3352/Recuperation Operation

Recuperation Operation
Date of Scene:	08 November 2015
Location:	Njorun Station - Medical
Synopsis:	Amakasu's in the medbay -- Staren demonstrates VR training, and talks about his homeland.
Cast of Characters:	Staren, 901

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Hoshi Amakasu (901) has posed:
    Union Medical on Njorun Station. The mind-boggling size of the place would have likely shocked anyone who entered here for the first time--but sadly, not everyone who were brought through the doors to Medical was awake when it happened. Hoshi happened to be one of those people. Ren's fabulous fish had managed to give her some comfort, but the sheer exhaustion from that much combat with her Persona made sure she didn't wake up for many, many hours. By the time that Hoshi finally had awoken, much of the work on her body had been done.

    Now Hoshi sat in one of the rooms of the recovery ward, fairly simple and nondescript despite it's fantastic location. Her chat with the people on the Union band had alleviated some of her boredom, but until Staren came up with the idea of testing her in VR, she was fairly convinced that she was going to be bored and trapped laying on a bed.

    Now, however, she's sitting up eagerly and watching the door. She forces herself to stay still so she doesn't get any more random twinges of pain from her still-healing wounds, but it's clear that she's got a little energy to burn. Not being able to move sucked, but if this VR stuff was all it was cooked up to be...

Staren has posed:
    It's been an unpleasant day. Sakura getting kidnapped, and feeling like he failed somehow because violence was required to solve the problem... But after everything he's seen, wasn't it foolishness to really hope otherwise...?

    He welcomes the potential distraction from these thoughts, and it's true that he needs to test Amakasu's fighting style if he's to design a better weapon for her. So it is that he comes to be walking into the medbay carrying what looks like a sort of helmet (visual reference: http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/sao/images/5/55/NerveGear_829.png/revision/latest?cb=20131225192958&path-prefix=es but with a microphone) in one hand. When he sees Amakasu he smiles and waves with his free hand, though he also looks concerned for her injuries. He approaches her, "How are you feeling?"

Hoshi Amakasu (901) has posed:
    As soon as Staren appears, Hoshi's face splits into a grin, and she gingerly waves to him with her right hand. She can't really see the thoughts that are going through his head, but she's glad to see a familiar friendly place, especially in a place like this. Although that helmet was a bit much. She stifles a giggle as Staren comes to her bedside. "Good evening, Staren. Thanks for coming... And nice hat."

    She settles back into the bed with a small, thankful sigh. "I'm alive. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be. I think the final tally was... Second degree burns on my back, a bullet through my right thigh and into my side--that must've been fun to get out--and a few stab wounds and cuts." Hoshi goes silent as she tries to think. "Did this happen because I have Rosamond? Or did something else happen?..." Her grin slowly comes back. "But I won, sort of. Against a woman like her. I can't help but feel kinda proud."

Staren has posed:
    Staren lifts the helmet he's holding (He's not wearing one himself...) and looks at it. "Well, it was designed for function. Not like people in VR see you wearing it." He smiles, then listens to her recounting of damage done to her with a wince. "What do you mean, did it happen because of Rosamond? It looked like your summon certainly helped... And yeah," he smiles, "you won, although I hope most of your future victories don't leave you in this state."

Hoshi Amakasu (901) has posed:
    Hoshi has to wonder if there is actually a way to wear it in VR. Maybe she'd check sometime. "I guess that makes sense. Where do you even get a thing like that, anyway?" The thought passes, and she frowns in concentration as she tries to explain what she means. "What I'm saying is... Before I had Rosamond, there's no way any human could have survived all of that, but I didn't feel that much stronger. That woman, too--she survived way more than any human should've been able to. Even after everything, we both still got back up and kept fighting..."

    The mention of Hoshi's state gets her to cough a bit, blushing as she looks away. "Maybe I got a bit carried away. I lost it after she said she wanted to mind-wipe me for that stupid academy. There's no way I could just leave and let her think that kind of stuff is okay."

Staren has posed:
    "While most of the time, elites get through situations that would kill anyone else because we're /just that good/, it does seem that there is another sort of power we have, that sort of... enforces our concept on the world. It /is/ most noticeable when avoiding death, because, after all," he leans towards her, "a vital part of your concept is that you are /alive/." He stands back up straight, gesturing with his free hand. "That's what powers the sword, actually. Its healing and shapeshifting properties. The power of aura makes ripples of a sort, and the sword is able to harness the energy of those ripples." He shrugs, "Eh... Trust me, I've been there. I've flipped out a couple of times when I found out the people I was tracking down were slavers... some have accused me of bloodlust." He looks sad briefly, then shrugs again.

