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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OTA old and new!
Leon
Leon, then. Pleased to meet you. [She shakes her head] Am not from japan no, but, think where I was from was close. Am from Mariana Trench, as humans call it.
[oh that probably requires some explanation. Oona glances up] Am mermaid. Lived deep under water.
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--Wait, what?
He was with her up until that, but then whatever he was about to say gets cut off, and the first thing he does is glance down at her legs. (He may have already done that earlier anyway. Who doesn't love a good pair of legs? Apparently even mermaids do.)]
--Are you screwing with me? You're a mermaid? But you're totally standin' here on land right now talking to me!
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Of course. Do you think there are waterways in that city to move around in? It is not convenient.
[She smiles suddenly, a wicked little gleam in her eye] Do you want me to prove it? [Oona couldn't help but want to show it off-- she didn't get the chance to transform much since the water from the flood was pumped out of the city, so she was always pretty eager to jump to the chance.
Besides, stripping down to transform always made humans uncomfortable and she found that rather hysterical.]
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Kaoru
Wonder, just how badly CERES might want us back, or if they will 'cut their losses,' as they say. We may have become involved in something bigger than any of us.
[Oona suddenly sighs loudly and drags her free hand through her hair, her other resting on her hip] Aaahh. This is annoying. Why can nothing be simple? Just want to go to beach and swim and eat. [She is a simple mermaid who wants simple things, okay!!]
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[Yet, anyway. Kaoru doesn't say that even though the implication hangs heavily in the air.
SO SIMPLE, THOUGH. It must be nice living live as a simple mermaid...]
There hasn't been any sign of an ocean out here either, has there?
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Suppose if you follow river far enough, will lead you to ocean. But... [Here Oona hesitates, feeling a little strange to be admitting it, to herself and to anyone else] I... will not follow it, just yet. Could. Could leave everyone behind and go. But, for some reason, I do not want to do that enough to just do it.
I am curious, suppose, on what they want and where they are taking us. And there are... people that I would miss. You, Adolf, Tenka, and Sousei... [A slight 'etc' motion] I want to make sure you will be alright before I leave.
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Lee
[Priorities, clearly.]
Ah, yes, ninja. [Had he told her what that was already?? Probably, but Oona...probably wasn't paying all that much attention either. Oops. Sorry, Lee.] What is ninja, again?
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A ninja is one who is skilled in arts of combat and secrecy, who does tasks for others! I work for the village I was raised in, and perform a wide variety of tasks! So, we are also trained to survive in many environments and to search for targets.
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[She says it with a high degree of skepticism and stares at Lee for a long moment.]
...And you are good ninja?
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Richter
Oh. [Yeah taking the scales and bones and stuff out is probably a good idea.] Normally, just sink teeth in and rip. Eat it like that. Can gut and descale it too, but normally do not.
You can prepare the way you want. Will you use magic too?
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[With that, he raises his hand and recites a spell towards the pile of fish. Wind starts to gather and swirl around the pile and before you know it, each fish is floating in the air trapped in their own sphere of wind.
He moves his hand and the fishes have their gut cut open and their guts and bones removed by an unseen force. While this is happening, the wind is cutting away their scales and grime.]
Alright, they're ready.
[With his free hand, he creates two metal pointed sticks and spears them through two of the floating fish, the sphere surrounding them vanishing. He hands one to Oona.]
Here. Just place it by the fire if you wish to cook it.
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She takes the stick and makes use of the fire, eyeing the fish like she's wondering if the magic has done something to the taste.]
Is there things your magic can not do?
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Phase IV
Acting quickly, Keimi puts a hand to her mouth and yells out at a frequency too loud for humans to hear.]
Hey! Look out!!
[The fish that were charmed by the woman's call may be so inclined to now run in fear from the woman who was stealing them from their homes.]
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Oona pulls back, spluttering, and instantly angry]
What--!? [She stands and wipes her hands off on her shorts, looking around for the source. She's not sure if it was her own whistling stopping that turned the fish, or this mysterious noise, but whatever it is she's mad as hell that she was interrupted.]
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She'll just...
Sneak up...
To where they are...
And hope no one notices.
Because a green-haired mermaid with a bright pink tail riding a floating bubble is the least-conspicuous thing ever.]
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casually makes my own header...
[ This is what he takes out of all of these kind offers that Oona is making, what a shit. But no, this is mostly intended to be a dry joke (maybe), or another way to say that he's not happy about everything here being menacing but he'll Deal With It through this... very wry levity... Thanks, Adolf.
After a few moments of being watchful, he finally turns back to Oona and watches her finish up her fish (she really does eat it raw, goddamn). In this position, he's literally looming over her like a giant: Shingeki no Adolf. ]
But don't worry about me— I can take care of myself and you, easily.
forge your own path....
Nevermind that it's her that totally got it...wrong.... She looks awkward for a few seconds when she realizes he's watching her, before deciding 'fuck it' and forging on ahead. If it grosses him out or something then who cares, that's his fault.
She looks at her hands for a moment, debating, before just. wiping them off on her shorts. Classy.] Ah, so--what is the word?-- cocky! But, is strange, to hear that from a man... [Oona tilts her head, musing] Mermaids protect their males, not so much other way around. Here, for humans, it is quite different. A lot of gender things are different-- I am not so used to it yet. But thank you. I will try not to give you cause to follow through, however.
[You know, staring up at Adolf is going to get real old, real fast. She makes a face at him] Sit down! You are too tall! Looking up at you will hurt my neck, you know! [A mildly frustrated noise and she exaggerates her pout] Find plant that will make you shrink, down to manageable size!
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...Plants are flora.
[ Did you have to do this, Adolf?! He's as deadpan as ever when he makes this correction, and he's only doing it because he thinks it's good for future reference, okay. He corrects you because he Cares... and because he's Rude. That too.
He listens to this spiel about mermaid roles, and he wants to append somehow that he's not offering to protect her just because she's a girl, but that would be: a) embarrassing, and b) ultimately revealing too much about himself, so he opts not to and chooses instead to look mildly perturbed. ]
Don't look at me, then.
[ PROBLEM SOLVED. ]
1/2
2/2
1/2, this hell...
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Bonus
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Oona growls low as she sits up enough to take the pressure off of him, trying to work out some balance between being apologetic and pissed off]
Watch it! [Isn't that his line, Oona??] Arrgh! They will not get out of my hair! [It ends on a whine and she sits up fully, the expression on her face a rather pathetic sulk.]
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Sanji
She tilted her head, not particularly wanting to bother Namur] Can talk to him later, it is fine. Sure he is busy surviving, or perhaps fighting a monster...? [He's big enough to seem like he'd pose a threat to most of the other creatures.]
Who is Luffy? If you need food, need only ask. There is a river, and if there is river, surely there are fish. Can catch some for you, if you like.
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[Shifts his gaze down toward the river, peering at the water for a moment like he's trying to make sure there's no huge-ass sea monsters lurking beneath the surface.
Then he looks back at Oona.]
You really wanna go fishing?
[And then he beams suddenly, sidling up to her with his hands clasped together beside his face.]
I'll help out, Oona-chan~!! But you have to let me cook you a meal after!
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Rasu
Stupid... Now I will have to catch more again! What did you want anyhow? Did you come for reason? Were you looking for food too?
Re: Rasu
Y-yes bu-but no-not meat.
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