywhere behind him - nevermind his sheer religiosity devoted towards her fandom. Hitomi & Felix - being their own authorities to the pro FO circuit - would now be involved with Mewlanie & he in kind. He might've shirked past the interviews with his alias in tow, but it could be a matter of time until any Odyssey partner would close in on his history of fraud and indict him for the masses.

He panned up as the crowd clustered before the vestibule to the arcade's megasim deck. A cyan cruise-fighter - ostensibly promoting the upcoming expansion - was currently rendered to life before them. Holo stadium screens drifted overhead, streaming what seemed an exhibition bracket previewing battleship gameplay, complete with Juno commentary.

Makala had only read up on simdeck systems. For all the Credits he spent to maintaining his FO setup, pilfering the extensive subsidies contracted out to frame R&D would be astronomical to save just for this megasim. He began piecing his knowledge together, imagining how lifelike it must be piloting inside the cockpit. It was surreal enough that he was registered for Odyssey tryouts, so his first game from a sim only elevated his reality. Yet he would be doing so built in the frame to the achievements of another.

He returned to his screen. "ZOMGZ U R G0N@ D0 PWNZ0RZ 4 T3H 0DC~!!! 1 N0Z U L37Z G37 @ 〜☆ ଲ(ⓛ ω ⓛ)ଲ ଲ(ⓛ ω ⓛ)ଲ G01N M3W CR00! BTW U 4 RLZ @ KEIZERIN 1Z T3H T1NY GR1LLZ LULULUL U SHUD UH K3P7 DAT C011@RH! I7 WUZ CHUUU K00T W3N T3H L1L B3LL J1NK13D W/ UR M0VZ SJAFHAGGD JGHFGFAF <3"

Edited by Sarki Soliloquy
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"Yup." Zeke had given a Hitomi a smile when she went back over his list, adding in the slang for the appropriate items. Made him feel like this was a good idea, even if he'd have to prove himself in the arcade. He'd swiftly stepped out of the line to hopefully let the next person in quickly; not exactly the longest interview but most people didn't offer team assets when trying out for a new team. 

--------------------

The arcade sure was packed alright! And loud, too. Mewlanie and Hitomi seemed to have managed to secure a megasim. God damn, those things were cool; he'd managed to play in some years ago, back when he was still relatively new to the scene. It blew him away back then and he was sure it'd blow him away again if he managed to get into one. But, well, he'd had enough of line waiting for now; he wasn't the kind of guy to flash his popularity and cut in line. Nor was he really feeling like paying someone off for a megasim. It'd be costing him a pretty penny to transfer all the assets he promised and he wasn't in any rush to add any more expense onto this bet. Besides, he really didn't want to draw any more attention to the state of his team until he was able to sit down for a while and write up the official disbandment announcement.

He found himself a normal sim in some corner, timeslot... hopefully right. Battles where hectic enough without a bunch of fans breathing down your neck; he really didn't need any distractions right now. He stretched and cracked his knuckles as he waited for some sort of signal to tell him it was time to get ready.

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It had been a bit of roundabout trip, but Aska was finally able to track down one of the attendants near the reception area.  The chase, however, helped him get a quick grasp the status of the other Megasims.  The most ideal Megasims were #1 and #3 due to their proximity, but #1 was already taken and he did not want to force someone off if he could avoid it.  Megasim #7, facing from the opposite end from #2, was also another strong prospect as it could possibly split the crowd out a little.  More importantly, it also had the added bonus of possibly drawing more attention as well due to their position, which in turn meant a bigger show in addition to gaining a private audience.  He was practically chomping at the bit at the prospect of putting on a show as he approached the desk, grinning all the way.  “Excuse me.  Are Megasims #3 or #7 currently reserved?”  Aska asked as he pointed to each one before reaching for his wallet.  “I’d like to buy a timeslot.”

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"In that case ..." Hitomi scanned her surroundings, wondering where she might get her hands on a flight suit. She hadn't been to Stratus last year or ever, really, so she didn't know her way around. Better to go find Motherloader first, anyway. "Right, need to make sure Motherloader doesn't lose the megasim, and then I'll worry about getting changed."

Over by a serving desk, there were a few clerks working. Two were AIs, both male, and almost indistinguishable from humans despite a few subtle tells in their appearance. Their perfectly even hair and lack of complex, yet very tiny muscle movements in the face were giveaways for the observant. The third clerk was a human, also male, and also less impressive looking than his colleagues. One of the AIs was moving to address Aska, but the human clerk rushed over, and for one reason or another, forced the AI to go back to waiting around.

