Search Results: 84 messages were found

We've crossed each other's paths from time to time and you always were
alright. ::smiles:: Goodbye DarkMagician, take care of yourself
out there in the real.

Linenoise FTW indeed

~CheshireCat

Haha, yeah... lutefisk. Well I've avoided that regional
abombination so far. I'll take salmon any day, thank you.
^_^

((Hello hello from CheshireCat.

I'm not sure
who is still around who remembers me, but the time has finally come to
hang up my BETA coat. For personal reasons I stopped doing
serious RP this fall and once that fire went out I never could quite
find that spark again, but I never really thought I'd actually
quit. However tight finances have caused me to have to cut my
subscription to MxO as well as my other online games. I might be
back eventually, but probably not soon.

So this is goodbye
Syntax; my account is up either tomorrow or the next day. I have
some nice memories of the people here and there were a lot of good
times. Nothing can quite compare to the old Sphinx on
Linenoise. Anyway, I wish you all well and here is a parting poem
to usher the kitty out. ::Grins:: Take care, take care.))

Untitled City

I sometimes imagine that the trains go elsewhere
That the Red line to Furihata could take me far away from here
Over the mountains
Like there’s something more out there

For a world built on limits the city seems to have none
Just a vast concrete cobweb of glass and stifled dreams
It pulses in our subconscious, like gunfire from the overpass
The lingering kiss of another age

I sit on a park bench as the sun crawls overhead
The streets are busy and people go about their lives
It’s a place where the busses always run on time
Like clockwork

A vast inhuman machine
Skyscraper cogs and interstate springs
Even as I sit the wind changes
And somewhere Westview is burning

I feel lost in this place
A city so vast, so crammed with people, that you can hardly find anyone at all
This place where neon green signs hum in the darkness
And peace is at the bottom of a glass of Absinthe

~CheshireCat

Darrius,

I have not been particularily active of late but I am a longtime supporter of Zion. Please send me an e-mail with the pertinent details and I will do my best to attend.

~ CheshireCat

Peace Braids, it's a shame to see you go. Hope you have a good time where ever you end up. ^_^

~ CheshireCat

Off the top of my head, things that could be include the regular collector items (trade in gang drops for them at a collector), event collector items (traded in documents during hunt for Morpheous at org specific collector), legacy items that were removed from the game entierly (Speed buffed Gi, ect.) legacy items that were removed and replaced with a newer version (the richland dungeoun drops I think), archive boss drops, regular dungeoun boss drops, Pandora's Box items, plus you should tack on some buffs to the Beta gear and flaming eye trench. ::Grins::

~ CheshireCat

Speaking of Tyndall and what she looks like, she used to be able to be found in game due to a glitch. One of the mission contacts in International had her RSI for a while. Hehe, it was good for a screenshot or two I guess. ^_^

~ CheshireCat

We have a pretty in depth thread going on in the Matrix Universe forum called "The Truce: (A Primer)". If you are looking for some insights into the truce, I'd encourage you to go read what people have writen about it.

~ CheshireCat

I'm inclined to agree with Tytanya the most here so far. The machines are in an undisputed position of power, they have the real world resources to do whatever they want and they can changes the rules of the Matrix as they see fit. The more interesting question is their motivation in keeping humanity, and by all appearances they are indeed interested in keeping humanity. The machines are certainly more hostile then they started out with, but all through their evolution they have demonstrated a measure of innocence and peacfulness. B1-66ER was almost certainly not the first sentient robot, he was only the first one to be pushed into a situation of violence. Likewise 01 started out as a city of commerce, not a fortress. You might argue that they have lost that ability due to years of hostility, but I think not. They have not entierly lost their interest in serving the better interests of humans as they were origionally intended to do, and so too I suspect they have not entierly lost their desire for peace. That more than anything seems like a reason to uphold the truce.

