"Well, Samantha, I notice how MH gets the idiot crowd treatment from the Tadei, and it occurred to me that inside this new vast setting I was making up for everyone that a City of Peace where all violence was forbidden by physical structures, and probably all verbal attacks as well....don't want to create the world's greatest snakepit...where a man could rest might be a good thing.

Otherwise, I'm hoping to dot the world area with lots of interesting challenges, but with high safety guards.  I'll have one of the continents be set for individual creators.  In the end, I might have two or three for that purpose.

I suppose I ought to save back half of the continents for later development.  which with the sub creator one only needs enough to cover three other continents.

Hmmm....I think the City of Peace ought to be in Fluffy Bunny Land.  Its the type of stuff that will appeal to the six year old girl, and the four year old boy in all of us.  Unicorns, simple puzzles, rainbow foot paths.  For the slightly more mature, I think a Riddle Quest set in the High Middle Ages with some gentle swordplay, and a lot of riddles.

The three Elven Queens will be Guardians of Fluffy Bunny Land, and live with their people in the center of the continent in the Deepwood.  Occasionally they send out infiltrators armed with sharp arrows, stealth, and the Power of Nice to other lands.

Its not a place that a cybug could immigrate too as it would be turned back by impassblel forcefields.  And I might have some sort of emotional field, which heals those who seek peace, but irritates the violence seeking.  Not sure if I can do that last one."

Samantha looks at you puzzled, like she doesn't understand a word you just said.

"Who is MH?" Is her first question. (This is a different Samantha from his girlfriend, remember.) She really wants you to explain what you're talking about.



OOC) You can create because you have consciousness. None of the other avatars would have that ability. To her, a "Creator" is someone outside who builds video games. The whole concept of an avatar creating is foreign to her.

"Short for Magehammer. Your pal. Sorry."

And once that's clarified that she doesn't know MH, I then back up and explain in more detail who he is, and who she is in the other game.

"Does this happen a lot?  People confusing each other for others?"

OOC: I would not grasp this yet, as I don't have such a high  opinion of creativity, or a low opinion of them.

OOC) I'm putting that down more so I don't forget. I need to play the NPCs right. I need to remember that. To them, the Creators are gods. You've basically told Samantha that you're a god. And in a sense, you are. I need to remember that to play her right.




"Any relation to Slidehammer? I hate that guy. He's always trying to fight me because I train the Tadei to beat him. He doesn't mess with the Tadei. Just with me."



She seems to get it. "Yeah, I know my avatar is used as a trainer in several of the games. I didn't know there was another trainer named Magehammer though. So she, the other Samantha, is in some kind of romantic relationship with him?" She looks envious. Like she hates being alone. "I wish I could find romance."



"Sometimes."

But when you explain further about creating a new game, a place for the avatars to go and relax, she starts to get it. Her eyes grow wider and wider. Her mouth drops open a little at a time. She stammers "Are, are, are you a Cr-Cr-Creator?"

She looks to be in utter awe and amazement. Like she's trying to decide if she should kneel at your feet in worship.

"They may have had a history.  You'd have to ask."

+++++++++++++++++

I think about her comment a bit about romance.  I consider giving her a bit of harsh truth, but decide not too, in part because I don't really know her, and besides I don't know that the avatars work like humans work in their heads that is.  After a bit, a clever idea comes to me.

"I bet I could get you a date with Mario."

++++++++++++++++++

I want to smack something. Aaargh.  In ways, I am an incarnate being, sort of, maybe.

"Its not a game the Creators can play.  Besides, when you go to Burger Time, don't you sometimes create a weird burger?"

OOC) Just to refresh your memory. Eric 2 told you that Slidehammer was a former protege of MH's. He became an evil verser. I'm introducing him to you here for a reason. <wink> So your character knows their history. Slidehammer is an immensely powerful Chaos mage. Krillis would have done battle with him if he had continued playing.




At this she scoffs and says "What female avatar /couldn't/ get a date with Mario????"

Mario is Italian, don't forget.



"No, I select pieces from the offered menu and put them together."

But when you mention that you made a bleu cheese burger with bacon, her eyes go wide again.

"There's no such thing as bleu cheese or bacon on the menu!!!"

