« 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

ota;

[bunsofsteel]

Phase II

Shit!

[Tenten's not so much running in fear as she is trying to get a better angle on the creature pursuing her, leaping backwards and drawing a kunai from the holster strapped to her leg. The creature used to be Astor, which had been a start to the weirdest dream she'd ever experienced. Who the hell was that guy supposed to be, anyway?

Strangely enough, being chased by a monster? Easier to comprehend than phase 1 had been.

Please don't mind the girl sprinting along the wall, sticking to the vertical surface as if by some magic.]

Phase III

Hey!

[Tenten's standing near one of the walls with her arms crossed, looking none-too-pleased with this whole situation. By now, she's managed to rule out the possibility that this might be a dream. To anyone who'll listen, she'll ask,] What were you guys doing, before you ended up in this place? You don't really trust this, do you?

Bonus

[Tenten's just kind of picking at her food, as if trying to figure out what it is she's eating. Mildly Content Meal? Give her a break, this is ridiculous. The beef smells weird.

Anyone else get something different...? Please trade with her. If anyone sits nearby, though, she won't hesitate to turn toward them with a friendly smile.]

Hey. You from around here?

[Asking new arrivals and others alike, considering she has no idea who could be what here.]

Bonus

[unluckless]

[Komaeda isn't eating, just people watching. Newcomers are always interesting -- who they are and they they're here, and the off-chance of seeing a familiar face. Well, it's all part of his investigation of this place, keeping track of who winds up here.]

Me? [A surprised reaction to the question before he smiles and shakes his head, laughing apologetically.] Not exactly. Though I've been here for a few months now, so maybe I'm more "from around here" than you are yet. Did you just arrive?

[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...?

[unluckless]

Something like that, I think. It's tough to say. Time feels like it really flies here, but that may be because conditions where I came from just before winding up here were much more difficult.

[That is to say, not living in starvation and ruins is pretty cool. Hooray heating and running water.]

Komaeda. [He ducks his head in a polite, if somewhat quick, bow.] I guess I should say 'welcome' then.

bonus!

[unjustify]

[Naoi seems to be in the building to mingle with newcomers rather than to eat, because after two cases of weird shit happening after eating, he's extremely wary of the food that this place serves... Any part of it, really. The grocery store is probably tainted too, but at least it's better than Return of The Burger.

Because of that, though, his response to her question is pretty much immediate since he has no mediocre food to distract him.]

Kind of. I've been here for a while, anyway, so I could probably answer any questions that you might have! You're new, right? They've been pretty rough on a lot of you guys lately.

[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?

[unjustify]

[The offer has him raising a hand, relatively polite, and giving a placid "no thanks" before carrying on. Trust no fries...]

I guess they just decided to give up on the welcome wagon. Not that it was ever good to begin with... [HUFFS.] When my group showed up they had a barbecue cookout and a bunch of people got sick.

ii

[makigumo]

[ Pft, Shihoudou knows loads of ninja and are stronger than all of them combined, so nothing new to be seen here.

She's amused, though, and cheers her on. Don't mind the old woman sitting on top of a cloud in the middle of the room. ]

Go, go~!

[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.]

[makigumo]

Aaaw, but why can't I leave it to the young? This poopy granny is waaay too old to get involved.

[ Except she loves to fight. But she also enjoys seeing what others can do. ]

bonus crowd...

[unathletic]

[ He's not really sitting, but it still counts, right.. he's just on the job, delivering packages and all, when he spots Tenten there - or rather, she spots him first and Heung Soo just.. stares for a moment.. there's something familiar about you, Tenten, but there's such a crowd and so many loud noises here that it's a little harder to place at first.

At least his appearance speaks for itself - with the package he's carrying with stuff for the fast food joint from his delivery company, he does look very much like a local. So he gives a small shrug in response. ]

Sort of. [ He isn't supposed to be living here, but he still has for a while already.. does that count? ]

[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?

[unathletic]

Yeah. [ He lets out a small sigh, but at least it doesn't seem to be aimed at her. It's just at the thought of all the places he still has to go to today.. it sucks being a deliveryman when you have a sort of bum leg, honestly. ]

This is my job here.

[ Coupled with a small shrug, as if he's saying "not like I had much of a choice" before anyone finds him really uncool for being a deliveryman. ]

Been doing it for a while now.

phase iii

[derepressed]

Eh?

[Well, that's a loaded question if Chizuru's ever heard one. "I was in a creepy-ass city where our captors performed experiments on us" is probably not the answer Tenten wants to hear, but actually being at home seems like it was such a long time ago, she can't really count it as being "before ending up here".

She'll focus on her second question, instead.]

I would hope that most people here don't take everything these people say at face value...

[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?

[derepressed]

That's a good question...

[Because as questionable as some of the things CERES tells them are, they could be a lot worse. Chizuru knows that firsthand.]

I think, we need to try and learn as much as we can about this place and what's really going on... without making it obvious that's what we're doing, or else they might get mad.

phase iii;

[blacksong]

Before this? [a beat] Nothing really.

[It's not the kind of answer this girl is looking for, and Zero knows it, but hey it's her honest answer. Helping out newbies wasn't what she was expecting when she logged into ViViD today.]

[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.

[blacksong]

You really want an answer that badly? Fine—I was sleeping. [Still an anticlimactic answer... But really, she was sleeping before she logged into ViViD today. Of course, there's all the stuff about how she's not from around here either, this place is weird as hell and you just have to get used to it, etc etc.

But that's totally not important, right?]

phase iii

[prosodeity]

Tenten...?

[Yeah hey Tenten, you may not recognize this girl, but she sure does...well okay sort of recognize you. You're a little older than she remembers. But after the initial 'what??' the girl in question smiles and gives you a hug! Once that's done, she backs off and chuckles.]

Well, what with Sburb, I wouldn't really doubt it's real. Safe? Probably not. But there's certainly a good chance all of this is legitimate. Probably.

[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.

bonus

[sagemodes]

[ Blink.

...There's a bit of an awkward silence as Naruto made a weird, dumb face that doesn't really connect with the thought that's kind of in his head right now.

also there's the fact that he's eating a burger as he turns to face someone he didn't really expect to see here. So he swallowed, causing the combination of bun and meat he was eating to clog the wrong windpipe.]

[ ...COUGH COUGH HACK HACK WHEEZE. ]

[ what dignity he had none to begin with. ]

[bunsofsteel]

Naruto?!

[This is clearly somehow Naruto's fault for being here when she wasn't expecting to see him?? Under normal circumstances she'd obviously recognize him, but who'd have thought that of all people, she'd see their very own Village Hero (tm) eating a burger basically right next to her.]

What the hell're you doing here?

[Not really going to treat him any different, though, even considering that he'd won the war.]

[sagemodes]

[ Hang on a second as he downs the soda right next to him in order to get the food to go down the right windpipe this time. ]

Shouldn't I be the one saying that to you!?

[ Because last he saw her, she was still stuck in the Infinite Tsukuyomi as he fought Sasuke in order to get the chance to undo it. Also, didn't they say his world ended...!? So is she another genjutsu or what...??? Too many questions arose in Naruto's mind and he can only continue his thoughts with: ]

What about the others, is anyone else here...?

[ Maybe there's still hope, but maybe there isn't, still, he just gotta know! ]