COUNTDOWN: FUTURE & PAST

[cordibus]

It's been a week since the first network post. Upon waking up early Saturday morning, you notice that the app is not responding. Is it finally over, as strangely as it began?

Which makes explaining what happened impossible. Others have already tried to figure out more about it, but nothing has been working. Bringing it to a repair shop to get it looked at? No programs found. Even getting the phone completely wiped did nothing, as the icon just showed up a few minutes after they walked out of the store. Showed it to a family member? The minute you blinked or turned it around to show them, it simply wasn't there.

It's taunting you. Whoever programmed this is really good. Frighteningly so.

Saturday night rolls and still nothing from the application. The news this Saturday is nothing special. There's been another fire at night that was put out by the firemen and an instance of someone being outside. According to both departments, neither of the incidents are connected. It's just a case of someone who wasn't back home in time and unfortunate damage to a building that occurred with some of the habitats still sleeping inside. It is a tragedy, but no city can survive without any loss of life. It's simply mathematically impossible. It's notable enough that it gets second page billing and a blurb in the morning news, but nothing too huge.

At least you had assumed.

The warning bells of the Nightly Curfew ring across the city as a few people finish locking their doors for the night. As the last bits of light fade from the city, the night lights take over. Civilians are settling in for a late supper and preparations for school or work tomorrow.

Not you, however. There's been a damn headache building for the past hour and by now your ears are ringing. Food doesn't look appetizing and you feel an urge to go to bed early. Maybe you caught the flu or maybe it's just pre-Monday blues a day early, which makes it all the more frustrating. The flower festival is tomorrow!

Either way, a little shut-eye would be welcome at this point. You don't even think too hard about it, and the headache fades into blissful sleep.

...I am thou...thou art I...your chains will soon break away....
2AM and you snap awake. The strange foreboding voice of...something echos in your head. It's the only thing you can hear, with your headache gone, and the quietness of the city is fast asleep. You're not sure why, but the voice makes you get up and grab your phone.

It's humming softly. The icon is glowing again. Before you do, you take a look around and suddenly notice...nothing's moving. Nothing but you. Almost as if time was frozen.

Is that even possible?

You can't back down now. Pressing the button reveals another terms of agreement, but it looks quite different. It's almost...gentle?


It may take a while or near instantly, but you eventually take your finger and trace your name over the signature area to continue. You've gotten this far in any case and this one isn't trying to kill you...at least you think. Yet as your hand moves to write your name, it gets replaced into other letters. Another name that tells you nothing. Somehow you feel like you should, but it's...it's...

It stays there for a few more seconds, leaving you with your thoughts before the contract disappears.

You're back into that chatroom again. Questions pop up in rapid succession before you're even permitted to type anything else. Once more, it seems that you find yourself typing things that aren't matching up with what you really want to say.

At least...you think...

What is your name?
Write it here.

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
Yes | No

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
Yes | No

Have you ever killed someone/something?
Yes | No | Yes, but (insert your reason here)

Did you enjoy it?
Yes | No | It's complicated (but yes) | It's complicated (but no) | It's just complicated

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!
Write it down here.

With questions like that and nothing around you moving, you feel like it's going to be a very, very, very long night.

[OOC: Starting from now on, the network posts will allow users to post their names, but they will show up as their CANON ones. The user's persona can be added at the end, or not show up at all. Additionally, the occupations will still be censored.

MEMORY REGAIN: Right before their answers are posted, they will also get a longer flash of someone calling them by this name. The memory HAS to be someone calling them by their name. It could be both a good or a bad memory, that is up to you.]

Comments

Pharos ☸ Ronove

[seasonsofdeath]

Akira's been feeling awful all day, and while he is more subdued than most children his age that doesn't mean he behaves when he feels miserable. He's sent to bed early and curls up aground a stuffed dog, falling fast asleep and not even thinking about the app.

That is, unlike 2am rolls around, and he wakes, grabbing it without thinking. He's a little confused by his own behavior, but he stares at the contract presented on his phone. He'd been talking with some people about it, but--

"I take this fate of my own free will..." he says quietly. Why does that seem so very familiar?

He reaches up to sign his name, but the name... that's not his. It's not.... it's...

"Oh, that's right. I need a name. My name is...."

What is your name?
Pharos.

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
Yes

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
No

Have you ever killed someone/something?
No

Did you enjoy it?
N/A

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!
I don't remember a lot of things.
But the End is coming.


Pharos ☸ Ronove: Is any time passing?
Pharos ☸ Ronove: ....does this feel familiar to anyone else?
Pharos ☸ Ronove: and these questions are still weird and I didn't type those things.

Jaune Arc ⚔ Eligor

[sociallyarcward]

Doesn't seem familiar...just really, really bizarre and freaky.

Jaune Arc ⚔ Eligor

[sociallyarcward]

It's weird...because it sounds like his name, but he can't have accidentally misspelled it. Not that signing your name on a screen is exactly the easiest thing to do. His confusing is further confirmed by the appearance of more questions, which really only make him more concerned. As they load themselves to the network, John is hit by another memory.

It's another girl and they walk side by side on the grounds of a school that isn't Green Valley. The girl has short hair and wears a red cloak.
He is wearing armor like it's the most natural thing in the world and as the memory unfolds he can tell it's the middle of a conversation. She apologizes for calling him 'Vomit Boy' and he shoots back by asking how she'd like if he called her 'Crater Face.' She explains that the explosion was an accident.

"Well the name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue...ladies love it."

The girl gives him a skeptical look, "Do they?" John--no--Jaune gets defensive and replies: "They will...well...I hope they will."

John shakes his head, the memory popping like a bubble. It was longer this time, more vivid. But what was he wearing? Who was this OTHER girl? What explosion had happened? Who was Jaune Arc and why was someone calling him Vomit Boy? John looked back down at his phone.

