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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Why's that?
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[flynn thinks for a moment. how to condense everything that happened into something that won't take 80 hours of cutscenes and fighting to explain...]
Simply put, the technology needed to make them will be used for a different, more necessary purpose and we cannot make more of it ourselves.
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I see. [Hmm.] ...It feels like a while since I got to talk to someone about their world, sorry for all the questions.
[But he punctuates it with a small smile.]
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Not at all, I don't mind speaking about it.
[a statement that gets emphasized with his own smile. plus, other worlds are an interesting topic, one that flynn himself hasn't really spoken with people about. why not have a world chat in the middle of a jungle, right?]
What was your own world like?
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[Punctuated by a brief, curious glance. Oh yeah no Hinata's so aware that there're different versions of his own world it's not even funny. He doesn't even want to start counting how many there are...]
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[score one for not being from an earth variant. that said, flynn can't help but appear a little curious at what hajime said. one version?]
There's different versions of it?
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[Hinata scrunches up his nose slightly.]
I guess you could say it "ended", but it's not that simple. There're people who're rebuilding now back there. It's not like that for everyone from Earth; some wouldn't recognise at all what I'm talking about.
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[curious. very curious. it sounds like ceres is capable of bringing people in from not only different worlds but... dimensions? can that even be possible?]
Though would you mind elaborating on what you mean by 'ended'?
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[Hinata hesitates a little over how to describe it, but slowly:] There were a series of events. They were isolated at first--it was about inequality. But someone manipulated it and they were spread outside of the school where it started.
It eventually lead to fighting, killing, entirely without purpose, all around the world. People got used to it or they couldn't act against it. Pollution and other things devastated the world too...
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That's unimaginable... [something so horrific happening and not even be able to resist sounds like a nightmare.] But it came to an end?
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[His expression is all furrowed brows and arms tightly folded over his chest as he thinks about it. Well... It's hard to stop a tense feeling when he thinks about it all.]
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[thank goodness. flynn sounds honestly relieved despite that not being his world.]
But some variants of your world never experienced this?
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[Hinata scrubs his hand over his head with a light nod.]
As far as I've heard, that's it. They've experienced other things, or maybe nothing at all bad or strange happened... [Or they're Katsura and they know references and shatter the fourth wall and somehow alien government.]
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[he really means it. may hinata's world go back to peace and normalcy as soon as possible.]
Has CERES given any explanation for this?
[not likely, but the possibility exists that maybe they did clarify things for once. just like, you know, maybe they'll all grow a second head tomorrow. not likely while also not impossible.]
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[JUST LIKE THAT. That being said--] I think it might just be a... thing that exists. Alternate realities, differences...
I have a friend named Morgan, but then there was a male version of her from a similar-ish world to her own... [All right, so according to Nanami, Noire and Morgan were both from a video game but that doesn't really matter, he met them so it's as good as if they were real.]
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Alternate realities... To think those actually exist. [he pauses before adding, his voice a fraction more serious.] And to think CERES has the power to pull in people from them.
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Yeah... nothing's beyond their reach. [Heck, they pulled him from another world that was like their own.]
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[they're not a trustworthy bunch, that's for sure. and what an unpleasant note this is. instead of dwelling on while in such bad circumstances, flynn opts to shift gears a little.]
Have you been fairing well here otherwise?
[aside from being stuck in a jungle and all that good stuff. if not, flynn'll be happy to lend a hand with that, too!!]
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[Especially now that he's acquired Advanced Hut-building Techniques.]
Apart from the things around here, I wouldn't even say that this jungle is that bad. [Hahaha but in a little while he'd eat his words but shh.]
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[although the city can't be called that bad, getting outside and seeing what's here is nice. all that technology wears on a person after a while. plus, scouring the area could lead to more information about ceres and this world as a whole. not that bad at all... which are words flynn will join hinata in eating.]
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I bet if I hadn't been somewhere before this with way less supplies I wouldn't know what to do. [With good humour.] But scavenging's easier when there's so much around.
Even though I'm not sure what plants might be poisonous or not.
[Or what alien's going to come stomping out of the brush and its chances of eating him. He's following the golden rule: leave the aliens alone.]
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[which means that they could get some nasty rashes in the worst place possible, but on a full stomach. add in following the golden rule and this should end up being nothing more than a sort of vacation. ...soon to be vacation from hell.]
Had your world lacked much in the way of supplies?
[hinata had mentioned it was a less than nice place and struggling to return to normalcy so flynn assumes that's the place he's referring to.]
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[Hinata shakes his head slightly.] The only garden around was full of dangerous plants that'd try to eat you, so.
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[wow, hinata, you have the worst luck with terrible worlds.]
As unpleasant as it can be here, at least we have access to food and water without much difficulty.
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[He glances off, considering.]
The first few months here I really stuffed myself. [Had to gain all of the weight he would normally have... back...]
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