Hunter

Zeta Destiny

Content Count
90
Last visited
March 25
Player
Roromi

Character profile

https://play.adventdestiny.com/topic/1560-gabriel-winter/
Full name

Gabriel Choji Winter
Rank

Ensign
Gender

Male

Topics I Participated In

Iron Swords Online

Started by Hunter · February 25

Gabriel sat in the seat of his new mobile suit. He reflexively tensed his left arm, as if doing so would ward off the unpleasant memories of a similar mobile suit he had used. “Time to see if this will do… Vidar…” he mused. Gabriel perched the dark mobile suit on top of a building overlooking a park inside of a colony. The streets were vacant, he almost swore he spotted a tumbleweed drifting through a road. “These programmers have a sick sense of humor…” he muttered disgustedly.
He didn’t have to wait long, his radar beeped, telling him his opponent had arrived. “Creed told me you were good!” He said more to himself, a thin smile tracing the EL Diver’s lips. “Let’s see if the old man was right?” Vidar pulled out its’ rifle and took aim at the approaching machine, he took careful aim and squeezed the trigger, sending a volley to his opponent.
A Tangled Web We Weave

Started by Judge · January 25

“...and remember everyone, mid-terms may be next week but that’s not excuse not to have your essays in to me on time. You’ll have some time to work on them next class, but I better not catch anyone using that time to slack off. Class dismissed,”
As Raymond Hermes’s students filed out of the room, abuzz with groans and chatter of their upcoming deadlines, the beleaguered English teacher sat himself down at his desk. He was flipping through papers when his phone buzzed and beeped with a notification. Ray looked down at the phone, quirked a brow, and then unlocked it. He scanned the message once, and then scanned it again, his blood running cold on his second read-through.
Son of a…
Ray practically jumped out of his chair, shoving his phone in his pocket and grabbing his belongings before charging out of the classroom.
---
“What the hell is this all about?” Icarus growled as he crossed the casino floor. The Force nest was garishly coloured and loud—a far cry from the Fleurs’ base.
Spider gave Icarus a slimy smile as he approached, spreading his arms wide in mock welcome. “So good of you to make it, Icarus. Pull up a seat, enjoy yourself,”
“Cut the crap, Spider,” Icarus said, eyeing the diver up. He was dressed like a stereotypical mobster, his cheap suit adorned with a spider-web pattern. He wore a black domino mask over his eyes, his long silver hair pulled back into a ponytail. “You and me were done. Fair and square,”
“You were done, or at least, you thought you were,” Spider’s eyes glistened in the bright casino light. “But my bosses and I had other things in mind. See we need you and your friends to do a little job for us. An easy one, a test of sorts. Accept and perform admirably, and we’ll cut you loose for good, no strings attached. Refuse, though, and…well, I think my message earlier painted a pretty enough picture for you,”
Icarus clenched his fist and grit his teeth. He wanted nothing more than to tell Spider off but right now the man across from him was capable of ruining his life and Icarus didn’t doubt that he was willing to do just that.
“Fine…”
“Good,” Spider smiled again. “Next steps then. In the next couple of days, you’re going to receive a package…”
--
And a few days later, Ray did, in fact, receive a package. As he opened it, he took a deep breath and cursed himself, his bad fortune, and most importantly, Spider.
--
The next day, he sent a message to his teammates to meet him at the Force Nest. He was sitting in the common area staring at a picture of the Tallgeese QUEST on a tv screen, growing increasingly more miserable as time ticked on. He had told Aker and Wade that this was an urgent matter, but had told them little more. He just hoped that they understood…
Forces to be Reckoned With

