estoria | « 009 ⇢ event009.exe »

Entry tags:

« 009 ⇢ event009.exe »

Who: CERES & you
When: ooc: 01/15-01/22; ic: 11/03-11/06
Where: Cerealia's Research & Technology District and Beyond!!!
What: Intro and Event log
Rating/Warning: PG-13 | possibly nsfw (please let us know if you need this rating changed, or you are welcome to continue any naughty shenanigans in a private log)

//event009.EXE

Always Believe in the Heart of the Cards Except When They Tell You to Kill People

Welcome to CERES Research Tower’s latest event! For all you new folk queuing outside of the conference room where you were just made to sit through a lovely power point presentation, you will be asked to stay a bit longer and test out some games in their Game Testing Center. It’s a giant space located in the basement level filled to the brim with cubicles for everyone to sit in and enjoy their newest array of pop-up games. The games themselves will be in holo(gm) form and will feature suggestions from CEO’s post, including a simplified, 8-bit version of Tetris, Baseball, Soda Smash, etc. Characters can control the game through moving their fingers and tapping them against the holo(gm) screens.

Surrounding the cubicles will be tables of food and more food for characters to partake in. It’s all safe this time. No mind-altering candy corn or gut-exploding Knight Burgers. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the party. For those who have been in Cerealia for a while, they should have received an invitation to the event and an offer of 1,000 credits just for participating. So come on down and bring a friend or ten! Meanwhile, CEO has a small welcome for everyone-

“Good Morning and thank you all for coming!

We have been expecting you. We hope you will enjoy what we’ve put together today. Ever since we got your feedback on << RAINBOW NARWHAL MELEE >>, we’ve been developing new games for all of you to enjoy. We’ve also tried to draw in some things from your worlds. We hope to hear more feedback from you in the future.

In the meantime, feel free to sample our food, generously provided to us by TGICERES, a moderately-priced family restaurant located in the Shopping District."

//SCENARIOS.EXE

PHASE I

[ xxxx ] Music lightly wafts from the speakers as the showroom opens. Julius Vincere, CERES’ CEO, delivers the opening announcement before leaving the room. He’ll be watching through all the video cameras placed around the room, so be on your best behavior! You will be guided to one of the many cubicles where you will sit and wait for a screen to pop up with a game. Once that game is defeated, another will pop up and another and another until your character gets hungry/has to pee/is so done with this shit.

PHASE II

[ xxxx ] Among the game rotations is a simple 8-bit fortune telling game starring Aria, the fortune teller. Come be enchanted by her mysterious wiles as she reads your future. She will do some 8-bit arm motions before summoning a ring of cards that will float around her. Characters will be encouraged to pick a card -any card. Once one has been selected, it will turn around slowly and unveil a card from the major arcana. Aria will then give your character their fortune, and that will be that. End of game. Onto the next!

PHASE III

[ xxxx ] You’ve left the testing center, and the evening has passed. As you wake up to perform your normal daily tasks, a niggling urge emerges at the back of your mind. It’s faint at first, just a whisper of a suggestion that pokes at your brain like a mosquito bite. However, that bite starts to grow bigger and become infectious. As the day wears on, you find that one little suggestion escalating. The next day is even worse. It starts to dominate your every thought, making you carry out actions you never thought yourself capable of. Who is this person in the mirror? Who have you become?

PHASE IV

[ xxxx ] By day three, the impulse is now a full-blown addiction. It’s set into your psyche completely. You’ve become something else entirely –the embodiment of the card. You will be acting out everything without anymore resistance, and it won’t stop until the clock strikes midnight. That’s when you’ll reel back to your senses, and when it’ll all have felt like the worst dream ever. Or a nightmare really.

BONUS

[ whyo'clock ] Among all the games present, there is also an 8-bit version of CERESLearn. Yes, you remember the magical game that won your hearts over not too long ago. It will come complete with the same rules. You choose a subject, you choose an 8-bit teacher among the three (Astor), (Hilda), or (UN-Zippy), and you watch them as they try to erotically teach you what you want to learn. Is that an 8-bit boob or her arm? Who knows? But beware… as you may remember, these teachers house a very terrible secret.

