A young boy with brown hair wakes up from his bed. He then looked at the alarm clock on his bedside table.
10:00 AM
He instantly froze up, realizing what day it is. He then hid in the covers, trying to sleep. However, the door opens and he hears his mom.
"Ryu-kun, today's the day! Wake up and get yourself ready. The limo will come any moment!" She said. Ryu grunted as he got out of bed. He put on a shower robe and went to wash up.
When he was done his shower and got dressed in a yellow sweater and blue jeans, he went to the table and had his breakfast of instant ramen.
"I still can't believe I won." He muttered. He recalled how he filled out a survey from Bandai a few nights ago when he was on the internet, and how it promised a winner out of filling that survey. He thought he would not win. His mom was just over the sink, washing some of the dishes from last night.
"I can't believe it either, but you won." His mom said. She then looked outside the window. "Oh! The limo's here! Finish up!" She told him. He was already done by the time she realized. He sighed and went to get his shoes. His mom followed him, then put her hands on his shoulders. "Look, if anything happens, just call me. I know their address so I can just go over and pick you up if you want." She told him. She then kissed him on the forehead. "Good luck!" She said. Ryu hesitated to open the door, and when he did, he just stared at the front lawn before the limo honked, scaring him. He then ran to the limo, opened the door, and hopped in. The driver then drove off to their destination.
The limo pulled over at the office and Ryu got out. He then entered the office and told the receptionist that he was part of the NEO project. He then sat at a seat that didn't have any other people sitting on the seats next to it. He sat down and twiddled his thumbs, looking around the room to see the others that gathered. He gulped.
edited 28th Dec '11 5:47:01 PM by Psyga315
Haruka walked to the center after a long day of swimming in the park, leaving a not for her parents about the beta though they were gone as usual, leaving her to check the mail. It had been a rough day in school. The bullies had noticed the white streaks in her hair and she'd lost a contact. It was apparent now what she looked like. Nothing to worry about. I can still be normal! Completely normal. She was wearing her scholl uniform perpetually grey with red checkers, the only variation was the swim goggles she'd be forced to wear in leu of her contacts. She stood on the balls of her feet finally reaching the mail box. One of the MM Os she'd ordered to had responded to her. It's amazing that they want an oddball like me. she admitted to herself. Then she opened the letter and read the response.
"Congratulations! You have won the right to test out a new advance in gaming technology. Digimon: NEO is the first extensive VR MMO ever developed and we here at Bandai would like to invite you to go be a beta tester. In this envelope you will see plane tickets or a phone number. At July 17th on 11 A.M will be the testing. While the tickets have already planned for this, people here in our native country of Japan need to call this number before and state that you're part of the "NEO project" and you'll get a ride for free."
"They actually wanted me? But why? And live? How am I going to hide me live?" she said. "I guess I could just wear a wig." she said. "What about the contacts? I don't have the other one? Damn it..." she said. "Why'd I throw my glasses out? she said. " That's it! I'll pretend I'm just a foreigner. Rue! That's a foreign name right?" she said. She arrived at the address and opened the door. "Am I late?" Rue said.
edited 28th Dec '11 5:52:59 PM by RhymeBeat
The Crystal Caverns A bird's gotta sing.Joel Magnusson was not a happy boy.
He had been happy once, but that part of his life had been fleeting and now he only barely remembered the comforts his family's wealth had brought him. He had enjoyed it when it was there, but now that it was gone he missed it more than he thought he would. But such thoughts could wait until later. Better to focus on the present than lament the past.
The boy shifted in his chair, eyes scanning the room. He honestly hadn't expected to win that contest. The chances of winning those sorts of things were next to none and he wouldn't have changed the odds in his favor even if he could. There were better things to use his ill-gotten gains for, namely keeping a roof over his head and food on the table. Joel didn't consider himself a criminal. Very few people did. He was merely parting fools from their money, a task easier said than done, and putting it to better use. Sure, sometimes he took a little more than he needed and sometimes he got almost got caught, but he wasn't so greedy as to be careless.
