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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[ to commemorate this special achievement, athena gives him a thumbs up. (that's it. that's all she does before she turns to get inside the train.)
the train has a bunch of passengers inside; some are seated, some are by the poles, some are chilling by the door and blocking everyone's way. rude. it's a train...! and since merlin hasn't ridden one in his entire life yet, athena decides to give him a piece of advice. ]
Hold onto those. [ she points up to the straphangers, and she claims one for herself. there's no seating room for them today! ]
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It gives him the time to just stand there and try and process things again. If he focuses on her it's easier to take it, but standing like this... there's a lot that's changed. There's a minute that passes with no problem but then his head is dropping forward to rest on the side of the train with a thump. ]
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but this isn't even weird. just a bit... dumbfounding. ]
Merlin...?!
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It's nothing, really. [ He's just having an early-life crisis. ]
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I've been here so long, I've forgotten how overwhelming the first day can be.
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Surely. ]
It'll get easier over time.
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It will, don't worry. [ a beat. ] I mean, you've got a lot of people here who can show you a thing or two if you ever feel lost.
[ the train stops and there's a robot-like lady's voice coming from the speakers which announces that they're in the residential district. ]
This is our stop, come on.
[ and once they get out of the station, merlin will find that they're in what looks like an upgraded village. the house are ten or so storeys high, everything's made of cement, no wood and other stuff here! it might seem familiar, but it's still all very foreign. ]
This is where everybody lives. The buildings are called apartments, and we have to pay rent every month. But don't worry, your first two months are free.
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It's. [ He looks up, uses a hand to shield his eyes and focus on the building itself. ] High.
[ No shit, Sherlock. ] Do you live here?
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I live a block down from here. [ she starts walking. better follow him, merl! ] I have some friends who live here, though. But—
[ eventually, they pass by a couple more apartment complexes, and then turn right. ]
This is the gym. [ and there's a blue building with a big sign by its roof that reads "gym", too. ] And I live right across.
[ which is another complex about twenty storeys high! ]
You can pretty much pick any building you want, though!
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The gym? [ What's a gym, he starts to ask but then he can see the posters outside and. Ah. ]
I don't think I'll be needing that. [ On the contrary, he probably DOES need that but he won't be going thanks. ]
How many people are actually here?
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Around two hundred, give or take, [ she says instantly. but it's only because she constantly counts the number of people here and tries to gather as much information as she can about the place. ]
That's just us - people who have been restored from our worlds.
There are others whose actual home is Cerealia, but I don't know how many they are... they don't show up on the CereVice.
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That isn't that bad. [ Considering how big everything looks here he was expecting the amount of people even in the Kingdom like back home. 200 is more. Camelot sized. Though she makes a good point in mentioning those who actually live here. ]
Do I need to speak to someone for... [ vague gestures towards the apartments. ]
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Non, non! It's fine. Just swipe your keycard by the doorknob— [ wait, he probably doesn't know what's talking about. ]
Come follow me.
[ and with that, she leads him inside her own apartment complex. the lobby's typical of an apartment complex's. it's got couches and various decor all over, mirrors, etc. and in the middle of it is the reception area where there's a robot lady on a desk. she doesn't seem to say anything to athena or merlin as they enter, though. and behind her area are various silver doors. ]
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We can just walk in? [ He's used to guards everywhere... tbh. ]
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Yeah. That's... not weird too, is it?
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unless he misses saving arthur 284819403 of the time. ]
The CERES tower has some security guards, but probably not the king of guards you're imagining. [ not knights, that's for sure. ] Anyway, this is an elevator. [ the doors close and they go up! merlin is definitely going to feel gravity pulling him down since it's his first try riding an elevator, but he'll get used to it sooner or later. ] We still have stairs and everything, but this is the easiest way to go up twenty five storeys up or something.
[ sadly, there is no elevator music to welcome merlin. ]
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Probably not. [ None of them would compare to his homie, Lancelot, anyway... ]
It's. [ He stops suddenly when it starts going up though, automatically reaching for the bar to steady himself. It's like being on the train all over again only weirder. ]
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[ it's a joke, really, she swears.
the elevator bell rings softly and the doors slide open again, and they'll find themselves in a rather straightforward hallway. the are doors on each side of the wall, and some even have holographic things flashing in front of them. ]
You don't have to get an apartment here, but this is my floor! I mean, if you ever want to visit, my apartment's juuust over there.
[ she points to where there's a small santa claus statue by the door. it's christmas decor that she never got rid of because it's amusing. and because it sings every time there's noise. ]
Now, these— [ she gestures to a particular hologram by a specific door. ] are empty apartments. These holograms show you what the interior looks like! There's even a balcony in this one, and three rooms.
[ whoever's gonna live there has got to be rich, that's for sure. ]
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Are they expensive? [ Not like he'd really know, but he knows he doesn't need three rooms?? He and Gaius live out of two rooms and they share a place back home. He doesn't even have much stuff. ]
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[ and she laughs again. this guy can't take jokes much, can he!! or his sense of humour is just as archaic as he is. probably. ]
This one costs 200 credits a month... You can check out the other ones to see if there's one that's cheaper.
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He has no idea if 200 is all that expensive or not though. ] And the work...? [ He can do the maths if he knows how much he could actually earn but he looks sheepish as he asks it. ] I lived with the court physician back home so I didn't really have to deal with any of this.
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Honestly, if you took all your jobs, you should probably have no issues with rent. You can even go shopping as much as you like!
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I don't even know what I'd want to buy though. Maybe one day once I know what everything is.
[ Though he probably needs new clothes stat, let's be real here. ]
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[ then she grins. ]
As for what you should buy, maybe try asking the network on what's trending in fashion. I'm sure they'll dress you up nicely.
[ she's only passing him to the network because all she has are bad ideas for him, tbh. ]
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