sticksandbones | EVENT & TDM 014

EVENT & TDM 014

THE OCEAN IS ONLY SCARY IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT

WAKE UP

You open your eyes to a peaceful, beautiful forest. Whatever you were dreaming about — be it something happy, something sad, or something nightmarish — seems secondary to the bright wash of greenery and the comforting, cooling breeze that washes over you. It rustles the leaves of the canopy overhead, disturbing a small nest of two-headed birds who chirp as the sticks for their nests are blown away. A hop, hop, hop later, and they return to continue their building, unbothered by your gaze.

As you walk around, you will find that Aldric’s Grove feels… empty. You pop your head into the inn only to find a fine layer of dust on the furniture, and an ever-burning fireplace refusing to be put out. The General Store is unmanned, the door locked, and the lights inside completely out. The house to the south is abandoned, and a building labelled as a clinic sports no patients. The most life you’ll find lies in the church, where the pigeons see you and swarm at your feet, cooing and asking for breadcrumbs.

Flowers bloom, a deer with a halo of horns skips through the clearing, and a small lizard shaped like a leaf climbs the well. You spend several hours alone… and then from the woods to the east comes a giant capybara and a monstrous moose two stories tall. Upon each of them, they carry a hoard of people coming back from what is clearly a summer vacation, if the inner tubes, swimwear, and overwhelming stench of sunscreen are anything to go by.

Maybe the people dismounting the two animals will be nice enough to greet you and tour you around. It’s the least they can do, since you were excluded from the vacation activities.

NOT A MOMENT OF PEACE

It’s still early in the month when a cacophony occurs; an enormous crocodile with too many eyes, known simply as “The Behemoth” suddenly rushes out of the river in a panic as some kind of blue, veinlike latticework covers the surface of it, nearly trapping her within it. It spreads across the entire length of the river from east to west, creeping onto the shoreline up to the church and across the back of the home to the south. When touched, it stings bad enough to paralyse the nervous system, and after making contact for too long while you’re unable to move? Death is imminent, unless someone saves you.

The Behemoth certainly doesn’t try to, too occupied plonking around on land to look for something to do while she can’t go into the water. She won’t attack anyone, but she’s normally searching for a meal, if you don’t mind sharing a snack. As for the other supernatural creatures in the Grove…

Ever since that latticework covered the river, the moose monster — Moder — and the gargoyle that sits on the church’s roof — Zahliya — have only stared and scrutinized. One wrong move, one fight with another resident of the Grove, means either of them are getting up to deal with the problem. It seems that they’re waiting for someone here to show the wrong hand, suspicious of everyone — including those who have been here for over a year at this point. And the second one toe is out of line? Either of them are willing and ready to kill.

Though the suspicion of the Guardians doesn’t wear off and won’t any time soon, the blue gunk covering the river disappears at the end of the first week of July, and it’s anyone’s guess what’ll happen for the rest of the month.

UNDER THE SEA

cw: thalassophobia
What happens is pretty simple if you don’t think about it: Another week passes in peace, and then a disembodied voice somewhere in the woods says, “You guys still smell like seawater and sand, and it’s putting me off of my lunch,” and if you’re new and haven’t gone to the beach yet and have no idea what the voice is talking about… too bad, you’re being lumped in with the crowd. Being lumped in also includes, well… a burst of magic, the sound of fingers snapping, and a loud splash of water. When you next open your eyes…

You’re underwater in some kind of reinforced metal base, one thousand meters under the sea, and something is slamming against the outside of it in an attempt to get in and — presumably — eat you alive. If anyone finds the on-board torpedoes in the command room in time, you might be able to kill the creature before it breaks through the hull and kills everyone inside. And with that hopefully taken care of…

Welcome to your new home for the next two weeks. Your only objective is to survive. There are several rooms here dedicated to underwater research, a bedroom with enough uncomfortable single-person beds for everyone (sadly glued to the floor, too), and a “cafeteria” type room that you can eat in. While the seabase comes equipped with supplies — torpedoes, enough rations to last for everyone but not enough for big eaters to eat big, diving suits and oxygen tanks, and underwater planter boxes growing strange fruits — it may take some effort on your part to ensure that survival is guaranteed. After all, the hungry leviathans know exactly where you are, whether you go outside of the base or not. Water, of course, may pose an issue; there’s no way to filter the seawater here, so the bottled water you have is all you’ll get.

Should you venture out, make sure you’re equipped with the proper gear first. Those of you who cannot swim should probably stay indoors, as there are no fancy vehicles to take you anywhere. Those of you capable of going out may consider braving the danger in search of additional supplies… or perhaps you’re just curious about the ecosystem. You’ll be here for two weeks, after all, there must be something to do. Travel far enough from the base and you’ll find the skeletal remains of something far larger than the Grove itself… and if you’re not careful, a monstrous, snakelike thing who wants you for dinner.

Try not to lead it back to the base for the others to deal with. Who knows how kindly people will take to that?

AN OMINOUS RETURN

As always, when one of the Forest’s “games” ends and you’re returned to the surface when the magic wears off, there’s a reward waiting for you. This reward isn’t as obvious, however. The fog wall is, for the most part, rolled pretty far back. The folks that have been here before may expect to see it revealing more of the trees, or showing off some new area that hasn’t been accessible yet, but the Grove remains quiet upon return. The Guardians, too, have little to say. Normally, they’d be a little more overjoyed at your return… alas.

No, the “reward” for surviving — or blowing up the base immediately and dying, either way — is that the fog wall obscuring the lake ever so slowly rolls back. From within it, something jumps out, a dark black shape, and disappears into the forest.

…

Perhaps you’ll see whatever it is another time.

SPARK NOTES

CLICK TO EXPAND!

WAKE UP

Welcome to the empty Aldric's Grove! ...oh, here come the people, back from summer vacation! Hey hello.

NOT A MOMENT OF PEACE

The river and shoreline near it are messed up for a week. The Guardians are suspicious of everyone here. The Behemoth is taking big steppies around the Grove asking nicely for food. A week passes, and the Guardians are still suspicious of everyone. Yaaaay.

UNDER THE SEA

And then, everyone was trapped underwater in a seabase, made to survive the horrors of the open deep sea. Watch out for leviathans! And try not to eat and drink all of the rations immediately; that's all you'll get.

