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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see, this is why make the best canonmates
[that comment comes with a small sigh. those glorious painkillers still sitting on that table. if only he hadn't been so focused on recalling what happened during their drinking then maybe having those could've made the first day here SO much more bearable. oh well. him dwelling on those memories happened instead and lead to a bunch of other things as a result. an unpleasant beginning that didn't have the worst end.
flynn's smile returns quickly enough.]
But there's nothing we can do about it now. [so no point in dwelling on it. there's better things to focus their energies on, like the jungle itself. that smile becomes a more contemplative expression.] Though you do have to wonder why they chose this of all places to bring us to.
[an oppressively humid jungle with monsters and poor air quality: it really can't be called saving anyone by tossing them into an environment of this nature.]
true though in fairness i do play a freeloader so it's par for the course
[he lets out a quiet sigh, allowing his gaze to shift a little before closing his eyes.]
They seem pretty hellbent on getting us away from CERES, so maybe it was their only option. [but those words are still laced with suspicion. and with good reason, he thinks. of course, yuri's not afraid to address it head on, regardless of who may be listening.]
Maybe good for us, but we don't know what the hell these spirit guys want from us, either. It's kinda like we're in the middle of a really crappy custody battle, and we get to be the collateral damage on top of it all.
and i'm just gonna pretend flynn is drunk or something on my end
How you come up with these sorts of analogies...
[it's impressive. the wording isn't proper in any manner and, were they not in the middle of the damn jungle and forced to survive on their own, then maybe a reprimand might've come. not this time. not when it fits so well. the amusement quickly fades into seriousness mixed with a hint of exasperation.]
But accurate analogies. CERES wants us for their ends, the spirits for theirs and we lack any say in the matter; it's an annoying situation no matter how you look at it.
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Annoying, and familiar. I'm starting to feel like being here is just repeating history with a twist.
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Which means we have to do what we can to prevent ourselves from making the same mistakes this time.
[to prevent HIM for making the same mistakes this time. maybe that's part of the reason why flynn isn't as keen on reprimanding because he'd rather have yuri's bluntness to reaffirm his actions than to not have it and end up screwing up again. no blindly playing into the hands of the evil villain type, not this time around.]
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Shouldn't be too hard. We've already got a leg up on 'em just by not buying into their crap, anyway.
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[for better or for worse. neither of them is going to fall for someone's crap as easily, but... it also makes things more difficult, for flynn at least. two powerful groups, neither trustworthy and having to go against them both: it goes against a lot of what he believes in. neither group can be changed from within. there is no seemingly good about either. there is no feasible way to rise in rank and push change along.
the only thing left is to go against them, go against the system.
he grips repede's dagger a little tighter at this line of thought. it's so uncomfortable to have these ideologies, ones that worked back home or held the potential to work, only to have them become completely impossible here.]
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Guess the Empire's taught us a thing or two for us to be prepared.
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[so much more. if it wasn't for all the bad, flynn might be yelling at yuri about giving ceres some trust as opposed to being on similar pages for once. the failures back home were unacceptable, but they taught him valuable lessons. taught them both some valuable lessons.]
We won't repeat the same mistakes again.
[he won't repeat them. no being played as a puppet, no turning a blind eye to things, no letting yuri carry burdens that should be flynn's and flynn's alone. not this time. discomfort about what has to be done remains, but better this feeling than once again having his strings pulled by someone else.]
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[yuri's determined about that much. and he won't let flynn fall into those traps again either if it starts to seem like he's being fooled by what ceres does. he doesn't think it'll come to that, of course—flynn's just not the sort to make a mistake like that twice—but it's just knowing that he's prepared to if it comes to that.
Guess we'll have to see what comes next, though. First comes figuring out what the hell our current situation's really all about.
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[it's posed as a question due to the fact the hangover may have made him imagine that. granted, if it was a real thing that occurred then it begs the question of if this could be a rescue or is simply a cover for something else. as horrible as it to say, trusting anyone here whether it be ceres or the spirits or who else feels a bad call. everyone seems to be out for themselves.]
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[but obviously, yuri is skeptical here.] But are we really gonna buy that it's so noble?
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[flynn sighs a little heavier than before. the fact that yuri is skeptical is normal; the fact that he's starting to become equally so speaks volumes about everything.]
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[it's definitely a bit disconcerting to hear the skepticism in flynn's voice. and even though yuri speaks few words in response, the fact that he's taken note of that is probably obvious. he sits up, shifting a bit to watch flynn as he works.]
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the silence doesn't last too long. with a few small and precise finishing touches, the second sword is done. flynn holds it up, inspecting it momentarily before nodding in approval. not bad, not bad at all.]
There. [a small smile comes yuri's way.] It's been a while since we've had to make due with with wooden swords, hasn't it?
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Not since we were kids, probably. Unless you count training matches with the knights when we were new recruits.
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I actually forgot about that. Even so, that was different.
[something about two kids playing around with swords while dreaming of changing the world feels more pleasant an association than two men in the knights slowly starting to split up in their chosen paths. it took forever for flynn to accept it. much as he would never say no to yuri rejoining the knights, he knows that has about as high a chance of happening as raven taking a vow of celibacy and he's finally fine with it. ...mostly fine with it, anyway. that smile then shifts into a small smirk.]
Want to have a quick training session to test these out?
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stuff like this, though? that's yuri's bread and butter.]
What, you think I'm gonna say no to that? [because the day he does it really the day that flynn should really be worried. and it's not like yuri's wasting any time right now, hopping to his feet in a swift motion and taking a ready stance.
it's on, flynn. time for the same old song and dance they always do.]
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You never know, maybe you finally got tired of losing.
[it's a song and dance he'll never get tired of. it makes even a jungle like this feel the teeniest bit more homely.]
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[which is why he'll go in for the offensive. as per the usual. at least from here on out, flynn will know what to expect.]