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Post by Ribitta on Jan 13, 2009 11:15:26 GMT -5
Laura's step was a casual one as she slowly made her way onto the massive cruise shape that seemed to fill the entire harbor of Minervum. Shifter and herself had already checked their tickets once at the office toward the beginning of the ramp, and Laura was quite pleased to the ease of the progress thusfar. She was dressed in her simple outfit of jeans and a hoodie and of course, no shoes or socks. A small bag was slung over her back, but besides this she had brought nothing with her. Enjoying the soft breeze on her face, she decided that she would just have to enjoy the voyage as much as she could before things got nasty in Rogueport.
Turning her head naturally to Shifter she asked him casually, "So, how long do you think this ride is going to take? I can't imagine it will be too long or too short of course... but I guess I kind of hope it takes a while. I've only been on this boat once before, but it was just awesome. They have quite the service here and it's really not all that expensive I don't think..." Laura let her voice continue on at an easy pace, making light conversation as the two made their way to boarding. [/COLOR] |
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Post by Rising Dragon on Jan 13, 2009 13:52:23 GMT -5
"They don't charge for passage on the S.S. CalmWaters," Shifter explained to his friend as he followed her up onto the deck of the cruiser. "Other things on board cost money, but its usually not much. Players use this to meet other people, like a common meeting ground. As for the trip... I dunno. 'Close to a day, I think. Its not as long as cruises in the real world."
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Post by Ribitta on Jan 20, 2009 12:51:24 GMT -5
Laura's tirade of random chatter ceased at Shifter's words, "...really? Then who did I pay." She frowned irritatedly at the memory, recalling someone who had seemed slightly out of place but had demanded the money very officially. Silently cursing her own gullibility, she continued walking, boarding the ship quickly.
Between steps her feet lifted lightly, flying now had become a part of her subconscious has she felt her body be lifted weightlessly from the force of the planet's gravitation. The metal grates below held small precarious divets that her toes could catch in as she wore no shoes, and she decided that she would just hover, her legs still moving in a walking rotation but never touching the ground once. |
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Post by Rising Dragon on Jan 20, 2009 14:08:05 GMT -5
"Just some scam artist," Shifter said, digging through his inventory. He found what he was looking for and pulled a bag out of it, handing it to the girl. There was a sound of metal clinking together as the bag moved. "I saw it happen and confronted him about it. Here."
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Post by steinerman on Jan 21, 2009 3:08:00 GMT -5
"I can't believe how much tickets cost," Joe said as he walked up to his newly found friends. "It's simply insane." He now wore his usual leather and steel armor, his daggers hung comfortably at his hips. He bowed his head sheepishly, "apologies for being late. It took longer than I thought to get the money." He looked around at the massive ship, the bustling players and NPC's going about their routines. "Amazing ship" He murmured, half to himself. "So, any idea how long this ride will take?" Joe asked quietly, a calm, steady determination in his voice.
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Post by Ribitta on Feb 2, 2009 12:35:12 GMT -5
Laura blushed quietly as the money was handed back to her, taking it quickly and stowing it away. Moments later their new-found friend appeared, complaining about the faires as well. "We're a team now," she said with a smile while tossing the money to him in return, "the ride shouldn't be too long." |
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Post by steinerman on Feb 13, 2009 19:14:31 GMT -5
Joe caught the bag of money and shook his head, "well, now I feel rather stupid. Should have noticed that no one else was paying to get on."
He glanced around the magnificent ship, "so, from here we find another boat to take us to Rogueport?" He felt slightly childish for asking such questions, yet he hoped they would understand exactly how little he understood about this gameworld.
"Have either of you two been to Rogueport before?"
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Post by Rising Dragon on Feb 13, 2009 20:15:21 GMT -5
"No, neither of us have," Shifter said with a slight frown as he looked off to the side. "Laura rarely ever leaves Allondell because she lives here. Me... I know better to go to Rogueport. I know a couple people who've been there, though."
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Post by steinerman on Feb 16, 2009 22:23:29 GMT -5
"And?" Joe prompted, "what do they say about it? How dangerous is it?" He attempted to suppress the shudder that came along with the words, but was only partially successful in doing so. For the first time in his life, Joe was actually worried about his wife, he didn't know what happened when a player died in-game, but he was pretty sure it wouldn't be good for his wife, who couldn't retreat into her own body.
