Everybody Welcome and Needed! It's 2012!

[MMXPERT-seraph of thermodynamics]

*MMXPERT reminds all of you that he is often on the netplay server Emu-Russia, and that if you get an emulator that supports netplay and a rom, he can really play it online with you*

 

that said

 

*MMXPERT competes in score with the big man*

[Slawbug]

Slarty: (to Actaeon) You can eat food while you're here, but don't bring food with you on the bus. Just trust me on this one. You don't want to have a retriogastronomical infarction.

 

(to Skwish-E, singing) Maaaake way for the Tucker! The car of the future...

 

After locking the Spiderbus, Slarty begins to wander through the newsgroup. He walks into a quarrel.

 

Houghton: I've bought a boat; I'm going out to sea.

 

Chevyn: Sorry about this but, I have no post here,I just like saying

'I am NOT ammused.'

 

Slarty: Captain Houghton! That's no way to speak to the Prince.

 

Ronan: ENOUGH! The anvil is in transit.

 

Lockhart: Can I sign the anvil before it creams the little mofo?

 

Alec Prototype Right Down to the Name: I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THIS FINE OPPORTUNITY TO DECLARE CHEVYN THESE INSULTS FOLLOWED BY BULLET POINTS AND PARAPHRASES!

 

Austin: And, while I'm at it, I'd like to bring everyone up to date on the x industries test of a few days ago... Right inside the door was a largeish packing box. Written on the box: ANVIL.

 

Slarty: Yes, yes, the anvil. But where is 'X'?

 

Alec Prototype: He's busy working on the anvil's tiny scrolls.

[Slawbug]

Slarty, looking ahead, suddenly pales.

 

Slarty: Aran, you're not going to believe this.

 

Arancaytar: What?

 

Slarty: I never thought these existed so far in the past. Look, Aran! Monthly Stats!

 

Aran gasps as he sees the printout.

 

Arancaytar: They're measuring bytes! And from a usenet group... somebody wrote a lot of code for this.

 

Jewels: Hey, there's Silverio! And Legare. And Starcap, and Bill, and Gooley, and Yong-Mi, and...

 

Solberg: Women of the Net: It has come to my attention in recent months that only a very small percentage of you have ever experienced the joy of nude wrestling with Yours Truly.

 

Jewels: You know, sometimes it's better not to look beyond the veil of mystery. Really, Solberg?

[Aran]

Arancaytar wanders off to explore Usenet at the end of its halcyon days for a while.

 

This is difficult in part because the internet memes are alien to him. A nearby wall has been graffitied with the words "fnord" and "Hail Eris", which he vaguely recognizes; other scribbles are entirely incomprehensible.

At the same time, he recognizes common themes and realizes how incredibly old some of the internet memes are that are continually reinvented. A cat strolls by, carrying a humorous caption around its neck.

 

The most striking difference, however, is how empty everything is. The tall arching halls of Usenet are lively but sparsely populated. Aran is disoriented by a strange smell until he realizes that the odor of spam, a permanent fixture of the modern web like the faint whiff of urine in the subway, is completely absent.

The very term Spam, he reads in his Guide, was only invented a few months ago. Incidents of mass messages so far can be counted on one hand, and the first major advertisement flood on Usenet is still a few months away.

He takes several deep breaths of the clean air, and admires the magnificent architecture. The walls predate the need to attract attention among a billion other sites, and have something of an unassuming, timeless quality. They're not even made of marble or elegantly designed; they're just there.

 

If Usenet was sparse, once he steps outside onto the recently invented web, he is on his own. The feeling of unsettled wildness hangs over everything; this was before the .com bubble began. The very concept of a personal homepage is new; Geocities and Lycos are not due for another year. Aran checks his Guide, which cites an MIT survey counting just over six hundred websites. Most of them are unrecognizable, but once again he is surprised: The Internet Movie Database, a widely popular but hardly earthshaking reference resource in 2012, has already been operational for years and predates the web itself. He pays it and several less known sites a visit, but is put off by the now outdated interfaces prevailing at the dawn of the web. The same low-tech appearance that graced Usenet with an ancient dignity appears glaring and inconvenient on the web. Even the HTML specification still has draft status. On the plus side, however, Flash has not yet been invented either.

 

Content with his first foray outside, Aran returns again to the Bus.

