Private Eastern Brisshal Eastern Brussels

[John Yun]

Shrieking birds and insects resounded awfully in the surroundings as John stood in the middle of a small clearing. Not far away was a small camp where John had been staying with his... current compatriots. Staying with others was a strange and frankly uncomfortable feeling for him, though he realized it was a beneficial thing at this specific time and place. He'd put up with it for now, but currently John was focused on other problems.

The individual who had introduced this game to him had been verbally drowning John's ears with words like "mechanics", "systems", and especially "palm menu". To be honest, he knew the individual words but had no idea of the context within this game. So he stood there, like a buffoon, making arcane gestures with his hands. John failed, repeatedly, to open the so called palm menu. Certainly he tried to look at his palm, and would have certainly burned a hole through it if he had even mild heat vision. Now he was attempting different distances from his face, holding it up, down, left, but never right. He flipped off some trees and a particularly obnoxious bird, which did not work.

Frustrated, he balled his hand into a fist and started to look for something to punch.

@Nota Oldman

 

[Nota Oldman]

Singing birds and the chime of insects sounded majestically in the surroundings as Nota absorbed the magnanimity of nature. He couldn't help but be enthused with the vibrant woodland that surrounded him. The air was fresh and clean. The sky was clear and the weather was pleasant. The sun trickled down through the treetops casting a warm gleam on Nota's skin.

"Ah, isn't this nice."

Bracing his hands at his sides, towards his back, Nota leaned back a bit to stretch. He had been sitting in their small camp enjoying a nice rest, but now he was brimming with energy and the desire to move about. It didn't seem like many of their compatriots were around, or awake. Perhaps they had used that palm thingy to leave. Nota hadn't quite figured out how to do that stuff. He had just been sleeping in the simulated environment up until this point.

"Hmmm?"

Hearing some movement nearby, Nota walked towards it and peered out into a clearing. There, moving oddly, was the large stoic man that he had met previously. Nota wasn't sure this man was even with them, considering the few interactions that had occurred between the two of them. Quite frankly, Nota was a bit intimidated by this fella. John was big and brutish, and wasn't very friendly. Definitely not the crowd that Nota was used to interacting with.

More worrying yet, John was alone in this clearing make strange gestures with his hands. Nota could only come to two conclusions from the performance. John was displaying gang signs of some sort, or he was doing morning tai chi. The green haired youth wasn't familiar with either of these concepts, but he had heard them mentioned in passing. One was a pleasant act that feeble old people performed and the other was a way of communication between hardened criminals. Nota definitely had an opinion about which John was.

"H-howdy John. What is it you're doin' out here all on your own?"

@John Yun

 

[John Yun]

John had just begun searching for something to punch when he was suddenly interrupted by a howdy containing a hint of trepidation. Nearly giddy that a punchable object had offered itself unto him, he spun about abruptly with his fist raised. It remained raised, unfortunately, as he was greeted with the sight of the most child-like of his new associates. He quirked his lips into a vague sneer, as he considered the question for a moment. The air was heavy with the pause, humidity, and the ever-present caterwauling of insects and birds. The fist slowly lowered as he said mildly,

I'm trying to figure out the palm menu.

Another pause hung in the air for a few moments of direct eye-contact. John broke the eye-contact after he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Casually sauntering over to a nearby tree, a non-descript, yet very punchable green vine hung from one of the lower branches. With a practiced stance, he quickly jabbed at the vine, snapping it at the contact point. The broken off section smacked limply against the tree trunk as he turned back to Not-, Nat?

Frowning slightly after a moment, he looked at his fist which suddenly stung. Upon inspecting his knuckles, it seemed as if the vine had been coated with a very fine layer of stinging needles, like a stinging nettle. He opened his hand to try and get rid of some of the needles, only reveal a surprised expression.

Oh, there it is.

@Nota Oldman

 

[Nota Oldman]

Nota's heart stopped when he saw the windup of the arm as John turned around. It was not quite the greeting he expected. Perhaps he had spooked the man? John had been there doing weird motions. Maybe it was something he wasn't confident in, like interpretive dance or something. That would explain such violent shock that he felt the need to strike out.

"A-ah yes, the palm menu. And here I was thinking you were about to deck me something fierce. I should have known one of my new companions wouldn't be so violent. I apologize for my abrupt judgement."

Nota had bowed his head slightly in an affable manner to try and dispel any ill-intent that may have developed. He felt slightly vindicated when John proceeded to strike out at a nearby vine. It seems the oaf had every intention of throwing a punch. A dangerous fellow. Might be smarter to stay on his good side.

"Ah-ah, watch your... Welp. Looks like you're finding out. I don't know what species that is, but you can tell from the way the light is hitting that plant, it has small crystalline filaments protruding from it. That's bound to itch something fierce. If we can get something like a citrus fruit or anything acidic to rub on it, the little daggers should dissolve. Ah? Sorry?"

Being the plant expert that he liked to portray himself as, Nota had been a little long winded. It was good advice, but the description wasn't needed. John was most definitely aware the plant would make his hand itch and sting, considering he had already delivered the punch. John had been much too enthused. Weirdly, that seemed to be what John was looking for.

