Timeout

Timeout

Archetype
Local Hacker Dodges Employment Through Crime
More at Eleven
Discord	unsurprisinglyexplosions
Reddit	ASmithVoices
Metatype	Elf
Street Cred	0
Notoriety	0
Public Awareness	0
CDP	2
D.O.B.	Character's Date of Birth
Age	27
Folder	[1]
Priority	Metatype - C Attributes - D Magic/Resonance - E Skills - B Resources - A
#Max IGs/Ascension	1
# Optional Infected powers allowed	0

Character Information

Summary

Dani Walker, better known as Timeout both in the Esports community and in the shadows, is one of the few people to go through the University of Washington's Matrix Security program and not move on to a cushy position as a corporate spider. Choosing the shadows' excitement, novelty, and looser standards for stuff like "showing up to the office" and "looking presentable" over the tedium of contract work, she now supports her laidback lifestyle with the income from the occasional datasteal.

The adrenaline of being able to fight dirty on the Matrix doesn't hurt, either.

Goals

• Make enough money for rent, snacks, and games
• Do zen, commit sin
• Show off her mad skills on the net
• Dominate whatever leaderboard she's currently obsessed with
• Get around to doing those deck mods she's been thinking of
• Keep her parents from getting on her ass
• Maybe actually get a date at some point

Background

Danielle Walker was born August 6th, 2058 to a pair of employees for the A-rated megacorp, Phineas Biometrics. Given that the company couldn't issue SINs, this meant that she was (mostly) free of the rigid structure of corporate SINner life, while still enjoying the wealth that came with having parents that worked in a specialized field. Over the course of her youth, she never really fit in; Dani was the type of person to be perennially consigned to the loser's table at lunch, even after getting a bit more comfortable in her body once she transitioned in her senior year of high school. As a result, she leaned more and more into the Matrix, transforming the disdain she'd experienced from jabs about her weird interests and complete lack of social graces to jabs about her being a Gigantic Fucking Nerd. Still, it was an improvement, and she got to enjoy the freedom and escapism the net offered.

Then, once she started studying at the University of Washington, suddenly her preoccupation with the Matrix wasn't a bullyable offense, but a huge opportunity. Sure, some of her classmates were obviously the type of jackasses that were just here for the cash rather than love for the topic, but there were enough people she could nerd out to about her highly specific interests that it made up for the suits trying to get their fingers into things. And what's more, she found a brand new interest when Miracle Shooter: Fireteam was released and popularized in early 2082.

Fireteam was billed as one of the most intricate and realistic squad combat simulators ever released, and despite the flops the last two games in the series had been, it delivered. Abstraction of game mechanics was almost entirely eliminated, using the immense processing power of the Matrix (and a partnership with Shiawase Medical Technology) to make damage to players as lifelike as possible, allow for actual marksmen to showcase their skills, and encourage thinking outside the box by manipulating the combat zone to the team's advantage. Almost overnight, Matrix Sports organizations picked the game up as an equivalent to the immensely popular Urban Brawl out in meatspace, garnering a remarkable amount of attention and promotion as a result. It wasn't two months before the University of Washington's Matrix Sports club put together an official team with the school's backing, and Dani got in early.

She was good. Really good. Turns out, she had a knack for battlefield tactics and pulling off risky, daring maneuvers in the heat of the moment - at least, on the net. Her moment of fame arose when the rest of the team sent to the UCAS National championship tournament finals was eliminated within a five minute window at the top of the match, with only one enemy casualty to show for it. For the next two hours (in a game where matches usually took under a quarter of that), Dani managed to evade the opposing team, chipping away at their health, numbers, and resources with traps and well-planned ambushes. Eventually, after running completely dry on ammo, the remaining two enemy players jacked out in fits of frustration, leaving the referees to count down to the team's surrender. After a full minute without them returning to the match, and with the massive crowd that had tuned in to watch one of the longest league games on record demanding they be timed out, they were declared to have resigned.

Over the course of the next month (until the public interest died down), "Timeout" was brought in to a number of Matrix-hosted talk shows and interviews. And that was for the best - two particularly persistent interviewers managed to get ahold of her in meatspace on the UW campus, leaving her stuttering and flustered compared to her confident appearances on the Matrix. She continued to be a member of the team through her senior year (albeit with far less media-worthy achievements), before graduating in early 2084.

While the rest of her classmates went on to get Corporate Limited SINs and high-paying jobs in Matrix Security, Timeout wasn't quite as enthusiastic about the prospect of actually starting a career. She'd never really been on the same wavelength as her more corporate peers, after all; what was she gonna do, get into a position she hated, with little freedom to explore and exploit the Matrix like she wanted to? There were infinitely more interesting things she could be doing with a degree in breaking the worldwide information network over her knee than guarding some fucking industrial host. And so, she made the decision to just... not do it. She much preferred being left alone most of the time anyway, even if it was kind of isolating. The only issue was actually getting the cash to support being a shut-in gamer girl, but that wasn't too hard to solve.

After all, she did keep the number for that one information broker dude from her Advanced Data Streaming class...

Narrative Significant Qualities

Positive

• Analytical Mind - Timeout has a talent for problem-solving and thinking outside the box. Just expect her to be a little smug about it.
• College Education - Timeout attended the University of Washington from 2080 to 2084, graduating with a Bachelor's of Matrix Science with a minor in Network Maintenance.
• Deck Builder - Despite being unfit for most of meatspace, Timeout is actually good with her hands - at least, in the context of working on electronics.
• Instinctive Hack and Ninja Vanish - Timeout has done enough work on the Matrix that she's learned a couple convenient tricks of the trade over time, including a custom-tooled program capable of rolling back her incoming connections due to latency. It'll wipe all the marks on her persona... assuming it works.
• Online Fame - Timeout's name and persona still command a bit of respect even outside of Matrix Sports circles. Her hours-long holdout attracted enough attention to leave her a vaguely-remembered name in the minds of many.

