
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.
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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. ] |
ota!
[ Before Kyouko can even react to suddenly floating, she's immediately dropped into the middle of a river. Luckily, the river isn't deep and she's able to wade through the water as she makes her way over to the riverbank. Shallow or not, Kyouko is still annoyed because she's soaked.
So for now, she's wringing out her hair and dumping water out of her boots. If only she had a towel. ]
phase ii;
[ By the next day, Kyouko has seen her fair share of monsters roaming around the woods, but she's tried her best to avoid them as much as she can. Still, no matter where she goes, she feels like she's being watched.
If she happens to see you sometime in the evening she'll approach you and ask: ]
Do you feel as if you're being watched?
phase iii;
[ Eventually Kyouko does follow one of the monsters further into the woods, and that's when she comes across the village.
She takes her time exploring it, going into every house and looking at all of the now abandoned belongings. Feel free to catch her in any spot in the village.
If you happen to catch her by surprise, though, Kyouko whirls around immediately on the defensive. It doesn't take her long to realizes there's no threat, and she crosses her arms. ]
...I thought you might have been one of those creatures.
bonus;
[ At some point during their stay in the woods, Kyouko ends up making a friend in the form of a very clingy and very colorful bird. She ignores it for the most part, but after a few hours, she's starting to get a little annoyed.
She approaches the first person she sees. ]
Could you help me find a place to leave this bird? [ Kyouko's not going to abandon it, but she can't deal with this bird much longer. ]
wild card;
[ Free for all! Do whatever prompt you want! ]
i
For what it's worth, she's resisting pretty well so far. ]
Rough landing?
[ ...wait a minute, she knows this girl. ]
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[ Kyouko slides on her boot, turning towards the voice. ]
Ah. Matoi-san.
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phase ii
That is to say, he's definitely noticed the monsters around, and felt the same eerie chill, like he can't find any privacy... Well, not that there's much privacy in the first place, in a jungle like this, with all the rest of Cerealia. ]
...I have. [ He speaks quietly, because of it. ] I don't know how much intelligence we should be attributing to these creatures, but it would be wise not to underestimate them.
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[ Who knows how the animals here have evolved? They look so different from animals on Earth, so it should be safe to assume that everything else about them is different too. ]
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II
[Comes Korra's somewhat disgruntled reply. She scoots down the block of earth she's bended to make a seat of sorts, though, making room for Kyouko if she wants to join her.]
I saw some things lurking around in the trees earlier. It's probably them.
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That's what I believe. What sort of creatures have you seen so far?
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ii
Well.]
When are we not being watched? But I guess CERES can't follow us all the way out here.
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[ Kyouko looks over at a small opening in the trees, where she saw a creature lurking a few minutes ago. ]
There are quite a few creatures here, though. Have you seen any of them?
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II
Kirigiri's words just confirm her fears. An attempt at flippancy is made, but Kirigiri will likely see through that easily.]
Aaaah, I'm getting really sick of these things.
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As am I. It's not surprising that they've taken an interest in us, but that doesn't make it any less unsettling.
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bonus!
Oh, sure, as long as you help me kill mine first. Then we can talk about filleting yours. How about it? Not a bad deal, right?
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[ But she won't judge him if he wants to kill his own bird. ]
How long have you been attempting to get rid of yours? I want to know how much help you want.
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bonus
[It's your new pet better give it a name. ...for his part, Komaeda has a few of the nippy, fluttery little things that he's occasionally swatting a hand at, in an effort to pretend they're not really there.] I'm looking to get rid of these new friends of mine as well, honestly.
[A pause before he adds, with a sheepish laugh.] It turns out they bite.
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I suppose I should feel lucky, then. This bird has yet to be truly disruptive.
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bonus
[...that's sure a bird.]
Where did... [Where did she get that, except he's guessing that Kirigiri didn't exactly choose to pick it up out of the blue. Just a guess.]
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[ Kyouko glances at it tiredly as it chirps happily in her ear. ]
I only know that I don't intend to keep it as a pet.
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phase iii
It's alright. I didn't mean to startle you. Creatures... you mean the monsters that led us here, don't you?
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I do. They have made a habit of watching us, so I've been on guard. [ And on edge, but she's not going to tell that to a stranger. ]
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III
He'd been heading into a house he thought was empty, knocking on the already-open door as he stepped across the threshold; he hadn't expected to find anyone here, but it's a habit. A potentially startling habit for anyone who was in the house and wasn't expecting a second explorer. Leon jumps himself when Kirigiri whirls on him, though as soon as he realizes what's happened and who it is, he softens immediately.]
--Damn, you startled me. I guess we're even . . .
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It seems so. I didn't expect to see you here.
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i
Kyouko-san!! Are you alright?!
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I am. Mostly just wet. [ As if on cue, a bunch of water is squeezed out of her jacket. ]
Luckily, the river isn't that deep.
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bonus;
...it's pretty cute, actually. And funny. ]
Leave it...? It seems kind of attached to you, Kirigiri-san. But of course I'm always willing to help you out.
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I'd rather it find someone else to be attached to. You would be a good candidate.
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