Corperate Takeover 1x1

[Gifted]

250 years ago, the world ended.
It was understandable, of course. With the world oil shortage, constant war and violence, and global warming causing horrific natural disasters in the fighting countries, that big red button finally got too tempting, and someone (*coughcough* North Korea *coughcough*) pushed it.
But of course there was retaliation.
But not all was lost. As the government of each country doomed itself with a nuclear war, multi-national corporations, with no allegiance to any country, stepped in for the rest of civilization. Together, five multi-national corporations managed to save about one-tenth of the population of North America, moving them underground and protecting them from the nuclear missiles raining from above.
When those protected finally returned to the surface, the United States, and every other country, was no more.
The corporations began reconstructing a new government, the grateful citizen wanting to get back to some semblance of normalcy.
But sometime between then and now, something changed.
Now, the five governments control everything. Words have been removed from the vocabulary, history was covered up, and children were raised on the company’s values, to believe they were superior to anyone from other company’s territories. This is all people know anymore.
But that all changed, for five people. Though the government had cleaned up all evidence of the worlds former glory, somehow, these five people found artefacts from a better time. Separated into five distinct categories, Music, History, Science, Fiction and Language, these five people from around the continent together form the Culture of past times. But what will they do with this new information? And what happens when the five companies find out?
That, is up to you.

Five students of Culture:
Music: Owen Winslake
Fiction: Ryan Villein
Science: Kyla Wenkeling
History: Melanie Ross
Language: Fredrick de Vymont

Words cut out of the language
Dictatorship (and all synonyms)
Rebel
Any swear words
Slavery
Freedom
Ignorance (and all synonyms)
Democracy
Tyrant (and all synonyms)
Liberty
Corrupt
Alias
Spy (in the sense that the general populace wouldn't know it. When government workers are spying, they prefer the term "discreet surveillance")
Fight: Though the word itself has been taken out of the language, fighting is an integral part of society. If referring to fighting in a war, simply the word “war” or “warring” is used. One-on-one fights are encouraged amongst people of different territories. This is called an “act of patriotism”. This also assures that no fighting is done with someone within your own territory. Ex. “I committed an act of patriotism against a kid from Google today. Won by a landslide.”
Right: Cut out in the context that you have a right to do something. Remains in other contexts.
Anything pertaining to religion
this list is subject to update at any time and probably will have many more words added on
Words that have taken on new meaning
Microsoft: Any object that is obsolete, or isn’t working properly. Used as a derogatory term. Ex. “That’s the third time my hoverboard broke down this week!”
“Dude, your Hoverboards a Microsoft, get a new one.”
Wendy: A highly offensive term for a woman that deliberately insults her temperament. Ex. “Wow, what a Wendy”
A difficult thing or situation. Ex. “That lock’s a real Wendy to open” (for anyone keeping score, that’s the definition Word gives me when I look up “bitch”
Adidas: A highly offensive term used with or without a following word to express exasperation, fear or surprise or to add emphasis. (for anyone keeping score, thats the definition Word gives me when I look up “fuck”)
Yahoo: Someone who is rude or repulsive in appearance and action. (yes I realise that’s the definition NOW, but I still figured I’d include it)

Geography
Apple: The largest of the territories in both population and land, it contains Alaska, Greenland and the vast majority of canada. The bottom of the territory on a map runs in a relitivley straight line along the Canadian/US border, hits Lake Superior before moving up to the lowest point of Hudson Bay and continuing diagonally upwards through Quebec. Contains all of Newfoundland and PEI.

Google: The second largest in population, though third in size. Runs from Washington to North Dakota and down to Kansas before continuing on a diagonal to the bottom of New Mexico and through a small part of Mexico.

Mcdonalds: All the states along the Eastern coastline of US, as far out as eastern Ohio. Also includes Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi

Starbucks: Michigan, Wisconson, the part of Ontario unoccupied by Apple and the part of Minnesota hugging Lake Superior. Easily the smallest territory.