[Xaiya]

Originally Posted By: Aʀᴀɴ

Originally Posted By: Sylae

Sylae looks around at Sept 1993 in interest

Sylae: Half of me wishes I could've been around for this, the other half thanks Mosla that I was a December child.

Aran: You were born in 93? This forum constantly manages to make me feel old...

Iffy: Heh. I was born in March of '94.

[Balladeer]

For some reason Jewels feels sick to her stomach.

 

Jewels: Oohh... I think the lamb chops are having a wrestling match with the pizza after that last one.

 

She turns to Slarty with worrisome eyes.

 

Jewels: Please tell me Chewbacca is NOT on the tour... Please!

 

Slarty: What's the matter, Jewels? I once watched you take in the Karma Sutra whole without even blinking. WildKarrdeSmuggler didn't stand a chance.

 

Jewels: You're right, you're right... gotta suck it up. Sorry. I... I think I know what it is.

 

Jewels walks back to the bus and opens up the gas cap. Crawling around on a big hamster wheel inside are a couple dozen cute fluffy turtles. Jewels reaches a hand inside her forehead which phases through like a ghost walking through a wall. Her hand retracts bringing out a clump of white fluffy goo with it. She promptly stuffs it into the hole and watches as the fluffy turtles snap it up. She walks back to Slarty wiping her hands against her skirt.

 

Jewels: There, all better.

 

Slarty: Ah... you've been gone for so long your sanity started to grow back.

 

Jewels pauses to crack a crazed sideways smile.

 

Jewels: Aye, that it did captain. That it did.

 

Crazed smile shifts to crazed frown.

 

Jewels: Seriously, though, Slarty; if Chewbacca is on the tour I'm throwing myself under the bus and letting it run me over.

 

Jewels walks off seemingly talking to herself. Bits and snatches of the mumbling are loud enough to be overheard.

 

Jewels: You know you want to... another life... better life... in whose opinion?... yours... not anymore... forevermore!

 

The rumble of a stifled evil laugh muahahas through the air for a few seconds before it is lost to the ether and forgotten.

[Aran]

Quote:

Slarty: What's the matter, Jewels? I once watched you take in the Karma Sutra whole without even blinking. WildKarrdeSmuggler didn't stand a chance.

Jewels: You're right, you're right... gotta suck it up. Sorry. I... I think I know what it is.

Aran is visibly nauseated by the double entendres, indicating that he too is suffering an excess of sanity. After contributing his share to the fuel tanks, he takes his seat again, slightly frothing and gibbering about something called a "chessboard of bestow great honor".

[Triumph]

Triumph observes the moderately odd behavior of the forum elders with bemusement.

 

Triumph: Exploding sock puppet! Were the forums always this incomprehensible back in the day? Anyway, umm, yay for turtles, especially fluffy ones! Hmm...1993...I remember my family briefly had Prodigy around 1991, but aside from that ephemeral fling, I don't we had internet access until 1996 or 1997. Interesting to realize what was going on earlier.

[Actaeon]

Actaeon has been reading a newspaper dated September 4, 1993.

 

Actaeon: (under breath) Rick Astley retires from music... Russia withdraws from Lithuania ... The Rockies beat the Pirates... Soybean production down... elections in Signapore... Accident at a hospital in Brooklyn... trouble at NASA (as usual)... Roadwork on I94 ... (aloud) Outside the internet, September '93 wasn't very exciting.

 

Originally Posted By: Iffy

Iffy: Heh. I was born in March of '94.

 

Actaeon: Then please refrain from reverting, lest we have a fetus on our hands. Although it might help stave off the sanity.

 

He finishes his Wonderball, mounts the steps and returns to his seat.

[Slawbug]

Slarty: Hey, Limoncelli! Can I borrow that megaphone?

 

Limoncelli: Sure. Who are you?

 

Slarty: I'm a talking dog from the future.

 

Limoncelli: Nice to meet you, crazy pooch. You'll fit in well here. Not like all the visitors we've been getting lately from AOL.

 

Slarty: Thanks. See you in Fort Dolthar.

 

Limoncelli: Where's that? (suddenly speeding up) Where's that? Where's that?

 

Slarty frowns, then picks up the megaphone and calls out to the other passengers.

 

Slarty: This is our last day in September, folks! Finish up your sightseeing and then head back to the bus. Tomorrow we're going to jump to the second stop. But we'll need to generate some more retrioactivity first, so after you finish looking around September, get your party on!

