
It is a quiet day in mostly reconstructed Cerealia. The robots are busily running into walls that were not there before, the Cybuddy bees are buzzing...and CERES has still not said a word. Attempting to contact them still gets the User Offline error. Strange...
But who cares if CERES is offline? After all, they are the cruel and tyrannical captors. A Cerealia without them must be better than a Cerealia with them. So there's nothing to worry about on this fine, peaceful day. Or, at least, that's what it seems like, when suddenly there's a voice in everyone's head. A chosen few may recognize the voice, for they will have heard it before, but to the vast majority, it is brand new.
Looks like someone has been saved, and a reward granted... and no, you don't have a single choice in the matter.
 Your heroism will be remembered, lost and stolen souls.
You have saved me, and so now, I shall save you.
All of you.
|
PHASE I [ day one ] It happens so quickly. One moment you’re in the colony, going about your daily life, and the next, you’re… floating. A moment later, every player character from the colony is transported with a wisp of fresh air to...somewhere very very different. The distance is far, but it is covered in what must have only been a scant moment, and it’s clear somehow, especially to air characters, that it was Caeli’s doing that brought everyone there.
There, naturally, being right in the middle of the jungle.
Everyone is then unceremoniously dropped. You may land on a tree, or in a patch of poison mushrooms (no really, look out for the colorful plant life, it’s probably poisonous) or in the river. There are some strange insects of all sorts and types, some of which have some uncomfortable side effects if you’re bitten, such as swelling or the uncomfortable urge to go hug the nearest person, and there are strange flowers everywhere, some of which glow only in the dark of night or the shade of trees. It is dreadfully humid, however, and a little hard to breathe--unless you’re of the air disposition.
Either way, you’ve certainly landed somewhere fantastical, so take some time to get used to your surroundings. It shouldn’t take too long to find everyone else, hopefully.
PHASE II [ day two ] Of course, this far into the jungle, and making this much noise, it was only inevitable before some company was attracted.
Some are clearly dangerous, some are peaceful as can be and some are somewhere in between; approach at your own risk.
Either way, these monsters are all drawn to larger groups of people and a lot of noise, so it may be best to keep quiet...though the ones that keep their distance may be even more concerning.
Everyone is certainly being stalked at one point or another in the jungle -- and at night, there are eyes watching from the darker parts of the trees.
PHASE III [ day three ] But perhaps if you follow some of those monsters deeper into the woods, you will stumble across an old, run down village of sorts. It looks as though time and the jungle has overtaken it. Exploring it will reveal plenty of homes that were clearly lived in however, by families and by people of all sorts.
There are empty rooms, covered in dust, and a central village fire, long gone out.
Small knick-knacks and various objects can be found… if you want to steal from the dead, you know. It’s a little rude. It appears they led a simple, peaceful life, however; most notably, there is no technology to be found.
And if The Bridge catches you doing it, she will look incredibly sad and ask you to put everything back in its proper place before she goes back to looking very irritated at Caeli. You may overhear words about how this “isn’t the right place” and Caeli’s unrepentant, “It is only a few hundred miles”. Looks like something went a little wrong in the transportation process.
Time to camp out for the night, perhaps. And your CereVices don’t get any reception out here, so no surfing the internet for you. If you try to connect to the internet, for some reason the device starts playing a song. Was that programmed…?
PHASE IV [ day four ] By the fourth day, it’s pretty clear that you’re going to be stuck here for a bit. Pestering Caeli or Maris gets nothing, while the Bridge still can’t be approached for pretty good reasons. So… you’ll just have to make the best of it while they figure out their next approach.
Time to figure out how to camp with few supplies and even fewer nice places to sleep. Maybe try to make a fire (though it’s incredibly difficult, considering how muggy it is here) or try to find some bugs to eat (ew gross).
Of course, you can try hunting, but the prey doesn’t look too friendly, so be careful not to become the prey yourself. The same goes for fishing, it seems.
Some of the trees are poisonous, some of the grasses will cause unfortunate rashes, and some vines will lash out to grab at people (especially colorful ones); basically, this is an entirely untamed alien jungle, so it may not be the fun camping trip you'd like.
Time to work together to survive out here, at least for a little longer.
It’s your time to shine. This is Person Versus Wild.
