A Splinter in Your Mind - Matrix Quest

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◉ CODA ◉​

Alice Lovelace
​
Resolve
3/3​
Detachment
2​
Skill
6​
Gear
6/10​

Paths​
Path of Resistance
Level 1
When you Fight.exe.
When you gratuitously blow something up as an act of resistance.
The first time in a session you tell an authority to go fuck itself.
XP: ◉◉◉◉◎
You may spend Resistance XP to add or subtract Harm you give or take, 1-1.​
Path of Truth
Level 1
When you Prompt.exe.
When you follow your curiosity in a way that doesn't advance the mission.
The first time in a session you discover something new about the Matrix.
XP: ◉◉◉◎◎
You may spend Truth XP to reroll dice when you Charge or Refresh, 1-1d6.​
Path of Enlightenment
Level 1
When you Disconnect.exe.
When you refuse to back down or run away from impossible odds.
The first time you run out of Resolve in a session.
XP: ◉◉◎◎◎
You may spend Enlightenment XP as if they were Detachment, 1-1.​
Moves
Beginning to Believe: You gain +1 Detachment the first time you Charge.
Stop Trying to Hit Me: You take -1 Harm when on the Defensive in Fights.
Mine Now: Spend a Full Hit in Fight to disarm an enemy of their weapon. If you then shoot them with it, take +1.
Try Again: When you attempt a Disconnect you failed before and have not yet succeeded at, you may input one 6 as a True Hit.
Bit of Help: When you spend Detachment on any move other than Disconnect, you get two +1s. They can be applied to the same die or different ones.

Stunts
Jump Impossible Distances Lvl 2*
Hit with Implausible Force Lvl 1
Dodge Implausible Ways Lvl 1
Act with Implausible Slight of Hand Lvl 1

​


CW: Very 90s.

Also, this is going to be a seriously fucked up quest. I'm going to be doing my damndest to channel an appropriately edgy, teen-rage vibe. Expect violence, drugs, sex, etc.

There's also going to be some Pretty Uncomfortable Dysphoria-ing, trans readers be warned.​
 
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Tetra said:
There's a couple ways to squeeze more juice out of our dice and end the fight. I could enumerate them all but I think that would bore y'all so I'm just gonna pitch the coolest one, end this thing in style.

[X] Plan: Trickshot
-[X] Disarm the agent, then frantically try to keep him off of you long to take a shot. When it looks like he's finally about to get a hit in, flip a narrow dodge into a ricocheted headshot.
-[X] Fight.exe [6+2D-2, 3-2, 4-2] Steal Gun, Fight Defensively, 1 Harm incoming
-[X] Disconnect.exe [5+1XP] Dodge Implausible Ways out of the Harm.
-[X] Disconnext.exe [5+1(Mine Now)+3XP-2] Shoot Implausible Trick Shot to ricochet a bullet into his skull.
-[X] Charge.exe

This plan uses 4XP instead of 3, but this one gets 2XP back through disconnects (Path of Enlightenment), gives us 2EP, and puts a new Disconnect into our toolkit (reminder, you can do a disconnect you've done before on 6s instead of 7s). Also I think it's sweet.
Click to expand...
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So I don't like being That Guy, but neither of these Disconnects seem like things that we actually know we can do?

Dodge Implausible Ways hasn't been established as letting us generically reduce incoming Harm. (Though I don't think it's hugely unreasonable, given we're still spending a dice, it does extend its utility by a lot.) Shoot Implausible Trick Shot is used to essentially replicate the effect of a Full Hit on Shoot.exe but gains us additional XP and EP, and potentially gives us a way of shooting Agents at no dice penalty. Given how effective that would be at one-shotting them, it feels extremely potent for a one-dice Disconnect.

Now fair enough, both of these might be completely fine if we have a ruling from @open_sketch saying that they are. But we have to spend more time checking that out, and amend things again in the event that they're not kosher. Honestly I feel like the pot calling the kettle black here, because I realise I've done this sort of chicanery as much as anyone, and I'm kind of adding to it right now, but I'm beginning to feel that chopping and changing plans like this means that turns take a lot longer to resolve.

