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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(secretly everyone's favorite? don't lie.)][Anakin Skywalker does not heed warnings. Instructions, when coupled with involuntary and forced compliance, however, is another thing entirely. Truth told, he might've drunk the whole thing anyway: a swamp might be moist but it's not terribly hydrating. Or healthy. Or--anything but a swamp, really.
(He would take a thousand endless beaches over this.)
As as usual, without heeding warnings, whether they're bells in his head, red flags, or flashing neon signs, he comes to intensely regret this within a matter of moments.
This music is going to drive a man to murder.
Don't mind him if he shoves past you, muttering a seeming unending string of expletives while he tries to track down the source of this noise.]
[EPISODE IV (or: you don't even go here)]
[When the monster first shows up, it feels like the first time he's cracked a smile in ages. There may just be a whole chorus of it's about time running through his head.
Of course, that's before he remembers he's unarmed, in an unfamiliar environment, and that he's never been good with animals. Still, he takes no heed--as usual--and approaches the thing with a huff.]
Hey Meathead! Try picking on someone your own size!
[Because--metaphor. It's very original (VERY), but it catches the monster's attention all the same. He dodges the first hand swipe, only to roll right into the next. Superb job, Skywalker.
Needless to say, this doesn't end well:
the salt is strong with him.]ii
She was almost out of the sinking muck, in fact, her tights soaking her to the bone when a man suddenly stormed past her. Honestly, she really did want to get out of his way, but considering her ankles were stuck? She fell further into the mud when he pushed past her in a rather undignified manner.
At least it seemed to have gotten her feet loose? She let out a loud cry of dismay as now she was muddy all over... AGAIN. She was so terribly tired of mud!]
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It doesn't really occur to him to apologize. The only thing he notices above that hideous din of noise his her outburst, which is the only reason he pauses mid-stride, and turns around slowly, as if he can't believe what he's heard. It does, on the whole, seem unbelievable. He's seen no one else out here, knows he's being made the fool somehow (again), and wholly expected to run into no one until wherever this racket playing in his head is coming from stops.
His glance back is less of sympathy, and more of shock.]
What's the meaning of this?
[Grand bedside manner, Anakin, really.]
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IV
This task is proven utterly useless when someone gets the bright idea to just walk right up to it?? and yell at it?? WHY???
For a half-second Yuri considers leaving him to his fate for the sheer stupidity of the move, but she won't. She can't abandon someone in need, even when she has nothing to fight with here herself. She hurries to some dead trees and things near-by, breaking off a branch and some smaller branches, before hurrying to the rescue!
She throws one of the branches] Hey! Let him go! [Which it probably will anyhow given that salt content, but Yuri doesn't know that. She's trying.]
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The branch hits the beast with little fanfare, but it seems the yelling does the trick. What it is about that simple command that works, he's not sure, but there's little time to contemplate it as he's tossed to the side like an old toy.
Or is that "bad piece of meat"?]
I had it under control!
[The reply is mostly muffled into the commotion of landing in the swamp's wet undergrowth.
Very under control.](no subject)
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IV
He's thankful that someone showed up to distract it, but seeing that the other guy totally unarmed, figures he should help.
Now if he could only move from his spot and stop being totally petrified by the monster.]
H-Hey pal, look out! This thing hits like a speeding truck!
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[It's not that the news is really unexpected--of course if this was going to be easy, he wouldn't be wrapped up in the middle--but that is a particular brand of unhelpful.
At the very least, this stranger isn't directly putting himself in harm's way: that would be an entirely different brand of unhelpful, and the less Anakin has to try and focus on the better.
Unfortunately, he isn't given the time to listen or or formulate his own answer before the monster is roughly flinging him about, finalized with a careless toss (in retrospect, far more like a pitch) to the side and right into the less immobile wildlife.
Wizard.]
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IV
Without thinking, reacting wholly on instinct and trusting in the aim of her magic bow, Mars releases a shot from a hundred paces away...]
FLAME SNIPER!
[And the shot whizzes by Anakin's head, centimeters from shaving off some hair, and neatly severs the grasping tentacular appendage.]
Now get clear!
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He's had worse.
Still, as he's trying to amble way, he's glaring at the girl all the while, patting at his head in shock, less worried about the distracted monster now than his
hair'sclose call.]Because I was clear when you almost shot me?
[Not that he's complain--yes, alright, he's complaining. He's not ungrateful, and she did have the right of it: he'd have done something similar in her shoes, right? But is a wholly undignified situation, and he's very tired of being at the butt end of some grand joke he's not in on.
He manages those hundred or so paces with more ease than his
tantrumshow lets on. He might have gotten shown up--hard--but even his ego knows it's better to stick with the person who's armed.](no subject)
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episode ii: everyone's favorite
...Ah, wait! You shouldn't go over there—
[ ...there's a big stretch of bog just a few feet away, one that almost sucked Atsushi under, so. Let's spare this poor guy the same fate, right? ]
YES GOOD
Sinking slowly into the muck, he has to damn near claw his way back out. It's only then that he vaguely recalls pushing past someone only a moment earlier, and turns back on a hunch, soaked and muddy, with a glower.]
