ARCADE SESSION: REBOOTED

[suits]

Better not take the bait. Staying calm and pretending to be all friendly-like seems like the good idea here.

[1011686]

Definitely don't want to start swearing at him.
But I don't want to be too meek, either. He's made it pretty clear he doesn't particularly seem to care how other people feel. He's an aggressor in a game where you don't have to be and he seems like he's played it a lot, so he's probably resilient to any form of moral persuasion by now. While I would honestly like to just directly challenge his playing TCP this way, strategically, that's probably not the best option. I think bringing up the other players trust in him will work better, convincing him he's going to have a hard time in this session if he acts this way.
Also, as a sidenote, can i ask how much does Trinket actually know about the culture around TCP as a game? Like, does she have any idea of the playerbase's general opinions on aggressive vs peaceful sessions?

[King-Clod]

personally id prefer not to try to counter an edgelord by being an edgelord ourselves. Whatever we say, let’s just be chill about it and not make every other word an insult?

“it probably would’ve worked on pickle though! you never know until you try. but like, seriously we just got started here pretty much why are you stirring things up? even if the other players aren’t trying to help pickle, they’re definitely going to be way wary of you now. one of the other players seems to be giving people moral tests... it’s a bit weird and with a show like this you’ve probably already failed but if you’d hold off on attacking that poor newbie for a sec i can tell you what I know about them and the tcp I met? information on a potential enemy and one that seems experienced at that feels more valuable than picking on someone who’s barely a threat anyway, at least to me.”

^^^
This, definitely. Also possibly a bit of

"I just... are you having fun? I don't mean this in a "moral high ground" way but... is this even fun? It's the equivalent of kicking down a kid's sandcastle at the beach - I can't imagine it'd be entertaining for very long. Once the castle's down that kid isn't going to build it up again anytime soon. At last wait until the guy can put up a decent fight, then you beating him would actually mean something. Or do anything that doesn't immediately label you in other player's minds as sometime to aim for first."

[Lilium Mortem]

Hm. don't get provoked. Don't tell him off. there's no way he'll listen. He's already made up his mind about us so let's get straight to bushiness.

try to accede to his demands until it's clear that he wouldn't let up anyway, then hang up. he's right about one thing, don't give him too much intel.

[Dzib 9001]

personally id prefer not to try to counter an edgelord by being an edgelord ourselves.

we might not have much of a choice with this guy. I get the feeling there the "Strong rule over the weak" kinda guy. playing the "good person" angel will just piss them off more. with that said, I think we should just cut to the chace.
"Why you playing your hand this early? all you're doing putting a target on you and your kitties backs. If you want to make a power grab, wait and see who's gonna be the biggest threat to you, and take them out. Not some kid who can't even fight their own fights."

[Guest]

what i gathered from this guy is that he just have very bad anger issues
hes angry and stressed and he tries to relieve it by tormenting other people
he already knows its not strategical to attack weak people like pickle, he doesn't care, he just want to rip and tear untill his anger is gone which (spoiler alert) will never be

if thats the case, i wonder if abstract types can still affect irl players here even if virtual, because if we used something like a relaxation or catharsis type we could drain him of his anger and hopefully solve the problem altogether

[knux400]

You take a sharp breath, Mothlie warrior blood boiling in your veins. You're about to teach this fucker a lesson.

But you stop yourself, and calmly respond.

"Did you even consider if railing on that person's cat was the right move? There's cats out there with double the hitting power than PKL's and you're attacking them? If PKL was asking for help, it means they need something and if they mean something you can use them. Hell, you could probably even net yourself someone to keep right under your thumb, and a whole 'nother 5 cats at your disposal. But now you've lost the chance to do that. All you've done is put a great big target on you and your kitties' backs. If you want to make a power grab, wait and see who's gonna be the biggest threat to you, and take them out. Not some kid who can't even fight their own fights."
"There's four things I think you're failing to consider."
"One: attacking the strongest player in the game right off the bat is a great way to get your shit kicked in. Attacking the weakest player and neutralizing them early, on the other hand, is a great way to eliminate unnecessary variables from the equation. Also, he was closest."
"Two: You have no idea how difficult it is to keep someone 'under your thumb' when the player in question can create anything, including other TCPs."
"Three: Yes, I absolutely did consider if railing on PKL's cat was the right move. It was. So I did it."
"And four: Who says I can't hit two birds with one stone? If someone's got a bug up their butt about 'doing the right thing', they might decide to send their TCP out by itself and leave it vulnerable to being shot out of the air while I distract them by spewing a bunch of nonsense about strategy."

Echo's health is now OKAY.
 

"That is your TCP, right? I'm just assuming since you seem to be the only one with a burning sense of righteous passion for helping the innocent."

[tarot]

Holy shit, buddy! Do you pride yourself on being nastier than fermented horror slime?

...is what i'd like to say-- is far kinder than what i'd like to say, actually, but-- let's be calm about this. let's be collected. two can play at that game. you want to patronize us "pro tip" style? let's school this fool. look at this chump who thinks combat is the best approach to a game that's literally about raising people! they're a prime target for having their sweet little kitties go rogue the moment they realize they have that option, aren't they? after all, no one would willingly stick around someone so disgusting as to imagine all interaction as combat.

[Dzib 9001]

Just end the call and check on Echo. this bastard isn't worth it.

