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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[ He reaches his hand out as if he's attempting to catch her vomit before he asks himself what the fuck he's trying to do. Oh god, there it goes, Rapunzel in all her gross camo and face paint and... vomit now! Jaune can't fight it either and he turns the other way, also finally barfing. Maybe they'll get some on that monster, that can be the silver lining. ]
W-Whyy.....
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Whenever she, at least, is finished being horrible and disgusting, Rapunzel sits back on her knees, wiping a sleeve roughly across her mouth. ] At least the bugs won't be interested me now... Augh. J-Jaune. Listen. If we're going to be stuck here all night, we're going to need to - find a clean stream or... or something. Water vines, maybe. We need to wash off.
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[ He opens his belt pouch and offers her a warm plastic bottle of water he picked up from earlier, meanwhile he's turned away from her, feeling super gross and as if he failed at something again. If only he had Crocea Mors... ]
I feel like my heart's gonna jump outta my throat. [ What an adventure, though. There's a small part of him that's almost laughing in between his short breaths. He doesn't even know why. ]
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[ Funny. Even after running for her life and wearing herself down to the bone doing so, it never occurs to her that she ought to stop and take care of herself. Feeling a little ashamed - but, not enough to not smile at his offer and shake her head, gesturing that he should drink first - Rapunzel swallows. Lets her breath slow. ]
Yeah. Yeah, of course, Jaune. That was... that was something wasn't it? [ her cheeks are still flushed ] Wow.
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Although... you hurt your feet back there, didn't you?
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They'll be okay. Magic healing powers. Remember?
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--whoa, it heals you, too? ......Don't you... have to do the hilarious "return what is mine" thing, though?
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It's... a little more complicated than that with me actually. [ Read: a little freakier.
Scooting back and closer now. If he's trying to hide any injuries from her....... ]
How are you? Though, I mean, you were pretty impressive back there.
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What a nice bird. ]
Was I? Heh. I-I guess so. Which part? I-I mean, I'm fine!
...What's complicated? About your healing, I mean? Does it take longer or something...?
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Wanting to hold onto that a bit longer, Rapunzel grins to herself and spins around, extending a leg. ] There's a trick to it. Think you can guess what it is? Since you're - so fine and unscathed, I mean, and we're taking a break just now.
[ And then. A beat. ]
... All parts. In case you're really wondering. Don't ask me to say it again, though. I can't keep rewarding you or you'll never want to improve.
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He SIGHS. Not in frustration or sadness. There's a little bit of that because it feels like she's worshiping a fraud, but it's mostly relief. It feels like this is the longest time he's hung out with someone in Cerealia without them treating him like comic relief even for a second. ] Once is enough... thank you.
[ As for her question? PLEASE. ] I think I got it figured it out. The trick, I mean.
[ He has no fucking idea.
But it won't stop him from plucking a piece of his own hair out of his head. OUCH! He pauses to look at it for a moment, and then carefully applies it to her foot. ]
Heal? ...what has been hurt,
Change the fate's design.
sssomething-something,
uh... what once was mine...
[ are you laughing yet ]
1/3
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That covers laughter, Jaune Arc!! And imitations!
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OK here comes the laughter COME ON JAUNE ] Y-You should've done that to the monster! That would've scared it right away! A-A... And at least we've upgraded to mostly working as a team now.
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[ But thankfully she stops, and... she doesn't look that mad either. That's probably the bigger relief. He really thought he messed up for a second, but it's good that the joke was well-received. Mostly.
Man, he really did almost just fall there... ]
Heheheh... s-sure... or you could've just. I dunno. Stabbed it with your feet, apparently. Heh.
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The joke, it seems, was wonderfully received (though, again, it's the memory of their first meeting that ought to get most of that credit): she's still laughing about it, albeit at a softer and softer volume. ]
Jaune? I... I think I just broke my first promise to you.
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He just
gasps in utter shock. That's it. No words.
A broken promise--!! How... What happens now?! ]
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[ She's actually the one who waits, watching his face carefully before breaking into a grin. ]
Hitting. Hitting is most definitely not the same as kicking.
I can still kick you all I want, Jaune Arc.
[ Yeah evil whispering is probably not a nice thing to do in a creepy swamp when the sun is going to be going down soon full stop. Why she's suddenly using both of his names is a MYSTERY but it for real doesn't help any. ]
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...I-I dunno, it sounds to me like you're just looking for a loophole in your agreement.
[ OK HE'S SCARED HOLY SHIT. ]
You know what? If we gotta sleep here? I'm taking the first shift. That's-- yeah, that's decided. And I want your feet pointing the opposite way. ... Rapunzel Rapun...zel. [ damn it why doesn't she have a last name ]
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Er. Well, the canopy, really. Their branch, while wide, isn't quite high enough on the tree to serve as a suitable recon position for the entire swamp, though it's just fine for covering a sizeable range in the immediate area. ]
I really do think we ought to find water, don't you? I want to wash my hair. Oh, and our leaf. That too. These - leg things can stay how they want.
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But okay... you do make a good point. It's a lot of hair to wash, too. Wow. Hopefully our friend down there found something better to do, huh? You should try talking to it. [ He also stands up, ready to descend the tree... somehow. ]
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She....... also may or may not be taking this opportunity while he is distracted and standing to properly check him for any injuries she may have missed. ]
Why should I do that? And yes. It's going to be a thing. Gemstone guy.
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... okay, let's do your hair thing to get down now.
Oh!!
I should stress though, that I was just joking, okay? D-Don't talk to the monster! Obviously! Please! Enough adventures for a day...!
1/3
But it's not completely terrible. ]
I... definitely agree, aha. You have made your point clear about the adventures. Definitely not going to do anything crazy this time. Just - survive. Peacefully. I promise.
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