So I'm sticking with a slightly modified Plan: Headshot, which we can pull off without needing Disconnects to work a certain way and QM ruling on whether they do.

[X] Plan: Headshot
-[X] [3] Prompt.exe: 'How does that make you feel?'
-[X] Grab their gun, and shoot them in the fucking head.
--[X] [6 +2XP -2 =6, 4 -2 =2, 5 -2 =3] Fight.exe (Defensive); Abilities: Mine Now, Stop Trying to Hit Me : - 1XP, 1 Harm = -1D, + 2 Threat, (1 Detachment at finish)
--[X] [5 +1MN + 1XP +1D -2 =6] Shoot.exe : Full Hit to Agent = 6 Harm, -1XP, -1D
-[X] Charge.exe : +1D, +1XP
-[X] XP Gain: Facing Impossible Odds, Taking Harm: +2XP
-[X] Net: -1D, + 2 Threat

This modified version gains us back some XP by letting us get beaten up a bit in the Fight.exe, but by spending XP rather than Detachment, we still avoid going into negatives and eating a penalty. Honestly I'd expect taking down an Agent should get us more XP than this, but everything here is unambiguously rules-legal. IDK if the Threat carries over or not, I imagine the slate clears when the fight scene is over, but I've included that too just in case.
 
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Skippy said:
So I don't like being That Guy, but neither of these Disconnects seem like things that we actually know we can do?

Dodge Implausible Ways hasn't been established as letting us generically reduce incoming Harm. (Though I don't think it's hugely unreasonable, given we're still spending a dice, it does extend its utility by a lot.) Shoot Implausible Trick Shot is used to essentially replicate the effect of a Full Hit on Shoot.exe but gains us additional XP and EP, and potentially gives us a way of shooting Agents at no dice penalty. Given how effective that would be at one-shotting them, it feels extremely potent for a one-dice Disconnect.

Now fair enough, both of these might be completely fine if we have a ruling from @open_sketch saying that they are. But we have to spend more time checking that out, and amend things again in the event that they're not kosher. Honestly I feel like the pot calling the kettle black here, because I realise I've done this sort of chicanery as much as anyone, and I'm kind of adding to it right now, but I'm beginning to feel that chopping and changing plans like this means that turns take a lot longer to resolve.

So I'm sticking with a slightly modified Plan: Headshot, which we can pull off without needing Disconnects to work a certain way and QM ruling on whether they do.

[X] Plan: Headshot
-[X] [3] Prompt.exe: 'How does that make you feel?'
-[X] Grab their gun, and shoot them in the fucking head.
--[X] [6 +2XP -2 =6, 4 -2 =2, 5 -2 =3] Fight.exe (Defensive); Abilities: Mine Now, Stop Trying to Hit Me : - 1XP, 1 Harm = -1D, + 2 Threat, (1 Detachment at finish)
--[X] [5 +1MN + 1XP +1D -2 =6] Shoot.exe : Full Hit to Agent = 6 Harm, -1XP, -1D
-[X] Charge.exe : +1D
-[X] XP Gain: Facing Impossible Odds, Taking Harm: +2XP
-[X] Net: -1D, -1XP, + 2 Threat

This modified version gains us back some XP by letting us get beaten up a bit in the Fight.exe, but by spending XP rather than Detachment, we still avoid going into negatives and eating a penalty. Honestly I'd expect taking down an Agent should get us more XP than this, but everything here is unambiguously rules-legal. IDK if the Threat carries over or not, I imagine the slate clears when the fight scene is over, but I've included that too just in case.
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Yeah, I think you're right. You've been pushing Dodge Implausible Ways pretty hard, but this all works no problem.
 
[x] Skippy
Edit: forgot how that worked for a sec, no @ 😅
 
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[X] DocMatoi

it's the most mechanically straightforward proposal so far, and no one's indicated that it won't/doesn't work the way we're assuming, the way the other proposals have come under fire.

impeccable logic, zero flaws detected.
 
