( mini-plot post: open to all )

[jawdacity]

Who: jawdacity & all of cerealia!
When: towards the end of the event (so this won't conflict with any event threads you may already have going). 2-3pm.
Where: Abandoned village + surrounding jungle
What: THERE ARE EXPLOSIONS. And mushrooms.
Rating/Warning: Possible NSFW for gore?

Details about this mini-plot HERE

"World of Loudening Screams" (Watch on YouTube)

(theme song of this post, courtesy of moribound.)



[ it's another muggy, meandering day in the jungle; nothing seems to be out of the ordinary. ]

IN THE VILLAGE

[ if your character is near the center of the village, they'll bear witness to the curious sight of a herd of shuffling mushroom beasts. in terms of threat level, to the experienced hunter they may have ranked low on the scale: slow, lacking an external fang or claw, they seem to be interested only in their endless march forward.

but, if your character is close enough, they may catch sight of a red-haired young man, a manifesto of anger written across his face. one breathless moment, the calm before the storm, and then he hurls a metallic pair of gloves at the closest beast, the gloves trailing arcs of flame.

what may strike your character first is the searing heat, the thrum of the earth below their feet. the whole village is demolished in a moment, the dying cries of the beasts rising above the din. the explosion lasts much longer than it should, the line of mushrooms going up one after another.

if you're too close, you might be torn in two. you might lose a limb, or two, or three. you might go deaf, you might lose your sight. you might lose all your eyelashes, your clothes. maybe the bag of mushrooms you'd collected for dinner is now little more than ash.

keep running. the smoke trails into the air. someone is screaming. the smell of charred meat follows you even after you disappear into the jungle. ]

IN THE SURROUNDING JUNGLE

[ if your character is close enough to the village, they'll feel the blasts, one after the other. the jungle is on fire, quickly spreading. maybe you'll hear the screaming, too; maybe your lungs will fill with smoke. maybe you'll run into one of the last mushroom beasts, fleeing from the explosion only to trigger a lesser one in the depths of the jungle.

it came from the village, didn't it? maybe someone you love was swept up in the explosion.

if you manage to escape the stampede of terrified jungle beasts (some of which may stop to crunch you up as a quick meal as they dash away from the blast), maybe you can venture closer to see what's happened.

or maybe you should get as far away as possible. ]

Comments

[zerotohiro]

[Joke or not, he suddenly looks a little too serious at that question and he watches her turn. He doesn't start moving just yet, staring at Yang with wide eyes before he steps forward to start walking toward the village.]

...Ruby doesn't know about Tadashi. [It's the first thing he says. He'd purposefully left that part out of his origin story. Truthfully, before this happened he'd been planning on keeping Tadashi's death under wraps unless Tadashi mentioned it first.] I told her some other stuff about me, but I never told her that Tadashi's dead back home. Can...we leave that part out if we do find her?

[Later. He'll tell her later (maybe, probably, unless someone beats him to it and he has no control over that) but right now it just seems sort of weird. A few days ago he'd just been telling Ruby about how he rescued the Bridge. Now he kind of dissolved into a mess. The less people see it, the better.]

[flaredo]

[ It's not too surprising that Ruby doesn't know; somehow, the news of your sibling being dead back home doesn't seem like one anyone would be that eager to discuss. Yang doubts she'd know, if the situations weren't so closely linked.

She nods, waiting until he's close enough to reach out and ruffle his hair. ]

I won't mention it. That's something better left off to you, anyway.

But let's just say, I think she'd get it when you do tell her. [ She's assuming he will. One day, when he's ready. Til then, her lips are sealed. ]

[zerotohiro]

[The hair ruffling at least makes him feel a little better and he keeps up the pace as they walk. It's not a discussion he wanted to have with anyone, but now it's there.

The problem is that Yang's phrased it in a way that's raised some suspicions...and he doesn't like it.]

Oh my god are you dead, too? [Please say no. Please say no, he's not sure he can handle that news, too.]

[flaredo]

Oh geez-- no, no! I'm fine!

[ She's already looking dismayed. Oops, she hadn't meant it like that! ]

But she's-- we've lost someone in our family, too. A long time ago, when we were both still pretty young.

[zerotohiro]

Oh. Good. That's...good. [Oh thank god. His shoulders go slack and he visibly relaxes at the news. He can pick up the implications Yang's offering out of all of that and it's for that reason he offers the next bit of information.]

