Reset

hello! this is the blog for my writing project "Reset". I will use this to evolve the characters, the universe and my ideas. You're likely to see notes about the different characters, as well as snippets of the main story. You are more than welcome to send me questions about the characters, the universe or other things you might be wondering about. Have a nice day!

[resettheuniverse-blog]

30 days of character development - day 2

What are your characters most prominent physical features?

Sara: A big mole on the right side of her nose! Like, here:  

Jack: His back.

Veronique: She has a pretty large chest

Elisabeth: She has a hawk nose. (nose 5)

[resettheuniverse-blog]

30 days of character development - day 1

Describe your character’s relationship with their mother or their father, or both. Was it good? Bad? Were they spoiled rotten, ignored? Do they still get along now, or no?

Well obviously none of them remembers their real childhood, and were adopted at 8, so their "childhood" will be the memories inserted in their brains, and they are always made as average as possible in order to make people as alike as possible. The government avoids childhood drama because it may cause "special cases". everything to keep them away from thinking.

Sara: She only has her mother, but they are more friends than mother/daughter. Could be compared a bit to Rory and Lorelai in Gilmore Girls, without all the drama. Saturday night were usually spent eating ice cream in front of the TV and laughing at romantic comedies. They still meet up occasionally to repeat old traditions, but have become more distant as Sara grew up.

Jack: Can partly recall bits and memories from all the versions of him that has existed due to not being exposed to the Reset in years. Everyone he thinks were his parents have long since forgotten him. He did manage to dig up who his real birth mother was, but talking to her, naturally, lead him nowhere.

Veronique: Split with her father when she started dating a girl, but still has vague contact with her mother. But it's stiff between them. She was very spoilt as a child, though, something that lead her to her expensive taste later in life.

Elisabeth: Grew up more in the library than with her parents. Had extremely rich parents who never paid much attention to her, and she wouldn't have it any other way (at least she's convinced herself so). Once a month they meet up to stiff family dinners, but that's all the contact they have within the family.

[oslusiadas-blog]

30 Days of Character Development!

HEY RPERS, what if I started a meme. It’s a simple meme. You answer one question every day for thirty days, and by the end of it, you hopefully learn even more about your character and become a better roleplayer because of it! 8Dc  Y’all should totes spread this around.  Here’s the list. 

Read More

[resettheuniverse-blog]

Sorry not a prompt but I'm curious as to how they started the whole reset thing, if it is caused by a chip how did they get it into everyone. Were they already so government dependent that when the government called a mass vaccination against a new disease (they invented) they all just went and got it? Are we going to find out later or is it something i just shouldn't think too much about. Only asking because i love this so much.

Oh gosh wow I have an anon asdtfrdwsdfuj thank you!

I have given this a lot of thought, and quite honestly I haven't found a perfect solution to it yet. So I'm giving you my theory, not the complete facts, okay? haha.

I think out world ended up in a pretty bad shape. Like, there were a very few rich people, and then a ton of poor people. People were living in the mud, in containers, all that jazz. So the rich people decided they wanted to "save" the poor, but they didn't want to give them too much power. They'd just give everyone enough to live a satisfying life, be happy, but, well. A perfect life is usually a boring life, and they were afraid of what they might do if that happened, so in order to gain full control of them, they invented Reset.

And then I think that yes, eventually, it was preformed as some sort of mass vaccination, except everyone were forced to do it. Like, the government were all sweet about it like "come here we'll help you", but if you didn't do it you were really screwed.

And thus the whole process of pregnancy as a disease, installing the chips when the children reached 8 etc started, and people constantly believing that they're in 2099, while the truth is that the program's been up and running for more than 80 years when Jack's chip starts malfunctioning.

But I haven't worked it out properly yet so we'll see!

[resettheuniverse-blog]

Jack, Sara, Crazy? \o/

(This ended instead up being Liz, Veronique and Sara talking about Jack. It also lacks a proper ending)

“He’s completely crazy”

“Nutters”

“There’s no way there’s any actual truth in what he’s saying. I’ve been hit by the most common disease against women, I need to get surgery in 6 months, and everything will be fine.”

Sara sighs, and buries her head deeper into the pillow.