Skippy said:
So I don't like being That Guy, but neither of these Disconnects seem like things that we actually know we can do?

Dodge Implausible Ways hasn't been established as letting us generically reduce incoming Harm. (Though I don't think it's hugely unreasonable, given we're still spending a dice, it does extend its utility by a lot.) Shoot Implausible Trick Shot is used to essentially replicate the effect of a Full Hit on Shoot.exe but gains us additional XP and EP, and potentially gives us a way of shooting Agents at no dice penalty. Given how effective that would be at one-shotting them, it feels extremely potent for a one-dice Disconnect.

Now fair enough, both of these might be completely fine if we have a ruling from @open_sketch saying that they are. But we have to spend more time checking that out, and amend things again in the event that they're not kosher. Honestly I feel like the pot calling the kettle black here, because I realise I've done this sort of chicanery as much as anyone, and I'm kind of adding to it right now, but I'm beginning to feel that chopping and changing plans like this means that turns take a lot longer to resolve.

So I'm sticking with a slightly modified Plan: Headshot, which we can pull off without needing Disconnects to work a certain way and QM ruling on whether they do.

[X] Plan: Headshot
-[X] [3] Prompt.exe: 'How does that make you feel?'
-[X] Grab their gun, and shoot them in the fucking head.
--[X] [6 +2XP -2 =6, 4 -2 =2, 5 -2 =3] Fight.exe (Defensive); Abilities: Mine Now, Stop Trying to Hit Me : - 1XP, 1 Harm = -1D, + 2 Threat, (1 Detachment at finish)
--[X] [5 +1MN + 1XP +1D -2 =6] Shoot.exe : Full Hit to Agent = 6 Harm, -1XP, -1D
-[X] Charge.exe : +1D
-[X] XP Gain: Facing Impossible Odds, Taking Harm: +2XP
-[X] Net: -1D, -1XP, + 2 Threat

This modified version gains us back some XP by letting us get beaten up a bit in the Fight.exe, but by spending XP rather than Detachment, we still avoid going into negatives and eating a penalty. Honestly I'd expect taking down an Agent should get us more XP than this, but everything here is unambiguously rules-legal. IDK if the Threat carries over or not, I imagine the slate clears when the fight scene is over, but I've included that too just in case.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
To clarify, the goal behind the trick shot wasn't to skip the -2 Agent penalty (that'd be extremely strong obviously), just to add a trick to our repertoire for later and get a little EP out of it. Perhaps instead an Implausibly Accurate Shot right between the eyes would be more palatable? (essentially the damaging equivalent of "shooting the gun out of somebody's hand", which is already listed 1 TH Disconnect)

Either way, I'll go in on it. Oh, also Charge should give an XP, so as written it's actually net 0 XP which is nice. I wasn't including Facing Impossible Odds, since I wasn't sure how often that happens in a prolonged impossible situation like this.
[X] Skippy

open_sketch said:
Yeah, I think you're right. You've been pushing Dodge Implausible Ways pretty hard, but this all works no problem.
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We have been getting a lot of use out of it, so if you do decide to nerf it that'd make sense. We can always just not use it for the rest of this (hopefully about to end) fight until that comes through.
 
As a side note, I wonder how exceptional it is in this setting for someone to hold their own against an Agent?

Obviously in the original film, beating an Agent was presented as essentially a miracle*, a feat so exceptional that it proves that Neo has the potential to be the One. But in this setting, we know that the resistance has been around for a lot longer, or at least remembers a lot further back. At one point the resistance even held entire chunks of the Matrix, strongly implying they would have had to defeat Agents at some point. (Which could just mean sheer numbers, but still.) Also, the game mechanics do make it possible, if very challenging and dangerous, to prevail against an Agent one on one, which should somewhat inform our setting assumptions.

