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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GET YOUR TISSUES
But what if it wasn't?
She takes another step back. ]
Roxas...
[ Her voice is a warning, but her expression is nothing but pain. She wants to go to him as much as she wants to run. ]
I don't understand ... why we're here, or what's going on, but ... you have to stay away from me.
[ She hasn't dropped her Keyblade. ]
LIKE THAT'LL BE ENOUGH....
of course, this isn't a response he can accept.
he's been trying so hard all this while to keep her in his memories, to help her find a way back. all he's wanted is to reunite with his best friends and find a way to just live. without the organization, without the crisis of identity—even without keyblades, if that's what it takes.
so why is she backing away? why is she asking him to stay away? sure, it's not as if he's completely forgotten things; he knows why she left, and why he had to fight her... but it means nothing to roxas. xion is here, in front of him right now. one of his best friends is back, and yet she's refusing him.
it hurts, like a weight bearing down on his chest.]
No... I won't. I can't. Xion... [he takes another step towards her. he can't just let this slip away—especially since her reaction seems to confirm she's the real deal, and not just some illusion of ViViD.
things have been tough these last few weeks, and the one thing that could be giving him a bit of solace is refusing him. why?]
no subject
[ Xion screws her eyes shut, rapidly shaking her head and taking a few more steps back. Without thinking she levels her Keyblade--
And then freezes, staring at Roxas with huge eyes, her Keyblade pointed directly at his chest. A barrier, now, between them. The familiarity of the situation threatens to tear her in two. ]
Please. [ She sounds scared. ] Can't you understand? I have to do this. Or you won't be safe...
no subject
it's familiar—he hasn't forgotten that this happened before, but it hurts him just as badly as is did the first time. he knows she's probably as confused and upset as he was when he arrived, but.. why does she have to resort to this so suddenly?
roxas doesn't move. he doesn't summon his keyblades. he just stands there, hands balled into fists and his expression clearly distressed as he tries his best to reason with xion here.]
Xion, wait! Just... listen to me. Please. Please just... hear me out first! [he says her name again, the only silent answer he has for his own memories. he doesn't explain yet why he remembers it, because he wants to try and get her to at least be willing to calm down and let him explain the parts he does know and understand about their current situation.]
no subject
Finally, finally, she stops retreating from him, though she regards him with all the wide-eyed fear of a startled doe.
... is she so selfish? That she can't tear herself away from him when he pleads her not to go?
From the way her Keyblade wavers, then lowers, maybe that's the case after all. She looks horribly upset, but at least she does nod. ]
Okay.
no subject
I remember your name... because I wouldn't let myself forget. We're best friends! I can't just let something like that happen.
[and it's been hard. it's been so hard, sometimes her name would completely slip his mind when he was holding on and he'd have to repeat it to himself. here, it's not so bad—almost like what was fading had been halted, but the memories that started to twist and fade still exist.
either way, he doesn't yet state what he was doing before coming here; not that he was looking for a way to get her back, or that he was trying to free kingdom hearts. not even that he faced riku—none of that. instead, he focuses on the now, because he thinks maybe that will calm her down a little more. the rest can come later.]
But... this place. It's weird. Things... things that shouldn't be possible at all happen here, and it's like that all the time. [this is a fact, and he knows that because of the time differences between he and riku. he knows this because other people in cerealia knew xion before he arrived.
this place isn't normal, and accepting that first is important, he thinks.]
no subject
You ... you held on so hard ... for me? Roxas...
[ ... finally, the Keyblade disappears. Xion's hands, now empty, don't seem to know what to do with themselves, curling uselessly in the air before she clasps them tightly over her chest. ]
Things that shouldn't be possible... you mean like, me being here at all? I don't know... I'm still worried, but ... we can keep talking. [ She ducks her head, contrite, and then looks up at him through her lashes. ] If you want. After I did all those terrible things just now...
no subject
she's here. xion is really here in front of him, and while she's obviously reluctant, she's not running away from him. to roxas, that has to be a good thing; she's a precious friend and one of the people he's missed so much that it makes his chest ache on a daily basis.]
That stuff doesn't matter. [he shakes his head, unable to hold it against her. he knows how alarming this place is, and even if it hurts to see her turn her keyblade against him. this place is alarming, and even if he mentally questions why she would do that, roxas still can't blame her at all.
he's just happy she's listening to him for now.] I can explain to you the things I do know. There's still... a lot that happens here I don't get. But for me, it's been over fifty days since I woke up here, so there are some things I know.
[like how little sense it makes. he's not sure whether to explain it right away or try to get out of this weird ViViD level first, but he'll go with the former for the time being. his gaze doesn't shift at all, he's looking directly at her and resisting every urge to overstep a boundary he's not even sure he knew existed until now.]
finally crawls back in here
[ As if to make good on her words, she slowly, tentatively, closes some of the distance between them. She doesn't cross all the way to his side, and in fact stops a few steps away still, her hands clasped so tightly over her chest that her fingers tremble. But she's trying. She's trying so, so hard. Because ... he needs her.
And she needs him, too. ]