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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2
And he's been alone these past weeks. Alone and wrestling with a horrible possible reality that his brothers and sister were not actually returned to Balamb or their own worlds, but sacrificed permanently to some alien god he couldn't even begin to identify.
At first, he thinks it's a trick. Ceres being assholes again. He's bitten open a creature's belly only to blink and see her shocked, pale face more than twice, and stopped bothering to count after that. But the damned machine is smart. It's going to learn eventually that the best way to convince him is through his nose. He's surprised it hasn't yet, but figures a lone fishman doesn't rate high on the scale of importance to a race of wannabe humans. It's a fact that gives him a bit of reprieve, but it still makes them bastards. So when he catches her signature, the taste of some of her blood in the air, he wonders if they finally got around to really trying to screw with him. He's tempted to walk away. If it's a trick he doesn't want any part of it. If she's actually back, she can handle herself. With his luck, she'd come back still pissed at him.
Namur sighs, then breathes deeply with his mouth open, his head turning from side to side as he determines which direction he ought to go to find her. He promised he'd have her back. She probably doesn't need him or even want him around, but he'll be there anyway, because that's how it works.
Grell may notice an eventual slowing of the monsters, their numbers dwindling gradually. At least, they stop coming from a certain direction, until eventually a different sort of monster breaks through the jungle. Namur is tall- eight feet at least- broad in the chest, neck and back, his figure tapered toward his gut. A large dorsal fin gives him a hunched forward look, and his skin is a dark grey fading to pale blue. He pauses, sniffs, then angles his head toward her.]
Grell? 'S that you?
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she'll carry on. at least, that's what He would have wanted. what all of them would want. do not stagnate, it was in the vows.
hearing another voice - another one that knows her name - Grell shifts from where she's actually been sitting up in the tree, glancing down to see someone...decidedly not human, but that's never been an issue. his size draws up memory of someone else who had been tall enough to loom over everyone, and she looks...well, if not smiling, at least interested in whatever he has to say.]
That is my name, yes.
[so, she thinks, what was she to you?]
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It takes him off guard.]
Uh. Yeah, okay. So.
[And his automatic response to being taken off guard? Push back. Hard.]
So what the hell's yer problem? I 'pologized, sent y' that damn message every shitty day 'til it wouldn't send no more. Seriously, yer jus' gonna up an' disappear without even talkin' t' me no more? Grow the hell up, Grell! 'S jus' the two a us now, cuz Thatch up an' gone right 'long t' who knows where or when an' damn it, y' gotta talk t' me! How the hell're we s'posed t' be a damn family if yer gonna pretend I don't exist, huh?
Shit.
[Namur moves closer to the tree, almost more pacing than actually going with purpose. But he finishes his tirade near the trunk, leaning his hands against it, testing its strength. He will climb up there and join her if he has to- if the branches will hold.]
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she was important to him. that was clear enough. and there's nothing she can exactly say that's reassuring. the differences are clearer when she's closer - a change in scent, in bearing.]
...I don't quite understand.
[that's what ends up coming out, instead of the words I'm not yours. but heaven knows, she's trying to understand it all.]
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Holy shit yer a woman!
[He's so tactful. But he's looking at Grell with incredulity written plain on his features, mouth agape. Then he sort of remembers himself.]
Mean. More a...
[Nope, not supposed to say it that way either.]
Er, I mean. When did-
How-
[Nope, not supposed to ask that either. Shit there's too many rules.]
Damn it.
[And then he gets to the thing that he actually wants to know. What really matters.]
Don't know me at all, d' y'?
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Unfortunately. And for that I'm sorry - I'm not the woman you're looking to see.
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Yeah, no, 's fine. Knew shit like this happened but. Damn, y' jus' left, like. Couple weeks 'go. She did. Ain't even had time t' ask 'round for help in the damn shop she was runnin'.
[Then he cringes a little.]
Anyway sorry 'bout layin' int' y'. Didn't really get 'long all that great but we's family, so.
[He shrugs. Family fights like sharks at a whale carcass but they're still family in the end.]
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[well, it wasn't that much of a surprise if something had been going on.]
And so recently? Fate has quite the demanding sense of timing every now and then. But to ask it to be anything but cruel and bending to no whims but its own would be asking for the world to be something other than it is.
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Damn y' talk a lot prettier. Bein' a dude pissed y' off that much, huh? Or maybe hangin' 'round with Marco. Love 'im, but he's 'nuff t' make anyone mad, sheheheheh!
[He stops abruptly, smacks his palms on his knees and stands.]
Well. Thanks for lettin' me jaw at y' a li'l bit. Ain't gonna make y' put up with me since 't weren't y' that took the mark. But I made a promise an' it affects y' a li'l I guess. Said y'd always be my sister even if y' don't r'member. So if y' ever need somethin', or- hell even if someone's jus' givin' y' shit an' y' can't be assed t' bother with 'em no more, call me. Got yer back. Catch me?
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Got it. But do I get a name to call, or am I going to have to do my best with "hey you"?
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[He holds out a webbed hand to shake.]
So's this yer first world hop or y' been some other shitty place 'fore this? Sound kinda funny.