[Text] - Terminally Online

[elbowroom]

[This isn't the first time Jonesy has found herself waking up in a strange place she didn't remember going to sleep in. It isn't the first time a robot has woken her up, either.

The stone slab is new, though. As is the explanation that she's on an entirely different world than the one she knows.

She doesn't believe it at first, until she steps outside into an entire city of robots
- and their claim is further backed up by the fact that none of her implants can connect to a satellite to get her GPS location. Or the fact that the wireless matrix of this place is set up way differently than the matrix she's accustomed to.

There is a wireless network, though. And the robots even gave her a tablet to use. So, of course, Jonesy does what any hacker would do in her position: She searches the internet for answers.

And when she fails to find a quick and easy explanation of how to get home, she goes on the internet to complain.]


ok so ive been running the numbers in my head and its starting to seem very likely that this is all real, and that i'm not just experiencing biofeedback induced brain damage OR trapped in a hyper realistic VR sim from which i cannot escape.

in which case i must ask:

what the FUCK

you kidnap the best hacker in LA , take me to an alternate fucking planet in a city filled with sapient robots and dragons and gods and no one wants me to DO anything??

no hacking, no repairs, no IT work? i didnt get grabbed because someone was planning a cool space heist that they need my skills for? i'm just supposed to hug people?

i am feeling EXTREMELY undervalued here.

if i got picked because of the arms then i'm not hugging anyone. you robots can go fuck yourselves if thats what this is about.

Comments

[elbowroom]

i dunno, i bet i could envy it. plus youre like some kind of chosen hero, right? sounds enviable as hell.

[This is supposed to be banter. Era doesn't seem to be the type who does a whole lot of banter, but this is one thing that Jonesy does for fun.]

actually speaking of which, your world isn't like... doomed now that their legendary warrior of light is gone, is it?

[astralera]

There is nothing enviable about it. Many of your friends and loved ones will die, because you cannot be everywhere at once. Everyone will look to you to save them and resent you when you cannot. Your life will never belong to you, and you must carry the fate of your world in your hands, all while knowing that you will never be as strong as you need to be because for all your strength you are subject to the frailty of flesh.


We are returned from the moment we are taken, as though we were never gone at all.

[elbowroom]

sure.

but not every world gets a hero who has the power to stand up and save the day. i'm not trying to say you have a perfect life with no problems, but it sounds better than a lot of stuff i can imagine.


that's an interesting fact. how do we know that?

[astralera]

Believe whatever you like.


Because people have experienced it.

Private

[elbowroom]

you seem upset but i'm only believing the shit you've told me. you have a wonderful love life and enough power to kill a god.

i'm a mutant freak who lives out of a truck. i'm not trying to insult you, but to me it sounds like you have a good thing.

[astralera]

You seem to believe what I have here and at home are at all similar. They are not. There has never been nor will there ever be a 'love life' for me in my world.

Stop speaking of power as though it magically makes life good. All it does is make people use you as a tool. The more strength you have the more of a weapon you become.

I gladly accept this role. I merely wish people would stop deluding themselves into believing there is any glory, freedom, or happiness to be found as a 'hero'. There is not. You can ask anyone from my world and they will tell you the same.

You are alive, have shelter, a boyfriend, and a life that is yours to do with as you please. That sounds like a good thing to me.

this is so long, I'm sorry

[elbowroom]

that may be true about having power, but being powerless sucks.

i've spent my life on a poisoned planet ruled by corporations, pretty much all of whom pursue profit no matter how much war, environmental damage, and suffering they cause.

no one can really stop them and no one's ever going to. they have all the money and the power, every weapon on the planet comes from them, and a lot of the magic does too. everyone pretty much understands that we're on a long, hot slog to the end, but it's a slog that's making a profit so we've all got to keep doing it.

there's no heroes where i come from. none of us are going to save the world because it's structured itself in a way that prevents saving.

so the idea that heroes can step up and change the way things are sounds pretty cool! i've never said that you had a perfect life, it sounds like a high stress position that doesn't come with a lot of rewards. but it's something that would be cool to have where i come from.

also: in a lot of ways i DO have a good thing going. i have shelter, i have access to the equipment and surgeries i need to do my job. i'm not owned by a corporation, which gives me more freedom than a lot of other people.

this isn't me saying i have the worst life. i'm not trying to turn this into a pissing contest or a pity party, i just want to explain where my head is at when i say the whole the whole warrior of light, killing gods and saving people thing still sounds pretty cool. it makes your world sound like it has hope.