Lightning flashes. Thunder booms and rain patters on the roof. It’s all about ambience here in ViViD, of course. You gotta set the mood!
Welcome to the Pleasurable Super Youthful Caring Hospital Stage, PSYCHward for short. It works, shut up. It’s a stage created for your well-being, health and happiness. Be careful, though. The first step you take in the dilapidated asylum carries you right into a puddle.
Look down, and the puddle is red.
Ah.
Of course it’s blood.
It’s only going to get even more fun from here.
 Good Day. I Am The New Introducer For ViViD Levels. Mosley? Who's That?
Anyway, Please Have Fun And Remember To Be Safe. Safety Is Our First Priority At CERES.
Thank you. Enjoy.
|
PHASE I [ 4 00 ] The first room any people familiar with the ViViD song and dance routine will find is one that is...wonderfully full of body bags. Body bags everywhere -- on the floor, on the shelves, uncomfortably tossed over the back of a chair...and each body bag has a helpful tag.
Handy.
Of course, within each bag is a newcomer; they won’t be able to escape the body bags until someone else unzips them. They’re dressed in little more than hospital gowns, toe tags still attached to bare feet.
Welcome to ViViD! Enjoy your stay.
Of course, there has to be an element of surprise to it. Some body bags contain living, breathing newcomers, yes. But the others?
These contain corpses. The toe tag on them indicates a loved one or someone important to you -- or someone you hate beyond all else. You open the bag, and there is their face, achingly familiar and frozen in death...but blink and suddenly they’re the corpse of a nondescript stranger.
PHASE II [ 600 ] Step out of that room and now it’s the asylum proper. Lights flicker. It’s dark, but it’s still more than clear to anyone with ears -- something’s stalking everyone in this place.
The shadow flickers on the wall, the lights go out -- you turn a corner and there it is, jumping out at you with an unearthly cackle --
A puppet.
It hangs there limply, utterly harmless.
All around the facility, these harmless puppets lurk. In lockers, behind doors, in dark halls…
But they’re all literally inanimate and harmless. Whose dumb idea was that?
PHASE III [ 1000 ] But slowly, the atmosphere changes. Go in deeper, and the sounds around deaden until there’s nothing left but the dark all around and the sound of your own breathing. And yet, irrevocably you know, whether as an aspect of the level or something else entirely --
Something is actually hunting you now.
It makes no noise. It can’t be seen. But it’s stalking, and it’s on the hunt.
To make matters worse, now the asylum seems to have become a proper maze, with dead ends everywhere, and practically no light to see them by.
And the only other souls you’ll see are the other people stuck in the maze -- but there’s something not quite right about them either. You can see...bits of their code, lurking under the surface of their skin, and as you watch, it’s being corrupted, bit by bit, the longer they’re in the dark.
If you look down, it’s happening to you too.
Better hurry.
There’s only one way out.
PHASE IV [ 1400 ] And then you step through a doorway into light.
You escaped the maze, but this is an asylum, and you’re about to see why. There are rows upon rows of cages of aliens. They cry out and reach out through the bars with webbed or clawed hands or tentacles, begging for release.
Let them out, or don’t -- the exit to Cerealia proper is right there at the end of this room, inviting and safe.
But if you do elect to let them out, the entire room suddenly goes silent.
And there, in that cage you opened, there is no longer an alien, but instead a doll. And it’s watching you. Stay any longer, and the doll with start to move, reaching -- and if it touched you, suddenly you’re the one locked away behind bars.
On the plus side, when you take the exit to Cerealia, it’ll deposit you in the Pleasure District, where massagebots will reach for you to try to drag you in for a sensual massage.
Welcome!
PENALTY [ ???? ] You were caught in the maze.
It’s hard to say even now what it was that caught you, but now you’re strapped down to an operating table, and there’s a flat-faced doctor standing above you.
The restraints can’t be broken.
There’s a prick of a needle, and you fall unconscious -- and that’s probably a mercy. When you wake up, you’ll be back in the asylum somewhere, but missing a sense -- the one from your character’s application will be gone. A character who is sight will have been blinded, for instance, and a character who is touch will feel nothing. This will last until they log out of ViViD and get into Cerealia.
[ 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. ] |
Welcome to Cerealia's July intro log! For your convenience, we have compiled the characters' arrival experience here, and should you have any questions, feel free to ask them here! You can also check the FAQ for more general inquiries. Should this event log hit Captcha, there is an all-purpose overflow here. Thank you! |
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brings it??
The theme of it, however, is a little too close to home for Jaune. He has experienced death himself quite recently, and visions of Pyrrha haunt him plenty without the aid of these games.
Armed as usual, Jaune wonders why nothing has tried to attack him yet (it's usually how it works), and the silence of this particular hallway is broken by the sound of Jaune stepping in a red puddle. ]
Son of a-- hamburger, ugh. ... This is the third time. -- Hello?! Is anyone out here? You dropped your blood.
eats it...