AN OMINOUS RETURN

Your reward for playing in yet another of the Forest's games is the fog wall over the lake rolling back. Of course, what jumped out of it and ran off into the woods could either be your greatest boon, or your biggest nuisance. It all depends on you.

OOC

Happy summer! This is a reminder that TDMs are considered game canon. For your threads, feel free to make up your own leviathans/weird fish/whatever you want for spice, or just steal from Subnautica, it's all good. OOC Plotting Lives Here if you'd like to plot anything out!

UPDATES

❖ None yet!

SUBMISSIONS

QUESTIONS
INVESTIGATIONS
PAST-LIFE PLOTTING

(CODE)

Threaded | Flat

Please use the following form for investigations:

Character(s):
Location:
Action: What are they looking for? What are they doing?

Edited 2024-07-05 07:31 (UTC)

i. supplies
[oh, are you hungry? thirsty? good luck. there's a teenager prowling back and forth in front of it like a damn dragon guarding its hoard. he's also muttering to himself, so, hey, there's that.]

Over two dozen people... This much water, when the ocean isn't safe for consumption... Limited food supplies, with potential for seafood...

ii. netbook
Given the limited sustenance in the base, I propose we ration no greater than six bottles of water, one full meal, and one smaller meal per person per day. An exception of two additional waters and one additional meal should be provided for those who venture outside to bring more food. Does anyone know how we might convert seawater to drinking water with the tools on board?

iii. plants
[pretty much all of the flora native to the grove -- and from other residents' homeworlds -- is alien to hunter. being as curious as he is, that leads him to want to study it. catch him and a little red bird in the growing area, looking at and poking an odd fruit bush from all angles. should he touch it bare-handed? is it actually edible, or does more research need to be done? he is testing these questions.]

i. I Know What You Want From Me

[Luca… is not coping well. He doesn’t necessarily fear the ocean itself. But taking one look through a porthole is all he needs before he spots a massive leviathan in the distance. And given his own history, it immediately sets him off. Anyone near him will feel a terrible wash of heat before he tries to storm off. Stop him, and you’ll see that his eyes have gone from the usual amber color, to a bright, glowing golden glow.

Hm! Odd!]

ii. You Want Someone to Be
[Luca begins acting strangely at that. He can be seen at all hours of the night, awake and vigilant. It’s not for lack of trying. He can be seen, from time to time, curled up in a tight ball on a sleeping bag, trying to snatch some sort of rest. It’s shortlived, though. He wakes quickly from nightmares, eyes wide and searching.

The shadows under his eyes grow. But try asking about it and, well.]

I wasn’t aware my wellbeing was any of your business.

[His already short fuse seems to shrink all the further.]

iii. Your Reflection, Your Bitter Deception — CW: Repetition, possession

[The grove is no stranger to strange writings in the netbook. It’s why it should be no surprise when, one morning, an entire page of the same five words appears. Even the handwriting should feel similar, at least to something you’ve all seen before.]

You are not safe here you are not safe here you are not safe here you are not -

[Anyone who stumbles about late at night will quickly find the culprit. Luca is wide awake. The golden glow in his eyes is back. He grips his pen tight enough for his knuckles to shine white against his skin. And before long, it shatters within his hand.]

iv. Setting You Free — CW: Possession

[After that, Luca is decidedly different. The glow in his eyes subsides. He’s far more avoidant than usual. And when spoken to directly, there is an air of authority within his voice that has likely not been heard from him before.]

If you have any concerns about me, direct them instead to getting us out safety. I will not tolerate being trapped beneath the waves for long.

v. So You Take What You Want and Leave

[Wild card! Happy Phoenix month! Luca will spend most of this month possessed by his Beast. Don’t worry, he’s not super powered and he’s not going to do anything crazy. That said, if anything above doesn’t fit the vibe but you want some lore or anything from Mr. The Phoenix, hit me up here or DM me on discord to plot!]

( i. wake up )

[ Not for the first time, Ford Pines wakes up somewhere completely unfamiliar to him. He thinks he must still be somewhere in Trench at first; the oppressive, heavy miasma of blood pollution is missing, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. There were plenty of pockets of peace and reprieve to be found during the odd happenings inflicted upon the Sleepers at a regular basis. That one of the first creatures he sees is what seems to be the deer version of a biblically accurate angel only reinforces that assumption.

But the more he wanders the most he's certain that this isn't Trench. This forest is hardly cozy, but the buildings he stumbles across exhibit neither the dreary Victorian grandeur of the city, nor the abandoned rot of the rural areas. Before long he's forced to come to the only obvious conclusion: he's finally left Trench.

That annoys him terribly, actually. He renews his search through the town, grumbling to himself as he goes, but he doesn't actually spot anyone until the return of the capybara and moose. They sight of the huge, weird creatures almost pulls him off course entirely, but he manages to stay on task this time and call up to the passengers. ]

Pardon me! I was wondering if any of you might be able to answer some questions!

( i. not a moment of peace )

[ Eventually, Ford settles in. And when he settles in, he sets to investigating his surroundings. The giant crocodile poking around for a snack is a sight to behold, and surely something someone unfamiliar with the situation would want to avoid.

So, of course, Ford is seated nearby, sketching the Behemoth as she goes about her day. He hasn't interrupted her just yet, content to observe from afar for now. He still needs time to think up adequate interview questions, after all!

He will, however, make a remark to whoever happens to wander nearby while he's working. ]

Do you suppose the disturbance in the river was put there just for her?

i. wake up

[This is not the first time Siffrin has suddenly lost consciousness and woken up in a different place, lying in the grass – from from it, in fact – but it's not a familiar patch of grass, and that's bizarre enough to distract him from the immediate and devastating realization that he's alone.

Looking around confusedly at the unfamiliar surroundings, all the green is overwhelming. Not the flora, but the literal green. That and all the other...shades? Shades he doesn't have words for. Some flowers are even that same bright, violent-looking shade of reality breaking, and just glancing their way twists Siffrin's stomach in knots. Are these colors? It's all so vibrant and wrong and he feels like his head is going to explode trying to process all of it.

