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← THE PHANTOM PLEASURE Prologue
(This newsletter is formatted for Substack, and will look better in the Substack App or on the site, as opposed to e-mail)
3 Months ago… When I first got hard locked out of the DEBUG FLOORS, before my ass even hit the plastech linkways; I was ready for The Lower Levels.
I was ready for the sudden difficulty spike… I had expected the unskippable, brutal tutorial sequence. The poor settings, the badly designed environments, the total lack of options…
Obviously, I’d never been to THE PAZ (Public Access Zone) before, but it’s pretty much what we PREMIUM USERS imagine it to be.
Scammers and bug junkies… Sex phreaks and desperate hustlers… All fighting to maintain status and reputation in the trash bin. Nothing too surprising…
But there was that one thing… Maybe the only thing left to look forward to.
Despite all the miserable bitshit I would have to live with down here, there was that one thing I could be absolutely sure of:
I’d never have to experience another random encounter with THEM.
Of course, that one thing I was certain of, was the only thing I was totally wrong about.
Jump-Cutters…
Top level Social Influencers from THE GOGG REPUBLIC. Highly trained shills with maxed-out beauty and seduction stats. I used to see them prowling around the high-traffic areas of the DEBUG LEVELS where I worked…
I’d watch from a safe distance as they popped-up and captured users with low agility, the kinda suckers who had more Pixels than self-control points. The kinda users that made ideal clients back when I was a Dedicated Server Hostess…
Jump-Cutters come equipped with PROMO SUITS, a special kind of Softwear made from those Neuro-Optic fibers that grow all over everything in Geo-City One. They can generate and project customized advertisements, among other things. And they’re not all janky and broken like Synth Suits.
Don’t know how it works, but Promo Suits can read your settings and preferences; even your hidden ones. That’s how Jump-Cutters can always figure out what you want. And of course, they only want to know what you want so they can keep it from you. Typical fucking Gogg Republic push-and-pull puzzle manipulation.
So far I haven’t come into physical contact with any of them in the slums. Maybe they’re unable to log-in down here, or maybe they just don’t want to. You’d probably think that this is a good thing, but don’t worry; GRP users can always find creative work-arounds when it comes to ruining your life…
They’ve managed to take control of every single advertising system down here, every promo screen, every terminal. And if you’re unlucky, they can track, trace, and follow you with relentless targeted ads. Anywhere you go in The PAZ, there they are.
Happy to show you what would make you happy, what you desire. What you like. Everything you’ve been missing…
Problem is, there’s no way to buy what they’re selling.
Or is there?
Echo will return in…
THE PHANTOM PLEASURE - EPISODE 1.0
HEAVY META
Hey, everyone! I hope you enjoyed this little exploration inside Echo’s brain. I’m working extremely hard on the next episode, making sure the art is of the best quality. Drawing and re-drawing a lot of frames. I had some personal, time-consuming setbacks in December, but I’m doing my best and working every single day. The next episode, I guess it’s really the official first episode, is well on the way.
Again, thank you to all of my subscribers and supporters, I’m eternally grateful to you all. You make it possible for me to create my art and tell this story, I’d be truly lost without you all.
With love,
Lordess