"A timeslot you said? #3 or #7?" The clerk checked his monitor behind the console, his voice alone causing the thing to pull up some of the relevant information for him. "Huh, that's strange. Uh, yeah, no one's reserved the 18:00 ..." It was strange to him since while there did tend to be random timeslots available, this was a fairly large convention, and anything available within the next eight to ten hours just seemed unlikely, especially with only seven megasims available to start with. Someone probably cancelled, but the clerk doubted a guy who'd just whipped out a wallet was willing to wait another six and a half hours. Megasim #7 was a bit better but not much so, with two free times before Megasim #3's 18:00 timeslot, one at 14:30, and another at 16:00. The 14:30 one disappeared before the clerk could even tell Aska about it ...

This was hopeless. "I've got a suggestion for you. Why not check the play times listed on the sim you want and see who's got it. Then you can call them up and make a bid for it. Otherwise, earliest I've got right now is #7 at 16:00 this afternoon. It's a bit after eleven right now, so ... yeah."

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“I see.”  Gears began turning in Aska’s head.  As much as he didn’t want to, he was going to have to hunt down and try to trade timeslots since tryouts were starting soon.  “Alright, I’d like to reserve the 16:00 timeslot on Megasim #7, then.”  Aska reached into his wallet and paid the attendant before checking both Megasims’ time table.  Megasim #3’s 1200 timeslot was reserved by Ichinyo while #7 was reserved by CometRider.  Neither name rang a bell, so they probably weren’t professionals that he had previously looked over.  Aska pulled out his phone to check their respective Battle.net profiles.  From what he gathered, Ichinyo was a new streamer of minor renown at Silver rank while CometRider seemed to be a casual player sitting comfortably at Gold.  “Excuse me.  Would either of you be willing to trade your Megasim timeslot with mine at #7 for 1600?”  Aska also added in a hawk surrounded by lightning swooping downward, his personal trademark, before sending the same message to both of them.  Hopefully they’ll respond quickly.

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By the time they reached Megasim #2, the shape of the crowd was beginning to change, with some obvious Mewlanie fans arriving from every direction. After Motherloader introduced Hitomi to one of the service bots roaming about and making sure it kept the machine waiting, Hitomi rented a flightsuit on the spot and went to change into it. She didn't want to waste anymore time getting ready. That left the others to grab the closest available machines they could find. Along the way to what passed for a changing room--the ladies room, she got a few new messages, and Hitomi was thankful she'd thought to mark all of the Odyssey hopefuls as important. Otherwise she wouldn't have known to check Aska's message. Apparently he'd managed to get his hands on Megasim #3. That meant they would be playing right next to each other ... despite being a couple of hundred feet apart physically. Still interesting, and they had a more coherent slice of Stratus set aside for themselves this way, nothing like the scattered clusters she'd been expecting.

A clerk handed Hitomi a flightsuit and helmet right outside her destination. Just like her Battlenet uniform and the compak she'd ridden to Batcon, the flightsuit had a bronze theme to it with emerald green and white accents. Hitomi got herself completely changed in about 90 seconds. Again, she didn't want to waste anymore time getting ready, and she was well practiced at this. She bolted out of the impromptu changing room and made a beeline for Megasim #2.

"I'm back!" Addressing no one in particular, Hitomi let the serving bot direct her to a particular view port. That was when the simulator cockpit unfastened itself from the top of the megasim's inner chamber and silently drifted toward them in midair. The view port waited until the cockpit had reached it before a perfectly measured section of it dislodged itself and slid up into the ceiling above, leaving nothing but apprehension standing between Hitomi and the cockpit's controls. This was it. A lot of people were going to be watching her in particular. She didn't know how Mewlanie's fans would feel about her not using one of the megasims, while a relatively unknown like her got one. Maybe she could make it up to them by putting on a very good show of teamwork. Surely batting aside a few attacks meant for everyone's favorite catgirl would win over some folks.

