//EVENT024.EXE

[reparator]

Who: Everyoneeeeee!
When: OOC: 1/15 ; IC: 5/7
Where: ViViD's new level: Your Health and You (And Giant Monsters)
What: Intro log, welcome to Cerealia!
Rating/Warning: PG-13 for violence, etc! Please let the mods know if the rating needs to be changed or if the log needs to be locked!

---

//event024.EXE

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.

//SCENARIOS.EXE

PHASE I [ 600 ] 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. ]

//RUN.EXE

Welcome to Cerealia's January intro log! For your convenience, we have compiled the characters' arrival experience here, and should you have any questions, feel free to ask them here! You can also check the FAQ for more general inquiries. Should this event log hit Captcha, there is an all-purpose overflow here. Thank you!

Comments

Open to all!

[chaoticwhimsy]

Phase I

It was only luck that Lumina hadn't been dumped right into the swamp water, instead she'd found herself perched on a rock in the middle of a stretch of gross water, dressed in the middle outfit and appropriately covered in a helpful warning label! Just in case anyone decided to eat her. She is entirely fat, from the look of things.

She didn't linger long on the rock though, taking a slow look around, arms swinging at her sides. Okay. Boring. And gross. With a little 'hup' she jumped into the air, swallowed up in a swirl of crystalline light and throbbing darkness...

Only to be deposited on a tree branch a moment later in a similar portal. Hmm. More swamp. Okay. Back into the chaos, reappearing further along the path, shifting from tree to tree as easily as walking. She was basically cheating.

Eventually she found someone slogging the way through the swamp the old-fashioned way, and that poor person would hear a giggle from above them as she settled down to sit on a branch, her legs swinging away beneath her.

"You look like you could use a hand." Her voice was sing-song and amused, and the odds of her actually offering that assistance were wildly varying.

Phase III

Someone stumbling across the swamp would come across Lumina sitting on a rock, her bare feet stretched out almost to the water without touching it. There was a little monster standing on the rock next to her, boucning in place and absolutely covered in swamp muck, though as people approach it would vanish in a burst of shadowy energy.

In her hands, Lumina had a small, person-shaped doll, and she was wiping the mud off it with the bottom of her shirt. (She'd probably made that poor monster go get it for her.) The doll actually looks a lot like her, though on closer inspection it wasn't. The hair was the same shade, but longer and left loose, and from the height and built was probably far older than the twelve year old who had it.

Her expression was one of...confusion. Perhaps a hit of annoyance. And the fact that she had it was enough to distract her from noticing anyone who happened to be approaching...

Phase IV

Judging by the mud on her pants and shirt now, Lumina's cleanliness luck had finally run out...and the culprit for that was obvious in the giant, grotesque marboro beast standing in the center of the swampier swamp. She'd gotten away, she could cheat, but the beast pursued enough that she'd been forced to call in one of her trump cards.

So there in the center, the foul creature was engaged in battle with a not quite as gross cyclops. The newcomer was bigger than the local beast, but was also clearly losing...whatever status effects the Marboro was bringing to the table had left the creature slow and dumber than usual, and it flailed at the creature with it's club as it tried to slow it down.

So the green swampy thing had plenty of time to chase Lumina from tree to tree as the cyclops chased it around.

"Ugh! You're supposed to kill it, not follow it!" Lumina shouted at the cyclops as she scrambled amongst the branches of a taller tree and the marboro swung it's tentacles up to try and pull her down. It nearly got her a couple times...

Will you help the cyclops kill the marboro? Kill both monsters? Try to grab the child and skedaddle? Or just enjoy the show?

Wildcard:

Lumina can be all over the place, because of the teleport-cheating. So open for any idea she can stumble across!

IV

[bruiserprincess]

Molly looks the situation over quickly. This might actually be a punchable problem... okay, punching it might get gross but that's what gloves are for. But there's one thing she can't quite figure out. "One of those is with you, isn't it?"

[chaoticwhimsy]

"Yes!" Lumina shouted just as she vanished, reappearing on another tree. The marboro always seemed to know where she was going to be and was already after her again.

"The dumb one with the club!" She added, rolling her eyes at the shout of protest from the cyclops. Did it understand? Or did it just know she was always insulting it?

[bruiserprincess]

"Got it!" Molly takes that as a cue to lunge at the grosser looking one. The way her eyes are glowing suggests that maybe it's not quite as bad an idea as a twelve year old girl charging a large monster looks to be on the surface.