Started by FrostyFoster · December 3, 2020

It was an abnormally dark night in the sky as the moonlight barely touched the Lincoln household. One of the rooms caught the slight light peeking through the curtains, pointing down at a broken plastic figure. It was the Local Type, irreparably damaged from its battle with the wall. It completely missed its right arm, along with having no V-Fin, looking rather miserable laying on the desk near a newly opened box.
Wade didn’t know why they’d bought it for him for his birthday. They normally weren’t too fond of him playing GBN all the time and the playing at home would only make that worse, but people’s opinions change all the time. After all, he thought he’d lost interest in the game after the last mission, but addiction can take control of you easily. The brand new headset and hardware for GBN was already set up, the expensive equipment how connected to his computer, just waiting to be used. The teen laid wide awake in bed, staring at nothing on the ceiling. “I just wanna sleep.” He thought, now reminded of how tiring school was this day.
He knew it was another school day tomorrow. He knew he had to get some rest. He knew that he couldn’t spend all of his time playing a virtual game without feeling the consequences to his body and mind. He knew that he didn’t care.
Wade practically jumped out of his bed, his blanket flying forward as it hit the floor. This dumb decision worried Wade, hoping he didn’t wake his parents. “You know what? I’m fifteen. I can play whenever I want!” This act of rebellion was met with the soon to be Diver grabbing his broken Gunpla and placing it on the scanning pad.
The Local type barely stood on the device, one of its leg joints warped. There was another model completely encased in darkness, but even the sleep deprived teen knew he couldn’t use it yet. Wade slid the new visor over his head as the Local Type stared at him through its own visor. The trip into the game was surprisingly quick for a home device, allowing Wade to get right to business.
The Diver hadn’t talked with the others since his abrupt exit. He hadn’t even been to the oil rig, but he still wanted to hide himself. He wore a white Earth Federation normal suit along with the same mask Vidar had used. It wasn’t nice looking, but it kept him conspicuous during this last few forays into GBN. Wade mostly just walked around inside of his current location, one of the space colony biomes, only leaving to do various missions pertaining to the main game world, like fetch quests.
He swore against doing story or any type of missions that would take him to a place where he’d hurt NPDs, knowing he wasn’t ready or that yet. Wade waltzed to a nearby bench as he sat to watch other Divers, a common hobby for him now. He noticed people had gotten quite creative with the anthropomorphic animal divers, seeing what looked to be an octopus man. He was interested in changing the look of his avatar, but part of him wondered if it was for the best to leave Fleurs behind and start anew, not realizing that he’d done the same thing by creating the Diver Force.
His train of thought immediately turned to the hooded Diver now sitting next to him. “Geez. Talk about edgy.” Wade was able to stare through the mask without anyone noticing. He could barely make out a face under the black hood as he slouched forward. The other Diver immediately turned to look directly at the Fleurs leader. “Uh oh.” Strangely, only his mouth could now be seen, with a deep black shadow hiding whatever was above it. Freaked out, the teen stood up and began to walk away, but stopped in his tracks once the other Diver spoke.
“Wade Lincoln.” Hearing that name caused the masked Diver to shudder. “He… knows my last name.” The cloaked figure arose, terrifying Wade as he began to get closer to him. “Wade Lincoln… Fleurs De Noblesse is in shambles…” A pale white hand fell through the robes, reaching up to grab the mask Wade felt was necessary. The Diver pulled back, but lost his footing as his rear hit the ground. He watched as Vidar’s mask dropped next to him, the hand returning to its hiding spot. “Wade Lincoln. Leader of Fleurs De Noblesse. Battle me!”
...

The two Gunpla sped around in space near the colony, a battle which was far from close. The real damage on top of the virtual damage made the Local Type look like a garbled mess as it fired the Wing Zero’s beam rifle. Completely missing the red and black mobile suit, the cloaked figure slashed down through the machine’s remaining arm, giving Wade no way to fight back, due to the bent gatling guns.