PHASE V [ day six ] On day six, the jungle goes utterly silent.
The monsters and animals disappear. The extra friends poof away hastily and suddenly. Maris and the Bridge fall silent (though Caeli admittedly continues floating there as ever). If anyone approaches them to ask, they'll just say that "she is coming".
And soon, she does appear. She moves slowly, lacking in feet; they are roots, as though that of a tree. Nonetheless, she has no troubles with moving forward, slow bit by bit. She does not speak, not at first, and behind her, trotting lightly through the woods, there is another. Both feel strongly of spiritual energy, just like Maris and Caeli. And eventually, after observing the people gathered, they can be spoken to.
BONUS [ day ??? ] After spending some time in the jungle, emotions might be running a bit amuck. And those emotions might bring some unexpected...friends. Yes, let's go with friends.
Because if a character is typically grumpy, gloomy, stoic, lineface, or anything along those lines, they may find themselves followed by a bright, happy bird. That bird feeds off of those emotions, and will just cheerfully follow around any lineface character for as long as possible. Or until they smile. The birds are otherwise harmless, chirping happily every now and then and following them around like a friendly shadow.
Happy, cheerful, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, energetic characters, on the other hand, will soon find themselves followed by... a different friend. Or maybe a handful of them. It depends on how cheerful they are. Either way, these creatures feed off of happiness and fun, but they will also chew on hair or an ear if they're allowed to get that close, making horrifying, chittering noises as they follow anyone who is in a good mood.
[ Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with sensitive or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ] |
open!
[Being sent flying through a forest? Honestly, not that strange. It was one of their beginning class lessons at Beacon, after all, so really, this is nothing. Ruby neatly lands and launches herself off of a branch to get some more momentum, expression far too eager for this (but it's been awhile, since she's been able to do anything like this).
She launches herself forward, swings from another tree with the balancing help of her scythe, and skids to a stop in the grass with an eager--]
Yay! Exploring!
[At which point she turns around without even looking and trips over a tree root.]
phase ii
[Who knows how Ruby found the monster. Granted, it is really large, so it's not like it's hard to find, but either way she's running, trying to get a better vantage point to see just what she's up against.
Too bad it's trampling large amounts of the jungle behind her as she goes.]
Oooh look out look out look out! [At least there's that to warn you. Briefly. Before the imminent disaster.] Really big monster on the way!
bonus
[This was inevitable, considering how cheerful and chipper she generally is. Either way, at any point in the jungle adventures, she can be found swatting at the little creatures following her around, wincing when they get past her guard and pull at her hair.]
Ow, ow ow! Leave me alone! Hey, you big bullies-- [A beat. She beats another away with frantic waves of her hands.] Er, small bullies! Don't you have anything better to do besides following me around?
[H...elp...... before she resorts to her scythe, that could be dangerous for everyone around.]
phase ii
Ruby?! D-Did you wake up this morning and decide to pick a fight with the biggest monster here?! Seriously??
no subject
[And we're running...!!! Running far far away from monsters-- okay no, she's just looking for a clear place to fight it.]
Look, over there! Let's go there! [To the top of a hill.... surely they can attack it from there!]
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
I hope it's alright to hop in here!
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
i
Now there's a familiar face.]
Wha – Ruby?
no subject
Heya, IV!
[We're doing a great job here.]
I think we should stop meeting like this. I feel like every time I see you, my face is hitting the ground.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
bonus
She huffs, but visibly looks happier once it's in her hands.]
And to think, I thought they were kind of cute . . .
H-Hey, stop that! [HER HAIR BUN.]
no subject
[Leia, you have weird taste!!! Either way, Ruby is reaching for Leia's arm, grabbing her wrist, and--]
Hold on, I've got an idea! Ready--!
[And then she activates her Semblance; they go from one side of the jungle to another area at an obscene speed, almost as though they had teleported there, leaving the creepy tiny monsters behind. For now.
Ruby's out of juice too, though, stumbling to an abrupt stop.]
Gah!
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
bonus
What the - where did they come from?
[He's quite certain he hasn't seen these things before.]
no subject
Either way, she's crouching to try to avoid them as Edgeworth bats them away, and after a few persistent moments, they seem to decide to give up for now, leaving the two of them alone.]
