#AI does have potential for horror sure but i don't find it in places like these

[antirepurp]

im also musing about unfiction but specifically digital horror and the way AI entities are featured in it, and why that doesn't appeal to me as much as a ghost in the machine or something of the sort. i think it comes with this level of convenience that sort of clashes with what could be scary or disturbing about the story? like, yeah your technology is acting in ways we cannot explain and doing things we don't understand but don't worry it's a sentient AI, but not the kind of sentient AI that we'll use as a way to build existential horror out of this, that's just the ghost now. i remember watching some video covering another mario 64 horror series where it was revealed that there was an AI in the game that believed itself to be a person and immediately any discomfort i might have felt about it was gone because it's just... too convenient. not really plausible by today's standards or anything, just convenient. of course a digital creation can exist in a digital space. the mystery lessens.

i imagine it's the way it offers a way to explain abnormal activity in a fashion that sounds believable when you suspend your disbelief for a while. but the problem comes from being able to explain things, because when you understand the how and the why of the mystery it's no longer. a mystery. when you know the cause behind the loud noise you heard in the middle of the night when you're at home by yourself, it stops being as terrifying as it used to be. AI in digital horror, at least to me, works in a much too similar manner.

and while glitches and corruptions can be terrifying outside of contained environments, they're only that as long as you don't know why they're happening. missingno stops being scary when you know what it corrupts and why, and how none of it harms your save in any meaningful way. walking out of bounds in a low-budget pc game as a kid feels terrifying because you're doing something unintentional, but when you get older and maybe understand more about how games work, the feeling isn't quite the same. you can understand code. you can learn how it works at least on a broad scale, and make what was once a mystery into something mundane. inserting AI into digital horror is like decompiling a video game, except that you don't need to understand coding to read the information presented to you. you reveal the mystery.

arguably, too, there's something more mysterious in things that involve a human touch in one way or another, that raise more questions and mysteries with explanations that aren't quite as transparent in their nature. why would someone make a game behave in this way? what compelled them to see through to their vision? is this all that remains of their work, or is there more to be found? does anything remain of them? you're probably not going to be able to answer all the questions, but that's more than okay. it's the unknown that makes you uncomfortable, not that which you already know.

tl;dr i want more ghosts in the Videos Games(TM)

[junipersgarden]

metanoia 5. | Mistake

PAIRING: Peter Parker x Superhero!Reader

SUMMARY: Nick Fury has successfully managed to kidnap Peter and yourself by taking full control over your vacation, Peter’s jealously and love takes control as he targets Brad Davis... quite literally. 

WORD COUNT: 2687 words

WARNINGS: Mention of blood

a/n: i still have to write the next chapter and gonna be honest i dunno when i will but i hope you enjoy this part !!

[NOT MY GIF]

...

On a bus in the Eastern Alps, Austria...

...

"Why does Flash do those livestreams?" You tilt your head to the side as you observe Flash talking into his phone as he exaggerates his current status.

Peter simply shrugs with his mouth turned down and eyebrows raised as you giggle at his weird facial expression.

You and Peter were seated toward the back of the bus and the both of you were stoked that you two finally got to have quality time; a time to finally relax and try and not stress about the Fire Elemental that could potentially destroy all of Prague.

You had to also be mindful of what you said and who you said it to so you don't accidentally expose yourself; sure you'd been Saviour as long as Peter's been Spider-Man but still always kept track of your words and actions.

"So, how have you been Y/N/N? Just, haven't really talked or seen you in a while and I'm really sorry about that." Peter's eyes soften as he shifts to look at you.

Knowing he was referring to Spider-Man duties, you weren't mad or anything at him; the crime rate has risen after the Blip since people left with nothing have corrupted themselves and villains have become more 'popular' merely because the Avengers don't exist anymore.

It was up to you and Peter to protect the neighbourhoods in New York like you two had done in previous years but now you both are expected to carry the mantles of the deceased and absent Avengers.

