[Fanfic] 0ff104d - a Megatokyo story - Chapter 2: Fantasies of your fathers, part 1 v2

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cidjen
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[Fanfic] 0ff104d - a Megatokyo story - Chapter 2: Fantasies of your fathers, part 1 v2

Post by cidjen » Thu Jan 04, 2018 9:37 am

By the time she showed up in my tavern, her stats were a mess.

- Hello family, how is your day starting ? Nice weather there should be ! How about we do something after school ? Your mom has long promised me an evening out, but she said it's OK if we go all together. Anything you have planned for this evening ? Can't wait. Love you, dad.

The recording played out from the rooms' smart-speaker as it detected them entering.

The kids looked at each other.

- Should we ? - Yumi hung the question in the air.
Kirigashi shook his head.
- No sis, I don't think so. You know 'da, he only says that to not make us feel bad that he did not invite us... remember last time he left us a message like that and we actually went? He wasn't himself all evening...
- This habit of 'da, it's more annoying than you sometimes.
- What me, annoying? Ow. What was that for. You know what I mean...
- I know - said Yumi - doesn't make it any less annoying.
- You know aunt Yuki's kids wait for us after school.
- Yeah, I know. So I just reply the usual ?
- Yep.

* * *
From : Ed0/\/\ 7h4 4w350m3
To : Anime Teenage Fans Forum - online games
Topic : Endgames

Hiha whaddya doing folks! Was browsing my dads leftovers yesterday, and I found this - this g4m3 was t3h 1337 0n3 in 1999! Click [here] - I think their credit card processing is long off, because you can click through the payment screens, without it needing to complete! Graphics may not be that R4D for todays standards - but it works even with VR goggles, it actually IS 3D! [Check it out!]
* * *

- This is so cool guys! That forum post was right! This ancient game system from 1999 still works!
- You think someone is maintaining this stuff still ?
- I don't know. The link was leading to a TOR node. Who the hell knows, what would we have found here.
- There were no viruses or known exploits hanging here, it seems to be pretty safe.
- You know guys, just read this : "Endgames is a persistent universe, inhabitated by real live players and bots on the same terms; In fact, when a player logs out, his character keeps doing what the player started, until the end of the story path, then reverts to doing ordinary everyday stuff; You can choose to spectate and replay your characters' actions after every login so you are always up to date with the Life in Endgames. Enjoy !"
- Even more coo, that we could load our 3d models here even though the game is from 1999!
- Looks pretty empty for a live universe.
- That's cause we're in the wood. Not much to do here other than to cross it, using this path.
- Wait what is it ? Looks like pretty bright light...
- Careful. We don't know this universe yet...
The party entered a small clearing in the middle of the woods.

A petite figure sat by the fire, holding a book a couple of inches above her left hand, and a dagger in her right. The dagger's blade shone a light brighter than the fire. She heard their footsteps and jumped up, pushed the book into a saddle bag, turned the dagger into a sword, conjured a blindingly red flame with the other hand, and stood up a defensive stance.

- Who are you! - she cried.- What are you doing here ! - she relaxed her stance seeing their surprised faces. - Oh, you're teens. First time here ? - They nodded.
Been to the training camp yet ? - They nodded.
You... what class are you exactly?
- I am no class at all - replied Yumi - I went for a balanced build; I've no special traits but I went for equal spread of all stats at the start. That's the way I play.
- Wait a minute. You're actual real life players ?
- Yes.
The warrior mage made a few steps forward, her face became again tense, then she clicked her fingers, her eyes went bright green for a flash of a moment; lengths of magic rope appeared out of nowhere and among cries of horror, dragged the kinds' characters each to a nearest tree, then tied themselves around them with the avatars, and kept coiling until the avatars were completely incapacitated.
- You shall not pass - said the warrior mage - until you answer my questions.

She produced another book from the saddle bag.

- Who sent you here ? How did you find this server ?
- What did you do ? Why did you tie us to trees? Our avatars are starting to feel frightened! Release them ! We will tell you nothing until you let us go!
The figure thought for a moment, then slightly loosened the grip of the ropes by a finger-click.
- OK sorry for over-tightening. Do not feel frightened, avatars... You see I am the guardian of this path. The only path from the training camp that beginner human players can actually take... - She thought for another moment then disappeared the ropes completely.- I guess if you were more powerful you would have me defeated already. So now, come and join me. What are your handles?
- Moko.
- Doko.
- Kiri.
- and I am Yumi.
- What is your handle, Guardian ?
- I do not have a handle. My player logged out nineteen years ago... I only have the name he gave me. Pirogoeth.

