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. ] |
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[He's not unused to being whisked away from home at this point. Even putting aside CERES own whims, Demons had done it to him a million times. You got into an argument with them and they whisked you away to Hell or the Levant to prove a point. Usually a very childish point. So William immediately knew what was up, even as he found himself suddenly falling through a bunch of branches until he landed smack in the middle of a huge one, causing a blow to his stomach that left him winded. Gasping, it took him a few moments to come to himself and when he did, William opened his eyes to see the just how far down the ground was. The incredibly, green, plant ridden ground that was... really, really far down. Like break every bone in your body distance.]
Well that was incredibly rude, whichever one of you did that!
[There was no answer from whatever all powerful force had decided to ruin his life this time. Of course. Well just be that way.
Shifting so that he was sitting, William inhaled deeply. He could just magic himself down the tree, but his stomach was still doing a few flip flops. And then he heard a noise and looked around, eyes landing on another unfortunate person in the same position as himself.]
Misery loves company I guess...
Phase III
[Despite it all, William cannot help but be fascinated by the village. It's easy to forget that there's a whole universe outside the colony. Or well was. He wishes he'd paid more attention to Uncle Barton when he talked about Archaeological research methods. It might have been useful in this situation.
Still he's been researching in his own way, looking at bits and pieces of left over artifacts. Some of them are very similar to what one would find at home, others are indecipherable to him.
He doesn't take any of the objects of course, because really, what value do they have? He can't sell them and they'd just be extra clutter to carry.
But he's taking out his trusty note book and jotting down his thoughts on each piece, along with a crude sketch of it. Maybe if they make it back to the colony, he can do some research on it later.]
Phase IV
[By now, William has resigned himself to being completely miserable. It's hot and stuffy, and while he seems to be breathing better than other people, the atmosphere is still taxing him. On top of that, his right hand had brushed up against something that had given him a horrible rash that wouldn't go away. It was almost impossible not to itch. And the stupid bugs, dammit! He wasn't that delicious!
The one good thing in this was that he had Kevin to help take care of the worst of making it out here. Though that also meant that when something wasn't trying to kill him, William was almost fatally bored. Which shouldn't have been impossible after all the disaster he'd been through since they'd come here. And yet somehow...
So here he was, looking for something to do, even if it was just finding bits of firewood for later in the night. Or maybe even finding someone else to help or just hang out with.]
Bonus
[And now, for the last two hours, William had found himself with a "friend." A very strange and annoying friend. By now he was satisfied that it wasn't going to kill him, but it was unsettling, the way it looked at him with those souless eyes.
He'd begun trying to take odd turns here and there while not straying from an unfamiliar area, without any success. He'd even played a little game of fetch hoping to lose it, only it was too dumb for fetch.]
Go away you stupid, stupid bird! Do you not have anything more important to do?
[His yelling was merely met with a cocking of the head and the same blank stare. William groaned and drug a hand across his face. Why did he always attract these kind of weirdos?]
Wildcard
[Tweak one of the scenarios above or come up with your own! I am not picky!]
IV
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You! Do not sneak up on people like that!
[And why does his nickname get longer and longer. It's almost a title at this point.]
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Only to reappear a few moments later, several feet ahead. Ket'll run back toward William, waving. ]
Heeeey, it's you! Sir Grumpy Magic Guy! [ Better? ]
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[But oh, whatever. There is very little point in even trying. He swipes the back of his non ruined hand over his brow, because damn, the sweating wont stop.]
So are you exploring too?
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Yep, exploring. You found anything? [ And because Ket is Ket, he'll clap William on the back in a friendly manner. ]
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i.
Sorry, William.
She swings her legs idly, waiting for him to recover from the vertigo of their height.]
You okay?
[She's fine, thanks for asking. This is just like home.]
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He massages his temples a moment before answering.]
Been better. But nothing I cannot live through.
[He would complain more normally, but not when there was a lady present, no matter how composed she was.]
Another moment and I will be ready to go down. Are you going to be able to get down on your own?
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[And she wants to see as much of the jungle as possible. This is the most exciting thing that's happened all week.]
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[He had thought about waiting to see if Kevin would come find him, but well, his butler would manage either way.
