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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no subject
He does find himself mimicking her nod however. Ruby, stop being so
cuteenthusiastic about everything.]Trust me, you'll probably know exactly when we'll need back-up. [He can't help but snicker under his breath suddenly, foot getting caught in a root and tripping him up for a moment. Please wait while he retrieves his shoe.] Tadashi doesn't really yell but when he's annoyed he sighs a lot and his eyebrows get all scrunched up. It's pretty easy to tell when you know what to look for. [Not that Tadashi gets frustrated too easily, unlike the younger Hamada.] But I figure if I tell him I'm teaching you things he'll be okay with it.
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But good. So long as she knows when Hiro needs back-up, she's satisfied. That's really all she feels like she needs at the moment, so...patiently, she'll wait for Hiro to fetch his shoe. She's not even laughing this time, see.]
Eheheh, I think that's what they do as siblings. I mean, Yang doesn't do the eyebrow scrunching thing but she does prop her hands on her hips and get all fussy.
[Ruby does just that, propping her hands on her hips and taking a deep breath, trying to pitch her voice like Yang's.]
"Ruby, you need to get used to wearing heels, you can't wear your boots with a nice dress that I'm totally forcing you into wearing anyway!"
[...ahem.]
So yeah. I think I get it.
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…but.]
Wait, why would you need to wear a nice dress anyway? [He ends up losing his balance and there goes his foot into the jungle mud-dirt mix. Gross.] It's Cerealia. I mean I know there was a ball or whatever at one point because Natalia told me that but…[Shrug???] Seems pretty dumb.
[With his shoe situation fixed, he analyzes Ruby for a minute.] My friend Honey wears heels all the time and all they do is make her taller than Tadashi. When I made her armor we paired it with platform shoes and everything. I don't get how you guys can even wear those. [They look horrifying, honestly.]
Tadashi doesn't get annoyed about what I wear. Instead it's more like--[And it's apparently time for his own impression because his voice changes octaves and his index finger comes up to tap the side of his head.]--"When are you going to start using that big brain of yours and stop botfighting? Start using your gift for something important." [And like that he drops the act.] It's not as much as it used to be since I started school, but man. […there's a beat.] If you're here, where's Yang?
no subject
Yeah... it was for that ball, but even so! They're awful and horrible and I don't want to wear them ever!
[Ughhhhh.
The Tadashi impression makes her laugh though; it sounds about right for him.]
Botfighting, Hiro...? [Naturally, that's what she picks up on. You're doing botfighting?]
Oh, but she's probably around here somewhere. Punching things, maybe. You know, in a Yang-y way. [Ruby is supremely unconcerned about Yang, Yang is always fine. A beat.]
But no, really--botfighting?
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Then you better hope we never have another ball here. [He tilts his head.] And if we do, then we'll skip it and go do something else. [Problem solved. She seems totally unconcerned about Yang, but then he remembers that she first told him about her sister as someone who was punching things into submission. Idly, he's a little worried about where Tadashi is but they had a gameplan and Tadashi can handle himself. So…there's an impish grin. Botfighting.]
Botfighting. I, uh…kinda used to do it a lot. [Eheheh.] Botfighting's exactly what it sounds like. People get together and it's two fighters with their robots in the ring. You've gotta pay to play so you put in as much money as you wanna bet on your bot and whoever destroys the other person's bot wins. [And there's an almost-arrogant smirk.] I used to be the best botfighter in San Fransokyo because nobody knew what to expect. I made a lot of money that way. That's…kinda why Tadashi wanted me to enroll at SFIT instead. I used to go botfighting a lot. I was good at it, it was fun to watch all these guys lose, and it was lucrative. [A beat.] And thennnn I got us arrested and Tadashi decided I couldn't do it anymore. I mean it wasn't that bad, it was just one time. Botfighting's not illegal but betting on it is. That's the only time I was caught. [And he's still clearly unbothered by that.] I can show you Megabot when we get back if you want. He showed up with Baymax and Mochi.
no subject
Eheh, that would be great, really... I didn't get the chance last time, but next time...! Next time we won't get pressganged into their evil deeds of swirling dresses and lady stilts!
