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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[ for the first time in his life, makoto figured something was up at least three seconds before his sense of gravity abruptly subverted for levitation like a cheap parlor trick.
his plummet into the depths of the wilderness is no less unnerving, dropping him right into a sprawling mass of flowers, stems bent and petals wilting around (instead of beneath) him under bizarre putrefaction. and that might've been the end of it, if he hadn't inadvertently riled up the perpetrator(s): a swarm of moths hell-bent on attaching themselves to his flesh, leaving strangely itching rashes like a premature case of hives.
having invoked the ire of the entire insect collective in the nearby vicinity, he takes the option left to him and sprints like he's got the devil riding on his heels. taking off like a frazzled shot, however, doesn't stop him from wrenching up third-party
casualtiesvictims along the way, whether forcibly yanking them forward or scooping them up (being six foot even does have its pros and cons). ]I'm sorry, we need to go!
[ watch out for the vines snagging at them along the way like an r-18 doujinshi. makoto can't help his preternatural clumsiness, so any misstep could mean certain death.
or maybe you've encountered makoto an hour or two after his harrowing ordeal (read: bitten by a sundry variety of arthropods) instead, only to find him: ]
PHASE III/BONUS COMBO (maneater.mp3)
[ discovering the village, unfortunately, didn't counteract the nascent fear thrumming in his pulse. he'd spent some time alternating between trudging through the region and fiddling around with his cerevice to contact his friends in vain. makoto eventually ditches his efforts once the evening collapses darkly around him, finding refuge in one of the derelict homes with an intact roof, if lacking any doors or windows to stave off the mugginess.
anyone passing by might hear him (apparently) prattling off to himself since makoto has about as much subtlety as a beached whale. his complaints echo voluminously for several meters. ]
You don't have to stick so close. I don't taste good! I haven't gotten anything to eat since I arrived here.
[ upon closer inspection, he can be easily sighted with his head tucked into his arms with a horde of peculiar creatures picking on him, roosting on his shoulders, snatching into the fabric of his clothes. the general collective seems to have taken offense at his unresponsiveness, having foregone flicking them off when they latched onto his scalp in a flooding pandemic of flitting wings and sharp teeth.
at periodic intervals makoto yelps, voice gone spasmodic with battering indignation. ]
Ouch! Not the ear, okay ...
[ someone, please save him. ]
PHASE IV (cat prompt, for shame ...)
[ being a incorrigible lover of cats and their feline relatives, makoto couldn't deny the appreciable irony in being targeted by one first-hand. he'd only had a couple seconds of lurching momentum prior to finding himself on the receiving end of a distending jaw, claws snapped out to grab —
... nothing, as he'd fled, crashing through the underbrush for the fifth time that day. by some feat of haphazard skill and blighted luck, he's ended up stranded in a tree, watching the jungle cat prowl around and scale halfway up the trunk with no signs of skidding down anytime soon, staring back at him with a beady-eyed resolve. ]
I can't take this.
[ makoto's laughing, small hiccups of self-effacing humor, but it's mostly the hysterics kicking in. at least he hasn't suffered a nervous breakdown yet. small blessings. ]
WILDCARD
( choose your own adventure. alternatively, contact me and i'll write up another prompt for you!! )
phase iv.
but tadashi is a wonder, and rin's only now realizing how much of a wonder he is. he busts into the scene on his rocket boots, doing a clumsy flailing cartwheel when he puts too much fuel into it. he's wearing gloves that are cartoonish in size, each of his fists the size of his head. it's clear that rin had some (most) of the design input; they're bright red, gold and black striking through.
that's not all. they're shooting fire.
rin's yelling as he cartwheels by, narrowly missing another tree, getting slapped in the face by low-hanging branches. but he is shooting jets of fire in the right direction. mostly. the cat - sabre-tooth tiger? aren't those supposed to be extinct? right, not on earth - flicks a tail at him and makes a low, raspy mrow sound that rin would have found kind of cute if not for the fact that, well. the cat-tiger-thing now seems to be drawn to him like cats are drawn to brightly-colored toy mice on the end of a stick.
rin's slowly learning to use his rocket boots, though. slowly but surely. he aims another blast of flame at the cat's face and ends up setting its left ear on fire.
alright, so he needs to work on his aim. mission accomplished, all things considered: the cat whimpers and darts away into the heavy underbrush.
rin whoops his victory, pumping his ridiculously oversized fist in the air. he manages to land without stumbling - that's point number two for matsuoka. he's on a roll. ]
Did you see that, Makoto?
