lifeaftr | October Intro: Louder than Sirens, Louder than Bells

INTRO LOG: OCTOBER

Who: Everyone!
What: New souls arrive to the archipelago of LifeAftr
When: October 3rd
Where: Ensō
Warnings: Mark as needed!

The Beach: For All the Rest
The shores of Ensō are far from the tranquil, almost idyllic tropical backdrop that they should be. And so it is that while you fish, or perhaps as you go about your daily business on the islets, the first thing you will note is the persistent sound hammering at the back of your skull.

A drumming.

And it's growing louder.

The source of the drumming will, like it or not, soon become apparent. At the fringes of the trees, wielding slings and hollow, wooden pistols, is a group of large and very displeased simians who have every intent of claiming this spot of beach - yes, traveler, this spot of beach you're standing on right now! - for their own, and by any means necessary.

And they certainly don't look interested in diplomacy.

If you came armed, you might be in luck, because this conflict will require your steady hand in its resolution. If you did not...well, you may be better suited to run, or risk capture at the hands of warriors skilled, cunning, and incredibly vicious. Laugh at their monkey business all you like; they are ingenious fighters and, what's more, they're just as good at killing as they are at capture.

For the uninitiated, this particular brand of chaos doesn't usually sweep across the entire island the way it has. But those who have been here for some time will recognize the monkeys in question, and might even recognize this for what it is: revenge.

Group I: The Squeakquel
Looks like your monkeying around last month has landed you and everyone else in a spot of trouble. The monkeys in question certainly weren't happy to be confronted with others on their lands, nor are they willing to share their territory. While you may have triumphed last time you confronted them, the apes have been planning their revenge in the meantime.

Some of you were unlucky enough to become targets. Overnight, a great deal of them silently invaded the islets. Their blow-dart guns are equipped with a fairly powerful sedative that is more than capable of knocking most living creatures out - and those that were immune were simply snatched up, gagged, and bundled away.

However, it seems that some of their prisoners didn't suit their purposes, for one way or another, and thus weren't retrieved with the intention of long-term capture. Which is why a number of you will awaken in regions of the island that you've already explored.

...the really, really dangerous ones.

Whether it's a Center of Gravity, a parade of centipuppies, a contingent of Lungblossoms, a Fustercluck, or something else entirely, one thing is certain: the monkeys wanted you out of their way.

So get ready to fight for your life.

Group II: Ape Escape
If you're not one of the slightly luckier newcomers that materializes on the shore, then you're one of the unlucky ones that's managed to materialize square in the middle of the jungle. Or rather, in the middle of one of the denser, more populated parts of the jungle. The abodes woven into the canopy are crude, built of mud and sticks, but they're nonetheless sturdy.

And, as an important note - they are also swarming with monkeys. Snarling, baying, armed monkeys. Perhaps they'd be more hostile toward an interloper...if you weren't already in a cage, along with several others.

Fortunately for the newbies, they've all got something the monkeys didn't anticipate, aside from the element of surprise. Most prisoners don't arrive with knapsacks full of newly-acquired gear, and it's a good thing, too - you may very well need it, and the help of the new arrivals, to escape this place. You could always wait for the cavalry to come, but are you really willing to take that risk?

Group III: Pot Luck
As for you, you terribly fortunate third group?

You'll find yourselves suspended in wooden cages as well, though this time, to the hot curtain of whitish steam clouding your vision. It smells an awful lot like smoke down there. An awful lot like something...burning? Unlike your fellows over in the second group, these cages aren't simply a means of containing you, no. These cages are currently hanging over what might be the largest cast iron cauldron you've ever seen. All of this is, of course, for one simple reason:

Some species of monkeys are carnivores.

The acrid scent of smoke is already hot and rancid in your nostrils; the pyre beneath you has been lit, and the hungry flames are beginning to boil the water below quite eagerly. We'd suggest you hurry up in freeing yourself and your fellows - being boiled alive is not a particularly pleasant way to go. At least the monkeys weren't expecting quite so many main courses so soon, which allows you the element of surprise.

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.

All new arrivals will awake with knapsacks with their names stitched to the front. The contents of said knapsacks can be found below!

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

[It's becoming habitual for him to wake up with someone pointing a gun at him. Only this time, it isn't a cute little ten year old, and that yakuza boss is nowhere to be found.

Meaning he's the only one in any danger.]

Ha, you've gotta be kidding me!

