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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no subject
That was the original plan until he heard the other girl's sudden reaction. It wasn't overly loud or a scream of any kind, but the tone held a higher tone than normal. As he didn't know the type of voice she held, because as far as he knew her voice could naturally be like that, he couldn't make an assumption and ignore her, for the likelihood that she noticed a something odd or a more menacing guest has made an appearance without his notice.]
Is everything all right? I can be of service if you need... [All asked, at first, with a friendly and polite tone of voice until he notices the item in her possession; needless to say, he was left stunned.]
Where...? [He really was feeling dumbfounded by the sudden appearance of a body pillow with a picture of his master on it that sentences were difficult to create for him right now because he had a very, very, very important question to ask before he could even create any new words or sentences.] Are you... [There was no time to create formal inquiries here. No time for that at all as he plainly asks.] planning on keeping it, Miss?
[Looks like his chance on making a first good impression flew out the window now.]
no subject
... Huh?
[Keep it? The pillow? She looks at said pillow with a befuddled expression, only now really registering what the girl on it looks like. She's cute. She really was, though she looked a little younger than Mai herself.
In the next moment the brunette gives a quick, nervous little laugh before she holds the pillow out to Soushi himself.]
No, no! Ahahaha, not at all. It's yours, right? I mean it came out of your backpack and all so...
no subject
[His attention will now be fixed on his backpack with an almost suspicious gaze. Why would his backpack tease him like this? He was beginning to feel slightly annoyed with it as the backpack has been acting too much like a Pandora's box -- with how random the items and amounts have been -- than an actual useful item. A weak smile will appear as his attention changes to Mai.]
You're far too kind. If only I had the ingenuity to create such a precious item as this one. I've never had an item like it before, not even where I reside from. [He had a huge collection of her photos and letters from her, but never a body pillow. Somehow he felt unworthy of such an item especially when he has been properly rejected by her and there were other mix feelings getting in his way from simply taking the item from the younger girl's hands.]
The backpack was given to me, and I'm unable to leave it behind as it always finds a way to return to me. In this particular case, as much as I would like to be the owner of such a bewitching item, I cannot accept it as my own as it properly belongs to this bag. [Plus.] I am unworthy of such an item. [He will return the pictures to the backpack before opening the item wide before her.] Could you possibly return it to the bag instead of myself? I'd greatly appreciate the assistance. [All asked with as much of a polite smile as he could muster at the moment.]
no subject
Maybe she's his type then. Guys had those, right? Right. And apparently this guy's type is dark-haired and petite. That's more than I ever wanted to know about a stranger honestly.
The unworthy bit nags at her some but in the end though she shrugs a little before she moves forward to more or less feed the pillow straight into the backpack. She doesn't expect it to do much really but when it keeps feeding further and further down, she just keeps leaning over more and more in wide-eyed surprise.]
It really is fitting in! Sheesh, how big are these things?!
no subject
[He will turn his gaze to the sleeping bag, first aid kit, rope, snacks, sea shells, and other items that seem more and more useless left on the ground a little ways from them.]
Thank you very much for your assistance. As a token of my gratitude, you may take any of the items you wish to take from the pile for your own journey. I will not be using them. [Then his gaze turns to her own bag.] Have you checked on your own bag yet? From your earlier reaction over the bags unique ability, it feels as though you have. [It's really just a guess on his part because he could definitely be wrong.]
no subject
Not really. I was too busy dealing with all of the chickens so I didn't have time for that.
[She shrugs off her backpack now though and plops it down on the ground before she kneels beside it. May as well check it out thoroughly though.]
Hopefully there are some useful things in mine too. This whole situation has really been a mess, you know?
[The first thing she pulls out - a tea thermos. She only seems a bit surprised by it, commenting as she handles it.]
Hey, it's still warm! Maybe there are some cups in here...
[Setting aside the thermos, she starts really digging. She mostly just lays things to one side, intent on finding actual cups and maybe having a drink before she gets back to figuring this place out. She doesn't even really note the handfuls of photographs she starts pulling out herself. Most of them are groups shots and then there's this one candid one dropped on top of the pile.
