The thing about Cerealia is, there really isn't any nature to be found here. Sure, you can go outside the walls of the city and explore the land beyond but who wants to risk a terrible, horrible death just to sniff the flowers? Not you, that's who! CERES understands that, CERES sympathizes, and sometimes CERES decides to take action when such problems arise. As part of the company's current "Healthier and Happier YOU" initiative, they've decided to let everyone get back in touch with nature a little.
Via ViViD.
Of course, this being CERES, the nature they've sent everyone to is more of a swamp. The place is disgusting, a real marvel of ViViD ingenuity and it smells like the dead. There's strange rustling among the leaves from creatures that may or may not want to eat you, and random pits that open up right under your feet with the goal of sending you straight into the marsh. It's not really that fun. There's no welcome sign either, no nothing except for swamplands as far as the eye can see.
Welcome to ViViD!  This is Mosley. One of our programmers forgot to include a welcome greeting for the level this time. How incompetent can you get? He's been fired now, it's fine. Instead, I will greet you today. Lucky you! You've been invited today to participate in CERES's "Healthier and Happier YOU" level where we've combined both physical exercise and relaxing meditation into the ultimate ViViD experience. Isn't that fun? You can... go camping and stuff. Or whatever. I don't... know...
Honestly, I don't even care. Have fun.
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PHASE I [ 6 00 ] Welcome to your new healthy living training ground! What does a swamp have to do with healthy living, you may ask? Absolutely nothing! To make up for it, CERES has outfitted all players with the proper equipment for their new healthy living lifestyle. They also may or may not have let you keep your shoes based on how benevolent the ViViD gods were being at the time. (Not very.)
Oh, and all newcomers will have something additional on their fancy new yoga shirt. It will be displayed loudly and proudly all over the front and back of it. And if you're one of the few not wearing a shirt, it will be on the back of your pants. As in, your butt. It will be on your butt.
What’s ViViD trying to say, anyway?
Regardless, it probably doesn’t matter as much as finding your way through the swamp. Some sort of dry land would be really nice right now, wouldn't it? You'll have to watch out for the mud that will suck you right down under the marsh, and the creatures with lots of teeth that will never surface from the mud but won't hesitate to snap up an unwary foot or two.
CERES is sure you'll be fine. Totally and completely fine.
PHASE II [ 800 ] Eventually, if you try really, really hard, you’ll make it to a house. Actually, it’s more of a shack, really. If you clamber your way out of the mud and the gunk and the marsh into said shack, you will find it to be empty aside from a table. A table hosting a huge pile of... well, health drinks. See, there's totally a health theme in this level. CERES would never make a ViViD level that wasn't thematically appropriate. Never! Health drinks of all sorts and types and sizes can be found here and there’s even a sign too; it simply says:
Take one.
Well, that seems safe.
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to leave said shack until you do take one. And drink it. The door will lock shut and cover itself in more swamp until you do. Yay. Depending on your luck, the drink may do the following to you: ➟ Cause your ViViD experience to glitch. This may involve phasing through walls, seeing everything in 8-bit, or hearing really annoying old video game music everywhere you go.
➟ Cause status effects. This can include suddenly moving incredibly slowly, being turned to stone for a period of time, suddenly being on fire, suddenly being poisoned, etc etc.
➟ Be healthier. Mmm, kale and hummus smoothie. Taste those veggies. If you try to take more than one, that’s fine too, nobody will stop you, but you probably won’t get lucky more than once.
PHASE III [ 900 ] And back you go, out into the swampy wilderness. Don’t give up! Keep going! Eventually, you’ll find the end of this level. Probably.
Eventually, though, you may stumble across something in the mud and the muck. It’s... a little doll?
In fact, it’s a little doll of one of your most important people (or, alternatively, of someone you absolutely hate). It might be someone in Cerealia currently, or someone who isn’t, but either way, the doll is there and it’s clearly them (covered in mud and all). Be careful, though. If you toss it aside, you’ll suddenly see that important person being tossed aside. If you cut the doll, you'll suddenly see that person bleeding. Even if they aren’t present in Cerealia, whatever happens to that doll, you'll see it happening to them. Is it a hallucination or are they actually there? That's a little more up in the air.
And if they are present in Cerealia, well... doing things to that doll might very well hurt them too -- for real, this time, though.
Be careful! Or don't. You do you, as CERES would say.
PHASE IV [ 1200 ] And then, eventually you reach a quiet, swampy area. Not that the rest of the swamp isn't swampy, this area is just extra swampy.
There’s very little happening here in this swampy place; even the birds are no longer squawking. And for a long moment, everything will remain quiet and peaceful, a place of reprieve... until the swamp begins to bubble. Then suddenly, a new friend will burst out of the swamp, showering mud and gunk everywhere.
Without warning, that creature is going to try to grab for the nearest person (it might be you!) and let out a mighty roar when they have them. Then, they'll hold them up to... read the nutrition facts on their shirt? What?
Of course, it will try to gobble you or whoever else it grabs if it finds, say, the salt content to be acceptable (the monster is watching their carbs). If it's not, then they'll just fling you away and move onto the next snack. For those without a handy nutrition facts label on your shirt, well, it might just take a gamble and try to eat you anyway.
Great. A health-conscious monster. That's just what this level needed.
BONUS [ xxxx ] Finally, you’re free of the game. Without warning, you’re dumped into Cerealia properly and you’re able to scrub the mud and gunk from your clothing (wait why did that come back with you and where are your normal clothes?). You're able to then make your way to your new place of residence (or old) and...
