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.
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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.
[ 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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Caster | Fate/EXTRA
[ To say Caster's miserable out here in the heat is an understatement. She can't stand this horribly oppressive heat, and her ears and tail droop the more she toddles along. But! What luck! That thing humans call a car out in front of her, and what a relief it is to see! ]
How cute!! [ She bounces over to it and climbs in, completely ignoring the weird bear in the back seat. Spotting someone else walking close by, she pats the driver's seat and calls out to them. ] Yoohooooo! C'mon, you! Be a sweetie and drive this thing for me.
[ PHASE II ]
EEEWWWW! Drive more carefully! You're hitting all those disgusting things!
[ Caster is very much not on board with the jeep having run over the worms. The sounds they make are just disgusting, and she has to wonder if her driver is running them over on purpose. ]
Oohhhhh, fine. I'll take care of it! [ She decides to take things into her own hands, and as more of the worms appear in front of the car, she flings little spell talismans at them to destroy them before the car can hit them. ]
[ WILDCARD ]
[ Feel free to reply with whatever other prompt you'd like to play! ]
phase 1!!!
( considering their riding ability, she shakes her head. ) It seems even as Servants, when given enough knowledge to understand, you still treat yourself as a stick in the mud, a pity. Don't you think?
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Stick in the mud? Please, it's Sabers who are too fuddy-duddy and take themselves too seriously. Who'd ever want to be one of them? [ She makes a sweeping motion over the car. ] Besides, my legs are tired. Surely a kindly soul will come along to take me somewhere nice...though you might have to do.
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( caster is a fool if she believes this emperor would do anything of the sort. )
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Well, it's fine if you can't drive it. I mean, I understand, even Sabers have their faults. [ She shrugs, and even goes so far as to sigh despondently. ] It's a shame. Sabers are supposed to be reliable, aren't they?
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Either way, he had some knowledge of how to deal with the desert heat, but he was gonna need to find water soon. But before he could formulate where to get some, he heard a voice call out. Puzzled, he whipped around to the source...
Only to see a very... interesting purple vehicle and a very... pretty girl sitting in the passenger seat.]
...What. Is that a mirage?
[That was more to himself than anything, but he didn't think he was dehydrated enough to hallucinate hearing a voice. That said, he hiked over to the car, blinking a couple of times to make sure his eyes weren't tricking him. Sure enough, when he got to the vehicle and put a hand on it, it was very much real.
...And then he looked over the woman in the car. Definitely beautiful, but... were those fox ears? Okay, that's weirder. His gut warned him that this might be some kind of trick, but he was armed, if nothing else.]
Well... this is a bit surreal. [An understatement. But he got into the car next to her, considering she did ask for a driver, and reached for the ignition.] You lost out here too?
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Still... something nice? Admittedly, he was a bit suspicious of all this, unsure of his new companion or the circumstances. But it wasn't like he had many options at this point. The vehicle could save a lot of energy.
So he stepped on the pedal to give it some gas, and with it, the ride lurched into motion.]
You don't have to do that. I'll be happy just to get out of this desert.
[He glanced over to her, not that it took much. They were really seated very close to each other, so they were quite cozy in this vehicle... shame it was so hot out.]
I'm Manfred, by the way. Manfred Vaeris. What should I call you, considering it looks like we'll be traveling together for awhile?
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You can call me Caster! Or Tamamo. Whichever you'd like.
[ Normally she'd be more reserved about throwing her name around, but this isn't a Grail War, strange as it is, so why bother? ]
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phase ii
I'm sorry Miss!! They're everywhere, they're hard to avoid!
[Oh cool, talisman magics!?]
W-Whoa!! That's amazing!!
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[Ai sighs as she takes control of the wheel so that she can maneveur more smoothly through the sand.]
With the lack of water and food, my energy levels wouldn't do so great in a session like this.
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[ It's easy to forget mortals need things like food and water to exist. Caster hasn't had to worry about it in a long, long time, but for different reasons every now and then. ]
Well, we'll find something soon.
1
Um. Are you talking to me?
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...I have no idea what you're asking me to do.
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You don't know how to drive a car? [ She pouts, staring at the steering wheel with disdain. Oh, bother. Now she'll have to drive herself. ] Disappointing.
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phase 1
I refuse. [ Yes, she's in a position to turn her down. Not only does she look weird but she just tried to call Rin Tohsaka sweet. She has to live up to her image of being a hardass who wants nothing to do with people. ]
Re: phase 1
Caster pouts, then scoots into the driver's seat. ]
Well fine!
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[ While she's recognized by the Servant, Rin herself has never seen anyone like her before in her life. Not that she's a stranger to strange looking avatars in ViViD. Talk to her with the tails and ears outside in the colony, she may approach it differently.
For now she's very lethargic. ] You should have just driven it yourself in the first place. Why rely on someone else to do something when you can do it yourself? Geez, that kind of laziness isn't acceptable in mini games like this.
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I'm no Rider, this kind of thing is beneath me. [ More like she just didn't want to figure it out. ] Don't worry about it, fuddy-duddy.
I
E-Excuse me? Are you talking to me?!
[ And so she reacts with some casual embarrassment, looking to her left then her right to see... wide open expanses of desert and no one else around to make that question sort of answer itself.
So she sighs, looking at the car. ]
...I think I'd rather walk.
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Awwww, but you'll get gross blisters on your feet. Painful ones. The kind that get filled with sand and make you wanna die.
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I'm actually pretty comfortable in these. I train everyday in them I almost never get blisters. [ ...Wait that's not really the important thing. ]
Do you even know how to drive?
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Well, no, that's why I asked you, dummy! I haven't the slightest idea! [ Though surely it can't be too hard since this thing looks like a child's toy. ]