[ most of the low-lying bushes around rin are on fire. thankfully, this is a jungle; the hydrated leaves don't take to fire particularly well.
rin looks exhausted: his eyes ringed with bruises, his hair sticking to his cheeks. it's been a long day dodging beasts and trying to find his friends; it's amazing how few survival skills he actually has. he's been learning his limitations, his ego folded up into a tiny ragged square at the back of his mind.
but this? this was a rout. and he's going to damn well treat it as such. ]
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Rin, what — ...
[ later, he might remember the impression of rin outlined against the flame without an ounce of fondness: palms clotted with manipulated tendrils of heat and fixating light, the vastness of the encroaching vegetation eclipsed by the tremulous warmth saturating his form. even before the sparks drew, they gleamed in his eyes as a sharper refraction, a kind of lucid, liquid-bright mania. once properly alight, the fire burst open in the wake of the jungle cat's vanishing act — oxidized air reeking of sulfurous fuel and melting smoke.
in the aftermath, makoto coughs into the trunk to downplay the extent of his warping alarm, comparatively horrified by the burning leaves fluttering like talisman slips around them, fizzling out before they properly landed. ]
You sure do know how to make an entrance.
[ raggedly, he heaves up from an affected slouch, smile reduced to a lukewarm sliver superimposed over his mouth. the skittishness is still there, but his fear lives only on the precipice for the time being, muted once the immediate threat diffuses. he's grown overly complacent in the colony, indulged by each of his friends in turn, but it never negated the reality of their shared predicament.
there are questions and there are questions to ask rin, but for now makoto devotes his attention to his current plight. ]
Thanks. Um, do you think could get me down from here?
[ scraping the request out of his throat is a monumental effort. bear with him, here. he's been personally victimized by every living creature in the tropics and then some since his arrival. ]
I-I can make it to the ground on my own if it's too much trouble, though! Your hands seem a little ...
[ incendiary. ]
... preoccupied.
phase i - b
Wait! Stop there isn't--
[He cuts off though as he hears the apologizing. Oh. Then it's not deliberate violence. Either way, Quatre's dodging pretty well considering the fact that this guy has quite a bit of the height and reach advantage.] It's fine, don't worry. [He'll make a grab for Makoto's wrist though, intent on twisting around behind him to see if he can get him tos top for a moment.]
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I'm really sorry! I don't know what's going on w — woah ...
[ his arm twists in an ungainly movement, the other arm spasming about. it's a pretty comical sight, save for the part where he nearly wheels around to strike one of quatre's ribs. ]
W-What do you mean, 'it's fine'? I almost hit you!
[ good thing he hasn't improved his precision in the slightest. he might have height and weighted force on his side, but makoto's still a painful amateur through and through. ]
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[...all five foot one of him. But he still manages to shake his head.] Well you tried to hit me anyway, but it doesn't sound like you meant it, right? I mean, I'd appreciate it if you didn't keep trying to, but I've dealt with a lot worse.
[Shooting stabbing giant robots -- and those all very much intentionally wanted him dead. And Quatre is a highly trained gundam pilot, so he's probably got this -- even if Makoto lands a punch, he'll bounce back, he's sure of it.]
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[ but his arm is starting to pinch and smart from the exerted pressure, and he grimaces, attempting to pick the lesser of two evils between breaking away to flee or trying to figure out a way to get his arms to stop convulsing, for once. ]
It'd be a good idea to get away from me as soon as you can, though.
[ he angles a particularly morose stare at the floor. ]
I don't mean it. But I can't figure out how to stop.
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[Quatre does shift to duck away then, circling wide to keep himself out of Makoto's reach because really, it seems like a bad idea to just leave him alone. What if he goes all attacking on something dangerous? Or if someone else comes along who won't be so lucky to dodge?]
It started after you wound up here, right? Did you eat anything strange? Or get injured in any way?
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iii!
You can't be delicate with these things, okay.]
Don't let these guys pick on you. More are gonna show up if they smell a weak target, see?
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Huh?
[ he temporarily shakes free of the horde to stand, only to have them reattach and dig into his pant legs instead. ignoring that jab, he gazes out into the interminable distance for the lobbed creature. ]
I'm not! But I don't want to hurt them, either. Isn't there something they like to eat? Maybe they'll leave me alone by then?
