COUNTDOWN: FACES OF FUTURE & PAST 2.0

[cordibus]

It's been 7 days since the first network post, and predictably for those who where here the first time, a second one makes it's appearance a week afterwards.

Some have tried to best the program, others have already tried to figure out more about it, but nothing has been working. Others might have warned the Unawakened, but ow they're finding out for themselves. Bringing the phone 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. Showing 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. Also possibly an asshole, from the way Luci has been taunting and abusing his posting privileges.

Saturday night rolls around and still nothing from the application. The news this Saturday is nothing special. The festival of the longest day went off without a hitch, although the population had trouble getting into nightly shelters due to too much partying. A higher amount of robberies during daylight hours than last year, but nothing to raise cause for alarm. The peace continues at night.

The warning bells of the nightly curfew ring across the city as a few people finish locking their doors for the night. Civilians are settling in for a late supper and preparing for work tomorrow.

Not you, however. The Unawakened have been victim to a damn headache building for the past hour and by now their ears are ringing. Food doesn't look appetizing and they feel an urge to go to bed early. Didn't the other people in the channel warn them it might happen?

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 now that your headache is gone andthe 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 it may happen in an instant, 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 it isn't. Yet as your hand moves to write your name, it gets replaced with other letters. Another name that tells you nothing. Somehow you feel like you should know it, 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! Two makes it more fun!
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: The network posts will now 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.

FOR THE AWAKENED: Awakened will be able to answer the questions again if they want. They'll also find themselves in their fancy new outfits and will able to summon their weapons during this time. Sweet indeed. ]

Comments

Alucard ⚔ Marchosias

[draculabackwards]

[And several flow charts. It is confusing.]

We have no idea if there will be more. The pattern seems to suggest that it will.

There is a reason for the period of adjustment. You need time to wrap your mind around an idea.

Shirou Fubuki ⚔ Marchosias

[touketsu]

That's not helping!

[Not a countdown. The countdown. It's somehow worse than the clocks around Eddan reminding everyone of curfew. Because he's reminded that there are just 14 days left and he still knows nothing. Two weeks until something happens, but he doesn't know what that will entail, and no one seems to be able to say, either.]

Shirou Fubuki ⚔ Marchosias

[touketsu]

I don't know if I want it to make sense. I just want it to stop.

[At least superficially that's what he wants, but when he digs deeper down, Kouyuki knows that isn't true. The less he knows, the less prepared he'll be for whatever happens at the end of the countdown. But until then...saying that it's hard feels like the grossest understatement.

He's not alone, though. That's true. But it feels like he is for all that there's so much that still can't be said. He'd hoped the game around Eddan he was playing with people would help circumvent some of the negativity surrounding their circumstances, but it hasn't done enough. It still feels like they're all barely hanging on by a thread.]

[spoilsfun]

What does that mean?

[That makes him think a moment.]

What if the vision is fake?

[touketsu]

[For both names to be important, the hallucinations they've been having must bear some great significance. Kouyuki isn't certain he's comfortable with that realization, however. In fact, he knows that he isn't. If, somehow, that person is just as real as he is, what does that make him?

He doesn't want to be anything like a bear-killer, or to be as obsessed with perfection or so full of feelings of insecurity as Shirou Fubuki seems to be...

...but maybe he already is?

While he's never killed a bear before, he's always approached sports with an unrelenting and single-minded determination. He'd never say perfection is his goal, but constantly raising the bar and improving always has been. But they're not dissimilar, those things. And neither is his fear of accepting that Shirou might be as real or as important as him. Maybe he's more insecure than he cares to admit?]

9: How can they both be important?

[touketsu]

isn't luci the one behind the app? it probably wouldn't be very hard for them to do something like that!

[In truth, blaming Luci is just easy. Kouyuki doesn't really know if they're responsible for anything or, if they are, how much they're responsible for. They seem to revel a little in some aspects of the situation the users of the app are in, and then seem to take seriously others. Initially, Kouyuki even liked their sense of humor. But now he's not sure what to believe. This new dream has made him feel heavy in ways he's never felt before. Like being chained to something he can't escape.

No matter how fast or how far he runs, he can't get away from this.]

Ran Mouri ⚔ Zepar

[singlefaith]

[Head still aching, Ran had been glancing through the ensuing conversations without paying much attention when she comes to this one.]

