RPG OtakuBoards: Enter the Game [M-LV]

[Raiyuu]

[color=DarkGreen][size=1]While he was waiting, Blackjack touched the button on the inside of his left wrist, calling up his userCP window, and rattled off a quick PM to Leofski. [i]Been here ages and still no sign. It's another no-show. Tell your sources they're full of spam.[/i]

Since he had the hovering, translucent window open anyway, he took a quick final check over his Battlefield avatar. Although it was essentially the black Aestivalis machine used by Akito in the [i]Nadesico[/i] movie, he'd recently paid a visit to the Art Studio and hunted down the enigmatic Ozy Jones [/size][/color][color=DarkGreen][size=1]to have a few special little extras added[/size][/color][color=DarkGreen][size=1]. He'd eventually found the avatar editor [i]extraordinaire[/i] locked in an HTML art room, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor as insane, mind-bending shapes swirled and zigzagged across the walls, and he'd had to sit outside drinking coffee for most of the day while she worked off her creative overspill. From what he could tell, looking at the tech specs on his CP, she'd exceeded all his expectations, but he'd yet to try any of his new toys out yet.

He'd made absolutely sure none of Ozy's modifications contravened the rules. He knew of a few loopholes in the rulebook, but he'd reported them all to the Mod team in time for the next revision of the book rather than try to take advantage. There wasn't any fun in not playing fair; he much preferred to know he'd won by being better, not by being jammy with dubiously legal tactics.

The Optimus Prime in front of Blackjack had looked pretty murderous for a few moments after seeing him trying to jump the queue, but had seemed to decide that he wasn't worth bothering over. That was another reason Blackjack didn't rate mecha as everyday avatars: no facial expression, no way to gauge moods and reactions. He supposed that was an attraction for some people.

He watched the screen for a while as the queue shuffled forwards. There was a fairly interesting bout taking place between Eva Unit Zero and Megas; Blackjack couldn't recall ever seeing anyone use the massive blue robot before, but now he came to think of it, Megas was a fairly good match, size-wise, for an Evangelion. He found himself actually becoming engaged by the fight. Both pilots seemed to be aware of their own strengths and their opponent's weaknesses, but it was obvious neither one wanted to play the waiting game and bore everyone to death by circling around for ages at a time. They weren't just good pilots, they were [i]showmen,[/i] people that understood there was an audience watching, and that was a quality so many of the contestants here lacked.

As Unit Zero scored a lucky hit on Megas' chest armour with its knife, Blackjack's attention was drawn by something in the corner of his eye. The Battlefield was surrounded by queue tunnels, radiating out like the spokes on a wheel, and in the one to his right another comparatively tiny figure [/size][/color][color=DarkGreen][size=1]was [/size][/color][color=DarkGreen][size=1]waiting. Leaning nonchalantly against the mesh, the purple-haired girl seemed entirely unconcerned by the towering Gundams on either side of her, watching the screens with careful attention, like she was mentally cataloguing every move she saw.

[i][b]Nice to know I'm not the only 'fairweather mecha fan' here. I'll watch out for her when she goes in.[/b][/i]
[/size][/color]

[Corey]

[size=1]Corey sipped his coffee slowly. Strong. Black. Earthy. Mmmmm, just how he liked it. It steamed beneath the rim of the olive green mug he clutched with both hands, taking in the warmth and the scent of the brown ambrosia. He'd have to talk to someone that could transfer him to work at the coffee place for a few months. He really needed a break from all the RPing.

[b]Corey-[/b] "Man this is good coffee..." He nestled deeper into the oversized recliner and took another sip.

[b]sweetreyes-[/b] "You look comfortable." Corey opened his eyes and gazed up at his friend, who also had chosen to create a more 'real-life' avatar. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and smiled.

[b]Corey-[/b] "You better believe it, babe." He sipped again and threw one leg over the left armrest. sweetreyes chuckled and took a seat next to him.

[b]sweetreyes-[/b] "I see you modified your avi again." Corey nodded. Before the accident he'd been into body-mods. The stretching of earlobes. Odd piercings. Body art. Etc.

[b]Corey-[/b] "Yeah, I brought my ears up to a double-zero guage, and added the labret piercing. Nothing major." He currently had in two 00g plugs that had bright stones of onyx in the center of them.

[b]sweetreyes-[/b] "I like it. Much better then the eyebrow piercings. They made you look weird."

[b]Corey-[/b] "I guess. I like this better, too. It's more what I wanted to do originally." He shrugged and took another sip. It was getting to just the right temperature. "What're you up to today?" She shrugged.

[b]sweetreyes-[/b] "I was supposed to work, but I pulled a late shift last night, so they gave me off. Are you still livin' in that RPG?" Corey nodded.

[b]Corey-[/b] "I was actually thinking of going back and levelling up a bit later. You want to come?"

[b]sweetreyes-[/b] "Sure. We should stop by the Underground first." Corey nodded.

