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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Oh-- no.
[ It takes her a moment to switch gears. Tucking her chin slightly, she remembers early not to use the word 'friends'. ]
I've seen a few people, and I knew most of them. But I-- wasn't doing so badly at the time. [ A little frown; she nudges herself away from that subject, too, though she is less genuinely distracted from it now. ] They were... very helpful. Most of them didn't seem to be having too much trouble. [ At least in the being changed and/or powers going haywire sort of way. Malfunctioning technology was kind of par for the course for everyone. ]
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Has anything like this ever happened before to your knowledge?
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Not to my knowledge.
[ And it takes effort not to imagine how much worse things have yet to get. It doesn't bear thinking about. ]
But I haven't been here nearly as long as a lot of other people. They'd be better to ask.
[ If, you know, any of them were around. As much as she was trying to mentally avoid the subject, it comes up anyway; after a moment's hesitation, she asks, ]
Do... you think it'll get worse?
[ She knows better than to think Naoto's likely to have a proper answer for that - it was more impulse than anything. She is afraid, truly, though she keeps it in check well. It just-- isn't so unusual to find oneself grasping at straws when in such a state. ]
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I intend to hope for the best but prepare for the worst, and keep as many people safe as I can.
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[ But she has to ask - and she exhales before she does it, as if breathing out her other thoughts-- ]
How do you mean to do that?
[ Intentions are all well and good, but it's plans that interest her here. It seems, after all, that the problem is beyond their capacity to fight - but then again, she always did worry over things like that more than perhaps she should. ]
Keep people safe, that is.
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I mean to do what I can. Whether it's dealing with renegade police robots or helping someone falling from a window.
It's an imperfect plan, but I hope it'll suffice.
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That's very brave of you.
[ 'Kind' is what she really means, though 'brave' probably counts for something, too. ]
Considering the risks. I'm sure there are plenty of people who could use help.
[ Herself included, but that's beside the point. She still isn't certain how she could be helped, except-- funny, how she almost feels as though she should give Naoto the opportunity to do so, should one arise. (Maybe it's just her soft spot for those who help others.) Quiet for a moment, she studies the other girl a second or two more - then, all at once but unhurriedly, she begins to get to her feet. ]
If you don't mind - I'd like to ask you for a favor.
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[At Namine's request, she turns to look at her directly again. The girl is unreadable. Given her behavior thus far, Naoto doesn't think she's likely to ask for help for herself, but perhaps for a friend? Naoto nods again, slowly and deliberately.] Of course. "Trying to help people" does include you in that number, after all. [It's a lame attempt at something resembling levity.]
What do you need?
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[ Brushing halfheartedly at her skirt in an attempt to lessen the amount of dirt left behind from the real ground which is not actually the featureless white that it currently appears to be, she offers the faintest of smiles at that suggestion of levity in her attempt at reciprocating it. ] I was afraid of that.
[ Her tone suggests, however, that that was meant humorously and that she has at least partially moved beyond that mindset. More serious is her, ]
It's like you said - it isn't safe to be outside right now. But... I need help finding somewhere that is safe. [ Safer. ] Somewhere quiet. I... haven't been able to tell where I am for a while now. Everything keeps changing too quickly.
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[Still, she's got a good head on her shoulders and is a very visual person. She can do this, she reasons to herself.] Even with the shifting scenery, I was still able to find my way to you, wasn't I? The patterns change but the surfaces they're concealing don't.
There's a park near here that some people have been going to as shelter. [Naoto frowns.] ...but I imagine you'd rather avoid such a large concentration of people.
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[ She's got quite a memory for places, herself; the problem here is that she's not only been unable to see anything as it truly is for quite some time, she's also in a part of the city she has yet to familiarize herself with. Luck really wasn't on her side - but then again, Naoto seems as though she would make a worthy ally in this endeavor, so perhaps Naminé's more fortunate than she thought. ]
That's true. [ Is her quiet, placid response to what she assumes to be a rhetorical question. At the observation, however, she automatically turns to consider the nearest building, brows raising. Funny-- ] I hadn't noticed...! [ But it's true, isn't it? Everything's still more or less the same shape. Small mercies, and all that. (Really, she ought to explore her powers more completely. As much as she hates the idea of using them for ill, it's beginning to seem more and more irresponsible not to truly know what she can do.) ]
[ As she turns back at the next words, her lips are already poised for protest - or at least explanation as to why the park would be a bad choice. Beaten to the punch, she seals her lips again, offering the smallest of nods. ] I would. It's... for the best.
[ Hands folding together, she frowns thoughtfully. ]
It needs to be somewhere other people wouldn't think to go. Somewhere out of the way. [ Of course, the only thing that comes to mind when she thinks of quiet and solitude is-- ] Do you know if the library is safe?
