Welcome to CERES' new dating experience -- ABOMIDate (Catchy, huh?). They've found that they're a little concerned with everyone's ability to... connect with denizens of different species, and in a place like Cerealia that is full of aliens, that's a Big Problem! After all, it's pretty clear by now that there are a lot of things about your friendly neighborhood aliens that you just know nothing about. What else do you not know? That the greeting of a Faswwg is face licking? That feathered species require mating dances to woo? That [REDACTED] needs [REDACTED] to [REDACTED]? So clearly, the way to fix this problem is...to practice dating other species!
Namely eldritch abominations! In CERES' experience, eldritch abominations really sum up the full interspecies dating way of life and provide you a variety of different species (and orifices) to enjoy.
So it's time to put on some proper music -- no, not that, that's not right. There, that's better. Anyway, time to put on some sexy background music, and woo the monster of your dreams!
 [ horrifying noises of nightmares and despair ]
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PHASE I [ 8 00 ] Welcome to the new and improved Abominable Dating, CERES’ brand new virtual dating experience! The first thing you will see will be a character select screen, because CERES wants you to get to the dating part right away. Don’t worry, there are a lot of beautiful and handsome candidates to choose from so feel free to jump right in! There’s this fellow, or this dashing lass and even a hidden character who is... not really all that hidden if they’re right there to be picked, but there you go!
You have to pick one. There’s no other option, I’m afraid.
And once you do, you’ll end up in a room with your date, dressed up in beautiful, date-like clothing. Unfortunately, everyone else who picked that date will also be in the room with you, also dressed up and prepared for dating.
This is awkward.
It gets even more awkward when your date decides that you look like a great main course. Watch out for those claws/teeth/limbs/etc! Maybe you can work together to take down your starving date, sad as that sounds.
PHASE II [ 1000 ] No dating game would be complete without stat boosting sessions. Regardless of how you feel about your current date, you’re locked into the game now (and hopefully not while covered in the blood of your date themselves, though they just come back even if you managed to kill them), and the game is picking a stat it thinks you need to work on. Either your intelligence is deplorable, your charisma is totally lacking, or your strength is at noodly-arm levels. That’s pretty bad. (It doesn’t matter what your actual intelligence, charisma or strength are, the game might be making things up at this point.)
Because of this, you’re going to be automatically tossed into a mini-game to increase those stats! This will be fun, absolutely. Nothing but Fun here in ViViD. So regardless of what the game thinks you’re lacking, it’s going to throw you into the same mini-game -- eldritch abomination make-over sessions.
You'll show up at a row of dressing rooms, each marked with a sign above the door reading NO INTELLIGENCE or NO STRENGTH or NO CHARISMA in bright red letters. Choosing the right one (embrace your shame) will reveal your initial date to you. They bat their eyelashes in greeting and growl out a very sultry, Will you help me, senpai?
Time to get to work!
You won’t be able to leave the mini-game until the monster is completely satisfied with its makeover, so it’s time to really tap in to your inner fashion sense. Of course, the fact that you’re all trying to apply makeup to the same monster might make this hard, but you can surely all get along, right?
Right?
PHASE III [ 1800 ] At first, you were on a date. Finally, you, your monster, candelight. Everything was going right until... well, you made a bad dialogue choice. They asked you what your favorite food was, you accidentally picked "Italian" (or maybe picked it on purpose which makes this even worse!) and then things went dark.
When you wake up, you'll find yourself in a cage. The room is dark and dank and there's no light other from the crack of a door somewhere up a flight of stairs. You're in a cage in a basement and there's a key glinting on the table right across the room there. Is it for your cage?
Welcome to the Yandere Route.
You might not actually be alone though. The cage isn't terribly big but there's enough room for someone else and if you shift around a little, you'll bump into them. Maybe you should share some woes of the eldritch horror dating experience. Maybe you should try and find a way out! Who knows? But there's one thing for sure:
You're both extremely naked.
Good luck!
PHASE IV [ 1830 ] You did it. You’ve gotten to the end of the game, or nearly. You’ve earned up enough affection points somehow. Maybe it was through the eldritch abomination following you around to trying to eat you or maybe it really, really, really liked your makeover. Maybe there was that thing and the cage and some weird pictures it took -- who knows! But now it’s time for the inevitable scene.
The confession scene.
Except... well, ViViD can’t do confession scenes very well. You'll find yourself there in the schoolyard, dressed in the appropriate school uniforms but...
For one thing, there’s a heavy shower of rose petals. A heavy shower. They’re everywhere. They might get in your mouth and face, they’re pooling around your knees, it's a rose petal flood and you're about to drown!
For another, the eldritch abomination you chose to romance is getting closer and... closer. And closer. And that sure is a lot of teeth, huh? Is it coming in for a kiss or to eat off your face? It’s... really hard to tell with all the rose petals, isn’t it?
To make matters even worse, you can’t move -- you’re locked into the scene until it comes to its proper conclusion. The game is stuck and you're here, suffering through it all. Well, you're suffering unless someone comes and rescues you, but who in the world would interrupt a touching scene like this to do that?!
