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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rock lee.
Whoa!
[She was definitely not expecting to suddenly go that way, so Ruby has to skid a few steps, before hurriedly following him.]
Hold on, why are we going this way? What are your guts telling you exactly? I think that'd be good to know!
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It is simple! What my guts are telling me is... nothing!!
What they give me a feeling. A feeling that this is the right direction to travel in, Ruby-san! Please trust me!!
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I don't really get it, but I guess I trust you, so I'll follow! Let's go!
[She'll just hurry in that direction, eyes wide. This seems like a great idea!!!]
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[And moments later his path leads them to a dead end... a giant cliff face that blocks their path.]
Ah...
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Ah indeed.
Ruby spins on her heel, back to the cliff, before inspecting their situation with a few quick glances from side to side. Hmmm.......]
Hey, Lee...? How good are you exactly at punching things?
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[She'll take it.]
Okay! [Resolutely, she grabs her scythe] I'm going to lead it away for a second, and then we're going to circle right back at you, okay? Hopefully while it's focused on me, you can punch it.
Really, really hard.
Okay?
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Yes! Ruby-san, I will put all of my youthful heart into following our your plan!! [He balls his fist in determination, ready to spring into motion the moment she starts carrying out the plan.]
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[She's going to grab the monster's attention--namely by throwing a rock at it.]
Hey, smelly monster thing, look over here!
[It is a true miracle that that worked.....but somehow it did, and here they go, monster fleeing time!! It'll only be the matter of a few moments' wait before Ruby is coming right at Lee again, eyes wide.]
Aaaah here we come!
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[With that, Rock Lee dashes foward energetically. He then bounds right over Ruby's head, winding up his fist dramatically.]
Konoha... Whirlwind!!
[Moving at an incredible speed, he goes to punch the monster directly in the face!! And he'll follow that up with a series of kicks if that works.]
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The punch throws the monster back with a great deal of damage, especially with how it stops its forward momentum so abruptly; the kicks just finish off the job, throwing the monster to the ground where it makes a weak noise before falling still.
Ruby skids to a stop, before looping back around.]
...Whew! I almost can't believe that worked, but you were right about your punching, Lee!
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Thank you, Ruby-san! I am so glad to have helped!
But, I apologize to you as well... I know that you must have wanted to make a decisive blow as well!
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[He's not wrong, admittedly; she does like her monster fighting. But she's just happy her plan worked.]
You did great! That was true monster-hunting punching right there!
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And your tactics? They were like those of a ninja! Well done!
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I've never tried to come up with tactics for people other than my team before, so... I wasn't sure it was gonna work. But it worked great!
... Probably thanks to the fact that you're really good at punching.
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I am glad that it worked out so well! [He cracks his knuckles.] And I thank you again for such flattering words! I have worked hard to become this strong!
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[Since she's not always sure she's cut out for the job, but...]
Being ninja-y sounds like a pretty good deal.
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We should train together sometime, when we find a way out of this environment! I will tell you more about the ninja way.
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[...]
I mean, when we're not in this giant monster-infested jungle and all. Of course. Obviously. It'd be silly to do something like that here.
[She totally wanted to do something like that here.]
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That's right! If it is too silly to cover such lessons here and now, then we can do so at a later time!
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[Focus, Ruby!!]
Second plan of attack iiiis....to find our way out of here. Or at least find more people. So we're not so alone. Yeah.
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And, I think that I have a plan to seek out others. Who do you think we should look for first?! [He looks on in intense anticipation of her answer to this question.]
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[...]
Was that really clever?
[AHEM.]
I...probably should look for my sister, honestly. Have you seen Yang around anywhere?
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Ah, your dear sister!! It would be too tragic if you two are separated for long! [He wipes a tear from his eyes.][He pauses for a moment, plants his feet firmly in the ground and then hums to himself.]
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YANG-SAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN!!! WHERE ARE YOU RIGHT NOW?!
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