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.
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this is not the right habitat at all
Kenta's question proves that he is, in fact alive and not lurking in a distant stupor or suffering some other weird medical condition. He does seem tired? Maybe he's just sick of the desert. A slow nod confirms Zono's discernment. He might be blushing -- their cave of wonders doesn't offer a lot of things besides bluelight, probably, just like in my Didney films, but he's busy. Busy setting one of the two worms down, and busy pulling what he supposes is a tail (thing) from the thinnest portion of the bug's body.
It's not a clean separation, but the worm splits just enough to offer a q-tip sized peek at it's innards -- which isn't very much and there's not much to look at anyway. It's a worm. He doesn't feel so bad about tipping the bug over Zono's head and letting the water drip onto his face. Hell, the thing might even survive after it's been emptied of it's lifesource with how gentle he'd been.
(No, it won't.)
He looks incredibly proud of himself, for both figuring this out and sharing without being prompted to.]
i feel bad doing this, he tries so hard :c
Kenta's glad that, if nothing else, Todoroki's responding to him. That's more than Jun did which means this probably isn't a hallucination. Why Todoroki's here, he's not asking. He's figured out it's better to just not ask about any of this, not when he needs to devote his brain power to other things.
Things like figuring out what Todoroki's doing with that critter.
Considering what he's doing, Todoroki's surprisingly careful with the creature, at least until he starts dumping it out over Kenta's head. He cringes at first--what kind of weird greeting is this, has the kid lost it already in the heat??--but then the liquid runs down past his nose and onto his lips, which he licks reflexively.
It's oil. Salty, probably from his own sweat, but absolutely some kind of vegetable oil. He lifts one hand and drags it through where it's dripped, rubbing it between his fingers.]
W...what?
LMAO AN EFFORT WAS MADE
He sets the empty animal down and picks the second up, clutching it with both arms to his chest while watching on, silently. The situation doesn't seem to be resolving itself...
Awkward. Maybe this guy'll figure out Raichi's good intentions if he stares off to the side hard enough and pretends to be mostly uninvolved.]
no subject
Kenta blinks slowly and wipes the oil on the leg of his uniform pants, pulling his legs in until he's sitting up properly.]
Did you know that was in there?
[On one hand he's pretty sure Todoroki had no idea, on the other it's not really better to think about him dripping anything else on his head.]
1/2
On one hand, he was fairly confident in dousing him in that stuff. On the other hand, no, that was kind of not...what he wanted to have happen at all. He would taste-test to confirm that that is, in fact, not at all what he wanted to have happen, but that's bizarre.
He does lean in for a sniff, which doesn't reap a lot of insight. At least it's not pee?]
..The ones I hit on the ride over...
no subject
Those had water inside.
[He's still looking elsewere, mumbling.]
no subject
That doesn't make it any less weird when he leans in and sniffs him, though. Maybe this is all one big hallucination.
Then Todoroki speaks and no, this is real. Kenta thinks for a moment before he answers. Water... the rude genie... and then the weird note.
Oh no.
He thunks his head back against the wall again.]
I think it's my fault.
[Of course it's his fault. Why didn't the worms jump up at his jeep?? That would have solved so many problems. Well, if he'd been willing to drink worm guts to find out they had water inside.]
no subject
Heh?
[He's the one who poked a hole in the wormycritter's side and thensome, but he sits back, properly on his haunches (like a caveman, minus the knuckle-dragging), holding his last worm with both hands.]
The...worms...?
no subject
Kenta lifts his head at the confused response. He looks at Todoroki for a long minute, then figures, what's the worst that could happen, he seems insane? He's trapped in a video game desert with only a handful of people he knows around and he just had oil dripped on his head. It's already insane.]
There was a genie here. I wished for water and he gave me a note with an apology on it but no water. The apology said the level wasn't finished so I think my wish changed the water. [He sighs. It'd figure he'd do something like this, huh?]
I didn't even know the water was there.
no subject
A genie. A real genie? Sounds like it. He supposes it's not all that far-fetched, all things considered. They are in a desert. Deserts are indicative of genies and cave of wonders, obviously.
Raichi isn't one who needs in-depth explanations of things in order to believe them either. This Seido guy found a lamp and that's why his worms don't work anymore. It's feasible. There's no other reason for them to not be full of useful sustenance anymore.]
Oh...
[After that whole explanation, that's it.]
no subject
Well, it could be worse. Kenta just admitted to pretty much denying water to everyone trying to survive this hellscape and Todoroki doesn't even seem angry. They could die here, it'd be Kenta's fault (kind of), and he's not mad.
That's pretty cool, all things considered. Even so, he feels bad. The kid was trying to help and Kenta managed to make even that backfire.]
Sorry. I didn't know it'd do that, but thanks for trying.
no subject
But he shakes his head at the initial apology -- once or twice, then there's an abrupt stop. He's presenting the second worm more fully toward Kenta.]
This one...you can open it.
[Maybe it'll be different if Zono tries it instead of him? And he's totally talking like this KO'd worm is a giftbox or care package of some sort. Go ahead, just open it.]
no subject
He blinks a couple of times at the offered worm. O...pen it? He didn't even see how Todoroki got the last one apart but he's pretty sure that one's dead now and Kenta feels bad about killing this one just to see what's inside.
On the other hand, the idea that there could be water in there is pretty enticing. Everybody's got to go sometime, right? Even weird little worms.
Kenta puts his hand around the thing's neck area, doing his best to keep it from biting him, then pinches the end of its tail. The worm wails pathetically when he tugs so he stops.]
Yours didn't do that!
[Todoroki's may have already been dead but Kenta's is now very much alive and wiggling in his hand. He can't do this.]