PHASE I [ 8 00 ] You’ve arrived. You’ve received your powerpoint presentation, and your head is filled to the brim with the knowledge that your world is destroyed, and that everyone you once knew and loved is dead. You are ready to handle whatever is thrown your way --
Or maybe not. You end up in a giant game of Pacman, and from the yellow spandex jumpsuit you’re now stuck in (glow-in-the-dark, even, how snazzy), you’re Pacman. Everything is a maze, all towering dark walls and corridors, and everything seems just a little...well, off. First off, the balls you’d normally collect in pacman? They’re floating there, yellow and distinct, the only source of light in the maze, but if you pick them up and touch them, you’ll experience a memory.
It’ll be something warm, gentle and sweet, a memory of your home or the people you love that is something you truly treasure, a memory of a time that is so very important to you. And then the globe is gone and the world returns to its cold, stark state, and you are reminded: everyone is dead. Better go pick up another one!
And, of course, there are the ghosts. They’re a little horrifying (though they come in all sorts of fun colors!) and if they grab you, all of those positive memories turn horrible. A nice memory of a picnic? It’s now a memory of losing everyone important on that day, cut down by masked figures.
Of course, that’s only for the newcomers to ViViD. For anyone who enters ViViD as a veteran, well...you can watch. If you try to enter the game, there are some unfortunate consequences -- you’ll end up as one of the ghosts chasing down those poor innocents, unable to do a thing about it.
Be sure to admire the scoreboard hanging over the game for everyone to see, though.
PHASE II [ 1030 ] Just when you’ve gotten a handle on Pacman, now you’re stuck playing...Tetris?
Everyone (newcomer and old veteran) has been dumped in the game now, and those falling blocks don’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. You'll be in an unfortunate tag-team; the person you're tossed into the game with may be a total stranger to you, but you're stuck with them now. After a few moments of dodging giant, falling blocks, it should become clear how you win this game: the blocks follow you (or your partner) in an attempt to squash you, so with some careful wrangling, you can guide those blocks into place and erase row after row of deadly blocks. Of course, if you can't work together, you're more likely to end up squished at the top of the screen, but if you should somehow manage to clear the screen, the door at the other end will open and you'll be free to go.
Let's hope you're stuck with someone easy to work with.
PHASE III [ 1145 ] Stumbling out of Tetris will bring you onto a rickety platform, a hangman’s noose gently wrapped around one of your very most important people. You can’t approach them, you can’t touch them, and they can’t speak, but they look at you with pleading eyes even as the talking tree they are to be hanged from tells you the rules. Guess letters, guess the word, and your friend will be freed. Guess wrong, and, well… the noose will tighten bit by bit.
Time to work together to get your friends down from there. Admittedly you might see someone different up there from the person next to you, but it’s all the same in the end, isn’t it? You’ve got to save them either way.
If you fail, that person will be hanged -- only to reveal that they were just a straw doll all along. Phew, what a relief!
If they succeed at guessing the word, a trap door will open up underneath that person and the rope will be released, dropping them down to never be seen again. Bye!
PHASE IV [ 1300 ] And then you’re dumped right out of ViViD and back into Cerealia. The city is still a little water-logged, though it is looking better than it was before; either way, you may be dumped anywhere. On a roof, in the middle of the park, on top of the scrap heap… anything could happen.
And it seems that things are still a little glitchy, or maybe the glitchy ViViD experience has infected your code in some way, because for a short period of time after, there may be a few...side effects. Fingers and faces might glitch out for a moment, or your hand might phase through a wall. You may also have your In Game Title hovering over your head for all to see. That’s not weird at all.
It’ll all fade away in an hour or two anyway, without any side effects to speak of. Or so it would seem.
PENALTY [ xxxx ] You may have ended up here after getting eaten by a pacman (or ghost), or you may have ended up here after jumping down the trapdoor to save your friend in Hangman. Perhaps you were squashed by a tetris block. Perhaps you just fell down onto your sword (why would you do that). Either way, here you are.
It’s an empty area, totally silent and void, aside from this one carnival game. Once you’re seated, you can’t stand up -- you have to win the game to leave, as the friendly game host will inform you without a single smile. You’ll be playing against the others who managed to end up here, but you’d better give it your best shot, or who knows how long you’ll end up staying here.
Time to play a carnival shooter game.
At least the targets are of a few familiar faces. Maybe that’ll make it more appealing?
And if you win you’ll be able to exit stage right, plus you’ll have a cute Mosley plushie as a prize. Hooray!
[ 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. ] |
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iv
...Ah. Kasen-san, you're here?
[says the fox.]
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Purple hair is peeking at the edge of the dumpster as the fox speaks, and that voice is distinctly familiar enough for him to perk up, looking over the edge curiously, though it's only for his head to duck again. This is the Worst... ]
Ah... My goodness... I don't know what here is, still! This is ridiculous!
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[Tadaaa an answer! While Naki quietly peeks back at Kasen over the edge of the dumpster.]
Do you, ah...need help getting out of there?
[Look, he's extending a hand!]
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[ He trails off, since as soon as Naki offers his hand, Kasen is quick to take it. He's not exactly inclined to stay in the dumpster, so he'll happily continue the conversation once he's out. ]
Please. Are you ready?
[ Kasen feels the need to ask, since he's always a bit gentler with certain swords that he tends to mentally think of as "younger," and Naki is certainly amongst them. ]
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[He spoke! It happens sometimes. Don't worry Kasen-san, Naki may be smaller than you but he can totally catch you if you fall! Somehow!
Meanwhile the fox moves to get a closer look at him (and the dumpster), wrinkling its nose at the smell.]
Hopefully you weren't in there long...
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Kasen starts to hoist himself out, though once his dumpster baby fate is pointed out, Kasen still makes a pathetic, miserable little noise as he starts to get out. ]
Any amount of time is too long! This is—
[ He pauses as he makes it to the edge, and from there, he can at least crawl out a bit more efficiently until he's able to jump out and onto the ground. He still looks like he might cry, though. ]
This is wretched... It's a loathsome joke!
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Naki cocks his head at the joke comment, face otherwise as impassive as usual, as Kasen is finally freed from dumpster baby status. What joke? Is there a joke?]
Ah, did someone throw you in there? Or was it ViViD? That game dropped us in a swimming pool once, it wasn't a very pleasant experience...
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I have no idea... I was in that thing, ViViD, so I suppose it was that. Is it always like this?! I thought I was to be saving the world or something like that!
[ kasen is going to be so disappointed by cereal ]
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[Said very nonchalantly, as if there's totally nothing wrong with this. Maybe they're just used to it.]
Ah, and we've yet to experience anything resembling saving anything. Unless you count saving ourselves from strange events on occasion...there was a flood shortly before you arrived, actually!
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Nothing at all? Then what are we to do here, if not to assist with what they asked?
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Well...we've all picked up a variety of professions - Nakigitsune is a courier of sorts, for example - and our master has been going to school.
Were you given any job suggestions on arrival, Kasen-san?
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I was, yes. I'll be taking the suggestion to be the master of tea ceremony at Porta Caelestis. [ He nods, at least brightened by that suggestion. ] There was no other choice, really. That is a profession I am best suited to, as a sword of the liberal arts.
[ A pause, and then he grumbles lowly: ] ...And because the other suggestions were a street sweep and a slam poet for hire, whatever that is.
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Ah, tea ceremony sounds very fitting for you, Kasen-san! Very appropriately elegant. [Totally honest! Naki and fox both cock their heads curiously. Almost simultaneously, even.] I also am unsure what a slam poet would be...though you do like poetry, don't you?
....Do they slam things?