Network - Is This Thing On?

[apocalypsehownpcs]

↬ Main Navigation

Is This Thing On?

(cw: reference to skin-related body horror)

The message that pops up on off-worlders' ADI-issued phones phones likely comes as a surprise given that the network has been down since May 25, along with all of ADI's other fancy tech. It's similar to other network notifications at first glance and looks like an official notification from the higher-ups saying that the network has been restored, but anyone who clicks it will find their phone redirected to automatically download a new app from a shady-looking URL that ends in the phrase "its-ya-boy-pyre".

Upon loading, the app turns out to be a private chat program with most of the same features as the ADI network, though the user interface is much, much less polished. It immediately shows a longer, less deceptive message from a user named "thecolepackage":

Sorry for the trick guys but I don't know if I can get the old network to do like back and forth and I wanted to send something you'd all click open on the first shot. And like if you know someone who's better at cyber security than you and didn't open the message maybe let them know it's okay? It's ya boy Pyre and I figured out how to get this app linked up with your phones, it should be private and safe and all that stuff. I only sent it to you offworlders for now, I'm still not so sure ADI'scool with the whole ex-desolation monster thing. But I thought maybe you could use this and also maybe I was getting lonely because it sounds like y'all have a lot going on right now

And Bonnie's telling me there's all kinds of arguments about what to do?? That's rough man I know what it's like to find out you're kind of doing the wrong thing and maybe feeding something that's going to end the world. And maybe it'll be good if you can all talk about that and figure out what YOU want to do without your bosses telling you since Bonnie says none of your bosses are agreeing on anything and it seems to me like its maybe important to figure out if you're still going to be in the apocalypse disruption gig. Youre in a tough spot and I'd say I don't envy you but also I miss having skin so I do envy you a little bit.

Anyway like I said have at and let your friends know this isn't a virus. Or it's a friendly virus I guess. Also I kind of want to go by my name Cole now instead of Pyre? So if you could call me Cole now I'd like that.

Peace.

➥ Links

• OOC Questions - LINK
  
• NPC/Mod Response Prompt - LINK
  

↬ Main Navigation

Comments

[graveyounglady]

If you mean the artifacts unleashed upon us, that seems straightforward to me, as well. It is a means to distract all of us now that he has been exposed for the monster that he is. I mean this in the sense of a man who has twisted others and the truth, not his status as an avatar.

It is my belief that those with powers are not inherently evil, which is why I do not think Ms. Nia an awful person who should be put to the flames for simply falling prey to the honeyed words of a wicked man. I spent much of my childhood doing the same.

[pinionedheart]

No, not the artifacts. The reasoning there's simple enough, distraction and division.

I might not understand the specifics, but the man's built himself a merchant empire, hasn't he? And Pam suggested he might be centuries old. Old enough to have helped shape ADI from its conception, which honestly isn't that much of a stretch, from where I'm standing.

But neither of those things is going to be true if all he wants is to burn the world to the ground. Or drown it, I suppose. There has to be more to it. Even if it's just the expectation that there's going to be something left over after whatever he's planning that he can rule over.

But your thoughts about people with powers brings me back around to my initial point. If you've all been following someone who has them for this long, maybe hunting them down isn't the right call after all.

[graveyounglady]

I cannot pretend to know the mind of another, but there was a brief period when I experienced a dream that let me understand what it might be like to be an avatar, myself. One with a domain dedicated to the End in the guise of my first god, Brother Earth. It was a peaceful and beautiful place with fields of bloody flowers and bone white trees caressing an endless sky. I spoke with the people who came to that place and then I buried them, that they might become flowers and renew the cycle of decay and rebirth. It felt, at the time, a most wonderful place, even though I knew it terrified those who came to it who were not me.

Perhaps Mr. Steel imagines he will have something similar. An apocalypse that will reshape the world for his god and leave him the master of that new domain.

I do not think pursuing every person with powers to be a particularly effective or sensible approach, though. The ones who actively inflict mass suffering are the only ones I have interest in seeing brought to some sort of justice or stopped. In truth, we have more often dealt with cursed artifacts and monstrosities, rather than people, in my time here.

[pinionedheart]

It still feels like we're missing something. But that could be enough, if he thought he could guide the reshaping.

Monstrosities like the creatures made of blood and bone?

[graveyounglady]

I dearly wish it were in me to make some manner of bestiary to aid those new to our cause, but yes. Ones I can recall most recently:

Mermaids, beings made of refuse that tangled and snared people to drown them. They seem to be bringing misery to those who have polluted the waters. Or just those who happen to be on them.

Kelpies, shape-shifting horses that kidnapped many of us for a sick game of hunting.

Pig-like creatures that set traps to hunt for people in Dogtown when it was still open.

Phone cases that ate pieces of people.

Spectral beings seen only within a strange set of '3D' glasses. They were vicious and impossible to fight back against.

White Things, bears or dogs or some combination of the two that hunt in pack and tear their victims apart, only for them to rise again for the chase the next night.

These are but a few from my memory. There have been many others. Some the horrific creations of our own minds.