6/29 Instance: Geeking out

[fourpawsonthefloor]

[Cypher] Doug is standing in the middle of a vast cosmos, comets, planets, and stars whizzing by at an incredible rate.

[Cypher] Before him is a lit up monitor and a keyboard, and his attention is focused nowhere else.

[Cypher] His fingers fly across the keyboard and galaxies shift at his barest whim...

[Remy] Remy punched some numbers into the keypad on the door, watching them open to reveal a bottomless drop studded with lights. "Whoa." He felt a rise of vertigo at the unexpected sight. "Doug? Y' in dere?"

[Cypher] Doug glances with annoyance at a little red light that pops up on his monitor, then Remy's voice registers and he ends the program.

[Cypher] The lights come up and the Danger Room is back to normal. Doug turned to see Remy at the door. "Oh, hey."

[Remy] Remy blinked as everything shifted back to a normal room. He stepped slowly out onto the floor. It was hard to believe that something that solid could look so insubstancial. "Figured might find y' in 'ere."

[Remy] He grinned at Doug as he walked towards him. "Kept meanin' to come down an' see all dat y've been doin'. But didn't expect dat."

[Cypher] He smiled a bit, clearly caught in one of his favorite pasttimes. "Yeah ... I was just taking a study break. Finals are coming up, and I just needed to get out of my room for a bit."

[Cypher] He remembered back to the other night with TJ... "So, uh, how are ... things?"

[Remy] "Bein." He looked critically at Doug's face. "Takin' a break? Y'look like 'ell Doug." he rummaged in one pocket drawing out a coke and a granola bar.

[Remy] "Didn' see y' at lunch either." He passed the items to Doug, turning away to look around at the room. "So what 'ave y' been up t' den down 'ere?"

[Cypher] He accepted the items and broke open the granola bar. Not as sugary as he would have picked, but it was good... "I had breakfast though. Or was that dinner? Anyway, I was just doing my space thing in case we start some astronomy next semester."

[Cypher] His eyes lit up. "Oh, but I finished the New Orleans one finally! I got the crowd to work alright, and even got the jazz band down the street in case TJ had wanted to go and see them. I know it's a little late, but I was so close to finishing it anyway I thought I'd go for it."

[Remy] "Dat's cool!" Remy looked back at Doug. "T'anks for doin' dat...Dieu was dat a good date." He arched a brow, and smiled.

[Remy] "Y've been practically livin' down 'ere...forge got y' bustin' y're ass?"

[Cypher] "No problem. It was fun programming it, and I'm glad you two had a good time."

[Cypher] "But no, Forge just lets me do whatever down here. I've just been playing around, really." He typed in a few commands, and a row of monitors appeared in front of them. A few more commands and the monitors clicked on.

[Cypher] "Here's some of them..." On one of the monitors, Darth Vader and Darth Maul were locked in epic combat, on another were clips from the Danger Room sequences everyone had to go through, another had the scene from New Orleans, complete with a crowd of humans and mutants co-mingling.

[Cypher] "I've got more in the works, but these are the mostly complete ones."

[Remy] Remy leaned over Dougs shoulder to look. "Oh oui? "ow d' y' do all dis?"

[Remy] The concept frankly baffled him. The only way he could deal with the danger room programs were to just accept them at face value, as if they were real. Which is why it was somewhat unnerving to nearly go walking out into space.

[Cypher] He tried to answer, but when Remy leaned in close he had to take a deep breath and concentrate. Just then on a monitor, the two of them fell into the pit of mud. It quickly switched to Angel and Raven traversing some ropes, but he was uncomfortably aware of just where that tumble had led...

[Cypher] "Uh... it's sort of complicated. I mean, my power is language, right? So this is all just computer programming. I don't understand all the hardware behind it - that's Forge's deal."

[Cypher] "But put simply ... I just tell the computer what to do, and it does it."

[Remy] Remy nodded. "Dat's cool den...its all like when y're read dat stuff dat wagner gives y'den, neh?" He watched at the screen showed TJ in her skin tight uniform and his brows shot up. Hmm...maybe those uniforms weren't so bad.

[Remy] He watched the alternating scenes for a moment more. "What's y're favorite den?"

[Cypher] "Favorite?" He thought a moment. Did he have a favorite yet?

[Cypher] "Hmm... How about this one?" He clicked a few more keys and the Danger Room suddenly disappeared, replaced by the courtyard of Notre Dame.

[Remy] Remy looked around him, spinning in a small circle. The detail was amazing - right down to the pidgons shitting on the top spires. The building was breathtaking, but... "A church? Y're favorite program is a church?" He snorted in disbelief.

