(Preshow) Registration [Where you sign up IC]

[Albert Wesker]

Cerise parted ways with her....benefactor a short ways outside of the town of Darkshire, with the unsettling promise that he would be watching closely, and a reminder to keep in touch. Updates whenever she could manage to catch a break in the activity and all that. It was a mixed emotional bag, really. Being in the man's presence, even as weak and harmless as he seemed -- just a regular, average human, really; highly trained and probably capably, but just a man with nothing special about him -- still felt like being in the room with a tiger. A hungry tiger.

She was glad to get away from him, really. More than that. And not just for the way it felt to be near him, but just because of the way he carried himself and acted. That cold, distant way of speaking, false sympathy and kindness, and a calculating detachment from the ones he worked with and supported. It reminded her uncomfortably of someone else. Someone else with that same attitude, same demeanor, same way of looking at people. Being around him was like being in a cage with a massive, venomous, starving snake. It always made her skin crawl.

....but still. It was her uncle. Her only surviving family. Despite all his external coldness, he did genuinely care about things. Family was one of them, even if it did sometimes take a backseat to business and progress.

More than the similarities between them, though, it was the way Cerise had so easily let herself get talked into this insufferable Dante's Abyss. After so much time spent in the Omniverse alone, doing everything she could to try and work back up to even her former strength, let alone much else, that...tiny amount of praise. Confidence and assurance that she could do well, and all that was expected was the best she could do. It had struck a chord, and far more powerfully than she'd been prepared to contend with.

....and now here she was. Ready to sign up for Dante's Abyss at the behest of someone she barely knew. Risking life and limb -- even if death was at best a minor inconvenience, here in the Omniverse. She'd already died before, more than once, in her time here. It wasn't exactly pleasant, and it had left her shaken up pretty badly. Just have to not die, though. That was the plan.

Onward she went, toward the the registration booth. She'd seen them before, in the previous year, but never bothered to actually get too near one. Now that she was, it was actually mildly impressive how it was set up. As was the efficiency with which she was met, and the employees there got to work.

Lots of basic information, really. Getting down details, information from her, and several questions which she answered as best she could. Her vitals were taken, which she found rather odd. And to their credit, no one batted an eye at the strangeness of her...not quite normal human vital signs. This place was just chock full of that, after all. The strangest thing of all, though, was the...promo they wanted to film. Not that she really had any objections, especially with the chance it gave her. She put on a sweet, nervous facade -- it was all too easy to do so, with how ridiculous this seemed and unprepared for it she was. The innocent little figure, not really prepared for this but going to try anyway. Didn't really know how well she was going to do, but she would do her best.

When it was done, she was ushered off out of sight of the main area, into the back. There was a teleporter there, and as it powered up and prepared to whisk her away to wherever this thing was taking place, she could only heave a heavy sigh and rub at her good eye. This was gonna be...a mess.