Un: Zodiac | It's gonna be May

[kaisoumods]

WHO: Everyone!
WHERE: Libra App
WHEN: May 1st
WHAT: Zodiac Network Post
WARNINGS: None!

[The Spirit Vein in the sky shifts from oranges to dark hues of purple and black as the element dominance shift into the Shadow element. With it, the night becomes almost unnaturally dark, even the city lights seem to struggle against the inky blackness of the night. Instead of the usual blaring sound, everyone's devices will emit a soothing wind chime sound as a new Zodiac post appears. The chime will sound even if you have your phone turned off or on silent, and will not stop until you read their message and comment to it.]


Xiao, Cole, Abasi, Sara, Yuuki, Mona, Heine, Yor, Henry, Gil, Ayato, and Lapis have joined the app. Say hi everyone!


Rhel, Aki, Will, Morpheus, Crito, Grusha, Hythlodaeus, and Eda has left the app.

[The post then continues on as normal.]

Hello! Thank you for using the Libra App.

On behalf of the Zodiac Board, we'd like to issue an apology. We've become aware that for some time now, we've allowed our greed and own selfish desires to control our actions with the company and towards the people we work with. We could blame it on our board being cursed at the end of the year to turn into demons, but really all that did was intensify an already present problem. We should've been thinking about how we contribute to the people around us, not how to further line our pockets.

This will be a long road, but we wish to change Zodiac for the better. We wish to be seen as a group that you can work with, not one to be worked against. We want to make decisions that'd benefit not just the ones at the top, but the staff we employ and people such as you that we made a commitment to help. We'd like to improve our relations with the associates with the Black Order and POKEGO, both who have done a lot of great work since they arrived in our city this year.

We can't promise things will be perfect, and we can't promise you'll agree with every decision we make. We are still a company that needs to make some profits in order to keep our doors open and our employees paid. We don't expect you to trust or forgive us anytime soon, that's something we need to earn through our actions. But here's hoping that one day we can all work together towards a brighter future.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
The Zodiac Board of Directors

PS: We can't seem to remove the icebreaker question section from the code, so we're sorry about that. We'll have an expert look into it, but for now we tried to at least make it on topic.



This post is not sponsored.

[Users will have the option to choose their own display names and userpics if they haven't already. If nothing is chosen, the app will use their real name and a quick photo taken of them from their camera's phone. Rhel, Grusha and Will will be nowhere to be found while Eda, Morpheus, Aki, Hythlodaeus, and Crito will be around the city with no memories of the app.

Like always, there'll be no responses from Zodiac. ]

Comments

♡☮STAMPEDE

[doubledollar]

one thing i can suggest on improving is yanno

actually givin responses or feedback to the people who respond to these posts
after these go up, yall are all ghosty and quiet immediately after.

kiiiinda scary? it doesn't look great on the whole
'lets get to know each other and work together' front when it feels real one-sided, yanno?


[ ... as he tries not to look too bummed out at the message about aki having left the app... ]

[hoshikiri]

I doubt that a response will come even now, though I confess that I have my doubts that they even mean what they say. Only time will tell if they're spouting empty words here.

text; un: riftdancer

[thavnairian]

i reaaaaally doubt that's gonna happen but i love your optimism

Text, un: Dynamight

[callmekacchan]

I wouldn't expect much out of them at all.
Typical corporate bs in my opinion.

un: silverrose

[fionnuisce]

points on changing the fucking alarm but consider getting rid of it before i break my phone

[For someone who's been inexplicably radio silent all weekend, that was certainly a way to come back. A pause, then:]

vital anecdotal evidence with one source and no further corroboration, for my fellow offworlders

good news: time appears to not pass in our home worldlines

bad news: good luck remembering shit-all that happens here because it's out the window as soon as you get back. sorry to be the bearer of bad news but i'm not in the mood for everyone to shoot the messenger

is it seriously only the first of may that can't be right

[For the record: Waver would in fact be back teaching class that same day, looking exhausted with a mark on his right hand, some light bruising on his face as if he'd gotten punched, and moving like he might have some cracked ribs. If asked, he claims he got in a car accident over the weekend.]

[He is a terrible liar.]

un: kesitakame

[hoshikiri]

[RECORD SCRATCH]

How did you learn this? Did something happen?

[doubledollar]

hold on wait are you serious time doesnt pass for us while we're here?
like
if we ever manage to get home itll be like the first time we left?