[chaoticwhimsy]

"Uh," while Lumina was no stranger to people with powers, it was still perhaps a tad worrying to see someone who barely looked older than her charging at the monster.

"Don't do anything stupid!"

phase i

[sortileges]

You look like you could use a hand is putting it rather lightly. Then again, there are plenty of spells Merlin could try to get out of this mess, he just doesn't want to risk getting caught by the wrong person. He has to wipe his brow when he looks up at the young girl, squinting to make sure he isn't just hallucinating at this point.

It doesn't seem like it.

"Is that way of you offering or are you just planning on sitting there?" He pauses briefly to work out how she even got up there -- then again, it isn't impossible to climb a tree with the right tools.

[chaoticwhimsy]

Ooh. "Well aren't you just as sharp as a knife?" she giggled, swaying from side to side on her perch as she spoke, as if thinking it over.

"Maybe I haven't decided yet." She added after a moment. "What do you think? Should I help you?"

[sortileges]

He wouldn't quite agree with that, though her laughter is a little unsettling in a time like this.

"If you have an idea how to do that it would be nice, but don't worry, you can stay up there if you're comfortable." That's sarcasm, by the way, though drudging through gunk is hardly on anyone's priorities anyway.

[chaoticwhimsy]

"Oh well, if I can stay up here, then I guess I will!" Another smirk.

"Besides, you'll probably get...wherever you're going. Eventually, right? It's just a swamp."

She hesitated. "Although..." Clearly feigning concern. "There are an awful lot of things under that water that probably want to eat you..." She made a knowing 'tct' sound. "That's a worry, huh?"

III

[zerotohiro]

Lucky for the pair of them, Baymax can hover just over the swamp gunk. Unlucky for them, Hiro's still in the same yoga get-up everybody else is even under most of his flight suit. The pair of them are floating from level to level to keep an eye out for friends or friends of friends, but what Hiro finds himself coming across is a girl not much younger than himself calmly sitting on the rock. Unfortunately he wasn't paying attention to the monster at this point. (He's too used to weird things on Tellus by now anyway.)

Instead, his focus is on the doll in the girl's hands and her expression and he approaches quietly, calling down from on Baymax's back.

"Pretty sure this isn't the best place to ponder out the meaning of life or anything." That is to say 'aren't you worried about what's out there?'

[chaoticwhimsy]

"Hm?" Lumina was so intent on the doll that he actually had to speak to pull her from it, and she looked up in surprise, her eyes narrowed and just on the edge of angry...

Until she saw the giant floating red balloon man with the boy on top of it. What?

A quick second, recomposing herself, and she bounced up onto her feet, tucking her hands (and the doll) behind her back.

"Oh I'm fiiiine." Facade carefully in place, she giggled softly. "I mean, I don't have a floating balloon, but I'm perfectly safe." She was pretty clean.

[zerotohiro]

That look…was definitely not as cheerful a few seconds ago. But he's not sure it's his place to call her on it and so long as she seems fine then whatever. There was a heavy sigh that followed and he rolled his eyes soon after.

"He's not a balloon." He started to say before being cut off by the robot. "I am Baymax. I am a personal health companion." Very much not a balloon. Hiro squinted down at her again, considering his next question.

"You consider a swamp filled with monsters safe?"

[chaoticwhimsy]

"Hmm. He looks like one." She stepped to the edge of her rock and reached out to try and tap Baymax on the head with one finger. "A talking balloon named Baymax."

Okay, why not.

And then she took a long step back to the middle of her rock. "I didn't say it's safe here, I said I'm say." This time her grin was genuine, and a bit sly.

Wildcard

[dishevelment]

[Taking to the trees was a natural solution for those who disliked being covered in mud and, although Koumei was loathe to waste his Magoi on something so frivolous....he decided that he would rather be in the safety of a tree's branches rather than on the ground.

Particularly in the outfit he was wearing.

Lacking in both offense and defense, there wasn't really any other option for him than to hunker down and wait it out until he found someone to defeat the level with and return to the safety of his own apartment. All he needed to do was watch and bide his time...

Or, take a nap in the tree branches. That worked too.]

[chaoticwhimsy]

[Shortly after he falls asleep, Lumina stepped out of one of her chaotic rifts onto a branch a little ways above him. Huh. She was about to move on when she spotted him...well then. Someone else smart enough to get out of the swamp, she hadn't seen that yet.]

[But that meant he could maybe be dangerous. She could just keep moving, or...]

