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
Mm, but - what was it? Are you still looking? I think your - posture, by the way. Your way of carrying yourself. It's like lightning.
no subject
But I think you're right. It's something like that. [There's a returning smile as she glances back at the rubbish.] It might not mean anything to anyone else, but it's a pair of glasses. Pink and white ones and they're really important! But I don't think they're here. [Which is fine, because even if she's mumbling it Rise's been trained to pick up on sounds and her look turns quizzical.] ...like lightning? [Is...this where she says "thank you" or...? Let's just see where this goes.]
no subject
[ IT'S SHOWBIZ ]
[ But this is fast approaching embarrassing levels of attention. Let's gently pull some more at the cup as a distraction! ] Um. I... heard the talking dung-thing too. Not that it made much sense to me. Why are these CERES people so invested in causing you pain?
no subject
The more an idol's watched, the higher her ratings are. I guess that's a good thing now, even if I'm not sure it makes a difference here. [If the world's been destroyed or whatever, does that mean her idol status has bee revoked too? What does any of this really mean? It's something to ponder but that can come later. Let's focus on the hand and Rapunzel's other question.]
From what I've heard about this place? They do this to everyone and nobody's really sure why. A boy I met earlier told me that Cerealia's no good. [She's not sure how she feels about that either. And speaking of distractions, she's watching Rapunzel for and also trying to dislodge the cup. It's slowly moving at least, but there's something more pressing here.] Aren't you worried about your hair getting caught in the garbage around here?
no subject
[ There's nothing remarkable or heroic about this, but it's embarassing to talk about somehow. Rapunzel shrugs and returns to her task, though she's finding a bit of resistance now, towards the narrower end of the paper funnel, that wasn't there at the start of their conversation.
Which, considering the progress, shouldn't make any sense......
She shrugs again. ] If I let things like that stop me? I'd never get out of bed in the morning. Does - um. Does... anything matter here? I can't believe this is where I ended up. Completely deserved. I'm sorry about the precious thing you thought you found.
no subject
ViViD really doesn't want to make this easy, does it? Rapunzel's pulling on one side and Rise's pushing on the other but the cup continues to stubbornly stick. How this is happening, she's not sure. Then again, she's seen enough by now that it's more frustrating than distressing.]
That's a really good way to look at things. People let so many things stop them...people's opinions of them and everything? They matter, but they shouldn't be the only things that matter. I don't know if things matter in this game, but I wouldn't say anybody deserves this. [She grins lightly before shaking her head to wave off the sympathy.] It's okay. Hopefully that means it's somewhere else instead. I've heard about what's outside of this game.
no subject
Thinking it might come across a bit strange if she suddenly starts jumping around, Rapunzel tames her mounting excitement with a cough and well-placed pull on the cup. Hey, its moving again! ]
What... ah. What have you heard? About the outside of this game. [ casually pretending she knows what is going on ] I mean, if there's a chance we can get there together by getting this thing off you...
no subject
There's a whole city called Cerealia. People live there and there are all kinds of stores and apartments and other things. [Truthfully, it's just what she's picked up from hearing about "the colony" from people passing by in the various levels.] If we beat all of the levels in the game we can log out and get out of there. [The cup's finally sliding further off. Just a liiiittle more now.] If we stick together, I bet we can beat the game. [There's a cheerful wink.] Piece of cake. Here…pull that way and I'll pull this way. I think it's finally caving.
no subject
Rapunzel grins, a bit dazed. Then catches herself in horror.
She clears her throat, and for posterity, shakes her head. ] Sure. Sounds - heh, sounds great! [ And indeed, she "pulls that way" as instructed. ]
no subject
shining, shimmering, splendid.The reactions still intrigue her and she's about to ask what's wrong before Rapunzel chimes in again and she steadies herself to pull the opposite direction.With a solid couple of tugs, the cup finally removes itself from her hand and there's a cry of victory.] Woohoo! Finally! [She doesn't bother reeling back her enthusiasm, broad grin directed at the blond girl.] Thanks. I couldn't have done it without you. [She spots a stack of newspapers in a corner (though it's debatable if there are even any legible words written on them.] We can use that stack of papers to boost us out of here. Think you can jump?
no subject
Oh, I think can jump.
[ Grinning, she whips out a rope of hair and tosses it, the ends curling around a beam high above them. Then she jumps, tugging on the other end of the hair, which at some point became a pulley, and goes flying. Ignoring the stack of newspapers all together, save for a few that get stuck to her sticky feet ew. ]
no subject
I guess you can. [Hm...she doesn't have 70 feet of hair but she's agile enough. Up on the pile of papers and soon she's pushing her hands up on the edge of the dumpster, pressing up to swing her body over and landing on the ground next to Rapunzel.] Pretty useful trick. Is your hair okay? [Yes, that's important.]