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Futuristic ready player one. { nia & ely.

heartstringss

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New World:
an all-new, fully immersive virtual reality gaming experience.​
 
"How in the hell am I going to get one" Maria could only look at her message she'd just sent to Sev.

Misalenti: Of course! Wouldn't miss this release for the world ^ _ ^

A low groan left Maria as her head fell and hit her desk. How? How was she going to get her hands on one!? She'd looked into it a bit ago out of curiosity after seeing something about it. The pre-order was closed, and some people were even selling their pre-orders for even more. People were buying them though. Another sigh escaped her this time in resignation as she lifted her head back up managing a partial glare at the screen. "Why couldn't you have brought this up sooner! Nooo you wait until a month before they're sent out" Shaking her head her eyes slid to her desk drawer, within held a phone that was replaced every month. Fishing it out she glanced at the contacts listed, all four of them: Papa, Mamma, Un and Con. What level did she want to do this... Her eyes wandered towards her screens bouncing from the game to the second screen that had information about the NerveGear... "… Go big or go home" she mussed with that she pushed the speed dial. A few moments later a heavy Italian accent greeted her.

"Gioia? (Joy?)" The tone was curious, unsure for the unplanned call. Rarely did she call him, and even though they talked usually it was not on his own phone.

"Hello Papa... how is Pepe?" Was it safe to have a conversation right now? Pepe had been a dog they had when she was younger, it had a red coat and the ever original child had called it pepper because it was red like a pepper.

"Pepe is fine, excited to see you" It was fine to talk about anything.

"… I need you to get something for me" her tone was hesitant even as she stared down the screen with the item in question.

"Oh?" This was a surprise, his daughter hadn't asked him for anything, well ever. Not heartfelt anyways, sure as a child there had been the typical wants but even then there had been nothing she'd directly asked him for. Normally she would ask the Baserno's if she needed or wanted anything, for her to call him though had him curious as to what it was.

"… alright look" her voice came out slightly... annoyed? Frustrated? Determined? "I need you to get me a NerveGear... I need it before... " a quick glance at the day of the game launch. "Basically, as quickly as possible but before the end of the month"

"NerveGear?" A quick glance to the man sitting near him hoping he knew what it was but even they was shrugging.

"It's a gaming thing... I'm giving you permission... I don't care how you get it." She understood very well the silence on the other end of the phone. She'd never approved of anything that was obviously family business when it came to her things. She knew exactly what her family did, she didn't live in denial and she didn't try to ignore the many lives affected. That didn't change the fact she had adamantly kept a strict line of only getting something in as legal way as possible. Right now though she was saying she did not care, at all. Go get it by any means.

"You... " the voice that finally spoke held nothing but surprise to the point he couldn't even get an actual sentence. "You want your papa to get you this NerveGear and you don't care how it comes into your possession?" Even the man across from him looked surprised. They all dearly hoped Maria would join the family business but since she was a girl it wasn't a big deal if she didn't, just a little disappointing. Everyone knew how Maria kept her distance from the business, but here she was saying... "I'll get it" he said firmly, be damned what he needed to do. His daughter was honestly asking him for something. The thank you from her end had a smile coming to his lips as the phone call ended. "What the hell is a NerveGear" he asked looking to his underboss, the man known as Un in Maria's phone, who was staring at his own phone now looking up this item they were tasked with getting.

"…. She sure asked for a tall order" Un mussed, honestly shocked. "She really meant anything" he couldn't help the chuckle that left him. "I'll get it done no worries" he reassured the Boss "After all how could I not get my cute little sister what she wants when she finally asked us for something."

- - - - -

She didn't want to know. She didn't want to know how they managed to get their hands on one and had it in her hands only a week later. Had the pre-orders even been sent out yet? Whatever, she didn't want to know. The time until launch seemed to come far too quickly, in that time between running missions with Sev she had read up everything there was to know about the NerveGear and the game they that was being released with it. It really was a miraculous piece of equipment: it only has a single interface that covered the whole head and face. It completely controlled the player's consciousness by redirecting the signals the brain sends to the body and sends its own waves to stimulate the five senses. Users had to go through a set up that took, depending on the user as little as one hour while there was a rumor it had taken someone four. The set up process was the NerveGear essentially mapping the users brain so that the dive was as seamless as possible.

