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

Augustine Sycamore ⚔ Foras

[megacurious]

"Hello..."

[A young boy wearing a red cap and black sunglasses approaching a man in the lab coat, who was frowning for some reason.]

'P-Professor Sycamore...'

[The boy also frowned upon seeing the professor's face.]

"I have to apologize to you about Lysandre... I'm very sorry for the trouble he caused..."

"And I'd also like to thank you! I'm sincerely grateful for what you did for all of the Pokémon and people of this world. And by stopping Team Flare, you also saved Lysandre. I always knew that he desired a beautiful world..."

[The man then looks at the town they were in as he stared at the buildings around them.]

"And maybe someday the population of people and Pokémon will actually increase to where resources become very scarce. If someone acts out of greed in such a world, surely some will go without. If all living things keep acting that way, there will be nothing left at all in the end. Why, there won't even be anything left to steal, will there?"

[But as he said this, he then frowned again upon thinking about the said person.]

"But what I really wanted was for him to put his ego aside and lead everything to greater heights. I never had this discussion with him, though. So I'm partially responsible for this."

[If only he could talk to him once more, then maybe everything would be different.]

What is your name?
Augustine Sycamore

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! Two makes it more fun!
I was partly responsible for Lysandre's descent into darkness because I'm not confident that my words will let him put his ego aside.
And despite I also want to stop his plans, I ended up on the sidelines and let my aides and Calem and his friends stop him instead.

['Sycamore'? If it wasn't mistaken, he guesses that that's the same name that he heard in his strange memory. Yet who was that young boy in his latest one?]

I don't know why, but I'm guessing my late night headache, these questions, and the name I never heard before is part of the countdown, correct?

Chikusa Kakimoto ☸ Astaroth

[kokuyoyo]

That's right.

Augustine Sycamore ⚔ Foras

[megacurious]

[Oh, it's the same user that he spoke before. Chikusa, huh? Guess that means this app can be used internationally.]

And judging by this, I can guess most of the censoring of our information such as telling you my [INFORMATION LOCKED] job, right?

[...]

Maybe I spoke too soon...

[kokuyoyo]

You can talk all you want about Augustine Sycamore, but it's no use talking about the "other you".

[megacurious]

[Other him? More importantly, why did he said that name in the third person when he is using that name right now. Which to be honest, he has no idea how it changed overnight?]

Care to elaborate on that? What do you mean I can't talk about the "other me"?

[kokuyoyo]

What is your real name?

[It's going to get blocked anyway, but he hopes to make the point with it.]

[megacurious]

Well, it's [INFORMATION LOCKED].

[Another block?! And yet, "Augustine Sycamore" isn't blocked despite being a name of somebody.]

Alright, I can guess my real name can be blocked as well. But what does have to do with your question?

[kokuyoyo]

That's your other self. The name you can't say.

[megacurious]

'Other self'? You make it sound like that my real name is fake.

Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago

[osakanpride]

Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: This is the second time unfamiliar memories resurfaced.

Augustine Sycamore ⚔ Foras

[megacurious]

Looks like it.

[And he can guess that Heiji also experienced them as well.]

But to be honest, I feel that I might have more than two unfamiliar memories.

Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago

[osakanpride]

Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: The first memory has no relation to the memory I just experienced.
Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: I wonder if a third occurrence will happen next weekend.
Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: It's the pattern so far.

Augustine Sycamore ⚔ Foras

[megacurious]

Well, my first memory is related to my recent one, somehow. I still don't know about them, but I feel they are connected to an event that I didn't witness.

[However, he is still wondering about the questionnaire that he just answered without any knowledge.]

A pattern, huh?

The older users do start to follow it like one. Not to mention that this only occurred to new users only.

Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago

[osakanpride]

Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: They're related?

[ It was really difficult to form theories with so little knowledge. ]

Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: It's just an educated guess.
Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: I won't know if it's true for the next seven days.
Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: The older users speak of familiarity, they just can't share it because of the block feature.

Augustine Sycamore ⚔ Foras

[megacurious]

One is about where a red-haired man said something about ending the world and another when this Sycamore fella apologized to the young boy regarding this "Team Flare".

I guess that means waiting would be the only way to get our answers, huh?

Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago

[osakanpride]

Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: I wonder how relative or disproportionate memories are for the other users.

Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: There doesn't appear to be any other method besides waiting. [ Unfortunately. ]

Augustine Sycamore ⚔ Foras

[megacurious]

Well, judging by the number of posts, I'm guessing that the memories' information seems to be unaffected from the blocks.

So we might try to ask them for ourselves.

Alucard ⚔ Marchosias

[draculabackwards]

Very much so.

Augustine Sycamore ⚔ Foras

[megacurious]

But regarding this name I have right now...

Is the man in my memory is Augustine Sycamore?

Alucard ⚔ Marchosias

[draculabackwards]

It could very well be. Try typing your actual name and it reverts to what this application wants to call you.

Augustine Sycamore ⚔ Foras

[megacurious]

[Huh? Would typing his name would just block it as usual?]

Alright. My name is Augustine Sycamore and I'm a [INFORMATION LOCKED].

[Okay, that was unexpected...]

B-But... How?

Alucard ⚔ Marchosias

[draculabackwards]

It is a layer of this program. You still can't share personal details but you can share this new name.

Augustine Sycamore ⚔ Foras

[megacurious]

So in other words, the app just wants to call me by that name?

I feel that it might start thinking of my as that Sycamore person.

Alucard ⚔ Marchosias

[draculabackwards]

That is correct.

[He doesn't say to which one since they're both right.]

Augustine Sycamore ⚔ Foras

[megacurious]

I see...

I guess I should start getting used to this pattern from now on...