Re: Mini-Grand 5112 [Round One: Artificer's Alley]
01-09-2013, 09:52 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by Elize.
Lillian fought against her invisible restraints as she was pushed through space and unceremoniously dumped behind a pile of crates. When the restraints were removed, she struggled instead to come to terms with her new situation.
Surely, this couldn't be real. A particularly aggressive ad campaign for a new game, maybe? She fought through the panic and tried to remember something she could use as a search term. The names of the other three escaped her. Fantasy roleplayer, kind of handsome in a rugged sort of way. Some kind of science woman, looked a lot like that bitch in Lillian's math class. Um... some Pfizer and Gamble regen pack salesman? oh, right! Artificer's Alley, the voice had said. She remembered that name.
Lillian nimbly slunk up and over the crates and glanced around. This "factory" seemed awfully dark and quiet for a public space. No holo ads, no loudspeakers screaming at you to buy things. At least, not continuously. Not since the voice introducing everyone. Glancing around at the work stations and market stalls, there didn't even seem to be a brand name in sight. Whatever this was, it obviously wasn't big on product placement. A period piece, then?
Right, right. Search terms. After making sure the coast was clear, Lillian brought up the search bar on her neuralink. "Artificer's Alley", with quotes.
The results astounded her. Or rather, the lack of results astounded her. "Network not found," it said. "Roaming charges initiated. Thank you for your business!"
The lack of network connectivity scared Lillian more than being told she was supposed to fight three people to the death. Roaming charges? Without the network, she couldn't even call to suspend her account! That was going to hurt her credit score, before she'd even started making any income! Her eyes grew wide and her long body curled inward. She pulled her custom nanodenim jacket against her chest defensively and scurried off on six limbs in search of someone to complain to.
Lillian quickly caught the sound of boots on concrete down one of the lanes of stalls and froze with momentary indecision. Glancing around, she snatched up the heaviest-looking thing she could find from one of the workstations.
Wait, what was this thing, anyway? Big two-foot-long chunk of metal, two tightly wound coils of copper wire sticking out. Some kind of motor? There was a glass tube embedded inside, carrying some sort of blue fluid, and the whole mess seemed to be humming. Lillian pried a small silvery cylinder out of the housing and the humming stopped. Was she supposed to make the humming stop? What was she doing with this thing again?
Oh, right, brandishing it menacingly. It looked intimidating enough. She quickly rounded the corner towards the sound of boots, holding up the interesting heavy thing like a club, feeling glad to be a little scary-looking for once.
"Halt! State thy name and intentions!" rugged spear guy shouted commandingly. He didn't even do a double-take or anything! Lillian was used to seeing at least some sort of initial twinge of disgust on a new person's face, however momentary. She chose to pretend this meant that he didn't think she was entirely freaky rather than that he had seen worse.
Oh, but she came here to complain, and nothing was going to stop her. From his unusual getup, Lillian assumed this man must be playing a part in whatever this scenario was. After all, the other two seemed real enough. She began her introduction with a resounding, "No. No, stop, I opt out. Take my name off this list, I don't want this, take me back to my dormitory. I didn't agree to this! My network's charging me roaming fees! And you or loudspeaker guy or SOMEONE is going to pay for them, and it's not gonna be me! This is completely unacceptable!"
Lillian fought against her invisible restraints as she was pushed through space and unceremoniously dumped behind a pile of crates. When the restraints were removed, she struggled instead to come to terms with her new situation.
Surely, this couldn't be real. A particularly aggressive ad campaign for a new game, maybe? She fought through the panic and tried to remember something she could use as a search term. The names of the other three escaped her. Fantasy roleplayer, kind of handsome in a rugged sort of way. Some kind of science woman, looked a lot like that bitch in Lillian's math class. Um... some Pfizer and Gamble regen pack salesman? oh, right! Artificer's Alley, the voice had said. She remembered that name.
Lillian nimbly slunk up and over the crates and glanced around. This "factory" seemed awfully dark and quiet for a public space. No holo ads, no loudspeakers screaming at you to buy things. At least, not continuously. Not since the voice introducing everyone. Glancing around at the work stations and market stalls, there didn't even seem to be a brand name in sight. Whatever this was, it obviously wasn't big on product placement. A period piece, then?
Right, right. Search terms. After making sure the coast was clear, Lillian brought up the search bar on her neuralink. "Artificer's Alley", with quotes.
The results astounded her. Or rather, the lack of results astounded her. "Network not found," it said. "Roaming charges initiated. Thank you for your business!"
The lack of network connectivity scared Lillian more than being told she was supposed to fight three people to the death. Roaming charges? Without the network, she couldn't even call to suspend her account! That was going to hurt her credit score, before she'd even started making any income! Her eyes grew wide and her long body curled inward. She pulled her custom nanodenim jacket against her chest defensively and scurried off on six limbs in search of someone to complain to.
Lillian quickly caught the sound of boots on concrete down one of the lanes of stalls and froze with momentary indecision. Glancing around, she snatched up the heaviest-looking thing she could find from one of the workstations.
Wait, what was this thing, anyway? Big two-foot-long chunk of metal, two tightly wound coils of copper wire sticking out. Some kind of motor? There was a glass tube embedded inside, carrying some sort of blue fluid, and the whole mess seemed to be humming. Lillian pried a small silvery cylinder out of the housing and the humming stopped. Was she supposed to make the humming stop? What was she doing with this thing again?
Oh, right, brandishing it menacingly. It looked intimidating enough. She quickly rounded the corner towards the sound of boots, holding up the interesting heavy thing like a club, feeling glad to be a little scary-looking for once.
"Halt! State thy name and intentions!" rugged spear guy shouted commandingly. He didn't even do a double-take or anything! Lillian was used to seeing at least some sort of initial twinge of disgust on a new person's face, however momentary. She chose to pretend this meant that he didn't think she was entirely freaky rather than that he had seen worse.
Oh, but she came here to complain, and nothing was going to stop her. From his unusual getup, Lillian assumed this man must be playing a part in whatever this scenario was. After all, the other two seemed real enough. She began her introduction with a resounding, "No. No, stop, I opt out. Take my name off this list, I don't want this, take me back to my dormitory. I didn't agree to this! My network's charging me roaming fees! And you or loudspeaker guy or SOMEONE is going to pay for them, and it's not gonna be me! This is completely unacceptable!"