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

[touketsu]

[Every time Guts repeats that word Kouyuki feels like he's been struck. Every time it is a reminder of the visions he's had and, worse still, of the meaning behind his very own name.

Artificial snow.

He's told himself again and again that it's a coincidence. For fourteen years he's lived with and loved his name. He'd never had any reason to doubt it or dislike it. Not until Luci appeared, and the app along with them.]

Shut up...

[He cradles his head in his hands, rain water dripping down his face.]

Shut up, shut up, shut up...!!

this tag was a mistake

[blackdogdown]

[He opens his mouth to say something, but for once, a bit of wiggling guilt in his mind compels him to listen. Guts shuts up.

Kouyuki, if thats who he even really is, its so disorienting it is, looking at someone who he's known for years but is a stranger. Someone who is about to realize what Gabe did in one horrible instant and theres nothing either of them can do to stop it.

No....better it be now. Not then, when he will be needed. If Guts was weaker, his breakdown would have cost him his life. ]

Its unavoidable. [Finally, he speaks, and his voice while angry, is tight and controlled. ] The you that is standing in front of me will be dead in a few days. Make your peace with it. Deny it. I can't control what you do.

everything hurts

[touketsu]

[No... It's a lie. It has to be. If anything happens to him, who will look out for Michi? In all of what Guts has said, that is by far the most pressing issue. He's not eager to sacrifice his own life or anything like that, he wants to live, but if it were to ever come down to it, as the older brother, he has a responsibility to protect Michi at any cost. He can't die before he can be certain no harm will befall his little brother. He can't disappear.

Shakily, Kouyuki takes one step forward. And then another. But it isn't Guts he makes his way towards this time, but the bag and umbrella he'd dropped on the ground earlier. He'll take the things offered to him. And he'll use them despite saying he wouldn't. He'll use them to spite Guts for doubting him. He'll use them to make sure nothing bad happens to his family. And he'll use them to make sure no one else is lost the way Gabe was.]

I...I'm going home.

[But before he takes a step away from the tree and Guts, before he can turn his back on the man and all his lies, he has one last thing to say. Though he doesn't dare meet Guts' gaze this time when he says it, instead staring at the ground as if he'd like nothing more than to let his feet pound the earth and carry him far, far away from this moment.]

I'm not going to accept that I'll die just because you say I will. Because I've got something worth living for. And Gabe...I have to believe that he did too. And that maybe a part of him is still alive...because you're fighting to protect what he cared about most. Right? If that was all fake, you wouldn't bother...

[blackdogdown]

[Guts doesn't go to comfort Kouyuki in the freezing rain. He stands a little ways off, staring down at his feet. Kouyuki starts to walk away, and he makes no move to follow. ]

....

[He doesn't have anything to say. He can't promise Kouyuki will lose anything, or keep anything. All he knows is what he experienced. ]

Good luck then. Probably don't mean much from me...but hope you and Michi get out alright.

[He doesn't say anything about what Gabe felt. Maybe he doesn't know. ]

[touketsu]

[Guts is right. It doesn't mean much coming from him. But it means something coming from the man who used to be Gabe...more than Kouyuki cares to admit, even to himself.

He isn't ready to let go. He isn't ready to accept what this means.]

Don't worry about us. We're not your responsibility.

[Finally, Kouyuki turns and starts away. The sooner he gets home, the sooner he can pretend this never happened. That is...if he can sneak in the front door without anyone asking questions. Why is he drenched to the bone? Why is he covered with mud? Why is his hair disheveled and his eyes red? And what's in the bag...?

He might need Michi's help, a fact which plants a seed of guilt so deep he fears he'll never be rid of it. He's supposed to be protecting his little brother, not inadvertently dragging him into this mess.]