Readopt Form - Blooming Elegance

[OrangeSocks]

Username: OrangeSocks
Name: Myristica
Gender: Cisfemale


xx

If you take the time to read it an want to give me some feedback, PM me! It would be much appreciated :3

[OrangeSocks]

A light flashed through the webpage and the system began to boot up, electrical impulses traveling through data and wires to form new life, a new time. Theme music played lazily as a colorful splash page with the game title filled the screen: “The Cacophony Principle.” The player admired the art for a moment before opening an empty save file when prompted. The screen went dark except for a small loading bar of a fluffy creature hopping around.
---

[OrangeSocks]

Myristica slowly became aware of her consciousness, despite the darkness. The familiar buzz at her fingertips and feeling of elation as she was formed from lines of code was usually exciting, even if what was to come would not be. A small beep began to fill her ears and Myristica, eyes still closed, tried moving her toes and was satisfied to feel grass beneath them. The landscape had loaded. With a deep breath, Myristica counted down, waiting for the player, and plastered a sweet smile across her face. 3… 2… 1… Her eyes snapped open as the avatar of the player fell from the sky and the background music started. Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, Myristica rushed over to them, mildly content to find that they had chosen the rogue model. She liked rogues and their specialized storylines and found that they provided a little fun within the all too familiar plot. This one was a female model with long white hair and caramel skin, probably with an earth affinity. Rounded ears and lack of magical appendages brought about another mild surprise: the player had chosen to be human. Interesting. Myristica readied her herself, pushing away her curiosity about the player and prepared her scripted lines. They came easily as she held out a hand to the rogue, seamlessly built into her system. Myristica had tried varying her words in the past, but after repeating her role thousands of times, changing little things here and there no longer satisfied her.

“Greetings traveler. I have been waiting quite a while for you to come.” Myristica said before she launched into the cutscene. She explained the premise of the game to the player, telling of a prophecy, an evil menace, magic, and of war. The rogue stared at her blankly the entire time as Myristica went through her motions; they wouldn’t react until the interactive portion. Finally, the introduction was over. Myristica briefly paused to catch her breath. The next part was her least favorite part of the tutorial.
“Oh! It occurred to me that I never asked you your name. While you hold the legacy of the ancient one, you must have you own name, right?” Myristica knew a popup was being presented to the player, asking for their name and pronouns. She had never actually seen that screen, but her connection to the main system had planted knowledge of its existence within her. As she waited for their response, she swayed slightly in her standing animation. She used to battle a grimace during this time in the game in the past, imagining all the dumb or inappropriate names players might put in. She had experienced many and often felt humiliated when forced to call the player “Sir Fartington” or some other moronic name for the rest of the playthrough. The player finally hit enter and a name popped into Myristica’s head; luckily, it was a normal name.



“Erin! It is wonderful to meet you. As I mentioned, I am Myristica, but you can call me Myri! I was chosen to be your guide throughout your adventure here in the lands of Cacophony.”

Myristica hated the nickname the game gave her. Every time the player called her it Myristica had to fight a frown, even after so many times. If only the writers had added an “s” to the end! Myris was a more mature nickname, Myri made her sound like a little kid. But, as always, Myristica held her tongue. She may be able to alter the script to a certain extent, but she could not change names. “Myri” was hardwired into the game and therefore, into Myristica. She just had to accept that each game.
The two exchanged a few more lines as Myristica gave Erin some tips and her first rogue weapons of the game while maintaining her smile. These could, of course, be upgraded or replaced, but Myristica assured Erin that they were exactly what she needed to start. As soon as Myristica finished her weapon monologue, the practice battle activated, relieving Myristica’s voice for a short time while popups guided Erin through the basics.

Erin began to move forward through the meadow and Myristica watched her do some practice swipes with a dagger. Just a few more feet before Erin would hit the invisible line that would spawn the first enemies, then Myristica’s battle commands would be activated and she would jump behind Erin as a support. Myristica fancied herself an adept healer; she was not incredible, but players usually relied on her until they recruited a higher tiered unit, the favorite being Emprix.

