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.
|
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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asuka langley soryu | overflow but still ota!!
Kaneda, the dead man.
[ If only, If ONLY humans were able to possess AT-Fields (-insert laugh track here-), she'll never have to worry about anyone invading in her personal space!
But of course, life wasn't as picture perfect as she had hoped.
His touch forced her to take a step back. ]
What are you? Some kind of pervert? [ She questions while the back of her, one hand rubs along her cheek, removing any residue he had left behind. ]
I don't recall ever giving you the permission to touch me!
rest in piss
Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on there, Cherry Chapstick. I was just tryin' to help you out. Us lunchboxes gotta stick together, that's all.
she rests in lcl...so close enough.
[ Get used to it. Everything he does will be wrong, at least when it comes to dealing with her. ]
And what do you mean by that? Lunchboxes? Is that some kind of code name?
at least theres also kool aid in that piss....?
Chill, chiiiilll...that's what us humans do, right? You are human, aintcha? My name is Kaneda, by the way.
[a sigh]
That guy wasn't exactly examining you for a wallet, now was he? That's what I mean.
Heero
Yeah? Well, what would you know?
[ —Better question. What did she know? Clearly he was speaking as someone with experience, but thanks to his crude and blunt way of going about it, Asuka couldn't find it within her to show appreciation.
He was doubting her and she couldn't allow that. ]
Oh? So you're curious then? I don't blame you. [ Oh, here we go. ]
There's a reason why this placed plucked me from my home world. And that reason is, I'm the famous Evangelion pilot of Eva Unit 02, Asuka Langley Soryu. Pretty impressing, right?
no subject
Evangelion?
[ Okay, definitely not from his world then, because he has no clue what that's supposed to be. And famous? So she's hailed as a hero in her world? That's different, given that it took how long for people to think of the Gundams as anything but a threat, and even now, they're still deemed unnecessary. ]
If I were from your world and knew what that was, it could be, but I'm not so it isn't. [ The words are a little harsher than he means them to be, but he'll try to correct that a bit. It's mostly been his experience that women don't like to hear things bluntly and prefer to be complimented than criticized, which seems odd to him. ] Though, you're the first female pilot I've met who's about my age.
[ ... okay, so maybe it's a weird compliment, but to him, that's more impressive. Piloting anything takes some level of skill, and even at home, he and the other Gundam pilots were oddities since the majority of younger soldiers were a year or two shy of twenty, not sixteen.
At least he hasn't pulled a gun on her yet?]
Rock Lee
As you should be. It's foolish to believe someone like me could ever be defeated by something as puny as that monster.
[ Or so she says. Even she knew she sounded a bit outrageous with her claim. However, it didn't matter much. He believed in every word that came out of her mouth.
There was nothing wrong with a little white lie. ]
Well,that's because I am. Otherwise wouldn't it be foolish for me to be here?
no subject
So he smiles lightly at her.]
I am glad to hear that! You have truly done well, and I can tell that you have a strong fighting spirit.
Let us take on the next monster together!!
Inaba
[ Or perhaps it wasn’t an assumption at all? From what she had gathered from that dreadful presentation she watched upon her arrival, it wouldn’t be unbelievable that this CERES thing knew everything about her — history and all.
She shakes her head at that very thought. ]
—And equally as stupid.
no subject
... Ah, is it? How about you prove me wrong, then? [ Because by what she's hearing, she might actually agree with CERES (for once). ]
Rei
What a mess this was - she was caught cradling some dirty doll red handed. Picking herself up off the ground, she takes hold of the doll by its sides, gripping tightly at the soft plush. Her expression was a tense one. ]
What makes you assume it’s upsetting me? [ She speaks, finally acknowledging the girl’s present. ]
Don’t be so stupid. It’s only some toy.
no subject
Then why are you holding it? [That's one thing.] It's alright. They did the same to me.
[She holds up a small doll with blonde hair and pigtails.]
It's coded out of your memories.