---

What is your name?
Jaune Arc

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
No

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
No

Have you ever killed someone/something?
Yes, but they are creatures without a soul. Does that really count?

Did you enjoy it?
Yes

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!
I faked my transcripts to get into Beacon.
I still partly blame myself for what happened to her.

Jaune Arc ⚔ Eligor: 1001: Well I guess we don't have to use numbers anymore...
Jaune Arc ⚔ Eligor: 1001: Why do I just have more questions now?
Jaune Arc ⚔ Eligor: 1001: Seriously...what is going on!!!

Mako ☸ Vassago

[torching]

Mako ☸ Vassago: ...jaune? is that you?

Featherine Augustus Aurora ⚔ Dantalion

[anovelidea]

[ After Erica, she ignored it. A hallucination borne of stress, perhaps, but it's written off. Soon, even the app itself disappears from her phone and desktop. No one mentions a phone application giving headaches, the news continues to drone on reports of deaths, her daughter continues to ignore her, the school continues to send emails demanding she follows the curriculum, finishing the learning plans shoves a wrench into her writing,

Nothing changes.

And it comes back at a vengeance at two in the morning - she has to get ready for work on Monday, she'll oversleep at this rate, and it's just another extravagant contract. A small part thinks to write it, but the large part Remembers, and resists throwing the phone. It's only resisted because her hand raises of its own accord. Again, not again, too late, the name is blurred in her eyes but it's longer than it's supposed to be, not again, and the hand rips away-



The girl in Black is here again, our precious child of of claws and blue, and in front of you is Pink. Curtsying in perfect manners, but the horror is written across her face, a palpable scent in the air. Good.

"I... I offer my greetings... Great Lady Aurora..."

A conversation, aha, most of it is missed, the wine from the party settles in her head, stuffs up the sensation of worlds birthing and dying - and it wasn't much to interest her anyway. Until Pink attacks Black - our piece, our pet, our beloved cat, Bernkastel - an attack on Black is an attack on Us. How rude. It must be reciprocated. Pink comes at you in a fury, desperate screams, a galaxy poised on her hands to take out everything around her.

Her hand raises, a single finger should be enough for the task-

"This bewildering cutie, Lambdadelta, will defeat the evil mastermind Auaurora in one hit!!"

And reality gives way underneath her fingertips, kneeling before its God -



The visions cease and the headache stops in time to the sound of a phone shattering against a wall. Nausea crawls up her throat - too harsh, forced in, not like the wine, which takes out the edge from the world - too similar to the vision- But it fades. Don't focus on it. Treat it like the last one. A mystery to be solved. There is a reason for it. There has to be.

Ah, she regrets breaking the phone. Now she has to get dressed and go to her office. What a pain... ]


What is your name?
Featherine Augustus Aurora

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
No

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
No

Have you ever killed someone/something?
Yes

Did you enjoy it?
Yes

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!
Haha, you think I have any secrets I consider worth hiding? How about a shocking one instead... I turned a ten year old child into a thousand year old monster, stripping her of all possibility of love and kindness, killing her hundreds of thousands of times.

And it happened because I was bored. I consider it a success. She truly is a most interesting Piece.

[ The account that posted the answers signs off immediately after with a system comment of "connection disrupted". ]

Mako ☸ Vassago

[torching]

okay...that might be slightly messed up, but you're the one who was going to pay me back, right?

Mako ☸ Vassago

[torching]

[ mako's been feeling awful. a sense of dread, mixed in with a bad headache--he's due for some shut eye, and he falls asleep immediately after he gets home from work that evening beside his younger brother.

but his evening is anything but uneventful. when he wakes...there's a flash. a boy, hair combed back, walking to him with a girl in blue. this is my brother, mako.

what...?

the only brother he has is yoshio--how could...this doesn't make any sense at all. but before mako can try to figure out any answers, he's looking down at his phone again. ]


What is your name?
mako.

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
No

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
No

Have you ever killed someone/something?
Yes

Did you enjoy it?
It's complicated (but no)

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!
i worked for a criminal organization when i was younger.
but it wasn't because i was a criminal. my brother and i did what we had to in order to survive.

--

Mako ☸ Vassago: well. that happened.
Mako ☸ Vassago: can everyone see each other's names now?

Jaune Arc ⚔ Eligor

[sociallyarcward]

Dude! How did you manage to have the same name?!

Kiriya Kujo ⚔ Baalberith

[truthkills]

What is your name?
Kiriya Kujo

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
No

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
Yes

Have you ever killed someone/something?
Yes, but the important one was an accident

Did you enjoy it?
It's just complicated

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!
My best friend's death was my fault.

[And then there's a flash of memory, of waltzing into a gathering of fairly unusual doctors, pulling a brightly colored pink-and-green monstrosity of a belt from its hidden place within his jacket, belting it around his waist, preparing for a fight, one that was necessary somehow, someone--a patient--yelling "Hey, Kiriya!" and telling him to cut the chit-chat so he could be cured, the patient collapsing...]

ok so that was new
not sure whether to give up drinking or to drink more

Chikusa Kakimoto ☸ Astaroth

[kokuyoyo]

Drink more.

Nakigitsune ⚔ Camio

[foxhands]

[Two in the morning, a time that's either much too early in the morning or much too late at night. He's not sure why he's awake, or why he's staring at his phone at this hour, but regardless - the bright blue glow of the contract on his screen has his attention as soon as it appears.

His name...his name is--definitely not what he's writing, right? It's not, and yet...

There's a vision of himself working quietly in a kitchen, a tiny fox seated on the counter next to him. "My, my, for you to be making these yourself, Nakigitsune, you must really like him!" Natsu--Nakigitsune makes a strange hand symbol in reply. "We're both foxes, after all."]

