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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IV
You have fallen. [Baymax chooses to speak first until Hiro can pull a straight face and sit up a little taller.]
You know there're easier ways to get into the colony, right?
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it's so cool...and matter-of-fact. ]
Suuure, but I didn't exactly get to choose where they dropped me off. Believe me, I am not here by choice.
[ flying robot...... ]
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What do you say, buddy? Should we help him out?
He has sustained no injuries. To prevent further injuries, he would be safer on the ground.
[And with that, Baymax holds out an arm for Dipper to climb onto.]
Coming, Disco Girl?
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...could dipper get a cool, flying matter-of-fact robot here?? he would like that. ]
...Don't call me that. [ maybe not the most polite tone to use with his rescuer, but still! dipper jumps off the branch onto the robot's arm. ] It's Dipper. Dipper Pines.
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Dipper. Got it. [The name's said like he's not sure if that's much better than disco girl, but he's not exactly in a place to judge. Instead he shrugs and Baymax hits the ground, gently depositing Dipper on his feet. He looks like he wants to pat Dipper on the head but stops due to his armored glove.] Does that mean there's actually a story behind the nickname or is CERES just screwing everything up again?
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the ground can't come soon enough, though, and dipper sighs with relief as soon as he can feel solid earth beneath his feet again. blessed ground! ]
Hey, thanks. [ that's sincere, even if he winces a bit at the question. ] It's, uh...just some song. You know, BABBA? Icelandic pop sensation? ...Some people kind of like that sort of thing, I guess.
[ HE HAS NO IDEA WHY CERES WOULD SLAP IT OVER HIS HEAD.... ]
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Never heard of them. But I'm gonna guess that the some people include you? [Dipper please. He waves it off.] CERES does all kinds of weird stuff. Could be worse. They could be exposing all kinds of deep dark secrets for everybody to see. [A beat.] Anyway, now that you're on the ground, you know where you're going?
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I never said some people included me! [ but...right, the words above his head maybe make it kind of obvious, huh. ] Anyway - it's not that important. I need to find my sister. We were split up after the game ended. She said she lives in an apartment around here.
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Your sister? We can probably find her for you, or at least where she lives. What's she look like? Did she mention what part of the residential district she lives in?
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[ but mabel tended not to make herself very hard to find. ]
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Your last name's Pines, right? And your sister's kinda prone to using a lot of stickers and glitter? [A shrug.] I've never met her but I've seen her around on the CereVice. Baymax could maybe scan the colony and find where she's at. It's sort of his job to scan everyone. [Of course that's only after the initial reading...]
...if not, I can probably borrow one of Tadashi's birds that float around here.
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Hey, if you think that'll work, go for it. [ though he has to ask: ] ...What about floating birds?
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My brother made a bunch of these that fly around the city scanning for people. They can probably pinpoint exactly where your sister is and give you an idea on where to go. Tadashi's inventions are usually pretty solid. [He stares at the bird.] That's how he knew to jump into ViViD and find me last time. This is probably your fastest method.
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Okay, yeah, sure. Let's give it a try.
[ to find mabel, yes, but also, he honestly just wants to see it in action. ]
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It's not too long that Hiro's device lights up and he shows Dipper the coordinates it's displaying.]
Check it out. Pretty sure that dot's Mabel, unless the birds are acting weird. Know how to get there from here?
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Not...exactly. But - [ he pulls out the map he received from CERES upon his arrival. ] - I think I can figure it out from here.
[ and hiro's already helped him out enough. dipper's ego can't take anymore assistance. ]
no subject
I'm Hiro, by the way. If you get stuck again you can probably get in touch with me and Baymax, too. [He and his robot are preparing to take off again as it is, but it's best to leave him with that info at least.]
no subject
well that made it all a lot easier. ]
Right - okay. Hiro. Got it. [ he grins a little more genuinely then. maybe he can find another reason to hang out with this robot again.
...oh and hiro, too, he doesn't seem so bad after all. ] Thanks for the help!