you spelled league wrong again

>>38775234

The field for the second qualifier dissolves away along with your avatar, leaving you to set foot upon the real ground once more. Everything is dark and hard to see at first, the text in your ocular window showing, “Winner: Lancer.”

Taking off your lighter goggles to allow your eyes adjust to the natural light, you hear cheers mixed with some booing. Today it was viral vs viral and Lady D had some sex appeal. Wasn't popular with part of the crowd. You feel your ears go a bit red as you see your foe pull her goggles off through electric blue hair.

Lady D's done up with flashy makeup to make her eyes look large, her eyelashes full, and her lips drop dead. Features articulated and uniform, that unnatural hair color persisting even to her eyebrows, she's obviously designer. “Good job kid. Though I'm curious, how'd you break my firewall? I just got it back up before that final hit.”

You blink, unsure of what to say as you look back to the crowd, your sister standing near the front with Ms Shank talking through her di-node.

“Not sure, I got a new partner recently, must've amped the attack up.”

The woman smiles dishonestly, flashing perfectly white teeth, you hide yours consciously. “Well, I hope to see your matches in the future, ciao.” With a turn and faux starpower in a flip of her hair, she walks off out of the field's perimeter.

>>38775274

Your Coach ushers you over, but Beatie's waving to you with a cheer, “Bit, Bit, over here! It's Beatie!”
You walk over to the three of them, and Beatie nearly throws herself at you, putting her arms around your waist. You can feel her press into you as she squeezes tight, “Bit, I missed you.”

You pat her long braided brown hair in resignation, “Yeah Beatie... I missed you two. Shank wasn't mean was she?” You eyeball you social worker, her glazed over eyes doing some allegedly important work through her windows.

The crowd begins to dissolve.

Beatie pulls away and looks up at you with her own brown eyes. They used to be so dead and unfocused, “She was... kinda mean. She wanted to take me home, but I want to stay with you. Mom and Dad are so stupid...”

>[“You know you can't stay Beatie, I need to send you back.”]
>[“Yeah they are, I'll show you where I live.”]
>[“Well, Shank is right.”]
>[Other]

>>38775301
>[“Yeah they are, I'll show you where I live.”]

Also need to announce a "Patch Note"

Certain programs will take up more slots in Bit's loadout. This is being enacted to appropriately place mods that may seem to powerful to only be worth a single slot.

>Currently owned affected programs:

Haliburd>1 slot > 2 slots.
Reason: It is a two handed weapon with reach and a ranged functionality.

>>38775301
>[“Yeah they are, I'll show you where I live.”]

>>38775301
>[“You know you can't stay Beatie, I need to send you back.”]

>Bit Torrin
>Bit Torrent
I see you're carrying on the tradition of giving hilarious names to quest characters.

>>38776301
Wondered how long it'd take for you guys to see what I did there.

>>38776316
It didn't take long at all, this is just the first time I've posted in a thread live.

>>38776316
I noticed it immediately but chose not to bring it up because it made me cringe a bit

>>38776389

I like cringeworthy names in some characters.
>Apple MacKinzie.

>[“Yeah they are, I'll show you where I live.

>>38775301

“Yeah they are.” You give your sister a little hug and look up to see Shank's eyes come back into focus. Immediately, the woman raises a scrutinizing blonde eyebrow as she anticipates what you're about to say.

“Ms Shank, I'm taking Beatie back to my place, okay?”

“Bit.” Her stare hardens on you, “You know that I can't let-”

“Just for the night, please?”

“Bit, I want to stay...” Beatie whines, burying her head into you.

“Please Ms Shank?”

She shakes her head, “One night- she's going home in the morning.”

“Bit...” Beatie looks up at you.

“I'm sorry, this is the best I can do right now.”

You feel a strong set of arms wrap around you and hoist you and Beatie up, “Hahaha! You did it, one more win and you're in the tournament primaries!” Your coach exclaims proudly, shaking you about before setting the two of you down.

You let go of Beatie and turn to give your Coach playful punch in the gut, “Hey damnit, I told ya not to do that.”

>>38776892

“You're still just a kid Bit.” The man chuckles, “And is this your sister? The infamous Beatie?” He gives her a hard pat on the head, flustering the girl a bit. “Heard a lot about you.”