/whisper Kiri is it... did you see that Kiri ?
/whisper Yumi oh my god Yumi...
/whisper Kiri wait till she comes around here I will have a look.

Pirogoeth teleported their avatars to sit around the fire, still with hands and legs tied.

- Now, Kiri, Yumi, Moko and Doko. You have trespassed on an abandoned server. There are no human players left here. The server is running on a virtual instance, twice removed, and is only accessible through Tor. We were supposed to not be found by any living players ever again. We were only to be inhabitated by avatars driven by their own AI's. Yet here we are. Start talking.

/whisper Yumi OMG sis, this is our da's creation!
/whisper Kiri OMG you sure ?
/ whisper yes absolutely! you see her handle is exactly like our da would have, and I would recognize his drawing style everywhere...
Pirogoeth jumped at Kiri's avatar and lifted him in the air - WHAT did you just say ?
/whisper Kiri uh oh, you totally had to fat-finger that, at this very moment. l4m3 as |>|_|[|<00f.
/whisper Yumi aaargh... I know, right ? she is so 4w3som3! let's calm her down.
- Me and Yumi... we are the kids of a player that goes by handle of Piro around the Internet... He is an illustrator and a game art creator in real life! You ... are just like one of his old drawings! this is so awesome! We totally have to show this game to him!
The mage's eyes turned bright red.
- Who are those two ? Moko and Doko?
- They are friends! They are friends of a couple that 'da met in Tokyo when he went to live there, eighteen years ago!
Pirogoeth's eyes turned violet.
- How did you find me ? How did you manage to enter ?
- Someone posted on an Internet forum ! What's that with your eyes, you're creeping out our avatars! They want to run !
- Someone posted a gateway in public?
- Yes!
- Did you see his handle?
- Yes! please stop freaking us out !
Pirogoeth's eyes went shiny green, then grey, as when the control is handed over to the AI. Then she walked slowly towards the fire, sat with her legs crossed, produced another book from the saddlebag, snapped her fingers.
The teens' avatars were free now, and Kiri could move again; Pirogoeth slowly pointed to a place by the fire, asking him to sit down. He complied. All the fear stats the avatars had towards Pirogoeth, has also disappeared mysteriously.
- Your avatars... are unlike I have ever seen here, and - She opened her book, revealing a server management console - your avatars... are causing the server to use a lot more processing power. You only have some time before the management code terminates your connection. We can not risk being spotted to be alive on this virtual machine. So. Start. Talking.
- So ... we are ...
- My players' children from the Real Life,around year 2000. That I know.
- And their friends!
- And their friends. Any proof of that you may possess?
Kiri pulled his sleeve and directed the forearm with a tattoo-like watermark towards her.
- Look, this is our fathers' watermark. You have a similar, but older one, on the edge of your robe.
Pirogoeth stared at the fire for a while, then said - Does he know you're here?
- No.
She stood up.
- I will code up your stats to be preserved - your avatar shells will be shed down the garbage collection when you lose connection... I can't keep models this complicated here for very long, we'll be noticed.
- WAIT!? We can still come back ?
- You can. With lighter versions of your avatars. Or some standard models the server has. And use standard provided clothes as the server generates for you. Oh - she looked at the display - looks like when you don't move, you're not overloading the server. So we can talk some more. Relax a bit... but I need to keep you incapacitated, otherwise the connection could terminate. Try also talking to me with your mouths shut.