“Fucanglong pities you.” Wade’s opponent pressed the tip of the orange blade against the neck of the Local Type, signaling the end of the battle. Wade didn’t move an inch as he saw the defeat screen, still thinking about the mysterious man knowing his identity. The two machines floated, barely moving as the Fucanglong’s pilot began to speak.
“Some leader you are… If you’re no challenge, then I should’ve went for your friend a long time ago.” Wade’s eyes widened, realizing this guy was not just an edgelord. “He’s going after Aker?” From Icarus’ reaction, the Diver knew his winning enemy was too late, but he still didn’t want to reveal that. The pain came out with his voice. “Whoever you are, you won’t be able to hurt him. I got something much better than this!”
The Fucanglong’s pilot smirked, pulling his joysticks away from the Local Type. “Prove it.” The red Gunpla flew away as Wade noticed an invitation. Opening it, the Diver’s mood immediately changed. “This… is our opportunity.” There was still a sense of dread from the Diver. If Aker was truly gone, then it’d likely be much more difficult, but the rewards for Fleurs was extravagant. “Wait! Tomorrow?!”
…
A day had passed with Wade logging into GBN once again. This time, he was decked out with the Fleurs formal gear, hat and cape flowing through the fake wind. He’d arrived early to the main lobby, hoping to contact his teammates in time. “Please be there Aker. I don’t care how, just… please…” He thought as he sent the message of the location and event to the two, emphasizing that they needed to wear their full gear for this event.
It was an annoying wait on the catapult for the Fleurs leader. A Genoace had gotten stuck on the foot clamps, Haro Loader’s rolling around the unit to pry it off. Wade took the time to look through his cockpit, a dead ringer for his Gunpla’s and much better than the Local Type’s. “I can see everything.” He uttered while staring. While he wasn’t too sure who they’d actually be up against, the fact that this mobile suit was so different give him hope he could take out anything in his way. Eventually, the catapult was fixed, Wade calling out his mobile suit’s name.

NU GUNDAM ORIGIN, LAUNCHING!!!

The Gunpla burst through the sky at a breakneck pace, mostly due to its “secret” build far different from previous models Wade used. Nevertheless, he easily saw what he was looking for. A few battleships floated above a massive battling area. About half of it was filled with mostly intact gray buildings, while the other half was forestry, with tree standing tall just waiting to be knocked down by a stray beam.
The Nu Gundam touched down near the audience, surprising housing a few hundred people in the seats. “Wow!” Wade exclaimed in awe. While he’d seen much larger, having that many people, along with whoever was in those ships, amazed the Fleurs leader. The Gunpla took a knee as Wade got out of the machine, noticing a doppelganger of Stalker approaching him. “You must be the leader of Fleurs! I’m Sneaker.” Wade realized this man would be announcing their fight as he shook his hand. “You’re the first one here!” Wade was shocked to hear that, assuming the other teams would be there before him. Nevertheless, he awaited his comrades, if they even showed up.
Gods Amongst Men

Started by Hunter · November 2, 2020

Gabriel Winter sat in the lounge of his space base. He reclined into his seat and rubbed his face with his good hand, his lame arm strapped across his chest with a harness. For perhaps the hundredth time he questioned what he was doing, but he decided it was worth his curiosity to try. He brought up his menu and selected the NPD rental section. Gabriel paused as he hovered over the option to rent and decided to go ahead. Within a few moments a red headed girl materialized in his lounge.
Lunamaria smiled and announced cheerily, “Lunamaria Hawke reporting for duty!” She saluted almost exactly like the last time her saw her and he winced as he studied her. “I can’t wait to work with you!” She said as she walked over to the seated Gabriel. Standing up he offered his hand to the NPD, his limb shook from fear, and she responded by taking up the handshake. “Do you… do you recognize me?” He asked through a strained voice. She cocked her head at the question seeming lost in thought, and Gabriel held his breath.
———
Aker stood on the oil platform by the rails overlooking the sea. The wind blew into his fair features the saltiness of the sea. It was both chilling and invigorating. He found that he liked that particular perch, with the wind rushing at him he could loose himself entirely in its intensity. The wind reminded him that there were greater forces at play, always. It humbled him to merely exists against the gusts. His contemplation was interrupted by the chime of a new message. He brought up his menu to investigate.
Even with the wind in his face he found himself squinting at the message from his Zapp friend. “You want me to do what?” He asked more to himself as he thought about how to respond. The mysterious Zapp agent was perhaps the only person who knew exactly who Aker, or rather Gabriel Winter, really was. It was the same person who gifted him with the space nest and a small fortune which Aker had been keeping secret from his friends in Fleurs De Noblesse. This particular message was a plea for what? Humanity? Curiosity? For, as kind as the Zapp figure had been to Aker, the man had been a riddle of emotions that Aker still couldn’t sift through at times.
The request was asking Aker to hack into an active campaign to do some dirty work it seemed. Curious, Aker promptly responded back with a simple, “do I have to do this alone? I have a team I can work with.” As expected there was a delay and finally the response came back. “Look for an active mission offer. Will be similar to your last jobs. The more the merrier.” Aker scoffed at the reply but nodded his approval. He decided he’d float things with his teammates to see what they thought. He contemplated telling them the truth for perhaps the hundredth time but thought against it. As far as he knew they were there just for a game, the flavor of the mission shouldn’t matter as much. He sent a notice to the other members of Fleurs De Noblesse and waited to see when they would show up to his call for an “exciting mission”.
Knights of the Zodiac

