estoria | //EVENT029.EXE

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//EVENT029.EXE

Who: Not CERES
When: OOC: 5/15 ; IC: 7/7
Where: Tropical ViViD Estates
What: CERES thought everyone deserved a bit of a break.
Rating/Warning: PG-13 for some questionable swimsuit choices. Please let the mods know if the rating should go up!

//event029.EXE

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.

//SCENARIOS.EXE

PHASE I

[ 0800 ] 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

[ 1000 ] 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

[ 1200 ] 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

[ 1500 ] 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

[ xxxx ] 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. ]

//RUN.EXE

Welcome to Cerealia's May 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

[After the desert, this is a welcome reprieve. A moist, tropical breeze, the familiar scent of sea-salt and the sound of waves lapping against the shore. To anyone who lived on Besaid as long as Yuna had, it felt like home. Picking herself up from where she'd been deposited and leaning heavily on her staff, the young Summoner surveys the beach. Starting towards a group of people, she realizes something. Her feet are bare. And that prompts a confused look down, her eyes widening in surprise as she sees her outfit. It's actually enough to make her squeak and jump back behind a sandy boulder. A...sandy boulder that just appeared out of nowhere, which is weird at that.]

W-Where are my clothes?! This isn't what I was wearing last! This is just...not appropriate at all.

Phase II

[The walls start to fall, the hallway starts to crumble, and this is distressing. Not entirely unexpected, given that it's a house made out of sand, but still...enough to take her off guard. Getting out is the priority. She has got to get moving! Yuna takes off at a sprint, her staff twirling while she runs, glowing sigils appearing all around her. She's getting near to the exit, and you, when an enormous creature appears. She's on it in a flash, pressed tight against it and holding out her hand for you.]

Climb on! He'll get us out of here! Hurry!

Phase III

[Well after that terrifying experience and the subsequent collapse onto the sand, Yuna slowly makes her way towards the only sign of civilization in the area: the smoothie shack. Staring at the chalkboard is really, really strange mostly because she's never heard of any of this stuff before. And never in all her travels had she seen her name attributed to anything before. Yunalesca yes, but this was her name. And that means she has to try it, right?

Right. After ordering, she takes one sip and immediately shivers.]

How much sugar is in this? I don't know what any of the ingredients is, but I feel like I might start vibrating if I have any more...

Phase IV

[The whale was an upsetting experience, but not nearly so upsetting as what came after. Yuna rather indignantly finds herself dropped down into a fountain, where she lands with a splash and a little whimper of discomfort. Rubbing her head, she picks herself up and looks down at her soggy clothes.]

Is it over...?

Yeah, it's over. [Says a voice from somewhere to her left where Hiro's stopped the moment Yuna crashes down into the water in the fountain. He pauses for a moment, eyeing her curiously even as she's rubbing her head.] You okay? That didn't really look too comfortable.

[Soggy, unhappy, and making her way out of the fountain, Yuna looks at the young with a mild look of irritation. It passes extremely quickly, barely even there, and is replaced with a half smile.]

I will be. I just fell, that's all. [A pause.] This is the actual place, and not that illusion? Someone told me all that wasn't real.

[At least that earns her a slight smile back. Sorry, Yuna, CERES isn't always the kindest to people.]

This is the actual place. Welcome to Cerealia. [A pause.] ViViD's a game that they make all of us play just to get out here. It's not real, but everybody knows about it and remembers everything that goes on in there anyway.

Yuna | OTA COME AT ME!

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