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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iv-a
not for a lack of trying, he's just a hair too far away, and by the time he's close enoguh, she's already got it frozen in place. his approach his from behind though, so roxas doesn't actually see the shift in her eyes.]
...Mary? Are you okay? [the next step is "we should get out of here," but making sure she's okay to do just that is priority. cannot! let friend! get hurt!]
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I'm-- I'm okay, but we need to go!
[ YES BEFORE IT STARTS MOVING AGAIN PLEASE. ]
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[he won't waste any time grabbing her hand so they can make a break for it.]
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Uh-oh. He's really... not happy. [he wonders if it's going to pursue them for long, because they definitely can't run forever here.]
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[ And now they're running. And yep, that thing sure is lumbering after them. Not all that quickly, but still. ]
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[even as they're running like hell, roxas is sure mary didn't intentionally agitate it. that just doesn't seem like her at all, so he can't fault her in the least.]
We can't outrun it forever, though...
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[he might have a plan.
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[ How lovely. ]
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[he can work around it if she can't.]
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[ She'll find a way to make it work. ]
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[he trusts her with this, but that's not all there is to it.]
After you do that, just... go where it can't see you, okay? [there is a 100% chance that roxas is going to use her stopping it like a stop spell and wail on it with his keyblades to get a headstart on taking it out...
or at least wearing it down so it doesn't give them chase forever.]
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[ And she's seen him fight, but still... of course she's going to worry. ]
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[he's fought bigger heartless than this. sure, he doesn't know exactly how well it'll go, but he can try.]
I just need to tire him out so he gives up chasing us, that's all.
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[ She'll have to let go of Roxas' hand, though, taking a very deep breath that would normally cause her to go into a coughing fit with how mightily she does it... but no, she's turning back towards the monster. ]
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[he lowers his hand when she lets go, but uses that time to immediately summon oathkeeper and oblivion. even if something goes wrong, he'll be ready to step in to make sure mary can get away.]
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I'm sorry, but please stop!
[ And immediately, it freezes in place. ]
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Okay, now go hide!
[roxas calls that out before he dashes forward, a trail of light following close behind; his speed may be surprising in a sense, since he's never done this in her presence before. but there's no hestiation as he approaches the beast, and he starts off with a whirlwind swing: twirling his keyblades before drawing them back, in turn sending out a whirlwind of light and darkness that connects directly while the beast is still unmoving. he follows it up with a high jump and just starts slashing away—it's a decent start, at least.]
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He'll have about thirty seconds, before the beast moves, but that's hopefully enough time to let loose plenty of damage. ]
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[he manages to call that back, a little breathless as he wails on the creature. it'll probably look just like what it is—roxas unleashing as many attacks as he can in that thirty second time frame. some are just continuous slings and slashes, though he does just in the air more than ones, forward flipping into a spin swing.
he can't hit the hardest, but he's fast, at the very least.
not that it lasts long, since the beast will eventually start to move, and that's when roxas does a high jump and quickly glides around it in a circle to try and find a better weak point before it can strike.]
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Augh—! [it's not exactly the most pleasant sound as he hits the ground with a thud, but after a groan, he's pulling himself to his feet. it's likely he'll need to heal up a bit when all is said and done, but right now, there's no time for that. once he's up, roxas is quick to grit his teeth, calling down six thin pillars of light that are topped by a curious emblem. they completely surround him, and after a yell, he sends them shooting outwards at the beast, hoping to at the very least stagger it so he can get more hits in without taking more damage.]
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[ It's almost miraculous that Mary manages to squeeze that much out, as tight as her throat has suddenly grown. That... was her fault, she's nearly sure of it, and his cry of pain (and the subsequent thud) has her cringing with guilt. He's just fine without her, he doesn't need her help...
It occurs to her, not for the first time, that she's rather useless. She can't fight here, not like so many people. She can't heal, like so many others. The best she can do for him is hide in the bush and watch him valiantly throw the beast back as it starts to turn towards her voice, and she hates it.
If he gets hurt again... ]
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but this is bad.
with the monster turning its attention on mary—it's definitely bad. he'd done things this way to try and make sure she didn't get hurt, and that means only one thing: pulling a desperation move. it's unlike anything he's really ever done; similar to his magic hour limit, but somehow also a plea for nothing to go wrong. it's not just pillars or beams of light this time, but condensed balls of light that go shooting at the beast with a desperate hope that it will either go down completely or at the very least, shift its attention away from mary.
there's little doubt from seeing it, it's probably the most powerful thing he's capable of, and definitely not something he wants to do, either. a move like this is reserved for only the worst of situations, and mary getting hurt definitely counts for that when it's what he's been trying to prevent all along.]
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