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

Jesse listens to her orders. The other... not so much. She casts a glance at Shepard to make sure she's not leaving the woman unguarded, and then turns her attention back to the other two.

The stranger's complaint is met with a taciturn response: "Then it's a good thing I got you out." She doesn't have time to mince words when someone is complaining about being rescued. Life or death doesn't care much for grace or comfort, and whatever lessons about compassion on the battlefield she might have learned... She's not really thinking about that right now.

Her attention shifts to Jesse, and it might seem for a moment that she's not sure what to say. It's an uncharacteristic hesitance, more to do with the name that she heard him say.

"Lieutenant Amari. Her daughter." She pauses again. It's been four years since she's seen this man, and the stories she heard since then haven't been great. What do you say to an outlaw that used to be like a brother to you?

"You remember me, Jesse?"

Not bracing yourself is definitely a you problem, Karamatsu. Don't you know anything about being in high-stress, high danger situations? Always gotta have one eye open.

Sure, that awareness didn't help McCree escape from the cage destruction unscathed, but he at least managed to keep a hold on things.

"Woulda died if we didn't get out," he's quick to point out, but it's more something he's said out of reflex. It is true, though. Not getting out of the cage would've ended even worse, whether by being boiled alive or...Well. There's a lot of ways to die when you can't fight back too well. He offers Karamatsu a cursory glance, before deciding his job is done. This strange family reunion is more important than your bruised ego.

"Fareeha? 'Course I remember you." It'd be hard not to - from the start of McCree's time with Blackwatch, Fareeha was there. Hard to forget someone you've seen grown up. "Be impossible to forget."

He can't see the entirety of her face under the armor, but the way she holds herself? Typical Amari.

The hell? First she starts shooting off a gun like there's no problems. Now they're both having a conversation without him, pretty much. A dissatisfied grunt- clearly, they don't get it. Rescues shouldn't almost kill a man- or almost break their glasses, either.

Whatever.

"You guys can find a room whenever you want, I'm out of here." Less chat and more saving his own skin. These guys can take care of themselves...if they ever stop making goo goo eyes.

Gross.

"Good to know." A wry smile peeks out from beneath her visor, aimed at Jesse McCree. He does remember her. There's a small part of her that's relieved, and another part that wants to shake him by the shoulders and ask him where he's been. Four years, Jesse. Four. Years.

But that's for another time. McCree might be done with his cagemate, but Pharah isn't, and she's not about to let him wander off through a slew of monkeys while being unarmed. The 'get a room' comment seems to pass completely beneath her notice.

"Hold up." The order is snapped at Karamatsu. "This area is dangerous. Are you equipped to defend yourself?" She noticed what happened to that knife. You're not wandering off without a weapon or an escort, young man.

Sometimes you just have to let the family reunion happen, Karamatsu. You should understand that much at the very least, even if you don't know how to keep calm under pressure.

McCree doesn't say any of that, just makes a face at the other man. Get a room? Gross. She's his sister.

"Pardon me for sayin' as much, but I don't think my friend here ever's been in a situation like this." Granted, this is also something entirely new for McCree as well but. You know. He at least managed to keep a hold on his things as he went sailing through the air. "Also don't think most of us who got locked up have much in the way of equipment, ignorin' any sort of experience with this."

Excuse you he is early twenty-something and CLEARLY old enough to make his own big boy decisions. Even unarmed. In a camp full of deadly monkeys. That just tried to boil him alive.

As the fight continues around them, the angry hoots and howls of the beasts sound from every corner of the compound. It's pretty unlikely that if he walked off alone now, he'd wind up making it safely through...lady Luck... an elusive, but deliciously tempting lover, had never been on his side.

"Ha... then give me that." He points at the rocket launcher.

Trust him, he's good with those.

October Intro: Louder than Sirens, Louder than Bells

I'm glad to be of assistance

it only gets worse from here

thanks I love it

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gomen my guys I have been incredibly slow