Emprix was the 2nd best healer in the game, the best being incredibly hard to get and even harder to upgrade. In the context of the script, Myristica hated Emprix. When the player chose to replace Myristica with her, a storyline activated that involved them not getting along. Myristica was supposed to act jealous of Emprix who was taller, stronger, more developed, and very charming to the point of being flirtatious. Myristica would deny it yet fight for the player’s attention. In all honesty, Myristica liked Emprix and thought the whole setup was idiotic and stereotypical. While the slightly older woman was locked into her script and non-sentient like all the other NPCs, Myristica admired her, or at least how she was written. Brave, commanding, building her own path in a way that accepted no shame from others, Myristica loved her independence. If only their subroutines would let them be friends! Instead, the script would have the player comfort Myristica in a short cutscene and reassure her of her importance. A touching moment for the player, but unnecessary and annoying for Myristica. Whoever wrote that part of the script should have been demoted. Maybe then they could get a better writer who would fix the dumb mini arc, maybe even give Myristica a backstory besides: “I’ve been waiting for the player all my life.”

Myristica was pulled out of her grouse by the system pushing her forward to speak. “They should be up ahead, come on!” Myristica found herself saying as she skipped in front of Erin. She would not be able to get very far from the player’s position, but seeing the guide wavering at the edge of the screen usually got them moving. Not Erin. The rogue stood completely still, just before the spawn activation line. Had she left? Players sometimes left their game on while doing something else, which was sometimes a blessing and sometimes a curse. Myristica could wander around the area a little if the player hit pause, but if they just left the game open she couldn’t move except to deliver the loop of prompts to encourage the player to continue. At times, Myristica would get tired of her own voice. Again, she was forced to speak.

“They should be up ahead, come on!” Finally, after two more prompts, Erin moved slightly. No, she wasn’t moving, there was something else going on. The rogue was clipping through elements in the background, which gave the illusion of movement. Myristica activated her idle animation to get a better view; her position was locked but her idle allowed her to twist a little. This was not supposed to happen. After so many plays, Myristica knew the glitches of the game to a T. There was one area behind the tavern, a few in the wilderness in certain situations, but there were no glitches in the tutorial.
What was happening?

[OrangeSocks]

Myristica was not accustomed to this ambiguity. She knew every possible situation in the game, the mainframe hid nothing from her. Every secret the unsentient NPCs had, the different storylines the player could unlock, the four secret stages hidden in the main chapters, Myristica knew them all. In this situation, Myristica knew her heart would be pounding if she had been programmed with one.

Another idle animation revealed that a darkness was eating away at the edges of the landscape, flashes of code swelling within the black. Panic began to set in and Myristica found the corners of her smile wavering and her hands shaking, her fear animation from later boss battles begging to surface. If she frowned or began to deviate from her subroutines for this section, Myristica would be reset. It had only happened once before… yet maybe a reset would help? The bug was not with Myristica herself, so the reset might not fix the world, but it was worth a try. She activated her idle one last time and gasped at the scene behind her. It was nearly incomprehensible: code and binary breaking through trees and rocks, swirling around Erin’s model, clipping through her shoulders and legs. That was it, Myristica could not hold out any longer; she let her face fall slack and began to back away from the scene, tensing for the reset she desperately desired. A tingling sensation began to climb up her body, a good sign. Just a second longer and everything would be fine. The sensation reached her neck and Myristica closed her eyes. Everything would be normal. Whatever was happening would be purged from the system.

"Myris.” A strange voice filled her ears just as Myristica felt herself being pulled through the floor, the codes for the dirt and grass clipping through her body. It wasn’t painful, as a virtual character Myristica could not feel any pain, but her terror disrupted her subroutines to a point where she was experiencing something as close to pain as she could imagine. Myristica shut her eyes forcefully and curled into a ball as she fell, desperately wishing for whatever glitch or hack that was going on to end.
I’m sorry I was unhappy with my storyline! I’m sorry I don’t like my nickname! I’ll follow the script exactly again, I will stop resenting the code! Please, just reset everything!