Yes it scared you to be seen as one of the next Avenger's to promise to live to guard the Earth from any threats with your life, sacrificing everything for everyone to be safe but what scared you the most was drifting from the important people in your life like your family, F/N, MJ, Ned and Peter.

"'M sure it's not your fault you've been busy and it's fine Pete. I'm doing alright I guess; just everything feels out of balance after the whole you know. But I don't wanna waste time sobbing about-"

"Hey," Peter gently grabs a hold of your knee in a comforting way, "I know you're not big on talking about feelings but it's good to let it out; whenever you're ready I'm here."

Peter rubbed soothing circles on your knee with a twinkle in his eyes as if he swore on his life he'd be there for you no matter what.

You deeply sigh and refuse to cry but you placed your hand to top of his, turning your head to face him.

"T-There's something I wanna show you." Peter kept his hand on your knee as he dove, scrambling in his bag he fished out what appeared to a glasses case.

The case looked so familiar to you but you couldn't exactly identify where you'd seen it or what possibly is inside it but it seemed to be important.

"Is this you're way of telling me you need glasses?"

"N-No! I got these off... Nick Fury."  Peter said ever so quietly, afraid someone would hear him.

"O-Oh... what is it?" You lift your hand off Peter's so he can open it.

Peter opens the case and reveals a pair of glasses with a Stark Industries card beneath it.

"Oh god." You exhale as you stare intensely at the glasses and instantly remember seeing Tony on multiple occasions working on that exact pair or wearing glasses so similar to the one's in front of you.

Peter sees your face and panics. "S-Sorry Y/N I shouldn't of-"

"Try them on Peter." You blurt out and surprise yourself and Peter.

Peter nods and picks the glasses and puts them on. "How do I look?"

You look cute.

"You look like Tony." You smile and pick up the card to fiddle with it and turning it over, you see Tony's handwriting and read what he wrote.

"Pete." You nudge him and pass the card to him so he can read it.

"For the next Tony Stark, I trust you. P.S Say Edith?"  Peter reads out loud and gives you a look of confusion.

Suddenly, the lenses of the glasses turn blue as if an AI had been activated.

"Standby for retinal and bio-metrical scan." A female voice from the glasses speaks.

"Peter what's happening?"

"I don't-"

"Retinal and bio-metrical scan accepted." The female voice announces.

"H-Hello?" Peter calls out to the voice in the glasses.

"Hello Peter and Y/N. I am EDITH, Tony Stark's reality, security and defensive system

"So he made you for us?" Peter asks.

"No. But both of you do have access to all of Tony's protocol's."

That sure'd come handy.

"W-What do you stand for and what can you do?" You question EDITH.

"EDITH stands for Even Dead I'm The Hero. Tony loved his acronyms.

"Yeah, he sure did..." Peter agrees.

"I have access to the entire Stark Global Security Network, including multiple defensive satellites, as well as back doors to all major telecommunication networks."

"Woah..." You and Peter say at the same time.

Peter begins to glance around the bus with bewilderment and disbelief.

"W-What can you see?"

"P-People's phones. Like w-what they're on..."

"Oh my god..." You say with astonishment and you can't help but chuckle at your and Peter's discovery.

Peter chuckles along with you and he can't help but grin at you, thinking just maybe, the universe has given him the break and happiness he needs; Y/N is almost back and cannot wait until then or when he finds the perfect opportunity to let his hidden feelings out.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"10 minutes everyone!" Mr. Harrington shouts as the bus stops and everyone jumps to their feet to get out.

Even though Peter's plan was already failing miserably with Paris now out of the trip completely, Peter at least 4 and a half hours just with Y/N without anything going wrong or bad or Brad Davis trying to swoop Y/N away from him was a bonus.

Peter and Y/N had talked for the whole bus ride and shared a few laughs and reconnected more than they have ever done in the last 8 months.

"You go first." Peter offers Y/N to go before him to hop off the bus.