Hoshi Amakasu (901) has posed:
    Hoshi falls silent and listens to Staren's explaination, a small frown of concentration on her face. Thankfully the terms he uses are easy to understand and she's able to follow his train of logic. The idea of a concept, though... "It sounds just like the Mirror Forest. Concepts and stories that are suddenly powerful. Good thing the Forest doesn't extend out of our world." Yeesh. The idea of a connection, even an incorrect one, gives her shivers.

    Yet another thing that she didn't know was how she was the one powering the sword. "Man, so we can actually harness our strength? You're a genius, Staren." Suddenly she's even more glad she came to Staren first for all of this. "You should be proud. The sword really saved my butt, y'know." No way she could've done it with just her bokken.

    Her head tilts a bit when Staren mentions his run-in with slavers. Bloodlust... that didn't seem anything like the person she saw next to her. She reaches out to gently lay her hand against his arm. She can't find the words to say, but... "S-so... What are we going to do with the helmet, Staren? You said you could use the data for a better sword?"

Staren has posed:
    Staren smiles at the compliment. "Thanks, but it's Dr. Burden's invention. I've only scratched the surface of how it works. But I hope making your next sword will be a learning opportunity." He blinks. "Ah, well... Remember how I said I didn't know exactly what it would do? We're going to pick things, I think, and to do that, I need to see how you fight and what would help. Also, I can show the recording to more experienced swordsmen and Abstractum experienced in helping them. That's all, not some kind of thing that automatically turns fight data into a better weapon, if that's what you were thinking..."

Hoshi Amakasu (901) has posed:
    Just at the surface or not, Staren's intelligence has saved Hoshi's life. The kendo girl is willing to assist him in any way she can. "So we both win out of this? Cool. Now we really have to do this." She's starting to get pumped thinking about it. "So you intend to add ingredients for the next sword from watching me fight? I guess? That's what it sounds like." She coughs. "But I thought I had to agree to fight the Great Enemy before they'd let me touch one of those." She'd been reading through some of the things she'd been shown, but it was still extremely hazy. That part, however, was very clear. "Well, let's do it then. Are you going to hop in with me?"

Staren has posed:
    "Ah," Staren clarifies, "You have to agree to fight Them to have a /true/ Abstractum made for you, and that would be automatic. It would be shaped by your concept and intrinsically know how to aid you. My plan is to ask existing Abstractum how they'd help a sword-user, then, if they're willing, use /mine/ to copy some of those functions and put them into a new sword."

    Staren nods, handing her the NerveGear to put on her head, plugging one cable from it into the wall and another into a tablet. He sits by the bed, plugging another cable into the back of his neck and connecting it to the tablet. "When you're ready, lie back and say 'Link Start'." He watches her, waiting.

    After the NerveGear is done booting, Amakasu finds herself standing in a valley in her kendo outfit, with her sword in sword form. A full moon lights it well, but if she looks closely, it's not /Earth's/ moon, nor are the stars in the right pattern. Staren's standing ahead of her, wearing a coat over leather armor. "Are you alright? I figured we'd keep it simple. Avatars based on us instead of some custom fantasy thing. Feels real, doesn't it? This is the entertainment technology of Kirito's, Asuna's, Tomoe's, Reker's and Yuuki's world, but it's got other uses too. But, you probably want to get started rather than listen to me exposit all day... Well, you might like that too, but it won't be much of a sparring match. Oh! Before we start, what do you want me to set the pain level to? Anything from 0% to 100%. Obviously, it makes sense to discourage you from getting hit, but there's no need to be mean about it."

Hoshi Amakasu (901) has posed:
    Hoshi blinks, tilting her head. "Oh. So that's how it works." Then again, doesn't that mean that it'd be better to just agree, and get the real thing? A frown comes to her face, and she irritably shakes the thought free. That was something to do only if she fully understood the issue at hand and gave her full attention to solving that problem. It wasn't just some item she could take. "Alright... Well, let's hope they're willing. Until then, let's get started with the prep work." As soon as Staren hands her the helmet, she slips it on and tries to get comfortable. "Here's hoping my brain doesn't try to say I'm hurt while I'm in there, too... Link Start." Her eyes fall shut, and she feels herself being pulled, taken away...

