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!
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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.
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no subject
Also, that was SOMETHING... That sure was something, yes. Kashuu blinks a couple of times after she turns away, caught somewhere between did that seriously just happen and oh my god I do not sound like that and that did seriously just happen. Should he be insulted?? Maybe if it was a better impersonation... AS THINGS ARE it's just dang hilarious and he ends up laughing because of course he does! Life can't be easy for Milla.]
Oh my god, that was the best! [Also not too inaccurate, all things considered... "Every color all the time always" is Kashuu's motto for shopping!! Unless the color is unflattering, and then it can Go.]
Seriously, I can't believe you just did that. That's like-- that's practically the same as when Sousei jokes around, y'know? [CONGRATS, MILLA. Kashuu is also still trying to curb his laughter not for her sake, because it's too hot for this, he's dying, why.]
no subject
why was sousei brought up. why is her sense of humor being compared to sousei. not that she can deny they're about the same level of Funny Company. in that they aren't. ]
Now who's the one being insulting...
[ mumble mumble. not really meant to be audible, as she waits for him to stop laughing. ugh... her next words are less under her breath, more indignant. ]
I didn't do anything. Nothing happened. You just-- hallucinated from the heat, that's all.
[ NAILED IT. ]
no subject
Oooh, is that what happened? I must be way hotter than I thought.
[Too hot, hot damn.
No seriously though, he's too hot...]
Geez... You're lucky I can't even remember stuff right when the temperature's crazy high like this. [Look at that, Kashuu's being marginally merciful!]
no subject
well... mercy for mercy. and payback in a way, perhaps, but mostly mercy. ]
Hold your breath.
[ it's the only not!explanation she offers him (slightly flat and somewhat exhausted from the heat) before three balls of cold water seemingly materialize from nowhere to her side. also, one's moving to smack him in the face with icy fresh revenge, so he should probably avoid that.
or not, really, because who wants to avoid water in a place like this... ]
no subject
Wah—!!
[UGH WATER EVERYWHERE. Good thing his hair is already far from its usual state of perfection (even though it's still in pretty good condition for some reason?!) or he'd be having a fit...
Instead, after he's done coughing and wiping his face off, he pauses for a second. It is cooler now!]
Give a little more warning next time, huh? ...But thanks, I guess.
no subject
[ absolutely mostly gentle milla-style revenge, considering how amused and pleased she seems to look at his sputtering as she parrots the tone he used to mimic her previously. she could've been meaner, she really could have... so it isn't like she wasn't merciful with it.
but milla also could've been nicer. she's taking one of the spheres of water for herself now, splashing her face, sighing as she's at least somewhat refreshed. ... yeah, she could have done it that way instead.
good old fashioned fun!!! she does throw a bit of a smile his way after that's done, however. that's something. ]
You can have the last one, if you want. To make up for that.
[ like they're sharing cookies or something, instead of ~bullshit rpg magic~. ]
no subject
See? I totally got it right.
[That "whatever", mocking his version of mocking her!! It's totally accurate.
But oh, she's smiling... CUTE. Good thing he deals with tsunderes enough to know not to say "that's a cute smile" unless he wants to chase the smile away. He'll just enjoy it quietly and make a mental note to bring it up later like the super great friend he is. As for her offer:]
Thanks, but I'll be fine. You probably need it more, right? [He's a tough sword, tough sword!! Though he does very much appreciate her giving over the metaphoric larger half of the bullshit rpg magic cookie.]
no subject
When I do need it, I can just make more. You can't, unless you suddenly learned spirit artes in the last couple of days, so grab it while you can.
[ a pause, as something seems to occur to her. ]
Or, if this is more convincing: take it before I throw it at you.
[ and those were the last glimpses kashuu'll get of milla's gooey moe center... even if she's not being entirely serious with her "threat", given it's just her way of insisting he take the comfort she's offering. she'd rather he have it, but saying as much is... embarrassing...
so he gets that instead. cute. ]
no subject
No, okay, this is actually pretty endearing too honestly. He's fluent in tsun, so he gets it and he won't turn down her offer a second time.]
Fine, fine! I'll take it! You shouldn't be so happy to throw stuff at people, y'know?
[But he'll... ?!? what does he even do. Hold his hands out?? How does one accept a magic orb of water without catching it with their face?]
no subject
Wha--
[ that is to say that kashuu's comment actually gets her a bit flustered, again, and she tenses somewhat. unfortunately, that means magic orb of water is now a magic orb of WHYYYYYter, as it's taking up its brethren's legacy of "zoom towards kashuu's face". completely accidental this time, of course, but that's what he gets.
she actually does look apologetic this time. ]
That was-- [ an accident, she begins to say, but the reason she'd been so caught off-guard in the first place comes up in her mind again.
a shake of the head. ] --Who said I was happy?!
[ .......... proof that she was actually enjoying herself there: her being overly defensive of enjoying herself there, to the point that she just hears the word "happy" and automatically sounds the tsundere alarm. ]
no subject
What was that for—!?
[And what a waste, too!! His hair is already soaking wet so the double-water does nothing for him, really. Now he's just extra sopping... Though given the heat of these tunnels, he'll probably be dried off before they even manage to get past all of these freaky little house things.
He still takes the time to wipe off his eyes though, and even though his makeup is long worn off by now, there's still the knee-jerk reaction to dab below his eyes like he's checking for running mascara.]
What kinda reaction is that, even? It's not like I said anything bad! [This is next-level tsundere, Kashuu isn't ready.]