EVENT ★ WELCOME TO TERRA FELIS

[futurologists]

WELCOME TO TERRA FELIS Characters leave Woodhurst suddenly and without notice, but once they come out the other side of the rift, they aren't in Oska. Instead, they'll find themselves in the middle of a springtime meadow. Flowers are in bloom, the bright blue sky is above, and birds chirp overhead. And then there are the cats. From all sides of the meadow come housecats of all shapes and sizes, indistinguishable from mundane felines in every way until one of them speaks: "You're the third team today," it says in the calm, clear voice of a man. "Come along." CENTRUM COLONIAM Centrum Coloniam is the primary city of Terra Felis and is where the government, a constitutional monarchy, is located. Situated high above the ground, the city is accessible via teleportation pads located at guarded entrances all around its base; the teleportation pads to return to the ground are not guarded at all, and anyone may travel freely whenever they wish. Terra Felis operates on magitek, a complex combination of magic and technology that recruits should be familiar with: it's the same technology that runs Oska and the jewelcomms. Centrum Coloniam is lit by glowing, floating orbs that turn on automatically in the darkness, and its machinery seems to run itself, with only a few technicians scurrying about every now and then. The buildings all have tall, vaulted ceilings, as the cats prefer to walk along raised platforms rather than the floor, though furniture and utensils might give larger species (that's you) some difficulty. However, the cats receive enough visitors where most buildings (except private residences) have been situated with human-sized doorways, though if you're very tall, you may have to stoop a bit. All in all, characters ought to be relatively comfortable here if they have a good sense of humor -- though dogs or other canine companions will be met with suspicion if not outright hostility. Even enlightened sapient felines are not without their prejudices. The city of Centrum Coloniam is shaped like a circle, with the government in the center and four districts located to the north, east, south, and west. Radiating out from the city are four long spokes of parkland, separating each district. AREAS OF NOTE: ROYAL SQUARE. Where the Queen's opulent palace is located. She is much too busy to see visitors right now, but the Prime Minister, a plump persian, will greet anyone in her stead and answer any questions. Surrounding the palace in a circle are the parliamentary buildings and other governmental structures. ACADEMY SQUARE. To the north of the Royal Square is Academy Square, Terra Felis's university district and home to the Royal University. The cats focus mainly on scientific, mathematical, and magical pursuits, though there are smaller colleges for history and law. This is also where the library is located, though it is all nonfiction (and written in Latin), as the cats don't seem to have much use for entertainment. Also located within the Academy Square is the Royal Magitekkery, where the magitek specialists are hard at work developing new spells and technology. This is where the interdimensional rift machines are located, and where scientists and wizards are monitoring for news from Oska. If characters would like to ask more about magitek or inquire about Oska, they may speak to the Royal Scientist, a rather snobby sphynx. GROOMING DISTRICT. Home to many spas, salons, and other businesses focusing on individual pampering, the Grooming District is located to the east of the Royal Square and is where the majority of the locals are employed if they are not involved in politics or magitek. Though their primary clientele are, naturally, feline, they are largely excited to work on aliens and will do their best to provide whatever services they can. Of particular note are the Terra Felis spas, where soothing mud baths and shi-miatsu massage are very popular with their regular alien visitors. They also have natural hot springs available, though you'll have to wait for a Turkish Van to assist you, as all other spa attendants refuse to risk getting wet. RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT. Unless you are going to be roughing it down on the ground, your lodgings will be here at a hotel especially outfitted for human-sized visitors. The proprietress, a friendly tabby, will give you directions if you need them. Hotel rooms are outfitted with private bathrooms, a table and chairs, a vanity, and a television -- though the programming is primarily educational and news, except for the channel that plays nothing but endless videos of birds and fish, and the "alien station" which plays what appears to be soap operas starring bloblike creatures. The beds are probably the most unusual thing here for visitors -- although they're big enough for humanoids, they're just gigantic, fluffy cat beds. The houses here are not built for alien visitors larger than a cat, so if you make a friend, you'll have to visit them elsewhere. This district is also home to a number of shops and restaurants, though you might have trouble finding something to eat at the latter unless you live on a purely carnivorous diet. If you would like a little more variation in your meal, you will be offered a tray of wheatgrass; the kitchen at the hotel is staffed with cooks more accustomed to a human diet, so you might have better luck there. As cats are allergic to alcohol, there is no liquor in Terra Felis, but locals will offer you catnip on the sly if you mention you want something to help you loosen up. MUSEUM CAMPUS. The pride of Centrum Coloniam, the Museum Campus is located to the west of the Royal Square and home to museums covering everything from history to astronomy. (There is no art museum. If you were interested in seeing what cats consider art, the answer is nothing.) There is also a rather large and rather popular aquarium, as well as a zoo which features both native animals and animals from all across the galaxy. The zoo is home to an extremely complex breeding program, and the Royal Zookeeper, a scatterbrained black longhaired cat, is happy to explain their methods. Outside the city, the ground is home to meadows and forests, plus smaller villages for more rural cats. Characters are welcome to spend their time exploring the wilds if the city life isn't for them, where they may run into animals that one may expect to find in medieval Europe (deer, bears, wolves, etc). Apart from the cats, there is no other sapient species on the planet. OOC NOTES Welcome to Terra Felis! Contact with ALASTAIR NPCs remains mysteriously closed, and the native cat population has no idea what's going on with Oska either. Please use this post to plot amongst yourselves! The two other ALASTAIR teams in Terra Felis are Team Unicorn, an elite team of six (five humanoids and one talking kangaroo), and Team Ambrosia, a 20-recruit magic-focused team that consists of elves, humans, and satyrs. Unicorn had just begun their mission when they were suddenly rifted to Terra Felis, and Ambrosia was in the middle of what was apparently a very epic battle. Questions about Terra Felis can be directed here. You may also use this comment to ask (brief!) handwaved questions with cat NPCs. Questions about the game in general should be directed to the FAQ. You may also submit mission ideas or player plots at any time.

