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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[While IV doesn't mind immersive play in ViViD, suspicion relating back to the random logging incident has him skeptical. Nonetheless, he dons the doctor's wear as the receptionist all but throws the coat and stethoscope on him, the name tag slapped somewhere on his back without his knowing. The frazzled nurse then whisks him away like a miniature storm, and it may well be your room he's been shoved into before the door shuts in his face.
Sighing out of frustration, IV looks over to the bed and the "patient" lying on it.]
Tch . . . Guess I'm playing the doctor. Who're you?
PHASE II + BONUS ( if you'd like a random bonus effect, just add "bonus" in the header )
[In his attempt to escape a particularly physical alien patient, IV has unwittingly retreated to the basement. There, he stares down the long hallway as he touches his arm where one of the ugly nurses had taken a needle. He takes five whole steps, testing the new "level," when a whisper halts him in his tracks.
He looks over his shoulder. Behind him, his younger self begins to follow his every step, and no amount of arguing at it makes the boy go away. IV has never been very patient, and his temper is even shorter than that; eventually at his wit's end, he whips around to yell.]
I didn't kill anyone!
[He reaches out to grab the boy, but his hand goes through the apparition. When he pulls back, wide-eyed, blood covers his hand down to a part of his forearm. This level is no good. He takes one step back and then whirls back around to break into a run – only, he doesn't care to look until it's too late, so he may well be running straight into somebody ahead.]
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[There's a familiar shriek as Leia approaches him. The constant flickering of the lights were enough to drive anyone mad, not to mention the never ending lack of color, the intense white that's just too much. She hates this level.
Then there's her younger self, equipped with favorite headband adorned with blue flowers; armed with a knife, feeding her lies, trying to shake her confidence.
She's not going to take it anymore. Because they are lies, aren't they?
Leia whips around, too. With anger, she reaches for the little girl's shoulders after bending down... and similarly, her hands pass right through, suddenly soiled and bloody. Her eyes widen, falling back, and it's only then that she notices the incoming footsteps. Two voices speak in sync: the boy and the girl, in eerie whispers. It was you. You did it. You can't run away... you killed them.
She turns around just in time for a nice view of IV's pants, before a sudden weight topples over her.
Ah.]
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Leia?
[He throws a quick glance over his shoulder. His younger self is where IV left him, standing in the middle a few paces away.]
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...Hey.
[She turns her head to the other side, squirming--but no, she can't see what IV was glancing at from this angle.]
You fell through a trap, too?
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Trap? What are you talking about?
[It's then that he notices another presence. His eyes flicker up to see a little girl resembling Leia, and in that instant he knows that the girl is her.]
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She grunts lightly as she follows suit and pushes herself upward. Soon she's on her feet as well.]
Never mind.
[They have more urgent matters to tend to anyway, like their company. Leia spots a little boy resembling IV, and there's no mistake. Him, and little Leia... there's that same twisted expression. Her eyes widen with recognition, then narrow again when she realizes the implications. IV's been hearing the same awful things... and they're stuck with both of them now.]
I can't figure out how to get them to stop.
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1/2
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lol what's sleep
1/2 - idk but 3 hrs is totally enough
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ii.
She's just wandering the hall, frowning and looking for a way out, when suddenly she's getting slammed into by a familiar acquaintance.
But he's bigger than her, so she goes tumbling.
Please hold.]
Guh!
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Wha – Ruby?
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IV! Fancy seeing you here!
[She says, from the ground where she's still sprawled.]
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"Fancy"? You've got an interesting sense of greeting at a time like this. Come on. Get up.
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... ... ... Oh.]
... Right. I guess it's pretty gloomy down here, isn't it? We should go back upstairs.
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II + bonus
He immediately pulls himself up enough to snarl back at the offender; he's already one edge and that didn't help at all.]
Watch where you're--
[--Wait.]
IV?
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However, what's even odder is how, upon hearing his name, IV has the most irresistible urge to do something he hasn't done in a while to anybody. It's almost instantaneous and leaves no room for words. He strides up to Mizael and reaches out to wrap his arms around that slim torso in a tight embrace – just like how he used to hold the cushions in the old mansion.