[BJ Back From the Beyond]

BJ returns to the bus and lays down on one of the seats. He contemplates what he has seen today, and is curious as to the origin of the fluffy turtles, but quickly falls asleep.

[Callie]

Excalibur responds to the request for partying by hooking up "Take a Chance on Me" to the speakers.

 

Excalibur: Abba for the win!

[Dikiyoba]

Even though I am a good distance away from the bus, Slartucker's call wakes me up. Somehow, I had managed to fall asleep in the middle of exploring. It's probably all the dancing, I think as I stretch and try to fix the dream I had in my mind. Actually, it was less a dream and more a series of old buried memories... of AOL, of discovering the Internet, of the beeps and whirrs of a dial-up modem, of discovering that there were games out there, somewhere, floating in the primordial soup from which the current Internet ecosystem would arise. These memories are not from 1993, but they are part of my prehistory, so I figure that's good enough.

 

Dikiyoba shrugs, buries the memories away again, and hurries back to the bus.

[BMA]

The big man looks up from his game. He understands little of what is going on, but he catches a fleeting reference to what he hears as Kama Sutra, and he is awed at seeing the legendary fluffy turtles.

 

Big Man: Fluffy Turtles! So they do exist!

 

He watches with interest as Jewels feeds the turtles.

 

Big Man: Hmmm, so that is how you do it.

 

The big man carefully repeats the procedure. After completing the ritual, he has a slightly dazed expression on his face and totters around for a couple of minutes, but he soon gets over it. He grins at everyone in the bus. He is feeling extraordinarily happy and light-headed, like he doesn't have a care in the world. He leans back in his seat and stretches his legs out, feeling very comfortable.

[Xaiya]

Iffy: Of course fluffy turtles exist. We had them at spiderweb. I've only been there for the second half of its life, but I've seen them.

 

Iffy steps up onto the bus to take a quick nap after having consumed a cup of coffee.

[Balladeer]

Jewels wanders her way back to the bus and climbs on without comment. There is still much dancing in the aisles so she joins in as she wends her way around and through to the back trying to get to the bathroom. She closes and locks the door behind her but yelps when she turns around.

 

Jewels: MM! Goodness you startled me! You... you alright?

 

Mysterious Man mumbles incoherently, his breath still reeking of alcohol. His damp pants also exude another unpleasant smell.

 

Jewels: Give me a minute I'll be right back.

 

She disappears through the door only to return holding a pink frilly skirt and a toothbrush.

 

Jewels: I know it's not your color but it's all I had in my bag. Sylae has a whole closet of them back at CalRef. Pictures to prove it, too. Think you can handle changing on your own?

 

Mysterious Man: Why's everyone always trying to change me?! Can't I just be myself?

 

Jewels sighs and does what needs to be done. In short order she leads Mysterious Man out; fresh breath, frilly skirt and all. She leaves him at the back of the bus with a glass of water and his hand washed pants now set out to dry on the back of the seat next to him. She returns to the bathroom for her own needs before returning to her seat. She pointedly tries not to worry about the flash she thought she saw in her eye in the mirror.

 

Jewels: Just a reflection of the light...

[Mysterious Man]

MM: Oh my... I'm a pretty princess... where are we again?

 

*Mysteriously enough, Mysterious Man begins to hum the theme to Harry Potter*

[keira]

Sylae returns to the bus and spots Mysterious Man.

 

Sylae: Jewels, what have I told you about stealing my clothes? >.>

[Mysterious Man]

*The hangover is slowly fading... Mysterious Man seems to be getting his wits about him*

 

MM: SLARTY! WHAT ON EARTH DID YOU DO TO MY BUS?

 

(http://pied-piper.ermarian.net/topic/1/1248)

[MMXPERT-seraph of thermodynamics]

*MMXPERT consumes liquid fire*

[Aran]

Originally Posted By: Mysterious Man

*The hangover is slowly fading... Mysterious Man seems to be getting his wits about him*

MM: SLARTY! WHAT ON EARTH DID YOU DO TO MY BUS?

(http://pied-piper.ermarian.net/topic/1/1248)

Your bus?

[Balladeer]

Me thinks we need some theme music.

 

In the spirit of keeping the party going Jewels plugs in a

and starts singing along. The other Refugee members get into it dancing together and providing harmonies. Bus driver Slarty starts rapping with the beat.

