You know what everyone needs after rampant robotic attacks and another iteration of clone wars? A vacation! That’s right everyone, you deserve this. CERES understands what you need. CERES is here for you all the time, so never doubt that this is a pleasure colony, and they are here to look after all of your needs. Kick your feet up, relax, and let CERES Recreation and Activity Necessity Keepers (Team RANK, that is) set you up with your ideal getaway.
It’s as if you can sense the incoming relaxation and luxury before you even completely finish loading. There’s the warmth encompassing your entire body as your code gets transferred into this particular ViViD Level. A cool, refreshing breeze hits you. The sounds of waves gently lapping against the coast fill you with relaxation. The sun, the sand, the surfs, it’s all there – welcome to the beach, baby!
An echoing greeting message from the ocean comes next, if you can translate it.
 OOOOOOOOOOOOHMAHH GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHD.
YOOOOOOOOOOOORRRALL SOOOOOOOOOOOOO KYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT.
KYOOOOOOOOOOOT EEEENAAAAUUUUUUUF TOOOOOOOOOOOOO EEEEEEEEEEEEEEET.
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PHASE I [ 08 00 ] That said, isn’t that breeze a little… too strong? It feels like it’s brushing up against all of you, if you know what I mean. When you open your eyes and look down, it becomes rather clear why. It seems that you’ve found yourself in some pretty interesting attire. Everyone. No exceptions. You appear to have two options – be overcome and scream like the Victorian maiden your heart says you are, or strut like a model in this stuff. Turn some heads! Work that up do!
But don’t worry, we’re also conscious about safety here at CERES! Therefore everyone’s also been provided a pair of super high-tech safety-tested appendage protection floatation devices (STAPFD for short.)
At least everyone around you is caught in the same sort of attire – and everyone around you also appears to be stuck inside a giant sand castle. It’s entirely malleable to what you want it to be! Want to see a fancy sand bidet? Feel like adding a sand statue in your honor? Think that wall should now be a door? Well, with enough perseverance, you can make it happen!
Just uh, be careful about getting sand in your… everywhere.
PHASE II [ 1000 ] Someone broke it. Not pointing any fingers, even though you sure do seem like a prime suspect, but someone broke it.
It almost starts like an earthquake with how the castle starts to rumble, the sand shaking right beneath your feet. And then the walls right next to you start to cave in followed promptly by the ceiling right… above your head. Oh dear. The sand starts to run and fall, losing its structure and shape. The hallway behind you starts to cave in, ceiling first and then the walls follow suit. Now the sand really is getting everywhere – but not just uncomfortable places. It’s in your hair, your eyes, your nose…. this sure doesn’t seem like a pleasant way to go!
Best to start running – there’s a trusty drawbridge to get over the moat (because what’s a sandcastle without a moat?) but who knows how long until that, too, is going to give way? Best to cross over it before it starts to shake and disappear too. Or if you don’t make it, hopefully you can land some pretty impressive airtime to make it to the other side!
If not, well...there'll be the sensation of sand crushing down upon you, filling your mouth and eyes, and you won't be able to breathe at all – and then you're alive again on the beach (but possibly in yet another new, uncomfortable, skimpy swimsuit). Honestly, be more careful, would you?
PHASE III [ 1200 ] However, once you do make it to the other side, it’s all smooth sailing from there! Or is it? Hah, as they say, life sure can be a beach.
Which is what this is.
Welcome to your Beach Episode, folks. Now that you’ve made it out of the collapsing sand castle, you’ve made it to the luxurious, picturesque golden coastline. Sure, you’re coughing up fine, luxurious, sand dust right now and you’ve definitely gotten sand in all of your crevices thanks to your swimsuit, but that’s okay! Go take a soak in the ocean or something or cool off with a smoothie. There’s a smoothie shack off into the distance, complete with a long chalkboard with… well, probably a few familiar names? And some unfamiliar ingredients. Sounds appetizing right?
That said, once you do ingest some of the smoothie with the name of a newcomer, you might suddenly find yourself feeling a bit… different. You’ll be taking on some of their traits, one of the most intense parts of their personality – or you might need to take a second to sit down because you’re suddenly seeing one of their memories. Whoa. What do they actually put in this stuff?
