complementing: (✿ prepare yourself [ SETH ])
minako arisato ([personal profile] complementing) wrote in [community profile] recolle2017-06-19 11:43 am

closed || nothing ventured

WHO: Everyone who volunteered to come on the expedition.
WHERE: Recollé Woods
WHEN: June 18th
WHAT: Exploring the woods and seeing what they can figure out about it!
WARNINGS: None anticipated, let me know if this changes! Due to the nature of this log, prompt 1 and 4 will have headers for open mingling and threadjacking (be sure to write in the header if you don't want threadjacking), while prompts 2 and 3 will be open to top levels from it's designated team members, with a chance to make network posts to the other team. If you have any questions, you can PP me at [plurk.com profile] raynestorm!

I. BATTLE READY

[Good morning, Exploration Team! At the designated spot she asked everyone to meet up at, Minako is taking care of last minute preparations, such as divvying up the camping equipment, checking over weapons and supplies, and giving last minute instructions.

(There's also a certain silver Shiba Inu there too, with a sheathed knife fastened to one of his front legs. You can try asking, if you really want to...)

Once everyone has arrived, Minako will clear her throat for attention.]


Hi everyone. Thanks for coming today. Before we head out, I want to make sure everyone understands a few things going in this.

First of all, our goal is to explore the woods. We're looking for anything, from the other side of the woods to potential Retrospec hideouts to anything else that might be walking around in there with us. But because that's a possibility, because this trip has the potential to be dangerous, our first priority is our safety, and the safety of the rest of the group. The group leaders-- me and Pen-- we have the first and last say. If the situation gets dangerous, or if you encounter some kind of monster or creature that is threatening your life, we're going to tell you to run for it, and we expect you to do it, no questions asked. If anyone has a problem with that, then please speak up now.

[She waits a moment for any voices to pipe up, then continues.]

Pen and I will have walkie talkies along with our phones, to keep in contact. We have plenty of camping equipment because this is an overnight thing, but I've told a few people that we're planning to be out by tomorrow at noon. That's our check in time. If we can't regroup before then, or if either group doesn't hear from the other, then everyone on the outside is going to assume the worst. [And then she offers a bright smile.] So I expect everyone to make it out safe and sound with lots of time to spare, okay? Don't make me run back into the woods to find you and drag you out, because I will do it.

[And then she claps.]

Okay! So then, here are the groups. Sora, Lucy, Cleo, Father Karl, James, Aki, and Mohammed, you're with me. Leo, Freya, Sorey, Jake, Alison, Tatsuma, and Noah, you're with Pen. My group, we're going to go in as deep as we can, okay? Straight in, no stopping for anything unless it's something that might kill us or we have to turn back to make the deadline. Pen's team...I want you guys to go in as deep as you can too, but there's something else I want you to take care of along the way. [She turns and sends Sorey a encouraging nod.] Sorey will explain that to you guys later. Noah, I'm counting on you and Timcanpy to record anything he finds.

Everyone clear on what we have to do? Make sure you have your supplies ready, we're heading out in ten.

II. DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE WE GO [MINA'S TEAM]

[Without much ado, Minako leads the charge into the woods, Koromaru at her heels and her spear at her back. At first the pathways are well-tread and friendly, and they won't encounter anything out of the ordinary. The river and lake, along with the sanctioned campgrounds, might look familiar to the Recollé natives and high schoolers, since this is where families come by on the weekend and some school science trips have happened. If you want to ask for a break, this would be the best place to do it.

This is hardly deep into the woods, though, so it's time to continue on. The Echo Flowers are growing abundantly along what few pathways there might be here. Good luck getting rid of the goosebumps you'll get from how creepy they are. Unless you find them fun to mess with instead? Echo, echo, echo... Anyways, they seem to be a permanent Retrospec addition to the world, and still retain their vibrant blue color despite the recent loss of blue, so would someone help Mina dig one out to bring back as a sample?

Onward, onward, onward, onward...hey, that tree looks familiar. Nah, it's probably different. Onward, onward, onward, onward...onward...look, it's that familiar looking tree again. Onward, onwa-- okay no, that tree is definitely the same as the one before. Looks like the team is stuck in an infinite loop, not to mention the trees eventually get too thick to pass through anymore anyways. Mina's walkie talkie is of no use, and phone signal is nonexistent, but surprise surprise, Retrospec still works, so if you want to try and send something to the other team while the others try to figure out how to escape the loop, then go for it.]


III. A LINGERING PRESENCE [PEN'S TEAM]

[Minako is sorry for putting you on the spot like that, Sorey, but she knows you'll explain what you're capable of to the rest of the team. Long story short, Sorey can sense spirits and the goal for this team is to help Sorey find them and learn more from them.

