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!
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no subject
Yes, she will have to fill him in. The thought that there might be incongruities with their timelines is something she's considered, but she's yet to see it first hand just yet. And they might dance around the subject of what actually happened to him, but she feels that she might be able to discern a few facts even if he refuses to address it outright. They will have to see. ]
This is better accomplished outside of ViViD. This game cannot be trusted.
*ON A FEW MONTHS...GOD DAMN I SUCK
What's that mean? Someone's listening in on us?
[It's not as though their conversation's that private -- or maybe it is? She does have weird shit to fill him in on, but he's really hoping she's not trying to suggest that he's a hologram or something similar. Things are weird enough as is. He doesn't want to have to suddenly suspect her of being a triple agent mirage.]
...Either way, getting out of here's gonna be a pain in the ass. Feels like I've been stuck here forever.
[Or so. He has no true way of gauging the time.]
I SAW NOTHING
[ The thought that CERES may actually be watching, recording these sessions is something she's considered in the past, though she's yet to see specific evidence of it. She can't rule it out, however. ]
Were you given a task to complete upon arrival? A quest?
i hope u never notice any stupid grammatical errors that i make
Guess that's what it was, but I wasn't listening.
[How reckless of him, but he's being honest! There's something particularly difficult about paying attention to an infomercial-like thing after being hurled here under these circumstances. Ordinarily, he'd love to listen to a mysterious thing providing him with some instructions, but the whole thing's been comparable to waking up in Guam and being hurled into a vat of icewater naked.]
i saw nothing
Mitsuru sighs, shaking her head a little. It'd been confusing for her at first as well, which is why she's showing some level of patience. ]
If you've completed your quest, you should be able to log out. You should try and if it doesn't work, then you still have something in game to accomplish.
hmph
I should try to log out?
[It's not really a question -- well, it is, because of all the things he's ever been asked to do, physically in the present..this one is pretty absurd. But he's repeating it as if just saying it in his own words should offer clarity.
The fact that he doesn't move to do anything toward logging out should speak for itself in terms of where he is on the matter.]
don't be rude shinji
[ Mitsuru stares him down. Isn't that what she just said? She knew that he could be stubborn, but if he's uncertain of his quest, she can't think of another way to test it immediately. ]
Yes. When you're successful, I will come to meet you.
[ When. Not if. Now you're on her time. ]
MITSURU'S BEIN RUDE
Is this supposed to be some bogus thing? Is he looking for a terminal? Maybe a key? He gets this constipated look about him like he's got more to say but logically -- there's no logical way to word it.
It culminates in a simple:]
Alright.
[She's free to finish her own dumb trial-course thing, then. Surely if he ends up meandering for hours in confusion, she'll get in touch.
He's not planning to make a habit out of this. Being confused and smelling of swampmess is making his brain nonfunctional. That's what it must be.]
SHINJI'S BEIN DUMB
Good. Then I will meet you on the other side.
[ And with that, Mitsuru makes the motion herself and her avatar fades out. ]
true, but