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}
no subject
[Somehow, she wasn't expecting that. She should have been, for she knows his nature and she knows that he is too... good, she would say, not to try to remember someone. But she is too used to being forgotten, too used to feeling certain that she is not of any consequence to anyone, to anticipate the same treatment that she would expect him to give someone else. It feels odd - bittersweet.]
[But no matter the case, she regrets having caused him to have to try. If she'd known a few minutes ago what she knows now, she would have - should have - responded differently, she thinks. Would it have been right for her to engage him at all, knowing he wouldn't remember her and that it would trouble him so? Would she still have done it? She isn't sure, and if she were to think consciously of it, it would give her one more reason on top of many others to feel conflicted about her own morality.]
[There are more pressing concerns. He's asked the question without really asking the question, and she can fill in the blanks without batting an eyelash.]
[Less easy is deciding exactly how to go about explaining the answer to him. She must answer, that much is certain, because she will not leave him in limbo any longer than she has to; he has nothing to fear from her, and she wants him to know that. (She wants to know that, wants to believe that. She would never willingly hurt him, would never really willingly hurt anyone, but circumstances have been circumstances before, and--)]
I used to serve them, once.
[Her voice is somber, measured, eyes politely - guiltily? - on the floor by his feet. This particular aspect of the situation is one she didn't have the chance (or the bravery) to confess to him the last time they were introduced. Apprehensive though she is given her lack of information on the state of his memories, that's one thing she won't keep from him; she can only hope that his memory has not degraded so far that he's forgotten his less than amicable departure from that particular group. It's a weight off her chest, being able to tell him even that small portion of the truth, but it also makes that same part of her chest twist anxiously, for fear of his reaction. That's why her next words are,]
I no longer do.
[And she has grown to be the sort of girl who doesn't like to cast off blame, doesn't like to make excuses, but she doesn't dare hold her tongue on the subject in this particular context. He needs to know what her intentions are, that she has no loyalty to the Organization or any inclination to give him trouble on their behalf.]
It wasn't because I wanted to. At the time, I... didn't-- [-- think that she had any choice. That isn't quite it, though, is it? She was young. She was lonely. She was afraid. She hardly had the capacity to know better, hadn't had anyone to help her or protect or guide her, probably would have disappeared if she hadn't cooperated. None of those things, however, excuse it in her mind, and thus she does not claim them as her reasons. Her brows draw together, frown darkening her carefully maintained calm. There's something tight in the set of her mouth, eyes sad. To her, the reality of it is,] I thought things would be easier for me if I helped them.
But I... couldn't. [There's an unnerving sense of unbalance that she experiences as she tries to explain this, something that she wasn't prepared for even having foreseen the subject coming up. It's all the worse attempting to describe it to Roxas, of all people - but he probably deserves to hear it more than most anyone else.] They wanted me to hurt someone who-- [Her fingers curl, regret a moment too late for admitting to it, but the thought fights its way out all the same.] -- who didn't deserve it. ... Someone who was important to me. And I couldn't do that.
[Not anymore.]
no subject
when she admits that she no longer does, he eases, though still feeling wary. and as she presses forward and explains her circumstances (albeit in a vague way), he eases further. his expression morphs to something more sympathetic—or perhaps it's really empathetic, given how well he can understand that feelings.
things were easier helping the organization. easy, because he just had to do what they said. it wasn't until what they said conflicted with everything he wanted and the state of his friends that he realized it wasn't worth it. so for naminé to say that her reason includes the fact they wanted her to hurt someone important to her.
...he gets that. he gets that all too well.]
Yeah, that sounds like the Organization all right. They don't care about anything but getting what they want, even if it hurts others. [does roxas sound a little bitter about that? because he is. at least it's pretty clear that his disdain isn't for her, but for the organization itself, and the nobodies in it who remain.
it does beg a few other questions, but roxas needs to get past this first before he asks. his problems with them run so deep that hearing such a direct situation similar to his own draws out a lot of feelings he's pushed down over the last few months out of necessity. he's still angry about everything that transpired, but being in cerealia has done well at keeping his mind off it. until now, at least.]
no subject
[Or at least that he had the capacity to do so; his willingness was the only thing in question, and she wouldn't have blamed him in the slightest if he'd held more closely to the tension she could see clearly as he listened. And she wasn't angling for it, exactly, but in retrospect, she realizes how much what she said sounds like something he could have said, in his own similar experience. A part of her feels guilty, regretting her phrasing, wondering if she ought to have expressed more of her own failings--]
[But another part is intensely relieved. There's a tight knot that formed in the vicinity of her chest the moment she realized he had no idea who she was, and it's only - finally - as his expression becomes sympathetic that that knot begins to loosen. She's grateful, so grateful that he was willing to listen, and even though it's not in quite the same situation as she'd intended, he was able to understand.]