So I'm wondering, will the reaction of our compatriots here be that we're inspirational, some sort of amazing prodigy? Or that we're an obviously talented but somewhat foolhardy rookie who got lucky? Like, this is maybe wildly off-base, but after reading back on that scene where Coda hears stories about the past, it does not seem totally implausible to me that someone like say, Frag or Enigma may have beaten an Agent in their youth. When they were quicker, and still burning brightly with a fiery passion and belief that the darkness would soon be lifted...

The fact that the Path of Enlightenment is one of many paths, and also structured mechanically such that you can walk it for a time, learn something, and then take a different path, actually makes me wonder if a lot of resistance members go through their "spoon bending phase". Making simulated steel and concrete turn to taffy, running up walls and punching out Agents, only perhaps to realise that... there are hard problems posed by revolution which no amount of flying kicks can solve? That there are maybe other struggles which are equally important, other horizons of self-discovery we need to venture across if we are to find liberty? This even makes sense if you look at say, Neo in the fourth film, who can still use some of his abilities, but is decades older, a bit jaded, and no longer on the path of the One.

Anyway, just my idle musings whilst we wait for the update, interested in everyone's thoughts!



*(Although in the sequels, whilst they don't outright win, both Morpheus and Trinity manage to hold their own against Agents to varying degrees after spending time with Neo. This is even more impressive given these are upgraded Agents, notably stronger and faster than the ones in the first film! Showing that perhaps part of the problem was... belief? Hmm, I wonder what the film could be saying here... :thonk:)
 
This is very insightful, and definitely feels like it's backed up by the mechanics of the rules. So far as being willing to take on agents, I wonder if it's also a product of more/less to loose. More in that the independence and freedom is still fresh and dependent on following through on it, less in terms of history with and connections to new friends/found family.

Not to say that people get less willing to defend their friends, family, and beliefs over time, but they get less concentrated over time, so taking risks like directly challenging an agent vs running to live another day are less appealing.

I also wanted to say, i really enjoy this gameplay. There's something really… relaxing? I'm not sure that's the right word, about having the dice pre rolled, and having the only consequences come directly from our actions. It makes everything more of a puzzle that feels good to solve than depending on random chance with every roll. Not that I'm opposed to that, but it's a refreshing change of pace from typical rpgs
 
Skippy said:
As a side note, I wonder how exceptional it is in this setting for someone to hold their own against an Agent?

Obviously in the original film, beating an Agent was presented as essentially a miracle*, a feat so exceptional that it proves that Neo has the potential to be the One. But in this setting, we know that the resistance has been around for a lot longer, or at least remembers a lot further back. At one point the resistance even held entire chunks of the Matrix, strongly implying they would have had to defeat Agents at some point. (Which could just mean sheer numbers, but still.) Also, the game mechanics do make it possible, if very challenging and dangerous, to prevail against an Agent one on one, which should somewhat inform our setting assumptions.

So I'm wondering, will the reaction of our compatriots here be that we're inspirational, some sort of amazing prodigy? Or that we're an obviously talented but somewhat foolhardy rookie who got lucky? Like, this is maybe wildly off-base, but after reading back on that scene where Coda hears stories about the past, it does not seem totally implausible to me that someone like say, Frag may have beaten an Agent in his youth. When he was quicker, and still burning brightly with a fiery passion and belief that the darkness would soon be lifted...

The fact that the Path of Enlightenment is one of many paths, and also structured mechanically such that you can walk it for a time, learn something, and then take a different path, actually makes me wonder if a lot of resistance members go through their "spoon bending phase". Making simulated steel and concrete turn to taffy, running up walls and punching out Agents, only perhaps to realise that... there are hard problems posed by revolution which no amount of flying kicks can solve? That there are maybe other struggles which are equally important, other horizons of self-discovery we need to venture across if we are to find liberty? This even makes sense if you look at say, Neo in the fourth film, who can still use some of his abilities, but is decades older, a bit jaded, and no longer on the path of the One.

Anyway, just my idle musings whilst we wait for the update, interested in everyone's thoughts!



