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
A scavenger from Jakku who is still getting used to the idea of this big destiny she is now a part of. ]
No. [ To both, but the latter was more because now there was no Republic to be with. ] I'm with the Resistance.
[ She doesn't see any need to specify which resistance. What else could there be? ]
no subject
[Well the girl had heard of Coruscant. And there was only one Resistance that really mattered, the one against the encroaching Sith. The Daimonate, the Dyarchy, the whole damn Chagram Hegemony and the other associated Sith Warlords. There was no "Sith Resistance," as far as Janson and Skywalker had said, and she was familiar enough with Galactic history to know that the only time there had been was during Revan's days. But this kid didn't seem very "Revan-y" so maybe that meant she'd probably not react terribly poorly to another revelation?
Kerra visibly, slowly, and completely unconsciously moves her cloak back to one side to reveal a pair of long, metal cylinders. In her mind, it should be obvious to anyone who's ever seen one what they are, and what they mean. The weapon of a Jedi, the crystals inside alive with the Force: a Lightsaber.]
Then I guess you know what these are? And your not gonna try and club me with that stick just for being a Jedi, I hope.
no subject
Everyone in the Resistance, everyone in the First Order, everyone, as far as she knew, in the entire galaxy believed that only one Jedi remained. To hear someone so casually identify herself as one, with not one but two sabers at her sides...it's impossible. If she were Jedi, and not in hiding, why wasn't she working with the Resistance? Why wasn't anyone seeking her out as desperately as they were Luke Skywalker?
Mouth dry, she forces herself to speak. ]
Lightsabers. [ And she feels the weight of the one at her side. ] You're...but how? How can you be a Jedi?
no subject
She draws in on herself a little bit, some of the bravado and swagger taken out of her by the sobering knowledge that she was, again, displaced in time. Likely in space, but definitely in time. Unless Jakku was in a far, far flung corner of the Rim, but then this girl wouldn't recognize lightsabers in all likelihood.
So...how does one explain that she's probably born a thousand years before you? Ho boy.]
I was trained at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant by Jedi Master Vannar Treece. I passed my trials and became a Jedi Knight.
[And now for the stinger. Let's just get that out of the way]
What year is it? How long ago was the Battle of Yavin?
no subject
About thirty years ago. [ Her voices scratches, and that's only a rough guess from her. If Kerra is looking for a more particular answer, then she might be let down. ]
no subject
Then I'm...a thousand years before your time.
[She'll give a date, but there are TWO date conversions that take place between her time and the Battle of Yavin and she'd never asked Wes how to make that work.]
I'll explain how that's possible in a sec, but tell me. Are Luke Skywalker and Wes Janson still alive?
no subject
Luke Skywalker, yes. [ She could be certain of that, at least, having only just seen him with her own two eyes before arriving here. ] I'm unfamiliar with Wes Janson, so I can't help you there. [ A beat. ] How can you possibly know Luke if you're from a thousand years ago?
[ How could she possibly be here? ]
no subject
[Picking her way through the trash she lurches over to a ruined wall and takes a seat.]
Sit. You might want to, because I have a revelation for you.
[A big one, by the sounds of it. And sit or not...]
How familiar are you with Hyperspace? Serious question. Do you know how it works?
no subject
Then she nods. ] I'm more familiar with the theory than it in practice. [ Having only traveled by it a few times very recently. ] Travelling faster than light, you reach another dimension of time and space.
[ She's not sure she likes where this is going. ]
no subject
[Looking up, she meets Rey's eyes with open honesty and undisguised curiosity. There's a weight to what she says next, no flippant commentary, simply a bone-deep weariness and concern for a younger woman.]
And what happens if you go deeper into Hyperspace? Ever thought about that?
no subject
So she shakes her head, still watching Kerra closely. It's not so much that she's wary now, but rather that she's listening very, very closely. ]
no subject
Well, sometimes that happens. And you end up somewhere...and somewhen unexpected. We're a long way from home. It's happened to me before. And...I know it sounds kriffing insane, but that's the truth. I'm not in the right time or place. And neither are you, probably.
Will of the force, and all that, probably. But I can't say where we are. Just that I know about how this works because it happened to me before. Sorta spent a year on another planet getting to know Luke and Wes. Wes...flew with Luke. In Rogue Squadron.
no subject
For the moment, until she can figure out more on her own, what Kerra tells her is all she has to go off of. ] The Force has the power to bring people together like that? [ there's still so much she doesn't know.. ] do you think it's responsible for bringing us here, too?
[ Were they...meant to meet, in some grand scheme? ]
no subject
So maybe it is responsible. Hells if I know if that's what actually happened, but the Force works in mysterious ways.
[Which brings her to another point.]
You're sensitive to it, aren't you?
no subject
Yes, though...I only discovered I was very recently.
no subject
[She leans back on her hands a bit.]
Can you sense the Force in me, as well? Is your training that far along?