[She's always wanted someone to understand her.]
[Her head tucks slightly as she swallows her bittersweet gladness. There's no time to dwell on it now.] I.... [There's a soft sort of hesitation in her voice. She knows they aren't unwarranted, those words, despite there being at least some inclination lingering in the back of her mind to try to gentle that sentiment, that bitterness. It isn't that he's wrong, because his anger is wholly justified, but rather that she hates for him to carry around that resentment. Better that he approach it with a clear head - but now's not the time to fight that battle. There's a sadness in her voice, all the same, with her,] I can't say that you're wrong. They've done... many things that were very selfish.
[Her lips press together. She could have said the same thing about herself. Shaking her head, eyes downcast, she moves on.]
That's-- why we didn't meet sooner. After what happened with the Organization, I had to stay in hiding. I knew that if they caught me, it-- [would effect Sora, too, and everyone that depended on him, not to mention probably being the death of her - or worse, a return to hurting people.] -- it wouldn't be good.
no subject
[he mutters the words, bluntly and bitterly. that was always their solution to these things, wasn't it? if a nobody betrayed them or expended their usefulness, they lost any remaining free will they had.
xemnas kept everyone under his thumb that way. sure, saïx may have been a lot more heavy-handed about it, but it was all to meet the same ends. those in castle oblivion, xion—even roxas himself hadn't been free of threats like that. he knows it, too. it's meant that living in cerealia has been arduous at times—not knowing if or when someone would suddenly pop out of a corridor to drag him back to headquarters and try to end his life. they weren't above it.
so even without knowing what happened with naminé, he understands that much. there's no getting around the fact that her reason for being in hiding was because whatever did happen... they were after her. it does leave him to wonder who was tasked with finding her, and just what happened. they were missions that never met his ears, and axel never mentioned anything of the sort either...
(though he's not even sure why he'd expect axel of all people to tell him things. that's a can of worms for another day.)
of course, he doesn't know the greater implications of what her destruction would mean, and he'd really be none too pleased at this juncture if he was to learn he was supposed to return to sora; he and riku clashed enough over things of that nature.]
no subject
[She doesn't mutter. The word is clear as a bell - but it's soft, resigned, factual. There is no bitterness in it, only the weight of what she knows to be the uncomfortably heavy truth; no anger, but the faintest hint of something like sadness.]
['Or worse,' she wants to add. She doesn't. (That isn't a train of thought that she wishes to follow, especially not in his presence. They would undoubtedly have made her hurt him, too. Tried to, at least, and she, no matter how much she has grown, yet possesses a deep-seated fear that she would give in, were she truly to be tested. She can't allow herself to take that kind of risk.)]
That's why... I didn't have the chance to introduce myself to you for a long time, even though I wanted to. It wouldn't have been safe for either of us.
[And there are a thousand things she wants to tell him, almost as many that she wants to apologize for - but the most pressing, the one thing that she can't hold back, stems from his behavior, from his lingering anger; when she says,]
... But I'm... sorry. [It's in a peculiar sort of tone, made so by the nine-hundred-ninety-nine other reasons she has to say those words. When she clarifies which cause it is this time, it evens out.] For not finding some way to help you.
[Not until the end, that is.]
no subject
she's sorry, and roxas isn't really sure how to react to that. they've only just met, and he doesn't even know how she has a connection to him beyond also being a nobody. she wanted to help him somehow, but roxas doesn't even know how or why she would.
so how is he supposed to just accept an apology like that?
he can't, really. he can't understand how to do that when he's so in the dark about things. so roxas just shakes his head and says—well, just that.]
Don't... you don't have to be sorry. [he just can't let it be like that.] I don't even know... what you'd be sorry for.
no subject
... Of course you don't. [It's not an accusation; it's an agreement, utterly devoid of bitterness, soft and sympathetic and apologetic despite her choice to refrain from using the 's' word again.] It was... my mistake. I should have known better.
[It feels oddly like a lie, not divulging everything and beseeching his forgiveness immediately, but it would only make a mess. Peculiarly, she finds herself almost wishing for an interruption, that she might keep from sticking her foot in her mouth all over again. Silent for a moment, she regards him from across the space between them and wonders how everything got so... complicated. There's no table there now, no DiZ, no Riku, no Organization, and yet--]
Some day-- [She pauses, wavering briefly, and then, with the gentlest of smiles and something almost like determination,] -- it'll all make sense.
