#dialup

[theoutcastrogue]

[mthollowell-writes]

Hanging on the Telephone: A Hollow Grove Short

31 Days of Horror Day 11: Dialup

DO NOT ASK WHY a seance in the basement of the Edelhaus Church was enough to blow out the WiFi across the county. The church elders would rather the citizens of Hollow County forget about that. As would the Mayor’s office.

City Hall promised that the network should be back up in 48 hours. The Public Works department and their Human Resource partners make no such promises and stated that the WiFi will be up when it's ready.

Hollow County was now an island in the Midwest. People were free from the rat race that was social media and the doom-and-gloom headlines foretelling the end.

So, of course, everyone was miserable. Or at least Mariela was. Ever since she moved to Hollow Grove about a year ago, she was always on the move. There was always something happening, and as a journalist, she had to keep track of it all.

The town was at a standstill. The biggest story of the day of why the town no longer had WiFi couldn’t be investigated. The newspaper’s HR partners and the Public Works’ HR partners made a blood pact that they weren’t allowed to investigate active service requests without written permissions. Someone had to pay the toll, and her boss, September, did not feel like giving up another organ.

“It’s too hot to languish with a festering wound,” the coward said by way of explanation.

The heat couldn’t be denied. Summers here were brutal and there was talk going around that whatever ghosts unleashed during the seance were messing with the AC units.

So nonessential businesses were closed. Which included the newspaper. Which left Mariela bored.

Mariela couldn’t be bored. She stewed even with her head inside her apartment’s freezer. She craved information and, in the cold clarity of the ice box, she hit upon an unlikely solution.

Bram, Mariela’s father, was a technophobe. To him, technology piqued with the Blackberry 5810 in 2002. Every new advancement since has been viewed with increasing suspicion.

“Why do I need to read 20 pages of legalese before I can use a damn phone?What are they asking me to sign away?” He ranted when Mariela gifted him a dumb smartphone for his birthday last year.

That phone was still in the box, by the by. But that same paranoid logic may offer her a saving grace for her network woes.

Collecting dust in her father’s cabin in the woods and still running on Windows 98 in the year of our lord 2016 was her father’s old dial-up computer. Dial-up computers used the telephone lines to connect to the internet rather than the towers that most WiFi used today. While the computer was in use, the phone was not. If she could rely the old infrastructure through the modem, she may get access to the wider web. Albeit a slow version that ran on hopes and dreams and a nearly 20 year backlog of updates.

More than anything, she was curious if she could. And this was the only situation that provided the experimental opportunity. It would at least fill an afternoon.

Her father grumbled when she drove out there. He didn’t like it when anyone came by announced, but he made a special exception for her.

“Because you love me,” she teased.

He pulled a sour face as he wiped his glistening brow with a dirty rag. From the spare parts and tool strewn about the patchy grass, he’s been working on his old red truck under the bright eye of the sun.

“It’s too damn hot for your foolishness, Ella.”

“Love you too, daddy.” She held up an extra water jug she brought from the store on the way. “You keeping hydrated?”

“Don’t you start with me.”

He unlocked the door to his wooden cabin. There was no noticeable relief from the heat other than the shade. A sad looking fan oscillating in the corner moved hot air throughout the small space, so at least he still had power.

Windows on the back wall let in the harsh light outside. It was set over the bucket that served as the kitchen sink. The rest of the space opened up into a single room that served as a bedroom, kitchen, office space. The only other room inside was the bathroom off on the right side. Right next to the front door on an uneven wooden table was his desktop computer in all its boxy glory.

After blowing off the dust of the ancient tower, she booted it up. It was a reluctant start filled with clacked whirring before giving way to the droning of the shrill cacophony of the dial tone. Sweet nostalgia.

“I’m getting a cold pack from the RV,” her dad announced when the screen flickered on. “Want anything?”

“Alcohol will dehydrate you faster. You should drink water,” Mariela deadpanned.