“Sometimes, though – I can’t get rid of the feeling that he’s telling the truth. It almost does feel like there is life growing inside of me. Not a disease, not something to get rid of, but something that is worthy of my love, of a chance”

“Personally I think he’s right”. It’s the first time Veronique speaks, and both Sara and Liz stares at her as if she’d just said she was moving to Mars.

“Don’t listen to her, Sara. She just liked his cats,” Liz comforts, awkwardly stroking her friend’s back.

“Well, they were adorable. And what if he really is right – what if everything in our brain does change at midnight on New Year’s Eve? That means there won’t be any trips for us to the South next February, Lizzie, because you won’t remember who I am”

Liz, always the one to know what to say, grows quiet then, and Sara sighs again, her gaze travelling to the window. Veronique bites her lip, and desperately starts collecting up their glasses. Suddenly the room seems too big for the three of them, and she emerges out to the kitchen door.

[resettheuniverse-blog]

Liz and Veronique, forest.

“This is stupid”

“No, no, it’s not. Careful with your foot. Yes, good. Okay, you can remove the scarf now”. The excitement in Veronique’s voice is to get sick of, had this not been her girlfriend she would probably have made it obvious 10 minutes ago. But there is something incredibly charming about the sound of her voice, how you can just hear she’s smiling, so her pulls herself together, and instead lifts up the scarf.

The sight meeting her eyes leaves her speechless.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? I know you like hiking, so I figured I could try to take a little piece of the forest inside of our flat. I know it’s not much, but you seemed so sad when you sprained your ankle, I just wanted to cheer you up, and—“

“Shut up. It’s gorgeous”

Their small living room is completely changed – the pictures on the walls changed to picturesque photos of the rainforest. Liz could faintly hear the sound of a creek (after a while she realised it was just playing on their stereo), the lights were dimmed to resemble those that would stream through the highest trees early in the morning. She has to bite her lip to prevent the ‘ah’ from escaping her lips.

Veronique stands there with the biggest smiles on her face, making Liz shake her head, before she pulls her into a tight embrace.

“Just because I sprained my ankle?”

“Just because you sprained your ankle”

“You’re the silliest person I’ve ever met”

“I love you too”

Their kiss is brief, but speaks all the emotions they both want to say, but don't really know how to utter.

[resettheuniverse-blog]

Jack and Sara with Believe ? :D

Her eyes rest on the cup in front of her, her left brow quirked up. There is doubt to be read in every corner of her face, and Jack sees it – understands it. This girl is going to be just like the other ones. It still won’t keep him from trying another time.

“So basically, what you’re trying to tell me is, the government is corrupt, and there is a tiny baby human inside of me?” she says, slowly. Her eyes wander from the cup and up to his face, tilting her head slightly to the side.

He sighs, and then nods. Buries his hand deeper into the fur of his orange cat. When she keeps quiet he opens his mouth, and says “Yes”.

“Excuse me for breaking this to you, but I do hope you’re aware that only animals give birth to things?” she continues. Jacks nods another time. Silence follows.

“Yes, that is the basic understanding of this. But where do you think young humans come from, what do you think is inside you? I don’t know, I would just like to try, I would like to lo—“

He is interrupted by the sound of someone putting down their cup too roughly. There is tea everywhere – on her hands, the table, and her dress.

“I’m sorry but I will not allow you to use my body for your experiments. Thank you for the chat, it was definitely interesting – and now I know for sure that people are right. You are completely crazy, and I sincerely hope you’ll get help one day. Now I need to leave, I’m already late for my date”

He doesn’t see her leave, only hears the loud slam of the doors of his trailer telling him she’s gone, and with her, his hope.

[resettheuniverse-blog]

send me two of my characters and a word and I'll write a short something to it. :)

[resettheuniverse-blog]

His strongest memory is the smell of alcohol, perfume and cologne, sweat, the sound of laugher mixed with the sweet sound of old classics – music most people seemed to have forgotten existed, but no, not they. The night is spent spread over sofas, chairs, the floor, discussing the deeper meaning of the change of a century, how to properly knit a bag without it looking like a deformed kitten (like Angela did this autumn) and Jack’s gaze constantly fixed on the quiet brunette in the corner.

