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.
|
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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Her remark makes him chuckle. Well, she certainly sounds all right. Probably just her pride that's injured at the moment.]
I think so. Hold on. [It's just a matter of how... He'd really rather not try to climb the tree himself as he's not exactly the best at that kind of thing.]
The branch might not be able to hold both our weight and I'm not sure I could reach you otherwise. [Even climbing up it might be futile then.] Maybe... you could just fall and I could catch you?
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Alright, but if you see it, I'm going to hit you. Just... tell me when you're ready.
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He lines himself up with her (which requires having to look up at her but he's careful where he looks) and then nods.]
All right, ready. Go for it.
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[ Deep breaths, Inaba Himeko! Of course she's like a scared puppy at this rate, but she'll manage as she shifts her body, immediately making the branch crak and cause her to fall down with a clearly high pitched scream.
THIS IS STILL A BAD IDEA...... ]
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He has to side step quickly to line up with her again when she drops but thankfully being agile is sort of his specialty. He catches her as promised and stumbles but manages to stay on his feet.
And he saw nothing, he promises.] I got you.
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[ A cool tone slips past her lips as relief seems to set in, rubbing the nape of her neck before it washes away, glancing around before letting out a lethargic sigh. ] Anyway, you can let me down now.
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He sets her down on her feet and smiles.] No problem. [... Yeah, that's definitely an unfortunate outfit to be wearing in the middle of a jungle.] I landed half way into a lake so I guess neither of us got very lucky.
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[ Now that she's down, she's a little more relaxed, dusting her skirt as she sighs. ] I mean, I was in the middle of work for crying out loud; what a pain in the ass. I guess we don't have much choice in the matter though.
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You're right. It looks like we're pretty stuck here unless we can find a way back to the city. [But he isn't even sure where they are in relation to the city so there's probably no point to look. They'd just get lost.]
In the meantime we should probably start moving. All this noise might have drawn the attention of whatever else lives here. [He'd rather not stick around and find out.]
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But you're right. We should be getting out of here -- we don't know what lurks here, after all.
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He motions for her to follow him and starts off into the jungle. He's been following any streams he finds as he's hoping it might lead them to shelter or at least someplace safer. It's difficult to see danger coming among these trees.]
I've seen a few of them, actually. Nothing that seemed provoked into attacking me yet but I don't want to take the chance. [All these weird things around... there's bound to be a few dangerous ones.]
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Anyway, I'll stick behind. I'm not good at combat, after all.
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He nods.] Don't worry about it. I can handle anything if it comes. [He hates fighting but he's quite capable at combat so... he'll keep her safe.
But ideally they won't run into any aggressive monsters and instead find some kind of shelter. So with that in mind he makes sure to be extra vigilant in keeping an eye out.]
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I wonder if we should be trying to get back or trying to get to where they were trying to send us.
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Good question. Unfortunately I don't know which direction to go in for either. [Which way is the city? Who knows! Where were they trying to send them in the first place? Also a mystery! .... He sighs. He shouldn't be surprised by this.]
I think first we should just try to find somewhere safer than out in the middle of the jungle. If we can get our bearings we might be able to then figure out where to go.
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Yeah. We should just keep moving regardless. We might run into the others, who might know a little more about the situation.
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That would be pretty convenient. I wonder if anyone actually lives out here. I thought CERES had everyone in the city. [Or maybe... this was outside their control?]