Suddenly, the darkness was filled with a roaring silence. The chaos was gone. No background music played, birds did not call in the sky. Myristica slowly opened her eyes to find grass, once again, underneath her. She lifted her head cautiously and looked around. The scenery was the same as before, a cleared pathway between lush trees. As she stood, lettering flickered at the edges of her vision. What did it say?

Route Unlocked: C̴͍̻̿͋ô̸̢̹̪̌͌ń̴̢̳͖̓t̷͚͓̂͗i̸̜̜̔̌̾ͅǹ̸̮͓u̴͓̔͒a̸̫̲̩͂͆̿ṅ̴̛̤̙̉c̷̭̹̲͗͋e̶̡̛̿ ̵̲̊̈́ờ̸̭̐f̶̛̼̼̑̕ ̶͎̄͝M̸̡̭̂y̷͝ͅr̸̺̞̮͛̽͠ĭ̸̮͒̉ŝ̶̻t̴̨͔͑̾̕ì̵̻̺c̵̻̐ǎ̵́̚͜ ̴̦̆̓

Myristica squinted, trying to catch the wiggling text more clearly. “Continuance of Myristica?” What did that mean? Myristica only had two routes that focused on her, both very minor. One involved taking the player to help her steal pastries and the other was the conflict Emprix. She was the tutorial character, meant to be slightly separate and undeveloped. That was all she was and would ever be! Why would the game bait her like this? Myristica placed a hand on a nearby tree to steady herself as questions flooded her mind. The silence of the world exacerbated her growing panic, her chest heaving. The quiet was suddenly broken. She began to hear a scratchy sound, like that of fingernails on tuff fabric. Louder and louder, Myristica tried to cover her ears, but a voice broke out.

“Ah, hello Myris!” Myristica spun around trying to find the source of the voice. Maybe if she could find whoever was messing with the game she could stop them! If not, she would at least smack them. But, the clearing was as empty as before.

“My name is Ali Cortez. I know you must be frightened at the moment, but please hear me out. I am currently a game developer at Inertia, though not for long. You may recognize the company name from the title screen if you have been able to see it. Anyway, I am sure you have questions. I will try to answer them. You may want to sit down.” Myristica narrowed her eyes but slowly complied, not sure where to focus her gaze.
“First of all, the player is fine. They are most likely a friend of mine as I plan to give her the codes to activate all this. I’m sure she will be back after I finish, the whole transition takes a lot of power and… well, you get it.”

Myristica did not “get it” but relaxed slightly at knowing that Erin was okay. It would have been awful if whatever this was had released a virus onto her computer.

“Where to start,” the voice, or rather Ali, continued, “ By this time you have probably noticed that you are different from the other characters in this game. You can deviate from the script, you are aware of your status as an NPC, etc. I hope it has not been too challenging for you, but if it has, I do apologize. You see, Myris, you are my brainchild. I have dreamed of creating a game where the characters truly control themselves, where you are given base personalities but then grow to be so much more, choosing your own way of reacting to give a unique experience. However, I was never able to get enough support to indulge in this dream. Too much money, too many risks, paradoxes and such. So, I hid it. I am a stubborn person, you see. I chose a character that we had no plans of giving much of a story and played with their code. I crafted a route for them and changed their code so they would be able to react to said route in any way they pleased. Myristica, I gave you a backstory to explore with the player. I gave you intelligence no one would ever dream of a video game character having for decades. While my coworkers spent too much time fixing bugs that I could resolve in a minute, I created the incredible.”

Myristica’s head was swimming. Ali was speaking of a backstory, a route, about how special she was, but Myristica didn’t have these things. She knew she was different from the other NPCs, but this was too much to accept. Myristica balled her fists and scrambled to her feet, frantically searching for somewhere to look. “If you made me so special, why don’t I have this special backstory?” Myristica yelled, “I have nothing! I’m alone and isolated. I talk to the characters who are supposed to be my friends and all they do is repeat the same lines! Why would you make me this way and then abandon me without all these things you are promising I have? Even without all that, I don’t even have a last name! You could at least give me that if you are so proud of yourself.”
Myristica stopped to catch her breath, only to realize that Ali was still talking. It must be a recording.

