//EVENT030.EXE

[reparator]

Who: All you poor saps with animals following you around
When: IC: 7/23 ; OOC: 6/14
Where: Cerealia
What: CERES finally caught on to the fact that things aren't quite right. They're Fixing It.
Rating/Warning: Currently none! Please let us know if the log heads into R-related territory so we can lock it!

---

event030.exe

The day starts out relatively normally. The Cerealia city is bustling as it always is, night and day. The world is bright and happening, and your daily life is happening too. There's only one thing. That animal following you around, little more than a wisp of a creature, is fading fast. It starts in the morning, and then accelerates, until by noon it can barely been seen at all. A few minutes later, it fades away completely. Your character will feel unusually tired and a little sleepy, but nothing particularly dangerous or life-threatening. A nap or sleeping early will fix that right up! And then, little more than an hour later, a delivery robot appears right in front of your character (or rings their doorbell if they're inside) and delivers a package. It's a present! Everyone loves presents. And it's addressed From: CERES and To: your character's name. And if they open it, inside will be a CYbuddy. It's rusted, and old, and it doesn't function at all, which makes it a pretty shoddy gift. But strangely...it seems familiar. Those who had foxes will have a fox CYbuddy, those with birds will have bird CYbuddies, those with cats will have a cat CYbuddy and those with goats will have a goat CYbuddy. And no matter what, the little guy won't function at all; it's little more than a useless paperweight like this. But it's harmless, at least. CERES hopes that you have a nice day, and remember that there's no need to worry -- they'll take care of everything. Wonder what happened to the other animals, though...It's probably nothing!

//RUN.EXE

Welcome to the wrap-up to Cerealia's June event! Every single character that had a spiritual animal following them around will be given the CYbuddy as compensation, and will be unable to find the animal anywhere. The CYbuddy cannot be fixed even by the technologically inclined; all of its parts are entirely defunct and no longer functional. This is an all-purpose mingle to wrap up the event, but please feel free to use it to thread however you'd like! Please visit the OOC information here, and should you have any questions, feel free to ask them here! You can also check the FAQ for more general inquiries. Should this event log hit Captcha, there is an all-purpose overflow here. Thank you!

Comments

Hajime Ichinose | OTA

[heartsandcrafts]

[Hajime has mixed feelings about this affair. While she'd liked her little animal companion, she'd also felt rather sorry for it - and even worse that she couldn't do anything to help it. So she'd made her peace and said goodbye to it as it faded away, wishing it a better life in wherever it was going.

Still, she couldn't help feeling a little despondent afterward, laying about outside on one of the park benches, staring up at the sky - until a robot stops by.]

Huh?

[Sitting up, she accepts the package, looking it over and opening it up as the robot hurries away. Inside is... oh, it's one of those robot pets. And it seems a lot like her bird... the wing's even bent in the same way. But no matter how she tries to turn it on or wake it up, the bird can't fly.

Even if she holds it over her head and shouts:]

Biiiiird, go!

[sunnymerc]

( On her way home to do...something with her broken fox CYbuddy, Soleil goes through the park and sees a familiar face. She watches Hajime for a moment for coming up to her with fox in arm. )

Hajime? What are you doing?

( There is something sad about the sight. She supposes she isn't the only one to have gotten a broken animal companion. )

[heartsandcrafts]

[For as cheerful and energetic as Hajime usually is, she has a sort of distantly determined look on her face as she holds the robot bird aloft, waiting for it to take flight. Slowly, she lowers it back down, quirking a frown at it before turning her attention to the other girl]

Ah, Soleil! I just got this in a package but...

[Yeah, it doesn't work]

[sunnymerc]

But its busted, right?

( She holds out her broken fox CYbuddy before putting it back under her arm. She knows these aren't real animals, but it's nonetheless unsettling and watching Hajime so determined to get her bird going is a bit disheartening. )

It's kind of sad, huh?

[heartsandcrafts]

[She nods, quirking a rare frown. It's kind of sad - at least the spirit bird had hopped around a little.]

Yeah - I wonder why they gave them to us? And if they're connected to the animals we saw before.

[sunnymerc]

( Soleil's fox had been jittery and had a limp, but she preferred that to this. Knowing something that had at least seemed alive turned into something motionless like these is disappointing. )

It would be a weird coincidence, but I'm not sure what kind of connection there could be. But I don't even know what the little spirit things were to begin with.

