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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OTA! (Spoilers for EPVII Inside)
[The only thing that could have lessened the shock of being told that everything that he'd ever worked for was gone and then dropped head first into a swamp would have been to at least have been plucked from nothingness fully healed. The new skin that has covered his wounds from the final battle on Star Killer Base is still tight and tender, and stings as Kylo Ren drags his legs through the knee deep muck, teeth gritted as he curses everything about this damn swamp.
Something bites at his bare ankle from deep in the grime, and he does a sloppy pirouette to kick at it reflexively, sinking deeper into the muck. By time he is able to wrap his fingers around the creatures throat and crush the life out of it he's almost chest deep in the sucking mud. Great.]
♞ PHASE II
[The Cabin is a welcome reprieve, sore and disgusting at this point, his nutritional facts barely legible on the back of his pants. The bottles are unlabeled, and he doesn't even wait for the door to close behind him before he grabs one with a clear liquid in it, chugging the entirety of the bottle. What ever madness this swamp was, those people wouldn't have brought him here just to kill him.
It tastes just like clean water, but when he goes to slam the bottle down on the table he instead throws the bottle into the ceiling, bits of glass shattering everywhere.]
؟llɘʜ ɘʜƚ ƚɒʜW
[He tries for the door, but instead spins around and slams into a chair, toppling over it and cursing again loudly. He's not stupid, and it doesn't take him but another attempt to realize all his motions are now in reverse. He focuses on his hands, now resting on the chair, and goes to push down, watching with a little furious satisfaction as it raises. Whatever game these people were playing by doing this, he wasn't going to be beaten by it. Jerking like an animal with an ear infection, Kylo Ren climbs to his feet, and turns towards the door--- bumping directly into your character.]
♞ Wildcard
[Want something else? hit me! :D]
i
let her use them for her own needs"save her".And lo a hero approacheth! An odd one, clearly, but she'll just have to make do. ]
Hey you.
no subject
He looks back up and lifts a muddy hand towards the tree she sits in.]
Move.
no subject
Like hell. Get your own. Unless you plan on paying me.
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no subject
What the hell?!
[ Which is a mild form of surprise. And is very quickly replaced with a louder and more screechy kind when she feels the branch snap and give out, dropping her straight down into the mud alongside Kylo. ]
II
[Yes, Archer is just watching. He'd rather just chill than do anything this place made him do, having been here long enough to be entirely jaded.]
Though considering your amount of sodium, you were probably rather thirsty.
RUDE
؟mɘʜƚ niɒƚɿɘƚnɘ oƚ ƚƨuႱ ʞɔɒd ƨu ǫniɿd yɘʜƚ biᗡ ؟ƨiʜƚ ʇo ƚnioq ɘʜƚ ƨi ƚɒʜW
no subject
[Archer casually cuts it in half with one of his own newly created short swords. He doesn't like moving, you see.]
...if that's the point, then I'm sure they're having a grand old time.
ii
There's only a moment of hesitation where she puts her hands up to avoid touching him, before giving in to grasp his shoulders in concern.]
Hey-- Are you alright? [Well, obviously not, but--] Did you drink something weird? [Yuri glances over his shoulder at the table and broken glass and bites back a sigh. Figures.] You should sit down until it wears off.
no subject
What was the purpose of pulling him out of nothingness to put him here? Was it a joke? No doubt someone was watching all of this laughing at him. Who ever that was, he'd find them and tear their throat out and then beat them to death with it. ]
no subject
So she watches him a moment longer before clearing her throat] Are you done? I'm trying to help you. I can't do that with you throwing things all over.
[At least he hadn't thrown the chair at her, she supposes.]
i
But more relevant to Kylo Ren's current predicament? She's carrying a long, sturdy tree branch and laying it out across the muck so that it's within easy reach.]
Take the end, I'll haul you clear.
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I do not need your help.
[The body lands near Rei's feet and like snake who's head has been cut off, begins to writhe violently.]
no subject
[She eyes the dead animal coldly, stomping on it's head and crushing out whatever life remained in it. Thankfully ViViD had let her keep her boots...]
If you'd rather stay there...
[The movement of his arm jostled the mud a bit, and he'll start feeling a disgusting, suckling sensation on his feet...]
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(no subject)
ii.
Rey freezes upon opening the door and finding him there, reflexively reaching for a weapon that isn't there while she tries to parse out what she's seeing. There's something so bizarre about finding Kylo Ren, of all people, here like this - if every one of her senses weren't set on guard by his mere presence, it might have almost been funny. Almost human.
But she's seen to much of the devastation caused by his hand to think him capable of any such feat as humanity, so Rey just glares, jaw set and posture rigid as she stands in the doorway, unflinching yet entirely shocked.
She, apparently, was not the only one rescued from their destroyed galaxy. ]
no subject
The scavenger, of all people. All the galaxy gone and here she stands, dressed just as ridiculously as he is. Was this a joke?]
.uoY
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A hard, barbed glare as she notes there's something unusual about his speech. There's something strange about this entire room, it seems, and she's already skittish about such unfamiliar territory.
Careful, as to not let her voice betray her dread: ] So they saved you, too.
[ CERES has an ironic taste in refugees. They could have saved Finn, Chewbacca, BB-8 - anyone else, but they had to save him. ]
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Our galaxy is gone and you still want me dead.
(no subject)
II
Careful.
[Old enough to not get Kid automatically from him. Quite an accomplishment.]
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The shock is apparent on his face, and he jolts when Han speaks. Careful. He straightens up jerkily, nails digging into the wood of the table as he schools his expression smooth again. He croaks out his words, having to speak them backwards to get them to come out slurred but mostly understandable.]
why are you here?
no subject
Same reason any of us are. Got brought in by CERES. Stepped in for a bit of VIViD and it turned out to be the newcomer special.
[That's the short version, anyway. It hits the main points. But what a strange question.]
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Kylo swallows, the pink raised skin of his wounds is strong enough now that it hasn't given way yet, but the pain that's been tailing him this entire time aches all the more as he feels the instability in the force inside him. ]
Get out of here before I kill you again.
[Despite the weight of those words, he doesn't sound very confident in them.]
(no subject)
(no subject)
I
[At least the sight of very not human beings shouldn't be all that surprising, right? Surely Kylo Ren's seen weirder things than a shark type fishman.]
Mud's always a pain in the ass, but y' kinda treat it half like yer swimmin' an' half like quicksand an' y'll be a'ight. Need a hand?
[There's a bluish grey webbed one extended toward him, palm up.]