Ms. Shank brings her car around, the tinted windows sliding open, “Bit, Beatie.” She glares at coach from behind blonde bangs. “We're leaving.”

“Okay-” You turn to coach, “We're going home, I'll see you tomorrow at the next site?”

“It's at the riverwalk, Eighteen hundred, don't be late.”

“Right, see ya coach.” You take Beatie by the hand and get in the back seats of Shank's car. It's got that smell that new cars do; synthetic seats, full air-conditioning, a little monitor for news and interfacing.

“Where are we going Madam?” A gentleman's voice comes on through the speakers, poshe and refined not unlike a butler you've seen in the netshows.

“Bit's house. Let's take the scenic route.”

The car moves, a VI, Virtual intelligence controlling it. You can't wait to get a Google VenturaX1000 someday, maybe even something better. The public bus is definitely an allusion to a standard of living that's not exactly to par with Ms Shank.

You and Beatie catch up for a while. She talks about how great the city is and how lame it is back home. She wasn't able to see it the last time she came out here, her bandages came off back at the farms. “I really want to stay Bit...” Her heart's stuck on her departure tomorrow morning.

“So do I but-”

“I know, your letter said that you had to become a pro, right? Ms Shank told me that. I thought you already were a pro when your last ne said that you were in a tournament...” She smiles at you jubilantly, “You're gonna be a pro right? You were awesome today!”

>>38776915


A window appears in your periphery, “Bit, who is this? She's not connected.” It's your partner.

“Oh, this is my sister.”

“She is a sister?”

“I'll explain later.” You say, closing the window.

“Bit, who are you talking to?”

“Oh.” You squint your eyes, “That was my partner, they helped me today. I'll let you speak to them, Ms Shank, is this car D-”

“I'm not letting that Viral into my car Bit- I had Claude run a scan and crossreference with Clein after I noticed you weren't fighting with him. You know those types are dangerous.”

>[Not this one, they're different.] Pleading
>[“One racism for another...”] Mumbling
>[“Yeah, whatever.”] Dismissing.
>[...] No Input
>[Other]

>>38777118
>[...] No Input
>[Sorry partner, I'll introduce you to them when we get back home, ok?]

>>38777118
>[“Yeah, whatever.”] Dismissing.

>>38777279
This

>>38777118
>[“One racism for another...”] Mumbling

>>38777118

“Sorry Partner, I'll introduce you to sis when we get back home.”

“That's fine. Will you tell me what a sister is?”

You let Beatie into your apartment, Shank follows in close behind. The social worker quickly sets to inspecting your home and taking snapshots of the place for filing an update on your living status.

Beatie's actually a little less impressed with the state of your apartment studio. One room and a bathroom, the kitchen amounts to a cupboard of the cheapest possible dishes, readyhot cup noodles, ans a hot plate for heating water and cooking other simple dishes.You'd probably be able to afford more if you didn't funnel most of your welfare into interface access and one of the cheapest dataplans possible with [Sprint Mobile].
Their plan included a natural speed booster for your avatar...

“This isn't really what I expected...” Beatie says as she sits on your couch, sending a nervous shiver through your body as the “activities” that you've done to your couch runs through your mind. “It... smells funny.”

You're about to say something when Ms. Shank gently pulls her off. “Best you stay off of that Sweetie, this is a bachelor's room for lack of a better term, not everything is particularly...” She looks at you with a knowing look, “Sanitary.”

“Just sit on the floor Beatie, I'll turn the television on so you can meet my partner.” You sit down and Beatie scoots up next to you.

Clein turns the Television on and appears on it through the smart adapter,” Good evening, I am Clein.” He bows with his persona, still bearing articulate features and a smooth business casual.

>>38777592

A black figure scoots on into the side, picking with blank red eyes amid a fuzzy black body. It emotes surprise and then a smile, “And I am... err, Bit's partner. The announcer called me Malice.”

“Uhm...” Beatie ponders, “It's nice to meet you Mr. Clein... But uh... Is Malice a boy or a girl?”

Now that Beatie mentions it, you weren't quite sure yourself. They haven't used a pronoun, or any sort of gender identification in their persona let alone their speech.

>You think it's a...
>[Boy.]
>[Girl.]
>[Don't really know.]

>>38777621
>>[Don't really know.]

>>38777621
>[Girl.]