*(Although in the sequels, whilst they don't outright win, both Morpheus and Trinity manage to hold their own against Agents to varying degrees after spending time with Neo. This is even more impressive given these are upgraded Agents, notably stronger and faster than the ones in the first film! Showing that perhaps part of the problem was... belief? Hmm, I wonder what the film could be saying here... :thonk:)
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These are interesting points. On the idea of Redpills potentially having a "spoon bending phase", it's interesting to note that the maximum tier of Disconnect allows you to change something about how the world works, but you also die or "ascend beyond regular understanding" in so doing. That is to say that if one were to pursue Enlightenment wholeheartedly they are likely to at least stop being able to interact with others through their own success. So Redpills are likely to skew away from heavy "Enlightenment" out of survivorship bias.

If a Rewrite Disconnect is a thing that happens semi-regularly (which given the difficulty level I assume it would) then clearly the machines have some way of counteracting it, so rushing in headlong and assuming that will fix things is foolhardy. But since we know the resistance held a chunk of the Matrix the machines can lose ground in a meaningful way. Perhaps the Rewrite Disconnect was involved, but used skilfully and/or in conjunction with other factors? I wonder what would happen if multiple people did a Rewrite at once.

At some point I would like to see Coda develop some less direct combat oriented Disconnects as well. Bending the laws of physics can be good for making a getaway too after all, we just haven't done as much of that yet so it hasn't come up.
 
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3.10 - Fifty Percent Grey
  • Threadmarks
    • His eyes flicked to behind you, then back.

    He slammed an elbow into your chest, into your side. You felt ribs crack as your body recoiled, but none of it mattered, the spreading cold was miles away from the only things that mattered; your hands on his gun, the configuration of your bodies, force and leverage. He punched his gun hand out to slam the weapon into you, and you saw your chance.

    You used the motion, his own strength against him as he swung down, planting your feet and lifting his off the asphalt in the world's sloppiest judo throw (the ones and zeroes of your instructor would have crashed out of shame). He was impossibly strong, yes, but not impossibly massive, and he went over your shoulder and crashed down on the ground. His arm was twisted by the force of his own strike past the point of breaking, and the fingers around his gun went limp.

    You swept the pistol from his hand in one smooth motion and shot him in the chest. You worked the trigger until the gun was dry, then let the weapon tumble out of your limp fingers and collapsed to the ground, raising one hand in pained victory before sprawling over the dead security guard and landing face-first in the rapidly spreading pool of blood on the asphalt.

    ---

    You woke up in a white void.

    "Oh, great, I'm dead," you muttered. Every word was painful. "Fuck."

    Slowly, every movement agonising, you pulled yourself to a sitting position and looked around. Almost immediately, you spotted a television that certainly wasn't there a moment ago, stuck on channel 3. There was a VCR under it.

    "Sure. Heaven's too fucking cheap for DVD," you complained, then reached out (every part of your screamed in protest) and touched play.

    Cache appeared, sitting beside your unconscious body on the screen. He waved your own limp hand at you.

    "Hey, dumbass. You put yourself in shock in the real world, so we can't take you out until you wake up in here. We all need to take a piss and eat something and, you know, sleep, so take your time. Amazing shit, by the way, never ever do it again."

    "I won't," you groaned, and then turned to see Frag reclined on a fainting couch, looking similarly worse for wear. A small black suitcase was sitting beside her. "You okay?"

    "No," she exclaimed. "I feel like shit, thanks for that."

    "Oh, right. Sorry," you said sheepishly. "I uh, I killed an agent, I think."

    "No, you killed a security guard that an agent was wearing," she spat. "To be clear, it was still very impressive. It was also incredibly stupid. Promise you'll never do it again."

    "I just promised…" you jerked a finger toward the TV, then stopped. "Yeah."

    "Access codes and saving your comrade's life, important. But you were also very lucky. We rarely face one agent, and we rarely face them in a situation where killing them will slow them down long enough to matter."

    "Yeah. I got lucky," you said. She sighed, slowly and deliberately.

    "No, you got stupid at a very opportune time," she said. "This happens."

    "What does?"

