Party camp
"I prefer the pot roast myself" Maaris quips as she walks past Runi to set her haul of potatoes, carrots and mushrooms by the cooking pots before taking a seat on a log near the fire.
"But yeah, I figured I'd be lucky to find some berries out there and instead it was easier than finding stuff at my mom's house. Pretty sure I could have just swung a stick at some bushes and come away with a good haul..."
The slime girl shrugged, it was weird but it certainly beat going hungry for the night like she expected they'd have to do when camping was suggested. "So, who's cooking tonight?"
AKA Nixer
Aoife – Campsite
“I can,” Aoife piped up, shifting in her seat a little before getting up and making her way over to the cooking section. “Dad taught me. Don't know if that's even gonna work here, but... hey, at least it feels like home...!”
She eyed the gathered ingredients that Runi and Maaris had gotten, nodding shortly. “Okay. Guessing some kinda stew, if it gives me the option... god, this is really weird isn't it...?”
It's like we're in control and really really not at the same time...
“You guys still all good, by the way? I'm... still wrapping my head around everything,” Aoife admitted, glancing around at them for a moment. “God, think about it... hour ago we didn't even know each other...”
She realised they still technically didn't. Hell, she hadn't even told them her actual name. Which could admittedly be justified in this situation, but that didn't change the fact that apart from a few basic observations she didn't know anything about them. Yet at the same time, she could feel an odd connection with them. She couldn't see herself ever really abandoning this group.
They were a tie back to her old life, after all. They'd all ultimately come from the same place.
Edited by Enirboreh on Mar 8th 2020 at 11:45:12 AM
bork
Party camp
"Definitely weird..." Maaris glances to her gloved hand for a moment, but everyone was in new bodies anyway so there wasn't much point commenting on hers and drawing extra attention to her inhumanity just yet. "I dunno, right now I'm just worried about what happens when we get to town. Like, I was just thinking how those guards back at our cells were just shadows, kinda like when a video game wants to make it look like there's people but takes a shortcut because you're not supposed to be able to get there."
The firelight reflects off the slime girl's gelatinous but still human eyes while she tries to find appropriate words. "Well, what if everyone else there was 'fake' too? Is everyone in the next city just going to be like NPCs who only have a couple fixed lines of dialogue? ...What if we're the only 'real' people in this world?"
Edited by BlitzTrain on Mar 9th 2020 at 5:00:10 AM
The neko maid had came in later than the rest- cradling many apples and a few branches of what appeared to be purple grapes within his arms. There were about 7 or so of them, and one gathering of grape-branches had about 15 of them or so.
As he got out of the bushes, his movements were slow and he staggered somewhat, as though he was carrying more than he could handle. Despite his load looking generally light. When he got closer to the campfire he could hear Aofie talk.
Afterwards, he dropped his load on the floor, the contents bouncing then rolling away on the ground. He put his hands on his knees to take a few breaths. "Yeah... I'm. Good..." He said in between breaths.
"I'm trying to just get my head down and get shit done." Lana said, hunched over the workstation. She turned around and held out her hands. These people were going to be her lifeline, best she could do would be to try and clear their heads and fix their gear. "Gimme your stuff, this thing is for fixing." She thumbed over her shoulder. "Uh, that's... not a great explanation. Huh. Um." She sat down. "Sorry. You're right, it is a lot, and I don't know how to deal with it. It's like I've had a fight response going for hours and I'm now actually supposed to think more than a quarter-mile at a time."
Bona-Fide Mastah
Campsite
Runi:Stew sounds fantastic.
-He too takes a seat by the fire-
"As for how I'm doing...it's kinda...hard to explain."
-He leans forward, resting his chin in his interlaced fingers, elbows in his knees-
"Between the voice...HUD...thing-"
A.N.T.A.R.E.S.
"Right, Antares. Between them, this body...my voice, everything in my mind screams that something is wrong."
-He rolls his head to the side, eliciting a few pops from his neck-
"But at the same time, everything feels...natural? It's goddamn weird, no matter how you slice it."
Party camp
"Yeah, while we were in there all I cared about was getting out alive. I guess we're 'supposed' to tell someone what happened, but..."
Maaris shrugs before removing her cestuses and tossing the leather and steel gloves to Lana at the workstation.
"But I know what you mean, Runi, for the most part it feels like I already know how to do everything, like that Steel Defense skill, or just not turning into a puddle. But it still feels weird that I can do this" the slime holds her hand out stiffly and bends her fingers all the way back with her other hand, an action clearly impossible to do without breaking bones and joints for the rest of the party, but they just bounce harmlessly back into place. "But whats that about 'Antares'? Haven't heard of that before"
Maaris turns from the conversation for a moment when Galdra returns looking surprisingly exhausted. "You sure you're okay, Galdra?"