[ Because she's heard some bad stuff about that place acting up in the past, but the past is the past and desperate times call for desperate measures. ]
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I can't say either way; I haven't been there yet myself. The pleasure district has been flooded, though, so it's unlikely to have any people in it. We can label that as Plan B if the library is compromised. [She pauses.] It's navigable if you can't swim, but it might be somewhat tricky. The library does sound like the stronger choice.
[Slowly, she stands, bringing herself to her feet.] Do you need help moving at all? Or will guiding be sufficient?
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[ There's a noticeable pause at the mention of the pleasure district. Her posture doesn't stiffen, exactly, so much as she just sort of... stills. (She wasn't moving much to begin with.) Then her fingers curl in, hesitate, uncurl again. ]
I can't swim. [ She says, with a tone that straddles the line between off-handed and hopeful, as if that might, despite Naoto's claim, excuse Naminé from having to make use of that Plan B. (Suffice it to say that there was probably an Incident at some point that, circumstances aside, she has no desire to repeat.) ]
[ And there's a tiny hint of discomfort at the notion, but it doesn't linger long, and as she watches Naoto rise, she shakes her head. ]
I don't think so. [ She hasn't done much moving recently, but she doubts the capacity of her legs has changed. (They feel a bit unsteady from a combination of stress, adrenaline, and the overuse of her magic, but that's of little relevance. If she must move, she must.) ] Guiding should be... sufficient, yes.
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Interesting. She'll ponder it later.] Then we'll go to the library. Please, follow me.
[A pause.] Though you may have to give me general directions. I'm still getting my bearings.
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You haven't been there at all?
[ Perfectly understandable if that's the case, of course, especially since she didn't exactly frequent the place when she was new, either. (Or now, for that matter.) She'd assumed initially that Naoto meant she hadn't checked to see if it was safe during this particular incident and had perhaps at least been there on some other occasion, but perhaps she oughtn't have. ]
It-- should be somewhere in this district, I think. If I'm remembering right.
[ About either the general area she was in before she lost track or the one it's supposed to be in. ]
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[Naoto steps forward, not sure if the illusions will change or move now that Namine herself is. She keeps one hand inside her coat, ready to draw her weapon if need be.] I'd think there would be signposts or a map or something.
[A pause.] Your illusions; do they work on people as well as places? Could you make me see someone that wasn't there?
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[ Not the specific need to go there in an emergency, that is, or that going to a library would likely ever be of any urgency. (If this qualifies as urgent.) Naminé lingers where she is for a moment, regarding the other girl's step forward as though it looks to her to be a feat difficult to achieve. The reason for this becomes clear; as she takes a few small steps, herself, her illusions begin to crawl farther along the ground ahead. She certainly wasn't kidding when she said it was difficult to see where she was; like this, they're liable to be walking amongst whitewashed, featureless buildings the whole way. Her voice carries with a subtle hint of shame, the extent of her unfortunate condition made that much more obvious. ]
Maybe. But I doubt they'd say what they're supposed to.
[ Blinking, the girl looks up from where she was eyeing the edge of her magic's influence at Naoto's questions. Her consideration is brief. ] ... Yes. There have been a few times today already that I didn't look like myself. I've never tried creating an illusion of an entire person out of nothing, but--.... [ She wouldn't rule it out. She shakes her head slightly, frown pronounced. ] Anything could happen.
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I'll be careful. As long as we're vigilant and take pains to consider things and not overreact, we should be all right. I'll be sure to keep you-- and anyone else-- safe.
I have to say, your power is rather impressive. [She says, continuing to slowly move forward, figuring that slow and careful is the better methodology here than anything else.] I've met one other person before who could do something similar, and it wasn't any less impressive then.
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... Right. [ The way she says it, though, has a note of uncertainty; will they be alright? But she has a responsibility, doesn't she, to see this through. Naoto may be looking out for her, and yet, ] I'll-- try to watch your back.
[ She hopes that at the very least she might be able to recognize an illusion more readily. (There is, however, an unfortunate lack of any hard proof to support that being the case, and of course she worries it might be otherwise. Fooling someone else is one thing, but fooling yourself - she cares for that even less. There are implications that frighten her.) ]
[ Her head lifts slightly at the last portion, brows raising and then lowering, taking the corners of her mouth with them. Perhaps she ought to take it as a compliment - it certainly wasn't an unkind thing to say - and yet there is a subtle darkening to her expression. Her voice is right on the edge of wry when she speaks again. ] You aren't the first person to say something like that. [ It isn't proud. No, if anything, it's the opposite; that same kind of shame creeps into her words even as she adds, not unkindly, ] I suppose I should be flattered. [ There's a beat, and then she adds, perfunctorily but not insincerely, ] Thank you. I'm sure there are people who wouldn't have such nice words for it.
