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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I don't think waking up is right because I don't remember being asleep. I was in a meeting and then the next thing I knew I was inside a trash heap. [Rise, this isn't sounding good…] And there were a lot of other people, too, and I fell in the sewers and then I was in a dumpster because I thought I saw something that was mine and I thought if I won their game I'd get out of here.
[Still not sounding good, but it's all true. Even if it's confusing.] Did you play the game where the world ended? [She's hesitant to call it a game, but it doesn't make sense for it to be real. It can't be real.]
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...And you don't think any of that was part of a dream?
[Forgive him for sounding a bit skeptical. His own experience has been difficult to process, hers in addition...]
The game where the world ended? [And now he's frowning -- as though he wasn't before. It's definite now.] What's that about?
[HE DIED BEFORE HE COULD MEET NYX, way to blow it Shinji-kun.]
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I don't think so. I don't know about you but usually I don't dream about being stuck in swamps or fighting giant monsters flinging poop in the sewers. [Ugh. That had been an adventure. But she puzzles that out, waving a hand nonchalantly.] But yeah, you know...the one before the powerpoint that tried to tell us why we're really here. [Maybe she'd been the only one run through that scenario, now that she thinks about it. The explosions, the dead bodies of her friends as she moved and ran to try and save them, finding herself powerless. Definitely not something she'd like to relive, but something she knows couldn't have been real.]
They're definitely trying to trick us, that's for sure.
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As for receiving a lowdown about this place, what's the point in trusting anything when everything seems incredibly nonsensical and unrealistic?]
Trick us into thinking we're asleep? That's a pretty lame way to use whatever kinda power this is.
[Without offering an alternative.]
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Kinda hard to say, since we don't even know what it is.
[Besides that it's too soon to be getting all depressed. A real answer would inevitably lead there.]
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But! You're not going to find answers by sitting on that log all day. [Bright smile? Bright smile.] It's better to keep moving don't you think?
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There's some hesitation, an audible sigh even before he rises to his feet.]
Shinjiro Aragaki.
[Since they're going to be in eachother's company for a bit. He doesn't outright mind exploring -- he's confident in his navigation abilities, actually. It's just a matter of being flung somewhere without rhyme or reason; it's jarring and confusing!]
We'll figure somethin' out.
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Rise Kujikawa. It's nice to meet you, Shinjiro-san. [Shinjiro. It's a name she'll commit to memory and bypass a good chunk of formalities. She waves at him to start following her. She has a small idea of where to begin.] The first thing we need to figure out is where our exit might be. This swamp's almost too big to pinpoint that really easily.
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Wouldn't be so hard if we had a big enough tree to climb, or if this place had any hills.
[The former seems most likely, but getting to the top of a swampy tree? Getting past any venomous snakes (and whatever else the weird virtual swamp had to offer). He's thinking too critically of this place, as if it were 100% real life.
It is his first experience here, so it might as well be. He'll need to get used to this...]
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I don't think we're going to run into any hills anytime soon, but a tree's a good idea. They'd want to make this place look as real as possible, there has to be one somewhere nearby. How good are you at climbing? [Because surely Shinjiro's going to be the one doing the dirty work here. She's the supporting party member here.] Navigating usually isn't this hard.
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I can climb them just fine.
[Probably, it's not like he came from a jungle, but he may as well have. With that, he's gonna take a slow stride forward. It's a good a direction as any other, he figures.]
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That confidence does...put a few things into question. How DOES she know? She probably came that way or some such -- saw it in passing. He can't really peg her for a malicious person in earnest.]
Sounds good to me.
[And he did catch that part about how it's totally up to him to climb the tree. Who said chivalry was dead...]
Let's get going then. [He'll take the lead -- the directions are easy enough.] Watch what you're stepping on too, even if this is some monitored test, who knows what'll happen if one of us steps on a viper.
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[But, again, he's never been forced to survive a swamp. Sewers would be more familiar to him...sort of. At least there's a tie to the city there. One of those would be easier to navigate too, just look for a ladder...
Anyway, the process is totally nasty but it's not worth vocalizing at all. He trudges along, subtly making sure she's lingering at his side and not being swallowed up by some sinkhole.]
You're talking like you have experience fighting rats...
[It's weird.]
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["Like Shadows", she thinks, but let's not get into that with a stranger.]
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Yeah, like other people -- whoever put us here.
[Not exactly what Rise was thinking, but shadows are up there too. He's just not prepared to bring that up unprompted.]
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And by swamp I meant sewer, oops.It's not, but Shinjiro does bring up a point that makes her focus on why they're really there and not things from the past.]Has anyone else talked to you about CERES or the Flamines or anything? I haven't really had a chance to ask yet.
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it's fine you're fine.]No. Sounds like you have an edge.
[Flamines sounds dangerous, though. Flaming mines???]
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[And lookit that. There's a tree for scouting.] I can let you know anything I find out if you want.
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[She's claiming naivety while popping up with all these keywords. Way2make him feel especially confused.]
...Yeah, same here.
[Sup tree. He gives it a once over, then looks to Rise as if to confirm that this is the scouting tree in question. The lowest branch is reasonable in terms of getting to it. He bends a bit, then hops up to grab it and hoists himself up atop it.
It's fortunately thick enough to hold his weight -- probably both of their weights, but he won't force her to endure this.]
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I'd like that. [She can't help but smile to herself.] I'm used to working with a team anyway. We should be able to see a portal or a barrier or something to log us out of here. That's the direction we need to go.
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So I'm supposed to be lookin' for a rip?
[That's -- such a weird way to describe thing. This entire scenario is foolish.]
You sure that's right?
[Just to..confirm, over-confirm. Dying a bunch of times in a relatively short amount of time isn't his head of time well spent.]
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im so very late ugh