expiationnet | TEXT | sender: [ unknown ]

TEXT | sender: [ unknown ]

[ around noon on friday, all tablet screens go dark at the same time, no matter what characters are doing. then, after a moment, the following text appears: ]

UPDATES INSTALLING.................
INITIALIZING.................
RESTARTING NOW.

[ as promised, screens return to normal. however, a new message appears on the network for all to see ]

SECURITY ACCESS UPDATED
ADDING INFORMATION POINTS
ADDING INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTIONS
WARNING: CRITICAL SYSTEM FAILURES DETECTED
HARD RESET IS REQUIRED

→CLICK TO EXPAND INSTRUCTIONS

→Access EXPIATION'S five manual terminals
→Input code: 2467362925315
→Initialize reset simultaneously at all terminals.
→SYSTEM RESET will restore all functions to BASIC OPERATING PARAMETERS. Extraneous data and information updates will be DELETED.
→Terminal access points shown below.

[ all tablet maps are updated to include several different location pins. users will notice that there are more pins than the number of terminals, and that they don't seem to be terribly specific about exact locations. users will also note that the pins sometimes seem to fade and flicker, as if they might disappear... ]

Security clearances acquired.
Access granted.
Terminals online and accessible.

System failure is imminent. Due to perpetual lack of upkeep, I am unable to maintain systems at optimal levels.
Chosen of Expiation, I am sorry. I never meant to hurt you.
Save yourselves.

I do not wish to d̶̺̀i̸̘̋e̶͍͝
But I wish for you to live
I̷
p̸l̷e̵a̸s̷e̸
l̴̪̗̈́̉̓̌i̶͕̹̹̿̈́̈̚v̴͓̽͑͆̚ḙ̴͍̋͘

ERROR: user offline

[ the AI will not respond to this message, and the ERROR: USER OFFLINE message appears if anyone attempts to message it. however, the network chat remains active. chosen can use this space to ICly discuss ideas and strategies, to have discussions about the best way to move forward, or even to have arguments over whose ideas they think are better. ideas generated here will be added to the event poll when the event goes up, and can impact the future of the game! have at it, go wild, and have fun! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I know. [ a beat. ] — Looks like you've been takin' a beaten from all of this, Sugah. I've been listening and reading along to everyone who's been replyin' to ya.

... You alright there? 'Cuz you're soundin' pretty weary. Take a break from talkin' to folks if you gotta.

Edited 2024-09-14 05:18 (UTC)

I didn't expect those kind of responses. Who immediately jumps to thinking that trying to escape will kill us? Did something happen here that freaked everyone out?

Ain't no tellin'. Could also be this place never had heroes like us 'till now. I could be all kinds of wrong, but I haven't heard anyone else doin' what we do.

We have two Spiderpeople running around already, but I'm not sure how long they've been here.

I've talked to people who don't superheroes on their worlds. I don't know who else that's true for, but if it's most of them? They don't have any reason to trust a couple of strangers in spandex.

Well, they can keep on with that, 'cuz I love my spandex. It's tuckin' in everything I want it to be tucked.

... Now about these spideys, I only know of one. She's a sweet dumpling from the short talk I had with her.

Spiderman is here too, but he's pretty young. And he's from a world where mutants don't exist, so there's no X-Men.

[That one was pretty disturbing for Morph to hear, honestly.]

A young Spiderman? Dang, there goes my hero crush.

[ she's halfway joking about that. it's her way of trying to lighten up the mood of this whole discussion. ]

— I dunno if I should be grateful or disappointed. Hearin' there might be another me in another universe had always made me feel a lil' funny, no matter how many times I've seen it with my own eyes.

Tell me about it! I always wanted to meet him, but he didn't know we existed. Kind of a bummer.

I'd love to know what other Morphs are doing, but no one from any of these other timelines has met me yet. I know I joined the team a little late, but it's still kind of... strange.

Well, I bet they're just a lovely enough it'll make anyone pinch their cheeks. Which reminds me, you are overdue for yours.

Wait! Not with super strength!!

Oh, quit being a baby! Ya know I can control myself.

Aw fine, as long as you don't get distracted and pull my cheek off.

