A Reality of a Different Color

[X] Run past the Green Martialist to get her between you and the Elemental.
-[X] Try dodging with Swap, if the Elemental throws another fireball at you.


The green Martialist is the only one you've seen with any kind of armor on, so even though you don't know how much health she has left, you're pretty sure she's got better defenses than any of the rest of you. Which makes her the perfect option to take point on any more attacks from the Elemental.

Retreat is the better part of valor or however the hell that quote goes, so you book it. Right past the Martialist, just in case the Elemental is still targetting you.

"The Boulder will protect you!" declares the Martialist as you race past, giving you an exaggerated thumbs-up.

You give a half-hearted thumbs-up in response over your shoulder, your attention on your own abilities. Assuming Nebula stays wherever it is, if the Elemental chases you, you can still get aw—

BAM.

Something hits your shins and you fall forward into something, faceplanting into a flat wooden surface. …did you just run into a picnic bench? You did. If your face didn't hurt so much, you'd be so embarrassed.

There's the musical tone again and your phone vibrates, again, as your experience bar fills up another good chunk of the way. You gingerly prod at your nose, trying to decide if you broke it or not. Probably not, but… Wait a second, if you got experience, that means the Elemental was defeated. A quick glance at the Enemy EP section of your HUD confirms your assumption: there's no enemies listed there anymore.

That was… well, that was one way to start off your Chromata gaming career. Filling up a third of your experience bar, good. Smashing your face, bad, avoid in the future.

Sitting down on the picnic bench, you look around at the illusion. Figuring out how to turn it off seems important… but also not that hard? If nothing else, you're completely certain that desummoning Nebula will end any of its ability effects. More important is figuring out why an ability that says "to confuse your opponent" is ruining your ability to see.

"Mirage?" Kaius appears out of the snowstorm, stepping around the table. "Is that— what the hell happened to your face?!" Whatever he was going to say is completely lost in his horrified alarm.

"Ran into the bench here," you mutter. "Couldn't see where I'm going."

The words are already coming out nasal and muffled from the swelling. Explaining this to your coworkers is going to so awkward.

"Couldn't see…?" Kaius is still frowning at you in concern, so you gesture at the imaginary snowstorm. He looks around, still frowning, until his expression shifts in sudden comprehension. "Oh! You're still on default settings."

"There are settings?" You regret the question as soon as it's out of your mouth. Of course there are settings. It's a video game.

"Of course there are settings." Kaius doesn't seem the type to forgive stupid questions. "It's under Settings, in the phone app."

You had completely forgotten that there was a phone app.

[] Take out your phone.
- [] Check out the Settings menu to figure out how to see through your own Mirage.
- [] Look at what else is in the app.
[] Your phone can wait. Desummon Nebula and talk to the other players.
[] Screw it, you only have 3 EP and your face hurts. Find the nearest safe zone to log off for the day.

[x] Your phone can wait. Desummon Nebula and talk to the other players.

You'll have plenty of time to check out the mobile app component of Chromata and learn how that works when you're not logged in. Right now, you're out with five other players who you can talk to and learn more about the game from. And… probably not make any friends, since the, uh, The Boulder is the only one who looks your age. (You feel like after you attempted to throw her under the bus like earlier, it's only fair to at least accept her character name.)

Selecting Nebula's EP circle, you tap it again. The snowstorm disappears in a shower of violet sparkles, which quickly dissipate.

"You were going to ask something?" you say to Kaius.

"I was— oh, Mirage. I was going to ask if that was your doing, but I already figured it out."

You're tempted to ask how he knew the name of the ability you used, but you are pretty sure the answer is going to be something about the game settings again, which is not that helpful.

"Are you okay?!" Jade hurries over, looking worried. "I couldn't see anything! I knew Drew hadn't lost yet, but… hey! Did you hit her?" She puts her hands on her hips and glares angrily at Kaius. "What the hell, man!"

"What?" Kaius looks annoyed, once he gets over being startled. "No, of course not, are you stupid?"

"Hey!"

"Hey, look, easy." You hold up your hands and give Jade your best smile. "Kaius is okay, he's been helping me out. I couldn't see anything either and I ran into the picnic bench here, that's all."

"Seriously, just turn off ally area effects," Kaius mutters, still annoyed.

"In my defense, I started playing less than an hour ago," you counter.

"We started earlier today." Jade is still giving Kaius the stink-eye. "We haven't done a lot of fights yet, though. We're still figuring out the party system."

Your ears perk up, metaphorically speaking. "So there is a party system?"

"Yeah! You get your party member health circles right near your pet - well, you would, don't know about mister Orange over here." She jerks her head towards Kaius. "Jordan says it's the same place. And you can tap on someone's circle to see their abilities and how many points they have left, also like your pet, plus you get a compass pointer showing you where they are."

"Sounds like our companions are treated like special party members," you muse aloud.

"Hey, yeah, that's a good point!" Jade beams. "Your fairy is pretty awesome, by the way."

"Thanks." You smile back. "I like your Leafeon."

"Poor Leafeon." She instantly looks woeful. "I got him knocked out in his first big fight."

"It was ten levels higher," Kaius points out. "It was inevitable, really."

Jade glares. You give him a look, too, even though you have a feeling he's trying to be reassuring, because he sucks at being reassuring and honestly he shouldn't try.

"Well that sucked." Shadowninja trudges over, looking frazzled. His smoke cloud effect is gone, so now you can make out his outfit: a slightly armored-looking secret agent stealth kind of thing. Or maybe a professional cat burgler, but with more leather.

The red Astralist, Jordan, is with him, trying and failing not to look too pleased with himself. "But none of us were defeated," he points out, clapping Shadow on the shoulder. "And we all got a good chunk of XP out of it!"

"Yeah, but I still can't do anything until I get back to a safe zone and recover." Shadow sighs, then looks you over briefly. "Did you do that snowstorm thing?"

"That was me," you agree. "My companion has an ability called Mirage."

"Spiritualist sounds like a tough class to play," Jordan says. "Keeping track of your pet and all that."

"It's not that bad?" You shrug. Jordan and Shadow (who you think must be Drew) are definitely looking at your face, but apparently are too polite to say anything or something? You appreciate not having to explain it again, at least, even if it's not any less awkward having two teenagers trying not to stare. "I don't have anything to compare it to, though."

Shadow cleared his throat. "Hey, uh. I only have one energy point left… can we get back to the safe zone? Soon?"

"Good idea." Jade looks at you. "Do you want to come too? It's at our school right now, but I don't think they'll care if you show up just this once... We haven't picked new spots for them yet?"

"There's another one, closer," Kaius cuts in. "Not mine. There's a coffee shop on the other side of the park that someone put a safe zone over."

"The Boulder hears you discussing safe zones!" The green Martialist… poses, her arms folded across her chest as she grins. "And would like to accompany you. While The Boulder does not require assistance, she does require a safe zone and thinks it is best to travel in numbers."


QM note: You've been at the park for about twenty minutes.

[] Go to the coffee shop safe zone with Kaius and The Boulder.
[] Go to the nearby highschool's safe zone with the three teenagers.
[] Hang out at the Beacon until Nebula is back at full energy, then explore the park.
[] That's enough for today. Go home, log out, put a cold compress on your poor face.

[] [Contacts] Ask for contact info from the group(s) you're not going with.
[] [Contacts] Ask for contact info from everyone.
[] [Contacts] Don't ask for anyone's contact info.