The brunette almost gives a triumphant yell when she does come across two plain and ordinary mugs. She hoists them both skyward with a sigh.]
Finally. Alright then, tea time!
no subject
[Attacking chickens, cliche adventure scenarios, unusual limitless bags that hold all kinds of useful or useless items for the journey, and now a human visitor that he is easily getting along with; today was a day of many unusual, but interesting turn of events. How would Ririchiyo-sama react to all of this if she could see it now? She'd be as stunned as he was a moment ago.
While the younger girl began to examine her own bag, Soushi will simply continue to watch her with as much interest over the type of items she would find in her bag. The tea thermos will catch him off guard especially upon her announcement over it being warm and full. He was close in wishing to offer her a helpful hand in searching for appropriate tea cups in his own bag until she began to produce her own set of photos from her bag. He could tell she was fully concentrated over the task in wanting to find the cups if she didn't notice the pictures. Without a moments notice, Soushi will begin to neatly organize the items she had pulled out of her bag into a semi-circle around her especially the pictures. He couldn't help feel curious over the type of pictures she would have as he always believed that pictures could tell many more things about a person than actions or words ever could.
Just when he was gazing at the set of photos, her triumphant yell will return him back to the present as he couldn't help smile over her success in having acquire her cups.]
Congratulations over having located the items you were thoroughly searching for. Your bag must genuinely like you. [Because if it was him, he would definitely had made the task even more difficult to find or not have any at all.] Oh, and I do believe these belong to you as well. [He'll be returning her her pictures before he forgets about them.]
no subject
Think so? That would be nice after a day like today. A bottomless bag is weird but if it likes me, I'm not exactly going to complain about it. Not at the moment anyhow.
[She's been so wrapped up in the hunt that she only now notes the piles of her things. Yup, just as wrapped up in it as he predicted. She gives the piles a momentarily sheepish look, then spots the pictures. Her eyes widen a bit.]
Oh, there were pictures in there.
[She takes a moment though to set the mugs aside so she can fiddle with the tea thermos. There's an infuser and everything in it and she almost hums as she sets to work fiddling with the tea itself.]
I guess both of our bags like us then if they're going to spit out pictures for us.
sorry for the late reply, i didn't notice apps were open until now. D:
[He couldn't help continue to agree over how the bag must like her if it had given her the items she was earnestly searching for. Of course it took a while for her to find, but she still found them in the end.]
Yes. They appeared while you were searching for the tea mugs.
[His attention will return to the pictures while she prepares her tea because he wouldn't want the pictures to get lost while she was busy. However, upon overhearing her final observation about the bag liking them due to being given pictures will cause him to freeze for a split second as he couldn't help wonder about the pictures and body pillow from before. It really does make him wonder if the bag approved of him or loathed him; or better yet, does it know about his situation back home and his master's significance? A weak smile will appear as he couldn't help want to ask:]
Are those within the pictures important to you? [It was difficult for him to determine if they were all family or just friends. That, and he is trying his very best to keep his mind away from his earlier thoughts right now.]
you're perfectly fine! if you need this for an app, let me know & i'll try to tag as much as i can.
They're my coworkers actually. But I like to think of them as family too.
[She admits this very readily as she flips through a few shots. Her little SPR family, yup. Her next question comes a little sheepishly. She's still not really sure what to make of the body pillow but heck, he probably liked it, yeah?]
So the pillow... was that important to you too? Or I guess the girl on it.
[She waves a hand quickly.]
You don't have to tell me if you don't want to!
thanks! i'd really appreciate the help. :)
[Her next question will leave him feeling reflective as he decides to concentrate more on the part of the question over the pillow than on his actual master. Well, for the time being at least. There will be a too energetic smile appearing on his lips as he begins to say with great admiration:]
As innovated an idea as I found the pillow to be, I have never once been a proud owner of a item quite like it. The very thought of such an item to be able to perfectly capture my master's true beauty and brilliance has left me utterly speechless. If only such an item had existed prior to arriving here or someone would have informed me of such an ingenious idea... [A sad smile will appear on his face as he admits with a heavy heart.] ...I am unable to accept nor take an item that was not formally given to me. This bag will be returned to its rightful owner once I have completed my earlier task. [Don't mind him as he laments over his current decision on the matter of not keeping the pillow. There were other reasons he won't accept it, but decides not to get too into it. Really. The image he was currently offering might seem a lot like a low spirits puppy mourning over a lost or stolen bone.]
no subject
Maybe one day a guy will talk about me like that. ... Without the 'Master' part though.