"I'm sorry, but there 'what' is? Were you uhhh... trying to... Well, irritate your skin? I don't think I'm following."

While Nota rubbed the side of his head in confusion, another thing went unnoticed. The vine that John had struck was nowhere to be seen. The broken segment was still on the ground below, but the part that dangled from the tree seemed to have vanished.

@John Yun

 

[John Yun]

John ignored the boy for a moment as he scrutinized his palm. Twelve neat buttons floated there, with some text to inform the user of their... use. He started pressing buttons sequentially, making small grunts of surprise occasionally. Status? Nothing new there. Needs? It was a bit warm, and he could probably use a drink and a bite to eat.

Mastery was a bit surprising, given that he had picked somewhat randomly. In that, other than Martial Arts, he had picked randomly. John had no idea what Spirit Magic or what this Corrupt thing was. Skills was an empty slate, quite literally. Numerous sections for where skills would go were blank and waiting to be filled.

John glanced over the rest without much interest; four buttons dedicated to communication with others was terribly uninteresting to him at the moment. He briefly opened the settings tab, muttering under his breath,

On, Off, Off, Desynced

Not entirely sure what the settings did, he was still rather pleased thus far with his experience in the game so he saw no real reason to change anything yet. Closing his fist again experimentally, he nodded imperceptibly as the menu closed. Glancing back to the boy who he had thoroughly ignored for the last few minutes, the thinnest veneer of pride could be interpreted from his face as he confidently stated,

You open the palm menu by punching something and opening your fist afterward.

He nearly added, "No need to thank me.", afterward but he felt like it wasn't necessary. John was about to turn back to camp when a throbbing pain came from his hand. Wincing slightly, he glanced back to his knuckles. The area around the needles had become an angry pink color. Frowning, he started to try and pluck them out with his fingernails, cursing under his breath as his nails found no purchase on the fine needles.

@Nota Oldman

 

[Nota Oldman]

Nota had no idea what this man was saying. Was this a... drug user? On, off, off, desynced. That made no sense. Then a thought struck the young-old man. Was this... an artificial being? It was talking in weird computer speak, wasn't very affable, and had weird movements and speech. If Nota was willing to accept that he was in an artificial world, then it wasn't a leap in logic for there to be artificial people in it. Weirdly, it made sense. Nota wasn't expecting the 'fake' people to be so obvious, but it had to be hard to simulate people, right?

Further confirming this theory was the fact that the man wasn't even looking at Nota. It was as if Nota was invisible to him. Curious, Nota waved towards the brute and made a couple silly faces, and there was indeed no reaction. How peculiar. How was he meant to interact with this fake person then? He had tried talking and it didn't respond. He had tried waving and motioning towards it and it didn't respond. Were there specific actions that it responded to? Was it made in such a way that certain cues needed to be performed to gain its attention? Or perhaps it was weirdly random, and wasn't meant to interact with him. Did the rest of the party know as well?

"Interesting. I'm not like those other youngin's, I'll have to learn to identify the data people so I can react appropriately. They must've known that John is a computer being."

Nota was standing with his arms crossed, and one hand raised supporting his chin. He was deep in thought, completely oblivious to things that might be moving in his immediate surroundings.

"..."

The next thing he knew, Nota was dangling upside down, and there was a burning sensation in his leg. His trousers hadn't offered any protection against the thin microfilaments that were now piercing his flesh and irritating the surrounding skin. Not that Nota had time to consider these things. He was completely shocked by the predicament and was frantically trying to yank his shin free from the vine that had enclosed it.

"Yeah, yeah, palm menu. Is that the cue? Can you please help me then?"

Nota didn't bother to try and pull up the menu, he instead took the more prudent action of wildly flailing his arms and shouting towards John. Hopefully this entity could respond to threats, seeing as it was prone to throwing punches.

@John Yun

 

[John Yun]

Still unable to pluck the microfila-whatsits from his hand, John let out a noise of frustration. The obnoxious noises of the environment weren't a great help to his increasingly poor mood. In a bid to find something to help, or at least distract him from the irritation, he began to look around. The kid was standing around with a thoughtful look. At least, he was until John saw a vine creep down from the tree directly above the boy. John was thinking about maybe saying something but by the time he was done considering it the vine had already wrapped itself around the boy's leg. Wrenched into the air by the monstrous natural rope trap, the boy immediately started freaking out.

Watching on with more curiosity than concern, John approached at a safe distance from the tree. Looking up into the tree, he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Other than it's ability to move, the vine gave no other indication of being special. Frowning in thought, John approached the upside-down boy with purpose. Attempting to help, in his own way, John gripped down on the boy's arms and attempted to snap the vine by pulling him away from it.

He thought that, given how easily it broke apart when he punched it, it would be easy to snap the one grabbing the boy. The vine did snap, but as soon as it did John saw numerous more vines drop from various branches around him. Quick to react, John immediately dropped the kid onto the forest floor and backpedaled away from the vines. Unfortunately, it was naïve to think that the one tree was the only one with vines, as he quickly felt something latch onto his leg from behind him. Though, it seemed John's weight was an advantage in this case, as it could only restrict him for a moment before he wrenched his leg away, snapping it.

John smirked for a moment, until more vines dropped from around him.

@Nota Oldman