ioculus | //TESTDRIVE2.0.EXE

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!test drive

//TESTDRIVE2.0.EXE

Welcome to the Castle-town of Valoria

The prototype of ViViD's newest level has been complete. However, right now, only a single castle-town is open and available to be accessed with a mini-mission for all registered players. This castle-town is currently undergoing a terrible plague that causes those who drink the water to become strongly infected by the venom laced within.

The venom creates a form of volatile madness known as The Maenas, and it is said to originate by a single flower growing in the center of the castle-town's lake.

In order to purify it, everyone will have to work together to rescue the Priestess who is being held hostage in one of the castle-town's main towers, which is currently being guarded by a large dragon. Who that dragon is working for is currently unknown, but right now, it's preventing the priestess from helping the villagers.

At the log in screen, players will be greeted by Vidia, giving them a friendly announcement and providing them with the mission details:

"You're here at last! There's no time to delay, Player. The priestess mourns the more you hesitate. Come on, get equipped, and follow me! Are you ready? You simply have to follow my instructions.

✩ Get to the tower and defeat the dragon.
✩ Do not kill the townsfolk. They don't know any better! Knock them out, but do not let them die, or the imps will eat their corpses!
✩ Kill the imps, they're aggravating the madness! Each imp will release a soul orb on death. Grab it! It'll protect you from the madness, too. Each soul orb is worth ten credits!
✩ You have six hours. Please rescue the Priestess in that time, and she will be able to let you out.
✩ If you encounter people already from Tellus, you'll get a bonus orb for each soul orb you collect for all players.
✩ If you don't fight, you'll end up affected by the flower's curse... please, band together with someone and travel with them to slow the effects.
✩ The dragon will continue to re-spawn if it's fought alone. Please fight as a pair or group to bring it down if you can!
✩ Remember, you only have six hours... hurry, please!"

//SCENARIOS.EXE

PHASE I

[ xxxx ] You're standing right in the center of the entertainment district inside the main ViViD hub. The machines sit before you, beckoning to being worn so you can test out the newest level in ViViD. There are others around you, in similar positions. Researchers are on stand-by to document your every move and make sure there are no glitches at all. As you settle into your chair, you slowly put on the helmet and find yourself being immersed in a world that's so real, you can hardly tell whether or not you're in the game or still in reality. (Please don't attack the researchers, they're only doing their job and they won't hurt anyone!)

PHASE II

[ xxxx ] You're fully immersed in the game now, wandering around with the list of objectives Vidia gave you. It's your choice where you want to start first. You can talk to the NPCs, engage in a grueling battle, level up, or head straight to fight the boss in a daring suicide run. However, as you walk through the castle-town, you catch glimpses of shifting faces. The NPCs look familiar for a moment, maybe reminiscent of someone back home. The effect lasts too short for it to be noteworthy until it continues to occur. Feel free to explore, but remember, you have six hours, a holographic timer to the side of your screen will appear when you wish for it.

PHASE III

[ xxxx ] Another glitch appears. This one is more debilitating than the rest, leaving you hanging mid-attack. The game seems to freeze completely for a solid two minutes. In that time-span, the world shifts to your own. You're standing right in the middle of the one you remember, staring up into a sky painted red with fire while a blood-curling scream erupts from the back of your mind. You glance down around, and one by one, the people start to fall to the ground, shattering like glass. In the distance, the dragon looms, staring straight at you and roaring, though its voice seems equally agonized. Then the game resumes normally as though nothing happened. Your complete your attack and continue as normal.

Then something else appears within the darkness for a moment, lost in a single blink. That one second passes so swiftly it's barely noticeable. It might throw you off, it might leave you facing a pair of imps or crazed hordes. Whoever is with you had better started fighting... And you'd better run if you're alone!

PHASE IV

[ xxxx ] You've reached the end. Victory is yours. The townspeople are cheering, and the Priestess is rewarding you with a kind smile and several credits to your name. The dragon lies on the ground defeated, though its eyes are open still, hollow and black. In the reflection, you can still see the traces of a world left behind. In that moment, you can also swear you see it blinking when it should be dead, but there's no time to dwell. You're being logged out and the researchers are shoving surveys in your face or asking you questions about your experience.

BONUS

[ whyo'clock ] Welcome to the Dressing Room. This is where you can dress up your character in ViViD in all kinds of costumes. Completing missions will open up new outfits that will be delivered in the real world to character's flats. As a prize for completing the above mission, characters will be rewarded with some special outfits (both are unisex). Characters will immediately be launched into the Dressing Room upon completion so they can see themselves modeling their brand new outfits to one another.

