PHASE I [ 8 00 ] You’ve arrived. You’ve received your powerpoint presentation, and your head is filled to the brim with the knowledge that your world is destroyed, and that everyone you once knew and loved is dead. You are ready to handle whatever is thrown your way --
Or maybe not. You end up in a giant game of Pacman, and from the yellow spandex jumpsuit you’re now stuck in (glow-in-the-dark, even, how snazzy), you’re Pacman. Everything is a maze, all towering dark walls and corridors, and everything seems just a little...well, off. First off, the balls you’d normally collect in pacman? They’re floating there, yellow and distinct, the only source of light in the maze, but if you pick them up and touch them, you’ll experience a memory.
It’ll be something warm, gentle and sweet, a memory of your home or the people you love that is something you truly treasure, a memory of a time that is so very important to you. And then the globe is gone and the world returns to its cold, stark state, and you are reminded: everyone is dead. Better go pick up another one!
And, of course, there are the ghosts. They’re a little horrifying (though they come in all sorts of fun colors!) and if they grab you, all of those positive memories turn horrible. A nice memory of a picnic? It’s now a memory of losing everyone important on that day, cut down by masked figures.
Of course, that’s only for the newcomers to ViViD. For anyone who enters ViViD as a veteran, well...you can watch. If you try to enter the game, there are some unfortunate consequences -- you’ll end up as one of the ghosts chasing down those poor innocents, unable to do a thing about it.
Be sure to admire the scoreboard hanging over the game for everyone to see, though.
PHASE II [ 1030 ] Just when you’ve gotten a handle on Pacman, now you’re stuck playing...Tetris?
Everyone (newcomer and old veteran) has been dumped in the game now, and those falling blocks don’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. You'll be in an unfortunate tag-team; the person you're tossed into the game with may be a total stranger to you, but you're stuck with them now. After a few moments of dodging giant, falling blocks, it should become clear how you win this game: the blocks follow you (or your partner) in an attempt to squash you, so with some careful wrangling, you can guide those blocks into place and erase row after row of deadly blocks. Of course, if you can't work together, you're more likely to end up squished at the top of the screen, but if you should somehow manage to clear the screen, the door at the other end will open and you'll be free to go.
Let's hope you're stuck with someone easy to work with.
PHASE III [ 1145 ] Stumbling out of Tetris will bring you onto a rickety platform, a hangman’s noose gently wrapped around one of your very most important people. You can’t approach them, you can’t touch them, and they can’t speak, but they look at you with pleading eyes even as the talking tree they are to be hanged from tells you the rules. Guess letters, guess the word, and your friend will be freed. Guess wrong, and, well… the noose will tighten bit by bit.
Time to work together to get your friends down from there. Admittedly you might see someone different up there from the person next to you, but it’s all the same in the end, isn’t it? You’ve got to save them either way.
If you fail, that person will be hanged -- only to reveal that they were just a straw doll all along. Phew, what a relief!
If they succeed at guessing the word, a trap door will open up underneath that person and the rope will be released, dropping them down to never be seen again. Bye!
PHASE IV [ 1300 ] And then you’re dumped right out of ViViD and back into Cerealia. The city is still a little water-logged, though it is looking better than it was before; either way, you may be dumped anywhere. On a roof, in the middle of the park, on top of the scrap heap… anything could happen.
And it seems that things are still a little glitchy, or maybe the glitchy ViViD experience has infected your code in some way, because for a short period of time after, there may be a few...side effects. Fingers and faces might glitch out for a moment, or your hand might phase through a wall. You may also have your In Game Title hovering over your head for all to see. That’s not weird at all.
It’ll all fade away in an hour or two anyway, without any side effects to speak of. Or so it would seem.
PENALTY [ xxxx ] You may have ended up here after getting eaten by a pacman (or ghost), or you may have ended up here after jumping down the trapdoor to save your friend in Hangman. Perhaps you were squashed by a tetris block. Perhaps you just fell down onto your sword (why would you do that). Either way, here you are.
It’s an empty area, totally silent and void, aside from this one carnival game. Once you’re seated, you can’t stand up -- you have to win the game to leave, as the friendly game host will inform you without a single smile. You’ll be playing against the others who managed to end up here, but you’d better give it your best shot, or who knows how long you’ll end up staying here.
Time to play a carnival shooter game.
At least the targets are of a few familiar faces. Maybe that’ll make it more appealing?
And if you win you’ll be able to exit stage right, plus you’ll have a cute Mosley plushie as a prize. Hooray!
[ Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with sensitive or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ] |
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i
When he comes across a path without any dots, the implication doesn't occur to him - until, of course, he finds himself running headlong into another person coming in the opposite direction, too late to stop. whooooops.]
Ah -- ah, watch out!!
no subject
Oof! [ dipper falls backwards spectacularly. oh man, that was a pretty gnarly wipeout, and his elbow is smarting in particular - what kind of pac-man game made you feel pain?!
then he remembers the ghost that was pursuing him, and that it can't be far behind now... ]
no subject
...Aaaagh... sorry about that...
[But as he's rubbing his head and squinting at the person he collided with, he sees the ghost that was chasing him closing in. And a second ghost, who was chasing this other guy, closing in from the opposite direction.]
... We have to go. Now.
[Ignoring the bump forming on his head, he rises to his feet and reaches down to yank the other person up. It looks like another kid, not much older or taller than himself, so thankfully he's not that heavy, but it would probably be too much for Link to try to carry him.]
Let's go! Now, come on!
no subject
inevitable fate or not, though, there's no way he wants one of those ghosts near him again. so he nods. ]
Right! [ he breaks out into a run. there's a hallway that T-s off just a bit ahead - if they can just make it to that, then at least the ghosts would only be behind them. hopefully. ]
no subject
One of them split away - [he says between gasps of air.] They're trying to pinch us.
[Not good. Frowning, he looks down one path, and then the other.]
...we've got a fifty-fifty chance here, most likely...
no subject
The AI was never this smart in the actual game! [ once you learned their patterns, you would never have to run into a ghost! and you definitely never had to worry about them being smart enough to pinch you!
not good indeed. he glances down the T-path. it's dark, and he has no reason to expect this to be the way to go, logically, but his gut feeling... ]
Come on! Let's go this way! [ he starts down the hallway. ]
no subject
Alright! [Following the boy down one path, he dares a glance over his shoulder. No ghosts yet. They might actually get out of this.]
... If one appears, I'll take care of it, alright? [Catching up to his side, Link taps the hilt of the sword slung over his shoulder.]
no subject
still, he's a little skeptical. ]
Will that actually work on a ghost?
no subject
[He throws a thumbs-up at him, but the actual answer is no, Dipper. It won't work at all, unless Link had the advantage of grabbing a power pellet a moment earlier. But there's no need to scare this kid unnecessarily, right? He shouldn't have to worry about it. Link exists to protect people.]
Something happens, just keep running. Not that anything's gonna happen!
[He slows down to point in the direction of the next turn.]
This way, and we might just shake 'em for good! [or, you know, there might be a ghost there.]
no subject
Uhhh - right! [ he follows the turn as indicated, and doesn't see any ghosts just yet. but there's another fork in the road ahead, where he swears he can just about see the unearthly glow of a ghost. or maybe his eyes are just playing tricks on him... ]
no subject