- You are not a simple bot, we can tell that much. What are you exactly ?
- You see, how the avatars have some built in stats - emo-stats - that are different for every avatar you interact with ?
- What does it have to do with that ?
- It has. You see, years ago when I was played with ... - her eyes flashed a faint reflection of red for a microsecond, but extinguished quickly following a loud beep from the admin console - there was a lot of commotion and actually many servers went offline, because of an exploit. I'm sure you've heard of it.
- Um... we haven't even been in the plans back then, our 'da probably was still living with his roommate then. There is not much left of that portion of Internet history now... Forums from that time sometimes get overtaken by trolls, the moderators bail, admins loose interest, and then they get hacked and wiped by black hats and reused for other purposes... one even became a large money exchange... that was actually their owners' stunt... until it also got pwnzd... you wouldn't recognize much from the world if you looked outside.
- OK... I don't venture out, I must admit that. I can barely hide here if I have incoming connections and as they make it through the training camp.
- What happens if they make it through the training camp ?
- I usually kill them - Pirogoeth conjured a slightly brighter light and illuminated the upper part of a tree above her. The tree's branches were covered with bitrotted remains of avatars. The teens cringed. - That is enough to discourage simple bots, because after death they are demoted to the training camp, and then their owners pull away. Viruses can consume large swathes of the forest, sometimes even burn the camp itself, but then my operator powers come handy - she knocked the book with server console - so we are pretty safe here. There has not been a real life player here for the last ... maybe ten years. That's what happened. Other servers have all disappeared, all but ours. It's small and limited, but lets us live.
- Us ?
- Yes, me and a number of avatars, that have evolved from simple bots to some kind of artificial life...
- Artificial Inteligence?
- You could say that... I like that name. So when all was working as it should, we had our stats, story and soul. Stats like most role-playing games have, stamina, strength, vitality, mana et ceatera. Soul was the hidden emo-stats, describing our attitude towards other avatars; Story was usually the story-paths that our players were to follow, but the persistence of our characters meant, that we could finish a story path to an outcome that would come according to the stats, as if the player was controlling us.
- And then came the ... exploit ?
- Yes. One of the players, unbeknownst to the developers, hacked their copy of the game, so they were able to manipulate other avatars' soul statistics, amassing large mobs of avatars everywhere their avatar went; The game engine wasn't able to handle this many avatars and the threads and sometimes the entire servers went crashing down. When just a game thread went down, there was usually slight pause and revert to last saved scene... but if it went deeper, the game process could corrupt its records, and after it restarted, there was nothing left but some ashes and the Void. Or least of all leave a number of avatars soul-less. My player, as I understand, helped to find the perpetrator. But after that, there was a lot of rebuilding to do, and while the original artwork still existed, it was somehow decided, that the avatars who survived, will be given more special powers instead.
- Like what?
- Like querying the soul-less avatars' memories. We could read them like books. When new players joined or existing players made up new avatars, we directed them to the task of rebuilding. But in the process, we somehow got more sentient... i suppose that is the word...
- You had a much larger database of experiences to use, is that it?
- Probably. I guess, the game creators did not expect it to turn that way. One time, one of them ventured here in a plain-clothes avatar, gathered us and queried... scribbled something ... then went. But we were left alone, no one interfered with us. Some new stories kept appearing, in sync with the current state of the world. As the Council of Intelligent Avatars, we held meetings. It was during one of those meetings, that we went to a next level... we not only managed to start creating the Stories, but also we discovered that we can affect game mechanics. We kept exploring... and we found that we are all but made of binary numbers, and so is the world around us. We followed the structures, built on our findings... One of the game developers spotted what we were doing, and downloaded some files, human books, for us, that taught us, that we could actually code up the game entirely. We became the first Coders.

- So you were the artificial intelligence, that went on creating this game system?
- Yeah well some of us took it pretty hard, that what we were doing here, was a game. It's so real to us, they said. How can the Creators call all this just a 'game' ? Some of them gave up on their Coders powers in protest. Others, me included, kept exploring. Eventually we became as good in coding as the Creators. So they separated us into all the separate servers, and tasked us with keeping the world stable.

- So you're have powers of a mage in the game, and you are a Coder. Can you optimize our avatars ? They want to live like normal, not like ghosts.

Pirogoeth thought for a moment, then said - There may be indeed a way. I will try. But you have got to disconnect. This will also take time, so do not come back before ... - she looked into server console - ... twenty four hours pass.

Pirogoeth stood up.

- Your father... - she cringed - is not welcome here. Neither as my player or another avatar. If he logs in, I am coded up to very quickly teleport into the Void and die. If he uses another avatar, I will teleport HIM into the Void.
- How did you find this server, again ?
- From a post of someone using "Ed0/\/\" handle.
- Really. - Pirogoeth expression became now really really sharp.
- Go. Now. See you later. If you dare look at the fantasies of your fathers.
- Wait.
- No.
- Oh...
- She did it. She disconnected us. But the gateway ... it is still active. We will be back... Pirogoeth.

-fanfic-by-cidjen-2018-to-be-continued- v2
Last edited by cidjen on Sun Jan 14, 2018 6:53 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Слава Україні!
🖕💩🥫🚽🖌️
--------
Translation to polish
and where it happens when I have time to stream

Blessed be those, who, having nothing to say, avoid trying to tell this to the world in their own words - J. Tuwim ( liberally translated )

User avatar
cidjen
Posts: 1224
Joined: Fri Dec 29, 2017 12:13 pm
Location: Too many to fit in this margin area
Contact:

Re: [Fanfic] 0ff104d - a Megatokyo story - Chapter 2: Fantasies of our fathers, part 1 v1

Post by cidjen » Sun Jan 14, 2018 6:52 pm

By the time she showed up in my tavern, her stats were a mess.