Nike: The second biggest in size. The remainder of Mexico and all countries lower than Mexico. The US states unclaimed by anyone else, save for Kentucky and Tenesse, which are rumoured to still be radioactive and therefore unoccupied.

[Gifted]

"Kyla!" A voice called.
Suddenly, an eruption of sparks came from the hoverboard in front of her on the sort of workbench she'd built, the sparks spitting into her red face. "Adidas!" she cried, dropping her tools and blocking her face with her arms.
"You missed dinner." her little sister who'd first spoken, said.
"And?" Kyla said bitterly, looking around for the correct tool to fix the probblem she'd created.
"Well... I brought you some."
Kyla looked up and saw her sister was holding a tray. She was touched. Her parents could care less if she showed up home at night, or to dinner, or ever at all. Kyla sometimes wondered if her parents would even notice if she ran off. "Oh, wow... thanks Joanna."
"Michael's mad at you." She informed Kyla.
"What else is new?" Kyla grabbed the tool she'd been looking for, and repositioned the wires she'd been fiddling with. She turned the hoverboard on, and it came to life silently. Perfect.
"You know, mom is going to freak if she ever find out about your lab."
"Aw, that wendy doesn't scare me. I'll be fine. I doubt she even notices I am gone all day after school." Kyla was only 16, shy of her off year by a bit. But that didn't mean she attended like she was supposed too. Her parents never cared. They were too busy with her other siblings to bother their heads about Kyla.
Her eldest sister was Sharon, in her twenties and already working, she was the first love of her parents. Then came Michael, 19, his first year at the factory. He was perfect for it, a model worker. Not very bright, but you didn't need to be there. He was strong and worked hard.
Then came Kyla, and her parents - when they remembered her at all - lost no time telling her what a severe disappointment she was. She'd never cared too much about school, but had gone at first to please her parents, but it was so monotonous. From a young age, she'd loved to tinker with things and figure out how they worked. Unfortunately her parents never approved of her particular brand of genius, saying she should "spend less time on things that don't concern you and focus on your studies." Now she often skipped school to work in the lab. Part of it was boredom and a love for science she couldn't satisfy elsewhere, but part of it was also trying to get her parents to remember she existed, for it had been a long time since they even noticed their most disappointing daughter.
Kyla's birthday was at the beginning of the year, and her next youngest sisters was at the end - sixteen year old Andrea. She was a tattle-tale and a suck-up, and their parents adored her. Kyla thought Andrea was long past the age that sort of behavior ought to be condoned.
After her came Nicholas. He was a genius in the proper sense of the word. Always polite and knowledgeable, and very attractive, if anyone in the family were going to "Marry into a proper family" as her parents put it, it would be Nicholas.
The next youngest was Joanna herself, the only sibling Kyla really loved. Of course, Nicholas was very nice in his own way, but Joanna was the only one who really felt to Kyla like a sister should. She was cunning for her age, and was the only one who knew about Kylas lab. their parents were under the impression Joan was average. Not bad at anything, but completely unremarkable. She was only twelve, but she was turning at thirteen in a week out two. Kyla could never remember all her siblings birthdays.
after Joan were the twins Tammy and Antonio. They were nine years old, and total pests, so of course they were mothers favorites.
The final child was only two, little Tiffany. Kyla rarely ever saw her.

