Dashed Expectations

((OOC: Chat/Planning Thread))

Once upon a time

There were a bunch of dumbass kids

Played a game

Destroyed the world

This is their story.

_________________

The night is dark, to the point of feeling oppressive. The Moon peaks through the clouds, but only barely, teasing you with but a drop of visibility. Your fire is currently your only friend: warm, bright, and the only thing still there for you. Even that is thrown into doubt, though, as you feel the God's wrath trickle on your head in the form of the smallest drop of water, yet it leaves the biggest impact you have ever felt.

What will you do?



>Grab a nearby stick and light it on the fire.

You gather a memento of your last friend. It won't last long, however, and if you don't hurry, neither will you.

>Go South

You head to the south, just as your life seems to have been doing lately. Your eyes are met with a cave, its gaping maw staring at you with a darkness more intense than even the demon out here that's taunting you, knowing you will join it in moments as the sprinkling rain grows more intense by the moment.

>Go into Cave

As both your chances and makeshift torch grow dimmer by the second, you charge into the cave, knowing full-well that you don't have the luxury of choice. The stick is damp and will go out in mere seconds if you don't act fast.

>Feel around for Fuel

Your primary sense beginning to fail you, you rely on the next best thing you can think of: touch. You scurry along the ground, seeing if you can feel for any spare twigs, some dry stones, anything! Just as it all seems for naught, you feel something strange. Damp, squishy, and pulsating slightly, you're not sure what to make of it.

The tongue, however, knows just what to make of you.

You were eaten by a grue.

"AAAAAAAAAARRRGH!" Hamilton shouted, throwing the card to the ground. ""It'll be fun!," dad said, "Every day will be an adventure!" dad said! Every day's a friggin' headache, is what it is!" he continued screaming, throwing a bit of a tantrum. "Should've known better than to use it to try to hide my..." he said, his voice lowering with each word, until he merely mumbled "...exotic magazines."

Finally calmed down and feeling beaten, Hamilton simply got on his computer, heading to his favorite forum on Pumpkineaters.com. A lot of people were having trouble with this Sylladex, and lots of people had asked for a guide on how to consistently beat it. As much as he'd refuse to acknowledge it now, Hamilton saw an opportunity to prove himself on the forum, maybe even become a moderator, when his guardian suggested it, bringing back memories of the thread. "But I let them all down..." he grumbled, going back to his oh-so-promising post to report his failure to the people he was sure had been posting to cheer him on.

As he opened it, though, what he found was something different. "What's this? Some guy advertising some other random thread in here? Psh, time to report that crap." he thought dismissively, but he couldn't help but skim through it. "Wait, what is this about...?" he thought aloud, "... Sburb?..."





"Hm, maybe if I just... throw the money at the robot, it'll tip over." Shammy thought aloud, tapping the robot on her card. However, that just enraged it, causing it to shoot everything, leading to the card simply flashing "WRONG" in big, red letters. "Oh, well." she said, giggling to herself a little, "Can't win 'em all. Guess I won't be ordering anything today."

The cashier behind the counter, here at the Dairy Queen, simply groaned, motioning for Shammy to move along.

Not quite ready to go home, Shammy simply sat at a nearby table, choosing to just relax for a few minutes. "Mother'll be disappointed I didn't get anything to eat, but eh, what can you do?" she mumbled to herself as she leaned back.

As she sat there, though, she picked up on a conversation some girls at a table behind her were having. Something about a game, and some website... That did sound pretty fun...

Without another thought, Shammy quickly sprang up, suddenly next to the girls' table in one quick motion, spouting "That sounds really fun! Can I join? My brother could come too! He plays a lot of games, so I'm sure he could help a lot! We could have tons of adventures! It'd be awesome! And..."

She fell to silence as she realized the girls were all just staring at her awkwardly, not moving or saying a word.

After a few moments, they simply turned away from her, ignoring her entirely, and continuing their conversation.

"Well... alright... have fun anyways..." Shammy muttered, defeated, as she sulked away.



"SHAM! SHAM!" the brother shouted excitedly.

"HAMMY! HAMMY!" the sister shouted simultaneously, having just run in eagerly.

"There's this game I found, and you can play it with a bunch of people make friends with them, and, I mean, it's not like I'm not popular on Pumpkin Eater or anything, I could totally get a bunch of friends from there, but, I figured I should get someone I know offline, and you're always wanting to join my games anyways, so I figured..." Hamilton went on, completely ignoring what Shammy was saying.