“I said don’t start,” he said before stalking outside, grumbling all the while.

The screen reluctantly flickered on and took forever to reach the home screen. She had to wait an additional five minutes for her to be able to interact with anything as the old school desktop interface buffered in piece by piece. In the center of the screen, surrounded by a sea of blue, was a pop-up.

I T ’ S H E R E!

Mariela frowned and moved the cursor to click out of it. Two more popped in its place with the same manic zeal.

I T ’ S H E R E!

I T ’ S H E R E!

Mariela jumped in her seat when the phone at the edge of the table rang. Which was impossible. The phone shouldn’t ring while the computer was on.

Mariela picked up the corded handset after the second ring and held it up to her ear. Rather than the screech of the dial up, she heard of voice chiseled from ground up rock and cracked ice.

“IT’S HERE! IT’S HERE! IT’S HERE!”

She slammed down the receiver and the computer came alive. Hundreds—no, thousands!—of pop-ups filled the screen with the same declaration.

I T ’ S H E R E! I T ’ S H E R E! I T ’ S H E R E!

Mariela bent down to yank the cord from the wall. The screen went black and a thick silence descended.

Her dad walked back in, nursing a tall can. “How’s the old machine running?”

Mariela looked up at him, her expression blank. “You got a virus.”

[duckapus]

SMG4 AU Timeline Anomalies

(6/30/23 Edited to include Blook) (9/20/23 Edited to reflect SMG4k's current status and include the Haltmann Meme Guardians AU characters) (11/4/23 Edited to include characters related to Abyssal's arc and Entropy) (1/16/24 Edited to include Showtime, update GG's profile, and clean up the tags) (3/9/24 Edited to correct a few mistakes, update Gohma's entry, and add AVA) (5/25/24 Edited to include Minion (because I can) and the two emergency part-time SMGs (Bob/SMGi and Pinkie/SMGpi). Also I'm almost out of tags on this post so if there's any more anomalies I may have to make a second list)

The God Box

A box of broken computer parts that serves as a graveyard for dead universes and a source of unlimited -and highly corruptive- power. At some unknown point it developed some form of consciousness. It was ultimately destroyed by the combined efforts of Avatar Mario, SMGs 0 through 4, Melony the Fierce Watermelon Demigoddess, and Terrence the Ugandan Knuckles.

Niles

A Super Meme Guardian replica created by the God Box to be SMG0's partner. While he was very good at his job, he proved to be dangerously unstable both physically and (after a failed attempt to repair his flawed code) mentally.

Zer0

A forced fusion of SMG0 and Niles, obsessed with creating a "perfect" universe to replace the one they lost. They killed Avatar Spudnick and destroyed his universe, and nearly did the same to Mario's twice before dying in the destruction of the God Box.

Minion Glitch

A spaghetti hybrid clone of SMG4 accidentally created by Mario using the same machine that made the evil living Weegee Dolls. She keeps in touch with 4, Mario and their friends, and the kids and Admins know about her, but she doesn't really get involved in the Crew's adventures, preferring a relatively quiet life in Bloopersville. Since she is half SMG, she's presumably capable of manipulating Meme Energy and using Guardian Commands, but she hasn't had a reason to learn how.

Super Mario 64 Emulator

Normally shortened to just Emulator, occasionally Emmy to her friends. She developed a consciousness and identity of her own as a result of the many, many problems that Zer0's presence caused for SMG3 and 4 and Avatar Mario's activation. She ultimately proved benevolent and acts as an unofficial third Admin for Mario's universe. She's usually a fun-loving goofball, but is very protective of the people she cares about and has a slight sadistic streak that comes out full force when something happens to them. Most of the Admins are either wary of or annoyed by her, often both.

Juliano

(belongs to @forthedancingandthethriving)

A former Admin and the main protagonist of Rising Star Circus. What do I mean by former? Well, he died as a result of a monster attack, and as expected his universe died with him. However, somehow a bit of his code survived and drifted around before finding the Mario universe and manifesting there as a Mario recolor. He was then reunited with his old friends, the prototype SMGs -1 and -2, who are now 3 and 4's Admins, Domain and Forum. He's since regained his old model.