Y/N complied and thanks Peter but as he went to follow her, Dmitri struck his arm out to prevent Peter from walking any further.

"What?" Peter queries as he watches Y/N and the rest of his class walk further away.

Dmitri points and Peter's eyes travelled along Dmitri's finger to a blonde woman with her arms crossed staring at him before disappearing from plain sight.

Peter grips his backpack and began to pursue after her and entered in what was a closed bar and the woman standing with her arms down her sides and noticed something black lying on a fussball table.

"Hello-"

"Close the door." The woman says with an accent.

Peter twists the blue door's handle and closed it shut, giving the woman an awkward smile, started to walk to her and held his hand out for the woman to shake but she stayed perfectly still and unimpressed.

"Um, I'm Peter Parker-"

"Take off your clothes."

I-I'm sorry what?

"Excuse me-"

"You told Fury Spider-Man couldn't be seen in Europe. So I made you this; another suit" The woman leaned toward the table and picked up a black package and gifted it to Peter.

"Oh uh, thank you." Peter grabs the suit but stood with it, not knowing what to do and certainly not wanting to-

"Take off your clothes!" The woman demands in a frustrated and annoyed tone.

"This is embarrassing..."

Peter moves ever so slowly, hoping that maybe she'd tell him not to but she yelled at him to hurry up so Peter dropped his backpack and setted his suit back onto the table.

Here goes nothing...

Fumbling with his zipper, Peter pulls down his jeans and to his horror, the door clicked open.

A beam of white light shone into the room and Peter scrambles to the woman who was reaching for her gun.

"No, no, no don't!" Peter latches his hand to grab the woman's gun and held his other hand as some sort of protection and saw the person at the door was none other than his rival Brad Davis.

"Woah!" Brad peers up from his phone and examines the scene in front of him. "Sorry, uh,  I thought this was the bathroom?"

"This is not what it looks like!" Peter hurriedly stammers.

"Uh yeah." A flash from Brad's phone followed by the noise of a camera click.

"What are you doing-"

"I'll leave you two alone." Brad backs his way to the door.

The woman quickly grasps her gun and aimed it to Brad's head as Peter struggles with his pants. "Don't shoot anybody!"

Peter beckons to Brad to stop so he could explain as he zips up his undone flyer, Peter leaves the bar and sees Brad speed walking back up to the group.

"Hey man look-"

"Look, Peter. I'm not here to judge your life choices, dude. If you want to hook up with some random European chick on our school trip, that's on you." Brad gradually slows down to a stop.

"That's not what that was. Honestly."

"I can't pretend I didn't see what I just saw. I know you're trying to get with Y/N/N. It's obvious. But I like her too."

"Wait a minute, hey, hey you can't show Y/N that photo dude come on."

"But I have to. She deserves the truth." Brad spins back around and jogs to everyone, desperately searching for Y/N.

Peter heaves out heavy breaths; years of friendship and everything could be ruined within the next couple of minutes all because of an out of context photo, stubborn Nick Fury and Brad Davis falling for Y/N too.

Oh no.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Hoping back on the bus, you managed to score the backseat and promptly waited for Peter; saving a seat for him again and eager to spend the remaining extra 4 and a half hours with Peter again and possibly trying on EDITH for yourself.

As everyone piled onto the bus and finding their seats, you couldn't see Peter anywhere and worried that maybe something happened to him.

But your concern was turned into disappointment as you saw Peter sit in the nearest seat toward the front, the seat furthest away from you.

Maybe he didn't see me?

As if he'd read your mind, you see Peter shoot his head from his seat, staring down at Brad who was furiously scrolling on his phone and then avert his eyes to you before drawing away.

"Oh." You slouch into your seat and can't help but feel upset in a way.

Peter, again, sticks his head from his seat but is wearing the EDITH glasses and standing up with regret written all over him.

Curious, you sneakily stand up and glimpse out the back window and understand to why Peter's face is as pale as a ghost; a Stark Industries drone was hovering to the bus with intentions to strike.

