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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[To be honest, as floating is her natural default, Ene almost didn't notice the shift until she heard that voice and her location changed to the creepy jungle. As such, her surprise is fresh and new and she shrieks, jumping in the air where she's floating.
What is this? When did this happen? Who let this happen??? Was getting kidnapped once not enough? At least last time the ruined buildings had internet, she could do things, just what is she supposed to do with a jungle?? Unacceptable. Prepare for whining, Cereals.]
What, what, what the hell!? Who was that talking, whose bright idea was this!? Where are we now? I want answers!
Phase III
[Things just kept getting creepier. Ene had tried to explore the village, find out who had lived there and what had happened to them; she was amazed that anyone had managed to survive that long in this jungle full of wild beasts without any tech. Weren't they so bored?! She knew she would be. Bored and under constant alien monster attack, who'd want to live like that? There were so few signs of life here, everything had been abandoned so long. All their things were still here, remnants of how they'd lived...
Nobody had packed to run, had they?
It's an unpleasant line of thought, and far too depressing to keep wandering through this long dead village. She wasn't finding any clues, so it was pointless to stay here. Ene hoped they'd move along from this place quickly, but hearing they were a few hundred miles from their location didn't fill her with hope. She was about ready to strangle Caeli.
As it gets dark, the LED lights in her legs glow brighter and attract all the bugs, which is irritating and creepy but she's starting to get used to it. Ugh, that's depressing too. Whatever, it's time for people to sleep now and start afresh the next morning!
Not that she can sleep.
New plan. Everyone else can sleep and she'll make sure they don't get eaten and get all her irritation out while everybody is too unconscious to notice.]
Haaa... I guess I'll keep watch for a bit.
Phase IV
[VINES ARE TERRIBLE. WHO ALLOWED VINES. Flying and zipping around like she does seems to attract their attention, this must be the fourth time one has snatched her. Normally she's been able to wriggle free of them easily enough, but this one is persistent and winding tight around her waist, making her shriek.
Ene has probably been shrieking a lot this trip.
In some ways, she supposes she should be lucky. She doesn't have feet to feel sore trudging through the jungle, she doesn't need to eat so she has no hunger to complain of or need to eat any of those gross things, and she can't sleep so she's not tired. But the trek is getting to her in other ways. Like the vines and the predators and the bugs that just won't leave her alone. Like the muggy atmosphere and the grime clinging to her clothes and the rashes. Like the fact that the further they get from technology, the more helpless she feels to help anyone, neither the people here nor the friends back home she was hoping to use CERES technology to save.
Those annoying thoughts are QUITTER THOUGHTS FOR LOSERS however, and completely not appropriate for the anger needed to destroy this damned vine. Not that she can really do much with her bare hands.
...Does anyone have a knife?]
W-W-Wildcard!
Phase I
No idea, still no idea, Caeli, the jungle?
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...He tries to answer, bless him, but only one of those things is helpful.]
Ket, don't sneak up on me! Aaah, of course you have no idea - who's Caeli?
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But, uh, sorry for sneaking. [ He wasn't actually sneaking. When you're stranded in a jungle with no reception, catching up to friendly faces kind of becomes a priority. Even if said priority involves instinctive teleportation. ] You okay?
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[...well actually who knows with him. But if he's asking if she's okay that means she's making him worry and that's bad, GET IT TOGETHER TAKANE]
I - I-I'm fine, it was just a shock is all. This is really weird.
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Pahse IV
A wild untamed jungle, very few signs of civilization, and everything out here is trying to kill or otherwise eat them. He feels more at home here than he did in the colony, though he still wishes for a warm bed and a hot meal.
He's been flying solo the whole time they arrived, exploring whenever he can whilst avoiding the larger predators until he knew he could take them. That being said, it wasn't very hard for his to spot Ene tangled or, captured, by some vines. He's been attacked by those things a few times so he can sort of understand how frustrating they can be so, he summons his mana and creates a shuriken in his hand. Taking careful aim, he throws it with incredible accuracy before casting a simple fire spell to set the rest of the vine a blaze.]
