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

[ofobedience]

You were made incorrectly. The words slam into him like a bullet to the gut and there's a moment where he can't will himself to move because that's right isn't it? Yes it is.

(Worthless mutt, useless dog stand up and fight.)

There's everything wrong with him, a broken crippled thing that's fractured and falling apart and it cuts into him down to the bone. After everything that's happened in this place, the awful desert and the open spaces and the sky as wide and ominous as a wound and the days and days and days of trudging monotony, it's hard to pull himself back from the slow inward slide so when Laedo takes hold of him again he doesn't shoot, doesn't bite or snap or snarl. He just stands there, motionless.

"Get off me," the words are delayed, and when they come they're softer than he'd intended them to be. Lack the usual sardonic drawl.

[asscan]

"I will not," Laedo replied, voice lowered, but far from soft. "You cannot understand the risk you pose. Until you promise to change your ways, or to stay out of the way of others, I will hound you."

[ofobedience]

It's enough. He's had enough, and finally he begins to move, arms slashing upwards with inhuman speed, pistols pointing at his fellow recruit as he emits a choked-off animal sound and finally - finally - pulls the triggers.

[asscan]

If Laedo had not been thrumming with magic compressed into a thin shield, he would have been dead. Though he had managed to survive the noxious spores breathed out by the creature in the swamp, that had been a matter of luck and the speed with which he was able to react to push the damaging substance from his lungs and veins... so unlike Giovanni, solid lead through his head would not have the benefit of healing over with no problem.

...As it stands, solid lead ejected at point-blank range is enough to deflect some force through the shield and Laedo, jaw cracked and face taking a wide-spread impact, is pushed back from Giovanni head-first as the bullets ricochet off of the barrier.

He doesn't know what happens next, for even as he falls backward he loses consciousness. Human forms are weak, pathetic things--just like his goddess had always intended.

[ofobedience]

Again it's unexpected, the backlash from the magical shield sending both bullets slamming back and into his own waiting flesh, one in the shoulder and the other right between the eyes. Pain flares hot and fierce just for a moment before brain function temporarily cuts out, sends him slumping to the base of the tree as Laedo falls back and away from him. He stays there for a while, onetwothreefour seconds before suddenly he's sitting up straight, dragging in a sharp and fractured breath.

It only takes a moment for him to remember what happened, to take in the sight of Laedo's fallen body, to drag himself to his feet. Worry shoots through him at the thought of the shot to the head, has him wondering just how well ALASTAIR has managed to patch up his biggest, most sickening flaw. Whether his memories will start slipping away from him all over again and he'll end up an empty mindless husk before he ever has the chance to return home.

But there's no point in dwelling on that, now. Instead he's pushing himself to his feet, aiming a sharp sullen kick at the motionless body in front of him before stepping over it and slinking off into the trees. He needs some time to collect himself, to regain his composure, and he doesn't give Laedo so much as a backwards glance as he stalks away from him.