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« 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

Then stop talking.

[Kamukura's so fuckin rude tbh. But he also watches Komaeda with those empty (but still less empty than Hinata) eyes, sees the moment where realisation hits. If he were the type he'd smirk but, as it is, he's not so he just kind of keeps looking at Komaeda.]

Finally noticed it, did you? You've slowed down.

[And then he'll be following after Komaeda as a very unwelcome tagalong into the kitchen. Yayyy breakfast.

At least he'll eat. He fully intends on keeping Hinata alive, despite how ruthlessly uninteresting Hinata is to him right now.]

Edited 2015-01-17 20:28 (UTC)

I can't exactly take your advice when you aren't even following it.

[ALSO SO RUDE. But the truth is Komaeda is trying very hard not to panic. Kamukura. Kamukura and not Hinata, though his Hinata is broken right now. This isn't his choice. He knows that, and he knows there's a solution. There has to be. So far these things have all passed once CERES gets their act together, but even so.

There's that anxiety that curls cold and heavy in the pit of his stomach. He wants Hinata here. He wants the man he knows and loves and not this substitute with his face -- but not his expressions.]

You can't expect trash like me to have the answers quickly. You should know that. [He's trying not to panic, but he is so sick of CERES messing up their lives. So instead of breaking down, he's embracing that annoyance and frustration and muttering to himself,] I should have known in this case though.

[Kamukura's walking into the kitchen after him, his gaze fixed on Komaeda, as though he's looking at him to figure him out. You're panicking, he notes mentally. A defense mechanism? Perhaps.

...It shouldn't be interesting. He had figured him out on the boat before. Had seen through Hinata's eyes all through the time in Haven. However... there are unexpected factors about him, parts that aren't something he'd initially anticipated. That's what makes a spark of interest settle in him.]

Downplaying your own intelligence while you already know things, [he comments,] but have you asked why or how yet, Komaeda Nagito?

How is it that those games are affecting you and Hajime?

[Komaeda is gathering up breakfast supplies now. Pans and spatula, eggs, a few veggies, cheese. He glances back over his shoulder at Kamukura now though, frowning at him. This guy.

Still thinking about slapping him, even if he thinks it might be different this time.]

That's been the question since the moment we arrived, hasn't it? [Komaeda turns to face him fully.] When I first met that woman who was looking in ViViD for a cure to a sickness in the real world. [Or well.] If this world is real.

[Kamukura gazes back at him, his red eyes focused but still empty as usual... Almost empty.]

If this world is also a virtual reality, then it wouldn't be strange for them to be able to manipulate the people in it as much as they wanted, from injecting their bodies with drugs or otherwise.

However, if this world is not a virtual reality, why is it affecting Hajime the way it is? It's in his brain. The brain may react to subliminal stimuli, but he played only once. Their level of technology can only do so much that the regular brain, the regular eye, can take in. If it had been suggestions over days, weeks, months... it would be different.

[But it wasn't. However, he doesn't seem like he's trying to figure out the truth with Komaeda. Instead, he seems to just be telling him things. Giving him hints, like Komaeda might've done before when he and Hinata were in trials.]

[Yeah this is familiar, but he's usually on the other side of this. Komaeda looks at him thoughtfully now, his snark from earlier forgotten in favor of listening closely. Kamukura may be an apathetic dangerous bastard with his sweet boyfriend's face, but he's pretty brilliant, there's no denying that.]

That game... it was short. But if their technology is as advanced as they say, would they need more than a moment to pass that sort of message? It didn't take effect immediately. SO maybe it was like planting a seed...

[Though hold on a minute back that up and repeat that testimony, okay? He's got something to shoot at in there, okay?] What do you mean, 'regular brain' and 'regular eye'? [Why make the distinction.] Do you think they've done something to us? [When they arrived here? Messed with their heads?]

... It means just what it sounds like. Whatever message that they were transmitting to people shouldn't be so strong to be able to do what it is doing in such a specific way... were it an ordinary subliminal message being perceived ordinarily.

[Kamukura just watches him for a long moment after he says that, at the question. And then his gaze shifts to the ingredients and such that Komaeda had been getting out.] Are you going to make breakfast? [He's hungry.

Also this is him completely avoiding answering the question.

Charming.]

Edited 2015-01-18 04:27 (UTC)

Are you going to answer the question?

[Komaeda looks right back at him flatly before sighing, waving a hand.]

I'll make breakfast because Hajime needs to eat. [He turns around to pick up a spatula before turning and pointing it at Kamukura in a very obvious "you got that wrong!!!" pose.] For Hajime and not for you. It's his breakfast.

