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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III
[Hikari's footsteps had been quiet. Not inaudible, but certainly muted enough for someone who might not have been paying attention to not hear her approach. The feline creature by her side, on the other hand had been inaudible, with cat-like reflexes and lifelong habits leaving her light on her feet.]
[What was especially worth noting, however, was the mud-stained doll in her arms as well. A boy, with spiky, brown hair held up by a pair of goggles. Whoever it was, the way she was holding it protectively to her chest indicated it was someone very close to her. Someone precious.]
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But it's only a little girl. A little kid, alone in the forest, lost probably for the same reason that she is. Ashamed, she lowers her hand. ]
Yeah. I did. [ She realizes a moment too late that her posture is an almost comical mirror of Hikari's, doll clutched tightly to her chest. She studiously loosens her hold on him and straightens up, face softening. ]
...Are you here by yourself?
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[It wasn't her face. It wasn't even her tone. It was the way she was holding tightly to that doll. Either it was a reminder of someone precious, like Hikari's, or a momentary source of comfort in the midst of...whatever was happening to all of them.]
No, I'm not. [With a gentle shake of her head, she indicated towards the little feline creature at her side.] I have Tailmon here with me.
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[ It's new for Jaina. Being alone here. Being alone even in her own head. She pushes the feeling to the back of her mind and tries to project a little more confidence. There's a mystery she needs to solve, and as she'd suspected, it's affecting other people too. ]
You wouldn't happen to remember where you found that, would you? [ She's pointing to the doll in the girl's hand. ]
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[She motioned towards the direction she'd come from.]
Why?
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And why they look like people we know. [ She's guessing there. ]
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I don't know.
I thought they were Pinocchimon's dolls at first, but...this isn't the Digital World, so it couldn't be him.
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Do his dolls look like these ones?
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Oniichan and Yamato-san's dolls do. I don't know about any others, because we were the only ones who fought against him.
But he's gone now, so even if these are his dolls, we should be safe.
[She hoped]
Actually...I'm glad I found it. I feel braver carrying around Oniichan like this.
[It was almost like having his presence there, encouraging her and giving her strength. Just as the bearer of Courage did in person.]
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[ She lets a smile tug at the side of her mouth. ] I think I feel a little braver now too.
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[She smiled brightly, everything about her reading genuine. From there, she glanced around their current setting, including the direction she'd just come from.]
We were trying to find out way our of here. Would you like to come with us?
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Sure. I could use a friend right about now.
[ Her glow rod is missing too, but that doesn't stop her for reaching for it yet again before she remembers. ]
On second thought, let's try not to backtrack. Probably better if we put some distance between us and this mud field.
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[It was her only real reason for offering, because what other reason did she need? The older girl seemed both nice and lonely. Probably as new as Hikari, herself, was. And Hikari had the benefit of Tailmon with her. If her guess was correct...this girl had no one. Yet.]
I'm Hikari. [A smile and polite bow of her head in greeting. Since they were now traveling partners.] Yagami Hikari.
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Good to meet you. I'm Jaina. Jaina Solo.
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[The way she echoed that name...it was clear, especially with the accompanying look on her face, that she recognized it. Pieces of a puzzle slowly forming in her mind.]
There's a man here. He's the one who offered to let me stay with him so I wouldn't be on my own. His family name is Solo, too.