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?
[ 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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OTA!
[Okay, so.
It's a city. A broken-down, crappy-looking city. Nothing out of the ordinary, really; just like the old Grimm-infested ruins back home.
So why does this one smell so bad?!
It's almost like getting punched in the face. In fact, getting punched in the face might be preferable to whatever is trying to force it's way up Weiss' nose. Maybe then her nose would swell up and she wouldn't have to deal with this anymore. But that would mess up her face, and she wouldn't exactly be a fan of that either. Hm, there's never a perfect solution, is there?
The heiress wanders in whatever direction she happened to have been facing, keeping her head on a swivel in hopes of avoiding the random drips and drops of the gigantic trash piles-- an attempt to keep her pure-white clothing clean. She knows deep down that it'll all be in vain, but that doesn't keep her from trying anyway.
Scanning the horizon, she continues to wander, hoping to find some sign of civilization.]
PHASE III
[She found civilization and it sucks!! What kind of stupid robot thought she was trash?! Sure she's a little bit... grimy at the moment, but it's not like that's her fault, right?
It had to have been malfunctioning. All these days of sorting trash finally fried the old circuits, and it just went crazy, right? I mean, these robots can't even maintain their incinerators. She should probably be terrified of the giant pillar of fire she was meant to be pulled towards, but the dumb conveyor belt is moving so slowly that she's not even in danger.
Still, all the smoke and debris isn't leaving her with great line-of-sight. She can't even see an exit. Tired of walking and all-around bored of her predicament, Weiss summons a glyph under her feet. The energy construct gives her the perfect floating platform to sit down on and wait for an opportunity to present itself.]
Anybody... out there? Hello?
BONUS ROUND
[If someone associates herself with garbage again, she is going to go berserk. A trash bag. A trash bag. Who even knows what's been in this disgusting thing? Whatever it was, it's strong enough that she can't pierce or stretch the bag. Worse, her left arm is pinned against something, so she can't even reach her rapier to try and cut herself free.
What is that anyway? It's warm, and smooth, and...
Oh. It's a body.
Screaming now.]
phase i
Jaune, who appears to be dirty, with more ripped clothes than ever and even missing a shoulder piece of his armor, emerges from a pile of rubbish. He looks like a hobo, yet he walks like a zombie, as if he's been living in this post-apocalyptic world for over a year. ]
Weeeeiiiissss...
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Jaune, I swear if you touch me with those grimy hands, I will make you pay.
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[ Not that he's got the energy or willpower to run up and hug her anyway. In fact, he just wobbles a little before he topples forward like a tree.
Ow. ]
W-Wait, what are you even doing here?
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[But that's not important right now.]
What am I doing here? What are you doing here?! I've been walking for hours, my Scroll isn't working, and my clothes are a wreck!
[Except that her clothes are positively pristine, save for a small cluster of brownish droplets on her right shoulder. What a travesty.]
But are you... okay? [You're not okay, but she's willing to let you say that.]
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How do you even manage to look so good even in this place? I mean, I know it's my imagination, but even I'm gonna say this is ridiculous.
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[She bends down next to him, and with the use of a small glyph, a pillar of ice about the width of Jaune's head bursts from the ground. Enjoy that cool air.]
As annoying as you can be, you're still my classmate, and I'm not about to let a representative of Beacon die of dehydration in a garbage dump.
[And she might actually care about you, but she won't admit that.]
So chip some off and drink up. I don't have any food, but we shouldn't be too far from civilization, right?
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bonus
so weiss is definitely not the only one screaming. oh dear lord. ]
Shit! S- S- S- Somebody help me!
[ he is going to die. ]
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[She takes a moment to catch her breath before the screams for help get on her nerves.]
Alive and noisy. Will you watch your language? That's no way to talk to somebody when you first meet them.
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[ he is so loud... like a yappy chihuahua. sorry, weiss. ]
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[She wiggles a bit, trying to create as much separation as she can between them. With any luck, not only will she be a little bit farther away from this weird screaming guy, but she might also be able to free her rapier and cut open the bag.]
Hey, you. See if you can move to your left, maybe we can stretch this thing.
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The- There... i- is this better?
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bonus
Since the entirety of her vision has flooded with white (like frost on her sill at winter or strawberry cream), save for twin punctuation marks in lightest blue, Rapunzel decides to close her eyes as she screams, though this has the depersonalising side-effect of making it sound like there are two of her screaming instead of two different women...
Wait. Two different women? What would that look like?