    "This. Imagining you're invincible, pushing your mind to its limits. It's not uncommon, especially for people who had nothing to lose in their old life. It's a shame."

    "I'm sorry?" you asked, utterly confused.

    "Coda, people like you don't last," she said heavily. "Most people, they get out and they want to make a difference, but they understand this isn't going to end tomorrow. They understand the struggle is bigger than them, and accept some limits."

    "Why?" you asked. "It's all fake. All the rules are fake!" you explained. "Everything! If my own body can be a lie, if I can reject that and change that, why should I obey any of their rules? Why should I have to spend one, more, second living their lies?"

    The pain was gone now. You were on your feet.

    "Because this is how you die," Frag said sadly. "Do you think you're the first to be like this? To find rejecting it all easy, to fight an Agent to a standstill, to dodge bullets? No, there's a few of you every year. And you all die the same, picking a fight you can't win because you're tired of running. You'll die because this is the only way you can live."

    You paused, trying to understand what the hell she could possibly mean by that. It seemed… counter to everything, to all the promises they'd made.

    "I know you don't understand," she said sagely. "Why listen to me? I'm just as dead as you are."

    You deflated at that, sitting back down against the TV and staring a moment at your hands. Free of blood and dirt, here in the construct. Back in your shirt and tie, you noticed, and you carefully untied it and threw it away into the void.

    "Are those the codes?" you asked finally, indicating to the box. Frag nodded, pulling them up and undoing the latches.

    "Behold," she said, lifting the lid and turning it around. Inside were…

    Rubix cubes. A dozen unsolved rubix cubes, laid one after another.

    "... huh."

    ---

    These codes will be useful, but the ship needs to reposition and the crew need to recuperate before going back into the Matrix.

    Pick two members of the crew to get to know better.
    [ ] Frag
    [ ] Page/Thrash
    [ ] Cache
    [ ] Vector
    [ ] Chrysalis
    [ ] Sprite
    [ ] Enigma​
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • I love the idea of making Agents juuust a skoosh more killable, in that you can kill their host body for a scene, but they always just respawn with new hosts and almost always start to swarm you. It makes Mr. Smith just a literal jailbroken Agent, with all their normal abilities just no longer bound to the overall system of the Matrix.
     
    Simon_Jester said:
    I mean, that's pretty much canon.
    Click to expand...
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    True, this Matrix is just a bit more open to the idea of killing Agents without The One being involved in the fight at all, as long as you get incredibly lucky thinking on you feet like Coda, or you prepare the killing ground beforehand, or find some other exploit with the physics engine of the Matrix that the Agents are bound by. It's just that it doesn't really matter as Agents are rarely alone or without a plethora of other viable hosts and its almost never worth it to try and set up such a stand-up fight as after the fall of Zion few Resistance cells or even entire factions are in any position to be able to actually hold territory in the Matrix.

    Which I think also works really well reinforcing the Agents as the faceless machinery of oppression and the cop and spook programs of the Matrix, both in how such expendable immortality is a great twist on the institutional immortality of the security complex and carceral state, and also in how ultimately even the Agents themselves have bound up in all their strength and power being likewise enslaved and dehumanized by the system.
     
    It's been a while but...doesn't Alice still have a program in her head? Where are we on that situation?
     
    Like this a lot. Makes sense too in terms of us basically treading water progression wise to accomplish it. Lovely synergy between mechanics and message.

    [x] Page/Thrash
    [x] Chrysalis
     
    Oof, yeah. This makes sense. When you prove to people that everything is a lie, then they're gonna have a hard time caring about stuff like their own survival. Especially when believing in your own invincibility makes you objectively tougher (not invincible, of course, but still tougher).

    I like Frag. I can't choose between the rest.
    [X] Frag
     
    Skippy said:
    As a side note, I wonder how exceptional it is in this setting for someone to hold their own against an Agent?