They will transform into an 8-bit giant bug that will chase around your protag as you guide them to run away with your finger, but you can also flick the bug on the holo(gm) screen to send them away for good. Those who figure out that little cheat code will immediately receive a special real-time shoulder rub as a reward from a robot that looks eerily like a carbon copy of their teacher of choice.

[ Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with trigger-y or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ]

//RUN.EXE

Welcome to CEREALIA's latest event and intro post. For your convenience, we have compiled a post detailing what's going on right here and feel free to consult the FAQ if needed. Please leave any lingering questions in the OOC post, and we'll answer them as soon as we can. If this post goes into overflow, we will make a new one to deal with the ever-hated captcha! Worry not!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Tenka needed air. What he didn't need was... well, running into Hinata. But admittedly at least his reflexes are fast enough that he catches the other guy by the arm before he stumbles too far.]

Whoa there, Hinata-kun!!

[ . . . . . and then the delayed reaction comes and Tenka's brow is furrowing, leading to him waving a hand in front of his face.]

You alright?

Tenka...?

[He seems to recognise him belatedly too, looking at Tenka with a puzzled expression. It's the kind that seems to say "man I don't know what's wrong with me for somehow not knowing it was you right away".

But it's not quite that feeling either. It's not that he didn't know... it's that he didn't care about it.]

Yeah, I'm-- yeah. I'm all right, I think. [Though he's frowning, uneasy and uncertain at himself. Maybe that's why he admits:] I don't know why, but I've been out of it today.

[ . . . jeeze. Tenka tilts his head faintly at that before moving to press the back of his hand to Hinata's forehead.]

You catch a cold or something? You just seem kinda... sluggish.

[And it's worrying your aniki.]

[Hinata tenses as the hand presses to his forehead (mind the surgical scars there, Tenka), but he doesn't jerk away despite that being his first inclination. It's fine, he tells himself, peering under Tenka's hand at him.]

I dunno. I don't feel sick or anything. I'm not stuffed up or feverish, either, or nauseous...

[In truth, the surgical scars don't make Tenka even flinch - but he is mindful of them. He's got some personal knowledge of them as well, after all. But aside from that, he just frowns as he pulls his hand away.]

Yeah, you don't feel warm....

What, did you have a long day at work? I get spaced out if I work too hard sometimes.

[tenka gets spaced out whenever he wants though]

[A tiny bit of tension goes out of Hinata and his exhale sounds shaky (relieved) when Tenka's hand retracts. It's not as though they hurt anymore, but they're still sensitive in other ways.]

I... was kinda getting worse through the day.

This morning I don't think it was as bad as... [This, he means to finish but he trails off. Something in the corner of his mind. Just forget it all, it's coaxing him. It doesn't matter. Nothing matters...]

[ . . . . . . . he waits for a good couple seconds before he just claps his hands in front of Hinata's face.]

Hey, wake up!

[And despite the forcefulness of the gesture, there's a lot of concern in his voice too.]

--gh.

[Hinata startles back to himself (ooh it worked Tenka, good job) and he gasps a bit as life seems to flood back into his eyes.] Sorry... did it happen again?

It did.

[And he's decided that he doesn't like it. So he's sighing and rubbing the back of his neck now. What on earth could be causing all this weirdness....?]

You need to go home, Hinata-kun. Right now. I'll try to find a doctor or something.

--no, Tenka.

[He was paying attention this time. More attention. And he reaches out toward him as though about to grasp on to his sleeve or clothes or something similar before he stops himself.

He's much more shaken than he'd admit, but still, he's trying.] It's...not to do with my body. It's in my head.

[Hinata manages to snag onto Tenka's sleeve and that much manages to get Tenka to pause. Then he's pausing for a second before plastering on a smile and then moving to take Hinata's head in his hands - gently, minding the scars.]