Perhaps it would be safer for you if you returned to your group.
[Says the distorted voice, as a dark clothed and silver masked individual steps out of the shadows. Hopefully she isn't the violent type.]
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Ene was ready to shriek and rage and tear this vine off with her bare hands!! But just like that, the vine suddenly goes limp around her and she tumbles back mid-air.
...Yeah, she's pretty sure she can't start fires like that. It wasn't until the new stranger spoke that she realised he was there, turning to look at him.]
Ah - y-yeah, I was on my way back to them when those vines got me. Thanks, mister.
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[He taps his foot on the ground a few times.]
I suggest you stick to staying down here. It's much safer than what most may think.
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[Kicks her legs, which are very much missing feet.]
I guess I could stick a little closer to the floor, but that makes it harder to scout ahead. Aaah, it's no good if those vines keep coming at my back though.
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IV
He's on the ground and looked up after he stopped. Was that... Ene? Are those vines around her body?]
Are you alright?!
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Oh yeah, peachy!
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Hold still! I'll come up and cut you free!
[Yes, cut. He have a sword and will use it. After getting an idea of a possible route, Sayo moves towards a tree and starts trying to climb up.]
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Ugh - be careful!
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IV
He still feels a little fucked up even owning it. But he'd bought it anyway after some discussions with people about self-defense in the colony (ha. ha ha. self-defense), and he'd been lucky enough to have it in his pocket when they'd been snatched out of said colony. Of course he had. What good's a knife you don't have on you when you need it? And he's needed it plenty navigating this jungle . . .
When he hears Ene shriek, Leon heads in that direction immediately, sure he recognizes the voice--and yep, there she is. When he catches sight of her, he digs his switchblade out of his pocket and speeds up to make it over to where she's caught up.]
Whoa, hold up, I've got you!
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Aah, you again! Great, help me out here!
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[Man, he's heard of porn like this before--helpless girls, wriggling vines--but there is absolutely nothing sexy about the real thing in person. Not that he's super into that kind of porn anyway, but . . .
Okay, enough of that. He steps closer to her, a little wary of getting the blade too close to her, but with the vines wrapped around her like that, he has little choice . . . ugh. This is way more nerve-wracking than he expected. Why'd he buy a knife of all things?! This is so wrong!]
Shit, I don't wanna cut you! Hold real still! Totally, 100% still!
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I, I am, okay?? You've got that, yeah?
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Phase IV
Through whenever Byakko slides to a tree and Hiro spots a familiar friend doing battle with a vine... Well, he couldn't help and give some completely weird commentary despite the fact the girl was in danger.]
Yikes! I've seen plenty of hentai to know where this is going!
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[That is the opposite of helpful. For a moment Ene forgets to be angry at the vine or shocked at the tiger, because she wants so badly to knock him on the head for that!
But she can't.
Because of the held captive by a vine thing.
Well, one way to fix that.]
Hurry up and help me out here so I can beat you!
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[And with a begrudging sigh... Byakko will actually start talking for once.]
Master... You should save the girl.
But Byakko... This is like the complete opposite of what happens whenever you save a damsel in distress! Instead of giving you a kiss for saving her, she breaks your lips instead!
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phase IV!
He's been trying his best to do something productive, really! Not just attempting to climb too-tall trees and jump over bubbly mud pits and stuff, not at all. Maybe now was his chance to actually do something, though, because he does seem that scream from beyond the trees, obviously not too far from where he was currently poking at more funky plants.]
Hey, quit it!
[he yells at the vine, because yelling at plants is totally helpful. But then he strikes it with his blade, severing it. Someone asked for a knife? Have a naginata instead.]
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The vine goes slack around Ene and falls to the ground after he slashes it, taking her completely by surprise and she tumbles backwards in midair with a yelp. It only takes her a moment to gather her bearings and acknowledge her saviour, looking surprised but grateful as she zips towards him.]
Uwaaah, my hero! Thanks mister~
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Ahaha! Don't worry about it! Are you okay otherwise?
[he tosses his blade against his shoulder, less battle-stance and more hey-nice-to-meet-you.]
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