The desert. It's hot. It's sandy. It's filled with creepy monsters and things. But mostly it's hot and sandy and there's a whole lot of nothing. You appear and wonder "why am I here? What is there to do here? Is that a cow skull? Do cows live out here in this desert? How can cows live in the desert? Maybe it's a horse?" These are all very complicated questions with equally complicated answers but there's no one to provide them no matter where you look. Instead, you're given the option of walking. Forwards, backwards, to your right, to your left, any direction is yours to take. Try not to die from dehydration or something, that would be a sad ViViD death and the cow-horse skull might start laughing at you. I mean, you'll just start over from the beginning anyway but still.
Welcome to ViViD's new line of Vacation Spotlights: Desert Edition.
Moo-Neigh.
 One wish, that's all you get.
Make it snappy, I don't have all day.
Actually, I have eternity but I just don't want to spend it with you.
|
PHASE I [ 6 00 ] So.
There's sand.
In fact, there's so much sand that there's probably already sand in your shoes and your shorts and all sorts of other places that aren't fun to have sand in. It stretches for miles and miles, in large dunes and deep dips, and above it all there are three suns that beat down upon everyone's backs. Why three? Because why not, that's why. Enjoy the sunshine and try not to get sunburnt.
You've got a long ways to travel before you find anything but sand, but thankfully you're not alone -- there are a bunch of unfortunate stragglers who are out with you, so it's time to make some friends as you travel. You've got pleeeeenty of time. No water though. Or food. Or... anything but human interaction.
Thankfully, it's only a matter of time before you stumble across your hot new ride. Thankfully, it seats two, so you and your new friend can enjoy a cramped road trip. You, this relative stranger, and the great... sandy... unknown! Good luck!
PHASE II [ 645 ] If you prefer to not take your ride, you're going to wish that you did soon enough. Every desert level has to have desert monsters, after all. You're walking through the sand, trying to make it to somewhere that isn't sand, and then suddenly, the sand worms appear.
Or.
Well.
They try.
Unfortunately, they're little more than 5 or 6 inches tall apiece, and they'll mostly try to eat your shoes and socks. How scary.
Alternatively, if you have actually taken that sweet ride of yours on an adventure through the desert, you're going to hit something at one point. It makes a rather pitiful scream and there's a small bump underneath your tire before your car comes to a stop. You just ran over a sand worm.
Anyone who is intrepid enough to kill a sand worm though will find one interesting thing about them. They're filled with water, and you are very, very thirsty. Ew.
PHASE III [ 1000 ] It sure is hot.
And unless you've devoured one of those poor, sad, screaming sand worms, there's no water to be found. It feels as though you've been wandering in circles for ages, so perhaps it's really no surprise that the heat starts to get to you. First come the headaches, and the thirst. Then the dizziness and vertigo.
And finally, the mirages.
What you see is a waterfall cascading into a crystal pool, beautiful and pristine and painfully cool. It's just begging for you to come enjoy it, and -- wait, there's one more thing. Standing in front of that pool is either someone you care about immensely or someone you hate immensely.
And either way, the things they say or do will be the same. First they reach for you, beckoning, and they they start to detail all of the things they'd like to do to you. NSFW, SFW, loving or cruel or so many things in between, all that's honestly consistent is that it's pretty shocking.
Oh, and awkwardly, it seems as though anyone with you can see and hear that hallucination too. That's embarrassing.
PHASE IV [ 1215 ] Eventually, though, you'll find your destination. Or... at least, it seems like it should be the destination. The tiny temple is at least a change from the endless sand, and in the middle of it, there's a lamp. That sure looks familiar.
If you rub the lamp, of course, you'll release the genie, and he'll glance at you, and inspect his fingernails as though you're hardly worth his time, and offer you one, single wish.
As soon as you make it, well... You'll get the opposite of what you wish for with a sudden apology note in your hand. The card will read "Sorry, this level isn't entirely finished yet - Mosley" before immediately disappearing. Your wish will only apply in ViViD, of course, but hopefully you didn't wish for anything too crazy, or you might have made the level Much Harder for everyone around you.
BONUS [ why o'clock ] One second you're walking along the desert sand, enjoying the eternally same view, and the next there's a sudden pinch on your ankle, and a scorpion monster scuttles away quickly. Whoops, looks like you've been stung.
But it's not poison, it would seem. Aside from feeling a little odd and having a mild fever, you're fine.
More importantly, you've now found yourself in possession of some... new powers (a la Spider-man), and they're...
Well, they're useless.
Maybe you can summon water now, but... only sulfur water. Perhaps you can now make pretty light shows and that's about all. You can see the future but only the next three seconds. The possibilities are endless, but what's for certain is that they're all completely and utterly useless to you.
What the fuck, ViViD.
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Julius Will Kresnik | Tales of Xillia 2
< phase i />
[ You know what? It's dry. That's fine. Elympios is pretty damn dry, and has been for decades, blame it on the energy and climate crisis. You probably could see tumbleweeds blowing by on the highroads right outside of the major cities if you bother to look. And Julius is no stranger to legging it out in the wilderness, even if simple camping trips tend to end up in them getting chased by bears or something.The sand, on the other hand, is awful. There's not quite so much of it anywhere in either of the two countries' topography—Elympios tended a lot more towards barren dirt and dust than sand, and Rieze Maxia was fertile and flourishing and in general a lot more green.
Dress shoes are also probably not the best kind of footwear to be traversing the desert in. At least he's pretty covered up, between the dress shirt, vest, trench coat, and dress pants ensemble, so no worries about sunburn. Just heat stroke instead. Joy. A quick glance around at the gathered company though just shows that most of them are as unprepared for a trek in all this sand and sun as he is.