Kyla mostly looked after herself. Needing her own money, she'd used her talents to open sort of a repair shop for hoverboards, which was about four different shades of illegal. So she took the boards back to her "laboratory" in secret, fixed them, and sent them back to their owners much faster than the government would, though they did it for less money than she charged.
The laboratory was something she'd found when she was ten years old. She'd been trying to run away - was it really running away when nobody noticed you were gone? - when she'd heard someone running up fast behind her. Searching desperately for somewhere to run, she happened to notice an old, rust-coloured trapdoor hidden by the sandy ground, close enough to the ocean to be underwater at high tide. She'd never seen a door like that before, but when she went to inspect it and found it swung open, she greatfully jumped into the hole and avoided whoever had come to look for her. What she found was not a hole but a concrete room, bigger than her whole house back home, full of carefully preserved books and chemicals and experiments.
Since then she'd worked here and learned, learned much more than she could ever learn at school. Joan knew where to find her, but, but no one else did. The lab was her place to work, but it was also her place to escape.
"I gotta take this baby out for a test drive first before I sit down to eat anything." Kyla said, indicating the hoverboard. "After that I'll eat and maybe read for an hour. I'm learning how to predict the weather."
"You're joking!"
"Not at all, it's really quite simple. We're in southern mcdonalds right? So the prevailing winds are the prevailing westerlies. Then you factor in where the high pressure and low pressure fronts are... Like, right now we're in a high pressure front so it's really pretty, but if we get low pressure, it'll pour rain. Then depending on where exactly the front is, that's gonna tel you the wind direction, and-"
"Can you tell me this another time? Only moms expecting me."
there was an akward silence. There always was with Kyla when mom was brought up. "Oh... Ok. See you later then."
"Are you coming home tonight?"
"What, and let Mitchael commit an act of patriotism on me? No thanks." When Joan looked disappointed, Kyla added. "That was a joke, joanna. I'll see you tonight." She knew, barring Nicholas, Joanna didn't really like their siblings either.
Joanna nodded and then Sharon's voice rang out above them. "Joanna! Mom is extremely disappointed in you. Why are you out when mom asked you to come inside? Children, they never listen!" Joanna hurried out so as not to annoy their eldest sister.
After the two were gone, Kyla sighed, grabbed the board, and went out to test it. It was gonna be a long night tonight.

[Raven]

Frederick looked around the dull factory interior. As usual, there were a few small corrections he made, things of no real import that would help minutely, that someone who wasn't trained as he was would never have picked up on anyway. And, as usual, there were many blatant safety concerns that he could do nothing about. He'd only been at the job for three years, but it felt like a lifetime. Every time he left a place he wondered which of the workers he met would be next to suffer an accident. He always tried to remind himself to be thankful for his lot. Growing up in the right family had it's perks - perks he deserved, he wouldn't argue against that - and he'd never had to work in a factory. He'd never have lived even this long in a factory, anyway; he knew that well enough. A simple bruise, without medical attention, would cause him to bleed to death. In his first years in school, his friends thought he'd been crazy when he flipped out over a paper cut. Now they knew as well as he did that his blood didn't clot on its own like most people's did. Even still, he wished he could help out the laborers.
With a sigh, he rubbed his face, more gently than most people would. "That's it," he said, then stood up. This time had gone faster than usual, so maybe he would have a bit of free time before he sat down to write his report on the factory. He'd already forgotten which factory it was, he'd have to look, all he knew was that he was in Oklahoma. As he left the factory, he pulled his bag, which he used in favor of a briefcase, over his shoulder, looking around as he walked to his hoverboard. Some called it childish, but he didn't honestly care. It was more convenient than any other form of transportation. He checked the time and a small smile played over his lips. He'd have time.
Within minutes, he'd been well away from civilization. It had been a long time since he'd been able to just kick back, since he was always going from one place to the next on jobs rather than for enjoyment. Traveling had been the reason he'd wanted this job, and it was the one thing that made work bearable. He knew he would never be able to sit in an office all day. He could barely stand the few hours he already had to do it. He did a quick loop in the air and slowed his board so that he could admire the scenery. He much preferred the lush vegetation of western Google to this, but it wasn't so bad here in small doses. Nice, actually. He took a deep breath, wishing this could last.

[Gifted]

the back of his hoverboard swerved as he skidded to a stop, jumping off in the same motion. He surveyed with distate to large, muscular white kid before him. "You the google kid I'm supposed to meet?" Owen asked, cocking his head.

