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open log » ❝ The VR Program ❞

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.

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What use was there fighting in the rain?

He couldn't even take up a scent. A thick blindfold covered his eyes as he walked steadily, in a perfect line, sharply turning a corner. Like there was any use in trying to see through the darkness of the Dark City; only the bright neon signs served as true light to cut through the omnipresent blackness that seemed to hang over the abandoned city like a sheet. Riku sighed and closed his eyes, trying to quell the anxiety that surged through him.

He was running out of time.

He needed to find Roxas and get him back to DiZ. There was no time for subtlety; there were no more windows that gave him a fraction of safe space to maybe make one slip up or be a few seconds late. No. He couldn't let himself do any of that. The Dark City's usual silence was drowned in pelting rain. Riku strained his ears to try and listen for any footsteps, but none would come. If anyone from Organization XIII, he'd be in trouble. He was sure quite a few members wanted to chase down the impostor, if by the way they constantly sent members to chase him down was any indication. And especially with...

He frowned and raised his head. Especially with...? His thoughts reached a dead end.

Something was wrong.

His mind wound quickly as he heard a splash and a few hisses behind him. He didn't need to turn around. Right. Neoshadows. The Dark City was crawling with Neoshadows and Shadows. They'd hunt anyone with a heart down, no matter who it was. He summoned his Keyblade and listened, raising his blade to block as the Neoshadow tried to jump on him, trying to smother him onto the ground. The Shadows were easier; at the very least, they scraped and clawed desperately to grab at any heart they could find.

He shifted around, parried attacks, rarely taking an offensive and therefore unharmed.

When he heard footsteps, he expected the worst. He could only stare in a sort of transfixed horror as he saw a shock of blond hair.

It couldn't be this easy--

Riku barely managed to parry a nearly lethal swipe of pointed, long blades, and he distinctly knew that what he had felt before--that something was wrong?--was true. A little too true to be safe. This was wrong... Roxas wasn't supposed to be here.

He had to strategize, and fast. It was only after a second that he realized the footsteps belonged to more than one person, and Roxas had not been followed.

That could only mean someone was out there nearby, in danger.

[ ooc: anyone caught in the midst of getting Heartless-kabob'd will make it so they're on the top of Riku's to-help list. this, however, means they're going to be chased by Roxas for a while. whoops. try to avoid those beams of light, they hurt a lot? ]

Edited (it'd be nice if i remembered what i was editing for ) 2012-08-06 13:02 (UTC)

It's dark and raining in this city, and Katniss can only think about how appropriate that is for her mood. Over and over, all she can think about is Prim, that blank look on her little sister's face as she ran to her and--

Hit her. tried to kill her. Like she deserved.

Katniss shook her head as if to clear it, shoving her hands back over her face to slick the hair that has escaped her braid out of the way. "Not real," she murmurs to herself out loud, keeping a tight grip on her bow. She couldn't afford to fall apart now, not with Peeta around somewhere.

A moment to her left catches her attention. It's instinct to grab an arrow, draw, breathe, shoot, although she's not sure exactly what it is that she nailed. There's none of the hesitation she's had these past few weeks in Exsilium. Katniss Everdeen is back in the Games, and she doesn't want to die.

Around her, the shadows start moving. She can't say she's surprised any more, she knows how the Gamemakers minds work, but that doesn't mean she knows how to fight them any better. Cursing under her breath, she sets of at a run for the thing she killed earlier to retrieve her arrow. With as many of the creatures that are rising out of the shadows now, she's going to need them

The scent is muted in the rain, but he still catches it.

He knows it; not intrinsically, but sharply enough that he jerks away from Roxas, sharply jumps to the left and curves his steps to run as fast as he can, towards the source. He decides to keep Way to the Dawn firmly in his hand, at his side, as he runs. There's really no time to explain, no time to even think about explaining--

Katniss would likely not understand. They come from different worlds. At the very least, he's not going to let her get hurt on his watch. As her scent gets stronger and he gets nearer, he slashes through the hordes of Shadows and a few Neoshadows as they try to jump atop him, and jump towards her.

"Katniss. Head--" He lets out a hiss as a beam of light hits him square-on, the bright light illuminating the street and causing him to bow under the pressure and ache. He stumbles forwards once, but tries to get close, looking for an entrance in the alleyway. "Head inside!"

The problem with having a bow as your weapon is that you need distance for it to do a good job, and as the creatures grow more and more numerous, she's fast running out of that.

A voice breaks through, followed by a blinding flash of light. Katniss cries out, using one of her arrows to stab at a nearby shadow instead of shooting it. She can't even tell who's yelling at her. "Why should I trust you!?"

You shouldn't.

That thought makes him screech to a halt right before Katniss, and he almost scowls at the irony of the situation--needing someone to trust him so they can get out of danger. Truth is, she shouldn't. Not after all he's done to his friends, people who've trusted him. But after he takes a look back at the blond touching down with both Keyblades in hand, he knows he can't let any harm come to either of them. This isn't Roxas. And Katniss--

Well, he doesn't know what she's doing here, anyway. A dream of a memory, probably. If only he had a bit of help decoding what this was.

"Because if you don't trust me, he'll destroy you and anything else that gets in his way," he managed to say through the pelting rain. "I can't win against him, neither can you!"

