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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[Ah. Mosley finally grew a pair, Chibi thinks. He rolls over, fully intending to go back to bed and check it out later...]
[But the minute he plops his CEREvice back on its dock, the bed lurches, then slams upright. It's enough to launch the Eliatrope a short way, just clear of the wall - and, more importantly, to mess up all his blankets. It wakes him up pretty well, though, which might have been the idea.]
What in the fuck--!! [Well, the neighbors probably heard that.]
[They probably also heard Chibi slamming the window open, and if they peek their heads out, they might see him bouncing through portals to make it safely onto the roof. He's got an eye out, though, for any poor souls who might need rescue. If you need a portal lift, it might be a good idea to lean out that window and yell!]
three-a: a mechanical ballet of slow deliberation
[Chibi finds, around this time, that his portals aren't really working. They dump him into the wrong spot a few times, leaving him soaking with water from the fountains, and they]
[--But he tries it just once more, trying to get out of the way of a malfunctioning robot, and the portal turns from its normal blue to a brilliant purple. In the blink of an eye, it explodes, leaving a smoking little crater in the asphalt. Chibi gives the spot a look, absolutely bewildered.]
[A voice comes from Chibi's hat, high-pitched and chatty and not CERES-made:] Ooooh, that's not good. That's super not good.
[Chibi responds to it, with his teeth gritted:] No, it is not.
three-b: taking a position of their own volition
[One might also find Chibi with his hat glitched off entirely, revealing the bright blue wings sprouting from his head. (Anyone spiritually adept might notice they're entirely made from life force.) Normally, he'd be mortified - his culture dictates that there are some things you just do not show in public, and these are one of those things - but he doesn't even seem to notice.]
[Someone may want to tell him that his head isn't covered anymore.]
four: sad robot world, machinery is sighing
[Ah... This is a little sad. Chibi can't help feeling a little empty when he sees all these lifeless robots around; it's lonely, like the life has been stripped from Cerealia. They were living, too, in a way.]
[Well, it wouldn't be the first life Mosley's taken, he thinks. Ha.]
[Chibi is in the pleasure district now, surveying the flood damage, when he comes across a particularly pathetic-looking one slumped on the sidewalk. Its eyes are dark; its fingers hang limp. He kneels by its side for a moment, turns its darkened face to examine it, then declares:]
Alright, you are coming with me. Let's see if we can fix you up, yes? [And Chibi just takes it. He just steals the robot. Great!]
bonus: i thought i heard one crying
[The fortunate part of Chibi's lover being around was that Chibi was discouraged from doing anything too stupid. As such, the unfortunate part of Chibi's lover being gone is that he's lost a sense of self-preservation. Really, what better time to get a sense of ViViD's internal workings than to go into it while it malfunctions? Sure, his code might be damaged, but it could as easily be damaged by anything else malfunctioning.]
[(It's annoying to wait for the system to boot, sure, but he can wait. He's old. He knows patience.)]
[Energy gain. Energy loss. Something clicks in the back of Chibi's brain, then rockets to the forefront. If you're accompanying him, or even if you're just looking on, you might be privy to his eureka moment: the horns on his hat shoot up, and he stops what he's doing to stand there, eyebrows raised and saying aloud:]
Energy. So that's how CERES... [How CERES produces energy to sell.]
wildcard
[HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT]
four!
...Should you be taking that? I mean, these things can get pretty dangerous.
[If their last mass experience with robots was anything to go by, at least. Not that he thinks Chibi can't take care of himself, of course! But the dangerous things are always a pain, especially when they come out of left field.]
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[Chibi shifts the robot on his shoulder - he doesn't look to be having any trouble carrying it, at least - and turns to face Kashuu with brows still knit.] He does not look to be living, unfortunately. [None of them do.] I simply figure that I might be able to figure out why they have all so suddenly deactivated.
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[SQUINTING AT THE ROBOT!! For like .5 seconds anyway, considering he doubts Chibi would have any trouble handling any sudden problems what with how light it seems to be to him...
BUT, equally important:]
It's like this all across the city, huh?