As for serving humans, after the war instead of wiping their foes off the face of the planet, they were curious about their creators and tried to find out what made them tick. Using humans as power seems like an excuse more then anything, there are pleny of alternatives to solar power and that would be the least obvious one to pick. They devised a heaven for them in the Matrix, and after that was rejected they tested to see if hell was better suited. Eventually they gave humans back their civilization and pretty much left them alone with certain restrictions in place. If they had wanted to make themselves be litteral gods to humanity in the Matrix, that could have been easily done that instead.

The Machines seem to want the truce to survive and are willing to give a great deal of leeway to how the rules are enforced. If they were looking for an excuse to simply crush Zion again they could have justified it already, but they seem to be keeping with the spirit of their agreement more then simply the rules of it. The introduction of Agent Pace as a more human friendly resource seems to be a shift in their attitudes with how to approach humanity, and she says she was implemented at humanity's request, meaning they aren't turning a blind ear to their opperatives.

I'd argue that the truce is a real truce and shouldn't be dismissed lightly by either side. Just because the humans were not capable of winning the war in the past doesn't make it any less significat that hostilities have stopped. The machines had the the upper hand then, but they still had to devote resources to weapons (sentinals) and they had to gaurd 01 against any new human weapons (EMP), so it wasn't entierly one sided. Yes the machines still hold the upper hand, and yes the truce was brokered under extreme circumstances, but in the end they have a lot to gain if it works out. They won't have to find other sources of energy for one thing, and they can stop destroying Zion and rebuilding it again every 100 years which I imagine takes a great deal of effort. Humans get a measure of freewill and choice placed back in their hands, and then have a chance to shape the destiny of the human race again. I think the most logical thing is to assume that the machines have no burning desire to be rid of humanity, and humans have no hope of getting rid of machines, so the only thing to do is to keep taking steps forward, reject fanatics on all sides, and let the truce evolve into actual peace.

~ CheshireCat

Well, the crown symbol in my signature is for Cheshire's semi-defunct group Knights, but it is more of a personal symbol than anything else. It is the crown worn in the illustrations of Alice in Wonderland.

Well, here's my take on an enhanced image. It uses most of the same techniques as the rest, only put to a different effect. Anyway this is the only good screenshot I got at TasteeWheat's funeral, and even it wasn't all that great or I would have done something more subtle. Still it is emotive, and cat stands out from the crowd, so I suppose it works. Anyway, enjoy.

~ CheshireCat

::Waves goodbye::

I never really got to know either of you very well, but it's still sad to see a pair of Linenoise veterans leave. The Visati always did Masked RP right, and I've got a lot of respect. Take care, take care, and I wish you the best in whatever you do.

~ CheshireCat

This makes me very sad. I'm not around much anymore, but TasteeWheat was one of the best people I knew in game, and an unbelivable asset to the community. I think a little bit of Linenoise just died. ::tears::

TasteeWheat, we're really going to miss you...

~ CheshireCat

I've had exactly one Matrix related dream so far. It was later in the game and the city is under heavy quarantine, the helicopters are swarming the sky and the military presence is opressive but not obvious. I made my way deep into the heart of downtown, where all sorts of electrified fences and barbed wire have been set up to stop people and it is mostly deserted. I'm trying to find Sarah, and then suddenly I spot her outside of a giant facility of somekind. I don't remember exactly what she looks like, but she sort of smiles at me and walks inside confidently. I try to follow after her but the reality in the building is thicker somehow and very hard to move around in, and the world gets blurry and more intensly green tinted. I must have tripped some sort of alarm because two large mechanical dogs come bounding around the corner and start leaping at me. I try and fight them off but in the end I'm forced to run for it. As I get back out on the street I see columns of tanks and other extremely advanced fighting vehicles pouring into the city for some sort of major military action. As they open fire on me I hyperjump away but I crash into the top of a barbed wire fence...

~ CheshireCat

CheshireCat

Level 32 jack of all trades, Beta Veteran
Neutral idealist with mercenary tendancies
Curent status unknown

((Meow, well we've said our goodbyes but even so I really do hope you
come back sometime. I was going to stop in and see if I could
catch you one last time, but my internet has been down for a couple
days now and I still can't log on. Anyway, it has been an
absolute blast and I wish you all the best. ::hugs::

Farewell farewell my friend, you'll be missed around here.

