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!
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[She'll get cake! Of course she will! You think they'd willingly deny Usagi cake on her birthday? The screeching would be endless and nothing is worth that.
Plus, it's Usagi. Rei has and would die for her. It's just a cake...
Now to help keep that sense of Usagi-memory jarred, she's going to start pointing out landmarks. Going to find a lost and crying Usagi isn't really her favorite plan.]
You see this street? We live on this one. In the red apartment building.
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[Which, Rei better believe she intends to. Somehow. For all three of her friends. Regardless of if she actually did celebrate with them in that nebulous future.
Still, she gives a nod as Rei distracts her from that train of thought to already begin planning throwing some party, pointing out the landmarks to her.]
The red apartment building, okay. And on....this street! I think I've got it!
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[Which, she's not going to say what that is, because it's embarrassing. And once they reach the apartment building, she taps the elevator and points.]
We're on the very top floor. The last door to the right. Can you remember that?
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[Rei what are you talking about. Saying that only confuses her as she now tries to think what Rei actually means by saying that.
Still, she isn't dwelling on it so much that she misses Rei pointing out the exact apartments to go to.]
Top floor, last door to the right. Okay.
[Apartments. It is a little more difficult, but living here, she's sure she will get the hang of it. It's not like it took her long to memorize which one was Mamoru's back home.]
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[Leading the way down the hall, she slides a keycard through the door lock and steps inside, revealing a pretty nicely laid out home. It's big-ish, with a kitchen and several doors. One of them has a sign that marks it rather clearly as Ami's room, a whiteboard with books on it. Another has Rei's name all over it, with the Mars sigil...and Venus's as well. The others all stand open, revealing bedrooms and bathrooms.]
The first room there is Ami-chan's, and the other one is mine and Minako-chan's room.
[Yes, they share. Now...how to broach the topic without Usagi losing her damn mind...]
You can take whichever other room you want, and we'll make sure it gets decorated just how you like it.
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[No, none of them are getting off from this so easily. Usagi is determined to 'make up' for this, not really understanding how her arrival after her friends being so long without her is a present in and of itself.
She glances around once they enter, noting the different rooms, the signs of those obviously already occupied. Initially she doesn't seem to register, or quite think much on the fact that Rei mentions her and Minako are sharing. Maybe they just couldn't find or afford a bigger place for a room with each of them or something.]
Okay. What about...this one?
[It's the room closer to Rei and Minako's she gestures to, after looking at both the empty ones and deciding. Neither seem overly bigger than the other or anything. It's just she prefers that layout in comparison.]
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[Rei starts over towards the kitchen, shakes her wrist once or twice and takes a mental note that the Command Seals have just vanished after a sudden jolt of happiness through the Servant Bond, which means something. She'll have to address that with Archer later on, and that's good, it spares her one important question.
Though, it wasn't as though everything would change. He'd made a promise.]
After you've had a shower, of course, I know you'll be hungry. You're in luck. Archer made a lot this morning, and we have leftovers, if you want them. There should be a towel and a bathrobe in that bathroom. I'll meet you in a few minutes?
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[Archer must be a friend, someone who helps with the cooking or something? From what she gathered on what Rei said when mentioning him. But she does head to the room and gathers the towel and robe in preparation, starting to run the shower and comes out for a minute while she waits for it to heat up.]
So who's Archer-san?
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Archer's a friend and an ally. And it's not Archer-san, just Archer. He'll refuse any title you try and give him, and any thanks. [Lips quirked, she runs a finger along her cheek, trying to think of the best way to explain...]
He's not human. He's a spirit, from a different time and place. He's honorable to a fault, but not terribly open and friendly. I just did him a favor, and he repays me by taking care of the cooking. It's one of the few things he enjoys doing.
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