Big difference between creating something and putting already created pieces together. You're doing the former, she's doing the latter.

I'm starting to get their intellectual limitations.

"Ah, well in the Creative Zone, we'll have various structures and items, and you can put them together how you like."  OK, that is not what I had planned, as I had hoped for some massively cool and weird creations, but I can give them a sandbox full of already built toys, and they can do cool things with them.

I'm not sure what to do with her thinking me a god.  I don't like it, but I can see her logic.

"That sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun."

Then she grins and winks at you. Almost flirtatiously.

And unless there's anything else you need to say to Samantha, the day progresses. You train with Samantha enough to get +1 in all of the skills she's teaching you.

OOC) What would you like to do after this world? Your choices are Verser World, battling zombies or protecting an 8 year old girl. You're not in danger of versing out, I'm just wondering.

I ignore her flirtation, although it annoys me a bit.  I then take out my annoyance on Slidehammer.

Wham. "That is for..." Slam.  "Every pain in the neck:" Crunch. "Thing I've endured."

OOC: Zombies probably.

You keep forgetting, you're not in control of yourself when you're fighting Slidehammer in the game. You're able to think that, maybe even say it, but your fighting is controlled by the player.

HOWEVER!!!!!

At game closure, when you and Samantha are about to leave, Slidehammer comes out. Samantha draws her staff. Slidehammer draws his hammer. It's pretty clear they're about to go at it, and Samantha is not expecting you to help.



OOC) We'll see. It might not be any of those.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:15, Fri 13 Mar 2015.

"Step aside, Samantha." I say flatly.  "Prepare to eat..." Grandiloquently. "Shoeloaf!!"

Come in high and wide with mystaff. Change style as I...  Duck at the last second snd snap his shins.

From the look on Samantha's face, it's fairly obvious that no Tadeusz has ever stepped up to defend her. That look is quickly replaced with "My Hero!!!"

Slidehammer roars "This is gonna be fun!!!" and pulls back his hammer. He's about to swing when you duck and leg sweep him. You see his knees bend 45 degrees the wrong way as your staff makes contact. He goes down onto his back. But then he says "Chaos In Chaos!!!" and fires a lightning bolt at you. It hits you square in the face, but with no pain. You've got the feeling though that your face is blackened in a cartoonish kind of way. You bring your staff down and hit him whilst he's on his back. Then he swings his hammer at your leg and knocks you down. Then he springs back to his feet. His legs seem fine. From the ground, you poke and stab with your staff. Hitting him in the face. He swings again at you on the ground, but you block it deftly. Then you spin the staff around and catch him in the head. His head snaps at a weird angle. Then he blinks twice and disappears.

Samantha offers her hand to help you up. She's grinning. She kisses you on the cheek.

"I see you really paid attention during the training. Unfortunately he'll be back tomorrow. Every night we fight to the death, the loser has to stay here for the night."

OOC) To settle the question of whether or not you could take your new gear when you verse out, I turned to the old classic, the coin toss. I flipped best two out of three for if you could take it. You won three out of three flips. So it's going with you when you verse. The gear might not be real, but it's real to Tadeusz. So that's good enough for me.`

"That was weird." I say a bit shakily.  I pretend not to notice Samantha.  Then I turn to her. "Thanks for the training."

Briefly I consider maxing out on Being Needy and Awkward, but I'm not likely to be able to stick to the script, and thereby succeed in chasing off the female.  Instead I turn cold.

"Every body..." I emphasize those two words.  "Deserves decent treatment."  For some, thats not very much kindness, but at least they don't deserve to  be chased down the street by a mob of cowardly thugs, or be set upon by a maniac every night.

My face is ice cold by now, and my usual brown eyes are almost black.  Samantha starts to say  something, and I tunr to her, and she suddenly just gulps, and quiets.

"Bye."  I walk away, noting that those woh get near me, veer from my path.  Inside, I realize I need to go blow off some steam.  First, I try to find a quiet corner, and beat the snot out of a poor innocent wall with my staff.  After a bit, I decide when I'm a bit calmer to go with favorite rememdy....Burger time and a coke.

Grilled onions and tomatoes and mushrooms on melted Swiss on a thick, juicy burger, nothing else.  And an ice cold Coke...