The papers tell them it’s December 31st, 2099.

Then they start dancing. It’s a whirl, everyone’s dancing with each other, people are laughing. The lights are dimmed, he can barely see, doesn’t matter, and doesn’t care. Then she’s in front of him, and the rest of the world just stops mattering. Her eyes are the most beautiful shade of blue, and lights up with her rare, mysterious smiles. They steer away from the masses – he dares asking for her name. She just laughs, buries her head into his chest (she’s the same height as him, he notices then, but her heels make her seem taller), and awkward gesture that only works because they’re both in an alcohol-infected haze, and too drunk to care.

As the clocks starts ticking closer to midnight, he takes her hand, and she squeezes it, lightly.

“I’ll tell you at midnight”, she whispers, her lips barely brushing his earlobe – a simple gesture that sends shivers down his spine, and he would never have thought that he could be this excited for something like knowing this girl’s name (but at the moment it’s the only thing that matters in his world, her name and her chocolate hair).

The people in the room start counting down, and Jack shouts louder than anyone. 3, 2, 1 –

And then everything changes.

The fingers intertwined with his suddenly feel different – there is no longer the mystery, it is as if they’re holding onto their security blanket. People’s expressions change – from smiles to fear, from discussions to laughter, people are hugging. The world is changing right in front of his eyes and there is nothing he can do about it. He feels a big ball form inside of him, he wants to scream out of the bottom of his stomach, but out of his lips comes no sound.

He faintly hears someone mention that this music is crap, everyone in the room agreeing, every single one, and this is when he finally falls down to the ground. Only seconds have passed since midnight, but it already feels like he’s lived his whole life.

“Jacob? Hey, hey, Jacob, you feeling all right? You’re not looking too cool there on the ground”

It takes a moment to process the words – the voice is that of a stranger, but as he looks up, it is the same shade of blue, but all the mystery of his treasure is gone.

“What’s your name?” he manages to stutter.

“Jacob, don’t be silly. It’s Hannah. You know, the girl who lived next door to you your whole life? The girl who ate worms with you when we were 10?”

“My name’s not Jacob”, he gasps, shaking his head. This cannot be happening. Has he gone mad? Before this evening his girls was a stranger, he is so sure of it. He cannot remember having a friend named Hannah – he cannot remember ever eating worms (his parents would never have approved of it, he would never have approved of it).

Then his world blacks out, and the next thing he remembers is the hard surface of a parched bench, and a police officer kindly asking him to find somewhere else to finish his night.

“What day is it?” he asks, his headache telling him that something just slipped into his beer – none of it actually happened.

“Rough party? It’s the first of January, 2099. Next year will be the change of a century!”

2099

[resettheuniverse-blog]

prompt from losthitsu - mornings

The first thing Liz feels in the morning is safe. A pair of warm hands holding around her, pulling her just a bit closer as she budges, just a bit. Her lips forms into a small smile, and she turns around – spends a moment studying her girl’s face. Eyelids closed, but you can see her pupils barely moving underneath. She must be dreaming, and Liz allows herself a few moments to think it’s about her – them. Walking on the beach, laughing, holding hands, on their next scheduled vacation to the sea next summer.

Liz smiles, then, moving her eyes to study the curve of her lips, the small crook on her nose, and then she buries her head into Veronique’s neck and feels incredibly grateful for it being a Saturday.

***

Jack wakes up of cold paws clawing at his hair, and a loud moan escapes his lips before he opens his eyes. The sound of a meow, quickly followed by 4 more in different voices, makes it obvious that there is no chance for any more sleep. So instead he wraps his hands around the grey cat (it’s Fez, it’s always Fez), and pulls him into a hug. Breathes in the sweet smell of cat – one of his only pleasures in life. Then he remembers that his only other pleasure – no, hope, will be here within a few hours, judging by the loudness of the meows, and he drags himself out from under the blanket.

(He doesn’t sleep on a mattress - they all have microbes that sneaks into your brain and washes away any individual thought, he’s sure of it)

***

She’s alone. That’s her first realisation. The bed is cold, and there are no sounds coming out from the bathroom. She closes her eyes again, as if it would bring him back – but as her eyelids opens again there are still no sounds coming from the bathroom, still not shape next to her on the bed, no one looking out of the window.

