COUNTDOWN: I SEE YOU

[cordibus]

Seven days remain.

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.

But then something happens...

WƎ☹C!ERROR!OMƎ ▒ O ▒ HƎ FIN⟡☹ QUIZ!!ERROR!!ERROR!
⟡nƧwƎ!ERROR!r from ▒ hƎ hƎ⟡r▒ , ▒ hƎ p⟡r▒ of you ▒ !ERROR!h⟡▒ h⟡Ƨ bƎƎn dƎniƎd for f⟡r ▒ oo ☹ong.

Is your ☹ife here ⟡ ☹ie?
YƎƧ | DƎfini▒ Ǝ☹y | ƧurƎ | I'vƎ hd my !ERROR! doub▒ Ƨ bƎforƎ, bu▒ yƎƧ | HƎ☹☹ YƎƧ | ▒ hƎrƎ iƧ no o▒ hƎr conc☹uƧion | I wiƧh I cou☹d dƎny i▒ nd ☹ivƎ hƎrƎ pƎcƎfu☹☹y !ERROR!bu▒ i▒ 'Ƨ ▒ ruƎ.

▒ h⟡nk you...!ERROR!▒ h⟡▒ wi☹☹ bƎ ⟡☹☹. ☹Ǝ▒ uƧ ƧƎƎ wh⟡▒ your hƎ⟡r▒ b☹oo!ERROR!mƧ in▒ o...

I SEE YOU.

What had just happened? Before you can think about it for too much, and as your heart beats faster, the screen returns to normal, and another message flashes.

Well shit. Lets try this again. Answer from the heart, the part of you that has been denied for far too long. DO IT QUICKLY!

Is your life here a lie?
Yes.

Sorry lambs, this time we can't kid around...

Once you are done, you are tossed once more into the main chatroom. Is fear rising? Is your heart beating faster? There's a lot more at stake now it seems. Fortunately, 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.

And now...something's might be looking right back.

[OOC: This is one of the final network post before Awakening. ALL 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 speaking, Applenet might spazz out, like above. If this happens, a random painful memory will hit both Awakened and Unawakened (please warn if the visions are graphic for other players). They might find themselves writing down things afterwards regarding the memory (for example, getting shot, they might write down the pain they are felling, etc) and regretting it. This can happen up to 5 times per user.]

Comments

[kouteipenguin]

Right.

I'm assuming it's unwise to use this for now.

[lightmischief]

It should be

Using anything else would be worst tbh if they're watching

[kouteipenguin]

[Anything else - texting? Email? Yet another chill runs down his spine.]

They're capable of watching everything?

[lightmischief]

your city card

its used for everything right

think about it

[kouteipenguin]

[Crap. He's right.]

Should this become fully compromised, what do you suggest we do?

[lightmischief]

i wont let them

trust no one

[kouteipenguin]

[Except he has to trust Luci. For better or worse, for all his shady puppeteering that sets Kidou so on edge, Luci is the one here who knows what's going on.]

Got it.

[lightmischief]

Luci: Also I don't know everything that's going on, stop thinking that

[kouteipenguin]

[This is the point in the conversation that Kidou physically freezes. It's like his heart's both stopped and racing, but he's got no inclination to do anything so insane as reach for it. He knows this feeling well; the icy grip of pure adrenaline burning through his veins with a pent-up need to act. Can this Luci really read his mind? Luci knew so many things. He thinks back to their having gone back through the logs, what he'd been forced to revisit in a whole new light. The plane crash... how did Luci know to mention a plane crash to Michi?

It takes a minute for Kidou to craft his sentence. He doesn't dare accuse Luci of anything, let alone telepathy. He can't play his hand.

It's just following orders, in a very ironic way. Didn't Luci say trust no one?]

What makes you think that's what I think?

[lightmischief]

Luci: Well it's not quite telepathy

Luci: Not sure how to explain it

Luci: at least not yet

Luci: Once this shitty issue is over i'll explain more how's that

[kouteipenguin]

[In his mind, he's saying all kinds of things that a Lower Cycle student probably shouldn't be saying. They all amount to various flavors of oh, no.

But there's also other things there, through the frantic mental panic. He needs to know exactly what this is. Can others do this, too? The enemy? And how do they know Luci is an ally - really know?]

After this issue, I want a full explanation.

[lightmischief]

Luci: If you guys survive this issue, I promise I'll explain as much as I can

Luci: It's been a while that we've gotten past this point anyway

[kouteipenguin]

So. There really were people before us.

[That's a theory he's not sure he wanted confirmed. Having a hunch that might be it was one thing, but it's really a bad omen when every single paranoid-seeming thing he suspects is turning out to be true.

There's no way that's not what Luci is saying, is it...]

[lightmischief]

Luci: People, animals, talking cars, lots of things, really.

[kouteipenguin]

[Talking cars? ... no. He cannot get distracted by details.]

What happened to them?

[lightmischief]

Luci: The same thing that happened to some of you

Luci: More later

Luci: Focus at the task at hand

[kouteipenguin]

[But all of them at once...? Or was it a slow loss until there were none left? Is Luci from one of those earlier groups? Or before that?]

Yeah. More later.

[It's hard to switch gears right now, off of what he desperately needs to know to what he also desperately needs to know, but Kidou's always been good at setting a goal and working towards it. He forces himself to shove aside everything else, but only with the promise that he is getting every answer he wants as soon as possible.

The followup comes with a pause, but he takes the hint.]

For now, is there something specific we should, or shouldn't, be doing?

[Or is he not supposed to be thinking about things like this right now? Is that dangerous to do?]

[lightmischief]

Luci: Keep watch on the new ones.

Luci: Make sure their heads don't explode

Luci: Oh and leave a sheep sticker on Gut's car, that'd be the best.

[transient_specter]

We can make that happen.

[lightmischief]

Luci: Take a picture too

Luci: If you do it, I'll unlock the images

[kouteipenguin]

That sheep theme of yours...

[Why. Luci, why. He'll just drop that topic completely, nevermind the fact that he both can't and won't do something like that.]

I'll do what I can to protect people. You can count on that.

[lightmischief]

Luci: It's a good theme

Luci: Knew I could count on you

[blackdogdown]

[ Guts has had a similar realization.. ]


So he is reading our minds....

Hey kid, you're way to calm about this.

[kouteipenguin]

[Ahahaha... on the inside, he's pure panic. He'd be worse at hiding that if he was in person.]

What alternatives are there? Rash actions won't help anyone.

[lightmischief]

Luci: Yeah what he said