applenet | COUNTDOWN: I SEE YOU

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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Who would want information from some kind of chat app . . . ?

[An app that asks morality questions. That's particularly creepy and stalks people. That she seems to get weekly flashes of . . . something around.]

I don't believe my life here is a lie.

[How could she? Wouldn't she have to deny all that was good about it?]

What parts is it saying are a lie, anyway?

I don't know. This whole thing has me scared now.

I don't want to believe everything I know is a lie. I don't want to believe these things I keep seeing are true.

[In spite of her own worries (or maybe because of them), Ran's heart goes out to this person immediately.]

Me too . . .

Nothing about this makes sense. I keep hoping it's all a joke or a prank, but not even that makes sense. And it'd be more than just cruel.

Are you okay? Are there people around you?

No just myself. I didn't want to wake up my family with this.

[It'd be hard facing this alone. Ran herself is alone in the house, but she has Harley, who's also on the app. Conan too, though she can't lean on him. Knowing that, even though neither of them are physically present, helps a lot.]

It'd be hard, I think, doing this alone. We'll . . . work this out. Whatever it is. We have to believe that, right?

And you're not alone. None of us are. I . . . guess it's really easy to feel that way. I know I have. But the fact that there are other people here, going through the same thing . . . I guess we're really not.

Maybe that's one good thing about this app, anyway.

[At home, Mira nods. It's a little comforting, at least, to know she's not the only one going through this.]

You're right. It's easy to forget that. It's scary but...I'm not the only one who's going through this. Thank you.

Edited 2017-07-07 02:50 (UTC)

It's not much, but . . . I'm glad it helps.

[Actually, it's helped her a bit, too.]

I just we knew more about what's going on. It's harder not knowing. Scarier, too.

Edited 2017-07-08 21:27 (UTC)

That's it exactly. I don't know what we need to look out for. It feels like I'm jumping at everything now.

I know . . .

I'd like to think it's all just on the internet, but.

[Hesitation.]

The headaches . . . And the . . . I don't know what to call them. Images. Do you get them too?

Yeah. They've been bad lately.

Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: This was caused by someone other than 'Luci', according to some of the conversations.
Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: I barely understand their own motivation let alone the motivation behind the compromisers.
Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: It can't be anything good though.

It feels like we're being pulled into the middle of something and we don't have a choice . . .

Maybe that we could even deal with, just. There's something weird about it. And spooky. Almost . . . occult?

I wish it would just stop.

We can't even report it to the police.

Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: It's pretty much how you described it. As far as I can tell, anyway.
Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: We're gonna have to tough it out since we can't seek appropriate help.
Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: Let me know if you need me.

[Honestly, she kind of wishes he were with her right now. He's obviously uneasy himself, but he's calm and steady and cool about it. It's one of the things she admires about him . . . and one of the things she relies on.]

[She feels bad, though. She's relied on him more lately, with everything that's been going on with her parents. She has to show him she can be okay, too.]

[Still, one question she can't help asking:]

What if . . . it really is as dangerous as it feels?

[ Honestly Harley would help as many times as he could manage if it was for anyone he cared about. Ran happened to fit that category, and so he remained unbothered by it. ]

Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: Think of it this way, if it really was indescribably dangerous, our predecessors wouldn't be around to explain things to us.
Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: I've been told to just wait, so that's all we can do for the time being.

Edited 2017-07-11 18:05 (UTC)

That's probably up to you to interpret.

I don't want to have to interpret and guess any more.

Whatever's going on . . . it's scaring people, including me, and whoever it is doesn't have any right.

COUNTDOWN: I SEE YOU

Ran Mouri ⚔ Zepar

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