Always one to return the favor, Shammy completely ignored Hamilton as well, cheerfully following up in unison with "I heard about this game from some people, and I know you love games, and we could play it together and meet other people, and go on all kinds of crazy adventures, and it'd be super awesome!"

"Wait," the siblings said together, "what game are you talking about?"

A pause.

"Sburb."

"Well," the two continued, still in perfect sync, "there's no more time to waste, let's sign up!"

And thus, the two were off.

Alex Spence is at home, waiting for the game he preordered to be delivered by air-mail. The boy had dark, messy hair and a grey tank-top with a bulls-eye target on it with shorts.

So boooored, he thought, sitting in his room doing nothing. He grabbed his baseball bat and made sure not to captchalogue, knowing that getting it out when he needed it would be much harder than carrying it. All a growing boy needs to !#%$ !#%$ up. He ran down stairs and past a screen when it blinked on.

On the screen was a silent figure, with a face framed in shadow. It was hard to get details on his face, but what was distinct was his short, black hair and beard. He wore glasses which seemed to either be illuminated by the screen, or back-lit.

"I'm just going HUNTING, THE MANLIEST OF SPORTS, until my package arrives, Father." Alex said, holding up the baseball bat as if it were something a hunter would carry. The screen blinked off. He assumed he had permission. His dad was sometimes mysterious like that.

He exited the large mansion through the fancy double doors and was greeted by a flood of light. He shielded his eyes looking toward the sun and high treetops, not able to help but get a sense of deja vu. Alex opened the gate and ventured deeper into the jungle.

Though he was only fifteen he loved the thrill of the hunt, the near death experiences of fighting wild beasts. He hears them stalking them in the distance, an astuteness born from years of hunting. A twig breaks but he only glances in that direction. Then a jaguar leaps out towards him, claws stretched ready to pounce. Crack! As he hits it across the face with his bat. It reels back but then stands on its hind legs, intimidatingly tall, and brings its claws down. He holds his bat up with both and catches the full weight of the cat, each struggling for superiority. Using this opportunity he sweeps his leg and kicks the jaguar. Down and out, he brings his weapon of choice down on the animals skull. It was down for the count.

Yet Alex knew something more lurked in the jungle. More horrible than any beast or jungle cat. Bears ran in fear of them. And as horrible as they were on their own they almost always came in numbers. He girlishly screamed as the monkeys came down on him. He will best them one day.

---

Ali'phonthev sat staring at her computer screen in the dark, steel room. The girl had long, white hair and wore a dark green t shirt dress with a black slit eye and red pupil on it. Also, her skin was grey. This might be worth mentioning.

Today, 8/15, is her birthday, and guess what, she just turned 15 years old! Since her Father doesn't celebrate her birthday she just decided to spend her day talking to her online friends, who have been incredibly hyped for a new video game. Ali doesn't know much about the game and she usually only plays JRPGs so shes hoping she will enjoy it. She had told her friends she wouldn't be able to get the game as Father told her she couldn't but just a few days ago she convinced him to pre-order it and as soon as it arrives she plans on surprising her friends.



Ali looked at the screen her father appeared on, and it blinked off. I guess he wants to do some testing.

_________________

Your name is CLOE WOLINS. Right now, you are waiting to hear from some friends that wish for you to play a POPULAR NEW GAME with them. Though they may have obtained by ILLGEALLY PIRATING it, you can never turn down a good CASUAL GAME. If it’s anything like those DRESS-UP or SIMPLE PARTY GAMES, you know you’ll enjoy it! Growing up, you were an avid fan of FAMILY SITCOMS and other FEELGOOD SHOWS and MOVIES from the 80’s and 90’s. However, this does not stop you from enjoying a variety of newer Medias, especially if it will help you in your INTENSEIVE STUDY of the POPULAR CROWD.

You study the cultural phenomenon of POPULAR KIDS, otherwise known as COOLKIDS. Through your constant ALMOST OBBSESIVE studying, you believe you are close to IDENTIYING THE GENETIC CODE needed to be cool. Although, you doubt you will ever work with DNA in any way whatsoever when you are older, so you have no way to use such a discovery.