Negative

• Basement Dweller - Timeout is not especially comfortable meeting people in meatspace. Why can't they just get in touch with her through the Matrix, like NORMAL people?
• Creature of Comfort (Middle) - What can she say? Timeout's just not happy without being able to buy the newest Matrix games and nibble at her favorite snacks.
• Poor Self Control (Braggart) - Timeout is good at what she does, and she knows it, even if she over-estimates just how good she is sometimes. If she beats you in a game, expect her to be insufferable about it.
• SINner (National) - Danielle Walker is still on the books. Sure, it means taxes, but it also makes getting deliveries to her door, like, WAY easier.

Run History

Name	GM	Metaplot	Threat	Date of Run
Inscrutable Spirit Behavior	Lotus		Medium	14 October 2085
All Up In My Grill	Suit		Low	29 September 2085

Affiliations

Contacts

Contact	Connection	Loyalty	Archetype	Profession	Aspects	Chips
Candlejack	2	1	Custom(K,N,G,A)	Security Rigger, Fixer, and Infobroker	Distracted Diving, Know People Who Know People, Time to Burn, Known for Drones, Industry Insider	Even
Gransistor	2	4	Custom(G,K,N,A)	Owner and Proprietor of Silksoft Designs	Made to Order, Terminally Online, Silksoft Specials, Secret Agent Gran, Planned Obsolescence Is For Chumps, Back In My Day, They Were The Size Of A Keyboard!, Well, They're TECHNICALLY Software	Even

In Character Information

Symbols and Signatures

Timeout uses classic loading icons (such as the old Mac spinning beach ball, Youtube's buffering icon, and so on) as her marks in the Matrix.

Matrix Search Table

Threshold	Result
1	Back in 2082, a UW student crushed it at the UCAS National Miracle Shooter: Fireteam finals, resulting in a forfeit by the opposing team after their remaining players quit the stage and refused to return within the time allotted. Videos of the event are still kicking around, as are interviews with her from after the win, but they all take place on the Matrix and refer to her as "Timeout" rather than her legal name.
3	With a bit more digging, it's possible to find a few bits of original commentary from the match, referring to the player in question as "Danielle Walker". There's also two interviews that actually seem to have gotten ahold of her in real life. Cross-referencing various ID photos confirms that the pale, weedy elf girl fumbling her way through the questions is, in fact, Dani, and not just a case of mistaken identity.
6	A few medical records, her college transcripts, disdainful mentions of "that one goth girl" on a few UW student chat clients and an apartment building host out in Renton... and a misdemeanor filed with, and then cancelled by, the city of Seattle. Apparently, she once got questioned by a cop about whether she was licensed to carry a cyberdeck, and her flustered response was so thoroughly unconvincing that he didn't believe that the license on her SIN was genuine. The case was dropped after thorough analysis proved she was completely legal.

Shadow Community Table

Threshold	Result
1	N/A - No real presence yet.
3	N/A
5	N/A

Assensing Table

Threshold	Result
1	TBD
2	TBD
3	TBD
4	TBD
5	TBD

SINs

Danielle Walker (Legal SIN, UCAS National)

• Cyberdeck License
• Matrix Software License

Paige Davison (R4, UCAS National)

• Cyberdeck License (R4)
• Matrix Software License (R4)

Appearance

Clothing

Timeout and meatspace don't mix well. At 6'2" when her posture isn't awful (hint: it usually is) and 145 pounds soaking wet, she's pretty firmly in the "gangly weirdo" zone. More often than not, she can be found in whatever baggy hoodie in her collection happens to be the least dirty at the time, leggings or sweatpants depending on how cold it is, and if she's absolutely forced to make a public appearance, a pair of heavy black combat boots. It's pretty clear from looking at her that she's practically allergic to the sun; this is indisputably the sort of person who hisses if you open the blinds in her apartment. Her black hair is allegedly straight, but invariably about as much of a mess as the rest of her appearance - it always looks greasy, there's always a few strands that decide to go off and do their own thing, and windy conditions always make the situation worse by a degree of magnitude. But hey, she barely goes outside in the first place, so suck it, nature.

Matrix Persona

Timeout's matrix persona is still the same one from her time in the Matrix Sports scene: A woman in loose, informal military gear, aesthetically inspired by things like Tank Girl and 2D's outfit from the Dirty Harry music video. Despite have a bandolier of grenades across her chest, any equipment she uses is produced by pulling it from out of view (usually from behind her back), regardless of whether it could've plausibly been hidden there.

However, when on a job, Timeout's persona changes to a severely low-poly version (think PS1-era 3D) of her usual appearance, as though the details are being culled to conserve processing power. When she moves, it's in a manner reminiscent of someone with extremely high latency in an online game; she'll run in place for five seconds before suddenly jumping forward, then rubber-banding back right behind her opponents. Her attacks usually go for the link between the target and the Matrix, manifesting as missing textures, pop-ups, and error messages.

Character Plot Hooks

Here are characteristics of the character that GMs may take advantage of to add complications to runs, or to otherwise use when in use. If you want to use them in unrelated to runs, please ask first.

Aspect	Information	Related Run(s)
Aspect 1
Aspect 2
Aspect 3
Aspect 4
Aspect 5