    When she opens her eyes, she slowly looks around and works on tensing and relaxing her muscles. Everything responded just like they would in real life! And so far, nothing hurt. Hoshi's face splits into a pleased grin, and she takes a moment to appreciate the environment and the alien sky. "Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine. This is awesome! Everything feels like I was really here. If I didn't know better, I'd think I was actually here..." She comes closer, drawing her sword to start giving some experimental swipes at the empty air. "You have to tell me where to get this. This is going to be Makoto's birthday gift." Then... pain simulation. That gets a nice annoyed look. She really wanted to tell him to leave it off, but... "I don't know, man. Uh... Let's say 50. I'd really like to not feel like I'm dying here, too."

Staren has posed:
    "You can buy them from Kirito's world. I don't really have a name for it? The product you want is called an Amusphere. Of course... it's not much good without a subscription to a VRMMO, or a copy of the World Seed if you're a developer sort. Multiversal internet connections are available, but... Technology years ahead of your home is gonna be noticeable anyway, isn't it?"

    At her comment about the pain level, Staren nods. "Seems fair. Obviously, you can ask to stop at any time. Oh, if you want to access the menu, just hold your hand up with index and middle finger extended, like so, and sweep it to the side like you're using a touch screen." If she tries it, there's what she'd expect from an RPG menu -- Status, Items, Skills, Logout, Social -- but Skills is greyed out and her only listed items are her sword and armor, already equipped. "This is... well, normally you'd use this to connect to a VRMMO. This is like, a small test world running on my tablet, just for this." He waves a hand in the air, "This only goes on like a kilometer or so in each direction, past that it's a skybox."

    Then he looks at her with a more serious expression. "Are you ready?"

Hoshi Amakasu (901) has posed:
    Problem after problem, but none of them seem to put off Hoshi's resolve on the matter. She's apparently decided that this was her course of action. It's nice being rich. "Thankfully, my world's not entirely ignorant of the Multiverse. Governments and some corporations got the memo. It's not common knowledge yet, but probably given time..."

    Hoshi does as indicated, more out of curiosity than anything. She's rewarded with seeing the menu pop up, which cases her to grin a bit before letting it drop again. "It's hard to believe a tablet has enough power to even power this much... Hey, do you think I can summon Rosamond here?" Probably not, but it'd be nice if she could. "We might need to do another test for that... I dunno. I'm ready whenever you are."

    Hoshi moves closer to Staren until she's only a few feet away and settles into her standard stance, her blade out in front of her, knees bent lightly. "You're the challenger... Give us a count off."

Staren has posed:
    Staren blinks. "The tablet is using technology from /another/ world about a century and a half in your future, and which is notable for certain unusually high technological developments in that time." He shakes his head. "I don't know anything about Rosamond, so I didn't program her in. I guess that's a problem with the virtual test... If it's any consolation, normally /I'd/ be fighting with powered armor and energy weapons."

    A few feet away? When she has a katana? Staren backs up some more. "Alright. On 'zero'. Three..." he drops into a basic martial arts stance, "Two... one..." his hands reach under his coat, "Zero!" He pulls out /two daggers/, charging in and then stepping to her left as he gets close, quarter-turning to put his left hand in block or parry position while trying to stab her in the side with his right.

    If it connects cleanly enough to not glance off armor... The avatar doesn't quite respond like flesh, and Amakasu will notice a green bar at the top of her vision, a small chunk at the right side turning red and then shrinking away. If she looks at the 'wound', instead of blood there's just a weird, shifting glow. As if her body were made of glowing crystal and he just scraped a bit of paint off. Any pain is numbed somewhat, of course

    If it doesn't connect... well, she'll see soon enough.

Hoshi Amakasu (901) has posed:
    Bleh. That's right. Hoshi's still limited to thinking about the technology from her world, and even then she knew very little. Still, they really should find a way to share the technology. Who knows what kind of crazy stuff they could do... Maybe too much. She expected to not be able to summon her Persona, so she merely nods and rolls her shoulders, getting loose and ready for the fight.

    Hoshi is completely still as Staren starts counting down, her eyes focused on Staren's torso and legs. The first movement always came from the legs and torso--and there it was. She wasn't quite expecting Staren to drag out a pair of daggers instead of a sword or something, but she holds her position as she waits for Staren to reach her. When he tries to go to for her open side, she pivots quickly on her right foot and brings her sword to bat the dagger away. She's expecting the second weapon, but it seems he has it in defense--so Hoshi decides to try putting her sword's superior size to use.