Started by Judge · October 7, 2020

Ray Hermes couldn’t help but smile to himself as he sat down at the console, the sounds of the game mingling with the voices outside in the rest of the hobby store. It had been about a week since Fleurs de Noblesse had completed their last mission and purchased their force nest. Ray had thought that their new base, combined with his streak of totalling his mobile suit, was justification enough for the purchase of a new project. He had only given the DaeDAL two good runs and had more or less destroyed it both times. The use of the DaeDAL had mostly been his friend Amelia’s idea, he just put it all the pieces together. And while it was a solid machine, he needed something he could put through the ringer, evidently.
He fished out his new model from his bag and placed it on the scanner, his fingers tapping away at the controls excitedly as GBN booted up. In short order, Icarus had loaded in and made his way to the old oil rig where, standing on one of the offshoot platforms, the silver Leo Chevalier caught the rays of the sun and reflected its light off its gold filigree and highlighting. It certainly looked pretty for a grunt, and if he did his job right, it’d be just as sturdy as it was glitzy.
Icarus entered the tower and sat himself down on an uncomfortable looking bench. He pulled up his menu and began scrolling through the mission list as he waited for his teammates to arrive.
Redacted Experiment

Started by FrostyFoster · September 8, 2020

Wade had fallen to the ground of his cockpit, still seeing a flurry of white on each of his screens. The Diver had done missions, but nothing like this. The blast of chilly wind engulfed his little SD as more snow began to pile on top of the Gunpla. “I’d rather not get buried…” Wade thought, getting up the grasp the controls. The brown machine pushed itself forward with its hands, struggling to stay balanced while taking a barrage of bad weather. “Aker, Icarus!” He yelled out through his comms, wiping ice off the large eye section of the mobile suit. He'd lost the white ReZEL, but the Diver could very faintly still see Astray. That is until the blizzard quickly gave him no sense of direction, losing the unit in the process.
At this level, he could see hills of snowbanks all around him. “There’s gotta be some sort of base or mobile suit around here.” The Diver stated to the others while pulling his LMG out of the snow. Thankfully, the Diver's communications still worked, no matter what climate it was. “Do either of you have any recon or like, tracking devices or something?” Pulling up his menu, Wade put a generic compass on his left screen, minimizing it. The small model kit started walking in a direction that felt the least troublesome, an incline that led south. “I'm walking south, but who knows if that'll lead me to the mission." The Gunpla started shivering, holding its tiny arms together. "I’m up for any ideas honestly…” Wade wondered if this was a huge mistake after all.
Hunter

Started by Hunter · September 8, 2020

Biography
Full name: Gabriel Winter
Aliases: Hunter, Aker (Akerhero13)
Faction: Zapp (indirectly), Fluers de Noblesse
Rank: n/a
Age: 22
Sex: Male
Height: 5’7”
Weight: 150
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
Skin: pale
Handiness: Ambidextrous
Personality:
Gabriel can be emotional if not brash. He values his past to the point of obsession, this has led him to do questionable things in GBN. Despite his volatile attitude he is capable of being incredibly loyal and sensitive to the situation. He often makes plans to help himself stay on task and to keep himself level headed, though reality often makes his plans go out the window. He finds it difficult to connect with other players, often taking awhile to fully come out of his shell. As he’s matured he’s become increasingly pragmatic in how he approaches things, but still struggles to come to terms with reality at times.