So Siffrin just...lays back down, curls up on their side, and covers their one good eye. No thank you, he's good. Please put him back where he came from.]

ii. network

[Siffrin doesn't know what to make of the book he found after waking up here, or the writing that appears in it. It seems like people writing back and forth to each other, though he can't even begin to imagine how. Some kind of craft?

Eventually, they decide to experiment. A pretty decent doodle of a crab appears in the pages, soon followed by their clumsy handwriting:]

Do you know why crabs don't donate to charity?

i. wake up

[ Normally, when someone opens their eyes to unfamiliar surroundings, one might expect that person to be bewildered, confused, maybe even a little frightened. After all, being moved without consent is enough to freak anyone out a bit, right? It's perfectly reasonable to anticipate a certain type of reaction.

Well, Chie isn't doing that. There's a little bit of confusion, sure, but it's mild at best. She got kicked around twice within her first month in Ryslig! Twice! She woke up in some wet, cold caves and found her way into a city, and then that city wasn't even the one they were usually in. She felt like a pinball, honestly.

And now, here she is, in some abandoned town in the woods. Without her changes. Is she dreaming? God she sure hopes so, because exploration makes this place look super haunted, and she didn't sign up for that. But heck, even in a dream, it sure is good to have her legs back! Or not have... five hundred of them. You know.

After a little bit of looking around and finding absolutely no one, she stands by the well, plants her feet a little bit apart, cups her hands around her mouth, and yells: ]

HEYYYYYY! Is anyone here?! Anyone? Hello-oooooooo???

[ ... right about the same time that her ears pick up the sound of very big footsteps in the woods. Uh.

That is. Oh that sure is some big thing. What the fuck is that?! A deer? A deer with a fucked up head???

What did she eat before she went to bed? ]

ii. netbook/under the sea

so is it like super common to get kicked into different places here or what?

between you guys talking about being locked on the beach for a whole month and now this i'm a little suspicious. just a little!

anyway can we talk about something. like literally anything that is not the fact that were stuck at the bottom of the ocean right now. whats everyones favorite movies???

Edited 2024-07-05 18:46 (UTC)

i. the crane is doing science

[As everyone here knows and the new arrivals will find out, Gnosis when upset will simply throw himself into his work and not appear for multiple days. Of course, many things happen: They get back from the beach and he goes to make Nene new prosthetic legs, and then Mizuki dies and he goes insane from grief and starts collecting blood samples to make an antidote for god venom, and then there's Nethersea Brand in the river and the Guardians are suspicious and yeah he's just gonna stay in for a while he thinks.

Even after Mizuki is back and there's no Brand in the river anymore, Gnosis is still choosing to work over functioning. He's running multiple projects at once, they must get done you see, and he's barely keeping himself alive at this point. When he reappears from the lab after the Brand is cleared from the river, he looks tired, gaunt, and greyer than normal. And the first thing out of his mouth, despite the time oddities here, is simply:]

What day is it?

[He has not slept in three days and at this point he's running on nothing but the emotion of Science.]

ii. the crane is doing even more science

[While everyone else (?) might be lamenting (??) being stuck underwater, Gnosis, for once, is actually weirdly fine with this. Being in an underwater facility with an entire research room means things to do, although it sets back some of his prior projects by a significant length of time. This is fine, this simply means Gnosis needs to research as much as possible in the shortest time frame possible to call it good. He knows better than to think the Forest would be kind enough to just let him hang out for a bit.

Thus does he gear up in a diving suit and oxygen tank and set out. And he does not return for multiple hours, and when he finally does, it's probably almost bedtime for everyone (not that he can tell because the sun don't shine down here) and his entire left arm and shoulder are cut up to hell and back. In his right hand he is holding a lad and immediately yeeting it into some kind of containment tank in the research room.

He does not bother to explain the injuries.]

I have no idea what this realm's fascination with eyes is, but I found this guy swimming around the bones to the north of here. [the what] It was easy enough to catch.

[Gnosis you're bleeding—

It is of course, at that moment, that from the view out the porthole a much larger version of that little guy swims by, and Gnosis stops on the breath he took to continue speaking... and then starts running for the hatch again. Yes still bleeding. He has to see the fish leave him alone.]

iii. wildcard???

[you know i'm good for it hit me]

i. wake up/gardening shenanigans
a) greenhouse cw: spiders

[Despite the fact that Flamebringer has found himself in a completely new world, he doesn't act all that bothered about it. The literal first thing he does is ignore everything else happening and start taking care of the greenhouse that he just happened to wander into. Of course, taking care of the plants themselves means clearing out a spider infestation — they're all over the raspberries and anemones in here, like come on who owns this where did they go.

One day you're on Rhodes Island in the greenhouse trying to catch a spider because Podenco won't stop screaming about it, and the next day you're in a completely different location with another greenhouse and the spiders are Worse, somehow. That's life. Apparently. In a comical, fucked up sort of cosmic events way.

Anyway, these spiders? Just the worst. Some are the size of his closed fist, and that normally would make them easy to move, except they also jump and have five times the amount of eyes that your normal spider would. These may not be Originium spiders from back home but they are their own form of nuisance in their own fucked up, unique little way.

Right now ten of them are on the ceiling hissing at him. All he's trying to do is swipe them outside with a broom and they are Not having this.

So you might walk into the greenhouse and see an extremely tall, extremely muscular and fit man with horns and a tail just. Desperately trying to move some spiders. It's as funny as it is sad.]

Don't kill 'em, just help me get rid of 'em.

[They're important to the ecosystem! Just!! not in here!!!!]

b) around the grove

[Luckily there are no immediately obvious spiders crawling around all of these flowers which like, holy shit this is a lot of flowers. This rules honestly, this will be what he does all week: taking care of (someone else's) plants. To be fair, Flamebringer has no idea that other people have gone about planting these but uhhh

He's helping. He's watering them, he'll trim off the dead leaves and branches if there are any, (his tail is wagging while he crouches in the grass and works), he's going to mix up some plant food for them and—]

Hey, watch it. [Waving around a pair of garden shears,] You're blocking the damn sunlight.

ii. no peace/river time

[Flamebringer knows what the shit in the river is — it's Nethersea Brand, and any Terran who has read a book about Seaborn or even undersea plants knows not to touch it. Unfortunately that seems to be very few people here uh... are Terrans with that specific knowledge. But there's Inquisition Fire in the inn, he's noticed, and it's easy enough for him to use his powers to gather a ball of it and have it float after him down to the river. Without hitting the land with it, he sends the fire careening into the Brand, where it burns away. To a point.]

