awashlogs | FOREST SEARCH [ closed ]

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FOREST SEARCH [ closed ]

WHO: Everyone who signed up for this mini adventure here!
WHERE: The forest
WHEN: 8/12 Early Afternoon
WHAT: Everyone went missing on the 11th, and this is the first place that most people suspect. So, they're having a search! After all, the island isn't visible in the water, yet, and this is way too many people missing. Time for some adventures.
WARNINGS: Violence in certain groups! Let me know if your group has any other warnings to add as they come.

[I will be PMing each group with the information I received from the mods! I wanted to have the link to the log in the PM, so here's this first, but expect those group PMs shortly.

Please remember, if you have any questions from the scenarios, choose one person in your group as the go-to person to ask the mods questions, so they can keep track! Thank you! And please tag your characters into the log so I don't have to add all 17 tags thank you very much.

Remember, everyone enters as one group, but gets separated by the forest! For a recap and ease of access, here's the general overview of the forest that applies to everyone, from the mods:

---

To begin with, the usual forest disclaimers apply: it's entirely up to the characters how far they go and what they experience out of this entire scenario; we'll be outlining the entirety of it for each group, but if they decide to turn back at any point, that's perfectly fine.

The first thing they will notice when heading into the woods is that it feels as though there is some strange, uncanny whispering, but it is just too low for them to catch any words. Nonetheless, the deeper they head in, the more irritating it will get. It will also feel as though someone or something is watching them, though they will catch no glimpses of anyone in particular.

They can find animals out here! All of the animals out here are some sort of strange mutated creature, but will act like regular animals otherwise; for example, a deer with bat wings will still flee when they approach, whereas a bear will likely still attack, even if (or maybe especially if) it has the ability to breathe fire.

And, of course, each and every group will be split up by forest shenanigans; as soon as they step into the woods and walk, they will suddenly realize that there is nobody but their group beside them. There's no warning, nothing happens -- one minute they're with everyone, and the next, they're with their small group and nobody else. Uncanny!]

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[a knight of time and a king of water walk into a bar...

which is to say that gandharva—or ruva, as he's still going by—doesn't recognize the person he's stuck with. not too surprising in itself, considering he doesn't know too many people here (and thus, blissfully, is minimally affected by the separation from the kidnapped), so he'll roll with it.

still, the entire situation is concerning, particularly for someone who's never ventured into the woods like this before. he doesn't move forward just yet, instead glancing around, as if he could find everyone else by doing so.]

I do hope the others are all right...

[and by "others" he really mostly means the few he actually cares about, but no one needs to know that specific detail.]

Still, since we're here to find those who've gone missing, I guess that's what we should be focusing on.

[ dave always tends to look a little stoic, but today he looks...less so. he's been running his hands through his hair and he seems genuinely worried though he introduced himself to "ruva" easily enough as "dave strider, sup". it's the little frown, the tension in how he stands. it's been a day since his best friend disappeared into the wind, taking with him everyone dave knew from home (his brother, jake too) and so many of the people he'd become friends with in chroma. keith's mia. ochako, damian. too many people are just not there.

the house is too quiet without john, and it feels monumentally unfair that dirk has vanished when things have been going so well with making themselves into some semblance of a family.

dave hates it. he takes comfort in the fact the sun locket he's wearing still has color and hasn't done anything strange. if it had to save john's life, it would be doing something. wouldn't it? and their forum names haven't been crossed out. so it's okay.

it has to be okay.

still, his voice is calm when he responds. ]

The woods did this bullshit last time, when we came in exploring. Split us up into neat little groups, and I had to play a game of chance with my shadow. Everyone else is probably okay...with any luck, one of the groups will find at least a clue about where all everyone got to.

[ with even more luck, it'll be them. dave starts forward, but he keeps to ruva's pace, automatically trying to stick to the person the woods shoved him off with. ]

So yeah, let's focus on what we can find. The others can handle themselves. You got any powers?