Strengths and weaknesses
Sentimental - Because Gabe is emotional, he can often make bad tactical decisions. If a particular mobile suit reminds him of something negative in his past, he’ll attack it headlong in rage. (Notable units are the GN-X, and Destiny Gundam)
Berserker- Gabriel is the textbook battle rager. His reactions sharpen significantly when he is fired up.
Resourceful – Gabriel has made a substantial amount of credits within GBN and has access to his own Force Nest. These resources allow him to buy extravagant items or obtain questionable material in the game.
Fear of the death – Gabriel has a fear and aversion to dying in GBN. This at times could be at odds with his teammates and objectives. This fear also translates into doing his best to avoid killing enemy NPDs. He greatly distastes pointless deaths in the game and isn’t afraid to oppose his teammates should they needlessly kill NPDs.

Appearance
He is thinly built, clean cut, and average height. He takes good care of his body, working out regularly. Typically he wears a black poncho and mask, but he will adapt his wardrobe as needed.
History
Gabriel recalls having a healthy childhood with a loving family. He developed a curiosity in martial arts at a young age and is versed in Kung Fu as well as well as Haidong Gundo (Korean Swordsmanship). As he became a teenager his interest grew to include Gundam and he was consumed by all the possibilities it offered. As GBN became a phenomenon, Gabriel rode the waves of its success. He was never known for being an accomplished diver, and his Gunpla was never anything all that special. *
As he continued to enjoy the GBN community he developed a friendship and eventually a romance with another diver. She was initially timid and not confident her abilities, but as their friendship grew he lovingly dubbed her Meer due to her obsession with the Gundam Seed franchise (particularly Lacus). They both ended up joining a Force by the name of Seed Cosplay Coalition, a force focused on cosplay as well as Gunpla. Of course Gabriel was never big into costumes but would play along, often feeling like the third wheel in their group of friends.
His conflicting interests with Meer and SCC eventually began to sour their relationship along with them being coupled through a long distance relationship. Meer broke up with Gabriel, sending the young man into a spiral of despair. He drowned his anguish by applying himself to Gunpla and jumped at the chance to join the GBN Beta when he was giving an invitation. (This directly leads into the events of Gunpla Breaker, Heart Taker).
As he joined the GBN Beta he spent increasingly more and more time logged in, obsessed with becoming a better diver. Through a series of adventures and circumstances he grew in skill considerably to the point of even developing a reputation. He even was able to defeat Hashmal with the help of a diver named Dave and his Astaroth Smackdown (see Order of the Seven Stars). Despite his accomplishments he still couldn’t get the over his ex. His obsession eventually led to him joining forces with a mysterious figure who claimed to be affiliated with the Zapp corporation. This alliance lead to one of the more destructive hacking events the entire community had seen to date. Together Gabriel with the Zapp associate, raided a peaceful Gundam Seed gathering, the event would be infamously referred to as the “Second Bloody Valentine Massacre”.
The outcome of the event led to revelations that caused Gabriel to go into hiding in GBN. With the help of his Zapp associate he has since assumed a second identity known as Akerhero13 or simply Aker. He joined with Wade and Icarus to create a new force by the name Fluer De Noblesse (see Three Musketeers).
*there are additional details not entailed publicly
Possessions: Quantum Computer 8 – briefcase sized super computer that is capable of aiding operations within GBN, typically housed in the cockpit of his unit, and linked to his com channel.
Kills: Hashmal (mobile armor)
Role plays: Gunpla Breaker, Heart Taker ; Order of the Seven Stars; Three Musketeers
Coliseum battles: n/a
Three Musketeers

