Welcome to Gaia! ::

Nothing discovered: nothing learned.

"Have a nice trip!"

The AI's last words echo in the air as the leader's communicator crackles, then dies. The airbus overhead turns and zips away with a faintly lasting whirr, disappearing quickly over the mass of trees now that its cargo is deposited. The group is left standing at the base of a tall metal beacon; it stretches upward into the air, reaching over the trees to transmit data back to the central Labs. All around, alien trees twist and stretch toward the sky, their curling branches and frond-like leaves soaking in the planet's pure sunlight.

It is a small clearing, big enough to hold the crew and the beacon, but the wildlife is already encroaching upon it eagerly. Vines can be seen trying to creep over the pole's base, and the rough-hacked path leading back to the Labs is already overgrown. It is easy for the explorers to see why airlifting to these outward spots was a better idea than trying to hack through the woods.

The communicator crackles to life again, and CaTDOS's voice splits the air, his words stringing together in a sing-song manner.

"Alright, adventurers~ It's time to begin~ Everyone, remember to keep your data transmitters active at all time~ It will constantly analyze and stream information back to us, so make sure you don't lose it, no matter what~" A face flickers onto the communicator's screen, a very distinct, pixelated '+ w+' expression. "Take a moment to introduce yourselves, but then please begin~ You are to enter the jungle away from the previously cut path~ Your goal is to find anything of interest that you can, particularly new species~ Please remember, be very careful~ Who knows what's lurking out there~? CaTDOS out~!"

Inez Bond: Like, total hippie.
Notes: This place is like, totally rad! Dheron is fun to say. Deehherrrrooooon. Dheeeerrrroooon. Dhhhhheron. Awesome.

Inez yawned and stretched, taking in the fresh air and sounds of the forest. It was a really peaceful day. Even the whine of the airbus engines couldn’t take away the peacefulness of this magical forest. I mean, just look at those trees! Frond like leaves thrusting their way towards pure, unadulterated sunlight. Even that metal beacon, or that path couldn’t mess up the vibes of this forest. It was like, home. She could, like, totally live here.
Her communicator crackled, but she ignored it. It wasn’t as important as the, like, fantastic way the sunlight fell on her face. Maybe this time she’d get a tan.
Inez usually burned rather than tanned, and no matter what she tried, she either burned or stayed pale. She didn’t ever want to go to those solariums, or use fake chemicals on her skin. That was, like, bad for the environment, and her body. Her body was a temple. If she could help it, she ate only organic.
Inez thought this place was totally fantastic. I mean, that leader dude was totally rad, all those oranges and stripes and stuff. He had totally amazing hair, it was like, silky and stuff. He had horns too, and random fins sticking out of him. He reminded her of that fish...
What was it called again?
Oh yeah, a lion fish. Yeah, he was this total lion fish boy.

He was saying something right? “I’m Dheron,” He said. What a fantastic name, so fun to say. Woah, and he had like, totally black eyes. Inez wondered if they were real or fake. “How many of you can swim?”
The question was like, totally random to Inez, but she raised her hand. Swimming was awesome, and this place would be awesome to swim in. She hadn’t bothered to pack swimmers, but she could, like, swim in her underwear or something.
She had only packed one pair, but she was sure some of these other guys would have something to borrow.
“Finding water is going to be one of my top priorities.”
Top priorities? Dude, this guy spoke like an encyclopedia.
“Dude!” She said lazily, her face to the sun. “Chill! Things will happen, man. Just let nature guide us! Mother nature knows what she’s doing, man.”

The group had barely moved an inch when, instead of the typical way of hunting, the chase slowly began creeping towards them.

Really. There was no other word for what the creatures were doing but creeping. Sliding along the ground, perhaps, in more or less the same fashion anyone from Earth would expect to find a snail moving along a leaf.

Adorable, yet alien in nature, the group of four yet undiscovered creatures slid along the ground toward the group, harmless and seemingly searching for food, their top set of tentacles waving around as though caught in a gentle breeze.

"You should observe them for awhile!"

The receiver piped in on its own, digital emoticons blazing across all the screens excitedly.

"We don't have this one on file yet! It looks like you've found something already!"

Safe Active Phase: Roll 1d10 for observation if desired. Otherwise note "PASS" at
the bottom of the post. Goal is: high roll.

When Dheron had spoken earlier, Cheri raised her hand along with the rest of the swimmers of the group, but she was silent and distracted, staring at the forest in wide-eyed wonder. The leader's apology brought her back to the present, a reflexive little smile on her lips.

"Oh, I'm Cheri. And there's no need to apologize. We do have a whole trip ahead of us to get to know each other, and there are so many interesting things to look at." As if right on cue, the creatures made their appearance. Cheri's little smile widened.

"Adorable!" she agreed with beaming enthusiasm. "I like the tentacles." She watched them creep along the jungle floor for a moment, then added, "I wonder what they eat."

[Hope I did this right -- Cheri observes!]

Alexis looked like he was part of a landscape, fluffy white hair like a cloud, draped clothing layers of various shades of blue like an ocean or the sky. Perhaps his skin a lone mountain in that ocean. He too had raised his hand about swimming. You don't take on the appearance take could be taken as an ocean if you can't swim, somebody might get ideas. "Name's Alexis. You may call me Alex if you must."

When the cute little creatures came upon the group, Alexis rushed forward towards them getting as close as possible. Obviously not considering that while they might seem harmless now, they might not be if he got to close. Oh well, closer is better for observing right? And they were rather cute.