[So dramatic, Ruby. So unnecessarily dramatic. Either way--she can't help but grin at his own grin. It sounds dangerous, but he sounds so energetic when he talks about it that she can't help but feed off of that energy a little.]
I can't believe you got arrested! [She should sound scandalized, but with the entire atmosphere, she can only sound amused and intrigued.] Okay, I definitely want to see Megabot too! Does he talk too?
no subject
[This just keeps getting better and better.] I still don't know who called the cops, but since Tadashi was my getaway moped we both got caught. My aunt wasn't exactly happy with us either. Megabot doesn't talk but...[A grin.] You'll see when we get back. I'm not giving away the surprise.
I haven't really taken him out since I got here though, so I'm kinda hoping he still works like normal. I put a lot of work into him to make him perfect. But I guess in a way he's kinda like Crescent Rose? He's more than he seems.
no subject
Beat that.
But oh right, robot fighting, cops, things.]
Ohhh! I'll look forward to meeting him, then. [Because anything compared to Crescent Rose is worth inspecting, and Hiro's robots are always worth looking into.] We just have to survive the jungle-y wilderness, find our way back and get our stuff, right? Easy-peasy.
no subject
Just mostly.] That's why Tadashi and I split up for a bit. Figure out how to hunt and fish, find people that can help us, make sure nobody dies, and make sure Baymax doesn't get destroyed while he's powered down. But I think we'll be okay. We'll get back soon.
[There's a self-assured nod more for his own benefit than hers.] Let's just keep exploring and see what else we find out here.
no subject
[That's a big compliment coming from Ruby, seeing as how all of her heroes are huntsmen and huntresses and it's what she really wants to someday be. Still, it's also the truth; his sense of heroism, his love of adventure--it's all stuff that fits.]
Sounds good to me, though! Yang's around here somewhere, and Naoki too, but they're both fine. [Things she can say without a single shred of worry...] I'm sure I'll find them again eventually, so I'm not in a hurry.
no subject
[But in all honesty he's actually very pleased with himself. He doesn't quite know the extent of Ruby's huntsmen and huntresses thing but he knows it's a big deal and that she wouldn't just say that to anybody. He's not entirely certain why it makes his stomach bubble a bit or why he can't stop grinning at the idea. But it's not worth investigating either.]
And Naoki is? [Because that's a new name.] I don't think we're going anywhere for a while so if you're not in a hurry? I'm not in a hurry. [A beat.] I should get back to Tadashi before the sun goes down but that's another couple of hours. We'll find everybody again eventually. [But for now? He's comfortable enough.]
no subject
But oh, Naoki's Yang's boyfriend! He's super tough too, since, y'know, Yang. [She wouldn't settle for anything less but someone who could punch out demons, really.]
So yeah. I'm not in a hurry. Let's...not be in a hurry together. [Solid planning here.] Do you wanna look around instead?
no subject
Yang has a boyfriend? [That's new. Not that it's his business and it doesn't make a huge difference but it's kinda funny all the same.] That a fancy way of saying they punch each other? Must be a pretty brave guy. [Y'know. Because Yang.]
Who knows? Maybe they're together right now, too. I think I like the idea of looking around while we can instead. Together, I mean. Adventuring and exploration, right? [With that, he's slipping his helmet back on.] Try to keep up, okay? [He knows she could easily outrace him, but cut him some slack because he's already bounding off further into the jungle. Come along, Ruby Rose. Off on a new adventure.]
no subject
I'm gonna catch up! I'll make sure my bag guy catching record is even better, just wait!
[... Ahem. But right. Yang.]
Yep, Yang has a boyfriend! He seems pretty tough. I mean, he has to be because otherwise Yang wouldn't want to spend time with him. He's pretty nice, and he's good at building blanket forts, so I guess it's fine. [He passed the Ruby Tests to be her boyfriend.] They're kinda gross. [In the schmoopy hand-holding way.
But she laughs at that, amused.]
I'll try my best to keep up! [Adventuring and exploring together, and she'll do her best not to outrace him, really.] I kinda want to see what monsters are out here, sooooo...we'd better get looking around!