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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[ Still, what an interesting voice. Resounding, authoritative, full of certainty, yet... not entirely smug! Very different from her mother's, but Rapunzel decides to trust this unknown voice for the present moment and does as it tells her.
Besides, its owner's face is nice to look at. ]
Er. Now what!?
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[Korra lifts her hands, ready to earthbend the girl out, but waiting for the "go ahead" first. Scaring her into struggling is the last thing Korra wants to do right now.]
It'll be fine. [She hopes her smile is reassuring enough for her.]
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Ready for weird.
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Korra's careful with her, though, stepping back only when Rapunzel's safely on more solid land. The excess mud goes dripping to the ground.]
There. Told you it'd be okay. [Now that Rapunzel's out of immediate danger, Korra's able to smile at her again.]
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Wow. [ She looks up from the disgraceful mess that is now her person and catches Korra smiling at her. That, in turn, is enough to have her looking away again. ] Wouldn't be the first time I was wrong about nearly dying. Thanks proving me wrong. Really. That was incredible.
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I wasn't just going to leave you there. [Korra takes a step toward her, gaze inquisitive.] Wait, when you said nearly dying--you mean, in here or back home?
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Rapunzel considers, answering right before the silence becomes too long or awkward. ]
... Here. Not here here, but– In the trash place. Before. With... the tall houses and the hard, shiny wood. Were you there too?
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[Then, she pauses.] Wait, that means you've been in the game before...so you're not new? [The newcomers give off a distinct sort of vibe usually, and Korra's a little surprised that she'd had Rapunzel pegged wrong.]
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Well– [ She clears her throat, which is suddenly closing up. ] Not exactly. I've– I woke up before in a place like this. With other living people and monsters and things. Then I passed out and woke up again in a very clean room where they told us why we'd been brought here. Now, I'm...
[ useless gesturing ]
Now I'm here, I guess.
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[Shaking her head, Korra props her hands on her hips and tries to muster up some cheer for Rapunzel, since it looks like it's all starting to hit her.] Well, whatever happened, you're here now. Let's concentrate on getting you logged out and then settled.
[More gently--] You okay? They kind of put us through that meeting to explain everything first, but it's still a lot to take in.
1/2
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Sarcasm helps keep the nausea at bay, but deep breathing and having friendly people around is nice too.
Not that the latter is something she's at all expecting - which shows. ] If... you don't mind my asking – [ hedgingly ] Why are you being so - nice to me? You don't even know me. Don't tell me it's your job to go around rescuing klutzes with long hair.
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[Oh, boy. If anything, Rapunzel's wariness and confusion strikes a chord in her.] It's just what people do. [Korra frowns slightly, looking off to the side. She's not the naive girl she had been in the South Pole anymore, she knows not everyone means well, and she doesn't want to sugar coat things either.] Well...you'll run into some people who only care about themselves, wherever you go. But the people here, most of us just want to help. We're all in the same boat, being stuck in the colony. We know how it feels when you first get here.
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[ But that's revealing just a bit too much information and as soon as she catches herself she's casting about for another topic to latch onto. Thankfully it's not an especially hard task. Rapunzel's eye catches on a mushroom growing in a bit of mud so she drops to her knees. ]
So, uh. Your... home. The place you were before ViViD. Was it like this? Was everyone there like you?
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I lived in this place called Republic City. I guess the colony reminds me a little of it. All those tall buildings crammed together, a few parks here and there...that kind of thing. It wasn't closed off from the rest of the world like the colony is, though.
[A small grin lights her face.] What do you mean, if everyone was like me, anyway?
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How did you do what you did back there?
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Well, I'm strong because I've been training since I was a kid. I like being at the top of my game so I can keep the people around me safe if something happens.
The trick I did with the mud is called bending--it's a kind of power some of us have back home. You'll run into a lot of people with abilities like that here. [Tilting her head at Rapunzel curiously.] You don't have anything like that where you're from?
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