When the letter had arrived, he had almost considered not going. But this was one of those once-in-a-lifetime things and he would be a fool not to pass it up. Besides, his father had given permission and Joel had made sure to leave the old man enough money keep him up while he was gone. It was odd, being the breadwinner of the little family, but he had grown accustomed to it. He had something of a talent for trickery, though he stuck to simple cons and pickpocketing most of the time. His father, while not particularly talented in the field, served as his occasional accomplice, drawing the mark's attention away from Joel while he worked his magic. His father was not an immoral man, but he knew about Joel's choice in occupation and supported it as best he could, though somewhat grudgingly.
The trip had been long and uneventful, as he'd expected. He'd only been on a plane a few times before and even then it was only for local flights. He was rather tired, though he didn't show it. He'd have a nice, long nap once he got to his hotel room.
Looking around the room once more, Joel smiled. It wasn't a devious smile or a madman's grin. It was a friendly smile, the best one he could pull off without showing too much teeth. He had horrible teeth and he didn't want to call attention to them. He was smiling both out of the false sense of comfort he liked to project and his current feelings of excitement. Even if this MMO thing turned out to be crap, at least he could still get the chance to try out some of his older tricks in a new venue. Absentmindedly, he pondered on the exchange rate from Yen to dollars.
Joel leaned back in his chair and looked over the other contest winners. Should he go talk to them? Probably. He had to do something, after all, and he relished the chance to empty yet another fool's pockets. He considered approaching one of the Japanese teens but decided against it. He didn't speak a word of Japanese and many a good con had been ruined by language barriers.
So he sighed and leaned back, running through his options. It was probably going to be a while before the scientists got things all fixed up, so he had some time.
"You have more than enough potential. So tell me what is the one wish that would make your soul gem shine." -Mitt Romney, probablyMay slid out of the limo, running her fingers through her hair as she went. Dusting her black jeans and matching shirt, she pulled on the green longcoat she'd chosen for the day as she removed an envelope from the front pocket of her jeans. After the long plane ride she felt the need to look over the acceptance letter one more. It wasn't much to look at, just a slightly stylized envelope with the Bandai logo in the upper corner and the Digimon logo scrawled across it. Unfolding the message with a sigh, she gave it another glance over. It read:
Pocketing it, she noticed the other members who shared the limo ride had already departed the car and were quickly moving ahead of her. With a sigh, she quickly followed the group into the building, looking around in awe as they went. As the group was ushered into the room, May slid into a seat near the center, casting a glance around. She had to admit that it was a rather nice looking place.
The floors and walls appeared be be made up of black marble, the seat of the room ranging from massage chairs to oakbacked chairs, all of which were arranged in a circle. In the center sat a table, magazines piled up upon it. The back held a long table covered in food from various countries, vending machines propped against the wall.
Shortly after settling down, a man burst in the room. After apologizing for being late and telling the group to socialize while the company finished getting things set up, the man left the group in the room with the translator to watch them. Scoffing at the notion of communicating, May turned her head to ignore everyone else. It was shaping up to be a long wait.
edited 28th Dec '11 6:47:38 PM by Chariot
Haruka stumbled around the room, her poor eyesight getting the better of her. She bumped into a black haired girl. She apologized profusely. "I'm sorry. Really sorry. I've got something in my eye." she lied, hoping that she wouldn't have to rely on lying further.
The Crystal Caverns A bird's gotta sing.Silas Roland stood apart from the other members of this little group, having opted to lean against the wall rather than sit in one of the room's chairs. The young man was not trying to be rude by refusing the hospitality of his hosts in this fashion, he was simply trying to stay awake; his flight to Japan had been rather long—over thirteen hours, in fact—and while he had managed to get some sleep on the plane he was still very tired. He knew that if he sat down now, he would almost certainly fall asleep; so he leaned against the wall, the cool feeling of its marble surface on the back of his neck helping to keep him focused and conscious.