What is your name?
nakigitsune

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
No

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
No

Have you ever killed someone/something?
Yes

Did you enjoy it?
Yes

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!
i sometimes tasted the vegetables in the garden without permission.

Nakigitsune ⚔ Camio:
Nakigitsune ⚔ Camio: i don't understand

Kiriya Kujo ⚔ Baalberith

[truthkills]

tasting vegetables without permission

you monster

Okuyasu Nijimura ⚔ Marchosias

[catchthishand]

[ Rommy didn't sleep a lot last night- his own fault, really, shouldn't have induced a network wide midnight ice cream raid- but he's paying for it with this horrible headache.

He's asleep by the time his head hits his pillow, barely even noticing his brother's actions, across the room. ]

What is your name?
Okuyasu Nijimura

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
no

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
no

Have you ever killed someone/something?
no

Did you enjoy it?
no

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!
i know my brother changed because of me
i never wanted to kill dad

[ "Hey, no need to cry over water, Okuyasu."

"Maybe it's because it tastes so pure. Hey, got a handkerchief on you? I can't stop crying!"

"Yeah."

"Whoa- it's like a fucking flood! It won't stop!"

"O-Okuyasu! Something's weird, you alright?"

A restaurant, his best friend, and some water that'd been so good he'd started crying- and then couldn't stop. ]

Okuyasu Nijimura ⚔ Marchosias: 29: what the hell is this

Alucard ⚔ Marchosias

[draculabackwards]

I cannot even begin to fathom this either. But I recall talking to you before. At least we can differentiate ourselves now.

Koujirou Genda ⚔ Marchosias

[beastfang]

Christopher had mostly forgotten that the app existed outside of checking it every now and again between projects and slow hours at the library. So it was more of a resignation when he finally realized the headache that had made him go to bed early, despite an eight page essay and a power point presentation he needed to finish for class next week, was once again a warning sign of this app acting up. Then there was a flash again...only it wasn't so brief and he

"You wanted power just like us!"

That was his voice, but he's never sounded that angry...or that oddly blank before. Nor has he ever yelled at someone about power before.

"So for power, you'll follow Kageyama's orders? You remember what Kageyama has done!"

And there's a flash of someone that seems familiar, despite the fact Christopher has never met someone with dreadlocks that wears a cape and goggles before, marching up to an odd version of himself.

"Genda, come with us!"


What is your name?
Koujirou Genda

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
Yes

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
No

Have you ever killed someone/something?
No

Did you enjoy it?
N/A

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!
I allowed my own inadequacies and jealousy to sway me into following someone I should not have, and thus harming a friend that did not deserve such ire.





Koujirou Genda ⚔ Marchosias:292: While the need to not need the numbering system is now a relief.

Koujirou Genda ⚔ Marchosias: Is whatever this supposed survey and these answers created worth such?

Koujirou Genda ⚔ Marchosias: Or what this new contract is supposedly hinting at regarding our selection for this app?

Alucard ⚔ Marchosias

[draculabackwards]

Or is this another phase of an experiment that we've been recruited to? I am uncertain what to believe at this point.

Makoto Fukami ⚔ Marchosias

[transient_specter]

[He's running, stumbling over the temple steps - they look familiar, but they're different. There are people gathered on the lawn, and one of them has a girl in his arms. He doesn't recognize her - or maybe he does? It doesn't matter, because he's frozen.

"Makoto-niichan?" The boy speaks, but it still doesn't matter. He's off again, taking her into his arms. She looks like she's sleeping, and slowly she opens her eyes. "Big brother?"

His heart hurts. He's been searching for this for so long, trying to do this, but even though it's right before his eyes he can hardly believe it. His eyes fill with tears. "K░░░░ -"]

What is your name?
Makoto Fukami

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
No

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
No

Have you ever killed someone/something?
Yes

Did you enjoy it?
No

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!
I tried to kill one of my best friends after seeing him again for the first time in ten years.
My other best friend once mind controlled me so I would keep being his friend.

Makoto Fukami ⚔ Marchosias: 92: What
Makoto Fukami ⚔ Marchosias: 92: the fuck

Natsumi Hikari ⚔ Saleos

[summerorange]

So you got the same kind of weird answers as well

Except the first and last ones.

Jun Kurosu ⚔ Shax (also action for Romulus/Okuyasu)

[onlythankyou]

[The longer this goes on, the more confused Lonán gets. Nothing about this strange app behaves normally. He isn't a programmer, of course, but it seems too detailed, too intelligent, to be something a human could code. It knows when their information is personal enough to identify them, and it knows when to hide itself. It makes no sense. It's exciting, having something to drive himself crazy over.

And then, inexplicably, there's quiet. A day of nothing - it's fourteen days, now, until what, exactly? They get no clues, nothing - and he feels ill. A building headache. Lonán skips helping out with the gardening club, skips dinner, skips an outing with some of his teammates. Some cold medicine and a lot of rest and he should be fine, right?

It's two in the morning and the app is doing something again. He reads with some interest, ready to add more pieces to the puzzle in his head. ...Still no answers, only more questions. He doesn't hesitate to sign the contract; it's just something to do before getting to the meat of the new happening. The letters change - who is that? What could that mean? He continues.

And his mind retreats into another memory that isn't his. A man in sunglasses with a small mustache laughs, claiming this place would soon crumble, and that they'd all be caught in the destruction of the world. He flies away by jetpack, his robots not far behind him. He sees himself direct three people to take the skulls and follow the man, and they respond--

Glory to the Mask.

He stumbles to the ground, murmuring something about his sister's death. The same three people he'd sent away, accompanied by a young woman, shout at him-- Jun-kun! Open your damn eyes!

Who...who is he? Who?

A voice echoes from somewhere in the temple: You are Joker... Kill... Kill... Kill...