Started by Hunter · August 20, 2020

Gabriel was nervous, he wasn’t exactly wanting to return to the civilized part of GBN much less the public lobby. But his Zapp contact had insisted the boy return to the public areas to test out the digital identity mask they had created. It wasn’t a mask in the sense of the black mask he was wearing now, but rather a mask that hid his normal user ID which was under some heat by the administration at that moment. To anyone who looked up his digital ID he would (in theory) appear as “AkerHero13”. He scrunched his face as he looked at the name in his heads up display“is that supposed to be some sort of play on Graham Aker and Akihrio?” he mused aloud as he stood in the middle of the GBN lobby. That Zapp bastard had a sick sense of humor.
He looked at his display and soon found himself browsing the missions available. He couldn’t help himself. Of course the missions had a whole new meaning to him now but he just felt compelled to look. One mission caught his eye and he clicked to read the description “three musketeers…” he mumbled under his breath. His attention was cut short as a new Diver logged in right next to him. It occurred to him that he was still in the loading area and he moved out of the way reflexively. “Whoa sorry!” He said as the newcomer logged on. Because of his proximity his heads up display automatically scanned the Diver and he could see that they were a newbie.
The man standing next to him was pale skinned with blonde hair put into a ponytail, they seemed to be wearing a Seed Earth Alliance special forces space suit of some type, a fact that made Gabe cringe for a second for fear of being recognized himself. The outfit clashed with the black poncho and mask that he wore himself. Gabriel awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly, “hey there! Welcome to GBN! First time playing?” He asked cautiously. It just occurred to him that his new identity would likely display him as a new player as well.
Order of the Seven Stars

Started by Hunter · June 30, 2020

Order of the Seven Stars
Gjallarhorn is the savior that pulled the world out of the brink during the calamity wars. They fought and nearly exterminated the menace of mobile armors from known existence. Mobile armors were soulless death machines which brought humanity to its’ knees during the calamity wars. Hero’s who vanquished these mighty foes were rewarded the highest honor within Gjallarhorn, the Order of the Seven Stars. Do you have what takes to echo the achievements of these heroic titans?

Gabriel looked at the description with a scowl on his face. Ever since his meeting with the mystery sniper he had been in a bad mood. He didn’t feel like playing into their hands, on the other hand he was missing the rush of combat. He needed to do something legit, to feel validated again, to feel worthy of Ardent Exia.
While some missions could be described as hard or challenging, others were in a class of their own, downright suicidal even. Of course there was a rendition of this mission on the old GBN, but this new one, well he hadn’t heard good things about it. Supposedly no one had beaten the challenge yet. For Gabriel’s mood, It was right up his alley.
The diver selected the join button and he as put in a que to see if anyone else would be up for the task. As he waited, he checked over his armaments. True Exia was largely armed with beam weaponry, so he took the precaution to load up two extra GN blades the normal Exia would carry in 7 swords mode. It would make him more bulky but the trade off should be worth the risk.
He was so lost in his thoughts, that Gabriel almost didn’t realize the mission had started. “Crap.” He chided himself, “I didn’t even see who I’m teamed up with!” The scene before him was carnage incarnate. Ardent Exia stood in the abandoned streets of a huge city. Tall buildings cut up the terrain into grids, with gray skies threatening to rain at any moment. If it wasn’t for the radio chatter (which he was ignoring) the whole scene would have been eerily quiet. Unidentifiable mobile suit remains were scattered in the streets like body parts from a slasher film, with thick oil seeping from their limbs like blood.
A flash of lightning made Gabriel jerk in surprise but as he turned to look at the source his eyes grew in alarm. In the distance an area of mountains bordered the city, and on the rim of one of the mountains was the great beast Hashmal. The bird like mecha tilted its’s head up to screech out a roar, and despite its great distance the pink lightning of a beam blast, blindly glanced into the city. Buildings erupted into gray dust and tumbled down, creating a thick fog like smoke, hiding the terrifying beast from sight.
Gabriel gripped his controls tighter as uneasiness grew over him. “What did I sign up for…” he muttered to himself. Movement caused him to look to his side and see a friendly mobile suit. “Oh thank goodness!” He sighed as he turned his comm on to hail the friendly. Before he could even say hello a black dog like creature pounced into the mobile suit, followed by another, then another. The swarm of Plumas crashes into the mech drowning it with attacks. The friendly pilot screamed out in terror begging for help. Gabriel yelled out, though he didn’t know if it was from fear or rage, and charged in towards the pile. He slashed out with his GN sword to start bashing away the smaller drones. “Crap! We can’t be a man down already!” Even as he swiped his blade through the little mecha, he knew he was too late. He got a handful of them with his sword but more and more kept coming. “If I stay here they’ll over take me too…” he reluctantly fired his thrusters to take flight and hovered away from the plumas as they proceeded to tear their fresh kill apart, greedily “chewing” the limbs of the mech and draining its’ fluids.
One thing became clear to Gabriel as he retreated, “this isn’t going to be easy…” he darted between buildings looking for more allies. “Anyone out there? We lost an ally already!” He called out frantically. Fear was settling over him and he didn’t like the feeling.
Gunpla Breaker, Heart Taker

