estoria | « 001 ⇢ INTERLUDE001.EXE »

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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

An archive. They may be storing information here not found in the system.

[As he scans the shelves he shakes his head, annoyed on principle at all things analog. If anything looks interesting he skims it quickly. They have a lot of reading to do.]

They invited us here, and they just sort of... left us unattended, right? So it wouldn't really be a problem if we were to glance through them, would it?

I don't know. [she shrugs, somewhat halfheartedly] If we are going to be looking for information, however, it would be for the best if we tried looking for anything about the Flamines, CERES itself, and any information they might have jotted down on us.

Well, pull something down and leaf through it, then! Sss, sss, sss. Yell if you find something... I'll snap it with my camera.

[ There were far too many books for them to go through all of them. But at least they could work on a few sections together if they pooled their resources. Kousetsu for the most part is walking down towards the darker area of the archive. His movements slow and careful as he rests one hand on the sword at his side. He isn't a big talker so, you know, don't mind him. He'll randomly pull out a book on the upper shelf in the back of the room, skimming through it silently as he does so. ]

[ The first shelves have contracts, such as contracts of sale (the older ones, such as Julius Vincere buying the land on Tellus) to the brand new, such as the contract of sale for Bellona Recreare from Julius Vincere. They all seem very legal, and very legitimate.

A little further on, there are history books, and further on from that, there are pages upon pages of legal and scientific jargon about the sale of unquantifiable substances.

In the far back, where there is hardly any light, the book Kousetsu grabs is full of technical jargon, almost impossible to decipher. It seems to have been written by an Elias Segej.

And in the far back, there is a door, while on the other side of the room, there is a desk. ]

This is definitely more Yuuno-kun or Vivio's place. [ Her old friend and her adopted daughter were licensed librarians of the Infinite Library, which was more a dungeon with all the books than any usual conception of a library, and were experts at the kind of high level search spells and multi-tasking needed to pore over these sorts of documents. Nanoha and Raising Heart together could scan through a few books at once, but she had always been better at far more direct magic.

So instead of doing more reading of things that were entirely beyond her, she's started exploring the room instead, opening the door in the far back and poking around the desk, trying to see if there's anything interesting in the drawers. ]

[don't mind Scuttlebutt, she's busy photographing documents!]

[sometimes the line between journalism and "corporate espionage" was thin indeed...]

[skimming is rather easy for Inaba Himeko. but she doesn't seem to be all interested in the first shelf after pulling out a few documents, so when she reaches the next ones, she decides to read up on some of the history, wondering if there's anything particularly interesting there... primarily things on the Flamines' existence if anything or about CERES' history]

Hey, did any of you guys find anything? [might as well ask]

[ one of the desk drawers is locked. In the other, there is a packet of matches, and a note that says In case of emergenc but otherwise seems to be torn off.

Other than that, there is only typical desk supplies, and a bizarre amount of scissors.

Meanwhile, Inaba will find a bizarre lack of Flamines in the history books; all of the chapters are on the establishment of CERES, the creation of the colony Cerealia, the purchase of the planet of Tellus (though from whom it does not say) and the like. There is even some of the names of the earlier characters in these books -- just how recently were they written?

And from the darker areas of the room, there's a creak. ]

[Scuttlebutt jumped!! knocking over her pile of documents]

What was that noise!?

[ While Nanoha had been happy to not blow a hole in the floor of the building, a busted lock on a desk wasn't nearly as big of a deal right? Besides, nobody locked a drawer if there wasn't anything worth hiding inside, and it wasn't as though there was much else she could contribute to an investigation besides her brute force.

But busting things open was still the last resort. ]

Who's carrying the keys? Do you think any of them would fit in this desk drawer?

[ Then the creak sounded, and she was on alert. She was a bodyguard here on Cerealia after all, and if anything dangerous showed up, she was pretty sure at least half of the crew assembled here were completely incapable of battle. ]

I'll go check for the noise. Raising Heart, give me a light.

Yes, Master. [ The gem that hung around her neck detached itself and started glowing a light pink as she headed slowly towards the source of the noise. ]

[clicking her tongue, Inaba closes the book with a slam; that doesn't sound like a good noise alright]

Everyone, stay on your guard. [but first, let's just quickly run through the book while recording all the pages of it with her cell phone instead of her CereVice. because she might have to double check this info for reference later... maybe to see if there's any more recent news in it, especially regarding ~~our new overlord~~ the new CEO's background]

[ The creak puts him immediately on guard the sword at his side not being drawn quite yet but he will grip its handle as his eyes narrow. The books he was flipping through are placed back in the bookshelf as he turns to regard the others.