Yes...that's right. He is Joker.]

What is your name?
Jun Kurosu

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
No

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
Yes

Have you ever killed someone/something?
Yes

Did you enjoy it?
It's complicated (but yes)

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like bonding we promise!
I still hate. Part of me wanted it all to burn. It was never purely about creating an ideal world - some of it was just empty vengeance. Vengeance that hasn't gone away. I still dream of my hands around his throat, and it isn't always a nightmare.

...What...?

[Lonán stares at his answers. None of those sound anything like him. Good God, especially not killing someone. What the hell is going on?]

Something is wrong. This isn't me.

[This isn't fun anymore. Confusion and dread blend somewhere deep in his gut. He recognized one of the people in that flashback. And...all of this about killing people, about enjoying it. Jun Kurosu. What...who...is he? Who is Joker?

He doesn't want to be alone with his thoughts and phone anymore. Thankfully...he isn't. He's not so thankful for the fact that it's his brother.]

...Rommy?

[action]

[catchthishand]

[ Rommy hadn't talked to anyone yet, just scrolling through what answers he'd given, comparing them to others, frown deep in confusion.

He'd only ever had one brother- the one typing on the other bed. There was a part of him that twisted guiltily in the memory of the last time he'd felt a flash like this, of seeing the man who was and wasn't his brother dying to save him.

When Lonán finishes typing, speaking up for the first time, it's almost a relief, a chance to stop thinking about that other brother. ]

Yeah?

[ He answers before scrolling to see what his twin had posted, glancing across the room to where Lonán was lit only by the light of their phones. ]

Ankh ☸ Andrealphus

[connivingbird]

[ Ariel usually didn't sleep much. He was constantly busy, his schedules plus his school work eating up most of his time so that one or two hours was the most he got of solid sleep. He would doze the rest of the time - in his makeup chair, or while waiting behind stage, or even in school itself. But with the headache making even training impossible, he welcomed the inactivity and was happy that he was able to sleep. But then came the memory...

It was a battle above a city. He rose on wings half flames, half real, another figure following him wearing the crimson colors of his Medals. There was a mass ahead of them, black and purple laced through with the power of null, of the void but they were going to stop it. They were -

He darted in front of OOO, deflecting the blow and heard the gasped 'Ankh..!' and turned to grin. He couldn't see the man under the armor but he could feel his heart, his emotions, taste the newborn desire, and then ducked back, letting OOO fly straight to the heart of destruction. ]


What is your name?
Ankh

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
No

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
That is a human thing, now isn't it?

Have you ever killed someone/something?
I hope whoever is in charge does not start whining over morals because yes.

Did you enjoy it?
This is ridiculous; yes. Idiots.

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!
The ice cream was an excuse.

Ankh ☸ Andrealphus: Oh goodie.
Ankh ☸ Andrealphus: Just when I'd thought that it would be over
Ankh ☸ Andrealphus: Can I just go back to my life as an [INFORMATION BLOCKED]?
Ankh ☸ Andrealphus: Screw this.
Ankh ☸ Andrealphus: So, anyone seen any good movies lately? Might as well get something positive going on here.

Chikusa Kakimoto ☸ Astaroth

[kokuyoyo]

[It takes, like... an hour since Ariel posted his question, and is only just now getting an answer.]

Have you seen the latest Xane Daimon movie?

Natsumi Hikari ⚔ Saleos

[summerorange]

[Well, Niko's been feeling a mix of relief and puzzlement once the app fades away. How strange...and just when she was starting to get used to it... But she still shrugs and moves on in her life, making sure that she still gets the jobs she needs to meet her self-appointed weekly quota of photos commissioned.

That is...until the night before the flower festival. She's already feeling down because the weather's calling for rain on the actual festival day itself. The splitting headache certainly doesn't help. Thankfully, a simple confession to her mother results in her being gently shooshed up the stairs and towards her bedroom, with the promise that Mother will check on her once dessert is ready.

Only...she never woke up, once her head hit the pillow. Not for several hours...

There's the faint sound of tiny bat wings fluttering, and a mischievous, high-pitched, female voice giggling. "I am thou~! Thou art I~ Your chains...they will soon break..."

Niko bolts awake, and looks at the time on her digital clock - 2AM, on the dot. She sighs and rubs her eyes...and then does a double-take at everything around her. Dead silence. No faint sound of sirens in the distance. No crickets chirping. Just...nothing.

Except the phone. The app seems to have returned...and is also much more gentler in its design and...new 'Contract'? Huh...what an odd form of Terms and Conditions. Still, part of her is curious enough to go ahead and agree to it - just so she can get back in touch with everyone else...]

What is your name?
Natsumi Hikari

Do your think the future is unavoidable?
No - it's never set in stone, and can always be changed for the better.

Do you consider yourself to be a bad person?
No.

Have you ever killed someone/something?
Yes, but it was the save all the worlds from Destruction.

Did you enjoy it?
No.

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!
My grandfather's alternate self is an evil leader of an evil inter-dimensional organization.
I had to kill that Special Someone in order to save the worlds from destruction.

[The memory is much clearer this time - and not as sad. Just a brief moment of embarrassment as she bows to the grumbling trio of customers. "Ummm...I'm sorry to interrupt!" She then stands up straight and glares at the last person in question - the young man wearing a pink, double-lens camera around his neck. "Tsukasa-kun...Hikari Secret Technique..."

Her raised hand curls into a fist, and then her thumb juts out as she finishes, "Laughing Pressure point!" She marches forward to the guy, who is now very wary - almost fearful - of her approach...until she puts her hand in front of his face in order to move out of his view. Once his guard is down, Niko--Natsumi jams her thumb into a certain spot on his neck.

