Love is in the air in Cerealia -- or, well, it is in ViViD anyway. And nobody cares about your lives outside of ViViD, so that's all that matters. It's an artificial love construct, but for you sad, lonely, little people, it's probably good enough, right? CERES is on a mission to find you your other half, your soulmate, your one and only, and this is how they've decided to do it -- through technology and abuse of your private information! Welcome to your new love life, courtesy of ViViD.
For your convenience, CERES has automatically generated dating profiles to help match up the new arrivals swiftly and speed up the "get to know each other" process. Nothing like some not-entirely-agreed-to speed dating to break the ice and improve new relations! You're going to be here for awhile, so you may as well get to know each other.
For the older residents, well... you may very well find your soulmate here! You don't want to miss out on that. That would just be an unfixable tragedy. So here, use the handy-dandy profiles and find your new honey. After all, the information on these profiles is 100% accurate, certified and verified by Mosley himself.
Why would you ever doubt that?
 I've never actually been on a date before. Not that there haven't been offers but I'm just too busy a guy! I think to myself, "Mosley, me, guy who's talking to himself, why won't you go on a date with that nice lady who just asked you out?" And I reply, "Oh, you gorgeous bastard, I'm satisfied with my life as it is already! I don't need love." After all, what is love? Baby, don't hurt me. Don't hurt me. No more.
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PHASE I [ 6 00 ] Gooooood morning, new ViViD compatriots and gamers! You’re not going to get a lot of time to adjust and recover from your sudden retrieval from destroyed and sad code, really, because as soon as you arrive, fresh and new to Cerealia, you’ll be faced with a profile.
Oh, look, it’s your face! And… a quote attributed to you? And your favorite object? Hopefully those details are correct, because there’s no going back now.
You’ve become an otome love interest.
For those who aren’t brand new to ViViD, you’ll be presented the exact same profiles -- but you’ll have to pick one. You know how this works, pick the love interest you want to romance and sweep them off their feet. Better pick the right route too because, haha! You wouldn't want to end up naked and alone in a basement again! That would be crazy. Just pick some rando hottie instead, it's no big.
Or, well, that’s what they say. But then you’re dumped into a ballroom, dressed up to the nines in finery, and surrounded by other milling NPCs. You're given a moment to process the whole situation before a genteel-looking older man who seems to be running this party steps up to the microphone. Gently, he clears his throat, and welcomes everyone to the party ("Haven't been to a party this fine since I had all my teeth!"), and then he gestures to a pile of weapons in the middle of the room and finishes cheerfully, “Anyway, whoever survives can leave this room -- enjoy!”
It looks like the NPCs aren’t messing around; they’re immediately diving for the weapons, so you might want to get a move on.
Welcome to the Cerealia Dating Hunger Games.
PHASE II [ 1000 ] When you burst out of the ball room, possibly covered in the blood of your enemies (your poor dress/suit!), you’ll find yourself in what looks to be a sprawling jungle. In reality, it’s a circular arena, and if you travel far enough, you can reach the walls, though they’re electrified with no way out. If you try to get past them, you’re going to fry yourself before you accomplish anything else! Where's the fun in that?
The bigger problem is this: there are some unfortunate monsters on the prowl (don't they... look a little familiar?) in the jungle, and they are ready and willing to eat up anyone who crosses their paths. They’re drawn to the scent of blood -- and, even more so, the scent of people in love. So hey, if you're in love right now, it might be a good time to run. Otherwise, you're the top target and about to be hunted. Have fun out there, lovebirds!
Meanwhile, the NPCs (or even your fellow player characters?!) are out for blood themselves, so nowhere is truly safe.
Was that... was that a scream for help, or someone coming to get you?
PHASE III [ 1145 ] At some point, you’re going to need supplies. It starts to feel like you’ve been in here for days without any food or water (but that’s weird, wasn’t this ViViD session supposed to be just a few hours -- ) and you’re starting to feel the effects.
So, time to get in touch with your inner man vs wild. There are animals to hunt (deer, rabbit, etc.) and if you can fashion a spear or use a weapon you scooped up in the chaos, you can kill them for food. Alternatively, you can just try stealing some supplies from your fellow players. That's probably a saner option.
Which leaves you sneaking up onto their camp, full of sneakiness, and more sneakiness, and a little bit of stealth, you reach out and...
Suddenly, there are lights on you! Cameras! Cheering, adoring crowds! There's a narrator narrating every step you're taking (loudly) and there are fans hanging on your every move --
Oh, did that wake up the other player and/or bring monsters roaring down upon you? Whoops. The perils of spectator sports like the Cerealia Hunger Games, really.
PHASE IV [ 1400 ] You did it. Someone came at you, and you killed them. Their blood is on your hands, but it’s fine -- it’s just a program in a game.
Right?
Except when you look again, it’s someone you know. The corpse of a person who’s very important to you in so many ways is lying there on the ground, blood still warm but clearly dead. They’re solid to the touch. They’re there, and they look just like that person you care about so very much. Your heart hurts.
And you’re the one who killed them.
Then, without warning, it starts to rain because ViViD is nothing if not good at sensing the mood.
PENALTY [ why o'clock ] So.
You died.
This isn't really that surprising, considering it's the Cerealia Dating Hunger Games. People die a lot in games like these. It's the price of love.
Don't worry, though! It's just ViViD, so it's not like you really died. You'll get reconstructed, good as new, and they'll toss you right back onto the battlefield. Except, well... it seems like something's a little different.
For one thing, you've got claws instead of hands.
You can't seem to speak, either; all you can manage is garbled growls and sharp noises.
And, worst of all... you're really, very intensely hungry, and you can smell blood (or people in love, that's an even better scent).
