saveourearth | Let's proudly not melt, shall we? [Mingle]

Entry tags:

Let's proudly not melt, shall we? [Mingle]

Date: 31.8-9.9.2018

Characters: Open

With the end of the eternal summer ~~heat~~ in sight, the last gasp of summer festivities start in Mossgate. The first signs come when the flag above the town hall showing the town coat of arms is removed and replaced with the bright and beautiful pride flag. Anticipation is high in the LGBT+ areas of town, and the traditional pride pre-parties take place in the LGBT+ venues on Friday and Saturday nights. Bunting starts to go up along the main streets of town, and volunteers are gathered for meetings and rehearsals. Any latecomers who still wish to volunteer are invited to turn up and make themselves known at this point (especially anyone with a valid first aid certificate!)

Pride officially opens on Sunday, with special free walking tours of the notable LGBT+ venues and sights around town twice a day, as well as open lectures at the universities featuring such topics as “Defining ourselves: deconstructing LGBT+ labels” and “Not just Stonewall: a brief history of LGBT+ activism”. Interested parties can sign up online using the local theatre's website, where they will also be able to browse the special LGBT+ program for the week (which, unfortunately, is not free, but those volunteering at any point over the week will be provided with two free tickets as one of their perks – either to be used alone for two events, or with a companion for one). The twice monthly LGBT+ book club is holding a special taster event on Wednesday evening, and the comic store is also holding special events each evening, focusing on a different LGBT+ character or author each night. Some of the religious institutions in the town are holding special LGBT affirmative services, and some are also holding drop in sessions. The RSPCA holds a pride themed dog show. Certain beauty stores, hair salons and barbers are holding trans-friendly sessions and workshops, some outside of normal working hours (although some are only accessible by signing up in advance). During the evening, there will be LGBT+ pub quizzes and special LGBT+ events up and down the high street. And, of course, plenty of other stores will also be taking advantage of the pink pound and the locals will notice the sudden influx of rainbow products, especially in the touristy shops along the beach front.

The main event is the pride parade, held from 11AM on Saturday, starting at the town hall, progressing along the main beach front road and ending up at the Green from around 2PM. It's a massive event, equal to Brighton or Manchester, with plenty of floats and sponsors. All along the parade route, flags, bunting and ribbons float in the sea breeze and barriers have been placed to keep the audience from getting under the feet of the walkers, dancers, prancers and stompers that will make up a part of the parade's diverse make-up. The parade itself is made up of an interesting mix of local businesses and big name sponsors; the local walking society walking behind Absolut vodka, the WI walking ahead of Skittles, and the local scouts being proceeded by Stonewall and followed by the Conservative Party.

There is one unforeseen thing happening this year though that will be throwing everyone into a tizzy for a bit: In between the last security check and the head of the pride parade arriving at the spot outside the town museum, someone has managed to sneak a giant cake in the way of the parade. The parade will come to an abrupt stop for almost half an hour while rumours run wild about the reason for which the parade has stopped, ranging from a terrorist attack to a romantic proposal. Eventually, the cake turns out to be entirely harmless, is removed and the parade continues. But news of it spread soon, and it is moved to a square where people are allowed to take pictures with it. It is, of course, heavily advised against trying to eat from it. Just that it doesn't explode doesn't mean that it meets food safety standards...

The Green has once again been set up with stalls for sponsors and local businesses, including charities like the RSPCA and the Samaritans. Those out for freebies won't be disappointed, with stickers, badges and sweets being handed out left, right and centre, especially by the representations of political parties who are doing their best to build some trust back up with the population. The local reproductive health centre also has a stand, handing out condoms, dental dams, and advice.

A dance area and a DJ have been set up around the bandstand, and with several bars having build temporary extensions, the party will go on well into the night, although the parade officially ends at nightfall, when there is a fireworks display. After the fireworks, the Green is temporary cleared, and after it reopens, only those with ID proving themselves to be 18 are allowed back inside. There is, however, an alternative, alcohol free party held in the town hall for any ages.

Pride officially concludes on Sunday evening with the Kings and Queens ball, an extension by tradition that is held in the Hive. With the bar cleared out to make a second dance floor, there is a flamboyant tie dress code, (as long as it's smart and fabulous, you'll be welcomed), and while tickets generally sell out months in advance, Alexander keeps a few to one side for late comers, and volunteers are (again) provided with two as part of their package. When the bell finally tolls at 2AM, and the last partygoers are sent home, Mossgate will return to it's usual, quiet self (but the glitter will take some time to clean up completely).