>>38777621
>[Girl.]

>>38777621
>Uh...
>[Girl?]
I had actually thought "this thing seems vaguely girl-like" before now. Didn't think we'd get to gender vote it like this, though. Or is this just for what Bit thinks it is with no actual bearings on the true gender this thing has?

>>38777621
>[Girl.]

>>38777753
D-zens don't really have a "true gender."
But this would influence it towards identifying as feminine.

>>38777621

“Uh, I think it's a... girl?”

Your partner tilts “her” head at you in the screen, clearly interested if not a little confused, “Oh... Do I seem that way to you?”

“I guess I kind of do, is that weird?”

She shakes her head with panicked emotes, “No, no! I just... Well...” She blushes, smiling with emoted embarassment, “I wasn't sure. It makes sense. I'll stabilize my persona later. Shall I assign myself the name “Malice?”

“It's a pretty name Bit.” Beatie smiles at you, clearly she doesn't know what that name means.

“Let me think about it, okay? Right now people won't think it's weird if your battletag changes but we need to think about our theme and appearance.”

“Right, I noticed those discussions on the boards. What do you want us to be Bit? I understand that people think Virals like myself are... um... bad. But I'm fine with whatever image you want to go with.” She emotes with ^^ eyes and wide smile.

>[This is something you might want to think about. You'll be deciding this in the primaries.]

>>38778007
I'm down with just keeping "Malice". The only other name I could think of is "Reboot" and that just seems condescending.

>>38778007
I think it'd be cool if we went for a sort of 'knight in shining armor' theme. We've already got it kind of going with Haliburd -- being a halberd -- plus, I think it would throw off some of our opponents as well. I mean, you go out there expecting a viral, and instead you find this huge paladin-esque guy charging you and shit.

>>38778007
I think we should break away from the stereotype of "Virus bad". We can be the Viral that people want to cheer for.

I sort of like the idea of going with a knight like appearance. Sort of like a black knight on a quest of redemption or something.

>>38778188
It could work, if we can get the fans on board. It shouldn't mean that we always fight fair though - we should still play to the strengths of a viral type in battle.

>>38778356
I don't have a good name currently for her, but you could take the M off Malice so she could be Alice

>>38778392
That's exactly what I meant. Meaning we look all noble and shit, but we fight raw and we fight dirty.

>>38778007
What if we go with a Valkyrie like appearance? All armored up, wielding a halberd. Maybe eventually getting some wings (black perhaps?) to let her fly and zip around the battlefield.

>>38778007

“Bit, you're really using a Viral? I thought you wanted to be an AV ARCHLighter.” Ms Shank interrupts, breaking your train of thought.

“Oh, you remembered,” Rolling your eyes at her, shaking your head, “I thought you didn't want me to be a Lighter at all, get a real job-”

“-Yes, a real job. So your case closes, you're financially stable and Beatie can live with you when you're eighteen.” She presses a long painted fingernail into her temple, “Look at this cave you're living in right now. I can't even imagine what'd happen if you lost your stipend, you'd end up on the street and I'd have to send you right into foster care.” She removes her finger, crossing her arms with a haughty air, “None of us want that to happen.”

You bow your head low, feeling your face flush and your ears grow hot at the scolding. You'd probably yell back at her if she wasn't the one person letting you and Beatie be here. You feel Beatie squeeze your hand and sniffle.

“However.” Shank's voice softens, “I'll make you a deal Bit.”

You look up at her, listening.

“If you manage to go professional -THIS SEASON- I'll consider that you're fully employed and financially stable. Your sponsors will take care of you.”

“And if I don't?” That's the question that begs asking.

“Then you need to find a real job and stop trying to “make it-” she uses air quotations, “At this ridiculous sport.”

“Is Bit's dream really ridiculous? I think he can do it... I saw him today... He was awesome.” Beatie's hand trembles in your own.

>>38778651

Ms Shank bends down in her skirt before you two. “No sweetie, it's not ridiculous. It's just very hard and I want the best for both of you...” Shank pauses to think for a moment, “Look, I'll let treat you both to breakfast tomorrow and take you and Beatie to your last qualifier.”

“Really?”

“Really Bit.” Ms Shank smiles and stands up, smoothing out her skirt, looking over at your partner in the television, “You better help him win.”

