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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[ YOU'RE ALREADY GRIMACING. ]
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[ A very decisive nod. And you don't want to hurt her head, do you, Hiro?? Do you? ]
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...maybe you're right. [Sigh.] You know there're parts of the jungle that aren't terrible, don't you? Have you seen them yet?
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[ She's staring off into space, trying to remember. The riv-- yeah, no. And the giant tree she'd-- nope. How about the birds-- no. The mon-- double nope. ]
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Come with me. I wanna show you something I found while I was looking for food. [He gestures for her to follow, leading her through a jungle path that's progressively growing darker and darker. Hiro why were you roaming in the dark. Who knows. He's keeping Mary close though to make sure nothing happens to her before he stops her in front of a patch of glowing flowers in all sorts of colors. There aren't any monsters in this particular little hideout, though there are edible roots that he'd originally collected on his journey.]
Not so terrible, right?
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[ No, judging from the way Mary's entire face lights up with wonder and delight, this is definitely as far from 'terrible' as it could be. She's finally daring to leave his side (like, a whole step) to sink down in front of the flower patch, fingers just slightly hovering over the whole cluster. ]
They're so pretty, Hiro!
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They are, aren't they? And the cool part is they're not gonna attack you. Trust me, I checked. They're pretty safe to look at. I was going to come back to study them a little more and see if I can figure out what other kind of life is on Tellus.
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[ Which isn't a bad thing, by any means, but Hiro studying flowers is a bit of a strange mental image. He did well, though! She's looking a lot less miserable about being stuck in this jungle. ]
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I guess so. [No. He does. He flat out loves to learn, but...] Most places just don't have a lot left to teach me. Tellus and Cerealia are different. It's been a while. [He chuckles slightly.] Botany's usually not my first choice though.
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[ It's something she says matter-of-factly, but there's a small trace of sadness there. ]
But I think picking one now couldn't hurt.
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[Meanwhile, he's already clearing out some space for her to see the stem of the flowers to pull them easier.] Guess all we can do is make up for lost time. Which one are you gonna take?
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... It was a promise I made with my mother, not to go outside until I was an adult. When I was little, though, that was all I ever wanted, to just see what kind of place the world was.
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…well yeah, I mean…the world's huge. [He has to wonder what kind of a promise that is and why anyone would make their child make that promise. Then again, Aunt Cass usually actively encourages Hiro to go outside once in a while so it's just a weird concept to him.] Was it everything you thought once you got to see it?
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[ She says that, and it's true, but there's something sadder in her expression as she looks down at the flower held carefully between her fingers. She hadn't known then, had she? ]
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...but? [That's definitely a "but" sort of opening. Why? Weirdly, he's already feeling a little prickly and protective over something he has no say in. Maybe it's just because he thinks someone like Mary only deserves nice things. Somehow, he has a feeling whatever happened wasn't as nice.]
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Something... bad happened. Really bad. And my mother... she was just trying to protect me, but because I didn't listen and went outside in the first place, I...
[ Mary swallows hard now, slowly shaking her head. ]
I lost her.
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What is it with the people in this world who're forced to deal with losing the people they love? Is it a pattern that CERES focuses on, or are they all just that lucky?]
How long ago was that? [It's close to saying "I'm sorry", if only because he's not sure how she'd react to the sympathy. Sympathy's a weird thing, too.]
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Tadashi and I lost our parents when I was a kid, too. [It's not the same. He knows that.] I don't really remember much about them, but a lot of stuff changed after that. Guess that explains why this place kinda freaks you out a lot, huh?
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... I'm sorry about your parents, though.
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But somebody really wise once told me that you've gotta get up from whatever happens, all the time. If we let the bad things stop us every time, good things couldn't keep happening. [He's still kind of upset Tadashi could say that about his own death, insinuating that the two of them could pick up and carry on, but...there's still truth there. And they're together now and nothing bad has happened to them in Cerealia, so it's okay.]
So maybe you should be braver and things aren't as scary. But don't be too hard on yourself if it takes a little time to really believe that. [There's a pause.] And...it's fine. I mean I had Tadashi and my aunt growing up, so it's okay. I was really too young to remember a lot about them anyway.
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... I'll try. Almost everyone I've met here has been really understanding...
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