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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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ He shakes his head. ]

No? Oz never mentioned anything by that name.

[ But that's Oz being Oz... Also they were kind of busy with other things, admittedly. Because of his own guarding of the secrecy of his contract, Ciel won't bring up Oz's so casually, since he assumes it's just as much of a secret. ]

We were a bit, er, occupied otherwise, though, I should note. There wasn't much time for chatting about home.

[Oz has failed him... Reim sighs, but in a more or less understanding way.]

Alright, then I'll do my best. [AHEM... Now that he has to go into report-giving mode, he also flips his notebook to a clean page to write a few things down. Stay tuned.]

Pandora is an organization in our world that was established about a century ago in order to deal with the threat of creatures from a parallel world breaking through to ours. We call them Chains; they can be very dangerous, as they tend to overpower those humans who contract with them...

[He pauses, because this is actually all very questionable given what they now know of Pandora's real history... but it's still his job, so the abridged context will have to do.]

Pandora is managed by the four major Dukedoms. [This is what he decided was necessary to write down, more or less so he doesn't have to introduce them all. He holds it up.] As an organization, we study Chains and manage any incidents that happen when they appear... Subduing them, making note of their points of origin and apparent abilities, and so on. There are other things we do related to the other world, but managing things that cross over is the most important if you ask me.

I write the reports on those incidents, more or less.

[ Ciel listens with clear interest to Reim's report, and he's appreciative of how informative it is, especially given today in general, but... The more he listens, the more serious his expression becomes, and that's also to mask Ciel's true thoughts. Thankfully, Oz had already explained Chains to him, in part, as well as his own existence, otherwise this topic would have a much darker tone in Ciel's mind. After all, Ciel and Oz's friendship had been formed partially because of recognizing each others' seals as the sign of a contract with something else, though each of them had applied the rules of their own world to it.

Despite himself, Ciel can't help but equate the two anyways, so this Pandora organization worries him. Any organization that has any interest in contracting and studying demons (or, that's what Ciel tends to think of them as) is Ciel's natural enemy. That serious expression on his face definitely implies that this is a bit more of interest to Ciel than one that would be expected of a business-minded nobleman, but it's also more subdued from the deep anger and fear he feels at the idea of such an organization. ]

I see...

[ He makes a thoughtful noise, inwardly reminding himself that his is different, so he shouldn't be thinking about this organization as one that would summon Sebastian. ]

Do those incidents happen often?

[They only summon the occasional horrific death machine - everyone else gets a pet! Worry not, Ciel, it's fine. That is to say Reim does notice the look on his face as he continues explaining, but with no reason to think deeply about it, assumes it's a much less specific fear. Civilians aren't informed about Pandora's activities for a reason, after all, and that reason is they get up to some frightening stuff.

But rather than reflect on how shady it all is, he thinks about the frequency of Chain-related incidents that he has more or less mentally graphed out.]

More often than we'd like, naturally... but I wouldn't say frequently. The severity of an individual incident is more of a concern than how many there are, usually.

[Reminiscing about the good old days...]

Fair enough.

[ His expression turns more thoughtful instead, since in those words, it's easier for him to put distance between Pandora and what he had experienced to summon Sebastian. In fact, he'd much rather liken it to his work as the Queen's Watchdog, since even those cases had tended towards the supernatural as of late... ]

Since you study Chains, can you tell me more about them, in that case?

[Luckily he doesn't mind talking about Pandora and Pandora accessories, because this is officially off topic from his original goal of figuring out things about this place. There's time enough for that later.

Still, he may be a walking encyclopedia, but "more about Chains" is too vague, please pick a better search term.]

Well- that's a lot of information. What would you like to know?

[ Ciel makes a thoughtful noise, since while Oz had explained some of it, it was still broad enough that he's admittedly not completely sure where to start... So he hopes that his subquestion isn't too vague as well. ]

Well... What are they, exactly?

[only vague because no one explains anything about Pandora in canon...]

[That is a better starting point, though Reim wonders if he can explain this but also skirt "probably dead people" at the same time. There are limits.]

Hm. As I've said, they're creatures that come from another world very close to ours. We call it the Abyss; the two worlds are technically connected, although any overlap is dangerous and causes distortion of reality. [Not unlike tasteless virtual reality games, goodness, he already doesn't like those.]

Chains are creatures that originate there, and due to their nature can't last very long in our world without a contract with a human. But the influence of the Abyss on the Chain will damage its human contractor in time, if the connection is improperly made... I suppose the simplest way to describe them is monsters from a kind of underworld. From what we understand, they are made individually by the Abyss— that is to say that they aren't a single species, like humans. Two Chains could be so different that it might be hard to believe they're both Chains at all.

[ Ciel listens seriously, and there's an intensity to his expression that implies that he's nearly memorizing every word, though the reasons why of course wouldn't be obvious to Reim. But of course Ciel is interested in this, whether for his own interests or out of friendship with Oz. ]

They sound like demons.

[ He says it idly, but is deliberate in not saying more than that. ]

What happens to someone that makes a contract, then?

[Reim shrugs at Ciel's little assessment. The way he sees it, they stop being demons - things parents tell their children stories about at night to make sure they behave - and start being very real things when you actually have to face them. He's never met a demon, he thinks, technically speaking.]

