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
Weakly, she offers back:]
Lili An. [ . . . . ] I think.... that I just came from worse. [which is said in a vaguely surprised tone, because normally her life really is rather pampered. At least right now there's no impending death or madness - people have given her water so even if she's weak and light-headed, at least her throat isn't killing her.
Yet she can't help but make a request, something that reveals that she's a little more fragile despite her attempts to keep it together:]
.... You know this place better than I do. Promise me that we'll make it out of here okay.
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But Kashuu, while pragmatic in some respects, is (sometimes unfortunately) not the sort to give that sort of response to a statement like that. What kind of sword would he be if he couldn't promise protection?]
Of course we will. It's my job to make sure people are safe, y'know? [A beat, and then:] Besides! If you came from worse and you made it outta that, you'll make it out of this mess, too.
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She'd very much like to stop being caught in trouble. Eventually she raises her head and finds it in herself to give an affirmative answer.]
.... I will. There are still things I must do. [She does have an indomitable spirit, when it comes down to it -- but the tiredness remains.
. . . which brings her to another question.]
You wouldn't have any means of procuring water.... would you?
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Still, what he's found over the years is that the ones who can still say I will or I can even when they're tired are the ones who actually get those things accomplished. He makes a little affirmative sound in response to that, and seems to be gearing up to say something else when she poses her next question.]
Water? [HM...] I didn't see anything, but there might be a water fountain or something like that around here. We'll have to look together if you wanna look at all, though.
[Considering they're currently STUCK...]
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.... Is this truly the farthest that you can get from me?
[Touching is so difficult.]
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What do you think I'm made of, rubber? I can't just stretch away when something's keeping me in place. [And then, more of a grumble:] It's not like this is a great time for me either, y'know.
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[Lili, stop thinking so highly of yourself.]
It's just -- uncomfortable, that's all I'm saying.
[Someone didn't get hugged enough as a child. Or like. Ever.]
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[Gosh, Lili!! There's no pleasing this girl, is there... That said, even if he's a very touchy-feely person in general, he doesn't ever aim to make people uncomfortable. So he'll... he'll just try to start shifting around so she has more room. The results are questionable but HE SURE IS TRYING. Trying until he gives up because they're stuck in a garbage bag, this shit is impossible.]
...Sorry. That's like, the best I can do.
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It's.... better.
[There's probably a "thank you" in there somewhere.]
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Sooo, that's great for staying in one place and all, but like I said. If you wanna find some water, we're gonna have to move.
[Is she so thirsty that she'll accept her fate as half of a siamese pair??]
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.... then let's go. Staying in one place won't do us any good anyway.
[She's always hated standing still.]
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We can start out by heading north, okay? I came from the south. [Now time to... coordinate moving. THE FUN PART.] ...If we take small steps, we probably won't fall over.
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If we fall over, I'll never forgive you.
[ESTABLISHING THAT.
But she'll..... move to take a small step.....]
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[GOSH, LILI... Anyway, he'll take a step along with her. One... small step... and then another, and god, he's already realizing this is going to take like, ten thousand years.]
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W-Well, then it's your job to make sure that we don't fall!
[is that how it works]
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So he'll win... one slowass step at a time.]
...It might be easier to just like, pray for rain at this rate.
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Kashuu you're lucky she's not diabolical enough (right now) to just appoint him random jobs to see if he'll do it...... god]
It was raining earlier... but apparently my luck isn't that good.
[HMPH HMPH -- but a more subdued hmph. A little like a wilting flower, pun not completely intended.]
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One who feels pretty bad for her, since she must really be thirsty if she considers missing some gross ViViD rain to be bad luck.]
...Even if we don't find anything here, there's plenty of water to drink out in the city. It'll probably be better for you than whatever's in here, too.
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But she's just going to frown a bit more at that.]
And when shall we get there?
[Call her impatient. Or dehydrated. Both?]
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[Which was, admittedly, like a good hour or so ago by now... But still?!]
I'll keep trying, but we might as well walk while we go, okay?
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Fine....
[She wants to say "thank you" or some other way to express her gratitude. But now that he's not a stranger - she knows his name and everything! - she doesn't know how to word it.]
.... Are you always this helpful to people you get stuck with?
[Look. She at least called him "helpful".]
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It's my job to be helpful. [#swords and all...] Plus it's not like being mean or unhelpful would be any good to either of us, right? Since we're stuck together and all. [SIDEEYES...] You'd probably punch me or try to pull my hair if you got super annoyed with me.
[He sees you, Lili. He sees you.]
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Watch your mouth! I'll have you know that I've been raised better than that!
[Not that she always adheres to those teachings but he doesn't need to know that.]
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It's hard to tell with all that shoving you did earlier.
[She was so rough on his delicate peach self! His first impression of her was so tragically brutish.]
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Manners don't keep you alive.
[someone's a little at the end of her rope. maybe.]
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