If there's someone looking like they're suffering a little too much from exposure, he might approach them with a friendly, disarming smile: ] Hey, you all right? Looks like we're all in the same boat here. If you want, you can borrow my coat. Don't worry, it's not actually all that heavy, and it might just be better than getting sunburnt.
[ Or, if they've come across the Carebear Buggy(TM), then he'll just look over at whoever's nearest him with an amicable, if sheepish glance. ]
So, you want to drive, or should I?
< phase iv />
[ One wish, really? Even past the whole genie-spirit thing, that's a little too close to. Well. Relevant, ongoing(?) current events that he's long been jaded by for him to really be anything approaching encouraged by the offer. It's one long, measured look at the entity later (shiny scary glasses included) that anything actually happens because he finally decides to test the waters with a simple enough request and.Those sure are granola bars raining down all around them. ... That isn't water. Or rations. ... Close enough?
Fueled by some unfortunate mix of practicality and curiosity, Julius plucks a wrapped bar out of the air around them while it's falling, eyes it (... Kitty Krisp brand granola bars?), opens it up, and takes a bite before having to refrain from grimacing. Those are the hardest, driest excuses of granola bars he's ever had the misfortune of eating. They might as well be sawdust in the mouth. ]
You know, I'm not quite sure what I was expecting from that.
< wildcard />
[ hit me with anything, I'll roll with it! ]Phase I
I really wish these games made it easier to dress for the weather!
He sheepishly shrugs as he's asked about the car.]
I... don't exactly have a license...
no subject
I probably could figure it out, though. Unless you wanted to take a shot at it?
no subject
Er - you know, I think I'll pass! If you feel fine taking a shot it, then... hey, go ahead and be my guest!
phase iii wildcard as discussed!!
Seeing that oasis after miles of sand and glaring sun gives him a brief moment of cautious hope and relief, but then when he shields his eyes to get a better view -- oh. Of course.
Nearly every time this place has seen fit to throw some kind of personalized illusion at him, where he's been shown someone who wasn't really there, Rideaux has seen Julius. So when he spots him standing in front of that waterfall now, he's not surprised in the least. Probably another attempt to lure him into some kind of trap, he imagines with an eyeroll and a sigh. Honestly, haven't they learned by now? Maybe others here are stupid and sentimental enough to be taken in by the image of someone from their past time after time, but if they think he's ever going to be broken up over Julius fucking Kresnik, they clearly haven't been paying enough attention.
But this time, as he's about to turn away, he catches sight of something else beyond Julius -- an image of himself, a few years younger but immediately recognizable even from this far away.
All right, fine; he'll go see what shitty memory of his past they've decided to dredge up for him this time. Even if it is a trap, it's not like he can't handle it -- and maybe he'll still get a decent drink of water out of it. ]
finally gets around to tagging back tdm threads
Even the splash of (unfortunately) familiar deep fuchsia had done little to dampen his relief, because really, what were the odds?
High enough, apparently. That's absolutely fine. All he needs is to get some water, and that won't take long. He can just ignore the other man sauntering up to presumably make a nuisance of himself and generally antagonize Julius, as per usual for the two of them. He's had enough practice in giving Rideaux the cold shoulder to last a lifetime, so regardless of the man starting to become more insistent in attempting to provoke a reaction out of him; Julius, you're not ignoring me, are you? Someone's looking moody today. Luckily for me, I know exactly how to fix that.
... At that, he finally looks up and glances sharply over at the other man. Rideaux of course looks impossibly self-satisfied, but what really gets Julius' attention is the other approaching figure he can spot over the man's shoulder, and this place can't possibly be serious.
Great. There are two of them.
Julius has done a lot of questionable to reprehensible things over the course of his life, but it's at this exact moment that he's certain he has to have pissed someone off. ]
no subject
[ What Rideaux had expected to see when he got close enough was a projection of some memory of a conversation between him and Julius, being played back like a movie just for him. He hadn't expected Julius to react to his arrival, as if there were no fourth wall between the real Rideaux and the scene being played out. Of course there were times when the illusions had tried to interact with him in the past, but there hadn't been an illusion of himself there in those cases.
Something is off here, and he thinks he has a pretty good idea what it is. ]
Oh, don't tell me they actually brought you here this time.
[ He crosses his arms and shakes his head. Wonderful, really, this is exactly what he's been looking forward to. As if that Julius character in the history books here wasn't bad enough.
He's about to open his mouth to make another comment when he notices that the image of himself in the illusion is starting to loosen its tie and beckon Julius in closer. Lucky for you, too, it's saying in a voice that's practically a purr.
It's at this point that he recognizes that this isn't one of his memories, per se, but it is a conversation he's watched before. It's one they both watched before, and they both know where it's going.
Dying from dehydration seems a little more appealing now than it did a few minutes ago. ]
phase iv.
[It's okay, Leon's always sour, he's just extra grumpy because it's hot and he refuses to take off his stupid cape even so, so he's really hot. On top of that, a granola bar or two bounce off of his head before he makes an aggravated noise and fends them away with his arms.
It's making him look uncool!!!!]
no subject
[All right, it might've been a little overconfident to think going in that he (they?) could handle anything a corrupted wish might've thrown at them, but hey. What's done is done.]
Besides, they might be useful still.
[Maybe he could feed them to a virtual cat or something, since they're apparently Kitty Krisp brand. You can never be too prepared.]
no subject
Might they?
[They're... they're granola bars.... Leon's poncy and overly coddled enough in some ways that he wouldn't eat these even if they were all he had (which they are).]
You cannot mean you intend to eat these.