PHASE I [ ?? ?? ] It's impossible to tell time in this place, and everything looks the same, but it won't be long before you're probably sick of the tower. Time to get down -- unless you have magical powers or can fly or something, it'll probably be pretty tough, too. You could try to climb down, but the walls look pretty slick, and -- oh god, your arm just went through the wall, what the hell.
Whatever you do, don't fall.
If you fall, you'll be stuck falling forever. And ever. And ever. Looks like they didn't put a failsafe into ViViD for falling, so now you're stuck. You might see some other people stuck in the same glitch, falling forever a la Alice in Wonderland, but honestly? You're stuck that way until your game resets itself.
PHASE II [ ???? ] Either way, you've made it to the ground (somehow). The ground looks like... a half-finished city, really. There are streets, and houses... but some of the houses are unfinished, just four walls and no roof, or only three walls, or nothing inside, and a lot of the NPCs are completely faceless, or only have one line they repeat over and over again.
It's honestly pretty unnerving, especially since there's no soundtrack at all. You can just traverse this creepy hellscape in complete and utter silence.
And then the cars start to fly away.
That's definitely normal (is there anything about this game that isn't faulty?).
PHASE III [ ???? ] It's not safe.
You could be anywhere in this level, wandering, searching -- and then suddenly, it's there. As it appears, a battle theme starts, but it's distorted, eerie and off-pitch. There's something very wrong about this enemy, that's for sure. It can't be defeated, either. Attacks can harm it, and it can be tossed aside or fought, but it just gets right back up, bloodied and beaten, as if unstopped by anything it's feeling.
Over and over and over again.
Just don't let it touch you.
Because it will start to absorb you, code bit by code bit, until there's nothing left of you. It's a cannibalistic distorted monster, wonderful.
PHASE IV [ ???? ] If it wasn't apparent already, physics is a little weird here. One second you're walking along, and the next there's basically no gravity; you could jump wherever you want, clearing buildings in a single bound like the superman you were always meant to be. One second you're your normal amount of strength, and the next you could life cars (if you so chose), for no apparent good reason.
Sometimes the world just tilts, making the ceiling the floor very suddenly, and sometimes the floor drops out from under you entirely.
Anything that could go wrong with the physics here does go wrong.
Just try not to get caught halfway through a now-solid floor. That sounds really, really uncomfortable.
BONUS [ ???? ] Of course, it wouldn't be glitch central without something weird happening to you. And it could be anything -- one second you're fine, and the next your arm is twice as long as it should be, and totally noodly. Suddenly you have a mermaid tail or animal ears, or your head has rotated upside down (how is that even happening?). You're suddenly able to walk through walls, or drag objects to you by pointing at them.
If this was a video game (it is), it would be the faultiest game to ever exist, that's for sure.
(Still, teleporting from one side of the world to the other by jumping on a single spot on a flowerbed is kind of entertaining, if nothing else.)
[ 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. ] |
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
bursts thru the doors. phase III!
So his left hand... Some of his arm is kind of Gone??? Yikes, right. At least it's ViVid though. Sometimes you have to call it quits despite how much pride you have!
But seeing someone else try to fight this thing... Yeah, Hijikata is going to have to step in-- ]
Hey, you! Don't fight things unless you're sure you can win!
[ Let's be real, they could win if they could actually touch the thing but... Yeah, Hijikata is going to use his hand that ISN'T GONE to pull Izuminokami away and make a break for it? ]
woah slow down there friend
Also grk! goes the sword as he's grabbed by the back of his clothing and jerked away suddenly. It takes a second for him to get his footing, but soon enough he's able to run along with this guy.]
It's not even a scratch, really. I could've done more, I'm sure of it!
i cant!!
Annnd turning a corner! Maybe now they can stop and take a small rest -- though, you can still HEAR THE MONSTER creeping around the area searching for them, so they'll probably have to make another break for it soon. ]
You say that now, but if things get worse and can't do anything... Then you're as good as dead. Gauge the enemy and your chance of winning before rushing in.
[ Hijikata has met Kanesada before so he did recognize him before they rushed off! Though, Hijikata himself isn't wearing his haori but he does have his own Horikawa and Kanesada with him. As much as he would love to do introductions though... ]
Well, thankfully all the stuff here is fake, but still do you have to be that reckless and make me worry?
[ maybe he'll just be subtle. ]
puts hands on your shoulders
...Look, I get what you're saying, but there's something to be said for the element of surprise, too.
[But as his gaze takes in this guy a little more, he notices his lack of a hand.]
It got you.
[Kanesada reaches out, as if that could help anything, but then he notices the swords at the man's hip and...he freezes. Because he recognizes them, one of them instantly. It's like looking in a mirror, after all.
And then those words. Make me worry.
But there's no way.
And there's no way he can just blurt out his suspicions as to this guy's identity. He doesn't know where he is or what's going on, but he knows he can't change certain things.
...This isn't his Hijikata, though. Ugh, it's so confusing!
Kanesada goes to the corner and peeks out. They can still hear the monster, but seeing it gives a better idea of when they need to move again.]
Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Worry about yourself and your...fake missing hand, I guess.
*melts*
Not my dominant one.
[ He just kind of.. Waves it, as if it's nothing! He really can't afford to panic over it anyway? ]
Also, didn't I just say this stuff is fake? So once we get out of here, it'll be fine. It's just a minor inconvenience right now. Although, just because I said that... Don't go around being reckless because it's 'fake', things still hurt like hell here; so think of it like training, or something.
[ Ugh though!! What is worrying about yourself! A foreign concept. But, he's going to sprint across to a house that seems to be missing its roof, and gestures for Kanesada to follow. It... Won't be good cover if the monster manages to find them, but they should at least try to keep their distance from the thing. ]
Let me guess, you don't know where you are - what this place is - what's going on. Things of that sort, huh.
ew gross
So he follows him to the roofless house, strangely comfortable in his presence.]
None of that makes sense.
[The fake stuff, how he got here, what this place is, basically everything. Please explain.]
uhm what did u just say
Okay, but no. It was pretty damn worrisome when he lost that hand at first but then remembering that it's ViViD... Yeah, no big deal? ]
Let's see... It's this place called ViViD, and it's virtual reality -- it's a space where just about anything can happen because the technology makes it so.
[ A shrug. As much as Hijikata adapted to technology in the past months, ViViD is still a weird mystery to him. ]
Outside of this place is actually where everyone lives for now, and it's called Cerealia. This space is just a thing Cerealia created, basically. Does that make sense? Whoever's in charge just thinks it's funny to drop new people in these weird as hell situations before the actual city.
i can't hold all this demu sludge
Kanesada listens, trying to make sense of everything Hijikata tells him. Frankly, it's really confusing, but he's been at the Citadel and around the saniwa long enough that he's figured out some things. Also time travel. Yeah, that's a thing. Maybe this is like that? Technology makes things happen. The end.]
I think I get it. I'll have to see more of it to make more sense of everything, but...yeah.
It sounds awful.