You occasionally dabble in the fine art of CHEERLEADING, despite never being accepted onto the team time and time again. However, that won’t stop you, as you love PEP and ENCOURAGING PEOPLE far too much! Oh how fun it is to see a smile put on the faces of those that are POPULARITY CHALLENEGED. If you finish your research, perhaps one day all children will be popular! Truly, making LIVES BETTER for everyone is a goal worthy of your time. It hurts to see so many non-popular people, in fact people consider them ROGUE.

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Until your friends contact you, you should worry about getting everything in order. You just finished your DAILY CHEER PRACTICE. One day you'll make the team, Cloe! You just gotta believe!

It's time the clean up though. You CAPTCHALOGUE your pom poms and outfit, walk to your closet, and begin a to hum a small cheer.

This outfit is so very cute, anyone that disagrees will get the boot! Bam, both of them are put away. You take a moment to admire the POSTER on your wall.



Now that that's over with, where are your friends? They should have contacted you by now! You sure scored big with this one! These are pretty dang popular kids that asked you to play with them. If you play your cards right, you may move up three whole POPULARUNGS. Heck, you may be asked to sit at their table during lunch! That would be a huge change from where you sit now! ....Which is alone.

B-By choice of course. You like to observe and try to find new PROJECTS to coolify! Most people you ask just tend to GIVE YOU A RUDE GESTURE, however. Ah well, that's on them!

Now, what system was this game on? You look around at your MANY NINTENDO SYSTEMS. Your brother hands them down to you. One might think it's weird that he only gets Nintendo, but they are the cutest and most fun! I mean, Mario Party AND Cooking Mama? Helllloooooo. Man, you sure love telling all those boys on forums how you love playing video games and how they shouldn't be intimidated by you being a girl. Did you mention you're a girl? That plays video games? Because you are. And you do.

Oh, right, it was a PC game they said. Like, Solitaire or something? Hopefully more fun than that silly game.

You turn to your pretty laptop sitting at the desk. Right below another one of your favorite posters.



Well, all posters are your favorite but that's besides the point!

You guess all that's left to do right now is to sit and wait for those popular kids to contact you.

What could go wrong?

A hooded boy, not even over the age of 15, entered an empty bank, slowly walking towards the middle of the front lobby. He surveyed the area quickly, taking count of how many guards there were in the room, where the vault was, the distance between the vault and the front counter, and some other minor things. He then ducked into the bathroom. After a few minutes of him not exiting the restroom, two guards got curious and entered to find the man gone, his clothes on the ground. The bank shut down to search for the missing man, but not before the hooded man exited the bank, wearing completely different clothes, and carrying 3 large duffel bags which were suspiciously full.

The man looked up at the sun, smiling slightly. The sun felt nice on his face. It had been a long time since he had been able to step outside during the day, even if only for a bit. He heard sirens, and sighed, taking one last look at the sun before ducking his head and walking away from the bank. He vanished down some side roads, moving with agility that most normal people only dream about, weaving in and out of crowds of people, before coming to an abandoned cathedral. He easily climbed up to a window that most people wouldn't even consider trying to enter through because it was so small, and squeezed through it with no hassles.

YOUR NAME IS JACK, and you just conducted a successful BANK HEIST for A LARGE SUM OF MONEY. You open the first bag, spreading the money on the floor of the cathedral as you walk towards where you have set up your room. You only wanted two bags, the third bag was just because you had a particular beef with that bank. Climbing up into a hidden area of the cathedral, you step into a large open space where perhaps a lot of secret objects had once been held. For now, all it holds is your worldly possessions. Strewn across the floor was a variety of different currency from different countries. In a large pile off to the right were two large piles of treasures, one for jewels and other uncomfortable objects, and one for gold coins and chains. You liked to lay in that pile and roll around in your treasures. You threw your BAGS OF CASH onto the ground, and flop down onto your pile of treasure, letting out a long sigh as you rolled around in it, trying to ignore the fact that your computer was going crazy with messages from people. You could hear it from over here, the telltale sign of your HORRIBLE ROUTER almost dying while trying to stay connected to the internet.

You get up reluctantly and walk over to your computer, coins falling out of your clothes with every step. You don't really want to talk to any of the other two !#%$ you know, you just want to talk to one person right now. Luckily, the one person you DO want to talk to is online and messaging you as well.



After setting up the site, you notice that the download will take a ridiculous amount of time, and you leave it alone. You open the second site, and all that pops up is a small window that says "Waiting for other connections..." You lean back in your seat, staring at the two other icons that are trying to get your attention. You really don't feel like talking to them right now. You get up and walk over to the mini-fridge to see what snacks you...oh, it's empty. Well, now you know what to use the money on.