[ Not once does her pace falter, though, as she walks alongside Naoto. Naminé falls silent just for a moment, then adds, a little out of the blue, ] Were they a friend of yours? The other person, I mean.
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Either way, it's clear that she's not entirely fond of these powers. It's a mystery that Naoto feels can wait for another day.] I can't say that they were, though that's mainly more a function of time than anything else. We crossed paths during a case.
I haven't seen her since that matter was resolved; she went off with people who seemed to care about her. She probably appreciated that more than anything I could've done for her.
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[ Truthfully, she finds herself a little surprised by the response. Perhaps that owes to how different her own experiences have been, but whatever the reason, she can't help feeling almost a mild sense of awe. It takes her a blink or two to settle her mind again, and in that time there's a brief flicker in her illusion that she doesn't seem to pay much attention to. Just for a second, the ground is-- sand, maybe? ]
... She probably did. [ Naminé knows she'd certainly appreciate it, anyway. ] But what kind of case was it? Why was she involved? [ Here again she finds herself concerned that it might have been a bad situation for exactly the same reason that she didn't expect there to be people who cared about this other girl. ]
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She's silent for a few paces after Namine's question. How much should she tell her? That it's classified back home is irrelevant, of course, but she suspects that Labrys' story might bring up some feelings in Namine she'd rather avoid, given how the girl seems to feel about her powers.] I suppose there's no harm in telling the story.
She was actually a robot-- that is, a mechanical person. While being transported, she was abducted; her creators asked for help tracking her down. The kidnappers wanted to use her powers for their own ends, and we hoped to rescue her. [While true, Naoto's phrasing is chosen to carefully omit that at first, it had seemed more like retrieving stolen property. They hadn't known the extent of Labrys' humanity until later.
There's a pause before she continues.] From there, I'm afraid it gets rather complicated.
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[ Naminé is content, it seems, to leave the silence be. She doesn't even look over at Naoto for a few of those steps, offering her the chance to consider things without the interruption of her visible attention, and only glances the other girl's way once she's begun to answer. ]
[ 'A robot?' Her mouth begins to make the shape of the words but she never actually adds her voice to them. She's become far more familiar with that type of entity in the city, although she doesn't assume a lack of humanity. What makes her expression grow ever darker, however, is the situation this mechanical person was in. As she feared, then. There's a sinking feeling in her stomach that she doesn't much care for. ]
I understand. [ She says it after a moment. Oh, she knows complicated, alright. Still, she can't let herself get away without asking, ] But you were able to help her, right? Was she hurt? [ She assumes there was helping involved, anyway, given that she's already heard the ending of said story and something has to have bridged the gap. ]
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Ultimately, we were able to save her and help her come to terms with her existence. [She pauses, trying to untrick her mind, trying to ignore the illusions. What if she closes her eyes and walks forward?] Her creators had developed a newer version of her line... something like a sister, in a way. I think they were very happy to have each other.
They were probably lonely, thinking they were on their own like that.
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A sister, huh?
[ Almost under her breath but not quite. Well, that's sort of familiar, too, isn't it? Only she'd never presume to call Kairi a sister so freely, and that relationship... Naminé isn't certain how it might have worked out, had they been able to be in the same place at the same time. The idea makes something in her chest squirm uncomfortably yet wistfully. She would have liked to be friends with her Other, it's true, but the idea seems more like a daydream than an actual possibility. ]
I'd think so. [ To both their supposed happiness and the loneliness in the absence thereof. ] I know I would be.
[ She is, after all. (Was?) Roxas was the only one in her worlds that she felt she had any ability to compare herself to, and even he--... it doesn't bear thinking about now. She's beginning to wilt but she reins that in, skating a hand briefly over her hair. (Keeping one's eyes closed doesn't entirely relieve the effect of the illusion, although it does make it seem very slightly less real, if only for the lack of visuals to back up the other sensations. Trying to picture what the place is supposed to look like is easier that way, as if the illusion tries to force one's memory to accept it as fact while it's being perceived.) ]
It sounds like you really helped her a lot. But-- after all of that, you still weren't friends?
[ Sora seems to collect them like all it takes is a sideways glance. It's hard not to picture something of that nature with any adventures she hears about. ]
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I'm so sorry for how late this is! Please feel free to ignore. I thought I'd tagged this ;w;
SHHHH shhhh, I shall never ignore. o((9))
uwu
C:
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