[So don't taste it or enjoy it! Not that he's a great cook so "enjoyment" is not assured anyway. So yes, off he goes to get to scrambling them both some eggs.]

No.

[At least he's not lying... Good point or not?? Hard to tell. Kamukura looks back at that brandished spatula before lifting his gaze to Komaeda's face.] Don't burn it.

[He's hovering, too. He's standing a few steps away, watching Komaeda cooking. It doesn't seem like he's building up to anything, so when he speaks again, it's abrupt in the sudden quiet:] It's boring if I tell you what I think, one like me who can predict what will happen. You and Hajime should draw your own conclusions.

[Implying that perhaps that isn't... as boring??]

Edited 2015-01-18 05:38 (UTC)

...of course.

[No he says. Komaeda glances back at his hovering company now, lifting an eyebrow at him. What?]

It's not burning yet. [But that's not likely to last, so he'll pay attention.] One like you. [Komaeda echoes with a frown, brow furrowing now.] But you're right. Hajime and I should draw our own conclusions, with our own thoughts and observations.

[They'll investigate like they always have! And... and without Kamukura! He pokes the eggs, scrambling up now. Oh right, veggies! Scramble scramble.]

[What. He's making sure Hajime's not going to get fed charcoal. He moves away, though, drifting to the cupboards, fetching down some... spices. Without a care, he returns and proceeds to add some.]

Turn down the temperature. [...bossy... No doubt Komaeda likes this help very much.] And wait before you add vegetables.

[He'll add some oil. Now is good. Yes.] ...Hajime's gone against what I've predicted before.

[HEY. Hinata has eaten his food on more than one occasion and while maybe he's overly forgiving because he's a good boyfriend, he hasn't died from it yet! So look here Mr. SHSL BEST AT EVERYTHING.

Komaeda blinks as his eggs are spiced. And then he's bossed around.] ...would you like to finish?

[Hand on his hip spatula held out, face as flat as it can manage to be. Until Kamukura says that last thing, and his entire expression falters. The exasperation leaves and for a moment there's that panic right in front, that concern and worry over Hinata, a fondness at even thinking of him surprising Kamukura like that. His gaze drops and a smile finds his face, subdued, especially for his usual blithe expressions.]

Hajime-kun has surprised me before too.

[Kamukura just looks back at him like what. These are going to be delicious now. Don't give him that flat face. And then it shifts, and red eyes seem to sharpen for a second with interest. At least before he turns his head away, moving to gently deprive Komaeda of the spatula.]

According to my predictions, he should have given up. He was weak. His fear of disappearing should have overwhelmed him. But it didn't.

[A contemplative pause.]

When he had to kill Sonia Nevermind... he shouldn't have been able to do it. He almost left it to me. But then he refused to and did it himself. In that place, he should have fallen into despair from everything, but he didn't. [All of this seems to say... it's not that boring. And hence, Kamukura's a little interested.] A talentless person shouldn't have been able to do all of what he has.

Edited 2015-01-18 18:07 (UTC)

[...oh. Well then. He'll observe and critique now! Or something. Actually he'll just grab up a pepper and nibble at it while he watches him. And he listens. He's not sure why. Shouldn't he hate Kamukura more than anyone? But even so, it's still Hinata somehow, and more than that, Kamukura has changed. At least a little.

Komaeda thinks so anyway.

He looks almost surprised at what Kamukura talks about ow though.] I used to think a lot like that too you know. It's strange. Those ideas, hearing them... they don't sound right at all anymore.

Talentless people are talentless. They envy those who have talent and try to be like them, but there is nothing they can leave on the world. So they fight, create chaos in the world; that was boring...

[He sounds less like he's telling Komaeda this than just quoting it back from a time earlier. A time when they spoke on that ship. Kamukura cuts a glance to him and flicks off the stove.]

... Hajime acknowledged his inferiority a long time ago. However, it's changed. [...] Ahh... how boring. His apathy now is something I predicted would happen at a time before this. But now that this has happened... really, it's boring.

[That is to say... he doesn't like it. As much as he's capable of not liking or liking anything. And then he comments:] The smell of you has changed, Komaeda Nagito.

[...which is probably a weird thing to say unless you're Owari but.]

Edited 2015-01-19 01:12 (UTC)

[Komaeda listens to the familiar words, and he's quiet. That's what he believed, that only those with talents were capable of bringing the sort of hope that the world really needed, but he's seen more than that. Hinata's shown him. Sonia. The people he's met in Haven -- and here too.]

This apathy isn't Hajime-kun's choice.

