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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But he gives her a hesitant smile anyway. ]
I hope so. I've still got a long way to go though.
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[Whatever discipline he might have been studying didn't matter. The fundamental principle was always the same, and as such, Iris spoke with all certainty.]
There is always more to learn. Anyone who claims otherwise is either blinded by their own ego or too stubborn to admit their shortcomings.
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Too many people get overwhelmed by power.
[ Cornelius Signus: worst sorcerer ever he's looking at You. ]
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You have no idea.
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[ A beat. ] It happens sometimes.
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My late sister tried to possess our half sister in order to kill our cousin, but instead ended up possessing our aunt and still tried to kill our cousin, but got our aunt killed instead.
[A moment later, the moment caught up with her and she realized what she'd just said. Both hands flew to her mouth, horrified, as she looked to him with wide eyes.]
Oh! I'm--I'm so sorry! I didn't...I mean...
[It had just sort of...slipped out.]
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It's alright. I won't tell anyone. [ If that's what she's worried about, he can't tell. ] That seems... complicated. We don't have to talk about it, if you don't want.
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[Gauging Merlin's reaction...she slowly lowered her hands, offered an apologetic smile, and shook her head.]
I'm not worried about you telling anyone. It's not really a secret.
[Her trial had been public. Back home, everything--the secrets of her family's dark, cruel history--had been on full display for all to see and hear.]
It's just...not a very pleasant topic. Forgive me. I should have shown more restraint.
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But I don't mind listening if you needed someone to talk to. [ It's a bit of a relief, actually. ] I mean... it looks like we might be here a while.
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[She nodded.]
Perhaps. Once things are a little more settled and you've been given proper time to adjust.
And...the offer is extended to you as well. If you need someone to talk to.
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He doesn't reply with thank you or anything, but he does give her a warm smile for the offer, awkwardly laughing after to start walking again. ]
Come on, then. [ Along, that is. ] Or I won't have any chance of settling down here.
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Well...you won't be settling in here, you know. ViViD is just a game. The actual city is...outside.
[Still adjusting to the idea of a virtual reality herself, it was the best way Iris could think to put it.]
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I should hope not. [ He glances back. ] Does it always smell like this? [ ViViD: 2 vivid for life. ] Do you know the way out?
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[Her cheeks momentarily flushed at the memory of that game. A very good game for her.]
...but, no matter what, there's usually only two ways of leaving. The first is to complete as many of the tasks as you were given as possible.
When I first arrived, I had something called a quest I had to do. Did they give you any sort of quest?
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A fan of ballroom events, are you?
[ Or matters in them. He's had to attend a lot of feasts in his time thanks to serving Arthur of all people--but her reaction was something else. ]
Though I don't know of any quest. They mentioned a healthy experience... [ He trails off at that, pulling a face at the place they're surrounded with. ] ...I don't think they really know what one of those is.
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It was a...very pleasant evening.
["Healthy Experience"? ...she couldn't think of anything remotely healthy about this whole game.]
That makes even less sense than usual. I wonder what we're supposed to do to win?
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Someone caught your eye? [ He has no idea if this is true or not, but women of his day would be focused on that and with how her face had coloured...
it's just a much better topic than before and he hates silence. Sorry, Iris. ]
I'm not really sure, but I hope this shirt has nothing to do with it.
[ because it's calling him fat 8( ]
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[Very dear.]
I'm not sure. Let me see... [She turned to better face him, only then realizing what was plastered all over his front. It looked like...]
Oh! Those are...nutritional facts. I've seen them on several boxes of food items in the village stores.
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[ Y'know. To have a reaction like that. It takes a lot of willpower to not say more, but something else is a little more important for the time being. Looking down at his shirt the label itself means nothing to him, but some aspects like fat definitely do. Sugar didn't even exist in his region back then so... this is New. ]
They have facts about the food now?
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Y-yes. To tell people which foods are healthy to eat, and which you should stay away from. Even moreso if a person has a certain medical condition that would require them to limit things like sugar or salt.
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That's. [ He actually pauses walking to look at her, mouth opened like he's going to say more but nothing comes out. ] What did you have for dinner last night?
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Dinner? [Uh...] I made myself a vegetable soup, along with a few fresh rolls of bread.
Why do you ask?
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It was just the way you said it, like there's a lot of variety? [ Yes, that is a question too. ]
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Not at all, unless you're the King of course.
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