Sweet dreams are made of these...

[thespaceopera]

[ Calibration Rooms ]
( for A-M characters )

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ROOMS BY CHARACTER

A Abigail Hobbs Aiya/Gray Nightingale Adrasteius Anor'thalion Ahsoka Tano Alex Russo Allen Walker Anders Anthony Crowley Asteffiel Axel

B - D Belthazar Spellscry Beverly Crusher Bran Stark Caesar Zeppeli Cayde-6 Cheese Sandwich Clay Terran Coil Cole Davesprite Duke Pantarei

E - I Elecman.exe Elena Gilbert Elize Lutus Felix Harrowgate Fenris Finrod Haruka Tenoh/Sailor Uranus Imperator Furiosa Isabela Issac Lahey

J - M Jade Harley James Barnes/Jim James Barnes/Winter Joseph Joestar Katara Katniss Everdeen/Nova Kirito/Kazuto Kirigaya Kurt Wagner Leanne Loki Maladict(a) Max Caulfield Megaman Mordin Solus

Comments

[huaaaaagh]

This is Floor 59- it's called Danac. At this point in time, we were just under 3/4 of the way up the tower.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda scratches her head, trying to understand all this.]

So that means there are 41 floors still to climb, yes? Is it really so hard to reach this 100th floor?

[huaaaaagh]

It became more difficult the higher we got. It took us a year and a half to even get this far. The upper floors had deadly traps, powerful monsters, and multiple labyrinths to navigate and map out just to find the path up... nothing about it was easy.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

A year and a half? You have been playing this game for a year and a half?

[Wanda can't help but sound incredulous. She can't think of any kind of game she'd enjoy playing for that long a period of time.]

[huaaaaagh]

Yeah. We didn't clear it until two years passed.

[He knows it's unreasonable, but hey, it's not like he picked it.]

[notmutantbutmiracle]

Two years...

[Wanda repeats the amount to herself. She is somewhat confused. She can't understand why someone would play a game for so long. Sure, the scenery around her was beautiful, but...]

This game kept you interested in playing for that long? You must have gotten bored of it at some point?

[You might have to break this down to her a little more Kirito.]

[huaaaaagh]

[He can certainly do that. His brows furrow for a moment, considering her words, then he lifts his right hand to stroke the air with his pointer. A menu, identical to the one that had brought her here, pops into existence, and he flips through a couple of the options before he gestures his hand to send it over to face her.

Leaning in, he taps the menu he wants her to see. There are two selections - "Option" and "Help" - and a third, unlabeled box with only an arrow icon showing.]

See that last option? That's the log-out button, and it doesn't work. Right from the first day it came out, once we entered into this world, there was no way to leave.

[He gives the button a couple experimental taps, but of course nothing happens.]

We didn't keep playing because it was interesting. We kept playing because the game wouldn't let us stop.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[There you go. That'll get her. Wanda's definitely looking still confused, but a little more panicked than before.]

"Log out..." You can't leave? How is that even possible? I mean, how did you get here exactly? How did you start the game?

[Back where Wanda's from video games definitely were not this sophisticated. The only one's she can think of require a controller and TV screen.]

[huaaaaagh]

[Oh man. How does one even explain the process in the game itself?]

Let's see... every user has a helmet, called Nerve Gear. Once activated, it interrupts the signals sent by your brain to your body, and sends those signals directly to the in-game avatar- er, a digital body in this world. So when I think about moving my hand, instead of my real hand, the one on this body moves.

[He lifts an arm and flexes his fingers a few times, to demonstrate.]

Problem is, once the helmet is on, you can't just direct your body to pull it off. You'd just start doing this in-game.

[He switches the gesture to pretend he's pulling an invisible helmet off of his head.]

So the log-out button is crucial to escaping here. Make sense?

[notmutantbutmiracle]

You cannot move your real body... the helmet stops the signals being sent from your brain...

[She's definitely starting to get the picture now... and she doesn't like it.]

That seems like a large safety oversight.

[huaaaaagh]

[He can't help it- he smiles, leaning back and dismissing the window with a wave of a hand and a shrug.]

It was. The equipment was recalled and discontinued as soon as the incident occurred. Competitors came up with safe alternatives that could be used without risk of getting killed or trapped in virtual reality. Not that it helped those of us who were stuck here already.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

Wait... "killed?" As in, you could die in real life by wearing this helmet? Why would you ever even wear such a thing? All just to play a game?

[Wanda can't help but sound incredulous about the whole thing. As she was understanding it, the whole affair seemed incredibly reckless and stupid. The risks just to play a video game... they seemed much to high for some form of virtual entertainment.]

[huaaaaagh]

We didn't know, before we started. The potential was there, but...

[That it would be used in that way... did that thought really never occur to anyone? Or maybe, like him, were they too busy wishing to live in that world that no one considered it all going so wrong?]

Nothing went as planned.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

Clearly.

[Then a disturbing thought occurs to Wanda. She looks a little panicked, lifting her hands up to her head, trying to feel about for something not seen on her head.]

If we are here now, does that mean we are wearing-

[huaaaaagh]

[He waves a hand dismissively, looking up at the sky.]

No, don't worry about that. This is just a memory. This place no longer exists in reality.

[His voice is somewhat nostalgic as he says it- not quite missing it, but he's not really happy to say it, either.]

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda lets out a small sigh of relief, it seemed a long shot; but, not completely out of the question... especially with Atroma calling the shots.]

No longer exists... because you beat the it? The game?

[huaaaaagh]

Yeah, we won. It may have taken two years, but we finally made it back to the real world. I'm not sure anyone believed it was even possible by then, but we did it.

[Felt pretty great.]

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda can see the visible signs of relief on the boy's face when he talks about beating the game. Two years... it must have been an ordeal. Inside a game or not... fighting for one's life for that long is no normal feet.]

You seem to almost miss it though. The way you look out, all around this place. [She gestures about at their surroundings. Which, as she mentioned earlier, virtual or not, was quite beautiful.]

[huaaaaagh]

[His eyes widen at that, surprised she noticed, then smiles a bit sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.]

Well... it's natural, I think. For a full two years, this was the only home I knew. I wasn't just playing the game or fighting for my life all the time. I was really living here. When we beat it, it was likely that I'd never see it again, so... yeah, I'm kind of nostalgic about it.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

But the whole time you were playing this game, your body was...

[She lets her voice trail off, letting the boy fill in the blank.]

[huaaaaagh]

[...Ah. He fidgets uncomfortably, keeping it vague unless she asks.]

Yeah. Physically, I was just lying around in bed, asleep... it was pretty jarring when I woke up.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda can only imagine how rude of an awakening that must have been.]

How did your body... how did you stay alive? Surely eating or drinking in this world would not actually apply in the physical world.

[huaaaaagh]

Oh- no, not at all. Eating in SAO can make you feel full, but without some form of sustenance in the real world, you'd definitely starve to death. Truth is, there are people back then who disconnected abruptly, instead of getting killed by monsters, because no one was taking care of their bodies.

[In a way, that's more depressing than being slain in-game - their chance of survival was taken away entirely, and they were helpless against it.]

Do you know what an IV is? Specifically, an intravenous injection?

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda shudders a little at the thought as well. The idea of starving to death and not being able to physically do anything about it... It sounded horrible.]

So you were taken to a hospital then? Your family was able to move you safely?

[huaaaaagh]

Yeah, exactly. They hooked me up to a needle that fed me enough nutrients and hydration to keep me alive while I slept. The only danger was from the game itself.