~ CheshireCat ))

*blinks* Of all the people here, you'd think that
White Rabbit would be my theme song, I mean I absolutly love it, but
since I don't have a copy at the moment my song of choice ended up
being Engel by Rammstein. I seriously sing along to that song
every time... badly... in German... Hehehe

A close second would be Shabby Doll by Elvis Costello, it fits the Matrix so well. Here are some choice lyrics from it:

What's going on behind the green elevator door
With just a shabby doll

There's a hit man facing
A compromising situation
With just a shabby doll
And a very neat line in character assassination
She's just a shabby doll

She said you must be joking
Some things are left unspoken
You're just a shabby doll
He's lying limp and soaking
He was openly broken
By just a shabby doll

Hmmm,
let me think, for third place, I'd probably have to pick Chop Suey! by
System of a Down just out of its sheer exuberance. It always gets
me a little hyper. ::grins::

~ CheshireCat

Hehe, hmmm, trying to remember the inspiration for CheshireCat... ::grins::

Well I'm a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland and I wanted to play with
the wonderland elements of the Matrix, so I made a character that
embodied the traits that the real Cheshire Cat has. It is clear
that she is a good person, but she is incapable of picking one side
over the other consistently in the conflict. She is knowledgeble
about the matrix and can often act as a guide of sorts. She is
inconstant and vanishes without warning. She is extremely
friendly but mischevious. Like in the croquet match in the
castle, Cat often seems to float above the danger and she is a constant
fixture in the matrix. Like all wonderland creatures she is
dangerous and does not stand for being trifled with.

For the character herself I wanted someone who had been around for a
while. She has been a redpill for about eleven years now, and
she's just about seen it all. She is human but has many exile
like traits and sympathizes with them more then her own species most of
the time. I wanted her to be independant from Zion and a bit of a
hermit, so I gave her a base by the seaside.

I also dipped into fairy tales in a lot of her creation. She was
born a changling, meaning a human child stolen by Exile parents, hehe,
simply replacing Fairies with Exiles in this case. She is the
almost leader of a group called Knights that hopefully will get its act
together once I'm around more. She occasionally tells folk tales,
either of the Matrix, or else just ones from her childhood.

She has many cat like traits, as befits her name. She says Meow
whenever it pleases her. She purrs, hisses, and sniffs at
things. Her nails are long and sharp and she carries a butterfly
knife. Despite being fully human she has bitten people in the
past, and drunk blood on more then one occasion.

Other inspirations would be the main character from the Japanese movie
Pistol Opera. The character there is called Stray Cat, and I
always imagined that Cheshire has the same sort of movements she
does. Hmm, a little Battle Angel Alita, a little Catwoman,
classic cyberpunk like Neuromancer, Snow Crash, and Philip K. D!ck, (stupid censoring thing doesn't like that name) and
a
little ditzy generic anime catgirl all thrown into the mix.
Hehe. Anything not accounted for in this long rambling post is
probably just my personality shining through. ::grins::

~ CheshireCat

Message Edited by -CheshireCat on 12-27-2005 12:20 PM

Merry Christmas everyone!

Elle Driver supports eyepatches in the Matrix... so should you.

~ CheshireCat

Yep yep, I'm sure it is you now. Welcome back Hion, it's good to
see you around again! Lets hear it for Linenoise natives.

Pretending to be on topic for a sec: Yeah, not so sure about
teens as employees though. If we get more employees I just want a
dedicated LET again.

By the way, If you ever get in a flame war with Oblivion-Knight, I'll be cheering you on all the way. ::Grins::

~ CheshireCat

CheshireCat

<Knights>

----Unencrypted Signal: Source unkown----

Initiating message...