Tadashi and I both know how that is, too. Our parents died when I was three...I don't really remember them but Tadashi does. He was ten. We've been living with our aunt since then. [There's a bit of silence as they continue toward the village.] ...loss is a weird thing, huh?

[flaredo]

... It doesn't matter how long ago it happened, how old you were... sometimes it's still really fresh in your memory, and things will always be different after that.

[ Losing his parents and his brother... that's even worse. ]

But I think that's also why you have to remember... that you shouldn't let yourself be alone. No matter what, you're always going to have people who care about you. Who may or may not get it, but who'll want to be there anyway. And sometimes, that's all it takes.

[zerotohiro]

[Welcome to the tragic life of a Disney hero where everyone he loves dies and (usually) doesn't come back. Maybe that's true. Maybe none of that matters because it still means things will always be different. Things changed the minute they went to live with Aunt Cass. Things changed again the minute his family went from three to two, and they changed when it became so important to keep Cass safe, too.

He kicks a spare pebble in their path as they walk. Baymax had tried to tell him the same thing. He shouldn't be by himself and those suffering a loss benefit from contact with friends and loved ones. He hasn't been here too long, but...maybe the same could be applied anyway.]

Heh. The last time I didn't handle this by myself I turned my friends into a superhero team. It's what we were doing before I ended up here. I don't know if the same thing will happen here but I guess this is okay.

[People are weird. Making friends has always been a little challenging for him but people in Cerealia are a little more open, it seems.] ...thank you, by the way. I don't remember if I've already said that but...y'know. ["This means a lot."]

[flaredo]

[ Come join our series, Hiro, we get to punch our regrets quite often and it looks awesome.

Yang does lift an eyebrow at the mention of a friendship turned superhero team, but... really, that doesn't surprise her as much as it could. Maybe because Team RWBY had their own share of crime-fighting, before she'd been brought here, or because it's a path she could see Hiro taking... he and Ruby are pretty similar, after all, and boy does she remember all of her baby sister's claims about wanting to be a hero ever since she was old enough to pronounce the word. ]

You didn't have to. Friends look out for each other, y'know? It's in the job description.

[zerotohiro]

[Does that mean he gets to do cool tricks and have awesome weapons, too? Because that would be pretty sweet.

If he notices the slight skepticism he doesn't say so. He's sort of used to people not quite knowing what to make of the fact that he's a superhero and the fact that Yang just rolls with it helps. He has a feeling it's exactly because of team RWBY based on what Ruby told him, only slightly aware of how alike he and Ruby might be. Unlike Ruby though he'd never intended on being a hero. He just grabbed his destiny by the horns and took control.]

Yeah, I'm starting to see that. [There's a shrug then, almost too-casual as he continues.] I didn't exactly have a lot of friends until recently...usually it was just me and Tadashi. [For reasons. Friends are hard to come by when you're rocketing your way through the school system and find yourself always on the defense because people treat you differently.] The friends I have now back home were his friends first so...they're ours. [And now they're his because Tadashi's gone. That may also put some stuff into context.] They've been really great about everything...I miss them a lot. I don't know if I'd want them here but I wouldn't really mind seeing them again, and I know they'd want to see Tadashi again, too. It's been a while.

[A beat.] But it's been sort of nice meeting other people here and getting to know them, I guess. Especially if we've all gotta stick together.

[flaredo]

[ ... You are a sad, sad kid, Hiro. Granted, Ruby had also stuck to her like glue ever since they were kids, and it had taken a whole lot of effort, encouragement, and fighting off a giant bird to get her in a more confident place with other people.

If Ruby and Hiro are friends, though, she's glad for it. ]

My sister used to get along far better with weapons than with people, but she's doing better too. And, hey-- now you can tell me all about your friends back home, and when you see those friends again, you can tell them all about the awesome people you've met here.

I'm okay not being first on that list, for the record, but I want at least third or fourth.

[zerotohiro]

[He sure is. But prior to recently he's always had Tadashi so it didn't matter. It's been hard to push him to grow, but he's getting there. It helps that this happened before coming to Cerealia and it helps to know people like Ruby and Yang. At the mention of Ruby though he can't help but laugh.]