[bookdrooling]

I'm fairly certain that is not how you start a machine.

[At all. A simple phrase like that would certainly kick off a lot of false starts....probably.]

Perhaps you should try something else.

[heartsandcrafts]

Hmm, like what? I already tried the power button...

[Lowering the poor broken robot, she gives it another look over]

Do you think it needs batteries?

[bookdrooling]

Is that what you think? Perhaps the basic functions are broken but there's no harm in trying.

[heartsandcrafts]

Hmm, maybe. Though I can't see where I'd put any...

Did you get one?

[bookdrooling]

I did but seeing that it wasn't working, I sent it to where I'm staying. It's fairly low on my list of priorities at the moment.

Keimi | OTA

[seakingbait]

Ah, can anyone help me? My goat turned into a robot and now it won't move!

[She's gently cradling the CyBuddy in her scaly lap.]

It's just sick, right? It can be fixed?

Re: Keimi | OTA

[powertotearer]

[Eiji's been trying to discreetly get rid of a package containing another rusted CYbuddy, but he stops when he sees Keimi.]

I don't know. Mine's the same way.

[It feels weird, showing a stranger the broken fox, almost like it's a real, (once) living thing.]

[seakingbait]

There has to be some way to fix them, maybe even turn them back to normal... or whatever they were before they became metal.

[powertotearer]

I don't know if this is even them. I think...I think they're gone.

[And he's not sure why that suddenly hurts to admit. Not when his fox kept dashing around underfoot and passing his memories on to complete strangers.]

[seakingbait]

That's... just terrible. My poor goat was already so hurt, I only wanted to help her get better.

[powertotearer]

I know. I think that's the case for everyone. My fox was in really bad shape too.

[He goes silent for a moment, unsure what to say next. How is he supposed to make any of this better?]

Kiryuu Zero | OTA

[leashed_hunter]

[ Anyone wandering through the gardens will find this guy fast asleep under a tree due to the sudden strain of losing his wispy companion. Someone... please wake up the idiot.

A little while later, the Hunter is on his way home when a little robot suddenly stops him to hand him a box before running off leaving a very puzzles hunter behind. ]

What is this?

himeko inaba | ota

[dereban]

[ She doesn't care about the "gift" that CERES left. In fact, it gets ignored completely; discarded. But what bothers her the most is what comes directly after. The pain, the hurt, the feelings that she had lost that suddenly just wormed its way back into her heart.

It hurts.

It hurts, it hurts, it hurts.

All that Inaba Himeko wants to do is cry because of the pain of remembering everything. Is this how Taichi felt when he finally recalled her? Who she was, after forgetting her? But this. . . it's worse than that. He's not here. And CERES keeps rubbing that fact in day in and day out to the point where she's tired. She's sick and tired of this bullshit and she's practically done.

Her eyes are red, dried with tears, and baggy from lack of sleep when she's out and about the colony today. And for those who would usually see her at work - either at school or the cosplay cafe? - she's not there. She's called the day off.

But suddenly, out of nowhere she sees him again.

As always, she would see him. This isn't anything new, and a part of her just sinks at the fact that he isn't real. Then again, why would he be? He's never going to show up. She could tell him what happened and she's absolutely certain that he'd believe her, but...

She hates herself more than anything for having this sense of relief of not being tied down to someone. The idea of breaking it off with him did stick in her mind before. Yet, she couldn't do it. Not because she was weak. But because she saw so many people go through hardships that were way worse than hers. So she thought that maybe she'd be able to perservere.

She's strong, after all.

That's how people see her, right? ]

Just disappear already, damn it!

[ Teeth grind as she yells that out to what seems to be the air, waving an arm, furious. ]

Stop... [ It's an unusual sight to see. Inaba's voice is never this weak willed; it's never this fragile. Tears are welling up in the corners of her eyes as she brings her hands to her chest, clearly in visible pain. ] Why did you have to give it back to me? I would have been so much happier with it gone, it's not fair. Why can't I just fall in love... with someone else...? That way, I don't have to see you in these hallucinations anymo--

[ However, Inaba is unable to finish that sentence as she collapses onto the cement. ]

[keichan]

[ Keiichi's had a lot of reason to worry lately, and it's not a feeling he particularly likes. It's bad enough that he's still worried about what's going to become of the world he left behind, but now, his closest friend in Cerealia is going through some very troubling events. If they can take his friends' memories, what's to stop them from taking his? He doesn't want to forget those smiling faces from back home, no matter how much he misses them.