Greetings you wanderers of the digital ether,

This is CheshireCat the de facto leader of Knights elaborating on our
invitation for the benifit of any who might receive this message.
Our Zion faction, KNIGHTS Freelance Restorations, is currently under
new leadership in the form of the talented Bouyancy. We are a
unique venture in the Matrix, and our style of action would fit well
with any former members of Digital Nights, a faction I have long been
friendly with. We are currently rebuilding the Zion faction and
expanding the two other existing ones, but it is expected that we will
be quite active in the coming months.

We seek solutions that benifit all residents of MegaCity and work in a
way that ties the three organizations together closely. Our other
two factions are the Merovingian KNIGHTS Armistice, and the Machinist
KNIGHTS Duhb Bas. At our most basic level we aim to be a peace
keeping force in the city, but our members run the spectrum from the
extremely laid back party goers to the more bloodthirsty
elements. ((Hehe, in simpler terms we focus on parties, PvP, and
lots of RP. ::grins:: )) If we've peaked your curiostiy then
give us a call and see if a transition from Digital Nights to digital
Knights is right for you. ::grins::

Contact Bouyancy for Zion specific questions, Freejack2600 for
Merovingian concerns, and D3athBlad3 or Personanongrata regarding
Machinist matters. As for myself, I should be widely availibe
after this weekend.

~ CheshireCat

-----Signal Lost-----

Message Edited by -CheshireCat on 12-06-2005 04:31 PM

Whee! Heh, here's a little Niobe and old school Ghost coming at
you. ::grins:: (With the old version of CheshireCat as
well.) Ghost was so much cooler in Beta.

I've been doing RP here since day one, but I find the idea of "Loose
Lips" to be more of a hinderance than anything else. Keeping
people in the dark about your critical missions has never given anyone
an actual gameplay advantage to date, and it just makes it harder for
everyone to keep up with MxO's already fragmented storyline.
People who get really serious about this sort of thing often don't even
share things after the fact which is more then agrevating when you are
trying to put together a history or archive live events. I've
been toying with the idea of just doing a Critical Missons report each
month, but I'm not organized enough at the moment, though I suspect I
will eventually.

~ CheshireCat

I'm not big on these sorts of threads, but that map is actually cool
enough to overcome my reluctance. ::Grins:: So there you go,
CheshireCat has been added.

Yep Tastee, I've been hearing that they are staying away from Syntax
right now outside of live events due to conflicts that have been going
on. Things seem like they have settled down, so if that is the
truth I hope they come back. >_<

If you have had any LET interaction, it would be nice to hear about
it. ::grins:: Post some screenshots or something for the
multitudes of us who have missed out.

~ CheshireCat

Well, I'm a college student coming out of an art program and going into English instead.

I have a brand new job where I work part time as a bagger at a grocery
store. Before that I was a cook at a fast food resturant.

Mostly I'm a starving artist and aspiring writer who doesn't have the
time to focus on her craft. I'd blame MxO, but I end up writing
more here for RP then I do playing other video games, so I guess it all
works out. ::Grins::

~ CheshireCat

((OOC))

Hey there, after a lot of thought, I'm coming back to the game. I
had it uninstalled and everything, but I decided it was worth it to
give it one more shot. I like the matrix, and I even enjoy the
game still, so let’s see if the community can fix the problems that
have plagued it. This is a new beginning in a way since many of
the people I played with have left game and my Knights faction is in
shaky shape with Zealot and Grata both gone. I've been here since
Beta, and it takes quite a bit to shake me loose. For reasons
that escape me I really do miss this place, so meow, the Cat is back.