He could scarcely believe that he was here, although this had little to do with any feeling of excitement on his part; Silas had entered that contest on a lark, really, and had never expected to actually win a prize like this. The bespectacled youth had initially not wanted to come for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that he could not speak a lick of Japanese was not exactly keen on being alone in a foreign country whose people he wouldn't be able to understand, but in the end a sense of obligation had won out; after all, the company had already gone to the expense of arranging a free flight, limo ride and accomodations, so accepting their generous hospitality was the least he could do—and anyway, it had been too late to cancel by the time he'd actually gotten the letter of acceptance.
So here he was, standing in the office of a major corporation in a city thousands of miles from home, waiting to take part in the beta-testing of an MMO with highly-experimental virtual reality components. Truth be told, he was feeling more than a little nervous right at the moment, and as if to express that anxiety he reached up to adjust his glasses; behind their lenses, eyes the colour of slate slowly panned across the other players assembled here. It looked as though almost half of the kids here were locals, a fact which made him wonder just how they were meant to cooperate with one another; he hoped that at least some of them knew how to speak English, because otherwise this was probably going to get awkward real fast.
It was at that point that a man entered the room, telling them all that the game wasn't quite ready for them yet and that they should make an effort to socialize until it was. Sighing faintly as the man left, Silas reached up to rub sleep from the corners of his eyes. "Please tell me I'm not the only one here who can speak English," he muttered under his breath, his words addressed to no one in particular.
Having entered at the same time as Silas and the other foreign players, Olivia Tantalos had also kept her distance from the group—but where Silas opted to stand, the pale young woman had opted to sit. The androgynous blonde was not all that happy to be here, for a number of reasons; the sheer opulence of this room did not sit well with her, for it felt as though the Bandai company were flaunting its wealth and prestige in her face, and the fact that most of the other players looked as though they were still in middle school was proving somewhat irksome; was she really the only college student to have taken part in this dumb contest, let alone actually won it? If so, this was rather disappointing...
Having no interest in interacting with her fellow beta-testers, Olivia had immediately slipped on her headphones and turned on her CD player; she had kept the volume low enough to hear the people around her, just in case something important was said, but other than this she paid them neither curtesy nor heed. She had not bothered to look up or even glance in the scientist's direction when he entered the room, and when he informed them that things were not quite ready just yet the young woman simply rolled her eyes in annoyance. It was always the way, wasn't it; people always made a big deal about having you be punctual and on-time, and then when you actually did turn up they acted as if they weren't expecting you at all and rushed to get everything set.
It might be nice to have someone my own age to talk to right now, she thought sourly, closing her eyes while gently bobbing her head to the rhythm of her favourite song. At least then, I might get some intelligent conversation if someone decides to bother me...
The Danse Macabre CodexHaruka responded in heavily accented English. "I can speak English! I'm a foreigner! she said as she donned her blue goggles hoping that it would work as a disguise. "My name is Rue. I'm very glad I won this contest and I'm really sorry."
The Crystal Caverns A bird's gotta sing.A girl with pink hair also got out of the vehicle. Her hair was rather strange looking to say the least, since it appeared to emulate feline ears with two symmetrical spikes standing up at either side of her head. Needless to say, it defied gravity and looked natural while doing so, without aid of gel or any other props. Her style of dress seemed to be an ornate over tunic reminiscent of certain action rpg game characters, with lines reaching around in weird but pleasing patterns.
Around her neck was something akin to a dog collar, and the individual's face was rather icy looking. As she entered the building, she staked out a chair and sat upon the seat in a manner reminiscent of a gang boss, with her legs spread apart and her hands behind her oddly colored hair as she closed her eyes and took seemingly no notice of the others. After all, she had an image to keep up.
A young man of Asian heritage with a bandanna and a set of earphones over his ears was already seated in one of the chairs, due to his nature to arriving early in order to insure he missed nothing. Perhaps in a paradox of his rather expressive head accessories, he was a wearing simple but fancy looking suit. It looked like it was modified from a butler's uniform of all things, but much more stylish and comfortable. He too was not listening to the others, because the music from his earphones were drowning out all other sounds. Propped against the nearby wall was a black broom, within easy arm's reach. Always be ready to do the unusual and unexpected.
