epidemiology | EVENT ★ ZETA-12 WEEKS 3 + 4

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EVENT ★ ZETA-12 WEEKS 3 + 4

ZETA-12: WEEKS 3 + 4

After making their way through the biting cold of the tundra and the forest's deadly chasm, team Audentes reaches the swamp. Once there, their squidges will begin to transform.

For each choice your character has made, select one squidge evolution. Please note, you must have submitted your choice to the threads in the previous logs in order for your squidge to evolve.

For those who crossed the ice, there are two options. If they succeeded, their squidge has taken on one of the following features: fluffy fur, the ability to freeze small things with their breath, or small foxlike ears. If they fell through the ice, their squidge has one of these: fins, minor hydrokinesis, or protective scales.

Those who chose to walk around the ice, whether east or west, will have squidges with one of these attributes: faster speed, climbing ability, or goat-like hooves.

As for week 2 choices, everyone who soothed their squidge will find them with one of the following: small wings (able to keep them about a foot off the ground at most), a calmer demeanor, or the ability to soothe fear by touch.

For the grouping crew, one of these: the ability to heal small wounds on other squidges, long ape-like arms and hands (for hugging!), or a beautiful singing voice that can act as a beacon for other squidges.

Squidges that were forced to cross will have one of: increased independence, clawed fingers, or sharp teeth.

These evolutions may take place at a rate of your choice. Please note that apart from these changes, the squidges will not be undergoing any further physical development (size, etc) for now!

THE SWAMP (WEEK 3)

The swamp is damp and spooky, filled with rotting logs and large, spindly trees. The water level dips and rises, making traveling slow and difficult; at some points, there is no dry land at all, so recruits will either need to wade or find some other way to get through the murky water. Some of the fallen logs may create a series of interconnected bridges if you're nimble enough, but be wary not to put too much weight on the rotten parts of the wood.

Because there are no animals on this planet, recruits won't need to worry about mosquitos or crocodiles, but still be wary of dermal vines, which continue on from the forest, as well as something lurking beneath the water: in deeper portions of the swamp, recruits may run into a gangly, humanoid creature with gnarled fingers and a body made entirely of vines and twisted roots. The creature makes no sound and does not breathe, but it moves quickly and can shoot a cloud of powerful neurotoxin out of its maw.

Make your choice: You can attempt to fight the creature, but not all attacks will be effective and you risk injury to you or your squidge. Outsmarting is possible as well -- as the creature has no eyes or ears, it senses its victims through heat. Do with that what you will. Finally, you can choose to wait for someone else to do something and ride their coattails, as long as you’re okay with living with that. Please indicate your choice here.

After a week, the scenery begins to shift, lightening up as trees become fewer. Welcome to the grasslands.

THE GRASSLANDS (WEEK 4)

As opposed to the swamps, there are few hazardous plants in the grasslands. The most dangerous are more annoying than anything else: fluffplasters, the hairs of which become sticky and eventually harden like cement if they’re disturbed. For the most parts, the grasslands are grass, grass, and grass, with little variation in appearance. In fact, it’s kind of hard to tell if you’re going the right way, or if you’ve been here before. Everything sort of looks the same.

The other flora found are happygrass, which has a short-term calming effect on anyone who ingests it. On the other hand, beebulbs, long, spear-like stalks whose bulbs contain a delicious liquid which invigorates the drinker upon ingestion. Too much either way can lead to laziness or hyperactivity. A geared up squidge is a happy squidge most of the time, but there’s also the possibility of heightened anxiety.

The weather is pleasant for most of the journey, but near the end, the wind picks up and a storm begins to brew. The wind whips around and, while it’s very difficult to travel through (and very frightening for squidges!) it’s still possible to walk through.

The choices are these: Characters can keep going against the wind, although they’ll need to be wary of flying debris and their squidge’s fear. They can also choose to find shelter nearby -- there are several trees on the way that can be hidden under, a large cave many people can fit into a distance into the storm, and characters can also set up their own shelter. There’s less possibility for injury and squidge crying, but the tornado will put them back for hours; those who power through can talk their squidge through it, but they’ll still be a bit unhappy. Please select an option below to determine the future of your squidge.

Whatever choices the team makes, they’ll eventually all reconvene as they set up camp for the last time before they hit the desert.

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.)

New characters will find one of the unbonded squidges toddling after the group takes a shine to them. A squidge will imprint on them very quickly, then refuse to leave their side or rejoin their unbonded friends.

Direct questions about the Zeta-12 mission here. And don't forget about the bounty board!

Please remember to select your choices in the threads below! How you choose will determine how your squidge grows. Please choose before July 21st, 12:01 AM GMT!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It's amazing that the Straw Hat pirates and Co. have gotten this far without any incidents worse than Almost falling through the ice and Getting Lost in the forests.