[ooc: Eating from the cake will give characters a plot echo. It will also make them high and give them indigestion the next day.]

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Walter's own stress level lowers when Ben starts laughing, in a sort of positive feedback loop effect.

Nodding, he starts going through the list, voicing his decision process aloud for Ben's sake.

"Not doing a dating simulator... okay, that game I need to buy the new mod for, if it's on this list," and he winks at Benjiro for emphasis before turning back to the games. After a full minute of anecdotes in a similar fashion, he lets himself look back up.

"How about this one?" He's selected a text adventure game. ~~God help them all.~~

Hand taken back from his friend’s shoulder as he does start to go through the list, Benjiro smiles with an edge of excitement. This is going to be really fun!

Now and again he snickers as Walter comments about the games, and he uses that minute of making a selection to send a message through his phone to the other stream hosts. He had proposed the possibility of him bringing a guest into the stream during his lunch break, and with minimal effort to vouch for Walter, they had readily agreed. So now, he’s simply letting them know it’s about to happen when he returns live.

Looking at the final choice of a text adventure game, one that happens to be set in SPACE, Benjiro outright grins, “Perfect.” Without delay, he takes his facemask from his pocket to reapply. Securing the loops around his ears, he works to adjust the webcam mounted on the corner of one monitor and aligns it to include both of them as he watches the second monitor. “…that looks pretty good.”

Then he looks to Walter, “We’ll open the game after we introduce the idea of switching when they end this round, but we can talk with them while they finish. Are you ready?”

He’s not about to rush, especially with literally thousands of fans watching this group of gamers. The stream chat is nearly blurring by even set to limit individuals to respond no more than once a minute.

Truth be told, there is still a part of Walter internally flailing, but if there's a place online where people are least likely to feed into any of his anxious thoughts - about his appearance, his voice, or just the choice of game - it is here.

He clings to that thought like a lifeline.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Walter says.

"And you?"

It's practically a time-waster question, but that doesn't make it any less important. Benjiro's well-being is as important here, too, if not more.

Nodding once as Walter opts to go forward, he hands his friend one of the two headsets he has set to his computer with a flip down mic, “Close as I ever am to ready. One last thing. Do you want me to introduce you by your first name or go with a screen name?”

Benjiro is all too familiar with how the internet can be, for better or worse. A first name is not a lot to go by, hidden under a VPN service, but extra security could be a matter of comfort.

Donning his own headset, he makes a few adjustments to the input to relay to and receive from both. A check given to other settings, and he has everything prepared to go live with one more click of the mouse.

"I think just going by Walter will work out fine, here," was his answer.

With that set, he lets Ben take the lead, while also keeping himself relaxed.

"Testing, testing," he says quietly, and nods.

Choice acknowledged with a nod, Benjiro listens for the mic check from Walter, and adds his own briefly in a quiet voice. Everything registers well, the camera is centered to accommodate the two of them, the stream display looks to be running on time with game activity and chat, and his local signal looks steady. Counting down from three, he removes the AFK notice with that single click to return to live streaming from the web camera. The image of him sitting next to Walter appears on the stream in the corner on the bottom left with the notice replaced from the box overlaying the actual game.

Benjiro chimes in as the audio plays clearly from the other streamers and the game, his own voice mixing in as he waits for a brief lull to interrupt, “Tagging in! CrashLime, you’re on break next.”

A chorus of the other three streamers follows to welcome him back between a frustrated noise, a yelp, and a cackle from the others as they face off in an Exploderman knock-off game. Typical game play really for those three. Benjiro takes another quiet beat to provide and introduction, “Oh ouch… So, everyone watching, while these three duke it out, allow me to introduce my very good friend, Walter. He’ll be hanging out with us for a time, and subbing in on controls for the next game.”

The chat log shows a rush of greetings and expressions of surprise at the appearance of a guest. The other three streamers all chime in their direct welcomes to Walter, tones breaking from the stress of the game to a pleasant note.

There's a last, minuscule zilp of nerves... and then the webcam clicks on, and everything is fine.

Walter's face lights up with a smile at Ben's teams shenanigans.

"I prefer to be behind the scenes, really - but I'll make an exception, just this once."