Joel looked up at the boy who had just spoken, his smiled widening. Good, someone to talk to. And steal from, if the need arose. Not now, though. There were too many eyes in an enclosed, well-lit space. He may have been a pickpocket, but he wasn't an idiot. "Yeah, I speak English." He replied, pushing himself out of his chair and walking over to the boy with the glasses. "Name's Joel." Joel offered his hand to Silas.
"You have more than enough potential. So tell me what is the one wish that would make your soul gem shine." -Mitt Romney, probablyDigimon. Also known as Digital Monsters, Digimanz, or from that one talk show hosts, DIGIMONS, WITH THE MONS AND THE DIGIS. It was a worldwide phenomenon, and by worldwide, I mean famously and obsessively popular only with a certain age - namely, 14, maybe 15, younger, or something to that extent. It was, after all, a merchandise-driven franchise.
Stateside, the cutoff age was probably even younger.
James knew all this. He had started with Saturday morning cartoons at a tender, young age... and it had stuck with him over the years, even to this date. Of course, back then, he also thought Blackwargreymon was the deepest and wisest being in existence, by sheer value of his pseudo-philosophical ramblings with big words. As time went on, his interest in the franchise dipped, waxed and waned... but it was always there.
It was a closet hobby of his, shut up.
It was also why James had entered that survey a few months ago - entering for the sake of it. Even so, he had hardly expected to win it, nor did he particularly and fervently wish to do so - he was at that age where he thought that he was BUSY BUSY BUSY BUSY enough to shame five hives' worth of bees, what with homework and sports and college letters.
Haha, just wait for college, you dumbass.
I mean, even today, he was expecting a track meet in a week and-
Why am I even describing these mitigating circumstances? You know James is going. That's the whole reason why I'm writing this in the first place.
Enough exposition. It is time to write for men. And women. And women who pretend to be foreigners. But mostly, in this case, teenaged kids who think they are adults.
After the flight had landed, the befuddled, jet-lagged, and fatigued James was rushed to the testing grounds by taxi (completely unaware that there was a free limo, of all things). He limped out of the car, mangling his gratitude and tip in a string of broken Japanese that only Google-Translate would proudly claim as its own.
As he walked in the building, James nervously pulled at the collar of his school shirt (Red and white, with the words 'FAIRVIEW KNIGHTS' emblazoned on it). Seeing a comfy, plush chair, the student made a beeline towards it, sinking into it with a sigh and a groan that was almost orgasmic in its delight.
Then James noticed the other people around him. Most were certainly Japanese, though, surprisingly, there were more than a few... Non-Asian people here. He didn't know; being a small-town boy who rarely got out of his hometown, they all looked about the same to him.
"Err... hi, hello." James waved meekly. And he probably should address the native Japanese people too... this should be a common, simple phrase. He had studied a book of them. It was in his backpack, yes, but he didn't want to flail around looking for it. "And uh... domo... arigato?" he ventured.
"Domo arigato?" Haruka said. "I know Japanese isn't easy." she said. "But why are you thanking them?" Rue began to sweat. If a good portion of the crowd here were actual foreigners she'd be found out soon. She needed to come up with a real plan but in the meantime she decided to play with her goggles.
The Crystal Caverns A bird's gotta sing.The feeling of being bumped into knocked May out of her thoughts. Glancing at the girl who'd already began to apologize profusely, she scoffed, before getting up and moving closer to where Olivia stood. "..." She shook her head, moving over to tap the older woman on her shoulder.
edited 28th Dec '11 7:07:14 PM by Chariot
Patrick wasn't so much interested in the contest for the Digimon MMO, really, but he and his little brother had fond memories of the franchise. His little brother also gave him an excuse to watch the series on the internet, as well as keeping up with the latest stuff between classes and working at their grandfather's gym, the racist old coot. He was nervous until someone spoke up in a language he understood. He nodded to Rue and the others.