Shanks has come a long way as an honourary pirate, what with being sang to by Luffy, he can now sing better than the Pirate Captain--and being constantly paraded around on said adventuring man's sightseeing, he's a great deal faster in movement.]

i. Why is it Water

[It's really a cruel thing, honestly. That a Devil Fruit eater's main weakness was water--the main thing that a pirate such as Monkey D Luffy has vowed to spend his entire life sailing on.

Even more cruel when Luffy and his crew--along with the rag-tag bunch of friends he's made either back home or while working for ALASTAIR is forced to hike through swamplands where there's barely any ground worth walking on.

Sure, there's definitely some relief when he manages to find some logs that aren't so rotten to climb over, or when there's a patch or two of solid land, but...

He seems to be dragging behind more than a little when having to hike through any swamp water that goes up to his knees. All the energy he had while in the previous areas, it seems, is suffering. Why is that?]

ii. Captain's Usual (MONSTER FIGHT)

[Swamp water or no swamp water, there's absolutely no way he's turning down a battle when faced with this huge, hulking monster. Even if being partially submerged in water might make his fighting a little more sloppy than usual--when does he ever back down??

Besides, he's got his nakama--new and old--alongside him, doesn't he? The squidges left behind far enough with those who won't be aiding in combat, Luffy's left his hat with a certain pink-haired marine, and he's going in towards this thing full-on.]

Come on! It doesn't stand a chance if we all get it at once! [Because that makes the most sense. He DID spend most of his life training to fight against giant animals and monsters, didn't he?]

iii. Captain's Unusual (Post-Monster fight.)

[They did it. They've won, the damn thing is down for the count. And it's mostly thanks to Sanji and his hellishly effective Diable Jambe technique. Who would have known that the monster would be absolutely crippled by flames?

Honestly, Luffy thought it was awesome. And he'd be saying so--if he wasn't currently a little worse for wear. With his powers stunted due to near-constant contact with water, it's clear that he did a little worse with the fighting than he normally may have, and he's covered with cuts and bruises--his knuckles torn up and blood staining his previously neat uniform.

The monster's claws have definitely torn it open a bit, too. But that's not the main thing anyone should be concerned about, right? Luffy HAD gotten an absolute faceful when the monster blasted a cloud of toxic gas at the pirate when he'd gotten really close.

And yet, he seemed absolutely fine despite it.]

...Ugh, I feel dizzy... [Yeah, no shit, Sherlock.] But look, it's down. [Hehhehhh...] .....I wonder if we can eat it. [Someone patch this idiot up.]

Edited 2016-07-16 23:16 (UTC)

[ Ramir isn't really thrilled about water, but that's more phobia than Devil Fruit side effect. Still, she's gamely sogging through, even when the water hits about waist-high and her squidge has clambered up to sit on her shoulders... and she's rapidly losing patience with the slow asshole a few paces ahead. God, she could really use the tangle of roots and downed trees around them opening up a little, to make this more than a single-file lane.

Fortunately, she's not above making all that impatience perfectly known. She prods at Luffy's back. ]

Hey! I dunno if you heard, but we're trying to get there this year. [ So hurry it up, buddy. ]

[If she prods hard enough, she's going to find that his back has a really odd give to it. As if the bones underneath the skin weren't solid. But that aside...

He turns his head when he is poked, and he gives her a bit of a tired, dozy look. Fit with his hat being a bit askew on his head and all.]

Oooooi. It's thick, and feels gross. [He doesn't seem to get offended or grumpy at her quip, but rather, whiny. He lifts up a foot out of where it's sunk knee-deep into swamp water.] Why'd we have to go this way...

Yeah, no arguments there, but that's no reason to draw it out.

[ This guy is moving way, way too slow. And he doesn't look inclined to pick up the pace on his own. So she takes matters into her own hands. Literally, when she steps forward and claps her hands at his upper arms, looking to pin them at his sides and use that to pluck him up straight out of the water, to hold him out in front of her. Not much of a challenge, with the supernatural strength she has going on. ]

Let's just move things a little faster, here.

[There are definitely reasons to draw it out--not that Ramir is going to have any living idea to why the straw-hat wearing guy is acting like he's got cement blocks on his ankles.

Not that it really matters when she suddenly gRABS HIM and lifts him up out of the water.

He takes a minute, blinking in surprise with a bit of a confused "Ara? Ara..." noise escaping him...]

[Before he turns around to give her a FULL beaming grin, a look of sudden excitement on his face. Now that he's out of the water, he feels GREAT, for one, and for two...]

Whoa, LADY! You're STRONG!

[He sounds like a kid at Christmastime.]

[ Oh, hey, that's kinda cute. She glances up at him as she presses onward, and breaks pretty quick into a grin of her own. ]

I know, right? [ It's nice to be appreciated. She hefts him up a little higher for good measure. ] I'm even stronger than you are slow.

Monkey D. Luffy | One Piece

week 3

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omg sorry to tag in then vanish, I'M HERE NOW

1/2 AHAHA its ok im guilty of doing this before

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week 4

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