Comments

Sans | OTA + closed to Olivia

[skelepun]

[It's strange, going from a place so very alien to somewhere that bordered on normal. Gone were the swaths of humans, the necessity of cloaks, the feeling of uncomfortable otherness. Sans was no more cat than he was human and these cats weren't exactly monsters, but there was a sense of place he missed in Woodhurst.

These cats had magic after all. They even had Royal Scientists. It wasn't home, but it was closer than he'd had for the last month and change.

Might as well enjoy it. Who knew how long it would last.]

hot springs; 2/21; ota

[There's nothing quite like a large, hot, outdoor bathtub to loosen up a guy's bones. Not that Sans could feel the heat that well, but sitting in one spot for an extended period of time was always welcome.

Of course, why sit when you could lay down? No lungs, no problem.

To anyone else looking at the hot spring, they would see what looked like an empty pool. The bottom of the spring was hidden entirely by the clouded green water, painting the scene with tranquility and calm.

Of course, those stepping into the pool will find a floor scattered with what definitely feels like bones.]

hotel; 2/18; closed to olivia!

[In the time between the present and their first meeting, Olivia had become something of a tentpole to Sans. A person he knew just as well as anything else in this strange place, yet carried with her a sort of... calm. Relaxation. The opportunity to be a little lazier. A little more honest, too, though Sans avoided thinking too hard about the implications of his efforts. It's not deception when the result is better for everyone, right?

Right.

Regardless of his own motivations with others, Olivia provided a sort of reprieve. And when he teleports into her room unannounced, carrying a large bag of... something, it's the most chill he's felt in weeks.]

Knock knock. [He says by way of too-little-too-late warning, making himself comfortable on her couch. From the bag he pulls a thick book, "borrowed" from Academy Square.] You here, Liv?

who could say no to such an inviting hot springs buddy

[fourscores]

[No longer being on a mission should make it all too easy to relax, but there's been much on his mind since they all arrived and Jhin finds himself frequenting the hot springs. It's not always empty, so he appreciates that it currently is as he steps into the water.

As he steps on something that is clearly not the bottom of the spring. Something that's very likely dead.

Jhin stumbles back, grabbing onto the edge of the springs, less graceful than he'd like.

Are their fluffy hosts killing things and throwing the remains into the hot springs?]

...Sorry?

[He doesn't expect a response, but who knows who he's potentially insulting in this world by saying nothing.]

only the best for you my friend

[skelepun]

Ow.

[It comes out less as a word and more a watery gurgle. Still, the Likely Dead heap of bones is shifting now, sitting up, and breaking the surface of the water with an inelegant stretch.

When Sans rises up, water pours inelegantly from his sockets and skull. He yawns, blinking blearily at the stranger.]

Who're you?

[fourscores]

[A simple 'ow' is the last thing he expects and he finds himself blinking, perplexed, as a skeleton rises from beneath the pool. A particularly odd looking skeleton at that. What the skeleton actually is, he isn't sure. Demon? Possibly. Whatever it is, it doesn't seem all that bothered. Still he remains by the edge of the spring.]

