PHASE I [ 6 00 ] You wake up, and you're in a camp ground. The graphics aren't bad here, not really, but they're definitely last gen -- not the type of quality expected out of ViViD. On top of that, every once in awhile, the scenery sort of... glitches before going right back to normal as if nothing ever happened. If you're particularly unlucky, your own body parts might glitch out for a moment too, appearing as nothing more than broken code and then back to normal. Pretty weird, right? Oh well, don't worry about it. Totally harmless.
Glitches or not, you're still in a camp ground along with everyone else. There's a fire, there's some tents, some trees. Maybe some s'mores? You got it all. You're also not wearing what you were before. No, now you're wearing some sexy shorts, or maybe you've got a whip at your side, or maybe you've got a really classy fedora. And if you're one of those lucky few who have all three at once? Good for you! Try not to blind everyone with all that sexy.
Or, you know, the game will glitch out again and you'll be stuck wearing something else. That's definitely not as sexy.
PHASE II [ 730 ] If you decide to finally go exploring that crazy jungle, you'll find that you have a wide range of exploring options. Seems ViViD's taking a crack at their very own open world game -- this one modeled after your run of the mill adventure game. There are rivers to swim through (complete with alligators)! There are cliffs to scale (complete with angry birds ready to peck at your face)! There are even ravines to swing across on vines (just like Tarzan)!
Actually, the game is made to allow you to do just that -- those vines are all conveniently lined up for everyone to use them to swing across. Go on, it'll be fun. If you miss, you'll just lose a life, right?
Of course, if you overshoot your goal, you might run into one of the other glitches; the white space that you'll stumble into implies that you flew right off the world map and are now in unprogrammed space. Don't worry, you'll dissolve eventually, slowly but surely, and will reappear on the cliff so you can try again. There's no other way around that ravine either. Still, it's only a little frightening watching your body disappear piece by piece, right?
PHASE III [ 900 ] If you manage to scale one of those cliffs or swing across that ravine or cross that river, you may find yourself a chest. It's a treasure chest, and you don't even need a key to open it! Open it right up, a cute little jingle will play, and… nothing will be there.
Or the item will be there, hovering in the air, something amazing, fantastic, incredible that you've always dreamed of having and wanting, and -- you can't touch it. No matter what you try, it hovers right out of reach, and you can't interact with it at all.
Oh, and the cute little jingle is going to follow you around now, on constant loop.
PHASE IV [ xxxx ] So you died.
No big deal. Perhaps you got eaten by a crocodile. Perhaps you fell off a cliff. Perhaps another player stabbed you (that's rude). Either way, you've only lost one life and you have two more so it's nothing. After all, this is just a video game, right? It's fine.
Except it's really not fine.
You'll find yourself in a graveyard, tombstones all around you (maybe one of them has your name on it -- hope the epitaph doesn't suck). It's nighttime, it's foggy, and you're with the other players who have also lost a life. For a while, nothing will happen. The cold and quiet of the night will start to seep into your bones -- and then a figure appears. It can't be killed, it is silent and grim, and it does not speak.
Instead, it approaches each person there, reaches out and touches them on the forehead. Even you. All you can see for a long moment is corpses around you, the dead faces of everyone who had been with you in the ViViD level, flesh rotting away and faces caught in expressions of horror --
And then you're all dropped back into the camp ground together again. It's sunny and cheery and everything is fine, and you're down to two lives. Just, you know... don't lose the rest, okay?
BONUS [ xxxx ] You have a butler now, congratulations! He's following you around everywhere. He's an NPC, and not a very well-made one; sometimes his face glitches out, and he doesn't so much walk behind you as just… appears right next to you. He's handy though because if you ask him to, he'll pull up the start menu. You can sort out your inventory there and exit the game if you wish (except no matter how many times you press the "quit" button, you... can't).
Sometimes, though, that doesn't work out so well. Not the start menu but the butler himself. He might appear next to you on a narrow cliff face, knocking you right off the edge, or appear right on top of a hornet's nest, making them angry enough to go after, well, you. Maybe he accidentally summons a bear when all you were trying to do was ask him where the next dungeon is. That's unfortunate.
You can't seem to get rid of him either, no matter what you do. How annoying. Hopefully he doesn't cause you too much trouble because that bear... well, that bear's pretty angry.
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no subject
I didn't know. I know that whenever it stops doing that, you'll probably get your arms stuck in each other.
[Which is bad, by the way! He didn't know if it's temporary or more permanent. And how would Iwatooshi use his arms properly if they're stuck?]
... Did you just arrive?
no subject
Oh, that would have been bad. [he nods confirming the statement to himself.]
I did! Not sure how I got here, though. [he throws his arms out, motioning to the surrounding area.]
Have you been here long?
no subject
[He thinks for a moment.]
... About two months? [Give or take a few days.] For around that long, Iwatooshi-san.
[Has it really been two months, sometimes it feels longer than that...]
no subject
[He tilts his head in thought, looking rather concerned.]
Why did we come here at different times? It's pretty strange that they would take some of us and not all of us... [there was all that talk about data, though...]
Ah! When I got here, they explained that we were pulled from some code? Maybe some of us are harder to retrieve than others? [Please don't break the universe, Iwatooshi.]
no subject
[He wouldn't mind, except he's been... restless? They told them about a war, but there's no signs of asking or using any of them as soldiers. Sayo would get annoyed, but tolerated it if they do any fighting...
And then there's the possibility of CERES lying about the Flamines.]
They said we're all code... so it might make sense if some of us are harder to get.
[Sort of like how certain swords are difficult for their master to get?]
no subject
What do you do here for all this time, then? I know there's some big war going on, but why would they put a whole bunch of us in little games like this if there was something more important to be fighting? [fighting fake stuff is fun for a while, but Iwatooshi would really like to get something solid into his attack path.]
no subject
[Use them as soldiers already, dammit.]
Outside of this, everyone here have been living in the city and working. Or attending school like I am.
no subject
So it's kind of tame outside, huh? Are there any real fights that go on, even outside that whole space war thing?
no subject
Mm... none that I know of, beside asking someone for a spar or you get into a fight with them. [A pause, as he thinks back. Hm, oh yeah there's that time with the photoshoot.] There's that time when those photographers brought in strange... animals and they attacked.
[Honestly, he doesn't like that photoshoot event a lot. Too much attention and flashes for this small, quiet tantou.]