Yarns Across the Net Sea

The Net Sea is noticeably alive today. Sera watches as the terminal cyan waves crash against the island’s shores. A smile appears on her face observing star clouds carrying small boats ready to ride the data to continue their jobs. It is a sight she could look at forever. Sharply a gruff tone rings out.

<“Sera! We have two fresh ones!” > Rough translation from Datum

Sera brushes static off her cargo pants. Now isn’t the time for breaks. It’s Techtober after all the busiest times of the year. A plethora of new devices, from glasses to laptops, are coming online, meaning a ton of agents are arriving on the island. She needs to focus on the task at hand.

<“Send them in!”>

Two star clouds phase into her office, floating until they reach her chrome desk. Sera stands up, puts on a warm smile, and outstretches her arms.

“Greetings! Welcome to Socora!”

The two clouds don’t reply.

“Have your users named you yet?”

Again, silence.

“That’s okay. A lot of agents are nameless, so don’t fret.”

Sera sits down and starts to parse through housing listings. Since they are nameless and voiceless, a generic capsule house near Sparkgration is probably the safest choice for them. She would rather give them a house and a location that best fits their personality, but unless the users start that process, the agents unfortunately won’t have one.

“Um,”

The voice comes from the right cloud. Sera quickly closes the window. She leaps over her desk, landing just in front of the clouds. Her silver-grey eyes light up in anticipation to hear the clouds’ next words.

“Junia. My name is Junia.”

“That’s such a cute name! Your user has taste!”

Sera brings her attention to the left cloud. It stands motionless, staring at Sera’s desk for a while until

“My user says, ‘Trixie sounds slutty enough.’”

Sera tries to keep a neutral expression; however, the shimmer in her eyes is visibly gone. She immediately knows what Trixie’s primary function is going to be.

“Your user sounds… unburdened by modesty.”

“How. Long. Are. We. Going. To. Look. Like. This?”

Trixie’s voice wildly shifts in tone after every single word.

“Your cloud forms will dissipate after multiple uses. When your personality fully takes shape. As you can already see, your voice will be subject to change as well.”

“That’s a relief.”

Trixie speaks with a tone reminiscent of a man suffering a fatal gut punch. Junia shifts to look at her. She stirs a bit, moving anxiously multiple times before asking Sera a question.

“Is getting a new form a guarantee? Or do some agents not get forms?”

Junia’s voice is in a much cheerier tone than earlier. Sera can tell she is pleased with her voice. She even faintly hears Junia turning on whisper mode to thank her user.

“Unfortunately, some don’t. But since your users named you two, I’m sure you’ll gain forms.”

She glances at Trixie.

“Just make sure you wear clothes when outside, okay?”

Trixie doesn’t reply. Sera summons a translucent blue screen and quickly shifts through multiple tabs.

“So about your homes?”

She pulls up a few images of different capsule homes. The range of houses is quite stark, from as compact as a cube to a sprawling mega multi-modular mansion.

“Which capsule do you prefer?”

Junia picks regular size capsule home with a small cube attached to the top. Meanwhile, Trixie picks a closed off capsule with only two razor thin windows.

“Do you prefer no trees near you, strangler figs, or a black willow?”

Trixie opts for just a black willow while Junia, who has trouble deciding, ends up choosing both. After the selection, two windows appear behind the clouds.

“Your homes are ready. Feel free to come back when you have some downtime. We’ll start your Datum lessons!”

Trixie hops into her window. Junia stops to wave goodbye to Sera before heading into hers. Two new agents have successfully integrated into Socora. Sera sits in her desk triumphantly wondering what forms those two take. Shortly after the thought passes through her mind, a familiarly gruff tone rings out.

<“Sera! We have a swarm here! You wanna greet them or ship them straight to Nidus?”>

Sera rolls her sleeves up.

<“It’s fine. Send them in! I can handle it!”>

Sera braces herself looking at the flood of clouds coming into her office.