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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The way she's crying makes him think back to the fight he had with Yu and the odd feeling they had about each other when they first met. He doesn't think it's their destiny to be together any more while Yu seems to think his circumstances never mattered, but even now it's hard to say- was his return here destiny too, in the end?]
It depends on what destiny means to you, Athena. No one can tell you what to fight for or whether you were meant to have a chance, but...destiny is both something you can't change and something you can change if you try hard enough. [I...was destined to die no matter what happened, but I changed it for everyone else, didn't I?]
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It's so complicated. [ she laughs again then, but it's hurting her all the more inside. ] Why would you force things to change, though? It's-- that's not destiny. [ not to her, anyway. ] That's not natural.
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Ever heard that it's not the destination but the journey that counts? Destiny's kind of like that, everyone's going to make friends, fight, face problems and die someday. You can't change that, but you can change how you deal with it and find a different road, even if you reach the same place in the end.
[A robot cop zooms by in the distance chasing some undoubtedly unlucky bastard in the distance, and Minato stares for a moment before concluding his thoughts.] ...There's a robot cop over there. We could avoid it or fight it, and that wouldn't be forcing things either way.
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Right. [ she lets out a loud sigh. ] The journey, huh...?
I guess I never looked at things that way before.
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That being said what Athena says has him staring at her with his head slightly tilted. If you have your destiny... she hasn't been sent back as far as he knows and it's really weird that she looks like she hasn't been well for days. What if...] But if you haven't thought about it at all it sounds like it's not just about you...is it?
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You don't just tell someone you love them for no reason. You think they're the one... Your soulmate. As if you were made for each other. [ it's what she meant by her destiny just then too. so that answers that. ] Merlin went home, but he'll be back. I'm not worried that I won't see him again.
[ when she says it, there isn't a hint of sadness. she really means what she says. and there's a pause before she continues with: ]
I-- I want to hold on to the idea that I'm here for him. That he's here for me. But we all have to go back home eventually, don't we? [ of course she has no idea what it'd be like for minato once all of this is over. she doesn't mean to hit a sore spot. ] I don't want to go home.
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Merlin, huh? He's a good person. [There's little inflection in Minato's tone but he does mean his words sincerely, having been helped out by Merlin before.] But I wonder...if we're supposed to be back-ups, does that mean CERES could keep us here if they had a reason to do so after this is over? [It's a possibility but he's really not optimistic about it for many reasons, particularly because it didn't seem as if CERES cared at all.]
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He is. [ there's no denying that he's a good person. he's her favourite person, in fact. but despite talking about someone they like, it doesn't seem like minato's all that happy. sadness is an emotion she often hears when with people, but it's never been a pleasant sound, even if she's gotten used to hearing it. an overwhelming amount of sadness leads to resonance, which means athena ends up feeling the sadness in her own heart, too.
it's why her smile goes crooked, expression uneasy. but, ah... she should probably say something about his ceres comment. ]
I guess it's selfish of me to say, but I hope so. If they can't right now, maybe there'll be a way in the future. Everything is so advanced here, I'm sure-- [ her voice cracks then, and she loses her confidence. ] there's a way.
[ a beat. ]
It looks like I'm not the only one who isn't as bright as usual, though. Did I say something wrong?
1/2
Huh? No, it's not anything you said...
2/2
It's just that you were talking about soulmates and I couldn't help but think about it. [There's another long pause like Minato wants to back out, even though he knows he might as well come clean about it.] I broke up with Yu-san a few days ago...if it can even be called a relationship. [The sadness from before lingers but it feels even heavier now, tinged with guilt and regret. Even now Minato sounds bitter and hollow, mentally berating himself for reacting so badly.]
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Why...? [ it's all she can ask right now, though. she doesn't know the circumstances, but yu told her that he loved minato. why would they break up? is it because minato doesn't feel the same way? she doubts yu's feelings changed while minato was in the nexus. they should be happy now that they're back together, shouldn't they?
she may think that, but when merlin arrives, she sure as hell isn't happy about him coming back... ah. . . ]
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How does he even begin to explain what was going on inside his head at that time? He's never been much for introspection, but he's been doing that a lot since coming back with the realization that he'd be forgotten by his friends here once this is all over at best...and forgotten completely at worst, since there won't be anyone left at his world to remember him.
Did it even matter in the end? He lets out a long-drawn breath, eyes momentarily looking to the side as something zooms by. Whatever they had it over, and it's all his fault.]
