un: shinra | text

[unionized]

I see the companion bots have been hard at work updating our skyline of late. A neat trick, reproducing such elaborate structures — for those of you familiar with what's gone up, have you found them to be faithful recreations? Or has a little Etrayan creativity found its way in?

Aurora went out of her way to make one thing clear in her initial communication to us: that we were selected for this exercise for a reason. That begs two immediate questions: why were our worlds the ones selected for representation, and why were we the ones selected to represent them?

Our hosts are unlikely to give us those answers, as we know the selection criteria is being withheld from us. So perhaps the only way we'll make any headway is by taking matters into our own hands.

Consider, then, an exercise of our own: to share something about your world and its circumstances. At best, we might find a common denominator that speaks to our hosts' interest in us. At worst, we'll all come away with a better idea of what's at stake for each of us.

I'm not proposing a forum to advocate for these worlds' continued existence; Aurora and her contemporaries have that much well in hand already. What I am suggesting is that we all better understand our purpose here, and its implications: that should we succeed, these are the worlds that will survive, even at the expense of others that weren't so lucky as to have people like us brought here to fight for them.

Comments

[equivo]

[ So that's why Rufus is curious about feature completeness. Efforts already rendered piques Krouse's curiosity in turn, but that's another not-in-public topic. ]

I'm sure they'll get around to it. Even with advanced technology, the scale here is really something.

I guess when you're working at the scale of universes, resources aren't a problem. Just time.

[unionized]

Or maybe, given their emphasis on collaboration and cooperation, they don't see the merits of finishing the virtual combat simulator.

A shame, really. I was permitted in that one.

[equivo]

Virtual combat simulator?

[unionized]

Fully immersive, state of the art. Largely recreational.

[equivo]

[ There's a part of Krouse that grasps the possibilities of a virtual training environment immediately. One of the things they'd always been short on were opportunities to practice, every bit of experience gained in the brutally punishing field. Being able to test strategies before implementation would have been a life-saver, sometimes literally.

Another part of him, long neglected and ignored, just thinks it sounds really fucking cool.

What both parts can agree on is that if this isn't an offer already, he wants it to be one. ]

I'd like to see something like that, once it's up and running.

It'd be handy to get some practice with teamwork in between missions.

[unionized]

It would, wouldn't it? We'll have to see what can be done about getting the systems online.

Until then, maybe I should consider hosting a social event. Try my own cafeteria pizza.

[equivo]

[ He'll have to get a nice shirt.

It's a kind of stupid first thought, but it's not wrong. He can't just show up in a hoodie and one of the indifferently baggy t-shirts he's raided from the Roxx. He has children's menu allegations to beat. ]

I think you'd be pretty popular if you did. It beats the uncanny valley welcoming parties we've been getting.

I'd offer my technical expertise for the VR project, if I had any. But if you need beta testers, you have my username.

[unionized]

And who doesn't aspire to be popular?

Well, I just have one question, then — call it a check of your credentials. What's your virtual weapon of choice?

[equivo]

That would depend on the virtual situation.

But as a general rule, a semi-automatic pistol. Not the most exhilarating answer, I know, but it covers most of the bases.

For everything else, there's grenades.

[ Virtually speaking, of course. ]

[unionized]

If it gets the job done, it's a good method.

I know for a fact the sim is configured to accommodate both, so you should have no problems.

[equivo]

Great to hear.

Out of curiosity, can it be configured to accommodate anything else? I'm sure you've noticed we have a fairly diverse range of skill sets here.

For example: throwing fireballs. Do you think that kind of innate ability would be portable? Or anything similar.

[ His teleportation trick isn't exactly a secret anymore, but he'd rather get at it from an angle for now all the same. ]

[unionized]

I don't see why not. What would be the use of virtual reality if it couldn't adapt to its user's needs?

Fire magic is hardly out of the question. I'm sure others could be adapted, as well, with sufficient information about them.

[equivo]

You say that like you don't know it's impressive.

And that said, I've probably taken up enough of your time. Thank you for indulging some of my questions. I hope your survey continues to be informative.