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.
|
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. ] |
![[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}
akane
Nice to meet you. Sorry it had to be under these circumstances.
[you know...the mud, the stench, the general unsettling atmosphere. really not motivating people for making new friends.]
no subject
It's all right. It's nice to meet you, too.
[ a beat. ]
We'd have likely met in a similar situation, given this place's sense of humour.
no subject
[he says that politely enough, but he means it. the lack of shoes was the most insulting part.]
no subject
[ oh, right. this guy doesn't know a thing about the implants yet. ]
Especially when they're able to monitor our every move.
no subject
[that's a given, isn't it? why wouldn't you be able to monitor your players in your game?]
We've got some sort of tracker, don't we?
no subject
We have ocular implants.
no subject
[if only he could heal well enough to regenerate, then he could see this for himself.]
no subject
Where were you thinking they would hide such a thing?
no subject
no subject
I wouldn't praise them if I were you.
no subject
[nothing wrong with admiring intelligence where it's displayed, even if it's your would-be overlords.]
no subject
They just don't deserve any praise.
[ not from her, at least. she hasn't been one of the traumatised people, but ceres, from what she's seen has similarities with the government back at her home. it's not Great. ]
no subject
[but her difference of opinion isn't something he's trying to call wrong. certainly she had her reasons for it.]
no subject
[ chrollo is lucky in this sense. he hasn't experienced anything bad... yet. ]
You'll have to forgive me.
no subject
[shouldn't he be the one asking for forgiveness? since he was the one speaking praise?]
no subject
Ah, thank you.
[ now then, to the current business. ]
I suppose your priority now is to log out... but I don't think you can log out without beating a boss. [ she glances at him. ] Can you try to log out?
no subject
[the last time he'd been "logged out" it'd been a matter of force. not much time to dissect the hows of it.]
no subject
[ INSERT HOW TO LOG OUT HERE. ]
no subject
looking down at his arms, his hands, Chrollo can say he's honestly impressed with how realistic it had been. clean, dry clothes now, but it had felt like a swamp. and everything's where it should be, no muddy falling apart doll to ruin the moment.]
So that guy wasn't joking...
no subject
It was easy, wasn't it?
no subject
[and he almost says impressive, but catches himself before she'll say something else about praising CERES.]
Now I might actually get to see something of this colony.
no subject
You should have received a map, so you shouldn't get lost. Please make sure you get an apartment of your own, as well. The key card for an open apartment should be with you, too.
[ she's suddenly turned into a mom. but no matter. it's her job as part of the law enforcement to make sure everybody is safe. ]
no subject
[he's joking. for supposed kidnappers, he's not going to turn down an actual bed to sleep in, if they're giving him the keys. asking too many questions of gifts might risk losing them, after all.
reaching into his pocket - huh, she's right, the card's right there.]
no subject
[ despite the horrible things she's experienced, ceres does make living here easy when nothing it's happening. she can give them credit for that. ]
Take a train to the residential station and you'll find a lot of apartment complexes. You're free to take any apartment you wish so long as it's free.
no subject
[and he actually means that, along with the smile he flashes in her direction. nothing special's in this room, so why not free themselves?]
(no subject)