PHASE I [ ?? ?? ] This time, ViViD is a deathtrap.
There is random magma everywhere, monsters will spawn at random, and at some points, the game is entirely unplayable. It’s like the dev team totally disappeared mid-constructing the level.
Oh wait, that’s exactly what happened.
Monsters may spawn on top of you, you may suddenly be standing in a poisonous bog, you may suddenly lose your powers, or your senses, or so many different things --
It’s time to get out of here, ASAP.
Thankfully, the exit is obvious. Like. Blindingly obvious. It’s got a big sign over it that says EXIT
And just like that, you’ll be out of ViViD and --
PHASE II [ 0830 ] When you wake up (and it’s strange, because you were sure that you were logging out just a second ago), it’s in a pile of bodies.
They’re cold, but not in the same sense that a dead body would be cold. While they are lifeless and look incredibly real, they don’t feel real. They feel like dolls, mannequins, empty models and nothing more. Their code doesn’t seem to be functioning right.
And what some characters may realize upon looking at this pile of bodies is that they are all of the characters who were sacrifices before. Any character that was dropped who had a high magical or spiritual affinity is there in that pile of bodies, lifeless and eyes blank and vacant. Even you might be there, staring at your own dead body -- but it isn’t real It can be touched, but it’s really nothing more than a lifeless body.
You’ll have to crawl out of that pile of bodies to get anywhere, and then you’ll realize -- you’re in the Sanctuary, a building built by the characters as a safe place from CERES. And it’s looking pretty run-down at this point. The technology in it no longer functions, there is no security on it whatsoever…
Oh, and now there’s a pile of bodies. Great.
PHASE III [ 1000 ] There’s also a robot.
It’s wandering from place to place, though it’s impossible to follow. One second it’s there, the next it’s just gone.
Also, it’s wearing this. Weird.
But even with that on its face, the robot seems focused on one thing in particular. In fact, it has a sign, and it says:
Down with CERES. Up with Robots.
That’s a happy, cheerful message. If you try to go up to it to talk to it, it will look at you before...bonking you on the head with the sign and running off. That’s incredibly rude.
Alternatively, you may be safe and sound in your home, but then the doorbell rings, and there’s the robot again. The duck mask is gone, but now instead it has a pin on his fake lapel, and then he’s shoving a pamphlet at you.
He tips his hat, and then he’s gone. Weird.
(Also, if you hold onto the pamphlet, it will lead you directly to the person whose picture is on it, and you’ll feel like you’ve known them and have loved them for years.)
PHASE IV [ 1245 ] But not all is fun and games and shenanigans. There is something...well, strange happening, and the first real realization of that will be when it starts to rain. More than just the localized rain that a few unfortunates have dealt with -- no, it’s raining completely and totally, and that’s when it might hit you.
For the first time in Cerealia, there’s weather.
It’ll rain for a few hours, and then it’ll stop and become hot and sunny. It may get humid, considering it’s a jungle planet. At night, it’ll get rather cold.
Seems like whatever was keeping Cerealia’s atmosphere stable is now gone -- which also means that characters may start to occasionally experience headaches, nausea and dizziness if they go too close to the walls. It seems safer in the center of the city, and the Residential District is still okay, but… there’s no doubt that the planet’s atmosphere is starting to encroach on the city.
BONUS [ why o'clock ] But who cares about all of that? More importantly, you are here in this… totally not shoddy city to have fun, and it’s still being advertised as a pleasure colony. Or, well, it would be if, you know, CERES was still around.
But close enough.
And as a pleasure colony, it would figure that the first robots to really get fixed are...well, the Pleasure District robots. Unfortunately, the Pleasure District is still a nice big mess, so now they’re wandering the entire colony, looking for people they can hug, massage or...try to drag into more explicit activities.
Welcome to Cerealia!
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no subject
Um... credits still work! Not all the stores work, or have people working in them, because of the robots...
[ She trails off; it's been difficult having acknowledged that she'd been walking over the line into thievery even when doing little more than attempting to help the people around her through her job with the pigs at the racetrack. Difficult times called for creative efforts. ]
I... I don't know if we're that organsied, I'm sorry. When people ask for help we're helping each other, or learning from each other, but we're not that...
[ She frowns, not able to find any words that will help out in this situation. At last, she falls back on simple enough terminology: ]
We don't have a boss we're listening to, so I don't know that we have a resource pool except what friends are doing with each other. I really don't know much of anything about that. I'm sorry.