I don't want to talk about it. [Then, as an afterthought.] Sorry. [He falls silent after that, feeling horribly awkward after mentioning something that personal.]
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[ she just ducks her head then as her hands join together to fidget awkwardly. of course... it isn't her business anyway. besides, minato's one to hardly talk about himself. she should have expected him to not tell her anything. ]
Don't worry about it. Sorry for asking. [ now she just feels like she's pushed him too much. she doesn't know. should she just let him be now and say goodbye? maybe they'll see each other when things are better.
... nah, that's a bad idea. he's so sad right now; there must be something she could do to help him. ]
If you won't tell me why, would you at least tell me if you love him or not?
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I do love Yu-san...there's just a lot he didn't know about that I didn't want to burden him with, but I guess it doesn't matter now. [There's a leap in Minato's heart when he mentions loving Yu, only for it to drop again when he continues on.] Did he ever talk to you about us, Athena?
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He told me he loves you. [ there's a pause then, and she looks at him to see how he might react. how his heart might sound. ] So... Don't think that it doesn't matter anymore.
[ but she hasn't spoken to yu yet about this... she doesn't know how he feels now. she does want the two of them to be together. yu always sounded so happy when he spoke about minato. ]
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I knew he loved me just a while after we danced at the ballroom. He said he felt strongly about me then, but he understood if I didn't feel the same way... [His heart's sound is faint, but there's no mistaking the sentiment it's expressing from Minato's lop-sided smile.] I should have turned Yu-san down then, so that this wouldn't have happened.
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How can you say something like that? He loves you, and you love him! [ there shouldn't be a reason for the two of them to break up if they care so much about the other. she's not a believer of those stories where a person breaks their significant other's heart by saying they can't be together even though they both feel strongly for each other. people who do that are selfish. nobody should have to be separated from someone they love.
it's just not right.
that's why even when merlin confessed to her about everything he's done in the past, and what he'll be doing in the future, she didn't leave him. it's because she loves him. it's why even though merlin has killed people and have possibly committed more crimes than one can imagine in the modern world, athena will fight for him and defend him more than anything else. there isn't even any uncertainty there.
but yes, athena does feel insulted. the looks she gives minato clearly indicates it too. ]
Why would you hurt him like that-- no, why would you hurt yourself like that?
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Because I was lying to myself all along and it ended up hurting him too. It doesn't matter that I hadn't intended to do that...I still led him on and lied to him, and he deserves someone better. [There's a faraway look in Minato's eyes that suggest he isn't talking about any superficial quality, before he shakes his head slowly.] Sorry...I shouldn't even been talking about this. [Because she's waiting for Merlin too, and he's just bringing down the mood.]
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[ athena might come off as a bit too forceful now, but she just feels very strongly about this. not just because both parties involved are her friends and she wants to see them happy, but it's matters of the heart like this that make her completely blind to reality. ]
People experience hurdles all the time. People in-love have to do it too. And it's these things that make their bond stronger... it isn't supposed to sever things.
[ she doesn't know what it is that minato hid, but perhaps it's a big enough secret for yu to get mad at him. it's only natural to be hurt, but sometimes, people do and say things they don't really mean. they can't think straight when that happens. maybe...
maybe. . .
she takes a few steps back, as if she's ready to run. ]
I'm going to talk to Yu, okay?
1/2
Athena talking to Yu...Athena talking to Yu about his feelings...]
2/2
Don't! This is between us and I don't know what to say to him! [Even if Athena can't hear Minato's heart practically leaping around it's pretty clear from his raised voice that he's panicking over his feelings, of all things. Oh brother.]
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You may not, but your heart does, and I can hear what it's saying. [ which may sound weird if minato doesn't know that athena can literally hear people's hearts. she's never used the ability to meddle or get in between two people's problems, but damn, she'll do it if it means she can help. ]
You can lie all you want, but your heart will always reveal the truth.
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Really, what gets him is that she can apparently make out more of what he's feeling than he knows...not that he's ever claimed to be particularly in-tune with himself.]
Sorry about making you almost jump, Athena. What's my heart telling you, though?
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[ she just closes her eyes then, trying to listen harder to his emotions rather than what he says. ]
I think— If you weren't a good person, there wouldn't be any of that at all.
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Does it really matter, though? Yu-san said he'd need some time, but I don't want to waste any more of his time. [It's not that Minato's stopped loving him. It's more that he feels he'd never be able to return Yu's feelings the way he wants.]
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