PHASE IV [ 1500 ] For the brave souls that venture out into the water, you have even more adventures waiting for you. Anyone who’s swimming around, wading in the water—hell, even looking at the water is getting scooped up and deposited in one of these giant orbs. But don’t take up too much room, because someone else is getting shoved right in there with you. Time to get cozy with your new friend, because it's only going to get worse as the waves begin to carry you out into this big, blue, virtual ocean. Hopefully the choppy waves don’t bounce you around too much or – well, you could always get really friendly with a stranger! Why not?
At least until it’s made very clear that fresh air does not make it back into these balls. That seems like a bit of a design flaw. Now what? Fight the other person who’s inhaling all your air? Suffer through it for swimsuit-clad fun? Or if you break it…. well, you sure are stranded out in the ocean. Or are you?
After enough flailing, you’ll be met by a giant, dumb-looking creature who will then eat you whole.
Everything goes dark. This is surely the end --
And then you're in Cerealia proper; it seems that was the exit to the level (but why there?) and you'll find yourself either in one of the fountains or the pond in the park. Either way, you'll be very, very well. And this time, that's not virtual. But hey, at least you'll have all of your stuff with you.
BONUS [ xxxx ] Do you hear that?
Anyone idle on the beach will hear a distant melody coming from further out into the ocean. It’s a beautiful, elegant song that automatically makes the listener stop what they’re doing and immediately wander toward the noise. It takes you a moment to recall – it takes a moment to think about anything now, really – but you remember hearing the smoothie shack owner say something about mermaids populating the beach. Could this be their song calling out to you? Whether you would normally abide by this kind of call or not, you find your feet walking further and further out into the water, the shallows lapping up to your ankles and up and up as you are drawn in by the song.
A rather classic song, though the usual instances of French are also replaced with the very enticing, enchanting nonsense promise of omelette du fromage........and then they try to drown you.
[ 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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[Ankh may have very little in the way of shame, but between the sun and the sand everywhere, this outfit seems... inefficient, to say the least. He may actually make some attempt at turning to his Greeed form--armored, scary, and decidedly un-beach-like, but sadly it will only result in changing his right arm to something obviously inhuman. That said, a clawed arm with a sculpted bird on the back of it is probably more distracting than anything else that may be exposed.
As for the sand, he's less interested in playing with sculptures than he is in finding a way out of here, so you might find him punching holes in the walls, and feel free to blame him when the whole thing comes tumbling down and he just barely manages to get out while landing face first in the sand.]
Phase III
[Smoothies aren't popsicles, but since they're something along similar lines, of course he's found that shack. The cost of "I'm so confused" that seems to be attached to the one with his name is fitting given the face he's making at this list.]
Huh?
[And amazingly that's all he has to say for a smoothie to be shoved his way. He gives it a skeptical look for a moment, and he's not even sure which one of them he was just given, but whatever, it's there, it's a cold dessert thing, and he's drinking it.]
(ooc: Feel free to have it be your character's and suggest what effect he's likely to get from it. If you happen to have gotten his, you might find yourself feeling suddenly schemey and distrustful and developing a short temper, or maybe you're having some memories from home or from his previous game or possibly something painful and disorienting about losing an arm.)
Phase IV - A
[Well this is cramped. Ankh has been generally surly and trying his best to keep his own space in the frustratingly small ball, and he is not above kicking or punching if his unintended companion decides to get too chummy. Unfortunately, even with mostly not moving around too much, the air in here seems to be running thin.]
Stop breathing so much.
Phase IV - B
[All of a sudden, Ankh finds himself sitting in the middle of a fountain, a stream of water falling down directly onto his head. It takes him a moment to make sense of his surroundings enough to move, at which point he climbs out looking some combination of relieved and disgusted. On one hand, he is not inside whatever that creature was, and he has all his clothes back. On the other hand, everything is absolutely soaking wet.
He'll just be standing by the fountain a moment, making some vague attempt at wiping away the water all over him before deciding to just drip all over the place, and taking inventory of what things he has on him. One of these is something that looks like a soda can, except it proceeds to turn into a small robotic bird in his hand and fly away.]
