« 005 ⇢ event005.exe »

[reparator]

Who: CERES & you
When: IC: 10/04 | OOC: 11/15
Where: ViViD & McCERES
What: Intro Log
Rating/Warning: PG-13 | slightly nsfw

//event005.EXE Learning is Fundamental! Let's play CERESLearn ViViD's usual worlds are unfortunately down for maintenance. While CERES' programmers work on getting it back up and running, all new entrees this round will be going through a different level than usual. Only a single world is accessible at the moment, a simple one entitled 'CERESLearn.' "What the $%@& is this?" you must be thinking. Well, it's simple! It's a study program, of course! CERES' advanced AI technology is here to make sure you learn and that you learn sexily. Whether or not you pay attention to the actual content is up to you, the player. Please enjoy it while it lasts. They're here to teach you a variety of subjects and also to make you feel vaguely uncomfortable all over. New arrivals and those logging into ViViD will first find themselves in a classroom with a new operator greeting them rather than Vidia. "Greetings and welcome to Cerealia! It's nice of you to join us at last. As you can see, we're just about to get started! Here are the instructions: ♥ Choose your subject of choice. They include things like medicine, math, CERES economics, CERES history, fun facts about Julius, engineering, and science! ♥ Choose your tutor. You can hire Astor, Hilda, or UN-Zippy ♥ They'll teach you slowly, deliberately, sensually. Then after that, they'll drill you hard and without stopping. ♥ Just when you think you've had enough, they'll quiz you all over until you're sweating and panting. ♥ For those of you who pass, you'll be welcomed well into Cerealia and be given a free voucher for a McCERES Mildly Content meal. Please enjoy!"

//SCENARIOS.EXE PHASE I [ xxxx ] Once you choose your lesson and your tutor, you will be transported to a classroom where you and a few other players who decide to choose the same lesson will sit with your tutor after school, getting knowledge taught to you by someone who seems more intent on learning what's under your clothes than filling your head with knowledge. They will be awkwardly stretching, dropping pencils by 'accident' on the floor, and bending down slowly to pick them up. Certain things might be spilling out of their clothes. Awkward things. They will breathe down your neck and make sure you are well-versed in their anatomy by the end of the lesson. Fortunately, it won't last long as their bodies start to flicker erratically. PHASE II [ xxxx ] Just as things begin to escalate, the flickering will grow intense until your tutor will start to morph before your eyes. What takes their place is something that is anything but friendly. And yes, it will continue to breathe down your neck and speak in a sweet, soft, alluring voice while reaching out with its 'hands' to try and touch you. This will be your cue to run through the halls of the school while That Thing chases you in every single direction imaginable. There will be others joining you as everyone starts bolting out of their classrooms. PHASE III [ xxxx ] Feeling tired already? Well, don't stop and rest now! For those who successfully murder their own tutor, they will get their food voucher and a lovely welcome into CERES. You've officially passed! Everyone will be allowed to mingle around the game room in the CERES Research Tower before being directed into McCERES just across the street. For those who were already in the colony, you will also receive a voucher and directions to McCERES at the end of the game in case you want to go meet up with the newcomers there or just eat some artery-killing fast food. PHASE IV [ xxxx ] For those who get eaten by That Thing or don't pass their quizzes and upset their tutors, they will be forced to endure the Price of Failure. This means being sent to the gym with the other 'failures' to endure a painfully slow and erotic striptease by UN-Zippy. Once that is over, they will then be logged out and allowed to have their complimentary McCERES voucher. BONUS [ whyo'clock ] Congratulations on surviving CERESLearn! Here's your complimentary voucher for a free Mildly Content Meal at McCERES. This month's special is also the McKnight Burger. Characters are immediately invited to take a load off and enjoy some good ol' fashion fast food of questionable origin. Those who decide to order and eat here will also get a special toy included inside their Mildly Content Meals. [ 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 intro post. For your convenience, we have compiled a post detailing everyone's usual arrival experience (which is not entirely applicable this round for reasons stated above^) and a FAQ that should explain everything in more detail. Please read them thoroughly before playing. Thank you!

Comments

[bunsofsteel]

A few months, huh?

[Tenten idly twirls a french fry between two fingers, looking a little surprised, but more contemplative than anything. What is this small food-thing. She's never seen one before. It doesn't stop her from tossing Komaeda a smile, though.]