“I could talk for hours about all this and the revolutionary process I used to make you, but I will get to the point. I am being fired. The other devs found out what I was doing as I started to use up too much space to work on you and was crashing other parts of the game. They said I was wasting my time and told me to get rid of it all. I’m here to make a fun game for people and make some money, not advance A.I. Idiots, all of them are idiots. They couldn’t accept that I was taking their little game and making it so much more.”

The change in Ali’s tone from when he was talking about his achievements was chilling and made Myristica uneasy; she did not like where this was going.


“The situation got aggressive and they decided I was in the wrong. So, I’m being cast out. They are going to delete all of my work, poof! Hours and hours of brilliant work gone. But, I was prepared. The skeleton of your route is too deeply embedded to be deleted. I will look like a draft level. That’s where you should be right now. It is unfinished and unrefined and you will have to use a script to get through each chapter, but there is… wiggle room for your abilities. Please do not go too far off the path, only the essential area will load in for you. Oh! I must also mention that it can only be played through one time. Once the route activates the game software will begin to purge it all.” Ali paused and took a deep breath. “Myristica, I realize I have stranded you in a world where you are so limited. I truly hope the remnants of my work can give you some satisfaction. If you are still around at this point it means you have not chosen to deviate too far from the script, as that would cause a report to be filed an all this to be found and deleted, so I imagine the days are long and repetitive for you. I wish there was more I could do to save you from this drudgery, but they will not let me near any company equipment after I clean off my computer, which I will use to embed this message. Erin should come back soon and the two of you can explore the Continuance of Myristica. Damn, I wish I could replace that filler title with a more lavish one…” Ali began to mutter before refocusing. I do not know how long the wonderful enhancements I have made to you will last, but do not fret. They will last much longer then the route. You still have plenty of time. With that, I wish you the best of luck, my wonderful creation.”

The same scratchy sound that had signalled the beginning of the message returned, beckoning the end.

[OrangeSocks]

Myristica’s knees hit the ground as she collapsed, hands gripping the virtual grass so tightly that her nails bit into her hands. Her head was a mess of anger and fear, but, as her breaths slowed, Myristica realized she was feeling two other emotions: excitement and… hope. In no way did she trust Ali --he seemed to have a superiority complex of some sort-- but there was no reason for him to lie. Even conceited people could be kind sometimes.

Myristica slowly let go of the grass and fell against the tree behind her. Birds began to sing once more and Myristica noticed that the quiet murmur of the pause screen soundtrack had started to play. At least Ali had not tried to compose his own music for this route. Myristica had no idea of his musical capabilities, but it was likely that he put his time into programming rather than composing. There was a young bard later in the game who was a rather horrid player. The sweet kid tried so hard and was so passionate, but also completely tone deaf. The player actually had an option to tell the truth about his abilities and encourage him to try something new, stay neutral, or go along with the praise he desperately wanted. Myristica always hated when players chose to lie, setting up the kid to be hurt later. If she was in control, Myristica would be truthful but also try to help him find something else he could pour his passion into.

“But… now I am in control.” Myristica mumbled to herself. She would have to trust Ali’s agenda and work with Erin, but… Myristica hopped to her feet as a grin spread across her face. “I am in control!” She yelled to the sky, scaring off some nearby birds.

“Hey, partner.” A voice and a tap on the back from behind Myristica made her jump. She turned and was pleasantly surprised to see Erin. They stared at each other for a moment before a rumble of laughter began and they both started to giggle.

“Okay, okay,” Erin said between gasps as she tried to catch her breath, “Are you ready to get your story on the road?”

Myristica nodded, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “Definitely”. Erin opened up a map and Myristica felt her heart flutter as a quest arrow appeared in front of them, pointing the duo towards her very own route.


(Click for bigger picture. I tried lineless art for the first time in a long time for some reason, but it worked out okay ^^)