OOC: The Dice have spoken.

Still bubbly she says "That's what I'm here for."



OOC) What I said about Magehammer being bullied by the Tadei was taken straight from my childhood. Every morning, a bunch of kids would follow me to school making my life hell. Every day I asked them "Why are you doing this to me?" And every day I got the same answer "Because you're a NERD!!!" It took me years to realize that it wasn't my fault. So what if I was a nerd? Why couldn't they just let me be a nerd? (Not to mention the fact that I still don't know what a "Nerd" is.) If I had one wish, it would be to go back in time as Magehammer and teach them what it feels like to be bullied. That's why I believe there HAS to be a God. Somebody has to make all of this right in the end.




But your cold, aloof attitude has the desired effect. Samantha turns away from you. It's pretty clear you've hurt her feelings and she won't be coming onto you again. She walks away from you, into the game.



So you go to Burger Time. You see Magehammer and Samantha (Not the one you were just with) sitting in a booth. Magehammer waves you over. How he can tell you from the rest of the Tadei is a mystery. But he says to you "I don't know what you did after I left, but the Prime from Verser Tadeusz has changed radically. He was polite. He even called me 'Sir'. I haven't had any problems with any of them today. Thanks."


For the first time you notice the menu that everybody else orders from. It has onions and tomatoes, but not grilled onions. Mushrooms are nowhere to be seen on the menu, and neither is Swiss cheese. It's relatively basic as far as burger menus go. Although strangely, fried eggs are available on the menu. You see a few patrons with fried eggs on their burgers.

But you get your burger just the way you ordered it. You get the feeling you could probably get spaghetti and meatballs or lasagne or anything else you wanted in here.



OOC) And I'm happy that they spoke in your favor.

"I'm glad to hear it, MH." I nod, and find myself relaxing a bit. Justice and sanity prevailing at least a little bit.  Something occurs to me, and i ask them to stop by my table for a couple minutes later.

I stil need chill.

Seeing the egg, I consider a Royale Burger, which is egg on burger.

After I untense, and relax they  come over, and I mention Other Samantha's problem.

"She doesn't like Mario which to my mind is stupid as he's a great guy, but maybe Ralph? And  I'm pretty sure Ralph would put a quick stop to Slidehammer messing with her."

MH laughs heartily. When he's finished he says "You don't know Mario. The guy's a womanizer. He spends almost as much time in Leisure Suit Larry as he does in his own game. I wouldn't want any version of my baby with him."

Samantha says "As far as Ralph, he's in love with Vanellope. There's nothing he wouldn't do for her. He even stands up to the Tadei for her. Not many avatars will stand up to a Tadeusz, for any reason. To beg the obvious though, why did you refuse her? What would be the harm?"

When you tell them about your fight with Slidehammer, they both look confused.

MH "He must have been taking it way easy on you because you're a Tadeusz. He doesn't want to bring the wrath of the entire force of Tadei down on himself. So he threw the fight. Our programmed back story is that Slidehammer was my protege and student. I introduced him to Chaos magic and he turned evil. Caused a lot of damage to a lot of worlds. He's a lot more powerful than he was giving you in that fight. You probably wouldn't have stood a chance if he was giving it all to you."

Samantha says "I can vouch for that. I've had to fight the Slidehammer from our game more than once. He must be programmed severely misogynistic."

MH "Yeah, he never fights me. Just her."

I ignore their question about me.  If they press, I just shrug and smile.  If they press more, I say I'm married.  If they press more, its evil eye time.

I shrug at their Slidehammer explanation.  Could be.

Afterwards it back to chilling.

They press it as far as you shrugging and smiling. Then they let it go.



And after you shrug and smile again, they decide that you're not going to be worthy of conversation and depart. Magehammer takes Samantha's hand and says "Let's head to Leisure Suit Larry." And she gives him the evil eye. But not in a bad way.



So you're chilling. Nobody else really disturbs you. You see two Tadei get into an argument over whose game is more popular. Pac Man floats by throwing game chips randomly. They taste sweet, like honey. About how you expect manna to taste. And a drunken Link from Legend of Zelda stumbles past your table, crashing into it. He just looks at you and gives you a stupid grin before stumbling away.

Other than that, it's your typical night at a hamburger joint.

