Rude Awakening...

[Ash]

Getting past the guards, if you can call them that, wasn't even the hard part. Even if they weren't freaking out. It was surprising how easy it was to get around stressed out people, who were looking in the other direction. She thought that no matter how obvious you were, like... Say a near 6 foot demonic humanoid girl female in a the most normal outfit she's worn since her childhood, you had to act natural. If she walked into a bar like she owned it, eyes would be on her, if she walked in that bar like she was a part of the regulars that hung their heads after a hard day, she wouldn't stand out so much. Sure there was a comment or two about her appearance, but even as a pink fleshy thing with piercings all over her face, she didn't stand out too much. Especially in her world.

But this wasn't her world.

Approaching the gate to Coruscant put a glow against her skin. It caste highlights and shadows over her body, creating an image for the ages, had anyone else seen it. She looked demonic, even more so than before. The shadow created under her brow darkened her eyes, the light reflected off the blank stare, and washed her cheeks. The bones under her skin were accented, shown off, the hollows between those were darkened, and she looked sick, and in other cases buff. Her tail wrapped around and whipped down in on motion. She wondered for a short moment if it was okay to just dive right in..

Just before she threw caution to the endless sea of white, and jumped through.

There was a moment without breath.. A sudden stillness before she was suffocating, unable to breath, and a stillness that further deprived her of air. Then all at once the air began to move, she inhaled and with her exhale she was launched forward into speckled light tunnel. It was a blur as time and space rushed past her, essentially teleporting her to a whole new universe. It was electrifying to experience, and it was almost familiar..

She couldn't help but compare this to 'jacking in' into The Matrix, which was when you downloaded your consciousness on to the 'web'. Most of the population merely used it for video-games, and interaction with people on the other side of the planet. But there were a few people who put their lives at risk to use this method to hack. Steal information valuable enough to someone else that wants to pay for you to retrieve it. To seek answers.. Hack other people's devices, empty bank accounts.. The list continued on. The other half of the coin was those hired by the authorities and major players of the underworld, which also had IC at their hands. And many have wound up dead, because of the backlash of the brutal battles that happened in cyberspace.

While familiar, it was also different. Just enough to remind her that she was not jacking into her favorite game, in search for some relief to a hard day at work. She was shifting physically into another realm.

She surfaced abruptly into Coruscant. A glorious and brilliant world! ..And nothing like home...

Its buildings were tall, shiny, and worthy of gaping mouths in awe, with clouds of hover cars blitzing around hectically. A complete contrast to the true nature of this place, according to her few moment of research. This universe was personally prideful of how deep it has buried its crime.. Specifically into the depths of their rooted basement, where it quickly spread and grew into a vial plant that fed off the world above. Be it the black market just a few tiers down, or the mobs among the mid tiers. But up here, the world is rich, the people are fat and happy, and Ash is left standing there wondering why the hell did she come here again?

She recalled the idea that it would be a bit of home away from home, but that ideal reality felt like a horrible misplaced dream now. If only because, she hadn't really been too fond of her home. Her new life as a Tiefling Pirate was far more engaging than her life as a gamer stripper who could do the basics of hacking. Actually... You could probably right a book about either life she's lived and both would be an interesting read and probably very popular among those who liked fantasy and sci-fi, but she very clearly has chosen the former. Her outer appearance reflected her choices on more levels than one.

Speaking of appearances.. She looked very common and bluntly.. Out of place. The demonic humanoid stepped to the side of the gate, and looked into a mirrored surface of a nearby layer of the city. Her reflection showed how dull she looked, really boring for the place she was in. Neutral colors? Really, come on now! Emma's closets were full of blacks, whites, and grays. A pop of color here and there. But even the human she used to be would hardly ever wear what she was right now. She can't even remember what managed to get her into this throw-back to Indiana Jones get-up. Part of her honestly thought that the sea did more than just constrict the cloth she wore. Maybe.. Maybe this was from the 'Starter' closet of the 'game' she was in.

Again.. She mockingly called this thing a game. But it was the most appropriate explanation she's come up with. Even the motives of the 'creator' was game like. He just wants to see her and what she can do in this world.

How disappointing he will be, when he realizes how utterly lazy she can be.

She tries to change her clothing with though, like she summoned the food. She really didn't have a menu to click on, so this was her best attempt. Sure enough, her old tattered black bandanna was summoned to her neck, hanging loose enough to show off the collar bone, but close enough to hide her cleavage. Can't show everything to the boys. She nodded, and then continued to change her outfit.

Ash was going to put on a typical outfit for her old life.. When she realized how limitless the options were! She could put on anything! She could wear.. Anything! She could go insanely bright and colorful, or be as dull and gothic as she liked. But the best idea.. Was all those clothes she wanted back at home.. That she couldn't afford. Visual Kei Pants, which were tighter shorts which ended upper thigh, only for pant legs to start lower thigh, connected by dramatic strings laced though silver rings in each piece of fabric, showing off just a hint of skin before catching the eyes with a faded skull trio image on the right leg, a criss-cross image on the left. Those same strings hung in very large bows at her sides, and the pants were in a boot cut style, hiding a brand new pair of black leather combat boots. On top, she wore a bustle corset, which was basically a black corset with the sides missing to show off a little skin, a thin silver string laced across her rib-cage but the ends never to be seen. Silver lace ran through the middle of the front in a floral and skull pattern, and a silver ribbon tied down the back. The last piece to note about the corset, were the layers of fabric that hung from the back and ended at a point in the back that reached her knees, hiding the base of her tail in back, and showing off her navel ring in front. That was also different, from the usual stud hung a silver skull and crossbones. Besides her bandanna, her neck and shoulders were bare.