You take a moment to check your STRIFE SPECIBUS to make sure that your CLAWKIND card is equipped, and then you make sure you equip your CLAWS before grabbing some cash and bundling up your hoodie again. You decide that before you can talk to either of those other asshats you need a full belly and some booze in your system.

_________________

Ali stopped testing and then returned to chatting with her friends for a while.

Both Alex and Ali heard a plane fly over head and saw it drop a package in the jungle. Ali was scared to go outside because her father tells her she has a skin condition affected by light but is surprised when shes fine. They both run into each other while picking up their games.



((OOC: I had a good length posting going, but then I accidentally got signed out and lost it so I just wrote a tl;dr version of it because I got mad.))

_________________

"Connection complete." the two screens read in unison.


The two sat idly at their computers, anxiously waiting to begin, even if they had very little idea of what they were to be doing. It was then, though, that an all-too-familiar message popped up.



With that distraction aside, the two quickly looked back to the first group chat, memo, thing, to see what they had missed.

Jack slowly looked around his room to make sure everything was right, and his eyes fell on a section of his wall that looked no different from the others. He walked over to it, knocking off the FAKE PANEL to reveal his ANYKIND card, the rarest card in the STRIFE SPECIBUS. He looked at is, feeling as though the game he was about to play would attract unwanted attention, so he EQUIPPED it, replacing the empty panel with his CLAWKIND CARD, and covering it again.

Jack took one last look around his room before walking out of his room, ignoring the new memo that popped up on his computer.


Jack grabbed some cash off the floor of the cathedral before exiting it, rejoining the flow of people who were walking up and down the street. He skid his right hand into his hoodie's front pouch, using his left to make sure his hood was secure. He ducked into a bar, his favorite dive, and quickly moved to the back, where there was a guard who glared at him until he realized who he was, and stepped aside. Jack walked into the room, and sat down.



The group got comfortable, the heist money quickly transferring hands. Not that anyone actually cared where the money came from. Jack ordered a few beers, and got comfortable, quickly forgetting about the game he had waiting for him.

_________________

You are Ron Norris, and on your way to your room, you've survived another onslaught of traps with only a few minor cuts and bruises. The old man has gotten more cunning in his designs lately. The spiked crusher in the hallway is now the least of your worries when there's a bomb in the fridge disguised as a water dispenser, and infectious diseases in the water supply, so that you have to use it.

You're incredibly thankful that the guy's so ancient he hasn't learned how to code real world events. If he ever figures it out it would surely bring the end of the world. Then again, he is preparing for it, but you try not to connect those thoughts. It's probably one of his many psychological traps he's set up for you, and the last thing you need is more psychological problems.

You get on your computer in the only safe-haven he's allowed you: your room. He's promised never to tread inside your room or set up any traps within it, and while he may be a psychopathic, paranoid madman, he's a man of his word. You remember the time he said he would save you a sandwich after the 50th time you tried to escape, and after a week of fending off trap after trap, he was standing there waiting for you, with the sandwich still perfectly preserved.

Well enough reminiscing, time to get down to business.

Today is the day you make your big escape. Giant mouse traps, bi-symmetrical lasers, and poison-ivy labyrinths are no match for "vidja james."

_________________

Ali got her games out of the crate and looked at the note the stranger had given her. It contained two web addresses, !#%$.com and 815sburb.tfr112.org. Very odd websites, she thought before she realized that she needed to be getting back before Father realized she was gone.

Once she got home she immediately got on pesterchum with her online friends.



She looked at the note she was given. It was very lucky she got this. She wondered if whoever told them to go on with out her set this up. Was this Father's doing? She installed the disks and accessed both of the websites.

_________________

Your computer suddenly makes a small ping sound! This made you jump, luckily no one was looking.

You bring up your chat client and see it was the friend you were waiting for. About time.



O. M. G. you just blocked one of the cool kids from school!!! What are you going to do now? How will you EVER get popular?
Oh. And I guess more importantly... WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO NOW TO LIVE?!

A crowd had gathered, and Jack had the biggest stack of cash at the table. He casually smirked as he pushed his whole pile into the middle of the table, forcing everyone to go all in, and then showed his hand.



