[open] ain't no discussion party like an open discussion party

[psycholawgy]

Who: Anyone and everyone
When 1 February
Where: CERES Gardens
What: IC Dicussion Post
Rating/Warning: None so far!

[ At 5:30 in the morning, each person will receive a text: ]
Good morning!
If you'd like to know what happened during the CERES tours, please come to the gardens at 12 noon.
Lunch will be provided.

[ All these texts will come from Athena Cykes, so if you'd like to respond, head on over here! ]

---

[ Athena's managed to convince the manager of the Little Sister Cafe to cater at ther CERES gardens, so there are tables, a spread of food, and at the center of all the tables is a small platform-like stage with a microphone. A part of the gardens now looks like this. With less balloons, of course.

Once there's enough people, Athena Cykes steps up. She has crutches, and she rests those crutches by the side of the platform as she speaks. ]

I'm sure we were all expecting a safe tour, but most of us - if not all - ended up being in danger. But, despite all this, we learned a lot of things. If we can all get up here one by one, in an orderly manner, and speak of what we've learned, we would be able to help one another survive in Cerealia better.

I don't think we need to keep this a secret anymore; Mr. Mosley and the rest of CERES have their eyes on us at all times. But still, we shouldn't try to withhold information from one another. Information is key to be able to survive in this place. Whatever you know? Please tell us.

The food is also from the cosplay cafe. Please come visit if you enjoy them. Thank you.

[ With a bow of her head, she steps down and heads to her table. Anyone is free to take the stand now and speak. ]

(( Make your own top-levels, and then there can be discussions for each top-level! I won't be running this post, so treat this as a mingle!

GROUP FIVE / GROUP SEVEN / GROUP NINE / IN-GAME TITLES ))

Comments

group 5 info!

[harepiece]

[When Oz gets to the front to talk, he pauses for a second.]

Um— I was with Miss Shepard, Mister Katsura, Hinata and Rei. Mister Katsura already mentioned this on the network earlier, but we found a woman locked up on the... I think it was the seventy-third floor? Mosley left us there and then an alarm went off, and the guards opened fire on us. We were able to escape- [THANKS KATSURA the true shonen protag of the group] -and found a room past the hall. That's where they were keeping her. She was chained up and in a cage, and there were a lot of cameras watching her. Miss Shepard tried to talk with her, but she seemed wary of us... Angry, too. She thought that we were with CERES at first, but even when we told her we weren't, she said we can't change anything if we don't know anything. [He purses his lips briefly.]

But before we could really talk to her, she got upset and said that CERES was there watching through us. I think we all blacked out after that... I was blind in my left eye for a while after, and my CereVice didn't start working again for a few hours. Oh— did anyone else get a thank you message at the end of the tour, too? [THAT CREEPY ROBOT.]

[dereban]

Yeah. [ Inaba just nods in response to the last question. ] I think we all did. That robot really is creepy.

[ She shivers a bit just remembering that. ]

[harepiece]

[He sure looks like he's on the same page, there.]

I've never seen it before, either. That dream was the first time... [Not a great impression to make, robot!! Showing up and strangling their only known ticket to possible information...] I wonder if it works for the new CEO?

[dereban]

We don't know for sure. It's possible that it does... but what would it be thanking us for?

[harepiece]

I thought it might be thanking us for going on the tour at first... What do you think?

[dereban]

If it just was for the tour, it wouldn't be so ominous. Plus, Mosley was practically livid at our group for making a hole in the wall of the building.

[harepiece]

It's a little surprising that he really wouldn't have expected something like that. Security wasn't as strict as I thought it might be in general...

[Considering Katsura got in with a pair of bombs and all?!]

[psycholawgy]

A woman...? Maybe she's related to LILITH?

[harepiece]

It's possible. There was more than one, right? She didn't really look like LILITH, though. I think she might have been one of the other species that lives around here...

[Some sort of alien, maybe, but he has no idea what sort.]

[psycholawgy]

Maybe... I'm sorry you guys had a rough time too.

[harepiece]

It sounds like everyone did. One or two tours going wrong would have been a little harder to pin down, but almost all of them...? Could that really be called coincidence or explained away by saying they weren't prepared?

[psycholawgy]

They definitely were prepared that way.

I don't doubt that at all. Not one bit. Even if everybody lies to me.

[harepiece]

[His brow furrows a little in mild confusion at that, and he echoes back:]

Even if everyone lies...?

[faithfulflame]

When you say wary, Oz-kun, what do you mean? How did this woman look?

[Rei seems genuinely curious about that.]

Was she cautious? Or in pain? Or...was it more suspicion?

[harepiece]

I mean, she looked... upset. When she thought that we were with CERES, she was angry and suspicious, like she didn't want us there at all. Even after that, she was still cautious about CERES. She wanted us to come as close as possible because she said CERES couldn't overhear what she was going to say, and it took her a while to even decide to tell us that much. That's how wary she was...

[And then they BLEW IT SOMEHOW.]

[faithfulflame]

Hey, Oz-kun...don't look so down. I'm sure you did what you could.

[Rei steps closer and reaches a hand down to squeeze his shoulder.]

[harepiece]

[Ah-- he's really upset about having to leave that woman behind, but he doesn't want to worry anyone here, either! So he smiles at the reassurance.]

Right... And I'm sure we'll get another chance to do something about it.

[faithfulflame]

[Oz you big faker.]

You're right. We will. That's not even a question, because I don't think anyone here isn't a helper.

[harepiece]

[Stepford smiling is his middle name.]

Oh-- I know! If anything, I know we can rely on that. It's just that getting back into the headquarters will be a little difficult now, that's all. ["A little"...]

I doubt they'd want to let us back in until it's convenient for them, like it was this time.

[espersions]

[ People pay good money, in certain parts of this city, to get chained up and stuck in a cage, so that part of the story on its own isn't quite so disturbing, but... ]

We can't change anything if we don't know anything. Cryptic and of limited usefulness, what a surprise.

[ How very reminiscent of LILITH, ugh. ]

Did she say anything else to you?

[harepiece]

Miss Shepard was really good at talking to her, at least.

[He's glad they left that up to her, since dang, she just aced the negotiation fields.]

But that's all she said... She panicked when we got too close even though she asked us to come close first, because she didn't want to be overheard. That was when she started talking about CERES watching through us the whole time.

[espersions]

[ She asked them to come close and then panicked when they did. Odd. ]

Just watching, hm? Nothing about hearing?

[ He raises a hand, on purpose to cut Oz off before he answers. ]

I know, I know. That's all she told you. Is your vision back to normal?

[harepiece]

[His mouth snaps back shut as Hyoubu raises a hand, since that's exactly what he'd been about to say. As for the question:]

Right, it has. It was the same for all of us, I think... It started to clear up within a day.

[espersions]

Do you feel normal now?

[ He smiles inwardly at his own turn of phrase. This kid isn't pinging him as an esper, but he doesn't register as strictly "Normal" either. ]

Feel anything in your eye or your head?

[harepiece]

[There's a little brow furrowing happening right now, but after a second of contemplation, he shakes his head.]

I don't feel sick or in pain, so I guess it's as normal as things were before.

[Which he's suspecting now wasn't really "normal" from the start, considering the the shared timing and location of the symptoms of his group. Good lord, just his luck to go from one place that tampered with everyone's brains to another.]