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[reparator]

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)
Original Post: HERE.

//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 AND OUR VERY FIRST OVERFLOW. 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!

Comments

[uncoincidental]

Is that so...

[In truth, his answer makes her stomach churn. There is a part of her that wonders - if there was another game that Komaeda took part in, how many other games could have happened as well? Another part of her really doesn't want to know the answer to that, though. Just one or two is bad enough.]

I'm not sure if it's better or worse that it's different. [Sheba frowns.] On the one hand, we're not constantly being made to kill. On the other, we don't know what to expect...

[unluckless]

Mm. It is unpredictable, that's certain.

[Unpredictability is the only predictability. But at the same time, Komaeda is at least a little optimistic about things here -- when he's not annoyed as hell at the latest glitch messing with them.]

In between things going wrong, it's not so bad to live here. There's food and shelter. And most people seem to be very kind.

[uncoincidental]

[Sheba tilts her head to the side, quiet and thoughtful for a few moments. She knows well enough that the way people act doesn't always match up with the things they think. Someone who's acting nice can very easily be plotting to stab them in the back. Dwelling on that for too long is only going to make her upset, though, and so she forces a smile.]

With any luck, the people here will actually be as kind as they seem.

[A beat, and then it occurs to her that she hasn't actually introduced herself yet, so she holds out her hand to him for a handshake.] My name is Sheba, by the way. Thank you for answering my question before.

[unluckless]

With any luck...

[Komaeda repeats with a smile, even if he and luck have the oddest relationship. But he is in full agreement. People aren't always what they seem, and after his experiences, he's more suspicious than he necessarily wants to be.

His smile brightens at the introduction and he ducks his head in a polite little bow before reaching out to shake her hand.]

Komaeda. And it's nothing to thank me for. It wasn't that long ago that I was in your shoes, so I know it can be confusing.

[uncoincidental]

Confusing is one word for it.

[She pulls a face, but it doesn't stick for very long before she's smiling faintly again. Even if there are a bunch of very strange people around, at least everyone isn't totally bizarre. It could be worse.]

If CERES starts spouting off their excuses soon, we'll know all this weirdness is over with for now, so I hope that happens quickly.

[unluckless]

[To put it mildly. Komaeda can't exactly fault her for the face. There are so many faces that deserve to be made at CERES with how often things go so very wrongly here.]

I do too. It's particularly trying this time.

[Not that freezing half to death and the murder clown game was a piece of cake.] You haven't noticed any effects in yourself though, right? That's positive at least! Though it does mean you get to fully appreciate the strangeness around you.

[uncoincidental]

[One day, a bunch of people should just compile a video of them making faces and send it to the CEO...]

I've got a good track record when it comes to being unaffected by this kind of thing. [She's not sure if it's because she's just lucky, or because of her mental defenses as an Adept, or maybe some combination of the two, but she's not complaining.] It's much better to be able to know my mind is my own.

[She studies him for a moment or two.] ...nobody's tried to do anything strange to you this time around, have they?

[unluckless]

[It'd be a very long video. So very long.]

Have you? That's fortunate then!

[He nods in agreement with the idea of being in one's right mind. It's disconcerting that this place can ruin that for people so quickly.

Aaah that, he shrugs a bit.] I think I dodged any noticeable effects from what's going on anyway. My friend though... mm. He's not himself at all. It's worrying.