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 [ 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. ] |
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The moment she comes up and notices he's not, she immediately goes back under, grabbing his arm and pulling him back up to the surface as quickly as possible. She's not letting this poor sick guy drown on her. ]
Hey! Are ya okay?! Say somethin'!
[ THEY'RE FREE BUT AT WHAT COST. ]
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The feeling of the water closing over his head is too overwhelming for him to shake off; he's frozen rigidly, panicked, and doesn't move until she drags him back up to the surface.
As soon as his face breaks the surface, he's coughing and flailing a little weakly, trying to keep his head above the water (but not well).
He's definitely Not Okay.]
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C'mon, breathe! [ Dkjhsdg stop coughing she's concerned ... ] Ya must be sicker than I thought ...
[ No, Sapphire, he's just had a very bad experience. ]
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He'd been starting to recover, too, but trauma is hard to shake off, and being submerged in ocean water again like this is more than enough to paralyze him again.
At the moment, poor Sapphire's on her own.]
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Man, they're not even close to land, either. ]
Yer gonna live, ain't ya? Hey! [ Moving a hand to pat at his cheek. Wake up???
That's likely her last attempt at getting his attention, though. She can't spend their whole time at sea trying to get a response out of him when she should be swimming towards land. ]
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He'll probably come back to himself in a moment, but...... well.
This is the worst possible outcome for him, after what he's been through.]
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So she'll just go ahead and work towards fixing the problem then. Nothing to do here but take him and swim him to shore. So she positions herself so she has him on her back, and his arms hanging in front of her so she can make sure he's secure there.
And she'll just start swimming towards the direction she believes land is in. ]
Don't worry! I'm gonna get ya to safety soon!
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And then he realizes that he's on this random girl's back.
He startles, and then flails his way off of her, and ends up hitting the water and sinking again--though this time he catches himself, pushing himself back up to the surface with a gasp and treading water there for a moment, breath heaving as he stares around him with wide eyes.
Ah......... right. They fell in, and he...totally froze up there, didn't he? He still feels the faint threads of fear tugging at him, but he's more than aware that if they want to not drown here, he has to swim.
So, hoarsely, he'll call out--]
Keep going. I'll follow.
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Y-Yer okay now?! That's great! [ She's just glad he's feeling better.
And she nods. ]
Gotcha! We're almost there now!
[ She can still vaguely tell there's something a little off about him, but making it safely to land takes precedence. She can figure out how to help him afterward.
Except ... that whale is definitely about to show itself. ]
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And then they're dumped out into Cerealia, and Leon's left on the ground, coughing and gasping. There's no water now. It's only air. But his throat and lungs still burn as if it isn't, and it's difficult to forget what just happened.
Please hold.]
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Wh-What the heck just happened?! [ Don't tell her there was a city inside that whale because that is ridiculous.
But things that are also important right now: this poor choking boy. ] And are ya okay?!
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And he glares at her, but it's...pretty weak, honestly, and there's not a lot of bite to it.]
I'm... fine.
[Wheeze.]
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Yer sure? [ ... ] Are ya mad at me or somethin'?
[ She thought she was saving him ... ]
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He frowns at her somewhat tightly, but at least manages to shakily regain some of his balance and poise.]
... No.
[She didn't really do anything wrong, though he will stiffly hold a hand out to her.]
Give it back.
[His...earring....]
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And she reaches into her top to find it (because she probably stuffed it in there at some point during the watery craziness).
Then she holds it out to him. ]
Ya mean this, right?
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Leon snatches up the earring immediately, attaching it back into his ear to complete his transformation back into 90's teeny bopper heartthrob, and then... he fixes his hair and clothing, before he finally clears his throat.
This... is fine.
Right?
Okay. They're fine. They're on solid ground, and... breathing. And, so very stiffly:]
... It is appreciated.
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... Er, yer welcome? I was gonna give it back anyway.
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...You should not have taken it in the first place.
[QUITE FRANKLY.]
But regardless, you could have dropped it and you did not. For that much, I suppose I had ought to be at least somewhat grateful.
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Ya got any other suggestions on how we woulda gotten outta that bubble then? [ Because seriously, she needed that earring. ]
But thanks for yer ... gratitude, I guess.
[ He doesn't sound entirely thankful to her but MAYBE HE IS ... ]
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[Naturally, he's going to be difficult because he's Leon.
Hmph.]
... Don't thank me for that. That is a strange thing to thank anyone for.
[Also it's kind of embarrassing.]
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[ Because there was no other way to avoid the water, Leon. ]
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[When he was less... you know, seasick.]
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Oh yeah? Ya could barely come up with a sentence!
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[Help him.]
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[ He was sick and didn't come up with something, so it's over and done and they're safe. So stop complaining, grumpy! ]
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