Lightning flashes. Thunder booms and rain patters on the roof. It’s all about ambience here in ViViD, of course. You gotta set the mood!
Welcome to the Pleasurable Super Youthful Caring Hospital Stage, PSYCHward for short. It works, shut up. It’s a stage created for your well-being, health and happiness. Be careful, though. The first step you take in the dilapidated asylum carries you right into a puddle.
Look down, and the puddle is red.
Ah.
Of course it’s blood.
It’s only going to get even more fun from here.
 Good Day. I Am The New Introducer For ViViD Levels. Mosley? Who's That?
Anyway, Please Have Fun And Remember To Be Safe. Safety Is Our First Priority At CERES.
Thank you. Enjoy.
|
PHASE I [ 4 00 ] The first room any people familiar with the ViViD song and dance routine will find is one that is...wonderfully full of body bags. Body bags everywhere -- on the floor, on the shelves, uncomfortably tossed over the back of a chair...and each body bag has a helpful tag.
Handy.
Of course, within each bag is a newcomer; they won’t be able to escape the body bags until someone else unzips them. They’re dressed in little more than hospital gowns, toe tags still attached to bare feet.
Welcome to ViViD! Enjoy your stay.
Of course, there has to be an element of surprise to it. Some body bags contain living, breathing newcomers, yes. But the others?
These contain corpses. The toe tag on them indicates a loved one or someone important to you -- or someone you hate beyond all else. You open the bag, and there is their face, achingly familiar and frozen in death...but blink and suddenly they’re the corpse of a nondescript stranger.
PHASE II [ 600 ] Step out of that room and now it’s the asylum proper. Lights flicker. It’s dark, but it’s still more than clear to anyone with ears -- something’s stalking everyone in this place.
The shadow flickers on the wall, the lights go out -- you turn a corner and there it is, jumping out at you with an unearthly cackle --
A puppet.
It hangs there limply, utterly harmless.
All around the facility, these harmless puppets lurk. In lockers, behind doors, in dark halls…
But they’re all literally inanimate and harmless. Whose dumb idea was that?
PHASE III [ 1000 ] But slowly, the atmosphere changes. Go in deeper, and the sounds around deaden until there’s nothing left but the dark all around and the sound of your own breathing. And yet, irrevocably you know, whether as an aspect of the level or something else entirely --
Something is actually hunting you now.
It makes no noise. It can’t be seen. But it’s stalking, and it’s on the hunt.
To make matters worse, now the asylum seems to have become a proper maze, with dead ends everywhere, and practically no light to see them by.
And the only other souls you’ll see are the other people stuck in the maze -- but there’s something not quite right about them either. You can see...bits of their code, lurking under the surface of their skin, and as you watch, it’s being corrupted, bit by bit, the longer they’re in the dark.
If you look down, it’s happening to you too.
Better hurry.
There’s only one way out.
PHASE IV [ 1400 ] And then you step through a doorway into light.
You escaped the maze, but this is an asylum, and you’re about to see why. There are rows upon rows of cages of aliens. They cry out and reach out through the bars with webbed or clawed hands or tentacles, begging for release.
Let them out, or don’t -- the exit to Cerealia proper is right there at the end of this room, inviting and safe.
But if you do elect to let them out, the entire room suddenly goes silent.
And there, in that cage you opened, there is no longer an alien, but instead a doll. And it’s watching you. Stay any longer, and the doll with start to move, reaching -- and if it touched you, suddenly you’re the one locked away behind bars.
On the plus side, when you take the exit to Cerealia, it’ll deposit you in the Pleasure District, where massagebots will reach for you to try to drag you in for a sensual massage.
Welcome!
PENALTY [ ???? ] You were caught in the maze.
It’s hard to say even now what it was that caught you, but now you’re strapped down to an operating table, and there’s a flat-faced doctor standing above you.
The restraints can’t be broken.
There’s a prick of a needle, and you fall unconscious -- and that’s probably a mercy. When you wake up, you’ll be back in the asylum somewhere, but missing a sense -- the one from your character’s application will be gone. A character who is sight will have been blinded, for instance, and a character who is touch will feel nothing. This will last until they log out of ViViD and get into Cerealia.
[ 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. ] |
Welcome to Cerealia's July 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! |
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iv
A special that will be met with a vigorous head shake from Human Two right here, and a very firm, very decisive:]
No, thank you.
[Edgeworth turns to Pyrrha. Clearly the young woman is about as interested as he is in a massage. He jerks a thumb toward the front door.] Let's leave.
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She might have smiled to be reminded, in a different moment. As it is, Pyrrha's expression are worn down, indicating as little as necessary.
Nodding, she complies, putting thoughts of that past out of her mind. ]
I think that would be best.
[ Follow follow! That's what she'll do. ]
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Last time, we came out into a fountain. And now...
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... Last time?
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He nods.]
Yes. The previous batch of newcomers arrived in an entirely different setting, and emerged into a fountain.
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I hope no one was injured in the process.
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[Except, perhaps, my dignity.]
[Edgeworth's eyes widen a touch. A new arrival's reaction would be much more emotional than that. A new arrival would suddenly ask questions, but she isn't. Her body language is more subdued, as well.]
You're...not new to this place, are you?
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No. I think this is my, uh, second arrival.
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[So, his suspicions were confirmed. Edgeworth nods again as they keep moving through the Pleasure District.]
What was the last thing you remember about this place?
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I got sick and was in bed for almost a week. I thought I would go crazy with boredom, and someone brought me soup —
[ She stops abruptly, mid-sentence, remembering just who had come to see her that last day. ]
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Oh well.]
Even if you've been here before, if you have any more questions, feel free to ask.
[Hang on a sec.]
By the way, I'm Miles Edgeworth.
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[ Yuuuup. Pyrrha was quite well raised, and immediately adopts a respectful way of referring to him - even if her tone lacks an abundance spirit. He does look like a thirty five year old linebacker in a cravat and exquisitely tailored suit, after all. ]
I'm Pyrrha Nikos. It's nice to meet you.
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Are you looking for anything here, or anyone?
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... Yeah, just Jaune. ]
Actually, I was trying to get back to the residential district. I guess I keep getting all turned around. [ How embarrassing. ]
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[Edgeworth doesn't judge; she must have been away for quite a while.]
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Thank you.
[ She starts to walk, holding Edgeworth in her peripheral vision. ]
Were you inside ViViD today? It looks like there was a batch of arrivals.
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[Without winding up in the penalty or getting caged up. Maybe he's becoming genre-savvy.]
no subject
Huh. ]
That's probably for the best. It's a bit harrowing in there.
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[Welcome back, Pyrrha.]
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Hopefully not for a little while.
[ No more waking up in bags, please. :( She takes the initiative to change the subject. ]
What do you do, Mr. Edgeworth?
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[At least he got promoted from being secretary. And didn't choose work at an action figure store or at a lolita ice cream parlor.]
And you, Miss Nikos? Did CERES give you the same job you had previously?
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All of them hit too close to home for Pyrrha. ]
No. I ended up declining their suggests. At home, I was a combat student.
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I suppose I could consider myself one, as well. I never learned combat skills until I was sent to different worlds.
[Yeah, worlds. As in, plural. Edgeworth doesn't really mind dropping that bombshell on anyone who'd believe him.]
And I continue to learn.