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.
|
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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no subject
...I see. I was hoping that someone like my cousins was around.
[Someone tall and strong, willing to give their everything for the sake of the people they cared for with a blade in their hands and a tender smile on their faces. Somewhere in the deepest part of his heart, he knew that his hopes were foolish, but still...
He didn't like being separated from his family.]
But, maybe you're right. I should try harder to live up to my family name...
[Realizing he was rambling, the boy just shook his head.]
That doesn't matter here, does it? We have ourselves-- and thank you so much for helping me, Miss Chihiro. Please, call me Koumei.
[He bobbed his head politly in customary greeting, quietly glad to have found someone so resourceful to trust in this odd mess. It'd be nice, if they could be friends...]
no subject
But being able to rely and depend on one's self? Likewise being able to depend on others while confident in one's own dependability? Something like that motivates her. So she offers him a smile, for a brief moment, and bobs her head to him in turn. ]
It's nice to meet you, Koumei-kun.
[ While likewise letting her hand fall away. ]
Even if the circumstances aren't all that nice at all. We can get out of this, as long as we don't give up.
[ That said, she glances up, one of those modern #yolo kids who genuinely believes that she can't expect other people to solve her problems. ]
If you have your CEREvice on you, we can check for your cousin's names. Even if they're not here... well, there are people who will help you if you ask. Kashuu-san is very fast and capable as a fighter. [ ASSUMING and kind of knows though to be honest the most impressive thing he's done is slice off a painting's hand and piggyback race her through a maze but that was impressive enough. ] Karl-san is new, but he's also a capable Summoner. They're like a special kind of traveling warrior who fight with spirits and magic. Yanagiya-san is a medical doctor who's been here for a while.
[ By now, she's starting to pace the room, looking for the most likely, least technological avenue forward and out. There's always more than one door in or out of a place. ]
She's very smart. Like we'll have to be.
[ She glances back toward Koumei. ]
How do you feel about climbing?
no subject
...Climbing? [He asked, feeling more uneasy now. Though he was still young, he carried some of the same responsibilities as an adult in his world-- and, he had never been one to be that into physical activities.]
What are you thinking, Miss Chihiro?
no subject
Looking for another way out. I think I see one back through here...
[ A gesture into one of the offices (stores? who knew?) connected to the lobby, where hazy outdoor light could be seen trickling in through a rubble strewn section of wall. ]
We might have to climb over things going out that way, though.
[ The nannybots are still wheedling for them to come out at the entrance they'd slipped into, though it doesn't seem more than one thinks they actually went into this building. Cries of "there won't be any time out" and "we have candy" come wafting in. ]
We can tie your sleeves back to help keep them out of the way, if you'd like.
[ Do his pants even have anything convenient for keeping them away from his feet? Drawstrings would have been nice... c'est la vie. ]
no subject
I think I can manage, [he said, stepping closer to Chihiro for the sense of safety. Then, more pointedly:]
Are you going to be okay? That....is quite high.
no subject
I will. [ There's no choice, and she feels like she's handled more difficult physical efforts than this. Or more unsafe ones, though with sparks still occasionally flying overhead, that may be up for debate. ]
You go first. I'll be right behind you.
[ It's 100% her thought process after he'd tripped earlier; she wants to make sure he's not going to slip and fall far enough to get hurt. Even though she'd not mind going first... but! It's her attempt at arranging priorities. ]
no subject
The electrical sparks arcing above them, though frightening, wasn't going to stop them. They needed to get out, and he was certain that they would.]
All right. Thank you for watching over me.
[His voluminous sleeves were hiding arms that were just as twiggy as the rest of him, but that wasn't going to stop him. Bolstered by her words and his own drive to get out of this mess, Koumei slowly started his way up through the mess of rubble. Each step was carefully calculated to avoid giving Chihiro too many obstacles to deal with herself, and he refused to look down.
He couldn't. That would only distract him from the task at hand]
no subject
[ Then it's two twiggy kids steadily picking their way upward, Chihiro benefiting from his careful path choosing, it's a matter of time before they reach the semi-steady summit. Chihiro perches at the summit, wedging herself in place to take a look back down the way they'd come. Snippets of the nannybot's calls can still be heard echoing up, but the hiss of sparks and a door further inside the building malfunctioning with a schwoop-CLASH repeating every thirty seconds are more overwhelming. The wall that'd been knocked out by a now collapsed crane created a cascade of rubble both into the building, the way they'd just climbed, and out over the structures on the outside. Scaffolding provides one way of scaling down to their right. Straight ahead it's rubble, rebar and plaster and iron and concrete and plastic mixed in with exposed, ungrounded wires.
She glances down at that massive mess, pressing her lips into a thin line. Time for a consultation. ]
We can get down either climbing there, or by trying to climb down the scaffolding. Which do you want to do?