With a PR game plan coming together, Hitomi stepped into the cockpit and sat down. From the look of things, Stratus had already modified the control surfaces to more closely match her own. That data was mixed in with her Battlenet information, and so any affiliates could access it to tailor things for her. The serving bot took a moment to inspect the cockpit from the outside, a safety precaution before closing it and allowing the megasim to take over. Hitomi put her harness on a few seconds after sittng down, figuring the serving bot wouldn't have cleared her for sortie before that. Once the machine was satisfied and certain there wouldn't be any fatalities or lawsuits, it started off for parts unknown and the cockpit locked down. The viewport slid back into place, and once everything was locked in tight, the cockpit began to drift away from the gathering audience on the main floor, and toward the center of the inner chamber.

Hitomi got a prompt from the cockpit asking her which of her frames she wanted to load up for the game. There was her classic Bronze Bullet from her first real attempt at professional play, and there was Bronze Bullet S2, her refined, yet incomplete variant. This one was meant for her second season in Battlenet, hence the S2 in the name. Despite not being complete, the frame was quite serviceable. More importantly it was a Shi Tou variant, unlike the original, which was based on the Alliance Integral. Anyone who noticed would likely peg her as either a team mom, a bodyguard, or a [REDACTED] duelist. Well, if she was going to put on a good show, she might as well give everyone her best. Hitomi selected the S2 version and as soon as she did, the megasim lit up around the cockpit as smart cells raced into the inner chamber from countless hidden nozzles. They raced up and around the cockpit propelled by unseen forces and began to take on the shape of a life sized frame. They only needed ten seconds to manifest the Bronze Bullet S2, rendering it at its true to life scale and with all of its current equipment.

In addition to the smart cells forming the frame, the appearance of the simulator changed, giving off the impression that the S2 was standing on part of a warship's inner catapult mechanism. It seemed like she was ready to launch at any time. "Okay," Hitomi mused to herself as the others loaded up their own frames, "I guess I'll let Linus decide whether we fight inside the colony or in space." She switched on her comms to speak to the rest of the group. "How is everyone? Are you ready for this? Remember, this is about seeing how well we work together. Don't worry about how many kills you're getting." ... not that Soldaats were difficult to take down, but the numbers they would be facing here could see some casualties on their side, especially if anyone got reckless.

"Ready on my end, Beebs! Let's [REDACTED] these monoeyed rejects!"

Motherloader, of course. "Don't show off, okay?" She didn't know why, but Hitomi was the most worried about Motherloader. He thought highly of himself and this was an all too tempting opportunity for pride to creep in and get the better of someone. After thinking about it, she supposed her feelings came from the effort he was putting in. Despite being annoying, Motherloader was going out of his way to help. He even spent his 'bribing' funds securing Megasim #2 for her. If he couldn't perform in-game then that was that, but she did want to give him a fair shake going forward at the very least. Him making an amateur mistake just because they were facing Soldaats ... now that would just be sad.

[Redactions courtesy of Eupraxia I.]

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As soon as a crowd of her adoring fans started to form, Melanie scurried into one of the sims and shut it tight. With room to breathe, she pulled her bag onto her lap. "Hmhmhmmm, let's see... Voila~" She smiled as her hands fished out a specially made pair of headphones. They went on her head as normal ones would, but the decorative cat ears atop the headphones weren't decorative at all! Instead, they snuggly fit her cat ears in and were the actual speakers for her to hear from. So convenient~

With those settled and her frame loading in, Melanie sung nonsense to herself and relaxed in her seat... Dealing with the crowd after this would be terrible, but this wasn't so bad so far. She'd have people cheering her on live. That much spurred her confidence, hands on the controls as Hitomi started to contact them. 

"Oui, oui, 'itomi~ Let us begin, and, do your best to 'ave mah back. I will shoot whatever gets een your way!" Confident and prepared, her vibrantly pink machine was ready to go, the crowd that had formed around her pod starting to cheer and collect more watchers. It was Mewlanie time!

Edited by SnakeMomMelissa
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Not in possession of any fame of extravagant wealth, Helena did the only thing she could as a plebeian. The girl reached into her credits and paid for the use of one of the normal sims nearby, making sure it was hooked up to the tryouts game. With a few test flicks, the girl's nose wrinkled in disdain. Despite how clean the device looked, the controls had a minor minute lag time noticeable for one who has many hours of gaming under her belt.

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That had been a close one... Monika had been worried that Melanie's stunt would have drawn her a load of attention from the streamer's gathering fanbase, but luckily enough they had immediately crowded around their internet idol... perhaps to be expected. Either way, it had given thy shy redhead an opportunity to sneak away to a relatively remote simulator and log in unmolested. Hopefully things would remain that way through and after their little test run.