[b]Corey-[/b] "Lets have some coffee first." He sipped. She stood up and got in line.[/size]

[Guest Sean]

[COLOR=DarkRed]Treno and Saishi finally made it to the Mecha Battlefield, the queue wasn?t as bad as anticipated, and when they were about to go in, Treno had to make his leave.

?Sorry Jamie, I?ll be in, give me a while?

?Oh ok, as long as you appear sometime? she replied, and Treno disappeared from the crowd just as Jamie went through the crowd turnstile. Treno walked over to an iron fence, he saw Blackjack at the other side.

?Rumours that Dagger?s battling today, true or false??

?No idea?wait?who are you??

Treno burst out laughing, ?Treno, pleased to meet you, I know you because of a few discussions.?

?Ah ok, no worries then, not talking to some n00b?

Treno grinned, ?So, do you know??

?No appearance of her yet, and that queue is getting mighty big??

?Yeah, I suppose, well time to make myself known? Treno smiled and took his leave.

He thought to himself as he walked the length of the iron fencing, thinking of how he had kept a secret from many a people, he hadn?t been on the field for a while either, nobody remembered his old user name anyway, that history long forgotten. But Dagger, a foe to say the least, the only one that could beat him, so they said, the only one.

He shook his head and joined the queue, a few spaces down was someone, cloaked, and even further was Blackjack. He nodded towards some giant Evangelion avatars, and a Gundam avatar aswell, all he got was a snicker.

He laughed at there inferiority, and waited in the queue, eager to find out who the random in the cloak was, and also eager to see what Model of Mecha he would be choosing.[/COLOR]

[Mimmsicle]

[FONT=Arial]Intense purring woke Mimmi up, briefly confusing her until she remembered where she was. After burying her face into the pillow and cuddling the treasured theft, the idea of actually getting out of the bed felt like a very silly idea. She didn't have a shift to go to, the usual rumor of Dagger appearing over at the Battle Arena was probably blocking up traffic by now and ....

As Mimmi's mind made up excuses, her eyes caught sight of some paintbrushes. Lying next to them was a couple of tubes with paint. Kei's low rumbles continued, occasionally broken by a sudden outburst of pouncing on whatever toy was lying about in her giant kitty bed. Mimmi glanced at Kei and then back at the paintbrushes.

[b]".... No, I really shouldn't"[/b] she whimpered quietly, trying to suppress the temptation of getting up to mischief for the second time this morning. Sometimes it was painful how easy it was to indulge in pranks on this island. Unless you had a very boring attitude, or self control the size of Siren's ego, it was impossible not to get into a little bit of trouble. Though giving Kei a face paint in her sleep was pushing it by a couple of lightyears.

Mimmi forced herself out of the comfy bed, putting on the radio at the lowest volume while she got herself ready to face the day... again. It was the same old. The forecast promised a highly entertaining appearance of Dagger today, some excited n00b complaining about the spelling and grammar lessons he'd been sentenced to ? was that a hairball in the corner? O.o ? and announcments of special upcoming events. By the time the transmission was over, she was all done and heading out the door but stopped at the threshold.

[b]"Hm, maybe it's best to leave a note."[/b]

The last time she visited Kei's abode, she had woken up in the middle of the night with an idea for a short story and went off without a word. It has scared Kei senseless when she found Poppler lying in the spare bed that morning, looking very full and innocent, with no Mimmi around.

Wincing slightly at the thought of 'Bossyness's power of Retribution', she attached the note to Kei's foot carefully. Catching one last glance at the sleeping Mod's face, she had to bite her lip hard not to burst out into a giggle fit and dashed through the door as soundlessly as she could.

Stepping out of the MyO she stretched and yawned, pondering where to go. The beach seemed like a good idea about now. A notepad and pen was still in her pocket since the latest shift she'd had, ideas inspired by this morning bubbling in her head.

She brought up the menu and PM'd the pants to herself, to ensure that no one lifted them from her in case a particularly spiffy idea would engross her attention completely, then went merrily on her way.

[B]"Just another wonderful morning on the OB island"[/B] [/FONT] :catgirl:

[Guest Sean]

[COLOR=DarkRed]The queue for battling finally went in, and Blackjack was very near beside him, they had all registered, and were waiting for their tickets to be stamped, and to find an opponent, they herd a flurry of voices, and two names appeared on the screen.

[b]Blackjack vs. k4gome[/b]

?Good luck, watch, people?ehm?like them, have sneaky tactics, watch your back out there.? Treno wished Blackjack luck, he got a grunt, and as Blackjack walked into the waiting room another two names appeared on the screen.

[b]Dagger vs. Treno[/b]

A bigger flurry of movement went when they had taken in that it was Dagger?s name on the screen, Treno brushed some hair back and nodded slowly. He saw Saishi pushing through a crowd of small Eva avatars.

?YOU! You never said you were a god damn Mecha!?

Treno grinned, and nodded, ?I?ll give you a wave, probably not get a chance, Dagger is the best out there??

