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~!"

Tassels.

On their leader's butt. (There were some in his hair, too, but Modesto didn't much care about those.)

Modesto Chambers lifted his eyebrows. Well, okay. He'd seen worse in his old job as a man who, ah, performed onstage. At least this...Ech...something guy could fly. "Don't think any of us can," he said, a little gruffly. "But don't let that stop you."

"I'm Modesto, like the city." He was wearing, interestingly, a pair of leather chaps, and shoes that looked like they belonged on a tap dance stage.

A.R. stood amongst the group wearing a pair of ripped, barely there jeans, a pair of brown hiking boots, and a purple t-shirt that had been cut open to reveal his abdomen.

Shifting his weight A.R. pulled his beautiful blue hair back into simple low sitting ponytail. While looking over this... Eachéan, fellow he thought about how naive he seemed to be and how that could work in his favor. When asked if any of them could fly, he merely snorted and looked away.

After the young woman beside him had stumbled her way through a sentence, A.R. spoke coldly. "My name is Angel Reuben, but you can all call me A.R."

"A course it won' stop me." Eachéan declared proudly before peering at Modesto curiously, his head cocked to the side a bit. "Yer a city?" He seemed to have taken him a bit more literally than the guy meant. How could a person be a city? Or did he mean he was big... He was tall sure, but not as tall as himself. Maybe he had parasites?

's ears twitched at the sound and he looked around in alarm when it got louder and the ground began to shake. Why was it shaking!? When the geysers started appearing, he let out a squawk of alarm. "Away! Everybody get ta safety!" He shouted to his team as he flapped his arm-wings while hop-running awkwardly. This place was against him! It was out to prove he couldn't fly, wasn't it!?

Uneasy among so many unfamiliar faces, Renee had kept quiet as everyone talked. The whine in the air only made her all the more fidgety. When the split appeared, she let out a strangled squeak and bolted. It wasn't easy to run in that tight little outfit of hers, but Renee gave it her all.

As Eachéan tried to get away, another flood of water shot up, nearly directly under him. Thankfully for him, A.R. was running in the same direction. As the ground cracked open, it sent A.R. somewhat off course, smacking into the tekimi and sending them both tumbling out of the way. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to fully protect the enthusiastic young creature - the feathers of one of Eachéan's arms were almost completely burnt or blasted off, and his leg on that side was badly burned.

Fortunately, he was most certainly alive, and hopefully with no sort of permanent damage.

Modesto was not quite so lucky. The heated water blasted him aside, scalding much of his body and face. It was not a fatal injury, but the human was quite injured and would require some sort of attention.

The other humans managed to get away on time.