<div class="floatleft">(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc446/ffxivghost/lljjlj.jpg) </div><hr/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>  Name:</strong> Tony Stark<br/>  <strong>Title:</strong> Avenger<br/>  <strong>Affiliation:</strong>  Humanity<br/>  <strong>Location:</strong>   Rurouni Safehouse, master bedroom<br/>  <strong>Tags:</strong> None<br/></span></span><hr/>(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc446/ffxivghost/And-now-for-something-completely-different.jpg)<br/>Her name is Ashley, and she’s been waiting for this day for a long time. It’s Tuesday, but that’s not why it’s a special day. She worked the opening shift today, so she gets off of work early. But that’s not why it’s a special day. It’s a special day because a video game she’s been waiting a long time for is finally being released. So after work ends she races to Gamestop (slowing a few times for fear there was a cop around), and she picks up her game. She has no fears about whether or not they would have it, she pre-ordered it many months ago. And now it’s time to play.<br/><br/>She gets home, greeting her mother in passing as she races to her room. She plops down at her desk and turns her laptop on, all the while staring at the unopened box for her game. Unopened for about 3 more seconds. Her eyes still on the green colored box, she absently reaches into one of her desk drawers. She fishes around for the small knife that once belonged to her father, and she uses it to slice the plastic off of the game. Her laptop comes on finally, the familiar voices of Jerry and George are heard  ‘Helllllllooooo heelllllllooooo’ to which she replied “Heeeellllllo!”<br/><br/>So her laptop is all set and the game box open, she sets it down for just a moment. She wants this to be great. So before she starts to play, she opens her internet browser and heads to Youtube. There she does a quick search for her game, finding the international version of the trailer for it. This is part of the reason she fell in love with it. She leans forward on her elbows on the desk as the video plays.<br/><br/>It starts out a black screen, and then a male voice speaking Japanese. When he stops talking, his translated words come onto the screen. “When they asked what kind of game I would like to make, I told them I don’t think I could make a good action game. I think I’m better at telling a story.”   That always made Ashley smile. A soulful tune then starts, and a song by a very popular R&B singer is heard, the woman’s voice simply heavenly. One of the main characters of the game is then seen, standing before a small group of beings. His voice comes over the song, the shield he holds shimmering in the impressively rendered artificial light.   “They say they want nothing more than to help, to aid all of the people of Dinwurst, but we know better. That’s why we’re all here at this very moment. They want control, over every part of our lives. Control over our very souls. So I say we take the fight to them now…”   Another of the characters speaks, her long reddish brown hair swaying gently in a passing wind.   “They know about the attack on San Viel, they’re going to see this coming…”  the concern in her voice obvious. The man with the shimmering shield speaks again in a firm and confident tone as the camera zooms in on his features a little, and Ashley lip synchs the next part.<br/><br/>“No, they’re not gonna see this coming.”<br/><br/>And then the video goes to some action scenes, showing off the next gen graphics and gameplay. As the video continues, Ashley picks up the game once more and actually opens the box. There’s an advertisement insert for some game she’ll never play in the box, and she just tosses it aside. She plucks out the instruction booklet and the fabric map that was included with the game. She lets out an ‘ooohhhh’ as she opens the map, the fabric making it seem much older than it is. Just like one would really find in the game. Immediately she turns in her swivel chair and thumbtacks the map to the corkboard hanging on the wall next to her desk. She nods with a wide satisfied smile as dialogue once more is heard on the trailer.  “Wanda says this is why the holocaust started in the first place. This is the reason we’ve running. That means this thing has to die!”    a looming shadow is cast over all of the characters, and the image shifts to a giant menacing blue colored being. The video fades to black, and the words ‘Coming 20XX’, just as Ashley plucks out the game disc. She pops the game into the CD tray of her laptop, and with a wide grin on her lips the laptop screen goes black as the game starts.<br/><br/>The first thing on the screen is the game maker’s logo<br/>(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc446/ffxivghost/5bf39f4a-b771-4840-b4f1-eb975a5874ac.jpg)<br/><br/>A moment later, the actual game logo comes up slowly.<br/>(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc446/ffxivghost/gg3.gif)<br/>She watches some of the opening credits and the demo gameplay, but she’s anxious to get into it. So the file screen comes up, and she chooses a blank file to start. She then comes to the character select screen.. now who will she be playing this game as?