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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.))

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"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.

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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."

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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.

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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.

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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.

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