Yuze
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Weekend Warrior
Mythstar
Posts: 223
Trainer Class: 
Player Name: Vera Miroslavova Kovacheva, PhD
OOC Username: Stells
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Yuze on Sept 1, 2023 1:36:49 GMT 9
Laughter echoes through the San Francisco Convention Center, a hundred conversations happening all at once. Attendees go from one area to the next, their excitement being visible in their expressions, their purchases, and often even their attires. Yet, among them, a Specter moves in silence. A ghost, unseen by most. There's something pleasing about it: about knowing that through Augmented Reality Attendance, he can enjoy the convention while going practically unnoticed. It's a peaceful experience, in a way that he knows would have been impossible if Vera had chosen to travel all the way to San Francisco for this. After all, she has always hated travelling. This is easier, this is much better, and even finding his destination is no problem when being able to use his HUD's markers. Hall A: Bedrock Stage. He walks with quiet decisiveness, yet on his way there, he pauses, looking through the WorldScreen Lite Demo display while considering the idea of buying one of them. The WorldScreen Vera uses is a couple of years old now, and a newer model would probably be more compatible with the rest of her research equipment. But... The thing is, there's a strange sentimental value to the console — it has been his, just like this account and avatar. Unheard by most, Yuze sighs, stepping into Hall A and being greeted by a pop up when doing as much. SEER STAMP ADQUIRED! Oh, right, the stamps... The next panel is about to start, but he does not take a seat like most members of the crowd. On a screen over the stage, the title of the panel is written in bold letters: The Everworld: Life After Death. The irony is exquisite. For now, he stands at the very back of the hall, listening.
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Jinyu
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Weekend Warrior
Player Character
Posts: 58
Player Name: Andrew Yang
OOC Username: Peony
Arena Points: 0
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Post by Jinyu on Nov 4, 2023 13:16:17 GMT 9
One world superimposed over another--augmented reality was something else, and Andy was one of them today, as Jinyu, as a stranger in a sea of strangers. It was undoubtedly strange, walking around in the real world with his avatar compared to UNOVR, where he knew that everything was made up of data and code. These were people moving around a space, and he was in another space, back at home. Even if he had been working with this technology for a long time, if he stopped and reflected on it, it still amazed him, what it could do. Most of the convention goers did not have their AR glasses on, so he wouldn't be seen, but those that were already within the virtual space or those that were interacting with it, they might be able to tell which are the optical illusions - a person occupying a space but not.
So Andy feels sorely out of place here, as much as he wanted to enjoy himself. He wasn't bumping into people because people were passing through, and he couldn't interact with any of the stalls and shops because it wasn't like he could hold onto the merchandise anyway. Chatter was all around him, though, most of them happy, some of them snappy, which was to be expected in such a high strung and compact area. A part of him wondered what it might've been like if he could've used a physical replacement instead, a little robot to act as him so that he could at least occupy some physicality. He walked and felt like floating, but also felt the movement of forward. This aimless meandering eventually led him to one of the event stages, talking about life and death. A self-proclaimed psychology enthusiast was amongst the panelists, weighing in on how the Everworld shifted from person to person. He kept one ear on the conversation, which was hard to ignore, and another on the buzz of the hall, but that was until he saw a ghost in the theater.
His ghost.
❝No.❞ it couldn't be. It was dark, but that couldn't obscure the deep red of his eyes reflecting the light from the stage. It couldn't be. He couldn't stop himself from staring, and even if they were many feet apart, one may eventually notice blue eyes boring into a holographic image.
I've heard that the Everworld sometimes uses images gathered from the recent memories of the player.
With the mind closely linked to the digital realm, memories intermingle with data, it is inevitable.
Still unable to believe it, Andy started to move closer, but slowly, because he was afraid the image would vanish into thin air. There was no need to ask for excuses or maneuver through the crowd, because he too was a ghost without a shell, like a moth to a flame. |
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Yuze
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Weekend Warrior
Mythstar
Posts: 223
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Vera Miroslavova Kovacheva, PhD
OOC Username: Stells
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Yuze on Nov 5, 2023 20:02:51 GMT 9
By accessing the memories of the player, Everworld Trials can become deeply personal and unique experiences, tailored to each individual.
Mirrors.
When Yuze had stepped into the Everworld and sought to free one of the virtual souls that gather at that place, the trial he had been given had been full of mirrors. Mirrors with reflections that were his but also weren't. The avatar, the past, the truth, the parasite.
