7 DAYS REMAIN

[cordibus]

Seven days remain. As the last day of the festival draws to a close, the only thing of interest to note for the week is how great everything has gone. Not a single attack has been reported...

But things have already been set alight inside the hearts of those chosen few who have received the app on their phones. For some, it's just the first bite of the apple. For others, it's been like shaking down an entire tree. Things are beginning to look...strange. Surely there are more burning questions on their minds by now.

The warning bells of the Nightly Curfew ring across the city. There's a faint hum from the phone this time before the icon appears. This time it displays a time: 1:00AM

The rest of the night is normal. Perhaps you've cuddled up with family, or you've gone to bed early to wait, but sure enough, time tick by right until 1 in the morning when....

You're back into that application again. A single question before you're even permitted to type anything else. And while it seems to be overwritten by something inside of you, it feels a lot more natural than before. Which is, truthfully...troubling.

WELCOME TO THE FINAL QUIZ!
Answer from the heart, the part of you that has been denied for far too long.

Is your life here a lie?
Yes | Definitely | Sure | I've had my doubts before, but yes | Hell Yes | There is no other conclusion | I wish I could deny it and live here peacefully but it's true.

Thank you...that will be all. Let us see what your heart blooms into...

Once you are done, you are tossed once more into the main chatroom. Now your user names are the names that you wrote down in the last survey, but with all those questions it's....hard not to think of them as your own. Maybe you'll be cursing at this device, but it looks like you're already deep down the rabbit hole by now.

[OOC: This is the final network post before Awakening. Users will now be able to speak of who they are in their AU life without the information being blocked by the application.

Additionally, while they will not get any new on their own, speaking with Luci might grant the Awakened more memories...be careful that they don't get more than they bargained for.]

Comments

Makoto Fukami ⚔ Marchosias

[transient_specter]

None of this makes sense.

And you don't have to apologize. ... My place or yours?

[If they're going to worry, might as well sit together.]

[kokuyoyo]

Do you think it will help? Last time...

[Well, Gen knows what happened the last time they tried to talk about this with each other.]

[transient_specter]

Does it matter? I want to keep you safe.

[kokuyoyo]

[Another long pause.]

I'll come.

[transient_specter]

I'll start the tea.

[kokuyoyo]

[And, soon enough, there's a small knock on the door before Ciro shuffles inside. His night shirt for the day is quite apt: everything does happen so much. In fact, with the festival coming to an end along with all of this... It's happening far, far too much.]

[At least he looks a little more.... 'there', this time, instead of how out of it he was the last time a post on the app happened.]

Gen?

[transient_specter]

[Gen shuffles things around to get out some mugs. Unlike Ciro, his mugs are just plain white and blue, nothing fancy. His shirt isn't quite as appropriate for now, but whatever.]

[He opens the door when Ciro knocks, ushering him in before closing it behind him.]

Tea's almost done. Are you holding up okay?

[kokuyoyo]

...Better than last time.

[Despite the fact that he's been in it dozens of times before, Ciro lingers for a moment awkwardly, unsure, before finding a seat at the couch. Just a week or two ago, he was sleeping on it, worried about his brother.... and, he thinks, not really realizing how far this whole mess would go.]

...What about you?

[transient_specter]

Fine. At least there was no hallucination going on with it.

[He pours the tea out for Ciro and himself, heading over and handling the mug to his brother carefully. Then he sits down, pulling one leg to his chest while he sips the tea.]

... I don't trust this 'Luci'.

[kokuyoyo]

[Just as carefully, Ciro accepts it, and glances down at the mug. Focusing on the feel of it- low heat sinking into his palms, nearly enough to hurt but not there yet- helps keep him from panicking.]

[No more repeats like last time.]

[At Gen's statement, however, he glances up with brows furrowed.]

Careful....

[An echo of the words that had been on his screen just a few moments ago.]

[transient_specter]

I am being careful. That's why I don't trust them.

[He closes his eyes and sighs.]

It said only a week left. So that means next Saturday night. ... Why don't you come over next Saturday evening? Just in case.

[... And it'll help him feel a little better, too.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Quietly, he shuffles closer.]

...Okay.

Do you think we should be with anyone else...?

[transient_specter]

... If you want to be.

[He doesn't particularly want to, but if his brother wants to protect someone else he's not going to say no.]

[kokuyoyo]

[For a while, he simply stares into the distance, thinking carefully.]

....I think Asher.... [And he trails off, drawing one knee up to his chest.] ...Maybe I'll ask him if he wants to stay over.

[transient_specter]

... Sure. He's a decent guy.

[And Asher knows better than to do something stupid when Gen can flip the kid over his shoulder in two seconds flat.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Gen, please stop threatening his friends, thank you. Or, like, one out of two? Still, Ciro relaxes a bit, pulling out his phone.]

I'll leave him a message, then....