    Once she's sure the blade won't hit her, Hoshi steps forward with her right foot as quickly as she can, extending her arms and flicking her wrists to whip the very tip of the blade towards Staren's face. He might be able to block it, but she's hoping her charge can put him on his back foot, at least.

Staren has posed:
    Staren nods slightly as she parries the dagger. Then he sees what she's doing, leans back, and activates his wings... which leaves him confused for a split second as of course, nothing happens, so she catches him across the face. "Owwww! F***, didn't realize how much I'd come to rely on wings..." he quickly takes several steps backward and recovers his balance as he speaks. Now that he's wielding weapons, the left dagger is held up in front of his face, ready to to swing out and parry or block, while the right is lower by his side so he can quickly step forward to give it more reach and throw his weight into an attack if needed. "That's gonna mess me up..."

Hoshi Amakasu (901) has posed:
    Hoshi is... slightly confused when she sees Staren not trying to dodge or parry out of the way, but it's too late to hold the blow, and it strikes. His retreat was what she was hoping for, but she doesn't persue for now. "Wait, I don't remember seeing you with wings. You mean on your armor, right?" Apparently he's still ready to go, at least. Slowly, Hoshi starts to circle Staren clockwise, drawing closer as she went. The way he was standing, he'd probably be able to parry her if she went in straight. Instead, she charges forward with her blade raised high to cut down, but instead of slicing pulls back and tries to stab towards Staren's torso. "Kia! C'mon, Staren, you got this!"

Staren has posed:
    Staren keeps turning to face her. "Protoabstractum item I made. Since I was off-balance, flying would let me move back without stumbling." he explains. And then she's attacking. His eyes narrow slightly. What's she trying... ah. He steps to the side and makes a clumsy parry attempt -- the angle's bad, though, and the stab hits him off-center. "Hrng! You should fight Kirito..." In a split-second, his eyes flicker over the upper half of her body. There.

    Sword still in him, he steps FORWARD and desperately stabs both daggers at her vulnerable neck. Hopefully she wasn't expecting that!

    He's supposed to be watching her technique, but he's fighting to win. He can't help it. He can always review the data later.

Hoshi Amakasu (901) has posed:
    Hoshi grins a bit at Staren's ingenuity. Wings to help him stabilize if he's in a bad place, or even just move quickly on retreat or attack. "I get it. That's a good invention, man. Too bad you forgot to put 'em in!" Though her blade doesn't hit flush, she still manages to catch him, and she presses forward, hoping to end the fight right then. That being said... There are certain parts of a fight that she just doesn't understand yet. One of those being the concept of an all-or-nothing attack. With her sword stuck, Hoshi can't pull away without abandoning her sword, so she's left trying to block at least one dagger with her left hand while trying to duck the other blow.

    One of the blades plunges into her wrist, and she lets out a hiss as she feels the pain bouncing around in her wrist. This becomes a pained yelp when the other dagger's edge scores her neck. "Gaah! Jeez, this still hurts a lot--!" Still, now both of them were caught in a situation where they couldn't move, so Hoshi decides to take the better of it. She rushes in, pushing her katan as hard as she could until she rammed her shoulder into Staren's chest, trying to push him back while she jerked her sword clear of his body.

Staren has posed:
    "Damn. Good reflexes." Staren comments as she stops the attack. He knows he's lost and it shows on his face. He has a sliver of health left, all she has to do is brutally twist the knife as she pulls it out... So he's surprised when she /doesn't/ do that and he's left stumbling back. "You should have... twisted the knife..." Though still holding his daggers, one hand is clutched over his 'wound'. He can still feel the pain. "No magic, no wings, no bag of tricks... I'm really out of my element..." he backs away, slowly, breathing heavily. And then... something. He steels himself, and his body telegraphs /something/ is coming, followed by a few rapid steps towards her before he /throws/ one of the daggers at her legs.

    It's not even a good throw. If it actually hits point-first, it'll be luck, he doesn't know how to throw daggers.

    ...Because that was a feint, and he crouches slightly and /pounces/, trying to tackle her to the ground and stab his remaining knife into her neck again!

Hoshi Amakasu (901) has posed:
    ... Yeah, come to think of it, that probably would've been the better choice in this situation. The look on Hoshi's face indicates she's well aware of it, though. She can't really move her wrist very well at this point, VR simulation or no, so she's not really left with many options here. "Yeah... I'm kind of at my best in close quarters, too." Really, it's the only way she /can/ fight. Panting softly, she tries to watch for another telegraph--and there it was. She holds her sword firm, ready to take on another assault.