Bonus
[It takes a little while--with a new setting and new people around there's a lot to explore and he's been wandering around trying to gather information--but eventually the inevitable happens. He's bored. And being flopped somewhere on the beach watching the sky is not enough stimulation to prevent the call of some unusually enticing music getting his attention.
Please stop him from walking into the water in a daze before he gets drowned by mermaids.]
Bonus
[This looks uncomfortably familiar, and it's such a good thing that Eiji's OOO right now, isn't it?]
Ankh! Ankh, stop!
[But they are awfully close to that water and unfortunately Eiji's not in the aquatic combo, so this is going to be tough.]
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Ankh, you've got to snap out of it.
[But the mermaids aren't exactly happy that Eiji interrupted their drowning time, and one reaches out and pulls him under the water.
Look what you got him into, Ankh.]
Re: Bonus
Then something happens and Eiji gets forcibly dragged underwater, and that... that is definitely not right.]
Oi. [He reaches out to try to grab Eiji back, but the mermaids pull his feet out from under him so he falls into the water and ends up just flailing in Eiji's general direction.]
Re: Bonus
He resurfaces for air and looks around for Ankh, even as more mermaids lunge at him.]
Ankh?
[Now might be a good time for a combo.]
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Over here.
[He just answers where he is while he punches a mermaid who's trying to drag him back under.]
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phase iv a
[He didn't need to breathe. Rather, he didn't have to breathe if he was to change into his natural form but being that the ball wasn't the best size to do so, Jinga didn't even trying. Instead he stretched out, tapping the sides of the plastic with his toes and fingers and deciding that it wasn't too sturdy enough to withstand a real hit.]
Re: phase iv a
What do you expect? I'm not used to this body yet.
[There are many things he likes about having a human body, but right now the fact that breath is a necessity is inconvenient. He looks around at sides of the ball. They could punch a hole in it for air, but leaving themselves stranded this far out in the water also seems like a bad idea.]
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[That was an interesting little tidbit. Jinga hadn't been paying attention to what his fellow trapped humanoid was, but now he shifted to a kind of sitting position and looked at Ankh. He looked human enough though that arm really was a bit odd.]
Though that explains a lot.
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And of course, just because he thought of it, something seemed to push the ball as it skimmed by just under the surface.]
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IV - B
... Most people try to stay out of those things. [He frowns.] Or at least they actually make an attempt at not being sopping wet after something like that.
Re: IV - B
[He watches Taka fly off, then turns his gaze to the stranger.]
Who are you?
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[Despite being as rude as he is to other people, he's not used to just being asked outright who he is, so blinks for a moment in surprise.] Fushimi.
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bonus
[If Ankh starts wandering toward the ocean, he's going to be stopped-- by someone covered head to toe in tattoos don't worry about it he's not suspicious. At least, his eyebrows are furrowed and he seems more concerned than anything.]
It might not be the best time for a swim right now.
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What's wrong with it?
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I think it's probably a trap. [Well, may as well be upfront.]
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Huh?
[Unfortunately, he's already wandered into the waves--not deep, but enough for one of the mermaids to reach his foot and pull it out from under him.]
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[That bursts out in an exasperated voice (at the situation, less so the guy who's a victim of it) and he plunges forward, toward where the mermaid is getting to toppling the guy. Ahh. Bad times.
His eyes gleam with blue light and wind rushes out of nowhere, pushing back against the water and against the mermaid in it. He's just gonna see about trying to bring Ankh back to shore proper...]
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phase i
Not that he doesn't step over all the same. Someone should probably tell him what's up before he gets himself killed in some horribly sandy death, huh. ]
Dunno if that's such a good idea. [ He speaks up with that when he's next to the other guy - and sure, his current.. outfit.. might not exactly inspire much confidence in his advice, but trust me. Shinpachi knows what's up. ]
Re: phase i
You have any better ideas how to get out of here?
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And let's be real, Shinpachi doesn't need any help in doing that. He's perfectly capable of doing it to himself. ]
But let's find a way that doesn't involve threatening to make this stuff collapse on everyone in here, alright?