Everything is normal today during the early hours of the morning. There's really no hint, no way of knowing, no anything that could indicate that CERES -- and thus Cerealia -- is about to irrevocably change. There would be birds chirping, if there were birds, but since there aren't any, there's just the constant sounds of a city in motion, humming with technology even that early in the morning.
And then, regardless of where you are or what you're doing or how early it is, everyone's CereVices flicker on to show a perhaps-familiar, perhaps-unfamiliar face.
Bellona Recreare, the business owner of Cerealia and CEO of CERES, stares at everyone with a flat, cold look. She doesn't seem happy.
(When is she ever?)  It has come to my attention that there has been industrial espionage and corporate sabotage in CERES' personnel. Such a thing will not be tolerated.
Due to this, Mosley's employment with CERES has been terminated. Please now direct any public relations questions to 1-800-7322934844444.
Good day.
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PHASE I [ 6 00 ] Bright and early, not long after that sudden announcement by Bellona, you may decide to go back to sleep, or you may decide to get up and go about your day (or you may not have woken up at all).
Either way, it doesn't matter.
Because your apartment is broken.
The entire apartment. The door is locked shut (and that sucker is solid metal so it might be time to try a window), the HOLO(gm) is flickering wildly between settings, and the blender is out for your blood. Anything technological in any way (that is CERES-brand or has been tampered with by CERES) will be malfunctioning in a way that comes across as... oddly malicious.
Now's a bad time for the late sleepers to realize that the beds, too, have auto-control tech functionality. Hope you enjoy that electroshock wake up call, or the fact that the bed could fling you totally across the room.
PHASE II [ 1000 ] The rest of the city isn't faring so well either.
The trains are completely out of commission; even if the doors do open, it's probably not a good idea to get on. If you do, it looks like the doors will slam shut behind you, and the train will go hurtling forward at dangerous speeds with sudden stops. Many of the shops can't be accessed at all, automated doors refusing to open, and worst of all, every single last piece of tech in Cerealia now seems to have the sole goal of Making Your Life Hard.
The Pleasure District is flooded now that the spas are broken, but hey -- at least the perfume ensures that water smells good, and it's pretty warm. That's good, right? Maybe go for a nice swim.
The CERES police bots are out of control, chasing people down to arrest them for imagined crimes (What do you mean you aren't a closet voyeur?), and heaven forbid you're around any of the auto shops when everything goes totally wrong. The auto-drive feature in many of CERES's cars seem to be a little... finicky today. It doesn't seem like anywhere in the city is exempt from this. Good luck.
And towards the end of the second day of this insanity, the train, with whatever unfortunate passengers are on it, will derail. It crashes into part of the shopping district, leveling buildings and leaving the wrecked overturn husk of a train resting there uselessly.
Suddenly, things don't seem so harmless anymore.
PHASE III [ 1100 ] Of course... you're CERES-owned too.
Your code, rather, is made and owned by CERES, and it's inevitable with the craziness going on that it would soon affect everyone's code as well. So as the hour approaches noon, a few unlucky souls may start to notice that things are just Not Quite Right with them. Their powers may be on the fritz, functioning entirely wrong or not at all, or even stranger -- fire powers turning into water, ice into flame, electricity brings mud. Your clothing might suddenly change when your coding glitches, or it might be gone entirely. You may suddenly have an uncontrollable urge to start singing, or frolicking. You may suddenly be wildly in love with the first person (or robot or mirror) that you see, unable to stop it until the odd glitching wears off.
And then, just like that, you're back to normal, if a bit more tired than before. How troublesome.
There are also moments where what appears to be an ID number appears on the back of your neck in glowing light blue numbers. Each of these codes is a 7 digit number, with an E at the front of the number. It appears that the longer you've been in Cerealia, the lower the number is -- like a brand of some sort. You may not be able to see it yourself with it on the back of your neck like that, but everyone else sure can.
PHASE IV [ 1645 ] And, just like that, on the last day of this madness, the city goes dark. The lights cut out. The technology shuts off. Every last robot in Cerealia is completely and totally down, and can no longer be booted up. Even when the lights come back on in a few hours... the robots remain dead.