It's gonna regenerate eventually.

[And then he just

wholesale gets into the water, uncomfortably close to the eldritch horror goop like an idiot.

???????]

iii. under da sea/netbook

[In a messy, chickenscratch sort of handwriting:]

fuck this place and fuck whatever the fuck i just saw out the fucking window

[would you care for less vulgarity, sir]

come to the cafeteria if you want your nails done

iv. wildcard

[back at it again with more of this hyperfixation sorry, anyway hit me]

[CONTENT WARNINGS: At the jump, Medic here comes from a canon that, while operating on overtly dark humor/cartoony sort of rules, is grounded in reality in that it deals with some aforementioned Dark Stuff. Medic himself is a mercenary that deals in active warfare and all the bloodshed that entails, so here's a big ol CW for just about everything: war, murder/assassination, gratuitous violence, blood/gore, human experimentation (willing and non), drug use/abuse, psychopathic/sociopathic behavior, etc. If any of this stuff bothers you or you'd like it to be avoided outright in tagging him just lmk. TF2 is ultimately an extremely goofy canon and all of this stuff is not treated with even remotely a heavy hand, so it's not as bad as it sounds I promise. He's just here for funsies okay]

A) Not a moment of peace | The River

[Time flies when you've been sucked into a new dimension, and your work doesn't stop even when you've been forcefully wrenched from the battlefield. Rude to be pulled away right as he was mid-amputation, but it's fine. The guy didn't need that leg anyway, he'd walk it off-

Which is why Fritz is still walking around with his labcoat covered in a layer of what used to be fresh blood splatters, now darkened with the hours as he wanders the perimeter of the Grove to get a good survey of the land. He's got a massive fuck-off gun of some sort strapped to his back, but it doesn't look like the conventional gun you'd expect to be seeing used in the war. It's more like a bazooka than a pistol, and the massive handle on it suggests the way it's operated is...unique, to say the least.

Well, no matter. There are no bullets whizzing past his head at present, which means he has the opportunity to see what's what.

There are two places he can be found. By the River, inspecting the Nethersea Brand from an uncharacteristic distance. You see, he was going to collect a sample with his bare hands, at least until he watched one of the little fish under the water brush up against it and get immediately stunned for a few seconds. Fascinating.

He glances over to a white pigeon whose wings are slightly stained with someone else's blood sitting on his shoulder preening himself, his head tucked under his wing.]

What do you think, Archimedes? Are you brave enough to grab your Papa a sample?

[The bird pulls his head out and produces a feather. For you.

Fritz sighs, rolling his eyes.]

Yes, I thought not.

[He is Going to grab it. Maybe he can collect some by poking it with a stick or something...hang on he's stick hunting now brb

OR you might find him having discovered the Behemoth, who he is immediately fucking charmed by.]

Hallo mein Lieber, aren't you just a precious thing?

[You know, said about a fucking crocodile with a hundred eyes that could kill him instantly, but will she do that when Archimedes is flying over to her to light on her snout, becoming perfectly round there? No, I thought not.

At least until Fritz shoos the bird away with a wave of his hand, prompting him to land back on his shoulders.]

Archimedes, no. Don't be rude.

B) Under the Sea | Anywhere honestly

[Okay, this place is fucking fascinating and he's not in a huge rush to get back to the front, if he's honest.

Now that they're stuck underwater, Fritz has shifted course to studying the strange fish through the glass with a sort of childlike glee he hasn't experienced since his first autopsy. And if someone asks him "well if you're so excited why don't you go out there?" he'll wave a hand and laugh.]

Ach, don't be silly! I can't swim! I'd go out there and sink like a brick!

[Not that he hasn't had to swim in the trenches before, but that water was like, 5ft at most. Often times ankle deep. That is not the open sea, he isn't looking to throw himself into the mouth of a Leviathan (yet).

And while he isn't doing that...he's set up for himself a little station in one of the spare rooms. It's small and cramped and not really convenient, but he's worked on less with less. Archimedes is nearby of course, perched on the one cot like he owns it, though Fritz will be happy to shoo him away if it's needed for a patient. And if you come in for medical aid, he'll usher you over to sit down.]

Did something get you out there, my dear? Fret not, I'll have you feeling better than you did when you woke up this morning.

[Said mid-sentence alongside him just pulling out a syringe that's far too large, you guys are used to people stealing your blood around here, right? Of course you are.]

i. under the sea
[the aurelius siblings are straight up not having a good time.

the moment it becomes apparent that they've been transported into a glass and metal box underneath the fucking ocean, kiera goes rigid. she is absolutely no help at all with the leviathan attacking the hull, and even assuming that gets resolved somehow without them all getting instantly depressurized or eaten...

even afterward, they just continue staring, wide-eyed and chest heaving, straight out off a glass pane into the water as if in a terrified trance. whatever is going on with them, it puts a damper on their self-control enough that... those who are able to sense when a person isn't quite human will get very off vibes from kiera.

and anyone will be able to see that her usually normal-shaped pupil is now a cat-like slit.]

ii. scaredy cat
[hours or days after the initial deep ocean drop-off, maybe you're trying to go to bed. maybe you're simply walking through the dorms.

you may or may not be startled to see the glint of light in reflective eyes under a bed. if you dare to get too close, you'll hear the drawn out snarl of a very pissed off feline. the odd-eyed, long-haired white housecat is hunched far under the bed, back to the wall, tail lashing.

to leave it be, or investigate just what a strange kitty is doing a thousand meters under the sea with you all?]

ooc: as a note, white lily cookie was recently involved in a poisoning plot and is still suffering repercussions from that early in their stay in the undersea base. this will include general illness. please let me know if you would prefer not to engage with this!

