It’s been a few days in the jungle now and hopefully you haven’t managed to die just yet – after all, the fun’s just begun.
On the seventh day of trekking the wilderness, each character who has Fire in their heart will suddenly find themselves pausing in the middle of the day. Something in their chest feels warm and it’s heating up quickly. It spreads from their chest to their fingertips, down their legs to their toes. There’s a bark of laughter against their ear, but it seems that it’s one that only they can hear.
Then without warning, there is a bright light that encompasses their sight entirely and the ground beneath their feet seems to suddenly open. At least they don’t have time to be scared as they suddenly lose consciousness after falling for a few seconds.
Don’t worry. It’ll get better. When they wake up, they hear the following message – and then they hear it again, and again, and again as it echoes echoes echoes.
 You’re all spirited, aren’t you?! You wouldn’t be one of mine if you weren’t.
So c’mon, look alive, look alive! I’ve got something I want to show you all. Stay close, stay close, I can't wait until you see where you'll be living!
|
PHASE I [ day one ] It’ll admittedly be hard for Ardeo to show you anything though. When you wake up, you see darkness. Blink a couple times and it’s – yeah, it’s still darkness. Oh, that’s not good. But after some mumbling around in the dark, perhaps you’ll find another. Better hold on so that you don’t lose each other as the steps on smoothed rock, the resounding quality of the noise you make, and the faint sounds of dripping make it clear that you’re in some kind of cave. Probably.
All you have to guide you is the occasional glimmer of light as Ardeo flicks his flaming tail and then pads off in one direction.
But try not to run too fast after him since it’s dark and that’s danger--holy shit. Follow Ardeo enough and finally you'll reach the edge of a cliff with no indication of how deep that drop goes. It won't be a fear of tripping in this cave, but rather a fear of running straight off the path Ardeo set you on. Hope you're good at cliff scaling because, good luck. You're now stuck on some very high cliffs, and if you peer over the edge, deep, deep down in the darkness, there's the faint, warm glow of what might be lava. You probably don't want to fall down there.
Of course in response to your yelps of fear, there’s only the same bark of laughter. Damnit, where the hell did that fox go?
PHASE II [ day one ] Who knows how long Ardeo has been playing this crazy game of hide and go seek, but eventually you hear a faint buzzing. It’s fine, probably. No one ever said that you were alone in this cave but it’s better to be dealing with a fly than a bear, right?
So you see a firefly. Or maybe a firefly sees you. That single hope of light and not being doomed to eternal darkness comes over and says hi, floating around you for a moment. It really is quite dazzling, isn't it? Then, apparently deciding that you’re an idiot safe to land on, it settles itself on your clothes and-- ow.
That burns. Maybe you even caught fire a little.
But before you know it, more of them are coming. Little specks of light all ready to land on you and warm you up a little. You must be cold in this cave. Try not to die from their thoughtfulness, because they're really all over the place.
It’s like this happens a lot or something.
PHASE III [ day two ] Maybe you threatened him or maybe you asked nicely, but it seems that Ardeo is willing to take pity on your poor souls. Every few steps, there is now a will-o-wisp conjured to guide you away from the sudden, steep cliffs and keep the insects away.
However you’re deeper in the cave now and it seems to be getting… hotter? You hear the water more and more now. Eventually you reach a flat surface and see an arrangement of craters in the ground. The surface beneath them glows with heat, apparently reaching high enough temperatures to emit a white glow.
The brave may wander close, curious about what lay inside the craters – and they may lose their faces as the water suddenly shoots up without explanation, a geyser erupting suddenly and burning anyone who got stuck in the splash zone.
However, there are signs of people here. Small housing constructions made in tucked away corners, built of stacked rock and supplies clearly from this very spot. However, there's...nobody here to greet you.
In fact, it seems as though a certain event has been reported to them, and so the natives who clearly are still living here won't be making an appearance. You may feel them watching you, and if you poke around in their homes, Ardeo will make a quick appearance to warn you away, but they're far too wary to step out and say hello.
PHASE IV [ day three ] Finally, after however many miles, Ardeo’s done walking. He walks up the steps of a shrine – or the remnants of one. Broken statues of animal-like creatures lay in shatters and he wanders around the area once, circles quietly, and then lays down, curled in on himself. A second later, he disappears in a flash of smoke.
However the will-o-wisps remain as you’re free to explore. You’re now able to see that the walls of the cave are decorated with paintings. However unlike those of Earth, the humanoid-type people in these images all have different modifications on them. Some appear to have fins, others are plant-like themselves, but the most prominent ones all appear to be on fire. It’s kinda creepy, especially since they’re still smiling – and upon further inspection, you’ll find that some of these images aren’t made with paint at all, but rather they’re intricate scorch marks left on the wall. Oh.
However for the children exploring with us today, Ardeo seems to have pilfered some things from the colony that he liked. There’s paint lining the cave walls, as well as the occasional bundle of sparkly puppy stickers.
