out of the woods, into the grove [feylost, day 1, part 4]

[kap]

♛

I wanted to get out of the death-scented forest as quickly as I possibly could, so once I'd gathered a few things, I asked the group if we could keep moving, and we did just that moments later. As we kept going, we ended up in another strange area, however. What really sucks too, is, that it still reeked. This place smelled of decay, but not quite in the same way as the forest of tar-like-substance-leaking trees did.

Rather, this place smelled of decay because it was a forest of fungus. Some of the mushrooms around us seemed relatively normal, looking like ones I'd find behind my house back home in District Six from time to time. Others, however, towered over us way more than could have possibly been normal. These things just had to be mutated somehow. There were no ifs ands or buts about it.

What I found interesting, though, was a faint smell of something sweet, lingering between the more rotten scents from time to time. Little bits of dust floated through the air, occasionally passing us by, and I determined that to most likely be the source of the better, more pleasant-seeming smells. At first, I wasn't quite sure what the dusty stuff was, but tried to think of my plant knowledge in case it was something related to that. I'd studied plants for a period of time during my games-related studies, and I was pretty sure these were... spores, perhaps?

I could be wrong, but I figured it best to try not to breathe them in, and kept a part of my clothing over my mouth the best I could as we ventured about in this fungus-ridden area.

As we spent time there, I found a few things, including a root I could probably use as a whip and a bow of some sort, along with some mushrooms that I knew were safe to eat, but was pretty sure were hallucinogenic. I'd keep them, just in case of an absolute food emergency later. Hopefully I wouldn't end up needing them, because judging by what I'd seen of the LSD tea fiasco in watching reruns of the the seventy-fifth Hunger Games, I didn't think it'd be a good time.

I looked to my nearest ally and held up the mushrooms I'd gathered.

"Careful with these things. They're edible, but they'll fuck with your head, I'm pretty sure. Hallucinogenic. Only eat them if you really need to," I warned.

I took a seat among the mushrooms surrounding us and started to tinker with a few items I had. Maybe I could do something useful with all this stuff. I didn't know what I'd do with so many weapons, but maybe I'd need them all. It was all to be seen.

[Quentin collects Fey Blessing – Fungal Hands (+3 Hands), Mycelium Root (Whip), 3 Mushrooms, and a Parasitic Bow]
[Quentin eats his XL Peach (from RE) for -2]
[words: 456]

[credit to kaplan]

[Jorg]

♛

Elijah admittedly got lost in the forest after running into the boy from District Eleven. The forest was unexpectedly thicker than Elijah had anticipated when he left the group at the cornucopia, and Elijah couldn't remember his way back. He's never been the best with directions, but he never had to remember directions back home. Elijah was only allowed to leave the commune with Divine guidance and intervention, and even then, the Divine had to talk for both of them. Having independent thought, especially in a situation that could quickly end in his death, was a new and scary experience for Elijah.

It was hard to tell which way was which; through the thicket of trees, Elijah found himself. The cornucopia blended into the forest, and Elijah didn't know which direction. He tried to retrace his steps but couldn't find the trail he had walked, as if the forest was intentionally trying to mess with him. He shook his head, not wanting to worry about fighting off living plants or killing other kids. Luckily the sun was still high in the sky, so Elijah had time to find his allies.

Elijah continued to stumble through the forest, stepping over roots and trying to cut through dense underbrush. After a short while, though, he noticed the canopy was thinning out, and the trees were slowly dying. He may not have hit the cornucopia, but she at least is out of the thick of things. He sped up, hoping that he at least could see better. Elijah didn't expect to walk into the mushroom forest, though.

Fungi of various sizes surrounded him; some appeared just like regular mushrooms, and others swirled in psychedelic colors. While intriguing, Elijah focused on finding his allies as the sun continued to sink deeper into the horizon. Quinten's voice caught his attention, and Elijah did his best to follow it. After a short jog, he was relieved to find his allies.

"Hey, what did I miss?" Elijah asked as he joined the group. That was when Quinten reached out his hand and offered a bracelet.

"Oh, thank you, Quinten," Elijah responded, wrapping the bracelet around his wrist.

[Elijah receives Friendship bracelet from Quinten]
[Elijah picks up mushrooms]
[Elijah picks up Fey Blessing – Fungal Hands (+3 Hands)]
[words: xxx]

[credit to kaplan]

[10th retro gm | paxton hayes]

♛

It's strange seeing how close Elijah and Quentin are, but since everyone has been forced together, it doesn't surprise him any. Quentin seems very smart, like he knows what he's doing, and all Vallen can do is build robots and try to find strategies and numbers that will give him the best chance of staying alive. None of that works here though.

Even as his eyes dart from one place to another, his entire being is standing on edge. It's the moment of truth. Leading up to the championship matches in robotics competitions, he goes through the different group phases where they wean out the weak. It's exactly what's happening here. The weak slowly fall as those who have the best robots rise higher and higher, and those in the hunger games with the most power somehow manage to keep themselves alive along enough to reach the knockout rounds.

It's all too familiar.

Quentin talks about the mushrooms and how they're hallucinogenic. Maybe it's something fun, something that would give him enlightenment in the mix of every bad thing.

"The mushrooms sound good enough to at least make dying fun. If it can be fun." He shrugs his shoulders before looking up close to them. "In robotics, every now and then the robot does something that us creators don't plan for. Would these mushrooms cause the same problem? Would they make something need rewiring? Or would it simply blow the gaskets making it impossible to even move properly? I once had a wheel fall off my robot, and it wasn't anything I had done. A wire fried, and it caused my axel to overheat and thus popped the tire off."

Sometimes nobody wants to hear about robotics, but Vallen doesn't really care.

"Would a mushroom short circuit us?"

It's a genuine question, but only time will tell if anyone fully understands.

[credit to kaplan]

collects things that will be in trib!maint