[ She repeats, because she's sincerely apologetic. It's the kind of stuff she's not on top of because she's still ten and learning, and she hasn't seen a single unified front. Only lots of small, unified fronts, ones that come together then break apart again like foam on waves coming to shore. ]
I'm really sorry that I don't know.
no subject
[ She keeps apologizing to him, as if the broken facilities and the abandoned storefront are somehow her responsibility. She's still so young, and the world is always just a little cruel to people to don't deserve it, so Atsushi shakes his head vigorously, long stray bang whipping back and forth. ]
—You don't have to apologize, Chihiro-chan. You've already done so much; and it's fine, I know it couldn't have been easy.
[ Surviving is never a pretty ordeal, and Atsushi knows that secondhand from his sordid past, from learning how humans operate in a microcosm where a misstep leads to punishment and good deeds are rewarded with being allowed to breathe. He doesn't hold the lack of organization against anyone— why should he?
So he smiles, and rocks back and forth on the balls of his feet. ]
It's been brave of you to live like this, you know?
no subject
Is she brave? Enough, she supposes, but in her estimate... ]
We all have to be brave and stubborn to keep living. Giving up isn't a real choice.
[ Her smile is still small, but determined, like she has to hold on tight to that glimmer of brightness when it's so very hard to figure out what stability can mean in a collapsing environment. The humidity, the rain, the robots who are coming back online being strange, the continued silence from CERES, her concerns about contracts and the Flamines (as a collective boogeyman, sometimes little more than mental puppets dressed in Victorian gowns with red painted nails held against her throat) and the Spirit Gods who didn't want them... it's overwhelming.
She has to shut that part of herself down and let it wash past. She chooses to believe they'll get through this by whatever means possible. ]
You're brave enough for it too. And you're kind. It's important to be kind, especially now.
[ That's a whole different kind of strength and bravery in her mind. ]
no subject
His strength is warped and built upon years of subjugation, but it's also a part of him. This is it, this is what he has to work with.
And if it gives someone some measure of strength— well. ]
Haha... I don't know if it's anything as good as that. I can only do what I can, after all.
[ His feet shift over irregular concrete, and when he smiles, it's with no small degree of contentment. When push comes to shove, he's easy to please. ]
But...! I'm what some people would call an 'Ability User'. So— you can rely on me!
no subject
We can all only do what we can do.
[ Not that it feels like an "only" when one decides to act. Not to her. She perks up at the "ability user," having seen such an array of unusual capacities out of the people she's met here (and the spirits she met before here) that she's curious what he means in specific. ]
What kind of ability is it you use?
no subject
Uh, well. I'm a were-tiger.
[ Pause for emphasis. ]
I don't usually fully transform anymore, but... I'm pretty sturdy in a fight.
no subject
A tiger?
[ She ends up smiling. ]
I'm sure you're very impressive to see.
[ Predators likely are, though she's never seen a tiger in person before. It's something she's more nonchalant about after seeing the transformations that Haku and the bath house workers performed under their own magics. What's more interesting is hearing that he doesn't... need to fully transform? ]
Though um. If it's not too rude to ask... What do you mean about being pretty sturdy in a fight?
[ Does he just take a lot of damage and not... fall down? ]
no subject
He tries to say something along the lines of 'thank you' to that first bit, but fancies that that might sound a bit arrogant. Have a little clearing of the throat, instead. ]
—It isn't rude at all. What I mean is... my ability allows me to heal fairly quickly, so I can take more than a few hits.
[ Proudly, as if the ability to live through skewering and stabbing is something to be commended, instead of something to be concerned about. ]
So...! I can definitely protect you, if something bad ever happens.
no subject
Chihiro comes to a stop, reaching out to Atsushi with a serious look on her face. Her problem here is she believes him. She absolutely believes him. And that's frightening, for those exact concerning reasons. ]
Thank you, Atsushi-san, but please promise me that you won't just get injured because you can live through it. It's... It's admirable, that you're willing to do that, but I'd prefer if you help others without getting hurt too in the process. Okay?
[ Not that she'd flinch away from the blood, and it's reassuring to hear he heals fairly fast, but in her mind that doesn't make being injured acceptable. Especially not here. ]
I don't want you hurt if there's another way.
[ She says (and thinks) the same at the sword spirits, at the adults in her life, and at the other kids in her life. As simple as an introduction and acknowledgement of their shared situation in Cerealia is, Chihiro has already slotted Atsushi in as someone to care enough about to not want see hurt. (It's an extremely tough vetting process.) ]
But you're a fighter, so I know that getting hurt is something that will happen. Even those of us who aren't fighters get hurt. Just... try, please. Even if that's selfish of me to ask.
[ Which it is. Demanding that a stranger promise not to get hurt if they can help it is very selfish indeed. Who can really promise something so large as that? Who would? ]
Try to protect people without it being at the expense of yourself.
