//TESTDRIVE.EXE

[reparator]

"I'm the reason half of you are drunk at the moment." (CEO-SAN, NO...) "I'm the reason half of you are drunk at the moment." (CEO-SAN, NO...)

//TESTDRIVE.EXE The lights flicker overhead, music blaring from the speakers as you step inside, every sound drowned out except for that hypnotic tune. The walls are painted in an array of hypnotic colors, saturated to the point where your attention doesn't know where to land, and all kinds of screens hang from each corner, showing flashing images of ads, gadget after gadget appearing in a second to show you the best of what Ceres has to offer. Dancing bodies flank each side of the large ballroom, bodies with eyes that look hollow and their faces too symmetrical. They'll occasionally glance at you and smile, maybe even engage and offer to take you to one of the private rooms in the back. However, their words are interrupted when the lights suddenly turn brighter and focus on the center where a raised platform sits. A man appears in the center, one hand raised to silence the music while the other holds a microphone. "It's been some time, hasn't it? As you may or may not know, I am the CEO and founder of CERES, Julius Vincere, and you can say, I'm the reason half of you are drunk at the moment." He chuckles lightly before continuing, "For a second there, I was worried we wouldn't make it, but I placed my confidence in all of you. I knew you'd surpass my expectations when I first brought you here, and you were able to utilize our tools to perfection. As you may have suspected by the gallons of champagne being passed around at my behest-" He pauses to reach out for a glass, snatching it from one of the wait staff passing by before raising it to the crowd. "We've finally obtained our first victory here on Cerealia. The colony is ours completely and will be fully functional from this day forward. Please enjoy all the luxurious amenities we have put together, and join me in journeying towards a new and better future. Together, we will expand our territory here and reach even further horizons. And by all means, don't be shy with the staff. They're also here for your entertainment." He gestures around the room, smiling before taking a sip of his champagne. Applause echoes from the crowd while Julius steps off the stage, handing the mic to one of the staff before pausing for pictures and interviews from reporters. You stand in the crowd as the lights dim once more, lost in a sea of people and wondering where to go next.

//SCENARIOS.EXE PHASE I [ 1801 ] The screens lining the walls inside even extend into the bathrooms and the back rooms, playing commercial after commercial, all CERES themed, as you mingle with the other guests, but occasionally, the image transforms into a flash of something else. It appears for a split-second. There's the face of a woman, lips parted in a soundless cry. She looks to be in pain, fingers pressed to the screen. It's so quick that most don't register it, barely even notice it's there unless they focus. The party continues without incident, otherwise. Because it's a pretty damn good party, isn't it? There's plenty of food, strong drinks - hey, no one under seventeen is allowed to drink - and many decorative people. Just ignore that feeling of being watched! You're just so good looking, after all. PHASE II [ ???? ] A room sits in the back with several helmets characters can wear to upload themselves into ViViD, a state of the art virtual reality game, and enter one of the game stages to participate in a team mission. They can sample a few minutes of gameplay as they enter a short battle with one of the NPC creatures. They'll quickly become familiar with the state-of-the-art technology as all pain and wounds experienced inside will feel real and will appear on each character's body. But what an awesome game it is. With amazing digital quality surround, it's a world like none other... but be careful not to fall too fast! (Those monsters even smell real, don't they?) Feel free to talk to Vidia, the game host, if you need help getting things going! PHASE III [ 2134 ] The evening is wearing on, the dance floor is becoming more crowded. The music seems oppressive by now. People are feeling charged with adrenaline, or feeling the intensity rise in the mood. Maybe a new partner is the right choice to go with- or maybe you can talk to a wallflower. But one thing is for certain... The loud vibrations disguise the fact that something is moving over the vents. You can hear it in the background, the rustling sound that agitates your ears. But hey, maybe it's nothing, right? After all, it's just a party... Maybe you'll want to go into the back rooms for a bit to... explore your new friends? The rooms (and your companions) are quite pretty and cozy, and can be adjusted with holograms to create a room for your desired mood. After all, it's a little too noisy when you're not alone, but the sudden silence might get oppressive too... [ Feel free to get intimate or just get out of the party and sleep off the drinks, but remember, anything above PG stuff must go into your own journals and under NO circumstances will unwanted propositioning be allowed or any non-consensual activity lest you want to be locked in a cold box on top of a huge ice cube for the rest of the night. Naked. Please use your own discretion, the minimum age for intimacy is 15-16. ] PHASE IV [ 0243 ] In the quieter corners of the party, it becomes more ever-present until something falls on your eye. It's red. Warm... As you gaze up, you see a dead body faced down, the half-sliced face lying against the ventilation screen. The body's eyes remain open, staring down at you. Screams and sounds of shock sound, and the party halts. As the security filters in to investigate the body, the rustling only grows louder. It's then that they suspect something is in the vents. It's crawling avidly across the ceiling, and lights fall one by one, exploding against the ground. There's barely a moment to register the chaos before the last knight of CERES appears. You can choose to run. You can choose to engage. The knight won't let you leave its sight alive. But you know you have to do something. Be it protecting the innocents there, or fighting off the creature that seems to only be there to harm you and your friends, old and new. And you do want to protect this place, because it's just been won... don't you? BONUS [ whyo'clock ] There's a ball pit hidden in one of the auxiliary rooms. All invited parties are given a maximum of one hour to have fun time in the ball pit. They must not exceed their one hour or they will be forcibly removed by the security droids. Please keep all food and alcohol out of the ball pit. Do not have any genital parties in the ball pit. The ball pit is sacred to CERES. [ The party will be long, so take your time enjoying each scenario... and dreading it. At the end of it all, things will be calmed down and you're free to enjoy the night as you please. Remember to keep things PG (the FAQ below elaborates!), and absolutely no forcing any R-rated things with anyone below 15-16 (so be sure to ask their age, right?) or the droids will have a little fun chasing you around! Do enjoy the pretty views of the gorgeous digital city though. Which seems strangely quiet, but at this late hour, why not, right? ]

