User visit: Valeria von Doom

[a1enzo]

Enzo brings Val into the Academy through the cafeteria door. Fortunately, they emerge in the hall outside the cafeteria, so they are only greeted by a few early finishers and not the entire student body at dinner.

The cadets in the hall spot them and raise their eyes in trepidation. When whatever they're waiting for doesn't happen, though, they relax and greet the pair.

"Gee, thanks, guys. This is Val, but you'll have to wait for the show for the full introduction."

As he leads her out of the building and across campus, he mutters, "One time a guest's code turns out weird and sets off the autoscan alarms, and everyone thinks it's gonna be a habit."

Comments

[time_dancer]

Val is tempted to give them a show, but decides to play it cool...for now at least. Instead she gives them her best diplomatic, royal family wave and smile as she follows Enzo.

[a1enzo]

He leads her outdoors and across the central green, pointing out the dormitory tower, the cluster of golden dome-shaped buildings for physical and combat training, and the big statue of Tron and his companions. Someone has given Dumont a pair of shutter shades.

[time_dancer]

Val looks up at the statue as they pass and looks around to see if anyone's close enough to eavesdrop, still not quite sure how much of her User status is safe to expose.

[a1enzo]

There are cadets on the hub, and a few facilities maintenance binomes, but no one too near.

[time_dancer]

"So was he a user or program?" She's seen the movie of course, but she also knows fictions don't always get the story right.

[a1enzo]

Enzo gives her a slightly funny look. "Tron was a program. Flynn was the User who helped him."

[time_dancer]

"Sorry, the story was a bit before my time in my world."

[a1enzo]

Enzo bangs on one of the big garage doors on Yori Hall.

"Password?" calls a voice from the other side.

"This is getting ridiculous," Enzo shouts back.

"Password accepted," the voice declares cheerfully as the door rolls open and they enter the hangar which the band known as Short Bus routinely use as a green room.

[time_dancer]

Val can't help the snicker that escapes as the password is something her Unlce Johnny would use. She follows Enzo through the door and looks around, eyes lighting up as she spots the vehicles.

"Are those all tied to specific sprites or can anyone use them?"

[a1enzo]

Well, they've been running out of new password ideas.

There are several sprites milling around in the hangar. A red girl and an orange boy even taller than Enzo (but much lankier) are dressed like him; two young women, one copper-skinned and one lavender, are wearing the turquoise uniforms of full Guardians.

"They're for training, but we can sign them out. There's a garage for personal vehicles. Guys, this is Valeria von Doom. Val, this is the band: Amy, Caret, Tone, and Value. Val, Val; Val, Val," he concludes with a smirk.

[time_dancer]

Val pulls her attention to the other sprites, cracking a smile at Enzo's joke and offering a salute to the fellow Val.

"Nice to met you guys."

[a1enzo]

The chorus of replies are variations on the theme of "likewise."

"Another hero format, right?" asks Amy, the red one.

[time_dancer]

"Yep," Val says with a smile. She's oddly tempted to strike a heroic pose but ignores the urge. "Or at least I used to be."

[a1enzo]

Hugh, as per instructions, has just plain gone overboard with the light show as the band strikes up Dazzler's Spellbinder. As usual, they go through the first chorus and then vamp while Value announces their guest.

"Ladies and gentlemen... presenting the princess of portals... the mistress of time and space... Valeria von Doom!"

[time_dancer]

There's a pause, just long enough to make the audience wonder, before Val steps out from behind Value and waves.

"Hello everyone! Let me say it is an honor to meet you, present and future Guardians all."

[a1enzo]

Okay, that is a neat trick. She gets a hearty round of applause.

Val_1 passes Val_2 the mike. "Tell them a little bit about yourself to get things started, and then they'll ask questions."

[time_dancer]

Val takes the mike and looks out at the crowd. She feels...something in her stomach (do sprites get butterflies?) but soon enough her childhood training as the heir to a political dynasty takes over and she steps forward.

"Hello everyone, as Value said, I am Valeria von Doom; but please call me Val. Valeria sounds so formal!" She pauses for a smile and to see if the crowd is open for humor or light hearted banter.

[a1enzo]

There is a bit of a chuckle, and some more applause, but mostly there is expectancy. They want to hear about her.

[time_dancer]

She nods a little to herself as a receptive crowd is always good.

"I should warn you, I'm likely to get some terms wrong here. I work with computers a lot but somehow working and living are completely different things! And I swear, I don't play games on them! I use computers to access data and help with processing information. In fact I have an AI who I consider a close friend. Her name is Ada and she helps my armor function. Oh, I have a set of armor that is much like an exoskeleton, though it's more like a defensive weapon.

"I come from a world sort of like your Super Computer. In fact, I am a second or maybe third generation superhero. My family and I tended to fight big problems that threatened the whole world, which would be the internet for you, much like you or the hero formats."

Val pauses here to look over to Val or Enzo for confirmation on the terms she's thrown out there.

[a1enzo]

After the Q&A session, Short Bus resume their concert. They play Black and White People, and they play the rest of Spellbinder, and they play Walkthrough, which even for Guardians would be impossible if Caret didn't have a photographic memory.

Then Guardian Val asks the audience, rhetorically, "How about another Game song?" and they, knowing what's coming, cheer as the MIDI Brigade (the Academy girls' a cappella group) troop onto the stage.

(As they line up and ready themselves, Enzo looks to where Guest Val is waiting and gives her a small nod.)

[time_dancer]

Val nods and retreats from the curtain to put on the red trench coat and wide brimmed hat. Stepping back to where she can see her clue, she looks around to place good spots to jump in for effect.

She's nervous and excited as she's never used her abilities for entertainment before.

[a1enzo]

Hummmm goes the pitch pipe. Most of the girls start hooo-wopping, while Value struts forward. Behind them, the backdrop window changes to display an Earth map.

"Well, she sneaks around the world from Kiev to Carolina
She's a stick-fingered filcher from Berlin down to Belize
She'll take you for a ride on a slow boat to China
Tell me where - in the world - is..."

[time_dancer]

Val's lips twitch in anticipation as the first line is sung. As the group continues to sing and nears the middle of the fourth line, she sends the hat a good 25 meters (or what would be meters to her eye) above the stage with a force field, careful to position it so it will fall towards the center and hoping to get this right.

Her timing is perfect!

As the hat falls about halfway down, the singers get to her cue and she dances to just below the hat in time to sing, "Carmen Sandiego?" just as it lands on her head. She falls enough to let the trench coat flare before she dances again, to stage left, before her downward momentum is too much. She nails the landing and spins to flare the coat again, and to use up some of the momentum she gained, before dancing again.

[a1enzo]

The audience gawk long enough for the second lead singer (a higher soprano) to be audible singing "Stealing Seoul in South Korea..." before erupting into cheers loud enough to drown out the next couple of lines.

[time_dancer]

Val blanches, as much as a sprite can, since her antics have stolen the show from the singers and that's just not right. In an attempt to draw the audience back to the true show, she jumps into the chorus singing, "Where...in the...world is...Carmen....Sandiego?" while dancing from singer to singer.