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
After a second of mulling over whether or not he should feel More Badly about having caused a circumstance to earn the title of 'annoying', he decides to just get it over with!! A sigh, and he warns: ]
Okay, on the count of three. One... two...
[ Lifting up his shirt: ] —Three! [ The rat in question, after shooting Atsushi what looks like a pitying look even for expressionless animals, drops down onto the garbage heap and.
Promptly scampers over to Okuni. Good job, nerd... now he's set the thing on a girl with her eyes closed, how is he ever going to live this down. ]
no subject
[OR WANT THIS]
Ugh -- !
[This is what she gets for trying to be helpful in the first place! So, instead of hitting air across Atsushi's chest, Okuni draws back her leg and -- kicks the rat as hard as possible, possibly enough to break some tiny rat rib bones... Unfortunately, the kick sends the rat flying through the air in the direction of Atsushi's head. please dodge, atsushi. avoid the incoming embarrassment and save yourself]
no subject
Surely he can use his lightning-fast half-tiger powers to avoid this impending embarrassment!!!!
Except he doesn't, because he's too startled by the fact that Okuni did this in the first place?? Though he doesn't know what he should have expected, to be honest. ]
—?!?!?
[ An indecipherable sound of misery and surprise, and Atsushi gets hit. Right in the face. By a probably dead animal.
Said animal slides down his cheek and falls at his feet, and he's left standing there dumbly with his soul leaking out of his ears. ]
A...ha. Haha... [ All he can do... is laugh... ]
no subject
[Rather, he's... laughing. Except, it sounds like the laugh of a brave shounen protagonist giving up his soul to the netherworld.]
[.....]
Pft. [Okuni should probably do something demure here, like cover her mouth as she starts cackling -- laughing, but she doesn't. Instead, she just starts laughing as if she's seen the funniest thing since waking up in trash!! Which Atsushi is. Right now. sadly...] Hahaha! Hey, hey, that look on your face is really funny! I can't believe you didn't dodge!!
[CACKLING]
no subject
[ Yeah sure nerd, blame it on Okuni. He's Embarrassed, though, and his ears turn a little pink; he should be used to people laughing at him by now, but that doesn't make this any less mortifying!!!
A dirty sleeve comes up to wipe at his face, not that it does anything. ]
Did you really have to aim for my face...?!
no subject
It's not like that was on purpose. [50% lie] Maybe if my eyes were open, then I could have properly aimed.
[her eyes were open then...]
Anyway, shouldn't you be grateful? You'd have rat guts all over you if I just killed it right away.
no subject
[ Stellar choices, thank you blessed Okuni. He says this in the tone of a person who doesn't actually expect their conversation partner to be remotely sorry (he doesn't really care anymore, let's be real), and only heaves one last long sigh before regrouping. ]
Anyway, the problem is fixed, so I can't complain...? Why do I feel so defeated... But, thank you.
no subject
How polite. [But he's not pinging all of her 'idealistic naive hero type' standards yet.] People usually get angry, you know?
[SO SHE KNOWS THAT SHE DID SOMETHING WRONG...] But you're welcome.
no subject
Ah...well, regardless of the methods, you were trying to help me, right...?
[ RIGHT...? Please let him believe... ] That was kind of you, so... You could have just left, after all. [ Which is what he usually expects, from years of neglect and general shitty behavior from people. ] My name is Atsushi, by the way! Um, if there's anything I can do for you in return, let me know.
no subject
...Kumou Okuni. [She still looks like she's appraising him, and also probably a little doubtful, like she's waiting for Atsushi to reveal that he's actually a rat magnet and it's a power he's lived with all his life.] I'd have to know what you can do to ask you anything.
[now she's looking expectantly at him!!!] So, what exactly can you do?
no subject
What can he do....??? No, really, how does he answer this question. ]
Kumou-san. It's nice to meet you. [ Okay, let's get that out of the way, first. Don't start sweating, Nakajima, you got this. ] As for what I can do...
[ ............. ]
...Ah...I can run errands, I guess? [ what a keeper, huh. ] I can...run pretty fast. And I'm a part of an Agency that... kind of helps people? [ What the fuck does his Agency actually do, he's actually not 100% sure himself; so there's the lack of conviction in that statement right there. ] I'm still learning.
[ What did he even accomplish here except making a fool of himself, he doesn't know. ]
im cracking up
None of that sounds very useful. [Atsushi was kind enough to be honest, so she's gotta be honest in return, right? Still, she snaps her fan closed.] Especially in this sort of situation, but...
[but???] Do you think you can help me get out of here? Or is that something you haven't learned yet?
ME TOO... poor okuni having to put up with this weenlord tbh
Ah... if you need help, of course I can try...! [ And he'll do his best!! Even if his best is the equivalent of a pug smashing its face against a glass door, sometimes. ] Maybe if we follow those sewer lines, it'll lead us outside? The ground's a little unsteady, so if you need a hand...
[ He offers one, like a good boy scout. ]
u mean POOR ATSUSHI... what a pure cinnamon roll...
I'm always careful. Besides, if you end up falling down, then I'll be pulled along with you. [But she has full faith in his abilities, of course.] You can lead the way instead.
[she's not sure what sewer lines are by Atsushi sounds like he knows what he's talking about SO]