Antarctic Termite

*The Space-Bar ~ A Virtual Tavern ~ Always Open*

Ayem Moestadja

The woman in thermal gear looked up sharply with a slight dint in her eyebrows, something that could have been a frown but wasn't there yet. Her neck pivoted to where Anya had gestured, owl-like. "But..." She looked back at Anya. The smile was still there, mostly because it didn't know where else to go. "It feels..."

“SYZYGY NEUROKINETiCS INCORPORATED BRINGS YOU THE FINEST IN VIRTUAL AND AUGMENTED REALITY TOURISM,” barked the robot automatically. “WE STRIVE TO ENSUR-”

"Just shut up for a minute," said Ayem with a finger raised, somehow making the words sound friendly. "Thanks." Without another word her legs stilted her off to the door, where she was met with the 'Premium Members Only' message after two metres of outdoor demo content. She turned on the spot, stood for a second, then marched back to exactly where she'd left off.

"But if I'm not here, then," she started, sounding utterly dazed, "where am I?" She looked up. "Hey keep. Can I get another hot chocolate? Thanks." For a moment she stared into her marshmallow-laden mug as if to press it for answers, then she looked back at Anya, then at her medical kit, then at the fingers with which she was tenderly feeling the fresh road-burn under her coat, then back at Anya again. "Sorry, I'm Ayem. I think I'm lost. Are you okay?"

The Magical Planet - Ecetopia - Open

Smudge Pixelby

"...Yeah, now you ask," mumbled Smudge, gulping around the lump in a throat that didn't lead anywhere. "Whatever."

Smudge nodded to Nebulous. "Thanks for... Fighting that demon." Her tone was still furious, but she clearly owed him that much. "I'll be f-fine on my own. I don't need you."

With that, IA-920 adjusted its grip on the journal, took a step towards the edge of the road, realised it was facing nothing but thicket only to stagger defiantly into it anyway. It flinched around a spiderweb, extending nerves from its face to help it clamber past the branches.

"And my name is Smudge!" she yelled from somewhere behind the leaves, stomping deeper into the forest as if to spite her pretty shoes.

@Overlord Thraka@Lmpkio

Love Bomb Piracy Front - Prologue

Good thinking! Could we do that here?

Love Bomb Piracy Front - Prologue

@Dark Light Want Ayem to quit flirting with bugman for a while and pose a rescue of some sort?

Love Bomb Piracy Front - Prologue

@HeroicSociopath@LPRKN I thought we could stay around the vicinity of Marco's shop, at least for a little while, until we know where the other members want to start. If you have an idea of where you want to be, though, hit me up.

Speaking of, I'll post in a bit.

@Ashevelendar@Dark Light Let me know if/when you're ready to start and where, mmmkay?

@Mistiel frizzy-yon pree-may

The Magical Planet - Ecetopia - Open

@Overlord Thraka yo smudgie's well aware that merg's probably taken some flak for her birth, that's exactly why she brought it up

she's just trying to make it real clear that merg is treating smudgie exactly like humans treat merg

The Magical Planet - Ecetopia - Open

Today's post: Smudge takes a guess and winds up unknowingly calling out Mergoux on becoming exactly like her abusers.

I'll level with y'all, I didn't actually read Mergoux's backstory until I was already done, but hooo boy was that an opportunity to keep rolling.

The Magical Planet - Ecetopia - Open

Smudge Pixelby

"STOP!" Mergoux's early warning momentarily forgotten, IA-920 stepped back involuntarily when she stepped forward, pushed, as it were, by the tension in the bowstring. Its transformation was complete, now, and as voices rose the first snaps of electicity began to flash across its new face. "STOP IT!"

Exposed veins twitched.

"I am not a thing! I'm a girl! I'm a person! And I'm sorry your day was bad, but guess what? That doesn't give you the right to bully me like s-some kid in a playground! But I guess you wouldn't understand because you've always been lucky enough to pass for human, huh, half-elf?" IA-920's eye bored straight into Mergoux's, huge and eldritch. "Or m-maybe you're just some sick bitch who doesn't even care about people getting treated like shit so long as it's not you! So go ahead! F-fine! Shoot me! I guess that's just who you are! A sadistic, racist monster who abuses children for fun! Whatever!"

Pause.

"I can't bring him back," said Smudge. She was too tired to lie, or be angry. "I c-can't access that kind of data, or load a human being. If souls are real, his is gone. He's dead. I just saved him." The eye blinked wetly and she wiped it awkwardly with a sleeve. "Maybe one day I'll be able to archive him somehow. But it's not my fault he's dead, so stop looking at me like I can fix that."

@Overlord Thraka@Lmpkio

The Magical Planet - Ecetopia - Open

Smudge Pixelby

A silence that was probably disbelief before Smudge started yelling at maximum volume. "I didn't eat him! I don't even h-have a mouth!" Shock and rage filled her voice, still choked. "What's your f-f-fucking problem! Do you want all those mm-memories to just rot? I saved him! He's in here!" She tapped her own head with her knuckles and winced, great eye squeezing shut. "Just like I saved this book from c-c-crumbling in the shelf of a blind man! I guess this is what I get for t-trying to do the right fucking thing!" Smudge was shaking like a leaf by the end, breathing hard. The pain in her chest still hadn't stopped.

@Overlord Thraka@Lmpkio

The Magical Planet - Ecetopia - Open

Still killed the host body but then again current science in god knows how many years can probably do that. So perhaps yeah.

Nebulius might know about that stuff coming from an advanced civilization in space. Wouldn't have been popular per say, but its still a thing.

@Lmpkio

The host body was already dead (sudden demon attack by our friend Kobasratha). There's no technology involved, just magic.

ed:

A loud thud resounded as a large weight hit the ground nearby. A cry of fear came from the scholar who had only just left, but it ended quickly with a choking gasp for air, a horrid snapping noise, then silence once more. An intimidating figure moved out of the shadows with purposefully slow, heavy footfalls, with a thump behind it as the body dropped to the ground.

that guy is dead as fuuuuuuuuuuuuck feat. Kobasratha