It's easier to be friends with something that can't talk back because there's less risk of them judging you. I don't really blame her…but I mean, Ruby knows a lot of people now. I'd say she's making friends. [A shrug.] Then again my best friend's a robot. [i.e. "So what do I really know?" He brightens a little bit at the idea of his new friends meeting his old ones.] You'd probably like them…I know they'd really like you guys. Actually? You'd probably really like my friend GoGo. And let's just say you're probably somewhere in the top five at this point.

[It's meant to be a joke, but it's a touch too sincere.] …Wasabi's in the Nexus. I wonder if anybody else is, too. It's another thing I want to look into someday soon, just in case.

[flaredo]

... Two of my teammates are there, and some of my friends from school.

Of course, I wanna figure out a way to break through all of that and get them nice and free and awake, so if you start digging into that, count me in.

[ She's totally beaming over being in his top five though, awww yeah she's still got it. ]

[zerotohiro]

Weiss and Blake, right? [Guess who Ruby told him about.] I didn't know there were even more of you that were here before.

[It's more motivation to get in there and figure out what it's all about. Hearing about his friends that are missing friends? It's a driving force to get him to pick himself back up and start moving forward again, just like how things at home went.] I'll let you know if I find anything we can start looking into. That's a little harder than it looks.

Let's just see what we can find in the village first before we crack the nexus code. [As much as he wants to save everyone inside, he wants Tadashi back first.]

[flaredo]

Right, village definitely comes first! [ She's not going to argue that, or even think about arguing that. Family was always the most important; apparently, Hiro feels the same, but from what he's told her of his past, that's hardly a shocker. What does surprise her is... ]

... So you've heard of them, huh? Yeah... Ruby was here once before, too, but then she vanished and came back without her memories of this place. It's sort of stupidly complicated, when you think about it.

[zerotohiro]

Uh huh. [He's just pushing aside some vines in their path.] Ruby told me about them and their Semblances and stuff and how Weiss is her partner at Beacon. [A pause.] She told me about that, too. About being here before and coming back without memories...somebody told me I was here before, too, and Mosley confirmed it with Tadashi that we were both here even if it wasn't for very long.

[If it isn't obvious by now, Yang, Hiro and your sister have had some pretty in-depth conversations.] It's just another thing I want to know. What happens to those old memories? It doesn't make sense that we get a complete wipe...there's gotta be a back-up somewhere, especially if other people remember us and stuff we've done here.

[flaredo]

[ Wow, Ruby's told him lots of stuff, huh... intriguing. But any chin-holding or chin-handing or any other INTRIGUED stuff will not actually be shown, because Yang knows when to be subtle. It's just that being subtle really is overrated half the time but still. ]

Maybe it's something that got messed up with the code, but I still don't like thinking about us like... that. Like it's that easy to lose something so important, just on a mistake.

[ Watch out for that tree root, Hiro-- ]

[zerotohiro]

[Well somebody has to be the subtle one of this duo. He doesn't think anything of what he's telling her because he's fixated on that piece, too. He agrees with her. He doesn't like thinking of them that way, but at the same time...

...well, at the same time he trips over the root and pinwheels his arms a bit to regain his balance, hopping on one foot before righting himself and carrying on like nothing happened.]

I don't either, but at least code I understand. I write code a lot back home and...I mean if you know what you're doing? It's not that hard to manipulate and overwrite it. It's also not hard to encrypt it either. It's part of why I want to talk to Mosley some more. He might have a better idea than anybody else.

[flaredo]

Just be careful, okay? Whether he's helping us out or not, I don't want to trust someone like that completely until we know his reasons for... well, everything.

[ She's a reasonable person, 'everything' will suffice. And she's just going to keep an eye on Hiro to make sure he doesn't topple again, just in case. ]

[zerotohiro]

I'll be fine. [There's that word again.] That's why I want to talk to him first before I ask him the real questions. Right now I trust him about as far as I can throw him, but he did let us escape with the Bridge and hasn't turned us in yet. That has to mean something.

[He won't topple, really! And anyway he's been flung through buildings before, he'll live.] It's also why I want to talk to him off the CereVices. Somewhere that can't really be tracked. That might be harder than it sounds though. [He runs a hand through his hair, adjusting the helmet under his arm.] ...I have a lot to do and a lot to think about here. But I'll be careful.

[flaredo]

[ And she's been flung through a pillar or two, that doesn't mean she enjoys it and wants some more of it! Gosh! ]

As long as you are, I'm not too worried. Buuuut first!

[ VILLAGE, HO. ]