epidemiology | EVENT ★ WELCOME TO ZETA-12

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EVENT ★ WELCOME TO ZETA-12

WELCOME TO ZETA-12

Recruits arrive on a relatively calm, placid afternoon on the tundra. The snow is sparkling white and completely untouched, the sky overhead is a dazzling blue that seems to go on forever. The new arrivals have hopefully dressed warmly, though, because the temperature isn't nearly as nice as the weather. It's well below freezing today, helped not at all by a nippy breeze that stirs to life now and then.

THE TUNDRA (WEEK 1)

Not far off, the scene grows a little less tranquil. Here the ground is raw, ripped up and shredded by the recent, skidding passage of an asteroid on its way to a violent stop. Snow has already begun to fall and soften the torn up earth, but it's a long way from looking whole again. The asteroid itself sits huge, the size of an office building, half buried in the ground and cracked open. The interior of it is a silent labyrinth of stone, and here and there basketball-sized clear, jellylike balls can be found: the squidge eggs. There are no adults in sight, although there are many pools of spilled liquid here and there, presumably from eggs that didn't quite make it.

The eggs nearest to the outside air are cold, some of them even starting to solidify. They'll need to be warmed up if they're going to pull through. All eggs should be kept warm, but some of them are strong enough to pull through anyway if neglected — while some of them are going to need a lot of attention to make it through. Those eggs that do make it will eventually begin to soften, and 24 hours after the recruits arrive, will finally blink open their black, beady eyes and unfold into the squidge shape everyone will come to know and (hopefully) love. A small handful of squidges that hatch won't seem to imprint on anyone. These squidges are standoffish and sullen, but follow the group at some distance.

Any time after that, the journey begins. Recruits' jewelry will pull up a compass when needed, with a blinking red light urging them on south. The journey begins whenever you start walking.

The weather stays fair as the recruits head south, and the snowy plain is fairly uneventful, but eventually an impasse is reached: an enormous lake. Its shore is studded with beautiful snow stars, and may as well be an inland sea, for all that it seems to extend before them; that flashing red light asks that they cross straight over it. The water is iced over, but not thoroughly and not reliably. Even now, before any attempts to cross it have been made, there are cracks in the ice, great floating chunks that have broken free of the crust and would give a nasty surprise to anyone attempting to step onto them.

The first choice is a simple one: take your chances with the ice and attempt a crossing? Or do you venture east or west and hope it has some sort of end that won't take you weeks out of the way? Please choose one of these options to determine how your character fares.

As the journey takes them on, plantlife makes a slow return to the scenery. First it's the water cactae, proving a welcome relief to anyone tired of melting snow for water, if you can get into them. But eventually the temperature drops even further, and a forest begins to spring up around them. The first few days of it are chilly, sometimes even still snowy, but further on the plants are beginning to get a little more colorful.

THE FOREST (WEEK 2)

The second week of the journey is entirely under the leafy canopy of the forest. There's green all around, and the sun is warm whenever it breaks through the leaves. There is much more food to be scavenged here, although you couldn't possibly have made it too far through your food rations, right? Meals can be supplemented by berries, roots, or edible leaves, although it's suggested you find some way of quickly telling what's poisonous and what's nutritious. Here and there are plants trying to bite back, too. Do you hack these apart, or just give them a wide berth? The learning eyes of your squidge are on you, whichever option you pick.

Eventually comes another obstacle, not unlike the earlier frozen lake. This one, though, is a sheer drop. A deep, seemingly bottomless chasm has been slashed through the forest. The good news is that you won't have to find your way around it this time! There's a thin spit of land joining the two sides, only wide enough for two people to walk abreast, provided they don't mind getting cozy. You could walk right across… but you'd be leaving your squidge behind.