With that, all the players at the table got up, collecting their winnings, and then they all separated to go their own ways. Jack brought his winnings up to the bar, getting several bottles of whiskey, all different types. He thanked the bartender, and walked out to go to the shop across the street. Jack browsed the shelves, looking for something interesting, finally settling on some sushi ramen noodles and some sushi packets. He also grabbed several bottles of milk. He left the store, checking to make sure all his stuff was tucked into a bag in his captchalogue deck. Jack looked around, then decided that he wanted to get back to see if CG was contacting him again.

He walked into his room, managing to wrestle his bag out of his captchalogue deck, and threw it into his mini fridge. He then sat down at his computer. Ignoring the memo, he navigated over to the other two chats to see who was talking to him.



You really don't want to talk to AT right now, and besides, AT is offline now. You get the feeling that AT is trying to hit on you constantly, but you really aren't interested. You pop open the second chat to see who oh god this asshat.



Jesus !#%$ you hate that guy. Always contacting you about AT and CG and telling you about how much they like you and how they are going to die. !#%$ you really don't need to hear. The instant you meet this guy, you think you will beat the !#%$ out of them.

_________________

Okay. Okay. Calm down. You can figure this out. Maybe you can play the game yourself! Yeah, imagine th-- no wait you need help at least, that's why you were going to play with "friends"...

You could always ask your BROTHER, but he just holes up in his room all the time...

What if yo--

You stop yourself short as you look on the computer. It seems someone is messaging you. How odd, you don't even see a name.



Well, you might as well chat to your.... newly found teammates as this "ZIP" thing works. What ever that means.

_________________

Jack leaned back in his chair, frowning at his computer. He suddenly didn't feel like he was in the mood for video games. He quickly looked at the chat, shaking his head at all the idiots, and quickly responded to the chat.



Glass shards and sparks flew from the computer screen as Jack struggled to get free from the hand that was shoving his face into the computer. Jack suddenly stood up, kicking his chair back into the person behind him, finally breaking free. Jack then quickly whipped around, slashing the assailant's throat.

Jack held his face, feeling around for something to clean himself up. He wiped his face with a shirt off of the floor, pulling glass pieces out as he looked at his broken screen. The screen was trashed. Not that it mattered too much, he could easily replace the screen. Jack turned to look at the girl who had attacked him. She wasn't that old, probably lured here by some ass from that game. Whatever, didn't matter much now. He dropped the shirt over her face, and then captchalogued her body, making a mental note to dispose of it later.

Jack walked over to a mirror, and took note of the burns on his face from the screen. He waited a few moments, and walked over to one of the bottles of booze he picked up, dumping some on another shirt and dabbing it on his face while he also drank from the bottle. He felt his skin slowly start to heal over itself, and figured his face would be better in a few hours.

The joys of being a mutant freak.

Jack put the bottle down, and picked up a phone.

_________________

Shammy was simply sitting there, her hand placed quizzically over her chin as she stared at the chat window, as if that would somehow help her come up with a solution.

Fortunately, it was at that moment that another window popped up.

Ali found the girl interesting. She hadn't really talked to many people outside her friends before so talking to someone who did not really seem to get what they were saying was a new experience. That just means that there are loads of cool things she can show her! Making friends is great.

Also she really wants to replay HH7.

_________________

"Perhaps if I...no, no then that would, but then it'd just, I don't know...Hmm"

A Young boy sat alone at a table, starring at a small, outdated laptop. He was currently locked in a battle of wits (read: Avian Tactics, 2000 Edition) with an "associate" of his. Yes, that's it, maybe he thinks as he sends his Peaclock to attack his rival's Pelidan. Nothing will go wrong with this move, nothing. That's what he assured himself at least while he emailed his move out. Play by email, what a new and interesting concept, he mused.

This lad's name is Rhis Cardor. Mentioned by well, no one, he is spending the summer living in his Uncle's RV in the middle of the woods. His uncle isn't actually here right now, although he never really is. He's gotten pretty use to being left all alone for extended periods of time. Sometimes for an entire month. His uncle was at least kind enough to leave him a special video game before he left. He never really said /what/ it was, just told him that it was something special. Now Rhis is just, mucking around until the game finished installing. You even had a stint where you did an imaginary drug bust with your pet python Crime Lord H Two. You can't prove anything he said. But hah, you could prove it all with your 3D Glasses X-Ray Laser Specs. And so another South American farm was liberated from the hands of the the armless drug lord.

brrr bee boo bop

Oh hey, that sounds means your uncle's gift has finished installing. That was some pretty good time, especially since you started it 3 weeks ago. That extra Bop there also means your associate has emailed you back with his counter move. I'm sure he never could have anticipated your specticle of flocking wit! ... Son of a, darn it you quietly say to no one as you watch his Pelidan simply wreck not only your Peaclock, but also your Sparrowmancer. That unit is OP, it really needs a patch 12 years ago. Well anyway, let's see what this game even is!

