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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inaba himeko, still ota!
hinata hajime
I don't know. [ She's shaking her head in response to his words, rubbing the edge of her nose in clear discomfort. ] To be honest, I prefer the colony to this.
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Who knows, maybe wherever they're going to be taking us is better than the middle of a jungle... or this village. [Maybe they're taking them somewhere like this village?]
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I mean, anywhere sounds better than the jungle... and, well, I'm not sure I want to imagine what happened here.
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[Just a guess...]
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yu narukami
I don't know if it was tied to it or not -- but I don't think so. If it was because of that, he would have faked his death a long time ago.
But that may be true. I mean, the spirits seemed to be after him.
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[ Yu props a hand on his hip and shakes his head. ] Why were they after him?
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[ As for his question, she shakes her head. ] I don't know the complete details, but I think it has to do with a betrayal of some sort. At least, that's the vibe that I got.
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[ Her words are dry, rolling her eyes as she speaks up. ]
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rei hino
You think so?
[ There's raised brows at that, taking some effort herself to switch to Japanese as well herself -- well, it's been easier to switch as of late, now that she's been using it more frequently, but it still takes a little bit of brainpower to do so. ]
But thanks. I've-- slowly, I've been trying to figure out how to change myself. How to improve myself. To slowly, slowly become stronger. Not only physically, but mentally as well. That way, I can be more reliable towards everyone...
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[Rei's expression turns suddenly serious, studious and attentive even.]
That's good, Inaba-san. But sometimes? Just being you is enough, you know? Just a voice of reason, nothing more. I mean, you may not have powers? But sometimes just being there is enough. That's a kind of strength too. There's...a lot to be said for being reliable.
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She knows that all too well. ]
Hah. Damn. [ She cranes her neck back a little, staring at the sky a little wistfully. ] I didn't think I'd be getting advice about being myself. Makes me feel like I'm Iori, now with all the masks and shit. I don't know, though. It's just that. . . when it comes to being good at things, there's always someone better, here. I used to think that I'm pretty decent at computers for someone my age.
But here, everything just blows out of the water. With all these hackers and people who can use magic? It's amazing. I'm not saying this in a bad way, though. I get to learn from so many people. I get to improve myself as a person. And I know that others are in pain too -- but most of them have friends here. They have family here. And most of them that don't? They get them, soon enough. If anything, I'm jealous of those people.
I won't lie -- I don't think I'm entirely unreliable. I've helped others out, back home. And I can listen to people's problems just fine. It's just when it comes to me. . . everything just messes itself up.
But that's enough about me. [ End of topic. ] Did you find anything during your travels?
[ Basically, now is time to be a little more serious and talk about the present problems. Besides, well, Inaba being tired as heck. ]
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Find? I mean, aside from one of those annoying birds of my own? [She shrugs.] I've tracked and killed some game? If you're hungry, I have some. It's...basically just cold cut venison.
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I've barely eaten the last couple of days, so some food would be great.
[ Tracking and killing things? Inaba doesn't do that. ]
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ami mizuno
Is it safe, though? [ Inaba asks with raised brows out of curiosity and slight concern, not taking the fruit just yet. ]
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I was actually pretty worried since I didn't exactly bring food with me.
[ Ah, yes, the woes of being unprepared due to the fact that all that's with her is the CEREVice and a maid outfit that she's currently wearing. ]
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[She pulled out another fruit and handed it to her.] Please, eat as much as you need.
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link
Ah! [ Inaba's eyes widen ever so slightly as she gasps in surprise -- ah, yes, that's what she wanted to see. but then her lips tug into a rather soft smile, pleased. ] It is cute. I kind of feel sorry that it's going to get eaten.
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[Link's smile softens a little.]
It's important to appreciate an animal or plant for who it is, and understand what it means to eat it to sustain your own life. Every creature is subject to this, you know... cute or not.
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It's survival of the fittest at this point. Not like I'd want to see myself, well, to get eaten.
Phase I
S-stay there! I'll see what I can do!
[She looks over at the trunk of the tree. She could try to climb it, but being a mermaid and unfortunately lacking legs, that seems like it wouldn't work out so well.]
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[ Not if she doesn't want to fall face first from a tall height. ]