Out with the old, in with the new as they say, and this ViViD level is no different. Ever progressive and ever mindful, CERES has decided in their war against the evil carbon footprint to give citizens both new and old a lesson in healthy living. To show this, they've created a level all about... recycling, or as close to recycling as a company like CERES can get. (Which isn't very close at all, honestly.)
This, of course, means that when you're dumped in to today's ViViD level, the first thing that will hit you is the stench. It's vile and rancid and the type of stench that makes a person want to give up smelling altogether, and when you finally open your eyes, you'll see why. There's trash everywhere. The buildings are decrepit and crumbling, the cars are broken down and rusted, and overall, it looks like the apocalypse rolled right on through. Which is weird because this is definitely not a post-apocalyptic game. Yet wandering around this pathetic excuse for a ViViD level will just reveal more of the same -- it's a total wasteland.
And if you look up, you will see a billboard.
RECYCLING AND YOU: HOW NOT TO BE A DIRTY WASTE OF SPACE
You'll only have a moment to be offended by the sign before, amongst the piles of trash and rubble, there's another, smaller pile of trash and rubble. The only difference is this one can talk.
 Welcome to The Dumpster Dive, my cool cats and sweet kittens. A brand new ViViD level, created and innovated to you by CERES's very creative and innovative technicians. We're all here to help you learn to Reuse, Reduce and Recycle, givin' you kids some tools to help you lessen your impact on the planet. After all, we're all here together on this great planet of Tellus. Wouldn't want to ruin it, right? Ha ha!
Happy Trash Day to Cerealians one and all!
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PHASE I [ 6 00 ] So, you're here.
You're probably sitting in a pile of trash because, well, everywhere is a pile of trash. You're in a landscape of trashiness and there's no escape. Your only option is to give in to the sweet, sweet pull of the garbage. The buildings are crumbling, the sidewalks are a mess of bottles (but no bottle caps), rubble, and empty chip bags, and you're stuck in this... trash. This garbage. This hellhole.
Wasn't recycling supposed to be clean?
It probably takes a rat skittering over your foot to get you going but like any good game, the protagonist needs to move. If you're going to find out anything in this trash heap, you'll need to explore a bit. See if you can find someone else! Or something else. Maybe someone more experienced with ViViD can help you figure out how to log out. Even if logging out doesn't seem to be working right now. You should be careful too because one wrong step might cause the pile of trash you're standing on give way and send you into the sewers below.
Which means there are rats, there are bugs, the ground is unsteady and... yep. It's starting to rain.
Good luck.
PHASE II [ 800 ] And then come the... trash drones.
They zero in on any living thing in this ViViD level -- if you’re moving, if you’re breathing, if you have some sort of a pulse, they’ll be there. And they’ll grab you and take you away. No matter how many you shoot down, more and more and more will come, never stopping until you're swarmed completely by them. They have to get you! You're garbage, you're garbage, you're garbage! You're garbage!
And so, you're snatched up.
Don’t worry, though. After a short flight (wave hello to your fellow drone-napped neighbor!), you'll arrive at three huge trash chutes with three equally huge signs above them. GARBAGE, RECYCLING, and COMPOST hang above the chutes and the drones pause just momentarily before announcing one of these options in a robotic voice. You've been sorted and without any preamble, the drone will dump you in whichever one it decides.
Hopefully you don’t end up in the compost. Gross.
Of course, once you down there, there's plenty to poke around in (or not much if you're still not into the whole trash thing). It's piles and piles and piles of trash as far as the eye can see! Again! If you're especially clever, you may be able to use the trash to build a way out of the chute. The very, very long chute. Maybe there's someone around that can help you? And better do so quick, who knows what CERES has deemed to be "recycling" this time.
PHASE III [ 1125 ] CERES's standards continue to shine on again, because after some time, those chutes will finally start working. So if you've been separated from a friend through any of this ordeal, don't worry about it. You're all gonna end up in the same place anyway.
Which is the incinerator, of course! (Wait, that’s not how recycling works.)
