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.
|
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. ] |
![[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
[She absolutely didn't want to picture her a dumpling this way. Even if she is probably delicious.]
Ooooh, I wouldn't want to be the dreadlocked hamster in this dumpling...
[Now she's just getting everything mixed up. Maybe all the tossing and turning and hair mix is getting to her.]
[Maya's practically being crushed against said wings (which she finds very cool, for the record)]
Ow-- I--- no, but... I've got my hands! And you've got hands! So, let's, just...
[she tries to start untangling a bunch of their respective hair, and it might hurt a bit. Or, you know, a lot]
no subject
Oww! You're pulling too hard! STOP that!
[So, Maya, you might notice that when Muzét flinches at the hair-pulling, her hair starts to bristle in your hand a bit. Yes, that means it's moving. In a manner that's sort of like the twitching tail of a very annoyed cat.]
no subject
Oh.. S-Sorry...!
[what the heck]
no subject
[She concentrates, and her hair calms down. And then, it starts unwinding and slithering away from Maya's, untangling itself all on its own. There's not a lot of room in here, though, so it starts gathering up in a way that's up and away from Maya.]
[So. I guess that mean Muzét's getting a bun on her head, too.]
There! That's a bit better, isn't it?
no subject
[She freezes up while the hair is doing its thing, still weirded out, but once she's free of it, she looks suitably impressed.]
That's loads better!
[She straightens out of her own mess of hair]
How did you do that? That was so cool!
no subject
Oh, we spirits are blessed with all kinds of cool and unusual powers!
no subject
Oh! You're a spirit! No wonder!
[Maya, is this really the time to get excited... they're stuck in a bubble together with minimal air]
But I've never met a spirit with hair powers! I guess you guys come in all shapes and sizes, huh?
no subject
Indeed! Why, you should see me side-by-side with my sister. She hardly even looks like me.
I can also do this. Watch!
[She takes a hairpin out of her hair. ... who even knows where it was buried in there. And then, she holds it in the palm of her hands for Maya to see.]
[Suddenly, a little black hole appears in her hands, and it disappears! In the same blink of an eye, another one appears on Maya's side of the bubble -- and te hairpin falls out, waiting for Maya to catch it.]
Even among spirits, this type of power is rare! [Aaaaand she's totally using it for parlor tricks instead of, you know, warping them out of the bubble.]
no subject
Heh, heh. Well, I know a little about that... aside from us both being gorgeous [well I mean Maya can't even hope to compare to Mia, and she knows it, but hey] my sis and I didn't look too much alike, either! Even though we're both spirit mediums. Well, I'm in training.
[Maya, with her priorities being what they are, has no issue with this. She stares in amazement and almost fails to catch it, but manages to seize it before fumbling]
Wooow! That's so cool! It's like you're really thinking with portals!
[If Muzet just wants to let Maya stroke her ego until she runs out of breath, it looks like that might be possible]
no subject
... strange, that I've never heard of such a thing. After all, I don't have all the best spirit powers by accident. I am one of the Great Spirits of this... well, of my world.
[She cants her head to the side, casually, as if trying to look cool and elegant and not shoved into an oversized hamster ball.] What is it, exactly, that you are training to do with us?
no subject
[It's working. Maya's far too easily impressed and far too easily distracted. Despite the terrible jokes]
Weeeelll... our spirits are different. We can't usually just roll and talk like this, and we don't have any Great or Good or Okay spirits or anything like that, just spirits! But channeling them, mostly. I guess talking too.