He'll look down at the keys in his hand before nodding. The desk might prove to have useful information, true, but now with the unknown noise he's not sure if it's wise to open it. ]

There is a door here as well. However I do not know if it is safe to open it. [ Then again getting stuck in this place, almost like a cage in its lack of doors, was far worse. ]

I will come with you to investigate. [ He'll direct his attention to Nanoha as he holds out the keys for Inaba to take. ] ...if it becomes too dangerous please use these to open the door and get away.

[Having had enough of reading what's on the shelves, he turns to the desk. The locked door captures his interest and he trusts the others are capable of handling whatever is going on where that noise was coming from so he'll stay back with Inaba. He has his gun, so they aren't completely defenseless.]

Right then. Let's see what's in here. [There's a tone of urgency. They may not have much time.]

Kaaaahk! Fine! I'll... just... keep a look out, then...

[Scuttlebutt retracted her arms and fell to her knees on the floor. STEALTH MODE: ACTIVATED]

[totally taking those keys! of course, Inaba herself has been learning some self defense from other people so she's pretty decent on her feet (ha, ha, get it?) and she's rather alert, but... she knows better than to barge into something when she doesn't know what it is. though she'll be paying close enough attention to make sure they don't... you know.

get fucked or something like that]

Alright. Don't get your asses kicked, whatever's behind that door. I don't want to carry bodies to the hospital. [she's saying that in such a deadpan tone it's hard to tell if she's being serious or not]

[ It's the light that sets it off.

As Nanoha's light approaches the shadowy corners, bizarrely devoid of light, the creature detaches from said shadows. There is a single hiss, the only warning, before it reaches shadowy fingers towards Kousetsu. They are cold, numbing fingers, and while they pass through as if not solid, what they leave behind is nerveless fingers and numb, unresponsive body parts.

For now, it seems focused on the ones with the light, reaching for Nanoha next. ]

Oh, sh- [ Nanoha didn't even have time to swear properly, much less report their findings to the group at large, but at least her hands were quicker than her mouth.

She didn't know what exactly that shadow creature was, but the way it went right through Kousetsu marked it as a dangerous threat. It was impossible to know what exactly it was doing, or if anything she could do would even affect something that could pass through solid objects, but she had to try.

A dome of magic appeared in front of her right hand as she put up a basic barrier spell in an attempt to keep the monster away, while a sphere of the same pink magic grew in her right hand. ]

Bullet, shoot! [ She throws her left forward, ball of energy shooting through her barrier in a bright beam of magic and light. ]

...that is! [ This creature...he was not expecting it to be able to do that. Some type of shadow monster that was clearly untouchable was not what he was expecting. He manages to dodge it but barely as he takes one downward slash at its back when it goes through his right side leaving his arm and leg immobile and unresponsive.

His eyes narrow as he turns to follow it. He'll just slide up against a wall to keep himself from falling over. Perhaps the effects will wear off?! ]

Do not let it touch you. It is able to render your body parts immobile. [ Safe to say this was not looking good. If they couldn't get rid of it they were going to have to retreat. ]

[ The barrier does deflect the creature; it tries to break through, but simply can't. Kousetsu's sword slides right through the shadow, not leaving a single scratch, but the pure beam of magic and light does get an unearthly shriek out of the thing before it suddenly disappears back into the shadows.

It's not immediately attacking, but it's clear that it's still there, and perhaps more.

Kousetsu's right side will remain immobile and numb for another day or so, so good luck with that.

And they are still being stalked from the shadows, the shadows flickering around them as if waiting for a good chance to strike. ]

[while Inaba isn't actively taking a part in the fight, she is watching carefully, wondering if there's a weakness-- wait a sec. did it shrink back at Nanoha's attack and not Koutetsu's? that gives her an idea... don't mind her shuffling through her bag to get out her camera and snap photos of the creature. maybe the flash will spook it?]

[Inaba was braver than Scuttlebutt, she stayed put.

Her tape recorder was still running, though]

Inaba, the drawer.

[This was getting more and more bizarre, but he didn't have the luxury of standing around and staring at Nanoha and whatever it was that she did to hold them off. These things were attacking. He looked through the open drawer containing the note and the matches and lit one, turning to the looming, flickering shadows as he set fire to a piece of paper from the pile on the floor.]

[she nods in response quickly after having taken that quick picture. the others can deal with it for now... but Inaba has more important things to do. which is to attempt to open that locked drawer with the keys. hopefully one of these works..!]

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