What do other people see?
What makes them tick?
Ha. There was once a time when questions like those wouldn't have even crossed Vera's mind; she has always been much more interested with the hows and whys than the whats. The biology behind the it all, the way code intermingles with the mind. Him, though? He had always sought to understand people; to figure out what their minds were like and what experiences had led to that.
These are questions that exist in Vera's mind because of his influence on her, and such is the idea that rules over her thoughts just as the scarlet eyes of Yuze's avatar meet those of a deep blue.
Two virtual beings, staring at one another.
Another reflection. One Yuze is not familiar with. Yet, one that at the same time somehow feels awfully like a memory.
What is this?
Yuze takes a step forward, beginning to close the distance between the two of them.
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Jinyu
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Weekend Warrior
Player Character
Posts: 58
Player Name: Andrew Yang
OOC Username: Peony
Arena Points: 0
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Post by Jinyu on Nov 5, 2023 20:21:20 GMT 9
Jinyu studied people. People have studied him. He was taught about patterns, circumstances, factors that could all mesh into an individual soul, carved from experience, beautiful and painful. The world was never rigid, and the billions of eyes that shift and stare; each was a different picture, a different view, a self that they put forward to meet with other selves - an attempt to understand one another. No matter how much Andy had tried, he could never completely understand her and her pain. He couldn't, but he did try, didn't that amount to something? To anything?
Was the answer that he did not try hard enough, or that he made a wrong turn somewhere? Stepping into a downward spiral with no way back up, because of the tiniest little thing?
And here he was, confronted with not only a specter of that past, but a question boring into his thoughts:
Who are you?
Yuze moved, not away, but forward. Caught in the gravity of what could be, Jinyu also continued to move. Each step sounded like nothing, but felt like concrete slabs that he had to put all his strength into pushing, otherwise he would fall face first, or be unable to take another step. Jinyu couldn't stop his face from contorting; his body from shaking. It...it really was, it could only be
❝Vera?❞
But the moment he said her name, the host's voice cut blasted through the speakers, announcing that they would take a short break from the talk and resume in a couple of minutes. |
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Yuze
•
Weekend Warrior
Mythstar
Posts: 223
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Vera Miroslavova Kovacheva, PhD
OOC Username: Stells
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Yuze on Nov 6, 2023 10:48:53 GMT 9
❝Vera?❞
At that moment, Yuze sees it; the reason why this reflection feels so very familiar. See, here's the thing: Vera's Hyperthymesia does not allow for 'maybes' in her memory. There's no 'but', no 'what if'. She's absolutely and completely certain that she has never encountered this man before, not in UNOVR and much less in the real world. She has never looked into those blue eyes. But, oh but. But... She knows that look. That's a look she has seen so many times before. The way those blue eyes look at her is familiar even if the eyes themselves aren't...
And that voice.
Andy.
Vera — and Yuze as a result — has always had what many would consider to be an spectacular poker face, yet right there, at that very moment, if only for a second, there's a crack in that perfect mask; recognition shining in cold crimson eyes.
And then, just like that, the crack is gone.
"No." Yuze's voice is not Vera's, nor is it Andy's. It's a voice that belongs to no one at all, the voice of the spectral man he now is. He turns on his heels and begins to walk away; away from someone Vera had wished to see again.
"Should've said 'Who?' or "You've got the wrong person.". Most people would have said things like those." Vera thinks, recognising her now seemingly obvious mistake. Andy would pick up on it, there's no way he wouldn't. Not if he's still the man he remembers him to be.
"Fuck."
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Jinyu
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Weekend Warrior
Player Character
Posts: 58
Player Name: Andrew Yang
OOC Username: Peony
Arena Points: 0
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Post by Jinyu on Nov 13, 2023 8:39:26 GMT 9
Memory was a funny thing, wasn't it? Andy knew that his...ex-girlfriend could not be beaten when it came to memory. On days when a quiet buzz would hang between them, he would sometimes bring up a bubble of the past, a story of them in a shining moment. Sometimes, he'd get the details wrong, intentionally or not. Vera was always ready to correct, in that usual tone, with a hint of a smile that he always chased, and he would laugh sheepishly, before being chastised to get back to work. He would remember this one time, holding her close, his hands cupping her cheeks, wanting her to look at him instead of through him, to plant a kiss that would quell an ache. There were at times it felt surreal that he had a girlfriend, especially one like Vera, but a part of him would sink into a quiet despair of what if's. What if I'm never good enough for her? What if she just feels forced to like me? To stay with me?
