1st Song // Computer [webcam]

[wordsgate]

[Hello all you crazy reincarnated people. Have a really confused looking young man with bleach-blond hair staring at you. He hesitates for a moment, looking a little speechless, before he takes a deep breath and gets up the nerve to say something.]

This is not at all what I expected to find when I Googled that number.

Sorry, I know I must be interrupting a lot, but can anyone tell me what's going on? I tried looking at a few posts around here but I just got more confused. Something about a death, and security concerns and...a general?

[He sighs and rests his chin in his hand, mumbling the last bit of this to himself.] I didn't just accidentally hack into something I wasn't supposed to see, did I?

Comments

[ audio; cellphone ]

[secondcomingof]

Don't trust the General.

He's trying to kill us.

[ ...Casval.

Casval, please. That was not a polite way of introducing yourself to this poor soul. ]

[ audio; computer ]

[wordsgate]

[Sam doesn't bother to switch back to webcam when he responds, because he's too busy WTF'ing over this initial message.]

I. Uh. All right...[There's a pause as he tries to sort through everything he's read so far in his head. He'd think that this was all some weird game, if it wasn't for the posts stating that it WASN'T a game...and for the rumors he heard about one of the students from his old high school getting killed in some sort of fire which matched with some of the things he heard about the death.

So that just leaves one question.]

...Who's the General?

[secondcomingof]

He killed someone. He wants to kill anyone who gets too close to the truth.

[ Sorry, Sam. Casval is usually more elegant than this, but desperation has clipped his tongue short. The faster he can fill in a fellow victim on the situation, the better. Rally them for the cause instead of against. ]

He knows what we are, and he wants to get rid of us.

[ text, handwritten ]

[withregret]

[ A neat, pretty handwriting appears on his screen. ]

I'm afraid I don't know. I just happened to write a number down and this information appeared.

However, if this was supposed to be restricted information, it seems to have poor security.

[wordsgate]

[He decides to respond in text and types up his response on the computer.]

So you're new to this like me? Did you just start thinking about this number one day?

[withregret]

Yes. To both.

... Our access to this network seems to be intentional, not accidental, on someone's part.

[Text / Smartphone]

[shiromadoushi]

Someone went to the police with worries and was murdered for his efforts.

Don't mention this network to anyone who isn't on it.

[Text / computer] (yaaay I just figured out how to change the font)

[wordsgate]

Okay. No mentioning the network...or talking to the police. Got it. Thank you for the information.

Do we know yet who we're even fighting? Outside of the police and the General.

\o/

[shiromadoushi]

Not really... Most of what we found out was some cryptic bullshit they said before they killed Paul...

computer/text

[iaijutsu]

I think we're supposed to see it. I don't know why, but I doubt it's an accident.

[wordsgate]

I guess it would be hard to accidentally stumble upon a website like this. Did you find this place because a number in your head, too?

[iaijutsu]

Yes. As far as I know, we all did.

[dorkytracksuit]

It probably would have been better for you if you hadn't seen it.

[wordsgate]

yeah...I'm starting to agree with that. If this is some sort of war I don't know what I could do.

[dorkytracksuit]

None of us really know anything, or even what we've been involved in. Against our will, I might add.

[Text/ cell phone]

[reckless_fire]

Welcome to the party.

I'd tell you to get the hell outta Dodge now, but I'm not really sure it'd make any difference at this point.

1/2

[wordsgate]

[He wishes he could leave, but despite the military man clearly seeming a little unhinged, he has a point...he CAN'T just ignore this now that he knows.]

Yeah. I guess I don't have much of a choice.

2/2

[wordsgate]

[and a few minutes later, something dawns on him.]

wait they killed the kid's family too right?

[reckless_fire]

I don't think any of us do.

Yeah, that's what I heard. So we're not the only ones in deep shit.

[espigeonage]

Sam! Well well! It's Julien - I saw you last week. Didn't expect to see your face here! Perhaps we two are destined to forever meet, our fates intertwining like roses upon a trellis. Ah, such romantic lives.

Apologies that this is text - no cam on the work computers, plus people might be a liiiiittle suspicious if I started talking.

Anyway, I know what you mean. You got a number too, huh? Messed-up stuff. I hope you don't mind if I benefit from you being the one to ask first.

[wordsgate]

[Normally, Sasame would flirt back, but he's shaken enough by some of the information he's been given here that he doesn't even think to.]

Julien?! I didn't expect to see you here, either--strange. So some of us actually know each other?

Don't worry about it, text is fine. Wouldn't want to get you trouble at work...

I don't mind. Out of curiosity, did you get a memory with the number, too, or something different? This might be futile but I'm trying to figure out how this is all connected.

[espigeonage]

[This is pretty much how Julien works, anyway - outrageous line, "anyway, serious stuff".]

It would seem so! I'll say a familiar face does make it look a bit less like someone's prank. It would be tasteless for such a thing to claim as much as this does, anyway.

A memory? I'm not sure I 'got' anything. I guess I've been feeling less apocalyptically lazy of late...

[Video, cell phone]

[chalicejoker]

[Well, Hajime had been resisting the urge to use video as much as possible, given his worries as to the network's safety. But with this guy, he can't resist.]

You're pretty much screwed now.

[wordsgate]

[For a moment, Sasame pales and he gives an "oh, shit" expression to the camera, but he quickly covers it up with a (slightly forced) smile.]

Ah, Hajime. You're here, too?

[chalicejoker]

[Hajime caught that expression, and his own smile is more of a predatory smirk.]

Been here for a little while. It's not pretty.

[He's trying to sound much more confident about this entire thing than he really feels, which is helped along by that look he got from Sasame.]