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Post by Rising Dragon on Feb 22, 2009 0:01:12 GMT -5
"Well, its' kinda like in Star Wars... its a hive of scum and villainy," Shifter said, a frown tugging at the edge of his lips. "There's a lot of pirates and bandits living there, trading and peddling wares. Fences, too, selling contraband and other illegal or stolen items. There's no law enforcement at all, so if something gets stolen its usually gone for good, unless you can kill the thief before he can get away."
Interlacing his hands together behind his head, Shifter rolled his eyes up as he tried to recall what people have told him about Rogueport. "Its... really smelly. Since its a port, the main food supply there is fish, so it always reeks. There's no streets or anything, just lots of docks and planks between buildings," he continued, shifting his weight onto his back leg and tapping his other foot against the ground occasionally. "Rebels like to hide out in the jungle and ruins outside of Rogueport, too, so its really dangerous to go out there on your own."
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Post by Ribitta on Feb 25, 2009 2:18:09 GMT -5
"Rogueport is exactly what the name implies. It's a dirty place full of people you don't want to meet, but in our case it's these types of people that might lead us back to your girl, Joe. So, into the belly of the beast we go, I think," Laura sounded apprehensive with what she said, but continued on nevertheless as she always did. They were on the ship now, the massive cruise ship that sailed across the world in a very short amount of time. There was a lot of history with the boat, extending back even into the Beta test where it played a colossal role in setting the stage for the imminent failure of the test. Quietly musing, Laura pondered why the staff had bothered to keep such an omen into the new game as it seemed to have brought so much trouble together in the Beta from what she had read. [/color] |
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Post by steinerman on Feb 28, 2009 1:17:53 GMT -5
Joe nodded, taking all of the information in. He first thought of smiling, or making some other reassuring gesture. But in truth he was frightened, frightened that his memory wasn't returning yet. Frightened for the woman he loved, who was most likely in danger. He stared at Laura, his strange eyes gleaming. "Anyone who tries to stop or hinder us in any way will come to a very painful end. Have no fear Laura, I'm used to combat in the real world, I doubt this game will hold any dangers that we can not overcome."
He stopped and stared at the ship he stood upon. It felt ancient, and powerful. But the way some of the other passengers stared around them in awe, he guessed it was something of a legend in the game.
"Why do they use a ship for transport in this game? If just about anything is possible, wouldn't the creators have made a plane or a spaceship? Does it hold some significance ingame?" He asked of his companions. Immediately he regretted asking such a silly question, yet the tension in his body threatened to explode if he did not do something.
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Post by Rising Dragon on Feb 28, 2009 5:31:15 GMT -5
"Yeah, something like that," Shifter said, turning around and looking at the length of the cruise liner. "This thing was like a command center or something for one of the teams of Beta Testers back during the Epsilon Project. A lot of things happened here."
Some people passed by, talking about some occurrence happening in Minervum; a couple of fugitives escaping from some Knightmare Frames. Shifter paid them little mind as he continued explaining. "Now this rust-bucket is used as a ferry and a meeting ground. Usually new players leaving from the University head here to meet prospective friends and game a bit before they head off to bigger things."
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Post by steinerman on Mar 4, 2009 2:51:06 GMT -5
Joe began to pace impatiently, the others had said it would take almost a day for the mighty ship to reach it's destination. And every second was agonizing to the point that he simply wished to scream.
He tried to reassure himself, "It's a game. She's in no real danger." A small voice reminded him from the back of his mind.
And yet... and yet he was worried sick that yet more things would go wrong. Before reaching the boat he'd received a message from his parents in the real world, apparently a wire in the machine used to play the game had corroded and broken. Severing the link between his wife's body and her mind.
They were repairing it, but he wasn't sure what would happen to her if she died in the game while unable to return to her body.
"How do you stand the waiting?" He asked his companions, voice tinged with worry.
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Post by Ribitta on Mar 17, 2009 10:15:48 GMT -5
"Waiting?" Laura repeated the question, "When you've been in the system for as long as I have, or as consistently, it just sort of becomes natural to wait. They supplied us with plenty of things to do on this ship so we might as well use it. Plenty of people to meet, plenty of activities to do, and it's really not all too long of a wait." Laura smiled her same reassuring smile, her feet lifting off the ground as she took a look at the people around her, looking for someone she might know.
"In my experience, life really requires a lot of apathy, especially in this game. Work for what you care for, but what you can't change needs to be let go of, you know?" Her feet touched the ground again, her face now lit with excitement of the trip, "Cmon, let's go find our rooms." [/color] |
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