--- Sburban Countdown ---​

"Clank!" The inkblots of perpetual justice that Leon stroke the CRUXTRUDER with were seemingly enough to open wide its lid. And from the opening Cruxtruder come a dowel of a purple color . Also popping out of the Cruxtruder is a blinking spirograph that switches between black and white with every blink. It will follow Leon everywhere she goes, no matter what he does to stay away from it. Perhaps you should hit it with something so that it learns not to mess with you!

One more thing to be noted, is this:


With an each time increasing speed, a meteor of tremendous size is headed towards Leons place. And it's not alone. An enormous shower of meteors is accompanying it. Each of them headed for a specific direction, and then there's the one that goes towards Guemonde's home in the middle of them... A countdown has also begun on the Cruxtruder. 15 minutes... Could it be related with the meteor? Who can say for sure... But, just in case, you should finish interacting with the other object before, well, y'know, a meteor kills you and stuff...​

Josie: deploy, prototype and connect

Josie's eyes widened. Now, remember that Josie didn't often get surprised and didn't often react much to anything. But now, she could not not react.

Divya threw a pink thing at Ruchisprite, and the screen suddenly turned all white. Some words emerged, accompanied by a new sight behind them. The words said:


Josie instantly knew that something even stranger than anything she had ever seen before had just happened. The words faded away and the landscape that was now visible on her screen was a macabre one. It looked as if a war had been fought in the middle of a very old city, a city which was now decaying. And on a hill near it all stood now Divya's home. Josie zoomed in. She had to see if Divya was okay.

She was talking to Ruchisprite and some... lifeforms? Orange lizards. Josie could not hear what they were saying, of course. She could just see that they were interacting. As Divya ran back into the house, Josie hoped that she would contact her. That this was not just a game; that this had actually happened. Or maybe she wished for the opposite to be true?

The message came though, making Josie nod repeatedly in some effort to make herself accept that this was actually happening. Okay. They were really entering a game and avoiding falling meteors. Speaking of which...

She got up from her seat and to the window, opening it and leaning out slightly. Her room was on the fourth floor so there was quite a bit down. The sky was dark from yellowish, brownish clouds. Very strange. A wind was blowing, also. Ominously. Josie shuddered, but still didn't move a muscle in her face.

Back at the computer, she now read the message.


Without wasting any more time, Josie deployed a JUMPER BLOCK EXTENSION and PUNCH CARD SHUNT. Both of those didn't seem to be deployable on their own, but when Josie accidentally hovered one over the ALCHEMITER, she found that they fit there. Next, she put the PUNCH DESIGNIX in the room or hallway closest to the pool, so that it was indoors next to a wall but still not too far away. And there was also some kind of CD which Josie put down right at Divya's feet, hoping that she would see it rather than kick it into the pool or step on it.

A knock suddenly came on Josie's door. She turned around just as it opened up.

"I've told you that you can't come in uninvited," she told her BROTHER with a dark look.

He didn't even smile back. "I knocked. But listen. FATHER is stressed up. He has ordered all the workers to go home from the castle, and he's told me to stay in my room quietly."

Josie's annoyingly persistent gut feeling tugged at her. "So what? Does he want me to do that too? I'm already doing it."

"Yeah... I just thought you wanted to know that..."

"What?"

"There might be some kind of catastrophe coming." BROTHER shrugged. "Apparently India was just stricken by a meteor shower that crushed houses. They say on the TV that showers might strike other parts of the world too, and they don't even know from where the meteors are coming."

Josie knew. She knew instantly when he had said the word CATASTROPHE what he meant. But she didn't let anything show. Her mind was forming plans and ideas.

"It's not certain that it would strike England, then."

"No, I guess not. But you know FATHER, he gets hyped up about anything."

"I know."

BROTHER looked behind her, taking a step into the room. "Hey is that your game?"

"It is. And I'm playing, so please excuse me, dorkhead."

That was unnecessary but BROTHER just smiled goofily and let himself out of the room again. Josie let out a breath. She had her plan ready. If the meteors really was because Divya started playing the game... Then Leon could have been struck by them as well, by now. It was very likely. He did seem stressed up last time she chatted with him.

Either, the meteors only struck the CLIENT players, or they would reach the SERVER players as well at some point. Should she stay put and serve Divya and hope for the best? Or should she try to save herself... and BROTHER. And FATHER, she guessed, not to mention the remains of the COUNTESS and all of the castle.

