
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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Oh no… no, no, no…
[ a tadashi covered in mud may be pacing around a puddle, with his cybuddy dog (mysteriously clean) following him around. he's holding his cerevice and is checking if there's a gps system, but there's no reception…! ]
No, no, no…
[ guess who's probably going to die from the lack of technology? this guy right here. although you might hear him shout "Hiro!" a bunch of times as he tries to explore the place. or if you're hiro… you're going to get the "are you okay? are you hurt? then what were you thinking, knucklehead?!" speech.
though if you're not his younger brother, you may hear his cybuddy talk— ]
Scanning for injuries...
phase iii
[ okay, so tadashi is still trying to get some reception, even trying out going to higher ground to see if that will work? no. no… it does not. but good try, tadashi. and every time he does something, his cerevice plays and you can hear his device obviously wanting him to paint with all the colours of the wind. it's very loud and he's walking around in various directions, so the music can definitely be heard in various spots in the jungle.
someone stop him from pacing around too much. tell him to give it up. ]
bonus
[ tadashi isn't necessarily gloomy or stoic, but THIS PLACE HAS DEFINITELY TAKEN HIM AWAY FROM HIS USUAL ENVIRONMENT AND HE HATES IT. therefore, he's turned into mister grumpypants who is, at the same time, wearing his big bro pants on and constantly worries about each and every person here.
one may see flying on his rocket powered boots on low ground, being chased by the happy bird, while the happy bird is being chased by his cybuddy dog. it's a dog-eat-bird world out there. (actually, no… cybuddies don't even need to eat, do they?) ]
Dude, just stop. I know you're trying to do something, but it's getting annoying!
[ … he'll just rest atop this tree for now and watch as his cybuddy chases the bird around the tree he's decided to perch on. ]
phase iii
Honestly, Natalia has no clue where she is. It looks a lot more like she's just trying to generally survey the area. So there's some rustling and then she's wandering out to wherever he is, blinking in surprise as if she managed to tune out the music entirely. Oh.]
Are you truly so attached to your devices....?
[She might not sound impressed.]
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I'm using certain tech to see where Hiro is. I can't be a brother if I can't even protect him, you know?
[ that, and he's definitely not used to this kind of environment where he's so deprived of technology. hopefully this field trip won't last for long! ]
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three!
It's a pain in the ass, a little bit, being so disconnected. [Just a little bit. But he stoops to examine a flower, glowing bright against the ground; with a careful finger, he draws some sort of blue light from it and into the air, then presses it back into the flower.] If these flowers were suitable, I could set up something like back on my homeworld - transmitting information through their system of roots. But I don't know if that'd work, here.
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You could do something like that?
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phase iii;
[ from somewhere nearby, Katsura's CEREVice is also painting colors of the wind or something like that.
He turns around the corner and nearly crashes into Tadashi.
he just gives him the longest stare and slowly lowers his device. ]
—It's Katsura.
[ he said nothing about you, Zura. ]
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I know your name.
[ with that kind of first meeting? oh, tadashi would remember, alright. ]
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1.2
2.2
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phase i
Which was how he came across a certain cybuddy dog and his owner. Other than his clothes being dirty and muddy, Sayo doesn't seem to have any injuries on him. The eternal bandage and scar on his face doesn't count.]
Tadashi-san?
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[ the dog circles sayo a couple of times, wagging its tail. meanwhile, tadashi looks worried as ever, though he tries to smile for sayo. ]
Hey. You're here too, huh?
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III
Yo. [sways a bit] Are you looking for someone?
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Uh, no. I'm trying to look for reception, actually.
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i
Breathing is difficult. Ugh. Damp. Wet.
But he recognizes Tadashi and his talking cybuddy easily enough. And he's already tried his cerevice too.] I'm afraid it's no use. Wherever we are, it seems we're out of range entirely.
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Tell me about it. This is actually pretty frustrating.
[ and if quatre will let him rant, then he'll go on. . . ]
I don't even know where my brother is right now.
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bonus!
unfortunately, kanda hasn't figured that out yet, and as he comes into range of the boots-bird-dog chase, he's all too happy to see at least one of the birds split off to join the hubbub. he tilts his head back to look up into the tree. ]
Hey. Is that one running around yours?
[ can he take the rest of these birds, too? ]
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Yeah! He's- He's Demo, a CYbuddy.
[ the st. bernard stops chasing after the bird, leaving it to peck on the tree's trunk, as he looks at kanda, tail wagging. ]
Hello! My name's Demo! Nice to meet you!
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phase i!
You can say "no" as many times as you want, but you still won't get any reception down here in the boonies.
[Which is to say: hi. He was just passing by, and decided to be the peanut gallery for a while to distract himself from how weirdly humid this place is.]
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probably. ]
Ugh, this is such a mess. Even my GPS trackers aren't working.
[ he looks at jason, steel in his eyes. ]
Do you know how secluded by brother was growing up? I need to find him before he gets into any kind of trouble.
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i!
maybe he just really hated the suffocating green. the shock of colour when everything about heine was painted in monochrome.
when he ventures into the clearing, the first display he catches is the somewhat odd ceremony of cerevice held, or waved about and yelled at. the second thing he catches is the dog.
the dog that is speaking, and scanning him for injuries and it's an immediate frown, dismissive and biting and canine. ] ... There are none.
[ red eyes turn to tadashi instead. ] - That thing broken, then?
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That's good to hear! [ who then looks at tadashi immediately as if asking for a snack or two. not that cybuddies eat, but the robot looks damn proud of himself for doing his job of scanning. ]
Which one? The CereVice? [ he frowns even more, even letting out a groan. ] There's just no reception.
bonus
With every bark of the cybuddy and swooping dive of the bird, he visibly winces, covering his "head" with his metal arms, optic darting frantically as it follows the animals.]
Just don't--okay, if you could--keep that away from me, please.
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it's not fun. ]
Better?
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Phase I
TADASHI-SAN! [She called out, trying to locate him as she heard him get closer. She was about ready to cry out "Mercury Crystal Power" only to skid to a halt (and nearly falling into the same mud pile he was in-]
Ah... Tadashi-san? [She asked as she listened to the cybuddy begin scanning for injuries.]
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[ now he looks so worried because of her tone. ]
Everything alright with you?
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bonus!!
...which is to say that Tadashi's not the only one hanging out in the trees. but where Tadashi's got rocket boots, this guy has... some kind of clunky, metal apparatus strapped around his waist, which he'll probably hear before he sees; there's a loud snap as a hook fires into an adjacent tree, then an odd whooshing sound, and a second or two later this dude appears out of fucking nowhere, landing lightly on a sturdy branch. ]
Oh, good. You're still alive.
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phase iii
He sighs loudly enough to be heard and abruptly stands up out of the bush he'd been hiding in.]
Give it a rest! It ain't gonna work.
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