[ looks like he doesn't know that the only menu item today is one (1) pool boy ... ]
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[He'll continue to be princess charming in the meantime, bending over to flick a few of the ones attacking his pants away.]
Byeee! [Look at them sail off into the distance so majestically!] It's fine if they get a little banged up.
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[ this is the wORST SURPRISE EVER?!?!?! ]
Aaa-a-aah, wait!
[ but no, the deed's been done, and makoto can only observe in muted horror as they're flung off to the four corners of the earth. look at them go ...
time to see if he can appeal to his companion's higher reasoning. ]
Won't they just come back? I've already tried to outrun them once.
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He straightens back up again, lobbing one last one in the direction of the river, where it lands with an elegant plunk.]
If you throw these guys hard enough, they don't really come back. [ISN'T THAT A LITTLE WORRYING but nope apparently not to Kashuu.] See? Totally fine! You okay? They didn't bite you too hard or anything, yeah?
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I hope you don't mind me spamming you, III
As Takeru trying to moving around in circle, swatting off anything he could find, Patamon started to swell up and gave another attack right at the top of the blond's head! Although, because the both of them seemed to be preoccupied with the bugs, neither of them seem to notice the brunette nearby.
When Patamon did though...?]
Hey, watch out! It's coming after you!
you're not spamming me in the slightest!! :^) sorry for my slowness
don't mind makoto's rather harried state as he grapples takeru's hand, giving patamon ample time to roost on him, if necessary. ]
C'mon! Let's try outrunning them!
[ and then they're out like a shot, down through the dereliction of broken infrastructure in hopes of finding someplace better to cool their heels. late afternoon glints around them like a shroud, the sun upended in dusk, but as long as they've got the sun on their side, they'll hopefully find a hideout before darkness falls. ]
No worries!
But that was for another time. Right now, Takeru needed to be saved by those evil bugs!]
But what about you? Don't you have some rather bad bugs on you too? Shouldn't you be worried about that?
[The boy said before he attempted to swat away some more bugs as he continued to run away from them. Although with the sun setting down, it only made him even more worried.]
M-Makoto-san, do you think we should make a fire or something? Maybe that might scare off the bugs! We'll be like Meramon and scare anything that comes in our path!
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[ no telling if that's actually sound logic and not an assumption pulled out of thin air, but if it helps reassure takeru enough to put makoto's wellbeing aside, then he's all for it.
at his companion's intuitive jump in logic, makoto nods. ]
That sounds like a plan to me! [ and spanning the distance to a nearby deserted building, he futilely shuts the door behind them, already in the process of gathering dry tinder and branches that fell through the rotting canopy that passed for a roof frame above them. ]
I'll start the fire. Keep a lookout for any of those bugs, Takeru-kun. And Patamon, if any of them try to come in, do your best to blow them away! I just need enough time to get the flames going, and then we can switch jobs. Let's start!
[ and without further precursor, makoto sets to work. ]
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i c??
first the flood. the damn water he could barely stay afloat in. and now this - the shock of green, of leaves and vines and dirt, with air that's too different and he could choke on the humidity.
so venturing forward was the only option, what with how dogs get were so prone to restlessness when any semblance of familiarity was ripped from them like a half-chewed bone.
it's the lack of anything built that snags against proverbial footing and the ground is softer under his tread than concrete. wood splinters instead of crumbling to fine dust and sinew made of metal and it's all too unfamiliar.
not to mention the damned flowers. even if he is learning to disregard them; even if he has to force himself to look at them less, to no longer remember the phantom echoes (i want to see real flowers) and think of how fragile those stems are.
it's a little easier when the flowers here are so odd, when he barely recognizes them for what they are at first.
still, the entire thing is rattling, and that perhaps is the most annoying part of all.
heine had just brushed the dirt from his knees when someone is literally almost careening into him, and would have if heine
kenhad taken a step back, breathquick.a blink, an inhale that could catch the start of tension and his spine coiling like spring from the inevitable grip that snags his coat until recognition dawns. ] What -
[ he would have to wrack his brain for the name for a few seconds more, though it is time evidently out of reach, considering the swarm that follows, considering that he's being dragged along and he has to wonder if running into the same people is a benefit or a curse.