    Except her eyes widen when she sees the dagger flying for her face. That wasn't really expected either, and she's not fast enough to block. Instead, it smacks into her face on the flat side, a nice big THUNK filling the air. She goes cross-eyed from the pain--and doesn't do much to prevent the rest of Staren's attack. She goes down with a groan, followed by a short scream when his other dagger pierces her neck. Health 0... Game over.

Staren has posed:
    Her entire health bar turns red and slowly bleeds away over a couple of seconds. Then her avatar appears to shatter into quickly-fading triangles.

YOU HAVE DIED
GAME OVER

    The message floats in front of her vision for a few seconds before she's punted to a sort of observer mode, standing where she was but unable to interact with anything but the menu, pain gone. Staren, meanwhile, is catching his breath on the ground before standing up without his daggers. Mentally entering admin commands into the simulation, he makes her 'real' again before smiling and offering a hand to shake, the other over his wound. "Good game." He grins awkwardly, "Although I think maybe we mostly learned that I am not a swordsman."

Hoshi Amakasu (901) has posed:
    Really, Hoshi didn't need the health bar or the game over screen to tell her that she'd lost. The last blow was a killer, of course, and mentally Hoshi had to admonish herself. Being so used to kendo rings and rules really wasn't doing her any favors here. It's strange to see something telling her she'd died right in front of her own eyes, but soon she's back up--and back to 'life', allowed to move and interact again. Sheathing her sword, Hoshi goes to offer Staren a bow and a handshake. "That was really well fought. I totally wasn't expecting attacks like that." She grins a bit. "Hey, what you lack to become a swordsman is more than made up for with how smart you are, Staren. Don't worry about it so much. Aren't you going to reset, too?"

Staren has posed:
    Some of the 'game' behavior in the simulation is just World Seed defaults that Staren didn't change, but that probably wouldn't be obvious to Amakasu until later.

    Staren smiles at the compliment, "Thanks!" then does so, his wounds disappearing. "I thought maybe you'd prefer a break after that match. I, uh... yeah, we both learned something, I guess. So what do you want to do now?"

Hoshi Amakasu (901) has posed:
    A break? Hm. Hoshi glances around the area, but a thought occurs to her, and she blushes slightly when it strikes her. "Uh... I don't think I've actually eaten anything in awhile. IVs don't really count. So... Want to eat some bad Jell-o together and see who can finish first? I'm eating the rest of the food, though, I'm freaking starving." Well, this probably didn't count as a hang-out either, all considered, but at least she can hang out and talk with him. "Also, you should tell me about your world. You basically know everything I know about my world. It's only fair."

Staren has posed:
    "You know, you can eat food in here too. All the taste and none of the calories." He seems to concentrate for a moment. Mentally communicating with CARDINAL to get whatever he wants set up.

    And then they're in space, looking down at Earth at night, above North America. All the little lights of civilization. Staren begins his narration. "My world was just like other Earths, in the 20th century. In the 21st, we persued human enhancement. Cybernetics, mind-over-matter augmentation, chemical augmentation, the beginning of genetics... We could cure all peoples' ills, and make them better. Historians call this time the 'Golden Age' of humanity. And then someone realized, that making better people, meant making better soldiers. And everyone else realized it, too. It became an arms race. Military technology advanced like crazy. My world might not have advanced, humanlike AI, or nanomachines, or supercomputers that fit in your hand, but when it comes to weapons, we've got some of the best."

Hoshi Amakasu (901) has posed:
    That... Kind of defeats the purpose of eating, though, doesn't it? She's about to mention this, but instead she gasps as she suddenly finds herself being warped out into space. She had, of course, seen pictures, but now she was actually standing (floating?) above Earth. Even if this was only VR, she has a giddy little grin on her face as she turns to listen to Staren.

    His initial description sounds like everything she could want her world to be. What she imagined when or if Multiversal technology got to her world. How many people could it help? Then, of course, came the darker side of advancement. The fear, the paranoia. The wars. Suddenly Hoshi finds herself feeling a little foolish, thinking so grandly about what could be without considering it's potential cost. Wasn't that what had gotten her into the Mirror Forest in the first place? "And you told me you fought, so I'm guessing the wars came, too. I'm sorry, Staren." Glancing out into the world again, Hoshi feels a tiny bit of pain in her heart. "I guess that's why you asked me if I really believed the world was a good place after everything. Really, it's probably not."

