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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I'm not sure how else to confess my feelings for you. [Her grip on Rei's hands grows tighter.]
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[This is beyond awkward, but Rei's a little more used to this than most. It wasn't the first time, nor did she think it was going to be the last. Either this was an effect of CERES again, or...well, she knew she was pretty.
So, she pulls Naoto into an awkward hug.]
It's fine. It will be alright.
[It's not like she can't accept affection just to make things easier. And at least Naoto wasn't screeching to proclaim her love. Rei could deal with this.]
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No, not at all. Everything's going to be just fine.
[Pat...pat...? Naoto, relax, it's just fine.]
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Naoto is going to suddenly move, pulling back--] Please forgive me my boldness.
[--and leaning up to press her mouth to Rei's.]
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Naoto-kun...that's...
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Guess you took her first kiss inadvertently, Rei.] I... apologize for that forward behavior. I couldn't help myself.
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[A pause.]
Please tell me that wasn't your first...
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You're not very good at fibbing. I'm sorry though. I don't want you regretting this later.
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I would... hope it's not the last, however?
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I'm...not sure. Are you actually...thought this through? I mean, what about me is drawing you in, exactly? [She really wants Naoto to think clearly, see if this breaks with her behavior pattern.]
I need to know, before I kiss you again.
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[Hang on. She blinks, her eyes refocusing.] --I'm sorry, what were we talking about just now?
[Why are we embracing?]
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Think back to the last five minutes, Naoto-kun.
[Please don't make her spell this out for you.]
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Oh.
Naoto takes a stumbling step backwards, her eyes going wide and her face turning a shining red.] --what on Earth?!
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It's CERES, I'm sure. They did something to you. [She looks at her feet.]
I'm sorry, by the way. That it was me as your first.
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Really, it's not that Rei isn't attractive or perfectly fine to get along with. It's not even that she's also a girl; Naoto's never been one to really cling to gender norms as a matter of principle. It's that she was essentially controlled into doing this. It feels violating.
Naoto shakes her head.] ...as I said, I don't put much value in cultural traditions like that.
I would really have wished to have made that choice under my own volition, however.
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[Rei drops the honorific at this point, just out of sympathy if nothing else. Yes, she was just an acquaintance, but what had happened was pretty horrid. It was absolutely a violation of her free will, and that was perhaps the most sinister thing about Cerealia. That a will could be taken away, just like that.
Squeezing her hands into fists several times, just to keep from grabbing the younger girl and hugging her, Rei swallowed thickly.]
I know it's...pretty awful. That's why I'm apologizing, because value a tradition like that or not, you should at least get to choose to give that to someone.
[slowly, she holds her hand out, not quite touching Naoto's but offering all the same.]
I'm...at least, would...you like to...[She fumbles, concern overriding her ability to speak properly.]
There's a place around the corner we could sit. Please let me do something. This isn't right.
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She's surprised by the way that Rei offers her hand, however, and glances up at the other girl with a confused, somewhat skeptical look.] There's... nothing you need to do. You've done nothing wrong. The problem was entirely with my own advances. [She says with a side.] But... we can go there, if you would like.
[She says, more for her own benefit than Rei's.]
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I think it'd be for the best, yes. It's a sushi restaurant. Nothing complicated, but there's not much technology involved. The owner's from some variation of Earth as well, I think.
[There's that small comfort, at least.]
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Though a reminder of home does sound appealing. I can't lie about that.
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I'll treat you, and yes, it's safe. He uses only traditional tools. So, there's nothing electronic in there except for the lights. Which haven't attacked me yet.
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What can she do? What can she do with her mind and emotions in a jumble? Her greatest asset is her intellect, and on the back of having her mind controlled she can hardly think straight.
She reaches up to take Rei's hand in hers.] ...very well. Let's try to not take too long, though.
I'd be an exceptionally poor detective if I ignored the public need.
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[Rei was adamant about finding a sushi place that only did the traditional stuff after Archer left. This was it.
With Naoto's hand now in hers, she curls her fingers up around it and starts to walk, leading the way down the darkening, gloomy sidewalk.]
And I'd be a poor shrine maiden if I didn't do what I could, as well. But for right now, we have a moment.
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Social norms are, as always, a topic that elude her.] So it seems we do. [Naoto says low, and under her breath.]
...you aren't upset?
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