....once the game stops freezing up at least. Ah well, might as well connect to this address you got with the game. 815sburb.tfr112.org, or something....

Connection....complete..? you can't tell, the window froze up. Gosh darn it. Oh wait, there it goes, maybe, perhaps, not really.



oh wait it froze again. Humbug.

_________________

Alex sat bored by his computer when someone messaged him. This better be good.



He grabbed his trusty bat. This one was going down this time. He glanced out the window again. It appeared that somehow, he was able to simultaneously get past the defensive runes, the sonic wall, and was now working on the iron gate. I always wondered how he slipped by the first two so easily but always had problems with the fence. The beast let out a painful screech and he ran to the door, his ears bleeding again. Monkeys be damned, I can at least take on this thing. As he approached it, the writhing mass blasted him back with its raw psychic power and screeched again. "Is that THE BEST YOU'VE GOT?" He yelled out at it. Ol' Charlie flailed about ramming one of its beaks against the fence, the nub where one of its larger tentacles used to be healed and scarred over. The young hunter rushed towards his foe and took a wide swing with his back, cracking it across the face it was using to lead its charge on the mansion's defenses. The small horrorterror loomed over him and tried to crush Alex beneath its beak but he jumped out of the way. He then smashed one of its many eyes in with the bat, getting splattered by strangely colored blood. He didn't care, this was the thing he lived for.

The thrill of the hunt.

He ran out into the jungle, hoping it would give chase. It was too angry about the eye, the tentacle, and just being hit to focus on the mansion and went after him. Alex had been expecting this and he was ready. It was surprisingly agile for a mass of alien flesh so it was catching up fairly quickly. They ran past tree and rock and beast, the child leading the way just like he wanted to happen. He smacked animals out of his way just so he would not be slowed down because if he stopped for even a second Charlie would get him. Deep in the jungle a trap had been set in preparation of this. The lumbering creature tripped a wire trap hidden under the foliage and a large, strangely shaped rock with even stranger carvings in it dropped upon the beast. After that, the eldritch thing did not move. Alex dragged it back to his home using a carrying device he had left in the jungle by his trap. He dumped the beast in his living room and returned upstairs only to find his window open and some things pulled out from under his bed. Alex saw his things messed with and tiny primate paw prints on the floor and flushed red with anger and embarrassment. Though there was no one around, he hated the idea of someone finding out he owned a cookbook and knitting supplies. That's not the kind of things a MANLY HUNTER likes. He's just holding them for someone, that's all. He closed the window and got back to his computer desk.

_________________

It was a dark and stormy night...

Rain fell upon the window like a million bullets from a crossfire raining down on glass, a symphony of succulently timed maelstrom keeping beat to the pulse of life like a grand conductor, every moment carefully timed to flow seamlessly from the last and to the next. The girl twirled the lollipop inside her mouth as she gently sucked at it, a hardboiled expression on her face as she peered into the foreboding sky above.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." She said to nobody in particular, glancing down at the watch in her hand. 14 minutes 57 seconds. 14 minutes 58 seconds. 14 minutes 59 seconds. 15 minutes. That's how long had past since her informat, codename Sister, dropped off her new game before buggering off to a quiet sleep.

A clash of thunder, the surprise beat of a drum in a stringed orchaestra. Perhaps the rest would not be as peaceful as she anticipated. 15 minutes 10 seconds.

She had taken the time earlier to prepare for the awaiting trials. Chips, for consumption. Beverage, for stamina. But most certainly not a plushie, for luck.

Speaking of luck, connection was finally established. The memo of OMEM. sounds like an Area 51 institution. Or maybe a secret government amnesia project. Perhaps a senility prevention drug.

But with the ability to talk, she have a simple "hello" to the OMEM, taking a moment to dramatically push up her hat as she did so. Her name is HEATHER MILES. And her story is only just beginning...