"Depends," The guy said, flexing his massive biceps. "You the Apple twerp I'm supposed to be finding?"

"Well, gee," Owen said in a bitter, mocking voice. "Did they tell you to look for the black kid with black hair, wearing the blue shirt wth the giant apple logo on it? Because I was told to look for the big white kid who throws his weight around like he's all that, and I'm pretty sure I've got the right guy,"
"You cheeky little fruit..." The kid clearly had nothing origanal to say. Owen sighed. Time to get this over with to pacify his dad.

Twenty minutes later, with one black eye and two bruised ribs, Owen stepped back onto his hoverboard. "Looks like you just got beat by a fruit," he said to the unconcious google kid as he sped off.

it only took him ten minutes on his hoverboard to get home, living, as he did, relitivley close to the the border. He jumped off and carried his hoverboard inside his home
"Did you beat him?" Tyler asked the second Owen walked in the door.
"Act of patriotism against Google accomplished," He told Tyler in an emotionless voice.
Owen absolutley refused to call his stepfather anything other than his name.
Owen was the only child of Kayla Winslake and Pierce Dekoto, two factory workers whom Tyler told him were nice, respectable people who met with a tragic accident. Personally, Owen suspected they might have ticked off a few important people. Both Kayla and Pierce were killed in a house fire, yet Owen had survived. Less than a week after, Kaylas brother, Dennis, was brutally murdered in his home, and the investigation went cold. Finally, Kayla's sister Katrina and the last remaining sibling to either of his parents (his fathers only sister having died some years before) died in a factory accident a few days later, leaving him with exactly one relative in his entire family tree; His mothers cousin, Tyler Winslake, a well-known high-seated member of the Apple government. So he'd grown up under the care of Tyler.
Owen absolutley hated Tyler. He was always talking about Owens "responsibility to Apple", wheras Owen just wanted to be a simple factory worker. He didn't care about the stupid goverment things his stepdad wanted him to do. Owen knew Tyler was trying to make him grow into something like himself... but he didn't ever want to be like his devious, deceptive, manipulative Stepfather.
"I'm going for a walk, mmk?" Owen said, carrying his hoverboard back out the door.
"Be back before dark." Was Tylers only response. Owen knew it wasnt true anyway, Tyler could less than care when he came back now that he was on his one-year rest break between school and work.
Owen rode his hoverboard up to a large, barren area of land with no trees he often went to to be alone. There were ruins of a small town there, but they were just ashes now, and Owen could barely tell what was even there anymore. He simply got off his hoverboard and sat among the ashes, staring up at the deep blue sky,. What he wouldn't give for a change. Somethng... anything.
Hey lay there among the ashes of a dead civilization, daydreaming. This was his only escape from his life. In reality, he had to accept the facts; he was tottally doomed to work for Apple for the rest of his life, like his "stepfather". But he didn't have to believe that out here. Out here, he could still hope for a miracle.

[Raven]

