The doctor's office is hardly the funnest place in the world to be. Children crying, adults bickering in hushed, stressed tones, the receptionist looking incredibly bored...
Wait. How did you get here? Weren't you watching a powerpoint a second ago (or enjoying your time in your cozy apartment in Cerealia)? Well, now you're in ViViD, and in an attempt to concentrate on healthy living, CERES has released a new level: Health and You: A New Way to be Healthy. Sure, you could log out at any time if you're a ViViD pro and used to this whole experience, but now that you're here, why not sit back and enjoy it? Indulge in some easy level grinding or something. Besides, it'll take a little while for the game to let you log out without calling you a spineless quitter, and who wants that added to their ViViD rep?
So instead, take a look around the tiled hospital. Visit the receptionist and say hello (she ignores you, go back to your seat). Pick up a snack at the vending machine (except every single one only has these gross things in stock). Maybe you should just test the truth of that old idiom, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away", especially with that weird doctor over there. Is he staring at you? He might be staring at you.
Seriously, go find an apple before he comes over here.
 Well,
well,
well...
isn't it time for your c h e c k - u p?
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PHASE I [ 08 00 ] If you're a new arrival to this fine city, you will find yourself waking up in a bed after suffering through that unfortunate powerpoint. The sun streams through the window, the bed is uncomfortable but not terrible, and everything is quiet and idyllic... wait. Where are your clothes? You'll suddenly find yourself dressed only in a medical gown (yes, complete with back open) and you seem to be... in a hospital? That's new.
If you take a look at the medical chart attached to the bed, you’ll even find your chart, name on it and everything. That can’t be right, can it? You're the picture of health! You're welcome to wait around for the doctor to dispute these claims but no one's showing up anytime soon (aside from the possible roommate you might have, in the same situation as you). There’s nothing stopping you from leaving the room or looking around at least (except for the lack of clothes), but it’s all hospital as far as the eye can see. Try and be careful what rooms you poke your head into; there are some strange aliens getting their check-ups in there. They don't seem like they want to be bothered.
If you’re not a newcomer, and go into ViViD searching for riches and grand prizes (or just stumble in there by happenstance), the receptionist will stop you and hand you a stethoscope, lab coat, and name tag. Congratulations, you’re a doctor now, and you have free reign over the hospital. Go nuts. Or don’t, because there are still those aliens waiting for their check-ups. Now it’s your turn to get dragged away by a frazzled nurse to administrate a tentacle massage to a patient, as she's now on break! Have fun and don't get the hospital sued.
PHASE II [ 1000 ] Just don’t end up in the basement.
If you end up in the basement by some weird twist of fate (or via trapdoor, which could happen because let's be honest, this is ViViD), you’ll find yourself in a long, empty, blindingly white hallway. The floors are white, the walls are white, the ceiling and the flickering lights are white, and you have the odd feeling you're being followed.
If you turn to see who it is, you’ll find that it’s your younger self. They’re not solid. They’re not real. You can stick a hand through them, and it will go right through. But they are you, whether age 4 or age 14 or anywhere in between, and they’re covered in blood and holding an equally bloody knife. Quietly, as they follow you, they'll mumble, over and over and over again, “It was you, you did it, you killed them, you’re the murderer.”
And they will follow you until you get out of that blindingly white hallway, and away from those blindingly white lights, and if you tried to touch them, there will be blood on your hands. The younger you won't respond to anything you say, just following behind you like the frightening apparition they are. At least nothing else is stopping you from returning to the main hospital, no matter how surreal this experience might be. Just find the stairs.
PHASE III [ 1200 ] As soon as you’ve managed to escape the clutches of that frazzled nurse who still refuses to come back from break, you’ll find that the atmosphere has turned very dark indeed. There’s rain pounding against the windows, and as lightning flashes and thunder booms (it’s all ambiance, you see), there’s the tell-tale Mwahahahaha of an evil, mad doctor at work. What a sinister guy.
