« 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

[harepiece]

[HELLA RUDE and hella confusing, because that explanation totally sails over Oz's head. He looks like he is trying really hard to get it, though...]

...So it's light? It's a picture made of light? [Which isn't entirely incorrect, but Oz is literally having to think of this in terms of like, magic, or else it makes no sense to his Victorian brain.]

I think I'm behind most people when it comes to the year, though... I don't really understand a lot of these technologies.

[rollin]

[ It's okay. If Yata was in Oz's shoes, he wouldn't get it either. Explaining things is hard. ]

Kinda. So you ain't from around here? [ The fact that Oz might be from another time hasn't quite registered yet. He looks around. ] Where is this place, anyway?

[ He presses one of the rivets of his watch and from the face, it projects a map. It's a navigation app! Not... that Oz knows what that is, but. It sure is a thing. ]

[harepiece]

[The class that he should have taken is how to explain things to someone from like the 1800s, gosh.]

No, I'm from Reveille. [Which, despite sounding French, is not French at all. Pandora Hearts...] I don't know the answer to that either, but—

[BUT THERE'S A PROJECTION. A light from a picture?! Wow, it's almost like Yata is trying to illustrate his explanation from earlier instead of just randomly checking things hoping that they show up on a recognizable map...!

He looks a little startled at its sudden appearance before tentatively reaching out toward it, because that's what a person should do when confronted with something new.]

—Is this a hologram?

[rollin]

[ We all wish this is what happens when you decide not to go to school like your genius ex-best friend, but he was like this to begin with... When Oz reaches out to touch the map, Yata instinctively pulls his arm away. He's trying to read, gosh! ]

Yo, don't do that. But yeah, it is.

[ If he could show Oz what a hologram was, why didn't he turn his watch on in the first place? He forgot. ]

I dunno where that Reveille place is, but we're either not on Earth or I ain't getting a signal. ...Or maybe this is all just a bad dream.

[harepiece]

[Yata shot for the stars.....

Oz will pull his hand back when told not to touch it, at least, even though the expression on his face is one that says but I want to touch the thing dammit. He has more self control than that!!

He is also just totally assuming that this is both a demonstration and Yata checking something useful. Rejoice, friend, his mental image is now much better than reality.]

That's the name of the place you come from, right? [Earth, that is... Because his planet has a different and also unknown name. WHY.] It's probably not getting a signal, though. Someone I knew before I came here had a phone with a signal that she couldn't get, too.

[rollin]

[ Demonstration. Totally. It's okay, Yata's a good kid deep down. You just have to break down the tsun barriers. Anyway, if Oz is not from Earth, he's definitely from Victorian Hell so his question is not weird at all. ]

Yeah. [ He presses a button and the hologram disappears. ] You know what's weirder? When you touch a hologram, your hand's s'posed to go through. [ Which Oz should know if... Yata let him touch the thing... He nudges one of the creatures with his foot. ] These things felt real. It doesn't add up.

[harepiece]

[OH GOOD, befriending tsuns is Oz's number 2 pastime, following closely on the heels of tormenting Gilbert.]

...So are they not holograms, then? [Yata you are confusing his ye olde Victorian brain!!] Or is something wrong with them, maybe? [Are the holograms sick...]

[rollin]

[ are the holograms sick Oz you sweet summer child. ]

I dunno, I ain't good with this sorta thing. [ Maybe they're ancient aliens!? Man, don't ask him. He's only good for smackdowns and manual labor and video games. ] Whatever they are, we gotta get rid of 'em fast.

Hey, I gotta pick something up from my classroom first. [ His skateboard, his love. He cocks his head toward the exit. ] You can go ahead if you wanna.

[ Be safe, little one. BE FREE!! His work is done here. ]

[harepiece]

[LOOK... it seems legit as anything else!! He looks a little distraught by the fact that they are both lost and confused, but that's also nothing new.]

Maybe we can check later... [Like, maybe there's a tag on one somewhere that says HOLOGRAM, MADE IN CERES.

He looks up at that, though, curious. ARE YOU TRYING TO DITCH HIM YATA?? No, Oz does want to escape, and he knows that his new friend is fully capable of self-defense, but... He'd feel like a rudeass abandoning him. They have Bonded Over Fighting now, okay, he can't just run out!!]

Um— I can go with you, if you don't mind! It's probably better to travel in pairs, anyway. [He'll ditch him after they get his skateboard, much better.]

[rollin]

[ Sticking together after fighting side by side... Oz, your canon genre is showing. ]

Yeah, guess you're right. [ He puts his hands behind his back and starts walking, expecting him to follow. ] Aight, if we run into more of those guys, I'm letting you slice the shit outta them.

[ He's being such a good senpai, he thinks. ]

[harepiece]

[HE CAN'T CONTAIN IT...

But Oz will dutifully trot on after Yata, glancing from side to side around the hall as he goes.]

