Onward: Orange

[voidtreckermods]

Island Hopping

The islands don't move fast but they float through the air, never clashing with one another but often getting close. For the brave this means they can jump from one island to another to get around. Flying would be safer, for those with the means.

The calla lilies don't cover each island, sometimes they can find small fields of them, other times they must go through undergrowth and forests to hunt down the small flowers.

The flowers themselves are delicate, but with steady and careful fingers the crystal can be plucked out without damaging the flowers. The huma birds fly around the islands and if called to swoop down to take the crystals. It's probably easiest if they are in a bag that the birds can carry with their claws, otherwise they carry them gently in their beaks.

Huma

The swoop of wings is a constant sound around the islands, the Huma birds have nests all around the islands, high in the trees. The chicks stick to their nests, protected by their parents though they might venture out under the wing of an adult, never going far. Huma birds run as well as fly and will often waddle across to those harvesting, to demand crystals. A competition of sorts appears to be developing between several groups of birds, regarding numbers of crystals freighted down from the woodlands, and competition for the attention and loyalty of efficient gatherers is heating up.

More worryingly though are the blighted birds. These are pretty obvious, their feathers stick each and every way as if they are constantly in a fierce storm. They divebomb crystal harvesters, talons out, screeching in rage.

Other times they fly at any who are island hopping, trying to knock them off course. Luckily for the voidtreckers, their regular fellows are keeping a close enough eye on proceedings to turn any falls into something rather less lethal… if a little too thrilling.

Sprites

The first sign that the sprites are aware of the trespassers in their domain is a flurry of leaves and down that whistles through the islands like whispery laughter. Smaller gusts and breezes break off to investigate individuals or wind through stands of smaller trees to collect stray leaves, whipping hair or loose clothing around and rattling branches.

Some sprites are more mischievous than others, and while lone sprites can do little more than disturb and bluster, changing directions and messing up hair and clothing, larger groups of sprites are capable of more alarming feats. Such as winds that spin a person rapidly on the spot, or ‘helpfully’ increase the distance of a jump several times over, or blow things carried loosely from fingers too slow to grip when the breeze comes by. They’re easily entertained, however, and can be distracted very easily by being given things to carry, or new scents to bring drifting along within themselves.

Comments

[10billionpercent]

Island Hopping

Senku was brave enough to jump from one island to the other, provided he could use a lower island as his arrival point. He started a few steps backwards and sprinted, jumping at the last moment and landed on the other side, barely before falling with a groan.

".....I survived." Senku lay there to catch his breath a moment. That was good enough!

With that, he was ready to look for lilies and gather crystals, and do his part to help.

Huma Birds

He was carefully plucking a crystal out of one of the lilies, when he heard the screeching, and the sound of the bird hitting his hat.

Senku ducked instinctively and batted his hands at the blighted terror. "Get back! Go away!" He was really glad Hikaru offered him the hat now, it had protected his head but he wasn't sure how his arms were going to fare in this exchange.

Sprites

For a change of pace, Senku had noticed some discrepancy on the wind and after a few days of observation, he realized it was the sprites that Tidus had so helpfully told him about.

He was ready.

He went to that strange moving leaf and with his net, attempted to catch one of them, for scientific research!

NPC Thread: Senku Takes Everything That Isn't Nailed Down

To his credit, he will at least wait until they were nearing the end of the week. Senku did his part to collect crystals and give them to the birds, but he was curious. What kind of plant grew crystals, after all? How did it work?

He selected one in a cluster of them, removed his stone knife, and clipped one of the lilies.

Wildcard
[ OOC: I am up for just about anything! Notable suggestions: side quest parsnip hunting, other plant gathering, the fact maybe that Senku didn't bother to bring a tent with him, and anything you can think of. ]

island hopping

[blue_ice]

Kaiba was still distrustful of the flight potion and the birds, so he relied on his trusty legs to get from island to island. The glint of a lily taunted him from just above...he wouldn't let it get away!

He paced back a good amount, crouched....and took off at a sprint, leaping high---and hit the ground hard, rolling to a stop gracelessly nearby.

"Surviving's only step one," he grumbled, pushing himself upright. "Do you see the flowers?"

[voidtreckernpcs]

As he was collecting he would hear the swish of wings, quite a common sound this last week to be fair. A huma bird landed nearby and waddled over as he took out his knife.