He winks, then types down exactly what he said for the text window. It's only fair to keep things accurate for those tuned-in who are hearing-impaired!

“Behind the scenes, huh?” Sharcade responds as Benjiro starts to grin behind his mask enough that he actually briefly looks away from the camera in an effort to keep from laughing. He knows what’s coming from his gaming buddy. She grins with pride, “You do realize we roped Ben into a game ‘just once’ and now he’s UVPulse.”

CrashLime chimes in after, “It’s all like having a giant gaming party and no one has to fight over controllers or couch seats. What’s not to love?”

Fast as the chat happens to be moving, Benjiro notices the caption Walter gives himself in relay of the verbal exchange. His friend is thoughtful to others as always.

Watching as the match in the game comes to an end with Sharcade declared the victor, CrashLime glares at his webcam as he acknowledges her triumphant dancing, “Yeah yeah…enjoy while you can. I’ll get you next time! NEXT TIME!!!!!” and promptly switches to an AFK notice to take his break.

Benjiro shakes his head softly and speaks up again to redirect the remaining two other gamers into the next stage with a change over to the text based game, “And on that loud note, shall we defy gravity in Moonbase Pretext?” With a positive response from both, Benjiro swaps the feed over and opens the game before passing the mouse over to Walter. The title screen loads with a pixelated view of Earth from the moon with a fully formed base in the foreground. “For anyone not familiar with this game, it’s a turn-based text game that requires you to work together to get a base up and running for science! The crew members each have their own personal secrets and goals, and shenanigans are likely. Speaking of… Sharcade, please don’t lock Walter outside the airlock.”

“I’d never!” her response playfully indignant.

“You would and I have multiple video files worth of proof.”

Sharcade giggles only for her expression to falter, “Ah…sorry. My game isn’t booting right. Let me reinstall. Should just take a couple minutes.”

“No problem. The title screen has a new view, even if it’s not as good as the real thing.”

Edited 2018-10-10 15:36 (UTC)

"Well..." Walter says, but he has no intention of finishing that sentence; he does join in on laughing with the others, though.

"Why is that even an option?" He jokes, though there is a serious question underneath it; if the game requires cooperation, shouldn't that sort of behavior make things unwinnable?

Developer's Foresight, he can imagine.

Walter winces in sympathy.

"Pity's there's no MoonCam we can substitute it with..."

One of the commenters cheerfully (or not - it's not as if they can tell!) points out that the footage is supposed to be from the Lunar Landings, along with even older collections.

Benjiro offers what insight he can without giving spoilers to address the airlock issue, “It’s an important action for one specific character in a limited scenario for the game that gets you an achievement. Otherwise it’s just so that people can mess with other players.”

“Or you can use it to get a different achievement that ends the game prematurely,” Skainsmate interjects wearily as he settles with a fresh caffeinated drink.

“Which is only when someone wants to be literally the worst,” adds Sharcade.

Walter’s notion of switching the feed to a video view of the moon gets a stereo response from the gamers in interested hums and agreement. Then Benjiro spots the reference pointed out in the chat, “The lunar landings? I think I remember that video. I’ll try to pull it up.”

Looking to Walter as he murmurs a soft ‘excuse me’, he reaches to the mouse once more and shuffles the feed of the stream to play the video for the other gamers, Walter, and the stream viewers alike.

"Now that's about what I expected," Walter comments, in response to Skainsmate's interjection, and again types that out.

Walter nods slightly in approval and agreement. "Ah, thanks!" He's well aware Ben is under no obligation to do such a thing, but it's still appreciated.

The discussion in the chat carries on as Sharcade gets set up, meanwhile, bringing up further discussion of space-related achievements.

Has everyone here seen the Christmas video? one comment (by a shiftmaster84) reads.

"No," Walter replies aloud, looking puzzled. "What do you mean?"

There are a few joking comments about non-Americans in response; Walter rolls his eyes, bemused.

Following the chat discussion along with watching the video, Benjiro raises a brow at the joking comments, and verbally hints at a warning, “Nationalities aside, it’s an old video broadcast from the crew of the Apollo 8 mission back in 1968. A big deal back in the day.”

Benjiro cues it up for the stream to play the video, the quality acceptable enough to play out for the sake of history that inspired the game they were preparing to embark upon.

If someone had guessed at the real reason Walter hadn't seen the video, he'd have been a lot more worried.

As things are, he's able to shrug it off - at least until the video starts playing.