That depends on the method. If it's improperly done, as I said, the Chain will eventually overpower the human... It's a rather unpleasant end for both of them, as a contract is difficult to break once it's been made. If it's done safely, it's rather like having an ordinary familiar.

[With DEATH POWERS, but details.]

How bizarre.

[ Ciel trails off lightly with that assessment, because he has to think it through and think about just what he wants to ask. Or rather... How to phrase it. The question that comes to mind is clear, though he already has an idea of what the answer would be already. But still, even if it was different, if there was any hope that he could grasp onto for himself, he'd have to. ]

Is it possible to break it safely at all?

[Good question. Reim honestly doesn't know what a legal contract would do if it were broken, given that picking a Chain is essentially a one time only affair in Pandora. And the Dukes' Chains are passed along like house heirlooms, so imminent death is sort of implied anyway— hmm.]

I doubt it. Legal Contractors have no reason to try; anyone else will certainly suffer.

[ Ciel nods again understandingly, since he'd expected as much. It wasn't much of a hope to think that there would be a way to break his contract with Sebastian, but he had to ask all the same. Yet it gets his temperament to relax somewhat in comparison to the serious way he had treated these questions. ]

It's very interesting, certainly... It's the sort of thing I'd only read about in stories like Faust. Though at least it doesn't seem to be quite like that, thankfully.

[ At least, not for the legal contractors, which Ciel knows. He's seen the incuse seal on Oz's chest, so he knows there is a price all the same. ]

If that's what you're writing incident reports on, though, they must be considerably more interesting than a typical one, at least.

[Reim shrugs lightly in unspoken agreement; it is a fantastic, scary story kind of situation, that's true. If he weren't directly involved, he doesn't know if he'd even believe it.]

Well, we do have ordinary workplace incidents, all the same... [They're all Break's fault, he has to keep a record to shame him with.] Though something like all the inkwells going missing isn't as interesting, no.

Well, in comparison to those, the ordinary ones much be a terrible, boring chore.

[ That's what Ciel thinks, at least, but Reim probably loves all workplace incidents equally, as nerds do. Though after a moment, Ciel hums thoughtfully, then looks to the book that Reim has finally. ]

...Were you writing one now?

[He especially loves being professionally scathing and getting away with it.]

Hm? Oh, this- no, not quite. I thought it would help later on to record what strange things happen here, in case they happen again. [So. Actually yes? But with more bullet points. There's a difference that only Reim cares about.] These are only notes.

[Does Ciel want to see... Have they reached that point of mutual nerdery yet.]

[ Ciel certainly thinks so, since he motions for it, though it at least comes at the same time as asking properly, so he's not completely a rude little punk. ]

Ah, that's not a bad idea at all. May I?

[Good choice, otherwise Reim would really hold it out of reach like a child. He does have that be careful it's delicate air about him, even as he hands it over.]

I've been making a few notes here and there about all of this, though some of the terms might be inaccurate.

["a few" you know he has at least several pages.]

[ Thanks for not giving into your childish urges in the face of an actual child, reim... ]

[ But no, Ciel is a pretty well-behaved child when it comes to being a nerd at least, so he takes the book carefully and starts to read through it. He reads it with a serious expression, and still mostly continues the conversation, though it's half muttered as he clearly concentrates more on what Reim has written, but. Reim will understand... ]

This is very thorough. You've written all of this just now?

[The manchild regression doesn't work around actual children, it seems...

And he does understand, which is why his answer is helpfully concise. Right now he's a walking footnote, and that's fine by him.]

Just now, and during the presentation- whenever I have a minute and something to write.

[ It seems like Ciel is a pretty fast reader, or at least a super skimmer, since he's flipping to the next page already... ]

Still, for this much already, it's impressive. I didn't even catch that. [ Which is, of course, referring to some small detail from the powerpoint, since Ciel had been partially consumed by rage and perhaps not paying as much attention as he should have been but ah, well. He sure did try. ]

Is this sort of thing part of your usual work too?

[Maybe he should have dogeared the relevant pages, or underlined important lines... He wasn't expecting a note inspection and, well, they are very thorough - he doesn't have much else to add, verbally.]

Formally? [so, that's a no. feels like it's time to fiddle with his glasses again.] It's the easiest way to keep track of everything else.

[ If this were someone else, Ciel would feel rude about having just stolen Reim's hard work and inspecting it so thoroughly, but. This is Ciel, so this is pretty much standard for him. Granted, he's usually going over police reports with this level of intensity, but hey. The Watchdog is thorough. ]

Well, you're quite right about that.

[ He nods, slowing down as he gets to the part about the worlds getting destroyed. ]

I would have my butler do the same, were he here.

[Ciel's butler must be a great guy... A great guy who takes notes...]

Hmm. [He doesn't know enough to hazard a guess on whether or not Ciel cares that his butler isn't here, so he won't even bother saying they might scoop him out of that "code" yet, if that is how it works. Instead,] There can never be too many people keeping an eye out, I suppose.

[ Ciel nods, then holds out Reim's notes to offer them back. He hasn't finished reading them, but he doesn't want to stand there and just ignore the conversation either. He already likes Reim enough to not do that... ]

Well, if he shows up, I'll send him your way, then. It would be work done best together to be thorough, I'd assume.

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