Seems this is where he lives, and now you can join him here too. It's a great reward! It's really just too bad about the difficulty breathing and the general difficulty finding food in a place like this that won't spit fire back at you.
Welcome to your new home.
[ 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. ] |
Welcome to Cerealia's October event! Please visit the OOC information here, and should you have any questions, feel free to ask them here! You can also check the FAQ for more general inquiries. This event will last for the month of October, or IC 3/15 to 3/30. This log will last from 10/15 to 10/22 or IC 3/22 to 3/26. Should this event log hit Captcha, there is an all-purpose overflow here.
There are 71 characters with the element of fire.
Thank you! |
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
no subject
[well he is. That doesn't stop him from gnashing his teeth.]
Fine! I'll go in front, just don't keep groping me!
no subject
I wouldn't grope you if my life depended on it, buddy! I'm sorry you bumped into me, but you're just gonna have to let it go!
[Annnnd just in case he decides to take off without her, she reaches up to grip what she HOPES is his shoulder--better a stranger claiming to have a sense of direction in this place than wander around by herself. She wrinkles her nose at the sweat beneath her palm. There better be showers at the end of this.]
no subject
[harrumph! Fine, then, a shoulder is good. He can handle that, and starts off in a completely random direction in the dark that probably will lead them to the cliff rather than following the flicker of Ardeo's flame. Never let him lead, Bulma, please.]
no subject
Ha! You're delusional, you know that? [She's never going to accept the blame. Never. Wait, is that distant little flame getting farther from them?] Are you sure you know where you're going?
no subject
[but as he turns to snarl over his shoulder at her, his whole body turns in the direction his head is pointed. Due...right.]
You think you can do better than me? You didn't wanna go in front.
no subject
It probably won't continue to if he gets them even more lost than they already are, though. She tries to pull him around to face the "right" direction.]
Listen, I'm pretty sure we should be going toward the light. It could be a way out!
no subject
[well, sure it could be a way out. Or it could be lava. Either way, it's something besides boring claustrophobic cave walls. Zoro shrugs and lets himself be steered.]
Fine. But as soon as we find everybody else, you can stop using me for a shield.
[yeah that's right he caught on to her motives. He's been in this position before.]
no subject
Believe me, as soon as we find everybody else I'm upgrading! [... hopefully.] Say, what's your name anyway? I should know what to call you if we're gonna be together for a while!
[Bulma sounds cheerful, but deep down she's starting to worry. Not about Vegeta, he'll be fine (wherever he's gotten off to. Saiyans.). It's just that the little flame they're following isn't getting any nearer, and she has a sinking feeling they're going deeper into the cavern.]
no subject
[and it's only then that he thinks he might recognize her voice. The darkness helps? Oh wait right darkness...should be using haki to find other people. There's a sense that some are over there -
And that's when he smacks face-first into a wall.]
Ow! Shit!
no subject
Geez, the guy is solid as a rock. At least he has that going for him. She jumps back a step, rubbing at her stinging nose.] Hey! Watch it! What're you stopping for!?
[Because his face just smacked into a wall, get with the program, Bulma.]
no subject
[and now he's trapped between her and the wall. Yikes. Rubbing his nose.]
Bulma. Aren't you Vegeta's wife?
no subject
Yeah, Vegeta's my husband. [Unfortunately, she hadn't paid too much attention to Zoro the first time he fought Vegeta, and she doesn't recognize his voice at all.] Whatever he did, you're gonna have to deal with him yourself. I'm not his keeper.
[She backs away another step and reaches out a tentative hand, trying to find the wall.]
no subject
It's not like that. He showed me the gravity training thing - did you get that to work?
no subject
Or she does, until the implication of what he just said hits her.]
Wait--Vegeta actually showed you the program? [What.] We're talking about the same guy here, right? Widow's peak, chip on his shoulder you could see from orbit?
no subject
Yeah, he did. We got a couple days' training in before all this bullshit started.
no subject
annoytalk with him and overrides the locks. She bites her lip. It's either respect or his stay with CERES messed with his head more than he's let on.She finds the wall and follows it, reaching out with her other hand. Well, there is a bright side, no matter what's up with her husband:] If that's the case, I'm glad I ran into you. You must be really strong!
[And therefore a better shield than she had assumed. Silver linings~]
no subject
[or weak enough, but no. He doesn't think that little of himself. Zoro takes the thought of respect in stride, savoring it silently. So the ultra-powerful alien guy respects him, huh?]
Your son's not here anymore, is he? I was supposed to fight him, but I haven't heard from him about that.
no subject
Yeah, he's gone.
[And that chilly little statement is all she's going to say on the matter. The wound is still too fresh to play it off with a joke. She just doesn't want to think about it.
She continues to feel along the wall, one hand stretched out in front of her. She'd like to prevent another bump into his sweaty chest. Or back. Whatever.]
... I don't see the light anymore. Do you?
no subject
But at her question, Zoro has to pause and look around.]
Uh. No, I don't. [whoops] But I can sense other people nearby.