Sayonara, Reality

[Gridstatic]

Lazaro 'Gridgrinderr' Gruesbeck fiddled with the last few controls on his datapad. He entered the algorithms to the 'grid phreak' nano program, and adjusted his jury-rigged connection to his grid terminal. He was tired; tired of the war, tired of the empty feeling he'd had for months now, tired of seeing things end, people leave. Just plain tired. He was done being an active part on this wretched dustball(well, not that he was ever very active, but that's beside the point). The cold robotic voice on his datapad noted that the programing was complete. He picked up his comm, and began typing out a message that would be sent to all open comm lines and delete itself as soon as it was read. 'Well, I s'pose it's time fer me ta be goin'. I don' have much else to say, except for the one thing I once heard yah mention, Jen-chan: "Fixers never die." and so, instead of saying goodbye, i'll jus' say so long, I'll see ya in the Gridspace. -Lazaro '. He didn't know if the person he mentioned would recieve it, but it didn't really matter now.

The message was sent, and he turned back to his datapad. He activated it for the last time, and felt the old rush of being encoded into the Grid. But this was different. It wasn't the feeling of jumping into a pool but keeping your head above the water. His entire conciousness was in the Grid, without the feeling of being lost in thought, of it just being a waking-dream. he could feel the data flowing through him, he could feel himself as data. And he could see. He could see like never before: everything, everywhere, in the flesh and in data. And he knew there was no going back. This was his existance: forever the spectator, unable to assist in any tangible form; a ghost.

But he knew, in the end, it was for the best.

((Well, I've cancelled my account, and I'm at the end of my time. I'd like to thank everyone I know who made my time in this game so great, but I have to move on. If anyone wants to reach me, I can be found as Soled Eckos, Mon Calamari bar-owner/criminal on Tattooine(Starsider server).))

[Demenzia]

It was quite a time Jen hadn't seen him - a few weeks at the least, maybe more, each of them entrenched within their own dutys, within their own lives - but when she got the message, a fond and yet sad smile slowly came to her lips. Fond, because in spite of what they had gone through, she had had a sincere liking for the young Fixer, for the way he had to like her too, even if hiding it under his attitudes, under his words. Sad, because things would never be the same anymore, because she knew what the mesage hiden between the lines was really meaning. Fixers never really die. But the Grid is the only shelter they have, when reality becomes too much of a drag. Mehbe I'll go there too, someday. Mehbe I'll say goodbye, and dive in slumber among the data...

The message was already deleting itself, just an ephemeral reminder that Lazaro had once existed. She remembered their games of hide-and-sek within the Grid, their first physical meeting, the way he had changed his life after Jaxxa's disappearance, their conversations... even his sincere worries when she herself had disappeared in the Wastes, another eternity ago. Yes. She would miss him, no matter what.

"...Goodbye, Lazaro-kun..." she softly whispered, as the last word was disappearing from her Grid-display... forever."Mehbe ya'll see me in the Rift again someday.

Mehbe ya'll remember me..."