The effect was instantaneous. He starts laughing uncontrollably, even as he brings a photo-carrying hand up to cover the pressure point. "N-Natsumi, You...you got me!" He laughs some more as he lunges at her...

And she merely side-steps him, feeling somewhat satisfied at his punishment being in full effect.]


Natsumi - Saleos: So
Natsumi - Saleos: Does anyone else know what this Velvet Room is?

Kiriya Kujo ⚔ Baalberith

[truthkills]

sounds like a strip club

Jirou Sakuma ⚔ Dantalion

[forsteri]

[A week went by without much fanfare. He'd poked around on that app a little through the week, but mostly just gone about life like normal. And then it became today, which progressed into this evening. Yoshio had woken to the app's summons, just as it seemed... everyone in the apartment had. He'd slipped off to hide in the bathroom rather than talking to either of them in person, and sitting against the locked door, pushes the longer side of his hair over his ear to expose his other eye. He leaves the light off, to keep from needing to re-cover it. As it is, he keeps the screen back-light very dim.

Questions. More of them this time.

What is your name?

Yoshio sits there for awhile, growing uncomfortable in his spot on the cold tile, and just looks at the questions. He could set his phone down -- but as he moves his hand sideways to do just that, it's like something stops him. He has to do this, doesn't he? And without even considering further, he's filling the questions in, almost instinctively.

As he finishes writing, Yoshio Koutarou experiences the strangest feeling -- suddenly he's remembering somewhere he's never been, standing with people he doesn't know. Or, doesn't think he knows...

"Endou. Sakuma was called over too."

And then his own voice: "As far as I can see, we've got quite a strong crowd here." But this is all spoken in Japanese, not the 'common' tongue they speak in Eddan. And it's been certainly much longer than a few months ago that he was around that many other Japanese speakers.

As he's mulling it over, the questions submit themselves to the network.]

What is your name?
Jirou Sakuma

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
No

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
No

Have you ever killed someone/something?
No

Did you enjoy it?
n/a

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!
- I'm a little embarrassed about how long it took me to pick between 'yes' and 'no' on the 'good person' question. Because in the end, I don't know what the answer is.
- I don't know how much of the real me wanted that power. I want to pretend it was all the meteorite. But I *wanted* that. Didn't I?

Koujirou Genda ⚔ Marchosias

[beastfang]

[The mention of a meteorite pinged him for some reason and he has no idea why outside of a brief flash of memory from the first time this app appeared that he was still uncertain about what was actually in that hallucination.]


The simplistic answer choices don't exactly make some of these questions easy to answer when there's more then yes or no to them.

Though that makes me think some of these will come back to haunt us by the whims of this app's operator.

Alucard ⚔ Marchosias

[draculabackwards]

[Adrian had plans. So much to do today, but toward the evening, he felt so poorly that decided he needed sleep. The sleep is ended in the middle of the night with another compulsion to look at the phone with its new list of questions. He vaguely types the answers in, as though compelled to do so.]

What is your name?
Alucard

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
No

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
Yes

Have you ever killed someone/something?
Yes

Did you enjoy it?
It's just complicated

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!
I don't know how I exist
It would be best if I were to disappear forever.

["Alucard, I know this will be hard for you, but are you ready?" There are three other people looking at him, but the person who asked this question is their leader. His friend. His name is...

What? What just happened? Time has stopped but Adrian's thoughts race to compensate.]

Please tell me I am not the only person unnerved by what has just happened.

Kaltz ⚔ Saleos

[dendranthema]

You definitely are not the only one. As it stands, my clock hasn't advanced in who knows how long, and my answers weren't much better than yours. Presumably yours are as inaccurate to your life as mine are.

Chikusa Kakimoto ☸ Astaroth

[kokuyoyo]

[The first thing that he sees is the text from his brother.... But Ciro doesn't need it. Not with the contract immediately blinking into existence, as if it had only let him see his brother's message as a courtesy. Perhaps it doesn't matter in the end. All Ciro can do is stare at that calm piercing blue- ]

["Ken Joshima."

That same blue, the blue of his left eye, is focused lazily on him, and there's that relaxed confident smirk on his face as he says the name. "I think that'll do for his new alias this time around," he continues. "What do you think?"

All he can do in turn is sigh. "...Is that meant to be a joke, then...?"

"Oh? Don't you think it's fitting?"

"Fitting or not... Whatever you name us, it is who we are."

Nothing but satisfaction at that answer, and that mismatched other eye opens to focus on him as well. He doesn't say good, but it's in the air... Or so he likes to think. "In that case... You are Chikusa Kakimoto."]

[The answers on the screen are filled out before he's even realized his hands have been moving.]


What is your name?
Chikusa Kakimoto

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
No

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
Yes

Have you ever killed someone/something?
Yes

Did you enjoy it?
It's complicated (but no)

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!
I'm wanted by both the Italian Mafia and law enforcement.
I sacrificed the rest to keep on living.

[And that's it. No response, no alarmed reaction, no questions. On the other end of the line, all he can do is stare dully at the screen.]

[He doesn't feel like himself at all.]

Alucard ⚔ Marchosias

[draculabackwards]

[Adrian feels unnerved by his own questions and answers, but he's beginning to see that other people are also in various degrees of distressed. For whatever reason, the fact this Astaroth, one he feels he's chatted with before, says nothing at all. He is not the most compassionate of people, but something prompts him to respond.]

Are you all right?

Lenka Utsugi ⚔ Eligor

[probablynoteren]

[Haruka does notice that the mystery app on his phone (AppleNet: he's gotten used to just calling it 'the app', since it's getting the most mileage lately apart from the map app and the ones he uses to schedule club activities and homework assignments, and maybe that should be concerning but) has been suspiciously quiet today, but he doesn't have all that much attention to spare for it anyway, with exams coming up and the blossom festival tomorrow.

