network, backdated to March 06

[musicdied]

Who: Yelena Belova
Username: jelica
Warnings: mention of the following: supernaturally induced fatigue and hypersomnia, parasites, fungal infection, compulsion, obsession, insect infestation, manipulation, bullying/harassment


I've been looking into our friend LovelyRen.

A little bit of background, if you are new and haven't had a chance to catch up on the history yet. Anyone who has been here since October, you can skip down to here. You won't miss anything.

Ren Morimoto was an internet celebrity under the name LovelyRen. She was supposed to have died in mid-November of a parasitic infection she contracted last spring. In December, she attacked ADI with a phone game that made everyone who played it obsessed, and spread a sort of fungal infection that brought out the worst in the infected. She introduced herself shortly afterward, and gathered a bunch of followers in a warehouse to feed to her magically controlled bugs. She was trying to get the attention of someone who had decided it was a good idea to try to show the world that magic exists.

We think she's dead now, but that has not been confirmed.

Before that, in October, we were visited by a girl named Ava who used music to put people into a sleep it was very difficult to wake from, and trap us together in recurring nightmares of dying. Before she left, she stole the phone of one of ADI's employees to send a message on the network:

"Mr. S was right. This was fun! I'll have to come back next year to play with you. - Ava, the Lullaby Girl

P.S. Sorry for stealing your phone, horsegirl67. But I wanted to say, hi. C:"

-

Several of Ren's sponsors when she was alive were personal tech companies that promoted app development, and jailbreaking and enhancement of phones. This wouldn't be very remarkable, except that when I did a little digging, many of them are connected to shell companies.

The most notable one is "Halloween 2.0", chaired by Ava Song, who does not exist as an actual living human being with any kind of digital footprint.

All of them signed on as sponsors about a year before Ren's first apparent death. At almost exactly the same time, she started to be targeted by a concentrated harassment campaign. She's not just some woman who made some very bad choices, and then was recruited by a bigger monster. Someone wanted very badly to get their hooks into her and wear her down until she was willing to agree to be something's magical slave.

Comments

[canofmanji]

maybe we should get rid of these phones. just to be safe.

[musicdied]

If it wasn't the phones, it would be something else. And the utility offsets the risk.

But if you do decide to get rid of yours, I would recommend destroying it. Not just leaving it somewhere to rot.

[canofmanji]

these things rot!? like food or flesh!?

[musicdied]

No, it was a figure of speech. They're metal and glass and plastic. They corrode over time, but they won't putrefy.

[Probably. She's assuming there aren't actually any living components in ADI's phones.

It's probably just paranoia and weariness that makes her wonder if that's actually a safe assumption.]

[canofmanji]

oh [Well, he feels a little better.] i knew that. was testing you.

[musicdied]

You are a very bad liar.

[canofmanji]

shut up. this technology stuff isnt easy you know. [He forgets that tone doesn't translate in text. That shut up possibly coming off harsher than he intends it to.]

[musicdied]

You sound like my grandfather.

[Yelena, you don't have a grandfather.]

[canofmanji]

then it sounds like you have a very smart and sophisticated grandfather.

[musicdied]

He was convinced that clocks would cause the end of the world. So, not so much.

[canofmanji]

maybe his prediction just needs more time?

[musicdied]

No, it's still going to be wrong at the end of time.

[canofmanji]

you never know. broken clock is right twice a day and whatnot.

[musicdied]

And wrong far more often.

[canofmanji]

shouldnt you be respecting your elders? so respect me and your grandfather.

[musicdied]

Managing to not fall over dead for a few decades is not a major achievement.

Respect is something you have to earn.

[canofmanji]

[On his end of the device Manji begins to laugh loud and heartily.] ya got that right kid! [Was she a kid? Hell, she could be older than him for all Manji knows, but part of the fun right now was acting like a 'grandpa' and her a younger generation so he plays into it.] i like the way you think!