PHASE I [ 9 00 ] You open your eyes, and there is a chicken pecking at your face. It's not a very happy chicken, either, but if you can manage to fend it off, then it will be clear that you are in a village. It is... medieval-esque, in that video game sort of way; the details don’t seem too clear, but if you look to your left, there’s a cow! And to your right, a well! Ignore the clear evidence of modern technology in the buildings such as lights, gas, and 21st century plumbing; CERES is dedicated to authenticity.
Looks like the new ViViD level has finally been released, and everyone is invited to play, whether they want to or not.
The game (because this time, that's surely what it is) will start simple. Everyone begins in the same place and every NPC villager will say the same thing: to get out of here, you have to go through the caves. They’ll shove a stick at you (“take this, it’s dangerous to go alone”) and off you go, into the caves… !
Which are full of tiny rats and more chickens. They will try to fight you, but it’s really not very effective when they’re perfectly small and average (especially when everyone still has their typical powers and abilities -- CERES didn't mess with those at all this time). The caves are winding and circular and maze-like, and to make matters even worse, the only ones around are the other poor saps stuck in this situation.
But if you kill enough of the rats, you’ll get to hear the satisfying level up jingle. Congratulations! You are now level 2. It's probably satisfying just for a minute or so until you finally find your way out of those maze like caves and -- You're back in the village again. Great.
PHASE II [ 930 ] You’re carrying a bag. No matter what you do, you can’t take it off, either; it’s stuck with you through thick and thin. But it is awfully heavy. Maybe you should actually open it and see what’s inside?
The problem is, it’s going to take a while.
The bag has clearly tapped into its true hammerspace nature; there are items for days in there, and they’re all very, very strange. You might end up covered in hats of all sorts, buried in logs as you pull out one after another, or look like you have an odd fetish for pickaxes.
Maybe there’s 1/3rd of an evil turnip, half a piece of pie and an egg.
Geez, what in the world are you supposed to do with all of that?
PHASE III [ 1200 ] Eventually, you make it out of the caves the right way despite the harassment of the rats and chickens and the fact you'll keep perpetually getting lost. Hooray! You come out into a large, peaceful, scenic meadow, with a small river bubbling off to one side, and a house.
You'll immediately notice that there’s a bridge to cross the river, but there’s someone standing in the way of that bridge. When you approach to go past him, no matter what you try to do, you won't be able to. Asking him why he won't move will only get one thing in response -- “Bring me a fish. Cooked.”
Then he’ll shove a fishing rod at you and expect you to get to it. You can’t attack him, you can’t get past him -- looks like the only thing to do is to catch and cook that fish. Time to sit back, relax, and get to work. Or maybe you’ll team up with someone else and be the person in the house making sure that the fish gets cooked properly. For some reason, if you leave it too long it turns right into a pile of ashes.
Weirdly though, no matter how good you are at cooking or fishing usually, it’s as if you’re right back at the metaphorical level one. Any sort of seasoning or effort to cook it faster falls flat and in the end you'll only be able to place the fish in the pan and set it on the stove, whole. This may take awhile.
And if you try to cross the river itself, well... no, really, don’t try to cross the river.
At least if you get eaten, you’ll just respawn back in the village, but do have fun traveling through the caves again!
PHASE IV [ 1430 ] You made it through the caves. You made it across the river (with a slightly burnt fish). You’ve made it to the wide open world, and you can finally adventure to your heart’s content. You take a step forward on the road and --
A message pops up, bright red and in your face.
[ Restricted Area: Members Only ]
No matter what you do, you can’t go past that point. In fact, if you’re not careful and you’re going too fast, you might run face-first into it like it’s an invisible wall (which it is).
Then, just like that, you're back in the village. Again. Only this time, there's a nice, blinking message -- Pay a small subscription fee to access member's content. Oh well. No big deal, you can just start again.
Except then you see a cool sword and when you try to pick it up, you'll get that same message, and end up transported back to the village yet again. And again, with some shiny new armor. And again, with that attention-grabbing NPC over there. Looks like you're caught in an infinite loop here but no matter how much you inspect the pop up, there's no... actual way to pay the subscription fee (and why would you want to?). But at least you have company, because you can't be the only person who thought that sword was cool.
(It was really, really cool.)
