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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At Quatre's frown, Trowa's expression lightens back to neutral. He's not the only one confused. That's a start. Not one he would've liked to have, all things considered, but it could be worse. They've been through worse. ]
How odd. [ Understatement of the century, congratulations. ]
Siberia. [ The answer is abrupt, almost without thought. Pausing, he considers clarification. ] Heero Yuy self-detonated on the field.
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A hand lifts to his chest, as though somehow he can feel the echoes of it in his memory. And then there's everything that's happened since. Terrible things. Wonderful things. He shakes his head slightly, at himself, trying to clear his thoughts before he speaks again.
No sense lying.]
For me, that was a long time ago.
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But that's not going to do either of them any favors. Neither will emotional responses (how, how did he get under his skin like this?) ]
How long? [ Opt for facts, it's easier. ]
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[Returning to space, White Fang, Romefellar, the zero system, that moment where Trowa saved his soul and Quatre repaid him by nearly killing him, finding him again. Really, it was a hell of a year. And then the end of the war. So much.]
It's a long story. I guess that's probably not surprising.
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He isn't afraid of any of those, not in particular. But what is unsettling is how Quatre's already lived through it and he hasn't yet. The five pilots, as much as he'd been initially loathe to admit, are tied to each other. They're going through the same missions, the same problems. Operation Meteor's primary objective changed since its inception, but they're all there to carry out the mission parameters together.
Whether that means they work alongside each other or not. Every action affects one of the others no matter what they do. ]
The passage of time is, certainly. [ It's so weird. Even stranger than piloting a gundam that wasn't supposed to be his, under the name of a dead man. ]
We survive? [ His question comes with an undercurrent of unsurety. In all honesty, he didn't think he'd make it that far. If they do survive, then what was this place telling him? That they'd reached the end of the war and died? Things aren't matching up. ]
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But the question draws him back to the present, and his expression softens into a smile as he nods.] We succeed. It's fragile still, but there's peace. And we all live to see it, all five of us.
[Better than simply surviving. The blond glances around now, up at the virtual sky.] It's why we have to find our way out of this place. This game, the colony beyond. CERES isn't telling us the whole truth.
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He knows what happens, in a way, but not how they got there. It's a frustrating thing to be presented with. Because what use is the knowledge of the end if he doesn't know what things looked like on the way there? He can make some guesses as to how things panned out, but those are conjecture. Even if he asked Quatre to tell him every detail, it won't be the same. ]
Who's ever told us the whole truth? [ Trowa's question isn't defensive, nor is it aggressive. More than anything, it's asking what lies underneath. The pilots know their mission, have agreed upon it in some fashion. But who knows how much was withheld or otherwise to get them to be where they are now? ]
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He can't possibly find the words for so much of it. They don't exist, not in any language he can speak anyway.
Trowa's question draws a tired laugh from the blond, barely a sound, more a heavy exhale.] I guess it's not all that unfamiliar, thinking about it. But all their talk about destroyed worlds and everything and everyone being gone... [Well. Even if he doesn't believe all of it, or any of it, he's not quite sure. It's still unpleasant to think of. He offers Trowa a smile.] ...I'm really happy to see you.
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It didn't make sense, as a motivator. [ Taking everything away. For some, that would be enough to get someone to take action. For most, it bred a sense of vengeance. Not the best emotion to sow if one wanted a semblance of control over the situation. ]
...Why?
[ The question slips out before he can temper the genuine confusion behind it. Swallowing, he has to tell himself that it's out in the open, there's nothing he can do to take it back. Nothing about that statement makes sense. The last time they'd spoken, it'd been on a ruined battlefield. And before that, Trowa had been rude enough to try and get the blonde to step out of his life. ]
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[But he's distracted from expounding upon those thoughts anymore by that simple question. Well. That does answer any wonderings he might have had if the sentiment was returned, doesn't it? He ducks his head with a laugh, quiet, but not unkind. It's not at the question so much as at the circumstances they've found themselves in with an entire timeline of experience laid out between them like a chasm.]
Because it's you. [Not a helpful answer, but a true enough one.] The specifics are a longer story. [Spoilers, Trowa.]
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It'll take more than fear to trick either of them. ]
Something the future holds. [ A question and not all at once. Trowa is pretty sure he knows the answer, even if this makes him more confused about how he feels towards the blonde. ]
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And he hasn't been able to find a very satisfying or effective way of fighting against it yet.
It's maddening, but somehow seeing Trowa really does feel like a respite in its own way. So Quatre nods to the question that isn't a question. But really how to tell someone the story Theyve yet to live, what all of them have been through together. But in particular, how could he ever explain how Trowa saved his life and his soul, something that Quatre could never begin to repay, another piece of the debt, the mistakes he may never be able to entirely atone for, but that he fully intends to try to until his last breath.
So he just smiles.] Even if it's still your future, and it must be strange... that's it exactly. But for me they're important memories. Even the painful ones. [And many were. He's sure that can't be unexpected.]
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Rationally, though, he knows he shouldn't ask. No answer is going to feel good. He'll just have to wait to see what unfolds. If it ever does.
Instead, he watches Quatre's smile, listens to the reply, and sighs. There is no use thinking about all of this until some sort of action happens. Surprisingly, his expression lifts, mouth pulling up just barely at the corners (the blonde's smile is infectious, how?) ]
...Should I say "you're welcome"?
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Something like that anyway. [It's a relief to see him again. There's no denying that, and he wouldn't want to.]
I suppose though, we'd probably both be more grateful if we could get through this game. [He gestures with the fishing rod in his hand.]
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(It probably is.) ]
Mm. [ A pause as he looks back towards the river, fishing line bobbing with the soft waves. ] This wasn't in standard training.