Started by Hunter · May 12, 2020

“I’m breaking up with you.”
Gabe caught his breath at that sentence and did pause to turn and look at Meer. “Wha- what do you mean babe?” Even as he spoke the words he felt their strength waver at the truth that was beginning to form in front of him. She was cute, maybe too cute for the likes of him. She always took the effort to do her makeup and look phenomenal as soon as she stepped out the door. To top it off she looked like a casual version of her name sake with pink hair and gold hair pin. Was she out of his league? He never considered it before but as her statement hung in the air suddenly all the unsung insecurities began to crop up.
She rocked her hips, her left hand resting easily on her body as she looked up at the sky. Her blue eyes seemingly searching for an answer to his confusion. “Listen Gabe… I’ve been going out to parties the last few weeks without you…”
“So you’ve been cheating on me?” Gabe hacked the words out in disbelief. The girl grimaced and bit her lip while slowly shaking her head. “Gabe no… I just… I’ve been just going out without you… nothing more…” the tone she had did little to comfort Gabe and he wrinkled his face in growing anger. “So that’s it you just want to ditch me?” He shook with contained rage but still looked around helplessly as the beautiful girl gave him a sad look, “look I didn’t come to this decision easily… I just need to be able do chase my dreams Gabe and I can’t do that with you…” he voice faded away as Gabriel Winter spun on his heel to storm away.
———
A few days later
Gabe remained hunched over his desk in his dimly lit room. An orange hue attempted to breach his room from his window shades but was drowned out by the fluorescent light above his work station. He hadn’t left his room besides going to work since his break up with Meer. For the last few days he ran through all the scenarios in his head as to why she’d want to leave him. They had been together for over a year and not until recently did he feel any animosity from her. His mind wandered to them first logging into GBN and it dawned on him that maybe that was the beginning of it all.
Meer was a cosplayer and a good one at that, but she was fiercely self conscious and had a hard time making friends because of it. Meer wasn’t even her real name but the alias she chose to be called by to associate herself more with her hobby. Gabe was always the one pushing her to reach out of her comfort zone, to meet new people. GBN was the happy medium for them both; he could build Gunpla for them, while she could try different costumes and plan out outfits for the real world while actually making friends. It felt good at first, a win win situation.
As Gabriel mulled over his thoughts he trimmed and filed the gauntlet for his latest Gunpla. The blue plastic was becoming discolored from his attention but it would hardly matter once he painted the whole kit. In a fit of rage he took apart all the Gunpla on his shelves when he got home that night they broke up. He was ashamed that he actually broke a lot of the kits when he flung them off the shelf. At the moment he wasn’t sure that he wanted anything to do with GBN, all he did know was building something aloud him to not be so angry, it let him direct his focus from his sorrows. It was as if he took all the anger he had at the world and was condensing it into the single kit in front of him.
He was a mediocre builder at best. He never won any awards before and was always afraid to make the extra commitment of scribing, paint and panel lining; the sort of thing she would add to the kits he gave her after he built them. This time was different, he was possessed to make the best kit he possibly could. Even if she never saw it, he would have the satisfaction of having something so pristine that she would not.
When they dated he was always afraid to take risks, whether it was in building his Gunpla, or not doing particular missions. “No more…” he muttered to himself as Ash Liked Snow played in the background, “no, more hesitation… I have to reform myself… my Gundam…”
