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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Really soon. It should be really soon, promise! Sometimes that happens, where people show up once and then they show up for real. This is like the "for real" time. We'll probably just have to try some things out on this level and then we'll be able to log out no problem. I'll show you how to do it, okay?
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. . . . but then she blinks once. Twice.
Is he saying that just to be nice to her? Is he lying? Because that all sounds so far-fetched -- it has to be a lie. Lying just to be nice to her is kind of cruel but also it's going out of his way to make her feel better which is even more confusing? Why....]
.... Why are you being nice to me? We're not stuck together this time.
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Why wouldn't I be? You're loud and kinda jumpy, but it's not like I'm gonna leave you to fend for yourself just 'cause of that.
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..... but the fact that he's confused just makes her confused? she's kind of only been really rude to him and she acknowledges that but he's dealt with it.... ok but first:]
You can't tell me I'm loud when you're louder.
[bringing that up again.
and then.... she's just going to turn away stubbornly, tsunning away as heat rises to her cheeks]
.... I won't let it be uneven, okay! I'll repay you!
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Not even her punkassery will deter him for long, and boy does she have a lot of it. PUNK. Tsun punk, though.]
Didn't we already go over this? You're the extra loud one! I'm just like, regular loud. [That doesn't even make sense but he'll stand by it, apparently?! Anyway, he'll cant his head to the side a little at that display of tsuntsun, curiously eying her.]
What are you talking about, huh? You don't need to repay me for anything. All I've done is like, catch you a couple times and walk around in circles with you.
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[AND SHE SNAPS BACK TO LOOK AT HIM FOR THAT ONE, as if that'll make it easier for her to believe??? She's blushing but you know what, whatever she can probably willpower that down.]
But you're.... really way too casual with what you do for people. You shouldn't be so freely giving...!
[oh Lili you just don't know how to People]
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[PUNK. Ah, but she sure is red, isn't she... She can't will that away fast enough for him to miss it!! Granted, it just earns her more bafflement. What's there to be flustered over here?? Lili is Complicated.]
I don't get what you're talking about at all! How's any of this too casual? What are you expecting, huh?
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[JERK. the fighting continues.... and she's just going to frown now and shake her head firmly even as she's going to turn away again! THIS TIME WITH HER BACK TO HIM. So there.]
I don't know--!! [she really doesn't, she's just.... not used to kindness from strangers even when she's being difficult] But you should be more careful! What if you get hurt because you help someone? That can't happen!
[ok so maybe some events are a little too... recent.... for her.]
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[He'll be JUST AS STUBBORN!! ...Though honestly, that response takes a little of the wind out of his pointlessly feisty sails. It's nice that she's worried! But at the same time, a lot of her reactions - even back in the garbage dump - read a little strangely at times. He's not exactly socially apt enough to know that now's a good time to be like "are you okay though", so instead, he just tries to step a little more carefully than he normally would.]
Hey, I'm not gonna get hurt. I mean, it's not like I think that's bad advice or anything... [He's seen some morons get hurt because they help the wrong people and he's yelled at them for it, lord.] But you don't have to worry about me or anything. [QUEEN TSUNTSUN he sees that.] I'm a suuuper capable sword, after all! Dealing with trouble's what I do. If there are any people like that out there, it'd be my duty to take 'em down, anyway.
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too quickly, her face completely red:]
Who said I was worried?
I'm not worried.
Don't be so presumptuous!
[she was totally worried]
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What about that's presumptuous? If you weren't worried, you wouldn't warn me, right? Unless that's just for show, but you don't seem like the kind of gross person who'd do that.
[1/2]
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She's just..... going to respond automatically first:]
I'm not gross.
[ . . . and then she's just going to shake her head and flip her hair over her shoulder - not muddy because Kashuu apparently knew how to tango in another life.]
I just.... don't like to see people get hurt in front of me.
I'm trusting you not to do that.
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Well, you don't have to worry about that either. Pro-mise!
[He can take care of himself!! For the most part... Enough to survive in the swamps, anyway. Speaking of:]
Now let's get started so we can get out of this dump. I wanna take a shower and get back into my nice clothes.
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I'll hold you to that promise.
[The words that she doesn't know how to say out loud: Stay safe. Please.
And then she's just going to focus on something else. It's too soon for her to break down here, even if she has to physically hold herself together with her arms around herself.]
... right. A warm bath with some scents sounds lovely.
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Ooh, there's a nice spa in one of the districts that I can show you to! You just have to be careful when you visit that place 'cause there are a lot of seedy spas and stuff in the same area. The nice one is totally worth it though, I swear!
[Just gonna casually talk about pleasure district spas as he starts to pick his way through the muck. He'll stick close to Lili just in case, but not close enough to be uncomfortable.]
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Baby steps.]
A spa...? Does it have hot springs?
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Mmhm! You can go there to soak or get this weird massage that they do with hot rocks, and I think they even have people who do acupuncture stuff there, too. Oh! And they do manicures!
[Clearly the most important part.]
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And there will be food? Clean water...?
[We sure went from Luxuries to Basic Needs real fast.]
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Yeah, there will be. I mean, it's like any other modern city... There's plumbing and fresh water, tons of shops sell things you can buy to make your own meals, you can go out to eat wherever and whenever. There's like, things to snack on at the spas too. Fruit trays and crackers - light stuff like that.
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Making my own meals.... or snacks?
[oh no.
oh no she's realizing she's gotten in quite a bit over her head]
.... Might there be a maid service available?
[you from the slums or the capitol, Lili, make up your mind]
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Eh? Uh... Like, in your apartment, you mean? I'm not really sure. I've never heard of anyone around here having one, anyway... You could probably get a robot to do that stuff for you but I don't think you should, since technology can go totally haywire at random here. It could end up being dangerous. [But at the same time, he kind of knows this struggle considering he's a dumb sword and blew up a microwave, so--]
If you need help learning how to cook stuff, I can give you a hand. My master taught me how to use some of the things in the kitchen and I know how to bake some stuff.
[He knows how to bake a cake, in specific. Yuri was a gift in his time of need...]
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Well cooking isn't the only problem.... [She starts to list them off on her hands, which probably doesn't help her case:] What about the cleaning? Drawing the bath? Purchasing additional robes for banquets? Maintenance of the estate? I don't stay at home much, mind you, but someone must look after it.
[Lili, where are you expecting to live.]
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WHAT IS THIS, THOUGH. His brow furrows even further and this time, he can't help but blurt out:]
How come you're worried about fresh water if you think you gotta worry about all of those things, too? [LORD. A little huffy sigh follows, and then:] Apartments are way too small to need any of that! You're talking like you're gonna be living in some manor or something, but these places don't even have gardens or yards. They're biiig buildings like this- [Making a vague shape about the height and width of an apartment complex?!] -and everyone lives in 'em together. You only get one apartment for yourself - that's one room inside the building, basically - so cleaning's really no problem. Neither is drawing a bath, since you just have to turn on the tap for that.
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But honestly, she doesn't wince at the question. Worried about fresh water -- and yet still preoccupied with her standard of living. Yeah, that sounds about right. Regardless she smooths out her expression when he explains and just answers, a bit more quietly:]
.... Shut up.
You don't know anything about me and my situation.
[Which probably comes off as meaner than she intends -- really he's been nothing but nice and she does want to repay him -- but it's... hard to just come right out and explain, ok.]
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