Of course, that unsettling infinite loop is working in this area of the woods, too. No matter how far you walk forward, there's no escaping that one bush shaped like a chocobo, or the tree that looks like it has the scratch marks of some kind of animal on it. How long did it take for you to notice? And what are you going to try to get out of it? Like with the other team, Retrospec still works despite how everything else isn't, so maybe some advice swapping can go down.

Or you could ask the spirits themselves. It's hard to say how many of them are friendly or not-- in fact it might be a little hard to figure out how many there are in the first place-- but it's worth a try. Just be careful what you say to them. Spirits don't like being messed with.

By the way, all that camping equipment you're lugging around isn't for nothing, you know. Time to set up camp. A little tent isn't much protection, but it's better than nothing in the face of this weird shift in atmosphere in the forest, don't you think? Because there definitely is a shift. As night falls, the temperature will drop significantly. Is that just because of how deep in you've gone? And is it just a trick of the fading light, or are the trees bowing around the party? Or is it something else...?]


IV. HOMEWARD BOUND

[Well! It's the morning of the 19th now. That was certainly an adventure. Hopefully you came out of it in one piece. Got any info to report to Minako and Penelope? Do you need to complain about something that happened in the woods? Just want to go straight home? Let Minako thank you and say good bye first--!]
belligerentwarrior: (Took you long enough)

[personal profile] belligerentwarrior 2017-06-21 04:03 am (UTC)(link)
I'm still not entirely convinced the lot of us doesn't have at least a few screws loose.

[Freya turns her gaze back to Alison, her voice wry.] You're the plant expert, yeah? And here I was, hoping you'd tell me they always did that. [A vague hand gesture upwards.]
seeker: (14.)

[personal profile] seeker 2017-06-22 10:37 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah. I guess all of us have to be a little crazy to agree with this. And sorry to disappoint, but...no. [She turns her focus back to the fire. Looking at the trees for too long just drives home the wrongness of everything. The looping paths, the sudden cold...]

Trees don't usually go all horror movie. [A quick exhale.] I can't tell if we're being protected or blocked in.
belligerentwarrior: (Chasing shadows)

[personal profile] belligerentwarrior 2017-06-22 05:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[What little humor in Freya's voice vanishes. Unlike Alison, she turns her suspicious gaze upwards again, as if the trees would keep moving as long as she wasn't watching them.]

That crossed my mind, too. [Her voice is quiet, this time around.] Our ghost hunter over there kept sayin' the ghosts are trying to warn us, or something. I'd love to know if they put the trees up to this or not.
seeker: (34.)

[personal profile] seeker 2017-06-24 02:11 am (UTC)(link)
I don't believe in ghosts. [Alison's voice goes quiet too, intense.] But I wonder if whatever voices he's hearing are benevolent. It's a risky assumption to make.
belligerentwarrior: (I'm great you're great everyone's great)

[personal profile] belligerentwarrior 2017-06-24 02:39 am (UTC)(link)
[She makes a noise somewhere between a snort and a huff.] I didn't believe in bein' four inches tall, and look how that turned out.

[Freya sighs.] No, I hear you. All we've got is to take Sorey's word, and he's doing the same with them.
seeker: (12.)

[personal profile] seeker 2017-06-27 06:18 am (UTC)(link)
You've got a point. [A tired little laugh. She nudges at the fire with a stick, stalling for time.] It's difficult to believe when I'm not seeing it, but he doesn't seem like a bad guy. Doesn't sound like he's lying, either.
belligerentwarrior: (Chasing shadows)

[personal profile] belligerentwarrior 2017-06-27 04:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah. [She glances his way, her voice going somber.] Whether any of this is real or not, it's real to him.

[Just like those hallucinomemories, real in a very visceral way. No one else can experience what they do, but the sensation's just as raw as if they were there to live through it.]
seeker: (21.)

[personal profile] seeker 2017-06-30 03:42 am (UTC)(link)
Right. [The thought invokes a sense of pity; Alison pokes at the fire again, then looks to Freya, her own expression equally somber.]

I hope he's alright.
belligerentwarrior: (I could see it in her face)

[personal profile] belligerentwarrior 2017-06-30 08:01 pm (UTC)(link)
[A very quiet snort.] The guy teaches. He's tough. [Teaches high school, if she understood correctly.]
seeker: (16.)

[personal profile] seeker 2017-07-02 09:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[That gets a smile out of her.] Okay. You're right. That's way scarier than being able to hear the dead.