Edited by BlitzTrain on Mar 10th 2020 at 11:47:16 AM
Bona-Fide Mastah
Campsite
-Runi taps his chin thoughtfully-
Runi:I can't explain it well enough but like...they're kinda like a personal stat screen? Prolly could give me party info too-"
Accessing party list.
-Hey, Runi's eyes flashed again-
"Oh, yup. There we go."
-He points at the Gel girl-
"Maaris Polaris. Gel Brawler. Level 5."
Party camp
Maaris nodded slightly "Brawler, huh?" she couldn't say exactly why, but Runi's assessment sounded familiar enough it seemed like it had to be true.
The gel rubbed her chin thoughtfully "I wonder if this means that stat thing Galdra was trying earlier works now..."
Galdra lets out one last breath and sighs, as he wipes some sweat off from his forehead. He turns his head to smile at Maaris. "Of course!" He said as he got up.
He watched Runi's eyes flash, then thought, Cool.. The neko maids expression was one of mild surprise. After he listed to Maaris, he shrugged and said "I'm not sure...Why don't you try, Maaris?" He says.
Camp party
"Eh? I've never played a VR game before, how am I supposed to know how to do it?" Maaris crossed her arms and tried to appear annoyed, but mostly she looked surprised by the sudden suggestion. "I mean, there's no buttons or anything. And I don't have some AI with voice commands..."
Edited by BlitzTrain on Mar 16th 2020 at 4:42:39 AM
Lana squinted. Some things were coming together here.
"I don't have that either." She said, speaking slowly as she thought this through. "And I'm also... like, this is what I normally look like. I think there was a problem when we got here."
Lana looked up at the stars, maybe hoping they were a ceiling. "This whole thing seems really janky and busted and dumb right? What if whatever's giving us these powers, and this quest, is covering its ass? It reminds me of working in a call center and feeling someone asking questions that my script didn't account for." She pointed at her spear. "I can walk through walls because my arm goes up in a weird angle, you think that's planned for? I think we should maybe be more skeptical about this quest to warn people and, like, go towards the big fancy city. I dunno what that means or what we do instead, I just think there's some fuck shit going on right now."
AKA Nixer
Aoife – Campsite
“I get a uh... tingle, if that helps,” Aoife commented—by this point having moved over to the cooking workstation in order to work on a basic meal for the group. “Nothing fancy, at least I think... it's sort of in my back, and I guess it's how I change spells...? Not sure about that yet...”
Lana's contemplation brought forth a worried look from the elf, but she entertained her question for around a half minute or so. The sounds of cooking (intermingled with annoying jingling sound effects) was all that came from Aoife's direction for a good while before she finally spoke up again.
“I uh, don't really know what's going on...” she said slowly, frowning down at the workstation as she noticed the simple ring-shaped timer graphic glitch out and flash sporadically beneath her. “If this is like, hell or something it'd make a sick kind of sense... but yeah, maybe there's something more going on here. I don't know. But we'll figure it out! I mean, I'm not going anywhere, so...”
She flicked at the bugged-out graphic with her finger, only to jump as it coincidentally fixed itself just as her finger passed through it. Clearing her throat to mask her mild shock and subsequent embarrassment, she finished her thoughtless spiel in a more mumbled tone that suggested she wasn't fully paying attention to her own words anymore.
“...I guess I'll stick around... you guys seem sweet and all... and I don't think I'd be able to work this out on my own...”
God, if she'd woken up by herself she'd have undoubtedly been freaking out by now. Having others with her going through the exact same thing was actually kind of reassuring. It reminded her she wasn't alone, in a way.
Take that, old me. I guess I didn't die alone after all.
Edited by Enirboreh on Mar 17th 2020 at 10:28:14 AM
bork
Galdra smirked, hearing Lana's whisper. "In either case- let's have all these grapes!!" The neko maid said he he somehow unloaded more grapes from.... somewhere.
"I wonder if there's a river nearby? Grapes are 100x better when wet." He said.
Edited by KingOfStickers on Mar 22nd 2020 at 11:17:46 AM
Party Camp
"Yeah, I wouldn't mind talking to somebody about what's up with our 'characters'... But we might want to find out more about those robots even if we're not going out of our way for these 'quests', if they're a recurring antagonistic element then we'll probably run into them again eventually"
The brawler chuckled inwardly and nodded at the whispered comment, it was a cute surprise after Maaris thought Aoife had been offended before the camp was set up "Yeah, we'll figure this mess out together"
"The only water I saw is back that way" Maaris said, pointing over her shoulder past the massive circle of scorched earth that was the remains of Raykbay in response to Galdra's request "We might have some drinking water somewhere in camp though?"
