The two prepare ants climbing a tree, using Cajun seasoning rather than spicy fermented bean sauce, and likewise spaghetti as opposed to glass noodles. They don't realize it just won't taste like authentic ants climbing a tree.

"Is that what ants climbing a tree really is? Spicy, sauce-less spaghetti?" Marjo's dad is left wondering why she wanted to eat that dish.

"Keep some for mom, please! She might want to eat some of it!" Marjo pleads with her dad, while checking the game's server status.

"I guess..." Marjo's dad then stores the leftover ants climbing a tree.

With the game servers about to go online after two hours spent deploying the bug fixes... she feels the need to go back on air, in which case she notifies her followers on social media about it, as soon as she downloads the emergency patch. Along with her new clips.

Speaking of clips, the speed kisser run seems to have gotten her a lot of comments, asking for her characters' skills and traits. Especially sexual orientation and identity. Oh boy: I earned it, but I didn't think people would ask for that sort of details!

But when she returns to the game, she doesn't seem to think about whether these aliens return her trans male, or when. However, her other viewers, on the other hand, are made to feel like they will return him after taking DNA samples, or conducting other medical tests. Except for one viewer, who's the newest to join her Discord server. And enters the voice chat.

"The question remains: why is it that aliens are seemingly willing to abduct people, but not steal from their abductees? With tractor beams, they could just steal whatever they want, within certain mass limits!" the new viewer asks the preexisting ones.

"Why limit to just theft?" Marjorine asks in turn, upon mention by her viewers of aliens having the ability to commit theft. "You seem to be implying that aliens can go as they please around a world at the game world's tech level!"

"The main reasons I can think of are about logistics and bureaucracy!" Gordon tells her.

"The first one might be about the need to sustain operations in hostile territory, and fuel is not the only consideration in keeping a supply line active at war. You can easily imagine the kind of bureaucracy, and typically law enforcement as well, alien societies might have that could prevent UFOs used by abductors from being armed!" Artabeles offers a possible lead.

"I get that it depends" Marjo sighs.

"However, I really hope that Adèle and her gang have a better idea of the abductors' race social structure than just sending UFOs out on exobiology expeditions, and using random sampling to determine who to abduct!" Manolia, the new viewer, laments. "Sometimes they have a zoo setup"

----------------

Unbeknownst to them, Adèle is watching this entire discussion of how alien abduction is portrayed in other works. So they seem to be implying that typical races abducting humans, or the remote-controlled ghosts of the game, perform government-sanctioned abductions, licenses to abduct aliens (from their standpoint) require a valid degree in biology or a related field from an accredited institution to be issued, and rules must be followed about the UFOs used for abductions, as well as for the abductions proper. Then I could imagine the application process for aliens wanting an abduction license to require a university transcript before they can take a course in abductions, Adèle writes down notes about the reasons she feel are behind the way stereotypical alien abductions happen the way they do.

And then Adèle, while busy processing the bug reports, is left wondering about whether it's enough to justify at least a content patch. And a rather big one at that.

"Maybe after the post-launch period of debugging ends I could pitch this idea to the higher-ups" Adèle sighs. "And rival factions of alien abductors, as well as college, human or alien, with the abductors of the base game being alien pirates!"

"Adèle, there are times when I feel like you overthink the whole thing!" the gay engineer criticizes the roadmap.

"Several patches will be required to get the show on the road! That or we bring back some of the most iconic spells from MAA, or maybe even later, as a countermeasure to alien abductors!"

When MAA was still around, I treated my characters as if they were real people. With food, a kitchen, toilets, and beds in my player house! I suspected such before Karine came to confirm these suspicions on a stream, leading to the ratification of the Treaty of Perseria! And these engineers see fit to tell me that I overthink the whole thing? Adèle starts drafting a new plan for the rival in-game factions.

----------------

After day breaks in the game, the abductors of Marjo's male trans character, rather than release him as the viewers have come to expect, issue a ransom demand Marjo is reading aloud, taking up the whole screen. As she starts reading the ransom demand issued by the captors:

"Hand over..." Marjo then lists the items the aliens demand from her, along with the deadline to respond.

Some of her new viewers gasp upon hearing about the items the aliens demand for her trans male's release. These were the rewards from partying! The Golden Towers, the dance floor, the keg and the buffet!

"Something doesn't add up, Marjo. Why is it that aliens even ransom abductees' families, let alone partying items?" Gordon interrupts her, struggling to contain his bewilderment.

"What would happen if you fail to provide the requested items at the deadline?" Artabeles asks her.

"They will inject some implement in my male trans!" Marjo yells at the screen.

"I received a similar ransom request from the aliens, but for my cis female! They threaten to impregnate my abductee!" Manolia vents in voice chat.

Other viewer: I guess, these aliens commit crimes just abducting people, so the devs portrayed these abductors as alien criminals, doing pirate-y things!"

I don't think her love interest would actually believe that some alien had a one-night stand with her, Manolia starts wondering about what it means to her that her character gets impregnated. Then again, I wonder how babies are implemented in the game.