The ground beneath you shifts, enough to knock over whatever flimsy excuse for an escape plan you have, and suddenly all of the trash, compost or recycling will be dumped down into an underground furnace -- along with everyone stuck there, of course. Bit by bit, everything moves ever closer towards that red hot furnace and it’s clear that everything's going to be dumped straight into the fire and burned. Say your farewells. Make nice with your neighbor. Finalize your will because --
Oh. It stopped.
Looks like it jammed.
It doesn't remain jammed for long because CERES is, if anything, highly efficient. So it starts up again. But then stops again. And then starts again. And then stops again. This may be a glitch in the level, actually.
So, you're still getting ever closer to fiery death, but... slowly. Very slowly. In fact, you could probably walk away from said fiery death faster than you're going towards it. It's like they can't even program a near death experience right!
PHASE IV [ 1125 ] Maybe you avoided the incinerator. Maybe you ended up in a different part of the level altogether. Maybe you just got lost. Either way, now you’re stuck with the age-old hobby of enthusiasts and the exceptionally desperate alike.
Dumpster diving.
And CERES wouldn't send you down there without an incentive, you know. If you look, it seems like there might be something valuable, something incredibly important and just for you. A shiny item that you’ve always wanted right from home and it’s right there in your grasp, something precious that you could never get in Cerealia. How it came to be there, nestled between an empty carton of eggs and a half-eaten cheeseburger, no one knows, but you'll be filled with the inescapable, all-consuming urge to go get it. Just jump right into that dumpster and get it.
The more you resist the urge, the more it'll hurt. (As in, physically hurt actually. The feeling will be comparable to your fingernails slowly being plucked out.)
This is ViViD though and the moment you hit the trash, the spell breaks. You'll see that your most precious thing, whatever it was, was never actually there. Instead, you seem to have actually grabbed something else and whatever it is, you can't let go of it. Be it an empty bottle of bacon soda or a bicycle tire with a giant hole in it, it's attached to your hand now and no matter what you do, you can't get it off.
Hopefully whatever you grabbed wasn't too big because it looks like you're not getting rid of it. Not till you beat the level.
BONUS [ why o'clock ] The odd thing about being stuck in a trash wasteland is that you can go for ages without seeing another person. Ages. Of course, CERES doesn't like that very much since ViViD games should be co-operative! Player with player! Player against player! Players who shouldn't be playing at all. That's the type of play CERES supports.
Which means the longer you go without seeing another person, the more you might feel an itch. It gets under your skin, making you feel dizzier and dizzier, and shorter and shorter of breath until -- you pass out. Vision going dark, breathing cutting out, and down you go into the trash and whatever this ViViD level has planned next.
It won't take long. You'll wake up feeling slightly confined and there will be a moving body next to you. It seems as if you've finally, finally found someone -- and they're really, really close. In fact, maybe a little too close? When you open your eyes, you'll see that the two of you may be bound together in a way that might be familiar to some.
But instead of a shirt, it's just a garbage bag. A really, really strong garbage bag that can't be broken out of no matter how strong you happen to be. No laser eyes, no super powers, nothing will separate you from this person other than, well, getting along.
There really is only one question you have to ask yourself now. Just one.
What the hell does this have to do with recycling?
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no subject
No, I'm just saying it's kinda weird to adjust that fast. [Pot kettle black here, but who's counting...
He isn't even surprised to hear that, either way. OF COURSE IT'S OKITA. A... a girl Okita?? Who apparently dimension-hops because of demons and knows a gun-toting Hijikata and a Kondou that breaks her swords.]
I'm Kashuu Kiyomitsu. [He says it without fanfare, not returning the polite bow like a PUNK. Instead, she just gets a somewhat wary look.]
no subject
Pleased to meet you! [,small>pause. Wait. She frowns and tilts her head, brow furrowing] Huh...? Why does that sound familiar...?
[She hems and haws for another few seconds before suddenly reaching out to try and grab at his arms again] Ah-ha! I got it! You're an actor, right? Someone Sayako-chan likes? You look like an actor! [n...nailed it.... what does that even MEAN Kaoru please....]
no subject
Seriously?! [...Though it is kind of flattering to be told he looks like an actor. Not that he cares or anything-!! Not that he'll remember that compliment later down the road and crow proudly about it!]