[If it had just been the name, that would be one thing. Or just the secret, another. But the two together . . . given those images that set off the headache in the first place, she can't quite ignore it.]

[Isn't this that guy from before, though . . . ? The one who acted like a kid? It doesn't exactly make her eager to respond, and she frowns a little, hesitating on what to say.]

Did you think of anything before you wrote that?

Shinichi Kudo ☸ Andromalius

[spoilsfun]

What do you mean by thinking of anything?

[touketsu]

[It's obvious, but in light of their current circumstances, being cautious doesn't seem like a bad idea. Confirming that he's speaking with 10 and not some other Eligor who never appeared on the app before now, or even someone else, allows for some small manner of comfort to be found. It's not much, not when faced with never really being able to confirm 100% anyone is who they say they are on this app, but it's all he's got right now.

Thus, the words 'that's correct' bring Kouyuki a little bit of peace. But the same cannot be said for the words that follow...

Preferred. Past tense. He wants to believe he must be overthinking that statement, but no matter how he looks at it, he can see no other way to interpret what was said. The number 10 had may well be less important to them than one of their names now.]

That changed?

[Really, he's asking why that changed. But he's not sure that's a question that can be answered anytime soon.]

Ran Mouri ⚔ Zepar

[singlefaith]

[She tries to think of the right words. She's not sure she's okay yet with calling it a memory as some of the others seem to be, so that word is out, but there aren't many good ones to replace it.]

Like . . . a vision? Like a scene in your mind of something that maybe felt familiar.

[And weird. And confusing.]

Shinichi Kudo ☸ Andromalius

[spoilsfun]

Yeah, I had something like that. There was some weird girl following me around and calling me Shinichi.

She was acting like we were friends, but I don't know anyone like that.

Ran Mouri ⚔ Zepar

[singlefaith]

["Weird girl?" That doesn't sound like anything that's in line with what she saw, but.]

Did it tell you her name?

[kouteipenguin]

[As he should expect of Fubuki, 9 is sharp. Kidou's not at all surprised he caught that. Though now the real question is, how to answer this?]

I grew attached to this one.

[In a manner of speaking, that's exactly what happened.]

[touketsu]

How do you know it was really you? And that you weren't just forced to feel that way?

Like we're forced to see those things...

[possedere]

If you put it that way, then by all means feel free to help me out. You might be doing a public service in keeping me out of trouble.

Shinichi Kudo ☸ Andromalius

[spoilsfun]

No, she was just complaining that I'd get eaten by monsters if I didn't go home.

Koujirou Genda ⚔ Marchosias

[beastfang]

It is more going back over everything that happened and noting down everything of importance in order to have a clear understanding of what may be in the future for all of us.

[failedhandjob]

ooooh, maybe i'll even get a medal if i manage to keep you distracted for a whole twenty-four hours! that'd look pretty neat in my room.

Jaune Arc ⚔ Eligor

[sociallyarcward]

We got [INFORMATION LOCKED] just like before. I've been referring to it as an upgrade...but I'm not sure how accurate that is. It probably means something bad might happen.

[mirrors_wish]

Are you sure there's no other way?

Jaune Arc ⚔ Eligor

[sociallyarcward]

That...might not be up to you. I wish I could tell you differently, but that would be a lie. At least as far as I know this is all out of our control.

[kouteipenguin]

I don't. Not for absolute certain, beyond any shadow of doubt. I can't say why I feel this name really belongs to me. It just does.

[While he couldn't begin to get into the details. this is the question that plagues him so often these days. He doesn't have a good answer to himself or to anyone else, especially someone who doesn't understand any of this. Having two sets of memories, and two sets of deep attachments and feelings, is the absolute worst thing.]

It's always a possibility what I feel deep down in my heart isn't what's actually true. That I've been forced to feel these things so deeply that I've come to believe them. But ... even if that's the case, I won't find the truth through simple denial.

[truthkills]

so far, pretty sure

but, you know, looking into all our options

Jaune Arc ⚔ Eligor

[sociallyarcward]

But how do you know what was important?

[foxphantom]

Hmmm I see...I suppose if the blocks are to be lifted eventually, it'll be easier to speak then.

How far back did this all start, if it's fairly new?