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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Nico Minoru | Marvel Comics | OTA
v.f.d.
[ Oh, that is so gross. Nico rolls her eyes and approaches the door, peering down at the slime like she hopes to offend it into nonexistence. Which doesn't happen, no matter how much of a glare she gives, so she lets out the most put-upon sigh, turning back to her. ]
Stuff like this. This is why I hate this place.
Molly
[ Of course one of the biggest pains is here. Of course he is. Nico doesn't say anything at first, wrapping a tight arm around her and keeping her close. She hasn't seen Molly in months because of this place, and she's not about to let them be separated now.
Still, there's a good side to all of this, she guesses. Molly's here, she's safe, and she's been here...? So she's kept herself safe. That's what's important. ]
He hasn't been bothering you, has he? No more roundabouts with the foster system or sending you to a mutant school?
[ Jerk. ]
How long've you been here?
Re: Molly
[Which is at least one good point here. It needs some.]
He's still trying to get into everyone's business, but it's harder here. I've been here two months and it's been one for him.
no subject
[ It probably does, because CERES is sketchy like that, but at least Tony Stark isn't trying to throw any of her friends in with some kind of robotic Stepford Fosters. Eugh. ]
You've been here that long? I was here-- A while ago. I don't recognize the date. What's happened recently?
no subject
[That at least is a nice change]
I think I'd take that over all this though. We got whisked off on a terrible camping trip and there are weird element things and then we got invaded by nasty ghosts.
(other) Nico
[ That darkness isn't so unfamiliar...but the last time she felt it was with someone incredibly powerful, and though she considered that man an ally, he still had tried to hurt her once. This is similar, this unknowing, but she has to trust him if only for a short while.
And if he betrays her, she'll take care of it.
But no, he brings them far enough away that the sounds of roaring are in the distance, and she sighs with relief, swiping off the mud on her outfit. ]
Yeah, just fine. You really came through back there. Thanks.
[ And that's a genuine show of gratitude from someone who's used to the other shoe dropping. ]
You all right? Was that... What kind of power is that?
no subject
What about you? You have magic?
no subject
Yeah, kind of runs in the family.
[ She glances back where they came. ]
Any ideas where there's an exit around here? Or do we need to 'beat the level', as it were?
no subject
I doubt they'd make it so easy to just have a convenient exit. We're probably going to have to beat the level to get out, and knowing CERES, it's more likely there is no way to beat the level and we're just going to have to wait until they let us out.
Are you new or have you been stuck in Cerealia for awhile?
no subject
[ Not when it's entirely possible to die in the the ViViD. Nico rolls her shoulders slightly, her frown fraught with unease. ]
I've been here. Not sure what happened, I just woke up in here and-- I don't know what day it is.
(no subject)
Nao Matsubara
Beats me, frankly. I was here for a while, about a month? And then I was here. The date's wrong.
[ Months have gone by. How is that possible? How can she remember things so clearly and then... Damn, what did CERES say when she first arrived? She'll need to ask about all of this-- And the last thing Nico really wants to do is ask people, especially authority, about her whereabouts. How much has she missed?
She turns the staff in her hand, wringing her hands absently around the handle. ]
It doesn't matter. I'm here and that's...what counts, I guess.
[ She hates CERES, officially, for making this place seem so crazy. I'll figure it out somehow. ]
Enough about me. Where're you from?
no subject
A sports drink? Kind of like Gatorade. Ever heard of it?
[ 0 calories to go with her 0 calorie mark on her shirt. Sigh. CERES is really pushing her buttons today, she isn't going to lie. She shrugs loftily, glancing back at her. ]
I mean, you can opt out, I wouldn't blame you. But running around like this, even in a game, makes me thirsty. Never really was the athletic type.
no subject
[ She has expensive tastes, and won't go near anything that's considered a sports drink. She's just that kind of obnoxious rich girl really. ]
Ugh, I already hate this game. Can't CERES just do anything right for once?! [ Nonon grumbles to herself, trying to pull her feet out of the mud. ]
no subject
[ Nico gives her a sideways look as she tries to tug herself out of the mud. Far be it for her to try to just help random strangers but she's right about one thing: CERES sucks, and no one wants to be here.
After a moment, she tromps over to her and offers a hand. ]
Here.
no subject
[ But somehow she's pretty sure that they don't. If she really wanted something though she thinks she could just log out and walk to the nearest CEREbucks or whatever stand in that makes the most sense.
Though as a girl who would almost never lend a hand to others, Nonon is legitimately surprised to be offered one. Not that she's too proud to take it, because she has zero qualms about using people, which is how she prefers to see this. So she reaches out to grab Nico's hand, and let her pull Nonon out (all four foot and a half) the mud making a squelching noise as she finally pulls free. ]
...Thanks.
Yu
Hey, no worries here. I wasn't about to walk myself anywhere looking like I'd turned into Swamp Thing, either.
[ And 'cool' is better than 'horrifying'. Maybe he's used to magic. Maybe he just thinks it's a neat little light show. Regardless, she gives him a crooked little smile, holding her staff in her hands. She turns it over slightly, then sends it away, all of it disappearing into a tiny burst of shimmering lights. ]
I'm Nico.
no subject
[ At the way she sends the staff away. Yu actually claps a little, impressed, still smiling. Then he'll hold his hand out to her, for her to shake, grinning. ]
Yu. Yu Narukami. It's nice to meet you, Nico. I'm guessing magic is something that's pretty normal for you, huh?
no subject
Likewise. And it's not as normal as it looks. I've only been swinging this thing around for the past year but it's... Well, let's say it's a family thing.
[ And way too hard to describe. ]
You don't seem too weirded out by it.
no subject
[ He wields tarot cards. Kinda. Sorta. ]
no subject
[ But he uses magic without a staff. ]
What sort of magic - or whatever - do you use? What's it like?
(no subject)
Phoenix
[ Oh, a suit. She wishes she was surprised. But at least he's not giving her the holier-than-thou adult treatment...even if he definitely just asked if she cleans bathrooms. Gross.
Nico snorts, turning towards him. The staff remains in her hand. ]
Only if you're paying a high price. I'm not some kind of fairy godmother.
[ Oh, if only. She'd have given herself a nice little happy ending, if that were the case. Instead, she's stuck here, and she's about had it with CERES and its shenanigans today. Nico leans the staff on the floor, giving Phoenix a suspicious once-over. ]
And I don't do toilets.
no subject
[I guess toilet cleaning is something that has to stay within the family.]
I still appreciate your work. [He glances down and confirms his ketchup stain is now gone.] Even if I didn't exactly expect to hear "Mr. Clean" as an official incantation... [I should feel lucky it didn't turn me bald.]
So that was- actual magic, for real?
no subject
You're probably better off looking into one of CERES' robots but, I dunno, that's sort of like inviting Big Brother into your home to scrub your tiles.
[ Which, hey, would be cool if she didn't think it'd invite more problems. Nico glances at her staff, passing it from one hand to the next. ]
It's better than 'Abra Cadabra'. There's probably some creepy mystical stuff that I could say-- Eye of a newt and toe of frog and all of that. It's easier for me to just find something I know will work.
[ And that's being dodgy as hell, she realizes, but it's necessary. ]
But yeah, it's actual magic, not the street performing garbage you see in L.A.
no subject
[He does point a finger at her.]
Hey now, we shouldn't doubt stage magic, though. It has a very important place in this world. [And especially in Trucy's world.] Still, that's... it's really impressive stuff. Do you happen to be new to these parts?
(no subject)
(no subject)