[Defensive. Except no wait hold on a minute back that up because.] The smell of me? [...pray tell why are you smelling him, Kamukura? He's not wearing a new cologne.]

[Kamukura just glances at him as though asking what. What he said wasn't that strange. They know Owari, who could really be stranger than that...]

When I first met you, it was easy to figure you out. When you were in despair, still under that woman's influence. You had a rotten smell to you. [But fine he'll elaborate on this...] But it's different now. Well, it isn't like it won't become boring to me eventually...

[But for now it's not...? Is what he seems to be getting at. He serves up breakfast and moves to deposit one plate into Komaeda's hands.]

[Oh! Well then! Eggs! In his hands. He takes the plate and looks down at it, grudgingly admitting to himself that it really does smell good. That's to be expected though, isn't it?

His gaze lifts to fix on Kamukura once more.]

Is it? That's surprising, to hear something like that from you. [Komaeda sighs and shrugs.] But I'm a lot more easily surprised than you.

[Not so easily bored anyway. He is going to dig into breakfast now, frowning down at it. Damn it. It's really really delicious. He really hates this guy sometimes.]

[Kamukura doesn't say anything at first. He eats as it is, though his expression doesn't change or anything. Even if it's delicious. What, it's just something that's to be expected.]

Are you really surprised?

[Even he knows you're perceptive, Komaeda... he's sure Komaeda's noticed that he's not quite the same as he was. If things keep proceeding like this, I can predict that eventually I won't exist any longer. [...] No. That's wrong. Hajime will just be me and I him, completely.]

That you think so... maybe just a little.

[But it's true. Komaeda recognizes that he's changed. That he's not the person that he used to be at all anymore. They've both changed. Or all changed. Him, Kamukura, Hinata. All of them.

It's brought them to this place. He quiets and for a moment mulls this over as he eats the rest of his eggs.]

Hey. [A quiet sound as he lifts his gaze to him once more.]

[Finishing off his own plate, Kamukura sets it aside without a word, saying nothing more to Komaeda for now. It seems that's the limit of what he's willing to speak with him about, as though he's grown bored with it. Or maybe he doesn't care, or simply that he doesn't know what else there is to say.

He does actually turn in reaction, though, attention caught. His head cocks just a bit.]

...Yes?

[Komaeda sets his place down as well, looking at Kamukura for a moment, a long moment, his expression unreadable -- largely because he can't really make up his mind over what he's thinking, what he's going to do.

Until he does.

He takes a few steps closer now, tentative, but then a few more with more confidence. He stops just in front of the other man before tipping forward to lean into him, pressing his face up against the other's neck. Hinata and not Hinata. But oh he feels familiar, smells familiar.

And then he waits to be pushed away.]

......

[Kamukura understands right away the reasons for Komaeda doing what he's doing right now. He's looking for comfort. He's afraid. He's worried. How many other things? He understands those emotions since Hajime had made the decisions leading up to them coming back.

And even while he still has an absence of them...

His mind can comprehend and understand, even while he might not be able to extend the same sympathy. So he moves one of his hands, lifts it up, and places it on Komaeda's head, on his hair. His hand moves over it until he finds the place where Komaeda'd been struck when those clown-faced people had infested the city. And he rests his palm there.]

Hajime will return to normal. [He knows. It's a certainty. He can predict that much from this world.]

[It's a surprise, when there's no subtle (or less than subtle) snark about how boring someone seeking out something they're not going to find. That he's not his Hajime.

But instead there's that hand at his head. His eyes widen for a moment before falling shut tightly. Because they're tearing up, and he does't want to be a weak person like this. But it's so strange how he feels like Hinata and not like Hinata.

It's close enough though, and his hands lift to curl into the front of the other's shirt. Hajime...] He will. [He has to.]

[Kamukura's already begun to feel a sense of blurring; he and Hinata aren't quite as separate as they'd once been. The influence of his emotions... while that's removed right now, he's still well aware of what Komaeda means to Hinata-- to him. Even if he can't feel the same sense of attachment.

He can still touch at his hair, comb his fingers through it out of a sense of understanding, emotionally distant and more mechanical (than anything else) as that understanding may be, limited to knowledge and facts.]

... [But reassurance isn't his forte. That is something Komaeda should know... it's the inevitable conclusion. Hinata will return to normal.] Until that time, I'll be here.

[A statement of fact. Reassurance? Perhaps not. It might not be that reassuring. But, at the very least, Kamukura will keep his body alive, fed, moving... because it would be boring to watch Komaeda struggling through trying to coax Hinata into things, to watch him interact with no-one, even more boring than other things.]

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