⚜️ i.a under the sea
cw: thalassophobia, implied claustrophobia

( it's a cramped, terribly stifling feeling and she's almost grateful for the constant shining lights- it's harder for her to lose sight of herself in the shadows this way. but the light of freedom was not meant to be trapped beneath the sea. she's quiet, taking care to not take up too much space.

mostly she just watches outside the window, when the leviathans aren't attacking. sitting at a stool, holding her staff, she watches. at some point, she manages to find a datapad however. so if anyone approaches while she's creature watching, she turns to ask: )

Do you recognize this tool...? Or any of these fish?

⚜️ i.b under the sea
cw: thalassophobia, implied claustrophobia

( regardless of anyone's help, she does eventually figure out the datapad and has taken to recording so much in it. every time someone comes back in from the waters, she's added more samples to her side of the lab, observing and recording with a peaceful glee. only the still-heavy exhaustion from the start of the month seems to impede her-

if you come in to the lab, she smiles brightly. )

Oh, hello! Is there something you need? I was looking over some of the information left over... there's a few point of interests in the cavern, but it's hard to tell what they are. Oh, but look at this sample from the Tree Cove-!!

⚜️ ii. wildcard

( anything else you want with wl? hit me up! )

1. Part of Your World - Wake up

I want to be, where the pirates are.
I want to see, want to see them dancing!

Walking around on... oh, what do you call them? Feet!

What a pleasant dream, doing all those fun things on land, dancing, drinking 'juice' and wearing silly outfits. Oh what fun he could have! Maybe it's the sway of the ship's deck, lulling him into a deeper dream, but the imagery slowly shifts into a forest that seems so real-

So real it's still there when he eventually opens his eyes, deep blues looking over the area around him with utmost curiosity. He's been on land before, but never so deep into that green part of islands. How curious. Do cookies normally feel this... dense? His skin's smooth and soft, not crumbly! Strange.

Wobbly, the shark stands, looking around with confusion for anything familiar. Where'd his ship go? Captain? Perhaps these nice people on large animals can help him! His hand lifts, waving at the beach-dressed folk with a shockingly bright smile.

"OoOoOOoooOoOO oOoOoooO!~"

2. No leg to stand on - No Peace

So many things around! Large creatures, mystical beings. It's enough to leave a cookie oh so curious! Sorbet Shark has a rather poor survival instinct at the best of times, not is he particularly fast on those wobbly legs of his.

Perhaps you're a chance passerby, or even happened to be looking for him, but there's a blue-haired man standing still near one of the buildings, blue lattice stretching over one of his legs. He can't really smile or beckon you over, but there's a faint "OOoOo?" Sound from his chest. Perhaps asking for help?

3. Under Da Sea -

Of all the places to be trapped again... He doesn't want to go anywhere near the ocean. Not in the slightest. In fact, he seems to shy away from any area even remotely connected to it, finding the deepest part of that underwater base and mostly staying there. The sleeping quarters? Some kind of kitchen or mess hall?

He's staying between them, wandering around with a wobbly step and trying to find something to keep him busy. A game? Interesting food? Hopefully there's SOMETHING around- The deep thud of a monster against the side of the station scares him, but for very different reasons.

4. Wildcard -

[ Hello! If you want a custom prompt or just to plot anything, here's the place to do so. Feel free to contact me on Plurk: hantale or by DM as well. :> ]

i. wake up. (primarily for current players)

[ It was quite odd, finding this new place he arrived to empty. No one was in the inn, the general store, the church.

However, what Jade TRULY didn't expect was to see a capybara bus and a towering moose carrying what seems to be the residents out of the forest... With beach gear?

How entertaining. He smiles pleasantly, greeting people as they vacate their respective animals. ]

Hello- I hope you enjoyed your trip.

ii. not a moment of peace.

[ Needless to say, Jade was not expecting a giant crocodile to come out of the lake water like that. This forest was exceeding his expectations tenfold! But this time, he's not focusing on the seemingly docile lake animal- his gaze is toward the lattice work covering the body of water itself.

He's keeping his distance away from the growth just fine! Instead of approaching it, Jade has a little notebook, sketching out how it looks as it creeps up the side of the church. ]

What an interesting phenomenon... I can't say I've seen anything like it.

[ He's seemingly talking to himself, but perhaps he senses someone else's presence nearby? ]

iii. under the sea.

[ Once the sea monster crisis is averted, it's time for them all to somehow adapt to life under the waves. Well... Jade is taking it much easier than most, it would seem. It's almost eerie how it didn't perturb him. Especially as he looks through all the rations for something to eat. He's definitely one of the named 'big eaters,' so his brows furrow, a sad smile on his face when he realizes he has to take it easy. When someone comes by, he speaks up. ]

It seems we'll have to go out for resources quite soon. I wouldn't mind being one of the few up to the task.

iv. wildcard.

[ HIT ME~. Also, I've definitely posted on past TDMs before, but I'm treating this as Jade being here for the first time!! Feel free to hit me up at sillygourd if you'd like to plot! ]

[A Moment Of Peace]

[Needless to say there is a lot going on here, but after a certain point Loop has already checked out. No timeloop? Great! Transported to a different world? Sure, why not! Surrounded by weird shades and dozens of total strangers that want to bother them? Gross, whatever!! Giant crocodile stomping around? Who cares anymore!!

The only familiarity they can find is in routine, so. What else is there for them to do, but wait in the usual place?

It's probably not the biggest tree in the forest, but they find a comfy spot in the biggest tree they can find, star-speckled legs dangling down from the lower branches. The lighting looks a bit odd from a distance, but up close it's more apparent that their head is literally just a big glowing star. Anyway they're just going to sit here and pretend no one can see them until reality proves otherwise.]

[Beneath The Waves]

[hello, it's Subnautica time. The whole "avoid everyone" plan stops working once they're all stuck in a compact underwater base. Still, Loop is trying their best to stay out of the way and avoid unwanted socialization.

Although... they feel bad, being offered a share of the resources. Not contributing. Not that they have much use for food or water without a mouth, but the question then becomes do stars breathe?

This is their grand plan, to maybe be helpful for once. They are going to dunk their glowing star-head into the moon pool and see how long they can hold their breath. Maybe they'll wave at someone! Maybe the light will draw out some weird fish? Only one way to find out!]