Cerealia's a lot harder to function in without those handy dandy robots running the place. It's also a lot more desolate, and rather quiet.
Slowly but surely, the rest of the technology will boot itself back up towards the end of the last day. But the robots remain broken, and cannot be fixed. In fact, opening them up will reveal that nothing's wrong with them at all... they just won't wake up.
As time ticks by, it doesn't look like Bellona will address anything on the network about the events and all people are left to do now is... learn how to function again. Without any help.
BONUS [ ???? ] If you were a stupid brave enough soul to log into ViViD during this time (or were unfortunately glitched there, which could happen), you will find that ViViD is in... safe mode. It's struggling to boot up, and even when you finally enter, you'll find yourself wandering through skeleton levels of half-completed scenery and incomplete quests. There are readings in the corner of each level that can be seen now, one about Energy Gain and one about Energy Loss, and just as the gain goes up the longer you are there, the loss, too, rises. At first, it's fascinating, and it isn't particularly dangerous... but then it becomes clear that you can't actually log out.
You can't exit Safe Mode at all.
Slowly, it feels as though you can breathe less and less, that the empty walls of the level are closing in on you... and there's nothing you can do. Unless you are or find a particularly genius hacker and they can access the source code and find the exit buried inside that code within the next few minutes... there's nothing to be done.
And then everything goes dark.
You'll wake up the next IC day, with those same energy readings marked on your wrist like some sort of bright blue digital tattoo. When you wake in the mornings, it will read at 100% and slowly go down during the course of the day until you sleep. It will fade after three IC days.
And from now on, ViViD always has those energy levels in the corner, even when it's fixed. They always seem to be recording you, every time you're in ViViD. Strange.
[ Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with sensitive or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ] |
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Given the power of technology, she doubts it will provide much help, but she is donning her armor for the first time in months. At the very least, it should be better protection than the casual clothes she has been wearing during her time here. Her first course of action is to bang on the other doors in her apartment building in the event that not everyone has windows, their own way of getting through the door, or experiencing some other danger in their apartment due to everything going haywire.
She only hopes that breaking the door won't increase her rent. )
Hey, anyone in there? Do you need help?
I told you! I paid the ticket for that nonsense about 'indecent exposure' last week. What? What do you mean I'm getting a second ticket right now? I couldn't get more clothed than I am right now!
And even if I were butt naked, aren't there more important things going on?
( They all agree this is of the utmost importance, even as one of them gets hit by a vehicle and dragged away. )
Get out of my way if you're not actually going to help!
She feels...shy? The need to avoid anyone seeing her is unfamiliar, but can only be that.
Which is unfortunate given that she is experiencing an equally powerful urge to dance. )
A-Ah, what's happening to me? E-Everyone, look away! I don't c-care how cute I look in this!
( But even as she says that, she may be reaching a hand out for a dance partner. )
Hey! Uh. Is everyone okay?! Jeez, what a mess this is.
III
[Felicia was just glad her friend was okay, strange outfit aside, and was already moving to take Soliel's hand without even realizing it.]
But, if you're worried, I'll stay right next to you and keep you safe. Is that okay?
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A-Ah, yes! Um, that's okay. Thank you!
( Soleil takes both of Felicia's in her own and slowly spins. It isn't much of a 'dance', but she is fighting with all her willpower against the urge to do anything more. She refuses to embarrass herself! )
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But, she wasn't going to just abandon a friend, either.]
You don't need to thank me. It's my pleasure to help, you understand?
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( Soleil isn't sure what to say to that. She feels so bashful suddenly, even though this is the exact sort of thing she would be excited to do with Felicia. It's like she's channeling someone else. )
Y-Yes, thank you! Please, take care of me.
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[And, when Felicia smiled, her earnestness seemed softened-- as if she were unconsciously channeling someone else as well.
Namely, a certain ninja with whom she had a lot in common.]
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phase iv
Calling it a mess would be an understatement! [ Soleil's a familiar face, thankfully. Franziska feels more at ease being with an acquaintance. ]
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( This situation is more certainly more than just a 'mess' and the problems with the aftermath may be greater than the incident itself. It is worrying Soleil, but the sight of Franziska brings a smile to her face. She closes the space between them and scoops Franziska up into a hug. )
I'm so happy you're alright. I've been so worried about everyone.
