reparator: (Default)
C E R E A L I A ★ M O D S。 ([personal profile] reparator) wrote in [community profile] ioculus2015-12-31 04:57 pm
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//TESTDRIVE12.EXE

//testdrive12.EXE



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!

//SCENARIOS.EXE


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

[ 8:00 ] 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

[ 11:25 ] 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

[ 11:25 ] 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?


[ 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. ]

//RUN.EXE

Welcome to CEREALIA's twelfth Test Drive Meme. For your convenience, we have compiled a post detailing everyone's arrival experience and a FAQ that should explain everything in more detail. Please read them thoroughly before playing. Thank you!

gentlestep: (3)

Hinata Hyuga | Naruto

[personal profile] gentlestep 2016-01-01 07:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Phase III
[Garbage was something she could handle. Smelling bad wouldn't kill her, even if being surrounded by smelly hot garbage was unpleasant. Unfortunately, the last thing she was expecting after being forcibly 'sorted' was to face an imminent fiery death. Eyes wide, Hinata stares around frantically as the ground continued to shift beneath her. There was no way she was going to die like this! If she could just find something to stop the-

And just like that everything stopped moving.

She was still there - still blessedly alive. Immediately, she turns to look to the nearest person not completely submerged in their smelly grave.
]

Are you alright?

[There might have been plenty of time to ask that but now the ground had begun to move again. Whatever had made the garbage stop moving was no longer doing so.]

Ah-!!

[Her eyes dart around again looking for something - anything - to jam the machine more permanently.]
Edited 2016-01-02 00:43 (UTC)
niceguypose: (blank)

ahhhh

[personal profile] niceguypose 2016-01-02 12:50 am (UTC)(link)
[Hinata isn't the only ninja trapped in garbage at the moment. But she can be forgiven for not noticing the comrade right away, as he himself was covered in a wide variety of garbage, topped by a small cardboard box over his head.

But as the garbage starts moving again, he manages to finally take the box off and looks over towards the person whom had just tried to speak.

Rock Lee, a fishbone stuck in his now-dissheveled bowlcut, looks at someone he hasn't seen in about half a year, with eyes widening.


Hi- Hinata-san?! [This surprise distracts him from the crisis for the moment.]
gentlestep: (13)

leeeee sorry i haven't tagged back our meme thread yet u.u WORKING ON IT

[personal profile] gentlestep 2016-01-02 02:21 am (UTC)(link)
[Hinata's own surprise is as genuine and when the garbage begins to shift again, she tries moving closer to him, reaching for him through dirty sandwich wrappers and old food. The smell was awful.]

Lee-san!! Be careful not to let it drag you.

[She should probably take her own advice, but that can't be helped as more garbage came raining down on them from the chute above. What an awful day this was.]
niceguypose: (Here drink some)

Awww well no worries, take your time! I'm happy that she's here either way!

[personal profile] niceguypose 2016-01-02 02:40 am (UTC)(link)
It is really you! [He smiles brightly at her the surprise settles in, then he gives a determined nod.]

I... I will do my best! We must escape this place, Hinata-san. Are you well?! [He reaches back for her while fighting off such pungent stenches that surrounded them. Not even the sweatiest aromas from a Team Gai training session could have prepared him for this! And at the same time, he's already starting to lose his balance as the new batch of garbage comes down!]
gentlestep: (12)

and she's going to be apped in!! I just have to get a third person sample done so I can send it in

[personal profile] gentlestep 2016-01-13 01:38 am (UTC)(link)
Yes! I'm fine... but I don't understand how we got here.

[All the same, it was reassuring to have a familiar face. Lee was boisterous but a calming presence at the same time. Hinata grabs onto his sleeve when he reaches back for her, looking around while covering her nose with the other hand.]

I think I'm glad I don't have as strong a sense of smell as Kiba-kun...

[Speaking softly, she looks around before pointing upwards.]

I came from up there so maybe we could go back that way?
niceguypose: (friendship)

ahhhh I'm excited to hear that! Good luck!!

[personal profile] niceguypose 2016-01-13 01:57 am (UTC)(link)
I am glad to hear that! Ah... But I am afraid that this place is full of mysteries!

[He smiles in relief as she tugs on his sleeve, and he lightly grabs hers as well. It's one way to help keep them from being separated by all the moving garbage. He nods at her comment about the smell, scrunching up her nose slightly, and then his gaze follows the direction of her finger.]

You are right, Hinata-san! If we can make our way towards there, we should be safe!

[No problem for ninjas with their ninja parkour, right? Lee nods in determination and he even sprouts a confident smirk as he prepares himself to move.]
perfectdisaster: (Default)

[personal profile] perfectdisaster 2016-01-02 04:22 am (UTC)(link)
[ He's beginning to hate ViViD more and more with each awful scenario it gives every time he logs on. All he wants is his Gundam, but no, here he is in a giant trash dump and that sure is fiery doom that awaits, but there is still no mobile suit to be found. That's it, he's going to try and hack this stupid game when he gets out of here... but none of that will help him now.

Instead, he's got the same idea as the young woman that spoke (really, she doesn't strike him as being that much older than he is, so 'young' is a safe bet) seeking something that could be used to even temporarily halt the machine's progress while trying to keep moving away from the furnace that awaits. ]


A few bruises and minor scratches, nothing broken.

[ Oh, right, it's probably in his best interests not to accidentally piss off the others stuck here, and this is the least offensive thing that's happened to him as far as he's concerned, so it's not like this goes on the list of Things to Never Speak of Again. Maybe conversation will help keep tensions low. ]

And you?
gentlestep: (11)

[personal profile] gentlestep 2016-01-13 12:40 am (UTC)(link)
Me? Oh, I'm fine!

[She gives her new companion a reassuring smile, hoping it drowns out her worries over falling beyond this space they're in now. The garbage smell was a bit much, but she wasn't all too eager to go to the next room.]

I'm trying to find a way out of here... though I guess I don't really see anything helpful besides garbage.

[She gives a bit of a nervous laugh, pulling up her long hair out of the mess around them and tucking it into her shirt to avoid as much garbage getting into it as she can.]