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« 001 ⇢ INTERLUDE001.EXE »

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( Manfred hesitates only briefly before beginning to follow the unknown man into the room. He had always preferred to undertake his own investigations in the past and he would not be discouraged by strange and unusual beings.

He's almost by the side of the betentacled man when he turns back to face the rest of the randomly assigned tour group. With his free hand, the one not resting atop his cane, he beckons. )

Well, are you coming or not?

( Now that he thinks about it, that other man looks suspiciously familiar. Had he seen him some place before? It didn't matter. If the scientists themselves would not divulge useful information he would examine the room in now detail. Perhaps he would start with that chalkboard. )

[ As soon as Schrodinger pops into the room where the scientists were watching, they panic. They scatter from him, yelling and exclaiming. The tentacled man falls over, clutching his head with four of them and another blue fish like scientist just starts crying, big fat blobby tears of bright neon green.

An alarm over the door flashes red, and that is when armed robots appear, leveling their weapons at Schrodinger. Someone's not too happy. ]

See, I could have just told you that would happen. Why do you think we have windows? They're delicate people, mind you. All science and more science, no time for ... not science. Come back over here before we shoot you, sir.

[ In contrast, in the room where Mosley was leading them to, Manfred, Sousei and Touka are alone in peace. There doesn't seem to be anything stopping them from touching things, at least. Mosley's still standing calmly by the door and after a moment, pulls out his CereVice to check his email. ]

[Well, that all went to hell remarkably quickly. When the alarms go off, Sousei's hand drifts towards the hilt of his sword, but there's not a lot that can be done from here; he's not sure how to get on the other side of the glass without breaking everything, or if it's worth it to even try.

A frown, tense. If they open fire, he might try anyway; he doesn't know Schrodinger, but leaving one of their group behind doesn't really sit well with him.

The rest of the room seems to have been forgotten by him, but then--he's a soldier, it's perhaps unsurprising.]

[At the sudden alarms Schrodinger simply blinks, well they had pretty good security after all. Usually it took a little longer before there were guns pointed directly at him. Holding his hands up the boy simply grinned.]

Oops. I just wanted a closer look.

[Walking back over towards the door he certainly didn't hurry. He'd had his head blown off plenty of times before, besides they wouldn't want to make such a mess would they?]

I suppose this was an experiment?

[Great. Just her luck that she gets saddled with a bunch of idiots who are likely to get all of them shot. She's well aware there's a glass separating her from the armed robots, but that doesn't mean she's not going to be on her guard until that dumbass crosses over to their side.

Ugh.]

What the hell is wrong with them?

[More or less a rhetorical question, but. Seriously. What the heck is up with that type of reaction to an intruder? She already wants this tour to be over, wow.]

[ As soon as Schrodinger has returned to the group, the scientists return to their tasks (if a little more shaken then before).

Mosley seems to be done chatting; he just stands there without a word.

Meanwhile, they are left in the same room, computer consoles present, odd buttons on the walls and various tablets on the desk. ]

( The excessive security is enough to make even Manfred back away from his intended course of action, returning promptly to their destination. He speaks aloud to no-one in particular, his gaze passing over each of his companions in turn. )

Tch. He tell us to do 'science' ( he throws a look in Mosley's direction ) , yet separate us from the scientists. You'd think they're dealing in corporate espionage. ( Then again, maybe they are. So he keeps quiet on that line of thought; his idle curiosity isn't worth sticking his neck out over. He turns his attention to the room to which they've been relegated. )

It seems like we're stuck in here. Let's have a look around.

Edited 2015-06-27 22:12 (UTC)

[ Meanwhile, there's Mosley. He's been standing here patiently but as the group keeps milling about, he finally just pulls back his sleeve to check the watch on his wrist with a sigh. ]

It seems that unlike the rest of you, I work on a schedule.

[ He'll take a few quick strides to the closest lab table and with one push of a hand, he vaults himself on top of it. When he's there, he takes a moment to straighten his suit before pulling a small lighter out of his jacket and holding it up to the sprinkler system. If anyone tries to push him off, they'll just receive a swift kick to the head.

If you don't mess with him, it will only take a few moments until the system turns on, water drenching everyone and everything in the room. He takes a look at his watch again, counting down silently. Three... two... one...

The floor will suddenly give out under everyone's feet, sending them straight down into a black abyss. Mosley gives a short wave and the last sight of him will be as he calls for someone to "turn off these sprinklers already! And get me a new suit!" ]

. . . NEW FILE CREATED . . . CHECKPOINT #001.SAV . . .
. . . CONTINUING TOUR.EXE. . .

[ They will land in a massive, sprawling white room with a dead end behind them and two different paths in front of them. Behind the glass wall to their right will be a group of scientists again (is that the same tentacled man from earlier?) who seem to be focused on the group with an intensity they didn't possess a moment ago.