 

Jewels & the Refugees: ~ Do do do do. Let's get on the bus. Do do do do do. Do do do do. Let's get on the bus. Do do do do do. Let's get on the bus.~

 

Slarty: It's time to go.

 

Jewels & the Refugees: ~Let's get on the bus.~

 

Slarty: Hey don't you know.

 

Jewels & the Refugees: ~Let's get on the bus.~

 

Slarty: Go here to there.

 

Jewels & the Refugees: ~Let's get on the bus.~

 

Slarty: Go everywhere!

 

Jewels & the Refugees: ~Come with me and we'll see all there is to see. You can be who you want to be. We can go anywhere today.

Yeah, yeah.

Its okay. We know Slarty always knows the way. All aboard there's no time to delay. Come along we can sing and play.

Yeah, yeah.

Do do do do. Let's get on the bus. Do do do do do.~

 

Slarty: It's time to go.

 

Jewels & the Refugees: ~Do do do do. Let's get on the bus. Do do do do do.~

 

Slarty: It's time for the show.

 

Jewels & the Refugees: ~Do do do do. Let's get on the bus. Do do do do do.~

 

Slarty: Go here to there.

 

Jewels & the Refugees: ~Do do do do. Let's get on the bus. Do do do do do.~

 

Slarty: Go everywhere.

Hey come on, we're gonna take a bus ride. Yeah, come on, we're gonna take a bus ride. Yeah come on inside, we're gonna take a bus ride. Everybody on board, strike a cord. We're gonna take a bus ride.

 

Jewels & the Refugees: ~Do do do do do.~

 

All of the straggling members still outside the bus manage to find their ways on board during the song. When it finishes the bus erupts in cheers and calls for encores that are waved off by all participants. Instead more party music is pumped out of the speaker system.

[nikki.]

Nikki forgets who he is trying to imitate, and it was a rubbish gimmick anyway, and he's too lazy to go back to find out, so he removes all the masks and stores them away. Then he clears his throat

 

Nikki: What the heck was that? I'm all for avoiding acting my age, but I don't want to act like I had a head trauma. And Slarty, you are terrible at 'rapping'.

[Triumph]

Triumph applauds the impromptu rap.

 

Triumph: It's not every day one sees such impressive entertainment on the internet.

[Slawbug]

(OOC: Oh man. The ironic thing is that I am teaching a class on music history, and we just started on hip hop. Also... oh man.)

 

Slarty, who is not much for performance, quickly hustles off the stage, er, out of the aisle, and sits down in his seat. He switches on MMXPERT's Spiderbus Mix. Rosycat comes over, whispers something to him, and Slarty nods. Rosycat then walks over to the Extra Graphics Effects switch and turns it back on. Trenton begins to sparkle again. Rosycat walks over and wakes him up.

 

Rosycat (to Trenton): But no destroying things this time, or I pull out Mr. Pointy!

 

Rosycat (turning and addressing the bus): It will just be a few minutes now. We've generated more than enough retrioactivity for the next jump! We have encountered some interference due to outdated text encoding formats, but Slarty is translating the coordinates as we speak. Once he secures our next destination, he and I will have a few words for you, but until then, party like it's the thirty-sixth stomach!

[Dikiyoba]

Dikiyoba stops dancing and look down at Dikiyoba's feet. "More involuntary dancing! With singing, no less. Dikiyoba has nothing against dancing, but it would be nice if there was a way to opt out of it. What if the next time we were all forced to do square dancing, or worse, the Macarena?"

[Slawbug]

Rosycat taps on the micrphone, then begins speaking into it.

 

Rosycat: Sit back and relax, non-husk passengers; it's time for another mooving monologue from yours truly, Rosycat Cowspirit.

 

We are about to leave September. But did any of you think about what September meant? About what it means to the Spiderweb Boards? Wikipedia is my friend:

 

Originally Posted By: Wikipedia

Usenet newsgroups originated among Northern hemisphere universities, where every year in September, a large number of new university freshmen acquired access to Usenet for the first time, and took some time to acclimatise to the network's standards of conduct and "netiquette". After a month or so, these new users would theoretically learn to comport themselves according to its conventions, or simply tire of using the service. September thus heralded the peak influx of disruptive newcomers to the network.

