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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Duo is thankful, in the moment, that he'd got just a high fire power weapon. He continues to fire on the ... thing... as it comes at him, trying to figure out where, when he aims, might worst injure the creature. It doesn't seem affected until it realizes that the bullets hurt more the closer it gets, and then there's another one of those loud shrieks -
Duo's nose wrinkles, wanting to shiver at the sound, but - well, that wouldn't be good to do when firing a high powered rifle in his hands. He stops, for a moment, as he hears another roaring call, not wanting to be pinned down to one beast if another was coming. However, to Duo's shock, the smell of blood from the clawed beast has apparently drawn another? The braided teen looks between the two, waiting to see if the other monster was going to attack him for attacking the other or go after the bleeding fellow monster -
The seconds it takes for the beast to make his decision feels like hours, to him, but Duo's jaw drops as the beast lunges at it's fellow monster - and the two run off after each other. And for the moment, they're alone, and suddenly Duo remembers to breathe, pushing his bangs out of his face and letting out a long breath he didn't know he was holding, whispering under his breath.
"Holy mother what the hell is this place.."
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Kaneda finally sits up and sighs.
"Man, fuck that."
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"I might have to say my Hail Marys after this one.." Duo takes a deep breath and lets it out, making sure to keep his eyes peeled for anything or anyone else to try and make a pace past them, at them, whatever. Well, at him, more so than Kaneda, but if he had to shoulder the weight of the other teenager then he would probably, begrudgingly, do it.
After all, he'd ditched the kid.
"These things are... crazy strong."
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"It's a good thing you've got great footwork, eh?" Kaneda snorts, sarcasm dripping from his tone. Oh yes, he's totally remembered now!
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"Just call it a natural talent from runnin' about ten too many alleyways in my life." More like a few million, if he wanted to do the official count, but he wasn't really in to that kind of thing in the moment. And besides, as a kid? He'd been trying to escape people, not vagina mouthed monsters and things with claws like he'd never seen before in his life. Really - even with all the shade being thrown his way thanks to Kaneda, Duo is busy checking the clip of that rifle, making sure of what ammo is in versus what he has tucked away in his pants pockets, quietly grunting as he takes in how many bullets he fired in to the thing.
"What a waste. That thing took ten high cals and didn't even budge." Now to just ram that cartridge back in to place -
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"If I do somethin' here its what you deserve. Though that natural talent is useful..."
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"You gonna cry over it now?" Duo isn't quite sure how to take Kaneda, though he's pretty sure he's got his number pegged at the very least. He'd run in to a few different guys in his life like the kid he was with now, and almost all of them had run with him at one time or another on L2 and, at this point? We're highly likely to be dead by now. They could've defied the odds of the war, to be fair, but one could never be too sure. He snorts, though, at that thinly veiled threat, snapping the clip of the rifle back in to place, and then swiveling his eyes to look at the other teen.
"That's fine. But your head won't be the first to pop like a balloon from a high caliber rifle in my hands, just a disclaimer." He probably shouldn't invite the other boy to incite him, but hey. It was what it was. Duo hadn't been the one to vow to never kill again, after all.
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Kaneda isn't really looking to fuck Duo up, since they did kind of go through this together, but he's easily frustrated by this entire situation. He got his ass kicked by this creature and had to be saved by a runt like Duo (although Kaneda has no room to talk???).
It's all a pain in the ass. He nudges the other teen with his knee and huffs some more.
"Where'd ya learn moves like that, anyhow?"
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Duo is a hard nut to crack, when it comes to his temper, but there's some alpha male shit going on right then, and it serves to say that Duo isn't going to lay down and take about anything that Kaneda was willing to try and dish his way.
"Winnin' a war." And that's about as far as he was gonna go, with that one. "The details of where and when ain't really important."
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Though he does nudge Duo one more time, he steps away before he can get a bullet in his asshole, crosses his arms over his chest.
"Now what? Those things'll have heard that from miles away."