TEXT | sender: [ unknown ]

[spectates]

[ 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! ]

Comments

🔒

[incorrigibles]

yeah. died in '89. but i wasn't lying when i said this isn't about me, i'm a ghost back home, so

also... i know it doesn't mean much, but for what it's worth, i'm sorry. for, you know. [ "you know" meaning, of course, that "too" that speaks for itself. ]

[orphne]

It's okay! :) This isn't really about me, either. I died in 2010.

Or I guess to be honest, I'm not dead YET. Once I go back though, I will be a few minutes later. It's okay, it was my choice (long story) and I know I have to go back because I have a responsibility (long story again, sorry).

But I think taking that choice of if-they-should-go-back-or-not away from people is really cruel. I dunno, I guess I always thought when the time came to go back, people would get to choose. Or at least get to say goodbye. Do you think that's stupid?

[incorrigibles]

... oh. well — not for nothing, but you ever wanna talk about the long stories... you know where to find me, yeah?

and that's not stupid. that's exactly what i meant. not fair to take the choice away from you, is it? no one else should make the decision for whether you live or die. and it's easy for those who're alive, to just decide to go back because there's somewhere to go back to... but those who are dead? we don't matter any less just because we're dead. we're not alive here any less than everyone else. and it's just the same story here as it is back home... when it comes right down to it, dead people don't matter to the living.

so this may not be about me, but like hell i'm gonna let people just decide for you something that should be your choice.

[orphne]

Maybe I'll tell you if we're both still around after all of this! :D I'd like to hear about the ghost-thing too, if you want to share.

You're a really kind person. Thanks for saying all of that stuff. :) It's nice to have another perspective and think about things like that. I guess I never tried separating out "people who are alive at home" from "people who are dead back home." I was always just trying to think about everybody.

I hope nobody gets too mad at you for this. :(

[incorrigibles]

sure. it's a promise, then, yeah?

[ and then he's just going to dismiss and ignore the part about being kind, ]

well, that just shows you're good, doesn't it? cause we shouldn't have that separation. we should all be the same no matter what. but i'm not surprised it's like this

it's real bloody easy to say sorry that you're dead but when it comes to your existence, well, suddenly that doesn't matter anymore

thanks. if they do then they do, i guess

[orphne]

Yeah! :D

[And Charles has no way of knowing how seriously she takes a promise, but once this is all over, if they all survive, she'll be knocking on his door to collect. She might not like talking about herself very much, but she loves hearing about others and a promise is a promise!

They just have to get there, first.]

I mean, like I told Morph-san, I think people are just really scared and they're not thinking clearly. :( There's a lot of really strong people with really strong emotions, so I guess it was inevitable that they'd start fighting. I'm sure not all of them mean the nasty things they're saying!

But if they do, well... I dunno, I'll figure that part out later. :)

[incorrigibles]

[ a promise is a promise — and he means it, too. ]

no, you're right. and i get it, i do, that a lot of people are willing to do whatever it takes to go home. to their lives and whatnot, yeah?

not for nothing, but i thought that, too, when i got here. that i don't anymore... well. can't blame them for not feeling the way i do, can i?

think things'll be easier when we get this whole mess sorted out. as long as we don't all just stop existing or something.

[orphne]

I thought that for a long time, too. I still have to go back, but... I don't want to take away anybody else's choice for how they want to live. If people want to go, they should be able to, but not at the cost of everybody who wants to stay.

[She'll fight against death in spite of its inevitability, but giving others the chance to live -- that's the most important thing. Whatever form that takes, as long as it's not hurting anyone else, she'll support it.]

So yeah! We'll figure something out. Nobody's allowed to stop existing while I have any say about it! :D

[incorrigibles]

[ he wants to ask for the why — why is she so determined to return, if it only means dying... but it's something to ask her when all this is done with, he supposes. ]

yeah, that's right. i guess if it was as easy as those who want to go being able to do that, and those who want to stay being able to stay... we wouldn't be having this talk.

but hey, i agree. i'm not gonna let anyone stop existing, either. so anyone gives you shit about it, well, you got me to back you up, yeah?