He manages to get through the day without really thinking about it, busying himself with his delivery shifts and last-minute arrangements and checkups at the greenhouse, doublechecking tomorrow's schedule and booths, and generally watching out for anything that could go wrong with an event as big as a centennial. The gardening club isn't one of the largest clubs on campus, and they'll be dwarfed by the scale of the event itself, but he still wants to make sure things go as smoothly as possible.

His parents have succeeded in dodging any work emergencies or overtime this weekend, somehow, although Haruka is the one coming home a little late; they try to get the whole family at the dinner table a few times a week, and it's a cozy evening. It's just too bad it's hard to enjoy it through the migraine.

It affects him enough that his parents notice despite his best attempts at a poker face, and he's prodded off to bed early amid token protests. He does need to be at his best tomorrow. However... it's not just the headache, but the deja vu: when he snaps awake in the early morning with a knot in his throat and all his hairs stood on end he isn't even all that surprised.

Writing his name (Lenka Utsugi, not his name, but somehow his finger keeps moving), and then his answers down feels strangely familiar and strangely final. It's not a muscle memory, it's...

... the slow, bone-deep knowledge that death dogs his heels no matter what he chooses. Someday, he'll fall on the battlefield, just like all those around him and those who came before him -- but it won't be today. He's taking the first steps towards one of several bittersweet endings, but that doesn't matter for the moment, because they can finally create hope. Tangible, immense, safety that very few of them have ever known: Aegis.

Responsibility is heavy and strangely familiar, like the cape he sometimes wears on his shoulders. He doesn't think he knows how to lead, but at the very least he knows how to get there, and he can show that to his Unit -- to the people who are now family, in a strange and tentative way.

"Lenka, come have dinner at my house later," a boy in a bright and impractical outfit calls out to him. In a way, it's a last meal, but he knows an open door when he sees one. This one has always been there for him, warm and inviting.

He smiles gratefully back. They'll be okay. They're going to change the world.]

What is your name?
Lenka Utsugi

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
No.

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
No.

Have you ever killed someone/something?
Yes. Kill or be killed. I intend to eradicate Aragami from the surface of this Earth.

Did you enjoy it?
Yes.

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!
I'll die in about 3 years. I chose it.

[... For a long time afterwards, he just stares at his phone. He doesn't even bother sending any other messages, because he's really not sure what to make of what he typed, or what came before that. Maybe he's been working and studying too hard. Too much reading about the ephemeral life of flowers or something. At least that would explain all the death in his hallucinations. He's never been particularly morbid.

He should have known today was the calm before the storm.]

Nakigitsune ⚔ Camio

[foxhands]

[He wants to say something about the "choosing to die" part, but.]

aragami sounds dangerous

Elizabeth Bathory ⚔ Baal

[umbral_idol]

[Another weird contract... Isabella glanced over it, trying to take in any details she could after that last contract... The contract begins today? But doesn't actually begin offering services until the 28th? There's also the question of "what is the common goal I'm agreeing to?" And what's this about changing fate?

It takes half an hour before she finally decides to write down her name -- Isabella Leroy... Is not what was written down. Elizabeth Bathory? The name seemed familiar, but she couldn't quite place it...

A blonde woman in a ridiculous red dress shakes her head as she speaks.

"Dark Erzsebet... I... I see... This is all highly unfortunate... I have nothing more to say."

she is offended at this name. Nobody calls her by her original Hungarian name. Not even the Moon Cell did that!

"It's Dark Eli! Or Dark Eliza! What the hell name did you just call me?! Is my perfect new costume throwing off your eyesight or something?!"

"Oh no, your costume is magnificent! Such melodic majesty, my archrival, who drives me to grow stronger with every clash! You may have changed your appearance, but you are, no doubt, my strongest bandmate, Elizabeth Bathory!"

The name honestly hurt. That woman still didn't get it, even when she was trying to be as direct as possible about it? Elizabeth Bathory wasn't someone she wanted to be. Even if the woman was complimenting her at the same time, it was still an attack she couldn't escape from.

"Y-Yeah. That's right! Same as usual, Saber."



What is your name?
Elizabeth Bathory

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
No

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
Yes

Have you ever killed someone/something?
Yes

Did you enjoy it?
It's complicated (but yes)

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!
I don't want to be a monster.
But it's the only thing I know how to do.

The more of these things I do
The more I'm concerned about the answers

Chikusa Kakimoto ☸ Astaroth

[kokuyoyo]

It's more than just the answers I'm concerned about.

[...As evidenced as this comes around an hour later.]

Alice Liddell ⚔ Marchosias

[digophelia]

[ Alice is often tormented by voices and memories calling for her name. This time, her father calling for her. A gentle voice, not one filled with fear and coughing from the smoke in his lungs. A gentle call, beckoning for her to come to him.

Her name, he had given it to her. A strong, noble name, her father, Arthur, and she, his youngest would carry his legacy.

But this name...! ]

What is your name?
Alice Pleasance Liddell

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
No

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
Yes

Have you ever killed someone/something?
Yes, but he had hurt so many children. What else was I supposed to do?

Did you enjoy it?
It's just complicated

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!
That I will become nothing, an empty being, and I will have forgotten who I was and my family.

I don't want to be a doll.

Kaltz ⚔ Saleos

[dendranthema]

Hurting children deserves punishment. I don't think this is too much.

Kaltz ⚔ Saleos

[dendranthema]

[This entire day has been unpleasant - Casimir and his son both seemed to have caught something at the same time, and while he's done his best to care for him while feeling under the weather, he ends up going to bed not long after Asher.

He wakes up at 2 AM, feeling drawn to his phone - but strange, he's sure he's been awake for several minutes, but the time on his clock isn't changing. There's another contract on the phone, and he hesitates - it looks like he could refuse this one - but his finger signs the line on the screen without him willing it. Except it's not his name, it's -

A woman with cat ears instead of human ears and a long tail runs towards him in a field, hugging him once they're together. He embraces her in return, and she looks up at him, smiling.

