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

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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 )

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...How blissfully optimistic of you--Bahamut himself looked at what he made of his once-beloved Chosen and cast him out like worthless garbage. Why should mortals think any differently? Do not speak to me of just punishment when you know no more than a secondhand account of what gods and humans alike have truly earned.

[The everpresent smile dropped off Ardyn's face, gold eyes narrowing. What was the goal here? He couldn't possibly be serious about there being something worthwhile, that was patently absurd. Ardyn Lucis Caelum was dead, buried, and forgotten. Ardyn knew damn well there was nothing left but what he called justified hatred, vengeance, and-]

[...and that strange, lingering satisfaction that even a token expression of resistance had made itself heard. But what did it matter? There was no other option; Ardyn had to die, and Noctis had to die along with him to eradicate the scourge as well as the Accursed's neverending madness. It was all exactly as the gods wanted, and no matter how anyone fought against it...none of it mattered.]

...it's far too late for that, as well. Some fires were only ever meant to burn alone until they mercfully flare up and disappear.

Oh spare me. We both know that neither of us gives a damn about Bahamut's divine opinion. I lost every shred of a damn I had when I heard the true sacrifice his bloody Prophecy requires. Why should mortals think any differently? I can't speak for all of us, but I damn well can speak for myself. I think differently because I will accept no other way. When I see wrong and when I see abuse, I fix it instead of allowing the cycle to continue. I protect and I burn.

[Ignis voice suddenly drops to a steel-laced growl.]

I don't care if it damns me to burn in Ifrit's hell for all eternity, I will find another way. This is all that I am and I'm not letting Bahamut or anyone else take that from me.

If you decide to allow him to win after all this time, then that, Ardyn Lucis Caelum, is your choice and your mistake.

Do not call me that. I will not warn you a second time.

['When the prophecy is fulfilled, all in thrall to darkness shall know peace.']

[All of it, two thousand years of waiting and planning and aligning every piece on a chessboard the size of a world, had been for a single conclusion. If the line of Lucis didn't end, the Crystal's light would never go out. The gods would never lose their last pawns in this near-eternal game, the plague would never vanish, and Ardyn himself would never be allowed to just stop once he finally burned the world down with him.]

[There wasn't another way. The whole thing had been preordained by the gods the moment Ifrit fell at the end of the war. It was always going to end in one Chosen against another, with more collateral damage than anyone could possibly imagine.]

[...What kind of person would defy logic, reason, and the gods themselves to even try? No one had done it before. Not all of Lucis, not Ardyn's own brother, not even Gilgamesh. So why...why, why why why--]

[Bitter jealousy flared up like a wildfire inthe back of Ardyn's mind, for nowhere near the first time. Ever favored by gods and mortals was Noctis Lucis Caelum, the perfect and exalted Chosen who only ever had friends and allies beside him. Gladiolus Amicitia would not have betrayed and abandoned the one he swore to protect. Prompto Argentum would never have turned on the man who was practically his brother. And here was the adviser, willing to fight even the gods when no one else would dare.]

[...Hadn't he been good enough for Lucis? Hadn't he done everything that had been asked of him and more? Why had Ardyn Lucis Caelum failed to be worth protection and salvation, while the helpless and hapless prince turned Chosen King was revered as everything the prophecy spoke of?]

You aren't going to have a choice. If you ever wish to be rid of me and what I am made vessel to, then Noctis will have to die for it. Nothing that you do will matter, whether you accept it or not.

You don't get to make that decision for me or anyone else!

[Ignis nearly spits the words in Ardyn's face.]

You are not a god, nor are you my chosen savior. You do not have the right! You lost any right when you decided to be nothing more than a vessel. You lost it when you gave in and decided to be no more than a pawn moved by the chess master's hand. I stand by my previous assessment. You are a coward. Despite claiming to only know hatred and a need for vengeance, you've given up on seeking vengeance on the one who truly deserves it because you fear it out of reach.

How does it feel to be Bahamut' good little doll? You may have resisted in the past, but now you do exactly what he wants you to. It's pathetic.

[The calmer part of Ignis' mind acknowledges that Ardyn's been fighting so much longer. He must be tired and ready for some kind of end, but for Noctis, for Gladio, for Prompto, for any of them, Ignis would fight for an eternity. He'd give every part of himself over and over again for them.

No, he will never give up. He will always have his friends' and his king's backs. No matter what it requires in the end.

Even if that means fighting the Astrals and the Crystal themselves...]

You think I decided to be this--?!

[Ardyn's hand was halfway curled into a fist before he thought better of what he was about to do. No, don't let these mortals get to you like Lunafreya had. Don't waste your breath on telling them how wrong they truly are.]

[The bitter venom drained out of his voice in favor of something else, a thin veil of silk hiding razor-sharp steel.] How pleasant it must be to see things in such a simple manner. I'm sure it's so much easier to believe I've given up, playing into the Draconian's hands. Why, you say that when you fail to understand that my vengeance has already been done. There is scarcely a planet left for the gods to rule over. The Crystal's light has surely gone out, your beloved king is no doubt dead by now, and I've simply no idea what's become of the rest of you.

[There was the sound of slow, deliberate motion as Ardyn stepped closer, his voice dropping to something as quiet and dangerous as the whispers of a Mindflayer.]

