applenet | COUNTDOWN: FACES OF FUTURE & PAST 2.0

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. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

i may not have to, depending on how things turn out.

[because if she messes up her timing and finally becomes enough of a strange fixture to warrant a reprimand...well, she knows how schools are. there's no way that the incident wouldn't trickle down through all the gossipy chatter even the lower cycles are guilty of.]

[But fixated on Awakening as Kidou is, a mundane explanation is not where his mind jumps to. Does she know something? Could she have worked it out somehow...? He is definitely overthinking this.]

Oh?

[and Emily, being Emily, unintentionally makes things worse by assuming she's not talking to a paranoid weirdo and being a little playful. all she means to imply is that he's probably a lower cycle student, but...]

assuming that i'm right about you, anyway. ☆⌒(ゝ。∂)

About what?

[What does THAT mean. Does it mean she knows who his Eddan identity is? That she's worked out something else? What does she suspect???

Time to delve deep into conspiracy theory land.]

i don't think i could say it here anyway, even if i really wanted to.

[That has to be it. She must have figured out who he is somehow, or something that ties him to his identity here. If she thinks that she's not able to say it, it must be referring to Eddan.

Kidou's jaw tightens. He looks over his shoulder, just a little, at the closed door to his side, as if somehow he'll be caught by someone. This ride never ends, strap in.

But saying something that identifies someone else can't implicate that person, right? It wouldn't filter out her saying, somehow, who he was... unless they had ties somehow? Is this person someone he knows? Is it someone who could call him out on the street or ...

Dammit. What IS it! And even more worryingly, how did he possibly give himself away? He's been careful to not visit either site since he placed his hints. He's been careful to take alternate routes away from the dragon even though it makes his travel time take a little longer. He's been specifically careful to not possibly be linked to either hint personally, so how?

...

Then he remembers that Michi specifically outed him on this very app, about a month ago. Did this person read back? How far back could they see? It couldn't have been with the names, could it? Otherwise, they'd have mentioned something along those lines. Why the change?

He's really not sure and that's not a comfort remotely.

But while he sits here, spinning his wheels in increasing dismay, she's probably waiting for a reply. He's got no choice, does he? Unless he wants to give away just how unsettling this is, he's got to play along with this game for now.]

Maybe, if you're right. It's hard to say when it's this vague.

[BUT HOW? BUT WHAT?]

[meanwhile in another section of Eddan entirely, Emily casually flips through a magazine as she waits for the next reply. oh, that craft was super cute. she was definitely going to have to try it out sometime soon.]

i know, right? it's such a pain to have to skate around things like this for no reason.

[she's got no idea if she can say anything that'd out other people here, or if it's still technically too close to outing her since it would imply she attends the same school as well. it's all so unnecessarily complicated - although at least it gives some nice opportunities for teasing.]

if you're really curious, maybe we could try and make it part of the game? (￣▽￣)ノ

[Ohhh no. He knew he had to play along, but he has no choice at all now...]

I would be interested. [to put it very mildly.] Although, if you hide what you know recklessly, others might also find it.

that's a risk you take by playing no matter what, isn't it? even if you're really creative you can't be sure that only the people you want to find it will.

[She's right. He can hope that no one else is following this conversation, at least. He'll have a head start.

Of course, this could also be a trap to get him to go somewhere. He'll hear it out first.]

That's true. Another hiding spot with another hint, then?

yep! and i promise i won't make it too hard, even if you probably deserve it.

[she's had to do a lot of suspicious loitering in her attempts to grab his, after all! that's so rude.]

[She's going to stake out that area. He just knows it.]

I'm ready whenever you are.

alright! let me go set it up first and then i'll give you your clue, ok? it'd be pretty silly if you showed up before i'd finished.

[although she supposes it'd be a pretty good laugh, at least. and...it would be nice to be able to put at least one face to this network.

either way, she's not going to be replying again until sometime tomorrow since I forgot which post we were threading on and wow this would be really hard to do at two in the morning in a town under strict curfew! Kidou would really have to worry then.]

all done! you can start looking whenever you want now. (≧◡≦) here's your clue!

since i learned about this through your hints, i hid mine based on yours! when you think you've got the right place nailed down, you should start looking for something that your demon would like.

[that is to say, since this assumption is based entirely on the location of Kidou's answers, she's hidden her own somewhere on the lower cycle campus. with everyone starting to get antsy about the break coming up this time had been a lot easier to wander around without attracting too much attention. why couldn't it have been like that from the start?

as for content...Emily had done a quick search for Eligor and found him to be a knightly figure in command of a great number of troops. if Kidou puts enough time into searching the halls he'll eventually find some history class' hallway display on medieval combat - and the decently sized drawing of a knight riding a demonic winged horse someone's doodled in the corner of the poster paper.

it's the sort of thing that happens fairly often in schools, and would likely be passed by without another thought if not for the knight's banner displaying the same symbol the network possesses. upon closer inspection, the lines of the horse's mane twist and turn to form a cleverly hidden message: hi there, underclassman. <3]

COUNTDOWN: FACES OF FUTURE & PAST 2.0

Reimi Sugimoto ☸ Orias

Yuuto Kidou ☸ Eligor

Reimi Sugimoto ☸ Orias

Yuuto Kidou ☸ Eligor

Reimi Sugimoto ☸ Orias

Yuuto Kidou ☸ Eligor

Reimi Sugimoto ☸ Orias

Yuuto Kidou ☸ Eligor

Reimi Sugimoto ☸ Orias

Yuuto Kidou ☸ Eligor

Reimi Sugimoto ☸ Orias

Yuuto Kidou ☸ Eligor

Reimi Sugimoto ☸ Orias