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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merrill / da2 / open!
[ Merrill awakens on a veritable mountain of garbage bags, both disgusted and fascinated. this wasn't kirkwall, no, and it certainly wasn't Sundermount, or any of the forests and hills she had traversed from Nevarra to Ferelden. no, this was a dump. but she had never been to a dump.
something about it wasn't as remarkable as she'd expect. ]
Why, this is hardly cleaner than the alienage. [ she muses to herself as she stands to wipe her vestments of — is that tomato sauce? she couldn't be sure. either way, she wasn't fond of the flakey remains it left on her furred shoulders. she suspected it would never come out. ]
Is anyone here? Hawke? Varric? I don't suppose anyone lives here, do they? If so, you could do with some proper chairs.
PHASE IV
When does this become enjoyable?
[ this was a game, right? not that this wasn't her first time dumpster diving — sometimes money was scarce or merchants pretended to not see her — so you had to do what you had to do to eat. however, this wasn't exactly her idea of fun, especially when she wasn't finding anything of particular interest. some metal objects, soiled vellum, and.. by the dread wolf, what was that? it was strange, but the color was much too pretty for her to think anyone would just throw it away. ]
Hmm.. I wonder what this is for? A paperweight, perhaps?
no subject
[Not that this was Bender's house. But he felt at home here in the tranquility of this garbage world. There were a dozen or so more humans than he would have liked, but he was just trying to lean back and watch as the trash drones systematically killed all humans.]
oh my god
[ way to backpedal, merrill. she should learn better than to think her thoughts aloud. ]
Ah, I'm rambling, I'm sorry, what I mean to say is — it's perfectly fine with no chairs.
no subject
Oh, what, you say something? Sorry, I was too busy not caring. Hey, is it raining?
[He asks because yes, it's started to rain.]
no subject
[ she peers over at her new mechanical friend. ] I wouldn't suppose you'd have any. Do you have any use for shoes, um — ah, I forgot to ask your name. I'm so sorry.
no subject
no subject
My name is Merrill. From Kirkwall. Which — I don't believe we're in. Do you know where this is?
no subject
i!!
because hawke is here but she's sort of. buried. in some trash. off to the side.
there is a very hawke like groan in that trash off to the side before a hand bursts out of it, grasping at nothing. please help her out of this pile. ]
Help. I think I just ate a banana peel.
no subject
[ seriously, anything compostable was a lucky find. Merrill does her best to find Hawke, rustling her hands through trash until she touches something particularly fleshy. she hoped it was Hawke and not a corpse of some kind. ]
I think I've got you, as long as this precarious liquid on my hand doesn't make my hand slip. Can you stand? [ she starts to yank as hard as she can. give her some leeway, hawke, she's tiny.. ]
no subject
Believe me, you're more than welcome to it.
[ but thank you, merrill. you are sweet and should be treasured. so yeah, hawke does take hold of merrill's hand as she grabs it and is a rather easy pull once she... knows where the surface is...
seems like hawke was in the trash a bit deeply.
she's finally able to sit up at least, frowning at where her legs are still trapped but she can breath fresh air again and that's what matters. she starts trying to shove off whatever's on her leg then. ]
I can sit. That's more than expected. What's unexpected is seeing you. How are you, Merrill?
phase iv.
This is a trend that needs to Stop, Sousei has decided. He's over it, CERES!!! Do you hear him? Over it.
Which is why he's sighing here.]
You should probably...throw that away.
[... he's realizing the irony of that statement considering their surroundings a moment later. Ah.]
...Away from us, that is.
[Nailed it.]
this is sad
[ she waves it around for a moment, trying to decide where exactly to toss it. there were so many options, after all.. ]
Perhaps I should just place it where it was. Hm.. What do you suppose I do with it?
you misspelled amazing
... Place it where it was. That's fine.
[Hopefully the people who come after them will know better what it is.]
So long as you get rid of it.
[Please.]
you're right oops
Well then. Now that that's settled, may I ask you a question? [ a pause. well, she supposed she didn't have to wait for affirmation. ] Do you happen to know where this is? I've only encountered a golem since I arrived here, and he was rather grumpy, and not very helpful.
no subject
This is ViViD. I suspect you are new to Cerealia entirely, then.
[Troublesome... but it has been awhile.]
If I can answer your questions, I will, but I'm afraid it is going to be confusing.
phase iv. hi
there's a beat.
that's not working, so Hajime shouts -- ]
Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghhhhhh--!!!!
[ -- and karate chops the object out of Merril's hands.
the evil is vanquished, apparently, because she looks very proud now that it's on the floor, and away from them both. ]
http://i.imgur.com/pw7fjLP.png
[ great job, Hajime, Merrill's about to completely fall backwards down a pile of trash. thankfully, she catches herself and plants her feet firmly in.. well, garbage. ]
I'm sorry — That wasn't yours, was it? I was merely fascinated by it, I wasn't planning to snatch it. [ she looks to her feet, trying to spot the thing. ] Hm.. I don't see it anywhere now. Hopefully it isn't lost.
no subject
[ who goes rutting around in the trash and picking up dildos, anyway? what a strange girl! ]
Someone threw it away, and it's not our's. It's okay if it's lost.
[ there's a beat, and then, like it's some large revelation, she speaks again. ]
It'll find a new home!
no subject
[ she'll always wonder what it once was used for, though.. ]
I don't suppose you know where this is, do you? Is this a city? In the Free Marches, or elsewhere?
[ she wasn't exactly getting the big picture here. ]
no subject
[ that's fairly obvious, but she says it like maybe Merril hadn't realized what it was. and judging by the fact that Hajime has no idea what the Free Marches are, she thinks it's a possibility that Merril has no idea what a trash dump is. as such, there's really no other way to go about this. bluntly truly is the best way to state their location. a smile makes it more sweet of a statement, too. ]