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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i c??
first the flood. the damn water he could barely stay afloat in. and now this - the shock of green, of leaves and vines and dirt, with air that's too different and he could choke on the humidity.
so venturing forward was the only option, what with how dogs get were so prone to restlessness when any semblance of familiarity was ripped from them like a half-chewed bone.
it's the lack of anything built that snags against proverbial footing and the ground is softer under his tread than concrete. wood splinters instead of crumbling to fine dust and sinew made of metal and it's all too unfamiliar.
not to mention the damned flowers. even if he is learning to disregard them; even if he has to force himself to look at them less, to no longer remember the phantom echoes (i want to see real flowers) and think of how fragile those stems are.
it's a little easier when the flowers here are so odd, when he barely recognizes them for what they are at first.
still, the entire thing is rattling, and that perhaps is the most annoying part of all.
heine had just brushed the dirt from his knees when someone is literally almost careening into him, and would have if heine
kenhad taken a step back, breathquick.a blink, an inhale that could catch the start of tension and his spine coiling like spring from the inevitable grip that snags his coat until recognition dawns. ] What -
[ he would have to wrack his brain for the name for a few seconds more, though it is time evidently out of reach, considering the swarm that follows, considering that he's being dragged along and he has to wonder if running into the same people is a benefit or a curse.
whatever it is, he doesn't have time to ask because someone is tangling in vines and tripping right into him. the collision catches him off balance, sends them both sliding down the incline until heine catches himself on a jutting branch of a crooked tree.
his grip on makoto's arm returned, steady and verging on biting because guess who is extremely unimpressed right now. that's right. heine
ken. ] Seriously?i read this as ic at first ... this thread is going Places already
sometimes it's about momentum.
impulse engendered many things, but makoto didn't have the hair-trigger reflexes to react fast enough — time speeding up to lurch unsteadily only a precarious axis as he clambered for equal footing, only to tip over and send someone else careening with him.
so the encounter came in gleaming snapshots, blinking between the plummet and the interminable fall:
shock, flooding his cardiovascular system. the glimpse of red eyes, viciously putrefying with blank recollection. hands spasming pale and bleached ashen, like something dead that had forgotten to move on reanimating upon confrontation. an anachronism of death, maybe. ghosts that only resided in the eaves, long-overdue but never entirely missed.
and then, the upheaval.
makoto could have made relics out of his breath, lungs spent in something like a soundless gasp when he'd frantically threw a hand up in plunging descent, but inertia slants his perspective. it's a kind of abatement, the skeletal-thin fingers sharp around his forearm preventing him from becoming a blotching smear dashed against the rocks that awaited any untimely tumble down under. incoherently, makoto grapples a fist into the nearest crevice, sneakers digging into every foothold that could withstand his weight.
eventually, his disquiet loosens, shaken out of his ribs by memory alone, fascination that curved on an exponential incline. there's that stranger-turned-acquaintance held suspended above him, eyes like sunspots, incised dark with his distaste.
he could've flinched. ]
You're the guy from the hospital.
[ warily, makoto swallows hard around the aching disconcertion of his voice, heaving exhales scabbed over by adrenaline. ]
Aaa, excuse me! I didn't mean to be rude. ... Um, Heine, right? Thank you for rescuing me. I really owe you one, again.
[ attempting to bid for a compromise, he angles one head to survey the cliff face perched above them, then blinks down to assess the critical declivity below. ]
Do you think we can make it back to the top from here, or should we risk the drop? It can't be more than a couple of meters below us.