Thankfully the developers acknowledged that people wanted to be sure to easily find friends and had allowed the ability to add people via their NerveGear account. The game creators had worked with the company to make sure the friends list would pull into the game upon launch. The only friend she had in her list was Sev and she was fine with that. Taking a deep breath she let it out slowly trying to release the nerves building up. This wasn't just a game like they usually played, this was a Full Dive. Sure they used mics occasionally depending on what they were doing but generally they worked in silence and communicated via messages. They were basically meeting each other in person for all it mattered, after two years playing together they were finally going to meet. Laying down she made sure everything would be comfortable, hoping that it would still be so after however long they played. Her eyes were glued onto the display before her, more specifically the little clock in the upper corner. As soon as the icon lit up for the game signaling it was available to play she booted it up right away.

It was a weird feeling, almost like she was falling asleep. Very very quickly but falling asleep none the less. Streaks of light rushed across her vision before she was fully standing in what looked like a hall of records. Every new player started here, a little game intro/character design integration.

"Hello Wanderer, you have found your way to the Hall of Records. I will now place your name into the history books to record your achievements in defending the world."

With that statement a transparent window appeared before her, a hologram of sorts by the looks of it. This was where she could finally design her characters appearance, or should she say her own. After becoming satisfied with her appearance she filled in the last bit of information.
"Name Misalenti. Race elf. Confirm" she stated, well at least with this the system wouldn't mess up her name she thought in amusement. The screen changed asking her if she was sure this is what she wanted to create as she was unable to change once started. "Hell yes"

"Once again I welcome you." a hooded figure materialized before her. "The world - - " to the side a small notification appeared asking if she wanted to skip the story. "No" she mussed. She'd already read it previously but she wanted to experience the game properly how they intended it. " - - - has changed vastly since you have been asleep" Ah that's right they were doing it where characters were in some form of sleep and were just now awakening. "One day we were transported to this world the inhabitants call Earth. We don't know why or how this came to be but it is fact. Many races were transported to these lands, some we know and some we do not. The humans said caves and islands appeared where there were none before. While the transferred races appeared with the islands, monsters appeared from within the caves that have been confirmed as dungeons. The technology on earth while advanced in its own way was also behind due to its inability to integrate with magic. The world changed and their civilization could not keep up. Once great cities have now become abandoned and the wilderness has reclaimed much. Humans were amazingly adept being able to learn magic and even while their world struggled, they flourished. Join the inhabitants of this world in defending your new home against the monsters that seek to take it" Everyone received a similar story line, though it changed some depending on the race and if you were originally from Earth or not.

With that the hologram disappeared and a new screen appeared before her. It'd take getting use to having a floating semi-transparent screen show up in front of you. The newest notification was asking if she wanted to go through the tutorial. She honestly wanted to skip, she was getting impatient but decided to go through it. Truthfully it was helpful. It had a little obstacle course, enough of a challenge you could learn how to move properly which still felt odd. A little fight simulator that showed how to fight and use skills. It's not like you said them out loud or anything, you just started the motion and had to imagine the skill as well as the "desire" to do it. The final little bit was how the UI worked and where to find things such as inventory, main menu, friends list, guild list, etc. When it was finally finished it asked if she wanted to repeat anything.

"No" she said glancing down at herself. Her hair a bright contrast to the dull color gear set that all beginners started with. A simple white tunic and dark pants with a sword attached at the hip, though there was also the option to wear a skirt. With that the world blurred and she materialized at the top of a set of stairs, a quick glance behind her showed what was most likely the outside of the Hall of Records. Her eyes quickly scanned the excited crowd before making her way through the bustling plaza. They had agreed to meet at the western gate at a certain time, giving time for the character creation process, and there was still some time. Even as she headed towards the gate she peered over everything the stalls had to offer, NPC's offering friendly smiles and simple hellos if you stood too long. Habit had her smiling back and offering hellos in return before moving on. She came up short though as she found herself in front of a mirror. She maybe had a little too much fun making her character. The midnight black roots that faded into bright purple locks, mismatch eyes of purple and red with her pupils being vertical slits, elven ears that were dropped and the final touch a set of red markings that ran from one ear to the other across the bridge of her nose. Well, she'd told Sev ahead of time what her hair would look like but hadn't really said much more about her planned appearance. Not that it would be much of a surprise, when she had the chance most of her characters tended to have striking odd ball features.
 
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Bloop bloop.

