GOOD MORNING NEW ARRIVALS
This time for real!WAKEY WAKEY.
As the storm finally peters out and characters can once again move above ground it becomes abundantly clear that the landscape has
changed. Where vast expanses of sand dunes once laid is now the half-buried remnants of what looks like some sort of...city? Full of structures. It stretches so far it's really hard to tell. But there is one thing characters will notice:
There are more stasis pods.
Revealed by the sandstorm, a whole new flurry of pods can be found scattered on the way to the city (curiously though, not
in it. Hurry and wake those guys up!
SPREAD THE LOVE. OR ACID.
With the departure of the storm there's even more new arrivals to be found besides those fellow travelers of yours! The
"Seedlings" and
"Cactus" are now both available, the former blown in by the storm and the former uncovered.
The Seedlings are generally pretty harmless. They like to burrow into the sand so only their "Leaves" plant-like leaves remain above ground, and they're quite happy to stay that way until surprised. Then they pop up and trip over themselves a little, before slowing down and wandering aimlessly. When they find a patch of sand that looks comfy they begin burrowing back down.
Pull or yank on their leaves though and you'll find yourself with
a face full of pollen that makes you want to just tell everyone
how super-cool they are. It lasts a while, and then you get a fever and vomit for two hours. Good times.
The Cacti are much less harmless and just...why would you eat them? Everything about this plant is poisonous, and cracking it open causes a corrosive acid-like substance to spill out. It'll eat through everything but...dirt, oddly. Metals and flesh are like hot oil on plastic.
DON'T GET LOST
And last but not least: The Forgotten City. Maybe you want to check out the Hull first for some loot, but maybe that's not such a cool idea anymore? Although it looks like the ship's definitely more powered after draining the suits of whoever went in, now it's started to spread and fill the sinkhole the ship's in. Suits can go from 100% to 0% in just ten minutes--not good!
Lucky for everyone else, it looks like
finally there's
some sort of civilization up ahead. Go on and check it out!
OR DO. THAT'S OKAY TOO.
Go nuts, have fun, and enjoy! (This is the wildcard option)
OOC
The
Flora, Fauna & Resources page has been updated with information on the seedlings, cacti, and crystals! These items are now all available for
Discovery, and The
Forgotten City will be available indefinitely from now on! Characters can take this time to settle & build up a foundation for themselves, explore the area, and of course, harass those poor little seedlings.
We encourage players to make their own open posts for this setting--you don't need to stick to just this intro log! But make sure to make our newbies feel welcome!
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"... Zack..?" Staring, Cloud reaches out hesitantly, then lets his hand drop. Then Zack's leaning on him, still laughing, and Cloud's... pretty sure it wasn't that funny. Feels mostly confused, but doesn't dare to move. About to ask if Zack's okay when he finally straightens up, the bright smile on his face answers Cloud's unasked question and despite the fact that he's still confused, Cloud can feel something relax a little at the sight of it.
"... Yeah, I do," he says with a nod, and even if he doesn't, really, know what Zack's talking about, what Cloud thinks Zack means, he certainly understands. Then he grimaces, dragging a hand through his hair. "Just wish... it wasn't so hot."
At least these suits seem to keep the sand from getting inside them. Otherwise things would be... uncomfortable and unpleasant both.
no subject
Probably not.
But Zack's still space invading anyway. Because he can.
"Come on, Spike. It's not that hot." Only it is. It totally is and more and he's actually kinda surprised they aren't roasting even more than he feels they should. The sun's definitely making his hair feel like a desert in it of itself, alright. But the low grumble might spell out something different that's bothering Zack right then.
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Not that he ever needs to do much for them to arrange themselves as they will, naturally.
"Yes it is, Zack," Cloud says, frowning intently, if a bit exaggeratedly. But it absolutely is that hot. In fact... "I'm... kinda surprised I haven't even burned a little, yet."
He'd been trying to keep his head down while exploring the pods, but even now his face doesn't feel more than the sort of regular hot because it's hot out, not because he's turned into a roasted ham in the sun.
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But that's a curious thought. Enough to get him craning his neck and searching Cloud a bit.
"What? Just how long have you been out?"
He hadn't suspected it was that long judging by Cloud's reaction, but... who's to know? But if it's been for a while now... yeah. Why wouldn't he be burned already? No offense, buddy, but you've got skin that screams 'Bake me something fierce' written all over it.
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"An hour... and hour and a half?" he says slowly, frowning at the ground for a moment, "mentioned something about these suits being life support, but I don't think that would have anything to do with not getting sunburned?"
It's confusing, honestly. Unless the sun here doesn't have the same effect it would at home, despite how hot it is.
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"For being something for 'life support', it sure is thin..." he mutters, more to himself than anything. "But I guess they did say going out to space without something might'a been pretty dangerous. Guess it's not too farfetched to think that would include other planets."
Still, he can't help but start to do stretches here and there and... everywhere for kicks. Maybe it's just a little easier to focus on that, too. "Sure is flexible."
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"Doesn't really... seem like something you'd have to wear in space," he says, agreeing with Zack's muttered observation. They're thin and despite that they nearly cover him from head to toe, Cloud feels... a little naked, honestly. Then with a sigh, he stands up and ends up staring at Zack as he goes through... stretches.
Blinking and looking away after a few moments, feeling awkward for some reason he's not sure why for, Cloud's gaze lands on the pod and the rations Zack dug out of it. Didn't Elma say something about the pod...
"It's a good thing it's flexible, if we need to fight. But Zack," stepping back away from the pod again, Cloud looks around. No pods seem to have blown up yet, but if it happened once... "The woman who woke me up said their pods exploded after a while... we should probably move away of these."
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"Explode?"
Yeah, sorry, Spike. That's more or less the first thing on the agenda as soon as he hears him say that. He might also be catching Cloud by the shoulder at this point, completely forgetting the weirdness of his suit, fetching what all he collected from the pod before he starts to move them away at a hurried pace.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner? Just imagine if we'd gotten too caught up talking!" He's really not yelling at Cloud, but he's- he's certainly tense about this new development to say the least.
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"Zack---" groaning, Cloud's torn between irritation and his own earlier worry and imagined scenario of having the pods explode before he'd looked through them all to see if Zack was around, "I wouldn't have... sorry. I got a bit caught up."
Shrugging, Cloud glances up at Zack, then back around to the pods spread around in the sand, relieved to see most of them - at least the ones that were intact and had someone in them - seems to have been opened by now.
"... None of them have exploded since I woke up, at least." Which he's so very thankful for, because what if someone (anyone, not just Zack) would've been in whichever had exploded? Luckily, that doesn't seem like it'll be the case.