Then I'm gonna get a doctor for this dumb egghead of yours.

Or I'm gonna find some kind of answer so you don't need to be so worried anymore, alright? Trust me.

[Hinata finds himself flushing, embarrassed, feeling thoroughly like a kid when Tenka holds his head. He's never felt quite like this around people, but he hasn't exactly known many people like this guy.

Giving in, he tightens his fingers in Tenka's sleeve. It's more difficult to trust these days, but he does... kinda want to rely on him. Even just for a moment.]

You... [He sighs quietly.] Don't do something on your own for my sake, oi. I want to do something too.

[But, that said...] I think I've felt like this before.

[A moment is all it takes. Tenka doesn't really mind it then, unflinching even as Hinata's fingers cling a bit more onto his sleeve. It's fine. Even big kids like this are still kids, he thinks.

But well... he can't deny a lead when he hears one.]

I won't say no to you helping me do something for your sake then.

But... where? [Where could this feeling have come up? What kind of life did Hinata lead?]

[He's not a big kid... He'd deny that he is, heartily, but how long's it been since he was allowed to be a kid for a second? Not for a while. He's had to keep going for a long time now.

I thought I accepted that I was already an adult, he rebukes himself.]

For a couple of years, I was just... I didn't feel anything. I lived like that, but it wasn't really me. I gave up everything that I was.

That's what this reminds me of. I get this feeling in my head like I need to... [He struggles visibly, trying to figure out how to explain it.] ...just give in and stop thinking, noticing, caring... just then I did. I don't even know why.

[ . . . in complete honesty, Tenka can't imagine. His own past had misery and tragedy along with the laughter and happiness, but he always lived through all of it in vivid color. To be in a muted world... it's haunting. It makes him want to try even harder to keep Hinata from falling into that void.]

That's not going to happen.

[And with everything else that Tenka does, he sounds certain.]

If you don't want it to happen, I'm not going to let it happen, alright? I'll snap you out of it every single time that you start falling through - and then we'll get answers so we can make sure you don't get tempted to anymore.

You'll be okay.

...

[There's always some doubt in most everything Hinata does, but he really wants to just believe Tenka wholly. Believe without questioning for once, for the first time in a while. Tenka sounds so sure about it.

He lets his fingers relax in Tenka's sleeve, though drops his hand only after he gives fabric a grateful squeeze.]

...Thanks. Really. [He's asked Komaeda before to snap him out of it, any way that he could. Sonia, Noire, Morgan, he was sure if anything like that happened to him back there, his friends would help. Or at home, Owari promised to give him a punch if he needed it. But it's only Komaeda here now.] You don't gotta hold back either.

But this...let's figure it out.

Normally, I only get...apathetic when things happen that I don't think I can handle on my own. [He's admitted this to very few, no-one here, so he looks uncertain about saying it.]

Edited 2015-01-17 05:14 (UTC)

[Well, the first words out of Tenka's mouth are... still stupidly confident. Perhaps overly so, but he doesn't seem to hesitate in their delivery whatsoever.]

You can do anything you want to, Hinata-kun. Never forget that. You're smart and you're kind. Even if the world seems dark, you'd be surprised how much you can handle if you hold onto that belief.

[It's a moment of surprise wisdom from Tenka, his gaze growing slightly distant. There's been so much suffering in his own life, but the most important part was always continuing to move forward. That's the advice he has to impart. But then he shakes his head fondly as he addresses the rest of it.]

But if you ever need a hand, you've got me and all your other friends. Then it'll be even easier to do anything.

[Hinata closes his eyes for a moment in response to the surprise wisdom... It's something he heard before. It feels like a long time ago now, but they agreed to move toward the future together. Things have rubbed away and chipped at it, but he's always tried to hold on it, no matter how hard it got.]

Yeah. I... forget, sometimes, about how strong just believing and keeping going is.

[Having some friendly reinforcement sometimes really helps, though, more than he thought. More than he figured he needed. But he opens his eyes again to look at Tenka, sees the distance in his gaze and wonders what he's been through.]

