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

[stonefaith]

[ bariyan hadn't been expecting ros to pull him back and that throws him off-balance, too much; the blade hits ros' outstretched arm, but the impact holds the captain back just long enough for ros to make both of her shots. the captain falls.

bariyan hardly notices. he swears, loud and harsh, angry -- but it's done. they're done. this time he grabs roslyn by the arm and he notices blood right away, causing his grip to slip. he lets go to curl his fingers into her sleeve, instead.

then he pulls her away, moving faster than ever. ]

[boughtabookstore]

[ he's gone.

he's gone and -- okay, fuck, that hurts, she winces at bariyan's fingers but moves with him, stumbling once but she lengthens her stride. he's taller than her. she'd noticed before, of course she had, but now is the first time she's really thought about it. half a foot?

he'd sounded a little furious. she doesn't want to think about that. they're almost clear and the captain's gone and sure there's blood running down her arm but she's hardly dead.

none of this is real anyways. ]

[stonefaith]

[ he doesn't know how long they run, how far. he doesn't stop running until they're out of sight of the enemy and he keeps running for a while after that.

the memory is thinner around the edges. he'd never been familiar with this part of the country and his imagination fills in the blanks with more plains, rolling hills, more of that harsh, bright sky. he stops and lets go of ros, looks at his hand where her blood has dried. ]

Ros. [ he turns, looks at her. wretchedly. ] I'm sorry.

[boughtabookstore]

[ she doesn't have any particular problem keeping up with him, though by the end she's started to lag some. when they finally stop she tears off what's left of the sleeve of her shirt, starts working on a makeshift bandage. ]

You don't have to apologize. [ straightforward, calm. she winces a little and then looks up at him with a shrug. ] In future, I'll remember that you take hits better than I do.

[stonefaith]

[ bariyan stares at her as she begins to patch herself off, clean, precise, calm. as always. and here he is, still guilty and horrified and shocked.

he shudders a little. and tries to get ahold of himself. ]

Right. I'm-- [ all right, so he wasn't doing so well. he tries again. ] Are you all right?

[boughtabookstore]

[ it's not her damage, not her past. bariyan's safe now, at least temporarily. any emotions dug up she doesn't want to deal with right now, wants to concentrate on the here and now instead. ]

I'm fine. We just have to find a way out of this mess. [ a glance at him, neutral except for the concern in her eyes she can't quite push down. ] How are you?

[stonefaith]

Me? Fine. I'm fine. [ the repetition a clear sign that he is not. bariyan was never any good at battle; he had no reason to be, he'd always left that to everyone else.

he looked around, swallowed. yes, they have to get out. and get ros proper care. how is the question. he walks out a little further, scanning the horizon, desperate to find something unfamiliar. ]

If this isn't real, then-- what is this?

[boughtabookstore]

[ and while she cares, perhaps more than she meant to, emotions are not roslyn's strong point. she isn't certain how to reassure him at all. ]

Memories, from what I can tell. Memories from quite a few different Transports, cobbled together. If we walk far enough, we'll slip into another one.

[ factual, precise. thinking calmly under pressure has always been a skill of hers. ]

[stonefaith]

Will they all be like this one? With the... [ he looks back over his shoulder, half-expecting to see men giving chase. ] I wasn't expecting everyone to attack. Those were some of my friends back there.

[ a pause. a correction, a sad one: ] They were my friends at the time.

[boughtabookstore]

From what I can tell so far, it doesn't matter who the people in the memory are. They'll attack.

[ she doesn't have the energy or anything else needed to phrase that more gently. ] I'm sorry. I don't know much else about what's going on.