BONUS [ xxxx ] What’s that on the ground in front of you? It looks like… some bunny ears? Or maybe it’s a chicken head, or a pumpkin head. Either way, the moment you touch it, you have a strong need to put it on your head -- and once it’s on, it’s not coming off.
To make matters worse, each hat has an effect associated with it; the bunny ears will, in fact, randomly turn you into a cute fluffy bunny for anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour before you pop right back to yourself, whereas the pumpkin hat will, in a complete reversal, turn you into Cinderella for a bit -- complete with beautiful ball gown and the ability to talk to all of those cute fluffy bunnies.
Also the rats will love you, so maybe you should go back to the caves again.
Meanwhile, the chicken hat won't transform you into any odd creature, but it will inspire in the people wearing them a very real, persistent desire to build a nest. This will involve picking up twigs, trash, shiny things and whatever else catches your eye to try to build a nest out of it. You'll also try to pick up whatever food you find on the ground to eat, have the weirdest desire to lay an egg, and basically have all sorts of odd chicken-like instincts inflicted upon you.
At least you look festive!
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Yuri Kozukata | Fatal Frame V: Maiden of Black Water
[Well.
This is different.
Yuri sits for a long time and just frowns, shying away from anyone who actually comes to talk to her as she struggles to figure out if this is really happening. Sure she got the whole power point presentation thing, but this is kind of... Well, it's overwhelming, okay?
After figuring out she's supposed to be going through the caves, Yuri makes her way to it with a sort of grim resignation to the even stranger turn her life has taken. Armed with a stick thrust at her by an overly-helpful NPC, Yuri gets to work.
But... didn't she already pass this rock? She could've sworn... Yeah, no she definitely did pass it. Has she been going around in circles?? She starts to run now and nearly crashes into someone. She does some rather impressive flailing and twisting to avoid touching the person (she does NOT want to accidentally access someone's memories in a place like this) and careens into the cave wall.
Awkward.]
Uh-- Sorry... [Ow.]
[Phase III: A]
[At least fishing is relaxing, right?
Yuri investigates the water with a degree of suspicion that might seem odd as she peers into the water.] Are there even any fish in here? [She mutters the question out loud to no one in particular and eyes the distance from shore to shore. It doesn't seem too bad...
Well she gets about thigh-deep when the fish makes it's appearance. Yuri cries out in alarm and goes under. It's a desperate struggle to reach the shore again, but thankfully Yuri caught sight of the creature fast enough to avoid death or serious injury, just a gash on her leg. Maybe you helped her out, or maybe you showed up just for the aftermath of Yuri throwing herself back on land. But now she's shivering on the shore, coughing up water and seriously reconsidering work as an adventurer.]
[Phase III: B]
[Well she managed to catch a fish! But she has no idea what to do with it, so she wanders over to the house and looks around, just sort of. Loitering around...awkwardly.
Guess she's going to have to talk to someone, right? She clears her throat, looking incredibly uncomfortable.] Excuse me? [She doesn't say anything for a moment and sort of gestures with the fish, as if hoping the other person might pick up on what she needs without her having to actually ask.]
[BONUS]
[What a cute bunny-- or it would be if it didn't seem to be running around in a blind panic. Can't rabbits die if they get too scared...?
Panic seems to make the bunny half-blind as well, because it sure is running right into your leg, only to bounce back, roll... And pOOF right into a girl, now sprawled on the ground, with a pair of bunny-ears on her head. She sits up, holding her head as if in pain and looks around.]
What...? [No seriously, what.]
[WILD CARD]
[Got another scenario in mind? Go ahead and throw it up here! Maybe you've lost something and need help looking for it-- Yuri's Shadow Reading ability can help you out! Maybe you're sleeping in a bad spot and upon trying to wake you and help you out, Yuri accidentally sees your dream thanks to her powers-- Awkward!
Pretty much anything goes!]
IIIIa.
Let's be real, though, Adolf's been here long enough to expect that anything bad that could happen in ViViD will happen, with alarming precision. He isn't surprised that trying to cross the river without following the set instructions will lead to some sort of terrible in-game death, but this girl is probably new— he hasn't seen her around before, not that he gets around much.
He kneels next to her as Yuri coughs water out of her system, pulls at the hem of his long jacket to offer it as something to wipe her face with. It's not much, but it's. Something. ]
...Don't try to beat the mechanics of this place. It won't do you any favors. [ Ok Adolf but you could probably try to ask her if she's alright first??? Rude. ] And don't try to get up yet, either. You're bleeding.