Brown eyes blink up from the heaviness of her work, all too eager for a distraction when she hears the familiar tone of Discord. A smile creases her features as elbows push the journal on her desktop to the side, fingers already stretching towards the keyboard before she's even cleared the surface.

Besides work, preparing for the release of New World had been Seven's number one priority for the past several months. A design team compromised of hundreds from all around the world, some of the best tech minds come together for a single purpose: to create the world's first full-dive VR masterpiece. Christ, it'd spent more than a decade in beta testing alone, hadn't it? With the amount she had to save to even be able to afford one of those fancy NerveGear headsets, she might as well have signed over her firstborn child, too.

Naturally, of course she would want Mis to come in with her on the game. They played everything else together, so why should this be any different?

Before she could type out a response to Mis's message on Discord, another notification chimed through her speakers, a message via her email this time.

Congratulations! Your pre-order has been shipped. Get ready for Ner(...)

She didn't need the full subject line to know what the email was about. With no hesitation and very little grace, the brunette all but shoved her notebooks the rest of the way off her desk. Her fingers flew straight to the keyboard, now, and promptly smashed a row of keys.

se7en: ASKFJDKASJ MY GEAR JUST SHIPPED I CANT BREATHE 911 SEND HELP

A bit dramatic? Eh, who cares.

- - -

It was weeks later for Seven before the gear finally arrived. Weeks of agony, mind-numbing boredom... as if she didn't have an entire portfolio of other games to peruse in the meantime. In anticipation for the game's release and with all the hype its builders were creating, everything else seemed dull by comparison. She was practically crawling out of her skin at work, her right eyeball persistently twitchy with the mounting stress and such few avenues to explore so she could relieve her stress. Okay, maybe she was being a little stubborn... Mis had invited her to a game of Killing Floor 2 just the other day, hadn't she? And in her downtime, when the other girl wasn't around, of course she still had Bloodborne and Silent Hill as well.

But those were child's play compared to what she'd seen in videos teasing New World's upcoming release. All that publicity for NerveGear, they must have raked in thousands already. Hell, there was practically 7 new videos every other day. NerveGear this, NerveGear that. She hadn't even received the tech yet and already, she was practically dying to get inside that game.

When the time came of the release date, she'd had her hands on her gear for roughly twenty-four hours and already had it all decked out in stickers. Christ, this shit was clunky. Ugly as all hell, too, but hey, that's what the stickers were for, right? As long as it functioned properly, Sev wasn't sure she even care if it was safe, let alone whether or not the shit was pretty. (If she died in game, hell, at least she'd die doing what she loved. Speaking of which, it sure was reassuring how the game's creators practically forced you to assign an emergency contact to your profile before they'd let you sign in for the very first time. Did she really want her dad asking those kinds of questions? Fuck no.)

Her veins were buzzing with adrenaline before she'd even slipped the gear over her head, because just having it in her hands could do that, apparently. (What would the experience be like slipping under for the very first time if you couldn't manage absolute peace and tranquility in all the time before? She could have the softest bed in the world, all the peace and quiet she could ever hope for, and still she couldn't still the frenzied beat of her own heart...

....or the shaking of her hands as she pulled the gear free of its packaging, slipped it on over the poof of unruly curls atop her head, and flipped the shield interface down over her eyes.

Hello Wanderer...

Ah, the character archetypes! Sev had read a little bit about the options, but until now she hadn't seen any of the designs yet. The level of detail was astonishing. Even animated, the artwork had a certain realness to it too, even more hypnotically realistic by the fact that all your other senses were being activated at the same time, too. You could practically feel the rough or smoothness of each creature's skin as you slipped between the options. The heavy weight of scales or feather-lightness of wings. There was a certain coldness to your skin if you chose a dragon-born, for example, or heat if you chose orc.

A blank slate of a character stood before a mirror, features morphing like a chameleon as she turned her hand on an imaginary dial. As per usual, Seven chose a human being rather than any of the other beast or mystic archetypes. A woman, though likely several inches taller than her real-life form, stood otherwise picturesque with the exact same hard brown eyes, unruly dark brown hair, and warm brown skintone. The key differences besides their height was the fact that the woman's hair was slightly longer, that she had it styled in an undercut, and... well, and then of course there were the markings.

