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

[sereneflame]

That's a short and simple shut down if she's ever heard one. She watches him through her lashes as she combs her now wrung hair out with her fingers in order to begin plaiting. She's tempted to ask anyway if it hurts, but she doubts that he'd want her to go.

"I hope that you do not have to go home for a good while." Her words sound awkward to her ears as she speaks them into that tense little silence. "Stay here for as long as you can stand, Giovanni. Think upon it this way; we have been told we will be returned to the same moment in time. You may even be given a gift like I was."

[ofobedience]

If she'd asked, he'd have answered easily enough. It does hurt. Always.

But she doesn't, and instead what she does say has his eyes narrowing very slightly, has him lapsing into silence. He doesn't want to be here, wants to get back to that place for all that his fate isn't going to be a pleasant one and the moment he left had been filled with gnawing fear and uncertainty, blindfolded and gagged and restrained in Zollner's lair, unsure whether he'd be freed or escape in time to find Heine before his mind fractured and broke and left him empty. The moments that stretch by are tense enough to be felt, but finally he does respond.

"Ultimately, it's not my choice to make. We're stuck here whether we like it or not."

And that's not a new feeling. It's the only kind of existence he's ever known.

[sereneflame]

"I suppose we are." She looks away from him finally as she starts plaiting up her hair, unwilling to reach for another thread of conversation for she knows she'll steer the conversation back around to his past.

Lilac's squeal catches her ears and she settles her gaze on the squidges once more. She wasn't going to miss Lilac, but she had to admit that sometimes the exasperating little creature could be sweet. Her silence settles easier as she watches the two little creatures play together in the water, splashing and giggling and squeaking together.

[ofobedience]

She turns away and he lapses into silence, unforthcoming when left to his own devices and instead he'll focus on rinsing himself clean, attention half on Lily and Lilac whilst he thinks distantly on what she's said-- that he ought to stay with ALASTAIR for as long as he can. Right now it's a small thing, doesn't mean much to a creature like him, but it's there in him now, and perhaps there'll come a time when it becomes something bigger. Means more.