Turning a corner will lead you right to his very, very evil doctor's office. He's repurposed one for his sinister deeds and some nurses are looking very put out about it. There's someone attached to the medical table who might need some help and of course, it could be one of your friends that he’s snagged. You might want to help them before that very evil mad doctor tries to add an extra limb or two to your poor friend. Honestly, who needs three elbows?
Or maybe it’s you who’s been grabbed by him and attached to the medical table by strong, metal restraints. Hopefully someone follows the “Mad Scientist: This Way” signs all over the hospital and saves you because really, three elbows?
PHASE IV [ 1400 ] Of course, while the ambiance is still dark, grim and creepy, and the rain still beats upon the glass of the windows, there is a murder...because why wouldn't there be?
The director of the hospital has been found murdered, slumped in a seat in his office, hand in hand with his secretary. Oh no! You’re welcome to investigate the crime scene if you want, but it’s not a very good one; there aren’t any clues, and the director and his secretary actually seem to be alive if you prod them hard enough. They're a bit put out by your interruptions and might ask you to "go solve this somewhere else" the more you bother them. How rude of you to muck up their death scene.
But there’s a new quest for you, and it says this: Pursue Justice or Pursue the Truth?
If you choose to pursue Justice, you will find yourself dropped into a new ViViD level, this one a straight hospital hallway with no doors and alternate routes. Some posters line the hallway but most of the detail is lost in the dim light. Not far ahead of you, The Suspect can be seen running away. (Naturally, you can tell that they are The Suspect by their poorly scribbled out face and black silhouette.) If you should follow them all the way to the end of the hallway (and it is a long, long, long hallway), you can grab The Suspect. Of course, that's if you make it there without falling through any of the trapdoors, tripping over medical supplies or stumbling into less fortunate player characters. If you're successful, you’ll hear a jaunty tune and you’ll receive a bonus of 50,000 ViViD points. Congratulations! You may now log out and continue with your daily life.
If you choose to pursue the Truth, you will find yourself dropped into another ViViD level. This level is a maze; there are filing cabinets stuffed full of papers making up the walls (though the papers are all blank) and they seem oddly impossible to move. You will need to find your way through the maze while avoiding more trapdoors, more scattered medical supplies, the occasional angry cthulhu patient and the occasional player character who has been grabbed by the occasional angry cthulhu patient. Eventually you will be able to find the end of the maze and there you will find a scrap of paper with a clue on it, signed Bellona Recreare. You may now log out and continue with your daily life.
Strangely enough, you can’t seem to access that quest again once you’ve completed it once. Oh well.
BONUS [ xxxx ] There are plenty of sexy nurses wandering the hospital (yes, everywhere) and they know your shots aren’t up to date. Should they manage to catch you and jab you with one of their needles, you’ll have some of the following side effects:
➟ Unstoppable urge to hug the nearest person
➟ Unstoppable urge to kiss the nearest person
➟ Unstoppable urge to dance with the nearest person
➟ Hiccups that last for 20 minutes
➟ Uncontrollable laughter that lasts for 20 minutes
➟ Hallucinations that everyone around you is dead, which also lasts for 20 minutes
You may pick and choose which effects happen at which times or if there is a combination of them. Have fun!
[ 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.
Regarding phase IV, should your characters tackle the alternate ViViD levels and make it all the way through, please PM the mod account to let us know if they picked Justice or the Truth, as that will have an overall impact on the game! You will also receive your plot clue at that time, should your character have gone down the Truth path. Please PM the mod account by July 29th with the decision your character has made; the thread does not have to be completed, that just will allow us to tally up the choices for August's event.
Thank you! |
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oldbie, OTA
[Whatever you were doing, you were most likely interrupted most rudely as a suspiciously young looking doctor is being pushed in your lap by a harried receptionist.
Squirming to get back up and ignoring any concept of personal space completely by pushing himself up against your chest, Vector gives a wide-eyed look as he calls after the nurse.]
Hey! Wait! I'm supposed to do what?! I'm not even-
[Nope, cthulhu doesn't care. Staring after the NPC for a moment longer, Vector sighs.]
Uhm, you aren't really in labor, right?
[There's a suspicious lot of hope in his words.]