whatever it is, he doesn't have time to ask because someone is tangling in vines and tripping right into him. the collision catches him off balance, sends them both sliding down the incline until heine catches himself on a jutting branch of a crooked tree.
his grip on makoto's arm returned, steady and verging on biting because guess who is extremely unimpressed right now. that's right. heine
ken. ] Seriously?i read this as ic at first ... this thread is going Places already
sometimes it's about momentum.
impulse engendered many things, but makoto didn't have the hair-trigger reflexes to react fast enough — time speeding up to lurch unsteadily only a precarious axis as he clambered for equal footing, only to tip over and send someone else careening with him.
so the encounter came in gleaming snapshots, blinking between the plummet and the interminable fall:
shock, flooding his cardiovascular system. the glimpse of red eyes, viciously putrefying with blank recollection. hands spasming pale and bleached ashen, like something dead that had forgotten to move on reanimating upon confrontation. an anachronism of death, maybe. ghosts that only resided in the eaves, long-overdue but never entirely missed.
and then, the upheaval.
makoto could have made relics out of his breath, lungs spent in something like a soundless gasp when he'd frantically threw a hand up in plunging descent, but inertia slants his perspective. it's a kind of abatement, the skeletal-thin fingers sharp around his forearm preventing him from becoming a blotching smear dashed against the rocks that awaited any untimely tumble down under. incoherently, makoto grapples a fist into the nearest crevice, sneakers digging into every foothold that could withstand his weight.
eventually, his disquiet loosens, shaken out of his ribs by memory alone, fascination that curved on an exponential incline. there's that stranger-turned-acquaintance held suspended above him, eyes like sunspots, incised dark with his distaste.
he could've flinched. ]
You're the guy from the hospital.
[ warily, makoto swallows hard around the aching disconcertion of his voice, heaving exhales scabbed over by adrenaline. ]
Aaa, excuse me! I didn't mean to be rude. ... Um, Heine, right? Thank you for rescuing me. I really owe you one, again.
[ attempting to bid for a compromise, he angles one head to survey the cliff face perched above them, then blinks down to assess the critical declivity below. ]
Do you think we can make it back to the top from here, or should we risk the drop? It can't be more than a couple of meters below us.
I - A
She stands still for a long moment, feeling strange mostly because he's so much taller than her and she never really noticed before, since the time they spent together previously had been in the water or sitting down.
It says something about Oona that that's what's getting to her out of this entire situation] Why are you so tall? Who said you could be so tall? Stop it!
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he can't help being six feet tall, though?!?! makoto hasn't been comfortable with his (freakish) beanpole growth spurt since the end of middle school, when puberty did him a favor and then abruptly went to town on his height. makoto's already at his wit's end trying to forcibly extricate himself from oona before he perishes of mortification. at her bracing accusations, he winces, arms splayed heavily around her. ]
I c-can't?! It's not like I can grow shorter or shrink or anything, I'll be this tall for the rest of my life!
[ SUDDEN PANIC ... !!! ]
You're not that short. And a-anyways, height doesn't really matter. It's what's inside that counts.
[ he's withholding his tongue for every time he's banged his head on a low ceiling or got himself in a sticky situation because of his stature alone. ]
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She just sort of squints up at him] Am still shorter than you!
But, suppose it is not so important, for now. [For now.] Why are you hugging me? Were you so scared you latched on? If wanted hug, only had to ask. I like hugs.
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phase iii/bonus
But those are easily forgotten in the face of overhearing Makoto's familiar voice mutter about not eating. Trying to convince the swim team to eat properly had been a huge struggle and it's not just going to be something forgotten in the face of a a new world and an even newer environment. Where they have to struggle against the elements for survival. Where even the basics are hard to come by.
It's possible Gou's not thinking rationally about this. Of course he'd have not eaten - she'd only had food because she had been buying a selection of protein bars to try when everyone had been transported away from Tellus.
But no matter. She's not going to let Makoto starve on her watch. Or even be nibbled to death.
She bursts into the tiny house with a much less dramatic flair than she'd like, and stomps her way over to Makoto, swatting away the horrid creatures to shove a protein bar in his hand. It's the last of the bars she had on her, a weird chocolate thing with a texture that isn't entirely pleasant on the tongue. ]
Eat.
[ She swats away her own tiny pests, only for one of them to land in her hair again and start chewing. ]
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