Loading into the game, it seemed they were starting from the very beginning, launching from a warship. The reason why made sense soon enough, Linus would be selecting a battlefield option momentarily, so they needed an independent spawn point until then. Fair enough. As the sleek, black Assassin frame spawned into the launch catapult and comms went live, Monika took a deep breath before transitioning into game mode, so to speak. Inside this machine, she was no demure wallflower, but a mighty and feared combatant. Engaging cloak within the catapult would leave any opponent AI completely unable to track her spawn location, perfect to begin their assault on a strong foot.

"Keizerin, Zabaniyya Nacht prepared to deploy and engage the enemy." Monika noted smoothly into comms, the cool and collected voice seemingly nothing like her prior self. Drumming her fingers on the stick, the Assassin frame shifted into a low stance within the catapult, HEAT Stake already set and ready.

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Oh, there was Monika on comms... No Karina yet, but Melanie couldn't help her line of thought, as 'Keizerin' named her suit and got ready for launch. "Hee... Bonjour, Keizerin." Taking zis so seriously... "Your machine, eet's name ees... Quite amusing. Zabaniyya... You know, like niyyah~?" It was such a dumb pun, but Melanie was all for dumb puns at the start of a battle. No need to take the game too seriously, after all... "I must say zat, your naming scheme, ees... Meowvelous. Nnh, nahahaha~" Leaning back into her seat, she was having too much fun, these definitely weren't even funny...

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Well, that had been every bit as grueling an experience at the cafe as feared, but there really hadn't been two ways about it. Maybe if Linus had more time to prepare... though for a last minute surprise, it could have gone so much worse. The situation at the arcade was more of the same. With advance notice, the could have booked a section, rather than being forced to scatter and hunt for open terminals. The suggestion to try to persuade a localized chunk of the arcade populace to cede their seats in 'the interest of a greater spectacle' had seemed dubious at best, so Linus was glad that it seemed the streamer girl had taken hold of an idea tangential to that, to try to just organize crowd and hype around the megasim Motherloader had somehow managed to get his hands on. Loathe though he was to give that headache any praise, some was certainly deserved for that feat. Hitomi was the obvious person to place in it, after the first thrust into the spotlight, she'd just have to ride out all of them today, and unsurprisingly a number of the fans called in by the catgirl were content to crowd around the unmatched views provided by watching that, though a dedicated gaggle also surrounded the normal sim that applicant had settled into as well.

After making sure everybody else involved in the tryouts had acquired a space, Linus settled in to his own, and decided it was time to kick things off. While certainly gearing people up to a peak of excitement, it was obvious to him that Hitomi was waiting on his call to officially get the ball rolling. Fair enough. The discussion along the way had been to toss in to some campaign, whet the appetite for the new content releasing imminently by reliving some of the old. Which scenario to choose though...

It only took a few moments thought. While the colony mission wasn't bleeding edge by any means, in terms of recency, it remained one of the most popular, and challenging, with long term appeal. A number of other scenarios offered some serious competition, the grand space battle within the asteroid belt coming to immediate mind, he really felt that the blend of options and objectives that the colony offered edged it ahead.

"All right, everyone, your enthusiasm is commendable and understandable," he acknowledged, leading the team tryouts along mentally. "This one'll be a challenge. Rise up. We're taking things to the colony!" Then he input the commands in his terminal, setting the system link in motion and initiating the transfer from the holding pen people had been loading into, into the actual scenario proper.

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This was it, her element. The one place where she could leave behind her shy self and really let loose, get in the zone and- Keizerin decided to leave the building for a brief moment, Monika rushing back in as Melanie immediately replied to her with several ridiculous cat puns. What? Why? Shaking her head a bit, Monika looked over in the direction of Melanie's sim.

"I... err... Melanie? That's... umm... I'm sorry?" Monika squeaked out, the difference in her demeanour once again obvious as night and day. And it seemed they were on the verge of loading in to the colony... oh dear.

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With Linus picking the colony mission, they would be fighting primarily on foot. Sightlines would be important, but it was nothing they couldn't handle as a team. Hitomi just hoped she was near the front of the pack, not just for the sake of appeasing the now thoroughly expectant viewers, but to make sure no one got taken out. Losing anyone early in the fight was just terrible optics.