"Much better.." Ash appraised her image, she smiled wickedly for a moment. Only to be reminded of her situation as a noisy, flamboyant, but all too obviously a taxi cab zoomed in, threw up her outfit and hair to 'park' behind her at a station. She saw a kid with spiked hair look at it, then carefully get into the back. She didn't catch a lot of him, especially when only looking between the crowd's reflection, but she had seen his unusual orange colored eyes.. She paused her life for a moment to curiously wonder about him. He didn't blend in so much, but he didn't stand out all to much either. Was he a part of the program, perhaps a quest that randomly walked the world of Coruscant?

Unfortunately she had no time to explore this option, as he was gone in the same way she had discovered him, quickly and without a word on either's behalf. She had plenty to do anyways.. Like find something to entertain herself with for all eternity.. Or find a reason to play this game of Omni's.

[Ash]

There was a such thing as crowd of other people whom Ash could blend flawlessly in and vanish into the background, where the lines around her image would blur and it would become difficult to pick her out of the masses.. The people in Coruscant was not that crowd. It existed somewhere out there where a teifling could walk down the street and not stand out. She just hasn't found that place yet. And furthermore, there was no guaranteed a girl like Ash would actually enjoy something like that. She was the type that has always managed to stand out in one way or another. Be it her piercings, tattoos, once a month attention catching injury, or her terrible attitude firmly stapled to her face. Now it was a pair of horns and a Devil's tail.

Her outfits generally gave her a certain individuality, but this one kind of fit in to the area. There weren't a surplus of crazily dressed gothic or punk flavored people around, but the common fashion in the adopted cultures that were collected to create Coruscant had one uniform quality. They all stood out compared to the old fashions of her world. Wearing a plain tee and skirt seemed like an easier way to stand out.

But even so, as she walked through the golden streets of this technological heaven and the strings at her sides snapped at the thick fabric of her pants, she turned heads. The number of heads were relatively low for her usually, but it would appear that the NPCs of this universe were more easier to get judgmental looks from than those of The Nexus. She got looks that both conveyed disgust, and interest. She wondered when she noticed these looks herself, how their programming would make them react if she ever confronted them.

It was from these thoughts that she started to consider what kind of programming at all happened in making this filler she waded through. Did they have home points to return to, a work mode, a resting period.. Did they react to insults, assault, or casual flirting in different ways? Or was she swimming among a thousand married men and women who'd flash their rings if she said a word that could be considered her hitting on them? Were they all conveniently connected to an alarm that went off if she did anything but look at them funny? Would they randomly group together if she started to call them out as sheep, and get their pitchforks and tar ready. Were they random personalities and looks, but each had a voice and a goal in a sad meaningless life? Or were they just random data walking across the streets in an endless circle to give the appearance that this place was where it was busiest?

All of these questions could he answered if she was capable of looking at the code.. But as far as she knew at this moment, if she stabbed any one of them, they would cry out in horror and then fall to the cold ground where they would bleed out, and there would be a million eye witnesses to her crime. Which could actually make things interesting, but she decided she should at least get a good look around first before she burned any bridges.

[Ash]

All interesting ideals and questions aside.. This place was starting to bore and/or annoy her. If the tiefling wanted to contemplate life all her live long days, she picked an interesting path to do so. That day, after the city was save, she could have tossed the weapon to the sea like many of the previous owners chose to. She could have decided to go with the boring life of a punk stripper who did hacks on the side for extra money or to cheat in a game. Ok.. Maybe not so much boring.. But in that life, the idea of contemplating the meaning of life and conspiring over the idea of extra people around her being just programs would make sense.

It was time to move on.

Ash already knew of the different teirs, and found some information about them, but she imagines the officials who wrote the blog about Coruscant may have exaggerated somethings. With that thought, she moved on from the crowded street and towards what looked like a less suffocating area. If you can imagine, though, that was extremely difficult in this area. There were massive amounts of walking around programs on the streets, and a massive amounts of wandering vehicles in the air. It felt like the only relief would be underground, and she wasn't convinced that was possible for a fun loving demonic humanoid.

That was.. Until she found the edge of the world. Not really, but there was a gate that she met at the edge of the first floor, that kept them all safe from falling into an abyss of certain doom. Certain doom for anyone who couldn't fly in some form or another. She wasn't sure what the people of this area would think of her as she climbed up on the safety gates, her only help being a nearby light pole, but she couldn't muster up a care or a reason not to do it. She could get slapped with a fine.. If they could catch her that is.

She didn't even look back as she stretched out her arms, let the wind of passing by cars fling around her hair, clothes, strings, and tail. And then as she let gravity convince her that the best place to be was just over this side of the railing, she imagined her actions really confusing the sheep programs behind her. Would they react with the appropriate horror? Or would her actions result in an error to them? She would never know! Because she fell with her face away from them.

Falling like she her intent was to commit suicide was pretty exhilarating. She wondered if the same adrenaline fueled thoughts came to those sad souls who wasted their lives like this, if they felt truly alive a moment before they embraced death. As her heart pumped, she continued to plummet down the many stories of hidden buildings that used to be her ground, she thought she heard screams of terror, but they could have just been the whirling, buzzing, and wind in her ears. And on her face, a smile.. A smile of joy, as she fearlessly fell another few hundred feet.