The glass walls go on for quite a while and even by what the group can see here, it's readily apparent that this? Is a maze. After a moment a soft click will sound and small openings in the floor begin to release a neon blue gas into the room with them. There's no obvious indication over what it's purpose is yet. ]

[Look, out of all of the things he was expecting, having the floor just disappear out from under them was not one of them. He's soaked from the sprinklers, ponytail dripping, but of far greater concern is the fact that they were just dumped somewhere else.

He landed heavily in an awkward crouch; now, Sousei winces and stands, trying to ignore the pang in his knee from landing on it on the tiled floor, glancing around sharply.

Yeah that's...that's sure a gas of some sort. He coughs (he as unable to avoid inhaling some of it just from the fall and how he landed), and then covers his mouth with a hand.]

What-- [no, that's a stupid question. He looks at the directions in front of them. And, urgently:]

We should go.

Shit— [Eloquent. So eloquent. But that's honestly all she can think to say as her mind catches up with her body, and she registers she's been dumped somewhere else—in a maze. Again. She's starting to wonder if CERES has a thing for mazes, considering what happened during that ViViD incident a while ago.

She gets to her feet quickly enough, whatever pain the fall may have caused lessening with her regenerative abilities, and covers her her mouth and nose with part of her jacket as soon as she registers the weirdly colored gas. Great. No time to think about which direction to choose, it seems.]

Let's go... [One second of hesitation as she tries to pick up any sounds from either of the corridors, but. Nope. Nothing. She gestures towards one of the paths.] This way. I'm not sticking around to find out what happens next.

( They have become the watched instead of the watchers. That is Manfred's immediate thought when he glanced around the new room they are located in, irritatingly soaked from the sudden appearance of the sprinklers. He likewise covers his mouth when the gas appears, but all the time, he cannot take his eyes off the scientists. He speaks out the corner of his mouth. )

I don't care where you lot go, but I'm heading this way.

( He indicates the path on the right. )

[A patient, understanding person Touka is not, and she's totally scoffing when this guy points at the right path. She might have understood that attitude once upon a time, but now? Now it just irritates the hell out of her.]

You want to split up, then? Tch, what great idea. [Sarcastically... waves... at him...] Have fun dying by yourself, old man.

[Assuming they're going to be in mortal danger. It's CERES, after all.]

[REALLY??? They're really sitting here bickering about this while they're breathing in questionable gas because they're going to argue about which direction they're going?

Sousei's eyes narrow, and then to be contrary, he turns and stalks off, down the left passage. Von Karma can go in whatever direction he wants, but Sousei's not sticking around to argue it.

OFF WE GO.]

[Well it was certainly an interesting turn of events, though he was curious as to what would happen if he were to pop up on the side of the glass with the scientists once again, for the moment he stopped looking around where they had been dumped.]

That seemed to be a bit harsh. I wonder just which was we're supposed to go?

[For the moment he'll simply walk in the direction that the group is being lead. After all he had already done enough hadn't he.]

[ To the right, there is more and more and more maze, just as to the left, there seems to be unending maze. All of the walls look the same, and all of the windows carry scientists who watch them with almost frightening intensity.

And slowly, as the gas they inhaled, even if just a little, gets to work, they start to lose one of their senses. For Schrodinger and Sousei, they start to lose their hearing, slowly at first and then all of a sudden, until there is nothing left.

For Touka and Manfred, the same happens to their vision. ]

[BICKERING DURING INAPPROPRIATE MOMENTS IS HER FORTE, but she doesn't stick around to bicker some more. Instead, she follows the majority down the left path. Which, uh. Is fortunate, considering she ends up completely and utterly blind after a while.

At first, she brushes off the gradually growing blurriness in her vision. She rubs her eyes, keeps following the group, and then... Yeah. Yeah. It sure is pitch black in here, and she's stopping abruptly. If anyone from the group is standing behind her, they'll be bumping right into her.

That, or she'll be accidentally punching them as she instinctively gropes around.]

... What the hell? [NOT THAT ANYONE CAN HEAR HER. Oops.]

( Manfred is having a similar experience down in the other passage. At first, he watches through the window, trying to catch a glimpse of the so-called 'science' happening inside. But then it becomes more and more difficult to see, before he can see nothing at all.

He tries to back track his steps, to see if it is merely the corridor that has gotten dark. But it's not his surroundings that are affected but rather his eyes themselves.

He bangs his cane angrily against the wall as he comes to that realisation, and at the same time he thinks he hears the distant sound of some commotion or shuffle.

For the briefest of moments, he considers backtracking entirely, to regroup with the rest of the tour. But that idea is soon disregarding as foolish: if something dangerous is happening to that lot, he doesn't want to be caught up in it.

So he continues to slowly grope his way down the hallway, using his cane to help avoid any obstacles that might be in his way. He'll get out of this hell-hole one way or another, and the best way to go is forward.

He'd be loathe to admit it, but he's feeling incredibly tense. He's never been a fan of the dark.