It flapped his wings at him, a warning.

Sprites

[sizedoesntmatter]

"What are you doing?" Yug was watching the leaf and watching the other trying to seemingly catch it.

He couldn't think why anyone would want to catch a leaf honestly.

Island hopping

[fun_thementalist]

Gen landed with slightly more grace, but only just, wobbling a little and catching himself on his knees. He wasn't out of breath, though, and looked over at Senku - disguising his concern, but only just.

"Let's try to limit the number of islands we need to jump between, my dear," Gen looked sheepish. "I signed up to help pick flowers, not perform aerobics."

birbs

[thornsofmundus]

"Do you think it's okay to shoot the blighted birds?" a leather-covered lump asks him in Thorne.tcai's voice. A second glance will show that it is, indeed, Senku's tiny teammate, who's currently trying to shield herself with her leather cloak.

[deductiongeek]

Island Hopping:
To Conan, the solution was obvious. He needed to get to the next island to gather more of the lilies. The distance was too great for him to jump, but he'd covered far greater distances than this using his skateboard.

And so when the next island floats within range, Conan is ready. Using a flattened area at one of the end of the first island to pick up speed, he launches himself off one island crosses the gap between and neatly lands on the other side.

[singerofspells]

S'reee observed that before commenting, "Do you want a... oh, what's the word? Someone to catch you if you miss?"

[10billionpercent]

A boy he hadn't met just jumped onto the floating piece of land he was standing on and he glanced back to look at him.

He'd not only jumped in, but done it better than Senku.

"Nice landing." He commented.

[deage]

Show off.

The island Conan had just landed on was the one Haibara had staked out. Moving from island to island is a greater hassle for a young girl without a skateboard, so she's been here for a while, diligently gathering crystals and examining the other plant life.

"Having fun, Kudo-kun?" Well, a second set of eyes and hands wouldn't hurt.

And maybe she could catch a ride to the next island that drifted nearby.

[herarrows]

Island Hopping

If Selenay wasn't afraid of heights before, she certainly was now. But without other means to get what they were after, well. It was jump or do nothing and she'd never been one to sit around when there was work to be done.

Whoever "they" was had at least given her some clothing she was a little more comfortable in. It wasn't exactly right, but it was at least closer to white than orange. She felt more like a Herald, if not quite there yet. Better than nothing, but she had a feeling she would have to go back to orange when she got back to the damn train.

At least the clothes let her move freely unlike the Court Whites she had to wear most of the time at home. So she takes a couple of deep breaths to steady her nerves and jumps. She's half surprised she didn't die, seeing as the butterflies in her stomach went wild once she was in the air, but at least the ground was solid enough now and she could get back to it.

"Well. That was...harrowing."

[blue_ice]

Kaiba approached from a nearby tree, stopping to check on one of the newer team members.

"You get used to it the more you jump. Ready to hunt for crystals?"

[10billionpercent]

"Look out!" He called.

He wasn't going to charge into her, but moments after her landing, here came Senku. He'd taken a bit of a run and he landed on his feet, sliding slightly before falling back onto his back. He was mostly in neutral colours too, except for a few orange accents, like the band of his magician's hat.

Senku allowed himself to catch his breath.

"Alright, well, I'm not dead."

[thornsofmundus]

Thorne.tcai's diaphanous wings, usually folded at her back, are distinctly fluttering when she alights on the island next to Selenay.

"I'm not entirely sure how they expect people who aren't pixies to do that," she says.

[singerofspells]

Island Hopping
Needing fingers meant S'reee was staying shapeshifted as a human, but it was taking practice to apply the correct strength. Currently, she had just flagged down a huma bird to carry off her harvest and was resting a bit.

Sprites
Well, if she wasn't up to picking crystals, she could entertain the sprites. S'reee had brought a hat, but was now in whale form, playing 'chase the hat' with the sprites, using wizardry to keep herself afloat in the air. "I've almost got it!"

"You know, this would be better in the ocean. I wouldn't have to use the Speech to swim. And I'd have a handicap."

She managed to catch the hat in her mouth. Baleen wasn't really meant to hold onto objects, but S'reee still had jaws, even toothless. After a bit, she flipped it back into the air.

sprites

[blue_ice]

Kaiba stands on the edge of one of the islands, watching her toss the hat around. It blew this way and that. Weird.