Step, click. Step, click. Sometimes, nothing fills the space but the clack of her heels and the vague buzzing of unkempt light fixtures. Vaguely, she wonders if this is some sort of purgatory, assigned to wander until the universe can decide what to do with her soul - but, just as idly as she thinks it, she dismisses it. ViViD is not some sort of celestial pathway; its actions are too humanely cruel for that.
Abruptly, the silence stops, and her heart seems to stop with it.
Jaune. ]
... [ Willing herself to simply breathe, she flattens herself against the wall, out of view. It won't conceal her for long, however - as soon as Jaune turns the corner, he'll see her, and she doesn't even know why she's hiding, only she can't make sense of the vast encompass of motions welling inside of her.
With a deep breath, she wills herself, courage, and steps out in front of him. ]
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Jaune drops his weapons, the weight of their fall echoing through the hallway. He curls his fists, trying to keep it together. Why is she here? When will CERES stop torturing him?! ]
Y-You're not...
[ Jaune swallows, unable to even accuse this apparition of being a fake. And how can he? Not when he finally sees her fully again, clearer than in any photos he carries on him. ]
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She nods, because she is. Here, solid, standing. Not an apparition, not some cruel ploy.
Later, when things seem a little less impossibly vast, she may feel mortified, ashamed, repentant - but, here, now, emotions run so thick they seem to swallow up any words she might say, leaving her foundering and silent. Some faint part of her, still teenage, feels profoundly stupid. She had never wanted to be the girl in love who is made skittish by it.
Slowly, she makes herself speak. Her tone is even more desolate and flat than the night of Beacon's dance, up on the balcony. ] Hello, Jaune.
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[ In his anger, Jaune shouts and steps forward before Pyrrha can even finish the last syllable, but stops himself just as he's within touching distance. His mouth and hands tremble, but he can't bring himself to make physical contact. Doing so would confirm whether she's real or not, but somehow, the answer scares him more than the question.
He swallows once more, staring down at his open hand only briefly before he shifts focus back on Pyrrha. It's hard to look away from someone you missed for so long. All he needs to do now is to reach out, but... ]
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His hand flexes so close to hers but she makes no attempt to close that gap. ]
Jaune —
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He got his answer, in a way. Only one immediate question remains-- ]
How...
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How could she do anything else? It's Jaune.
One hand rises, settling atop his. Her touch is light, the bend of her elbow only slightly awkward. Her other hand finds the back of his head, his hair as soft as she remembers it - before, she had pulled him close and then pushed him away, his touch jolting through her like it never had - and, gently, she guides his head down until his tears are protected by the crook of her neck. She doesn't have an answer for his question, she still feels like more of a ghost than a person, her aura flagging stubbornly low and her hands trembling... but this is something she can do. ]
I'm not sure.
[ Her words are still flatly given, all cheer that used to be in her tone scraped off until nothing was left but exhaustion. ]
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He steps back slightly, putting on a brave face for her, trying to be the kind of leader Pyrrha always believed he is. ]
We need to get out of here. Will you be alright?
[ It looks like she's traveling a little light... ]
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Hands release him, she acquiesces. Her expression is a tad empty of what he might otherwise have found in it: warmth, encouragement, trust. ]
Let's go.
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Even if this is just a game, where death means you respawn somewhere else or you experience some fucked up trauma, Jaune is determined not to let anything get in the way between and his partner again.
Also, does she even want to be his partner anymore? That's another question they have not to look forward to. ]
Stay close.
[ "Please don't leave me again" more like.
The end of the empty hallway leads them to a room with caged aliens, which causes Jaune to stop momentarily. The hero in him finds it hard to ignore their pleas for release, as if he has already forgotten that nothing matters in ViViD. Then again, the thing that does matter to him is literally walking behind him. In ViViD. ]
Some psychward...
[ It's Telltale choice time, Pyrrha! Release the aliens or keep going? ]
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And then they find aliens, and her steps stop entirely. That last, abrupt clack of her heels seems to reverberate through-out the room.
There's a faint intake of air, Pyrrha sucking in a breath as a prelude to speech... but the words themselves don't come, dying on her throat as she gazes at all of them, wide eyed and left with a piercing concern, brought on by their desperate pleas. ]
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It's the Pyrrha who disappeared after the Winter Ball, and the same Pyrrha he lost again back in his world.
Keep it together, Arc. ]
...What is it?
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Nothing.
[ The alien's faint, unintelligible murmurs seems to fall away as she straights her back, setting her shoulders to a far more stalwart arc. ViViD is filled with tricks and traps, she knows, and she's not eager to find out which particular subterfuge the entrapped aliens are a part of.
Her eyes jerk toward the door. ] Let's keep going.
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[ Jaune echoes Pyrrha's response as he starts leading the march again. Moving forward is the right choice, and yet her particular response opens up a wound. She still sounds like Ozpin when she dodges a question like that, she's still shutting her team out. ]
... Do you still believe in destiny, Pyrrha?
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The memories are so close, so sharp and angry, Pyrrha almost feels like she's desperately gasping for air again. It takes her a moment to sort out reverie from reality; when her breath steadies once more, it's still a little painful. ]
Jaune.
