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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heine rammsteiner . ota (newbie!)
a n y t h i n g e l s e ?
1
Please don't run in the hallway, mister... [ She checks the clipboard in her hand. ] Rammsteiner! Wait, this file says you can't hear.
[ a beat ]
And I'm supposed to give you a treatment of good music. That's not much use if you can't hear!
[ She was trying to stay in character, but this dumb game was making it difficult. ]
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he blinks at her owlishly, frown twisting against teeth and when she speaks his name tension climbs along his Spine because what information does she have and -
- his glare turns from sharp to incredulous. ) I can hear fine. So you don't need to treat me. ( heine will be great at playing this game. except he won't. )
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And I already had the song all lined up, too. [ So she's going to play it anyway. She flips out her CEREVice, and with a jab of a button, Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird and its gentle melody starts playing. ]
Cause I'm as free as a bird now~
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the music starts playing from her device and - yeah, he's going to try and pass her in a wide arc. ) I said I'm fine. Leave me alone.
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Of course, Nanoha's not actually a little girl, or crying for real, and she recovers quickly enough, calling to his back as he passes by. ]
Your butt's hanging out! Also, I'm asking the desk to have the song playing over the PA System! You're not going to clear the stage just by wandering around!
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Bonus just escalates this....
Coming over he'll slide his arm around Heine's shoulders if not stopped and wave casually to the nurse. What a pal.]
Heheh. Now, now. Be nice to the nurse! He's just shy ♪. Go ahead, my dear! I'm sure you have his every best interest in mind~.
[No, he kind of thinks it's the opposite. But he's also kind of a dick so.]
gdi zelos
except that said line of interest turn out to be a dick. understandable in the long run, but the slide of someone's arm against his shoulder - inevitably brushing against the exposed skin of his back - nearly has him snapping and he is roughly twisting away with hand curling against whatever clothes this guy on, putting him at arms length. ) Don't - ( is the beginning of a snarl but guess what the nurse is interested in them both now. ) Great - look what you did now.
No I'm kidding here's a real tag
Ugh... You're a rough guy, you know that? [Or Zelos is just whiny. Possibly both. He doesn't particularly want to become the nurse's victim either though. He has enough lacerations without bringing needle punctures into the picture.] Promise you'll get me to the hospital cafeteria and I'll take care of your lady problems. Deal?
kdjakjf i was laughing and crying when i saw the other one
the state of the redhead registers moments later though and he's dropping his hand away, fist curled by his side instead. the first remark is met with a huff (yeah he knows) but it doesn't take him long to decide the obvious. ) Fine by me.
( heine could, potentially, just wrench the syringe out of the nurse's hand but that would mean touching her and ugh. he wasn't that desperate. better let this guy handle it. )
Heine's worst nightmare hunh laughs 1/2
Hello gorgeous ♥️. You want us to take that shot, right? [It's a simple thing to lean forward and smile charmingly. Just as simple as slipping the syringe from the nurse's fingers while she's distracted. He doesn't do this often really....] Sadly my hunny here's saving himself. He's pretty shy for a virgin. But we do each other all the time so I'll handle him for you, mmkay 🎵? Catch you later.
2/2!
Let's go hotshot. Lead a dead guy to a place he can sit down without getting assaulted by tentacles, hm?
it really is
3!!
Goodness! That was close.
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only after making sure that the doctor was out cold - heshouldkillhim - does he turn a begrudgingly reluctant look at her. ) He was trying to experiment on people.
( it comes hollow and he isn't too sure why he's even offering an explanation, rage still coiled hotheavy against his throat. someone should tell him this is just a game whoop whoop )
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She stands up again, smoothing down her clothes, and looks over at him. Well, if that is the reason why--] I see, then he deserved it. [It's not like she wants to be here either.
And yes, she could tell him it's a game and that he'll be fiiiine, but fight the system, Heine! Or at least the system right now because it's holding them in here.]
Did he try to get you too?
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he looks back to the man, and his fingers twitch to his throat as if he's checking for a pulse. except the curl against column of it but he doesn't do anything beyond that, as though deciding on - well, on murder. not that it was unusual for him.
but he sighs, dropping the hand away and pushing himself back up. ) Mm. ( a grunt of confirmation, and he would be more than happy to leave it at that. ) Bad day for him. ( could be worse though right? )
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It's a good thing that should he choose to murder the man, maybe not much will happen to him considering that they're still in ViViD. Rules don't really fly here, do they?
She leans a little to the side just to watch what he was doing until he gets back up.] But still fortunate for you, one would rather not give him a good day.
I wonder, perhaps you did it correctly.
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phase iii!
the overblown theatrics, the dimmed halls, the operatic quality the hospital took on was more than enough to induce some form of acute distress in him. avoiding vivid usually works toward his best interests in curbing hysteria, but evasive measures proved futile when he ended up jolting to consciousness in a hospital. it's his own fault for not immediately logging out of the quest, but it's admittedly hard to think straight when he's thrust into a doctor's garb and left to aimlessly meander throughout the facility when the lights abruptly blow out, lightning streaking through the windows. the signs (mad scientist: this way) littering the walkway are nothing more than a beacon for incipient decay, and he's already gone sallow when someone chucks a body straight at him. ]
W-W-Wh —
[ makoto barely has enough time to sputter incoherently before he's gone and flung himself against one wall to narrowly avoid being caught in the crossfire. it takes him a few idling second to refocus, but then he's staring at the perpetrator with an expression just that side of scandalized, half-inclined to bolt if the stranger so much as scowls in return. ]
Did you just throw him?