"What are you doing?"

[voidtreckernpcs]

With her speech she would be able to hear the sprites laughing as they buffeted her this way and that.

Currently they were trying to spin her, but a whale is larger than a person and so she will feel the air currents whirling around her, but be able to fight and stay in place.

Island hopping

[strawberryprotector]

Standing on a platform of reiatsu, Ichigo came to crouch next to S'reee. "Hey, doin' alright? I can help you across if you need." He wasn't having to jump at all, just walking or running between the islands.

[wisdominshadows]

Island Hopping

There's something strangely pleasant about being up in the air like this, on an island floating high above the earth. A bit like opening a storybook, perhaps. And a bit, strangely, like coming home.

Regardless, Zelda takes to leaping between islands with ease, delighting in the rush of the fall and the successful return to the earth.

Eventually she lets herself come loose, laughing in strange delight as she manages a tricky jump.

Sprites

Jumps that don't end up quite where they should be, flowers that seem knocked out of reach- there's something going on here, something Zelda isn't quite seeing.

All right. That's fine. For a while she perches on the edge, taking note of all the oddities about her, the patterns in which they occur and the tinkling of almost-laughter when something truly seems to go amusingly awry. And she has an idea.

"Hello," she calls out to the group of spirits nearby, "are you looking for something to do? Perhaps I can be of help."

She reaches out a closed hand, then opens it- and out pour a dozen bright lights, which dance in the air for a moment before zooming off in different directions.

She can't be sure, but if she looks from the corner of her eye she thinks she sees the sprites following.

Sprites

[ohaiyo_isekai]

"Fascinating. If they're just bored... flying invisible cats, essentially, that opens up a lot of options for us. Including ones for our own recreation."

The very short, dragonfly winged man in the wizard robes with the Hylian ears smiles, his head pointed towards the clowder of air sprites with his eyes closed.

"That spell was fairly interesting as well," he adds. "Orange veteran?"

Island Hopping

[marriedanidiot]

Nerdanel is giggling herself, applauding Zelda's jump.

"Oh, well done! Ai, but I wish we could stay here - this is terribly fun!"

[aluciner]

1. whose heart would not take flight?

Is a hoverboard, strictly speaking, an appropriate piece of equipment for the current situation? No. Is Ronan using one to get from island to island? Yes. There was something of an attempt to aesthetically match the device to the setting: it has a steampunk-esque look to it, even though it appears to work through absolutely no power source at all. That would be, in fact, how it functions.

Curiously, Ronan doesn't seem to be harvesting the crystals that they're ostensibly here for wholesale. He does harvest some, but it almost seems to be for the appearance of doing so, rather than because that's what he's doing. There seems to be no real rhyme or reason to the ones he takes and the ones he leaves behind.

He can also occasionally be found sleeping under a tree, which is probably inadvisable. Chainsaw is nearly always perched on his shoulder or cradled in his arms while he's sleeping, however, and will react poorly if anyone attempts to wake Ronan. That may or may not be why he feels safe enough to do it.

2. the icarus to your certainty

Chainsaw is enjoying the Huma more than Ronan is.

Whenever a bird approaches him, he absently says "no thanks" and goes back to inspecting the flowers and occasionally harvesting a crystal. They seem fairly annoyed by this percieved slight, which might be why they don't seem to take very kindly to Chainsaw trying to befriend them.

It's probably also why Ronan seems to attract attacks by the blighted birds. The other Huma will help out if it seems like Ronan is in actual danger, but otherwise seem to leave him to his own devices. Fortunately Ronan has never been a sensible person and his solution to this is to, uh. Throw crystals at them? Which seems counterintuitive, but for some reason when he does this the crystals seem to unerringly hit their target and almost stick to them.

Unorthadox as it is, it does seem to be effective at curing their blighted state.

[so_dark_a_road]

Island Hopping:

Having run out of the flying potion, Curufin resorts to literally island-hopping. He gets a running start and springs from one island to another, relying on his athletic intuition to keep him from misjudging and thereby plunging into the abyss. He scrambles through the underbrush in forests to find the calla lilies, and he carefully fills bag after bag with crystals. Each time, he whistles or calls to the birds, and they come and fetch the bags and fly away with them.


Huma: Here, birdies!

