open log » ❝ The VR Program ❞

[initiatesnpc]

Date & Time: August 5th, mid morning.
Location: Anywhere characters happen to be/the VR.
Characters: Everyone.
Summary: From August 5th to August 8th, characters are plunged involuntarily into the VR Program.
Warnings: Potential violence within the threads.

When the chance arises, she's quick to take it. The programming is incomplete, she knows; the simulation isn't ready — but she's not likely to get another shot at it. And so she moves, slipping through security codes to input the command. The machines hum to life with nothing but a flicker of a green light in a dark room, and it takes only seconds to establish connections. The signal is sent out; the weapons respond.

In a single pulse, reality drops away.

There will be darkness at first as the mind realigns itself to the signals being sent it. Slowly, the darkness fades, forms take shape. People take shape. The setting is terribly familiar, plucked from the user's own mind. It might feel like a dream at first, with events playing out as if predestined, the would-be dreamer moving through a familiar and unalterable route in them. But as things begin to feel more and more realistic, as more senses more fully connect to the simulation, awareness will change. This is not a dream. This is more than a memory.

Welcome to the VR.

Only 20 minutes later, in some underground quarters, Doctor Sponde is roused from an undignified sprawl. He's hastily briefed and shuttled toward the command center, looking grim. He knows the problem demands an immediate fix, but… well, this is some complex machinery. It could take some time. It could take days. He gets to work.

Comments

[punk_cute]

Kanji is mostly reeling from suddenly being underwater, flailing in a panic and and trying to swim towards the surface. With so little light so far down, he's turned around and swims in circles instead.

Until he sees Gl'bgolyb. Then he stops and stares for a moment. He isn't really afraid, but damn is he surprised and more than a little awed. At least with his attention so claimed he isn't flailing around so much.

[fintastic]

[ Feferi is just turning to head back to the surface, when she notices that she has company! She looks surprised for just a second (she's never had any visitors this far down, or this close to her lusus!) before she looks absolutely elated, swimming towards him with considerable haste. ]

Hi there! What are you doing down here?

[ She doesn't seem concerned with the heavy white tentacles creeping up behind the both of them. ]

[punk_cute]

[He's shocked enough to try to respond.]

Uh--

[And that makes him stop. When he realizes he's not drowning and can talk and breathe (somehow) like normal, he relaxes.]

No idea! I've never swam so far down or nothin... this where you live?

[He keeps glancing nervously at the tentacles, but he takes his cue from her nonchalance and stays relaxed.]

[fintastic]

No, this is where my lusus lives. She's like my mom!

[ Really, don't mind that tentacle creeping up around your ankle. Feferi doesn't seem to mind the one around her waist, and pats it affectionately. ]

She doesn't usually get visitors. Not living visitors, anyway.

[punk_cute]

Whoa. She's-- huge. She a cool mom?

[That was obviously not what his first thought was, but he's trying!

Also getting even more nervous about those tentacles. In his experience tentacles aren't often...good things.]

She ain't gonna get upset that I'm human or nothing, right?

[fintastic]

[ These tentacles are completely innocent. If you think they're tightening, you're wrong. ]

She is cool! I like her anyway. She's never met a human before though, so I don't see why she'd be upset!

[punk_cute]

Okay.

Then, uh! ...How do we tell her that that's gettin' a little tight for humans and to loosen up a bit?

[It doesn't actually hurt, but ohgod the tightening is freaking him out just a little. Or a lot. He's trying so hard to be polite and not show it though.]

[fintastic]

But it's just her way of saying hello. If she wanted to eat you, she would have done it already!

[ But the second tentacle that starts grappling for his wrist is definitely not friendly, and the atmosphere is turning at the very least uncomfortable as the beast starts to make noise. It's low, almost indiscernible first, a whisper in an old Eldritch tongue and none of the words intelligible to the untrained ear. That's when Feferi finally turns to look over her should, a little unsettled. ]

[punk_cute]

Okay, that ain't nothin' good. It can't be 'cause it's freaking you out too!

[And that's when Kanji starts to pull on the tentacles around his ankle and wrist. His movements are tight and full of nervous tension. He doesn't like this at all. Not in the least.]

i think i saw this in an anime once

[fintastic]

No! No, I'm not freaked out.

[ Another murmur comes from below that catches Feferi's attention again, and the tentacle around her waist is pulling her away, wrapping around her multiple times to pin her arms. She pushes against them and manages to get a hand out, but to little avail. ]

He isn't, really! He's just--

[ Another squeeze cuts her off. The trident she'd been using earlier to haul the whale reappears in her free hand, but from this angle, she can't get a good blow in one-handed. ]

You can let go now!

[punk_cute]

[Kanji yelps as the tentacles tighten, but manages to keep a hand free. There's light and then a mechanical giant appears with a flame-patterned sword.]

Feferi-san-- Hold on!

[And he sends the giant after the tentacles holding Feferi and not himself. He's hoping that Primal Force will at least knock them loose, but there's already the worry about not having enough because it saps his health and he doesn't have anything to heal.]