I haven't heard anything about LET on Syntax, and from what I hear on
the grapevine they have been staying away due to the community
problems. If that is true, then it stops being an academic
question and starts being something that really needs to be
fixed. Think we can all stop fighting so that we have the chance
to really enjoy the game again? For me, that would be a wake up
call even if nothing else has been. This used to be the best RP
server around, and there is no reason it can't be again. Back in
Linenoise we made a list of RP players that ended up being 101 names
long, that should be the goal to reach once more. ::Grins::

I think Mesajeri's RP meeting is a really good start, and I urge you
all to sign up and attend. Information on it can be found in the
Syntax Events board. In a game like this where things can get
pretty hostile IC, it is important to be able to plan out plotlines
that seem liable to get out of hand and simply to be able to trust
other players OOC. Those two things seem like they have been at
the heart of most of the conflicts of the recent past, and there is no
reason they have to be. Good RP is a collaborative effort that no
one wins at; the point is to have one hell of a ride. ^_^
For better or for worse this does end up being a closed environment
sometimes, and any way to meet people and forge new connections is a
good. Getting new RPers involved is a very important part of
keeping things flowing.

For my own part, I'm just going to see what happens. I'd like to
think that I'm a little wiser for my troubles, and I can avoid stepping
in the same pitfalls again. I'll figure out what RP I can salvage,
level up a bit, and find a place once more. Hehe, if anyone feels
like leaving out a saucer of milk, I'll make sure to come around.
Until then, take care, take care to all of you.

~ CheshireCat

Message Edited by -CheshireCat on 11-15-2005 02:52 AM

Well, after fiddling around with a few things, I'm pretty sure the
problem is with my computer itself. *cries* I can log in
just fine from my roommate's computer, and we share an internet
connection. My account is fine, it's Windows that seems messed
up. There are a couple of websites that wont load for me either
for some reason. Soooo... unless someone knows what I might have
done, (cause I haven't got a clue) I'm probably just going to reinstall
windows whenever I find the time. >_<

I can't log in, the game gets stuck at Authenticating. It was
doing the same thing to me yesturday too. As far as I know I am
not running a fire wall, and I haven't changed any settings since the
last time it worked. I've been playing since beta under a variety
of internet conditions and I haven't had this problem before.

I tried reinstalling the game to see if that would help, but no
luck. At this point I'm inclined to think that this is a problem
on the SOE side of things, so any fellow sufferers out there?

~ CheshireCat

Charlenna wrote:

And as I've
already mentioned, as an RL girl gamer, it infuriates me when men say
all girls in MMOs are really guys. Funny, G4 did study on this,
apparently 20-40% of the population in MMOs (varies in each MMO) is
played by women, whereas 50% of those who play The Sims are women. Look
at the games you play even, see how many women made your favorite
games, do you honestly believe the women who work in the gaming
industry don't like to play games themselves? 10-30% of the gaming
industry (varies of course with each company) these days are
women. Men really need to start openning their eyes too this, I take
mens level of ignorance to blatantly say that all women gamers are
actually guys as a form of sexism, why can't girls play MMOs or any
game for that matter? My oldest brother was an avid gamer and he's
someone who I really looked up to as a little girl, so to hang out with
him I played games with him, that's how I got into gaming. Is it
impossible for other girls to get into gaming as well, even to get into
it on their own with out the influence of others? If so, how is it
impossible? There is no answer outside of sounding extremely derogatory
and sexist.

Hope I'm not derailing here,
(although it is like 10 pages in at this point ^_^) but I agree
completely. A friend of mine sent me an article the other day on
this topic titled OMG Girlz Don't Exist on teh Intarweb!!!!1 that got a little chuckle out of me but I think you said it far better here. ::grins::

~ CheshireCat

Yeah, I know what you mean about it being far too much. I still
love this game and I want to see where the story goes, but Its time for
me to hang up my cat ears and leave the community to lick its wounds
without me. This isn't really goodbye but I am heading out.
I'm thinking that I'm going to wander over to Second Life for a time
until I feel like giving Matrix another chance. For anyone who is
wondering, or missed my post in Espi's thread, I'm thinking it will be
about two weeks before I have any desire to try and play as Cat again,
and even then I'm probably just going to focus on my faction and on
leveling up finally. I see Kindall on Yahoo sometimes, and I'm
pretty sure she isn't logging in these days either, so I'll send your
regards. Anyway, send me an e-mail anytime my friend. Take
care, take care.