2. Playing villain – it all went so well...
Vector can't help laughing at the constant repeated mumbling. "It was you, you did it, you killed them, you're the murderer." Giving the fake kid – because he knows it is fake, it isn't him, it could never be him because the real him is RIGHT HERE and he'd never say something pathetic like that – an amused look, he smirks.
"Damn right, I did. It was fu~n! It's just like I always claimed. I'm sad I can’t do it again~ !"
He'll keep playing like this until he reaches the door that leads him back up and the apparition vanishes. At this point Vector is just going to snicker as he forms a gun with his fingers and pretends to shoot the now empty air where his younger self was.
"...and you know what? I killed you too! Poof!" Laughing lightly, he spins once on the spot before he chirps "Level cleared~! I can do it! Hey look, I can really do it on my own~!"
3. ...until nothing was well anymore
[Leather straps. Cackling doctor. The noise of a bone saw being prepared. Vector puts on his best scared face and tugs on his restraints.]
Hello? Uhm. I'm pretty sure that I'm the wrong patient. Look, I'm even still wearing that doctor coat. I'm definitely the wrong one! Really! I- uhm. HELP!!!
4. Pardon the dropkick-greeting (Truth!)
Running, running, dodging... Vector vaults over another haphazardly placed rolling tray full of nasty looking instruments and skids around the corner as if he is playing an against-the-time game. His eye keep dashing left and right, picking out details that decide whether he is just going to keep up his top speed parkour or not. If this is another one of CERES games like the last grand tour, he is going to need the head start.
But as long as he can manage to keep going without picking up any unwanted witnesses everything should be go-
"oooooh fuck! WATCH OUT!!"
Where the hell did that person just come from and why did they just run into his landing place when he is leaping off a filing cabinet?!
5. Wildcard
((OOC: Prose and action are both fine, pick one and I'll match!))
1.
He never thought anyone would ask him this question... ]
...Do I look like I'm in labor?
[ Why is he being so rude to a child, the answer is because he's an awkward adult. At the very least, his tone is flat, not accusatory. ]
hope this is ok!
I'm not sure, but I've never dealt with a mummy before. Wait, are those blankets? Why- [he keeps prattling on in a carefree manner as he starts giving the fabrics that are obstructing his view experimental tugs. It takes him a whole ten seconds of probing Adolf's cocoon before he gets bored of it and leans really close to his face instead.
Then he gropes his chest.]
I'M LAUGHING... totally ok!
Being jostled around is one thing— Vector is a kid, a healthy amount of curiosity is expected— but the sudden proximity and the grope to his chest is. Unexpected.
It's honestly like holding a big dog that really wants to get to know you, but maybe a little less innocuous. Adolf blinks, and tries to pull away. ]
...Stop. What are you doing—?!
\o/!
[Some last running of fingers over his chest before he stops. Propping himself up against his lap, Vector smiles at him.]
You're a guy, right? Unless you're some weird alien that means that you can't be a mom!
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we can segue this into phase iv things if you want?!
sure!^^
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2
[His tone is considerably more subdued than usual, but there's no doubt that it's Mizael walking down the hall toward him. His own disturbing apparition is still following along behind him, and it's pretty clear Mizael is uncomfortable with its presence; aside from the softer voice, his arms are crossed such that it looks more like he's hugging himself than out of annoyance or disapproval.]
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Miza-yan. You have to play with games like this or they'll play you. Besides, mine was completely ridiculous and off the mark with just about everything to the point where I couldn't help wanting to test what it'd do when I didn't react as planned.
[Spotting the small apparition behind Mizael, he inclines his head to the side and regards him with (mostly) fake worry.]
You know that they are just cheap nonsense funfair tricks, right?
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And speaking of ghost children...Mizael tenses up even more when Vector asks that and snarls at him--a little more like his usual.]
I am aware of that.
[Now if you'll excuse him, he has to keep on walking past him so he can slam his hand against the door and make the child disappear.]
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The thought that anybody might take the child's words about his murder in connection with his many nameless victims rather than his own personal tragedy doesn't even occur to him as he flashes Mizael a smirk at his display of weakness.]