“Of course. It's been nice meeting you Ms. Shank. I hope you have a nice day.”

Ms. Shank chuckles a bit on the way out, “This viral is so unusual... You two get some rest, I'll be back in the morning- and Bit, clean this place up.”

“Uh huh. Yeah Ms. Shank.”

“I'm serious.”

>>38778734

You and Beatie get to cleaning up the place, as it gets dark, you're not sure what to do about the sofa so you roll out an eastern-style mattress for her instead.

As you lay down, something seems to be bothering Beatie from earlier, she got awefully defensive when Ms. Shank called Lighting ridiculous. “Beatie, what's wrong? You thinking about something?”

“Umm... No.”

“Beatie, you can't lie to me, what's wrong?

“No, you're gonna laugh at me.”

“I promise I won't.”

The TV comes on- “So do I.” Your partner whispers like she's in on some secret.

“How did-” You begin.

“I... hacked it.” She whispers shyly.

“Turn it off.”

“Sorry.”

Beatie goes giggles before going quiet, “They're kind of funny.”

“Yeah.” You sigh.

There's a silence as the hum of electric cars on the downtown city streets give a subtle ambient sound, the whir of the winding down servers of the complex mixing into the melody.
Just when you start drifting off to sleep, Beatie slips from under her covers and kneels on the mat, she sighs, and then she starts whispering.

“To tell the truth... I didn't just come here for you bit... Really... I wanted to try singing for people, I want to be famous too. Remember how mom and dad would sing to me? I loved it. I thought it was the prettiest thing in the world, and I still really like it. Now I can see people's faces when I sing, when they listen to me. I want to be like those idols that people really love, you know? Just like you love Lighting, and how you want to meet Apple... Let's both try really hard okay?” She shifts back under her covers. You start to turn- to look back at her, but she's already asleep and settled.

Torrin kids sure can dream, huh?

So this is like yugioh in the future but without the cards or the ancient egyptian shit and we're playing future Joey?

>>38779124
>No cards
>No ancient egyptian shit

Uhhh...I'm not sure how it can be Yugioh without those things.

In any case, Bit already paid off the eye surgery, Beatie was born blind. And their story is more centered around how they're natural-bornes in a world where genetics engineering allows people to be "Designer" and free from genetic flaws.

>>38779053

You wake up to the smell of cooking eggs. Bleary eyes reveal that Beatie's already out of bed. Clien comes on through your occipital display, “I tried to remind her through the monitor that Ms Shank had scheduled an appointment to treat you two to breakfast. But your partner wouldn't let me turn the television on!”

“Bit said to turn it off. I read of human sleep patterns last night out of curiosity. If you had interrupted, you would have broken his circadian cycle and possibly have cost us the battle today.”

“I-I am aware of the circadian cycle, but Bit only has so much finances to allocate towards food! If your equipment programs are to be improved, you must save money!”

“Both of you...” You blink, wincing at the voices in your head so early in the morning, “Shut the hel up. I don't care...”

>[Contact one of your friends from the interface...] Beatie wants to be an idol. You know someone that could help with that...
>[Contact Coach.] Ms. Shank doesn't like him but he might have a heads up on who your match is going to be today.
>[Talk to Beatie] Eat Breakfast and then get picked up by Shank. She doesn't need to know that you heard her last night.
>[Ask your partner how they liked the battle yesterday.] It could be good knowing how she feels and letting her know how she can improve.
>[Other]

>>38779549
>[Contact Coach.] Ms. Shank doesn't like him but he might have a heads up on who your match is going to be today.
>[Ask your partner how they liked the battle yesterday.] It could be good knowing how she feels and letting her know how she can improve.

>>38779549
>>38779631

>[Contact Coach.] Ms. Shank doesn't like him but he might have a heads up on who your match is going to be today.>[Ask your partner how they liked the battle yesterday.] It could be good knowing how she feels and letting her know how she can improve.

>>38779549
>[Talk to Beatie] Eat Breakfast and then get picked up by Shank. She doesn't need to know that you heard her last night.

>>38779549
>[Contact one of your friends from the interface...] Beatie wants to be an idol. You know someone that could help with that...

>>38779549
>>[Contact one of your friends from the interface...] Beatie wants to be an idol. You know someone that could help with that...