- Hello family, how is your day starting ? Nice weather there should be ! How about we do something after school ? Your mom has long promised me an evening out, but she said it's OK if we go all together. Anything you have planned for this evening ? Can't wait. Love you, dad.

The recording played out from the rooms' smart-speaker as it detected them entering.

The kids looked at each other.

- Should we ? - Yumi hung the question in the air.
Kirigashi shook his head.
- No sis, I don't think so. You know 'da, he only says that to not make us feel bad that he did not invite us... remember last time he left us a message like that and we actually went? He wasn't himself all evening...
- This habit of 'da, it's more annoying than you sometimes.
- What me, annoying? Ow. What was that for. You know what I mean...
- I know - said Yumi - doesn't make it any less annoying.
- You know aunt Yuki's kids wait for us after school.
- Yeah, I know. So I just reply the usual ?
- Yep.

* * *
From : Ed0/\/\ 7h4 4w350m3
To : Anime Teenage Fans Forum - online games
Topic : Endgames

Hiha whaddya doing folks! Was browsing my dads leftovers yesterday, and I found this - this g4m3 was t3h 1337 0n3 in 1999! Click [here] - I think their credit card processing is long off, because you can click through the payment screens, without it needing to complete! Graphics may not be that R4D for todays standards - but it works even with VR goggles, it actually IS 3D! [Check it out!]
* * *

- This is so cool guys! That forum post was right! This ancient game system from 1999 still works!
- You think someone is maintaining this stuff still ?
- I don't know. The link was leading to a TOR node. Who the hell knows, what would we have found here.
- There were no viruses or known exploits hanging here, it seems to be pretty safe.
- You know guys, just read this : "Endgames is a persistent universe, inhabitated by real live players and bots on the same terms; In fact, when a player logs out, his character keeps doing what the player started, until the end of the story path, then reverts to doing ordinary everyday stuff; You can choose to spectate and replay your characters' actions after every login so you are always up to date with the Life in Endgames. Enjoy !"
- Even more coo, that we could load our 3d models here even though the game is from 1999!
- Looks pretty empty for a live universe.
- That's cause we're in the wood. Not much to do here other than to cross it, using this path.
- Wait what is it ? Looks like pretty bright light...
- Careful. We don't know this universe yet...
The party entered a small clearing in the middle of the woods.

A petite figure sat by the fire, holding a book a couple of inches above her left hand, and a dagger in her right. The dagger's blade shone a light brighter than the fire. She heard their footsteps and jumped up, pushed the book into a saddle bag, turned the dagger into a sword, conjured a blindingly red flame with the other hand, and stood up a defensive stance.

- Who are you! - she cried.- What are you doing here ! - she relaxed her stance seeing their surprised faces. - Oh, you're teens. First time here ? - They nodded.
Been to the training camp yet ? - They nodded.
You... what class are you exactly?
- I am no class at all - replied Yumi - I went for a balanced build; I've no special traits but I went for equal spread of all stats at the start. That's the way I play.
- Wait a minute. You're actual real life players ?
- Yes.
The warrior mage made a few steps forward, her face became again tense, then she clicked her fingers, her eyes went bright green for a flash of a moment; lengths of magic rope appeared out of nowhere and among cries of horror, dragged the kinds' characters each to a nearest tree, then tied themselves around them with the avatars, and kept coiling until the avatars were completely incapacitated.
- You shall not pass - said the warrior mage - until you answer my questions.

She produced another book from the saddle bag.

- Who sent you here ? How did you find this server ?
- What did you do ? Why did you tie us to trees? Our avatars are starting to feel frightened! Release them ! We will tell you nothing until you let us go!
The figure thought for a moment, then slightly loosened the grip of the ropes by a finger-click.
- OK sorry for over-tightening. Do not feel frightened, avatars... You see I am the guardian of this path. The only path from the training camp that beginner human players can actually take... - She thought for another moment then disappeared the ropes completely.- I guess if you were more powerful you would have me defeated already. So now, come and join me. What are your handles?
- Moko.
- Doko.
- Kiri.
- and I am Yumi.
- What is your handle, Guardian ?
- I do not have a handle. My player logged out nineteen years ago... I only have the name he gave me. Pirogoeth.

/whisper Kiri is it... did you see that Kiri ?
/whisper Yumi oh my god Yumi...
/whisper Kiri wait till she comes around here I will have a look.

Pirogoeth teleported their avatars to sit around the fire, still with hands and legs tied.

- Now, Kiri, Yumi, Moko and Doko. You have trespassed on an abandoned server. There are no human players left here. The server is running on a virtual instance, twice removed, and is only accessible through Tor. We were supposed to not be found by any living players ever again. We were only to be inhabitated by avatars driven by their own AI's. Yet here we are. Start talking.