Khada Jhin... and you?

[skelepun]

Sans. [He answers, distracted while tapping on the side of his skull. The one downside of spending too much time underwater -- droplets in all sorts of places. He's not sure how Undyne does it.] The skeleton.

[It's an unnecessary clarification, but habits were habits.]

Must've dozed off, sorry about that, pal. I'm not real great at floating.

[fourscores]

It's... a pleasure.

[Jhin gives a small bow of his head. The addition of 'the skeleton' doesn't particularly help, that much he can see. But at least it... he? seems to either be someone from this cat world, or more likely a member of the so-called team he seems to find himself a part of.]

I noticed. Does it not get hot, staying down there long enough to drift off?

[Do skeleton whatevers feel heat?]

[skelepun]

[As a matter of fact, they do not. Well... not the way humans do, anyway. Sans sidesteps the lengthy oversharing about his anatomy with a shrug.]

Apparently not. [He leans back, arms supporting him on the edge of the pool. He cants his skull to the side, squinting in amused skepticism.] Y'know, this isn't a one-seater. You can wade in a little closer. I'm not as spooky as I look.

You Know What I'm Here For

[neveroutwrenched]

[Ratchet had been accosted nearly a dozen times since venturing into the grooming district; always by cats, always with an air of politeness masking a swift, but inevitably to-the-point suggestion regarding his state of self care. Polite, but blunt comments that his fur was looking a little dull and that he might like to try a nice brushing to smooth out his coat, or a nail grooming or a mud bath. It was getting hard to find ways to avoid their insistence, and eventually he agrees to a hot bath...something most of them wrinkle their noses at, but at least it gives him some peace.

Ratchet wasn’t entirely buying the whole ‘nearly boiling pool of standing water as some kind of relaxing experience’ thing...but it was quite a few steps up from the apparently common practise of being licked clean that was alternatively offered.

Still, the hot water was nice, and after a long day of having no idea what was going on, where he was, or how he’d gotten here...maybe a little relaxation was in order.

Which would have been easier if his foot didn’t keep brushing up against some kind of...well he didn’t know what it was. A pile of sticks or something. Kicking at it, he tries moving them, annoyed. Was this supposed to be part of the experience?]

i wish i had my plurk emote. you know the one.

[skelepun]

[Well from one bundle of sticks to another, relaxation was a little difficult when someone's weird, large foot kept poking and prodding at you in the middle of your nap. You're not the only one here to take a load off, pal.

Suitably disturbed from his own personal cat nap, Sans rose unceremoniously out from the water. It poured from his eye sockets as he surfaced, and the skeleton banged on the side of his skull a few times for good measure. Last few droplets dislodged, he squinted at the presumed owner of aforementioned big, weird feet.]

... 'Sup. [He finally decides, stifling a yawn.]

[neveroutwrenched]

[Ratchet can’t help but stare, eyes wide as something - someone emerges from the water. Even without quite the same ghoulish associations as some other species, it's a startling sight, and Ratchet finds himself unsure what to say.]

Uh...

[skelepun]

[Settling back against the edge of the hot spring, Sans has to hold on to the rim to keep from sinking back underneath. Floating wasn't his strong suit, and standing? Not for him, thanks.]

Are you the attendant or something? I told the white cat I was in here.

[neveroutwrenched]

Attendant...

[Ratchet would be offended if he wasn't still in a half state of shock, pressing his back against the opposite edge of the hot spring. He was still staring, and in that moment seems to realise his rudeness, shrugging and looking away abruptly.]

I don't work here. I'm not even from here.

[He glances back, a flicker of curiosity and suspicion in his face.]

What were you...why were you down there?

[skelepun]

[Getting a closer look at the guy -- sockets more unfettered by sleep and water with every passing moment -- Sans felt a little silly assuming otherwise. Sure, to look at him, feline was definitely the word Sans would jump to. Only, feline in a way that was more monster than the cats that inhabited this place.

... Was he a monster? Sans takes a minute longer to look at him, not answering at first.

It takes the question to snap him out of it.]

Oh, uh. Y'know. [He shrugs.] Napping.

hello i'm finally here ;;

[winces]

[ typically, people said "knock knock" before they entered a room.

then again, typically, people used the door.

sans had never been a very typical person, in every sense of the word, so olivia probably should have expected something along these lines... and yet she still jumps back with a sharp squeak of surprise, regardless.

he'll find her by a dresser, where she'd spent the last few minutes carefully arranging a handful of polaroids. it's not in her nature to nest anymore, not since she'd lost the will to, but the restlessness had begun to get to her, and she found herself with nothing left to do but sort the photographs out.

at sans' other side is a year-old male lion, who responds to his adoptive mother's brief bout of fright with a low, warning growl. ]

Oh — Sans! You startled me...