Yeah, guess you could say that. I'm Tenten, and you're...?

phase III

[changeably]

[Cynbel has no desire to stay in ViViD for longer than he has to, this time around, and he's planning to bolt as soon as he gets the chance. But once he starts moving, he spots Ciel sitting in a chair and pauses.

He recognizes this boy, but wow, does he look like he's in much worse shape than before, though that might be because it's not nearly so dark this time.]

You look as though you've just been dropped off by a storm.

[He winces in sympathy, approaching slowly.]

Are you in need of some help?

[bunsofsteel]

[No food, huh? Maybe this guy just wants some of hers. Tenten gives him a quick smile and pushes the wrapper with the burger and several fries in his general direction, wordlessly inviting him to have some.]

What'd you mean, rough on us lately? What's changed?

[bunsofsteel]

What--?!

[A diving roll along the wall is totally necessary to avoid a weird... tentacle thing?? Tenten's not completely sure what's moving her way, but she doesn't want to get touched by it at all.]

What the hell are you doing up there?! Get down here and fight!

[Friend?? Enemy?? It's a weird feeling, not having enough weapons for this particular situation. Or any situation, really. A Tenten without weapons just seems strange.]

ii

[changeably]

[SHADY FORCE OF EVIL sounds about right to Cynbel, mostly because he's in panic mode and getting grabbed by something in the dark is not good.]

Let go of me, you vile, horrible excuse of a—!

[He squirms and yells, and he's about two seconds from clawing at something when he hears Oz's voice and calms enough to just use bare fists. Still, baby punches can still hurt!]

[bunsofsteel]

[Is there something familiar? She doesn't seem to recognize him at all, but she smiles nonetheless. Do you want some French fries? Tenten doesn't seem to know exactly what to do with them, but they've all kind of been stacked in a neat pile to the side of the burger's wrapper.]

Delivery, huh? [Obviously.] So you must know all the streets around here, huh? You got anywhere else to go?

iii.

[playday]

[ It's like this. It's like one of those buttons, you see, the ones that are bright and obnoxious and red, complete with a blaring siren that says don't push. That's what a person hard at work looks like to Birthday, and so it's only natural that he gravitates to do exactly what anyone else would do in this situation (Birthday, no) -- which, of course, is to push the button.

By trying to steal a fry, apparently. Only to put it down when Reim offers the whole thing, his nose crinkling. ]

Oi, couldn't you have waited 'til I chewed and swallowed?

[ruby_roses]

[Ruby was about to launch into action, and then Zidane hit on her. She stumbles for a second, turning to look at him, her face obviously confused.]

I didn't mean to trip you up or anything.

[changeably]

[The old-fashioned way is the best way, and scribbling in a notebook is much more obvious than clacking keys to Cynbel. He's not at all bothered when a man he recognizes from that one festival speaks up and proves to be just as nerdy as expected, either.]

Uncomfortable, at best, though not very unusual for this place.

[He makes a face, broadcasting how distasteful he found the whole thing. Skimpy clothes are one thin, but shoving it in people's faces is another. Surely Mr. Stuffy Lunettes can understand that.]

The true faces they were hiding were much worse, in my opinion.

[ruby_roses]

[The girl that Riza grabbed had no intention of running though. She had been dozing during the lesson under her crimson hood but, now was wide awake and protesting the orders.]

But I came here for this! This is the sort of thing I've been looking for!

[After twisting out of Riza's grasp, the girl produced an impossibly large scythe and charged the monster, slashing and darting around it with effortless grace.]

bonus

[changeably]

[Cynbel only catches a glance of the edge of Mary's dress before she's gone, and he pauses to listen to the (obviously nervous) voice. He smiles at the corner Mary's hidden behind, doing his best to be friendly.]

Is there something I can do for you, Miss Mysterious Voice?

[Is she a ghost? A really weird new arrival? He just has to know.]

[bunsofsteel]

You'd think.

[Tenten picks at her fingernails on one hand, then laces her fingers together to crack her knuckles.]

So the real question is, what do we do about it?

[bunsofsteel]

Nothing? What'd you mean, nothing?

[Sorry Zero, but Tenten's in no mood to mess around, fixing her with a pointed stare.]