[ You can choose to set your threads in the game or before/after if you'd like. Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with trigger-y or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ]

//RUN.EXE

Welcome to CEREALIA's second Test Drive Meme. Please forgive our appearance as we are still going through the final stages of game completion… mostly fighting with table codes. While most pages are under development and/or hidden from the public eye, please don't feel discouraged, since knowing everything doesn't always make the experience. Your characters will know as little as you. For your convenience, we have compiled a post detailing everyone's arrival experience and a FAQ that should explain everything in more detail. Please read them thoroughly before playing. Thank you!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Phase III }

how frustrating this entire thing had become, but Yukina is admittedly hoping to find answers of the more distinct variety by completing the so called mission to rescue the kidnapped priestess. It's the only thing she can insist to herself that she do to be productive and useful while trying to figure a way of escape back home (but if her world is truly gone...)

caught in her thoughts, she isn't expecting to be left hanging mid-air, although confusion settles before panic, particularly as everything in the game glitches. Before she has a chance to further assess the situation she's suddenly standing, the entire environment taking on a much more realistic (and horrific) form. Because it is truly a sky she remembers well, only not in that color.

The awful sound of that scream brings her to jerk her attention from the sky and down around to see individuals panicking and attempting to flee, only to never get far in their terror as their images collapse and shatter. Eyes wide, Yukina brings a hand to her mouth in disbelief, pushing herself to finally move a few steps forward despite the crowd moving in the opposite direction. And that's when she sees the large beast that has already spotted her and singled her out.

But, its pained roar is as frightening as it is conflicting and she can't seem to make sense of anything... except.

Except, there's a body on the ground between her and the dragon and not an unfamiliar one. her heart starts to pound, feeling sickness wash over her like a wave (she knows him, she knows him). She tells her this isn't real and that there's no reason to react the way she is but it feels so very much so that it's as if she's suddenly feeling all that agony the dragon and the people falling into pieces are experiencing. But, despite herself wanting to go to him (because he can't be dead—no he's not real, yukina, stop it—he's not dead—!) she can't move, only the visuals around her bleeding over her and sinking further into her mind.

She screams; and it's a frustrated and fear-filled scream, but it's only once she's on the ground with her attack suddenly completed as if it had never been interrupted in the first place does she realize that she did so, her throat feeling uncomfortable and raw from the strain. She's back in the game environment; no dragon, no body, and no visuals of a world she called her own.

Yukina swallows, feeling embarrassed by her outburst (as well as her ridiculous... Hallucinations? Who knows.), and silently rises to her feet, sheathing her blade in the process before dropping her gaze to the carcass of the motionless imp her blade had struck.

Was that part of the game just now? Or something—she blinks, glancing up suddenly towards the darkness only to be greeted by that flickering image before it's swallowed back into the darkness. Eyes wide, she lets herself linger in surprise, staring in the (hopefully now) empty darkness.

What... what was that just now?

Bonus }

absolutely not what she expected when logged out of the game, but to Yukina's credit she is taking to the new... Erm, attire, at least calmly. Currently, she's tugging curiously at the sleeves of the costume, not bothering to push the hood back just yet, instead pulling at the front in hopes to glance down it and see that despite the costume, she still as her normal clothes underneath it...

Ugh.

[wow... Kaoru may look dumb but at least everyone else looks dumb at the same time, bless.

But weird onesies are far from the worst thing that could happen to a person in such a strange and unfamiliar place as this, so Kaoru won't be the first to complain. There may be just a little side-eying going on regardless, just because okay it really is ridiculous-looking, but nothing aside from that.]

Ah... Answers are in short supply here, unfortunately, beyond the most basic information. [Said with a vaguely apologetic tone, even though that sure isn't Kaoru's fault ~~for once~~.]

[ yeah this looking dumb thing... yukina's so outtie. she attempts to start looking for a way to get it off, very seriously replying to the one who offered her some words during her search for a button set or zipper... ]

They are withholding information from us, then? [ despite the fact it could be said rather accusingly, she only asks curiously more than anything. ]

They are. [Kaoru just watches her with a tiny amount of curiosity, too. The search for the elusive zipper is a hard one... Yukina can fight that battle herself and Kaoru can just reap the reward of figuring out how to get out of this fuzzy deathtrap second-hand.]

