estoria | [Open] It's a lovely day for a game

Entry tags:

[Open] It's a lovely day for a game

Who: Jack (

decoyhero) & OPEN
When: 8/12
Where: ViViD
What: Testing out the various delightful experiences ViViD has to offer.
Rating/Warning: None yet, although I'm anticipating comic mischief, mild swearing, and possible violence. Will edit as changes occur!

[CHOOSE YOUR ADVENTURE]

SURVIVAL SIM // CO-OP

...//You are shipwrecked on a deserted island with nothing but the clothes on your back and whatever amount of wit you possess. There are plenty of resources available for the harvesting - berries, rabbits, heck, even the flowers are edible in a pinch. A deep gloom hangs over the island, however, even during daylight hours. Somehow, you get the feeling you don't want to be without a light source after the sun goes down. Can you find enough to eat, locate a suitable shelter, and gather enough resources to keep your campfire going before dark?

CO-OP: Work together to gather resources, cook dinner, and survive the night!

PLATFORMER // CO-OP

...//You find yourself the star performer in a theater filled with a myriad of intricate, maze-like death-traps. Your mission is to use your wits and acrobatic prowess to leap, climb, drop, and cartwheel to safety within the allotted time-frame. If you perform well, and collect enough of the secret tokens hidden throughout the level, you will advance to the next stage. If you perform badly, you'll have to try again. The only way out is by advancing forward, so failure is not an option!

CO-OP: Help your partner leap, climb, drop, and cartwheel to safety! The odds of beating the stage within the allotted time are much better with a friend.

FPS // CO-OP

...//A mystery lurks in an abandoned underwater city. The citizens are gone - fled, dead, or worse. Those who remain are mindlessly antagonistic, drug addicts whose humanity has sloughed away in the face of their addiction; they are mere shells of the people they once were, and they won't abide your trespassing. Your only option is to kill or be killed as you advance through partially flooded buildings, abandoned shopping malls, and empty city streets. There are a plethora of weapons at your disposal, from bludgeoning weapons to firearms. Ammunition is unfortunately less so, a scarce luxury in this underwater death-trap. You might use it as you find it, but it may be more wise to save it for the fight up ahead. It's probably going to be a big one.

CO-OP: Explore the watery city side-by side, watching each other's backs and murdering the heck out of anyone who tries to murder you!

FARMING SIM // CO-OP or PvP

It's a peaceful life in the valley. Everyone in the little village knows everyone else, and crime is something that happens in other places. Life is simple and slow-paced, and that's how the villagers like it. However, the annual autumn Harvest Festival is coming up, which means competition between friend and foe alike is at an all-time high. It's up to you to grow the biggest, bestest pumpkin and show up all the other country bumpkins on the village square floor.

CO-OP: Work together to raise the biggest pumpkin anyone has ever seen! Combat various dangers to your crops together - moles, mice, wild deer, everything that goes on four legs is keen to ruin all of your hard work, and your chance for glory!

PvP: Competition is at its most fierce between PCs, obviously. Sabotage between participants is frowned on by the village council, but only the sabotage they hear about.

ACTION/ADVENTURE // CO-OP or PvP

Darkness overshadows the land, and the only hope of combating it rests firmly upon your shoulders! Take up a sword and shield and stab, slice, leap, and parry your way through a land filled with menial side-quests and dangerous mini-dungeons. The only hope for restoring order and light to the world is to rescue the far-away princess, whose royal authority is the key to evil's defeat and world peace.

CO-OP: Stab, slice, leap, and parry your way through dangerous obstacles side-by side, watching each other's backs as you do so!

PvP: To the one who manages to rescue the princess first go the spoils! Probably! Stab, slice, leap and parry your way through the world's dangers, stabbing your opponent in the back somewhere along the way if you're able to do so!

??? // CO-OP or PvP

Can't decide on a game? Use the Randomizer option, and ViViD will pick a game for you.

(AKA, if none of the above options are quite right, please feel free to write your own and toss it in!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Chihiro peers at the stats on the first unicorn, reading them thoughtfully. They must all be written in Cerealian, that language implanted in her brain like everyone else. Just remembering has her forcing herself to speak in Japanese (sorry, Jack). ]

Not this one, in that case. You're a charming one, Kirin-san.

