If It's Not Rough, It Isn't Fun!

send me a ship and i’ll reply with

Snapping his fingers like a mythical genie, Laurent seemingly magically transported them all to one of the most visually stunning regions of the game world: the Cloud Sea.

Massive chunks of land floated high in the stratosphere, containing their own individual environments. The largest were stationary bodies, orbited by drifting islands. Fantastical sky-ships held aloft by giant balloons and flapping wing-like sails flew between the landmasses. In the midst of it all, far below the ground they stood on, was an impenetrable layer of clouds with a swirling vortex in its center.

Behind them was a bustling port-city that must have belonged in the 17th or 18th Centuries---filled with Colonial era-dressed townspeople, sailors and what was certainly pirates. Ships loaded and offloaded at the docks before ascending or descending. Likely, that was how players could arrive at this area.

The words are, Mai thought, some of the most honest she's said in a long, long time. The town she stands above, the islands that float around her and her harpies, it might all be pixels, not something that truly existed, and yet it was simply... beautiful. She could hear the calls and cries of people below them, swore to herself that - even though it should be impossible - she could smell the salt of the sea. Kaiba really had gone all out, determined to make this an experience for all the senses, and for a moment the duelist was overwhelmed as she took in this small portion of what awaited her.

It took the touch of a claw to bring her back. The red-haired Harpie - her main monster, the first of the three sisters she had ever claimed as a card - gave a soft scree, her taloned hand tapping lightly on Mai's shoulder. The feeling should have been terrifying, but instead it drew her back from the edge, bringing her attention back to the moment at hand. She wasn't some overwhelmed kid- she had a job to do here.

But then again, every good game had character customization. It wasn't out of the ordinary for someone to make a character in the likeness of a celebrity, either as a joke or a tribute. Programmers were known to put characters based on real people inside their games for similar reasons.

"It's an honor, Miss Valentine!~" he said with a gentle bow. "Just call me Laurent."

Laurent briefly looked over Mai's avatar, seemingly recognizing some of the armor pieces she was wearing. The shortened skirt and more revealing top were new to him, however.

The wind picked up with every word, the glow of the card strengthening - bright, brighter, too bright. Her free hand came up to shield her eyes, both from the glare and the bits of debris that were rising up into the air, before three beams of light shot up into the air from her hand. A shrill cry came, echoed twice more, before the light transformed into three beautiful women, each covered in armor - and each with a set of wings and dangerous talons. All three came to land beside Mai, smirks on their faces as they glanced at Laurent, their eyes glinting with mischief.

"...whoa." Mai breathed out slowly, taking in the familiar forms of her favorite creatures. Each one was just as lovely as their card had ever shown, and she felt an intense pride at seeing them. That pride was undercut a moment when she noticed that, for some reason, "...Why the hell are you three more armored than me!?"

Trilling laughter, muffled by wrists, came from the three monsters, who stood, awaiting their commands. Mai pouted at them a moment more before turning to Laurent, her annoyance melting away. "As you can see, my Harpie Lady Sisters are Wind-Attribute monsters with a combined total of 1950 attack points and 2100 defense. They work as a team, which is why they're considered one monster. Each sister is unique in looks, and each one is just as deadly as the last."

Still, it would've been nice if someone told him to work on something else or just take the day off. That way, the VIP's experience wouldn't be marred by an embarrassing misunderstanding like this one.

The programmer's demonic avatar smirked, obviously taking pride in the compliment. "Thank you! We settled for nothing less than our best efforts to breathe life into the monsters and immerse the player into a whole new world."

As much as she knew tutorials were necessary for any new system, Mai had been in Legendary World for at least twenty minutes, and the basics all seemed pretty simple to her: explore the world at your leisure, encountering new Duel Monsters to battle, either with your own two hands or with any Monsters you've already tamed. Her starting choice had been, of course, the Harpie Lady, whose card would appear whenever she called upon it. It was all amazing to see, better than anything Pegasus had ever dreamed of for Duelist Kingdom, but after a little while it became tedious to go over the same steps again and again to build up a worthwhile deck. Time to take the training wheels off and really play.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" he appeared to realize his mistake. "I thought you were one of the other programmers. No one told me that we were going live today..."

Oh. Well, that... that made more sense. A small sigh of relief left the duelist; one she hurried to hide by brushing her fingers up through her hair. "I guess it would be an embarrassment to Kaiba Corp's reputation if that happened. Still, you shouldn't have been sneaking around. Don't you know that's a good way to end up killed?"

She placed a hand on the sword at her hip for emphasis. "I could have booted you out of here with a single swing! Or one of my monsters could have. Her Harpie's Pet Dragon would have made quick work of this guy; she was sure of it. "And you're not live. I'm one of the beta testers. I was personally invited by five of the largest shareholders in the company to be here, and frankly... I'm impressed."