"Well, glad to see I'm not the only English speaker. Made the flight over awkward, I know at least ONE of the folks was shouting something in Korean."
...and that's terrible.Haruka sighed. She couldn't be discovered now. Most of the group were foerigners it looked like. The best way to fit in would to be a foreigner. She decided that she would move to negate the more visible of her nationality. "I'm from Catholic school." she said. "Don't mind the uniform. It's just a part of my tutoring session." she said.
The Crystal Caverns A bird's gotta sing."I..." James said blankly. "...I was?" He bit back a curse. Back to the book. He fished out a thin, paperback book, flipping through its contents. "...Right, right. That is... 'thank you'." He muttered under his breath, mostly to himself, before looking back at Rue. "Thanks! And... domo arigato. For real, actually. Konnichiwa."
Given his luck, he'd probably be accenting the wrong syllables.
"It's fine..." She said. "I'm sorry for embarassing you." she said very softly trying to hide her Japanese accent.
The Crystal Caverns A bird's gotta sing."Ohayogozei-masss!"
—From the door, a distinctly Southern-flavoured voice twanged, clear and cheerful, but also very nervous. The owner of that voice walked himself in, swept the grey fedora from his head, and bowed to the sizeable Japanese portion of the group. He gave an earnest, if again nervous, smile to them all, hovering. —
"Uhm, hope I got that pronounced right. Sensei weren't the best practice partner. Sorry."
— Yeah yeah yeah, stare stare stare. Goddammit I'm an idiot, timed it all wrong... No no no, peaaaaace... Breath in, breath out. Remember what Mom said "No one stays a foreigner forever if they get to know the other foreigners."
Spying the various Westerners either talking or attempting to make themselves invisible, the boy stuck out his callused hand to the nearest of them, the guy with the hornrims, all with a reinforced grin. —
"How d'ya do? Name's Alistair Macleod, nahce to see some roundeyes about too, ya'know? First tihme travelling to Japan and Tokyo, what a crazy town. And youahs?"
— Heeyyy, who's the gal with the bangs... What the hell? That other one looks like she's about to make some dire edict from the friggin' School Council President's desk! Ha! —
edited 28th Dec '11 8:00:24 PM by Colonial1.1
"He could not know it. For it was not all a joke."Ryu looked at one of the vending machines and felt some loose change in his pocket. He might as well have some snacks before they begin testing. He got up and walked slowly to the machine. When he reached his destination, he got out his coin needed to buy some candy.
"Try to ignore them. You're just buying candy." he muttered as he placed the coin in the machine. He pressed two buttons and the machine slowly moved the Pocky out of it's place.
"Move faster pocky!" He said to it. Soon, the pocky fell into the small chamber. He quickly stuck his hand into it and grabbed the pocky. He then tried to go back to his seat when some guy burst in, announcing his presence and calling himself Alistair. Looking away, he retreated to his seat and unwrapped the pocky. He then took one and nibbled on it.
edited 28th Dec '11 7:54:27 PM by Psyga315
Alexander goes to Silas. "I speak English too... then again you probably weren't asking... I'm so dumb for bothering you I'm sorry... Go back to sleep."
He slinks off back to the shadows as Tetsuo chuckles while walking to James. He talks with a thick accent talking slowly obviously thinking of the words as he says them. "You're not that bright are you? First you say thank you as a way to say hello then you say the wrong form of hello."
He turns to Alistair. "You on the other hand have obviously learned some things. Funny. Heard much about the so-called American Deep South. Smart was not one of the...what do you call them...ah yes adjectives."
Lastly he turns to Rue and starts to speak in Japanese to her trying to elicit a reaction. "You my dear girl are a conundrum. You say you are a foreigner and going to a Catholic School supports that but yet...your accent. Sounds like you've been born and raised here in Japan. Osaka perhaps."
"...That question was rhetorical," Silas stated flatly, arching an eyebrow at the girl presently trying to pass herself off as a foreigner. Riiiight...if she's not Japanese, then I'm the king of both France and England.
