What.

Is her life turning into a LitRPG?

<Yes, love, it certainly looks like one,> replies Maya's familiar mental voice.

Okay, her headmates see this too. Well. Either the world is getting turned on its head or she's hallucinating. Either way she's calling in. A quick email to her boss skips her out of work today, then she grabs her phone and hops on both Discord and the company Slack, sending the same message to her friends on both:

Y'all, is it just me, or is this a particularly weird morning?

She swiftly gets dressed while she waits for replies: leggings, skirt, blouse, jacket, purse, socks, boots.

From Discord:

Spooky blue boxen?

Ominous countdown ahoy.

I wasn't expecting an apocalypse this morning.

From work:

I'm calling in sick.

Who left an RPG running?

Does the apocalypse count against our PTO?

Everyone is seeing these. Prepare for the worst. I'm walking out of work and going to get my bugout bag, then a hardware store. Maybe fort up at churches and schools and other big brick buildings.

That squares it. Not hallucinating. She takes two knives rather than one, and her collapsible baton too. Off to the ATM she jogs.

<Non-integrated machinery probably includes computers,> adds Hailey. <Print the disaster ebooks out, stockpile food and gear, get physical locations to meet up with people.>

Sable nods to herself, paying attention to the world around her as she jogs ten minutes to the ATM. When she gets to a traffic light, she pauses briefly to reply to the currently-awake one of her local friends:

Not going to count on comms staying functional. I'm grabbing food&gear and printing out reference materials that might still be valid after LitRPG mode finishes activating. Where do you wanna meet up, team up?

Cars too

IDK, the game store?

There's a few more people than usual for this hour on the streets, but people seem confused more than urgent or panicky. Only a few standouts are driving recklessly, or running, like her. Though there is a short line at the ATM, one that's getting longer.

Bys knows she doesn't have a car, so that probably refers to cars failing too.

Sounds good, see you there.

Given the risk of things going down, she sends Teddy an actual SMS, since that will still be waiting in his phone even if Discord goes down.

Yes, the blue box is real. When you get up, gather gear, non-perishables, and apoc prep. Call me. Meet at game store.

<Does this thing take questions?>, Hailey wonders. <Hey System, can you receive and answer mental questions?>

She takes out as much cash as she can, when it's her turn at the ATM.

System Inquiry Detected

Interface is limited before the Tutorial begins. Please wait for Initialization. Time remaining: 3 hours, 36 minutes.

The ATM permits this without fuss.

Her next planned stop, the print shop, contains a guy who seems sure that this will all blow over in a few hours and is some kind of viral marketing ploy. Credit cards are still working, so he'll take some print jobs not in any particular hurry, sure, whatever.

Great. That doesn't deplete her limited cash. She pays up front, with a card, to have a few ebooks printed out.

"I'm going to head over to the grocery store. Should be back within an hour, at the most. Think you'll have 'em by then?"

Meanwhile, Hailey is continuing to poke at the System in idle moments. <Hey System, is multiclassing a thing? What about upgraded or evolved classes?>

System Inquiry Detected

Classes can be evolved with Perk Points. Exceptional achievements can earn Cross-Class Powers!

"Yeah, sure, nothing else in the queue this early. Want to buy our professional binding service for an additional nineteen ninety nine?"

"Sounds great. Gotta get that commission, right? And I'm sure I'll be glad for the durability."

<Will guns still work, System?>, Maya asks.

System Inquiry Detected

Chemical firearms are a great early-game weapon!

He rings up the total. It'd be a bit wincingly high if that was going to matter tomorrow.

Good thing it won't! Can't take the money with her, so might as well spend it all. She waves cheerfully at the print shop guy and heads across the shopping center to the Fred Meyer. Starts loading up a cart with a bit of everything: canned food, rice, spices, OTC meds and supplements, toothbrushes and toothpaste, bandages, antibiotics, and more. She queues up an uber while she's getting into the checkout line.

Neo pushes an abstract question about whether there will be monsters and where they'll come from.

System Inquiry Detected

No answer, this time. Uber's app is acting glitchy with blank screens and such but she seems to have successfully called... Someone. Her credit card still works. On the third attempt. 

Well. Guess it took a LitRPGpocalypse to actually break the internet and make it stick. Don't count on that going forward. She finishes checking out, paying with card if at all possible, and then hauls her bags out front to watch for the Uber driver.

<Can machinery be crafted within the System?>, asks Maya.

System Inquiry Detected

Crafting will be unlocked during the Tutorial.

Her Uber arrives quickly! The guy seems nervous, antsy. He keeps adjusting the mirrors and looking around.

"Hey there. Thanks for picking me up. I know things are scary right now."

She starts loading things into the trunk.

"I have a couple stops. First, the print shop across the way, for a quick pickup. My order should already be finished. After that, my apartment, a few blocks from here, for an already-packed bag. And finally, a game shop in South End."

<Does the System have a Notes feature?>, Sable asks.

Once everything's in, she hops into the back seat.

System Inquiry Detected

Interface is limited before the Tutorial begins. Please wait for Initialization. Time remaining: 3 hours, 12 minutes.

"Yeah, I know it said not to drive, but I'm hoping I get, like, a car power. Or something. Internet going down might still be a massive hoax but this shit is in my head, man. Driving is the best idea I've got. You sound like you've got a plan, so good on you. Name's Mike."

He helps with the loading, moving fast.

"More like a bunch of pieces that I can recombine with whatever's handy to make a new plan. But yeah. And I have people I'm meeting. Party up and don't split, y'know? Your idea is pretty decent too, though. I hope you land a nice Driver class or something."

She keeps her eyes on the surroundings once they get moving, watching for useful places to stop.

<Can existing machinery be integrated into the System?>, asks Maya.

<Concerned about driver dude?>

<Yes, Hailey. I hope there's a way for him to put his preferred skillset to use,> she replies warmly.

System Inquiry Detected

Interface is limited before the Tutorial begins. Please wait for Initialization. Time remaining: 3 hours, 12 minutes.

Mike drives fairly aggressively. Not to the point of outright ignoring traffic signals, but it's definitely noticeable. Here's the print shop.

Sable steps out of the car with a warm smile to Mike, "Be back in a jiff."

She steps inside, greets the print shop clerk cheerfully, inspects the books, thanks him, and strolls out with three books in a bag.

"Useful reconstruction knowledge," she says to Mike by way of explanation.

Mike pulls out aggressively once she's belted in, making another driver honk at him. A controlled acceleration, dashing across the streets towards the apartment block without asking for the address again.

"Yeah, good stuff. Fuck. I used to street race in the mountains, you know. This car might not look like much- It's shit compared to the high-end ones- But it's got a supercharger, got nitro. System, give me something good, I'm preparing just like you said." He snorts. "Where after this?"

"It really feels like you've put a lot of love into your car. I hope the System lets you keep her," she replies with a smile, and a quiet mindspace kiss to Maya's cheek.

"As for the eventual destination, we're heading to Howard's Games in South End." She rattles off an address from memory.

He fusses with his phone once he pulls up to the apartment building.

This is about when the Uber app crashes.

He pulls up Google Maps instead. Passive GPS is still working. "Go on, I'll try to plot a route while you get your stuff. Pay me in canned food or something."

She nods. "Deal."

She hurries in, sweeps the food into a duffel bag, grabs her own go-bag, and is back out in two minutes.