lifeaftr | September Intro: Knowledge is Hot Water on Wool

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September Intro: Knowledge is Hot Water on Wool

INTRO LOG: SEPTEMBER

Who: Everyone!
What: The Storyteller makes use of their first offering, and new souls arrive to the archipelago of LifeAftr
When: September 2nd
Where: Ensō...and surrounding lands
Warnings: Mark as needed!

Part I: New Arrivals
You probably didn’t last fall asleep on the warm spit of white sand that you find yourself, but nonetheless, that is where you awaken. There’s the hush of waves lapping up against the edges of the beach and the soft chill of a coastal breeze stirring at your surroundings, but the place is, all things considered, quite peaceful. The sun is merciless as it reflects across the glittering spread of seawater that surrounds you on three sides.

Three sides.

You’re on an island, if a rather small one. It can’t be much more than a mile across at the height of its length, and what’s more, it’s dotted with small, straggling outcrops of stone buildings that look as though they may have once been used for shelter of some sort or another, now weather beaten and wind-blasted. If you peer into the distance, it will rapidly become clear that you are on one small islet of a grouping of five. Battered bridges of wood-and-rope swing precariously between each one, joining them in a rough circle.

What’s more is that you aren't alone. You'll find that you have one or two companions waking on the islet alongside you, and each will discover a knapsack with their name stitched to the front, containing a paltry number of items, along with any rewards you may have accrued. There's probably a way off these islets, and a means of accessing the shadowy lump of a mainland that rears up in the distance, maybe two miles across the stretch of sea...but what is it?

We do recommend treading carefully, and not simply embarking on a poorly-advised mission to swim all the way there. A school of tiger-sharks have begun to stir up the waters surrounding the islets, hungry for fresh meat. They are at least edible - if you can succeed in taking one down, that is. If you do not, don’t worry: at least you have shelter. Very dilapidated, ruined, half-crumbled shelter that will hardly serve as protection against wind and rain, but surely that's better than no shelter at all, right?

As a final note to those who participated in the Test Drive Meme, bear in mind that those threads, if all parties involved would like, can be game canon in the form of dream-like memories involving a place very much like this one, though the layout is considerably different.

Part II: Old Souls
A floral, faintly bitter tang rings about the air of the ruined temple this morning. As you rise, you may find a familiar scene: a rabbit with snow-white fur, crouched nearby a dilapidated pillar, thumping their foot impatiently. They look to you, or perhaps they are addressing the room as a whole when they say:

"Ah. Finally. First, I must thank you for fulfilling your end of our transaction - your stories have done their job. Thus, it is time for me to fulfill mine. I've arranged something for you all. I’m aware that in many worlds there is a poor association with following white rabbits, so perhaps you would find the flowered path more enticing." The Storyteller shifts their gray tome from one paw to the other, giving a great leap across the fallen pillar. "Now, what I am about to grant you…there are procedures, of course. You must follow the instructions to begin with. And then, well - you need a place to go. You needn’t even need a name, specifically. The power will know. Simply be sure to tell it."

The rabbit sniffs and flicks an ear. "Just remember what I ask: no bathing, please. For all's sake."

And then they bound off into the darkness, disappearing just before the shadows engulf them wholly.

Indeed, where the dust-trodden ground gives way to grass, a sparse growth of white flowers have blossomed, winding wildly through the growth and leading around the temple’s exterior.

Those who find fit to follow the Storyteller's suggestion will find, first, that the path of flowers leads them to an outcropping of stone that overlooks the great cove formed by Ensō’s landmass. In the distance, just short of the ocean’s horizon, a white scatter of islets sit in the blue-jade waters. Those certainly hadn’t been there before, had they? Intrepid explorers, be patient: the path of flowers doesn't end here. In fact, it veers off cleanly in the direction of the mana pool behind the Storyteller's ruins.

