EVENT ★ ZETA-12 FINAL WEEK

[futurologists]

ZETA-12: FINAL WEEK After team Audentes makes it out of the desert in more or less one piece, they'll begin to notice the environment changing once again. After the sparseness of the sands and canyons, vegetation and water once again become more common; eventually, they've found a lush jungle with plants and rivers both plentiful. And like the changing environment, the squidges once again begin to transform. Please select an evolution according to your choice. Please note, you must have submitted your choice to the thread in the previous logs in order for your squidge to evolve. For those who encountered the cave: If they went into the cave, their squidge has taken on one of the following features: a fox-like tail, an armadillo snout (with tongue!), or enhanced sense of smell. However, if they stayed above, their squidge has one of these: a beak, a prehensile tail, or enhanced sense of hearing. THE JUNGLE (WEEK 6) The jungle air is thick with humidity, light barely filtering down past the dense canopy of leaves overhead. Unlike the forest back at the beginning of the journey here, the climate in the jungle is almost stifling, so recruits may want to look for refreshing Rainbow Berries to snack on and keep their energy up -- but keep an eye out for the Lucifer's Poppy, as its effects can cause the journey to reach an abrupt end. Rivers wind through the jungle, with waterfalls ending in relaxing pools where recruits can try to beat the heat and spend some extra time with their squidges as the journey's end approaches. Like the other biomes, there are no creatures here -- no birds, no bugs, no jungle cats -- but that doesn't mean that recruits can leave their guard down entirely. Apart from various poison plants (such as the Beezlebulb and the Malboro) other hazards to look out for include slippery, moss-covered ground cover that may cause a hapless recruit to lose their footing, and the dangers of heat exhaustion. Unlike the previous biomes, there is no major choice for recruits to make here. Instead, they must bathe their squidge in the Wellspring, a bubbling, faintly glowing pool of water in the depths of the jungle. The Wellspring is responsible for triggering the squidges' final transformation and allowing them to grow into adulthood. In order for squidges to evolve into an adult, squidge parents must have completed a certain amount of tasks during the Zeta-12 mission. If these tasks were not completed, the squidge will not evolve and will remain in its larval stage. The evolution form can be found on this post. Squidges who successfully evolve into adults will grow in size, anywhere between 122-183cm (4-6'). They will loosely retain their rounded shapes, their limbs and torsos elongating, and any physical transformations will also grow with their size. In adulthood, squidges are less needy and frightened than in their larval stage, and generally have a calm demeanor (with exceptions made if they happened to pick up an aggressive trait along the journey, of course). Their language remains a wordless burbling, but they can communicate with their caregivers through gestures. After bathing their squidges in the Wellspring, regardless of the success of evolutions, recruits should prepare to depart Zeta-12 with the knowledge that their alien children are better, stronger, and smarter for the time they spent together. OOC NOTES This log lasts ICly for one week, and OOCly for 1.5 weeks. Once the mission is completed and the squidges are bathed in the Wellspring, recruits will have until August 20th to say goodbye and let their alien wards leave the metaphorical nest. Direct questions about the Zeta-12 mission here. And don't forget about the bounty board! After August 20th, Zeta-12 bounties will no longer be completable. Please remember to fill out your squidge success form! Participation is required to pass AC this month. If you have any questions about the form, please direct them here. Forms must be completed by August 31th, 23:59 UTC.

Comments

[strictdiscipline]

[Now that he voices it, she wonders it too. Children are so often different as adults, different facets shining through. Surely the squidges can't be much different.

She makes a mental to note to ask if it's possible, once they're back, but ultimately opts for a different line of conversation.]

What was yours like, while it was growing?

[She hadn't been able to meet every squidge on the team, but the ones she had seen had all been so different, each with their own individual personality.]

[ex_adept136]

Haku was always very mild-mannered and quiet... It surprised me, since I expected he'd demand more, being so young.

[Everything he'd read about children suggested that he could expect far more fussing than he'd ended up dealing with. Haise considers himself very lucky for that much, having such a sweet-natured squidge]

And he was inquisitive — he was very interested in the samples of local flora I was collecting. [A pause, and he thinks that's an accurate enough picture of his little squidge companion] What about yours?

[strictdiscipline]

[The initial comparison between their two squidges is quite distinct, enough that it has Riza quirking one corner of her lips up.]

Remington was quite the opposite then; he rarely stopped crying the first week.

[The wails had ebbed afterwards, most often in the presence of other squidges. He'd been far more outgoing than his 'parent', always waddling over to any squidge in the vicinity and burbling happily at them.]

Actually, he was quite loud in general. He liked making noises with the other squidges, and talking to them. Though if they were talking, I can't say I understood any of what they were saying.

[What do squidges speak about with one another?]

[ex_adept136]

It sounds like he has quite a lot of personality.

[Haise can well imagine what that must be like, having seen associates deal with far more vocal squidges than his own. Sieglinge's squidge had been inconsolable when they had first crossed paths on this planet, and others had been either talkative or prone to similar wailing fits. It made the serenity of his own squidge stand out all the more]

They seem to get along quite well with one another. Squidges that is — I recall they were much more comfortable crossing that chasm with company.

[And he can't blame them for that. Though, now that she mentions it...]

It's a shame our translators don't work for their speech. Maybe that language will be added, someday.