[Cypher] "Well, not exactly." He kept typing, and a little platform appeared beneath their feet and flew them up so they could overlook the place. "I like the history and architecture. But most of all, this..." He hit 'enter'.

[Cypher] Over the horizon came an army, samurai by the look of it. From inside the church a defending force of knights rode out.

[Cypher] In a few minutes, the two forces would collide...

[Remy] Remy caught at Doug's arm when they first "flew up" the unexpected movement throwing him off balance a little. He watched as the armoured men appearing, looking hell bent towards killing each other. "Did dis really 'appen 'ere?"

[Cypher] "This? Samurai versus knights at Notre Dame? No."

[Cypher] He didn't make any move to pull away from Remy. Before the armies could get to the other one, he paused it.

[Cypher] He looked down over the field of battle. "It's weird. I can do so much here, it's hard to tell where to start."

[Morph] ((Slash action?))

[Summers] ((oh yeah baby!))

[Morph] ((Computers ARE the number one way gay men meet nowadays. I saw that in Time Magazine))

[Remy] "Do so much?" Remy leaned over looking at the men frozen beneath them. "Like program in some blood n' stuff?"

[Remy] He eyed the forces critically. "So den, d'y jus' sit 'ere an watch dem lop each other's 'eads off or what?"

[Cypher] "Well, I could. I don't have that all in just yet, but the possibility here is cool. I mean, I could take any army and put them against any other at any field of battle I want."

[Cypher] "It's the control aspect, I guess. Any 'what if' that can be asked can be answered here."

[Cypher] (( sounds like a challenge, guys. ))

[Morph] ((Do it, Doug!))

[Cypher] (( and give you a clear shot at raven? phsaw, sir! ))

[Morph] ((She rebuffed me!))

[Cypher] (( like morph wouldn't try again? ))

[Morph] ((He's going to send himself flowers in an effort to make her jealous))

[Cypher] (( nice! think it'll work? ))

[Remy] "Oui?" Remy grinned at Doug. "Like 'what if' Lindsay Lohan an' Famke Jaansen went at it?"

[Cypher] He blushed at that. "I... I don't think that's what I'm supposed to be doing with this."

[Remy] Remy grinned wider at Doug's blush. "Well d' possibllities are endless, neh?"

[Remy] He frowned in thought. "So den, what 'appens t' y' if y' fall off a buildin' or somethin' in 'ere? Do y'get 'urt?"

[Cypher] The blush receded. "No. It feels like you get hurt with certain things that are programmed that way. If we had fallen in that pit, for instance, we would have felt bruised. But there's no actual injury unless you actually hit a real thing in here."

[Cypher] "Like right now, we're standing on the ground. We haven't moved an inch. To demonstrate, Doug stepped off the 'platform' into open space and ... just stood there.

[Remy] Remy blinked. "So den why are we standin' on dis thing?"

[Remy] "An' 'ow d' y'know what is real an' what isn't?"

[Cypher] "It takes a little bit to adjust. I didn't just want to stick you in the middle of the air - it's easier for your mind to think you're standing on something, especially at first."

[Cypher] "And as for what's real or not, you should really ask Descartes." He typed in a few more commands, and they were back on Bourbon street.

[Remy] "Descartes?" Remy shook his head, giving it up. He took in a deep breath at the newly updated program. "Dieu is it good t' be 'ome." he walked up the street, looking around at the familiar buildings. "Y'gonna 'ave to come an' see d' real thin' some day."

[Remy] He plucked a petal off a flower, marvelling that the feel of it...so like it was real. "Specially durin' mardi gras...now dat's a party dat will put anythin' else y've ever done t'shame."

[Cypher] He laughed. "Any party I've ever been to always seems to put everything I've ever done to shame."

[Cypher] He sat down on the steps of an old building, enjoying the music coming from just around the corner.

[Remy] Remy flopped beside him, leaning back on his elbows. "Well den, we'll just 'ave to change dat, neh?

[Cypher] "We'll see..." His looked turned serious. "You asked me my favorite one ... well, I sort of lied. I have one I like watching better." He typed a few more commands on the keyboard in his lap.

[Cypher] People started drifting into the area, a busy summer afternoon in New Orleans.

[Cypher] The crowd quickly grew as shops and restaurants opened, and in that crowd were a few mutants here and there.

[Cypher] No one seemed to mind or even take much notice, they just went about their business as usual.

[Remy] Remy watched the program for a minute, thinking. The meaning wasn't lost on him at all, but he wasn't quite sure what to say to it.

[Remy] He finally turned to Doug with a small smile. "Well, its a nice pipe dream, neh?"

[Cypher] "Yeah. It really is."