BONUS [ why o'clock ] You know you have to get dressed up nicely for your date. It's an important one! Third date means third base, after all. So, you’re shoved into a closet, and surrounded by tons and tons of choices to pick from. You're spoiled for choice!
But, well... no matter what you put on, or even if you just elect to stay in your regular clothing, it changes as soon as you step out of the closet to meet your date.
Don’t worry, you look adorable.
It can’t be taken off, of course. So you’d better get comfy, because you’re going to be a pink dinosaur for your third date and... your fourth date. And your fifth. Hell, you might still be a pink dinosaur when it comes time to confess! How... cute.
[ Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with sensitive or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ] |
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Because, I'll have you know, it took almost two days for Frank to look me in the eye without blushing after what you said to him.
[She said, teasing. Just as he'd teased her poor boyfriend. About wedding invitations, of all things. When the two of them still could barely hold hands in public without having a table scream at them.]
[With him so close, however, she realized...she had to tilt her chin just a little higher to meet his gaze. And his expression. Something was up, and she was beginning to suspect there was either more to this nightmare that he wasn't sharing--unsurprising, given that Nico rarely shared anything without an external influence--or else this particular nightmare was even worse than she first thought.]
Nico...what's wrong?
It's okay. You can tell me.
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[That attempting-to-be-reassuring smile remains fixed on his face and he gives a little shake of his head.] Nothing's wrong. I'm just glad to see you okay.
[And you'll fade away soon anyway he thinks to himself.
For a moment, he feels a pang of selfishness, wishing that Hazel was really here and that she was from after the point in time he was taken from, or anyone else from home, just for a moment, so he could know that he will eventually make it back home too, that he won't be alone here forever. That light smile falls down into a small frown, immediately inwardly mad at himself for even thinking that. He wouldn't trade Hazel being trapped here for even a moment for that peace of mind. His own comfort was absolutely not worth his sister's safety.
He forces that frown away, making himself smile lightly again.] Did you make it back to Camp Jupiter alright?
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We did. If anything, I'd say the trip was pretty boring.
[Although, she and the others could have done with a bit of boring, after all they'd been through. In her case, for both this life, and her previous one. Even the year prior to Percy showing up at their Camp, she'd spent a lot of time harboring her deepest secret--pun maybe intended--and now that it was all out in the open and she had gained the respect and trust of her fellow Romans...along with several Greeks....]
[But that was her ADHD kicking in, allowing her mind to wander. See, this is what happened when you took the soldier out of the battlefield.]
Wait. You still didn't answer my question.
Was it a nightmare? [Or a night-vision, maybe?] Because, whatever it is...whatever you saw...we can handle it.
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... You... You made it back to camp? Did you talk to me at any point since you did? [The stirrings of both hope and panic are beginning to fill him. Hope because.... because maybe this really is Hazel and he does make it back home and maybe she can confirm that, but panic because no no no, that means Hazel is here and she can't be here, she has to be back home where she'll be safe from CERES.]
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I sent you an Iris message. We only talked for a few minutes, but it was enough to prove you were still at Camp Half-Blood, and that Frank and I made it back safely.
Then you and Frank talked, but I didn't understand half of it. I think it had to do with that card game he likes.
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Is there anything to say about Will Solace and being stuck in the infirmary for a few days?
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You... [He peers at her closely, as if he's really looking at her for the first time since he saw her here.] Is it... Is it really you this time...? [Try as he might, he can't keep his voice from breaking just a little bit, can't keep that tiny hinge of desperation out.]
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[...was Nico...was he blushing?]
[Nico diAngelo, did you finally make a friend all on your own? Or a "friend"?]
Of course it's me.
No dreams. No Mist. I can prove it to you, if you need.
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He shakes his head a little bit, wanting to believe it but still not completely convinced.] This happened before. I saw you here but you weren't really here, you disappeared right after, but that's... that's okay, I don't want you to be here. You're not supposed to-you shouldn't be here, you should be back home, with Frank at Camp Jupiter. [He's starting to get into a little bit of panicked rambling territory.]
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[...you know. In time.]
Actually...I've been meaning to ask you about that.
Where exactly is here?
[Because she could ask him any more about what he meant by that. About her being here-here, but not really.]
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[In the end, she had only one thing to say about all of that:]
What's a virtual reality system?
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[Remember, dear brother, she went straight from 1941 to the Fields of Asphodel, then almost directly to Camp Jupiter via the Wolf House.]
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Oh.
...is that safe for us?
[Demigods were kept from cell phones because they sent out too many signals to monsters. How much danger would they be in if they were inside a machine?]
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[She wasn't panicking. If anything, she sounded...slightly annoyed. Having to fight was a part of demigod life, and she had finally come to accept that during their long Quest(s). But not only did it sound like there were mortal in danger right along with them...but she had very little idea of what it was they were supposed to be fighting against. Stupid future technology....]
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Or until Frank and the others come get us.
[Because there was no way they wouldn't.]
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Until then...what do we do?