"Kaltz! It feels like it's been forever since I last saw you!"]

What is your name?
Kaltz

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
No

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
Yes

Have you ever killed someone/something?
Yes, far too many times

Did you enjoy it?
It's complicated (but no)

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!
I was a fool. I ruined the lives of the two people most important to me, and in doing so I became what I hated.
Despite my regrets, I'll even consume souls in order to stay alive.

[Casimir stares at the posted answers on his phone. The future being avoidable, he can agree with, but the rest of these answers are so foreign it's as if they came from a totally different person. A person he's sure he wouldn't like.]

I'm becoming increasingly less fond of this app. And I promise I'm not a serial killer.

Mako ☸ Vassago

[torching]

you're sure about that

Gladion ⚔ Camio

[lovelledup]

[Asher hadn't felt good all evening, and he hadn't wanted dinner... but neither did anyone else in the house. Before he goes to bed, it briefly occurs to him that something might be happening with the app, considering the last time both he and his dad got a headache at the same time, but he checks on it and still nothing. So maybe there's just some kind of cold going around, or something like that.

Or maybe not. He wakes up from a strange dream to find a brand new contract. This time, he makes a point to read every word, not that it does him any good, especially when he doesn't ultimately seem to have any choice but to agree again. He's sure he stares at it for a few minutes before he signs it, but the time on the clock by his bed doesn't change. Weird. And then when he does sign, another memory surfaces.

Two teenagers in dark clothes approach, making gestures with their arms that would be very strange if they didn't look so familiar. "Awww, look at you little Gladion. Aren't you just a real cool guy? Heh heh heh..."

"I guess it's no surprise a homeless kid would turn out to be spineless, too, huh? No worries, we've got enough backbone to cover for you!"

Spineless, they say. It's an insult that cuts to the bone, whether they know how much or not. But if nothing else, he won't put up with their taunting. "Just give it up already," he shoots back. "You know you can't beat me. You'll just get your Pokemon hurt for no reason. They're good Pokemon."

They seem content to leave, but not before blaming him for their failure and adding a few parting words. "Listen up good, Gladion... The boss does like you. That's true. But you're just some hired help we keep around for when we need you. You aren't part of Team Skull, not really. And you never will be, got it?"

The memory fades, and he doesn't even have time to wonder what it meant before he finds himself answering a new set of questions.]

What is your name?
Gladion.

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
No.

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
No, but I don't think I'm a good person, either.

Have you ever killed someone/something?
No.

Did you enjoy it?
...

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!
I stole a research experiment from my family and ran away from home. For two years, it was the only thing I could trust.

Gladion ⚔ Camio: A: What's... going on...? I thought this thing had stopped working.
Gladion ⚔ Camio: ...I guess we don't need to figure out how to identify who's who anymore.

Kaltz ⚔ Saleos

[dendranthema]

The fact that it forced us to write this time is worrisome. It's not like selecting an answer without realizing it, which I'm now doubting was truly accidental for any of us.

This does make identifying those of us with doubled usernames much easier.

Louis ⚔ Paimon

[mutesician]

Louis stares at the new terms of agreement. Well, at least they actually have some promise to answer questions now. He starts writing...and finds his hand stopping when he tries to add on his last name.

"He plays just like Louis Armstrong! I'm going to call him Louis!"
That is actually my name.

What is your name?
Louis

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
No

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
No

Have you ever killed someone/something?
No

Did you enjoy it?
N/A

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!
My father stole my trumpet for me from a store.

Louis ⚔ Paimon: That last part is definitely not true. He bought it like a normal person does.
Louis ⚔ Paimon: For some reason I can't write my last name on here. That's odd.

Kaltz ⚔ Saleos

[dendranthema]

Interesting... is Louis your actual first name? When I try to write mine it says Kaltz, which isn't my name at all. But when I write yours, if that is yours, it's fine.

Yuuto Kidou ☸ Eligor

[kouteipenguin]

Michi sits back, rubbing at his face. The headache is long gone, but it doesn't make him feel any less weird. It feels like his thoughts have been wiped out, almost, replaced with a thick fog. He could have sworn that he wrote down 'Michi Yamashita' there, for instance. Instead, what's written before him feels right, but he's sure it's a name he's sure he's never heard before in his life.



"Are you satisfied after what you've done to Sakuma?!"

The wind whips at his clothing, lashing his cape out behind him. In his fury, he doesn't even notice it. Instead, he stands tall and ready to fight the purple-suited man who's pinpointed at the exact dead center of his tunnel vision. His throat is already raw from screaming, his nerves shot, and fear fuels the horrified despair hiding behind his anger.

The man is somewhere far higher up than he is. So distant. So far above him that he couldn't touch him even if he tried. All he has is words, but the man's words are harsher.

"Satisfied? As if! Not until I create the strongest team that can guarantee victory!"

His fists are balled so tightly that his nails dig painfully into the skin. The pain just fuels him, giving fire to the raging ball of emotions and the need to do something. But it, just like everything else, is useless. He can do nothing. And that man keeps talking.

"I'll tell you the greatest creation I've ever made! That is..." The man's voice raises with his finger, pointing accusingly straight at him. "...you, Kidou!"



Even after the memory is gone, Michi's still shaking with the raw emotion from it. He only remembers he has a phone when he feels the edge of its case biting into his balled fists. He can still feel it when he unclenches his hand and stares at it. Numbly, his fingers type for him.

-----


What is your name?
Yuuto Kidou

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
No

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
No

Have you ever killed someone/something?
No

Did you enjoy it?
N/A

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!