It turns out that squidges are terrified of heights. They want nothing to do with this, and would much prefer they just live out the rest of their natural lives on the near side of the chasm. The choices are these: A squidge must be sweet talked into crossing, calmed and comforted for several hours, or, if you must, forced into it. The squidges collectively are doing a lot of nervous wailing just at the suggestion of crossing, but a forced squidge will do a lot of screaming, even for days afterward. Recruits will find that they have an easier time of it in a group with at least one other person and their squidge. Although they still clearly hate it, they can handle it better in groups. But take heart: on the other side of the chasm will be a grove of large winefruits , a reward for the haggard parents. Just make sure your squidges don't partake as well, that wouldn't go well.

Please select an option below to determine how your squidge will be gotten across the chasm.

The forest begins to thin out again after the challenge of the chasm, and finally begins to warm up. In fact, it's getting a little muggy. It's easy to feel drowsy in the sunlight dappling through the leaves… or maybe that's the magical poppies. Seemingly innocent little red, purple, and yellow flowers begin to line the way. They're generally harmless on their own — but they're rarely on their own. Any recruits who lie down in the vicinity of a batch of magical poppies may find themselves slowly overtaken by dermal vines. Discretion is most definitely advised, as recruits finally make it to the swamp.

OOC NOTES

This log ICly and OOCly covers two weeks! Characters may proceed at whatever pace they'd like, but going too quickly or too slowly will mean they travel alone. (And those going too quickly will probably have to contend with screaming squidges, who prefer to travel at the speed of an easy plod.)

The unbonded squidges mentioned at the beginning of the log will be determinedly trailing after the group. They refuse to interact with much of anyone currently around... but may be convinced to take a liking to someone as we get new characters apping in.

Characters have been provided with large backpacks containing basic necessities -- food and water rations, shampoo, soap, etc -- and whatever they decided to pack. They will not be receiving another official supply drop, so it's up to them to make the rations last.

We are also introducing a Bounty Board for Zeta-12! It is entirely optional, but gives you some ideas to spark threads and rewards you for playing them out.

Please remember to select your choices in the threads below! How you choose will determine how your squidge grows.

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[Well that is funny. Funny enough to break through the self-imposed isolation he's been cultivating around himself throughout the duration of the trip, and as he sees Shizuo punch the snapping plant squarely back into the grass he begins to clap, the staccato sounds mixing in with his ringing laughter to create an odd little chorus.

He only stops when a nearby plant bites him squarely on the shoulder, though the sly twist of his smile remains-- there's no visible blood, only a rising plume of smoke and the dull hiss of his flesh stitching back together. He seems unconcerned as he turns, pistol raised, a resounding boom ringing out as he pulls the trigger and the thing bursts apart in a satisfying array of plant matter and the dull glitter of teeth.

Inside his jacket, the squidge clutches at him tightly. He ignores it.]

Well isn't this fun.

[It hasn't even occurred to Shizuo that there might be somebody nearby, attention utterly preoccupied as it is with this new variety of surprisingly aggressive plant. What's even up with this, anyway? Plants aren't supposed to bite at people?? Aren't there enough animals with too many teeth out there in the universe already??? This shouldn't even be necessary. It's ridiculous, this is ridiculous....

And now--there's somebody clapping? That sounds like somebody clapping...which is about as out of place as the jaws on these plants, and Shizuo turns to pin down the source only to find Giovanni walking up and laughing. Ah, this guy.

Shizuo's about to say something, mostly along the lines of asking what the hell he thinks he's laughing and clapping about, except another plant's beating him to it--and taking a pretty good chunk out of Giovanni's shoulder in the process. ...Sort of? Except there's a lot of smoke instead of blood, and then the guy's turning and shooting the jaws right off their stalk.

Wait, what?]

Wh-- [Taking advantage of Shizuo's lapse in attention, another set of snapgrass in the patch he's standing next to rears up; spotting the movement just in time, Shizuo snatches it by the rhetorical neck and promptly just. Tears the whole length of the thing out of the ground with a jerk, tossing it aside irritably.] --Tch. No. Not at all. [Fun?? Giovanni what are you even talking about, honestly...but then there's another set of jaws rising behind the latter, and Shizuo points, scowling.] Hey, behind you over there--

[Well now, this is turning into a regular little battle, and whilst it doesn't hold as much challenge as the kind he's accustomed to, it at least does something to settle him-- locks sliding into place bolts driving home because yes this is what he's meant for. This is what he knows. He'll take these snapping abominations over babysitting any day.