[He slumps down against the bars, covering his face with his hands.]

Is this truly the end for me? Shot, and boiled like some hairy creature's shitty entree? Life, you cruel mistress!

[This is hell. McCree is in hell. It's not surprising or anything, but he was kind of hoping his personal hell would involve less...Whatever this is.]

Hey, kid.

[Okay, they look...a little too old to be a kid, but. Actions speak louder than words and whoever this guy is they don't seem capable. At all.

Granted this isn't a specific scenario McCree's encountered, ever, but yelling never did nothing for nobody.]

I'm not goin' to shoot you if you calm down.

[He's tempted to add "and if you help me figure this out" but. Well. He's not very confident in you at all, Karamatsu.]

[Too late this is the hell you've been brought into and you're going to like it.

He moans for a little longer, until the last part of Jesse's words actually sink in. He won't die if he calms down, huh? Taking a deep breath, it looks like he's actually taking that instruction the heart-]

Who the fuck could be calm about this?! We're in a cage, idiot! Open your eyes!

[But really. Gun. No gun. He's so fucking dead and he never even got rid of his virginity. Never even had his first kiss.

Never held the girl of his dreams in his arms. Never held her hand as he walked down the street.

That Is The True Crime.]

[He refuses.]

I ain't blind.

[Or stupid, but he is not properly equipped to handle any of this. He's not exactly the guy that gets sent in to help people. He doesn't know anything about deescalation. All he knows is that if he holsters his gun then maybe the kid'll calm down.

Maybe.

It's worth a shot, at least.

Badumtsh.]

But yellin' your fool head off ain't exactly goin' to help us get out of here.

[This lack of composure is probably why you're going to die without reaching any bases, Karamatsu.]

[It's a start, but really, Karamatsu has never calmed down in his entire life. He eyes off the holstered gun keenly, exhaling roughly as he meets McCree's gaze with a dull look of his own.]

Does it look like anything is going to help us out of here?

[Because looking at the situation, they're both royally fucked. Staying calm won't change it, either.]

The hell'd we even get here?

Nope.

[At least he's honest. The words are also probably said way too cheerily and McCree is so sure it's just going to make the kid start screaming again, but, well.

He really can't see a way out of this.]

Don't even know where here is, kid.

[Maybe they're on the moon. Maybe this is the old Horizon colony. Nobody said there wasn't any terraforming going on.]

Haaaah?! How can you not know?!

[He says, like he didn't just admit to not knowing himself. Fingers pulling at his hair, he paces back and forth in the tiny space allotted, half inclined to just start yanking at the bars and screaming again.

The gun in McCree's holster is a pretty good reason to not.]

So what do we do?

Same reason you don't.

[You're not getting away with that bullshit.

He sighs as Karamatsu starts pacing again, before dragging over the bag with his name stitched on it. Might as well see if there's anything useful in it before he gives up.]

Well, we got a few options. We let ourselves get boiled alive, or we could shoot the monkeys on guard to see if that'll buy us some time, or...

[Or a rocket-wielding Egyptian woman in a power suit will save them, but McCree doesn't exactly know that's a possibility at this moment in time.]

[He came here to be illogical and he's honestly feeling so attacked right now. A loud sigh, and he's shoving his hands in his pockets, just on the off chance that there's still something there.

It's most no dice. Some sand, a fish hook (hand-made- see, he can be useful!) and-- ah.]

I could saw us a way out!

[With his handy dandy knife!]

[Good. Feel attacked. It's what you deserve for giving McCree a headache.

Though that solution isn't actually terrible. It'll take forever and they'll probably get boiled before any decent headway can be made but.

It is viable.]

Knock yourself out.

[Though...if you cut off the ropes binding the cage together...

McCree pushes himself up, grabbing the knife he was graciously gifted. (Which seems weird? surely it can't be from the monkeys, because why would they want him armed?)]

Might be good to start with the bindin's, kid. Might be faster that way.

Ah, good idea!

[Glad he thought of it! Of all the things he could do right now, of course Karamatsu strikes a dashing pose, adjusting his glasses with a loud heh, before he starts getting to work. Sawing away at one of the ropes near the bottom of the cage...maybe he could cut just enough to slip out himself, leave this guy to widen the hole enough to follow.

Serves him right, for not having any good ideas. Relying on a NEET to save him... for shame.]

October Intro: Louder than Sirens, Louder than Bells

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