Her eyes flash open and drop down. Then, almost immediately, her face warms, peachy cheeks turning pink as her freckles seem to darken; something tells her she should not be looking at another person's... body. Like this. Like. Intimately.
A rather similar something tells her that this has got to be the most embarrassing, violating, incomprehensible "surprise" she's found all day, and forces her to look away sharply. Even if she's not entirely sure what this feeling means or where it comes from. ] SORRY! I– [ still blushing, not screaming ] I'm... I'm sorry. Madam.
[ that's how you address another woman respectfully, right? ]
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Weiss' expression softens from annoyance into concern, reaching out with her pinned hand to pat the strange woman on the back and-- is that hair? That's... that's hair. A wall of hair. Girl, you must have roots of steel.]
Hey, pull yourself together. This isn't so bad, it's just really disgus--
Madam? How old do you think I am?
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She very well could be misinterpreting motives here, but the emotion behind it reads like concern. For her! ]
Uh. How... old? Well. [ Cue laughter. She's over the sudden surge of social-mores-from-out-of-nowhere. Naked? Who cares!! Giving this person a once-over now. ] I've... never had to judge anyone but Mother's age before, but I'm... gonna settle for a, uh, safe...
[ wiiiiince ] ...Twenty years?
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Close enough, I'm seventeen. "Miss" is just fine, if we're going with titles.
I'm Weiss, Weiss Schnee.
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[ snort. ]
[ That's right. Rapunzel is giggling. As a result, her instinct, naturally, involves raising both hands to her mouth, but since half of her is trapped inside what appears to be a stretchy, black, leather-like material dressing gown, and that is attached to Weiss, she only half succeeds. Hair, snickering, and bad manners go all over the place. ]
W-Why... Why do you have - so many names? And why do they all sound the same? I mean, it's lovely listening to you speak them all at once, but... [ hey those names are probably about as German/Polish/Austrian as you are ]
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princesses unite
I want these two to be bffs ogod
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phase iii.
[Ruby's just going to rather cheerfully call back. Yeah, this is gross, but at least she's not alone, which is why she wanders over towards siad voice.]
Hello? Are you--ick, gross--still out there?
[Give her a second, she'll find the glyph and connect the voice and the pieces in a moment.]
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Ruby? Where are you?
[She stands up on her glyph to get a better look around, but finding someone wearing black and red in a room filled with smoke and fire is a bit harder than it sounds.]
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When she hears the voice say her name, it all comes together (and wow, it's been a long time), but because it's been so long, she's immediately scrambling over garbage hastily, more desperate now.]
Weiss? Weiss!? Is that you?
[She sees the glimmer of a glyph, and bolts that way, boots skidding in the garbage in her haste.]
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Ruby, be careful! This whole place leads right into an incinerator! A very slow incinerator, but still.
[You've run into stationary objects before.]
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Oh, this is just ViViD, it's no big deal-- but more importantly, when did you get here?!
[Ruby probably shouldn't be so dismissive about ViViD, but...she can't quite help it. It's ViViD after all. She's been here too long.]
We looked everywhere for you!
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bonus!
usually he's entirely conscious when the supervillain of the day attacks and screeching pierces the air, but this time the sound hits his ears (his human ears, not the fake leather ones on his head) and jolts him awake with a flinch. it's his reflexes that cause him to move into a defensive position, mouth opened immediately to ask: ]
Where's the akum—
[ ... except there is none, he's realizing, and he's also found that he can't move his arms. very far, anyway.
there's something else, too. the screaming is close, too close. he's— ]
—Impressive set of lungs! But let's stay calm, shall we?
[ in superhero mode even if he wakes up stuck to a girl in a garbage bag. the weirdness of today continues. ]
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[She kicks her feet, trying to create as much distance as she can from her new roommate. Sadly, the bag doesn't yield to her escape attempt.]
Oh, and thank you. It takes years of singing practice to get lungs like these.
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chat's initially dragged along as she attempts to break free, though after a second he does struggle in the opposite way she does; maybe that'll do something.
the answer? nope. ]
I can tell.
[ except he's more of a piano guy than a choir guy so actually he really can't, minus the overlapping musical knowledge and knowing what sounds nice and what doesn't. ]
Anyway, I'm sure this sturdier-than-it-looks-bag has some kind of weakness. We'll figure it out.
[ he's actually not sure if it has a point to it, and he'd just tear at it with SUPERPOWERS!! but he's not even sure if they'd work at this point.
that and he doesn't want to be stuck without his transformation again, so for now he's left to try and think a way out of this. ]