[ She'll need to remember to find partners who also spoke Japanese later on. Allowing herself to lapse back into Cerealian, she pats this unicorn once more before moving down the line. ]

This one has high intelligence and speed.

[ It's also purple with banded stripes of black up its legs. ]

[It's a little jarring to hear her speak Japanese, even though he kind of figured that she did - what with her calling him "Jack-san", and the distinct Japanese-ness of her name, and all. He kind of wonders what she said, but also figures it probably doesn't matter, since it seemed to be directed at the unicorn in front of her, and not at him.]

Yeah, that one looks good.

[It also looks at him like it wants to gore him, but, eh, details. It seems to like Chihiro okay, anyway.]

And...that one's male, so we should get a female, too, since we're gonna need to try breeding.

[If Chihiro has a preference for their second one, he'll go along with her. The only reason he doesn't feel completely silly playing this game is because Chihiro's playing it, too.]

[ Great, check for more stats... Chihiro wanders down the line, reaching out to pet at noses thrust her way. While horns are more likely to be waved in a slow, threatening arc at Jack, Chihiro has all the soft nuzzles and attempts to eat her hair.

She's not sure she appreciates this, but she endures, reading placards and eventually scratching the cheek of a surprisingly plain white female unicorn. Her intelligence and agility are top notch. ]

Will she be good?

[ Asked while the unicorn is lipping at her ponytail. ]

[If he ignores that the unicorn currently nibbling at Chihiro's ponytail is also glaring daggers at him, the scene is pretty darned cute.

Also, her stats seem good, so.]

Yeah, she looks good. Let's take her.

[ The unicorn narrows her eyes, snorting and tossing her head as if to tell Jack exactly what her feelings are on the "let's take her." Chihiro pulls back, waiting for the unicorn to settle down, not really knowing what to do. She hasn't handled livestock of any kind before, really, and her parent-pigs didn't count. Neither did tackling Haku when he'd been injured in his dragon form.

She cants her head to the side, holding out her ticket to the unicorn. She takes it daintily with her teeth and starts trotting down the enclosure toward the gate. Chihiro takes off after her, moving around the other people purchasing unicorns at this... yard? She's not sure what the right word is for this. ]

I think she knows more about how to do this than we do, Jack-san.

[ She's a little amused, but also curious. ]

We're going to need to use yours for the first one, right? I wonder if we can just give it to him too.

[ Or use the teller slash salesperson, who is sitting in a stand right by the gate, talking to the female unicorn they'd selected. ]

She probably does.

[He's not sure whether to be amused or concerned about that, so he settles for an uncomfortable balance of both.]

...Maybe.

[He eyes the purple stallion warily, and the stallion eyes him back.

No way he's putting his hand near that thing. He's likely to lose it.]

...Or, I could give it to the guy over there.

[As he says that, the mare they just purchased vanishes in a little digital cloud, probably to her new home in their unicorn ranch.

........he can't believe he has a unicorn ranch. What even is his life right now.

But, with the probable danger of getting too near the mare passed, Jack will approach the guy selling the unicorns and arrange to snag the purple stallion, too.]

[ The stallion likewise disappears not long after, all while he majestically rears up and a strategic, localised wind strikes his mane and tail in such a way as to allow them to billow and further his majestic nature. Majestically. Chihiro blinks, mentally shrugging as she listens to the tail end of Jack's conversation with the guy selling unicorns.

Who then hands two bridles to Jack with a smile, hands an apple to Chihiro, then tells them to mosey on down Mulberry Lane to find their unicorn ranch. In fact, he'd send his trusty youngest child with them, only he seems to have misplaced him.

Leaving them on the road to their unicorn future, Chihiro looking increasing more bemused. ]

Is the apple meant for anything in specific?

[ She asks. She doesn't know how to pull up an inventory. If she did, it'd tell her it was "A safe treat for eating. Save the seeds to plant apple trees for your farm!" ]

[Well that sounds like a random side-quest if Jack ever heard of one (and he's heard of a lot.)

To answer Chihiro's question, though:]

It's probably a snack. You can open the menu like this - [He demonstrates for her] - to see what it's good for.

