2013.09.24 - Social Filters Optional

Work on Internet 3.0 had been taking a while. With the hardware set up thanks to Harper Row and Kitty Pryde, Doug had finally had the system that could keep up with his programming demands. Having set up a secure section dedicated for communications, the next part was something a bit more demanding - electronic commerce.

With the Virtual Reality simulations of the internet set in place, Doug had limited the current system, as a test, towards all the online e-commerce stores.

To that end, he'd enlisted a few volunteers to test for bugs.

And so, with helmets and gloves in place, wires, and comfortable chairs in place, they were about to dive into...

... a virtual simulation of wide stretches of various stores, represented in not-quite-perfected rendered graphics. Some occasional glitches here and there (which Doug attributed to IE standards), but all in all, a shopper's paradise. Wide areas to go to.

"Now rememeber," Doug's virtual avatar (a simulation of an anime character with large blue eyes and yellow hair reminiscent of Cloud Strife) commented. "If you need to go to a specific place, just say out 'Go.... where you want to go'. And if you lose sight of each other, just say 'I'm at ... wherever you are'. So we can find each other. And when you're done, just say 'I quit.'"

There's a stern look from the Cloud avatar towards the Jubilee avatar. "And I -will- log you out if you stay too long."

In one chair, Jubilee puts on her helmet, flexing her fingers inside their gloves, and flips the INTERFACE switch. An instant's rush later, she's standing on the gridded floor of the largest mall she's ever seen. Welcome to reality! Or a reasonably good facsimile. Aside from that very large cockroach crawling up the facade of that huge warehouse masquerading as a store with the logo of Babylon.com. "Ooh... now /this/ is cool!" She looks down at herself, doing a little twirl and giggling as she sees her new 'body'. She's mostly herself, but clad in the red one-piece tunic/dress of an officer on her favorite sci-fi show. "I guess this is close enough to being beamed up, right?" That warning just makes her smile disappear. "Hey, why are you looking at /me/ for that? I've never overshopped before!" Not so /she'd/ notice, anyway!

Pixie's avatar is immediately recognizable, thanks to the choice of shocking pink hair that tops the grinning anime-styled fairy in a princess dress. She might be strapped into computer hardware, but she still manages to stand out. It's quite impressive how well the avatar reflects Pixie herself - it keeps flickering as if trying to be located in two paces at once. Even Doug can't proof against Pixie's synaptic responses when hopped up on caffeine. Especially when Megan's immediate reaction upon being submerged in virtual reality is to go up and try and prod stuff with her virtual finger to see if it feels real. Prod. Prod prod prod. "This is cool," she remarks, cheerfully. Prod.

Strangely enough, by the time that explanation is given by Doug, Laura is already in her chair, and ready to go. Then once the switch is flicked.

Well, lets just say that either everyone or no one will recognize the clawed 'clone's avatar. Simply put... It's plain. It's just pure white, vaguely human shaped, and has no defining features what so ever.

But anyways, said avatar appears not too far from Pixie and Jubilees (at least until Jubes heads for that store).

"..."

"I'm looking at you like that because I have no idea what you're going to do with the entire Internet to shop from, Jubilee," Doug replies, regarding Jubilee's sci-fi outfit with a nod of approval. Right on. As long as she wasn't going to be the first targeted to die.

Shading his eyes at Pixie, Doug blinks his eyes. Yeah, definitely need to de-caffeniate Pixie somehow, as the building does indeed feel solid enough to Pixie's simulated touch. "Just remember, those are -your- accounts you're spending out of," he warns. "So whatever you're buying, be careful."

Laura he regards as a -special- tester... someone so unexperienced at the Internet that she'd make for a -great- stress tester. Assuming she didn't somehow pop claws out of her avatar and start slashing things.

Beaming like a proud father showing off his newest middle-life crisis toy, Doug motions towards the stores. "Just go ahead. Shop around, see what you can buy. Everything'll be shipped to you once you approve the purchases. If you run into bugs, let me know. I'll be, uh... browsing."

Jubilee just sticks her virtual tongue out at Doug and turns to her shopping. "C'mon, Pix. We still need to find you a phone. Wanna come, Laura? There's plenty of room... whoa." The California Girl blinks, seeing Laura's avatar. "I've heard of blending in, but this is a little much, I think. How'll ya try anything on if you don't look like yourself?" she asks, puzzled.

Pixie's avatar puts its hands on its hips and despite the unaltered smile on its anime face, still manages to look reproachful. "You know that's totally unfair, right? To stick us in here to be your guinea pigs to test this thing and then tell us that anything we can only spend our own money. We ought to get an allowance for this! Expenses! Union rates! Minimum wage!" Pixie's voice betrays the fact that she's not entirely serious, but her avatar raises its hand defiantly. "Power to the people! Free virtual shopping for all! And Doug paying for our shoes! Right, guys?!"