I said I'm not a bad person. I refuse to be. But... I don't think I'll ever be out from under that man's shadow.
I don't remember what my original family name was, even when I try.


Yuuto Kidou ☸ Eligor: 10: I don't understand a thing that's going on. I didn't type any of that and yet...
Yuuto Kidou ☸ Eligor: 10: Who else here feels like they're losing their mind?
Yuuto Kidou ☸ Eligor: ...
Yuuto Kidou ☸ Eligor: At least the username problem is solved...

Gladion ⚔ Camio

[lovelledup]

I doubt this many people are actually losing it, but whatever's going on is definitely crazy.

Nobunaga Oda ☸ Barbas

[de_aru_ka]

[It smells of rain, and the monkey is chattering his ear off, still on an emotional high because of what they've accomplished. He stands there, staring at the camp's entrance, until his sister cuts in. "Brother, what is it? You look so distant."

This, he knows he cannot explain, not fully. He has only just earned the country's respect, and their fear. He cannot afford to throw it away. But he can't say nothing, either. "I am waiting. Waiting for him to arrive."

"Who are you expecting?" Who indeed. Even he doesn't know. There were two of them there, watching as he controlled fate's course. One of them will appear before him today. That much, he's seen, but as for which-

The camp entrance flaps open and someone presses through his men before kneeling at his feet. "My name is Mitsuhide Jūbei Akechi. Lord Nobunaga, please, allow me to join the ranks of your retainers!"

"I see. You are the one." It is the man with the long hair and a kind smile, always worrying after others. If someone like that can follow him, what is there to fear? "I will allow it!" The laughter bubbles up within him, and he lets himself enjoy it until it fades.]

What is your name?
Nobunaga Oda

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
One part is unavoidable. The rest is in our hands.

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
No

Have you ever killed someone/something?
Yes

Did you enjoy it?
Some, yes. Some, no. Some, I hold no opinion on.

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!
There were many paths the flow of history could have followed. I do not regret making it go down the one it did.

[... What a pretentious egomaniac.]

For the record, I'm guessing the one unavoidable part of the future is death. Taxes doesn't sound edgy enough.

Yuuto Kidou ☸ Eligor

[kouteipenguin]

That's a dark way of looking at that question.

Erika Furudo ⚔ Baalberith (minor spoilers for episode 5 below)

[withoutred]

[ Erica has been staring at that farce of a contract for what feels like an hour. She'd been so relieved when the app had finally stopped responding, and immediately assumed the perpetrator had been arrested. It makes sense that the news wouldn't mention it, right? It makes everyone look bad, to have let something like this attack civillians for so long.

And then it came back. And with it, this... this thing. Her vision swims with frustrated tears, and-

-a strange cathedral, paneled in white-gold-purple and blinding to the eye. A man below, pinned with red light, motionless. He is discarded immediately. Unimportant, ignorant, incompetent, not worth the effort to even remember. Not when She is talking.

The conversation blurs. You talk of what will come - "Lets have their executions on consecutive days. For the furniture and the witches, one by one." - and with delight, how you will elegantly prepare a specialized death for every miserable piece on the disgraced Witch's Board. Someone sits beside you, a nameless doll in a shade of blue that feels important, somehow. She hesitates in her objections. But then your master speaks to you, and you can hear nothing else but Her.

"Thank you, Erika. ....Thanks to you, it seems I'll be able to forget the pain of my illness for a little while." A hand cups your face. Something in your chest twists. "You're just perfect. My piece, my double... and my cute daughter."

"You will eradicate and erase Beatrice's name and all traces of her. Until that is finished, I will order that you be made the master of this sealed-off Rokkenjima. .....By the name of the Witch of Miracles-" Your pulse sounds like thunder in your ears. What...? "-I proclaim that you will be given the rank of witch until that day."

"From now on, you will call yourself Furudo Erika, the Witch of Truth."

Bile rises in her throat. ]

What is your name?
Erika Furudo

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
No

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
Yes

Have you ever killed someone/something?
Yes, but it doesn't matter. Would you consider taking pieces off a chessboard to be murder, after all...?

Did you enjoy it?
Yes

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! It's like team bonding, we promise!
I hate her. I hate her, I hate her, I hate her. I hate her for making me into her.
And I hate that, even knowing that, I still love her.

[ There's a noticeable delay between that and Baalberith's next message. ]

Erika Furudo ⚔ Baalberith: Okay what the fuck.
Erika Furudo ⚔ Baalberith: I thought the last question was bad, but _this_...
Erika Furudo ⚔ Baalberith: At least our names are unique now, right?

Gaap

[tragedyinabottle]

Did you really kill someone?

Sayo Yasuda | Gaap

[tragedyinabottle]

I was early morning, not a strange notion being how often she stayed up reading or coming up with mysteries of her own. But despite her own internal rhymem her phone ringing at 2am was not something she remotely expected. Jumping to her feet at the noise, she quickly took a look at the phone's screen only to find a strange contract written on there. It felt like a deal a witch may make with a demon or thrall. She wanted to get rid of the thing but her hand felt otherwise and scrawled her name across the lit screen anyway.

What is your name?
Sayo Yasuda.

-the last name confused her, but somewhere at the back of her mind she could see herself, smaller then she was now, in front of an older man and woman. They had kind eyes and looked at her as if she were there own child. "Your name is Sayo Yasuda..."

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
Yes

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
Yes

Have you ever killed someone/something?
No

Did you enjoy it?
N/A

-I once plotted to kill my entire family
-My blood line is cursed/

Gaap: ....

she then signed off

Chikusa Kakimoto ☸ Astaroth

[kokuyoyo]

[It takes him around a half hour or so to get back to things, but when he sees how Gaap had signed off.... He's reminded of his own reaction, and finds himself reaching out.]

What are you feeling?