"Careful there, buddy." I say to the Link with a small smile.  Man, this place is wild!

I go back to Beach, and spend some time putting together basic stuff fzor the Create Yr Own circles.  Houses (straw, stick, and brick. Tudor, Elizabethan, Victorian. Spanish, Russian, and Japanese.)
A dozen flower beds.

Geometric shapes (so if you want you want a triangular brick house you merge them. Same with a circle.)

I add about twenty trees.

And then I design one Circle.

A brick circle on a hill. Passageways from five doors leading to circular Tudor, Victorian, Russian with onion dome, Spanish, and one that opens out into a flower garden ringed by trees that leads down to a path through the woods and to the edge of the Circle with a wooden sign.

"Welcome to the House of Circles."
"All permitted, except Cybugs."
"Owner. E. Tadei."

Eric Two comes out and looks around. "Not bad, not bad. What exactly are you trying to create for the avatars here? What's your final goal?"

When he sees the No Cybugs sign, he kind of laughs. "Nice touch, but I don't think they can read. You might want to add a beacon. It's like a giant bug zapper. They're drawn to it and it fries them."

All in all he seems pleased with what you've done.

"Good point." I image a bug zapper into existence a hundred yards down the circle, where its visible, but not annoying to avatars walking up the path to the house.

Then I step into another Circle right next to the first circle.

"Imagine you're one of the non-creatives, but you still have the power of choice. So..."

And a variety of menus and submenus appear.

"Hills/Lake/River/Plains"
"Large, Small, and Tiny"

He makes his choice.

Then appears ground cover choices which is simpler.  "Lawn, tall grass, weeds"

Then the House choices.

"So by giving them a wide array of multiple choice questions, well it may not be true creativity, but its something.  And I hope to see a couple thousand avatars making their own Circles after they get the Key to each circle at the Oil Rig out there."

I point out into the water at the Permission Platform, a kind of gigantic Eiffel tower I already discussed.

"And if they don't like it, I can easy peasy tear it up and try out something different."

"I'm impressed. I never thought of doing anything like this. But why? Why are you doing this for the avatars?"

Then he says "I took care of the Prime from Verser Tadeusz. I can change their personalities pretty much on a whim. He won't cause any more problems."

And then "You seemed to enjoy Ninja Tadeusz. Would you like to become the Prime for that game? And isn't the trainer Samantha a dish?"

"Yuu and I disagree. I think they are real people.  Besides, I like to do this.  I like to create, and solve problems for people, although I'm far better at the first than the second having near zero skill at the second."

I shake my head.

"Not interested in getting involved with a 'girl'.  If you're right, and they're not people, then that's icky and unfulfilling.  If it isn't then its messed up in another way."

"You cannot reprogram real people. Just ask the Ladyfaire, that is to say, my former wife. I love creating too. Why do you think I designed these games? So when do you think this will be ready for you to let the other avatars in?"



He says "If you stay in here long enough, it won't seem so icky and unfulfilling. When your only companions are computer programs, it does get a little weird. I'll give you that. Sometimes I forget they're not real people. Then I have to reprogram a Tadeusz with a thought, and it all comes back to me. Unless you know the programming language, you shouldn't be able to reprogram the avatars. That takes a serious understanding of coding, more than just thinking it into existence. But I could make that Samantha avatar do just about anything. You never answered me. Do you want to take over as Prime for Ninja Tadeusz?"

Just to overstate the obvious, he's saying he could reprogram Samantha so she will never again come on to you. That is, if you wanted to take over that game.

"I hear you.  I need a couple more days work on the Circles, and another week for the rest of the world, then I'm going to need your help as we build the safety protocols."

I wave a hand and a small model of the world appears.  On it, red dots of contemplated construction outnumber the too few dots of already done constcution.  Even if all the red were blue, the place is still pretty clearly sparse with lots of empty space.

I visualize a railroad track following the Z, and add cites, and train stations.  Add a duplicate track.  Add some partically built track so that work is available for those who want to add on.

Drawing on memory, I recreate the Nashville Grand Central station.

Then underground, I create a space for a race of dwarves, and another of mischevous, but not malevolent gremlins.

"I could use your help there." I point to the two slots in the biome.