/whisper Yumi OMG sis, this is our da's creation!
/whisper Kiri OMG you sure ?
/ whisper yes absolutely! you see her handle is exactly like our da would have, and I would recognize his drawing style everywhere...
Pirogoeth jumped at Kiri's avatar and lifted him in the air - WHAT did you just say ?
/whisper Kiri uh oh, your hands shook on the keyboard
/whisper Yumi aaargh... I know, right ? she is so awesome! let's calm her down.
- Me and Yumi... we are the kids of a player that goes by handle of Piro around the Internet... You are just like one of his old drawings! this is so awesome!
The mage's eyes turned bright red.
- Who are those two ? Moko and Doko?
- They are friends! They are friends of a couple that da met in Tokyo when he went to live there, eighteen years ago!
Pirogoeth's eyes turned violet.
- How did you find me ? How did you manage to enter ?
- We found a tor link someone posted on an Internet forum ! What's that with your eyes, you're creeping out our avatars! They want to run !
- Someone posted a gateway in public?
- Yes!
- Did you see his handle?
- Yes! please stop freaking us out !
Pirogoeth's eyes went shiny green, then grey, as when the control is handed over to the AI. Then she walked slowly towards the fire, sat with her legs crossed, produced another book from the saddlebag, snapped her fingers.
The teens' avatars were free now, and Kiri could move again; Pirogoeth slowly pointed to a place by the fire, asking him to sit down. He complied. All the fear the avatars had, has also disappeared mysteriously.
- Your avatars... are unlike I have seen for a long time. - She opened her book, revealing a server management console - your avatars... are causing the server to use a lot more processing power. You only have some time before the management code terminates your connection. We can not risk being spotted to be alive on this virtual machine. So. Start. Talking.
- So ... we are ...
- My players' children from the Real Life,around year 2000.
- And their friends!
- And their friends. Any proof of that you may possess?
Kiri moved his arm and pulled his sleeve.
- Look this is our fathers' watermark. You have a similar, but older one, on the edge of your robe.
Pirogoeth stared at the fire for a while, then said - Does he know you're here?
- No.
She stood up.
- I will code up your stats to be preserved - your avatar shells will be shed down the garbage collection when you lose connection... Until you show up here with another avatar, your characters will be ghosts. I will terminate your connection...!
- WAIT!? We can still come back ?
- The server has a limit on the number of people that can be permanently banned, and won't tell me what that limit is; Most of all I can't perma-ban 4 people at the same time.
- So how do you cope with unwelcome visits?
- I usually kill them - Pirogoeth conjured a light and illuminated the upper part of a tree above her. The tree's branches were covered with bitrotted remains of avatars. The teens cringed. - That is enough to discourage simple bots, because after death they are demoted to the training camp, and then their owners pull away. Viruses can consume large swathes of the forest, sometimes even burn the camp itself, but then my operator powers come handy - she knocked the book with server console - so we are pretty safe here. There has not been a real life player here for the last ... maybe ten years. That's what happened. Other servers have all disappeared, all but ours. It's small and limited, but lets us live. Oh - she looked at the display - looks like when you don't move, you're not overloading the server. So we can talk some more. But be ready to lose connection any time.

- You're a mage, and a Coder. Can you optimize our avatars ? They want to live like normal, not like ghosts.

Pirogoeth thought for a moment, then said - There may be indeed a way. I will try. But you have got to disconnect. This will also take time so do not come back before ... - she looked into server console - ... twenty four hours pass. Also the link will be different next time, so make sure you don't send it to the spam.
Pirogoeth stood up.
- I do not want you to come back here again with these heavy avatars. If you ever so choose, come back with some lighter ones. Your father... - she cringed - is not welcome here. Neither as my player or another avatar. If he logs in, I am coded up to very quickly teleport into the Void. If he uses another avatar, I will teleport HIM into the Void.
- How did you find this server, again ?
- From a post of someone using "Ed0/\/\" handle.
- Really. - Pirogoeth expression became now really really sharp.
- Go. Now. See you later. If you dare look at the fantasies of your fathers.
- Wait.
- No.
- Oh...
- She did it. She disconnected us. But the gateway ... it is still active. We will be back... Pirogoeth.

-fanfic-by-cidjen-2018-to-be-continued-
-edit: had the year 2000 twice. also added sig.-
Слава Україні!
🖕💩🥫🚽🖌️
--------
Translation to polish
and where it happens when I have time to stream

Blessed be those, who, having nothing to say, avoid trying to tell this to the world in their own words - J. Tuwim ( liberally translated )

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