~ CheshireCat

I really hope they give us any sort of server hop, even if it is a one
way ticket. Things on my server have been ugly for a few months
now, and I know that me and my friends would just choose to pack up and
leave for Recursion if we could. :smileysad: As it is I'm thinking of starting over there, but it I'd really hate to leave CheshireCat behind.

::waves goodbye::

Going to miss you Grata, take care take care my friend.

/formalcurtsey

~ CheshireCat

((Hey there, Cat talked to all the Avatars and she has a excellent outfit to turn in, so count her in for tomorrow.))

OMG!!

....

>_<

Yeah, I've been wondering about that for a while now, and I'm glad
someone finally figured it out. Wish I'd heard about this, oh in
April or something, hehe, but now is better then never I guess.
::Grins::

Thank you very much,

~ CheshireCat

She stood poised on the roof's ledge, ready to hyperjump away, when her
nostrils flared with an old familiar scent. Cheshire looked down
at the alleyway below her with some tinge of concern. It was the
subtle smell of new death that made its way to her; it was a soft sad
smell of blood growing cool in the brisk evening air, of some lost
person with nothing left to lose. There was something more
though, the odor of some sort of coding that shouldn't exist.
With a leap she plunged down between the buildings. She almost
slid down the wall with one hand on a drain pipe and her feet dancing
across the tired brick surface. She landed lightly on the balls
of her feet and scanned the debris ridden alleyway with a mix of
curiosity and mourning.

An ankle lay sticking out conspicuously from underneath a stack of
black plastic garbage bags. "Someone dropped you off in a hurry,"
she quipped. She dragged the body out unceremoniously by the
foot, pulling him easily despite her small size. She flipped him
over and then stood up again with a look of dismay. "I know
you..." she said surprised. The body itself said plenty; it was a
young man at the peak of his life, well dressed in expensive silk,
clean, and with no obvious wounds. He was cold to the touch but
he couldn't have been there for more than a few hours by her
judgment. More then that though, he was dressed like a redpill,
and chances were good he didn't have a wallet or ID. It was the
face that really told the whole story though. Cheshire couldn't
remember the name, but she was certain she had danced with him once at
a party. He'd been new to the Matrix, a fresh young recruit on a
hoverbarge who was excited to tell her his life story, and so she'd
indulged him a dance while she let him talk.

Somewhere in the back of her mind a memory triggered. That night
so many years ago looking through a rifle scope as one by one her Zion
teammates fell like puppets with their strings cut. They were
dashing desperately for the ringing hardline while back in the real a
spineless traitor unplugged them one at a time. The captain of
the ship had died with the payphone in her hand, but then again they
had never really had a chance once the massacre had started.
Agents had tried to grab the captain for questioning but somewhere on
the way the plan had gone wrong and when she escaped, orders went out
to just kill them all. Cheshire was there on the rooftop
providing cover, but there was no one to fight against, she could only
sit and watch in horror at Ipso's handiwork. Oh how she wished
she could find them in the real, but she didn’t even have a ship.
"I need to be reinserted Cheshire, I'm sure you can understand..." said
the lovely voice in her cell phone after it was done, but Cheshire just
sat there hugging her sniper rifle and crying for dead friends unable
to say a single thing in response.

Cheshire found herself crying over this fresh corpse too. She
shed big bitter tears for all the dead redpills she'd known.
She'd been hearing rumors of killcodes and duplicates, things worth
looking into, but this dead RSI in front of her was terribly
real. A crime like this was personal. After the truce she
had held some vain hope that she'd stop losing friends, but they had
all found creative ways to get killed in the real world... but this,
this was something else. She knew instinctively what had happened
and how this was done, and she was sure that the bluepill papers would
only confirm her suspicions. Reflexively she coded up a rose and
laid it gently on his still chest before flipping open her butterfly
knife and holding it out in front of her like a mirror. In the
blade's dull reflection she wiped away the last of her tears and
straightened her shoulders with resolve. "This is something I
have to do alone," she swore in front of the corpse, "but for all of
our sakes I will put a stop to this perversion of the jack out
procedure. Even if people have to die before this is through,
once more death will hold no dominion in this place..." She
walked away slowly into the darkness, trying her best to pick up the
trail of whoever had killed this boy. She was stalking a foe she
didn't know yet, but she was sure she would find them. Her feet
made not a sound as they paced the ground, and a fire burned deep
within her eyes.