[ She says his name, to ground herself. ] This is going to take time.
[ Not answering his question, because she can't, because memories are still vivid behind her closed eyelids, but letting him know that she can't confront everything all at once. There's a beseeching note to her words, an unsaid please, give me that time. ]
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Maybe it would be best if he didn't say anything at all, but that would be the same as one of them being dead again. ]
I know what it's like, that's all.
[ It probably sounds like he's saying something superficial, the way people speak in platitudes to offer empty comfort to others. Little does Pyrrha know that Jaune had also recently disintegrated for no meaningful purpose. Dying painfully sucks, but it will never hurt as much as knowing that it happened to your best friend. ]
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Of course she restrains herself, stays still. The more fumbling areas of their partnership doesn't even enter her mind. Not yet.
Her lips feel wooden. ]
... I see.
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In a brief moment of hesitation, Jaune takes a deep breath. ]
This is it.
[ And so he opens the door, and when he does they are both immediately engulfed by a blinding white light. Standard ViViD log out animation. It won't be long now until they're home, until Jaune can trust his feelings and say all the things he wants to say. It probably won't happen as quickly as it sounds, Jaune is aware of how overwhelming all of this must be for Pyrrha as well. She'll need to rest, but at least she's going to be home.
...
Pyrrha is going to be home.
The dam that is keeping all of Jaune's emotions from flooding through is about to give in.
Pyrrha is here.
................annnnd then they materialize in the fucking Pleasure District. ]
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They barely get a moment in the real world before they're quite thoroughly accosted by a robot energetically peddling the massages its workplace offers. ]
Hello, ʜᴜᴍᴀɴs. You have been selected for our two-for-one special. Compliance is mandatory.
[ .......... what. ]
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Pyrrha, I--
Compliance is mandatory.
--no, thanks. Just-- Pyrrha, you gotta let me--
Compliance is mandatory.
[ Jaune's eye twitches, and he takes a deep breath. Just... try again... ]
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senpaiJaune would notice her...She opens her mouth to speak, and - ]
Compliance is mandatory.
[ — is completely interrupted! Huh. Well, one more try? ]
It's okay, Jaune. Just --
Compliance is mandatory.
[ N o p e. ]
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Compliance is mandat--
--stop! Just stop, okay?! I'm kinda in the middle of something here!
Compliance is mandatory.
[ Jaune just tries plowing through, this time yelling in Pyrrha's direction even if this irritation doesn't appear to be caused by her. ]
PYRRHA...
[ And now, this is where the robot runs out of patience and yanks Jaune back by his hoodie. Sadly, these machines are not the only ones with a short patience today, so when Jaune realizes that they haven't been back in the real world for longer than a minute before something is happening out of their control, he... snaps and turns to punch it.
And it hurts. Or will, whenever the rush of adrenaline comes down. ]
I said no!!! I told you to stop, and you did it anyway!! And now?! Now I'm-- [ Whether or not Jaune is still talking about the robot, the thing quickly recovers and attempts to reach out to Jaune again, only this time Jaune pushes it against a parked car and begins bashing it with his sword. ]
WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP?! HA! HAH!!! HAAAA--!!!!
[ The hacks are relentless, and he doesn't seem to be slowing down even long after the thing has gone out of commission. Perhaps it was safer staying inside ViViD if he's this worried something can go wrong again. ]
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She has never - ever - seen Jaune attack someone out of anger. Sanctioned combat, yes, and fights with the Grimm. This is something else entirely, so hot blooded it's almost hard to watch, even for a seasoned combatant like herself. Even if his opponent is a programmed automaton.
There's a faint crack when his knuckles hit the robot's chin and that alone would be enough for alarm, but he carries on regardless. Crocea Mors rings from its sheath and whistles cuttingly through the air - but the sounds that fellow, metal grinding through metal without remorse, the vague beeps and whirs of a CPU losing power, they're far less pleasant. Pyrrha tells this moment through its sounds, standing too still for too long.
Because, she's realised - he's not talking to the robot. Not really. Later, that knowledge will help dislodge the blockage disconnecting her from her wider pool of grief, mortification and guilt. For now, she simply sets it aside, like she's done so many things today, and does what needs to be done.
She gives him a second longer to slow down, and when he doesn't, Pyrrha's hand wraps around his wrist, stopping his downward swing midway. It's difficult to cull momentum but as strong as Jaune is, she's still stronger.
Shaking her head lightly, she gives him a sad look. ]
I think we've done enough here for today.
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Why don't you just lock me up then?!?
[ It's only after the words come out of his mouth that Jaune pauses as his eyes widen, realizing it's not something he should have said. Pyrrha doesn't deserve this, she has been through enough long before she died, and yet it's something that can't be unsaid now.
Shocked at his own reaction, Jaune drops Crocea Mors to the ground. Police sirens can be faintly heard in the far distance, but Jaune doesn't wonder if those are meant for him. ]
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