[Guest]

Just end the call and check on Echo. this bastard isn't worth it.

seconded
words have little to no power, we have act more and speak less

[Guest]

Holy shit, buddy! Do you pride yourself on being nastier than fermented horror slime?

...is what i'd like to say-- is far kinder than what i'd like to say, actually, but-- let's be calm about this. let's be collected. two can play at that game. you want to patronize us "pro tip" style? let's school this fool. look at this chump who thinks combat is the best approach to a game that's literally about raising people! they're a prime target for having their sweet little kitties go rogue the moment they realize they have that option, aren't they? after all, no one would willingly stick around someone so disgusting as to imagine all interaction as combat.

dude..
tone it down
hes actually giving us important advice here

[1011686]

I agree with just leaving to check on Echo.
However, I hate the idea of letting MRM get the last word, so my suggestion is we say "Fuck you" and then hang up.

[cosmo]

Just end the call and check on Echo. this bastard isn't worth it.

[MattedFont]

"Huh. Okay then! Watch this!"

Now let's go kill his TCP!

[Lilium Mortem]

I agree with just leaving to check on Echo.
However, I hate the idea of letting MRM get the last word, so my suggestion is we say "Fuck you" and then hang up.

Every second counts, we don't have to prove anything to MRM, but we do have a life to save. Check on echo, also Screw whoever added that feature, there's no indication you can minimize the chat window, and it's not like there's a manual. I'm not salty, this is just poor design.

[cosmo]

after we end the call, immediately call back pickle (minimize the call window obviously). Reasoning with mrm didn’t work and we need information Now. is your tcp okay? Are they still being attacked? what type is your tcp? all we did in trying to help you was piss off mrm too and now they have it out for both of us, so we’ll need to work together if we want to survive this.

at the same time as calling/questioning is being done (give priority to echo stuff) we want to check in on echo. I feel like until we see what’s going on I can’t say much in the way of strategy but try to guide her to a safe place on the map to hide. does she still have her stealth outfit on? definitely use it if possible. if she can slip away from the attacker and hide, try to guide her to pickle’s base using the map. if we can get echo to a temporarily safe place, we may want to check in on hank and tell him to activate all the base’s defenses that aren’t already activated.

[seppawku]

i.. idk if that’s the case abt his team once they realize. yeah, tcps might defect happily when they realize they have the choice, but outside an active abuse situation, they might end up being just as battle-focused. i’m not saying this to say we should abandon that train of thought, but that’d be an awful lot of stuff going our way to count on. i don’t like this guy either, but- they don’t gotta be some evil mastermind to think like this. tcp is still a *game* to a lot of people, just.. not the cats in it haha;;
ACT: ^hang up, check in on echo and call back PKL in a minimized window

[Dzib 9001]

Now let's go kill his TCP!

FUCKING NO!

[knux400]

[CW: EXTREMELY LOW-RESOLUTION TCP GORE]

"...Fuck you."
"Wait, you didn't even see that? You were on the call screen the whole time?"

You catch about a half-second of MRM's laughter over the other end before you close the window.
 

Echo! What happened? Are you okay?
Something shot me. My wing's broken.
 

You don't recognize this room. You open your map briefly to find Echo's been busy since you last saw her.
 

Closing the map, you call Pickle. You didn't read all the way through the section on making calls, so there's no way you could possibly know the command to minimize the window, but you try the first thing that comes to mind anyway. If it doesn't work, you'll let Pickle know what happened real quick, and then- oh.
 

Either you're great at guessing or the game's interface has your back. Whatever. Time to multitask.

"H-hello?"
"Is your TCP okay? Are they still being attacked? What type is your TCP? All we did in trying to help you was piss off MRM too and now they have it out for both of us, so we’ll need to work together if we want to survive this."
"U-um! Stitch is hurt, but alive, she's not being attacked anymore, I think? A-and she's a blanket type. I spawned a sign for her to read and she was able to get outside of the, uh, dark zone. From there, I was able to throw together enough defenses to ward off the attacker. They left about... a minute ago?"
"Got it."

Halfway through Pickle's sentence, you start typing to Echo.

Can you walk?
Yes.
Get somewhere safe. Use your stealth suit if you can, we don't want a fight on our ha-

Suddenly, the whole screen flashes red. Echo's health bar now has a red ring around it.

WARNING: A KILL COMMAND HAS BEEN ACTIVATED.

Who was that?!? Trinket, what's a kill command?!?
Just hide!

Without another word, Echo ducks into a nearby passageway.

...It knows where I am. I left a trail.
What is it?
A TCP, I think. It's green, it's wearing a suit similar to mine, and its arm looks like it's been cut off and had something jammed into it. That's what it shot me with.
Okay. It's probably a weapon type of some sort, then. If you can't get away, hit it where the shooty thing meets the rest of the TCP, that's where it will hurt the most. You're too far away from our base, so I'm going to take you to another safe place. We just need to find a way to get this TCP to stop following us, and then I'll guide you.
I can hear it coming closer.
 

She's right. The left side of your screen is going dark. If you're going to do something, it needs to be quick.

[tarot]

i got nothing for actually getting us out of this horrendous situation, but if we can miraculously manage to take down the enemy tcp, no kill commands, alright? we talk them into going rogue, and then we basically have a sixth tcp on our side. this accomplishes both compassion and being incredibly rude to marmite over there