01 ☢ video

[ex_havenofear960]

[The camera clicks on to reveal a skinny kid with a mess of brown hair. He's holding the tablet in front of him, so the view's a bit shaky; it doesn't help that he's fidgeting and gesturing with his other hand as he speaks, first and foremost being a quick and awkward wave hello.]

Hey. Hello? This is on, right? You know, they should put a light on these things to show they're transmitting. Maybe they do, I didn't really - [Barely a pause as he checks himself, gets back on track.]

Sorry. Hi, my name's Peter. Peter Parker. So I got the welcome tour, and I guess my big question is - where can we get decent food around here?

[Priorities. He got most of the relevant info the other day, anyway. He almost looks like he's done, but then he abruptly remembers something and speaks up again in a rush.] And I made a thing. I mean, I didn't really make it, I just re-made it. I probably messed some of it up, but I guess nobody here's going to know any better, right?

It's for Collette, but I figured anybody could use it. Let me know if you have questions, or just type "help" and it should cover the bases. And don't forget to use your lanterns. [And Peter out - no wait, just kidding. He's half a second from ending the transmission before he stops.]

It's a game, by the way. The thing.

[He's done for real this time, pending an attachment:]

► ATTACHMENT 1: zork.exe

Comments

literally comes HOURS LATER (guess who was playing between distractions)

[whatsupcroc]

Peter this is so cool!

EY

[ex_havenofear960]

So ballpark it for me, how many times have you been eaten by a grue?

[video]

[queenoftherock]

[... Talk about a blast from the past.]

Do you kids even play with these kinds of things anymore?

[No seriously, he was lost to the throes of the XBOX when it first released.]

[video]

[ex_havenofear960]

Yeah, sure they do.

[That is a blatant lie and he knows it.]

... or, you know, I guess certain social circles might classify me as a nerd.

[oncearanger]

You programmed this whole game? Wow, this is fantastic. I never had a chance to play this before, but I think I might---after work, obviously.

[ex_havenofear960]

it's not actually too hard, it's mostly just the repetition that kills you. it's a pretty small game.

where do you work? do we seriously have to do the 9-5 thing here?

video;

[keep_smiling]

A game! A game! Oh, and its one of those old text adventure ones! You're the best!

video;

[ex_havenofear960]

[ Who doesn't take compliments very well, this guy. ]

Yeah, no problem. I figured people could use a little more fun around here.

You've played stuff like this before?

video;

[freewoman]

There's enough shacks around, that sell food. Y'could hunt, too.

video;

[ex_havenofear960]

Yeah, I've seen the shacks, but - [excuse me] - sorry, hunt? Hunt what?

video;

[rota]

A text-based RPG? [Wow, Naoto hasn't seen any of those in a seriously long time.

prooooobably hasn't played any in that amount of time either. To play or not to play...]

How did you get the source for it?

video;

[ex_havenofear960]

[This is slightly awkward, mostly because he doesn't want to look like a show-off.]

I used to copy it as a kid for practice. [And fun, let's be honest.] You have this kind of thing where you're from? I mean - are you from Earth?

[audio]

[concealingeyes]

Whoa, this is so old.

[Kido is still playing it and getting frustrated and enjoying it.]

Did you play these when you were a kid or something?

[A beat and then.] If you tell me how to open the grate I'll find some good food.

[audio]

[ex_havenofear960]

Uh, yeah. But they were kind of old then, too. [Might as well be honest.]

With a key. And what are we talking when you say good food, because someone else is talking about killing wild birds, and that isn't actually what I'm going for. [Ah, cultural divides.]

[kneecaptain]

You're Peter Parker?

[ You know, he knows someone by that name, someone… older. But it could just be a coincidence. Let's awkwardly find out!! ]

[ex_havenofear960]

Last time I checked.

[He's slightly freaked out by the question, actually, but he makes a valiant effort to play it cool.]

Sorry, should I know you?

video; HI STRANGER

[totallytrustworthy]

Depends on what kind of food qualifies as 'decent' to you, darling. We talking fast food, takeout, Four Seasons...?

video; HEY GIRL

[ex_havenofear960]

It's probably directly proportional to how bad it is for you. So no, not Four Seasons.

Do they have food carts where you're from? [He's just assuming you're all aliens at this point, honestly.]

voice

[ofgoldenfoil]

Oh, what kind of game this is? I can't read, so I don't think I can play it.

voice

[ex_havenofear960]

[Oh, oops.]

I can probably add an audio component. Or the tablets might have one already - text to talk? [He's not entirely sure that'd work, but he could try.]

But it's an adventure game. Theoretically. It's kind of dwarfed by the actual time war adventure.

[dusk_and_dawn]

[Here's someone who would recognize that name if he hadn't gotten mindwiped by a demon.]

What I am to do with it?

[ex_havenofear960]

[Peter doesn't know who any of you crazies are, so no big loss.]

Play it. Like a game, which is what it is. [Not very helpful. Try again, maybe?]

You have to use text commands - open it, then type in what you want it to do.

voice

[livinuptothename]

[ Oh sup, here's a familiar voice for you. ]

There's a food stall near the Hold. I'm not exactly sure what it is they serve, but it's freakin' delicious.

voice

[ex_havenofear960]

[Hark, he recognizes that familiar voice. He's not entirely sure if he likes you.]

