applenet | COUNTDOWN: FUTURE & PAST

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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[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.

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

Oh, I agree. But it's still probably what the person writing the answers was thinking, so I thought I'd cut off any questions on the matter and throw in some black humor while I was at it.

I didn't initially read it that way, but there are those questions about killing. I'd been trying to not think too hard about that. I guess that's part of why I really don't want to wonder if you're right about that.

You sound more sensible than me, then. Most wouldn't jump to the worst possible conclusion.

Cynical as it is, though, you may want to prepare for it coming up again. After all, the last question was about a potential death, too.

... Wasn't death mentioned in the terms and conditions, too? I think I remember that.

It was, wasn't it? So they're very intentionally trying to get us comfortable with the idea of dying and/or killing. How charming.

No way...

Of course, the prospect of death is one of the easiest ways to make people uncomfortable. It may be that they're just trying to get a reaction out of us.

That could be it...

[He's not convinced of that, and can't even explain why he's so unsure. It's a rational explanation, but comes across to him as just what he wants it to be.]

But that's not the kind of thing you joke about or make other people say! What kind of sick person would do that?

In addition to 'taxes', developing 'fine lines and wrinkles' deserves an honorable mention.

Sure, I'll add that. Goodness knows I know plenty of people dedicated to giving themselves more.

I also do not doubt that many of those present in chat have begun to develop them over the course of the past several days. Forehead lines, especially. Eye bags, as well.

Are you not worried by this?

Both the premature aging, and the application itself.

Oh, certainly, on both accounts. The longer I don't have to worry about looking like my father, the better.

As for the app, well. It's certainly given me reason to pay attention. But all the same, I hold no power over it. Until that changes, I'm trying to use my energy more productively.

Oh? And what might quantify a productive use of energy?

You seem to have a very straightforward approach: you are not the sort to flit away time by investigating the unknown, but in the instant it so cares to reveal itself, I do not doubt that you would fight to have it within your grasp.

I do have a life. Job, friends, family, so on. That didn't go away because of some malware.

If you're inclined towards armchair psychology, certainly, that's a reasonable assumption. It's natural to want answers in a situation such as this. And we've already been promised them. Isn't it easier to learn when you have a solid background to build on?

But it'd be a twist at least.

Edgelords aren't known for their originality. Not to mention that that idiom came into fashion in the 18th century.

So you think it's just some person getting their edgy kicks?

Some people, plural, but yes.

Unless you have a better theory?

Mental breakdown?

I haven't experienced notable fatigue, intoxication, or sensory deprivation, nor do I or my family have a history of physical or mental health issues that would cause hallucinations. Try again.

Well then I'm all out of ideas.

COUNTDOWN: FUTURE & PAST

Nobunaga Oda ☸ Barbas

Yuuto Kidou ☸ Eligor

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Yuuto Kidou ☸ Eligor

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Sion Astal ☸ Focalor

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Chikusa Kakimoto ☸ Astaroth

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