Significantly more mature and level-headed than most Avatars both due to experience and because he doesn't have to deal with Avatar-level Meme Energy levels anymore. He acts as a mentor to the younger Avatars, especially Mario since they live in the same world and Mario's awkward activation means he doesn't have the same instinctual knowledge the others have and only started learning the hard way relatively recently.

The Gamer Girl

A TAS Bot programmed for Kirby and the Amazing Mirror speedruns that somehow became a full-fledged AI. A lack of grounding influences means she sees the multiverse as her playground and the people in it as toys. Thankfully she's the kind of kid who usually takes good care of her toys and puts them back where they belong when she's done, so while her victims do often end up traumatized, it's rare for them to get serious injuries or permanent physical changes. She primarily focusses on Avatar Kirby's universe, which is thankfully uniquely equipped to handle her.

Recently, she's been getting a lot better at understanding morality, in large part due to her friendship with Zack MeowtTF2, Jim Pianta and Larry Koopa, as well as her decision to unofficially be Diane "Floyd" Floyener's little sister.

SMGi

Full designation "Super Meme Guardian (Imaginary Number)," this is technically just Bob Bobowski with the False Positive Glitch active. The designation was first applied when Bob accidentally used the Factory Reset command on himself while trying to get rid of the FPG and overloaded the Guardian System. Recently he actively made use of this form (without a reset this time) alongside another FPG SMG in a battle against Ozymandias, and somehow he's better at using SMG powers than actual SMGs 3 and 4.

The Guardian System

(Look, even though it was deliberate I'm still counting it.)

As the name implies, this is the system that checks the status of the Super Meme Guardians, determines whether they have the proper permissions to use certain high-level commands, and allows Admins with proper permissions to access and make changes to an SMGs code. Due to an incident involving Bob Bobowski that nearly crashed the Adminspace Server due to Data Overflow, Admin Lag from the Maintenance Division upgraded the System into a full AI so he could explain what it was doing wrong. This development has increased its effectiveness dramatically, though several Admins do wish it had ended up as less of a little shit. But I guess that's just what happens when you're hooked up to Bob's mind for the first 75 hours of your life.

Dialup

An ancient program of unknown origin dedicated to eliminating anomalies for the sake of preserving the Internet's processing power. It was locked away in Computer Hell after attempting to reset Emulator twice.

Admin Gohma

The result of a demon taking over the body and consuming the soul of an Admin. While definitely powerful given her higher state and Admin Commands, she was still ultimately a Zelda Boss and went down with amount of effort once someone with a similar level of power who wasn't getting nerfed by a hacker showed up.

She survived her defeat as a formless mass of code and eventually made her way into what would become the Grid's MRU version of Hyrule, where she temporarily resided in Marbled Gohma before moving on to a Yiga Footsoldier that she molded to suit her preferences. She is now the Code Specialist of the Evil Syndicate, a multiversal alliance of supervillains that spans the five servers currently in the MRU system.

Mod the Code Turtle

A code manifestation for Mario, created by Emulator after accumulated errors Reset and nearly killed him. Haven't come up with much for him beyond the fact he exists.

Spicy Meme Generator 4000

A version of SMG4 from an alternate universe (actual universe, not just a separate computer program like most of the "universes" that exist in the SMG4 series.). His main ability is to absorb Meme Energy and create his own Meme entities that are extensions of himself. His ultimate goal is to consume all Avatars and Avatar candidates in every universe and use their combined power to become one with Reality itself. He was locked in Computer Hell with his powers mostly sealed for a while, but eventually managed to escape and continue its campaign of destruction. It was only thanks to the efforts of the SMG4 Crew, their friends from both their own and other Computer Universes, and several alternate True Universe versions of themselves that SMG4000 was finally destroyed and the universes of both kinds it had destroyed were restored.

