Meulin opened her eyes and found that roughly half of her hive had been transpored into the medium with her, and the other half had apparently been taken with Kurloz. She looked outside the gaping hole in her walls, which she saw that Aranea was already taking time to fortify with artificial walls. Meulin looked outside at her world and saw that her hive had been placed across the street from an ocean. She immediately realized that she was in some sort of port city. Ships were all over the harbor, either docking themselves in and unloading passengers and cargo or setting sail for the endless blue that surrounded the place. Looking behind her, Meulin saw that the rest of the port city sprawled out a good distance from her hive. She felt that her world was a little small, but it would have to do. If she just kept in touch with her inner feline, she could survive this city that the game had made. She went onto to Trollian before heading out with Shortsprite to see if she could talk to Kurloz. He wasn't there, but Aranea was.

Anthropomorphic Complexity (AC) began trolling Arachne's Gift (AG)

AC: (U^0^U) hey! i'm in the medium now! i don't think i really like my world, though. it's so full of water! i'm basically on a purrt with tons of ships! i guess i'll just have to explore the city and get lucky.

AG: As your server player, I already know all this, remem8er. I can't see much farther out than you, 8ut I'd say you're pretty lucky. At least you can see everything! I've 8een trying to wander around my world for a while now with Nelly, and we can't find anything! And she won't let me get off her 8ack! I think I'm supposed to get rid of it somehow, 8ut all I know is that I need light...?

AC: (. .) i guess we each have our own challenges then! (=)

AG: Right. When I'm done building, will you 8e all right without me?

AC: (*&*) sure! you go off explurring with Nelly! i wish i still had my lusus...

Meulin could already see the imps gathering outsider her hive, all of them showing the first two prototypings of the session:

. . . . .

Meanwhile on Beforus, Cronus Ampora was attempting to synthesize yet another piece for his latest self-made and promoted album. Like all the others, it was an auto-tuned, 4 and half minute long mess. But Cronus refused to see it that way. He was proud of his work, despite the fact that it never took him anywhere. He still had a little bit of hope to cling to, and nothing that anyone said would make him relinquish it.

He groaned when he heard the sound that indicated someone was trolling him, but his spirits lifted when he saw it was Mituna, his best friend and moirail. Although Mituna was moirail to both Cronus and Kurloz, the latter two avoided each other. Kurloz had no use for Cronus, and Cronus was usually disturbed by Kurloz's lack of speaking.

Unorthodox Advancement (UA) began trolling Critical Appearifier (CA)

UA: It's time. Did you think of something to prototype with?

CA: no, i hawven't, Mituna. vwhat do you think i should use?

UA: I don't know. Perhaps you have some CD lying around? Your kernalsprite should then, judging by Serket's descriptions of the game, play all the tracks on the album.

CA: i guess that vwould be entertaining, vwouldn't it?

UA: Exactly. Now hurry; the moment you install your disc a meteor will begin hurtling down from space.

CA: excuse me?

UA: I don't lie, Ampora, you know that. Please tell me you've at least mentally, if not physically, prepared yourself for this game.

CA: okay, fine, i'll use one of my albums.

UA: Good. I'll deploy the things you need.

CA: thanks. but don't leawve just yet. i feel like this vwill be fun, but...i'm scared. vwe're leawving ewverything behind, you knovw. it's frightening. you may not hawve any reason to stay, but i'm going to miss Beforus. the coffee shop, the poetry workshop, the music store...the other trolls that vwon't be coming vwith us...

UA: I understand how you must feel. But I don't feel the same way. We were destined to do this, you and I and all of the others. I feel that we are doomed to do so.

CA: newver feel like that, Captor. there's alvways a sliwver of hope somevwhere in the uniwverse. you'd understand more if you just...

UA: I know where this is going, Cronus. Please stop. I'm only pale for you, and I think it will always be that way.

CA: but i actually knovw you, unlike stupid Latula. you'wve hardly ewven talked to her!

UA: That will change one day! But for now we have important things to do. Install your client disc and forget about flushing for me.

CA: sorry. i fucking hate quadrants.

UA: I do to. But without them, we wouldn't be moirails. And if we weren't moirails, we'd both be miserable shipwrecks, what with my pessimism and...dammit, they're fools for not liking you, Cronus. With the exception of myself, of course.

CA: thanks.

Cronus took a deep breath and installed the disc...but we've seen players enter the Medium so many times, so you know what happens. Cronus made it in time (sorry, everyone, I know you all hate him, but he can't die at the moment!) He woke up face down on a stretch of black concrete, the likes of which were completely unfamiliar to him. I mean, HOW would a troll living UNDERWATER know what a ROAD was? (crap, I gave it away!) He stood to his feet, quickly realizing that he was on land, and observed his surroundings. On either side of the road were hundreds of apartment duplexes, all the wap up and down the street. Each one was all white and built the same as the next one, but some houses had wacky lawn ornaments or paint splattered haphazardly on the walls.

Cronus didn't know what to make of these identical double-hives. A door opened, and out stepped a young male of some pink alien that Cronus had never seen before. He was wearing a dark blue sweater vest, a striped blue and yellow shirt underneath, skinny jeans, a dark green beanie hat, and perfectly square glasses. He stretched out his weird-looking hand, and Cronus stared at him, confused as to how to respond to this gesture.

"Vwhat?" Cronus asked. "Are you an enemy?" the alien laughed.

"No! Is being aloof a thing on your planet, or something?"

"Vwhat is this place?" Cronus asked.

"If the universe keeps things going the way they are now, Paradise," the alien said. "I'm Ivan. Pleased to meet you. Care to come inside so that my friends and I can explain everything to you?"

"Vwell, sure, I guess. I'm Cronus Ampora," Cronus said, relaxed by this stranger. No one had ever invited him into his or her hive before!

"Just as I thought." Turning to the sky, Ivan screamed, "The Bard has arrived!"

"Vwho? Me?"

"You got it. Just come inside, and I'll tell you. The...haters live out here. Tell me, Cronus, do you like coffee?"

"Yes. Vwhy do you ask?"

"And do you always feel like you're unappreciated and misunderstood?"

"Yes! All the time!"

"Well, now you're with friends. We'll tell you everything you need to know. You've got a very imporant job to do, but don't worry about it for right now. This is your community."

"My...community?" Cronus asked Ivan. The word was a lovely note to his ears (located somevwhere near his gills). A group of others just like him...hadn't he that on Beforus? Perhaps not. The always seemed distant to him, not willing to deal with him unless necessary, despite their shared interests. When Cronus was alone, he imagined them saying mean things about him and being glad that he was gone. Things like he couldn't fill a quadrant if he could pay other trolls fill each one. That his work was meaningless, crass, and talentless. That everything he could ever possibly amount to would be gone before he knew it. That his life was just a piece of garbage ready to be washed away by the ocean. No one ever said these things to him, but he could feel it in his head, and the words in his head were often turned into music and poetry. Music and poetry that no one listened to because no one cared, not even Mituna or his lusus. Speaking of his lusus...

"Hawve you seen a seahorse around here, by any chance?" Cronus asked.

"You mean the one that ended up in our tank at around the exact same time you arrived?" A female pink alien asked, pointing to a large fish tank that took up and entire wall between the living room and kitchen (higher up trolls don't use the slang of the lowbloods). Sure enough, it was right there. Cronus smiled.

"I think I'm going to like it here," he said to the others.