"You mean you'll be looking at Porn." Laura's avatar deadpans at Dougs comment regarding him 'browsing'. That is before she blinks, and somehow the avatar that the clawed clone is using at least sort of becomes Laura shaped, even if it's still plain white and mostly featureless. But at least that might help for clothes shopping?

On the other hand, there's just a slight shrug at Pixie, before the female 'clone' of Wolverine shrugs at the hyper Pixie avatar.

"If you say so."

Yeah. Odds are it's probably not a good thing to ask Laura about money.

-bwip-

A default avatar springs into existence next to Doug. Three seconds later, it recompiles: a black-haired young woman in jeans and a white shirt (printed with several people stuck in test tubes; it's either a band shirt or something suitably arty) stands there with hips cocked, calmly stirring a cup of tea with her finger. She looks outward toward the room, not giving Doug a look. Her attention is, however, on him.

"Mr. Ramsey. Please excuse me, I found spare parts nearby. I do not think I damaged anything in constructing a new interface set. Is this your project? With the hardware courtesy of your 'Kitty', of course."

She raises the tea and takes a sip, completing her survey of what she can see and a few things she cannot. "I am impressed."

Grinning as Jubilee and Pixie starts preparing for phone shopping, the young mutant tilts his head as he tries reading Pixie. Not that it does him any good, his programming wasn't -so- good he could decipher body language as done by an avatar. "... well, I would give you something -after- we're done testing it. I just, uh, haven't sorted out what yet," Doug admits. "... Although I suppose I could arrange gift certificates to a store. Hm...." He'd have to requisition it.

Eyes go wide as Laura suggested 'porn'. "N-no way! If I did that, Betsy would... uh..." His voice trails off as he realizes he hadn't factored in -safeties- to prevent people from wandering off into the adware-ladened sites. Like tracking cookies and such. They -were- represented, and if he did his job right, they'd be herded off into little corners of the virtual representation stores to prevent them following the avatars around...

Musing, Doug gives a start as an unexpected avatar shows up. "Ms. St. Croix," Doug comments, composing himself. "Uh... yes. I've been working on this a long time."

Glancing around, Doug motions towards the stores. "Go ahead, have a look around."

"Yes, she definitely would," Jubilee replies, trying not to laugh, even if she can't help smiling knowingly at Doug. "And I definitely expect something /after/ we're done shopping. After all, we could've just gone to the mall for real!" She nods politely to Money, and puts a hand on Laura's shoulder. "Coming with us? I was thinking we might find you something to wear that isn't black. Or white. At least not all over."

Pixie's avatar looks at Laura's, then at Doug, and then reaches up to rub the back of its head. "Porn? You mean...?" There's a pause as Megan's brain obviously goes to work and she holds up a finger. "Hah, like you would be dumb enough to let us loose in here where anyone could look at porn, right Mr. Ramsey?" Without giving Doug time to respond, Pixie's avatar gestures and a store seems to materialize into the fabric of the mall as Megan virtually calls up a site as an experiment. The grin on the face of her avatar stays in place when she steps towards the doorway of the store and instead of staying firmly shut as she expected, the door slides open in front of her. Pixie's avatar stares through the open doorway, takes a step forward, then rapidly retreats, turning around to reveal her avatar has completely drained of color. There's a lengthy pause, then Megan remarks in a hoarse, horrified whisper, "Whatever you do... don't go in there."

As that hand touches her shoulder, the clawed 'clone' shrugs, before she says, "Very well."

But then, certain magic words are heard...

After all, don't go in...?

Yeah. Of course after that's said, the blank Laura Avatar blinks, and moves over. She then sticks her head in for a moment or two, before pulling her head back out, looking right at Pixie, and... Shrugging?!?

Yeap. What ever is in there doesn't rattle Laura. But still...

"I do not want to know why boys would want to do that with pink cartoon ponies."

Of course it's then that Monet does get a slight nod in greeting, but since Laura doesn't really know her, she doesn't say anything.

Monet reaches out and taps the air. A console screen appears and, with a flick of her finger, begins rapidly scrolling through text. She allows it to keep up its breakneck speed while she attends to her breakfast tea.

"Just for shopping, Mr. Ramsey? I did not realize you were such a fan."

The young woman raises her gaze and purses her lips as her fellow cybernauts explore the wonders of human depravity. "Perhaps not just for shopping. Is there a consent waiver I should read first?"

