//SCENARIOS.EXE
PHASE I [ xx xx ] So you've all just been dropped off at the venue and now it's time to get some food in you. After all, as any of Cerealia's professional models will be able to tell you, standing under the lights and looking pretty is a whole lot harder than it looks! You're definitely going to want to keep your strength up. But don't worry about paying, because this meal is on the house. Eat as much as you like. It's buffet-style, and anything that runs low will be refilled by friendly robots in a timely fashion.
Also on the house is treatment from the colony's various appearance professionals. Makeup artists and hairdressers will have their time to shine as they primp and polish 'til you glow with pride, and representatives from various boutiques and clothing stores, as well as professional fashion designers, will be on hand to ensure that you look your best!
Don't be surprised if, while you're waiting to get started, a dark-clad figure in a hood sidles up to you and dumps a letter or two in your lap! These are letters from your adoring public (yes, even the new arrivals have quite a devoted fanbase), and they range from cute to creepy. ...how did that messenger even get in, anyway? Maybe the way they seem to melt into the crowd and disappear when you blink has something to do with it.
PHASE II [ xx xx ] Now it's time to get down to business! Business, of course, being getting your picture taken by these overly-enthusiastic photographers. ...do some of them look like cats? That's got to be your imagination. Blink and they'll look normal, promise.
The photographers are interested in catching as many shots of the various visitors to the colony as they can possibly get, so don't be surprised if they pair you up with people you don't even know just because they think you look cute together. The poses they'll put you in will range from normal to outright risqué, so here's hoping you and your new buddy don't feel awkward together!
Midway through the shoot, one of the volunteers will run into the room very excitedly, wheeling a cart full of animal carriers behind him. Some of the things he's brought along are harmless CYBuddies, because what photoshoot isn't made cuter by including adorable animals, but some of the others are... let's just say CERES probably won't be too happy once they hear that someone's brought alien life forms into the colony. In all fairness, some of them are actually quite cute, like the aquatic creature that manages to float itself around in a sphere of water and the multi-tailed fox with glowing purple eyes, as well as the... Well, no one's really sure what this thing is, not even the person who brought it, but it's cute enough. Others, on the other hand, are just entirely bizarre, but to each their own.
Feel free to chat up the others while you're waiting for your turn, to play with the animals, or to try and escape. Those who try and duck out the back will eventually be tracked down by a volunteer or a robot that will try to either bribe or kidnap them into continuing with the shoot, though! Maybe you and a friend can team up to figure out a way past them? Or you could just be on good behavior and let them take your picture.
...a word of caution, however. No matter how often the photographers urge you to do so, do not look directly into the camera. Characters who do will be rendered unconscious (those with spiritual sensitivity will actually be able to tell that they've been rendered soulless, though characters that already lack souls to begin with will still be rendered unconscious) for five minutes in the first instance and five minutes plus one minute for every instance thereafter (six minutes for a second time, seven for a third, and so on). Should they reach the point where they would be knocked out for a period of ten minutes, the photographer will try to leave the building. You will want to stop them. If you don't, your character will remain unconscious until the dawn of the next day and will be transported to the CERES medical center. If other characters manage to keep the photographer from leaving, your character will wake up after ten minutes as normal. Feel free to NPC these encounters yourselves if it comes to it; the mods will not be doing so. It's up to you whether the photographer escapes or not.
PHASE III [ xx xx ]
Uuuuuuh-oh. Whoever thought it was a great idea to bring in all those alien creatures is probably going to get fired, because one thing has led to another and now they're on the loose. What's more, those of them that can do so have taken on decidedly more threatening appearances, and more than a few of them seem to be out for blood.
In the chaos brought on by their outbreak, a second wave of photographers will make their way into the building. They're more aggressive in their attempts to have the characters look right at them when they take their pictures, and will absolutely try and gang up on them to hold them down and turn their heads to force them into having their pictures taken over and over again. These shots will have the same effect as being directly photographed during the photoshoot, but fighting back against them is okay - in fact, the volunteers and photographers who organized the shoot will actually do their best to help you fight the paparazzi off. This sort of aggression is not condoned by the locals who love you, after all. Should your character be rendered unconscious for ten minutes, anyone who attempts to stop the paparazzi from absconding with their soul will be assisted by the official volunteers for the photoshoot.
...of course, if your character is managing to hold their own, they'll just hang back and photograph the fight. Why waste a good opportunity for candid shots? After all, you're the people who are going to be restoring your own worlds and subsequently protecting theirs from the Flamines! Why wouldn't they want to document it every step of the way?
PHASE IV [ xx xx ]
The paparazzi has been successfully expelled, the photoshoot has been finished up, and as if by magic (okay, no, it's just technology), they've actually managed to produce the prototypes for the various merchandise that will be sold around the colony. Isn't that exciting? You've all done a great thing here today, the volunteers will tell you. Now just sit back, relax, and let them make up for all the trouble.
Admire the calendars, books, and prints you're all appearing in! Or, you know, you can also wonder why ghostly images of people who aren't even there are showing up in some of the pictures you've taken. If you took a picture with just one other person, you might see a third person there, posed perfectly to go along with you! It's almost like the photographers were able to see them all along, but that's not possible, right? They won't always be there, either. You can see it and someone else can see it, but if you look away for too long and then look back, the picture will look just the way it should have based on how you took it. Huh. Weird.
