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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I mean they're not real...they'll have an easier time respawning than we do. [He thinks. He assumes.] It's just part of the level. We've had the glitching thing out in the colony, kinda, but the clothes swapping is brand new.
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[She crosses her arms and sighs softly. He kind of reminds her a bit of Leo, which hurts to think about. Still, Hazel feels as though he didn't say that out of genuine meanness.]
Well, at least I won't have to worry about that in the actual colony. My name's Hazel Levesque, by the way.
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…but he should focus on making her feel better and not his personal bias. He remembers his first run through ViViD and how freaked out he was, even as a kid who's played a lot of video games in his short life.]
But maybe you're right. [Maybe.] There're other things to worry about in the colony, but it's a lot easier to handle than stuff going on in here. [There's a short smile though. He's trying. It's hard not to be kind of socially awkward sometimes.] I'm Hiro. [A pause. But she gave her last name, so.] Hamada. I guess this is where I should say "welcome to Cerealia", but most of us didn't really ask to be rebooted anyway.
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[Hazel isn't even going to pretend that she knows how computer programming works, but it's possible, right? Still, she appreciates that Hiro's trying to help her out.]
What kinda stuff? And, well, the sentiment's appreciated all the same. You've got a better way of welcomin' new people than this place does.
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[But Hazel asks an important question.] Trust me, I know how weird this place can get...I just showed up a couple of weeks ago. Annnd in those couple of weeks my brother and I turned into ghosts, people were going blind or hearing things, some people kept falling asleep in random places because they were so tired, and then the whole place flooded with rain and now we're being watched by cloud monsters. But kinda seems like an average day at this rate.
[No. No this shit is weird, he's so sorry, Hazel.]
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I think that's a nice way of tellin' you how he feels about it.
[She doesn't seem surprised. That can possibly happen in her world.]
Doesn't sound like much of a nice place. So, what causes all of that to happen?
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I've got a couple of ways I can tell him how I feel, too, but I think I'll pass.
People have some suspicions. A lot of people think it's just because of the guys who "rescued our code." CERES. [He shakes his head.] Nobody's heard from 'em recently though.
[Suddenly he looks up.] Baymax! [The robot looks up from where he was examining a vine, armored body turning to waddle close to Hiro again.]
Hiro. [Quick scan.] How can I help? [Hiro sets his helmet down, prying open the 'bot's chest armor to reveal his flabby, vinyl-y stomach.]
Hey buddy. This is Hazel. [Baymax turns his head, giving the girl a circular wave.] Hello, Hazel. [Hiro shakes his head, patting Baymax on the stomach.]
Can you show her some of the footage from the last couple of weeks?
[Give him a few moments before the projection on Baymax's stomach suddenly depicts some of the crazy stuff going on in the colony. Hiro phasing through things. Some of the people Hiro's met in the colony. The endless rain and black-out. The monsters in the cloud and the deranged dolphins. And finally Hiro punching a cloud and finding the thing's solid.]
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[That is what's weird to her, not the fact that crazy stuff happens for what looks like no reason. Hazel stares at what looks like a knock-off Stay Puff Marshmallow Man in sci-fi styled armor. She gives the robot a somewhat weak wave, but she's trying to be polite and friendly.]
Uh...hi, Baymax. Nice to meet you.
[She focuses on the footage and the more she sees, the more perplexed she looks.]
You punched a cloud and it was solid? [Hazel hesitates.] You don't have any relation to anythin' that'd be associated with wind, do you?
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[Thank god for that. Baymax seems to sense Hazel's apprehension and softens his approach, standing still while Hiro continues on.] Yeah. Baymax and I wanted to take a look at what was still up there and we found that. [He lifts an eyebrow though.] But I don't think I do? What kind of a question is that?
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[It's automatic at this point. Hazel isn't even sure if it's important, but it doesn't help make her comfortable. After all, if Ceres manages to come here and isn't pleased by a computer or whatever taking her name....]
Oh, uh, well...normally, spirits or monsters made out of clouds and whatnot aren't physical. Makes sense if they're made out of somethin' that wasn't solid to begin with, right? So...it's weird that you're able to hit them when typically only people with some kinda blessin' or whatever can.
[She runs a hand through her hair, mystified.]
Then again...maybe that's just somethin' unique to my...world?
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...pretty sure that's something unique to whatever your world was like because I have never heard of anything like that. If it makes you feel better though back in my world I fly right through clouds no problem. How would you know if a person has a blessing anyway?
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Either they tell you or you find out when they use it. Sometimes, not even they know they have a blessing until they do somethin' to discover that they have it. Then they learn to use it. Generally speakin', of course.
[And lucky Hazel just has a curse. Joy.]
These kinds of things just aren't overt most of the time.
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What if you don't want it though? Is there any way to take it off or give it back or...whatever?
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Some can be removed, but those are very difficult to do. The others...well, there's no way to do that. You're stuck with what you got.
[Along with all of the stigma attached to them.]
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Makes sense. [He tilts his head, looking back at Baymax.] Guess I'm just used to being able to upgrade and change everything. And in this place it's not too different with the things they give us.
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You might be able to change and upgrade some of what a person can do, but that won't change what they've already got or what they're really good at. You might be able to make me a great swimmer, but I'll never be as good as a professional and neither will it make my seasickness go away.
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[Hazel will not be dissuaded.]
Besides that, it doesn't take away the fact that I've got motion sickness.
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If we're following that logic, then lemme ask you this. Is there anything that can help any of the effects that come with a blessing to make them even less?
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[Definitely a 'need' and not 'want.']
Some creatures might be naturally resistant to certain blessings, too. Like natural resistance or immunity to fire.
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Um...one where the Greek and Roman myths are totally real? The gods, spirits, and monsters and all that?
[Gods of Olympus she desperately hopes he doesn't think she's insane.]