There is a tiny tree there waiting for you. Isn’t it cute? And if you take care of this tiny tree, it will eventually bear fruit! Tiny fruit. Itty bitty fruit.
Depending on which tiny tree you get, it will be one of the following: a tiny dildo tree, a tiny bacon tree, a tiny kazoo tree, a tiny carolina reaper tree, or a (dumb) tiny hats tree.
Everything will, naturally, be tiny. Enjoy your new healthy CERES gift!
[ 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. ] |
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ota
[ He's confused. So confused. Not that he minds a midriff shirt (his usual shirt is one, anyway, and he doesn't know it's called that) but the label is weird and why is he in a swamp all of a sudden? And without Poko.
Wherever there are trees, he tries to keep to those. But he's not happy at the mud on his bare feet when he has to step on the ground. ]
Urgh...Couldn't they make a less sticky ground...
[ No but seriously. ]
«« phase iii »»
[ He freezes, and then after a while, crouches down to pick up the doll.
Sasaki-dono was very important to him, but the scales that are visible on the dill only serve to remind Kagemitsu of the loss, of how the Orochi destroyed everything for them, and killed the man.
It's... really upsetting. He can't bear to drop the doll back to the ground but he is also unable to move at the moment. ]
«« bonus »»
[ Poko comes bounding at him, the tanuki instantly jumps into his arms, entirely disregarding the dirt and smell, and Kagemitsu cuddles the animal for a long time, before he goes off to find his clothes. He doesn't know what the tree is in question of species but.. ]
A bonsai?
[ Sure, he'll take care of it but.. He still wants to find his clothes, so with one arm around Poko and the tiny tree in his other hand, he's intending to go look for his clothes. ]
«« wildcard »»
[ any other thing you wanna do? hit me with it! ]
phase i!!
Oh, it's you again. What kind of shirt is that?
[why is she harping on his appearance again]
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he loves all of them dearly but soramaru is the most sensiblebut he scowls at her as he props both hands against the branch he's just climbed onto. ]I don't know, CERES came up with it.
[ is commenting on people's appearances her way of saying hello or something?? ]
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It looks ridiculous. [her own yoga garb is pretty ridiculous, but she got a normal shirt thankfully.] This place sure has strange taste.
[like... first trash world and now swamp land...]
So are we never getting our real clothes back?
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[ Then he shrugs. ]
After we clear the stage, I think. They don't let us out before that.
[ Unless they die and he... does not want that to happen. He already died once and not in ViViD. ]
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I didn't clear anything last time. [she thinks...] Do we just have to survive whatever they throw at us then?
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Hey. You sound really certain about this. [that isn't fair?? she doesn't feel as familiar with this as Kagemitsu apparently does.] Is that because someone told you about it or because you've done this before?
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[ Suddenly getting dropped into jungles where you might die and have to restart if you fall on a rock... He's so glad he landed in a tree that time. ]
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[is kagemitsu a ViViD expert who can safely lead Okuni to freedom]
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[ He doesn't trust technology very much. ]
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iii
To be tripped over.
Naruto hadn't been looking where he was going and considering not everyone can use chakra to walk on top of the water, it puts them much lower than him. For the second time today, he ends up face down in the swampy water.
He pushes his head back so that it's above the surface.]
What do you think you're doing crouched down like that?
[As if it's Poko's fault that Naruto tripped over him.]
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Kagemitsu startles when someone suddenly trips right over him, but at least it also makes him look up from the doll. But since it also made him fall over he's also more dirty when he was before, and makes him have to push back up on his feet. ]
Thinking, [ He snaps. ] Why don't you watch where you out your feet?
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Naruto pushes himself out of the water and wrings out his clothes for the second time today. The orange of his yoga outfit is looking pretty dingy at this point. Good thing these aren't his clothes.
A twitch of irritation.]
I wouldn't have to if you weren't attempting to be a crocodile.
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If he wasn't so upset by the doll's appearance, Kagemitsu (maybe) wouldn't have been shouting. ]
I wasn't!
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bonus;
Who... looks slightly less clean. Ah.]
Kumou Kagemitsu-- did you just arrive? [Wait, no, stupid question, obviously he did.] Are you looking for something?
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Yes, [ he nods; it's an answer to both questions, really. And his face breaks out in a big smile. ] It seems one of the things I was looking for has found me, though. [ Prepare for the incoming hug! ]
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at least he's able to handle the hug a little better now that the stick has been somewhat removed from up his ass, but still..... guh. So friendly...]
Ah... [Um.] It is... good to see you again.
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You too! Though I didn't find out I've been gone until I heard the date! How are you doing, Sousei-kun? When did you cut your hair?
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Ah... it was some time ago--in our world, rather, as I also returned there for a time.
[Stop... being so sappy, it's Too Much.]
I'm fine. And yourself? I'm sure you're aware that it has been some time since you were last here.
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You did? Then it really can't be true that it's been destroyed.
[ Which is good news. He already knew that it must be fine after his own time since he had descendants as far as 600 years into the future, but it's important to know it's safe for his family from the future. ]
I am! It was a surprise getting to know the date had suddenly changed but as long as I can see you all again that's fine!
i
Nope. They want to make it as inconvenient as possible.
[It doesn't really sound like he's complaining, just stating a fact.]
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[ He's not surprised. ]
I guess they like to do that.
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