What kind of Okita doesn't even remember the name of their own sword, huh?
[Well, he had intended to try being covert about this, but?! THERE GOES THAT PLAN. He was so offended he ended up blabbing anyway, someone help him.]
no subject
[Kaoru freezes, staring at Kashuu for a long moment. She looks at her swords. She looks at his sword. She looks at him.]
...You were named after a sword? That's unfortunate. I mean, I'm sure there are worse things to be named after, but who names a kid after someone's sword? Especially someone else's sword! And those names can get weird and long, right?
[She looks at her swords curiously.] I didn't even know these ones had names!
no subject
[Which he says in a burst that's probably a little too loud and a little too miffed, but he's Emotional at the moment... Is "too many Okitas" an emotion??
Either way, even though she's actually having the most sensible reaction so far, he's clearly dissatisfied with it.]
What the hell did you even do, huh? Just walk into the shop and point at me like "oh, that one's nice-looking, I'll take it!" without even asking for my smith's name? That's totally the worst method out of any of you yet!
no subject
These swords were my father's, they got handed over to me when he-- When he died! [HAVE SOME SENSITIVITY, KASHUU.
...Wait. Why was he talking like she picked him out. He was a person... Right??? Kaoru squints at him a little then sort of..slowly looks at his sword again. Then at her own swords...]
...What.
no subject
Also wow, who's the one who needs a lesson in sensitivity here!! ...Probably still Kashuu, actually. He's used to the whole Okita being dead thing so he doesn't even react to that. What does get him is the fact that she's said these swords were my father's. What... In fact, at about the same time she says "what", he says:]
Huh? [He'll get to the rest of this later!? FIRST THINGS FIRST--]
Wait, wait, wait! Are you saying you're not Okita Souji?
no subject
No! Okita Souji is my father-- I'm Okita Kaoru! [She just gives him such a 'what is WRONG with you' look.] Okita Souji is a man. [She suddenly looks angry.]
Are you implying I'm so flat-chested you thought I was a guy!? My father!? [look the last time someone said something even remotely similar Kaoru chased them around with her sword for like 20 minutes and tried to stab them everyone is kind of lucky she's not immediately drawing her sword here.]
no subject
What?! When did I ever say anything like that! [It's a perfectly reasonable assumption to make, actually?! The weird assumption here is being so used to AU Okita Soujis that a girl one seems like the only feasible answer...
But that's okay, he'll just be Caustically Blunt to explain himself! Gotta nip this misconception in the bud before he gets his ass murdered.]
That guy died unmarried and alone when he was super young. [Ah.] I figured you were just from some weird other world where all of the Shinsengumi members were girls or something.
no subject
But...] ...My father died too, but... obviously he had me first. And was married. But mom left too and-- [Ow. She didn't usually think of her dad's death but god, Thanks Kashuu. "Died unmarried and alone." Her mouth turns down in a sharp frown.
Softly:] I don't think I like your version very much...
no subject
That's part of the reason why he moves on so quickly; the other part being that he doesn't like lingering on topics centered around Okita for long, anyway.]
Yeah, well. There's one world where that didn't happen, at least. [Compared to, what - at least two others? And he still died, and Kashuu can imagine what he died from because that's the one awful constant in between every single Okita, besides the swords he wields and the style he fights with.]
...You're gonna bump into some other Okitas around here, but I don't think any of them are your father. [Just as a heads up, he supposes.]
no subject
She takes a few steps away to sit down heavily on a cardboard box...which promptly crumples beneath her and leaves her sprawling on the trash.
This is fine.]
Aarrghh! This place sucks! [She stamps her feet and flails her fists childishly.] And it smells and it's dirty and I ran into a weirdo who thinks he's a sword and knew my dad and and...! [why do things happen so much]
no subject
[Said in a very "duh" tone!! ...But he will, at the very least, step forward and hold his hand out so that he can give her a boost up if she needs one. Sitting in the garbage is no fun okay, he's spent his day doing that and he can attest to how awful garbage-sogged pants are.]
Geez... Anyway, it's not always this dirty and smelly. This is just a bad level in ViViD. The actual colony we all stay in is outside of this place.