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.
[ 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}
no subject
...do you understand what you are offering?
[ There is the irrational urge to ask if a mortal could survive on eating twice a week, but then again twice was a vast improvement over nothing at all. And there must be plenty of other mortal's dreams to influence.
It still doesn't change the fact this boy is offering, and that is something no one has ever done before. ]
no subject
he shifts a little from foot-to-foot, glancing back up through the fall of his bangs. ]
Um.. I know it's not much. But I just-- I have too much to keep track of to lose too much sleep. And I'm sure if I'm willing, there'll be others, too.
no subject
The Guardians have always been better at endearing themselves to the world. People believed in them, saw them, knew their titles and their names. But Pitch Black, the Boogeyman, was slowly being erased from Earth's cultural memory.
And then to be told that everyone would be able to see him...well Pitch didn't exactly believe that part. But Haru offering himself up like this...now that was something Pitch believed.
To tell the truth, Pitch not only believed it, it had never happened to him before. So when he does speak it sounds so bewildered and almost lost. ]
Why would you do that?
no subject
some spirits are just bad, just like some humans are bad. that's the truth. overall, though, he's found it just takes a little patience and a willingness to listen to understand some of those humanity most fear.
he lifts a hand, scratching at the curve of his ear, a little embarrassed despite himself now. ]
Well.. you have to 'eat', too. Everyone has a right to live. Asking you not to scare people would kind of be like asking you to starve yourself, right? [ he glances back up, pale eyes cautiously warm. ] .. Anyway, I have a spirit, Tsurumaru-san, and he makes it his mission to scare the living daylights out of me every chance he gets. I'm kind of used to it.
Sorry for slowness, RL keeps happening
No one had ever made such an offer because Pitch never allowed it. He never needed them to sine plenty were honestly afraid of him. But they weren't anymore. Many adults, and even some children found the whole notion of the Boogeyman laughable. ]
I don't need your pity.
[ He would like to vanish but wasn't entirely certain how this mortal was seeing him in the first place. He settled for crossing his arms and turning away. ]
I have not yet sunk so low.
no worries!
[ he hesitates, then shuffles a little to the side, peering around and up at pitch. ]
Just give it some thought, okay? If nothing else, I'll send you my address, and if you're curious, you can come by and meet my spirits.