
You know what everyone needs after rampant robotic attacks and another iteration of clone wars? A vacation! That’s right everyone, you deserve this. CERES understands what you need. CERES is here for you all the time, so never doubt that this is a pleasure colony, and they are here to look after all of your needs. Kick your feet up, relax, and let CERES Recreation and Activity Necessity Keepers (Team RANK, that is) set you up with your ideal getaway. It’s as if you can sense the incoming relaxation and luxury before you even completely finish loading. There’s the warmth encompassing your entire body as your code gets transferred into this particular ViViD Level. A cool, refreshing breeze hits you. The sounds of waves gently lapping against the coast fill you with relaxation. The sun, the sand, the surfs, it’s all there – welcome to the beach, baby! An echoing greeting message from the ocean comes next, if you can translate it.
 OOOOOOOOOOOOHMAHH GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHD. YOOOOOOOOOOOORRRALL SOOOOOOOOOOOOO KYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT. KYOOOOOOOOOOOT EEEENAAAAUUUUUUUF TOOOOOOOOOOOOO EEEEEEEEEEEEEEET.
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PHASE I [ 08 00 ] That said, isn’t that breeze a little… too strong? It feels like it’s brushing up against all of you, if you know what I mean. When you open your eyes and look down, it becomes rather clear why. It seems that you’ve found yourself in some pretty interesting attire. Everyone. No exceptions. You appear to have two options – be overcome and scream like the Victorian maiden your heart says you are, or strut like a model in this stuff. Turn some heads! Work that up do!
But don’t worry, we’re also conscious about safety here at CERES! Therefore everyone’s also been provided a pair of super high-tech safety-tested appendage protection floatation devices (STAPFD for short.) At least everyone around you is caught in the same sort of attire – and everyone around you also appears to be stuck inside a giant sand castle. It’s entirely malleable to what you want it to be! Want to see a fancy sand bidet? Feel like adding a sand statue in your honor? Think that wall should now be a door? Well, with enough perseverance, you can make it happen!
Just uh, be careful about getting sand in your… everywhere.
PHASE II [ 10 00 ] Someone broke it. Not pointing any fingers, even though you sure do seem like a prime suspect, but someone broke it. It almost starts like an earthquake with how the castle starts to rumble, the sand shaking right beneath your feet. And then the walls right next to you start to cave in followed promptly by the ceiling right… above your head. Oh dear. The sand starts to run and fall, losing its structure and shape. The hallway behind you starts to cave in, ceiling first and then the walls follow suit. Now the sand really is getting everywhere – but not just uncomfortable places. It’s in your hair, your eyes, your nose…. this sure doesn’t seem like a pleasant way to go! Best to start running – there’s a trusty drawbridge to get over the moat (because what’s a sandcastle without a moat?) but who knows how long until that, too, is going to give way? Best to cross over it before it starts to shake and disappear too. Or if you don’t make it, hopefully you can land some pretty impressive airtime to make it to the other side!
If not, well...there'll be the sensation of sand crushing down upon you, filling your mouth and eyes, and you won't be able to breathe at all – and then you're alive again on the beach (but possibly in yet another new, uncomfortable, skimpy swimsuit). Honestly, be more careful, would you?
PHASE III [ 12 00 ] However, once you do make it to the other side, it’s all smooth sailing from there! Or is it? Hah, as they say, life sure can be a beach. Which is what this is. Welcome to your Beach Episode, folks. Now that you’ve made it out of the collapsing sand castle, you’ve made it to the luxurious, picturesque golden coastline. Sure, you’re coughing up fine, luxurious, sand dust right now and you’ve definitely gotten sand in all of your crevices thanks to your swimsuit, but that’s okay! Go take a soak in the ocean or something or cool off with a smoothie. There’s a smoothie shack off into the distance, complete with a long chalkboard with… well, probably a few familiar names? And some unfamiliar ingredients. Sounds appetizing right? That said, once you do ingest some of the smoothie with the name of a newcomer, you might suddenly find yourself feeling a bit… different. You’ll be taking on some of their traits, one of the most intense parts of their personality – or you might need to take a second to sit down because you’re suddenly seeing one of their memories. Whoa. What do they actually put in this stuff?
