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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Dezel | Tales of Zestiria | OTA
[ Dezel liked animals, and usually, animals liked him back. This chicken, however, was not having any of that. It sits perched on his chest, nudges his hat off with its head, and once the hat rolls away in the grass, it pecks him smack in the middle of the forehead.
What a way to wake up.
Dezel jerks upright with a start, which makes his passenger none too happy. What follows is a flurry of white feathers and cursing as the chicken still tries to go for Dezel’s face. ]
What the--! Get off!!
[ There’s a sudden gust of wind, which veers the angrily flapping chicken away from the seraph, and Dezel scrambles to his feet, snatching his hat as he goes. He takes a few stumbling steps away from the chicken. The chicken seems satisfied with the damage it’s done and wanders off.
With a sigh, Dezel replaces his hat on his head, blissfully unaware of the fact that he’s got feathers in his hair. Help a guy out? ]
[ BONUS ]
[ This is the worst day ever. And by that, we mean there is a tiny rabbit with a top hat hopping around.
It’s grouchy. It’s mean.
It probably bites. ]
(( OOC: as a courtesy, I would ask that any canonmates please mark the header of their thread for spoilers if they come up. Thank you! ))
Bonus; SPOILERS dang; quietly screams **dezel**
Dezel?
[The water seraph kneels down, looking and sounding way more surprised at seeing him than anyone else he's come across.]
how's it going meebo?
Somehow he manages to shoot Mikleo a glare, and somehow the meaning behind it- what he hell do you want?- manages to come across, despite the way his hat and a fluff of fur cover his eyes. ]
swimmingly. :D
Yeah, that's you alright. You picked up some kind of headgear with rabbit ears on it, didn't you?
[...Honestly, Mikleo still isn't sure if there are any predators around, other than the giant rats and mutant mice. Probably best to let Dezel know.]
By the way, I have no idea if there are any hawks around and you're actually liable to be stepped on. Other humans can see you.
[And that's still so weird.]
was that a water pun. :|
That second part, however, catches his attention. His ears perk in surprise, and manages to send his hat tumbling from his head.
Uuuuugh. Why this. ]
that was indeed :DDD I thought it flowed nicely.
Yeah. I've been able to talk to every villager here, and some have approached me all on their own to strike up a conversation without Sorey needed as a go-between.
[He pauses for a moment. It does occur to him that the Dezel he's speaking to is from before their confrontation with Symonne in Pendrago. Not that he can ask with the wind seraph like this.]
The rabbit thing's temporary. We can wait for it to wear off somewhere out of the way of people. Want me to carry you?
[It might hurt his pride, but it'll be faster. So, might as well offer, right?]
oh my god leave the punning to lailah
Knowing that it's only temporary is good, but he's not so sure he wants to be carried anywhere by anyone, so he hops alongside Mikleo. He'll stay close. ]
awwwwww
:|||
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bonus; definitely SPOILERS in here! omg dezel ...
H-Hey, that hat is ... [ ... Why is it on a rabbit ...? That's really the major question here. Too bad he can't really answer it. ]
Is Zaveid here ...?
[ Yep, wrong conclusion entirely. While he's heard of people coming from different points in time here, despite being from the same world (he and Alisha are affected by this, even), it's not his first inclination to think it could be Dezel of all people. ]
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Though... uh. What a weird thing to ask. Dezel cants his head in confusion. How the hell should he know where that asshole is? ]
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This sure is weird ... I haven't seen him anywhere around here. [ And it's hard to miss Zaveid, honestly. ] Have you seen him, little guy?
[ Okay, while he has reason to expect talking animals exist in ViViD as he's met them before, he doesn't have reason to expect his friends are the animals. ]
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Is what he would ask if he had the ability. As it is, he hops up to Sorey and manages to summon a tiny breeze. It's not much, but it does nearly knock his hat off, so there's that. ]
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That tiny breeze is enough to bring a shocked look to his face, and he looks around for a moment — realizing there are no wind seraphim to be seen — before looking back at the tiny bunny before him. Okay, that's weird. Very weird.
Well, weirder things have happened in Cerealia, and he's staarting to put the pieces together, and this isn't entirely impossible here ... ]
Wait a minute, are you ... [ Wait wait wait, those fluffs of hair over the rabbit's eyes. Suddenly he's remembering that coming from different time periods can happen, and ...
Widening his eyes, speaking a liiittle softer. ] ... Dezel?
[ If it's a normal rabbit, then no one is going to know he thought a rabbit was his deceased friend. And if it's really Zaveid, he'll understand. Probably. ]
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But hey, someone give the boy a prize, he figured it out. Dezel nods.
Here's hoping there's no waterworks accompanying this revelation. ]
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phase i - spoilerfree!
Hey, what's with the new look? Are you trying to be Sorey? [ don't laugh, don't laugh... ]
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Wait. ]
Rose? What are you doing? Get off!
[ Cue flailing and trying to pry her arms off of him. ]
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[ She clings for a few seconds until she finally lets him go. Why you gotta be like this, Dezel!! ]
Wait, could it be that you don't even know?
[ Dezel putting chicken feathers in his hair is pretty hilarious, but suddenly it's ten times funnier now that it's clear he doesn't realize. ]
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Did you get it all out of your system yet?
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I'm good now! So are you gonna tell me what happened to you or not?
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phase I
You know, even if the bird is gone, everyone will still be able to tell what just happened.
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What’s that supposed to mean?
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The feathers. You're wearing them in your hair.
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What was that chicken’s deal, anyway?
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I'm not the one that programmed it; maybe it has a random aggro function for some reason.
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bonus; SPOILERS!
She's been a bunny too (and is still prone to lapsing back, if the bunny ears on her head are any indication), so she has some sliver of sympathy for the poor wind seraphim, whoever it may be, who got himself stuck like this. Still, it won't save them from Edna's...everything else.]
...Look on the bright side: you'll be way more popular with the ladies this way than you are normally, Zaveid.
[...Edna herself isn't much better on the friends scale, though.]
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He jerks his head, letting his hat tilt back to reveal tufts of gray-and-green fur covering his eyes.
Try again, Edna. ]