Non sum ignavum nominare. Make that mistake again and it will be your voice you lose next. A paltry matter of sight is nothing next to what I've lost, and now I've nothing left to lose whatsoever--so when Noctis takes issue with that, this whole island can just burn as a result for all I care.

Well, I really have no other choice, now do I? My main source of information is rather, shall we say, contradictory. He claims to be just a simple vessel for the Starscourge; he claims to have nothing of worth left within him, and yet, when I draw conclusions based on that information, he then claims I view it all too simply.

[Ignis' body tenses slightly when he senses the motion from Ardyn's hand, but when no further action come, he presses on.]

You cannot be both simple and complex, so pick one and stop arguing in circles. It's beneath you. Even a child can do that. I expect more from a man with your experience.

[In the end, Ignis doesn't respond to Ardyn's mention of a dead king and a dead world. It's a taunt, a reference to a future that may be Ardyn's but is not Ignis'. Not yet. Not ever.

As certain as he is of this point, Ignis has to hold back a shudder when Ardyn steps closer. His head remains high as the threat washes over him in a deadly feather-light whisper usually reserved for his nightmares of Altissia, but his hands wrapped tightly around the handles of his daggers shake, and for far too long a moment he can feel the concrete digging into his face as pressure from above drives his breath from his chest. Panic claws at the back of his mind, straining on the leash his control holds over it, but he can't let it break free. The last time he did, Nyx had to ground him back down, and Nyx isn't here and Ardyn is, and...]

Veritas non infringetur.

[Ignis' answer comes slower than he would like as his mind struggles to form the right words through his panic. Still, he forces himself to do it correctly in an attempt to bring order back into his mind. It works. A little.]

You have more to lose than you know.

Edited (Typo!) 2017-10-15 03:32 (UTC)

Your main source of information has spent two thousand years lying, do you really expect me to be straightforward about anything? Nothing's remotely entertaining if I bother to try doing that.

[The quiet tone dropped off once the threat had been placed out in the open, replaced with bitterly cold mockery.]

Imbecile. What could I possibly have that I would care enough to lose? My life? I can't be rid of that fast enough. My friends, my family? I don't even have any of those to lose, and even if I did, what of it? What mortals do best is die, and I've outlived plenty of them to know a human life is just- [He snapped his fingers, laughing hollowly.] -nothing. Not even an instant.

I have nothing, ergo I have nothing worth losing.

I will remember that then, each time you insist you have nothing to lose.

[Despite the panic still echoing in his mind, Ignis lets the corner of his mouth turn up slightly, a grim smile to hide the fear bouncing around his head.]

There is nothing of worth in me, you fool. I thought you could see more clearly than that.

[Ignis' normal accent twists into a mockery of Ardyn's own voice for several moments.]

A lie, then, if I've ever heard one. You protest it so very much. It's almost as if you are trying to convince yourself of its truth instead of convincing me. What have you seen within yourself? What have you felt that makes you doubt your own words so thoroughly?

[His voice drops into a strangely gentle whisper, a tone completely at odds with everything around them and the panic that still rolls in his skull.]

What makes you so fear the name you were born with? Are you afraid that man is not as dead as you need him to be?

Edited (Rephrashing a bit.) 2017-10-15 10:19 (UTC)

You must truly have a miserable sense of self-preservation, to continue on like that even after I was thoughtful enough to warn you once about sympathy. There are far easier ways to say, 'Ardyn, please stab me and leave me to die.'

[None of which was an answer, but certainly did make a strong case in favor of 'feeling nothing but anger'.]

My proper name is one no one has any right or reason to use. It's Ardyn Izunia now and has been since long before you and your equally idiotic friends were ever even born. I would advise you take care to remember that, I will not explain it again.

[Perhaps recklessly, Ignis lets his daggers vanish, gesturing to his scarred face with one now freed hand. He needs to bring this conversation to an end because he feels like he's starting to lose ground, though that might just be the panic talking.]

You say that like it should be some kind of great revelation. Surely, you know they start training servants to the Crown to put aside all thoughts of self-preservation very quickly. Not that a six year old has that much thought of self-preservation to begin with no matter how intelligent he may be.

[How many times over the years has he heard people question the fairness of him being appointed to his role so young? How many times has he seen the pitying looks when he's told them he didn't mind being shouldered with duty then? Ignis knows they all think he doesn't know better, that he doesn't know how much he's missed out on.

Well, in his opinion, they also have no idea how much he's gained.]

Amusing, though, that you of all people are scolding me about not having enough self-preservation. You the healer who gave all he was to save his people. You who ignored all the warnings until it was too late.

[Why, one might almost think Ardyn was worried about someone else sharing a similarly tragic fate, but that's just foolishness, now isn't it?]

[Ignored them?, he wanted to say. I didn't ignore anything. What choice did I have? If I stopped what I was doing, countless people would die and I was stupid enough to care about that. You know what kind of miserable end selflessness brings you to? Because you're speaking to it right now.]

[But Ardyn, for a moment or two, said nothing. Then:]

I look forward to seeing that selfless nature continue to backfire on you.

[His arm moved, a sword was thrown through the air, and in a burst of magic he was gone.]

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October Intro: Louder than Sirens, Louder than Bells

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