Upon arriving at the pool, characters will find that the narcissus flowers have bloomed in full and prolific splendor around its edges, filling the humid air with a thick scent of bitter hay and honey. Upon a great slab of stone rising from the edge of the pool, a strange limerick seems to have been engraved:

A flower once loved above all,
The hubris of his mirror-thrall.
Were he water-lily!
Yet fate wet and pithy,
Narcissus, what a fate to befall.
No other instructions appear to have been left other than this cryptic rhyme. Should characters solve this riddle, however, they will find themselves engulfed in a flash of blinding white light, given the briefest sensation of falling…

Followed by the familiar vision of Ensō looming in the distance. Quite far out, in fact. Their surroundings have dramatically shifted from a lush jungle to an almost barren island, surrounded on its sides by four nearly identical islets. It would appear that any characters who use the mana pool have been randomly transported to one of the five islets appeared overnight. Other than a nearly identical mana pool lapping at their feet, it would seem that - aside from weather-worn, dilapidated shacks and shelters - these islands don’t have much on them at all.

Except, perhaps, new faces.

Feeling a tad adrift? Make sure to check the Locations Page, which has details regarding the starting areas and a handy map for those who feel better with a bird's eye view!

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Expecting someone?

[Of course, they locate him at his most vulnerable moment. It's a habit; an unfortunate coincidence that's never brought much good to anyone.

So really, nothing new to Tim. Chara comes to a halt at his side, eyes scanning over the nearest group of people with the disinterest of someone who's already made their own, personal assessments.]

There's no new arrivals from the castle.

[Is he ever anything but?]

...no. Didn't look like it. Wasn't keeping an eye out for people from the castle.

[Entertaining some false hope, is all. Which isn't a skill he'd think comes naturally to him, but it looks like he's got a gift for it; at least today of all days.]

...From your own world, then.

[It's a guess, but they don't pose it as a question. It's easy to forget sometimes that people have come from homes of their own; worlds with acquaintances, friends. Family.

Easier still to ignore that some people look forward to seeing those people again.]

Yeah. I guess.

[He blows out a breath between his nostrils. He's genuinely not sure why he'd be looking for them - whether he wants them here, or wants to confirm that they'll simply never show.]

I dunno if it's even possible for them to show up here.

I wouldn't be so quick to put it in the realm of impossibility, either.

[Places like these draw all kinds. The living, the dead. The non-existent. There's no such things as boundaries, when gods are looking to take their pound of flesh.

The absence of a smile is not so much a sign of distress as it is- a natural expression. Why hide from someone who knows you, inside and out?]

Is there anyone in particular I should look out for, in future?

[It's a courtesy, isn't it? That they're asking. People don't necessarily need to ask, when it's between souls. But saying something like that - outlining it, making it real, that just makes it that much more difficult to avoid.]

Jay would be the least likely to cause trouble, I guess. [And the most likely?]

[He doesn't want to think about the most likely. About the thing without a face he never wants to acknowledge.]

[Who would?]

...probably be best if no one does.

Would it really be so terrible, if they did?

[You miss them, Tim. Miss who they were- who they could have been. Vague impressions of impossible loneliness, and those brief, quickly snuffed out glimmers of those times when he felt he almost belonged.

The name he says is Jay, and yet, Chara feels there's another name they should know even better.]

[Of course there's another name. But he's as knee-deep in denial about it as one would be, after causing the death of a best friend whose life you ruined, irrevocably. (Which of them is he thinking about, again?)]

It'd sure as hell complicate things. [Something that he knows they know a little too well. The instinct to smile almost lifts the corners of his lips, but it doesn't belong to him. So he doesn't.]

And things've gotten complicated enough.

[The last draws something of a smile from them.]

Hardly as complicated as they could be. Should the time come, we'll make do.

[In the meantime, they didn't approach him for simple, idle chatter.]

I believe I've found a place that should be bearable for living in, given some much needed tlc.

So long as you don't have too much to bring with you.

Everything I've got is right here. [He adjusts the strap of his knapsack, hanging off one shoulder like a backpack.]

[And then he - ]

You...

[Did they mean him? Him too? No. Can't've. Right? That'd be - ]

[He's in their corner, sure, but he didn't expect them to just...trust that, right off the bat. Doesn't blame them either, but - ]

Like, as in - you and Frisk, yeah?