[gandharva's not dragging himself along, at least, but yeah, shorter legs than dave, so thanks.

in response to dave's words, he hums, thoughtful. the idea of throwing multiple groups in hopes that even just one of them will find something? it's tad annoying, but he can't say he's not used to it. then again, that might be precisely why he finds it distasteful. he left that kind of life behind.

either way, there's not much of a choice in the matter. he needs to be "helpful", after all.]

Yes. They're mostly water and ice-based, though I can heal as well—myself and others.

[but he'd rather not show off his powers if he can help it, especially on the offensive end. while he's no longer pretending to be weak and helpless here, it's hard to shake off the paranoia of living in hiding for years. hopefully, this human (?) will be strong enough to take care of things.]

... I assume that if you're thinking to ask that, then you yourself have some.

Time manipulation as long as we're outside of town, though I can usually stop things inside town. Flight, speed, sword.

[ dave straight up doesn't mind who knows what he can do, and the answer is casual and confident but not really bragging. just a sort of matter of fact list of what he can do and what he's bringing to the table. he doesn't mind being the more offensive member of a team, since it's happened often enough since arriving in chroma.

he wouldn't have minded much before then, for all that he doesn't really enjoy fighting all that much.

enjoyment has little to do with competence. ]

I don't heal beyond like, actually physically sewing up wounds and whatever after everything, so I'll be countin' on you for that if we get banged up enough to warrant it.

Ideally, it won't come to that...

[not that gandharva sincerely cares one way or another: call it confidence or cluelessness, but he doubts anything here will kill him. as for dave... well, gandharva would feel bad if anything happened to him, but at heart, it's more because he understands that "letting something happen to a human is a step back in redemption" rather than out of any genuine concern. oops. maybe one day he'll learn actual empathy.

in any case, it doesn't take long before the path through the woods becomes less than straightforward. gandharva's about to pick a direction at random, since he figures dave will have no strong feelings regardless—but then he freezes.

take the right path.

... honestly, gandharva barely hears the actual words said. what matters to him is the voice—one he hasn't heard in centuries. and, above all, one he was to never hear again.

sorry, dave, but your partner is a little unresponsive right now.]

[ the voice dave hears is the one he trusts most. the one that isn't here, at least, because he'd follow john in a heartbeat right now, but that's someone they're looking for. the arch voice, calm and precise, is one he hasn't heard in months and his head snaps to the right immediately.

rose lalonde isn't there. but it was his sister's voice saying dave, go to the right with the same self-assurance she always had when she was telling him what to do. what path was the best one, the right one, the one she'd Seen because she was the seer of light and she knew where they were meant to go.

rose isn't there. she isn't here. dave knows it, but he can't help but want to go to the right anyway. it's probably dangerous, probably a trap, but what's the point in running away from something they found when they were looking for any sort of sign at all?

he takes a step, but then pauses to look back at gandharva. ]

Hey. So call me crazy, but I think we've found a trail of breadcrumbs to follow back to the proverbial witch's house.

[...

gandharva breathes in, and then out. somewhere, in the haze of his shock, he relaxes that he needs to focus. move forward. he has a destination to reach.

logically, there's no way it could be menaka; she's been dead for a long, long time. on the other hand, no one has ever, in the history of the literal entire universe, called gandharva a rational being, so you know what? he doesn't care.

menaka has never led him astray.]

... Yes, it seems that way. Let's go, then.

[he doesn't understand what's going, but right now, he accepts that he doesn't need to.]

We just have to avoid gettin' shoved into an oven at the end of it.

[ and we may as well take turns picking traps. the first one...

well. it looks like there's suddenly pure darkness. maybe they have to navigate across this clearing with only the voices to guide them? and maybe in the darkness there are burning coals and only a few safe places to stand. maybe there's a glimmer of that light near their feet, but it's hard to see.

it's hot. ]

For fuck's sake. I take back the oven comment! Why the fuck is it always dramatic irony.

[Okuni can get pretty single-minded when it comes to things she's interested in, namely this fun and intrepid adventure into the forest, but even she notices when everyonE ELSE IN THE INITIAL GROUP is just -- not there alongside with them. Her eyes flick around in surprise, noticing that both Lupin and Guren are still there at least, but like what about everyone else? Did the forest just eAT EVERYONE?? Is she the only one who's just realized everyone is missing after the fact, or is that another 2spooky forest thing...

