//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

[virginous]

[ One's order has her moving quickly, closing her mouth in response of her name and stopping the song. Jumping out of the way just in time for the chakram to rush past her, implanting itself into the monster as soon as the barrier disappears. ]

You got it! [ There's a sense of joy in her tone, immediately eyeing her sister before turning her attention back to the monster to watch it slowly crumble to the ground. She approaches it unafraid, staring at the creature before she lifts a foot to kick it's head to look for any sort of response.

There was none. ]

One nee-sama, it's dead.

[envisaged]

[ She stands fully, eyeing the body warily until Four confirms its death. She calms, walking over to retrieve her chakram from the corpse. ]

That's fortunate for us. I can't say the same for its earlier victim, however. [ She pulls the weapon out, looking down at the body before lifting the weapon up and striking down one last time. She doesn't want Four to get attacked, or anyone else, which is why she's being thorough.

Her attire is instantly splattered in blood, the stench of iron heavy. Despite the smell, she can only think about how a monster like that came into this place, and why it went unnoticed until now. She finally directs her attention from the body, to Four. ]

Are you all right?

[virginous]

Disgusting...

[ Because it's not human, after all, and it also had gone out and attacked someone for no reason at all—at least, no reason that they were aware of, at least. It was their duty to protect humans as Intoners, after all, at least those who wouldn't defy them.

She pauses, saying a silent prayer for the person that was killed by the beast they had slain before looking up to One and nodding. ] I'm fine, we both did so well... but are you okay?

[ Because of everything that happened. All the screaming and the stench of blood must have been agonizing for her. ]

[envisaged]

[ Her expression remains firm, brows furrowing lightly in that moment of silence. It feels wrong to simply leave the corpse up there in the vents, mutilated like that. But she has to decide what to do, where to start, and what to question, first.

She glances towards the vent, then back to her sister. ] I'll be fine. Don't worry. [ Now that the screaming stopped, she is. The smell is still horribly overwhelming, and the way the blood sticks to her clothes and dampens it makes her want to writhe. At the very least, with the presence of Four here, it's slowly becoming bearable.

But that also means she can't exactly express her discomfort openly. Like the fact she desperately needs a change of clothes, or a change of scenery so she can think at least think clearly. ]

I've heard mention of private rooms within the back of the building. We can stay there for the time being until we decide on a course of action.

[virginous]

[ There's a feeling of delight apparent in her features, but in the bottom of her chest her head was screaming for some form of thanks or appreciation. Why was it so hard for One to do that!? Why was it that the one person that she wanted to be praised from couldn't do so to save her life? It agitated her to no bounds, but fortunately she was capable of keeping that under lock and key.

Because even though One didn't do it, she did. It's a trait of hers that even One cannot obtain. ]

Oh, I've heard of them, too. [ She nods energetically, stepping away from the body as security finally came. ] Let's get there quickly.

[envisaged]

Yes, let's. [ She nods lightly, agreeing with Four as she, too, walks away from the body. She lets her gaze linger only for a moment on the corpse before setting it forward.

Finding a vacant room wasn't all that hard considering everyone ran away in a frenzy. But finding one that didn't have a few unmentionables inside (much less disgusting odors) was harder than she expected. ] In here. [ She motions for Four to come inside through the door frame.

This room, however, was left untouched by the party goers. Although, with the threat gone, she wonders if the celebration will resume soon.. ]

[virginous]

[ The search for an unoccupied and completely empty room was almost agonizing for Four. Giving a groan of disgust with each room with any evidence of people being there before and rolling her eyes, sighing as it takes everything out of her to refrain from making any comments.

But then they finally find a room and she's just as quick to regain her composure as she is to throw it away, quickly making her way inside and taking a look around the room. She seems to be looking for any other threats, but... it becomes more and more obvious that she's trying to see what all was there. ]

The more I look at this place, the more I get a weird feeling... [ It's not explainable, and maybe that's what irritates her most about it. ] One nee-sama, that... thing we killed out there, what do you think it was?

[envisaged]

[ She closes the door behind her, looking inside the room. She's already made herself acquainted with one of these rooms, having spent her time with the holograms. However, that isn't the case with Four it seems.

She doesn't blame her, in fact, she should've expected this. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, but even now, she's not sure if it's good either. Hearing Four's words, her lips become tightened, if only for a moment. ]

...A monster. [ Frankly, that's all she can call it. She's never seen a beast like that before, and it troubles her. More importantly, why was it here in the first place? ] Perhaps, this is what we fought against.

[virginous]

Perhaps... [ And that alone it comes out more as a question than a simple repeat of her words. Not because she's questioning if One is either right or wrong, but more so on whether or not they truly did face creatures such as that. Even if their world had their fair share of odd beings, this was the first time either one of them had seen something like this. ]

Um, this might sound strange... but I don't really get it at all. [ She shakes her head. ] I don't get it at all, actually, everything about this place is just one big blur, like we've never really been here before. Let alone fight for it.