She needed someone to act as her own SERVER player and make her go to the same place as Divya was. But first...

She gripped the computer mouse hard and watched the black creatures waiting outside Divya's home in that strange way. Feeling unusually frustrated, she grabbed a piece of debris from the ground outside the house with the cursor, and whacked an IMP with it. The particular IMP yelled and ran around a corner of the house. The others watched the debris with growling faces, as if they wish that they could attack but wouldn't do so yet. They were really part of a game...

The fleeing IMP had run right to where the pool was. Oh no, maybe Josie had triggered its will to attack before Divya was ready! Ruchisprite came floating out towards the pool just then. Could she defend herself? Josie kept a cool face, but her heartbeat raced as her mind ran wild. In the debris right outside, lay a dusty BLUNDERBUSS of a very cool looking design. Anything would have been good now. But this was what Josie picked up and threw at Ruchisprite with the cursor, just before the IMP came close enough to throw itself at her...

An exploding noise from outside the castle pulled her back into the real world. What was that? Not the meteors already... Quickly, before BROTHER or FATHER came storming into the room again, Josie clicked around in the SBURB screen until she found what she was looking for again.


Couldn't have been more obvious what she had to do. She had no idea of who she was connecting with now. Probably Divya since they were already connected? Yet, the fact that Ryan and Leon were also playing the game made her wonder... If even more people were, maybe? And were they all doing their own separate thing or were they all connected? She guessed the former. The latter would just be too incredible.

She clicked.

((OOC: this means, I'm now prototyping Ruchisprite with a blunderbuss.))

​

JOSIE: be the client player

You are now the client player. Which is to say, you are now Josie again. A fitting, doomfull yet harmonious track which we have already heard just started playing in your ongoing soundtrack playlist in your mp3 player.

Outside your house, cars and bikes are driving away. The last servants have left the house. Your FATHER has made them go home to evacuate the area or say goodbye to their families. He believes an apocalypse is indeed coming. And walking up to your window now and looking out, you can't say you don't slightly agree with him.

Since you clicked "Connect to Server" just a minute ago, everything seems to have gotten worse. The clouds above your home suddenly cleared up and the dreadful red lines in the sky are now visible. You can't say for sure since you aren't seeing any particular space stone heading in your direction, yet, but they sure bear some resemblance to meteors.

And something else has also become clear. You are all playing the same session of SBURB. When you had clicked that, a text appeared: "Connecting to [PA]..." Leon. You are Divya's server, Leon is your server and Ryan is Leon's server. It is obvious that Divya will have to become Ryan's server apparently, to save him from the meteors as well. Yes, quite obvious, we are all stunned by this revelation. Whoa, the same session all along, really?

Your BROTHER is trying to open up the door to your room, but to no avail. You have locked it now, and put a chair in the way. He can't help you this time. But you might be able to help him. If what happened to Divya's home can happen to your home too, you can save them. You feel sad for the servants now. They are more likely to get killed by meteors somewhere else than in this house. If you succeed as a client player, that is.

Still in full control of your nerves, at least enough, you pester your server player. You are kind of in need of his assistance now.


What else can you do before Leon replies? BROTHER has given up knocking on the door. He is likely worried for you. You feel a sting in your heart, knowing that. You never like to upset him, not for real. Only for pretend.

You suddenly notice something you were too preoccupied to see before. There is something lying on your bed. Two... cards? One orange and one a deep green color. You pick them up and read SYLLADEX and STRIFE SPECIBUS. Hmm, what does this mean? Wait, you remember seeing Divya and Ruchi doing things with these earlier. They put stuff in them?

Testing it out, you take your mp3 player and put it onto the orange card. The player disappeared and showed up on the card. Huh? Now, that was some creepy magic. But you are no longer phased by that. SBURB is creepy and that is simply a fact. But how do you take the player out again? You wonder if you can just, sort of, reach in and...

Yeah, it worked. The mp3 player is in your hand again. You put it back on, with the same music looped.

The other card beckons you to put something inside it too. So you do that. You take a random fake-gold jewelry chain lying on top of a dresser together with some earrings and pendants you never really wear, and you drop this little chain onto the green card. A chain. Is what you choose. You can't imagine it's going to be all that important anyways.

​