"Wait, Pixie, I didn't...!" Doug exclaims, trying to grab ahold of Pixie before...

Too late.

Palming his face, Doug gives a sheepish grin. "I didn't install any filters. I mean, the idea was to test everything in the e-commerce area, I just didn't..." His voice trails off as he takes a deep breath. "It was meant to represent a virtual representation of the entire Internet. I tried things with just avatars, and then it's constructing virtual representations of the whole Internet. For now, though... this test is pretty much limited to stores and... wait a minute. Pixie, how -did- you think of -that- store?"

Palming his face, Doug waves a hand. "Nevermind. I've got to program in some safe search features."

Taking a deep breath, Doug looks back at Jubilee, and then Pixie. "Okay, time for the stress test. Just go shop. Take Laura with you and... wait, where'd she go?"

Jubilee gives Pixie a quick, reassuring hug, careful not to look at Laura or the open doorway. "I don't think my fragile young mind could take it," she mutters. "I think I'll stick with shopping." Of course, the mention of Laura /vanishing/ gets her attention. She looks back, blinking. "Huh? I only looked away for a second! Laura?" She cranes her neck and looks around.

Pixie's avatar twists around and grabs Laura's by the shoulders. "I know! I only tried it as a joke! I didn't know that people actually... oh my god! How could they do that?! I mean, like, why would they, not how, because I know that shouldn't be physically possible with the thing with the thing!" Pixie's voice breaks down into a horrified silence, just enough to get others wondering if there's a virtual therapist in the virtual mall. The drained avatar turns her face toward Doug and stares blankly. "Stress test? That was stressful! You should have put in filters!" she proclaims, but then Jubilee's quick hug brings her back to reality and the color slowly starts to return to her avatar. "Huh?" she asks, looking around to see what the problem is. The problem other than the contents of that store, that is.

And as Pixie lets go, and as people turn their backs, the mostly blank avatar of the clawed clone up and vanishes.

But just where does Laura end up? One moment she was here, and then the next...

Well, there is a 'site' that can be seen that sells guns.

And a site where supposedly you can hire assassins, but it's probably not one of the most 'visible' ones here.

Then there's one that sells swords not too far 'away'.

But is she at any of those?

Nope.

Instead, if one were to really look for Laura, they may eventually find her avatar.

In an online toy store. In a section full of adorable little plushies and other stuffed animals. Where she's just sitting there, on the floor, cross legged, and apparently having a starring contest with some sort of ultra huge, ultra plush teddy bear.

"One of the earliest social filters, Mr. Ramsey, was adult supervision. I have found it is an excellent skill for teachers to cultivate. Allow me to instruct you. It's the least I can do in return for your earlier lesson."

Monet closes the console window with another tap and then pushes off of the ground, gliding silently over the virtual ground until she comes to a stop near Megan and Jubilee. Inflight, she finishes her tea and sets it aside. The cup and saucer disappear as her avatar leaves it behind.

"Hello. I believe the stores are in this direction." She looks Jubilee and then Megan up and down, her face expressionless and thus slightly haughty. "In the interest of properly testing the program, I am willing to provide either of you with a small stipend, if necessary."

Frowning, Doug reaches out in the air, bringing up a console. A quick check, and then Doug smirks. "Let's leave Laura for now," he says. Best to see how long she can handle it. Unless stores started making animated demonstrations, he didn't really expect Laura to get into trouble.

Monet's assertion gets a grin. "Excellent suggestion, Ms. St. Croix." Mentally making a note to add safeties later, the young mutant moves towards the store Jubilee was headed towards. "Uh, I don't think that's necessary," Doug begins... with a note of resignation. Somehow he knew the teenagers was going to accept the offer with great alarcity.

Jubilee just hugs Pixie a little tighter. "Let's go forget about it," she suggests. "You still need a phone, and I need to see what model the SPhone is on now. I /think/ mine's the latest... And then somebody else join in the discussion. The California Girl looks up into that haughty young face, frowning thoughtfully. On the one hand, snob. On the other, free money for shopping. Priorities, priorities... Doug settles it for her. "Well, if you're sure... no takebacks!" she replies with a grin.

Monet said the magic words, and Megan starts to push the traumatic scene from her mind the moment that there's mention of being paid to shop, rather than from Jubilee's comforting. Her fixed grin avatar focuses on the other girl and the head tilts slightly to one side. "Ooh, you just became my new best friend," she says more cheerfully to Monet and shoots a look at Doug. "Ignore Mr. Ramsey," she says firmly. "It's, like, /totally/ necessary to have money to test this thing properly. Otherwise, what's the point. You know, right, Monet?" Although the way she pronounces the name makes it sound more like 'money'. It's obviously starting to weigh on her mind.