She fixes her eyes on the roof, and her hands travels down to the small bump on her stomach. It is barely noticeable, but it’s there, and she’s afraid. It is like a foreign object is growing inside of her, eating her up on the inside. Maybe it is right, what the crazy man with the van said, that there is a human being in there. But she still can’t quite believe it, can’t grasp the idea of a living creature inside of her – she knows there is something there, but a little person, a fragile thing?

She shakes her head. No – it can’t be. Everybody knows he’s crazy, knows there’s no truth in his words.

This still won’t stop her from going to him, later that day.

[resettheuniverse-blog]

I've added a few more details to the characters on their page, and I'm starting to find a name to everyone, the only one still without one is the boyfriend. More parts of the main plotline is also worked out, the characters (well, mostly Jack, since he's the only one to actually remember his real one) are starting to get backgrounds. 

I've also thought a lot about the "things normal for us that would be abnormal for them", and I think the major thing is that printed pictures don't exist - only digital. I guess the thought of actually printed pictures is extremely strange to the Reset-population, as they've never seen one.

[resettheuniverse-blog]

Is there anything in our world that would be considered abnormal in Reset-Verse but is generally considered okay for us? Other than the whole 'pregnancy is a disease' thing.

Well, in many ways, the Reset-society is just a more brainwashed version of our society. Having pets is in generally considered strange by them, but having an aquarium is only considered a part of the interior design you have to feed.

But some people do decide to keep pets - horses, for instance, are still considered a hobby in Reset just like it is with us, just without the "oh my dear horse"-part. If you decide to keep pets, there will probably be a few raised eyebrows, but that's also everything.

Political interest is also abnormal to them, while, for me at least, people talking about their opinions and political points of view are everyday things. Internet like we know it doesn't exist for them - imagine the horror-scenario is SOPA and all that gets passed, and then add some more. They think they have the freedom of speech, they just don't need it.

Rather than that the government has tried to get rid of a lot of the "diseases" with our society - there's not much poverty, everyone is more or less on equal terms as far as economics go, with some differences - richer and poorer people exist, but no one is rich or poor.

I'll give this some more thought tomorrow, so maybe I can give more concrete answers then! thank you for your question! <3

[resettheuniverse-blog]

questions from lividlillies. thank you!

1. Smell and sound both trigger very strong memories. Do people ever smell or hear something from their ‘past life’ and have a feeling of dejavu? 

It occurs to more or less everyone, but remember that at midnight, their minds are completely changed - they will most likely have some sort of other memory connected to those memories.

For instance, beaches is something we all connect to the sound of seagulls and the smell of sea, right? (well, for me it is like that, but maybe I'm strange). So maybe one day they will go somewhere, and they will smell the sea, and their brains might vaguely connect it to their "real" memories, but their brains will, probably, connect it to a fake memory instead. It doesn't always work like that, because maybe their faked memories don't have anything related to this smell/sound. It will probably feel weird for them for a moment, but most of the people are brainwashed by their government, so they'll probably just brush it off eventually. 2. Where do people think babies come from? Is there a reason that they have absolutely no idea that the woman being pregnant is part of it? 

I actually haven't given that much of a thought. The idea that they will want a child, have wanted it for a while, and this is the right partner for them to get children with, is planted in their brain when their minds are reset. I think this is a very brainwashed society who doesn't do much thinking of its own - they get vague ideas implanted in their brains and then they breed by what the media feeds them. I honestly don't think many have thought about it - it just is like this.

The reason they don't know, is because the whole mind-reset becomes much more complicated if there was a baby involved, and a baby's brain isn't prepared for the.. I honestly haven't thought about what it is, but I think they have some sort of chip connected to the memory-centres in their brain? I need to think more of that. Anyway, a baby isn't prepared for that, so the government prefers to keep them hidden away until they reach the age where their memories can start the circle too.

If this makes sense? I've given this pregnancy-thing a lot of thought, but it still needs to be perfected!

[resettheuniverse-blog]

Main introduction to the universe

It is set into this humanity's future. It's difficult to say exactly how many years,  because technology as (to the people's knowledge) stood more or less quiet for the last years, but we're talking more than 70 years into the future.

