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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no subject
thirstyinto recycling, skids to a stop and nearly crashes into a tree in the process.Needless to say there are feathers absolutely everywhere. ]
D-Don't–!! [ Right. Gotta do something about that frog in her throat.
She clears it. ]
Ahem. Don't tell me you've been protecting yourself with soda bottles too... I - I thought I was the only one who thought of it! Heh... [ YOU CAN'T HAVE MORE THAN ONE SOULMATE, GIRoh wait, yes you can. Of course you can! That's what dating sims are for!!!
Still starry-eyed, she turns resolutely to face the monster at last, reaching into the collar (don't ask) of her dress for a cola bottle of her own, this one with some fancy apparatus taped to the top. She raises the hand it's in and, without another word, hurls the glass bomb at the temporarily stunned monster, watching with a dissonant smile as it... explodes.
Neatly, though! There shouldn't been too much shrapnel, ha ha ha ha....... ]
no subject
A bomb?!
[ forget cerealia being full of surprises: rapunzel is. marco never thought he'd see the day a feathery woman whipped an explosive cola from her top to chuck it at a monster. observing all this, it's like his brain metaphorically explodes just as that monster so perfectly does. maybe he'll reflect on the events of this day in more detail later and appreciate her fair aim.
he feels some stray shrapnel cut into the calf of his nearest leg, but his adrenaline temporarily overrides the worst of the pain. a faint, flickering flame of hope jumps to life that he just might not die here, depending on her arsenal. he's trying to not get his hopes too high, really. because otherwise, one can only run for so long.
... a girl that would carry around cola as he does. soulmates. sodamates. there are so many firsts here. ]
How many of those do you have?!
[ because he's fresh out ]
no subject
None. I have zero left.
...That - That was pretty much the last one. If any other monsters come towards us now we're –
[ RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOR. ]
– ... doomed. Yes, exactly.
[ And yet nothing about the way she's behaving suggests that this is a problem for her. She is that used to it. ]
Any ideas?
no subject
[ a lie, he's been out of those for a few tags now.
wow, what a beaming and... inspiring expression. yes, it's a good thing he didn't get his hopes too high. death was inevitable thing, he's always been told. it's a video game. he's going to have to accept this loss with as much grace as he can muster, as there's no way he's doing something heroic like throwing himself at the monsters and giving her a chance at escape... but hey, that roaring one does show up precariously close to his heels. he probably has about ten seconds, if that, with the monsters' steady gain.
maybe he can look cool going out?! yes, he'll attempt dying coolly; an unparalleled and unprecedented calmness has come over him at the acceptance of how royally fucked they are. ]
Hey, oi— Can I get your name, at least!
no subject
You give up way too easily.
[ This, followed by a soft, not unkind laugh, is what she choses to give instead of the answer to his question, because she's difficult and contrary and names are for after you're away from the danger. Once the bulbous, grotesque source of growling has shown itself further down the embankment, Rapunzel leaps once into the air and lands just as the monster is tearing its way up through the fauna, closer and closer. She's tossed what appears to be a length of gold rope over a branch, though of course it's... actually her hair. ]
I think I've done this, like, four times in the past month. Cerealia has a way of forcing people to get used to things, you know?
[ And with that, she holds out a hand, gripping the end of her hair rope with the other. ]
Here's the plan: you and I climb one of these trees, use the other trees as a walkway, and lead these jerks to the edge of the arena. That way we can rid of them all at once! You know. Because it's electrified? The... edge, I mean. I-I tested it. [ COUGH ]
What do you say? Sound good or am I totally crazy?
no subject
[ sound completely, absolutely beyond crazy!! is what dies in his throat, as he instead forces himself to come to a decision. it's all rather impressive to him, the extent of it; he hadn't heard of any electrified barrier, nor would have ever thought of using — was that her hair? — as any sort of apparatus, really. even if she's done this a number of times, he'd have to commend her on her innovation. ... later, that is. he consoles himself that at least that laughter isn't mocking.
but, well. he did just comes to terms with the inevitably of death a few moments ago; if this plan doesn't work out, then he's better prepared for that. he's unsure what she means by using trees as a walkway, but perhaps leaping and balancing from branch to branch would have to become a possibility for him. he's certainly no professional tarzan, after all.
the situation doesn't leave a whole lot of time for hesitation. yes, it's crazy, and he's probably crazy for giving it a chance. stupid, probably, for trusting a stranger like this. he slides his hand into hers. ]
Just— Whatever it takes, all right?
no subject
It's been a weird handful of weeks. ]
Going up!
[ And that they are! Somehow she's fashioned a pulley system from the intricate loops of her hair around the tree and now they're both soaring up and towards the canopy, rising steadily over that crowd of monsters on their tail.
IT'D BE PRETTY DAMN COOL IF THEY WEREN'T RUNNING FOR THEIR LIVES. ]
no subject
Kaaaaaa - !
[ somewhat successful — that could have been much louder. his adrenaline is really putting him through the grinder. and she also has quite a bit of hair; he'll apologize later if something gets accidentally pulled. ]
[ marco will brace himself for eventual impact (hopefully, to nimbly land atop his feet on of some thankfully secure branch, or else latching onto one; alas, he is new to this business), knees bending and muscles tensing. ]
You — better be practiced at your landings too, I'd say!!