 

Around 1993, the online services such as America Online, CompuServe and Demon Internet began offering Usenet access to its tens of thousands, and later millions, of users. To many "old-timers", these newcomers were far less prepared to learn netiquette than university students...

 

Since that time, the dramatic rise in the popularity of the Internet has brought a constant stream of new users. Thus, from the point of view of the pre-1993 Usenet user, the regular "September" influx of new users never ended... "It's moot now. September 1993 will go down in net.history as the September that never ended."

 

The Spiderweb community, like most online communities, has been shaped and reshaped countless times. Few of its original members remain, but the community was shaped even before them, as we see by tracing our ancestry back to talk.bizarre.

 

The Spiderweb forums have been shaped and reshaped as well, by the comings and goings of its members. We, too, are wave-members. There is a constant changing. And always people complain about what has been lost, and reminesce about the Old Days, about Misc., Desp, Polaris, or the Arena. Things that once were. And new users come and people complain about what walks in the door, and it picks up our ways and we pick up its ways. It is the crashing of waves upon a moving shore.

 

And yet, our netiquitte does not degrade: rather it has built itself up over time. We have amassed quite a sandcastle.

 

But September was a simpler time. It was a time before spam, and a time before networks more grand and more chaotic than these outside the bus. How do the waves change when things are more complex? When they are less organized and less collected? What washes upon the shore then? Who will receive the messages we place in bottles, when we place them upon the wide ocean, that touches all shores of the world? What will happen when so many waves collect at our feet, milling about like the cattle of Helios? How do the waves, that crash upon us voluminously, build kingdoms?

 

Suddenly, Rosycat stiffens, and her whole body seems to gleam.

 

Rosycat:

 

"Do not ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."   — Howard Thurman

 

Slarty: Hey Rosycat, I'm ready to input the coordinates.

 

Trenton: You guys talk too much.

 

Slarty revs the bus up and crashes through a few abandoned posts. Before anyone realizes what has happened, it's back in the blue and purple tunnel. The bus travels through the tunnel for several minutes. As it travels, Rosycat speaks.

 

Rosycat (back to normal): We are going forward a few years in time, now. We are going to forward to 1998!

 

The Internet has grown, but it has not grown up, yet. It is a sprawling mass of poorly organized sites across which animated gifs and embedded midis are strewen. There is no Web 2.0. Using search engines is more of a tricky art than an easy science.

 

And Blades of Exile has recently been released. A community begins to coalesce around it. Much of that early community is lost in the smoke of time; but some rubies stick out amongst the tar pits...

 

A word about those tar pits. 1998 is more difficult to reach than 1993 is, you see. The Wayback Machine wasn't what it is today, but because the web was sprawling, not neatly packed like newsgroups, there was no easy archival system in place. So most of the pits we are visiting are slightly later versions: from around 2001 or 2002. This means that in many cases, the names have changed. But this is the price we pay to experience history.

 

Slarty: BY KAZ, we're here!

 

BEHOLD THE SECOND STOP:   THE BLADES OF EXILE WEB PRESENCE   SEE: * Spiderweb * BoE released * The Scenario Workshop * Zaloopa's Site: The Doomguard's Realm * Zaloopa's Message Board * Zaloopa's Forums... latest incarnation * Malkeera and Aceron's Forums: LOST * Akhronath * THE ARENA!!! * The Lyceum web site: later version by TM * Olly's Exile Pages * An early Cartographer * Finally, here's when the support was cut.

[Triumph]

Triumph briefly wonders what it would look like if the entire Spiderweb forum membership spontaneously burst in tap dancing. Being a gracious sort, he does it attempt to inflict it on the world involuntarily, but he does decide to attempt it himself, while awaiting Slarty's calculationizing. Despite not knowing anything about how to tap dance.

[Callie]

Once again Excalibur looks out the window in fascination. He sees Windows 3.1, a slough of BoE scenarios, satellite forums, an old website layout, and a plethora of other things he was not familiar with. He spends the next few hours taking it all in.

 

Excalibur: Ooooooohh. Thank Slarty!

[Tyranicus]

Originally Posted By: Excalibur

Once again Excalibur looks out the window in fascination. He sees Windows 3.1, a slough of BoE scenarios, satellite forums, an old website layout, and a plethora of other things he was not familiar with. He spends the next few hours taking it all in.

Excalibur: Ooooooohh. Thank Slarty!

(You would have seen Windows 3.1 in 1993. By 1998, you would be seeing a lot of Windows 95 and Windows 98.)