"Time is short, and I call on you to decide whether to pay the ransom!" Marjo then starts a poll in the chat about ransom payment. "I will live with the consequences"

Nearly all viewers vote to reject the ransom demand, so Marjo presses rejection. She then prays for the survival of her abductee. I really hope that rejecting the ransom demand won't kill my character, but I still expect him to be traumatized to some degree. That said, I wonder how traumas are handled by the game.

"Are these alien abductors serial rapists as well?" Manolia comments on the choices given to the abductees by the aliens, before making her own choice.

I wonder whether saving her the trauma of rape is worth this easel, with a roll of bond paper attached to it, and this lilac dress with a yellow sash... Manolia sweats before she decides whether to hand over the easel and the outfit the aliens asked to ransom.

"Gordon talked about bureaucracy earlier as a reason why aliens conduct time-limited abductions, but this assumes that race's law allows for it under certain conditions. It might also be about evading their own race's law enforcement patrols if abduction constitutes a crime to them" Artabeles follows up on Manolia's comment about alien rapists.

"Since Marjo refused to pay the ransom, I'll pay mine, so we'll learn more about the effects of alien abduction depending on the ransom payment!"

Wait a minute: the aliens asked for items! I guess, they have previous experience abducting the ghosts of the game's world! Artabeles thinks about why the aliens asked for items rather than money. Inexperienced alien abductors could ask for money that's only usable on that world, but not them!

Manolia gets her character returned to active gameplay, but notices that her need gauges are nothing like when they are left off. And she also checks against the relationships with other ghosts; she sees ghosts who weren't on her contact list before. Including but not limited to, Marjo's trans male. She feels nauseated upon seeing the changes:

"What's the meaning of this? Did these aliens force our characters to perform some collective experiment?" Manolia yells in the voice chat as her character is thrown off the UFO's emergency exit.

That must have hurt to be thrown off from a little above a power line... maybe even injured. Even though the devs insist they are ghosts, strangely enough, these ghosts can get hurt by falling from sufficient height, Manolia then pays for the ambulance to pick her up.

However, while Manolia's character gets dropped off first, players of other abductees not trans males or cisfems from that wave see the aliens steal items from them at random. From the theft victims' standpoint anyway: one of the theft victims arrives in Marjo's chat.

Alien theft victim: Hi; the aliens stole from my household

"Welcome to the stream. Did you have a character abducted?" Marjo asks.

Alien theft victim: Yes

"What's your abductee's gender identity? My abductee is a trans male, and I refused to pay the ransom for him earlier"

Alien theft victim: Mine is non-binary intersex

"Your abductee's gender assignment at birth please..." Artabeles sighs.

"What gameplay significance does gender assignment at birth have, as opposed to gender identity or orientation?" Marjo's face shows signs of discomfort as she rolls her eyes.

I vaguely remember being asked about GAB in character creation, in the same stage where gender identity and orientation is set, and so far, I found gender identity and orientation to be more important than GAB, but the devs put in GAB for a reason, Gordon is bewildered by just how much depth is given to sexuality here. That, even though the player victim of alien-perpetrated theft hesitates to answer.

When the theft victim finally answers, Marjo's abductee still hasn't returned, but aliens commit theft on the other abductees' homes before throwing them off from a little higher than a utility pole. What's taking that viewer so long to answer?

Alien theft victim: Assigned male at birth

"Is there anyone else in the chat who had a character abducted by aliens? Right now, it seems like gender assignment at birth only affects how alien abductions work!"

"And maybe fertility!" Manolia adds, while Marjo's turn to release the abductee comes a while after.

"Good point"

What did the aliens do to my character that took them so long? Did they rape my character? Marjo starts thinking as her character falls to the ground.

She notices that her character has a new condition, some strange tummy aches, but for what she knows, she is a little concerned about whether the fall made him sick or injured, so she has her main call an ambulance to get him to the hospital.

"OK, my character has fallen off, I just want to ensure that he's ok; better safe than sorry!" Marjo watches her trans male being carried away on a stretcher.

"Pray that the abductees' medical bills from their falls or abductions won't be too steep!" Manolia prays for her own character's safety as her ghost is hospitalized.

Alien theft victim: Also, check your character's inventory

Marjo only realizes then that her trans male had some dye ingredients stolen by the alien abductors.

"Eek: the aliens stole from my abductee!" Marjo starts screaming like crazy upon realizing that refusing to pay the ransom doesn't mean the aliens won't steal from the player. "What kind of aliens are we dealing with?"

"This isn't good: aliens stole from what your character was carrying! And definitely not the stereotypical exobiologists! I handed over an easel, loaded with bond paper, and an outfit so they don't impregnate my toon!" Manolia whines.

"All right, Manolia, while my abductee is recovering at the hospital, I will design an outfit for yours! Just tell me what you want!"

The old white-and-lilac outfit I want to replace came from an unreleased dungeon in MAA, the Haunted Park Robe, or more specifically the chest and leg slots rolled into one. However, since it would remind my character of the abduction, I want something a little different, Manolia reflects on why she wants a different outfit for her character going forward.