>>[Ask your partner how they liked the battle yesterday.] It could be good knowing how she feels and letting her know how she can improve


also when we enter combat is our suppport partner visible? i think it would be pretty neat to do a knight and dark mage kinda dealy but that's my thoughts on that

>>38780184
Your partner is not normally visible. She helps maintain the avatar and its systematic functions.

In a way, the two of you "share" a body.

However, when it comes to the announcer and recognition of who won, the partner is always included as far as credit goes.

>>38780280
ahh k thanks

>>38779549

As you rouse yourself from bed for a drink of water, you hear Beatie say greet your morning and you respond the as you bend down to drink from the running faucet, finishing up by washing your face with a refreshing and cold morning splash.

Beatie sets down a plate of salted scrambled soyeggs, the real thing is a lot more expensive. After taking the first bite, “I'm going to make a call okay? Just a sec.” You put a hand to your ear and put in Coach's ID.

It rings three times and then, “Hey, this is Earl Hickey. I'm doing some things right now. Leave me a message and I'll text you later- maybe.” voice mail. Goddammit. every time you try to contact him outside of a practice session he's preoccupied. What the hell...

Well, only one other person to talk to about the match today... “Hey, are you still here? You can turn the television on-”

Before you finish, the television is on, and your partner appears on the screen. She's still black-bodied, which is actually kind of uncommon for D-Zens in general, but now her persona is sporting a feminine curve, an outline to her figure of where breasts should be, and short black hair in an A-cut. Her eyes are still red, and she's still using emotes but it's likely she's just not used to making “Faces” yet. That, or she just likes to emote.

“About the match yesterday, what'd you think about it?”

She seems to consider it for a moment.

“You were awesome Bit.”

“I was helping too...” Your partner says, seeming a little left out.

>>38780814

“Yeah. Beatie, she was helping me too. You did a great job.” You say, giving a thumbs up to your partner, sharing the appreciation.

“What? But I didn't see her.” Beatie says, a bit confused still about the whole thing. She hasn't been around technology as much as you after all.

“Well, we shared that body. I did the moving while she made sure everything was working and hitting hard. We're a team.”

“Oh, okay...” Beatie seems satisfied with that answer.

“Beatie is correct though, we dispatched Lady D very efficiently. We only lost 5% of our integrity, and built our gauge very well. I don't think I understand exactly how I'm supposed to hack them in that situation though, it seems that when we're in the field I need to make some kind of connection to effectively cripple their systems.”

“That's the secondary effect of the firewall softwares, they put up a hard-block to hacking attempts. I'll need to use my Halibird's breaker tips to smash the firewall and deliver some control to you.”

“If I might suggest, maybe we could replace one of our programs with one more geared toward a hacking attempt? That snake vector seemed efficient.”

“I don't have money to get one right now, we'll have to wait.”

There's a moment of silence as your partner considers something, “Well... We could always pirate one.”

>[I'll think about it.] You aren't even sure which program you'd replace.
>[Refuse.] Pirating is wrong and can lead to glitched and infected programs. You can't risk your career on that.
>[Okay.] Jack Black seemed to use even the beta versions just fine. If you find the right ones you could increase your arsenal.
>[Other]

>>38780844
>[Okay.] Jack Black seemed to use even the beta versions just fine. If you find the right ones you could increase your arsenal.

>>38780844
>[Other]
"Lets not risk it this close to the match. We can try some different things out when our career isn't on the line"

>>38780844
>[Okay.] Jack Black seemed to use even the beta versions just fine. If you find the right ones you could increase your arsenal.
Make sure you're behind however many proxies the future requires.

>>38780844
>[Refuse.] Pirating is wrong and can lead to glitched and infected programs. You can't risk your career on that.

>>38780844
>[Refuse.] Pirating is wrong and can lead to glitched and infected programs. You can't risk your career on that.

>>38780969
>Not always being behind 7 proxies
Step it up

>>38780814
gonna second this.
>>38780927

>>38781019
I'm behind 10 right now fgt
Just saying maybe 20-30 is a better number to be behind in the future.

i wonder if later on we could wrangle a dev or something to team up with us. if we do well, their programs would get known and we could get a discount on their use. also if other users hadn't seen the program before it could give us a nice element of surprise. that is unless we are required to use programs that are already in circulation or something.