Saishi wished him luck, and Treno walked to see Dagger focused on the rule books, he doubted that she knew who she was fighting.

?Dagger!? he exclaimed, she made her acknowledgments and offered him a seat, he took it.

?Have you looked at the screens then??

She shook her head, not taking her eyes from the book.

?Well I?m fighting you, it?s been a while, no-one remembers my old names, but your name lived on.?

Her eyes widened, ?Oh god?well good luck! Make sure this fight isn?t as?ehm, what?s the word, explosive, as the last one.? she winked and got up, walking into her waiting room. Treno called a good luck after her, and walked over to his waiting room. The ?Blackjack vs. k4gome? fight hadn?t begun yet, and he was in the room with k4gome herself.

Treno cracked his knuckles and opened his control panel.

?Now?where is my prized mecha hiding then??[/COLOR]

[Raiyuu]

[color=DarkGreen][size=1]k4gome was a [i]Full Metal Panic! [/i]fan.

[i][b]Okay, we're evenly matched in terms of size,[/b][/i] Blackjack pondered, weighing up his options as the eight-metre [u][url="http://www.full-metal-panic.com/image.php?file=images/recon/mecha/arbalest/arbalest01.jpg"]M9 Arm-slave[/url][/u] clanked into the arena. He hit [b]enter [/b]on his userCP and lines of HTML strobed down his body, stripping away the Tenkawa avatar and replacing it with several virtual tons of black metal. [i][b]I have an advantage in my distortion field, although the rules say I can only use it to defend against debilitating damage, not keep it on all the time. I can fly too, and k4gome can't. But she has the M9's ECS stealth technology, and I don't have an infrared option; she goes invisible, and I'm operating on instinct alone.

Sneaky tactics ... just like Treno said.

[/b][/i]The loading lines disappeared and Blackjack was sitting in the cockpit of an eight-metre black [url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v629/SheriffMatt/blackaestie.bmp"][u]Aestivalis[/u][/url]. He checked the icons ranged around the edges of his Head-Up Display, making sure all systems were operating correctly, and that Ozy's little modifications were all in place. Satisfied, he slapped his right hand down on the control interface.

The IFS implant rune on the back of his hand crackled with static and skinny lines of white light spread out around the cockpit from the interface orb. Now controlling the Aestivalis' mechanical limbs as if they were his own, he moved into a battle-ready stance and faced off against k4gome.

Blackjack noticed there was nobody watching his match. A couple of stragglers were hurriedly exiting the stands, eyes seemingly glued to the screens in the corridor. A pang of annoyance was rapidly overwhelmed by the thrill of piloting a mech once again - [i][b]and I even managed to avoid fighting a Gundam.[/b][/i]

A window appeared between the two robots. [i][b]3 ... 2 ... 1 ... Fight![/b][/i]

Hatches sprang open on the Arm-slave, and blue light flared from within them; the machine's outline blurred and soon it disappeared completely. But Blackjack was already high in the sky, veins flooded with adrenaline and mouth spread wide in an involuntary grin of glee. He pointed his field lance at the spot where the M9 had vanished, and twisted in midair to dive straight down at the ground.

[b]"Let's dance, k4gome-chan!"[/b]
[/size][/color]

[Dagger]

According to Section 7.5, Paragraph IV, mecha capable of operating without a pilot were forbidden. That ruled out Dagger's top choice, Melan Blue from Brigadoon--a mecha-esque combat android for whom external human cargo would probably be something of a liability. She rather relished the idea of directing a mecha while acting as a sort of human shield for its most vulnerable areas, but she could see why the rule had been added. Melan Blue was a rare exception; most fully independent mecha would permit their so-called pilots to cruise through the battle without having to lift so much as a finger in self-defense.

She decided that this fell under the "every cloud has a silver lining" category. Though Melan Blue's unique features had always intrigued her, watching Soukyuu no Fafner was what had really driven her back to the Battlefield. She had been itching for a chance to try out a Fafner-type model, and in that regard, the [URL=http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-12/916218/faf.jpg][u]Mark Sein[/u][/URL] was the best of the best.

Quickly clicking through her User CP, she selected a Mark Sein avatar and braced herself for the dizzying transition. Her field of vision rapidly flickered black and white; blinking to clear her eyes, she found herself in the cockpit of the Mark Sein. The atmosphere around her was dark, filled with tendrils of an iridescent green light that swooped and curled and sprouted long thin branches until it was just bright enough to see by. She had always thought the inside of a Fafner looked rather like Final Fantasy VII's Lifestream.

She slid her hands into the wells of dark crimson gel that stood at the end of either armrest. At this, the synergetic pads clamped onto her shoulders and thighs, shredding her clothes, and everything but her seat abruptly vanished. Now it felt almost like piloting a RahXephon--from the inside, the remainder of her mecha was invisible, leaving her with a peculiar floating sensation and, more importantly, an unobstructed view of the field.

"Oi, Treno!" she yelled. Her grin had turned faintly vicious; she could hear the crowd yelling. "Come on out already!"