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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no subject
He kind of misses her fire. (That will probably get turned on him in full force once this glitch reverts, but, well, he'd rather that than she continue to be not herself.)
Yu's brow knits at the way she makes her response a question. Does she not ... remember? Why wouldn't she be sure? Hmm. ]
Well, you won't be alone now. Why don't we head to the park? It's a little safer there, since there's less technology.
no subject
It's more obvious like this, though.
Still though she looks confused at this? Is he inviting her out? WELL GEE.
She blushes more and just gives a small nod.]
I... I'd like that.
[help]
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Of course, that won't stop him from continuing to try to learn more about her, for whatever reason.
Oh god, the blush. It's getting worse... Yu pushes down a feeling of sourceless dread and lets his expression clear, smiling again. Lili is a fighter by nature, but not by training, as far as he knows. It's not really safe for her to be on the streets alone with the police bots out in force and things around the colony going otherwise dangerously haywire. Especially like this - what if her glitch leads her to spontaneously develop feelings for a stranger, or one of the colony natives, or someone who won't look after her? Or worse, lead her into trouble.
... at the moment he's debating whether or not he should offer her his arm, or, like. Not do that. Which would be worse.
Help.
(He doesn't offer it. He just sets them walking in the direction of the park, keeping one eye out for any threats.) ]
Great. Thanks for accompanying me. Has your apartment been going crazy, too?
[ Continuing to play conversational keep-away. ]
[1/3]
[IN RETURN. BECAUSE THAT'S POLITE. AND BECAUSE HER HEART IS DOING LITTLE FLIP THINGS AND HE'S LETTING HER WALK WITH HIM???
Lili's a teenaged girl in the end - even though her taste in men is absolutely questionable. But this sort of feeling of her heart skipping a beat and beating uncomfortably in her chest is one that she's used to, even though it's probably not obvious from how she treats such matters. Still though, she follows after and listens to his question, hesitating.
Complaining isn't ladylike.]
Um.... Well, it's been... a little bit inconvenient I suppose-
no subject
- in that "I was thrown out of my window and nearly died in a train crash and was assaulted for crimes that weren't mine" kind of way! How irritating! This entire place is so impossible sometimes! It's so obvious that a monkey would be able to run a better city. Really, how much stupider can this place even get?! I swear that I-
no subject
A small, girlish gasp as she covers her mouth, eyes wide.]
E-Excuse me...!
[FALSE ALARM.]
1/2
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That was the Lili he knows and cautiously loves for a hot second. Yu keeps his expression in check, very grateful for his god-given pokerface at the moment. He kind of wants to laugh, but also is possibly even more concerned?? At least her real personality is, uh, definitely still in there... ]
It's alright to complain, [ he says carefully, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. ] I don't mind. It is pretty annoying, isn't it?
[ Come on, Real Lili, come back... ]
no subject
Also embarrassment sure is making it hard for her to speak.]
It's just... unsafe....
[BRING BACK THE HELLFIRE AND BRIMSTONE]
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Ah well. It was worth a try. Mildly, a little blasé: ]
Unsafe is one word for it. "A pain" are two more. [ He holds up two fingers, smiling sideways at her. ] CERES really messed up this time. Though... [ more thoughtfully ] I wonder if it was really just a mistake.
no subject
Lili's definitely caught off by dokis - but at least she's not a giant moron. It takes a little bit for her opinion to leak out and it's quiet when it does - embarrassment staying her tongue from going off too much - but she has to admit:]
Probably... not.
[the firecracker is in there somewhere
really]
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[ With perfect curiosity, his tone making it sound as if he's genuinely curious as to her opinion.
Which he is... if he can continue to somehow draw her out. ]
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That's what Lili wants to say.
But it gets stuck in her throat, even as her eyes narrow for a moment as she tries to figure out how to say it.]
.... I don't.
This sort of thing... it never is. [But that's a little harsh, isn't it? So she softens it:] People are getting hurt, so...
[They do match her real feelings - but the delivery is far more demure than Lili's usual.]
no subject
[ He tries to project a certain quiet approval. ]
The timing, and everything that's happening... it's suspicious. What did you think of the message from the CEO? Bellona Recreare.
[ His solicitation of her opinion is sincere. As if he's truly interested in what she's really thinking.
Quietly, though, he tries not to push her, lest he make her too uncomfortable. ]
no subject