Carefully he swung his legs out so that they were dangling off of the branch. He'd never done Levitation from this high up but well, the worst that would happen is he'd die. And Mathers made it look so easy.
Whispering the spell quickly, William felt that familiar, sense of lightness take over him. Planting a hand firmly on a branch, he swung his legs off and easily found his footing, so that he was standing on air. Satisfied, he let go of the branch, allowing himself the pleasure of literally standing on air as if it was solid.]
Ladies first though.
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[He's standing on air, nobody can convince her that that's not cool. But after another moment, she just nods brightly, and...she jumps.
It's a long, long drop, but when she lands, it's easily and with a spring in her step as if she hadn't just fallen many many feet.
Maybe her ankles are made of reinforced steel. And she waves up to him.]
You can come down now, even though your trick is really super cool!
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Bonus
Should I take care of it, sir?
["Take care" being, in this case, an euphemism for jubilee chicken with sautéed vegetables.]
Re: Bonus
[It hops suddenly at the word poison. Coincidence? Maybe.]
Besides, it would feel rather creepy to actually eat it. Like eating one of the stray cats from back home. It's annoying. Not a criminal.
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Kevin tilts his head, as if uncertain whether annoying young master shouldn't count as a crime. He is not certain if he is only referring to "straight cats" either.
As usual, Master William is too kind when it comes to creepy stalkers.]
If only we could find a means to send it away. [He kneels in front of the young man...on the forest floor, why not.] May I take another look at your hand?
[Some ungodly shrub has dared harm young master! If he only knew which one did it, they would be charcoal by now.
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It is the most absurd thing. I don't even remember when it happened...
[And the bird was just staring at them like this was the most amazing spectacle it had ever seen. How awkward.]
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Alas, healing is not my forte. [Even though he helped Crosby once, his specialty is conveying knowledge and torturing people for their own good.] And the local flora is unrecognizable, but I found this...
[He picks up a handkerchief from his pocket and unwraps it. Inside, there is a small lump of wet clay. Kevin would rather not mention that he gathered it during his adventures with Kaz and Hiro, because, honestly, young master doesn't need to know that.]
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IV
He has no idea, for example, that the log he's flopped all over on the ground is a prime piece of firewood: nice and dry and big enough to last a while. Which are all the reasons he picked it to drape on for his nap, too. He's so groggy in all of this nasty heat.
He's not asleep, though, just staring into space in his boredom--at least there shouldn't be much moral quandary about making him move off it.]
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He strides over and looks down at him, hands on his hips.]
I will not ask why you are sleeping in the middle of the day, but I do wonder why you are doing it out here alone. Where anything can eat you and no one would hear you scream.
[He's probably crankier than usual, because well, hot.]
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He rolls over and off the log, sitting up to prop his back against it and blink up at his unexpected visitor.]
I totally wasn't asleep! Besides, what'm I supposed to do, get someone to just sit here and watch me take a nap? That's pretty weird. I wouldn't volunteer for it, y'know?
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[Really, find some nice vegetation or something instead, dude.]
Though, if you wouldn't mind letting me have that piece of wood, I would be grateful.
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[WHAT ELSE COULD A GOOD CHUNK OF WOOD POSSIBLY BE USED FOR, AM I RIGHT?
He does move away from the log with a grumble, though, and then finally staggers to his feet. It's not like he'd been able to fall asleep like that anyway.]
You buildin' a cabin? Hey, let me in on that.
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Bonus
I haven't got any food for you! No! Go away!
[He makes a sharp turn, and nearly collides into William's own birdy friend.]
...Oh, for the love of all that is magical— There's TWO of them?!
Re: Bonus
[Wow the two birds are regarding each other and... is there even anything of import actually passing between them? It's hard to tell.]
...I wonder if we could slip away while they are busy making friends?
[Are they even capable of making friends?]
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Ah, Twining.
[Thank Merlin, he doesn't just suddenly have another bird following him. The second must belong to William.
He looks back at the two birds, still staring at each other, and gives a nod.]
Yes, good plan. Right.
[ATTEMPTS TO SLOWLY BACK AWAY.]
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He's backing away slowly, trying to remain quiet and it looks like they are about to get away when a twig snaps. Maybe it was William, maybe not.
He didn't do it. Totally.Both bird's heads pivot towards them intently.]
Oh blast it all.
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