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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The world became clearer, the nausea vanished, and Kazuya was suddenly very aware that he had a migraine that was the exact size and shape of the tree he had just fallen out of]
Ah... [Kazuya sat up properly then, and even if he felt a bit wobbly, his thoughts weren't as fogged or confused] Yeah, much better. Thanks, Minny. [He rubbed his head, feeling the dried clumps of blood stuck in his hair. Gross] Geeze, I can't believe that just happened...
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You should still take it easy, Kaz. Your wounds aren't fully healed yet, and this place looks dangerous. [Something doesn't seem right...why would this person transport us to a jungle when it could have killed most of us? But it's a thought left unsaid, and presently Minato opts to sit down as well.]
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[For the first time, Kazuya took a good look at his surroundings. Vibrant green, thick foliage, and a near suffocating, humid air. It was, without a doubt, a jungle - even a cityboy like Kazuya could tell that - a dangerous place filled with predators and poisonous plants and frogs and had crazy insects that could spread all sort of diseases! He's heard stories of how people vanished in these places! They normally got eaten by wildlife, or caught some sickness that was incurable or something! Indeed, the jungle was a hard, merciless place, and Kaz was uncertain that he could survive here, even with the edge of being a demon. Like, he was resistant to most diseases and poisons, but the jungle had all sorts of weird things...]
Minny, please tell me I'm hallucinating this jungle right now, because I think I'm gonna cry if not.
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Combat's one thing since Minato's more than capable of fending off a few beasts on his own...survival was another matter entirely when his culinary skills were limited to basic foods and the impressive ability of wolfing them down.
He looks around a while, at the sky, the trees and the everything else before dryly saying exactly what Kaz no doubt doesn't want to hear:]
...I think we're going to die.
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[Slowly, Kazuya turned to stare at Minato, utterly expressionless - then he sniffed, and sniffed again, and true to his earlier words, he began to tear up. Yes. The fearsome Messiah who had won his position by fighting and killing one terrible demon after the next... was going to burst into tears. He was long overdue, really, this... this was just the straw that broke the camel's back]
Miiiiiinnnyyyyy~~~!
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Calm down, Kaz. We still have a chance of surviving if we can get back to the others, and we should hurry. [His own voice is only slightly above a whisper, and he's looking around to see if there's any monsters- so far, so good?]
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[Thankfully, Kazuya managed to hold back anymore wailing at Minato's calm, soft voice, making a pathetic whining noise instead. He just... wanted to go home, terribly. Not stupid Cerealia home, but home home, even if it was besieged by demons and crazy people! He knew how to survive in that mess, at least! What did he know about the jungle?! Oh, only that everything would kill you! But no, no, he can't give up. He had to survive, even in this hopeless situation. Okay.
Okay.
Kazuya managed a few deep breaths, and he seemed to regain some semblance of control, even if he did look a bit teary-eyed and obviously upset]
O-Okay... okay, yes. [Sniffle] The others... I can, I can find them. I remember their scents, so...
[Demon senses were good for something, he supposed. Rubbing at his face to be rid of any lingering tears, and ignoring the ache of bruises from the pressure, he lightly patted his cheeks to try and bring himself to focus. Okay. Right. He can do this!]
Okay, let's do this.
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Let's go then, and let me know if you need to rest for a bit. [While Minato would rather let him rest first their situation's pretty dire, and he needs to gauge how well can Kaz move in case they need to run quickly. As far as their positioning goes he'll fall in line and watch their backs, so that Kaz can lead the way.]
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[Well, that was a lie. He still felt like one giant bruise, unsteady, and feeling like he was on an emotional knife-edge, but Kazuya was beginning to shove his gameface on - the one where he swallowed down all those bad emotions of fear and hysteria and crushed them right into the back of his mind where they could fester quietly into a future meltdown (future!Kaz can deal with that). Another deep breath, and Kazuya felt back to normal. Yeah. He can do this.