A while later some entirely uninteresting things would happen that will most certainly not be gotten to later and Heather did connect-y things. This was most certainly not done out of being tired and not having much to say.

Have a log.

_________________

"What is it?" Hamilton asked, slightly anxiously, as he turned to his sister.

"Well, you got those machine things, too, right? So you started as well. I was thinking you could help me since you're so good at games!" Shammy replied cheerily.

Hamilton practically beamed with pride, "Of course I can help. How far even are you?" he asked.

"Great!" Shammy exclaimed, "I just got an item from the machine that took that...shiny...carved...can...thing."

"Ah, right." Hamilton replied, nodding his head, "The result of the shiny-carved-can-thing step." He was pretending as hard as he could that he knew exactly what he was talking about. "Well, I'm ages beyond that, of course, but I believe we'll have to do something with both our shiny-carved-can-things-results that'll test all the experience we've obtained from our sylladexes. It'll be a puzzle to boggle minds for centuries to come, I'm sure, but we can do it. So show yours to me, and I'll show you mine." he went on.

And with that, they stared at each other for a moment, waiting, and suddenly both pulled out their respective items, the plant pot and watering can, simultaneously.

And thus, they stared at the items.

And stared.

The intensity of their stares were mind-boggling.

"I got nothin'." Shammy finally admitted, seeming disappointed.

Hamilton frowned. "I dunno, maybe we should take them back to the machines in the hallway, see if there's more we can do." he offered. And so, they went and did that.

"Maybe if I just put it on this thing..." Hamilton thought aloud, as he placed his pot on the middle-most machine.

"And then maybe if I hang this above it!" Shammy cheered as she went reached up, holding the watering can by its handle, and then, who would've thought, water came out.

"Oh." they both uttered as the water made the plant grow.

And then POOF, they were gone.

BET YOU DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING!!

After the fight he decided that he was tired of waiting and began hitting up that new guy that just joined the group.

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Shammy stood there vacantly for a moment, before recoiling in surprise. What just happened? Where'd Hamilton go?... Better question, where did the other half of the house go?!

She didn't have time to ponder either of these things, though, as her thoughts were quickly interrupted by a shrill scream. She had no idea where it was coming from, but it was definitely close enough to give her a headache, to say the least.

Trying her best to ignore the screaming, Shammy turned towards the hole that used to be half her house, and looked out to the area around her. The incredibly dry ground, the strange, shiny pink formations, and most jarring of all, the huge webs everywhere... What even is this place...?



Pulling her attention from the strange land, she tried looking around for her brother some more. He didn't seem to be anywhere in sight. Just before she was about to look downstairs, it came to her. That server player! Surely she'd still be there, and maybe she'd have some answers! Yes, Shammy could just calmly ask her about the situation, no need to panic, and everything will be perfectly fine.



Shammy stepped away from her computer, making her way down the hallway. She noticed that the screaming had stopped, but considering what she'd been told, that wasn't exactly calming. On her way to the stairs, she quickly realized that her house kind of didn't have stairs anymore. Peaking over the edge, she quickly determined she could swing down to the next floor. She didn't see anything, but noticed that she did still have the stairway down to her mom's laboratory. She hesitated for a moment, dreading what she might find down there, but eventually made her way down anyway.

Red. Red is what she found.

The Mysterious Engineer noticed Shammy come down, and quickly tried to face away its... bad side. Slowly, and with difficulty, the Mysterious Engineer began talking in a strange way, making an even stranger gurgling noise as it did so. "What's driven your curious intramind to... come to my laboratorium? " it asked, trying its best to hold its balance as it scooped up some intestines with its only arm, stuffing them away.

A pause.

Finally working up the will, Shammy responded with "I just... came down to check on you."

The Mysterious Engineer let out what one could assume was an attempt at a laugh, but sounded more like it was attempting to hock a loogie. "I am... I will be fine. You should just skipicate back up to your room, I'm working on an exasecret project." it replied, scrambling to push buttons on a nearby machine as the Mysterious Engineer leaned against the wall.

"I... alright." was all Shammy could manage to say before turning away and making her way back up. After a bit of climbing, she eventually made her way back to her computer.



Making her way to the half-Dairy Queen just behind her half-house, Shammy quickly found that it was mostly empty. Mostly. There was one guy sitting at a table, eating some ice cream, and seeming awfully content for the whole situation. "Um... hello?" she said, a bit confused.

