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
Probably.
[ Is there ever a good time to fight the stove?
He nods in response, a very faint smile lightening his features. ] Sure. Lead the way. Going up stairs in this long skirt is more challenging than I was prepared for...
[ He keeps almost tripping on it. ]
no subject
I'll fly us up, if that helps.
[She pauses, boot half raised, frowning as she takes in the outfit for a second time.]
Why are you dressed like that, anyway?
no subject
The question wins a huff of a sudden laugh. ]
This is the outfit I wore for the crossdressing pageant at my school. I don't know why I glitched into it, though.
no subject
Crossdressing pageants happen in Inaba? I...thought those were only in movies.
[Her form shimmers now that they're clear and she returns to being her normal self, shutting the door behind her.]
Hopefully we weren't followed. Did anything happen with your place?
no subject
Oooh, Mars-san, oooh.Yu merely glances down when she slips a hand around his waist, sort of curious about their height and the distance to the ground. Still, he doesn't seem much bothered by the situation, and drops lightly to his feet once she lets him go. ]
Well, it happened when the girls signed us up in revenge after Yosuke signed them up for the Miss Yasogami beauty pageant. [ Said with a small smile.
That smile turns rueful at her next question. ]
Yeah. I think everyone in the apartment has scattered by now. It's safer out here than it is indoors. [ He sighs through his nose. ] I don't think I want to go near my bed right now.
no subject
Sounds awful, for both sides.
[Having met Naoto she can imagine that the young detective didn't like it one bit. And Chie? Lord...
A beat, and she takes a moment to look out over the cityscape.]
It looks like everything's gone wild out there too. I can hear sirens and alarms. [A smile.]
Did you bed throw you too?
no subject
I had fun. Kanji and Teddie looked great, too. Yosuke... [ Yu's smile turns a little mysterious. ] I think he learned his lesson.
[ Yu braces the tip of his practice sword on the roof and leans on the grip slightly, following her gaze. ]
It tried. I woke up when it started malfunctioning and... [ A beat. Somewhat sheepishly: ] ... fell off. Though, that's probably better than getting flung into a wall.
no subject
[Rei liked him. She liked him a lot, and Yosuke meant a lot to her as a person. But she would never, ever object to him getting some comeuppance. It was just right and natural.]
Lucky you. Makoto-chan had to pull mine off me. [Peevishly, she shoots a glance back at the door they'd come from.]
Do you think that a stove can climb stairs?
no subject
His eyebrows jump up beneath the fringe of his hair as he too casts a glance at the door. Musingly: ]
A stove climbing stairs... it would almost be worth it to deal with the hassle just to see something like that happen.
no subject
Hopefully we won't have to find out. I mean, comical but troublesome.
[OF course, as she says that, a rattling sound hits the doorframe hard. Very, very hard. And Rei sighs, changing back into her battle form.
Dryly, she adds:]
I wonder what that is.
no subject
... that's unusual even for him. He lifts his sword and taps it twice against his shoulder instead, huffing through his nose. ]
I think either of us could take it. Did you want dibs?
[ He moves towards the door, preparing to open it before the machine can break it down. ]
no subject
I may as well. I can end this in a single shot.
[When Yu opens the door, though, it's not a stove that greets him...but rather a clothes dryer. As she's prepping her shot, the machine opens and positively belches household appliances. Renegade roombas, toasters all heated up and ready to toast, a few electric kettles, a gaming console, and even a rather malicious looking restaurant sized blender all come pouring out onto the roof and swarm towards Yu and Mars.]
H-Holy CRAP! [She exclaims with a giggle.] What is this?!
no subject
The cavalry, I think. [ Just one of his eyebrows quirks up, especially visible when he runs a hand through his hair, briefly pushing his bangs back. Then, of course, he remembers he's got a wig he can't remove on when his fingers get caught, and he has to drop his hand with a bit of a consternated look.
Without any real further ado, Yu just summons up Izanagi. Lightning + appliances hopefully = destruction. ]
Hope no one holds it against us that we're taking out all their appliances.
Did we still want to do the personality swapping bits? Shadow Yu and Extreme Rei.
I certainly doubt it. If anything we're doing them a favor.
[Skipping to the side and stomping on a roomba, she starts to line up a second arrow, but since Izanagi is there...]
Why don't you give them a shock?
LAUGHS god. sure! I'M INTO IT
[ He was planning on it anyway, but her cue makes him smile. Yu gestures with a hand, his fingers fanned out, and Izanagi calls down lightning. The appliance that's struck directly - the gaming console - combusts with an audible pop, cracking in half and spitting sparks. The lightning catches a handful of other appliances, like a couple of kettles and toasters, in its radius and simply shorts them out instead.
A blender that gets too close simply gets swatted away with his bamboo sword like he's golfing. ]
Want to make a contest out of it?
[ The offer is good-natured, made with a small but slightly mischievous smile. ]
no subject
Why not? No sweeping the field in one attack because then there's no point, though.
[The orbs grow and expand, turning from orange to a deep red.]
Let's say six shots total, take out as many as you can.
no subject
That sounds fair.
[ Yu glances up at Izanagi appraisingly. After a moment, he decides to keep the Persona equipped. The multitarget spells he has won't seep the field, but they should do nicely for small batches. ]
Would you like to take first shot? [ Politely. ]
no subject
Stepping back, she bows to him.]
Your turn.
no subject
Thanks. Here I go, [ he declares with a bit of a smile.
He can't exactly get off six shots at once like she did. What he can do is strategize. With a gesture to Izanagi, his Persona starts casting spells. A Garudyne, even when targeted at only one appliance, has the effect of buffeting the others around, too. A Ziodyne directed into the center of the newly herded group has the same effect as before, taking out multiple appliances at once through splash damage, electrical current bursting through wires along with jumping sparks. He repeats this twice more, methodically, rounding up appliances and taking them out.
By the time he's done, they're all blackened and fried. He's taken out his half.
Yu will brace his free hand on his hip and let his bamboo sword rest on his shoulder again, looking a bit satisfied. ]
A tie, then?
no subject
A tie.
[Offering her hand for a shake, she grins.]
Good job. That's one less horde. And you make it look easy. I haven't seen a Persona fight before, outside of Yosuke's in ViViD. They're quite something, and if Shadows are as troublesome as they sound, your team's lucky to have you.
no subject
It's the other way around. I'm the one that's lucky to have them. [ His smile is very warm and sincere. ] Personas use our energy for their abilities, so I couldn't keep that up forever or anything. It does just fine for situations like this, though.
[ Yu reaches out to take, and shake, her hand. It's nice ... to have had this moment, in all the chaos of everything else that's been going on. ]
no subject
I'll take up defense if they come back for now, so you can rest, then.
[She can assure him of that much. Her Sailor Crystal is the heart of an unborn star, so this was next to nothing.]
Is there anything I can do to help you regain energy faster?
no subject
I'm alright, really. As intense as that battle was, I'm sure I could keep going. [ With his usual mild humor. ] Since I don't really have the items here I'd normally use to restore myself, rest is really the best solution. Thank you, though, Mars-san.