[So a few minutes later he'd be awoken by a small rock bopping him in the forehead. Lumina was crouched still on her hire branch, peering down at him with a small handful of them.]

[dishevelment]

[He was either obscenely dangerous or obscenely lazy. The tangled mess of his thick, Rapunzel-like locks pointed more to the latter, but don't let that be discouragement.

Mumbling something about how ViViD would be the death of him, Koumei blearily opened his eyes to regard the young woman sitting above him. He hadn't expected company...]

There are better ways to wake a person up, [he complained, more bothered by the fact that he had company at all in the high tree branches rather than the fact that he actually had company this high in the canopy.

Strange tides brought strange habits. Koumei was clearly too calm here.]

phase i

[playboyknight]

[Of all the things Angelo ended up in it was a disgusting swamp. Naturally he's extremely annoyed because not only is he in this stupid Yoga get up, but now he hears someone talking to him about needing a hand. He looks up to see Lumina only to make a small scoffing sound.]

How about you get down here then and help instead of sitting up there?

[chaoticwhimsy]

Hmmmmmmm.

[She makes this sound as if she's genuinely thinking the prospect over.]

Well, I could...but it's gross down there. That's why I'm up here.

[Duh.]

[playboyknight]

Well then I'll join you.

[Being acrobatic as he is, he jumps up high enough to reach where Lumina is then sits down next to her.]

I didn't really need your help, I just wanted to see what you'd say.

III

[findpeace]

Suddenly there's a blond teenager practically stumbling over some tree roots that are sticking out of the water. Some curses fall from his mouth as he shook some tiny branches off of his bare foot before setting it down on top of the water. It doesn't sink beneath the surface but rested on top of it instead.

He has a doll of his own in one hand but it looked nothing like him. It has dark hair and an irritated expression, definitely not someone he's related to. When he spotted Lumina, Naruto changed his direction and headed towards her. Upon seeing her doll, he looked up at her.

"Who's that? Your mom?" That's a logical conclusion to reach, right?

[chaoticwhimsy]

Lumina had already scrambled to her feet when he reached her, urged on by the sound of footsteps. She would have fled up into the trees, if not for the fact that he was walking on water. Okay. That was worth asking about.

But before she could, she was distracted by the question, and the contents of it were enough to short out a witty response for a second. Her mom. She could just picture the look of horror on Lightning's face if someone had made that mistake. Half-mistake.

"No," she said finally. "She's my..." why was she suddenly so bad at this? "sister." That was believable, right. Not her usual high-calibre lie but it would do. Most of a lie at least.

[findpeace]

Sorry to distract from her curiosity about his ability to defy physics. Not that he knew she was curious about it in the first place. It was so normal where he came from that Naruto forgot that things were different here. Chakra was not as well-known here as it was in his world.

He leaned over even more to get a really good look at the dirty doll and then his eye flicked up to Lumina's face. Sometimes it was easy to tell two people who were related. If he caught the lie, Naruto doesn't say anything about it.

"You look a lot like her." A doll version of Lightning wasn't exactly great for him to tell their age difference but he'll believe Lumina anyway. "Is she here?"

Phase I

[madcuriosity]

Alice was starting to hate this colony. Well, no, she always hated what kept happening in the colony though she liked most of the people she met well enough. She was in a smelly, yucky, disgusting, and just wretched swamp! The mud was getting higher and higher on her and more and more difficult to move through. She paused when she heard giggling and looked about before she looked up.

"Y-Yes, that's right." The mud was making her teeth chatter since the air was hot and humid, but the mud itself was cold. She swallowed. "Ah, h-how did you get up there, miss?"

[chaoticwhimsy]

Lumina hadn't been sure at first, but now that the girl was close enough to really see, she was pretty sure she was younger than her. And not just in the normal 'everyone was technically younger than Lumina' sense, but actually, physically younger than her.

She'd never met anyone like that before, and it required some mental reshuffling for how she would approach this. "Up here?" She said to buy herself a few seconds, patting the branch and making it sway up and down a bit. "Oh, I'm a big cheater." She giggled.

"I mean, it's sure better than being down there, right?"

[madcuriosity]

"It's ah... much better, because ah well, I don't know if you can see it from up there, but I'm getting stuck very easily." She sighed, exhausted by how much she's had to struggle to stay above all the mud. "I don't even know where I'm going..." she looked up at Lumina.

"Ah... would you please throw me that vine, miss?" at least then she could try to pull herself up since Lumina didn't seem to be volunteering her assistance.

"And be careful about cheating, miss. CERES hates cheaters."