Sometimes the birds don't wait for him to call, they just walk up to him and in gesture language and bird language, tell him he'd better hand over the crystals. Sometimes they come in gangs.

He grins at them. "Don't worry, I'm no match for you guys. Here!" He hands over the latest clutch of crystals in a bag, watches them as they take to the air with their booty, and then he goes back to work gathering more with speed and efficiency. If the bird gangs seem to be arguing, he says, "Hey, don't fight over me! I can gather crystals fast enough to keep all you avian types happy!" And he precedes to prove this.

The blighted birds are a bit of a problem. They screech and try to knock him out of the air when he jumps from one island to another, but luckily for him, he's got fast reflexes. He whips out his arm and blocks them hard, deflecting them. Sometimes he gets his arm scratched by those talons, but oh well.


Sprites:

Curufin is rather entertained by the antics of the sprites. They move invisibly like the winds, blowing his long hair into tangles and trying to steal his cloak. He laughs at them and says, "I used to be an unbodied spirit myself, and I tried all your tricks." Big, bright grin. "So, you can't fool me!" He's discovered what keeps them distracted, though, and he uses this knowledge. He gives them handfuls of leaves or flowers with his bright, shiny grin, as though he were giving them gifts of great value. "Take these to the next island, will you?" he asks, politely. Funny how effective that is. The sprites usually leave.

sprites

[blue_ice]

Kaiba is not having such an easy time with the sprites. He's figured out by now to throw dust or glitter so he can see them, but they still tend to catch him off guard. He's in the process of hopping down from a tree when one sweeps him up, juggling him through the air.

"Hey---let me down!"

And they do, unceremoniously. It seems Curufin has something the sprites are more interested in. Kaiba grumbles and straightens himself out, ears perking as he listens.

"...you were a spirit? When?"

Dyme Graydon | OTA

[swansongs]

a. Supplies

On the upside, he'd received some supplies from Tidus. On the downside, he didn't know who he should give them to or anything like that. He certainly didn't want to hoard them all for himself, not when he had two deceptisols and whatever the heck a grav con was. He knew what it was in theory, but he didn't know exactly how it worked. He was a little wary about giving it a try, but he assumed it did what it was supposed to do or he wouldn't have received it in the first place.

"Hey, hey," he said to the first person who caught his eye. "Do you think you or we or whatever will need one of these?" He waved around a deceptisol. "It's supposed to help ward off monsters or something. And this thing-" he gestured to the grav con "-helps with...jumping? And stuff? ...I don't know who should have these things..."

b. Island Hopping

He wasn't scared of heights, but he didn't want to fall to his death, either. The idea of jumping from one island to the next was a little daunting, even if they were close enough that it wasn't that far of a jump. It was still enough, and it made his stomach do flip flops.

"Okay. I can do this," he said to himself. "I can totally do this."

Taking a deep breath, he backed up a few steps to get a bit of a running start, then launched himself off the edge of the island. He hit the next one solidly, but one of his feet slipped off the edge, and he yelped even as he scrambled forward on all fours, collapsing to the ground once he was safe.

"Okay, that's it. I'm officially done with heart attacks for the rest of the year," he said, wheezing a little. Eventually he was going to get up and go about collecting crystals, he just had to assure himself he hadn't almost died.

[deage]

Island Hopping...?

Haibara had found a nice island for her arrival point. Fairly large, containing scattered trees but a good variety of flowering plants. A good place to gather, with enough that one person probably couldn't even get everything alone - especially when the one person is a child.

It's a good thing she found such a nice island as her arrival point, because every time she sees another island coming close, she gauges the distance... then stays.

Making that sort of jump is just reckless. Who would be stupid enough to even try it without your life being on the line?

(This is probably the cue for somebody else to make such a jump and startle the poor girl.)


Sprites

Haibara had assembled a nice collection of flowers, leaves, and roots that all looked promising. Which is why it's extremely unfortunate that a small whirlwind seems to have developed in her pile of plants, scattering them all about.

"H-Hey! Stop that!" She's trying to keep a hold of her ill-gotten goods, but she's only one person, and there's a lot of plants. What's a girl to do?

Island hopping

[strawberryprotector]

Seeing Haibara looking so cautious, Ichigo came over to crouch in mid air in front of her. "Need a lift?" He was looking and acting like he was on solid ground. "I can get you to the next island, if you're worried about the leap."