[closed] the price quest

[cardcaptured]

WHO: Xiaolang Li, Leon Zhong, Mio Sonozaki, Izumi Sena and Cloud Strife
WHERE: The wild, wild woods of Bosuma
WHEN: May 18th-20th
WHAT: who keeps sending the thirteen year old on missions-- They're on a Zee Quest!
WARNINGS: Language on Sena's end?? Also probable violence towards not so friendly forest creatures and possible mentions of murder-memories with Mio! Will update when needed!



You know, there’s something about Retrospec users that draws a lot of secrecy and hidden talent. It’s kind of interesting if you think about it, but that’s what makes you perfect for this assignment. Interested?



[arrival + painting | monster fighting | witch's house | downtime]

Comments

ARRIVAL + PAINTING

[cardcaptured]

Once the group agrees (which we can handwave coordinating with Zee), he will send them coordinates for a spot right where Recollé Woods is supposed to be. He will ask that they pick up their Retrospec-given paintbrushes and once they have those in place they will have to paint the woods to life, walking further and further until they enter Bosuma.

Given that all areas are wiped away including in the other regions, the space is still very white. As they paint though they’ll find themselves bringing back the neon flowers and the small woodland creatures in an array of colors based on their brushes.

[A top level for repainting the forest and exploring!]

[quiet_storm]

Let me know of your sprayers start to lose power. It's a lot easier to clean them out before they're completely clogged.

[Cloud has nominated himself the team equipment manager.]

And don't forget to wear your goggles if you're using the mist setting. A stiff breeze will blow it all back in your face.

[cardcaptured]

[Honestly, as much as Xiaolang likes to tinker around with mechanical stuff and dabbled with robotics back at school, the idea of making cool new contraptions to make their painting easier hadn't occurred to him. So he's going to be observing the sprayer in his hands, looking over all of it's little parts and settings, with no lack of quiet enthusiasm. It was times like these where the actual thirteen year old boy shined through.]

How long did it take you to put these together? They're like those packs in Spirit Blasters!

[HE WANTS TO TAKE ONE OF THESE BACK WITH HIM....]

[quiet_storm]

About half a day. I've gotten a lot faster with assembly since refining the design after the latest round of field testing.

[Cloud tugs his goggles up onto his forehead and grins.]

I did model them after the BlasterPacks! No zapping sound effect switch, though. ... Yet.

[adoringpast]

Just... how many did you bring?

[ not that he's complaining (for now), but jeez this guy sure seems enthusiastic about the entire thing. this is the first time sena has met this guy btw, since he'd had the others in a group assigned to respatrum last time. ]

Is this part of your job description or something?

[promisedyou]

You know you didn't have to do all of this...

[As the only girl in the group, Mio can't help but comment in spite of her clearly baggy, plain green painted clothes. (Don't ask.)]

★ are we green with envy? probably not. ( mio + xiaolang painting crew! )

[promisedyou]

[Mio Sonozaki is smart and has made the intelligent decision to combine the greens together and she's actually really glad that she's coming here with the plan to color things in. And two greens will definitely help since the others have completely different colors that kind of clash.

But then she can't help but knits her brow in slight frustration when mud comes out of her brush.]

Again?

[The good thing right now is that she's in a plain shirt, jeans, and shoes. But they're all green. Which makes it obvious that she... painted them, it looks like.]

You're not having any problems on your end, are you?

[cardcaptured]

[Xiaolang, on the other hand, hadn't exactly planned to come here for those reasons, but with the other regions affected as much as the city, it couldn't be helped. And they couldn't find the witch's house if they were just wandering in a white void, anyway...

It was good, though, that there were two people in the group with a color most relevant to their surroundings, although the fact that Mio was one of them gave him pause. Welp. There goes trying to pretend he had been asking for a friend about the black eye thing. It was probably just better to focus on the task at hand and tip-toe around that elephant in the room.

... although the task so far seemed to be going not so well, if Mio's malfunctioning brush was any indication. He eyes the item in question, along with the odd muddy substance coming out of it, and shakes his head. Granted, he wasn't using a brush, so much as one of the really rad sprayers Cloud had modded for them, but the paint should still be the same...]

Not really. I haven't seen anyone's brush act like that either.

Maybe it needs to be cleaned?

[promisedyou]

I don't think so...