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[He sighs, but his shoulders don't slump; they have a weight to carry. (The literal weight is there, sure, but there's also the metaphorical weight: the sense that more is coming, the knowledge that England was likely sacrificed again, the blood that now is on Mosley's hands.)] It seems whatever Mosley did, or whatever CERES did in response to them, it has caused this - and all I can think of is that robot we all saw. 'They try to make me, but I am not theirs.'
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[He's not really happy with them or the destruction they caused, especially considering he lost an eye to one and it's STILL GIVING HIM TROUBLE-- But he also supposes that CERES might have been behind that, rather than their robot friends.]
It'll probably last a while in that case, won't it? Mosley's really done something big this time.
three-a.
Did your hat just talk?!
[ magic hat!! magic hat!! maybe it can even tell her what house she's in if she wore it! ]
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If you touch me with your powers going all stasis like that, I swear on the Goddess' name--
Fine. [SIGH.] Anyway, he is an AI I designed to accompany some technology from my home. I was able to regain him from ViViD. Without my arms, thank you very much!
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[ she has a talking necklace, at least! that's... almost the same. ]
Does he have a name?
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Stook! Inspired by the Goddess and created by the Prophet himself, as you see him before you-- Noooo, Chibi, if you touch me with those stasis hands, I swear...
Out you come. [Chibi reaches into his hat regardless to produce a glowing blue cube, about the size of a woman's palm on one side and imprinted with spiral patterns.]
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[ that. that is actually kind of cute. she giggles for a bit before she realises chibi's still there, and then she just decides to hide her embarrassment. ]
Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh. He's cute!
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I am blessed that he is not acting up, at least - my bed tried to eject me from the premises earlier. [He hooks one of his thumbs into his pocket and casts a glance towards where he estimates the center of the colony is.] Whatever Mosley's done... It's certainly something.
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I hope he's okay.
[ she considers mosley a friend, after all! ]
But I'm glad Stook isn't, too. I had to check my Widget if he was working earlier, and it looks like he is.
sry about the wait!
dw about it!
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bonus
[ She figured as much, but it's good to see a confirmation, nevertheless. ]
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[He takes a moment to look over; he thinks he recognizes the voice, but he figures confirmation would be nice. In the dim light, he has to squint to make out anything.] You are... Ah, I can barely see. Inaba?
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And yeah, it's me. Seems like this place isn't the safest place to be... Safe mode is never a good sign, after all.
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[(And with England gone, and Mina just a memory, he is more willing to take these little risks.)]
[He takes a moment to cup his palms, producing a small blue light above them; its addition reveals a few fun NPCs who move as though they are trying to speak, but no words come out. That is just a bit disturbing, he thinks.]
Aah... Maybe there's something else somewhere else. Away from these.
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[ There's skepticism in her expression and there's enough annoyance in her tone to suggest that she's rather incredulous. Which she is. ]
sorry abt the wait - feel free to drop if you need!
[Or maybe he just has no sense of self-preservation, given that he's killed himself twice.]
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3-b
[Ruby's been bouncing from place to place, as Rubys tend to do, mostly unbothered by the current situation--but she has to stop when she sees Chibi like that.]
... Can you fly with those?
[#tact]
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[With a look of horror dawning on his face, Chibi pokes at the top of his head and finds only hair. He makes a noise like he's choking, flushes a bright red, and flings his cloak over his head in a fluid motion; his eyes peek out of the ensuing bundle. It's clear that whatever the wings are, he's pretty shy about them.]
Uh, well, yes, but... Is there maybe a scarf or a hat or something I could borrow? Please?
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[Help her.
Also she doesn't have a scarf, and after a moment of flailing around... she just unhooks her cloak and red hook and flings it over his head.
(Which means a lot, since she loves that hood, but she likes Chibi a lot too, so it's probably okay).]
Sorry...!!
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Thank you. I will give it back, I just... Have to find something else to cover my head until my own comes back. [With a little sheepish grin:] It is a cultural thing for my people; showing them is very intimate. The hats are as vital as pants might be for you.
... These glitches, huh.
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[She'll just reach for his hand to start tugging him that way.]
Anyway yeah it's pretty much a bummer, but what else is new? It's Cerealia. I'm not really sure what we were expecting.
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[It's a bit of a walk to the clothing store he has in mind, though, so...]
I have to wonder what Mosley did, and how it would result in this... I get the feeling that things are going to come to a head soon.