Les5nP4.png

Client: Patriarch Cygnus
Mission: Liberation of Destin Colony
Location: Destin Colony, Jovian Sphere - Cyberspace
Primary Objective: Eliminate the Soldaat Squadron Occupying Destin
Secondary Objectives: Optional
Time: 18:07
Conditions: Clear

Since this was a Battlenet campaign, the location was Cyberspace, which was essentially a virtual mirror of the real world, only overrun with AIs and odd parodies. With the briefing about to begin, Hitomi was pretty certain the scenario had fully loaded. There was actually something going on outside the ship's launch bay now. She could have sworn she felt the rumbling of cannon fire as they drew closer to the colony and the enemies occupying it.

Suddenly a bearded man, greenish blue all over, and standing in a room to match, appeared in front of her, as well as every other participant. It was briefing time.

"I'm Patriarch Cygnus' assistant, Berk. Let me first begin this briefing by thanking the Odyssey group for taking on this mission. The assistance of your affiliates is also greatly appreciated in this time of crisis. Destin Colony is one of our industrial islands and try as we have, those soldaats are dug in deep. We need your help to edge out a victory for us. The battle has already begun, and we'll be bringing you in close enough to infiltrate the colony. While our ships and fighters engage the enemy squadrons defending Destin's outer shell, your people will fly in and take out the enemies dug in there. Keep in mind that Destin's still operating normally, and the soldaats are experts at tricking passive sensors in urban areas, so you'll have to rely more on your eyes. Normally we would just have you hunt down their leaders and let the grunts retreat, but they took things too far during the initial invasion, and everyone agrees ... they deserve no mercy. Killing cybercitizens is inexcusable. Wipe out every last soldaat you find, and help us retake the island. We should be able to gain remote access to Destin's systems once there are fewer enemies around, so we'll be able to provide you with some additional support if need be. That is all. We're looking forward to a swift and overwhelming victory."

KKZ0LJs.png

Killing cybercivvies was horrible. All they wanted to do was live their lives. They probably didn't even put up much of a struggle. If there was a bosshog in command of this unit, that might explain why they were being so cruel. Of course, Berk didn't mention any bosshogs, so Hitomi doubted they would run into one. She had vague memories of this mission, and she didn't remember running into one. That meant this unit was operating independently, or the bosshog was outside, holding off Cygnus' forces. Either way, they had work to do, and tryouts to evaluate.

"All pilots, standby for launch," a voice came over the comms, "We've marked a path for you straight into Destin. Once you clear the catapult, follow the designated path on your HUD to the infiltration point. We're preparing to send the override command to the hatch; it will open by the time you arrive. It's a straight shot to the interior from there. ETA is thirty seconds. Launching sequence begins now. Good luck."

Hitomi gripped her controls tightly, almost completely oblivious to the fact that she was being watched. "Bronze Bullet, launching!"

Spoiler

OoC: Mission officially starts on my next post after we finish prep work.

 

Edited by Phoenix
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"Pffft, nyahahaha~!" Oh so worth it, Monika was back to that shaky little mess. She was much better off that way, so much cuter. "Nossing, nossing, I am juste 'aving a little bit of fun, you know? Keep you on your toes! Zis ees juste a normal exercise, nossing to take so seriously. Now..." The colony setup was rather simple, charge the city, take out the goons hiding in it, don't get shot. Melanie had range on her side, and hopefully some shields to stop her from getting shot back at. Her pink suit had loaded completely... What an awful look, it provided no camouflage at all, was entirely impractical, and she even hated the color! ... But contracts, they were powerful, and she got a bonus for being extra 'girly' on stream. With a sigh, she shook her head. No time to complain!

"Bien, Le Triomphant, launching! Allons-y, mes amis! Aweille~!" Smug grin, check. Tail wagging, check! Stream on, check~! A small webcam popped up on her display, as she winked at the camera. Wow, she could hear the cheers this time, so many people stuck outside of her sim. It was a bit embarrassing, but no way was she losing face now. This would be her first public debut. She couldn't afford to make a mess of things.

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Honestly, Karina wasn't the biggest fan of crowded places, nor was she ecstatic to see other fans of Mewlanie --a negative perception rightfully acquired from her streaming's chat channel--.

Karina didn't even bother getting a word in, seeing their audience made her roll her eyes. The crowd that came to see Mewlanie gravitated towards their idol, some others staring confusedly at the megasim. Karina sighed and follpwed suit, entering one of the simpler sims herself. It would do well not to be the last one to join, after all. "Finally we can get started with this."