[It's a promise, and it's one she makes only in the privacy of her mind. Even if he hates her, in the end - even if it makes him never speak to her again, she'll explain it all, when the time comes. She owes him that much.]
no subject
[it's not really a very reassuring "okay," though. how could it be, when the fact that she's not telling him everything is clearly right there on the table in front of him?
it makes roxas uncomfortable, even if naminé means well by it. and maybe there's some innate feeling of knowing she doesn't mean harm by him for it—which is more than can be said for most of the lies that he's been fed over the last year or so. but it doesn't make him happy with the situation. all the same, he can't really find it in him to be as angry as he would be. the anger is still there beneath the surface, pent-up and ready to burst at the right provocation... which isn't this.
maybe he's too confused or overwhelmed by it, or maybe the fact that the organization has it out for her too stops him from lashing out. but he's still tense, and still completely unsure of what he's supposed to do or say next.
it's awkward. it's uncomfortable.]
no subject
[What she is afraid of, however, is making this any worse, and for an interminably long few seconds, it appears they are at an impasse, because he is visibly uncomfortable and so, though more subtly, is she. It was so much easier when she had a proper goal in mind and time to prepare herself mentally. Being thrown into things like this is not something she's used to, and it will almost certainly take her some time before she's able to move as quickly on her feet as she'd like.]
[Almost mercifully, a distant noise echoes faintly down the hallway, and she remembers suddenly where they are. That is to say, it is not a good place to be having this conversation. Giving a start, she turns, glancing back the way she came. No one is in sight yet, but--]
[Looking back at him, she falters only briefly; now she's found her goal, and that always has made it so much easier to find the words, too.]
We should... probably go.
[Both of them - whether that's together or not.]
no subject
it doesn't make naminé any less correct, though. sticking around like this isn't a particularly good idea, even if roxas is sure that he can handle it. and still, as awkward as things may be, and as much has he has a lot of questions and things he'll need to sort through on his own time...]
Do you need help getting out? [he remains unconcerned about himself, but he can't ignore the fact that she may need a hand. things are strange and he's not sure how to feel about her yet, but despite all that, they're not on opposite sides. even if they may be one day, while they're in cerealia, everyone generally works towards the same goal. so that means helping out a new arrival when things are dicey.
like now, for instance. he won't push if she thinks it would be better to handle alone, or if she desperately wants to escape this awkward situation (he sure does), but he'll ask anyway.]
no subject
[So perhaps she can be forgiven for that little spike of nervousness as her mind shifts back into the present moment outside of their conversation, expression setting into a frown.]
[She'd never have expected to feel it, but she could definitely use some time to regroup after that talk, herself. That doesn't mean, however, that she's going to take it, for there are more pressing matters than her own personal comfort, and if he's willing to accept her presence long enough to help make sure neither of them end up getting an unpleasant introduction to the business end of someone's sword, then she's not about to refuse. It feels backwards to be asking him for help - or accepting it from him, rather - but she'll just have to add it to her debt.]
[Grimly, she nods.] Yes, please. If it... wouldn't be too much trouble.
[Because the fact of the matter is, even were it to considerably lower her chances of making it out, she won't force the issue, either.]
no subject
[the whole situation is strange, and he probably won't have mich more to say as he tries to guide them through whatever stupid, convoluted puzzle ViViD has in store for them. but he still can't just leave her defenseless if she feels like she needs help.
they can both take the time to regroup later anyway—roxas is definitely going to need to. he's already a bit uncomfortable with this solely because he's not sure how he's supposed to feel about what she told him, or how much more he knows she has to be holding back. all the same, he'll be less worried in the meanwhile if he knows she's gotten out without too much strife.]
It shouldn't be hard. Just... follow me and be careful.
no subject
I'll do my best.
[... not to be a burden, she almost includes, but catches herself in time. Progress comes in many forms. That's probably why she hesitates before speaking again, despite how innocuous the words are.]
Thank you.
[Her tone is kept polite, matter-of-fact, trying to shy away from the double-meaning. Hands unclasping from each other to rest at her sides instead, she casts one last long look in the direction she came from before offering an advisory,]
I don't think it's that way. At least... I didn't see any safe way out over there, and the people--
[Well.] ... Might not be happy to see us. [To put it gently. (Not that she doesn't intend to follow him, because she does, but the blind oughtn't lead the blind unless there's no other choice, right?)]