But even more importantly than that, he's worried about Inaba. She didn't remember someone that was clearly important to her, and then, she told him that he wouldn't be at work. After arranging for his shift to end early, he tries looking for her in the usual places. And when she's not there, he tries the less usual ones.

Just when he's starting to cave and consider trying to get a hold of her through some other means, he hears a voice in the distance calling out in angry, hurt frustration. He doesn't hear exactly what she's saying, but he recognizes the voice anyway. By the time he runs over to the source of the sound, he sees her collapsed on the ground, and without thinking, he moves to her side. Kneeling down, he takes her arm and pulls it around his shoulders, trying to pull her upright and steadying her. He knits his brow, frowning in concern at her. ]

It's okay, Inaba. I'm sorry it took me so long, but I'm here for you.

[ He doesn't know exactly what she's feeling, but he knows that whatever happened, it has to have hurt her a lot for her to lash out like that. He just hopes that whatever he does ends up helping. ]

[dereban]

[ Inaba's consciousness is wavering in and out, although the familiar voice makes her eyes open slightly, her face slightly pale. It's hard to stay conscious, but she's trying her best to. Although her best might not actually work, considering that ever since she figured out that there's gaps in her memories -- more than she last recalled -- that she couldn't get sleep. She's been making a strong attempt to use every measure she could get up to get those memories back.

Which, in turn, led to this. ]

Who...? [ To her, the picture is blurry; difficult to tell exactly who she's talking to. But it's a friend, right? ]

[keichan]

[ She's even worse off than he thought. She's having trouble even staying conscious, never mind getting to her feet. She needs to rest somewhere, but he doesn't know where she lives. So... his options are kind of limited. ]

It's Keiichi. Hang on tight, okay? I'm gonna take care of you for a while.

[ She's just as light as he thought she'd be, which means it's pretty easy for him to pick her up, supporting her under her shoulders and knees with each arm. His apartment's not far from here, and as embarrassing as it would normally be, she needs some rest. Better there than in the street. ]

[dereban]

... Sorry.

[ She's shutting her eyes, if only because she doesn't want to open them to see the hallucination again. She doesn't want that. She's conscious, sure, but barely. It's a little evident by just how pale she is. ]

I didn't mean to worry you.

Sulla Pinsky | ota

[pinsky]

[There's almost a sense of relief Sulla gets when she's presented with a CYbuddy of her broken little bird friend. For the past few days, she's had to worry about it touching people, worry about it not being able to fly, worry about its mopey little chirps. Now that it's physical, Sulla can maybe do something about it, at least.]

[The bird won't activate, as expected.]

[It's not really the safest place to be working on electronics, but Sulla lays out a tarp on a park bench and takes a folding knife from her pocket. Carefully, she folds its feathers back and finds the screws to open this model for maintenance. (Working as a CYbuddy manufacturer: it has its perks!) And when she finally works its (perhaps once proud) chest open...]

[Ultimately, it doesn't matter that she's doing unsafe work on a park bench, because its internals are done for. Is that water damage? Rust? The broken servos on its wing are the least of her problems. The logic board, too, the seat of its little consciousness, is worn down.]

He's fried. [She's saying it more to herself, but the way she's looking out on the masses of people coming through the park, it could be to anyone.] Who did this?

Yusuke Urameshi | OTA

[fingerbanged]

[Oh hell no.

Yusuke's learned his lesson the hard way after the whole clone-bot fiasco. There is no way in his right mind he was about to accept a package from these assholes, especially not after everything from the past few days clicked in his head. The fox suddenly vanishing was strange, it's true, but he had a sneaking suspicion it was behind his weird, flu-like symptoms and memory troubles, and one creature was difficult enough to keep an eye on.

Without bothering to open the package, Yusuke proceeds to hurl it out the window. YOU CAN'T TRUST THE SYSTEM!!!

--although it's not until it's too late that he realizes it might have just hit an innocent bystander. O O P S...]

Gah! Oh crap, you alright?!