Monet does not respond. Her attention has become solely focused on the unchanging, seemingly unassailable grin of Megan's avatar. The black-haired woman begins to frown, at first only slightly and then harder, perhaps in hopes that it will have some effect on the other mutant's smile.

"It's pronounced Monet," she says, absently. After a brief silence, Monet raises her hand and lays a single finger on Megan's lips. She is fast and does not ask permission, but withdraws after a second. Whatever reaction Pixie has, it'll now be mirrored in her mouth as well. "It was off-putting," she murmurs.

That done, Monet opens the console window again. After a few graceful taps, she closes it and brushes her hair back over her shoulders. "Five hundred dollars each. I hope you will be able to find something acceptable."

"No takebacks," Doug affirms. Apparently Monet had taken a personal interest in the system as well. Oh well, the more hands, the merrier, he supposes. At least she was likely to document the code, and Doug was able to track the changes well enough.

Still... five hundred dollars... he could buy -lots of things- with that much. Maybe tickets to a concert or something...

"I hope that's enough," Doug considers. Now that he'd thought about it, he was suddenly wondering what would happen if... no, neither of those two were likely to wander into a gun store...

"Five hun... /whoa/," Jubilee whispers, blinking up at the generous, if haughty, woman. "Thanks, Monet! Totally! This'll more than take care of Pix's phone. And I might just have to pick up a new pair of shoes, too. What about you, Doug? Have anything in mind?"

The expression on Pixie's avatar's face remains unchanged and she just keeps grinning at Monet without any display of any other emotion. It'd be easy to assume that her patch hasn't worked but, no, it's just that Pixie just looks like that 90 percent of the time anyway. "Whoo! Thanks Monet-bags!" she says cheerfully, and gratefully. She rubs her hands together and the expression on her avatar finally changes. Still grinning, but there's an air of mischief now, the expression of a teenage girl about to go on a mad splurge. She shoots a look at Doug and then rearranges her expression into one of wide-eyed innocence. "It's totally enough! See, Monet has the right idea, unlike some. Not slave labor!" she announces brightly and offers the others a positive thumbs up. "So, new phone for me! And... um... I need some new clothes for Autumn, but, like, if I buy any new tops, I'm not sure they could alter them for my wings, so maybe just some new jeans. And shoes. And maybe if I bought some T-shirts I could adapt them myself..." she contemplates, prattling on as she starts to talk mostly to herself as visions of shopping dance through her head, erasing any more traumatic visions that might have been etched there previously.

Monet shrinks back from Pixie's avatar. The subtle changes in the avatar's expression indicate that the new code did what it was intended, but then there is the matter of Megan still using up the Institute's entire supply of exclamation marks.

"'Monet bags'? Don't be crude. It is unattractive."

She turns around to give Doug a look that can be closely approximated to 'do these two belong to you?' "Mr. Ramsey, would you be so kind as give me the core access codes? I wish to browse your work."

"Uh... I was just going to go shopping for more electronics, and maybe find something for me, and uh..." Somehow he had a feeling that if he commented on what else he was thinking, Jubilee would make it her business to help. He wasn't -that- far gone yet...

"They're my students," Doug affirms the look verbally to Monet. Rubbing his nose, Doug quirks an eyebrow. "Right -now-?" With a glance towards the students, Doug seems split between getting a peer review, and just going to explore the world now. "Uh... can we do this later?" he finally says. "Look, Megan, cotton candy!"

"And uh... /who/, Doug?" Jubilee asks teasingly, having a sneaking suspicion of just which person he might have been about to mention. Shaking her head, she turns to Pixie. "Come on, Pix, let's find that phone. And some of that cotton candy... seriously, there's online-order cotton candy? Pity you have to wait a couple days to taste it!"

"Well, poot," is Pixie's only response to Monet's character appraisal. Totally not crude, see? She exchanges a look with Jubilee when Monet turns her back to them, but resists any urge to stick her tongue out. The 500 dollars burning a hole in her account make her more gracious than she normally might be. She shoots a look between Doug and Jubilee and looks at them both as if they've gone mad. "Why would you order cotton candy through the mail?" she asks in a confused tone. "Like, when it arrived it'd just be flat sugar. That's just crazy. Now, if I can find a place that sells Rhubarb and Custards..." she says, looking inspired and flitting after Jubilee as they head towards a virtual technology store.

"I will return later, then," Monet replies. She glances over her shoulder at the impending shopping spree behind her. Jubilee and Megan are already disappearing into the storefronts. The young woman offers Doug a final look of warning.

"Remember, Mr. Ramsey. Social filters."

Her avatar disappears with a -bwip-.