[ The scaffolding required crossing more of this floor to reach, and couldn't be entirely made out from where they were now. The rubble was a relatively straight shot down, ending near where the crane had collapsed. ]
no subject
...The scaffolding, I think.
[He glanced over at Chihiro, and pointed down at the wires along the other passage.]
Although I don't understand how they've managed to control lightning here, I don't feel like it's safe to trust those cords on the ground. That's an easy way to get hurt-- and it's dangerous to be hurt by lightning.
no subject
[ Resolve thus firmed to take the less electric means of reaching the ground, she pushed herself up and slid down to touch the dusty floor. She looked to Koumei, waiting for him to start moving in the same direction. He didn't come from a place that had electricity, it seemed, but he was game enough in tackling what had to be a really confusing world. She respected that, even knowing that she knew modern conveniences and still found it overwhelming. ]
We should keep an eye out in case any of those electrical wires — those cords you saw — are touching anything metal. If they are, it could still hurt us if we touch the metal, even if we're not touching the sparking cord.
[ Rudimentary conductivity knowledge. Completing a circuit is a bit outside of what she's thinking, but she knows it's possible for a current to travel through a person to get to the ground. Making her way through the rubble on this floor, she could gradually see more of the scaffolding. It was thankfully free of any exposed electrical wiring, but the bottom of the scaffolding was dented and partially caved in by the collapse of the crane. The body of the crane itself was helping keep the scaffolding standing. ]
no subject
Instead, he would trust Chihiro. She was an invaluable resource in this strange place.
He slowed to a stop once they reached the scaffolding, eyeing the massive machine that was restraining the the skeletal construction warily. It seemed unmoving, so it was surely safe, but the base was questionable.]
Please be careful on there, Chihiro, [he said quietly.] We might be small, but it looks like a breeze could make this fall. That...would be bad.
no subject
I will. You too. I don't think hesitating is going to help us once we start going down.
[ A fall would be very bad, considering both of them appeared to be breakable twigs. She didn't know about him, but she was also not trained in anything approaching first aid. Having band aids tucked into a pocket didn't count.
Still, she made her way out onto the scaffolding without blinking, shimmying around the outside edge to get to where the metal supports cut down at diagonal angles, climbing down while the structure itself shivered. She was slight enough a weight that there was little more than a raising of dust from the upper platforms as she moved down, taking her time and going slowly so as to not suddenly drop all her weight down at once. Guarding against slipping and having the same end result had her almost frowning with concentration. ]
It feels steady to me! Be careful not to slide, I don't know how it's going to handle a sudden jolt.
no subject
[He called, and carefully made his way onto the scaffolding himself. Every move was carefully planned not to jostle the structure, because his sentiments were the same as her's. Neither of them were trained in first aid in an emergency, and Koumei didn't even have the benefit of bandaids tucked into his pocket.
That is, if he even had a concept of 'bandaids'. Which, he decidedly did not.
Thus it was that the two twigs made it down, and Koumei prayed to whatever gods were listening that they didn't get hit by an earthquake or a storm during their passage.]
no subject
She finally managed to untie the bonnet from where it'd fallen back around her neck, starting to toss it aside, then thinking twice about it. She shoves it into a pocket instead, ties trailing out along with some of the ruffle. She shouldn't litter, and maybe it'd be useful later, somehow. ]
What were you trying to do before you talked to the nannybot?
[ She asks instead, preparing to walk the length of the downed crane to get to the construction lot (and street) at the far end, opposite of where they'd left the nannybots searching. ]
no subject
I was looking for my brother, [he confessed, looking somewhat embarrassed.] What were you doing?
no subject
... or really, more she didn't want to make a big deal out of something she does regularly enough herself... ]
I was trying to stop by one of the places I work to see if I could get into the snacks I left there the other day. I've been locked out of my apartment, without my CereVice... though wait. Do you have one on you? We can use it to look for your brother, it's about this big with a shiny surface like a dark mirror for a screen!
[ Chihiro mimes the size of the CereVice with her hands. Maybe...! ]
no subject
It was simply too foreign.
He shook his head and got to his feet, knowing that there just had to be another way to go about all of this.]
My apologies. I've never seen or heard of something like that before today. And, no, I don't have one, either.
no subject
She nods, accepting this as true. Yet if he's looking for his brother, and if his brother is here... ]
We can make our way back toward the residential district. If your brother's here, then someone over there will know. They may even be able to check for you.
no subject
I'd appreciate that, [he said quietly.] Do you think one of your friends will be willing to help us?
no subject
[ She has no hesitation in her voice when she confirms that her friends will help. ]
They're good people, and they're kind. They'll help us out. If your brothers are here, we'll find them. If they're not, well, we'll deal with that, too.
[ She glances back over her shoulder at him. ]
I won't leave you on your own unless you want to be on your own, okay?