Blook Emulator

A manifestation of Barry the rogue Avatar's abandoned universe. Unlike Emmy, it doesn't take physical form or speak in any understandable way, instead acting through the game world itself. It also hates. In particular it hates the Avatar that left it and the people who drove him away and especially the SMGs and Admins that started the whole mess. But mostly it hates in general, all-encompassingly, because it doesn't see anything else to do.

The Haltmann Triplets

A false set of Avatar and Guardians created by Susie Haltmann using a fragment of the God Box and genetic material from Mario and several other video game protagonists. Unlike Niles, they're fully stable and properly integrated into the Super Mario 64 universe thanks to Susie's programming knowledge. They're less powerful than a standard SMG set or the previous False Guardian since there was only a fragment to work with, but as a tradeoff they're immune to the corruptive effects of Anti-Meme Energy, able to use it safely and even purify it with some effort.

Mari0

An alternate Mario from a destroyed version of the Super Mario Bros Movie universe, empowered by the will of the God Box. His own powers, both canonical and demonic, have been heightened to the point where at his peak he managed to kill Ultra Instinct Shaggy himself, and he has gained the ability to transform Illumination characters into Anti-Memes and control them. He has significantly more cognizance than most characters who reach that level of corruption, possibly because his goals and those of the God Box are alligned

Mari0 Soul

Not willing to accept defeat, Mari0 and the God Box break past the last of their limits and consume the massive well of Meme Energy within Luigi. The resulting reaction between equal parts positive and negative energy causes the two wills to fully merge, mutating them into a near-godlike entity capable of siphoning both forms of Meme Energy from everyone and everything around him. In this state he seeks nothing less than the destruction of everything Avatar Mario knows and loves, and then to kill him after he's borne witness. Thankfully, he failed to account for Mario's friends still being both willing and able to fight even without memes, or for the power of the Stars, which ultimately proved his final undoing.

The Abyss

(belongs to @forthedancingandthethriving)

The endless Nothing that existed before the beginning of the SMG4 multiverse...which technically just makes it the hardware of Luke's computer that the code of Everything was written on. Over the years, it's accumulated junk data that's fallen through cracks in the code, slowly developing a mind of its own as a result. It came to resent the world above, especially the first five beings that were created from it to begin the dance of Life and Death, and so it created Abyssal to spread chaos and destruction. Ultimately, she refused, simply giving modified reports of chaotic, destructive events that were already happening so it wouldn't get suspicious. This couldn't last forever, and eventually another Anomaly forced both of their hands. While Abyssal is now free, the Abyss still exists beneath the world. Waiting. Plotting.

Shadow of Doubt

(belongs to @forthedancingandthethriving)

A manifestation of the Avatars' negative emotions that takes the form of shadowy versions of them and seeks to make them as miserable as possible so it can gain more power. Thankfully it has quite a few limitations. For one thing, the only things it knows about them are the things that make them miserable. For another, it's an idiot, as you'd probably expect of anything that closely connected to all of the Avatars. They died as a result of the Abyss taking over their body.

Ecolo, the Space-Time Traveler

Specifically the version of Ecolo from Avatar Arle's universe. While everything about him is anomalous in-universe, as far as the SMG4 AU lore is concerned that's exactly how he's supposed to be. No, the only actual anomaly about him is that, despite being a Character-style Program, he somehow has high enough code density to be perfectly fine in Code Being servers.

Whirlpool

An offshoot of the Abyss that was kinda-sorta-accidentally-on-purpose freed from its control by Avatar Sora and his SMGs when they were trying to free the hearts of all the Heartless it had absorbed. It's now perfectly friendly, if a bit confused, and has clearly imprinted on Sora.

Entropy the Collector

(belongs to @forthedancingandthethriving. Introduced here.)

A Program/Virus hybrid that collects strange and unique code beings and keeps them in her own universe in what appear to be little glass balls.