Never mind that Mizael isn't a pink cushion.]
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Why in the world is IV hugging him? It's not a terrible hug, either. It's not like Mizael's never been hugged before, or even that it hadn't been recently, but usually it's Vector who's doing it so it's never pleasant. This isn't anything like that, and after his day so far, it's even kind of--
Nope, that train of thought is going no further. Mizael scowls and shoves against IV's shoulders to get him to let go.]
What are you doing?
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How should I know? I just hugged you. What of it?
[The word "hugging" has never felt so incriminating. Despite the paced response, his mind races for an explanation, and the process surfaces as the creasing of his brow.]
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IV is so lucky they're just in ViViD.
But while Mizael's eyes are narrowed when he crosses his arms and faces IV again, it's less because he annoyed and more because he looking IV over for whatever injury that came from.]
Do you often hug people whom you've just knocked into without warning?
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phase ii
Said person being Shuu right now, although he seems a little more muted than usually. He has a similar younger version of himself following him - except it's more tinier than younger, since Shuu has a babyface to begin with. And maybe it's also that his younger self manages to look even a little more girly, even with the creepiness, but still.
He just stares at IV with a blank stare, hardly even reeling from the way the other bumps into him. ]
.. What's wrong?
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You, too, huh . . .
[Why does it have to be this guy at a time like this? But the irritation of their past encounters is nothing compared to his frustration with the hallway now. He looks over to check; sure enough, his twelve-year-old self has followed him and, while he's yet to say anything more, his mere presence nearly makes IV's blood boil.]
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Oh. Those kids?
[ He's talking about it sort of distantly though. As if it isn't obviously them but younger, but instead some entirely unrelated random kids. ]
He's been following me for a while now. He won't even stop mumbling..
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You can't get rid of him?
[ After all, IV is only human and his hand shot right through the apparition. As a self-proclaimed superior demon, perhaps Shuu might have better luck. But if the brat's still there, then maybe not. ]
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[ Maybe it's weird for someone who is - usually - as murder-happy as Shuu is, but he's telling the truth. It's probably visible in the way there's not a hint of his usual smugness or glee that he has when he's faking being innocent. This is him being genuine about it.
Even for Shuu it's a little bit too much to try and kill something that looks exactly like a child version of yourself, after all. Especially when your childhood is a weak spot. ]
What, are you saying you have..?
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ii, bonus
Trailing behind Ryouga is the tiny prince that Nasch used to be, and if the blood all over Ryouga's clothes is any indication, he's already worked through that he can't shake him off on his own. The apparition, of course, seems to have had the good sense to hold back.
(Stupid apparition - as if Ryouga doesn't know very well what he's done.)
Ryouga recoils and stumbles, losing his balance and hitting the floor. Gritting his teeth, he looks up to shout at what is surely another damn nuisance of this place, but stops when he sees that it's not that at all. In fact, IV's… injured, possibly? Nevermind the lack of logic behind it when he himself is covered in the same stuff - Ryouga's getting back to his feet right now!]
IV, what'd you do!?
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Rushing forward, he leans over to grasp Ryouga by the forearm.]
Ryouga? Why are you here!?
[Yet there seems to be a disconnect between his words and action. Perhaps if he weren't under some sort of influence, he never would have thought to assist his friend up in the first place. The second Ryouga is standing, whether by his own strength or with "help" (a clumsy pull), IV slides his hand down to take Ryouga by his and pivot on his heels. The sudden impulse to dance doesn't even register in IV's mind until it's already happening.]
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[Ryouga glowers, but is following IV's lead with little more grace than he used to fall in the first place. Ryouga growls - he's not sure what it is that he needs to do instead, but IV's keeping him from it with his ridiculous antics.]
Tch! Looks like you're feeling fine, bastard-- Knock it off!
[Finally, his body remembers what it needs to do and he's wrenched himself free only to launch himself right back at IV. He latches his arms around his waist and clings to him there in a most possessive, bloody hug.]
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While the blood doesn't bother IV, the sudden display of intimacy, as well as his own continuous impulse to tape his feet, grind his mental gears to a halt. His breath hitches. Slowly, he looks down.]
. . . What are you doing, Ryouga?
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typo no
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