That said she offers out the first cup of tea to him, even if she is still awkwardly sweating here.]
Ah it's... nice that you're so enthusiastic...
[Yeah, enthusiasm. That's it.]
I'm an investigator actually.
no subject
[Fortunately for Mai, his current demeanor will not last for very long especially when he notices the cup of tea being offered to him. There might be a rare curious look that was visible on his face now.]
Is this for me? Are you certain in offering me the first cup of your tea? [Did she want him to test it for poison? It'd have been his next question, but refrained from asking because it wouldn't make any sense for her to do so.
For now, he'll decide to turn his attention on the type of job she had because it sounded interesting. An investigator could be of great use in their current situation especially if she was already gathering information.] What type of investigations are you interested in? Do you plan to become a journalist?
no subject
It'd be a little rude to serve myself first, right?
[Heck, she's so used to making tea for everyone in the office that making just one cup of tea feels really strange now.
She turns back to the thermos for the second cup and says with a certain amount of pride:]
I work for a company that does paranormal investigation actually.
[There she pauses a moment, thoughtful.]
Actually... I haven't really thought about that. I guess I could eventually. I'm still in highschool right now though.
no subject
[He'll refrain from drinking the tea until he was absolutely certain that his host had enough to fill her own cup. Then again, after revealing the type of investigations she usually does, it gave him more reason to keep himself from drinking for the time being. Paranormal investigator? It definitely caught his attention as an SS agent, but he didn't feel the need to feel uneasy about it as he was currently -- as far as he knew -- the only one from his world. There was no need to feel any concern over if his current companion will do anything to him. After all, the Mikesukami clan weren't here nor do they hold the same influence in this world as they did in his. Instead of allowing his thoughts slowly turn to anything else, he will offer a light smile and continue the conversation.]
As much as high school is the best time to enjoy one's youth, it's important to consider all and any possibilities over the type of future you wish to reside in as well. [With that piece of advice said, he'll return to the subject matter she seems to feel pride of.] I do not believe I've ever encountered a paranormal investigator before. My knowledge over the career is shallow, at best, I'm afraid. What type of services does your establishment offer? Do you exorcise spirits?
no subject
If there's no tea then I'll drink whatever. I don't think I could stand having tea while someone else didn't.
[That's just how Mai is though. She blows steam off the top of her own mug. He sure seems to know how to talk, didn't he. She briefly wondered how he and Naru would get along.]
I don't usually but we all sort of take turns on exorcisms, I guess? The others all have a type of exorcism they do best. Exorcism isn't really the first conclusion we jump into, though it's definitely handy to help people feel better about the situation.
[She sips there, her mind wandering over their current case. She wondered briefly how much trouble she would be in for going missing.]
We take client requests for investigation and we do just that. It's a lot more about cameras and taking room temperatures than you might think!
no subject
If that is the case, then I'll gladly accept it. However, please do allow me to show my gratitude in return in the near future. [Giving him a rare treat without ulterior motives definitely sounds like a good enough reason to reward her for her kindness. Along with wishing to balance the amount of kindness she has given him.
As she spoke about her job, Soushi can't help wonder over the true amount of information she has over the supernatural world. He'll drink his tea while nodding his head every so often as well. It's difficult to not feel curious over the type of world or people she associates with. Were any of them Atavists like himself? Would she know if they were?]
I suppose not. It is due to the amount of times we are repeatedly informed, throughout our lives over, how exorcism is the best way to solve any issues regarding the supernatural; they could be considered as a type of placebo at times, correct? Have you ever encountered a case where participating in a exorcism did not solve the issue? [He'll be momentarily reminded of the curse a certain dog demon from the past inflicted on certain individuals to transform them into demons and many couldn't return their humanity.]