At least she doesn't scare anyone by screaming or grabbing someone in shock, small blessings... She already knows this forest is hella weird, but this is her first time so... She directs her gaze to the two who are lucky enough to remain with her, sounding as always more curious then alarmed.]

Is this a normal occurrence?

[a "this" referring to just about anything, but look... she needs to know. surely, guren and lupin understand what's going on here!!!]

[gandharva absolutely does not understand the reference, so his face is just ??? over dave's comments.]

Er... why an oven?

[honestly, as someone who can withstand the temperature of a white star, heat is, like, nothing to gandharva, so he's still unbothered. hence why, casually, he takes a step forward right onto those coals.

... then he remembers that oh, right, humans probably don't like burning heat, so. that might be an issue? he probably shouldn't just leave dave behind, unless dave wants to show off his flight right about now.]

Shit, you've never heard Hansel and Gretel? It's a fairy tale, so it's probably in the library somewhere. That's all we have there, pretty much.

[ dave is, in fact, going to float up to hover above the coals. it doesn't seem like ruva is reacting to the shit at all, so he's...probably fine? dave sticks close to the voice and sense of another person, even though he's hard to make out right now.

he keeps talking as he drifts forward through the darkness. ]

So, there were these two kids, right? Brother and sister. And they lived with their dad and of course a wicked stepmother, because who the fuck doesn't in fairy tales? The mom is almost always dead and the lady who took her place is pretty much always evil with like. Very few exceptions. It's like widowers constantly go to like, blind date setups where everyone is out to get their money and also maybe their lives, and they're like shit yes sign me right the fuck up because that's just what you do when your wife dies, I guess? You hitch your wagon to the worst option humanly possible so you can ride straight off a cliff.

[He knows he probably shouldn't be doing this right now. Minato's felt the opposite of well lately, but he still feels okay--he mostly feels like he's come down with some sort of cold or something, his head stuffed full of cotton and his limbs heavy. It's fine, right...? So long as he can still summon his Persona, he can still help, and too many people are missing to back down now.

He can't even say he's surprised when the others disappear as easily as that; his teeth grit together, expression growing more serious, but ultimately he just takes a deep breath and looks at Kaoru and Yata.]

... Do you two want to keep going? It'll be riskier now.

[But... worth the risk? Maybe, if that's where their friends were kidnapped to.]

[ up until this point, Lupin has been smart enough to not go into the forest like this. What's more, he's even been advising other people not to go in so that further stupid injuries and/or death can be avoided.

But here he is. It had to happen eventually. Too many people that are important to him have disappeared for him to ignore, and why wouldn't he suspect the forest, when it's been the apparent origin point of every other disaster that's happened here? He has his cane with him, and as many bombs and bluffs and whatever else as he can fit into his various hidden pockets. He'll find his friends - and, at the very least, he'll try damn hard not to incur the aforementioned stupid injuries. ]

From what I've heard? Yeah. [ he glances around - no one here but the three of them, apparently. He's a little nervous about suddenly losing sight of Minato, but he'll just have to have faith that he can take care of himself. ] We should stick close together. Miss Okuni, can you defend yourself at all?

[conclusions from this journey so far: this human likes to talk a lot, doesn't he?

well, it's entertaining enough, so he doesn't mind, as confusing as the entire thing is. also, this is mildly hilarious, even if not to gandharva, that dave is saying all this to an actual widower, but anyway.]

... Is that so? I didn't know humans had such a low opinion of... [uh, wait, what was the message of that ramble—] ... remarrying?

[he's careful to try and keep up with dave. it'd be a problem if they got separated in the darkness, though he trusts that whatever's guiding them won't allow them, because clearly, mysterious voices will never do you dirty. especially since neither of them is hurt so far?? so this is fine.]