You had to've been doing something.

ii

[miss_sniper]

Keep it distracted. I'll try to get a clear shot.

[Sorry, Captain, but this soldier girl isn't going to be running away anytime soon. She didn't have a good perch to hide in here, but she would have to make do with what she had.

She didn't have time to get proper aim with her rifle. The handguns would have to do. She left her rifle on her back and drew the two 9mms that she had. The last thing she wanted to do was hit Steve, but as soon as soon as she saw a perfect opening, she took it and fired.]

[bunsofsteel]

Huh?

[Tenten turns at the sound of her name, because if there's anything she hadn't expected, it was for there to be someone she knew here. And then she lets out a choked sound of surprise because um?? Why??

That hug doesn't last long, because what with Tenten having no idea who this girl is, and the weird thing in the simulator, and having just come out of a war back home, she's not really prepared for this. Or she is, but her reaction isn't to hug back, it's to drop one hand to her leg and draw a kunai, pressing the metal against Rose's stomach until she backs off.]

Who the hell do you think you are?

[prosodeity]

[Oh that sure is a blade against her stomach isn't it? At first the girl looks genuinely confused at the way Tenten's acting, frowning a little before backing off. It seems to click what this means though and she chuckles again, hands going up to show that she's unarmed and means no ill will.]

Ah, so you don't remember me. That's alright, my apologies. I was just excited to see you. My name's Rose.

[bunsofsteel]

Should I remember you?

[She looks like a civilian, not a ninja. Not that a forehead protector is all that much of an indicator these days, but whatever.]

Were you with the First Division?

[Tenten... what does that even mean...]

[allweather]

[Hopefully no one is that incompetent... Reim's expression drops instantly to a flat one; he's not even close to impressed by that excuse.]

How original. In that case, it's best to go forward under the assumption we're on our own as far as figuring things out goes.

[....] Interruptions from their machines notwithstanding.

[allweather]

[what's a god to a nonbeliever

Reim takes in this jungle news with an only mildly weary expression, just mildly... He'll have to upgrade that later, when the sheer depth of that absurdity sinks in.]

Really... That's hard to believe, but after today— Well, you know.

[He thinks about it; there seem to be two obvious possibilities up front: CERES is not only suspicious but definitely up to some shady stuff, or there's a third group after the company and themselves, the people brought in. He's willing to consider that until someone tips their hand.]

A young woman at the festival brought up the idea of this place's original inhabitants having a grudge of sorts against that man, Julius. I don't know if she was merely speculating, of course, but... [A shrug, as he trails off. So. Has anyone mentioned that. Huh.]

[allweather]

[Oh, he hadn't expected to catch a thief. He's really not intending on eating the food, but to have it stolen is just so brazen, come now...

There's a pause, and in the moment that passes Reim realizes exactly what just happened here. He didn't even notice, well... that's disappointing. He frowns.]

Couldn't you have asked?

[allweather]

[Hello, tiny redhead. That opinion is noted - as being the same as everyone's so far, at that - but not exactly helpful. Perhaps he should have been more specific, let him try again...]

Well- I meant describe as in... [he taps the pen, thinking] how they were made, how they were put on - why they started to fail very suddenly.

[shudder... so many gross things]

[prosodeity]

Yes and no. Where I come from, people from various universes could interact with one another. I met a younger version of yourself there. No harm, no foul that you don't remember me.

[She's technically not a ninja by her standards, no, but she's certainly more capable than a civilian...]

[blacksong]

[Zero flicks off any excess blood off her sword before turning around. She's pretty much ready to find the next bug to kill, but she stops when she takes a look at Dahlia.]

Just how long are you gonna stand there?

ii?

[driftlock]

[These people are even more screwed up than the last idiots who kidnapped Deadlock.

Or were they? It's hard to tell, and Deadlock normally shoots people in the face before having to apply some scale of idiotude on them, so he stops in the hallway, optics squinting, mid-ponder. Were these people worse than that idiot McEngineer? ]

HEY!

[That totally didn't hurt, for the record. He's a fierce Decepticon, so there. He was just, you know, startled.]
...the frag is THAT?

[blacksong]

[It's a little weird to see someone with such similar coloring, if Zero stopped to think about it, but her hair and eye colors never struck her as particularly odd. There were other things that were weird about her, she knew.]

Yeah. [crossing her arms] What about it?