>>38781144
I don't really want to be the alpha tester for some jackass' new stuff. That's just begging to have our shit explode on us at the worst possible time.

>>38781144
It is possible to be sponsored by a dev if you use their lines enough and gain the type of reputation that they're looking for. Caliburn is somewhat of a lesser recognized developer because their medieval styled weapons aren't exactly the most popular.

Other devs feature sci-fi weapons such as beam sabers, laser and plasma rifles. Others are old modern such as assault rifles, machetes, tomahawks, grenades. Then there are even others that specialize in different old-style regional weapons and ARCHLight specific weaponry and modifiers such as firewalls, boosters, vectors, and so forth.

If you get the right sponsors they'll work on your avatar, upgrade your number of program slots, and take requests for your arsenal.

>>38781202
true enough. this is the internet we are on. its a rather untrustworthy place at the best of times

>>38781308
Any devs focus on weaponry and programs that give the "Hue hue hue it's magic!" vibe? If I was in this setting, I'd sure as fuck make an elemental staff program and try to hock it.

>>38781362
Yes. That's actually something that Caliburn dabbles in. They do have a competitor by the name of "MagiiTree" that specializes in those effects. They're more of a pro company because Amateur-grade generators can't keep up with their flashier effects.

>>38781437
Do any avatar's include some visual representation of the Dzen partner's presence or is it pretty much universal that they're 100% behind the scenes?

>>38781512
Bit's "The Knight" Avatar used to be gray and in a wonky proportion.

With "Alice" as his partner it's now black with red eyes. They can tinker with the visual effects of the avatar, yes.

>>38780844

You mull it over while Beatie asks about what pirating is. Your partner tries to explain it, but only ends up making her even more confused. “Let's not. Not yet at least. We can't afford to take risks with glitchy equipment. We'll look into it after we hit the primaries and we need to really wow the scouts.”

“Alright Bit. Let's try our best again today, I'll be lurking- I've been told on some boards that I should do so more.” Your partner smiles at you and turns off the television.

The doorbell rings. Answering it, it's Ms. Shank. She takes the three of you out to the Intercity House of Pancakes. You're surprised to find that she's actually dressed down for this, letting her hair go and wearing something that's more in line with the casual. It's now that you can actually tell that she's actually really pretty. If she weren't such a bitch she might actually have a “Special friend.” Overall, she keeps the tone down during breakfast as far as her job is concerned. She asks Beatie a lot of questions about her home life, how she likes the city as compared to the farm.

>>38781803


You actually notice that she's carefully avoiding the “N” word. Not that a person designed to be “Ganguro” would understand what it means to be a farmer-raised natural. Her skin is dark in contrast to her light blonde hair, eyelashes and eyebrows. It'd be cooler if it were blue, like Lady D from yesterday, or some of the green or pink-haired women you've seen on the covers of Rogue interzines.

After breakfast, Ms. Shank takes the two of you back, letting you know that she'll pick you up a half hour before the next qualifier.

The only thing you realize then is that there's really not much to do at home in your little studio. You could go on the interface, but then Beatie would just be bored.

You...

>[Get Clien to talk to her on the tel while you go on the interface.] He can explain things much better while you pass the time playing games.
>[Ask her if she still sings....] You might be able to get a net-idol acquaintance to help her out.
>[Try contacting coach again.] Seriously, why doesn't this guy ever pick up?
>[Other]

>>38781828
>[Ask her if she still sings....] You might be able to get a net-idol acquaintance to help her out.

>>38781828
>[Ask her if she still sings....] You might be able to get a net-idol acquaintance to help her out.

>>38781828
>[Try contacting coach again.] Seriously, why doesn't this guy ever pick up?
Is he passed out drunk whenever he isn't coaching?

>>38781986
Probably porking Shank

>>38781986
Would you be surprised?

>>38781828
>[Ask her if she still sings....] You might be able to get a net-idol acquaintance to help her out.

>>38781828
>>[Ask her if she still sings....] You might be able to get a net-idol acquaintance to help her out.
>>[Try contacting coach again.] Seriously, why doesn't this guy ever pick up?

I'm not feeling too well, fell asleep for a bit.

Going to close up this thread, and set up so that the last qualifier match is this Saturday.

We'll open with talking to Beatie about her singing... Which could actually help Bit in the future.