[Sullust]

As the doors open Slarty notices someone standing outside the door

 

Slarty: Sullust, how did you get out there already?!

Lt. Sullust: Five years Slarty...five long years...

 

Lt. Sullust walks back onto the bus wishing he had paid a bit more attention the first time he got off.

[Dikiyoba]

Feeling happier now that the past is more recognizable and that the time jump didn't require plunging off a cliff, Dikiyoba gets out to explore. Dikiyoba hears the distant sounds of combat and heads off toward the Arena. "Anyone want to come along?"

[Actaeon]

Actaeon: Slarty, will all our stops be Spiderweb related? See, I don't know anyone back here and I'm a little bit shy so maybe I'll just stay on the bus. Someone's gotta guard the stuff, right?

 

He peers worriedly out the window.

[Balladeer]

Jewels eyes Lt. Sullest as he sullenly gets back on the bus. How anyone could have missed the musical call that it was time to go is beyond her.

 

Jewels: 1998... Ashley was born. I was just starting to get use to being a stay at home mom with way too much time on my hands. Computer gaming, here I come!

 

@Nikki: U no like Doodlebops? Wha about teh Wiggles??

[MMXPERT-seraph of thermodynamics]

*MMXPERT, having consumed liquid fire earlier, now consumes liquid rock, and starts spewing out Lava*

[BJ Back From the Beyond]

BJ, who was awoken by the announcement, steps off the bus and looks around. His expression is one of interest and amazement.

 

BJ: "Whoa. BoE stuff. Man, I remember playing my brother's copy of BoE, way back when. I hardly even knew how to navigate the internet then. To think, all this stuff existed. And still exists!"

 

BJ wanders off down the halls of the internet-that-was, whistling softly to himself and reminiscing about crawling though dungeons and ill-conceived scenarios designed by a pre-preteen boy that would never, and should never, see the light of day.

[BMA]

Big Man: Yes Dikiyoba, I want to see the Arena too.

 

Dikiyoba and the big man enter the arena. They watch in awe as Muhammad Ali, a horrendous creature with abilities so powerful and spells so spectacular that they would make a horde of vahnatai mages cry out in shame, single-handedly claws and blasts its way through an assortment of rock golems, demons and vorpal bunnies. It manages to defeat all of the other monsters without so much as a scratch on its tail, and wins the championship.

 

The onlookers clap enthusiastically.

 

The crowds disperse, and everyone makes a beeline for Muhammad’s master’s autograph. Rolling their eyes, Dikiyoba and the big man wander around the stadium. When nearing the exit, they spot a small cave which looks like it leads to the underground. It is guarded by a beefy looking man with a big moustache.

 

Beefy: Sorry folks, this leads to the Titan Arena, where archmages from all over come with the most powerful monsters they’ve summoned and battle it out. Commoners are not allowed, and you need a VIP pass to enter. No pass, no entry.

Dikiyoba looks at Beefy coldly. The big man puffs his chest out and glares at him.

 

Big Man: We are friends of Slarty.

 

Beefy pales when he hears Slarty's name. He shrinks. He withers like an overly thirsty plant. He has no problem at all, he assures them, no problem at all. He bows like a servile, hands them a couple of free popcorn packets and ushers them in. The big man grabs a chair right away, but Dikiyoba says that they should inform the others too. They go back to the bus.

 

Big Man : Hey everyone, did you see the Arena ? I think it’s the best part of 1998! You really should see it, you know, if you haven’t already! Dikiyoba and I are going to the Titan Arena now, come join us!

 

They go back to the Titan Arena and comfortably sit back with their popcorn to enjoy the show.

[Aran]

Arancaytar joins Dikiyoba to see the Arena as well. Aside from basking in the nostalgia, he hopes to learn a bit more about the incredibly complex, intricately layered and often self-contradictory or paradoxical body now called the Arena canon.

It has long ago been deprecated in the encyclopedia proper for rewriting too much of the world and being insufficiently self-consistent, but it is nonetheless part of the great story of Ermarian, and its influences extend into some of the early Blades scenarios.

[MMXPERT-seraph of thermodynamics]

*MMXPERT gets his summoning spells ready and stands up, ready to fight versus the competitors*

[Slawbug]

Slarty frowns when he overhears what happened to Big Man in the Arena. Slarty had not visited the Arena in 1998, or in fact at any point before this trip; yet the large man knew his name. In fact, Slarty thinks, he had never even been called "Slarty" until 2000, two years in the future. It feels like a continuity error -- just like what had happened with Limoncelli in the previous era.