That sense of hollowness hits again, and Walter does his best to not look away from the screen, to play it off as just finding it fascinating-

Because he is watching this in another time, through another's eye - eye, singular, because only one has the implant that lets him see as she does, can now. Because for all her life she had been blind, and he had known little sensation at all...

This time around, the Echo serves as a literal echo of the video in front of him. When the sensation finally dies away, he's blinking back tears - and, trying to cover for himself again, manages a small smile.

"Oh, wow..."

It's a deliberately understated reaction.

Naturally more interested in the reaction of his friend than the video he has seen before, Benjiro notices the intensity of the struggle to cap the emotional response. In front of the webcam, he dare not say or do anything to draw notice to the shine of his eyes, but knowing Walter, it seems off that he would be so struck by the message. He will definitely have to ask after the stream is concluded.

As Walter works to pull himself together, Benjiro calls for attention away from Walter, “It’s better if you can imagine what it might be like sitting around a small home television set or shoppers crowding at a store front to see this in their last minute rush. Space was, and still is, a big deal!”

Skainsmate pipes up again, “This does help you appreciate the advancement in technology. Even the text game has better graphics.”

Sharcade and Benjiro both laugh at that, and she replies, “Speaking of which, I have 3%....2......aaaaaand 1. Done! Let’s go gather some grey moon rocks with rovers!”

Benjiro switches the feed back to the loaded game and sets about inviting the other two into a multiplayer game, then turns control of the keyboard and mouse back over to Walter after one last sly glance of concern, “All yours. I’ll try to stay out of this and let you figure it out as you go.”

Walter, too, manages a smile. He breathes deeply, rolls his shoulders back, and with one quick swipe of a sleeve across his cheeks he looks ready to get back into things.

"Thanks," he says, with just a touch of wryness for the audience's benefit.

Out of sight of the webcam, Walter gestures for a piece of paper; he could just turn the mic off, but that might draw questions from his new gaming companions - not to mention any clever-eyed viewers.

"And let's try to avoid the airlocks when possible, hmm?"

Attentive to the position of the webcam, Benjiro keeps his head still even as he looks down at the gesture, catching it initially in his peripheral vision. He then glances towards where the gesture was aimed and understands the idea. Waiting for Walter to begin making choices in selecting a character, each offering various stats and the personal goals, he reaches one hand over out of sight to retrieve the notebook and pencil he had kept nearby. Pencil tucked into the pages, he slides it over to rest in Walter's lap below the desk as he shuffles his position in his chair to help disguise the movement.

Skainsmate and Sharcade both hold off on selecting a character until after Walter chooses one, discussing the benefits of various combinations of their favorite characters. Benjiro adds what he can here, knowing it won't affect Walter's choice and should help keep them focused on the game.

Walter min-maxes as much as the game allows - mostly going off both the streamers' and viewers' reactions.

And to create a character that is both silly and believable.

He grins at Ben in thanks once he gets the paper, and switches to typing one-handed - which barely makes a dent in his speed.

With one hand, he writes, Had a flashback. Apparently whoever I was has seen that video, too. Through someone else's eye.

Stream viewers are more than delighted by the oddball creation and begin to flood the chat unprompted with naming suggestions for Walter’s character. The other streamers of course also set to work on their entries, taking cue from Walter to play up the funny. Specific character goals will be assigned secretly once they enter the game with some variation present to each base as dictated by the skewing of stats, and Walter’s goals will be shown in the stream as the host. Thankfully, Sharcade and Skainsmate can be trusted not to use the stream feed to cheat.

The fluid switch to typing one-handed is impressive, and it speaks to the potential Walter must possess in terms of the upper limits of his capability. Noting that in passing, the teenager focuses on reading the written message once Walter shifts it to an angle where he can see it without making an obvious glance downward. A frown furrows his brows slightly with the thinning of his lips unseen behind his mask, concern mixing with curiosity. Walter had not seen the video before, but whomever he connected with, had done so if in an unsettling manner.

Unable to address it further while being recorded live, he consciously relaxes his shoulders and his expression, and puts the majority of his attention to the game.

Not calling him 'Spacey McSpaceman', but apart from that - or anything that violates basic decency - I've no real limits, went Walter's main textual clarification on the requests.

Which basically meant 'no slurs', but in this chatroom in particular it was hard to imagine anyone would seriously propose one of those.