...its the first of may yeah hi did you like goooooo somewhere for a weekend
one of the stable gates

hold on wait you didnt go 'home' did you

text; un: riftdancer

[thavnairian]

sounds like you went home for a little while

it happened to me about a year ago, though everyone says i was just sleeping in bed for a month. as far as i can tell it's pretty rare, but my experience lined up with yours.

didn't remember shite, woke up, had some cool new scars, still stuck

UN: hikari-vi

[whiteshroud]

Can someone reading please get him to go see a medic or something he showed to class looking like he got hit by a car.

All of us were really worried.

un: deadpeopletea

[four_quarts]

Yes, that's a fairly standard experience for any isekais making a round trip back home. I saw it several times in the last world I was in as well.

I understand the surprise, however. It's been an awfully long time since it last came up on the network.

video; un: riftdancer

[thavnairian]

[Amal is just grimacing throughout this apology. It seems genuine enough.

Perhaps now he is starting to feel a little bad for accidentally beheading a dude.]

Wow, this is... uh...

video; UN: Thorn

[poisontippedcure]

Amal, is aught amiss?

I would have imagined you, of all people, would be happy.

voice; un: shadeshift

[sunforging]

Anyone got any idea how come a funny lookin' plant went an' spit out another weird lookin' phone at me? Can barely manage the one I got.

...And how come it's got a materia slotted into it, for that matter?

voice; un: kissmyash

[switchaxe]

The hell's materia?

un: tsubaki

[kanka]

Ah, so this is the fabled Zodiac. Interesting.

[What he means, actually, is that this situation is already a wholeass mess and it's apparently his job to monitor it.]

Nevertheless, I believe greetings are in order. I am Hinoki Ayato, and it is a pleasure to meet all of you. For the sake of transparency, I will state that I am a part of the Black Order, so others may know without feeling deceived. My work there involves settling disputes and arguments between Black Order members and finding an acceptable outcome for both ends.

I look forward to meeting many of you in the coming days.

[ALRIGHT FESS UP, SOMEONE FUCKED UP TO HAVE THE MEDIATOR FROM THE BLACK ORDER SHOW THE FUCK UP IN PERSON, WHO DID IT.]

un: eunietheboss

[medicgunner]

[Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

Is she kind of terrified? Yes. Maybe her hands are shaking a little as she holds her phone, but at least this time she could muster up some bravado against a guy like this so]

why the fuck did they send you out here

anonymous || text

[blackhand]

[This whole sincerity apology thing? Nah, in one ear and out the other, Garrett doesn't believe this worth SHIT.]

You know, I'd commend you for your efforts- but from what I can tell, that's a low bar.

[NO POINTS FOR EFFORT, Y'ALL SOUND AS TRUTHFUL AS THE BARON BACK HOME. Which means absolutely not at all.]

text | UN: vermeowenby

[cheep_soongbird_knockoff]

Efforts, what efforts?

[Maybe if it hadn't been for everyone else's reactions, Rren might have given this group the benefit of the doubt, but uhh... no. There was still this app on their phone that wouldn't go away and was probably tracking everything. So no. No benefit.]

un: rschwarzer;

[motiv8]

Unsure if I should be impressed they actually bothered with an almost-sincere sounding apology or just even more concerned.

I think I've settled on even more concerned.

[drewthetower]

anyone wanna go check for pod people?

text; un: darkSlayer

[kowase]

Do not touch the flowers.

I made the mistake of it on my way home from picking up coffee.

And now there is a duck in my office.
It followed me home and will not leave.

[drewthetower]

enjoy

un: Lightwings

[sundered_wings]

[It's fortunate that it's late enough in the afternoon that Sara is on the bus going home from school, rather than still at school, when her phone starts going off. Since it isn't so loud as to to be heard over a busful of elementary students, it goes unnoticed until she's off the bus.

It then goes ignored until she's in the house and in her room.

She reads the post once, and then again. As out of the loop as she still feels, it looks clear enough that somebody screwed up real good somewhere. (The mention of demons and curses for some reason gives her an odd sense of discomfort that she's never particularly felt before. She's not sure why.)

She then goes to just back out of the post and go about her afternoon, but the app itself decides it wants none of that and starts indicating that it wants her to post some kind of response before it'll leave her alone. Maybe to prove that she's at least seen the post? That's the one thing that makes sense, but that doesn't make it any less annoying.