[ It's not just him she's talking to, for all that he's the only one she's speaking to standing right there. ]
no subject
In a way, he surrounds himself with people for whom hurting is an unfortunate norm. He found his mentor drowning himself in a river, found a little girl who he vowed to protect with bombs strapped to her small chest; pain is the big constant, and it's all he can do to minimize others' misfortunes by sitting and sharing them. His grand philosophy is 'you are not alone, I feel this too.'
So... how best to contribute when he's not bleeding, protecting? For a second he looks lost, before he edges into a light laugh. ]
Aha, don't worry. It's not that I look to get hurt, after all... if I can avoid a fight, that's the best way to solve things.
[ Because he's reckless, yes, but he's not exactly looking for trouble. It just finds him... somehow... ]
But if something does go wrong, I'm not exactly a trained fighter. So that's why I'm bound to get a few hits. I promise I'm not looking to get myself killed...!
[ SO HE SAYS. ]
It's really kind of you to say so, though. Don't worry— w, we can always try to talk things over first, right?!
no subject
But it doesn't make it rest easy in her mind. ]
Or run away, if that's safer.
[ She nods, accepting that this is as much of any kind of promise she can ask for (or that she shouldn't have asked in the first place). She doesn't want to be facing dying friends; she's still feeling out the disappearing friends trick that Cerealia pulls without so much as blinking. She sticks out her hand, as if to shake hands.
We'll remember to talk things out first. Okay? Talk or run away if we can.
[ She promises not to throw herself purposefully into danger. She does that without trying, but so far, there's been enough luck on her side to slide by and survive. WATCH HER DIE TOMORROW no ]
no subject
Something about this is funny, because none of the people around him have ever really advocated running away, either— hurtling oneself head-on into tough situations wasn't quite encouraged, but it was never expressly discouraged, either. Even after the few times that Atsushi'd been sat down for a stern talking-to, the cardinal rule of 'don't be a hero' and 'we can't save everyone' was never fully enforced.
So being told to run away is... well. Atsushi laughs about it because it's so refreshing, and takes the proffered hand with his callused palm. ]
No promises about running away, but— I'll definitely keep it in mind.
[ Once he shakes on it, he gently lets go and tips his head to the side. ]
Sorry for asking something that might be impolite, but... are you living by yourself, Chihiro-chan...? I only ask because you seem a lot younger than me...
[ A small girl living all by her lonesome?! Say it ain't so. ]
no subject
She finds his laughter surprising, but it's surprising since it's unexpected. Once it simply exists, it's easy to relax under. She's asking and saying some things which she's serious about. Chihiro can also acknowledge that they're laughable, in their own way. He still shakes on it, and he doesn't fully shrug it off.
It's enough. Her hand drops back down to her side, finding the edge of her shirt and playing with it when he asks his question. Chihiro opens her mouth to reply, but her hesitation makes her close her mouth again. She hadn't been, but after the ceiling caved in... er. She can't say it isn't so any longer. ]
I guess I am again... but I've been staying at the school. It's not so bad.
[ There are showers and things? Everyone's had difficulties enough, and the school is large (and largely nonfunctional) enough she can exist there and it's been okay, so far. Just uh. New. She moves past that to confirm her general age, particularly in light of calling Sayo-kun a friend: ]
I'm ten. I know some people look one way and are much older, but I'm not. I'm just ten all the way through.
no subject
[ This is getting increasingly more worrying by the second. He won't patronize by pretending to know her circumstances, and he assumes that the "staying at school" business functions much in the same way when people take shelter from earthquakes and bad weather... but.
Atsushi has always been lousy at masking his emotions, so his concern is like a glaringly large neon sign on his face. Strange-colored eyes widen, lips parting once, twice, in sentiments that he tries for and rephrases in his mind. ]
You're only ten...! Y, you shouldn't be living alone in a public place like that, if no one's looking after you.
no subject
So she hasn't. She's lucked out, or asked for help when she needs it most, or tried to find creative solutions. She's proactive enough, and makes herself busy enough, that it's like dealing with it. It's just weird dealing with the baldface concern when she doesn't know what to really say. Other than: ]
I know.
[ In a small voice, before swallowing and squaring her shoulders. She's still blushing, but it makes her feel less like crying. (Which she does on her own time, and it helps, but it's not going to be helpful right now from what she figures.) ]
But I'm okay.
[ Because she has said this every time, and it's halfway true, which makes it true enough in her mind. ]
That's not something you can ask people to do. Anyway, it's not bad! I'm pretty resourceful. [ She likes to think, and she's going to give herself credit where she can. It's also all language that does not actually say any of it is fine. ] Plus the school is a lot more stable than you think, and I don't start raining too much when I'm sleeping anymore.
[ ... literally raining and waking herself up out of dreams she'd rather not have, if she has to wake up out of them. ]