//RUN.EXE Welcome to CEREALIA's first test drive! Please forgive our appearance as we are going through the final stages game completion. While most pages are under development and/or hidden from the public eye, please don't feel discouraged, since knowing everything doesn't always make the experience. Your characters will know as little as you. For your convenience, we have compiled a mini-FAQ - please read it thoroughly before playing. Thank you! FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS HOW DID MY CHARACTER GET HERE? You may have been just been doing their day-to-day activities - be it swimming or fighting demons - but the next moment, a crack and blinding light - now you're here, in your best attire, celebrating. The memories of your at-home activities fade away like a fleeting dream, and it's replaced with the feeling of happiness. ( You haven't forgotten your past, just that anything you were doing seems far too distant to be important. ) Must be something in the air. You can't remember clearly fighting for CERES, and whatever this Julius Vincere is telling you might be complete bullshit for all you know, but something influences you to play along anyway - if you think about it long enough, perhaps you had fought for CERES after all...? WHO/WHAT IS CERES? WHAT IS CEREALIA? You mean... you don't remember? After all the help you gave it? WHAT FORMAT CAN WE USE FOR THIS TESTDRIVE? Action (brackets/prose), video/voice, and texting are all available via your CEREVICE at this moment. Most functions are currently undergoing a system update, but as long as it is still connected to the Auralia Network, it will be available for communicative uses. WHAT IS ViVID? An amazing VR game! The demo version of ViViD will be here to play, aren't you excited? It's played with headsets that immediately allow you to experience full-body simulation, without having to move out of your seat! You can enjoy the demo world, design your own, play alone, play with a team, but remember, the boss must be beaten! Please check the phase ii thread for details and interactions! SO... PHASE III? Sexy things can happen, you're getting hot and heavy on the dance floor, and there are rooms in the back that can be decorated to your mood, after all. REMEMBER, the age of consent is 15-16, please use your own discretion and don't upset people. For the test drive, any situation that goes above PG (beyond kissing/grinding/light making out... We're lenient) must go into threads in your own journals. Any creeper behavior or unwanted advances will get an IC boot into the Frozen Locker with "Let it Go" on repeat. POWER LIMITATIONS? Actually, no, the characters don't have any of their abilities locked or otherwise suppressed. More info will be i the official FAQ, but so long as you don't destroy the entire game ( and we trust you can use your powers responsibly— as does CERES! ), limitations are nonexistent. OKAY, WHAT ABOUT PREVIOUS GAME MEMORIES? It's completely acceptable to bring a character that has been in a previous game to Cerealia! THE NAME LOOKS FAMILIAR. . . Yes, a loosely related setting concept with a place called CEREALIA was pitched for an ExitVoid phase before the moderators decided to close the game for good. A few of us got together with the original pitchers of the idea since we thought it really awesome and with a lot of potential and decided to try our own thing with it! ARE THE GAMES RELATED? Nope. Not at all, it's been rehashed from the ground up and built to stand on its own as an original place and game. We'll keep coming back to this, so don't worry.

Comments

Nico Minoru | Marvel | I + IV

[grimmspells]

[i.
Well this is...quite a welcome. Nico has no idea who the guy on the screen is or, really, who anyone is around her, and she's not in any good mood to find out. She doesn't know how she got here - and sure, this isn't the strangest thing to happen to her - and she's not very comfortable with hanging around.]