[Mio frowns a little bit, even though she has noticed the black eye. Don't think she hasn't noticed. But there are other things to prioritize right now, so she'll leave that subject alone and untouched for the time being.]

This happened several times while I was trying to paint, and the brush itself seemed clean.

[adoringpast]

[ he's been to the woods before, thankfully enough - in fact it's been almost a year since he'd gone back here, when he and mao were almost lured in by the alluring voices, so seeing the forest completely blank is more than perplexing.

but it's all right; while the others focus more on restoring the trees and wilderness, he'll turn his attention to the flowers that dotted their path, swishing his paintbrush over them and restoring the warm color in their petals. red's not the right color for most of these, but it'll do in a pinch.

still needs more variety though. ]

Hey, can someone color this flowerbed for me?

[hairstroke]

[ Honestly, Leon isn't even sure which is worse, Bosuma or Satan's ass— or er, Respatrum. As much as he loathes the heat, he still holds a sense of bitterness after what happened to Mio and Xiaolang's Sakura. At least having Sena here made Leon feel a little relieved since they worked together during the chaos that was February.

So upon hearing his request, he doesn't hesitate at all to walk over and begin painting the flowers. The blue paintbrush he has is a more lighter shade of blue, so he figures that it will go best with the red flowers the model had painted. ]

I'll take care of it.

[ With that said, he perches down and starts painting over the blank flowers that Sena didn't get, coloring them with a pleasant shade of blue, making the flowerbed look easier on the eyes. ]

Geez, everything Retrospec makes us do is such a thorn in our side...

MONSTER FIGHTING

[cardcaptured]

As they paint they’ll also find trees, roots, and the swamp itself the further they explore the forest. It’s hard to find landmarks but as they bring more of the forest to life they will run into plenty of problems including several chameleons that will emit a poisonous gas that induces rage into party members who get too close, plant-like creatures who will crawl over the landscape but shoot projectile thorns, and this guy in the swamp that will snap and attempt to swallow them whole if they don’t subdue/defeat him.

[A top level for fighting the forest creatures!]

Team not-green steps in it

[quiet_storm]

Did you guys hear something?

[Cloud glances up at the mostly blank area in front of them.]

There. That sound. It kinda sounds like "thwack?"

[Cloud pulls his goggles off to get a better look at the fine mist that's outlining the area a little. Then something invisible slams into his hands with a thwack, yanks the goggles right out of them, and sends them zooming into the invisible area before disappearing entirely.]

Hey!

WITCH'S HOUSE

[cardcaptured]

As they fight their way through the forest and bring more of it back into the layer via paint, they will soon come across the home of the Swamp Witch herself. Should they choose to repaint it they will be able to enter the witch’s home and explore the area, repainting the inside for information.

While they won’t find much, they will find scrolls and scrolls of names including names they won’t recognize but also the names of some of the residents of Recollé whose names the witch stole previously. The scrolls appear to be a registry of names and prices. There’s also a list of names that the witch did not get to that she’s clearly interested in. They will also find a variety of potion bottles that are unmarked but clearly should be various colors. If they test the potions they will find that some of them will temporarily erase their memory, some will render them speechless for a short period of time, some will shrink them down to pocket size and other irritating yet mostly harmless effects.

Finally, they will also find what appears to be a large cage. Investigation of the cage will trigger a trap that allows the cage to close around whomever is examining it and the party will hear a witchy laugh from somewhere unknown. They will have to free the trapped party members from this cage as it slowly starts to cave in smaller and smaller to crush whoever’s inside. The metal can be damaged or cut with a strong blade but it will take time and teamwork.

[A top level for exploring the witch's lair, checking out the scrolls, and fighting the cage!]

Re: WITCH'S HOUSE

[quiet_storm]

[They had been going more and more slowly and cautiously as they approached the house, with more of them standing guard with weapons now instead of actively painting. Cloud was taking a turn holding his katana, guarding the door, hoping his beginner kendo training would do more good than harm in an emergency.]

Is it just me, or is this place a little too quiet?

DOWNTIME

[cardcaptured]

[A top level for things that are not painting, fighting monsters and getting blair-witched!!

we're stuck here for like three days guys, we gotta make the best of it]

[quiet_storm]

At least it didn't start raining until after we pitched the tents?

[It was only drizzling a little at the moment, but they had spent the day slogging through a swamp.]

