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.
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kazuya minegishi
[ Allen's eyes are locked in front of him as well, but with a far more readable expression. He looks troubled, resigned, a little upset, but not hopeless. Things are awful, but he's got to hang in there. He can feel Timcanpy shift a little inside the collar of his coat. ]
At least we know that much.
[ And it's a lot, Allen guesses. He'll lapse into silence on the rest of the way until they get to the apartments. Not because he doesn't want to talk to Kaz, but having a lot of things to think about is a little distracting. He sure seems like he's off in his own world in the mean time. ]
no subject
But alas, the journey had to end at some point, and it wasn't long until they reached the apartments. Kaz slowed his steps and turned to his companion, giving him a brief once over. Yup, still zoned out.
So.
He didn't touch him, because Kaz knew some people had some nasty reflexes when someone got into their personal space like that - hell, he was one of them. So instead he lightly kicked the ground near Allen's feet, intentionally making the loudest scraping noise he could with the sole of his shoe to draw his attention]
Oi. You alive there? We're here.
no subject
Right, sorry. Thanks again for taking me all the way here, Kaz.
[ He takes a moment to look up at the apartment building. It doesn't look as terrible as it could be.
now what ]
I... I guess we can meet each other in the lobby after we've changed? I'll just find — myself a room.
[ DOES HE JUST GRAB A ROOM did CERE give him a room number. If Kaz doesn't stop him, then Allen will slowly drift towards what he thinks is the elevator and look around for anyone who looks like a bellhop. Or a landlord. Or maybe one of those robots clunking around. He should totally be fine. ]
no subject
Hey, hold up a minute.
[In retrospect, Kaz should've realised that Allen probably hadn't accessed the housing list to actually get a place to stay in, what with between the mankini and getting eaten by a whale thing. He mentally kicked himself for his absent-mindedness]
I forgot to tell you - you need to use your CereVice to get a room. Like, you access it and it should give you a list of available apartments to choose from, and turn your debit card into its key. Or, um, something like that. [he started to look a bit sheepish] Sorry, I should've mentioned it earlier...
no subject
No, it’s fine! [ He raises a hand to protest Kaz’s apology. ] You’ve helped me so much already. I’m really very grateful.
[ And before he grabs his Cerevice, he takes a step towards Kaz and holds out his hand for him, beaming. ]
If anyone should apologize, it should be me for taking up so much of your time! But… Thank you, Kaz.
[ LET HIM SHAKE YOUR HAND, KAZ ]
[ ooc: also LORD I AM LATE but I’d love to either backtag into the abyss with you or start new stuff or handwave if that’s what you prefer! I’M READY FOR ANYTHING. ]
no subject
Um, no problem. Really. I mean, offering help where help's needed is just common decency, right?
[For as gruff and tactless as Kaz could be, that was the very core of his personality. Always ready to offer a helping hand, even if he did grumble about it every so often. Hey, it could be difficult trying to be Good sometimes, he was allowed to complain about it!]
[OOC: I'M READY FOR ANYTHING TOO! I'm always up for backtagging, but I'm more than eager to do new stuff too! If you want, you can hit me up on my plurk and we can do plotting!]