    Obviously in the original film, beating an Agent was presented as essentially a miracle*, a feat so exceptional that it proves that Neo has the potential to be the One. But in this setting, we know that the resistance has been around for a lot longer, or at least remembers a lot further back. At one point the resistance even held entire chunks of the Matrix, strongly implying they would have had to defeat Agents at some point. (Which could just mean sheer numbers, but still.) Also, the game mechanics do make it possible, if very challenging and dangerous, to prevail against an Agent one on one, which should somewhat inform our setting assumptions.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    I mean, pre Neo going all 'I am the One' we do see the agents get killed in ways that tell us quite a bit. Trinity shoots one at point-blank range so their enhanced abilities aren't any use there, and Neo actually guns down the whole trio with the helicopter minigun. Though obviously they just upload themselves to nearby security personnel within seconds.

    The way I see it is that if you're in a white room fight with an agent, you're going to lose. If you do win in a white room fight, it's because you got lucky in some way, it won't be repeatable, and it isn't evidence against Agent superiority, the odds were and remain weighted against you. But the resistance know this, so they do their very best to avoid white room fights at all costs, and do shit like luring through rooms packed with explosives, and that's even if they bother with that in the first place, given that unless there are no other available hosts nearby you're just buying yourselves seconds to minutes depending on proximity.

    Coda pulling off a win but being left broken and unconscious and having to be rescued by someone otherwise she definitely would have been killed by a mook or even the same agent after a short interval? That feels in scope for normal conflict between the resistance and agents.

    You aren't breaking people's expectations unless you're walking into a fight with an agent and fighting on at least even ground. If you can walk into a fight with one where the presumption is that you're going to win, and you and the Machine know this, then you're pulling One nonsense.

    Edit: I feel like Coda mentioning the Agent had more personality and individuality than she was expecting is a topic that'll come up in conversation with someone.
     
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    [x] Frag
    [x] Chrysalis
    [x] Page/Thrash

    I have a type and I am not ashamed about it.

    Also, I'm glad we have IC reasons for Coda to feel like "okay, that was a cool, one-time thing to not ever do again, fucking ow", because I have a sense that there may be some software upgrades in the pipe soon; redpills evidently haven't previously put the Agent programs in a place where they have to consider if they experience things like bleeding and pain, and some of the oversights in the coding (the aforementioned bleeding and pain, infinite strength on system with finite mass and bone density, etc.) may get adjusted.

    And even if they aren't, the possibility that they could be should present reason enough for Coda to not try that again anytime soon.

    edit: adding Page/Thrash, hoping that approval voting is fine, because I'd really rather not engage with the company creep.
     
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    deadcrystal said:
    Edit: I feel like Coda mentioning the Agent had more personality and individuality than she was expecting is a topic that'll come up in conversation with someone.
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    I mean, Sketch is leaning into the "the machines and the Matrix are a metaphor for late stage capitalism" angle even harder than the Wachowskis did.

    Agents are basically just the ascended uber-cops.

    And cops do have personalities and individuality.
     
    We did it guys!

    open_sketch said:
    "Because this is how you die," Frag said sadly. "Do you think you're the first to be like this? To find rejecting it all easy, to fight an Agent to a standstill, to dodge bullets? No, there's a few of you every year. And you all die the same, picking a fight you can't win because you're tired of running. You'll die because this is the only way you can live."

    You paused, trying to understand what the hell she could possibly mean by that. It seemed… counter to everything, to all the promises they'd made.

    "I know you don't understand," she said sagely. "Why listen to me? I'm just as dead as you are."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    o7

    The candle that burns twice as bright...

    open_sketch said:
    ---

    These codes will be useful, but the ship needs to reposition and the crew need to recuperate before going back into the Matrix.

    Pick two members of the crew to get to know better.
    [ ] Frag
    [ ] Page/Thrash
    [ ] Cache
    [ ] Vector
    [ ] Chrysalis
    [ ] Sprite
    [ ] Enigma
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Hmmm... no strong ideas here honestly, just kinda picking what takes my fancy:

    [X] Cache
    [X] Sprite

    Cache is our friend, and might help us process the... everything that just happened. Sprite because I've forgotten what their deal is.
     
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