    She comes a bit closer, offering him a small, wry smile. "I guess what that means to me, though, is that just because the world sucks, doesn't mean I have to follow the trend. We're allowed to choose how we respond to everything, right? So I want to choose another way."

Staren has posed:
    Staren gives her a look that says she hasn't quite gotten it right, about his world. "...Lancer of Black had it right. The world is just... 'inhumane'. It's up to /people/ to make it better. That might sound bleak, but I don't think it's as bleak as it sounds. After all, people are all that gives the world meaning anyway. Otherwise it would just be..." He looks down at the planet. "Rocks, flying in curves."

    He resumes his narration. "...one day, at the end of the 21st century, the cold war started to go hot. Historians have found reports of something starting in South America, but with what happened next, obviously, noone really got a chance to write down the details. Not like it really matters now." There's a flash of light in South America, and then the Earth shakes. The lights of civilization go out, as electric blue lines appear, criscrossing the planet. "Magic came back, and it came back /violently/. Earthquakes, volcanoes, floods... the release of energy was tremendous, not to mention the rising of Atlantis and Lemuria flooded coasts. But that wasn't enough. Where leylines cross, rifts opened up. Out came monsters and demons, as well as peaceful aliens ripped from their worlds and finding themselves just as lost and desperate as humanity. Legends speak of people with advanced robots and power armor trying to fight off the monsters and demons, people called the 'Neemans'... They might have been helpful aliens, but they also might have been what was left of the old military trying to help people. So began the 'Three hundred year dark age'. I'm telling you this from the perspective of North America. Something destroyed all the old communication sattelites, so what little contact we have with the rest of the world is from explorers. I'm sure they all have their own perspectives. The underworld merged with China. The Germans hid underground to wait it all out. Who knows what else happened we /haven't/ heard of?"

Hoshi Amakasu (901) has posed:
    Was it bleak? Maybe awhile ago, she would have thought so. She'd have imagined herself alone, facing challenges that she had no idea how to solve. Now was a bit different. She had her own power, of course, but that wasn't as important as a group or a team ready to put in the work and face the challenges. "I follow you. Still, I'm not entirely wrong."

    The next bit of explaination hits her, and a look of disquiet grows into small horror as she watches all of the lights blinking out, destroyed and ruined. She knows what that means. How many people were lost? The planet ravaged, monsters and demons and magic all thrown into a chaotic, messy blender with innocent people caught in the way. "The death of mankind. Cut us off from each other and suddenly we're so much weaker. Make sure we're fighting ourselves, too, just for that extra bit of irony... Goddamnit." It's rare for her to curse so openly. She takes a deep breath before she speaks again. "Is it still there?... How do you survive something like that?"

Staren has posed:
    Staren looks at her, then back at the planet. A few lights appear across North America. Nowhere near what it was before, but... lights at night, instead of none. "People fought the monsters to survive. Countless died. Many distrusted /all/ nonhumans, seeing no difference between aliens and demons. Others worked together with their new neighbors. Some aliens had knowledge of magic, and taught it to humans. Some humans, seeing it asa the power that destroyed the world and could bring no good, or as power granted by demons to their thralls, eschewed magic and believed all practitioners of it were evil. About two hundred years after the apocalypse, the Coalition was founded by emperor Prosek, who had managed to obtain enough lost technology to build a walled city protected against the outside. He called it Chi-Town, and built it near the ruins of old Chicago. With his military might, he encouraged others to join him, forming the Coalition States. They claim to be the last hope for a humanity beset by demons on all sides. And to make sure no Coalition citizen can think or learn about any... /alternative/ points of view, literacy is kept to the elite, and education for all except those who really need it -- you know, the scientists and engineers working to improve the Coalition military -- is limited to propaganda." The tone in Staren's voice, and his expression, says what he thinks of /that/.

Hoshi Amakasu (901) has posed:
    Hoshi nods slowly, watching the world progress along the timeline Staren describes. For all she knows of humanity, the various reactions sound right enough. With so many differing beliefs and likely few sensible people to try to lighten the blow, of course things went down that path. With an empire rising to conquer the ruins, they'd want their hegemony to be unchallenged. "It sounds almost exactly like a post-apocalypic movie. I take it that empire is still there? You look like you have a lot of hostility towards it--for good reason, of course."