A little warning might have been nice.
[Because of course his own lack of foresight, attention, or even heeding the one that was there can't be his fault.]
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ii
Even when he shoves past, he only nudges her a bit, but it's enough to ruin her search. And her mood. ]
[ Calling after him: ] Excuse you. [ and she catches up all too easily. ] Your tantrum is ruining my concentration, and I'm pretty sure I was onto something.
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so put upon) and a slight twitch at the annoying noise she doesn't seem all too burdened by.]How can anyone concentrate over that noise?
[Because if she can hear it, there's a secret to it, and he needs it.]
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IV
Because really? Who decides it would be a good idea to walk up to it and think it wouldn't do anything?
At this point, as Patamon swelled up and blew gusts of wind at said monster? Takeru quickly went up to Anakin in hopes that said swamp monster would let him go]
C'mon, we got to go! It's not safe here!
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Luckily the distraction is enough that the monster does indeed drop him, not figuring it worth the trouble. Doubly lucky, he's too busy face-planting into the ground to argue that it's an obvious urging.
He pushes back up from the ground with a groan, eyes moving from the boy to the creature with him.]
Handy pet.
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iv
Granted, if someone else was in danger Ryuuga probably would pull something incredibly similar because that's just kind of what he does. Whoops. Thankfully, his sword actually didn't end up glitching out when he got in, so points for that. He's still in a stupid getup, but he at least can't complain about lack of ability to fight back.
That being said -
Ryuuga quickly unsheathes his sword and summons his armor in a flash of light. The display probably ended up spraying mud and gunk everywhere, but unfortunately, them's the breaks - and there's more important things to worry about. (sorry if you get mud in your mouth, unless you're the monster. then yolo.) He makes a spectacular leap into the air to cut through the offending appendage before ducking into a recovery roll - his expression is unreadable under the helmet, but he's staring straight up at the monster, and boy is he not thrilled about this. A quick jerk of the head and there's a golden wolf head staring straight at you, Anakin.]
You alright?
[He'd offer a (literal) hand in getting up out of the muck, but touching the armor would more likely burn him than anything else. One of the few drawbacks of Soul Metal, unfortunately.]
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Perhaps, but then, he's not in danger of being some giant beast's next meal, and it cuts down on his exercised caution.
As if he needs an excuse for that.He pushes himself up out of the mud--truth told, he wouldn't want to soil armor like that if it were his own either, and magic metal or not, it doesn't look quite as flexible as a clones had been designed, for instance. He brushes himself "off" as much as possible, which really only tends to spread the mud more than fling it away, but it helps on principle, and nods his thanks again.]
You show off for everyone like this, or am I just special?
[A moot point: he knows he's special.]
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IV
[As he fell, it was already whirling around, biting and clawing at other vines that shot towards them, seemingly buying the man time to recover. But whoever owned the beast was no where to be seen...for now.]
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The only bonus is that they seem to be focused on one another now, instead of him. He does finally take the time to better assess his surroundings, but as far as he can tell, it still seems to be nothing but him and the fight breaking out in front of him.
It's a nice repreieve, but--]
That is definitely not your size!
[He motions forward--which would look hilarious without context--to force push the larger monster away, but as rattled, huffy, and distracted as he is, it doesn't push very far. It's like jiggling a locked door handle, as if the harder he pushes, the results will suddenly change.
They don't, and no matter how hard he "concentrates" on it, the effect is lackluster-to-barely existent.]
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ii
Guess that means you recognize me.
i'm sorry omg
Except it is.He winces against the noise ringing in his ears and wheels around to meet the accusation.]
Should I?
[He doesn't, he's positive, but given the things here he's already seen, is there something to this?]
Re: i'm sorry omg
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phase iv
...you do realize you're stuck inside a virtual reality simulation right now, yes?
[ Not that it's going to make a bit bit of difference with content, but still. ]
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iv
[And he'll be watching, for now; arms crossed as he provides his commentary to Anakin. He'll help, if he's needed but for right now he's just going to watch.]
Just saying.
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iv.
And then there's this guy.
Well, if he's going to insist on being part of this fight, she sure hopes he knows what he's doing. And after those opening moves? She's...not so sure. SORRY ANAKIN. ]
Get up! Quickly! [ Rey dodges forward, thrusting her staff into the monster's side to get its attention away from him and spare him a moment to recover. ]
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Episode IV (or: he doesn't even go here either)
Not having a weapon on him was problematic, but the monster is distracted and there are a fair amount of trees. One hand on his sore side, he throws the other one out, the tree to the monster's left splintering and falling towards the creature. It lands across two tentacles, crushing them under the weight of the wood.]
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