So yeah, you're one of the monsters now. Don't worry, it only happens the first time you die in this game; if someone valiantly slays you again, you'll come back good as new, a normal person in the Games. What a weird glitch. There's no way that's on purpose or anything, right? No way!
[ 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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Thank you, thank you! To my audience, and to my number one fan, and...h-hey, I'm not a monster, you can't call me that, you jerks!
[The crowd is chanting with Rapunzel now on the other side of the cameras, and whoo boy Miu isn't happy about being called a monster. Let's ignore how quickly she turned on her fans, too, and instead be thankful that a "DUCK" is enough to get her to do a stylish roll completely flawlessly.
She may be mistaking the command as an order to show off, and that sure is a monster stumbling through where she'd just been.]
Where'd that thing come from?!?!
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But is it her fault that making ropes out of her own hair and twirling them in the air with over-the-top dramatic flare for the sake of cameras that appeared out of quite literally nowhere is so fun?? No! That's why Rapunzel, thoroughly embodying the Indiana Jones archetype by this point, rushes onto the "stage" that used to be her camp, and strikes a pose. ]
Don't worry, though. I will save you– AUGH!
[ Too bad she's practically oozing blood and love (is it love, though, or is she just
on drugsinfatuated??), and thus makes a tasty target. ]are they going to need an adult............
What happened to you?! Medic...medic! We need a medic! Health her, health her!
[She has no idea what to do, so she's just going to...put her hands on the blood, this won't send her to a shrink at all, nope.]
AT THIS RATE THEY'RE GONNA NEED TEN TBH
Oh, wait, she must think it's Rapunzel's blood, duh.
Well, that's unfortunate. ]
–Wait! Waitwait I wasn't shouting because of that, I was shouting because of– Oh, shoot. Don't wait don't wait, move!!
[ This is about when the monster finally barrels into them. Good thing her hair is practically made of Softness and will cushion both their landing and the collision! Just in case, though, Rapunzel's curling in on herself and making a mental note to grab her spear from where she left it behind a nearby tree so she can actually fight this thing off. That'll make an exciting climax. ]
RIP MIU AND RAPUNZEL...
[She doesn't get the chance to convert to a white mage, though, because suddenly Miu is moving with Rapunzel and...
...actually, Miu is knocked pretty far from the monster, she weighs like eight pounds so she rolls a lot farther than someone with like two hundred pounds of hair. This is really bad, really bad. She faked getting hurt earlier, but now she really feels hurt.]
Ow...ow, I really felt that one...
[The monster is probably going to go for Rapunzel first, though, because she has more love in her heart or smth. Thankfully.]
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[ It's not instantaneous, her recovery, but whatever she does comes close; as soon as the pounding in her head recedes, Rapunzel is up and raging against the monster like it's a machine, pushing and grunting and snarling her way into a half-crouched position until she's literally holding its snapping jaws away from Miu.
Thank CERES for auto-heal. ]
Are you all right? See if you can reach my hair from there if so! I'd like to tie this guy to a tree buuuuut I'm - kinda gonna need your help to pull it off. [ ... Only kinda? ]
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[That's "I'm completely fine and I'm fired up" in Matsuoka talk, of course, and she springs to her feet.
Wait, what. Wow, this girl is kind of cool, she's never heard of anyone who ties someone up with their hair. A word comes to mind, but she mispronounces it completely it when she says it.]
Wow, you're a real sadist [saddest] aren't you?
[But she grabs a fistful of hair and yells her battle cry again—she thinks she gets what to do. She runs with that length so she has the monster between herself and Rapunzel, the tree to the side.]
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OH – Right! Great job!! [ Except that if she doesn't start running, the monster will wind up tied to her. In no small part because she failed to move when she should have moved.
Which should answer the question either way: she is the saddest and the most sadistic.
Nothing to do but cover it up! Rapunzel, finally kicked into action by Miu's example, starts running in the opposite direction, winding her hair around the now completely confused creature standing between them. ] WHOO, WHOO, WHOO!!! Come on, audience! BEST TEAM EVER!
[ Which, knowing her luck, only means something is going to go wrong. ]
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[What noble aspirations she has.
Luckily, her tiny legs can carry her around the tree, it's just a tree. The audience does cheer for them, but Miu is starting to have doubts about this arrangement. Is it just her, or...are they sort of still going to have to deal with this monster? It's. Still attached to Rapunzel's hair.
But hold on, she's just going to hand the hair to Rapunzel and catch her breath first.]
I don't want to rain on your parade or anything, but what are we supposed to do about Copola now?
[She's named the monster, apparently.]
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[ God bless CERES, this batch of newbies are her people. Rapunzel smiles and, like the seemingly brilliant dumbass she is, reaches for something that's been strapped to her back beneath her hair the entire time. It's... a pistol. ]
Hey. [ Now she's trying to be cool by dropping her voice to a calm, regal tone and setting one hand on Miu's shoulder and dropping her hair.
The monster, furious, roars. ] Don't worry. I learnt from the best how to be a hero.
[ And she raises her arm, squeezing the trigger and flinching only slightly at the noise like she's a Terminator. The monster barely gets out a final cry before slumping over with its back to the tree, bleeding all over Rapunzel's hair and the ground. ]
oh my god what happened to rapunzel, what made her this way
[It's a Miu Thing. She's still catching her breath as she stands up, Rapunzel's hand on her shoulder. She feels like she's in an action movie. This would be a lot more fun if it weren't so...scary? No, no, it's more surreal, like this is a gag comedy come to life.]
You...you know all the secrets, don't you? [Who is Rapunzel talking about, Miu has to know. Probably sometime after she witnesses the monster being brutally murdered. In self-defense, of course. But.
Wow.]
You must have some really good shampoo, huh?