Ryan had never really known his father, who always claimed to be at work, even when he was secretly off with his love affairs. So the only thing that changed when he was only four and Aaron left for good was the lack of money. Ryan's mother was a simple factory worker in Nike with a rather lousy salary. Certainly not enough to raise the son she already had, and the daughter she was unknowingly pregnant with. They struggled by for years until Maddie fell deathly ill. She tried to contact Aaron, knowing the father of her two children was more than rich enough to afford to care for them, and to afford the cure. But he only stepped in when she had passed, and only to take in his children. By this time Lynn was four, Ryan was eight, and Adam and Kenny were three. Ryan refused to accept that any of them, other than Lynn, were in fact his family. Still more time passed, until Ryan's new mother became pregnant a year later. Ryan fell in love with his new little sister immediately (as in he loved her, not as in he's a pedo, ya Yahoo). But the girl's mother died in childbirth. It was a mere two years before Aaron grew terminally bored of his children, and simply left them. He didn't give them anything to help along the way. He only left the things he'd already given them over the years. So, the five were orphaned. Ryan and Lynn chose to keep their father's name, as they had forgotten over time their mother's. Adam and Kenny decided to take their mother's, as well as give it to their youngest sibling. Raising his brothers and sisters hadn't been easy for Ryan, but he stuck to it. Something their father never had. So, after a while, the young ones came to accept that their parents were never coming back.
Ryan had sold all their technology save three hoverboards, as they couldn't exactly carry all their gadgets around. The hoverboards they had were four years out of date, but they worked with some prompting. They weren't the best-off family, but they had each other. And after all they'd been through, Ryan wasn't about to let that change. Not for anything.
About a two months prior, Ryan had found something more interesting than any amount of technology. Something he never would - or could - sell. Many of the books he found he kept to himself, but a few he read to Max. They started him thinking about things he'd never thought of before. His only regret was that many of the words in the books he couldn't really understand (he'd had to stop attending school three years ago when his father abandoned them, and he probably wouldn't have learned several of the words anyway). One book he'd particularly liked, despite the frequent use of a term he'd never heard before (one he could guess the meaning of due to the context) was one called the Hunger Games. It made him think about what could happen if people were driven enough to try to take down the corporations. Of course, reading time was short as he had to keep the books hidden at all times. After a while, he'd become quite good at reading, and managed to read rather quickly.
But the fantasies didn't come at a price. If there was one thing the corporations were right about, it was those books putting your head in the clouds. There had been times when he had very nearly gotten caught simply because he was so wound up in not only the author's fantasies, but also his own.

Melanie Jones had everything a girl could ask for. Her parents were both government employees, her father spoiled her with lavish gifts, she was never expected to do anything. And she was beautiful. Her long chestnut hair waved lightly over her shoulders, her perfect hazel eyes shone with flecks of gold, and her chest was by no means small even though she was quite thin. Why would a girl like that go off on her own often enough to start searching for something she hadn't seen before? Something historic. Especially in a time when history wasn't something taken lightly? Well, whatever the reason, she certainly had one, as that was exactly what Mel was doing when she found the records a week prior. Since then, she'd spent every free moment in the small cavern by the lake in Starbucks Territory, where she resided, studying those ancient records. And she'd learned so much. She'd enjoyed the teachings about the angels -- right up until they showed the young lesbian that views on her preference had never been enjoyed. But she'd also learned that there were times in the past when they weren't quite as frowned upon as now, and that seemed unfair. Why should she be punished for loving the girl with the blond hair who sat in front of her in her advanced law class every day? The one with the brilliant smile and sparkling eyes? Why was it that if she told anyone how she really felt about the boys who brushed by her in the halls, clearly staring, she'd be thrown in jail? When those same boys scared her so much when they did just that? Why did it scare her?? She sighed, knowing the answer to that. Something she also couldn't ever admit to anyone. The real reason she was out here rather than listening to her parents tell her how she needed to find a boyfriend. Or asking if she already had one, and that was where she spent all her free time...

[Gifted]

Owen layed there among the ashes until dusk, when a cold wind swept through the valley, scattering ashes everywhere, including all over his face.
Spluttering, he sat up and rubbed the ashes out of his eyes. With a sigh, he got to his feet. It'd be dark soon, he'd best go home.
Just as he was turning to go get his hoverboard from where he'd set it down, the last rays of sun reflected off of something buried in the ashes. Curious, Owen knelt down and brushed the ashes off of the object.
It was about the size of a spread hand, maybe a little bigger, and a perfect, flat circle. It was a dark, shiny blue colour on top, with a little greenish window type thing at the top. Buttons, curved on the same angle as the edges of the circle, had symbols on it he didn't understand - a sideways triangle, two identical rectangles next to each other, three smaller sideways triangles all connected by the points, three more all pointing in the other direction - but clearly were supposed to mean something. The bottom of it was black, and along the side were more buttons and switches, including a "volume" button, which confused Owen. What, did the device thicken itself when you pushed the plus sign? What good would that be to anyone?
inlaid in gold writing on the top of the device was the word SONY, and underneath that, in light blue writing, was the word "Walkman".
A Sony Walkman? What the Adidas was a Sony Walkman? In fact, how were you supposed to say that anyway? Son-ee, like Sunny? Or saw-knee?
He almost hit the little switch that said OPEN - though he didn't understand where this thing was supposed to open - when he found an ON switch. Well, there was an easy way to figure out what this thing did. he flicked it on, hoping it still worked.
Numbers flashed across the little greenish screen, and it seemed to geive off a little hiss or hum, but otherwise nothing happened.
Confused, he surveyed the buttons on the top of the Walkman. He pushed every button at least twice, but it still took a good minute for him to notice the headphones.
As soon as he did, he felt stupid for not noticing them sooner; a long wire, dangling off the edge of the walkman, which split into two wires with odd circular things on the end. He heard tiny noises coming from the circular things, and held one uncertaintly up to his ear.