Explanation given, and knowing he won't be able to discuss it more just now, Walter shelves the details in the general hope that he won't forget them soon.

He doubts that he can, but one can never tell.

Instead, it's back to the game, humor not entirely belying slapstick or a sense of going slack on not achieving his character's goals.

If it wasn't for his perception of time, time would definitely be flying with the fun he's having.

Thus the game begins!

Benjiro has a grand time watching as Walter works with his streaming friends to manage their goals and science it up on the moon base. He comments occasionally, but he's more than happy to stay to the background as they progress. Once CrashLime returns, a simple swap in the multiplayer game is made to let Sharcade go on break while an invitation draws in CrashLime, then similarly again to let Skainsmate have his break. Much progress in the game is made in that time, and following the completion of yet another group goal, Benjiro takes advantage of a lull to speak up.

"As much as it pains me, we've kept Walter quite a while," he begins only to be disrupted by a negative reaction of a groan and a whine from CrashLime and Sharcade. He laughs once and continues, "I know, I agree, but we have to send him back out into the real world eventually."

"Dude, he can't leave until Skainsmate gets back at least! His break is almost over," CrashLime huffs.

"Oooooor he could stay. The stream doesn't have that many hours left to go," Sharcade proposes with a small wiggle of her shoulders. "Come on, Walter! How 'bout it? Got any riveting plans out there that can't wait?"

Walter's gotten a better understanding for why Ben enjoys this - not just why the teen does it, but why he enjoys hanging out with these people, playing these games for an audience.

He is glad Ben's the one to bring up how long he's stayed, though, and shoots him a grateful look for it.

"While I'd hardly call them riveting, I think I'll be able to play catchup with my work even if I stay the rest of this out."

Typing his words up again - he's back to using two hands, after having written some more details of his memory down for safekeeping - he then reaches up and taps the screen.

"That, and we're not quite finished with this yet!"

That look is met with a subtle nod and slow blink, only to shift into a flash of surprise as Walter implies the potential of staying longer. Having moved his feet closer to the chair in preparation to stand, Benjiro relaxes one leg straight again with a grin behind his mask as Walter elects to stay a little longer at least.

CrashLime lets out a loud whoop and Sharcade claps her hands, and the stream chat floods with cheering emotes.

"I suppose that it's unanimous then. Walter stays," Benjiro states with joy.

On the game goes with Skainsmate rejoining, and after they reach a significant marker of development for the base, the group draws up the list of choices to seek out another game to switch out into for a short while. Titles are batted back and forth, and the chat offers no consensus.

Edited 2018-10-28 03:54 (UTC)

"Now, if any of my clients ever made me feel this welcome...!" Walter says, tone still light.

Once they've made even more significant progress and started debating what to play next, Walter goes rather quiet.

"A racing simulator, perhaps?" he offers eventually. There's a momentary glance at Ben.

Something Sadie might like? is the underlying question.

The joke gets a chuckle from Benjiro, and he settles in until it's time to switch to a new game.

Scanning the list himself, he looks to Walter at the suggestion and immediately picks up the unspoken implication, "That should offer a nice change in pace, and you can really show your skill. How about it, everyone?"

With no disagreement from the other streamers and approval from a majority of the stream chat, Benjiro moves to cue up the correct game for them. It is the only racing game on their list, so that makes the selection much easier.

Walter's expression of bemusement results in several screenshots, if only for its versatility as a reaction image.

Only having the one racing game might say something about the genre... but Walter's in no mood to make such sniping remarks.

Fortunately, or unfortunately perhaps, the character customization routine has far fewer features (there are some novel ones, but not any 'fill in the blanks'), making up for the diversity in car styles instead.

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Let's proudly not melt, shall we? [Mingle]

^^

SPAAAAAAAAAAAACE

Just Think Moonbase Alpha: the Text Adventure!

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Because I COULD have him go by Webmind, but also it'd make no sense! XD

Probably for the best for their future. Feel free to ascribe a screen name for another streamer!

\o/ I can visualize this really well, I love it.

Yes good! Then I am doing my job

:> I just hope I can do so in return~ It's only fair. Also, I love that game name.

I like your writing <3 And thanks! I had to go for a pun

ahgakd! Thanks! <3<3

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Since this IS before the Echo of Memory Capacity...

Ah the troubles of backtags

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Awww, slow blinks!

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I couldn't resist. XD