Just now noticing that Shammy had come in, the man suddenly perked up with a smile, turning towards her. "Yo, man, I thought everyone was gone! They all ran away because of some crazy meteors or something, but that !#%$ was hot, yo. Needed to get my ice cream on, y'know? Could never live without it, so hey, if the meteors killed me, then hey, I'd never want to die any other way than with some ice cream in my hands, and in more importantly, in my belly. But hey, enough about that, you want some ice cream?" he explained all at once, finally holding out an ice cream cone to Shammy.

In response, Shammy simply stared. And stared. This man was strange, and taking sweets from strangers, especially strange strangers, was never a good idea. On the other hand, she never did get anything to eat this morning...

"Thanks!" she said happily, taking the cone and taking a lick. "By the way, do you know where we are? Or what happened? And have you seen a cool guy wearing a backwards propeller cap around?" she asked, thinking that maybe, just maybe, she could finally get some answers.

To this, the man laughed. And... laughed. And laughed some more. That must've been the funniest damn joke she ever told. A full minute later, the man finally managed to calm himself down, replying with "Haha, yeah, I have no idea about any of those things you said. All I know is ice cream. Y'know? Because I don't. Only thing I've seen is those crazy pink dudes out there."

"Erm... alright" Shammy said a bit awkwardly, "thanks anyways. Well, I should be off for now, maybe I'll talk to you later!"

Starting to make her way back, Shammy noticed these "pink dudes" the man described. They weren't so much "dudes" as "creatures" by the looks of things. They mostly hung around those pink formations, and some of them even seemed to be flying, albeit not very high. Thinking better of confronting them (especially in this heat), Shammy made her way back to her computer again, stuffing her ice cream in her pants for later.



Indeed, looking towards the edge of her half-house, Shammy could see some spider-creatures crawling up. They were transparent, but... not like her friendly spiderghost. They were shiny, more like... glass.

Looking up to the spiderghost, she noticed it was now hissing and baring its own fangs. Not quite sure if she was ready for what was to come, Shammy took the drill off her hair, powering it up. "Please come help me soon, Hammy..." she muttered before holding the now-spinning drill up towards the oncoming abominations. Here went everything.

Jack walked out of the room in the cathedral, looking outside to see the light glow of what he assumed to be the sun setting. It hit the stained glass windows just right, and decorated the wall with a variety of colors and patterns. Jack spaced out, watching the window light up brighter occasionally. Suddenly, he snapped to his senses, realizing that the sun had set some time ago and walked outside, looking to the horizon.

The city was burning, casting a heavy orange glow on the smoke billowing into the air. Meteors were cutting through the smoke and smashing into buildings, the ground, into the water. Jack looked up, and jumped out of the way in time to avoid getting crushed by one, watching it bounce off the ground and into the bar he was in a few hours ago. Jack started running, easily jumping over barricades that had been put up and leapt over a fence in one jump, landing on a dumpster and hopping up to a fire escape. He got up to the top of the building, and started running across the rooftops, leaping over the huge gaps inbetween the buildings.

Jack paused at the last roof, looking down at the long drop ahead of him. He looked behind him, seeing that some of the buildings had caught fire, and one had collapsed. He looked down again, watching the people scramble in a panic, some of them getting caught in the meteors crashing to the ground, or getting set on fire, or even getting trampled by the crowd. He stood there for a few more seconds, panning the crowd, before locating a black hat moving through the crowd, calmly heading towards the only remaining bridge in the city that hadn't collapsed due to damage from falling rocks. The person under the hat couldn't be seen from this height, but they continued to the bridge, and went under it, as if they were waiting for someone.

Jack looked down, watching as the windows of the building he was on explode, showering glass down onto the crowd of people. Fire erupted out of the windows, and the building slowly started to shift. Jack sighed, backed up, and then jumped off of the building. People screamed and moved out of the way as he landed on the ground from 7 stories up, on all fours. He stood up, brushing ash off his hoodie, and then climbed up onto the crowd and made his way over to the bridge, as the building collapsed behind him.

Jack walked under the bridge, noting all the cars that were stopped, and people were climbing out of them to escape the city. He walked over to his mentor, who was looking across the water. Jack avoided looking at the horrible water, leaning against the bridge support.



Jack stood with his mentor for a few more seconds, trying to actually get a good look at his face. He then turned away, and started making his way back to the cathedral. Jack's mentor watched him walk away, then turned back to the water.

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