[ He's right, and she reads the explanation once more. She tucks the apple into her pocket (she's wearing an apron, she finds) and continues on down the road. There's a large floating green arrow pointing downward, presumably over their ranch. ]

Will there be a lot of menus through all of this? I should get used to using them...

[ She shakes her head, but finds herself enjoying the nice spring day in this level regardless. It's almost as if the flowers are singing!

... Wait. They are. ]

Yeah, I think so.

[And based on the looks the unicorns were giving him earlier, he'll probably be using the menus exclusively to play this particular game.

What is his life, even...

At least the music is nice.

....Wait.]

Am I going nuts, or are the flowers...singing?

[ She pauses to peer over into the field of flowers they're next to. While there aren't any faces on those flowers, the song is definitely coming from them, in a language she thinks she both does and doesn't recognise. (The flowers sing in Cerealian, then in another language, making it some strange sort of pidgin.) ]

... They're singing. Unless there are bees singing over there we don't see.

[ Turning around and trotting down the road now. Hay, what else is she going to do? ]

This is a weird level, Jack-san. [ Yet look! Here is a road running perpendicular, with a sign that is... not filled in. A text icon overhangs it, looking for them to interact. Jack has just shown her how, so Chihiro steps up to press on the blinking icon that brings up a name interface screen. ]

What're we calling our ranch?

Okay. I'm not going nuts.

[Which is good. It's always good to maintain one's sanity, right?

And yep, gotta get to their ranch...they'll probably find the unicorn seller's youngest son in the barn or the ranch house or something. He'll either need help with something or have some tutorial information for them, if Jack's any judge of these sorts of games.]

Yeaaaah, it's...it's definitely something. I'll still take it over the mansion or the hospital, though.

[It's nice to be outside, in the sunshine, even if it's all simulated. It feels real enough, and he's more than happy to swallow the illusion. It's a really, really nice change of scenery from Pandora. Even with the angry unicorns.]

Uhh...

[He's no good with names, and for some reason all he can think of when she asks is Butt Stallion, and there's no way he's naming their ranch that.

If it were just his ranch, then maybe.

But it's not, so...]

...I dunno. Do you have any ideas?

[ She can't vouch for your sanity there, Jack. She doesn't vouch for her own either. Equal opportunity lack of vouching!

Yet a name, a name... ]

Jahiro's Ranch?

[ PORTMANTEAU CANNOT GO WRONG. ]

[O-oh.

...

Chihiro that's precious, why do you have to do this to him :c]

...Yeah, that sounds good.

[ Because she also sucks at naming things when she has no investment in them SO IN TYPES JAHIRO'S RANCH and they're setting off down the road leading to the main house and the golden barn behind it. There's a dirt track with a rag fence in the distance, and pastures with ragtag wood posts. Looks like they can use some upgrades.

Especially when they get closer to the house and notice the barn is only golden because the paint's all come off. Apparently wood can be golden toned here... it's pretty, but in need of fixing. ]

Where should we look for that man's son?

[ Echoes can be heard from the barn of feet kicking at stall walls, but that doesn't indicate person so much as bored unicorn. ]

Hmm...

[They've got a house, a barn, a pasture, and a sizable, overgrown plot of land he suspects is for farming things like carrots and apples and whatever other vegetables and fruits the game defines as unicorn treats.]

I guess the barn, since it's closest.

[Even though he's really not ready to invite more hateful glares from the digital livestock...Best get that over with first, though.]

[ She veers toward the barn, trotting on ahead. When she reaches the door she takes hold, grunting with effort as she rolls it back. The pawing stops for a few seconds, and a welcoming neigh rings out down the center aisle. ]

Hello?

[ A cheerful, teenager voice calls back. ]

Hello! Are you the newcomers?

[ He emerges from the shadows with a smile. ]

My dad said I should make sure you settle in all right, show you how things work around here. Both the mare and the stallion are settled in all right. Will you be looking for a trainer, or starting training on your own?

[ She looks up, offering a small smile. It doesn't last long. ]

Training them to run in the races?

[ He nods. ]

[...What is up with the kid's eyes? Damn.]

That's right! You have to pay a trainer, but if you're willing to jump in and put in a little hard work yourself, you can own and race! Sounds pretty fun, right?

[Jack's not too sure about that. He's definitely not going to be attempting to get on one of those things. Chihiro might want to try, though, who knows. He glances over at her.]