PHASE IV [ 15 00 ] For the brave souls that venture out into the water, you have even more adventures waiting for you. Anyone who’s swimming around, wading in the water—hell, even looking at the water is getting scooped up and deposited in one of these giant orbs. But don’t take up too much room, because someone else is getting shoved right in there with you. Time to get cozy with your new friend, because it's only going to get worse as the waves begin to carry you out into this big, blue, virtual ocean. Hopefully the choppy waves don’t bounce you around too much or – well, you could always get really friendly with a stranger! Why not? At least until it’s made very clear that fresh air does not make it back into these balls. That seems like a bit of a design flaw. Now what? Fight the other person who’s inhaling all your air? Suffer through it for swimsuit-clad fun? Or if you break it…. well, you sure are stranded out in the ocean. Or are you? After enough flailing, you’ll be met by a giant, dumb-looking creature who will then eat you whole. Everything goes dark. This is surely the end --
And then you're in Cerealia proper; it seems that was the exit to the level (but why there?) and you'll find yourself either in one of the fountains or the pond in the park. Either way, you'll be very, very well. And this time, that's not virtual. But hey, at least you'll have all of your stuff with you.
BONUS [ xx xx ] Do you hear that? Anyone idle on the beach will hear a distant melody coming from further out into the ocean. It’s a beautiful, elegant song that automatically makes the listener stop what they’re doing and immediately wander toward the noise. It takes you a moment to recall – it takes a moment to think about anything now, really – but you remember hearing the smoothie shack owner say something about mermaids populating the beach. Could this be their song calling out to you? Whether you would normally abide by this kind of call or not, you find your feet walking further and further out into the water, the shallows lapping up to your ankles and up and up as you are drawn in by the song. A rather classic song, though the usual instances of French are also replaced with the very enticing, enchanting nonsense promise of omelette du fromage........and then they try to drown you.
[ 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. ] |
kaden | ota
[The advantages of having a bushy tail is that even if his honor is at stake, he will never be as naked as everyone else is with their outfits. It was an odd outfit in its own right, and he doesn't understand the point of revealing your butt to the world (he's shameless, but he thinks that this level is closer to a dark mage's than his), but it could be worse. At least he can easily cover it up with his tail and pretend he was just walking in his underwear.
Not really as bad as the guys struggling to hide their shame that's out in the world.
Still, the drinks on the board were very curious, and heck-- no one had honor left here, so he feels a bit miffed when his own branded drink requested that, but it certainly looked interesting. It's enough to have him sniff around for people to bug, smiling brightly as he tries not to wag his tail.]
Hey, hey~ Can you do me a favor? It's not a hard, I promise! I just want someone to order a Kale-den.
[Look at his shining grin. Look at it. He's like an excited puppy.]
phase iv.
[Teeny tiny space. Teeny tiny space. No one likes teeny tiny spaces.
Kaden pouts as he punches the surface of the ball, testing its malleability. When it ends up rolling instead, he lets out a long 'whoooaaaa' and tumbles inside, losing his footing and ending on his ass. Now, unless you're under that ball, that might not seem so bad. Or under him. That might be awkward.]
Sorry, uh-- maybe we should head back?
[Is it just him or does it feel too stuffy in here? Not that he wanted to go in, but he kind of just got roped into it. He doesn't seem too bothered, just baffled at the device as he tries to figure out his footing.]
3!!
But there's something more important to address here.]
Kale-den? Why so...?
[Why does he look so excited?]
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[He sounds cheerful, maybe too excitable-- but wow, this place is strange and new and kind of silly! He likes it.]
See, my name is Kaden. Kale-den. I bet all these drinks are named after everyone here, right?
[His ears perk up, and if she found him distracting enough, that might not help.]
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phase iii.
...why? [ He sounds honestly mystified. ] I don't think it's a good idea to drink anything on that menu.
[ Look at this buzzkill trying to ruin the beach episode... ]
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[Because shameless self-advertising is part of the job, especially with such a fox like him. It comes with the whole shebang.]
Besides, I want to know what a hipster tastes like.
iii
He really should just call it a day. ]
You can't be serious? [ Well, he's got an unlikely helper here, that's for sure. ] You're actually going along with this?
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Why not? It's already there, isn't it? Besides, aren't you curious?
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[Felicia sighed, somehow relieved that it was Kaden, of all people, that she had found first in this strange beach. Out of all the people she had met (besides Niles), he was one of the ones who was least likely to care about their current clothing predicament. Nevertheless, she kept her trusty palm frond in hand as a protective measure, even if the sides of the stem threatened to slice open her fingers with the delicacy of a sharpened blade.