Anyway, enjoy the lavish banquet the volunteers have prepared to thank you for all your hard work! You've done a fantastic job and they really want to express their gratitude. If there's any particular food you like, chances are it will be there. (Don't ask how they knew what you like.) While you're eating, another black-clad messenger might appear and give you even more fanmail than you might have received before the shoot - apparently people have been watching, and this has really boosted your popularity! You're developing quite the fanbase. The dinner crowd's fanmail definitely ranges more along the "creepy" side of things, though some of the notes actually will be cute and innocent expressions of admiration.
The security has been stepped up considerably for the meal, so the paparazzi won't be able to get in (though you can certainly hear them trying). At the end of the night, the volunteers will offer to escort you home, and should you take them up on their offer you'll make it home safely and be unbothered by the paparazzi at your place of residence. Try and go home alone, though, and the paparazzi will stalk you until sunrise, even going so far as to try to break into your room.
BONUS [ why o'clock ]
It seems like your devoted fanbase has gotten a little out of hand! At any point during the log - even during the chaos surrounding the animal outbreak and paparazzi attack - you might just be approached by a robot. A robot that loves you so much, it's going to take you away from all of this. This robot will wax poetic about its undying love for you and how it's going to make sure that the two of you can be together forever and no one will ever be able to take you away from them.
It will then proceed to do its best to kidnap you. Maybe there's some kind of a glitch in its program, because it's not gentle about it at all! And if you try and escape, it'll definitely get violent. Try to run away and it might just have to break your legs so you can never leave it behind. Try and fight it off, and it'll do its best to incapacitate you so it can drag you off, put you on display, and take super good care of you.
These robots are incredibly sturdy, but the more technologically-inclined may be able to reprogram them into being less creepy and more helpful if they can get to the control panel on its back. Fight hard enough, or avoid it for long enough, and eventually its battery will wear down and you'll be safe. If you can't fight or run, you'd better hope someone who can will come along and help you...!
[ 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. ]
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phase iv!
it's weird enough, considering the hour, but it's even more suspect to find some winded young boy (presumably) staking out his door with desperation radiating out him in waves.
makoto blinks. ]
... Um? Did you need anything?
no subject
[Sorry for the rudeness but, Kazuya can hear them - or maybe that was his paranoia getting to him. Standing in the middle of a dark corridor by one's self when stalkers are on the loose is weirdly nerve-wracking, demon king or not]
Look, creeps are after me! Full blown stalkers! They're breaking into my apartment and everything, so I need to crash somewhere with hopefully sane people. [He squinted at Makoto, as if trying to gauge his sanity just by staring] You seem well-adjusted... okay. It's decided: let me in?
no subject
[ ???
self-consciously palming the nape of his neck, he winces back by a small margin as kazuya peers steadily back at him. getting cross-examined in the middle of the night sure is an experience. it's not like he isn't sympathetic to the woes and anxieties of others, but it's not like he can hear any of those supposed stalkers tromping around at the moment, either (although it would defeat the purpose if they weren't discreet about tailing this poor kid).
after a brief moment of hesitation, he holds the door open for his companion, furtively glancing around at the darkened forms of residential apartments lining the streets for suspicious movement.
well-adjusted, huh ... at least makoto looks about as sane as he feels at the moment ... ]
Okay, just for tonight.
[ a few seconds later and he's hurriedly locked the door behind him, keeping kazuya in the periphery of his vision in case he decides to pull a fast one and shank in the comforts of home. VALID CONCERNS, okay.
it occurs to him that it might be marginally related to the event that was held that day, but then he'd been one of the ones to accept a volunteer's escort offer, so the trip back (for him, at least) had been fairly uneventful. ]
Do you know what the people who were chasing you look like? It'll be bad if they saw you come in here.
no subject
[Kazuya glanced at the nearby windows at that comment though, as if expecting them to come crashing through the glass SWAT-style. Thankfully, nothing like that occurred, so he moved that scrutinising stare back onto Makoto, lips pursed as if he was in deep thought]
... I think they followed me from that freaky convention. I dunno why, I mean... [he gestured to himself, looking utterly bewildered] Not exactly pinup model material, y'know? It'd make more sense if they stalked you!
no subject
[ paid shutterbug stalkers hunting you down, yes. luckily, none of them materialize out of the woodwork, so makoto just ... continues staring at him, like he's regressed in simple comprehension and is still scrambling to just plain understand what the guy means. ]
They're your fans, right? You might be photogenic. I supposedly had some of my own there, but I'm sure it was just a elaborate joke of some sort —
[ and there he sputters, red up to the tips of his ears, because what. ]
N-No, of course not! I-I don't think so, that'd be really weird. I don't know a lot of people here, so it's kind of weird I got letters in the first place.
... Do you think it might be a scam of some sort?
no subject
[Kazuya sounded incredibly amused, his voice rising as if he was about to burst into laughter. Somehow he managed to contain himself, and he pointed at the door, as if the paparazzi were camping outside there right this second]
Trust me, this isn't a scam, unless it's to sell our pictures to some freaks. No, there's something wrong about them. I bet this is something creepy and nefarious. I mean, they were knocking people unconscious with their cameras back at that photoshoot thing. I mean, not literally, they weren't bludgeoning them, but, the camera... photo thing...
no subject
[ NOW YOU'VE GOT MAKOTO ALL PARANOID, swishing his head around to make sure the windows are sealed shut like they're about to have a home invasion and fifty freelance photographers on their asses. ]
I know what you mean. There was a girl there going on about how they lost their souls? [ he grimaces. ] But I'm sure there was an explanation for that! Like ... it got too warm in there, so people ended up passing out. The letters were weird, but maybe they were made-up? Like incentive to get us to stay long enough for the photoshoot.
... I didn't share the same feelings on it, but there were a few people in there who seemed to really like the extra attention.