The trick is to know the lines - there is no connection between the humans we once were and the Barians we are now. No blurring lines. Just sharp borders.
[His voice is low and sounds almost sympathetic as he reminds his 'comrade' of their shared decision regarding the treatment of their past lives. Holding the door open, he nods towards the stairs.]
Let's go.
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3.
[Here's Ruby once again, feeling the need to save the day...she would've followed the cry for help regardless of who it was, but upon seeing that it's Rei, she's diving right in there to slice straight through the restraints with her scythe. Good thing she's got a lot of control over it.]
We should proooobably go, huh, Rei?
[Crazy evil doctors and bonesaws.....]
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He flinches hard when she cuts him free (and the table he was strapped to almost completely in half) and all but topples from it the moment he can. Scrambling to his legs, he trips, hits a tray with supplies
no, he definitely didn't just pocket something sharp and wicked, why would you think that?and is then by the door before the noise he just caused ends.Winking at her, he yanks it open and beats it through it.]
Hurry! This way!!
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She stumbles right after him as he drags her off (vaguely, she waves at the evil doctor, and he waves back, bemusedly) and then she just tilts her head at Rei.]
Where're we going?
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Where do you want to go??
[A trapdoor opens beneath his feet and he eeps as he makes a comedic hop that ends with a balancing act between the different edges of the gaping nothingness beneath him.]
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phase iv;
[Maybe he's in Vector's landing space because he just got here. Wherever here is. All Atem knows at the moment is that he chose the truth option -- justice without truth was a completely irony to him -- and he hadn't had time to take in much more than that before Vector came barreling into him, sending him to the ground. He doesn't even want to move so long as the room keeps spinning.]
You alright?
aw no chicken :(
[Sitting up, he straddles Atem's waist with a dazed look while his head sways lightly. Damn, this guy's head is HARD! Once the world finally stops spinning, he sighs.]
You! Why did you do that?!
[There is a pout the size of a mountain aimed Atem's way as Vector makes no move to try and get off of him.]
chicken is coming :T
I was think I should like to understand the life of pita bread and sought to volunteer you for the experience. [If words alone aren't heavy enough, the tone is littered with sarcasm.]
cluck cluck cucoo?
I'll just pretend I understood that, idiot. [The insult's lack of any bite gets further empathized as he stands up and offers Atem a hand to pull him up as well.] Generally people notice when I'm coming. I can't change direction in mid-flight, you know?
[At least not while in fully human form.]
4.
At the warning, Leia whips her head around and, last-minute, she tries to catch him...
Only to end up collapsing under his weight instead, back slamming into the nearby cabinet.]
...Ow...
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Owwww~ I didn't know girls are that hard~ ..!
[Holding his ringing head, he looks down and curses inwardly.]
Oh no! Are you alright?!
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I'm fine!
[She tries to sit up and winces, feeling his weight still on top of her.]
You're light as a feather. [h e h] But why were you jumping around like that?
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[Have a sheepish laugh as he grins.]
I was doing parkour! It's easier to evade all the traps if you don't get too close to the floor and move fast enough to be already somewhere else by the time they go off, but I'm not athletic enough to climb those walls and just got ever there.
[That's a bold-faced lie: he'd have done exactly that if he were out to just beat this game, but Vector wants more than that. Rather than points for winning he wants information on the nature behind this game.]
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overflow!
iii
Shiho tries to heft up one of the wheeled chairs neatly pushed up to a piece of medical equipment. The only thing that both looked heavy enough to be of use and unattached enough to lift.]
Hey!
[Then she throws it, directly at his cackling doctor.]
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[The good news: she's socked the doctor right in the face and dazed him enough to go temporarily to the ground with her projectile.
The bad news: it hit the rescuee as well.]
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A-are you okay? I didn't mean to do that. Um. It probably doesn't hurt too much, right?
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[He moves to wipe his hair out of his face just to realize that his limbs are still bound. Oh well. She gets a crooked but honest smile anyway.]
Are all your greetings so rough?
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