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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ii
[He's really, really grown to hate these sessions. Once upon a time, virtual
fightingsparring had been as close to the real thing as he could get, and it was a decent way to show off (in the hopes that someone, someday, would finally realize the potential he knew he was capable of).Those days are long gone, he's seen plenty of action in his own right, and given what's going on outside the program? This feels like a gigantic waste of time.
He can feel the intent to shoot as he approaches, not much by way of helpful foreshadowing, and he knows the man (new, or just very committed to the game) feels no qualms over it.
Anakin pushes buttons because he knows he can. Knows this isn't real, and even--it seems--if you die in real life, it doesn't stay so permanent. The threat doesn't quite hold the same weight. He emerges regardless, arms crossed rather than up. He's not about to make a plea, here.]
Shoot me?
no subject
He doesn't miss a beat as he aims the gun and fires it, the bullet burying itself in the ground a few inches from one of Anakin's feet.]
Consider that your first warning. If you wish to lose this game then I will be more than willing to shoot you. Then again, it will more than likely end that way regardless. [ He'll be winning this simulation, there's no doubt about it in Hux's mind. His own work would be what set him apart from the standard Empire Generals of old and if he had to win something like this to prove a point then so be it.] Name?
no subject
To Anakin's credit, he doesn't flinch. He still half expects a blaster when it's hard metal that punctures the ground beneath his feet, and vaguely wonders what would have been worse. He knows what he's dealing with how, however, and that's better than naught. He hadn't been left with his lightsaber as he entered the program, hadn't stopped to grab a weapon, but he's not unarmed for all that he looks it. Maybe ViViD only provides an approximate mimicry of the force, but it's good enough.
Still, he doesn't move beyond a casual shrug and an infuriating smirk. At the end of the day, he's still called the man on his bluff.
Anakin would have gone for a kneecap, at least.]Wait, you still think you get something out of this by winning? We're here. We're all losers by default.
[A fact he's not particularly keen on, in the simulation or out of it. He pauses a moment and considers: the man either knows nothing of jedi (hardly a surprise at this point, given Cerealia's company), or he does and he's...what? A separatist? Worse? His name's always the way to suss that out, isn't it?]
Anakin Skywalker. You have a name, Slick, or are we sticking with that?
[
He's known enough Clones who never chose one, a designation really wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility...though maybe easier to swallow were the man a clone when he is clearly very much the furthest thing from.]no subject
There's almost an entire train of emotions flitting quickly and briefly across Hux's face before he managers to try and rein it in. There was shock, mostly, that someone with that kind of name was even in such a place. Considering the information, it wasn't impossible people could be taken out of their own times but this was quite frankly ridiculous. Swift on the heels is the disbelief, as if a Skywalker could even be here.
Along comes the sneer as Hux opts for complete and utter disregard of what he's just heard, some of it aimed at the nickname he's suddenly been assigned. Hux doesn't even want to think on how he has seen a similar appearance on board the Finalizer. That direction was madness.]
General Hux, you'd be wise to use that name. And I don't intend to be a loser, if I can win this then so be it. Opting to fail on principle is only for idiots.
no subject
[He laughs. He shouldn't, knows he shouldn't, but he does. He remembers being wrapped up enough in this to think it mattered, not having anyone to tell him otherwise.
No one but a certain smuggler he refuses to think about right now.Anakin isn't blind to that flash of surprise, not when he's been hoping someone--anyone--recognizable might be pulled into this shithole of a colony where he still has a chance to fix what might be. It's exactly the kind of shock he's been focused on. What he doesn't understand is why.]
I've known a lot of generals in my time, but unlike you, most of them knew when to pull back.
no subject
[ Really. Even if he didn't win a prize (which is doubtful to begin with), the very idea of waiting to lose just chafes Hux so. At the end of the day people will talk and he knows what he'd rather people said about this whole event. It didn't involve getting shot for starters.
Hux pointedly pulls the safety back with a click, his own surprise now buried deep.]
And unlike them, I don't have an army at my back at this moment in time. For someone claiming to be a Skywalker, you seem very full of yourself.
no subject
[He sure as hell doesn't intend to do so, anyway. Survival in a game setting, he's found, is somewhat questionable when it comes to survival beyond it, and he's not about to willingly risk the latter for the former.
In terms of information, in fact, he feels he's gained an upper hand. If he pieces that together with anything he's learned (i.e.: all the things he's still actively trying to deny), the esteemed General has either heard of him, or that progeny that becomes more real every day.
He feels the intent, feels the mechanism in the machinery click in harmony, and while a pistol with physical projectiles seems so ridiculously archaic, he knows what's coming.
After a pause, failing to rein in the smirk that's settled somewhat permanently:]
I do seem to get that a lot. [He shrugs.] Go ahead and play their game, Slick, but don't delude yourself into thinking it means anything.
no subject
[ Hux hears that taunt, briefly debates if he just wants to shoot the guy and move on or try to at least get some information. The other did say Skywalker and the General didn't believe in coincidence. Some other smart ass in the galaxy would say the Force was at work but in Hux's opinion that was crap too.]
I can't imagine why you'd get that a lot. And it's not all about winning, but merely being the best. [ Information soon overrules the necessity to kill, so Hux simply points the gun at Anakin's foot and pulls the trigger, expression distasteful at how noisy the dammed weapon was.]
no subject
Quite a lot of grandstanding for being the "best."
[HYPOCRITE.]
You think following their rules does that? [Oh no. Watch out, Hux, he's smirking.] No. That only happens when you're willing to break the game.
[Or "fix" it, so to speak, but he lacks enough familiarity to get into that, and this is hardly the time. He's not even sure if this esteemed general of force-knows-what is even going to listen.]
no subject
You think not following the rules gets you out of here? If that were the case I'd imagine you would be long gone. [ Breaking the game is a curious enough comment though, one that actually gets Hux's full attention.] You can only break a simulation if you find the control vents and even then it has to be the one that stems the power flow. Overcharge it and the whole thing goes down.