ALWAYS WORTH THE WAIT

[skelepun]

Whoa. Hey, kitty. [Sans blinks, finding himself startled right in time with Olivia. Of course, he doesn't squeak, but the sentiment is the same.]

I, uh. [He waves to the lion, perpetual grin a little strained, before turning back to where Olivia is situated by the dresser.] Figured you'd just be lion around, so here I am to entertain and delight.

[He holds up the bag, almost as an afterthought.]

I brought swag.

;n; YOU ARE TOO KIND

[winces]

Oh, Saffron, stop. [ olivia's gentle chastising is more exasperated than concerned, really, which can probably allude to just how much harm saffron can actually do...

or olivia's trust he wouldn't actually do something. ]

Don't mind him, Sans, he's just posturing. [ the growling stops abruptly, the wildcat glancing up at his adoptive mother with something that could be akin to injury... if saffron were actually sapient like that. ~who knows~

she drifts closer, leaning down to peer into the bag. ]

What is "swag"? [ is it edible... ]

[skelepun]

Oh boy. [Sans mutters, more out of fondness than anything. He has so much to teach you in the ways of slang, Liv. But in the meantime, she'll see that the Swag in this case is... a rolling pin.] Just something I picked up down in the shops. It doesn't have handles, you just... push it. I think that's so the cats can use 'em.

[All of that very interesting, but neatly sidestepping the whole Brought A Rolling Pin thing.]

Thought I'd, y'know. Get you a little something for helping me out. You like baking, right?

[winces]

[ now a rolling pin, olivia is quite familiar with! it may have been a luxury back home (then again, most baking tended to be, when one lived in a caravan or within soldier barracks), but she's become quite intimately familiar with them since her time here with alastair. she certainly brightens up at the sight of it. ]

Oh, Sans! You shouldn't have!

[ her hands clasp together happily, and she is quick to abandon her post by the dresser to shuffle over to him. on her feet are mismatched long socks, one of which appears to belong to a foot bigger than hers. ]

[skelepun]

[It's an amusing thing, watching someone as graceful as Olivia shuffle. It's enough to shed him of his almost bashful response to the gratitude, expression tilting from pleasantly embarrassed to indulgent amusement.]

Maybe I should've gotten you some new footwear, buddy. [He hands over the rolling pin, shrugging off her thanks.] But yeah, I dunno, maybe you can show me a few tricks sometimes. I'm still pretty amateur.

belatedly touches hot spring prompt

[hedonistic]

[So Kagari was on his way to a nice, warm, relaxing soak. Only -- one of the human members of Team Ambrosia -- is ahead of him, and lets out an ear-splitting shriek, and tears out of the hot spring like a bat out of hell.

And once Kagari finds out why? Well, there's definitely some straight-up hyena laughter going on up in here.]

Ohhhhhmygod, [he breathe-slash-wheezes, sitting down on his haunches, toes dipped into the water but not yet fully immersed in the spring]

That's officially the best prank that has ever been pranked.

[skelepun]

Wha? [Sans asks, blinking through a yawn. He's still knocking water out of his skull when Kagari approaches. It wasn't an intentional prank, but, well, Sans was never one to skip out on taking credit for stumbled upon successes.] Oh, right. You know humans, pal.

[He winks.]

It really doesn't take much.

[hedonistic]

I'll say. You'd think they'd never seen a pile of bones before.

[ha ha ha ha.

Kagari's expression doesn't change at all, even as his humor flashes dark for a moment or two. In fact, he moves right on, as if he didn't just imply what he'd just implied.]

Does it feel weird to have water in there?

[skelepun]

[It takes him a minute, but now Sans remembers this kid. The twenty questions guy. His smile goes a little wider, though with what intent isn't clear.]

You tell me, you're the one who carries it around in your cells.

[hedonistic]

[o m g

sans u fukken nerd.......]

Shit, you got me. C'mon, though, you gotta throw me a bone, here.

[c:]

[skelepun]

Don't got any ribs to spare. [He shrugs, eyesockets closing as a grin spreads out across his face.] Pretty sure the cats are expecting this to turn into a broth any time now.

'Sides, didn't you come here to take a load off? Break's are best shared.