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

[scintillates]

It's a little bewildering, coming (running) out of her memory and into another one, but Snow manages. She peers around the area curiously; it doesn't look like anything she's ever seen before, but that doesn't mean it's not one of--

She spots the boy. Oh. Goodness. Slapping her hands over her mouth, she tries to stifle a giggle as someone pulls up in one of those metal contraptions. She's on the verge of stepping in to help when a cat somewhere starts screaming bloody murder. And then, quite literally, starts screaming bloody murder.

Snow blinks, speaking up for the first time. "Is that cat talking?"

[onewaytrip]

The talking cat has all of his attention until there's another unfamiliar voice coming from behind. This one is not coming from a cat, but a woman. A beautiful woman. Thankfully he's managed to compose himself (or at least finish zippering back up) to avoid further embarrassment. He blinks at her before responding, his head bobbing up and down in a bewildered nod.

"Y-Yes. I think so."

And more blinking.

"Sorry - who are you--?" And why am I here? should also be attached to that, but suddenly the rabid cat spouts another line. "It's time to say goodbye!" is all he gets before its lunging at him and digging needle sharp claws into the forearm that he throws in front of his body to defend himself.

It just sort of hangs there, clawing and biting angrily while he shakes his arm frantically.

[scintillates]

"Oh, how silly of me - I'm Snow! And this isn't real, if the talking cat didn't clue you in on it." Snow looks around the area with obvious fascination. There's no danger yet, but her fingers tap her necklace absently, just in case. "Of course, I'm not entirely sure that it isn't real, either. I'll have to look into it when we're not--

And then the cat streaks across the grounds, leaping at the boy. Startled, Snow curses loudly, tapping a finger against the centre mirror on her necklace.

"Mirror, mirror, at my neck
Make that black cat hit the deck."

The cat abruptly lets go of the boy and slams into the ground as Snow makes a face at the terrible rhyme. There's a moment where it seems dazed, before it shakes its head and starts clawing up the boy's leg.

"This is the end!"

Despite the situation - or maybe because of it - Snow starts to giggle.

[onewaytrip]

His gave focuses on her necklace before shifting back to her face.

"Thanks." And he smiles at her just before the cat begins climbing up his leg again - at this point his smile turns into a grimace as he does a short one-legged dance across the lawn, trying to kick the animal off. Snow's giggling only seems to make it worse, and his face turns completely red. He quickly stops his hopping to try to make a grab for the scruff of the animal's neck.

Simon doesn't say anything, but the look he gives her clearly says 'help'.

[scintillates]

Seeing his face go red, Snow does her best to put a stop to her laughter. "I'm sorry! It's really not you, just - 'this is the end', really?"

She takes a breath, expression shifting from amused to something more serious. And then she starts to hum.

Simon can probably hear it at first, a low, soothing sound that tells him to stop fighting. But it won't last long, not to his ears at least - Snow narrows her focus and directs the song at the cat alone. Her head starts to throb a little, but she ignores it, keeping up her song until the cat starts to relax. A beat passes, and then it lets go of the boy, slumping to the ground.

Fumbling for the hidden pouch on her pants, Snow's fingers come into contact with one of her snowflake knives; a flick of her fingers has it buried in the cat's chest.

She makes a face as the animal screeches in pain, and then dies. "That could have gone better."

[onewaytrip]

The song calms him down a bit as he watches her dispatch of their feline foe. His brow furrows as he watches it succumb to the knife wound, but she had said none of this is real.

"Thank you," he repeats himself, anxiously smoothing down his bangs as he looks from the body back to her with a nervous half-smile. "Your aim, it's very good." A pause. "And your rhyming."

Which he realizes is part of what she used to subdue the cat - like some sort of fairytale rhyme or spell.

[scintillates]

She makes a bit of a face. "I was aiming for its legs. You know, to cripple it instead of - well." Snow runs a hand back through her hair, shaking it out a little. And then he compliments her rhyming, and gets a dazzling smile in return. Because no one ever compliments her rhyming.

"Thank you." She looks around. "Are there people around here at all? Because they're all about to attack us if so."

[onewaytrip]

Oh. She does have a nice smile. He'll answer her question quickly, so not to look like he's staring.

"Y-you're welcome - and my neighbor, she was... just over there." He trails off as he looks at the car. The door is ajar but the woman is no where to be found. That is disconcerting. He turns back at Snow.

"How do we leave?"

[scintillates]

Snow follows his case to the - whatever that is - and then makes a face. "Wonderful. Do you know if she was working with the cat, or if they're both on their own?" She's entirely serious, although her expression becomes a little more thoughtful at his question.

"You know, I have no idea. I was in my own memory, and then I just ended up here."

[onewaytrip]

Simon shakes his head and stares at her feet. He has no idea if the cat and his neighbor are working together, or why they would want to murder him (except that he tried to burn down their house). After a moment he looks back up at her.

"We could try heading back the way you came from. The same direction."