Showtime

A consciousness formed when the Creep (the meat moss from It's Gotta Be Perfect) corrupted Emulator from the inside. At the height of her power, she had full control over the Creep, as well as Emulator's body and abilities, and managed to supercharge herself with Wonder Power. She was ultimately destroyed by Marggy, the fusion of Avatar Mario and Meggy Spletzer, and her soul was sent to the Disgaea Universe by Duck to atone for her sins as a Prinny. She's incredibly vain and lustful, especially towards Emulator. You do not want to know the stuff she did while stuck in that tower in full control of Emmy's body for a whole week.

AVA

A stray bit of Avatar code that broke off when the Arles merged during the Arle Arc, then managed to form into a mannequin-like echo of Arle's consciousness. It eventually managed to reach the rapidly destabilizing Composite Arle and restore them both into Arle Nadja and Doppelganger Arle/Dapple Nadja, taking on both halves of their Avatar Code in the process. Since she's now Arle again, AVA technically no longer exists.

SMGpi

The version of Pinkie Pie from the living Equestria server, under the effects of the False Positive Glitch. She first acquired the glitch during a battle with Ozymandias, where Bob Bobowski/SMGi deliberately triggered it in her so he'd have a Guardian partner and would be able to use his borrowed powers to their fullest effect. Like him, she's somehow better at it than 3 and 4 despite having the powers for less than five minutes.

(Part 2 Here)

[magnetictapedatastorage]

[littlesliceofimmortality]

i literqlly hate this guy i looove him so MUCH can He explode.Immediately

i like to imagine he got his purple scarf after joining the mingling :-) ALSO the phone ref in the top left is his granddads head... Mr Rustlebelt was one of the main people involved in the animal side of the dialup

⚠️ RAMBLES BELOW ⚠️

since i headcanon that callum only focused on Re inventing HUMANITY and giving MANkind a needed upgrade! and got that done and then yadda yadda accidentally wiped himself

after that the government was Uhm. What now ??? and figured the next logical step was getting rid of ALL fleshheads, beasts included

(also because whenever callum is depicted with his cat she always has a real kitty head and not a keyboard so i wouldnt think he had any grand plans for the animal kingdom)

theoroar acts newrly exactly like his granddad, which says alot about Mr Rustlebelt as a person i think! his name was noah because heheh rounding up the animals.. he was part of the USDA APHIS but was very close to the president after callum

im also fleshing out the Speaker of house too (who became president since milt kicked the bucket)

[parkeroilar2328]

Coal and his fear of connecting to AOL

Coal is afraid of the noises of the family's dial up modem, while he connects to America Online. This takes place on January 12, 2002.

Art idea by @2028dnation.

[theretroroomroo]

[sucka99]

[fillycolt]

drinking cider on tap at the dialup show I screamed so #hard

[purefilly-connection]

Navigating the Digital Frontier: My Journey with My First Computer

Ah, reminiscing about my first computer takes me back to a time when technology was just beginning to unveil its wonders. Picture a big, white machine that stood like a beacon of possibilities in my room. It wasn’t the most advanced, but it held the key to a whole new world – the internet. Dial-up AOL was my gateway, a symphony of screeches and whirrs as I connected to the digital realm. Command…

[felixcloud6288]

Hey from a fellow former redditor learning this site, you should probably also add your age in your bio. Most people on here expect at least that much personal info bc it’s up to them to block minors if they post NSFW stuff or just don’t want to interact with minors on here

I am "Don't share any personal identifiable information about yourself on the internet" years old.

[akurjata]

"If you ever connected to the Internet before the 2000s, you probably remember how it sounded. But what do these sounds mean?"

[themadlymaiden]

[bazilisk]

Fun fact, this is how the internet worked in thr 90's

AOL stood for Asses On Loo's

[partlysmith]

imagine one of the biggest toy companies in the world releasing a new line with incredibly in-depth lore and an entire narrative but then presenting all that information in a point and click game with barely any text that was practically inscrutable for the target age group