[But, of course, as soon as his phone lights up... There's that conversation with "Luci", the one he left for a moment to come back down to see Gen. Ciro's lips thin, and, for just a moment, he gets distracted. Asher isn't going anywhere but Luci might be answers if he can just get them out of them. He does a couple of exchanges, quietly frustrated. If someone is just clever enough, they can make this person slip, right? But it's clear that someone isn't going to be him, and he snaps out something in text- teenage pessimism combined with all the frustration he's been feeling for a whole month now- not really expecting anything of it.]

[Except.]

[but don't say I didn't warn you, kid]

[The pain smashes into the side of his temple, so white hot it's blinding, but then the explosion's light fades away, and Chikusa blinks his vision at the blue sky. How clever... and annoying, to use a little trick of perspective. However, he feels no pain as he lays there in the street, only discomfort, and the drip of blood trickling down the side of his head and staining his hat. Through the smoke, he can see another figure approaching and, through the ringing in his ears, hear Gokudera Hayato's exuberant voice. Juudaime. Japanese. "Tenth". The tenth heir to the Vongola Family... That's all he needs to push himself up to his feet, and use what's left of the smoke to hide him as he repositions himself. In his pocket, his weapons are still in perfect condition. Good.]

[All he has to do is neutralize the heir and drag him back. He needs to do this, even if he ends up bleeding out and dead.]

[For Mukuro. Always, everything, for him.]

[The light clears for real, this time, but the pain that had been muted and nonexistent in the vision is very much there, and his fingers spasms across the screen before he drops his phone entirely. Jerking, curling up, he digs his fingers into his head while tears begin to prick at his eyes and flow across his cheeks.]

[Ciro half expects to find blood meeting his hand, even though there's nothing there.]

[transient_specter]

[He glances over Ciro's shoulder, but he can't read everything that's being said. He can always read it later.]

[Except.]

[Except there's something wrong, Ciro's having a seizure or - or something, and he pulls Ciro's mug away so he won't scald himself, setting both down and holding onto him, not sure what to do. He's heard of what to do for a seizure but he can't remember what it is, so all he can do is hold onto his brother and hope that it passes soon. He curls up over him, protectively.]

[Something to do with the app...]

[Once he's sure Ciro isn't twitching anymore, he pulls his own phone out. It's awkward, but he manages to send a message, and then he sets it down to rock his brother a bit.]

I'm here. I'm real. And I'll kill whoever it is that did this to you.

[kokuyoyo]

[The good news is that it's not a seizure- although with how suddenly the images had hit his mind, now with the threat of death, Ciro wouldn't be surprised if one actually happened.]

[But the world isn't something he can pay attention to right now. It's not there. All he can see past the blurriness of his tears are his hands, which he constantly brings down to stare at before tangling them against his hair again. He- there was blood. He was certain there was blood. There should be, with how much his head is pounding, stabbing pain with no reprieve, and he- ]

[When he finally focuses on real life again, still curled up against his brother, he doesn't even really notice where his tea or phone have gone. IT still hurts too much.]

I... My head.... It hurts so much...

[He squeezes his eyes shut, trying to block out all traces of light.]

[transient_specter]

... Just rest.

[He isn't sure what Ciro saw, but he's not going to let whatever this was stand. He rubs his brother's back gently, slowly rocking him. He's not sure what to do or say.]

[He feels so helpless.]

Ciro... I'm... none of that is real, okay? Even if it felt like it... you're here. You're my brother. I'm... I'm here for you.

[kokuyoyo]

....I'm not bleeding?

[His voice comes out weak, quiet. No matter how many times he's checked, it- that had been blood. He'd known what it was, that he was grievously injured, and yet it hadn't mattered so much as.... as...]

[transient_specter]

You're not bleeding.

[He strokes Ciro's hair, trying to calm him.]

You're okay. I'm here.

[kokuyoyo]

Okay... [A hard swallow.] Okay.

[It still feels real, still feels- those had been yoyos in his hands, but they'd been full of poison, and he was- that boy- Ciro shakes his head slowly, feeling out for a couch cushion. It just hurts too much.... Even thinking hurts too much. All he can do is try to curl up, and hide his head beneath a cushion.]

[No more internet for him tonight.]

[transient_specter]

[Gen scoots a cushion towards him, and lets him go. He stands, and goes to grab a blanket, draping it over and around Ciro, tucking him in.]

Here...

[He takes the mug of tea and sets it on the table, before sitting down again on the floor near Ciro's head.]

I'm here. I'm not leaving you, okay?

[kokuyoyo]

[Beneath the cushion, there's the barest hint of motion- he's nodding his head, even if it's hard to see.]

....Just did it.... Just made me have another vision.... S'not the app, Gen.

[transient_specter]

But you're... you're healthy. You're... it can't be you. We're all having it. What else do we all even have in common?

[He'll kill Luci. He'll find whoever this is and shove a phone down their throat. No one messes with his little brother. No one.]