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Her fingers curl into the dirt and she sits back, looking at her hand in mild dismay at the fact her first instinct was to attack now. Being soaked doesn't help matters there either. Feeling guilty she spares him a glance and then looks away again, uncomfortable. His appearance doesn't bother her as much when she's seen much worse by now, but looking at people and talking to them always felt awkward for her.]
...What? [Eloquent. She reaches to take the offered hem of his jacket, then hesitates and seems to think better, fearful of touching him and shakes her head.]
I- I'm fine. [She sits up fully and looks over her bleeding leg with a resigned expression. Okay maybe she's not fine; it doesn't look deep, but it's not a wound she can, unfortunately, ignore. As if her stockings needed to be soaked even more... At least it's her own blood this time??
That sounds bad.
Yuri spares Adolf a glance again, processing his words over.] Did that thing attack because I wasn't following the...mechanics?
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So he pulls back, tucks his collar up higher over the left side of his face (in case his kneeling prompted it to slip too far down), and gives Yuri a little more space. ]
Don't push yourself. You'll only end up in more trouble. [ Read: "ask for help if you need it". He doesn't specify that the help needs to come from him, because he can respect that, again, he looks pretty sketchy. ] ...And, yeah. These games usually have rules, as arbitrary as they are.
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...Depressing. She doesn't want to think about that now because that means it's all over and maybe she should've taken them up on their offer to just return her to 'code' or whatever.] So it is a game. There has to be a place to log out, right? [She doesn't know too much about these sorts of things.
She touches the wound and hisses in pain-- If it's a game WHY DOES IT ACTUALLY HURT she didn't ask for this.
Realizing she's going to have to ask for help, Yuri takes a deep breath] Do you have a bandage, or something I can use?
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[ Aka 'this is the worst game ever and I'm sorry that we're both stuck in it because these rules are shit'. How does this keep happening, he has no idea... thanks, CERES.
That second question, though. The game's brought him in with his typical combat clothes, meaning that he's armed to the teeth with knives, but not with anything that would be more practical for wrapping wounds. There's a beat where he actually pats himself down before coming to a conclusion. ]
No bandages. But you can use my coat. [ Meaning, he's pretty alright with ripping off a piece of it. It won't reflect on his coat back in Cerealia, anyway. ] Or I can carry you.
[ He's also okay with that option, honestly. He offers it without much inflection, as if he's just offering to hold something for her or something else equally as mundane. ]
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[While normally she can control her powers pretty well, things have been going haywire since her trips into the mountain and her investigations. While she doesn't think she'll accidentally tap into his memories or anything, she's not sure if it's worth the risk]
Or maybe it's different here. I don't know. Can I see your hand? [One way to find out, she supposes, and she'd rather he not ruin a perfectly good coat. Maybe the house has some supplies??]
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blanket warning for suicide mentions for anyone reading this thread aayy
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I.
Smooth.
He does feel genuinely awful about what had resulted, though, and after the initial shock has worn off, he's immediately moving to attempt to help Yuri up.]
Don't worry about it, I wasn't watching where I was going.
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I was the one running. It was my fault. [She wipes her hands off along the back of her shirt and glances around, sighing.]
This place is really a maze... I don't suppose you've found an exit yet? [Her tone suggests she doesn't have her hopes up though.]
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[If he's surprised at all about her waving off his help, Ryuuga's making no effort to show it. Besides, they had more important things to be worrying about at this point. He frowns a bit as he looks around, letting out a sigh.]
I'm honestly more surprised these caves go as long as they do. Seemed a lot smaller from the outside. [Granted, cave exploration wasn't really something he was used to in the first place.]
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[THAT'S...CHEERFUL. Yuri winces slightly at herself.] But, I'm sure we'll get out. It'd be kind of silly to send us in here if there wasn't a way out.
[unless that was the whole point.. No, don't get paranoid now.]
It'd be easier if everything didn't look the same. I passed the same rock three times-- unless this is some endless loop. But that's impossible, right? [Well no she knows better than to think that given what she's been through but maybe this place operates on better logic?? She can hope, right?]
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[He puts a hand to his chin in thought. There had to be something else they could do.