[Cwildcard]

((hello it me Lavvy/BlueFlewFedUQueen, if u wanna do a different thing hit me up i make no promises here okok))

Edited 2024-07-08 05:34 (UTC)

I. If I could float up in the atmosphere (Pre-death Grove, Open)

[ It's that time of month again! Which is to say, there's a sea jelly fresh from the ocean, which means he's both sad to be back at the grove, but rejuvenated enough to go around bugging everyone with psychological brain picking.

He will go up and hold your hand out of nowhere if you allow him to, with big smiles all around. ]

Hi! Question!

a. What do you value most in your relationships?
b. What does a "sense of self" mean to you?
c. What thoughts and feelings does your most treasured memory evoke? What senses do you most relate to it?

II. Would anyone know that I'm hiding here? (Sea base, Open)

[ Mizuki is so excited to be in a sea base, actually. He runs through the halls and drapes himself on the beds and explores every part of the base with the stars practically in his eyes. If you happen to be nearby, he's going to grab your hands and drag you enthusiastically into the scanner room and points around at the holograms and the buttons on the walls.

Look! It's got cameras!!! How cool is that!!!! ]

III. A melody so sad it drove me to tears (Ocean, Open)

[ Mizuki has spent a lot of time sleeping on the glass tube walkway. This is his compromise with Pure Vanilla to not have him freaking out that Mizuki is out in the "dangerous" ocean - to sleep in a place where he can see, while still out in the water. It's a good compromise, he thinks.

Especially since it means when people walk by, he's able to press some algae or mud against the glass so he can doodle little smiley faces or sea jellies at them. ]

IV. The message in a bottle disappeared (Closed to Sesa) cw: mild... body horror, I guess? cw Seaborn-

[ The waters around the base is abundant with life and creatures zipping around. Mizuki is obviously very excited about all of this, especially in seeing the alien creatures. He's even ended up grabbing one of each critter he can find to figure out how they taste and what they do and how to cook them. He's not touching the rations inside, both because he wants to leave it for the folk who can't breathe underwater... but also mostly because his chef instincts would throw the biggest tantrum if he had to try the tasteless nutrition blocks.

Mizuki existing around the base has drawn the attention of... Seaborn? Not the small babies from the river, since those are still huddled around the Behemoth and Sinann in the river, but rather bigger Seaborn. None quite humanoid sized, of course, and the bones that they wear make them seem bigger than they are. Mizuki, of course, doesn't seem surprised by their existence. It's likely the "food" that went uneaten in the river that washed into the ocean that caused the critters to change. Then other critters ate Seaborn, and the cycle continues.

This is normal and there's nothing to worry about. :)

The "dogs" in particular, who have taken the bones of Stalkers and amphibious creature's legs and long tail bones from the worm like creatures to seem akin to something new. The bones are all "glued" together with black goo that is presumably part of the Seaborn itself, given it's able to move said bones as if it were a part of it.

At night, the plethora of Seaborn all curl up just outside the base, right against the platform outside. However, occasionally, there's a little Seaborn doggy that follows Mizuki inside, pitter pattering around the base with it's tiny legs. It seems to have adapted to the "amphibious" part of the bones it took a little too much, so Mizuki is happy to give it some time away from the water. It means that it's also liable to snuggle with people around the base.

Hi Sesa! You're warm. Have a snuggly sea dog- ]

V. Wildcard!
u know the drill. hmu thru pm or whatever if u wanna plot smth.

i. the single prompt i came up with for him to do this month

[Passenger cannot swim, so he's not going to brave the open ocean. His skillset is lacking in ocean survival and he will not even risk it, nope. Besides that, he has too much hair to get ruined by seawater, and not to mention he is the least hydrodynamic person here. He will be staying in.

That doesn't mean he's lazing about, though. You might see Passenger pass by you holding entire torpedoes or other equipment — diving masks, rebreathers, oxygen tanks, you name it — and flitting between the research rooms with them. There's a metal clang every so often...

...

If you come in, he is using fine, fine amounts of his own electricity based Arts to power... something.]

Stand back, please. I'm almost done enhancing this.

[He will have this place a running, fully-automated weapons factory by the end of the week he swears to god.]

ii. the wildcard for everything else

[nothing is going on in my head cause i spent my brain writing his cafe log earlier however i'm good for whatever! hit me]

i. wake up

( shizuku isn't entirely sure what's happening, to be honest. one moment she was walking home from school and now... she's in a forest. it's... a little interesting. is it a set? she doesn't remember taking on such a project though, and it's not like she's still modeling right now...

she's quickly taken off guard when a chipmunk with small yellow flowers growing from it's hind fur darts by. )

--What?

( ... and then there's the- the capybus? and a giant moose monster, except no one seems afraid.

she's afraid though. )

What is this place...?

ii. under the sea
cw: thalassophobia

( OKAY! SO. it turns out shizuku (a normal teenage girl, compared to everyone else here, even with her status as an idol) is way in over her head! one moment there's a voice! and the next, they are trapped in an undersea base.

as much as she hates to admit it, she's probably useless here. she's too afraid of the monsters in the water to go out in the water, and she knows for a fact she's probably going to break something if she tries to work with the technology. there's a lot going on in the magical notebook, too.

magic unlike anything like the sekai.

magic is real.

magic is real and she's now caught in some sort of horrible fantasy, and she doesn't know what to do. ... so maybe it's no surprise that you might find her in the cabin room, curled up like she's trying to hide. )

iii. wildcard!

( shizuku is one of four idols of the indie idol unit More More Jump! she's a good girl but is very much out of her depth. feel free to shoot your shot! )

[Arrival]

[Mayoi doesn't remember much, he realizes, as he looks up and sees the sky. The sun is warm on his cheeks, and the grown beneath him is bereft of that bitter cold he became so used to.]

[For a fleeting moment he wonders if he was having some horrible nightmare all this time, and now he's finally awake. he sits up and realizes with a sinking heart, that no, this is not ES. He still isn't home. However ...his gaze finds the two-headed bird, and a few of the other strange creatures and he wonders if he's still in the Next after all...]