"MASTER OF PUPPETS I'M PULLING THE STRINGS
TWISTING YOU MIND AND SMASHING YOUR DREAMS"

Owen yelped ad jumped back, dropping the Walkman, which clattered to the ground.
"what the blazing Adidas was that?" he cried. The blaring noise had hit him like a wrecking ball. When he'd collected himself, he retrieved the Walkman and switched it hastily off.
He presently realised it had gotten dark while he was trying to figure out the Sunny Walkman, as went to grab his hoverboard. He didn't want to have to answer questions about why he was out so late to any police on patrol nearby. Maybe he'd ask Tyler what the SUnny Walkman was, Tyler usually knew these things, working for the government and all. Still, he didn't want to head home just yet.

He hopped on his board, The walkman under his arm, and flew to Nike, just because it wasn't going home. He slowed down when he got to the busier streets, debating just getting off the hoverboard so it would take him longer to get through town.

[Raven]

Even at first glance, Ryan's family stood out. There were five of them, on three Microsoft hoverboards. The kind they didn't even make repairs for anymore they were so out of date. Even stranger, instead of all going into the store, the two younger boys did, while the others moseyed around and tried to look like they weren't loitering. Ryan held Max as he waited for Kenny and Adam to get back and Lynn huddled into a doorframe in an attempt to block the wind. They all looked pretty miserable, except Max, who was wearing at least two coats and was smiling brightly.

[Gifted]

Owen saw the family and quickly hid the Walkman down his shirt. He was about to pass them whe it occured to im he ought to buy some more tape for the stupid posters... though Tyler didn't know, the acts of patriotism Owen was forced to do weren't random. He set up notices for challengers and waited to be contacted. And he was running out of tape. So he approached the door, debating whether he ought to go into a nike shop when there was a very obvious Apple logo on his shirt.

[Raven]

Seeing an opportunity to look like a loyal citizen, rather than someone who belonged in jail, Ryan strode forward. "What're you doing in Nike?" he asked, though his voice wasn't exactly unkind.

[Gifted]

"Walking." Owen said. "Well, boarding. Not a crime, is it?"

[Raven]

"Might as well be, the shit it could get you into. Though you aren't as vulnerable as the last guy. You're a bit bigger," Ryan commented.

[Gifted]

"A bit better at acts of patriotism, too, I'll warrant." Owen shrugged. He didn't sound challenging, but this Nike kid co8uld think whatever he wanted. "What's with the Microsoft boards?" He noted.

[Raven]

Ryan shrugged that time. "There's a lot of us and our parents got a shit job," he answered vaguely, making no attempt to hide he was poor unlike most kids would.

[Gifted]

Owen nodded and looked into the store. "Well, I oughta go buy something quickly." He said, turning his back on Ryan.

(When he comes out he'll drop the walkman and that can restart the conversation or something.)

[Raven]

Ryan set back to wait for his brothers again, hoping that anyone looking would think he was waiting for the Apple kid to come back out.