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.
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Sorry I'm behind,. work was busy and my power is out. So, phone tags.
Phoenix...
Don't sweat it! I was pretty dead last night anyway
Phoenix frowns as he sits down next to her.]
...What happened? [He has a strong guess that it has something to do with that lifeless-looking cybuddy, but he's not completely sure.]
and now the internet is out till at least thursday, so starbux/phone tags laffo
Rei shakes her head and holds up the lifeless machine, shaking her head sadly. This shouldn't hurt, because it was just a machine. It was basically just a high tech toy she'd picked up to have some noise around the house. But when it wouldn't turn back on, there was a definite sense of loss on her end. It was stupid, and her words were tinged with contempt, but what could she do? She felt how she felt.]
I don't know. He just won't wake up anymore. I don't know what happened, but when everything sent back to normal, he didn't.
headpats/ take your time!
Phoenix frowns as he looks down at the machine. It did even hurt him a bit when the cybuddy he had gotten Trucy for last Christmas turned on him. And it was likely powered down too... Even an artificial life takes feelings and memories with in.]
Maybe it's just... in sleep mode, or out of juice. Everything around here's been screwy, especially machines.
It... it might not be the end yet, Rei.
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No, he's charged. It's just...not coming on. [Her words are thick with hurt, and something like annoyance. This shouldn't be happening, and she shouldn't be upset by it. At least, that's how she feels.]
I don't know why, but I really shouldn't be fussing over it at a time like this. It's a toy, and it's broken, I guess. Or he just hates me.
no subject
...Why would he hate you?
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[By now she's starting to come to terms with the fact that she does care, even if she shouldn't. She's bothered by this. By...just how malicious everything had been the past few days.]
CERES keeps doing things to hurt us. Maybe they flipped his switch?
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Everything weird that's been happening these past few days... It all seems like their handiwork. And everything that's happened to your cybuddy is probably no exception, Rei. I don't think that your... that your friend would choose to do any of those things to you.
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[And a ball of fuzz was pretty nice.]
Are...yours okay?
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He pauses.]
I had only one. ...Well, it was Trucy's actually, but I didn't want to get rid of it in case she... [came back. But he leaves that sentence hanging and moves on.]
It went bad along with the rest of the apartment. And... I don't think it made it.
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I don't think any of the robots made it. I managed to cow my stove, but I had to destroy most of the appliances in the end. I'd just...I guess I hoped he'd make it. [A huff.]
Maybe Hiro can fix it.
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I don't think it's too late to help your friend. It... it might not be the end.
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[She sighs and sets her defunct machine pet down.]
At least he fulfilled his purpose. When I bought him, the salesman said that the point of a Cybuddy was to make she nobody felt lonely.
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...I see. Then it sounds like he did fill that purpose. For a robot, that's practically living a full life. ...I'm not actually a roboticist, so don't quote me on that. But, that's how it feels to me.
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Yeah, I suppose you're right. I don't really know what else to do with him though. I suppose I can always put him back in his little bed.
[Looking up at the man who's been pretty much what she'd have wanted in a father figure, she smiles sadly.]
You keep catching me at the worst possible times. I'm sorry for that.
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Hey... It's not like you can control these things, Rei. [He says with a shake of his head.] And if I could help you feel just a little better? Then that... well, it helps a lot, too.
[Now Phoenix looks off thoughtfully.]
I don't have any powers, and I can't even act as a defense attorney here. It's... too easy to feel powerless around here.
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I know. I'm sorry, that you're stuck in this mess. You shouldn't have to be trapped in a world like this, and I know...I know how hard you try for the people here. I've always been grateful for your presence. You somehow always manage to be there, even if you aren't in the thick of things and you probably don't know this...
[She takes a breath to steady herself.]
...but you're pretty much the first man I've ever respected.
no subject
...Thank you, Rei. It means a lot to hear you say that.
[But then a record scratch.]
Wait, the first? Like... ever?
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Yes. Why? Is it all that surprising?
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But I still wish you'd have more a decent selection of good guys in your life.
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[She waves a hand tiredly.]
But nothing can really change the past. Or the nature of the people in my life.