PHASE I [ 10 00 ] The “cleansing" doesn't begin too strangely. No, instead it starts with some minor inconveniences. After Mosley's broadcast, anything running on electricity seems to be… mildly on the fritz. Characters will find their home appliances suddenly rebelling just enough to be troublesome. Anything that uses electricity within the bounds of the colony will start suffering from some small malfunctions. (Do we have any cyborgs in the crowd tonight?) Toasters burning your breakfast and shooting the crispy things at you. Televisions suddenly exploding in a haze of smoke before working perfectly fine a moment later. Hair dryers suddenly running a little too hot and whoops, your hair's on fire… Well, this is all still just a small issue. Probably. Here's hoping the fire extinguisher doesn't run on electricity too?
PHASE II [ 1200 ] It's only glitches for a day or so, but by noon the next day, things get a little weird. We interrupt your regularly scheduled routine to bring you this important message: Welcome to ViViD. … Wait, what? Yeah, sorry about that. Whether you wanted to or not, you've found yourself in the virtual simulator… except it doesn't seem very… virtual anymore, no. The monsters look a bit meaner, and they seem to be after you in particular. You might suddenly be glitched into a dead end, or a level that actually doesn't seem to be beatable at all, with people you've never seen before as your party members. Endless mazes! Boss battles with a wooden sword! Dungeons with no walkthroughs! When you finally make it to the end, you might even find a giant wall blocking your way, or a moat where there was once a path. Now that's troublesome.
And make sure you don't get hurt by any of those monsters. Not like it matters, it's just HP, right? Wrong. Rather, it'll actually hurt quite a bit, just as if you were injured in real life.
If you're lucky, you'll find yourself glitched back out maybe half an hour later -- your wounds still fresh from the experience and still bleeding. Just don't die. You don't want to see what will happen if you die.
PHASE III [ 1800 ] It's the day after, and you've survived your unfortunate ViViD runs (though there's no promise that you won't end up there yet again). But for now, you've finished your work day without too many electrical object malfunctions, and you're on your way home. Normally the transit system is so very reliable. From district to district, the metro is your only way of travel and today? Today it's stopping with an ugly screech. Hopefully you don't need to be anywhere because it's safe to say that you're not getting off this ride any time soon. The lights aren't only flickering anymore, they're completely out. The darkness settles in uncomfortably as you're only left with the other people who were making the same trip. A second later, things start to get weird. Cold breath down your neck. The scratch of something sharp and angry against the outside of the cabin. Seconds pass in silence, the presence of something outside growing more and more frightening. If you hold your breath and stay very still, you might make it out just fine. That is until a forceful SLAM sounds behind you and there's something against your window. At least you know what's been making all that noise.
Of course, should you pry open the doors, there's nobody there, but… you couldn't have been imagining that, right?
Looks like the entire city's blacked out… and without the hum of technology and warmth of the advanced lighting system, some ghosts have come out to play. But they can only be seen from the corner of your eye, a glimpse, a breath, a nondescript whisper on the air and then they're gone. Who knows what they want from you…? Either way, they're not saying, staying just out of reach and mostly out of sight… but always there, watching and waiting.
PHASE IV [ 0000 ] Here you are, finally: day 4. You made your way through the dark, avoided the things that go bump in the night and found your apartment. Your pants are gone, your door is locked, and you've managed to stumble right into your bed/nest/cocoon/what-have-you. Your unbearably long day is finally, finally about to come to a close but then something glitches, worse than before. Suddenly you're not all cozy in your bed, but rather suspended in an unidentifiable space. In this darkness, there is screaming and only screaming. You try to move your limbs, use your voice -- and there is nothing. Rather, you can only look on as the space shifts and you see two figures appearing in the darkness, glowing in the same digital blue that lights up the rest of the colony. As you get closer, the screaming grows louder -- a woman's screams, you can hear now. It sounds garbled, like broken pieces of sound bytes. She's being strangled, you can see now. The other figure strangling her is a robot, metallic and ruthless. He turns to see you and his eyes glow with the same blue shine. As the woman -- LILITH, for those who have seen her or heard her voice may recognize -- finally begins to lose her strength to scream, the robot's mouth slowly spreads into a smile as he maintains eye contact, cold and yet somehow pleased.
In the next second, you have been returned to your body, echoes of screaming your only lullaby. Sleep doesn't seem as likely anymore, does it?
BONUS [ whyo'clock ] If at all possible, the darkness just got darker. How, you might ask? Well, it seems like someone just put a bag over your head! That's a little inconvenient, but it looks like you're suffering from an old school kidnapping at some point through these couple of days, complete with your assailants pushing you around asking, “Where the hell is the money?!" As they shove you into their shady kidnapper van, you can hear a certain song playing which is… a bit too on the nose for this situation. As the wheels of the vehicle stop and you're pushed out, the bag comes off and you're facing down your friendly neighborhood debt collector. He's slow to get his words out but they are very menacing indeed, something about threatening your family and sleeping with the alien fishes in the park. When you protest, insisting that you don't owe them any money, they pull out a CereVice and show your bank account, which does indeed seem to be approximately 50 million credits in debt.
They'll do this even if you're not in debt at all, and, in fact, it is impossible for you to be in debt, as CERES doesn't loan money to you people. Looks like the glitching did a number on your bank account though, and the numbers don't lie.
Looks like you're out of luck, friend. Why not have a friendly chat with the other half a dozen people who have been bagged and kidnapped as well? There's even a small table with snacks as you wait. Wait for what, they haven't exactly said yet. Maybe you should just leave through the window.