He was sorely tempted to actually say that, but refrained from doing so; it would not have been particularly polite, after all, and even tired as he presently was the young man was not about to snap at someone for no good reason—doubtless she had her reasons, strange and unfathomable though they may be. In any event, he was saved from having to reply to her when she turned her attention to someone else; a rather flighty one, this girl.
It was at this point that Silas found himself approached by a seemingly friendly chap who identified himself as Joel, and offered his hand in a clear indication to shake it. Silas did so, but he did not return the smile; there was something about guys who smiled all the time which made him suspicious. He gave the young man's hand a firm squeeze to demonstrate the strength of his grip in a subtle warning not to try anything funny.
"Silas," he replied tersely, letting go of Joel's hand...just in time for a fellow with a rather pronounced Southern drawl to come up to him and introduce himself. Silas blinked in mild surprise as he looked over this Alistair; apart from differing clothes and a slight difference in terms of height and build, the two were so similar that it was almost like looking in a mirror. The resemblance was uncanny, and for a moment the Canadian found himself wondering if he had just encountered a doppelganger...but that was a silly notion, and he put it out of mind.
Silas extended his hand to take Alistair's and gave it a firm shake. "The same. Nice to meet you, Alistair; name's Roland, Silas Roland."
Exhaling through the nose at having her personal space invaded, Olivia glanced towards May out of the corner of her eye and fought to repress a frown. The song had just been getting good, too...
The androgynous blonde slid one of her earphones off and let a pleasant—if forced—smile spread across her face. "Can I help you?"
The Danse Macabre Codex"Osaka?" she said feigning curiosity poorly. "Where's that? I'm not from there." she said. "I..." she became more and more quiet as she tired to think of a way to make her appear to be a foreigner.
The Crystal Caverns A bird's gotta sing.Tetsuo seems to grin widely. Got her. She really thought she could fool me? Heh. Last I checked I'm not dumb. "Rue, if that's even your name. I used very complex Japanese words. Still am. Not even Alistair would have known everything I'm saying. But please tell me. Where are you from? Tokyo? Osaka? Hokkaido perhaps?"

Sin is too stupid to see beyond itself.
Alfred Lord Tennyson
A loud voice echoes through the house. "Tetsuo! You got mail! It's from one of those video game companies you love so much!"
Tetsuo despite all his energy and excitement walks down the stairs all "cool and collected". He grabs the letter. ''It's from Bandai... Wait didn't I... That can't be it... Is it?
He opens the letter. He and any other receivers of the letter * will read this. "Congratulations! You have won the right to test out a new advance in gaming technology. Digimon: NEO is the first extensive VR MMO ever developed and we here at Bandai would like to invite you to go be a beta tester. In this envelope you will see plane tickets or a phone number. At July 17th on 11 A.M will be the testing. While the tickets have already planned for this, people here in our native country of Japan need to call this number before and state that you're part of the "NEO project" and you'll get a ride for free."
Tetsuo smiles. "Well Mom remember that contest?"
Tetsuo's mom nods. "Yeah. I'm assuming you won it? They wouldn't waste money sending letters to all the losers."
Tetsuo nods as his mom sighs. "OK. So what do I need to do so that..."
Tetsuo interrupts. "No mom! There's a paid limo ride."
Tetsuo's mom chuckles. "Oh. I assumed the company would be cheap and would force the parents to do it."
As July 17th drew closer most of the Japanese participants in the beta called the limo company ahead of time so they could be there right at 11 while the foreigners took their airplane rides * On July 17th 11 A.M precisely, everyone walks into the Bandai offices in Tokyo and say they are part of the NEO project.
As they walk in and sit down a scientist bursts down the door with a translator to translate for the non-Japanese in the group. "Oh so sorry so sorry. We didn't think you guys would get here right when the card said. We're just ironing out some last minute issues so just stay here and socialize OK?"
As he leaves Tetsuo leans back in his chair looking bored by the company he has while another boy in a hoodie seems to hide in the shadows as deep as possible.