[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.

[cardcaptured]

[Okay, this guy already was good in his book thanks to getting him out of that memory loss nonsense, but wow. WOW. Congrats, Cloud, you're now the coolest person in this group and no one can convince him otherwise.You can almost see the sparkle in his eyes as he looks at him, and then back at the sprayer, with silent awe.]

But on such short notice? Zee couldn't have sent us the texts more than a few days ago, and these must have taken ages to design...

[As his attentions get tugged away from observing the device, though, his fingers brush over the jet spray setting.]

I mean, it's probably good they don't make the noise, anyway. It would have gotten too annoying if we had to listen to that the entire time we were--

[But before the words leave his mouth, a sudden blast of green shoots out of the contraption, splattering against... well, something. A tree? A bush? An animal maybe??]

Wah--!

[quiet_storm]

[Cloud jumps back out of the way, but it's a good thing he wasn't in the way in the first place. He's not fast enough.]

Whoops, sorry! It's got a hair trigger. Less operator fatigue.

[There must have been some kind of animal involved, considering a small lump of green is darting away into the white void as the paint settles on a fallen log and some mushrooms.]

[cardcaptured]

[His shoulders don't completely relax until Cloud explains the trigger process, to which he carefully moves his hand well away from the controls. At least something wound up being uncovered in the process (although only in black and white-- he'd need to collaborate to get any color to stick on them--), but he wished it was a little more controlled.]

Is there any way to delay that somehow? It's good that it'll be easy to use, but it won't do us any good to accidentally shoot paint at one another.

[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.

[cardcaptured]

[He frowns a little, trying to think of what could possibly be responsible for gunking up Mio's brush. After a moment or so of consideration, he unlocks the harness on his paint sprayer, getting it off of his shoulders so he could try to work his own brush of out the mechanism.]

Here. Use mine and see if you're still having issues. It's possible you might be using it wrong, or they gave you a faulty brush.

[Though it'd be a dick move of Retrospec's to give people faulty items during a time like this...]

I'll see what I can do with yours.

[promisedyou]

...how can you even use a brush wrong?

[She also frowns a bit herself, in a way that looks almost comical, sighing a bit.]

But alright, let's try this at least. Here.

[She'll try not to let whatever muddy paint just drip on the floor away from them before handing it over.]

[cardcaptured]

[As soon as Mio's brush reaches his hands, the color dripping off of it seems to ease back into the hue it initially appeared as, much to his surprise. His own quickly makes way into her hold as well, and he installs her borrowed brush into the spraying device.]

It's better than nothing, anyway. The mud's alright for the forest for now, but we're not going to make much progress if we can't get any green to stick.

[With her brush safely locked in, he experimentally tries the nozzle, sending small spurts of Mio's shade of green towards one of the unpainted bits of the void. It seemed to be covering things fine, but...]

Is yours any better now?

[promisedyou]

Yeah, I agree.

[Wholeheartedly, anyway. Once she takes his brush and makes an attempt to paint, the muddy paint is still there, which makes her frown.]

You tell me.

[There is dripping sarcasm in her tone as she just. Watches it drip, drip, drip onto the floor.]

[cardcaptured]

[His brow furrows as the muddy paint seems to persist, even with the change of brushes, although he can't help but let out a small sigh at her sarcasm.]

I guess there goes that theory. It was worth a shot, though.

[He stares at the brush for a little longer, trying to go over his own experiences with this in his head. There had to be something that was working for everyone else and maybe not for Mio...]

... do you think it depends on the well-being of the person holding it? You're not feeling sick or anything, are you?

[promisedyou]

I'm not sick!

[She sounds almost angry as she says those words, almost immediate. Her grip on the brush tightens, even as it drips that muddy color.]

I'm not...

[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...

[adoringpast]

Thanks. [ he'll watch him paint those flowers a bit before taking care of the next set of flowers nearby. ] And god, I know right? I still don't know what Zee sees in us when he keeps assigning us to missions like this.

[ he'd probably heard of their adventures underground a few months back. either way, sena's just as exhausted with this but leon's company is always welcomed, even if he doesn't feel the same way towards his girlfriend, ugh. can never tell him that though since she's literally over there. ]

Must be something important if he made us go this far out of the city. I've only been to Bosuma just once, though.

[hairstroke]

Honestly. It's like they want us to be in danger twenty four seven. They are the ones that broke everything, so rightfully, they should be the ones to fix it.

[ Of course life is unfair but it felt a hundred times more unfair ever since that god damn application installed on their phones. He's so over this. At least Sena makes good company, though. It feels good to let out his boiling frustrations with the same hair bro. ]

Yeah, same. I've only been here once as well but I'll take it over that god forsaken Respatrum.

[ Seriously. Fuck that place. He's still bitter about it to this day.

But then he pauses for a moment, a thought suddenly crossing his mind. ]

... Did you get effected by the Swamp Witch too?

[adoringpast]

Right? At least we can breathe all the fresh air we want here. I don't even know how we all survived down there aside from overdosing ourselves with frozen treats courtesy of Zee's pocket change.

[ still gonna take a while to get the halo top flavor out of his mouth, eugh. too much. ]

Mm, no, can't say I have. I've only been cursed once when I went to Magatus on a whim and the last thing I want is to be cursed again on top of that.

[ ... ]

I do know someone who's been hexed, though. Couldn't get to say his name at all even if I do know it. It's fucking weird.

[hairstroke]

Ice cream really managed to save our skins, even if we had way too much of it that made me not want to touch the treat for a good while.

[ FOR REALS, as much as Leon loves peanut butter track ice cream, even he reached a point where he got sick of it. ]

Christ. That is weird. Did you ever hear from him once he got his memories back?

[ Or, at least he hopes that Sena's friend remembered everything. ]

[adoringpast]

No, I left him alone for a while. Figured that he needed some space after something like that.

[ ... ]

But the thing is that I think he was given some sort of mission in order to get his name back - in his case, he had to sing to a set number of people even if he's insecure about his own voice. Pretty sadistic, right?

[ he turns his head towards the path that would lead them to the deeper part of the forest. so eerie... ]

You think that Witch is still in there?