 

Then Slarty facepalms. How stupid of me, he thinks. Of course this is just the work of the implants!

[Triumph]

Triumph reminisces. He must have first been introduced to Spiderweb Software around 1998, or perhaps '99. A friend told him about it. He wonders how Relhan first learned of Spiderweb. Anyway, Triumphs recalls playing through much of the vast and wondrous Exile 3 demo, while a brother played the BoE demo. That led to the playing of other Spiderweb demos (Exile 2's Dark Waters was marvelously atmospheric!). Eventually, when Triumph grew older and had money of his own to spend...he became a paying customer! Take that, ye olde Shareware Demon, plague of penniless youth!

[Aran]

This reminiscing starts to infect Arancaytar as well, despite it being in an inner monologue he wasn't supposed to actually hear. He himself didn't pick up an Exile game until late in '99 or early in 2000, when Exile III was included on a shareware CD in a software magazine. His own arrival on the internet came years later.

[Slawbug]

Slarty: I'm going to try and work out the coordinates for the next stop. I've run into some Ooc Interference this time, so it might take a few days.

 

Dintiradan: What's Ooc Interference?

 

Slarty: It's interference from the Ooc coordinate, of course. Anyway, feel free to roam the Blades of Exile web-ring, or fight in the Arena, or what have you. For those of you who want to wait on the bus, I brought some videos.

 

JadeWolf: Those look like VHS tapes.

 

Slarty: That they are. It's 1998... DVDs are not quite the dominant video recording media, yet.

 

Slarty pops a video cassette into the Spiderbus's overhead TV system. It turns on, and...

 

Actaeon: Happy birthday, Buffy!

 

Lazarus.: "The Wish", huh... alternate realities.

 

Dintiradan's Clone: Hey, did anyone see that?

 

Lazarus.: Of course I've seen it.

 

Dintiradan's Clone: No, I just saw a strange flame in front of Slarty. Am I seeing things?

 

Dikiyoba: Dikiyoba thinks you should have adjusted your implants.

 

Dintiradan's Clone: You've got it all wrong. I'm not the one with the cortex bomb! I can see clearly.

 

Dikiyoba squints.

 

Dikiyoba: Are those two lonely black pixels supposed to be eyes?

 

---

 

OOC: Next leap on Tuesday probably as I'm on a trip until then.

[Actaeon]

Actaeon: Slarty, everyone knows that "Hush" is the best episode. Although I'm partial to "Once More With Feeling" and "Restless" myself...

 

beat

 

Actaeon: Or are we not able to watch episodes that haven't aired yet? What about music, and books...

 

He pulls out his Cormac Mcarthy novel only to discover that it has reverted to Jack Kerouac.

[Callie]

Excalibur looks at one of the VHS tapes: "Be Kind, Rewind."

 

Excalibur: Heh, and to think the ol' Blockbuster in my hometown is an attorney's office now.

 

He rewinds the VHS tape with his finger and takes a long swig of schnapps.

[Aran]

Originally Posted By: Actaeon

"Once More With Feeling"

Arancaytar: The best episode of everything ever. Maybe including Doctor Who.

Quote:

Restless

I wear the cheese. It does not wear me.

[Balladeer]

Blaspheme!! Nothing holds a candle to The Doctor's Wife.

 

"Biting's excellent. It's like kissing. Only there's a winner."

[nikki.]

Nikki: I approve heartily of the direction this trip has turned. Kinda takes me back to that one time in 2012 when I accidentally found out it was Buffy's birthday, so hi-jacked a friend's birthday party to celebrate her Slayerness's birth.

 

I sit back and, whilst watching, throw bits of popcorn and skittles at Lazarus's head.

 

 

(Kinda weird that I just finished watching 'The Wish', and came here to see Slarty's post. Also cool though.)

[Slawbug]

Slarty ponders how Nikki can throw popcorn at his own head. Apparently, he is throwing from the side covered by the mask to the side not covered by the mask.

[nikki.]

(Last page: "Nikki forgets who he is trying to imitate, and it was a rubbish gimmick anyway, and he's too lazy to go back to find out, so he removes all the masks and stores them away.")