Wonderful. You can keep anyone from stealing our place whilst we get organized, as well.

[They still aren't looking at him. Eyes carefully forward, expression carefully blank.]

Unless you have other places to be?

...

[Ha.]

[He's never really, uh. He's never had someone sort of - ]

[Fuck, and he's trying not to think about Brian, who would have casually roped Tim into something like that with a casual ease that he both cowered against and bitterly envied. Brian, the last person to willingly request his presence in an offhand way that implied he couldn't imagine that Tim wouldn't be along for the ride.]

[Like it's just...a law of the way things are. Like there's no question.]

[Unless you have other places to be?]

Think you already know the answer to that one.

Then that makes this easy on all of us, doesn't it?

[Maybe it's just in his nature to make things as overly dramatic as possible; Chara's failing to see the problem, here. They'd been camping close together, they knew each other- at which point did it not make sense for him to also continue living with them?

It doesn't.]

I'm sure Kittu will be happy, as well.

Yeah. Probably.

[It's a good thing he's not the sort of person who has to bite back the instinct to smile. They smile too much, and he, not enough; they balance each other out in some fashion, though hell if he can figure out what it is.]

Where were you thinking?

[Each child to their own poor coping mechanisms, Tim.]

I located a site that appears to be on a small area all of it's own- there's water on three sides, several feet of land between.

[So less uninvited guests, they should hope.]

Half of the roof has unfortunately worn away with time; but there is half a door, which makes securing it slightly easier than some.

[He reaches to scratch at the rough beginnings of a beard that have begun to itch at the shadow of his jaw. He's long overdue for a shave, but certain things just fall to the wayside when you're caught in the genre of Island Survival.]

A fixer upper. [He almost segues that into did I ever tell you I worked in construction? That was his job, for a while.]

[Before he remembers - they know.]

We'll see what we can do about patching it before the weather gets bad.

[If they knew it was irritating him, they may have organized something to assist, with their last request. As it stands, humans don't seem to care about their facial hair either way. It certainly isn't a major priority.

A safe haven, in comparison- that most certainly is.]

I have a hammer, and forty nails. That aside, I will assist where possible in gathering what is necessary.

[It isn't.]

[He wouldn't trust himself around a razor just now anyway.]

Hammer and nails, huh?

[That's a start. They can start maybe looking for wood to gather from the mainland.]

Might be able to barter for a hatchet or something. Plenty of trees on the mainland, but most of 'em are a bit too thick for some guy with a knife.

A hatchet?

[For timber, they suppose. It wouldn't be simple to gather that style of resource- certainly, it wasn't something they would be capable of assisting with.

Sometimes being eleven had it's detriments.]

I'll see what I can do. Perhaps the twins could be of some assistance.

Twins?

[He's not Sans; he doesn't know everyone on the island by default or because he knows where best to recline to people-watch. It's situations like these that have forced him to be more social than he ever has or ever will.]

Elves, if they're similar to others I've met in the castle. They'd be the two who've essentially cornered the market as far as trade goes- they also like guns.

[Of course Chara knows the last part. Why wouldn't they?]

They seem to have taken a liking to Kittu- I'm sure it wouldn't take much to appeal to their better natures.

[Elves, huh? Somehow he doubts they mean the kind that work for Santa. Taking a liking to Kittu marks them as a smaller threat than they have the potential to be - of that he can be certain. That's as close to a glowing recommendation as it gets with Chara.]

[He's worked for less.]

Who knows? Maybe they like blank tapes. [He's got tons of those. Or like, seven.]

Hopefully this place isn't prone to tsunamis.

[Was that a mild hint of sarcasm, dear Tim? Chara hums in amusement, reaching up to play with their headband. Do you like it?

It's new.]

It would fail to surprise me if they did.

[He does bring up a valid concern, however, something that wipes the amusement from their face completely.]

Usually, I would say that our gracious host will take care of such matters. However...

[A tsunami probably makes "a great story".]

September Intro: Knowledge is Hot Water on Wool

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