[cardcaptured]

I'm amazed the weather still works, with everything the way it is right now.

[He's just a little damp, not being able to tell the rain until it started hitting his skin, and sets to work pulling off his shoes, as well as trying to get out his homework. The city may be blank, and school was almost over, but he wasn't about to let his grades drop so soon before graduation.]

It's much nicer here than the other regions I've been to, though.

[adoringpast]

[ UGHHHHHH why did retrospec make him do this? again?! right when finals is inching closer and closer too... of course sena's not going to waste any more time, so at any point when they've taken a breather from all the painting, sena will sit down on a large, freshly-painted log, open his bag to take out some notebooks and textbooks and a couple of pent and -

yep, he's going to study here whether you guys like it or not. best not to disturb him though because he's really in the zone right now. ]

[cardcaptured]

[Honestly, even though he was itching to possibly come across this witch again, the particular timing of this adventure didn't sit well with him. Finals were still happening at his school too, despite the current state of the city, and if he didn't do well on these, he may as well kiss his shot at valedictorian good-bye. Thankfully, this was during the weekend, so missing class wasn't a concern here, but being prepared never hurt anybody.

So Xiaolang's also taking a page from Sena's book and quietly studying while he gets the opportunity, working studiously on his math problems and history sheets. However, he hits a snag in the middle of writing up his English essay, muttering a small (tame!!) curse under his breath as his pen blotches the paper. Correction fluid. He needed correction fluid, but he didn't exactly PACK any--

Lifting his head, he spots Sena deep in his own studies, and frowns. He hated disturbing someone when they're in the zone, but he didn't want to go and re-write this whole page...]

Sena.

[His voice is low, quiet, as if he's talking to him in the middle of a library and not some overgrown magical forest.]

Did you bring any white-out with you?

[promisedyou]

[To be honest, she's kind of glad that she got to go on this mission -- if only because she does have a bone to pick with the witch. Although she's definitely concerned about what they might find in the witch's house, she knows that she has to get some things done outside of it.

If anybody makes the decision to approach her, she'll smile rather pleasantly in spite of whatever actual emotion she's truly feeling, taking out a rather large bento box.]

Would you like some? It's all green, but I promise it's edible. If you're allergic to anything too, feel free to let me know. I brought an extra box just in case. ☆

[Separating the seafood onigiri from the others.]

[cardcaptured]

[Xiaolang's brought along a decent amount of food with him as well (because it didn't hurt to be prepared, even if the others may have had the same idea), but Mio's offer does have him turning to glance at the box in curiosity. He WAS a growing teenage boy, after all, and his stomach was turning into a bottomless pit, much to his embarrassment. He didn't want to take any food that the others might want, but...]

What did you bring, exactly?

[Because, you know. It's all green, so it's a little hard to tell.]

[hairstroke]

[ Even though finals were approaching, Leon is actually quite glad that this mission came up for them. Ever since last month, he's had a desire to get back at the witch for what she did to Mio and many others.

As soon as he's finished pitching a tent, he decides to head inside so he can rest his feet for a short while. Between painting, walking around in Bosuma and everything else that's happened, a wave of exhaustion washes over Leon's body and it just now hits him how tired he is.

After snuggling in-between the blankets, he closes his eyes and relaxes against the sheets. He swears that he just intended to rest for a short seconds!!! ... But now it's turned into a full blown nap. Oops. Feel free to wake him up but his response might be kind of groggy. ]

[promisedyou]

[Mio is going to have a little fun with this, because she doesn't care about bothering him in the slightest bit which is why she can't help but grin as she straddles him and pokes his cheek in a rather playful manner.]

Heeey, Leon-sama, wake up... ♪

[She'll in fact continue poking at him until conditions improve. Although she is wearing a mix of a playful and affectionate expression as she eventually stops to rest her hand at the side of his face before tangling her fingers in his hair.]

[cardcaptured]

[Leon's not the only one who's wiped after all of this (especially after painting and fighting back monsters all day!!), and all Xiaolang wants to do when he gets back is relax upon his own bedding and rest.

... except a certain someone is sprawled out over it, making it difficult to do as much, and Xiaolang wasn't exactly nice when he was exhausted.]

Leon.

[He reaches a foot over to prod at his prone cousin on his flank, nudging him a little.]

Leon, get OFF.