Staren has posed:
    Staren looks at her, nodding slightly, then decides to enhance the visuals a bit. They zoom down towards chi-town and then it's day, as they hover in front of a great walled high-tech city. Guards in black armor with skull motifs man the gates, and the city is surrounded by tents and quickly-erected shacks filled with the poor and desperate waiting to get in. Then the view zooms back out again. "About half a century later, in the ruins of old Toronto by what in your time was called the Don river, a small community of mages formed, seeking to study magic and share knowledge with eachother in peace." The view zooms down again, depicting people meeting at the shore of the river in a ruined city. There's a definite 'robes and cloaks and gas masks' theme among several members, but there's some variety. All of it seems vaguely mystical, though. "In time, farming communities sprung up around it, offering the mages food in return for their protection from monsters and warlords." The scene changes, farmers giving food to mages and shaking hands with them, then mages flying and throwing fireballs and lightning at some kind of large monster. "It was a relationship that benefitted all."

    "...Until one day, two dragons attacked." The scene changes, a modern farming community, then roars, people running and screaming as two great dragons torch the place with their breath, not caring who is caught in it. Defenders with laser rifles and body armor fight back, but seem unable to hurt the dragons and are quickly struck down.

    The scene fast-forwards a bit. Fire and smoke all around as the dragons continue wreaking havoc. The dragons starting in on an unburned section of village, sending people fleeing when one mage walks in, against the tide. Staren starts to smile a bit. "The first mage to arrive was a man called Plato," the dragons turn to the man who then turns into a dragon himself and sets upon them, "an ancient dragon who had been living among them disguised as a human."

    The scene escalated to a full two-on-one mini-kaiju fight through the burning villages, except dragons also call down magic. After a moment, the scene skips ahead to show dragon-Plato fallen, bloodied, barely breathing, at the feet of the two badly-injured dragons roaring in triumph. "Even Plato could not beat two of his own kind," And then fire and lightning and ice and lava and magic lights and everything rain out of the sky as hundreds of mages run up from the distance or fly down out of the sky, "But his struggle gave the mages time to organize. They gave it everything they had -- the community had never seen such power, as no monster before had required the mages to go all-out." The dragons don't go down easily. They fight back, and though the mages are protected by magic armor and energy shields, a few fall. Time skips forward. One of the dragons lay dead, and the other is at last flying off into the distance with roars of pain and anger. There's a cheer, and then the mages move to tend to their wounded. "When the battle finally ended, one dragon was dead and the other was driven off. Plato had already begun to recover, because, well, dragon."

Hoshi Amakasu (901) has posed:
    Suddenly they were zooming forward towards the world, and Hoshi couldn't help but let out a little gasp as she feels her stomach twisting despite not actually moving. Sudden perspective changes were a bitch like that. She got to view what sort of grand world that this empire had set up--and what a bleak view it is. A scowl comes to her face as she watches the unwashed masses begging for relief, only to find there was nothing for them. Brutal bastards.

    Then the perspective flips again, and Hoshi's looking at these men and mages striking their deal. Was it much better? "It's like Feudalism," she says quickly. "Like Japan used to be. Give the lord a portion of your yield and your body in war, and you have the lord's protection. I guess it's a pretty good system in a world like that..." And it seemed to work, to boot.

    Another perspective shift, and... dragons!? "... Dude, your world has horrible luck," Hoshi mumbles as she watches the titanic battle unfold. She actually starts cheering a bit when Plato took the monsters on, goes quiet and fearful when he goes down--and follows it up with a whooping cheer as the dragons were driven away or killed. "And they won anyway..."

Staren has posed:
    The scene skips ahead to much later in the day. A group of there must be like a thousand people approaching the ruins from what's left of the village. The camera zooms ahead to the mages in the ruins having a hushed argument, pointing at the distant horde. "That night, the villagers approached the wizards' enclave, and the mages prepared to leave. They feared the people would not accept a dragon, and that having seen the true power of magic, they might be considered just as monstrous." Staren sounds sad, but then he smiles warmly, tears coming to his eyes.

    The villagers are smiling, cheering, shaking hands with the mages. "They gave the villagers too little credit. While the people were shocked by the revelation of what had been in their midst all this time, they also realized that with all that power, Plato and the mages could have easily left, or perhaps even struck a deal with the evil dragons. It was clear that the only reason they had risked their lives and fought was to protect /them/. The tense meeting became a celebration, both of their victory, and of the values of trust and understanding that allowed the community to thrive."