~ CheshireCat

She stood poised on the roof's ledge, ready to hyperjump away, when her
nostrils flared with an old familiar scent. Cheshire looked down
at the alleyway below her with some tinge of concern. It was the
subtle smell of new death that made its way to her; it was a soft sad
smell of blood growing cool in the brisk evening air, of some lost
person with nothing left to lose. There was something more
though, the odor of some sort of coding that shouldn't exist.
With a leap she plunged down between the buildings. She almost
slid down the wall with one hand on a drain pipe and her feet dancing
across the tired brick surface. She landed lightly on the balls
of her feet and scanned the debris ridden alleyway with a mix of
curiosity and mourning.

An ankle lay sticking out conspicuously from underneath a stack of
black plastic garbage bags. "Someone dropped you off in a hurry,"
she quipped. She dragged the body out unceremoniously by the
foot, pulling him easily despite her small size. She flipped him
over and then stood up again with a look of dismay. "I know
you..." she said surprised. The body itself said plenty; it was a
young man at the peak of his life, well dressed in expensive silk,
clean, and with no obvious wounds. He was cold to the touch but
he couldn't have been there for more than a few hours by her
judgment. More then that though, he was dressed like a redpill,
and chances were good he didn't have a wallet or ID. It was the
face that really told the whole story though. Cheshire couldn't
remember the name, but she was certain she had danced with him once at
a party. He'd been new to the Matrix, a fresh young recruit on a
hoverbarge who was excited to tell her his life story, and so she'd
indulged him a dance while she let him talk.

Somewhere in the back of her mind a memory triggered. That night
so many years ago looking through a rifle scope as one by one her Zion
teammates fell like puppets with their strings cut. They were
dashing desperately for the ringing hardline while back in the real a
spineless traitor unplugged them one at a time. The captain of
the ship had died with the payphone in her hand, but then again they
had never really had a chance once the massacre had started.
Agents had tried to grab the captain for questioning but somewhere on
the way the plan had gone wrong and when she escaped, orders went out
to just kill them all. Cheshire was there on the rooftop
providing cover, but there was no one to fight against, she could only
sit and watch in horror at Ipso's handiwork. Oh how she wished
she could find them in the real, but she didn’t even have a ship.
"I need to be reinserted Cheshire, I'm sure you can understand..." said
the lovely voice in her cell phone after it was done, but Cheshire just
sat there hugging her sniper rifle and crying for dead friends unable
to say a single thing in response.

Cheshire found herself crying over this fresh corpse too. She
shed big bitter tears for all the dead redpills she'd known.
She'd been hearing rumors of killcodes and duplicates, things worth
looking into, but this dead RSI in front of her was terribly
real. A crime like this was personal. After the truce she
had held some vain hope that she'd stop losing friends, but they had
all found creative ways to get killed in the real world... but this,
this was something else. She knew instinctively what had happened
and how this was done, and she was sure that the bluepill papers would
only confirm her suspicions. Reflexively she coded up a rose and
laid it gently on his still chest before flipping open her butterfly
knife and holding it out in front of her like a mirror. In the
blade's dull reflection she wiped away the last of her tears and
straightened her shoulders with resolve. "This is something I
have to do alone," she swore in front of the corpse, "but for all of
our sakes I will put a stop to this perversion of the jack out
procedure. Even if people have to die before this is through,
once more death will hold no dominion in this place..." She
walked away slowly into the darkness, trying her best to pick up the
trail of whoever had killed this boy. She was stalking a foe she
didn't know yet, but she was sure she would find them. Her feet
made not a sound as they paced the ground, and a fire burned deep
within her eyes.

~ CheshireCat