What if, after everything, I'm the only one that's going to be hurt if things end?
The defiance registered belatedly. It was a voice that belonged to no one, unassuming, almost like an AI reader. But it was him, it was her, it must be itmustbe itmustbe
And he was still walking, pace quickening, because the ghost was leaving, and he couldn't, he couldn't let him leave, or else risk that his haunting will be permanently scarred onto him. And the closer he got, the more he couldn't deny what he was seeing: Yuze, shadowed in darkness, his avatar, controlled by the last person he left his WorldScreen with. Who else could it be, or is the world playing tricks on him, mocking him again?
He grabbed Yuze's wrist, unable to control his strength. He was trembling, clenching his teeth, trying to find words (and he thought he had so many), but none of them would get out. Look at me, Vera. Please. Look at me. and he wasn't sure if he was thinking or saying, amidst the background noise that started to pick up again, it might've even been possible that he wasn't heard. Why are you here? Why, of all times, did you decide to appear to me today?
❝I...❞
I'm sorry
And he both knows and doesn't know what he was sorry for, but would that set things right? Wasn't that the magic word that everyone touted, the first step to that offers a hand, wanting to repair a connection severed? |
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Yuze
•
Weekend Warrior
Mythstar
Posts: 223
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Vera Miroslavova Kovacheva, PhD
OOC Username: Stells
Arena Points: 70
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Post by Yuze on Nov 16, 2023 7:10:31 GMT 9
Heartache. Not in the metaphorical and oh so poetic sense that a thousand and one songs use when speaking of lost love, but the all too real physical condition that comes with losing that which once made our happy little brains release high amounts of dopamine, serotonin, and so on. Vera's little brain isn't happy at all anymore, and were she less of a logical person, she'd claim that she can practical feel the proverbial downpour of cortisol.
Well, she can feel it. All of the signs are there; her body's response to this situation being reflected onto Yuze's avatar by the ever so helpful WorldScreen. Increased blood pressure, chest pain, anxiety.
Andy reaches for Yuze's wrist with a hand that looks nothing like his, and all Vera wants to do is to get away — to break free. Yet, she stays. Yuze stays. He stops dead on his tracks, making no effort to fight back, and with a glance that reveals nothing of the turmoil Vera is facing, Andy's wordless protest is given a simple reply:
"Don't."
Don't do it.
Don't say it.
What difference would it make? What's done is done. The past is in the past. There is no changing what already happened. Vera knows all of this to be true, and yet she can't help but to always look back. Will she ever be as happy as she was back then? Will this path lead to a better future? What about Andy? What about his happiness? That last part shouldn't matter to her anymore, and yet...
"...Find me in the game."
Yuze tugs, freeing himself, and with that, he steps away.
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Jinyu
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Weekend Warrior
Player Character
Posts: 58
Player Name: Andrew Yang
OOC Username: Peony
Arena Points: 0
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Post by Jinyu on Nov 16, 2023 12:53:17 GMT 9
Yuze didn't need to say anything more, because the words died the moment he tried to get them out. Hearing it was almost a relief, a tiniest little thing. He still had no idea what to say, if there was anything that could be said that would make it hurt a little less. Did such words exist? Andy was, unfortunately, not a poet, he was a goddamn scientist that worked so hard to get to where he was, and he let a string of decisions ruin him. Not to the eyes of the world, but to who he thought was his world. And that was enough to break him, as it turned out.
Was there any way out of this deadly spiral that led to nowhere, especially since their lives had crossed again, in a game, of all places? In different selves? One achingly familiar and another a stranger? There is no strength to his grip when Yuze freed himself, walking away without looking back, and Jinyu had a moment of jealousy, wishing he could look as unbothered as she did. Even if there was wistfulness of her being just as affected, or at least a tiny bit affected compared to him, it never showed. He wouldn't know, while his heart was laid bare.
But not all hope was lost.
She left with an invitation, after all. Not necessarily one to repair the bridges burnt, but a promise to meet on the opposite ends of the gap. Maybe a farewell? Closure? What did he want out of this. Jinyu held his hands that weren't his own and sunk into memories he had replayed a thousand times over.
❝Hah...I'm so weak.❞ he covered his eyes with the hand that touched nothing. ❝I'll find you, Vera. And...❞
He wiped the tears from his eyes before turning to the opposite direction. He thought of logging out, but he lingered. ❝Perhaps I'll let the words decide.❞ |
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