PENALTY [ xxxx ] Should you be unlucky enough to die in ViViD while it is glitching and injuries are being sustained, you will find yourself in a penalty game. Even more than usual penalty games, this one is increasingly unnerving. There is nothing but a dark room, a single light hovering over two masks on a table. One might recognize them as the masks of comedy and tragedy. In front of the player, red words slowly illuminate the room. Pick one. Well, that's an easy penalty game, isn't it?
Yet as you reach for one, the masks will suddenly turn into the faces of the two most important people to you. Their voices whisper, growing distressed as time goes on, “Pick me, pick me, pick me." The red words turn into a countdown if you take too long -- your hand forcibly moved to pick one mask or the other if the timer runs out. Yet once you put on the mask, you will see the person who was not picked, suddenly and brutally murdered right before your eyes by a shadowy figure, wearing the mask you chose.
With that, you will return to the colony, good as new. Though on occasion, you may see the person whose mask was not picked in the corner of your eye, dressed in black and wearing the very same mask of tragedy.
[ 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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Athena throws a potion at Nanoha's direction. Maybe that could help her a bit?!?!?!
That just means more tentacle attacks and bad breath magic now that Athena's turn is done. ]
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The mechanics of which are as mysterious as they are ridiculous.
Hop, hop, hop, headbutt. It was about all Nanoha could do now, that and be at blinking red HP because of tentacle whippings. ]
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And just as a nearby Malboro is about to hit Athena, the field around them starts to get fuzzy. The monsters disappear and... it looks like they're back in the colony???
The status effects are gone, although any damage received seems to still be there. Which is unusual for ViViD. ]
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[ Nanoha was confused, but mostly bruised. That had been one hell of a battering. Stumbling to the nearest vertical surface, she leaned against it for support and touched her wounds gingerly. ]
Were wounds supposed to transfer over from the game?
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[ Athena looks at her hands... no, the staff isn't there anymore. She isn't wearing the white hooded cloak anymore, either. That was to be expected, but still, it just so real. ]
Are you okay?
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[ Nanoha straightened herself out with a heave and just a bit of struggle. There was no time to lie around being in pain when there were civilians who were just as troubled. ]
The damage wasn't that bad, the scary part was being turned into a toad and being unable to do anything about it. I'm never going through that again.
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She offers her arm to Nanoha. ]
I'll be fine after a warm bath. Hold onto me, and I'll take you home.
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[ She grabs onto Athena, totally sore and rather exhausted. Being beaten up had definitely not been in her plans for today, but life rarely went as planned. Still, everyone was alive, and that's what mattered, right? ]
Tell me the truth, Athena. Do I smell like tentacle monster goo?
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I'd really rather not smell you, Miss Nanoha.
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[ A few steps in, Nanoha stopped, and realised she had her magic again. Silly her. Flying within city limits was banned back home, so she rarely thought about it, but every so often she had to remind herself that there were no such rules here. ]
Hey Athena, let's just stop walking and fly home, alright?
[ Pink wings sprouted from her heels as she slowly lifted off, still holding on to Athena. ]
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[ Of course she can, she's a magical girl! It took a while for it to register in Athena's head... that's actually really cool. Athena laughs, trying to brush her shock away. ]
What I mean to say is-- will you be okay? You might be tired.
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Don't worry about it, flying's actually easier for me than walking around with bruised hips. [ And ribs. And everything else. Really, she was just a big bruise at this point. ]
Tell me where your apartment is. I'll drop you off first.
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She still feels bad that Nanoha would even consider dropping her off at her apartment, too, especially since it was Nanoha who withstood most of the damage done by the monsters. . . but it's too late to back out now. Athena can just repay her later on. ]
It's east from here. I'll point it out once we're close.
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[ She couldn't actually manage a proper laugh because everything hurts but oh well. Kicking off in a generally easterly direction, Nanoha managed to relax a bit. There was still nothing quite like flying. ]
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I'm kind of jealous. I wish I could fly.
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[ Even amongst magi flying wasn't exactly a very common skill. Envy was something that she had to deal with a lot. ]
Even if you don't have magic, well, you can get a jetpack or pick up hang-gliding as a hobby? Something like that.
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[ WAY TO PUT MORE CRAZY IDEAS INTO HER HEAD. ]
I'll check out the prices for one.
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[ Which were crowded and never had enough leg room. ]
I haven't actually looked around Cerealia to see if they sell any, but I'm sure somebody makes them somewhere.
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Although I don't think my friends would approve of me using a jetpack.
[ SHE HAS ONE THAT IS RATHER OVERPROTECTIVE... ]
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Just buy them for all your friends and fly around together, that's what I'd do!
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[ Athena points to a nearby building. By its entrance are a couple of benches and some potted plants. ]
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[ Nanoha lands in front of the door gently. ]
Lend me your bench for a moment, then I'll go back, okay?
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[ Wait- ]
Actually, if you'd like to go up, I can prepare some tea. [ It's the least she could do. ]
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[ It was either intruding for a few moments or flying home still battered up without rest. Which in retrospect, wasn't really much of a choice at all. ]
I'll take you up on your kind offer, then.
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[ With a smile, she leads Nanoha into the building and into the elevator. It looks like it's functioning again. Maintenance must have worked all night to get it up and running again, especially when it was on the fritz just the day before.
Upon reaching their destination, Athena steps out, offering her arm again to Nanoha. ]
It's not my apartment since mine's still being fixed, but I don't think Simon would mind a guest.
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