Normally he'd ask Zaruba for help, but with the visor on, he can't really see where they were going at the moment. Plus, he's pretty sure that this girl would get a bit freaked out by seeing a talking ring.]
Don't suppose you have something like beads or something that we can set down to mark our path?
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She grabs for it and opens it, digging around in the endless chasm until she grabs at some mirrorstones which are....really kind of useless here, so she's not sure why this bag has so many. But whatever!]
I have these. Will these work? This bag has a bunch of them, somehow. [A pause and Yuri adds with a sigh] I just figured I should stop questioning these sorts of things by now...
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Bonus
Miss! Are you alright? That was such an impressive jutsu!
[The young man extends a hand to help her up.
But it is probably of note that he is currently dressed like this. And there are a number of rats flocking around him.]
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She doesn't take the offered hand, partly because she's wary and partly because dat dress... What is he wearing? Why???
(He? Maybe just an unfortunate looking girl? No that voice was definitely masculine and Yuri's head feels like it's hurting even more now)
She touches the bunny ears on her head and makes a face] Did I really turn into a rabbit? This place is insane...
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You were a rabbit, yes. I saw it with my own eyes! That is why I thought that it must be a special jutsu...
But if you were unaware, it must have been something else entirely!
[He'll keep his hand extended anyway.]
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Okay good, no flashes of memories. Apparently her pull into this world that had made everything go haywire was starting to settle down. Good, that meant she could relax a little.]
I think it's the ears. It didn't happen until I put them on... [Speaking of, taking those off RIGHT NOW. And she tosses them aside because fuck that.
She eyes his dress. And the rats.]
Is that... [No that's rude don't ask about the dress] Why are all these rats here? Weren't they attacking people in the caves earlier?
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Ah, is that so? That sounds like the pumpkin that I placed on my head! [His eyes follow the trail of the thrown ears, and then he looks down a the rats swarming around him.]
As for these rats... I believe that they have taken a liking to me! Ever since I gained this outfit... And they have not attacked anyone yet! It is very curious, isn't it?
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[Why is this place so weird???]
Why can't this place just make sense... [She looks at his dress and then the rats again.] Maybe it's... magic? [Because it's a video game, right? Video games have magic in them. Or something.]
Can you command them or do they just follow you?
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III: B
When he hears the voice, that mask of his shifts and drags over his stone shoulders until he's looking right at Yuri. ]
I am sssorry... I will finish my business here-...
[ That low hissing voice seemed half embarrassed and half disappointed at his own still-raw fish. ]
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Was he like the NPCs? A monster she was supposed to somehow fight for the fish or something??
Well, no, apparently not because he seems... nice enough? Yuri really has no idea but she realizes quickly that her staring is rather rude and clears her throat.]
N-no, it's alright. I just, um. [She looks at the fish in her hands, then at his own fish and the oven.] Do you know how to cook these?
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I used to. Once.
[ He turned back to the stove and lowered himself down onto his knees to get a better view of the knobs. For an environment that seemed as old as it was, their amenities did not fit the setting at all. ]
Now-... these handsss can only break this fragile thing.
[ He flexed his digits slightly, letting the crumbling sound of rock emphasize his point. ]
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So... You didn't always look like this? [That's what she assumes anyhow based on that comment, and though she doesn't step any closer, she does start eyeing the oven curiously.]
You're trying to cook a fish too, right? I... guess I can give it a try myself? I can help you.
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At that question, Tlaloc froze. His voice lowered into a whisper, faintly humming from the base of the mask. ]
No...
[ Before he could continue down that painful trail of thought, his attention was brought back to the appliance in front of him. ]
If you'd like to try, I think it is in the knobs here. The flames should rise from the top.
[ He shifted in place, tilting once again in the woman's direction. He remembered the grilles and stovetops of his planet and how much more advanced they had been than the primitive fire pits of his prison. ]
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She drops her fish off on one of the pans and moves it onto the stove, examining it all with a puzzled frown. It's not too much more advanced than the stove at home so she can figure it out fairly easily. Soon the sound of grilling fish fills the little house and Yuri straightens.]
I don't really know how to do this, or do much beyond this... Hopefully it'll be enough for that guy on the bridge.
[She trails off, glancing to him with a bit of awkwardness that comes from not knowing how to traverse most social situations]
...I'm Yuri Kozukata, by the way.
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