Deep, pale gouges dug into the woman's skin like scar tissue. Dug into her shoulders, down her wrists, along her abdomen and thighs, some even carved into her face... the markings struck Seven as being mainly tribal in nature, and perhaps that's exactly why she liked them. Even with the long-sleeved white tunic and dark pants, you couldn't hide those markings if you tried. Like a stain, they peeked out beneath her clothing and drew your eye immediately. Subtle, but beautiful and unique. She liked that.

When she finished with the character creation, Seven input her name (or rather, her gamertag... because of course Seven wasn't her real name, after all) and hit confirm.

She didn't flinch when a hooded figure materialized beside her seconds later. While this character greeted her and told her the history of the game's events, Seven listened and absorbed the story. How the world had changed, one day, while her ancestors had been asleep. Mysterious caves which had appeared from seemingly nowhere. Beasts and magical creatures walked the earth, now, and while some were peaceful, others fought for control of the land with a certain vengeance veering on tyrannical. Some held magic with properties more advanced than any technology their civilization had ever dreamed over. Oh, how society had faltered at first, most running scared to hide while few others stayed back and fought. Once great cities now lay in ruins, but at last, humanity had learned how to integrate with magic, too, and finally, finally, they were fighting back.

They had a world to save, and if they succeed, well, who's to say that all the treasures in that world weren't theirs to keep as well?

Once the intro finished and she'd finished the tutorial next, Seven was dropped into a plaza after that, along with potentially hundreds of other players who had all just finished character creation. The area was huge, bustling with life that seemed so real. They really had spared no expense, had they?

In the top right corner of her field of vision lay a clock, pale grey so as to be subtle but it was clear the clock wasn't a part of the regular game's design. Instead, this clock was connected with her Real World, and just beneath it, there lay a notch. If she tilted her hand just so, she could bring up an entire display of other useful information, including friend's list. From there, she could see that Mis was already online and gathered in the plaza too. With a smirk and a small wave of her fingers, Sev pinged the other girl's location and a dark purple arrow materialized in front of her, seemingly leading from her chest. If she followed its direction, it would lead her straight to the western gate where her friend was currently located. Useful, right?

Before starting for her friend, Sev lifted the sword connected to her hip out of its sheath and pressed a finger to the top of the blade. It was sharp, of course, sharp enough that even a touch as light as that was still enough to sting and draw blood. Blood which she then reached up and smeared across her lips, forming two lines straight down the center all the way to the indent in her chin. Did she look insane while doing that? ...Judging by the horrified stares of nearby players, yeah, probably.

With a smirk, Seven re-sheathed the blade and pushed her hand outward following the direction of the arrow extending from her chest. Gravity pulled with the motion and so she followed in its wake. Minutes passed as she wormed her way through the surrounding crowd, ignoring all the other players and the NPC's. When she reached the west gate where the two had said they would meet up, it wasn't difficult to find her friend by the fact the arrow led straight to her. That, and there was the fact she already knew partly what to expect.

Long ears bowed out from either sides of her head, framed by long, sleek black hair that turned to purple little more than halfway down. Clearly, Mis had chosen a different race of character than the one that she had, and judging by the purple hair, well, likely she had also taken a bit more creative liberties with her character than Sev had done in mirroring her own appearance, but oh well.

Lips curved upwards slightly, the barest hint of a smile revealed while her friend's back was still turned. She bent her knees and pushed off the ground, grasping onto the lowest branch of a nearby tree. Muscles flexed as she pulled herself up into the tree, legs positioned on either side of the thick branch, poised steady with agility and grace acquired after years of cross-country and basketball, and, well, of course there was also the perk of fake gravity to boot.

"Hey loser," she called down from the tree to her friend's back. She picked a fruit from its leaves and rolled it across the ground, striking the girl's foot. "Didya feel that? How cool is this shit, right?"
 
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Hearing a ping she cocked her head thoughtfully before seeing a little notification appear before her.

-=Allow Seven To Find You?=-
-= Yes / No =-

Looks like the other was done with the tutorial and set up, a quick wave of the hand in acceptance allowed the other to follow a tracker that would lead them right to her. She'd partially forgotten that function to be completely honest, one of those little bleeps of information in the vastness that was New World. Moving from the mirror she continued along the booths peering at everything thoughtfully. Obviously being the beginner town, most things were very basic and on the more affordable end. She always made sure to offer polite greetings back towards the NPCs that greeted her, it was hard not too they were so well programed they really seemed like real people. She came up short though at one who smiled brightly when she returned the greeting and even started a small dialogue with her. Sus... this was suspicious but her excitement was bubbling up even as she kept a pleasant expression on her face. No way was there some type of hidden prompt this early in the game... right?