There's another sharp clatter of laughter as Shizuo rips the plant from the ground in a glorious display of violence, and Giovanni is poised to comment on it when the taller man points and scowls, makes his pronouncement. Giovanni whips around quickfast, movements more fluid than any human has any right to be, and with another hard report from his gun the thing blows apart in much the same way as it's 'friend' from moments before.]

Really? Pity. I'm enjoying myself immensely.

[He casts a glance over his shoulder and grins a wicked grin.]

Over there, to your left.

[The things are beginning to cluster now, and really they ought to combine fight with flight if they want to make any progress, but Giovanni doesn't mind dragging it out for a while. It's the best thing that's happened all day.]

Edited 2016-07-10 11:09 (UTC)

Well, good for you, I guess?! I'm not--

[Man, this guy had been a little weird last time too...and now, surrounded by man-eating plants and accompanied by a partner in fighting who's still laughing way too much, Shizuo decides to upgrade his earlier assessment from 'a little weird' to 'very weird'. It's kind of irritating already, honestly, but fortunately there are much more irritating problems to deal with at this precise moment--

Like the umpteenth plant Giovanni points out on his left, which earns a jerk and an automatic swing on Shizuo's part. There is absolutely nothing refined about his own way of fighting, about as far a cry as one could get from Giovanni's own inhumanly fluid reflexes, but it's always gotten the job done before and it's no different here. Shizuo backhands the plant in question with enough force that the jaws burst into pieces practically on contact, bits of tooth flying across the clearing.

Aki whimpers unhappily and shrinks down in his waistcoat; Shizuo, remembering himself a bit, curves an arm over his torso to both shield and support the squidge at least somewhat as he turns and starts in Giovanni's general direction, grinding his teeth. Talk about a hassle...what a stupid situation....honestly, if he didn't have a squidge on his person Shizuo would be more inclined to let the burgeoning annoyance grow into something considerably less low-key. But he's maintaining a mental death-grip on that at the moment for his squidge's sake, and this reflects in the deep scowl he's still wearing as he approaches, in complete contrast to Giovanni's ridiculous manic grinning over there.]

Hey, let's get moving! Looks we stepped in a whole garden of this stuff-- [Because Giovanni might want to drag it out, but Shizuo very much does not. He kicks irritably at another patch of snapgrass before it quite gets a chance to rise, before looking over to Giovanni again.] Oi, is your shoulder okay, also? I can't tell.

[Because from here, well, he's still not seeing any bleeding....but he hadn't been imagining that bite from earlier either. What's even up with that?]

[It's a practical move of course, the desire to exist stage left and head on to less vicious pastures, but it seems a shame nonetheless. A shame to Giovanni, at least, whose sharp ascending joy is clearly evident in the look on his face and the violence he doles out with a monstrous kind of grace. But when Shizuo insists upon fleeing he rolls his shoulders in a shrug, let's out a theatrical sigh.]

Suit yourself.

[And he fires off a volley of bullets into a clump of rustling rising plants, hot metal ripping through them and scattering leaves and slick green matter in their wake as he begins to move away. He keeps his pace leisurely though, keeps his inhuman speed in check because it'd be a shame to leave the party too early and it's only polite to ensure his fellow recruit can keep up. He glances back over his shoulder as they go, calls out a breezy answer.]

Your concern is touching, but unnecessary. I'm fine.

[It's just as he's saying this that a snapping maw shoots out from a clump of grass beside his foot and fastens on to him, jaws chomping down and ripping out a chunk of his leg. There's a hissed exhale of pain, the dark glimmer of blood but again comes the scent of burning flesh and the blue-grey plumes of smoke rising up as Giovanni stamps down hard on his sneaky assailant, twists his heel and crushes it beneath his ALASTAIR-issue boots. His squidge squirms inside his jacket at the sound of his pain, takes a few gulping breaths that threaten to burst open on a sob, but if Giovanni notices he does nothing to show it.

