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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facts are facts, harry styles...
[ She gives him a once over and narrows her eyes. ] I have a name. [ because she's still a person, first and foremost, positively bristling at his use of the word what. like she's a thing and not Caroline Forbes. Strong, ageless, fearless. Well, the last one she's working on. ] It's Caroline, fyi. [ a beat. Her hands shift, tightening their grip. Then, slowly: ]
But if I had to pick a what — vampire. [ She swallows, steeling herself. Despite her efforts, her voice hitches. The last time she had this conversation... ] What are you?
as long as it's not edward cullen
[ It's not clear whether or not Souji recognizes the term (he doesn't, there isn't a Japanese equivalent for it in the grande olde 1860s... which is so lame because he's a vampire too??? he could have made a vampire friend right here and now) but he doesn't grow more hostile at the term. Caroline, okay. Vampire...? But it's not the word rasetsu or oni, so that confirms one thing: that this might be something altogether new to him. ]
You wouldn't know even if I told you. [ He's rude as fuq, but he'd say the same to anyone who'd ask him. Rasetsus are still the Shinsengumi's business. He noticeably doesn't pass himself off as human though. ]
You seem sane enough. [ Maybe they're not related at all? If she has the presence of mind to not kill him immediately, then maybe she's a top-tier demon and not a failed one like him.... ]
well with that brooding face no promises
Try me. I read. [ She's basically the Elle Woods of supernatural folklore, doing every crash course possible to catch up on unlife. And hanging out with her mythology buff history teacher helped, too. ]
[ Still, his second comment is less hostile, leading her to think that maybe this won't go as horribly as every other outing. Well, technically it's already an improvement, what with the lack of stakings and burnings. Another purse of her lips, though it's softer. She's easing up, ever so slightly, always giving in too easily. ] And I know what it's like to be a monster's plaything, [ She steps forward, challenging. ] so I make sure I stay in control.
[ And that's an admission as much as a warning. She has to work to keep it together, and regardless of what Souji is, he best do the same. Or else. She may be afraid of the unknown (of the potential for a dangerous complement to a vampire standing before her), but she won't allow anyone else to feel the way she did, when she was human.
People are off the menu.]
fuck i forgot how much of a wild ride tvd was.... "ghost whisperers"
[ "a monster's plaything"... That's not how he'd describe it for himself, but it's practically the same thing isn't it? There's a fury inside of him, always craving blood. He's just not at the point where it'd take over, but he knows that he gets closer to that possibility every day. He tilts his head to the side, staring at her. ]
That's good to know. But you don't always have to lose control in order to kill. [ He sounds pretty casual when he mentions murder, but his eyes are cold and trained on her to gauge her response. still, he could have said that without smiling... ] What's stopping you from murdering people?
[ the answer: a moral compass everyone normal has ]
vampire werewolf hybrids is so much worse... isn't it...
[ For Caroline, it's always been about control. Once, biting her tongue to stop a mean remark. Now, taking deep breaths and remembering who she is (and how she became this person). As long as you have it together in your head, you'll be okay. You can choose: use your status as a vampire to help or hurt. Stefan taught her that, but as always, the student becomes the teacher.
And what he says now, smiling on the topic of murder, reminds her of her teacher's worst days. ] You say that like — like I have all the reasons in the world to murder people, and I just don't. [ but the way she's looking at him, eyes widened as if she just considered something revealing and hands dropping to her side, prepared to fight, as if she sees something equally dangerous before her (because that attitude only reminds her of the worst people — the worst men in her life) serves as a warning for her actions. ]
[ In a second, she's on him, knocking him against the wall with enough force to hurt, hands digging into his arms in an attempt to keep him there. Briefly, her face alters, veins darkening like black webs under her eyes, teeth protruding slightly. But then it's over, and she's Caroline again, all seemingly human features contorted into a judging look. ] Don't project your kinky bloody murder fetish on me, asshole. I'm asking you again: what are you? [ Her voice raises in pitch. Angry or scared or both. ] Because right now, you sound like a Ripper, so maybe try to prove me wrong on that front. And before you ask, no, that's not on my murder shortlist.
[ but it's obviously on her causes for Scenes of Violence list. While the threat of further violence isn't made explicit, since she's expecting to get thrown across the room any minute now. ]
ugh klaus and his desire for a vampire werewolf family... also this is totally fine!!!
[ But instead of throwing or attempting to throw Caroline across the room, he still stays pinned to the wall. Fighting meant becoming a rasetsu, and turning into one meant that she'd find out what he was. He wished he had his swords with him. He hated being trapped, being cornered, especially by someone who was on a level different from his. It's like Kazama kicking him down in Ikedaya all over again, and that puts more rage in his voice. ]
I don't know what the hell a Ripper is. [ He's in control, he swears, but his previously green eyes momentarily shine red. ] So get off me.
[ Even though the word ripper sounds pretty self-explanatory, but he's too mad to think. ]
u da best