"… you know you've just been so kind. Most of the others are in such a rush and even if they do stop they hardly acknowledge you" the NPC said with a sigh. "Oh gosh where are my manners. I'm over here just complaining and haven't even introduced myself. My name if Tifsa, what's yours?"

"No worries. I understand having to deal with rude people" Mis said with a small laugh. "My name is Misalenti, though if it's easier you can call me Mis. That's what my friends call me" a warm smile in perfect place.

"Well Mis, you've been such a delight. I wish I could do something for you, especially since we're friends.... oh! I know. It seems like everyone is running around with the same sword. Maybe you'd like to trade it for something else?" With that Tifsa motioned to the side where a small collection of weapons were. They weren't anything fancy just beginner weapons shoved in a barrel, very medieval like. But there was a small variety of them both size and types.

It took a lot to not react to everything she wanted to. First of all, Tifsa actually used her nickname? An even acknowledged one another as friends. Hey she was still breathing normally, right? Don't geek out in front of the NPC for god sake. "Are you sure? I don't want others to give you any fuss because you're doing this for me" she said thoughtfully even as she was eying the barrel. A soft laugh from the NPC along with the reassurance there would be no problem had her lips twitching into a brilliant smile "Then I'll have to take you up on that offer!" She said excitedly shuffling towards the barrel and quickly looking over them.

That's how Sev found her, staring very intently into the barrel and maneuvering the weapons inside around. She didn't dare pull one out just in case it would trigger the trade. She almost didn't hear the shout behind her but hearing something rolling and bumping into her foot had her glancing down. Eyes sliding up to land on the culprit. Mis kind of just looked at Sev for a moment before whipping back around. "Tifsa... I know you've already offered this deal to me but... I'm starting my journey with my friend. I can vouche for her, she's had my back in many challenges over the years. Could she possibly also trade her weapon if she so wishes?" She made sure to keep a hesitant expression on her face one that said she really did feel bad for asking.

Tifsa just looked at Mis for awhile before glancing to Sev with a thoughtful gaze. A smile soon coming to her features. "Well if it’s a friend of yours then they must be quit something as well" she said waving her hand towards the barrel in acknowledgment.

"Thank you so much!" Mis gushed out. Whirling back around she ran to Sev quickly ushering her down from the tree. Once down she snatched her wrist bring their faces rather close. Sev could easily see the slitted pupils being this close. "Listen" Mis said in a hushed tone. "Don't question anything. Just be super freaking nice like this lady is your new best friend, I'll explain more later. Her name is Tifsa and she's going to let us swap our weapons for one that’s in the barrel" This was huge, there had been nothing about this anywhere in any leaks. With that Mis quickly dragged Sev back to the stand. "Tifsa this is my friend Seven, but her friends call her Sev"

"Well Sev any friend of Mis' is a friend of mine" Tifsa said with a smile. It felt weird as they quickly sorted through the barrel having Tifsa watch them. It felt like... that's what it was. Like some mentor was watching in satisfaction over there students growing. After settling on the weapons and a few more pleasantries they departed. Mis promising to come back at another time.

"Naturally I have to become a patron at my friends stall" was her parting comment with a wave. She wanted to freak out, she did. How in the hell had she managed to stumble across this? This would be huge when it got out, but she didn't have any intention of doing so. This wasn't a game breaking thing that you needed to know so she'd leave it as is. "So what did you settle on?" She asked peering towards Sev as they left through the gate. If anyone saw them, they'd probably just think they'd bought the starter pack that had weapon choices. Let them think that, didn't affect them any either way. Looking over Sev's weapon of choice she pulled her own from its home at her hip looking over the rapier with a bit of a warm smile. It had been a long time but it still felt pretty natural to her. With that though Sev may notice that Mis held the rapier with her left hand, did that mean Mis was a leftie? No... but it was what it was. Old habits die hard after all. "Shall we find a nice little farm and see what these bodies can do?" A grin spreading across her lips that she couldn't contain. There had to be a good farm around here somewhere, a place that had quickly respawning monsters of low level they could whittle away at trying out things.
 

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