He keeps moving, and if Shizuo cares to glance at the hole the plant tore through Giovanni's trousers he'll see a smearing of blood but no hint of a wound-- only perfect, unbroken flesh.]

As you can see, I'm built to last.

[Man, all this gunfire...at least Giovanni isn't aiming anything in Shizuo's general direction yet, but it's not a terribly reassuring thing. Guns kind of irritate him on the whole, really--Shizuo's official personal verdict on them is that they're a pain in the ass, and he hardly intends to use one ever--but it's certainly effective as far as these biting plants are concerned. As long as a stray bullet doesn't end up his way or anything...he's got a squidge to mind, after all.

These thoughts occur in rapid succession and are punctuated by more kicking and backhanding as Shizuo hikes his way through this veritable grove of snapgrass, towards Giovanni's general direction. The (sort of) agreement to leave the area asap is moderately reassuring, at least, but it's still very evident that Giovanni's having way too much fun with this too. Bastard better not be procrastinating here...

But then Giovanni's answering his question, and the answer is very conveniently punctuated by another surprise attack by a plant at the latter's foot, and well...these goes a chunk of his leg. ...Or not? The same as it'd been with his shoulder, there's a reaction and there's blood and there's...smoke, before there's no injury at all.

The first thing that immediately comes to Shizuo's mind is Celty, seeing something like that--but her smoke is black, not all light-colored like that. So then, what's up with this, huh?

--No time to wonder about it. Shizuo stares only a little at the hole in Giovanni's pant leg, mostly because he's distracted almost immediately afterwards by another pair of snapgrass lunging for his side. With a sharp scoff, Shizuo lashes out with an arm, snaring and pinning the jaws between his elbow and his waist with a grimace.]

Yeah? That's pretty convenient, then, leaving here fast enough shouldn't be a problem-- [With a small heave, he tears the jaws from their stems and tosses them aside irritably.] What the hell kind of plants are these supposed to be, anyway? Plants are supposed to mind their own damn business!

[There's another hard clatter of laughter as he watches Shizuo dispatch the plant in another display of brute strength, and yes it's ugly and raw and altogether unrefined (nothing Mother would approve of, that's for sure), but it does the job nonetheless. And there's an inkling of the familiar in it, in the primitive reactionary violence, as though it's driven by something from within rather than any conscious thought on Shizuo's part. It makes him think of home and of Heine and of things lost and gone and unwanted but longed for and--

--and that's enough of that.

He smiles his twisted smile, shoots and whirls his way through the thickening onslaught of plants, moves progressively forward and away despite the desire to stick around and play for a while longer. They do have an objective to achieve after all, and unfortunately this kind of fighting is just a little side-quest, not something to focus on for too long. Perhaps he'll get lucky and they'll find themselves up against something bigger and nastier around the corner, but he won't go holding his breath. He's rarely that lucky.]

Convenient. I suppose so.

[He moves and shoots and doesn't glance back, expecting the other man to follow along unbidden.]

And who knows what they're supposed to be? It's an alien world, after all. I doubt it's the strangest thing we'll see by the time we're through.

[Why do you laugh so much, Giovanni....why are you like this. One day Shizuo's going to have to ask exactly what's so funny about any of this, or anything else that Giovanni tends to laugh at (which is most everything so far, apparently??), but for the present moment this is yet another question Shizuo has to put aside in favor of concentrating on not getting his hand bitten off by stupid alien plants.

Speaking of which--]

Ah, hey, talk about it like that and you're going to jinx it at this rate...

[Giovanni moves and Shizuo does follow, extremely irritably but steadily. He more or less shoves another cluster of snapping grass aside, though the force of this is still apparently enough to send them whacking back down against the ground. Ah, in a way it's not much different from batting people around, not to mention there's a lot less yelling on the whole...but he still doesn't like it. Shizuo will probably never enjoy it. It's all still violence, plants or people or whatever else, and he's never not going to hate it. In comparison to Shizuo's visibly aggravated mood, Giovanni's all but downright sunny.]