He clambered to his feet unsteadily, and seemed to test his balance. It was fine. He wouldn't be able to do any sprints without tripping over himself, but he could walk and do an ambitious jog if the situation called for it. With those important details out of the way, he tilted his head back and inhaled deeply. The scents... it was a bad way to put it, really. All humans with a power beyond the mundane, as well as other demons or angels, carried a sort of... thing about them, and its what made it so easy for demons to track power. Kazuya could only describe it as a scent, and he wasn't quite sure how he knew about it, only that he did. It seemed to be an instinctual thing...]
Ah. Found one. [It was a bit muddied though...] This way... I think?
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...and at some point he can hear buzzing ahead.] Seems like bugs. Do we have to go that way?
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W-Well, they're... probably only small... [It was clear in Kazuya's voice that he did NOT want to go that way] But, if you want to avoid them, we can, I guess.
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We should avoid them as much as possible. [This is said five minutes later.] Who knows what would happen if we got bitten?
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[Like those bugs laying eggs in your skin which then rapidly hatch into demonic flies that eat their way out- nooo no no he doesn't want to remember that fight! Kazuya forcibly purged Belzaboul from his memory (hopefully forever), and intensely focused on the path ahead - not that he could see much, visibility in the jungle was shit, with the foliage so tightly packed together. There could be an elephant ten feet in front of him, and he'd never know until he was practically on top of it]
Mm? I think I hear something... [Kazuya paused, strained his ears - yes, he could hear running water] A river, I think.
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It could be dangerous to move ahead like this, though. Should we attempt to cut through the foilage?
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Can you do it quietly? [Kazuya looked down at his hand - he could get his claws out, since they could slice through this easily enough - but in his current state... he'd get exhausted fast, and he definitely wasn't stupid enough to burn a path through the jungle] If so... I guess. It'll make the journey easier. Just make sure not to attract anything by making too much noise. I don't want to deal with some alien predator coming for my liver.
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The entire thing takes around five minutes and he turns back dejectedly while shaking his head.] No luck, we'll just have to bear with it.
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[Or, he liked to think they were - quiet enough to avoid detection for now. He continued the pace onwards, picking his way through the thick, suffocating foliage, ensuring to step lightly and avoiding anything that'd crack or snap - until he came out upon softer ground, and-]
Ah.
[A river... and a very large monster standing right in the middle of it. It looked rather placid, and seemed to ignore Kazuya's rather clumsy entrance with ease. Maybe... a herbivore creature, then?]
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He ends up almost bumping into Kaz before moving next to him to get a closer look at their surroundings, only stopping in time after hearing what Kaz said.]
Oh. It doesn't seem to have noticed us...do you think it's safe to go closer?
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[It was said more of a flat statement than a question, and judging by Kazuya's expression, he didn't think too highly of getting too close to the creature. He knew about deceptive appearances! Some demons looked cute and harmless, but they were actually merciless, dangerous foes (Jack Frost he's looking at you)! This creature looked like it could either swallow them whole or just step on them, and he didn't want to test that on its placid appearance alone]
...well, it's either that or going back into the jungle. [He nudged Minato] You first, Minny.
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...It's huge. [Then he turns around to Kaz and motions for him to come out too- the only problem is that said beast suddenly grunts and it's not clear whether it's about to be aggressive or not.]
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When nothing happened for a good five seconds, Kazuya relaxed and began moving again, though noticably slower, his eyes fixed on the massive beast. It wasn't making any aggressive movements yet, but he'll be ready, oh yes, he was not going to be caught out today]
Yeah, huge. [His voice was a low murmur - hey, he didn't want to antagonist the thing!] Okay, so, we've seen it, let's go. Somewhere. Away.
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That's why he'll be getting a curious stare and a slight head tilt.]
But we should be walking up river if we want to find the others...can you sense anyone from here?
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Give me a moment...
[He leaned back slightly and inhaled, closing his eyes (despite instinct screaming at him not to, he'd just have to trust Minato to watch his back) and focusing. Everything was so stifled and sticky here, it was difficult to sniff out their 'scents', but he could sense one, murkily, in the distance... across the river, in fact]
Across the river, in that direction. [He opened his eyes and pointed] Though, um... I'm not too keen on crossing it. Who knows what's in there...
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We should move quickly then...maybe we'll find something that can be used as a bridge. [Though uh, isn't that peaceful creature getting a little loud?]