    "The openness, acceptance, and honest pursuit of knowledge gained the Haven by the River a reputation, while the Coalition was busy with its first wars. By half a century after the Coalition's founding, the Haven had topped a hundred thousand inhabitants." The view now shows a large part of the ruins restored and filled with new construction. Mages and nonmages alike are gathered around a stage as men and women dressed like WWI fighter pilots fire a magitech gun at a target, cast magic into a vehicle to start it, and zap a generator with lightning to power a bunch of machines. "New research in magic and technology led to the creation of techno-wizardry, a fusion of the two that allowed magic, and the power of the leylines, to be used as an endless source of clean energy. In time, a massive techno-wizardry generator would be built around a rift, powering the entire city and surrounding communities. The city was named the Free City of Lazlo, after a 20th century scholar of magic who was ahead of his time."

    The sun begins to set as the view pans over a city half the size of Toronto but more built-up, with a mix of architectural styles and a great pyramid-topped tower at the center. There are walls around the edges, and while there is new construction with its own walls to one side, it is /not/ surrounded by tents and shanty-towns. Gate guards of various species are present, but people are clearly getting through, even if they have to leave their giant robots and large guns at the guardhouses, people leaving are retrieving these things. The camera turns, after a moment, to show the lights of distant towns.

    Staren smiles and turns to her. "And that's where I'm from. It's now been one hundred and seventeen years since the Coalition's establishment, or 2403 AD by Earth's old calendar, but... despite a world full of danger, Lazlo is a shining example of what you can do if you work together instead of being jerks to eachother. I trained to defend it, then joined the Union to see what more was out there. I didn't fight in any wars on my world, but I did used to be more active in the war between the Union and Confederacy. And..." He scratches the back of his neck, "You can see why I don't quite... why I have trouble understanding how shocked people really are by the Multiverse. It mostly just felt like the world got /bigger/."

Hoshi Amakasu (901) has posed:
    And thus Fuedalism grew into a prosperous city right in front of her eyes, an accepting and knowledgable place. The people entering and leaving make Hoshi gawk openly for their strangeness, and she's about to reach out to try to touch one of them, only to remember where she was. Her face goes red and she pulls her hand back, folding her arms tightly against her chest. Hands to yourself.

    With all the exposition all wrapped up, Hoshi grins and gives him a small round of applause. "Thanks for the show, man. I'm grateful that you told me about your world." It does make sense why Staren wasn't so phased, but Hoshi can't really wrap her head around a lot of the things she'd run into thus far. This was a lot of stuff for a girl who up until recently had a completely normal, comfortable life. "It also explains how you're picking up this stuff so quickly. I'm really glad you're on our side."

Staren has posed:
    Staren smiles and bows. "Well, I've always been a quick learner. There are a couple others from my world involved in Multiversal events -- Melissa, a Coalition defector mercenary who works with the Confederacy, and Valentha Summers, a techno-wizard from Lazlo who recently joined the Union. ...Lazlo itself remains unaligned -- though they agrees with the Union's ideals, they doesn't want to get involved in Multiversal politics -- though I suspect if the Coalition ever did march to our door, we'd join the Union in a heartbeat." Staren stretches. "Well. I suppose we should go back to reality so you can eat now, huh?"

Hoshi Amakasu (901) has posed:
    Quick learner indeed. "You're probably a genius, y'know," Hoshi says with a snicker. He'd probably play it off, again, but Hoshi could understand him--at least, just a little bit more now. "If anything happens in your world, please let me know. I have the strength to help out your home if I have to--so why not let me, huh?"

    The mention of food causes Hoshi to look down at her stomach guility. She couldn't really feel it here, but back in the world she's probably starving. "Yeah... The view's really cool, but I do need to get some energy back. I was serious about that Jell-o race, though."

Staren has posed:
    Staren smiles. "Thanks. I just wish it could solve more problems." He nods at the offer. "Food races aren't really my thing. Doesn't it defeat the point of enjoying the flavor? But, I guess I can give it a shot." He does the menu gesture. Amakasu can't see his menu, but his finger taps something and then hovers over an invisible button as he watches her, waiting for her to log out before he answers the Are You Sure? dialog Yes himself.

Hoshi Amakasu (901) has posed:
    Hoshi gives a short bark of laughter. Enjoying the flavor? "I dunno, man. I've been to hospitals a couple times--the food is never really that great. The Jell-o most of all." Still, it's with a big grin on her face that she opens up her menu and selects to Log Out. Once again, she feels her consciousness being gently pulled away from this virtual realm, and when she's deposited back in her body and awake, the first thing she does is ask a passing nurse for some food. And thus the competition and small-time conversation continued, for a time.