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

[If only this person knew how accurate falling one by one was. That happens. But it's important to try to prevent something from happening more than it is to be completely truthful.]

They wouldn't do this if they knew who we were. This is a tactic to scare us into revealing ourselves by doing something reckless. Hiding isn't doing nothing.

[Kouyuki is loath to admit it, but what 10 says makes sense.

Until now, the only way to win at anything he'd participated in was to make sure he was the one who leaped the highest or made the first move. But here...the same rules didn't apply anymore, did they? Beating 'the enemy' to the punch might only result in more people getting hurt, not less.

Why... Why hadn't he thought of that himself?!

Maybe those memories weren't so far from the truth, after all. Maybe it really wasn't enough, the way he was now. But was there even enough time left to fix that before the clock wound down?]

If we hide, we lose the opportunity to take control AND stand a greater chance at being cornered! And if we're cornered...

[Kidou frowns to himself. Fubuki doesn't know what they're facing. And Kidou can't begin to tell him. So, slow approach first. He'll see if he can't circle around this.]

Take control of what?

This situation! Everything that's happening!

[Hiding feels too much like surrendering, and surrendering is too much like admitting defeat. He knows they have to be careful, but...

But...]

Do you have a plan?

A plan?

I

sort of...?

i mean, if we strike first we might catch

[He stops. Might catch who? Or what? He doesn't know. Luci has only said 'the enemy' to any of them, at least as far as he's aware. He doesn't know if that means there's one or one thousand, and doesn't even know what the enemy is capable of beyond tracking them through Luci's defenses and finding a way to breach the security of this app. That alone suggests intelligence...and a determination they ought to be wary of.

But...can't two play at that game? Whatever the face of their enemy, it wants to learn about them and find them. But in order to do that, it has to be looking, and...]

windows go both ways you know

maybe we can learn something about them if we bait them out

[In short: no, he does not have a plan. Not a concrete one. But he has ideas. Maybe even too many...]

We can also learn something by waiting, without specifically risking someone's life.

[Staring at his screen, Kouyuki realizes something. The harder he tries to make 10 agree with him, the more he is talking himself into a corner. He's running out of ways to defend his ideas. All he's got are excuses beyond which lies only another desperate but begging to be heard, to be of some use, to not be...a liability.

Except that's exactly what he is, isn't it? No matter what he manages to piece together, he still doesn't know enough. None of them do, but especially those of them that aren't Awakened.

He doesn't know how to reply anymore. And so he just...doesn't.]

COUNTDOWN: I SEE YOU

Yuuto Kidou ☸ Eligor

Shirou Fubuki ⚔ Marchosias

Yuuto Kidou ☸ Eligor

Shirou Fubuki ⚔ Marchosias

Yuuto Kidou ☸ Eligor

Shirou Fubuki ⚔ Marchosias

Yuuto Kidou ☸ Eligor

Shirou Fubuki ⚔ Marchosias