<br/><br/>The first character available is the shield wielding warrior from the trailer… a tank class. Meant to take damage so the others in his party won’t have to. Meh.. she was never good at playing the tank. The healer, a woman with reddish brown hair. Maybe. The mage… looks like a rich boy wielding a metallic staff. Oh, he has a familiar too… the familiar’s name is Jarvis? What a dumb name… The thief character, a female with dark red hair. She looks angry. The brute warrior type, all muscles probably no brains. She wonders what race he is, since his skin is a jade green color. Huh.. the next one is long range sniper kind, uses a bow mostly. Cool purple outfit. And then another mage, a female with long blond hair. And a skimpy outfit with a lightning bolt on the front. Skimpy outfits are cool, she must be the black mage. Ashley gets a slight scowl as she scrolls through the characters again, trying to figure out which story she’d like to see first. Since she knows she’s going to be playing through the game quite a few times. She picks the rich boy looking mage, the one with the neat metal staff and the familiar. Name.. hm.. she glances around and sees the poster for a movie coming out soon, and she nods as she looks back to the screen. She names the character ‘Tetsu’, Japanese for iron. Now the game asks her to pick a partner character for the main one, sort of a helper NPC. She frowns a little as she once more looks at the list of characters… and she picks the healer. She’s really pretty, a long flowing white robe with red accents. She names the NPC ‘Peps’. Cause that’s a cute name.<br/><br/>So time passes, it’s probably been weeks. All of her offtime has been spent playing her new game. All of the characters she could have chosen from have been in the game in one way or another. And for the most part all of them have been killed off in one way or another. So Ashley thinks she’s about to the final boss. Tetsu and his familiar are poised to face off against whatever is about to emerge from the dark tomb they find themselves in. She’s been trying to playing it like a thief.. using a muffle spell to keep the footsteps quite, a sensing spell to keep herself aware of whatever might be around the corner. Be it zombie, giant spider or bandit. She creeps into what looks like a large arena, a large empty arena. Yeah, this isn’t going to be good. The moment her character steps into the arena, the whole area goes black. And rocks around her character slowly crumble, and from the ground comes the final villain. And he is huge. Towering over her like a frickin building. He looks like a very muscular man, but with blue and grey skin. And he goes by the name Ragnarok. She thinks she’s all set for the fight.. but almost instantly her character is dead. She just stares at the screen… and grumbles and bitches to herself. She needs to take a break, she’s feeling a little burned out.<br/><br/>Ashley turns off the game, and she posts on Facebook about how bad she just got beat. With a sigh she texts her pal next door.. and no more than 10 minutes later they are piled in her friend’s van and off to hang out at a near bar. But the whole time she’s thinking about her game, about how to beat that last character.<br/><br/><hr/>With a start Tony Stark wakes up in his bed, sitting up almost instantly. He looks around with wide eyes, having to take a moment to remember where he is. Tony lets out a soft groan as he rubs his eyes.. what a horrible dream. Something about.. a game or something.. some chick… He continues to rub his eyes as he speaks in a tired tone.   “Jarvis.. is the world still here? Are you here?”     Immediately his assistant’s calm, soothing voice is heard in his room.     ++The world is still here, sir. As am I, always.++  Tony nods a little as he pushes himself to the edge of his bed, looking around the room. Slwoly his mind clears, and he remembers how he got here.   “Cripes.. that bitch drugged me.”  Remembering that Domino drugged him. She wasn’t carrying enough to be able to put a drug together suddenly.. that’s not usual fare for a soldier. So where did she get the things to make a drug?  “Jarvis… next time someone asks you to show them where we keep the drug making materials, you say you don’t know, got it?”    There is a brief pause, and then Jarvis speaks.   ++Understood, sir.++   “You’re off the Christmas card list too! Tell her that she is too.”    That’ll show ‘em. He takes a slow and deep breath, and he had to admit he felt a bit better. More clearheaded, certainly. He doesn’t know how long he’s been asleepHe leans towards the end table next to his bed, and from the top drawer he pulls out a pad of paper and a mechanical pencil. He starts to scribble down some ideas that are suddenly flowing through his thoughts, sitting on the edge of his bed.<br/><hr/><br/>And in the room where Domino is, Jarvis’ calm tone is heard.   ++Ms. Thurman, I have told to inform you that you are off the Christmas card list. Terribly sorry.++<br/>