Having nothing to contribute, however, leaves her with little choice but to do this:] z [Typing just a random letter and simply posting that.]

[medicgunner]

z?

video; UN: Thorn

[poisontippedcure]

Rhel...

[She looks sad? Is that a thing?]

That's a shame. You were good to me in your time here.

text; un: ndwolfwood

[asipofbride]

[ the fucking primitive rectangle is chiming at him and that is almost as irritating as if it'd blared at him instead. honestly he'd prefer something loud and obnoxious? ]

one thing you could do to improve is stop bothering people with your bullshit. organizations say a lot of nice sounding words and it's all a bunch of cute, empty nonsense meant to pacify people who're too stupid or complacent to care. stop dingling at me to read your garbage, i don't care.

text; un: darkSlayer

[kowase]

If given the opportunity to describe this new sound in comparison to the old one, I would say this new one sounds nearly condescending.
As if they know we are going to have to look at it eventually, like it or not.

At least with the old one, it felt more of a ... warning, given the trouble they recently caused.

text; un: AUO

[throwmoreswords]

Who doesn't love a good bit of corporate groveling in the morning? Promise everything, promise nothing; good use of the playbook, one supposes, if a bit hamfisted in your attempts at sincerity. Any board worth their salt is already halfway to being demons as they are, so it all rings a touch hollow. C for effort, try not to stick your proverbial extremities in the toaster so blatantly next time, hm?

I don't give advice for free. I also mislike my phone making noises I didn't authorize it to make. Between this and the strange flowers, there really isn't a lack of things to do around here, is there?

On that note, what the hell are baked beans and what is one supposed to do with them?

un: kesitakame

[hoshikiri]

[be nice be helpful be nice be helpful be ni]

Baked beans are eaten someone commonly in this region. Some people use them for various recipes in cooking but they are just as often reheated and eaten on their own.

voice | un: paintedfox

[stripartist]

...I believe this was the expected outcome of what happened last month. This seems familiar, the sudden changing of someone's personality or whatever you'd want to call this.

text; UN: Inazuma

[eiternity]

Familiar. Is this related to the memories you received?

un: laluna

[crisantemo]

[ Huh. Interesting. Well, at least the alarm was nice. ]

i wasn't sure what to expect, but at least the alarm was nice to listen to.

but hello, my name is lapis de fiore. it's nice to meet everyone! ヾ(^▽^*)))

[ Kaomoji as obviously the best way to communicate. In stark contrast to how she is when she does actually talk to someone. ]

just so i'm open and clear about it, i'm a member of the black order. i've been part of it for a while, and i tend to mostly deal with the more difficult fieldwork. though as far as i'm aware, that won't apply here! i believe being assigned here is for a change of pace.

[ For those who do know her, she's the "clean-up" for Bad missions or missions that have escalated beyond the current assigned Guardians control. Her "cleaning" involves summoning masses of the dead. It's Totally Fine.

So it's the combination of the Mediator and the Cleaner who are here!! Fun!!! ]

i'm not very good at introductions, sorry for that! but if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

text; UN: Thorn

[poisontippedcure]

Welcome. I'd give you the spiel, but I imagine the other Order members already have.

Be thankful you arrived when you did. You missed the worst of last month.

text: UN: hotgoss

[bebest]

Honestly, people, do I have to do EVERYTHING?

[Hotgoss has attached an audio file]

Get it TOGETHER, people. I'm like, the 20th person to comment on this!

Anyhoo, yeah spooky. Weird Zodiac are still having a whole ass Ebinzeers Scrooging thing going on. Sus as hell. Yadda yadda. I've got more important stuff to talk about: me! So Q for the crowd! Has anyone woke up and found their hair is doing weird things? Because my mane definitely turned into another hand today when I was reaching for my coffee filters. And then went back to being hair.

Just checking where on the range of Kanye Shrug and Macaulay Culkin Scream I should be freaking out right now.

text; UN: Thorn

[poisontippedcure]

Pardon me, did you just say your hair turned into a hand?

text | un; Deja Boo

[schrodingersghost]

[Danny had never been the biggest fan of Zodiac, but it felt a little more personal now.]

Yeah, I think that goes firmly in the category of way too little, way too late.

text; un: Yuki

[beathollow]

( someone's been dissociating for months. but also, wow, imagine threat of death changing greed's hearts... who'da thunk )

Direct action wins again.

[drewthetower]

can't argue with that!