[Exploration tells him, no, this is a different town. The air feels calm and peaceful, but there is something about it that leave him uneasy. The emptiness ...no, the emptiness is wrong. Why is there no one here? Why is he alone? Panic creeps in only for the caravan of strangers to suddenly emerge from the forest. Feeling his heart nearly explode, Mayoi hides himself, waits, and watches as the people of the town slowly start to disperse, seemingly returning to their lives after a ...beach vacation? What is going on, where is he-]

[So, over the course of a few days, Mayoi will simply be watching everyone from the shadows. Perhaps you start to feel as though you are being watched, particularly around the Inn, but most anywhere that's public.]

[He won't come out unless you catch him, but if you do-]

H-Hiee! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I-I am just a horrid creature, d-don't pay any attention to meeee...!

[Under The Sea.]

[It is very hard to hide in this place, and while Mayoi himself has no fear or aversion to small spaces or being far beneath the surface, he is deeply unused to the ocean. It's big and vast and full of who knows what and being put down here with that horrible monster attacking them-]

[He has nothing to busy his hands with, so instead he just does the one thing he can do to keep from rattling apart. He sings.]

[Sorry about the fucking ghost haunting your sea base, Sticks. Finding him will 100% give the vibes of some mournful spirit, so don't frighten him off- or do, i'm not your mom.]

[Netbook]

Hello ...

I see that this book is visible to the people of this place. I would like to request a little information if it isn't too bold. I have noticed a number of tended plants and small gardens. Is the ground here quite usable...? Are there ...consequences to disturbing it?

[ooc: Hello, Mayoi has an Opt-out! just in case! As always hit me up for plotting at maplecoffee (at) discord or pm me.]

Edited 2024-07-11 05:10 (UTC)

i. Every Once in a While Something changes

[Sometime in the middle of the night, in the nebulous hours between July 20th and July 21st, Vash the Stampede simply... disappears. Normally, one probably shouldn't be surprised by him simply up and going missing. But considering the fact that he, along with the rest of the grove, is currently trapped underwater, it's a bit concerning. Especially considering the fact that there is no equipment missing.

Thankfully, it doesn't take long for him to reappear. Drenched to the bone, mind you, but here. Except... is it really him? His hair is much longer, reaching down to his chin in its sopping state. While he still has his three elongated arms, the prosthetic seems to be missing at present. And since when could he grow facial hair? Just patchy stubble, but still.

Worse still is the almost vacant way he looks around his surroundings. Or how he just grins at whoever finds him, regardless of whether they're scolding him or simply checking on him.]

Jeez... No idea where I am but I'm already being fussed over. Did Lina call ahead and tattle?

ii. And It's Changing Me

[Despite his vastly altered state, "Vash" manages to settle in well enough. He throws himself into helping, same as ever. If anything, he seems less keen on doing the stupid and brave things. Instead, he's lending a hand with menial tasks, albeit a bit more clumsily. He'd gotten used to having one arm, which means having three is a little... difficult.

The only problem is that what happens when he sees a new face. Though his brow pinches, and he swears he feels a name on the tip of his tongue, nothing comes out. Instead, he holds out a hand and offers a grin.]

It's good to meet ya! Guess I'm the new guy around here. Name's Eriks!

iii. It's Too Late For Me Now, I Am altered

[Life goes on. Despite everything, Vash, or Eriks, or whoever he is, seems to be doing well enough. He takes his new locale in stride, and his interesting new friends are no bother to him.

It's only once they finally manage to return to the surface, and take their first steps back into the grove that something seems to... shift once more. As they step out of the woods, Vash spreads his arms wide and lets out a sigh.]

Sheesh. Good to be back, isn't it?

[It's only after the space of a few heartbeats that he realizes what he's said. His brows pull together as he turns to look around the grove once more.]

Back... uh. Wherever here is.

[It's a small step, but it's the first of many to come.]

iv. There Is Something Beneath

[[Welcome to Canon Update Vash! To catch everyone up to speed, he is now in his post-canon, "amnesiac" state. Because I don't want to lose his progress and development, the effects of this will steadily wear off the more he's surrounded by familiar things, and shouldn't last more than a few weeks. As such, if you want to do something different, plot out something a little further down the line, etc, hit me up here or message me on discord! Thank you!!!]

a. Wake Up

[My goodness. What a beautiful, quiet forest to wake up in. It'd sure be a shame if someone started screaming.]

W-Where is HE?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY PARACELSUS?!

[Waking up somewhere new isn't that terribly upsetting, at least not for A.B.A. She has a love for travel and seeing everything the world has to offer, and this forest is absolutely lovely compared to some of the places back home. No, it's the fact that she woke up completely alone that has her so rattled. She hasn't been alone in years, and was only JUST reassured she wouldn't have to worry about that in the near future.

Something must've happened, Paracelsus wouldn't just lie to her like that...right? No, it had to be someone else's doing. Someone who will have to pay.

So she tears through the forest, desperately searching through bushes and behind trees. It's when she reaches the buildings that she starts to panic more. So.. So many places he could be, helpless and alone, just waiting for her... Places she'll have to turn upside down just to find him.

Her instincts tell her to head for the inn first. Where there's an inn, there's bound to be.....keys. Many keys. And if her beloved husband isn't there, then at least she'll have the comfort of keys to calm her nerves. But before she even reaches the steps, A.B.A. is caught off guard by the horrifying sight of everyone returning on those horrible...monsters.

Scary.

It's too scary!!

So you might manage to catch a glimpse of a very...bizarrely dressed, bandaged woman fleeing for the inn, peeking behind the door like a frightened animal. If you decided to come any closer for whatever reason you might have, you'll find that she SLAMS!! the door right in your face, desperately holding it closed in hopes you go away. Um, sorry if you're staying here...?]

G-Go away!! BEGONE!! Crawl back into the pit from which you store your cane!!

[Despite how frail she looks, she's doing a damn good job holding that door closed...]

b. Not a Moment of Peace

[A.B.A. has not been settling in well. At all. Without her emotional support husband, she's been incredibly skittish, bumbling around the Grove like a giant stray cat. It's.............fine, she's used to sleeping outside and honestly prefers it, but she hasn't been able to calm herself since arriving. Without Paracelsus, she feels so...exposed. Her mind feels like it's constantly vibrating and there isn't ever a moment where she's experienced true rest. It's not uncommon for her to dash off the second anyone tries to reach out to her.