[ incredulity knows no bounds. he's horrified, understandably. ]
ohno poor guy!
but heine also knows fear too, and the many faces of it. when he throws the maniacal doctor, his action to follow close behind is instinctual, canine tension as he stalks forward and the only thing that deters him is the voice to his side.
his glare is near reluctant with fingers still itching to tear at the doctor's throat (see how he likes being cut into for a change), and it's lucky perhaps (to others) that he isn't exactly at his best right now, still reeling from this entire place, and still a touch too tired to deal with anything fullhearted
instead, he's looking from the man crumpled on the floor to the one that admirably dodged that flying projectile and back again.
the fear registers a moment later, and the expression has him straightening with an averse look cast makoto's way. hysteria is the last thing he'd want to deal with if he decides to tear into someone's throat. ) Yeah. ( said as if it was the most obvious thing to do what do you mean you don't throw people. his hand goes to pass against the exposed metal of his semicollar at his neck. ) He deserved it.
rip ......
Deserved it.
[ right. okay, that probably made sense. maybe. it's hard to believe makoto's life has come to point where he has to capitulate to irrational claims made on the pop-fly by guys who meshed better as protagonists b-rated cinema flicks, just that side of portentously feral that he's distinctly avoiding his companion's gaze, instead staring at the man gone slantslide down the hall. he grimaces, equal parts mortified and anxious, as he scrabbles to drag the physician up by the length of his gangly arms, watching the scalpel plummet from one fisted hand with a ringing clink. ]
What did he do to you?
[ he cautiously glances up, only to get his eyes drawn in by the disconcerting collar affixed to his neck with a concern he doesn't bother vocalizing. eventually, makoto heaves him up in one blundering maneuver, glancing about to scope the area for any other possible onlookers. ]
... Well, he's passed out cold now. We can't exactly leave him lying out in the hall like this.
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he watches the other move to help the unconscious man, clearly displeased by the misguided concern. he's catching the eyes drawn to his collar, and drops his hand away with a dismissive wave. ) This wasn't him, but -
- He was running experiments. ( what he said was i want to run some tests but the implication was heavy. or maybe heine's actions were dictated by the sort of reflex unwittingly bred into a disobedient dog. besides, the office was filled with diagrams and drawings of tests and extra limbs sewn on.) Tried to drag me along. ( his smirk is serrated and mean as makoto lifts the man up and he's reaching over to pull against the doctor's clothes, more a rough action than an attempt at alleviating the weight from makoto's hold. ) Let's strap him to his own gurney. Won't be trying any bullshit on anyone else.
( beyond that, he couldn't care less if he left him out in the middle of the hallway. let people trip over him. )
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i.
Which is why, disoriented and terrified, Rin's first reaction to the flurry of motion - topped with a gruff what that doesn't quite register as coherent - is violence. That said, he may be an athlete, but his idea of violence is wildly swinging arms and a glare that trembles more than it intimidates.
In fact, his intention is to headbutt the source of the disturbance to get it to stop.
This isn't a particularly well thought out plan. Rin knows this even as he careens forward, his breath hot in his lungs. Had he been a little less disturbed by what he's witnessed, he might have rethought his plan of attack, but sometimes instincts strike first. ]
Haa — !!
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he's never really been admitted to any hospital before so as far as first impressions go, it is a horrible one. the mechanical ambient sound of machines, the glaring lights and the whiteness of the walls all remind him of that place and his nerves fray at the edge of anxiety that had the Dog sneering at the back of his mind.
people deal with stress differently; with fear and bad circumstance and maybe the panicked motions of the one he bumps into serves as counterweight to his own and he manages to catch a flailing arm before it connects and opens his mouth to snap something out when -
- when rin's forehead is deftly colliding with his nose and though heine takes a step back his grip on the arm holds fast and pinching. his other hand comes up to his nose, where pain blossoms copper hot and he's wiping at blood. his regeneration is nearly instantaneous, with the rise of greywhite smoke coiling from the flesh of his nose, mending whatever small damage this idiot's forehead had caused.
his glare is hotheavy. ) The hell is your problem?
( words fall in a snarl. he won't be getting a one-up on him again, should he try it. )
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Rin has never dealt with negative emotions well. He knots them into something amorphous and infinitely worse than their initial form, exacerbating the problem until he's managed to dig himself to deep. Now, a stranger's blood on his forehead, dripping down the bridge of his nose -- (the blood reminding him of his own dark eyes looking up at him, quiet, too quiet) -- and Rin drags in a sharp breath, stepping back and then back again. The wall is cold at his back. Grounding.
That's what has him pulling the mess of his thoughts to shreds, taking moment after moment to think his way through his. If this was an enemy - like the assholes with the tentacles or the doctors or whatever else this hellhole has to throw at him - he wouldn't be wearing the same paper-thin gown, wouldn't be standing there glaring. Rin squares his shoulders, sets his expression, visibly regains his equilibrium. ]
Sorry. [ An apology reluctantly given, though it's not insincere. ] This place is kind of -- well. Things pop out. I thought you were one of them.
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instead he shifts his weight from foot to foot, uncertain discomfort against otherwise callousness. the stranger has his blood dripping from his forehead and well that was kind of his own fault. but heine displays a praiseworthy show of patience in waiting for the guy to find his footing. to level himself off and actually take a breath.
heine wasn't averse to using violence; it was so deeply sewn into his sinews, that no circumstance in the world could erase it (literally bred into him, just an attack dog turned disobedient).
he offers a shrug, briskly dismissive now that he sees that the reaction was nothing more than a nip of frightened nerves. ) Well, I'm not. But can't really blame you, either. Even if it was stupid (shutup you would've done worse. )
( a beat. it's not like he's the one that's going to be with a bruise. his eyes narrow, look to rin's. ) Looks like you've seen more of this place than me, though. All bad?
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