I'll keep an eye out, then. [BODYGUARDING YATA. He'll just keep that in mind if any more bugs come scampering up the halls to seductively crush the life out of them both...] What did you forget, anyway?

[rollin]

Something important. A [ dead ] friend pimped it up for me so I can't just leave it lying around, y'know? But it slipped my mind when shit went down...

You know what a skateboard is?

[harepiece]

[Oz shakes his head, taking his attention away from the surrounding area briefly to glance up at Yata.]

Is it another kind of hologram? [Since Yata seems to be overlord of the holograms or something...]

[rollin]

[ He smiles and shakes his head. Victorian Hell has deprived Oz of the finer things in life for too long... ]

Not even close! It's something you ride... you'll know it when you see it. [ Skateboard aside, what else did he forget? ] Oh yeah! I'm Yata.

[harepiece]

Like a horse?

[VICTORIAN HELL HAS DEPRIVED HIM, INDEED. The only other thing that comes to mind is one of those rides he had seen at the amusement park, but those also come with Bad Memories, so he's hoping this is closer to a horse...

But OOPS, right, introductions—] I'm Oz! It's nice to meet you, Yata.

[rollin]

No!

[ He's squinting so hard. Look Yata in the eye and tell him he's a horseback rider. ]

Oz, if you're gonna learn about the twenty-first century, we gotta take things slow. After I show you how to work a microwave, I'm gonna move you up to pressure cookers. [ So he's not teaching him chronologically, but by level of difficulty...? ] Before holograms, TVs! Hey, did they have bikes back then?

[harepiece]

[yata you can be anything your parkour heart desires...]

A what? That sounds dangerous. [Pressure cookers, that is, but Oz also seems totally intrigued. READY TO LEARN ABOUT THE FUTURE, it is him, he is ready.

He pulls back for a second to take an extra close look down a hall where he thought he had seen movement, but when nothing comes up:] I think I've heard of TVs before... That's the thing where you can watch shows like a play, right? [As for bikes, that gets another headshake and a:] I know what those are too, though.

[Jamjars are so useful!!]

[rollin]

[ Meanwhile, Yata is oblivious to his surroundings. It's partly because he's so confident he can dodge whatever comes their way, but mostly because he wants to talk to Oz and make himself sound a little smarter than he actually is. Of course, when that seems to be backfiring, he squints. ]

Hey. How come you know what those things are? You think you're some kinda genius, aah?

[ no stop ]

[harepiece]

[YATA... Pay more attention to the halls and less attention to the fact that there isn't much of an opportunity to impress a nerd!! That said, he'll look a little surprised by the accusation, head canting to the side.]

No, but before I came here I was in another place, and there was a nation and some people who could use magic to change their clothing and a lady who carried guitars around for a living and she told me a lot about music videos and movies and TVs, but the bikes happened later when we were trying to figure out how to leave!

[That sure was one big run-on sentence...]

[rollin]

[ What? It's Yata's turn to be confused. Of course there's a nation, why wouldn't he not be in a nation? Magic—he's talking about a Strain that can change their clothing, right? Wait, what kind of job requires you to carry guitars... Why was he trying to leave!? ]

... It's not any of my business, but what kinda shit didja haveta go through to deserve this, oi?

[ Was that a bug creature just now, though? It was in the classroom they passed by... Or was it their imagination? Whatever it is, Yata hasn't seen it. ]

[harepiece]

[LIFE IS CONFUSING and Oz doesn't know how to explain any of that without mentioning the deathpark part of it, nor does he really know how to answer that question. ...Or rather, any answer that he might give is just plain depressing, so:]

I'm not really sure, either... [Another mystery...

THAT SAID, he totally thinks he saw a bug?! BUG. He'll break off from their conversation long enough to take a couple of steps back and peer into the room...]

[rollin]

[ ...to find that it's gone. For now, at least; the windows are smashed open, but the sound from the room was too quiet for it to have happened a moment ago. ]

Hm? [ Yata walks backwards to try and peek into the room by craning his neck. ] Hey, you find something?

[harepiece]

[OH... That's probably a bad sign, whoops. Oz freezes on the spot for a second before reaching out to tug at the hem of Yata's sleeve.]

—I thought I saw something... But we should pick up the pace a little, anyway. [Who's being paranoid, not Oz!!]

[rollin]

Yeah, don't worry. We're almost there!

[ It's two classrooms ahead, and when they finally arrive, Yata puts his hand on the doorknob and twists it, looking behind him to talk to Oz. ]

Skateboards are really cool, I should show you sometime...

[ That sure is a bug breathing at the door, though... ]

[harepiece]

[Oh what's that about cool skateboards, OZ HEARD NONE OF IT. He's too busy staring up at the bug that is surely like .5 seconds away from eating Yata's head or something...

HE'LL HAVE NONE OF THAT. He grabs Yata's arm and pulls him back with a loud yell, stumbling a little in his haste.]

Hilda—!!

[Hilda.]