Except for now. The sight of the Behemoth has caught her frozen in place, probably stopping her from digging through someone's trash. Why...why does everything here have to be so scary...?]

A beast...? No! A fiend!? [That's a lot of eyes for an animal, that's all I'm saying.] .........We should kill it.

[Is...is she asking for permission? ....Is she actually willingly talking to people?!]

c. Wildcard

[For everything and anything else! I purposely avoided any underwater stuff just because I'm not sure how committed I am, so I didn't want to get TOO involved with the plot. But I'm not against any ideas that involve that, if you have any. Hit me up at

Gesomon if you need to.]

wake up.

[it is indeed a beautiful forest...not as beautiful as his ruinwood, but even it was once closer to its name. and this one certainly has charms of its own.

like two-headed birds. daeshim knows every bird in the ruinwood, by color or song, but not a one of them has two heads. naturally curious, he must take a closer look!

and that's where you might find the fae first, climbing one of the trees, pulling himself up on the closest limb to observe their handiwork.]

Mm Mm. [he nods his approval.] You only need a small fortification on this side. You, down there! [yes, you.] Catch me!

not a moment of peace.

You are quite the large lizard. But still lovely.

[daeshim has found himself a spot to sit near the crocodile - but not too close. he might not know a lot about her kind, but the teeth suggest that he might make as good a snack as any. at only five feet tall, he's even bite-sized.

after a while he stands and goes to the river's edge to squint at the blue stuff.]

...What a strange vine.

[don't mind him, he's just going to get a stick and poke it.]

netbook (under the sea).

i am unfamiliar with these fruits.

even so, a pie is a pie! and there is not better way to pass the time than with a pastry.

would anyone like to make one with me?

i. wake up: netbook.

[enter yet another new arrival who doesn't know how the netbooks work. as all the existing residents make their way home on capybaraback, a series of drawings emerge across a few pages. the first spread is a museum-quality map of the main grove, including the river and treeline. any buildings with signage or whose usage is obvious enough are labeled accordingly, while private residences are left unmarked. the next few pages consist of quick but true to life sketches of a few landmarks and other things of note. the goddess statues and the behemoth in particular are given an extra bit of loving detail. a few arrows are drawn toward the crocodile, and the new handwriting that follows is an all-caps script.]

DRAGON ???

ii. under the sea. cw: unreality

[a dude in a suit of straight-up black armor is definitely one of those taking up a cannon in that initial leviathan scare. despite the medieval get-up, he handles the high-tech torpedo system as easily and accurately as anything.

assuming things have calmed down afterward, the nearest person is getting a quirked brow and a tone that is... fairly amused, considering everything.]

I don't remember consenting to an underwater tower defense simulation, and my next best guess is some sorta Caelian mind torture. So -- what're you in for?

1.

[The tight quarters of the undersea base are certainly annoying, but they don't stop Timekeeper from continuing to snoop on anyone she finds particularly interesting. It's just somewhat more obvious now, despite her almost supernatural ability to seemingly appear out of nowhere and disappear back into it just as suddenly.

So, you might notice her around corners, at the end of every hallway you glance down, already in the room you were headed to slightly too often to be a coincidence. The click of her shoes on the floor is distinctive - perfect second or half-second intervals that sound eerily like the ticking of a clock. You'll hear them a lot more often, given that there usually isn't enough headroom here for her to fly around.

And then, just as it's starting to drive you mad, someone or something else has caught her attention and she's abruptly nowhere to be found. For a while, you have peace.

At least, until the moment you're engrossed in something or other, thinking you're alone, when her voice rings out from directly over your shoulder.]

Oho! Now what is this you've got?

2.

[Did you have some collected resources you wanted to put to use? Were you thinking you'd get some equipment made, or perhaps turn some freshly caught creatures into food the easy way?

Whoops, too bad. Timekeeper kind of has the base's fabricator halfway taken apart right now.

The whole console has been neatly removed from the wall. Panels have been lifted off it, wires spill from holes left behind. Most of the large mechanical pieces have already been separated and laid out on the floor. A whole mess of smaller components are piled near them neatly. At least, it all looks deliberate enough, though if there's a system of organization there it's not easy to clock at a glance, no apparent rhyme or reason to the neat little piles of screws and wires and other bits and pieces. Nothing looks broken - merely taken apart by an expert hand.

Timekeeper herself is seated cross-legged on the floor, the disconnected laser array in her lap, turning it over with a curious sparkle in her eye. She's got her hip pouch open, a collection of tools peeking out of it.

The moment someone stops in front of the mess, she speaks without looking up.]

What is that look for? I was bored, you know!

3. Wildcard

[TK will be a bit easier to find than usual, so perhaps this is your chance to grab her for whatever interaction you desire!]

I. CHRISSY WAKE UP

[ It's hard to say how long this young woman has been sitting amongst the flowers, looking both frazzled and bewildered. It could be mere minutes. It could be hours. One just truly never knows, except for the young woman in question who is kind of shifting awkwardly where she sits, mumbling under her breath as her expression finally shifts to...

... Anxiously Determined, if you had to assign it a name. ]

All right. Normally, when one is lost, the best course of action is to stay put and await your companions. But this is less lost and more misplaced, so maybe the rule doesn't apply? But, but, this could also be similar to the House, except, ah, outdoors, and not House-like at all, but--

[ This mumbling will continue until she's interrupted. ]

II. UNDER DA SEA

[ She's had many an adventure over the last few months, but nothing quite like this. Nothing that involved being underwater and despite Maribelle having since learned that one didn't need to take every class ever and that it had, in fact, not really made her feel as though she'd learned all that much, she can't help being curious about quite literally everything.

Carefully and politely, of course. She's not here to step on anyone's toes, she's just here to satisfy her curiosity about things like what one would research underwater or what kind of plants these planters are really growing or maybe she's just sitting on one of those beds in the communal sleeping area and looking kind of nervously at you, like she'd like to ask a question, but maybe not--

The sky's the limit! ]

III. WILDCARD

[ Anything else, pretend it's not August maybe! I'm up for anything! ]

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hunter 🐦 the owl house 🐦 current player

Luca Aurelius | Original Character | Current Player