Hell knows this is weird enough for me already... [Practically a grumble--but also...it seems the grass all around is beginning to thin a little, now. Eventually Shizuo finds he can spare enough attention from aggressive plants to look up properly.] Hey, is that a clearing over there?

[He doesn't laugh this time, though with his back turned to Shizuo it's impossible for the other man to discern the broken glass smile that cleaves Giovanni's face in two. Jinx it. If words were all it took to call forth a blizzard of progressively increasing violence then he'd fling them about like bullets from his gun. Alas though, the clearing appears and almost (almost) imperceptibly, Giovanni's shoulders sag at the idea of their little game coming to a close all too soon. More of the monotony that comes with travelling along with no other distraction than the wailing squidge and the search for sustenance is not something that appeals to him in the least.

He sighs theatrically, a sound that can be heard in the lull between gunshots, but he makes for the clearing all the same, fluidly dispatching any plants that pop up between him and their goal with a relish that stands in sharp contrast with Shizuo's internal reticence. This kind of thing-- it's what he's made for, and perhaps it had to be beaten into him with lessons that still cut to the bone even now, but it's in him for better or worse and these days he can see the fun in it. The only fun he truly knows how to indulge in.]

Spoilsport.

[Continuing his inadvertent role as a direct contrast to Giovanni at the moment, Shizuo regards the increasingly visible clearing with more vague relief than anything; as long as it's filled with something besides snapping plants, he'll take it at this point. Actually getting there is a trickier affair, and between the two of them there's a veritable trail of broken man-eating grass to mark their trail to the area before all is said and done.

But incapacitating (and occasionally decapitating) the jaws never really gets any harder, and soon enough there they are. Shizuo follows Giovanni into the clearing fairly closely, and the latter's earlier theatrical sigh hadn't exactly been missed. It adds to the pile of subtle-but-irritating cues that Giovanni has only been increasingly accruing in the small amount of time they've spent beating up plants here, and Giovanni's short blithe comment there only cinches the whole thing.

Now out of danger and not sensing any immediate punching movement to indicate there's more, Shizuo's squidge tentatively pokes its head out the top of his waistcoat once they reach the clearing, still shivering and burbling in some mild distress. Shizuo pats at it with an inordinate amount of caution as he draws to a halt, but tries to concentrate heavily on this movement as he shifts to look over in Giovanni's direction. Because, well, that was really irritating--all of this has been really irritating--but he's got to shrug it off...he has to deal with it. There's a squidge right here, right under his hand. He can deal with it for this long, can't he? As this mental stifling goes on, Shizuo casts Giovanni a decidedly deadpan look.]

If getting out of a mess like that makes me a spoilsport, then sure, count me as the biggest one there is if you want. [Aki starts to settle a little; Shizuo drops his hand.] I mean, unless you want to go back over there-- [and he tilts his head sharply to the border of trees they'd just picked their way out of, frowning] --I'm not about to stop you or anything. But you've got a squidge thing too, haven't you?

[In response to the sounds from Shizuo's squidge, Giovanni's own little charge struggles briefly against the confines of his jacket and then pops it's head out too, echoes those small noises of distress and looks up at Giovanni expectantly, though whatever it's expecting fails to materialise. If Giovanni notices the creature at all, he gives no outward sign of it.

He's glancing back in the direction they've just come from with the mildest hint of something like regret, and there's a tightly-wound tension in him that lasts just a moment to long, as though any second now he'll go striding back and take Shizuo up on that 'offer', but then something in him seems to unwind and he makes a sour face, unhappy to be reminded of the main goal of their mission but reminded nonetheless.]

Unfortunately, yes.

[As if on cue, the little squidge wiggles, blubs louder, and with the sour look becoming more pronounced, Giovanni absently places a hand on its head in a poor attempt at comfort.]

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EVENT ★ WELCOME TO ZETA-12

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oh my god i thought i tagged this ages ago...gj me

no worries!! <3

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