The only thing different is that it is a completely digital world (meaning: very easy for the government to change, because everyone trusts them)

Each year at midnight, everyone's brain get "reset" - they're given new memories, new families, new lovers, new children, new everything, and they don't know it. The government has a complicated system that creates all this - after the new year's party/whatever they did this night, they will return to a completely new house, but they will have a memory related to each item in the house, and they will be completely feel at home.

People usually have protected sex because of illnesses, but no one knows what pregnancy really is. If a woman actually does get pregnant, is it considered a serious illness, and she will be "taken to surgery when the right time is there" (meaning: when she's about to give birth). The mother will not know that she has given birth, only that the illness is taken away

The children are sent to schools or camps far away until they are 8, where they are raised like normal children (still need to find out who takes care of the children - probably someone new each year, chosen by the government), just with the government's brainwashing.

No one outside these camps have seen a baby - everyone's (made up) memories start when they're 8. 

Children of 8 are usually adopted into new families, and at new year's they become a part of the same circle as everyone else

(the part about the children still has VERY MANY FLAWS and I need to work on it)

The citizens are convinced they live in a democratic society with elections every 4th year, but in reality it is just the government messing with their memory - only a selected few knows about the truth, and these and their children are the ones to pull all the threads and create the world and memories.

[resettheuniverse-blog]

CHARACTER BIO PART 1 - BODY AND APPEARANCE - VERONIQUE

1. Describe the character’s height and build. Is he/she heavyset, thin, short, rangy?  She's 165 cm. She could probably be called chubby by society's standards, but really, she just likes food and isn't too fond of getting up from the sofa unless it includes looking at clothes. 

2. How old is he/she?  She's 21 years old

3. Describe his/her posture. Does he/she carry himself/herself well or does he/she slouch?

It completely depends on the situation. While dealing with people who're injured or hurt, she's direct and confident, but in the streets, it might look like she's doing everything she can to make you not look at her. She ducks away from people, but will run forth the moment someone needs help.

4. How is his/her health? Is he/her fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?

She'd rather stay in bed all day than run, to put it like that. She doesn't own stamina, and will grow tired if running. She could probably endure a walk in the mountains if the speed is to her liking, or a day at the mall of there's sale, but only if she had to.

5. How does he/she move? Is he/she clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid?

I already more or less answered this on question 3, but I can talk more about it! She really tries to make herself as tiny as possible. She avoids eye-contact if she can. Her movements are careful, and if you were to set a name on it I would say a graceful clumsiness - she trips and falls a lot, but her movements still has a certain hint of elegance when she's not falling

6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he/she perceive himself/herself in the mirror?

She is pretty, but also very average - at least she thinks so herself. She knows that she has some attractive features and tries to bring them forth, with things such as showing her hips and cleavage, always wearing clothes that compliment her body, but, yes. I'd go with "pretty but average".

7. Describe his/her complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred?

She has light brown skin, and a round face.

8. Describe her/his hair: color, texture, style.

Her hair is black. It reaches to about the middle of her back, and she prefer to have it in a pony tail, braided or just a ball at the back of her head unless she's going somewhere she needs to be dressed up. it's naturally straight, but curls up sometimes after showering.

9. What color are his/her eyes?

Brown

10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features?

Not really? She has a big birth mark (around 8 cm) on the left side of her back, but it doesn't have any special form

11. What are her/his chief tension centres?

She gets a migraine when she's overworked, is that what... this question is about..?

12. What is the character’s wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does she/he have six of the same suit?

She tries to keep her wardrobe up to date with the newest fashion, but whenever really strong colours are in, she'll keep to lighter versions of them - exchange bright yellow for a lighter, more beige one, for instance, in order to not attract too much attention

13. Do his/her clothes fit well? Does he/she seem comfortable in them?

She feels comfortable when she feels pretty, and she always tries to find clothes that really compliments her figure.

14. Does he/she dress the same on the job as he/she does in his free time? If not, what are the differences?

she doesn't work, she still studies to become a nurse. At school she'll be relaxed but fashionable, at home she'll be more relaxed but still fashionable.

15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando? 

As for underwear she prefer pretty, but comfortable?