I won't be the guy who'll always contact you for every little thing, but... when I need your help, I'll count on you. [Provided Tenka isn't plagued with his own troubles.] ...Speaking of that, have you been okay? You haven't felt strange in any way?

Hey, I'm a busy guy. If you called me whenever you couldn't get a jar open, I'd be pretty annoyed. [That much he understands. It's okay. Hinata's a kid but he's in the process of getting more mature and Tenka can respect that much. He knows that Hinata can handle himself a lot of the time but-] If you ever really need me though - and I'll trust you to tell me when you do - I'll always be there.

[It's a hefty promise when he's not even really in a place where he can be sure that he'll stay here forever and when he has a town that's waiting for him to go back and save them.... but he doesn't waver in his delivery. It's an older brother's job to be there for his family. But when asked about his own troubles... he just laughs, as he always does.]

I'm fine, of course!! Haven't I already told you? Your aniki's invincible!

[I-in the process... You haven't met all of his friends, Tenka. Hinata's impressively mature in comparison. A few are okay, but only a few.] ... [He looks at Tenka a long moment, thoughtful. Haven made him cynical, never knowing when someone will disappear.

Still, he's going to believe it. Maybe someday Tenka will disappear from here, or Hinata will, but what's the use in anticipating the uncertainties?] ...Got it. I don't want it to be a one-sided thing, though.

I... think of you as a friend, Tenka. Though I guess if you really, really wanted me to call you 'aniki' I could give it a try. [However, he says this in such a way it's hard to tell if Tenka would want him to try it... Anyway, it'd make Hinata feel like he was in the yakuza. Which he isn't exactly but did exchange cups with Kuzuryuu.] So, whether they're invincible or not, I like being there for my friends too.

[Tenka's picky about maturity, just let it go, Hinata. Still though he's just chuckling at that.]

Just give it up and call me aniki.

[You'll find that it's a very rare occurrence for Tenka to not get his way, Hinata. And when Tenka doesn't get his way, it always ends up absurdly sad for some reason. Hopefully that won't be the case now. But he just shakes his head and further elaborates-]

I think of you as family. [Because Tenka's heart is big and he has a habit of immediately taking in people as his family.] Which is why I insist - and accept your concern.

[Hinata raises his eyebrow, wondering and feeling a little tsun all of a sudden. Mildly tsun. Being told he's thought of as family gives him strange warm fuzzies that he doesn't know how to deal with.]

...I've really never run into a guy like you before. [And as such he can't help but comment on it. He feels a mix of bewilderment, exasperation, affection and admiration for him, just to name a few.]

But fine. I get it. [Breath out and hand on his hip and lineface and flat voice:] Aniki.

[...

Hey, he was right. It really does make him feel like he's in the yakuza. I definitely can't call him that after all. At least not all the time. And he feels like he'd get poked fun at somehow.]

[Tenka just chuckles at that. Never run into a guy like him before? Well.... to a degree, he sure as hell hopes not. Because Tenka knows exactly what kind of shit he's seen in his life to have to get to this point. He wouldn't wish that much on anyone. But he grins regardless.

And he brightens up a bit even at the flat 'Aniki' he gets in return. If anything, it manages to get a full-blown laugh out of him, bright and obnoxious as ever.]

Buahahaha!! See? It's not so bad, is it?

I think it was worse, actually. Maybe I'll save using that for special occasions.

[But he smiles a bit and shrugs one shoulder casually. The unease and that nagging feeling in his head hasn't gone away. He's afraid that it won't go away. Terrified, honestly, but sometimes things like this...

...help. Sometimes it's better to be able to forget and laugh for a little while.]

Edited 2015-01-17 23:19 (UTC)

[He doesn't want any of your sass, Hinata!! That much manages to get him to roll his eyes.]

I don't know why I bother with you. These special occasions better be worth it.

[Oh Tenka, you have no idea what you're in for.]

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