Excuse me. Please, just-- [Ugh.] Move, okay?

[Yep, that is an irritated girl in gothic wear trying to shove through. She tries to slide around the crowd but with the music and the noise blaring in her ears, it's more than a little difficult. Some air would be nice. ...Or some food, now that she's eyeing it up.]


[iv.
The buzzing's getting worse.

Nico's more than a little desperate to find someplace quiet to sit and...collect her thoughts, and she'd contemplate slipping into the side rooms if she wasn't absolutely sure that's a 'couples only' sort of deal with how many have ducked off the dance floor. But this is a little safer, she thinks, over here away from the bouncing and the noise. She finds a wall to lean against, lifting her head up and closing her eyes.

That's when the screaming starts

Nico jumps up as people start to panic and run, and when she sees something climbing down from the ventilation shafts, she just about jumps out of her skin.]

What the hell--?!

[Crap, crap. No time to panic. She grabs out the knife she keeps hidden in her belt and grips the blade tightly enough to draw blood out of her hand.]

When blood is shed, let the Staff of One emerge.

[Fire erupts in an arc from her staff and she's quick to move out of her corner, give the people around her some time to get to safety.]

Come on, ugly. Over here!

tyki mikk / d. gray-man / phase i, iii, iv

[teasing]

[ phase i;; ]

[ he's spent the better part of the hour (hours? who can tell?) watching the throng of people moving on the dance floor. he can't say he hates the music, but then he isn't crazy about it, either. it's faded to little more than white noise as he partakes in everything there is to offer, and with no small measure of enjoyment. it's free, after all.

he eats, he drinks, he socializes - though he finds it much less pleasurable with the staff, more for that fact that it feels as though he's spoken with the same woman six times already despite having moved to different areas of the room. in the end he settles in one of the booths bordering the back wall, chin propped on his hand as he scans the room for someone or something of interest.

it isn't long before his gaze falls to the screen in time to catch the flash of a woman across it, and his brows quirks more out of curiosity than concern. ]

Well then.

[ he's provided with a drink in the next moment and he lets his gaze sweep around the area again to see if there's anyone who had glimpsed the same thing he did. he meets eyes with one of the occupants and with a barely restrained smile, lifts his hand up in a two-fingered wave and beckons them over. ]



[ phase iii;; ]

[ he's been plied with food and drink for some time now, and along the way managed to catch the arm of someone that didn't seem as though they were a part of the staff. that is to say, they looked more vibrant, more alive than the rest of the occupants with empty smiles and vacant expressions.

utilizing a strength that was more inhuman than human, he ends up pulling them to one of the quieter rooms -- for a talk, of course. he is a gentleman, after all. he's even kind enough to lock the door before moving into the center of the room, fiddling with the hologram there and bathing the room in a warm, red light that carries along with it a more... sinister vibe than he'd perhaps intended.

or maybe he had intended it all along, who knew? ]

So. [ he speaks around a cigarette, tie undone and hanging loosely around his shoulders. a moment later he's barely glancing up, letting his hand fall from the holographic controls to pluck the cig out from between his lips and exhale a slow, easy stream of smoke into the air. ]

Any ideas?



[ phase iv;; ]

[ it's the smell that hits him first, titillating his senses even amidst the alcohol-fueled haze dulling his senses. he's mingled, he's indulged, he's wandered - not far, of course, because he's not quite sure where he would go (and that was a mystery he was still working out, honestly) - and as the party winds down during the last few hours, he's burned through a half packet of cigarettes as he surveys the party-goers with varying degrees of interest.

it's obvious he's not home, though now he finds himself questioning that fact and trying to bridge the connection between then and now. his memories come up blank and disconnected, the gap in time made even more pronounced the longer he tries to make sense of things. "here" is not "there", it is somewhere else entirely. he does not know these faces, of that he was certain.

so then, how...

he's dragged out of his thoughts when he feels something wet on his cheek and he presses his fingers there, drags them away to see the smear of blood on them. something stirs within him and he glances up just as the security guards begin to swarm in and the screams of people echo all around him. it sets his blood boiling - but not for the reasons one might expect.

there's a thrill, a certain excitement to the situation and he can't help but to smile at everything. even if this is a peace he had supposedly fought for - this is far more entertaining. much, much more entertaining, and he can't help but be drawn to it.

so rather than help as he should do, as a defender of Cerealia should have done - he sits. he watches, and he steeples his fingers, gaze riveted on the creature as though he were watching some grand performance.

and if the creature happens to be making a beeline for you? you'd better start screaming at him for help. ]