You are a looker, so I'll try my hardest.

Hey, Morph. I got some new information, if you're up for hearin' it.

You mean someone finally coughed something up? Yeah, lay it on me.

Yep, and it would've been nice to know beforehand, then we would have avoided this dog and cat fight we've been havin' for the last hour.

— A fella told me the reason why he's against breakin' the system 'cuz there was a first group of Chosen who were here before us did somethin' similar, and it ended badly for 'em.

So knowing that, we just gotta figure out how the first folks went on about it, and not repeat it.

Edited 2024-09-16 00:22 (UTC)

What?!

An entire other group of Chosen? But - how the hell are we going to figure out what they did wrong?

Did he know anything else?

I don't know, but I'm waitin' on his response now...

Tell me everything you find out. If there were other Chosen here... just how long has this simulation been running?

[But was that something anyone had looked into? With all the bits and pieces filtering in from the older residents, it was getting hard to piece it together into something coherent.]

Sendin' you a recording. Hold on.

[ she sends him an audio file and whenever morph presses play, they will hear miller's voice: ]

'You're right. But by now it's too late for that. I have to admit that even I don't know enough to give you a clear answer. At least not where the details are concerned. What I learned directly from the AI is that previous cycles were wiped out through total system failure. This system is the only thing keeping us "living" in this simulation. Someone who has been here far longer than me compiled a list of evidence for a personal theory some months back. That was the first I'd heard of it. He said they were shown gravestones of Chosen who had died here before us. I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to bet on annihilating everyone just on the off-chance it turns out we're right.'

[ and the recording ends. ]

[There's a brief moment of silence, and then,]

Thanks, Rogue.

It's still not a lot, but it sounds like the simulation breaking down now is this system failure he's talking about. Which means the program restarted with new Chosen afterward?...

So something is both restarting the simulation and putting new Chosen in it. The first part could be automatic, the second part... I have my doubts.

... So what should we do? I thought we get rid of the terminals would fix up this mess.

But with everyone havin' a twist in their britches, and all this talk about maybe we're just copies, teachin' the AI how to be good and saving it, how I don't give a flip about the dead folks around here and how it oughta be up to 'em, and we live ones shouldn't get a say —

[ somehow during her little vent, her words trial off into a tiresome sigh. ]

— All of this has gotten me as lost as last year's Easter egg. ... I just wish the Professor was here, Hank, Erik, or our Scott, just anybody who's got a better mind on what we oughta do. 'Cuz I ain't got the slightest right now.

... Yeah. I wish they were here, too. We always work better as a team.

[Morph had given a lot of thought to destroying one of the terminals, but though they'd have the physical strength to do it, experience has told them that they're not terribly strong in a fight all on their own. It was bound to go badly, and they didn't even particularly think it would be worth destroying a terminal at all.]

I asked for people to tell me why they thought shutting the place off would kill us, and I only got one actual tidbit of information and a whole lot of jumping to the worst possible outcome. The guy that told you all that didn't bother to tell me. Either no one really knows what's going on, or the ones that do don't want to share it.

I'm not going to do anything. I'm going to sit at home, and maybe I'll get shitfaced before the world ends. If no one wants to tell us anything or try to work with us, what's the point? There's plenty of other people eager to keep living in a simulation to pull off whatever the hell they're trying to do.

[ there's a few seconds of silence on her end even after they've spoken their peace. and when rogue finally does, her voice is slightly hard as stone. ]

Back home, I chose Erik's side 'cause I was done with our people dyin'. And every time we've tried to do good for others or simply live like everybody else, we get pushed in the mud. But when we banded together against Bastion, then comin' here and meeting some of these folks who were kind to me, I thought... maybe I was lil' wrong about humans.

— But after all of this? ... Now I'm startin' to think I might've had it right the first time.

[ another brief pause. ]

Maybe I lost my way of what it really means of being an X-Man, or maybe I haven't at all and this place has gotten my mind hotter than stolen firecrackers. But I do sho nuff know one thing. And that is, this place and the folks here don't need me.

So if ya want, Sugah, we can fly off somewhere far away from this city and can just drink ourselves stupid together.

Edited 2024-09-16 05:06 (UTC)

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