Nothing good ever happens within it. )

[Schrodinger's ears twitch, his humming probably becoming a little more annoying and out of tune after a few minutes. He remained behind the other two, occasionally glancing back towards the direction that the old man went off in. Really they should have just stuck together since there was no telling what kind of trap they were heading into.

Once his hearing was entrely gone though Schrodinger pulled at his ears not seeing that Touka had stopped and running directly into her.]

Huh?

What was that for?

[Blinking he simply stares at her a moment, hearing muffled things but not quite being able to make out what she said.]

[Sousei's rather familiar with the sensation of going deaf by now, having experienced it himself not long before. So as his hearing starts to go, he pauses, noting the lack of the click of his boots on the tile, which had been quite audible before. He frowns, eyes narrowing, as Touka and Schrodinger collide.]

What's wrong.

[It's said shortly, and a little awkwardly--ah, he can't hear his own voice anymore.]

... I can no longer hear. If you are going to answer, it will have to be in a way other than verbally.

[If they...can even hear him. Is he wasting his time?]

[Well. She can hear them, which allows her to more or less pinpoint their location, but she's not Irimi or Hinami and it's not the same as having her eyesight. It's no wonder she ended up colliding with one of her group mates.

But if she wasn't alarmed before, she sure is now when she hears one them say that.]

What do you....? [She starts to say, before remembering that this guy is apparently deaf now. Ugh. She's not exactly good at charades, but...]

I can't — see. [Making sure to over-pronounce the words, in hopes that he can lip read. If not, she's gesturing towards her eyes and then shaking her head, just in case. Please let that get the message across...]

[Blind and deaf, what happened to one not being able to speak? Well Schrodinger's hearing had been one of his better senses so they were likely smarter for taking it though he still had quite an advantage when it came to a maze.]

Whatever shall we do? We've already lost one and now can't even hear one another's plans. The deaf leading the blind. It's a shame we can't write it down to be read.

[Unless someone happened to have a pen and some paper to take notes with.]

I wonder if that person is having the same problems?

[Despite continuing to talk he really didn't make an effort to try and gesture anything at all besides acting to scribble something down and then back towards the other.]

[ A voice rings out suddenly throughout the maze. ]

This is Mosley.

[ No shit. ]

Ms. Kirishima if you go around the corner to your left, you will find a box. In that box is a notebook and pen. You can relay my messages to the others using that. Mr. von Karma, well. It seems you have this all under control, don't you?

Nevertheless, pay no mind to the scientists as they are simply doing science. It's none of your concern. What is your concern, Ms. Kirishima, is that you will soon approach a... let's call it a checkpoint? At that checkpoint, you will need to work together to complete a task. The task cannot be completed alone but if you pass it, you will reach the exit sooner rather than later. If you cannot pass it, well, I suppose you will have to find another way?

Mr. von Karma, the same applies to you. But again, it seems as if you have everything under control. Do enjoy yourselves, you four.

[ Then Mosley's voice stops. He's right about the notepad but it seems that's all the help they're offering. Another few turns around the maze will lead both groups (if one person can be called a group) to a table. Beyond that table is one exit but currently blocked off by a set of bars. On the table, is a classic puzzle and if Mosley's right, the only way past the bars is to solve it. Good luck.

Alternatively, the groups can try to find another way around but the chances of getting lost in the maze are much higher. Time to get creative! ]

[She's aware the other two can't hear a damn thing, so when Mosley's voice rings out throughout the maze, she makes a stopping motion with her hand and then presses a finger to her lips. Here's to hoping this is a universally understood way to signal someone to shut up.

Alas, she can't really see their reactions, so she doesn't know if they caught on. For their benefit, she'll be making a show out of cupping one of her ears--as if she's listening to something. Which she is, and. Wow. No. Her eyebrows will be furrowed at the beginning of the message, but by the end? She looks absolutely livid.]

Fuck. [HISSING THIS, even if they can't hear a thing. She hopes Mosley does, though, because screw him.] Is there a corridor to the left?

[Again, exaggerating the way she pronounces each word just in case they can lip read. But, she'll be pointing towards the left and gesturing them to come with her. Even if her other senses are fine and she proceeds to make a hesitant attempt to feel out where that corridor is, she knows it's better to have someone who can see.]

[He has absolutely not idea what's happening, but at least he can understand her gestures to...some extent. To the extent that he stops, anyway, and watches her, eyes slightly narrowed. He can't lip read, alas, but he can see her point, and when he looks, there is indeed a corridor.

He sighs, softly, and moves towards her. He doesn't really enjoy personal space invasions himself, but this is just pitiful.]

I am going to take your hand. If we need to go down the left corridor, I will lead you that way.

This will take too long otherwise.

[He glances at Schrodinger, but...well, he has no idea how to communicate anything to him beyond a vague shrug. Come if you want, catboy, he has no idea why they're going this way but Touka seems to.]

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▶ CHECKPOINT ONE.SAV

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