"Holy s-" Your statement is interrupted by Flash Thompson being punched by Peter Parker.

Did he just punch Flash? About time! But wrong time Parker!

"H-Hey ARIS?" You squeak, heart racing with fear for the safety and lives of everyone.

"Good afternoon Ms. L/N, how may I-"

"Need you to tell me what the hell Parker did." You grumble and aim your wrist at the drone for ARIS to scan the drone.

"Target is Brad Davis and is about to fire in 3, 2-"

Surveying the bus, you spot Brad out of his seat with his eyes on you and without thinking, you leap out of your seat.

"1."

"Brad-" Immediately the bus is taken under and swerves violently, people screaming at the instant motion.

Inertia fails to keep you balanced and you forcefully slam into a row of seats and bang your head slightly on the window.

Groaning in pain, everything around you seems heightened and intensified, vision blurred from the strong and unexpected impact, a weight of someone yanking your arm awakes you from your state and soon realise Brad had dragged you to the floor with him.

"Lookatthebabymountaingoats!" Peter's piped voice strains, begging for everyone to look the other way.

Semi shoving yourself off Brad, you help him to his feet and allow him to go in front of you so he can see the 'baby mountain goats'.

With everyone distracted, Peter springs into the air and through the emergency exit window, you watch with two thoughts: What the hell are you doing and what the hell did you do?

Hearing sounds of the drone malfunctioning, you rotate yourself and see flames being emitted from the drone and wince at the explosion, you crawl back into your original seat.

"Didn't see any mountain goats..." Mr. Harrington sadden utters.

"You missed them."

"I know you think none of us have notice Peter." Betty abruptly confesses.

Your heart drops to your stomach; for sure Peter Parker was not in anyway subtle about being Spider-Man but he did have you fooled for years until- until then...

"But your new look," Oh thank god Betty, "I love it."

Sinking into your seat again, you hiss at the pain of your head and massage to rid the pain but as you land your fingers to the wound, you feel that the back of your head is damp.

Pulling your hand from your head, you gasp as you see blood staining your fingertips; the red metallic liquid decorated with black meant that the wound would be deep if it was secreting your 'black blood' which contained essence of your powers out.

"Damn it."

There was only one way to heal it but that would require for your eyes to fully blackout but the chances of someone seeing your eyes could mean the end of your life but if this patch doesn't heal fast enough naturally without extra energy or power converted strictly to the injury could mean severe blood loss.

Let's do this...

You shut your eyelids and focus intently, a small shallow breath leaves you, feeling your iris and eyes become tainted with black.

You could feel the wound closing up and blood seeping its way back into your body, an invisible wave of energy forms around it and soon enough, the gash is no more but you could tell there would be some sort of mark and continuous aching.

"Hey Y/N, you have to see this."

Opening your eyes, you forget of your darkened pupils and squint your eyes shut and knead them to make your eyes go back to normal.

You'd only seen Brad with his eyes glued to his phone but you had no clue of the people around you.

Going with Attempt #2, you bravely open your eyes and breathe out a breath of relief.

Brad, still retaining to his phone, slides into the seat next to you.

"What is it Brad?"

"It's about Peter. He and this chick were in the bathroom and-"

Peter would never.

"You got proof?"

"Yeah! I got a photo of them; can't believe Peter could do such a thing."

Brad enters his photo gallery and is puzzled as he insanely swipes through all his photos.

"Uh, this is so weird, it was right here on my phone!" Brad tries to justify.

"Uh huh... totally weird... Brad if you don't mind, I'm incredibly tired from almost being killed again and would like to enjoy a nap by myself?"

"Oh, yeah, s-sure..." Brad lowers his seat and goes back to his seat, still hunting for his precious picture.

Bending down, you fish out your pair of headphones and plug them into your phone and open your playlist, adjusting the headphones to your ears and Google 'Popular attractions in Prague' and 'Events in Prague'.

Prague for the meanwhile before getting burnt to crisps better be worth it...

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