Phew...! You really helped me out there! Er--Edgeworth, right? Super logical and adult-y Edgeworth?
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
i
Errrr. [ Ket's next to her. When did he get next to her? Nobody knows. Except Ket, who totally Shifted there when he saw her, but that was instictive and nondescript and besides, mystery is more interesting. ]
Was that part of the landing? Or did you actually trip? Can't tell with you. [ He'll offer her a hand anyway. ]
I mean, you were all quick and graceful back in ViViD-Tetris. That wasn't graceful. Just now, I mean. Not in Tetris, that was graceful, but – eh, I just said that. Repetition. Bad. [ Ahem. BREATHE, KET, BREATHE. ]
Okay. No more Tetris. Just now's what we want! Just now was messy and very, very coincidentally timed. Too coincidental to be an accident. [ ... ] But maybe it was an accident. It's not impossible.
... You're okay, aren't you? Ruby-Ruby? [ When you learn social skills from movies... ]
no subject
She'll accept that, pulling herself up and brushing herself off. Not...graceful......... harsh, bro.]
Uh. Yeah, I'm okay!
[...]
And hey, I'm graceful! I'm graceful all the time! I'm the gracefulest of all, some...times...!!
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
1/2
(no subject)
(no subject)
phase i;
Didn't we cover the 'look around' part of Exploring 101 about... oh, I don't know, six years ago?
no subject
I was just really excited! I want to explore as far as we can go here, so there's no time to waste, right?
[Thanks for the catch though]
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
i
Sorry, that arm is kinda wet. :( He kinda ended up in the river.]
What were you saying? Yay?
[Does tripping over tree roots evoke yays...]
no subject
[She didn't faceplant, so she has no reason to not be cheerful now; she grins up at him even as she rights herself, nodding.]
I've been waiting for some forest exploration adventures, you know? It feels like we've been cooped up in that city for aaaages.
[A beat.]
...Uh. Why are you wet?
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
ii
Why did you bring it this way, idiot?
no subject
Well, there were people the other way, so I figured this was the way to go! I'll distract it if you want to get away, so you don't have to be mean about it!
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
phase i
[ - and watch people faceplant into the ground from his vantage point. ]
Oooh, gonna have to give you a seven out of ten for that one, kid.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
i
That ain't a good way to start explorin' you know.
[A grin, helpful.] Unless you wanna explore the ground real up close.
[HA. BURNED.] This place looks good for explorin' though. Better than that city.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
phase i;
[do you know who is decidedly less enthused by this? well, ruby, if you guessed yuri, you'd be correct.
granted, he's got about three hundred and ten reasons not to be enthused. the first is that he looks about as much of a disaster as he feels—exhausted, dehydrated, and with the slightest headache from the sheer amount of liquor he drank the night before. he's not really hungover in the traditional sense, but he didn't really have time to sit down, have coffee and try to get into a rhythm for the day before being plopped down here. sure, he's dressed, but he's also unarmed. not that he can't make it work, because yuri isn't one to let that get the better of him, but it does make things a pain.
and then there's the matter of the fact that flynn, completely miserable and hungover is avoiding him by way of trying to help other people when he can barely function. like an idiot. his best friend is really an idiot.]
Try not to get yourself killed before you've even stuck the first landing...
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
phase i
[ Yu couldn't manage a landing quite as neat as Ruby's. Though she may have seen something in the trees, like a figure, a few moments before touching down on the grass...
He'll be alone when he steps up behind her to catch her before she falls, though, smiling easily as he helps balance her with hands light on her elbows. Once he's sure she's steady and won't fall over backwards he'll step away. ]
You seem pretty excited about this. You're not worried?
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
bonus;
What are these things?!
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
II
Ah!! Ruby-san, we should fight it!!
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
bonus;
[In any case, she would never leave a fellow Cute Perky Girl alone to face creepy alien bugs, so she's making a beeline straight for Ruby]
I'm coming! Just hang on! I'll get them---
[watch out, she's going to crash right into you, Ruby] Aaah!
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
bonus
and then the bird showed up.
so basically have a very annoyed malia stomping through the woods and trying to shake off his stupidly peppy bird when she turns the corner and hey, ruby. ]
Hey, you!
[ and then the bird pecks her in the head hard enough to knock her over. great. ]
(no subject)