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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I could probably cut you down from here.
[because a flying slash aimed precisely to cut the branch and not Phoenix is totally the best strategy, am I right? Zoro even draws Shuusui as if to go right ahead and do it.]
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H-hold on, let's be careful here! I'd rather not damage my jacket, or myself.
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[but fiiiine precious suit jackets are precious. Zoro shifts the sword to his right hand so he can use his dominant hand to climb, springing up along nearby trees to try to get himself above the guy, somehow. He pauses while dangling from a branch above and to the side]
Hold real still.
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[He remains absolutely, completely still. Of course, he does so with his face fixated into a terrified expression, but what are ya gonna do. He tries not to look at Zoro's movements and instead closes his eyes. If this is where it all ends, I'd rather not see it coming.]
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The blade passes neatly between Phoenix and tree trunk, cutting the branch and setting him free. Now, Zoro knows how to land safely from there...but he didn't consider whether this poor stuck suit can do the same. So, really it's his fault if he lands right under where Phoenix is about to hit, seeing as Zoro dropped first and on the same trajectory.
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...screaming, screaming as he plummets towards the ground.]
HUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHH!!!!
[...Yeah. Sorry Zoro, but he's about to slam dunk right onto you.]
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There's a muffled groan before he starts moving his limbs to push himself up, so his face isn't in the dirt]
....shit.
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S-sorry. ...And thanks. ...And why?! [Why any of this...]
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You're down, aren't you? Don't complain.
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...Still, I do appreciate the help. I just... would have been fine with a safe and slow method.
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Beggars can't be choosers, out here. [huffs and looks him over, pronouncing him good enough with a nod] Guess I can't blame you, though. You don't look used to things like this.
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You think? [He sighs.] But it's over with, I guess, and we're both alive.
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[he makes to continue on, but as he stops and looks around, he realizes he can't remember which direction he came from or where he should go next. Sooo...hanging out it is, then.]
I'm looking for my crewmates. Don't suppose you've seen a rubber guy swinging through the trees, or a jerk with stupid-looking eyebrows, or a guy with a really long nose?
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[He shakes his head, and then he pauses thoughtfully as he takes in those special descriptions.]
I... can't say that I have. I pretty much just ended up here. And to be fair, those last two sound like pretty general descriptions... [He doesn't think there's many rubber guys swinging around at least.]
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S'all right. They can take care of themselves but I'm still looking for 'em. [he pulls the CEREvice out of his pocket briefly] These aren't working, so I can't call 'em.
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So it's not just mine that's busted... [He reaches for his CereVice from
the court recordhis pocket and looks it over.]Well, good look finding them. [He'll keep his eyes open too, but without the CereVice, he also won't have a way to tell Zoro if he does find them.] I have quite a few people to look for myself.
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As for me, I'm looking for... [He takes a deep breath.] a teenage girl dressed as a magician, a teenage girl dressed in weird purple spirit medium clothes, a teenage girl with really long red hair who also wears very vivid yellow clothing, a teenage girl wearing a cardboard box, a man who looks too serious and is wearing a cravat, a woman around my age with long hair dressed in business clothes, a really serious guy with dark hair and a hawk who talks like a samurai and a... I guess you could say he's a very useless-looking guy who attracts trouble. Yeah, that's about everyone.
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A magician...Trucy? You know her? The box must be Myriam, I know her too. [snorts, then] Too serious, I think that's the guy I pulled out of the flood. Boy, you've got a hell of a crew there yourself.
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So you do know some of them! Yeah, I've built up quite the crew over the years. I'm Trucy's father, actually!
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awkward. What do you say to that?]
If I see her, I'll make sure she's not in trouble.
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Phoenix. Don't think I'll forget that.
I'll keep an eye out. If everybody's been thrown out here, there's probably plenty who don't know what to do with themselves.
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It's nice to meet you. And again, I'd appreciate that.
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At least Trucy and Myriam, Zoro is pretty sure they can't survive on their own. Phoenix at least is an adult, right?]
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