With a smirk, she loaded her data: Her trusty mech, painted red like she preffered. It was a decently customized Valkyrie, a type she enjoyed for its mobility. The ability to switch to jet mode was also a nice touch. The most bang for its buck... except her weapons loadout was fairly conservative. Stil, just behind Keizerin and Mewlanie, Karina got herself in the simulation, her Valkyrie --nicknamed JETMAN, all-caps definitely intentional-- had joined the launch bay. "Fire Miko in. Ready to go."

Now was the fun part.

Keizerin's machine was something else, but not unfamiliar for someone that followed the solo scene like Karina --the Nacht was a pretty cool design, an assassin--. It definitely gave a different impression of Monika, so it was a surprise that she ended up being such a wallflower.

And a girl.

Mewlanie... was on her usual machine from the streams. It definitely stuck out like a sore thumb when one was playing with Mew and not just watching her stream. Why go all pink like that? Surely a paler pallete would be fine... it wouldn't actively attract attention to yourself, something Karina imagined Mewlanie didn't want as a long range fighter. "Do you really like pink that much, Mewlanie?" It seemed, a bit odd.

Edited by Xinnidy
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Venitus got into the familiar belly of a simulation machine, this one was well used and smelled like junk food. The last guy who used it must've taken a hefty snack in when he was messing around with the machine. Thankfully all the controls weren't sticky or crumb covered, so for practice purposes the machine would work just fine. He put in the data for his mech, The Alondite. On the surface he made it look generic, a dark navy blue with a gold trim and mainly using a shotgun. However, the one thing that set him apart was the grenade launcher. It made for quite the explosive finish. 

Loading into the scenario, Venitus was a little surprised by the colony that they were going to be fighting in. He had assumed they would do something a little more exciting, but the setting really wasn't important in the grand scheme of things. What was more important was the amount of ass Venitus was about to kick. Taking a look at some of his compatriot's mechs, he saw some usual suspects. A red Valkyrie, a dull orange mech, what looked to be a literal white knight, and then a glaring bright pink mech. Someone likes the spotlight. Well, let them have it. Better someone else who won't bungle any public PR like I probably would.

It was at that point that a distinctly French voice started yammering in the comms. The accent was so strong that Venitus could barely understand half the words coming out from the lass in the pink mech. She seemed to be enjoying herself at the very least. Time to put on his game face. "This is the Black Knight reporting in from The Alondite, I am launching in 3, 2, 1."

If there was one thing Venitus had to say was the best part of Frame Ops, it was launching into battle. The thrill of seeing the world zoom around you was something you couldn't get anywhere else. Landing down he began to survey the land, getting ready to shoot the first thing he saw.

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Linus's Sicarius was built off the bones of an Excel Defenser base, and they were good strong bones, bringing versatile and sustained DPS to the team. The focus on offense was somewhat ironic, coming as it did from a bot with 'defense' in the name, but that just made him appreciate it more, a grin sliding across his face every time he remembered the little idiosyncrasy. Now was one such time.

"Sicarius en route," he called out as his craft cleared the catapult.  They still had half a minute till reaching the hatch, so there wasn't much concern about the small side banter the pilots were getting into for the moment, but he had to hope they'd buckle down and take things seriously once they entered the colony proper. This was a try out, after all.

"Alright, let's do our best to remember each other's strengths and leverage them appropriately once we get into the thick of things," was a dutiful 'team leader' thing to call out as they hurtled toward the figurative starting line. But, hell, they still were essentially just killing time, so Linus decided to let loose a little himself, go out on a bit of a limb and enjoy a verbal potshot of his own, "Looks like we've got someone who excels at standing out. I'm sure we can find some way to turn that into a positive."

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Did she like pink? Ayoi, non, I 'ate zis stupide color. 'Ooever sought zat zis was ze right color for a girl was a moron, esti ben caliss. "Oui! I love eet~! Ze perfect color pour moi, non?" It was a painful act, but one she had to put on if she was live like this. She could complain about it later, and would! But, standing out? Their team leader had it all wrong, even if it made her giggle.

"Ben lâ, non, non, I do not want to stand out at all~ My machine ees made to fire, not be fired at! S'il vous plait, keep me safe, meow~" And act setup, hopefully her viewers were loving it. She did feel a bit more stiff, but hopefully actually getting into the thick of it all would diminish that feeling. She was itching to put a bullet into a soldaat's head, hopefully it wouldn't take long to manage.

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