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It better stay that way!
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( Not everyone is a soldier or a mercenary or as composed as she is. There are a lot of people she is going to need to track down to make sure they are safe. )
...I wonder what we should do from here.
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I'm certain that you'll be able to keep your head above water if what you said is true.
[Soleil's experience is going to come in handy. Franziska's used to danger too because of her profession. ]
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II
Hold it! [He yells, drawing his saber. What a dashing figure he cuts, so fragrant and damp and dripping a puddle onto the street.] Leave her alone!
[Some of the police bots swivel around toward his direction, and then:]
You're under arrest for wearing a cravat in a cravat-free zone! Life sentence! Life sentence!
[They suddenly move toward him, and Edgeworth prepares to fight, raising his blade in the guard position. He's...going to need some help.]
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Um. Well, I appreciate the effort.
( Now that they are hassling someone else, she feels more obligated to resort to force. She feels bad, seeing as she feels the machines behaving this way are out of their control. She still can't stop humanizing the robots, no matter how mindless they may be. )
Sorry about this!
( Soleil reaches over her shoulder and pulls out an enormous silver axe. She leaps and easily crushes the head and most of the torso of one of the robots. The remaining two don't seem to acknowledge Soleil, but they are apparently aware of the attack on their comrade. )
Officer down! Officer down! Man armed with cravat! Put down the cravat! I repeat, put down the cravat!
( They are very focused on Edgeworth's fashion sense. )
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I don't think it's my cravat you should be watching out for!
[He glances up briefly at Soleil; she could fight, at least, so she could demolish the robots from the rear and the two of them could bull their way toward the middle. A second robot attempts to grab him in a bear hug, only to be kicked down and stabbed.]
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Maybe you could just...give them your cravat?
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That's not their only accusation against me!
You're under arrest for garish taste in color!
[He just yells in frustration and slashes the robot that just leveled yet another charge.]
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iii.
Ah! O-okay, I won't look! Even if that's a really cute outfit...
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N-No! Keimi, please look! J-Just...don't look too hard. But definitely look. I look adorable!
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[So she'll just... look between the gap of her fingers?]
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Soleil seems as surprised as anyone else. )
W-What am I doing? Do I have...rhythm? Keimi, do you see this? Don't look! I mean, keep looking!
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[She'll drop her hand when she spins, starting to enjoy this a little bit more earnestly.]
When did you learn to dance?
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II
[Here comes Maya to the rescue (???) busting her way through the line of policebots to.... stand ineffectively near Soleil. Because that's going to help!]
[Unfortunately, the policebots don't seem to be listening to Maya's compelling evidence. Now they're both going to be under arrest. Maya gives a huff, then looks to Soleil]
Soooo... how do you feel about being on the run?
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( Maya, so foolish. So tiny. Soleil appreciates the support, even if she technically wasn't so much innocent as she already paid her dues. She still refuses to believe 'no shirt, no shoes, no service' is an actual law. But she is not going to split hairs here.
But this is convenient. If she can keep an eye on Maya, then that means Soleil can keep her safe and avoid Athena ending up miserable again. )
Alone, facing danger, fleeing the law? Gosh, that's about as romantic as you can get. You've got spunk, Maya.
( As always, she is bright and smiling despite the crappy situation. And with that, she grabs Maya's hand in her own gloved hand and runs away from the policebots. )
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[Anyway, as far as she's concerned, Soleil's wearing clothes now, so there's nothing indecently exposed. If anything, she looks pretty dashing]
You think it's romantic? I was getting more of an action adventure kinda vibe.... All we need is one of us to get amnesia and we'd have a blockbuster on our hands!
[But Maya's content enough to let Soleil take her and spirit her away! She runs along with her]
All we need is a noble steed to ride away on and we're all set! [Maya's also very cheerful, in spite of everything. They match!] Or a motorcycle!
[Maybe a little too cheerful...]
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Um, last time I tried one of those vehicle things, I ended up eating a faceful of sand. We'll need to do things the old fashioned way.
( The two of them are definitely too cheerful considering everything going on. )
Oh! But if it's a ride you want, I can always carry you. The hero carrying the beautiful damsel is classic, right?
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