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.
|
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. ] |
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
I
But as he continued to look around somewhere, that's when he eventually made it to the hiding spot of one Duo Maxwell. Of course, he hoped that maybe he could just stay around and not make a single sound.
...That is of course until he took a small step back and made a slight noise. Whoops.
no subject
Duo had eventually found himself a dark corner where he could stick himself in a small space and let things play out. After that was done, then he'd wander in to what was left and see what there was left to take care of - of course that sounded really cruel and crass, treating it like something that he could just wait out but.. it was better than wasting his bullets on people who could be seen to in other ways, and it was less weight on his shoulders too.
At least until there's a .. crawling shadow headed his way, and then Duo is pulling his pistol, waiting it out and watching whoever this was. They looked like a kid - so naturally, he wasn't going to just shoot to kill to begin with, even though he was tempted.
But, as the noise is made, he does hiss out: "Stop. Making. Noise."
Or else!
no subject
What was he suppose to do now? While he could have Patamon evolve, would it make things worse? Not to mention that there was a chance he could get seriously hurt again. It just wasn't fair at all! When did the ViViD get this violent anyway?
Still, while he didn't say anything, he wasn't sure should he make another move. The last thing he wanted to do was make him mad!
no subject
Duo's able to see enough to be able to get a shot off, if he has to, and wonders what kind of weird dog Patamon might be, but for the moment he's more concerned with warding off anyone that might've followed them this way if they were being too loud and drew them in. And, as if his thought had drawn them in, Duo's pistol hand jerks, re-aims, and fires at a figure who had turned toward them. It hits in the shoulder, and the person hits the floor with a shout of pain, though Duo doesn't seem the least bit affected by the fact that he's just done that.
"See? Ya draw people in movin' around too much." He moves to check the clip of his pistol, for a moment, making sure of how many bullets he has in his clip and on his person.
"Let 'em get each other all they want, and then worry about how you're gettin' out."
no subject
"T-Then do you know any way out of here? There's got to be some way without having us hurt so many people." Of course, he was being hopeful right now. If there was a way for him to avoid fighting, he would.
But just, how could he?
no subject
"Yeah, it's real simple. You wait here, quiet, until they're done killin' each other out there and then bolt your ass out the door." He could tell that this wasn't necessarily this kid's kind of ... area, so to speak. Which was understandable. Anyone who wasn't used to the chaos of battling and killing was going to be scared and teary eyed when they were suddenly thrust in to the situation when they hadn't expected to be, much less asked to be. He'd be terrified too, he supposes, but at the moment he's leaning around to try and gauge the gore of the situation at the moment.
"If you aren't down for fighting you might as well just hunker down somewhere and wait it out."
no subject
"Well, I could fight if I wanted to. But I was hoping there was another way outside of harming everyone like this!" If there was one thing Takeru learned throughout his stay here? It was to fight even if he didn't like it. Sure, he knew that fighting was necessary but if there was another way, he'll take it. As he got his DigiVice out, he looked back at Duo before looking out at the chaos before them.
Despite his shaking, he really didn't want Patamon to evolve. Not in this chaos anyway. But if he has do, then do be it. He just didn't want to be seen as weak.
"I could have Patamon evolve and knock everyone out! Maybe we can do that instead!"