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}
no subject
It's a fright to suddenly hear another voice behind him though, which is precisely why his head whips around to see where it came from. It's a slow realisation that he needs to look down as well given how small the young girl is.
Who would put a child in a situation like this? Well, there is one possible answer, but he doubts his King is actually here. ]
Nothing! --Nothing... It's nothing. Are you lost too? [ Someone sounds a little defensive. Wow. ]
no subject
[She offered a tiny smile.] But ah, being lost with company is much nicer than being lost alone.
no subject
You're right about that. Shall we get going the--? [ Though now he looks he doesn't know... where to even go. ]
no subject
no subject
Merlin. Things could be better but... I'm sure we'll get by. First though... do you have any idea which way we should probably go?
no subject
[Alice suddenly gasped and she was quite excited to possibly be meeting someone she had been hearing about while growing up. How could she not know the stories of King Arthur and his knights and Merlin! She clapped her hands.]
Oh this is such an honor!
no subject
He isn't. He isn't King yet. [ Alice you might want to stop at some point because this suddenly got 10x more awkward. ] And I... [ I what??? What do you do when someone seems to know who you are and outs you in 5 seconds flat. ] I'd appreciate it if you didn't go yelling that out.
[ He doesn't mind the recognition when it's so positive but what if someone hears???? ]
no subject
Oh... o-of course. But... you're incredibly famous, sir. I don't... that is, I suspect a lot of people are going to know you after hearing your name anyways.
no subject
Well. Sort of. But it hasn't happened yet. [ Sorry for ruining your dreams of this cool old geezer, Alice. Instead you get the awkward idiot. ] You have no idea how weird it is to hear all of this.
no subject
You will too! I daresay there are very few Englishman who don't know the story of King Arthur, Merlin, and Camelot. [She smiles, even so. They're some of her favorite stories.] I am sorry if it is strange. I don't mean it to be. It's just exciting is all!
no subject
He can't help but get caught up in her excitement either. ] ...We're really that well known?
[ He really has no idea what this round thing is that she's talking about though... sorry... Alice... ]
no subject
no subject
no subject
Why wouldn't anyone tell you thank you?
no subject
Funny, because I'm pretty sure most people call me an idiot. [ Most people tends to be only Arthur, but he says it often enough that well... it's a good facade to hide behind.
He goes quiet for a moment, not sure if he should break the news to just a child. ]
Something the stories probably leave out is that I can't be open about who I am. To those who know me, I'm just a servant. Powerless. Weak.
no subject
They might have once told it, but I don't think you're powerless, nor do I think you're weak. Even if you aren't the Merlin I may know, who is to say you couldn't be quite great in your own way? However that way may be, I suppose.
no subject
But no you don't get it. Magic is punishable by death where I'm from. Not even Arthur knows the truth. Only Gaius and Lancelot do.
[ Lancelot is the best tbh. ]
no subject
Why haven't you told Ki- er, Prince Arthur? Do you not trust him? Are you not even friends with him?
And in any case, clearly it mustn't remain so punishable for that long, because in the stories, you live for an incredibly long time and everyone knows about your magic. Though, now that I think about it, I don't really know of any myths of you when you were younger, though the stories also said you helped teach Arthur as a boy.
no subject
I only met Arthur a year or so ago, I didn't know him as a child. [ He scratches his head. ] And it's not as though we aren't friends it's... complicated. He can't be friends with a servant. Uther wouldn't allow it. And I want to trust him it's just... [ He trails off then, looking away from her because this is a painful topic. ] I can't take the risk.
no subject
no subject
[ He takes a moment to breathe, then gives a small laugh, looking away. ] It's funny that it wasn't even long after that I became Arthur's servant he defied his father and went out for a cure for me. He saved me, just because I drank a poison for him in front of the entire court.
[ Why is he talking to a 7yr old about this. ] Arthur's a good person, I can't make him choose between his father and me. It'd hurt him too much. Anyway-- [ He shifts so he can be more her height then, trying to look her in the eye. ] What use would I be if I wasn't around to protect him? That's just a risk I have to take.
no subject
That sounds like someone who loves you quite fondly, even if he can't be your friend, he clearly cares for you.
[With him now at her height she reached out, smiling as she tapped him on the nose.] You can be such a silly goose, sir. And I think you and Prince Arthur will be friends faster than you realize, especially with the way you talk about him.
no subject
Oh, trust me. He needs it. I'm not joking when I say he's a slave driver. I haven't had a day off in a long time now. Arthur is... [ He pauses then to think of how to describe it. ] ...He's loyal and thinks of his people, but sometimes he can be really pig headed.
[ Sorry, Alice. It's just how things are sometimes. ] But don't worry, I won't give up on him that easily either.