[ THAT IS THE CORRECT CONCLUSION, RE: DAVE LIKING TO TALK. maybe not the correct conclusion re: voices. it's your turn to trap them up, jan, feel free to fuck them up because they're DUMB and DESERVE it.

but anyway, dave laughs. and continues...his story... ]

I mean, most don't. It just seems to be a thing in fairy tales? I guess some real life people feel the same, but I don't see the point of it...anyway. The main point is the stepmom was like, well shit honey we don't have enough food and money to support these two kids you had with your poor dead wife, so we should probably just get rid of them? As you do when you're an evil stepmom. It's like in the guidebook the drinking society hands out for new evil stepmothers. Step one: get rid of your stepchildren as dramatically as possible.

[ he may be rambling to stave off all the everything, even as he listens for rose's voice. ]

So the dad takes the kids into the woods and leaves them there. Luckily, Hansel had a pocket full of stones and dropped them one by one, making a trail to lead back home. Because, like, he saw his stepmom plotting and went well fuck guess I have to make a plan! And it worked. You know, the first time. Eventually she cottoned on, though, and he got stuck with only a pocketful of breadcrumbs.

[honestly, in the nonexistent scenario where gandharva had remarried and his new wife wanted him to ditch his daughter, he probably would've murdered the stepmother, so this story! is incomprehensible to him!!

so already he's hoping the stepmother in this story dies.]

Ah, that's unfortunate. What happens next, the—

[—except the problem with the utter darkness + gandharva being unaffected by the coals + this definitely trustworthy voice means that he's not bothering to watch his step, and the issue with that is, uh.

he sort of obliviously walks right into a pit! whoops. quickly, he tries to grab onto the pit wall, but there isn't actually anything to hold onto, so at most, as his hands scrape along said wall, he's just slowing his descent down into further blackness.

problems when, among your numerous abilities, flying... isn't one of them... admittedly, he could do something about this if he really tried, but.

help please, dave??]

Ruva?? [ dave breaks off the story mode immediately when ganharva stops talking and there's a sort of, you know, sound of someone dropping and hitting the ground. or the side of a hole in the ground. he's concerned, and it slips into his voice a little even as he gently touches down and takes a cautious little step.

into thin air, but yeah, he can fly. ]

Shit. Okay, let me... [ he's muttering to himself and reaching down to touch the side of the pit. there may? be spikes or something along the sides, and he swears (fucking dick nuggets) when he cuts his hand but keeps going down until his hand touches a person. ] Okay, just grab on. I can fly us out of here.

[He'll go ahead and let Okuni answer that for herself, since he's busy looking around them, trying to find if there's some way to get back to the others— but there's no sign of them, no sense of them— it's as if they're just gone.]

Damn it.

[He pulls out a compass he'd brought back from his world, checking it before he glances back at the other two. Whatever came of that self defense conversation—]

They're all probably fine, but this forest has a mind of its own. It's likely that they're all split into groups like ours. The last time this happened, everyone had something different to deal with. It's dangerous. You could get hurt.

[He pockets the compass.]

If either of you want to go back, you should do it now. Otherwise, you'll follow my orders moving forward.

[well, gandharva's upset now because he wanted to hear the rest of the story, but that should probably be knocked down on the priority list.

while dave likely can't see it just yet in the darkness, gandharva isn't bleeding, in spite of the cuts on his hands. instead, there's just icy wisps coming from them, as he begins to regenerate.]

Do you think you can carry me...?

[thankfully, he's not heavy by any means, but he has no idea how strong dave is or isn't.

anyway, getting out of here sure would be nice! only there's now a swarm of vicious birds swooping in from above to attack them. also, presumably mutated, so they come with fun effects such as breathing fire and the like.

so. going back up might be difficult.]

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Page 1 of 7

FOREST SEARCH [ closed ]

GROUP ONE: Noctis, Bruce & Giorno

GROUP TWO: Phoenix, Yosano & Izuku

GROUP THREE: Minato, Yata & Kaoru

GROUP FOUR: Percy, Nanjo & Kyrie

GROUP FIVE: Okuni, Lupin & Guren

GROUP SIX: Dave & Gandharva

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