« 001 ⇢ INTERLUDE001.EXE »

[reparator]

Who: Mosley and these unfortunate souls
When: OOC: 6/27, IC: 1/26
Where: CERES Research Tower
What: Mosley takes a few lucky souls on a tour of the CERES offices.
Rating/Warning: PG-13: Some violence, injuries and possible death.

---

▶ VIDEO.EXE | IC: 1/25

[ The broadcast comes bright and early for those paying attention to their CereVices; the man who appears on the screen is strikingly pale, white-haired and piercingly blue-eyed. He looks young, no more than nineteen or twenty and he's dressed in a crisp black and white suit. He stares into the screen for a long moment, long enough to be, frankly, just a bit uncomfortable.

And then white eyelashes blink and an awkward, unsure smile spreads across his face. He lifts a hand to fix his tie and speaks. ]

This is Mosley.

[ The smile drops, leaving him with a blank expression once again. ]

CERES has decided in a show of good faith to open our doors to you. I have been given the task of, [ He lifts his hands to emphasize with air quotes. ] "being your tour guide." If that is what I must do, so be it. The lazy worm does not get the apple, after all.

[ He looks down at the tablet on his desk, giving it a few taps and suddenly an icon appears on the bottom right hand of the video. ]

That link will bring you to a listing to make an appointment. You will be given a time. Show up promptly or do not, it is no matter to me. The tour will leave ten minutes after your given time and that will be that. Tours will only last a few hours so you needn't worry about the rest of your day. You will certainly return home in time to catch the latest episode of [ Air quotes again. ] "Banana is the New Black." I hear there's going to be a cliffhanger!

[ A pause and he looks oddly thoughtful. ]

I suppose you could also steal it off the internet? [ Blank again. ] Which would be wrong. Our lawyers will contact you if you do that. Do not.

[ And then another of those awkward smiles before quickly turning into something a bit startled and he taps his tablet again, ending the video. Replies to this feed have been disabled, unfortunately. Seems like someone isn't feeling very chatty. It's a miracle. ]

▶ ACTION.EXE | IC: 1/26

[ The next day, that Monday, those who take Mosley up on his offer will find that him standing there right in front of the main CERES office building, waiting. It’s with that same disconcerting smile that he unlocks the door and ushers them in.

Welcome, all of you, to our lovely CERES!

The group will find themselves standing in a lobby. Clean white walls and floors, a bright blue rug leading towards the elevators on the far wall, and a white reception counter. At the counter are two CERES robots answering calls and directing any visitors (though the lobby seems quite empty today) and on the wall behind them is a hologram of the CERES logo for all to see. Mosley stands in the center of the carpet in his usual suit and claps his hands together, putting on a smile. ]

Welcome to CERES.

[ And then the smile drops. Voice flat, he continues. ]

There has been... talk over the past few months that we at CERES have not been working 24/7 to help you, our clientele, return to your homes safely and soundly. There has also been... talk that we do not do anything. That this entire company is a farce, which is honestly quite hurtful to both me and the other hardworking staff at this company. Mr. Vincere had his way of running this place but Ms. Recreare is fond of a more hands on approach. We want to share that approach with you.

[ He spreads his hands to indicate to the building around them. ]

CERES has many fingers in many jars and they've all been sealed tight for a while. We would like to open those jars. So once again, welcome to CERES and please follow me.

[ After that, Mosley turns and begins to lead the group off. ]

---

▶ RUN.EXE | MOD NOTES

This is the event log for these sign-ups! Your groups have been sorted below; here are a few handy links for you:

Group 01 | OOC plotting
Group 02 | OOC plotting
Group 03 | OOC plotting
Group 04 | OOC plotting
Group 05 | OOC plotting
Group 06 | OOC plotting
Group 07 | OOC plotting
Group 08 | OOC plotting
Group 09 | OOC plotting
Group 10 | OOC plotting
There is no tagging order, so feel free to tag in whatever way works best for you as a group.

The tours will technically last 3 hours icly, but that may change as ic events happen; oocly, the threads will last as long as necessary, though Mosley will come and collect your characters if they are moseying around too long! There will be mod involvement in each of the tours.

If there are any questions, feel free to ask them here. You are welcome to plot with your groupmates by using the ooc top level comments linked above. Thank you!

Comments

[leashed_hunter]

[Zero stays at the entrance, his eyes on the words above them. Energy Level....]

Maybe that's why everything's off. There's not enough power to keep up the illusions.

[Though, he wasn't sure what the success rate meant. If there wasn't enough power then how could there be a 100% success rate?]

[fittedgloves]

[ She nods, contemplating that thought. That's most likely it—if they don't have full power going to ViViD, then it makes sense for things to be unfinished like this. ]

I wonder what they mean by success rate...

[leashed_hunter]

I don't know.

We should keep moving. Maybe we'll find the answer somewhere else.

[fittedgloves]

[ She nods, turning to leave the post office. ]

Where should we go next?

▶ CHECKPOINT TWO.SAV

[reparator]

. . . OLD FILE OVERWRITTEN . . . CHECKPOINT #002.SAV . . .
. . . CONTINUING TOUR.EXE. . .

---

[ When they re-enter the town, it will have become clearer from their searching thus far that it really isn't that large -- and that their state, whatever it is, is getting worse. Breathing is getting extremely difficult, and movement is slowly growing harder and harder.

The longer this goes on, the more their code seems to be on the fritz, the edges of their bodies growing somewhat undefined, fuzzier, as if no longer as clearly coded.

If they look carefully, however, it is in this same state that they can see flashes of things through the odd scenery. There are glimpses of cold metal beneath the buildings, and strange flickering code behind the scenes, as if they are seeing straight through the facade of the level to the code that lies beneath.

A fragment of code flickers and repeats: ]

try
{
vivid.Collection();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw new TimeoutException("Collection levels low");
}
vividOccupants.Dispose();

[fittedgloves]

[ Kyouko watches the code flicker a few times before she reads all of it. She doesn't quite understand what it means, but she knows it can't be good.

She takes a few moments to gather enough air into her lungs to speak. Why is it getting harder and harder to breathe...? ]

Occupants... dispose...? This cannot be good.

[leashed_hunter]

[He can feel it. The way his lungs struggle to take in a solitary breath. Something... something's wrong. The code. The way it flickers. It was affecting them, making them weak, making it difficult to even stand still.]

.........

[Zero grabs her hand to pull her out back out.]

We need to get out.

[fittedgloves]

[ She nods, following him out. ]

Should we go back to the meeting point?

[ They might not be back yet, but at this rate... If they stay here much longer, something bad is going to happen. ]

[leashed_hunter]

[A nod is the only answer he gives her as he leads them out of that toxic place, and back to where they came from.]

[reparator]

[ The town fades out behind them as they leave, the weather immediately going back to the bright cheerfulness of before. While it is a little easier to breathe here, it's not perfect, and the edges of their code (their fingers, their extremities) is still going blurred.

By the time they make it to the meeting point, they seem to have tripped some sort of ViViD goal; a cheerful but clearly robotic female voice rings out: ]

Objective met. Beta Boss battle sent.

[ So that's probably the rumbling in the distance. Hopefully your groupmates get here soon, or this could get a little hairy, especially as the boss monster crests the hill nearest to them.

Well, that's stereotypically ViViD if nothing else. ]

[leashed_hunter]

[Zero can hear the monster in the distance, the sound of its heart pounding like a drumbeat in his ears.]

Tch.

[This wasn't going to be easy. He knew what these boss battles were like. The monsters never went down without landing a blow or two. With a quick glance at his companion, Zero pulls Bloody Rose from his gun holster underneath his jacket.]