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. ] |
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
no subject
It's good to see you, too, same as ever. [ Their walk eventually stops by a water feature. This is a good place for The Talk. ] ...Mostly.
You were talking to someone when I saw you; you've been here for a while?
no subject
[ she looks away again, and walks over to a nearby bin to dispose of her stick. when she comes back, she breaks the news to him- ]
You and Ginoza were here before, too. But you both left, [ she says with a wistful smile. ] Did you know that Ginoza's an Enforcer now?
[ she wasn't really able to have this talk with kogami before, may as well say it now. ]
no subject
What do you mean I was here and I left?
no subject
We weren't sure where you went to, but assuming that we really are coded, then something must have corrupted your code for a while.
no subject
What do you think of all this, Tsunemori? A world without Sybil, in which people can be brought back to life? [ His mind is instantly cast to their respective lost friends... Sasayama, Funahara...
And a certain someone who's not their friend. He who haunts Kogami even now. ]
no subject
But, [ ah, there it is. ] this place doesn't have any laws. It's chaotic, and troublesome.
no subject
This place has you, and people like you who can make a better world. You do work for the law enforcement here, don't you? [ He assumes so because even a guy like him got offered a job here, and Tsunemori is a person who loves the law and is deeply loved by it. ]
no subject
[ she laughs amiably before continuing. ] What about you, Kogami? Will you be working here?
no subject
Well? What do you think? Did our friend CERES make the right call?
[ It's a weird way of asking if it would be okay if he worked with her again. He would certainly like to, he doesn't doubt his aptitude for the job at all. ]
no subject
[ she ended up taking the job, though. overachiever akane tsunemori.
but she knows even just a little bit how kogami's mind works, so she knows what he's asking. ]
You should work for the police. You're always good at what you do... and I wouldn't mind working with you again.
no subject
Well, it won't be quite the same, will it?
[ He slaps her on the back as he prepares to light his second cigarette. Yeah, of course he has his own pack, too. ]
You won't get to shoot me with a paralyzer this time.
no subject
I wouldn't be able to, if I wanted to. The Dominator only works in ViViD.
[ of course, she's equipped with an actual gun, but she's never even used it before. ]
no subject
[ That's gotta bring up some traumatic memories. Akane using a real gun, when she sacrificed so much the last time she was presented with the chance... ]
But you haven't yet, right?
no subject
I have a gun. A real one.
[ but she's never used it before... kogami would know just by the unsure look on akane's face. ]
no subject
You once had your Dominator locked in paralyzer mode, it's possible we could get it to function that way again.
[ Or just buy a cute little tazer for her. ]
no subject
I doubt that would work. It would need Sibyl's authorisation... which we [ she means she and kagari, of course. ] don't have.
no subject
[ In any case, he litters his cigarette and steps on it. ] Well, partner? Feel like showing me to the station? [ He's still getting his bearings in this huge city. ]
no subject
[ also kogami don't litter???? she gives him a look of displeasure when he does that, but what's done is done. she begins walking. ]
You'll find that the office isn't that nice at the moment. It was completely flooded in the city a few weeks ago, and the rebuilding process still hasn't been finished.
no subject
It doesn't seem like this city was prepared to deal with these kinds of weather conditions. One would expect more from the people who intend to save the universe. [ Or so they claim is their goal. ]
no subject
[ her tone is so soft when she says this; typical tsunemori. but it contains a lot of weight despite its tone. ]
They're also constantly watching us. I've been advised to learn Braille to be able to communicate with others without CERES seeing what I'm saying.
no subject
no subject
[ she looks up at kogami to see how he may react before pointing to one of her eyes. ]
no subject
[ The way he asks that question, it can't mask his concern about Tsunemori becoming a target. ]
no subject
It's not information I found on my own. I was told this by a colleague.
There's a lot of people who know about this now... I can only guess that some people found out while infiltrating CERES a some point.
no subject
And these same people know that Braille goes undetected? Interesting... they can't monitor every human sense.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)