She giggled, somewhat nervous because of all of the entire situation.]
You know, I'm really glad that you're here, Kaden. Maybe things really will be okay!
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[Honest question, and kind of weird. He doesn't see her as the type to care for which side of the boot she needs, and she doesn't need three of them, right?
Oh, and she's weirdly dressed and he's careful to be polite and stare at her face and not... lower.]
Hahaha~ [He does sound cheerful nonetheless.] It's weird, huh? You think we just ended up in the wrong place?
[Look, they have different worlds, after all. Could be another one they didn't realize.]
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iv
Unlike Kaden here, Giorno will have a rather easy time handling the ball and stops moving after he has fallen down. Going back is a good idea but given how it was kind of hard to see where "back" was with how there was ocean everywhere they looked— ]
I don't think that'd be a good idea. [ He'll stabilize himself before offering a hand towards him, trying not to stare at the fox ears and tail too much. IT'S WEIRD OKAY. ] Do you need help getting up?
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I'm good, I'm good! I've just never been in anything like this before.
[And he stays seated, if only because he knows he'll fall down again.]
Say, do humans really like using such a strange machine to travel? I've never seen one like this!
Phase IV
How? It doesn't look like there's a way out of here.
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[Oh. Oh. That's another problem, isn't it?]
Uh... maybe we can yell for help?
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3
[ Kogi's baffled at that last ingredient. Exactly what kind of vegetable, fruit, or meat is 'hipster tendencies'? Do they have to squeeze a hipster until its tendencies come out? Is there an extract for that? The heck. ]
And how do I pay in honor? Do I have to honor you in order to get one of these smoothies?
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[The question makes him laugh though, and it's sheer willpower that keeps him from letting his tail sway with delight. Look, this guy sort of reminds him of him! Foxy ear shaped hair and all.]
Well~ I don't really know! I was hoping you can help me figure it out.
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iv
Swords aren't meant for the ocean...and so, while he pushes himself back up: gosh, it's hard for fox to climb back up without clothing to hold onto.]
Ah...do you know how, exactly?
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[So tiny. So so tiny. Probably like the size of a baby, but Kaden isn't familiar with any full-grown fox that small, so he's definitely a kit, right?]
Oh, uh... no, no idea. Where did we start from anyway?
[As he asks, he looks at Nakigitsune closely, curious. Is he a friend or a master or maybe the kit's pet? Who knows.]
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iii
[ Holding up a finger to indicate he should wait, she's busying herself with looking over the menu to see what he's going on about. A Kale-den? ]
What kind of cost is that?!
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[A drink, it looks like, but he's not sure of the taste. Still, she does ask him the same question he wondered earlier.]
Huh... I guess this isn't a common human menu after all. [His ears twitch as he crosses his arms in front of him, leaning his weight on one leg as he contemplates.]
Hmmm, it's not money, but honor... I was hoping that maybe someone else can show me how to pay that. My drink has hipster tendencies, after all!
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iii
[This young child blinks and looks over at the board. Huh, those ingredients aren't too bad. Cucumber and lemongrass? Sounds like a cool, healthy drink. But what is a hipster tendencies?
And then he tilts his head at the price.]
I... would say I don't mind. But how do I pay in "honour"?
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Mmm, no clue. Actually, that's what I was hoping you can show me.
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iii
[ he grins, figuring that it must deal with his name after helping his mother pay for her drink but then he takes a look at the prince and just raises an eyebrow ]
Honor for a drink? Seems a little much, I think.
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[It's... clearly why, right? Look, he's an awesome and cool fox, and he has super nice hair. This is totally why this drink is made for him.]
Ahaha, do you think it's really honor? I thought maybe it's some sort of object! You can't really pay with honor right?
[While he's speaking, why does this guy look so familiar?]
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[Kouha doesn't know why this guy isn't ordering his own drink, but this could be funny, so he'll go with it. He smirks for a second, right before he continues speaking.]
But only if you're paying!
[Hell if he knows how to pay in honor, so he's making it Kaden's problem.]
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3
Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasp!
[She actually says the word out loud.]
You're sooooooooooo fluffy! I want to pet you! Dibs on your tail! ...Wait, no, it's covering something gross. Dibs on the ears!
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