She shrugged and absentmindedly took a grape as well while she tried to figure out how access her stats or what ever kind of menu system this game might have. Aoife seemed to have a good suggestion, but Maaris couldn't think of any 'tingle' or other specific feeling associated with when she used her skill, the panic and adrenaline made the experience hard to remember in detail. (Do Gels even have adrenaline?)
So she resorted to trying to feel it out both metaphorically and physically, which probably looked like some awkward grasping at the air just in front of her until an invisible screen appeared to her as she made a motion reminiscent of opening an imaginary scroll.
"Oh? I think I got it"
Fwomph
Campsite
It takes a surprisingly short time to turn the hunting and forage into a hearty (and visually appealing) rustic stew. The taste is simple but homely, like something mothers instinctively could make. Once everyone is fed however, the night grows darker still and silent. It's time for sleep and the guard watches.
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Lana took first watch. Without much to do and nobody to talk to she focused her efforts on figuring out what she was going to do here, what the biggest curveball she could throw would be. Her first go-to was just to do debauched and immoral shit, maybe invent weed or something or seduce an NPC that clearly had a romance arc. She also resolved to check places out of bounds as often as possible, no telling what was in there.
Fwomph
While Lana takes first watch, the dark night around the camp shimmers a bit in the abject uncertainty of a dice roll.
When it clears, the faint outline of a tree is visible in the gloom. Eventually two owls settle in it's branches: One owl is white, practically glowing in fullbright from a pristine sheen and an ill-fitting specular map. The other owl is a hole of pure black against the comparatively navy star-filled sky, briefly it turns into a butterfly before regaining the shape of an owl.
There is a conversation between the two in the language of owls and liars, but it's too quiet to understand. Eventually the two owls fly off in separate directions, fading much like the tree does into the uncertainty of the night's possibilities. They each leave behind something that starts out a feather before flickering into the glimmering shape of two small brown bags on the ground.
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Oh, this was the perfect chance to fuck with things! Here we go! It only took Lana a second of thought before she wound up with her spear, took a few steps back, and hucked it at one of the two packages. Fuck any presents, who knew what'd happen if she did that!
Fwomph
The spear lands home against the stationary target, the small brown bag flickering back into the shape of a white feather again briefly before it bursts into wispy motes of white energy that fade into the night.
Bold choice, to choose without asking anyone else.
It's getting near the end of the first watch period. The other loot drop remains out there in the dark, does Lana take it in or leave it there for someone else to handle?
Lana threw the bird to the sky then went over to grab the second bag, picking it up with her spear's blunt end. That was probably even less predictable than destroying both of them! She made a note to talk to the squad about the voice when this was all over. Maybe it was like that other guy's HUD.
Fwomph
Tiredness starts to set in with Lana once she's retrieved the loot bag, the night is wearing on and it's time for the second watch group, who likely find themselves gently awoken by the same nudges of the system on the patterns of sleep.
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.
Bona-Fide Mastah
Camp Watch
Runicas gently stirs awake with a grumble.
Appointed watch shift has arrived. Please make your way to center camp
"Don't gotta tell me twice..."
With a pop of his neck, Runi slips his chestguard back on, shoulders his crossbow, and shuffles out to the center fire.
Well...glad to see this routine never changed for me.
AKA Nixer
Aoife – Campsite
Aoife awoke with a groan and a stretch, joints clicking as she fought the incredibly potent urge to keep snuggled up in the tent and actually get her lazy self up. Her lanky-limbed disposition and tiredness meant she more fell out the tent than anything, but with her discus in tow she headed for the fire—offering a sleepy smile to Runicas before sitting down somewhat near to him.
Her discus quietly moved in front of her in preparation for anything, and she blinked her reflective green eyes awake. The night vision would help. Though she had to make sure she wasn't looking at the fire. It made her eyes water even more intensely than if her sight was normal.
“...Good sleep, Runi?” she asked after a moment—keeping her voice a whisper so as not to disturb the others.
Edited by Enirboreh on May 9th 2020 at 2:57:57 PM
bork
Astratemere-Camp
-Runi comes back from “hunting” with a descent amount of venison-
Runi:Aaaand here I thought hunting would be more fun. Instant deer meat? What’s next, wall chicken?