estoria | //EVENT027.EXE

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//EVENT027.EXE

Who: Bachelors/Bachelorettes #1-60 and you!
When: IC: 6/7 ; OOC: 3/15
Where: CERES' new Dating Experience
What: There's no way to get to know each other quite like going on a date.
Rating/Warning: PG-13 for Questionable Situations and a healthy dose of violence. Please let the mods know if the rating needs to go up, or the log needs to be locked!

//event027.EXE

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.

//SCENARIOS.EXE

PHASE I

[ 600 ] 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. ]

//RUN.EXE

Welcome to Cerealia's March intro log! For your convenience, we have compiled the characters' arrival experience here, and should you have any questions, feel free to ask them here! You can also check the FAQ for more general inquiries. Should this event log hit Captcha, there is an all-purpose overflow here. Thank you!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

PHASE I
[Yeah, okay.

Or: Gau in his finery, which honestly makes him look more like a middle schooler going to homecoming in a cheap suit than a young man in a tux, stands there and fumes quietly over his profile. If he could scribble all over this profile somehow and make it more accurate, he would-- but it's too late now, as the old man is saying something and his attention is abruptly focused on "Hunger Games" (what??) and the pile of weapons.

Oh.

... Oh.

It's purely luck that's placed Gau somewhat close to the center of the room, which is the only reason he manages to throw himself into the fray with some chance of getting his hands on a weapon that doesn't suck. The obvious problems - he doesn't know how to use any of these, he can hardly lift most of them - are being ignored right now. He might look like a little dweeb who can't fight and he sure is, but he understands kill or be killed more than he probably should.

Still, when he elbows an NPC in the face for trying to get their hands on a sword he literally cannot lift higher than his knees, he's not making the best first impression.]

Excuse me!! This one is mine, thank you!

[watch your kneecaps while he tries to swing his way out of this crowd]

PHASE III
[How Gau has managed to make it to the camping stage on his own unscathed is a strange miracle - he's as weary and exhausted as anyone, maybe even more so, but what he's really great at is itemizing supplies. Really, really great. He probably budgeted how much water he can drink for the next X days, just in case this stupid game never ends.

What that leaves him with is a small but respectable cache of supplies and the precisely-counted paranoia required to keep them accounted for, if not perfectly guarded. He turns his back only briefly when someone tries to get at his stuff, and when the lights go on it's honestly hard to tell if it's because of you, trying to steal his things, or Gau, trying to swing a big stick into your face like a baseball bat. His aim isn't exactly on point, but...

Don't touch his shit??]

I'm going to ask you very nicely to take your hands off tonight's dinner rations! If you're in need, just ask. Don't be an idiot!

[why]

wildcard
[anything.....]

[Kouha already has one sword in hand, but a second one doesn't sound like a bad idea. Too bad someone that looks as ready to fight as an angry kitten already has their hands on it. He dodges the swings, but that just makes him more determined to get it away from this idiot.]

No way! If you can't even use it properly, you don't deserve to have it!

[Cough up the sword, nerd!!]

[Are you condemning him to death already!! Gau looks more offended than anything at that, and while he stops swinging the sword to glower, it's heavy and he stumbles as it swings a bit more than he wanted it to of its own volition.

He's graceful and this is his sword, who do you think you are.]

Erk-- I'm keeping it! [To emphasize this point, he quite literally hugs the hilt of it to his chest. No!!] What could you possibly need two for?

[He's beauty, he's grace, he'll fall right on his face...

Kouha gives him a flat look, keeping a good grip on his own sword just in case somebody like Gau wants to try reversing the situation. That would look super dumb.]

For a back-up, obviously. Do you know how easy it is to lose a sword when things get this crazy?

[Not that he's some serial sword-loser or something, but still. It's the principle of the thing!]

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