Yeah? Mystery meat, great. That's the most enthusiastic recommendation I've gotten yet. [He didn't even say it was meat, but whatever, the point stands.]

[video]

[blossomgale]

Hello, Peter. My name's Sophie.

[ ...Then she squints at the attachment. This would be more fun if she could read better. Someone has been teaching her but she's still a little slow. ]

There's a lot of words on this...

[video]

[ex_havenofear960]

[Heeeey Sophie who he's totally never met before.]

Hey, nice to meet you.

And - yeah, I guess it's kind of a word game. [He's getting the impression that this is going to be a problem for some people, and he feels slightly guilty about it, so-] Sorry. I can try to add an audio function?

[video]

[futurarex]

What is a game.

[s o not impressed. most of the rest of this was too rambly to be of any use. or sense. where do you get food from; honestly.]

[video] u r not welcome here

[ex_havenofear960]

A game is a hobby or sport you do for fun.

[Literal answers, take that.]

[medusalith]

[ She's spent some time on the game out of idle curiosity but found it not engaging enough to waste her time with. ]

There are food stalls around, as I'm sure you've been informed. And several bars of various reputations if that is more to your taste.

[ex_havenofear960]

[Hey rude, he totally stole that from someone else, it was hard work.]

Yeah, I've seen a few. I'm just not quite clear on what they're serving. I like to know what something is before I put it in my mouth, you know? [Which sounds a bit odd, but hey, it's honest. Although that second part...]

Bars? What about the bars? [A thoughtful pause.] Do they have age restrictions?

[video]

[courageous_wit]

[Hermione smiles over the feed. This game reminds her of all the ones Crowley posted on CastleNet. But it also reminds her of the Once-ler, and she feels oddly homesick]

Hello, Peter. My name is Hermione.

[video]

[ex_havenofear960]

Hermione? [Not really a question, just not sure if he's saying it right.]

Nice accent, is that English? [Err, manners.] And nice to meet you.

video;

[whomheloved]

Well...what food do you count as decent? A lot of the things they have here are strange but they're still edible.

video;

[ex_havenofear960]

[That's a really good question.]

Like, good? As in the taste, not talking about the nutritional merits, here. I was thinking pizza, but the local stuff is getting some pretty bad reviews.

Video

[inthejunk]

Dude where are the graphics?

[He was totally excited for like a minute and then there was reading involved, eugh.]

Video

[ex_havenofear960]

It's a text-based game. You're supposed to use your imagination.

[He doesn't sound particularly annoyed. It's an honest suggestion, man, let your brain run free.]

Video

[thewhitepawn]

A game?

[Anduin is interested, but he's still trying to figure out how to use this thing effectively so the game may take ...awhile. He glances up, studying the screen for a moment before smiling politely.]

Welcome ...for what it's worth.

Video

[ex_havenofear960]

Yeah, an RPG. Sort of, it's like a prototype. You type in commands to move around and interact with the environment.

[Peter, meanwhile, is still assuming people can figure it out unless they tell him point-blank otherwise.]

And thanks. You been here awhile?

[biwinning]

I want it.

[ex_havenofear960]

[... um.]

Want what? The game... ?

video;

[motioned]

[Her attempt at actually playing the game is spectacularly unsuccessful, but still, she's curious!]

Hey, how'd you do that? Are you, like, a computer genius person?

video; hahaha omg

[ex_havenofear960]

No, I just like computers, but- it's actually pretty easy, anybody can learn it. [Well, maybe not some of the dragons here.]

It's kind of like a language. If you know how to string the right words together, you can program a computer to do pretty much anything.

video

[neveraskedforthis]

That's pretty good--and fun. Most people don't even know what text adventures are these days. How long did it take you?

[ He's done stuff like this too years ago, before he realized that sitting around on his butt and coding for hours really isn't his thing. Still... ]

video

[ex_havenofear960]

Thanks. Uh- a few days? I guess, I've been here a few days now. [He's actually not completely sure since he's been holed up in his room. Still processing the whole being here thing in a spectacularly healthy fashion.]

They have these where you come from?

[video]

[ra_ra_razputin]

This game's hard.

[To be fair, he didn't try very long.]

[video] lmao well done

[ex_havenofear960]

Nah, you just have to learn how to talk to it. It takes some getting used to.

Try to stick with really simple commands, it doesn't understand a whole lot. What've you tried so far?

[ text ]

[reassures]

This is really amazing. You re-made it from memory?

[ text ]

[ex_havenofear960]

it took a few tries. thanks, though.

have you played this kind of thing before?

[ This has turned into a surprisingly good exercise in finding out when or where people are from, actually. ]

video;

[reconnaissance]

( She is just. Staring. Staring with considerable judgment. )

So instead of finding food earlier, you put together a game.

( UGH YOU CHILD )

video;

[ex_havenofear960]

[ WOW RUDE. ]

Hey, I asked about decent food, it's not like I'm letting myself starve to death here. [ His roommates can probably attest to that. ]

Did you even open it? The game. You sound like you could- [ Use some R&R is what he means to say, but he stops before he finishes. ]