What do you think?

That means riding?

[ Look she's ridden a dragon but never a unicorn (or a horse, really) before. She swallows, looking to their guide. ]

I... I can do it! It makes sense, doesn't it?

[ She can cling as hard as she must. Riding probably works that way, and she trusts the strength of her body if nothing else. ]

That's great! I can show you some tips when it comes to riding. Both of yours are saddle broke, but learning how to race is important for both rider and steed. You'll need to get saddles and bridles. There's a store in town that can help with that, and I can give you a list of trainers who're taking on new unicorns right now.

[ He glances from one to the other of them, smiling. ]

Would you like that list now?

Yeah, sure.

[He's already noted the place in the menus where tutorials will be collected. They don't have to look at the list immediately - it'll be there for them when they have a moment to read over it later.]

Okay! Here you go!

[The youth produces something that looks exactly like a paper list - it's a long piece of paper, and a little curly at the edges, like it's been rolled up, and passes it to Jack. It disappears when he reaches out to accept it, and the youth explains:]

You can find the list by checking the tutorial section in your game menu. You can open your menu and read it over at any time!

[The boy then demonstrates how to open the menu, and how to navigate to the list, so that Jack and Chihiro can see it - Jack had kind of expected him to do this, but he snorts quietly in amusement when he does, anyway.]

Currently there are only two trainers available. They're "Beginner" level trainers, and can only take care of your unicorns up to level 5. As your unicorns progress in levels, more trainers will unlock, and you'll be able to send your higher level unicorns to these higher level trainers.

[ She follows along, nodding and reaching out on her own screen to tap on one of the beginner trainers. Hol Horse, it reads. Sounds good enough to her? ]

That's a good choice! When you head out to the arena, you'll find him waiting for you. Be sure to select which unicorn you're training, because it takes in game time for every training session!

[ She looks up and nods, then waves as their tutorial friend walks away for now, saying he'll be back later. Chihiro wanders further into the stables, stopping to pat the stallion's nose when he thrusts it out to her. It elicits a smile, briefly, before she looks for Jack again. ]

Time to head into town and pick up the stuff for racing, right?

[He's pretty sure that stallion is a literal devil, but on the other hand, watching the creature nuzzle on Chihiro does warm his heart a tiny bit.

What a weird game.

He nods in response to her question.]

Right. And once we've got the stuff, we can set them up at the trainer.

[By "stuff" he means "tack," but what are horse terms, seriously.

He moves back toward the barn door, going slowly at first until Chihiro catches up.]

[ She catches up in a short amount of time, used to keeping pace with people who honestly didn't notice how comparatively short her legs were. Except it's weird; they're walking for less than thirty seconds and she can already see town looming. ]

... Distance is really weird here. We're almost in town already.

[ She pauses. ]

Racing needs a rider. You know, I've never ridden anything like a unicorn before. Not even a horse.

[ Another pause, this one thoughtful, as they walk right into a bustling little town of smiling (and frowning) NPCs. ]

Just a dragon.

Yeah, a lot of games do that to maximize efficiency...it's a lot less weird on a computer screen.

[Jack's a team player - of course he'd shorten his stride a bit to better match the pace of someone with significantly shorter legs than his. He may be an asshole sometimes, but he's not rude!

...usually.

Unless someone actually deserve it.

Chihiro's always struck him as a very honest, open, down-to earth kid. Basically, so far in all of their interactions, that's what she's been. So to hear a phrase like that come out of her mouth...that throws him a bit. He's not instantly disbelieving, however. Not after everything he's seen here, and not after meeting some of the people he's met here.

Anyway, he's seen far too many weird and ugly aliens in his own life, before Cerealia, not to think that somewhere out there dragons might exist.]

"Just" a dragon? D'you wanna, uh, elaborate?

[ Subterfuge is not one of her strong points. If she needed it to be anytime soon, she would be fresh out of luck and learning fast and hard with a few black eyes earned in the process.

As it is, she reads the signs on the shops and answers Jacks question almost absently. ]

It was my friend, Haku. The last time he'd flown out to bring me back to the bath house so I could... there! That's where we were told to go, I think.

[ She speeds up, jogging toward the general tack store. ]

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