—-
A few days later
The indicator for his email inbox showed the vast number of missed messages, something he had neglected to pay attention to the last couple of weeks, he simply wasn’t in the mood. Now he decided was the best time to finally drudge through the messages, most of it being spam. A few notes did catch his eye and give him pause. The first was from a mutual friend him and Meer had on GBN, a woman by the pseudo name Stella. She had apparently asked him to join a Force in the game. His initial reaction was one of hope, maybe Meer was trying to get him back in her life? To rekindle their relationship? But his face immediately soured the next message down where Stella retracted the earlier offer, saying that she didn’t want things to get awkward with Stella already on the team.
He sighed, but that eventually turned into a sob at his own predicament. He wasn’t just loosing her but all his friends it would seem. Through tear filled eyes he read through the next few GBN messages, all varying between apologies and other sad things he didn’t want to bother with. He was about to close his messages when a notice from GBN itself popped up just then. Curiosity caused him to open it immediately, he was surprised to see it was an invitation for a private beta of the new version of GBN. Apparently he was chosen by lottery to test in and partake in the new version. It offered exclusive rewards, but more importantly to Gabriel, it offered a blank slate, a fresh start. One of the features the invitation offered was the chance to replace you’re user tag and avatar for free. With tears still slipping down his face he responded that he would be taking the opportunity. As the message went into the digital nether he gazed around his room to the Gunpla standing defiantly in the middle of his desk, maybe 80% complete, ready for final details and paint. Wiping away the tears he stood up to resume his work.
—-
A week later
PLEASE ENTER USERNAME:
Gabriel gawked at the display and the flicker of where his new title would show up. His fingers remained frozen over the keyboard as he swam through his thoughts. With a fresh start there would be virgin usernames out there with little chance of redundancy, but still it begged the question of what he should call himself. He wasn’t in a social mood still, and he wasn’t even sure what he was really doing on GBN all alone. Scratching the stubble on his chin he kept staring at the otherwise boring screen. “I suppose I’m looking for something…” he finally said out loud, his own voice startling him. Slowly his fingers chipped away a new identity. Next a wardrobe menu popped up and he scrolled through the options to pick out something to hide behind. He was never audacious enough to pick an avatar too unlike himself and he hated when Meer would as him to be a character to match hers. He stayed away from the generic Chars of the options and instead chose a black cloak like pancho and a matching mask. He did change his hair color from his typical black to brown and cleaned his face to be clean shaven. Finally he loaded up the new information and was satisfied to see it accepted. All that remained was...
“Please scan your Gunpla.”
He reached out hesitantly and grabbed the white and red mobile suit he had so diligently been working on over the last month or so. He traced the features with his fingers and was suddenly apprehensive about using the model. Once he placed it down it would become alive. Part of him would grow to be beyond just a hunk of plastic, and his declaration towards his ex would be made reality.
“Please scan your Gunpla.” The mechanical voice repeated. Gripping the Gunpla a little harder he grimaced and placed the model in the scanner. With a scowl watch on his face he logged into GBN, to hunt for something he didn’t quite understand just yet.

((Big shout out to Frosty for starting the side story trend, not to mention for his help with the yet to be revealed Gunpla! I thought it would be fun to do a new (if not slightly used) character. I’ll be adding more soon!))