applenet | 7 DAYS REMAIN

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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Why are you calling me a detective? This isn't some third-rate mystery novel.

[ And immediately there's a throb from her seemingly omnipresent headache, and a flash of disgust with herself that she can't quite place.

She doesn't want to be mean. Luci, in the brief conversation she'd had with them before, seemed... frustrating, but ultimately positive. But she's scared, and tired, and something about that just hurt. ]

But if you want me to, I can try my hand at it. If you're connected to this application in some way - and I'd hazard a guess that you _are_ as you seem to know a lot about what's going on - then this is either an attempt to scare us out of the city somehow, or find out more about us to fill in the missing holes.

What do you think?

Luci: If I had hands, I might be clapping.

Luci: Do you enjoy it? That rush of trying to figure things out?

What an odd question. Do I enjoy it...?

I mean, it's fun, I guess? To be able to solve a riddle that's presented to me. But this is real life, not someone's silly boardgame. We aren't toys to be played with.

And that still doesn't answer if my guess was close, either.

Luci: Toys is too broad of a term. Personally,
I prefer puppets.

Luci: Sometimes no answer is needed.

So shameless about it, too. So we're just puppets to you? Is that what's meant by these questions? Puppets aren't real, after all. The hand guiding them is the part that's alive.

[ She can't help but pry on even that small opening, even if she feels like she's just spinning her wheels aimlessly. ]

If no answer is needed, why bother with this charade? Surely you get _something_ out of this...

Luci: It depends what type of puppet

Luci: Some of them have hands up their ass

Luci: I get some enjoyment out of this before the countdown ends

Luci: Amusement is very important to me

Some of them, thankfully, are _not_ childish sock puppets and are instead controlled via strings. I think there are some that are technically wind up dolls? I'm not sure.

Wait, why am I arguing about puppets.

Won't you be able to cheerfully mock us after the countdown ends, too? Unless it'll remove the app when it's finished. But I doubt we're _that_ lucky. But something about that would imply that you _can't_, so...

[ Wait. Didn't the Terms of Service warn about 'no responsibility in cases of harm or death', or something like that? ] You're expecting us to be incapacitated somehow. Or otherwise unable to talk to you. Am I right?

Luci: Perhaps puppet amusement?

Luci: Oh I'll keep mocking you. That's a promise. The countdown is just a beginning,
after all.

7 DAYS REMAIN

Erika Furudo ⚔ Baalberith

✪ Luci

Erika Furudo ⚔ Baalberith

✪ Luci

Erika Furudo ⚔ Baalberith

✪ Luci

Erika Furudo ⚔ Baalberith

✪ Luci