But that isn't entirely uncommon for them, I feel.

[ you are a true friend, Kaoru, she needs to meet more like you.

and this zipper is surprisingly... Very. Elusive.

Yukina pauses, glancing back up (it sure does make her feel slightly less stupid to act like she's willingly pausing her rather than she still hasn't found the exit to this suit), her brow creasing slightly. ]

No? [ at the very least, she wants to hear the thoughts on this situation and of the ones in charge of this place through the eyes of another. ]

[everyone deserves a friend like Kaoru...

Not that that crafty zipper-hunt pause is distracting enough to throw this punk off the scent or anything. But if it saves Kaoru the embarrassment of being in the same situation, waiting can definitely be managed!]

Mm... [Which is accompanied by a somewhat hesitant side-glance, like there's a concern of being overheard. ...And there is, kind of, even though Kaoru's pretty sure that it doesn't matter to the people running this city what its citizens say aloud.]

Well, I can't say that I think it's done maliciously- [nope it is totally done maliciously, so sayeth Kaoru's common sense] -but I do get the feeling that they try to keep things from us if they aren't directly relevant to us in the moment.

[Yuki felt ridiculous and wondered if whoever had made these costumes seemed to know just what would embarrass her most. While she loved bunnies coupling that with some skimpy maid costume was not what she had in mind for cute. The skirt was too short - in her opinion - and the ears weren't really needed, so she discards them for now, holding the head band in her hands and trying to keep a more dignified face instead of one that was clearly uncomfortable.]

They're not very good at answers, I don't think. At least I haven't found any good information yet.

[Such as how can she leave. She's still not sure anymore whether or not to trust what they say about their home worlds being gone. She didn't want to believe it.]

I see... That is unfortunate. But I can't accept what they've provided this far, even if it is with their best attempt.

[ this would be yukina trying to give the higher ups in this place the absolute benefit of a doubt and that surely they would not be purposefully screwing up and giving bad answers to their concerns.

while yuki is uncomfortable with her attire, yukina has simply decided she will be taking it off, starting with the hood, reaching to check if her hair ornaments are still in place. They are, which means she's quite a bit more confident that if she can figure out how to get this ridiculous thing off she at least has her normal attire underneath. ]

[ Kazama raised an eyebrow at the sudden display of... overzealousness from the woman he'd been paired up with and with a quiet smirk, he waited for her to sheath her sword before commenting. ]

Shouldn't you conserve your strength for the battle to come? I would have thought being a woman, you'd caution against needless displays of power.

[ although he'd admittedly been a lazy ass this entire round, letting Yukina do most of the work. He's simply taken care of the cretins too foolish to attack him head on. ]

[ sorry was that a backhanded insult because she seems to just take it as constructive criticism, letting it roll off her shoulders (especially since a certain someone is not pulling their weight!! But she can't defeat the dragon alone... technically speaking, anyway). ]

I thought I saw something. [ that's fair and truthful towards him, is it not? ]

{ he raised an eyebrow and barely contained the inelegant snort that threatened to escape his mouth. ]

And what, pray tell, did you think you saw? Are you truly so disgusted by the sight of those things that you'd use all your strength to kill them?

[ How like a woman to be disgusted by the sight of a little bit of slime and dirt. That kind of attitude had no place on the battlefield. ]

No, the dragon in a different place than here. [ yukina has turned and is staring Kazama down now, dead serious about the matter. Honestly, this man's willingness to focus on the most unusual and pointless of circumstances in a situation almost remind her of— ]

...And someone I know losing to it.

[ the one thing Kazama will have a difficult time with is getting under her skin or otherwise outburst at his obvious goading to get a rise out of her!! She's an oni chief and has been raised for a purpose so she needs to control herself here. And god she's not a woman okay, she's an Oni Chief (in case you didn't know), Kazama, deal with it. ]

[ if she looks and smells like a woman, doesn't that make her one? Just ask the Nagumo clan. Surely Kaoru had been well used before their demise... ]

I see. So you gave in to sentimentality and lashed out. [ che ] I thought you said you were ready for the task at hand. Can you really be relied on?

[ he sighed and simply stared off into the distance before brusquely shrugging his shoulders and striking off to where the dragon was surely waiting for them to challenge it to a duel. ]

Come, we can't afford to linger. We are timed in this battle.

[ and let's face it, this was easier to do then sit behind some counter extolling over the virtues of someone else's penis. That such things were even being sold was despicable. ]

yukina :: toki no kizuna

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