She nearly shoots him as he comes to a sudden halt in front of her. It's the flash of silver hair that jogs her memory and pulls her up short. "--Riku?"

She not any more inclined to trust him, but she's less likely to trust the shadow monsters and whoever else it is that's causing the light. She shakes her head, and shoots another creature instead. "Fine! Inside it is!"

Relief floods his body for but a moment--he tenses right back up as he hears more splashes behind him.

Inside. He turned sharply and aimed a solid kick at a locked door, its hinges creaking in protest as it swung open. All the buildings were largely deserted for the most part. The Dark City had no inhabitants, after all--not with the Castle That Never Was floating ominously above, shining its eerie white glow down over the rooftops.

"Come on," he urged, standing by the doorway to let her in first.

At first the dark streets had seemed relatively normal. Almost peaceful, in a strange way, though darker than normal.

That changed very quickly, and she probably should have expected that, should have known that there was no way in the midst of this clusterfuck of a scenario there would be any decent place.

She catches sight of Riku for only a moment before something -- what the hell is that thing? -- comes after her, and weary and pissed she raises her gun and shoots it. This entire thing just needs to be over.

A gun?

That didn't sound at all like the guns he's heard before from the Organization--so he turns his head to sense Roslyn to his left. Immediately, he skids across soaked streets to try and reach her, knowing that time is short. He's thankful that he knows Roslyn well enough to know her scent and her presence, or he would've been confused on who the newcomer was in the first place.

... now, why was Roslyn here? He narrowly dodges a beam of light as he's chased, lengthening his gait so he could catch up to her quicker. "Roslyn!" he calls out, hoping to whatever entity will give pity at this point that she can hear him through the pelting rain.

She does hear him, and her turn is quick but controlled, gun already lowered so she doesn't accidentally shoot anyone she really doesn't want to shoot.

"We need to move." It's fast, clipped. "This is a memory, it's not real." Given the memories she's fallen into so far, she wants him out of here before things start getting -- well, they're already a little bad. Worse, then.

Not real. A memory. He breathes out a sharp sigh of relief before nodding. "Okay. We need to go left. There's an abandoned truck here, there's cover."

He knows the layout of the Dark City like the back of his hand, with how many times he's had this dream. He turns away from Ros once he's near her, shooting off a multitude of dark spheres and spirals of energy from his hand, his immobile arm bent tight at his side.

"Good." He's calm enough, controlled - no liabilities from him, which is pretty much what she expected. It still gives her a faint sense of pride.

She heads left towards where he'd indicated, keeping a close eye on him. She hasn't actually seen him in a true fight before, the knowledge is worth having. "This is your dream. What then?"

"I don't know if this is just my dream," he muttered quietly, falling back to her side as he caught up. "I've had lucid dreams before. I could change them. I can't change anything about this place."

The truck was crashed into an alleyway in the Dark City. Rubble surrounded the front of it, the wall it'd crashed into having completely been demolished. Ever focused, it only took a few moments for him to find a way over, and then he looked back to Ros. "Think you can make it over?"

"It may not be changeable, but it is certainly your dream." She eyed the truck for a moment and then began making her way over. Slightly slower than him in her lack of familiarity with the area, but making good progress.

She came to a stop beside him and nodded. "I'm fine. What next?"

"We need to get somewhere high. He won't follow us then."

Thank god they were in a city of skyscrapers; he only slowed to speak quietly, only stopped when a Neoshadow leapt towards them and he had to summon Dark Shield to protect both of them from an incoming attack. A flare of dark fire caused it to back off as Riku lead her forwards, to one of the taller buildings--straight inside. There were no lights, and it almost seemed like a generic waiting room that had undergone decades of abuse and negligence.

As he turned back to Ros, he wondered why this dream, of all of them, had to be affected by whatever was happening. He had other dreams. Other, peaceful dreams. Why this one?

She followed him closely, gun in hand but lowered because she couldn't see it doing all too much good against these creatures. The shield bought an assessing glance from her, but mostly she just kept moving, keeping a close eye on her surroundings.

Up it was, and when he turned to look at her she nodded at him, holstered her gun for the moment. "How are you?"

Riku hesitated in step to shoot her a glance over his shoulder. "What?"

What did she mean? In a general sense, or pertaining to the dream? Because if he was honest--he was horrible. This dream was the last thing he'd want anyone else to experience. He wondered if his emotional state would affect hers, if this was his dream. "I'm..." Uh... "... okay."

Mostly she meant in regards to right now and this dream. She'd already seen a few people flipping out about their dreams - she felt no desire to add Riku to the list.

"Okay?" She repeated it, as if looking for affirmation, and continued following him. "Not everyone has reacted to this well."

"I have this nightmare enough to get used to it."

He noted, his voice low and quiet as he headed towards the glass elevator, the light above the doors flickering ominously. Riku's back was straight, his shoulders shaking slightly, arms tense and at his side. Yes, he'd gotten used to this nightmare, that much was true--but that didn't mean that he was okay with what was happening. He looked back towards her as they opened, and nodded his head inside. "It's safe."

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open log » ❝ The VR Program ❞

¬ another side, another story: deep dive.

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