August Intro: You Think...You Wink...You Do A Double Blink...

[lifeaftr_mods]

INTRO LOG: AUGUST

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

Part I: Get Wrekt
You rouse to a splash of sea salt drying on your skin. A haze of glass-white sand glitters in your vision, dappled by lush palms and thick, curling foliage that disappears into a jungle of deep jade. From behind, crackling wood and sawing rope groan from a mangled life raft ran ashore. A petering wash of tide over pebbled sand fills your ears as you struggle to gain your bearings in a vast portrait of tropical color…

No...no, no, that’s not precisely how this story starts.

Why don't we start over?

You rouse to a splash of sea salt, spraying across yourself and the wooden floor beneath you as it breaks across the edge of the platform. The light as it dances across the sea is blinding, dappling white spots across your vision as you slowly come back to consciousness and realize that - this is not where you last remember being.

The middle of the ocean is likely not a place most recall being at all. As you struggle to fully comprehend the new scenario in which you have found yourself, three things become quickly apparent. The raft you find yourself upon barely constitutes as something that should float, never mind a boat. In the distance, perhaps a few hours away at most, a large island beckons to you, a wide strip of beach surrounded by cliffs making it very clear where the most fortuitous of directions shall be.

Lastly, of course, you’re not alone. Hopefully your new companion(s) are just as keen to get ashore before nightfall as you, or voyaging together will not be the most positive experience. At your side you will find a knapsack, one to every member of your raft party, and upon inspecting its contents, you will discover any rewards you may have accrued - as well as a few other items to give you a fighting chance.

A note to those who participated in the Test Drive Meme: 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: Choose Your Own Adventure

By fortune (or misfortune, as it were), you eventually find your feet meeting sand, blessed shore to stagger upon as you shake off your newly found sea-legs. There are those that may find this place familiar, as though it appeared in a dream, though the expanse of shore certainly seems larger. The beach stretches off into the distance on both sides, curving around sharp ridges and cliffs, mist obscuring the view the farther along it goes.

So here you are. You’ve found land. Company. Supplies. The sun is now beginning to trek rather low upon the horizon…spending the night outside in such an unfamiliar land is unappealing at best and outright dangerous at the worst.

There is one silver lining in the midst of this mess. Directly ahead, the beach curves up a gentle slope until it meets forest, some manner of building visible through the trees. Further exploration of this area will reveal a dilapidated building of sorts; the architecture is indiscernible to even the most skilled eye. Despite looking as if it has seen better days, there are areas that offer some form of shelter...and who knows what else. Just because it appears uninhabited doesn’t mean you won’t wind up pleasantly, or unpleasantly, surprised.



So what shall you do from here, traveller? There is land to be explored, strangers to meet, friends to reunite with. Supplies to inspect and plenty of questions in need of being said aloud. Choose your path, make haste, and above all else: survive. And whatever you will, take heart.

Your story is about to begin anew.

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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!

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[gentlemenpreferblondes]

J doesn't flinch this time and the tension in her shoulders ease up a little after the first shock. The people on the raft with her appeared to be just as lost in the situation as she so there's no need to be on guard. Her hesitant eyes meet the boy's reassuring ones and she gives him a tentative nod, moving some of her wet hair away from her face. It seems like that trusting the others is her only way out of this mess.

"Yeah. Sure." She says and summons a nervous smile. The corners of her lips briefly curling upwards before dropping back down as J turns to look at the other woman in the boat. Now that she's slowly starting to calm down she really takes a notice of what her companions really look like and.. Well, they sure are peculiar looking group. J's not sure if she's ever seen a woman quite like her. Strong, brawny and well, masculine. Now that she thinks of it the boy appears to be quite strange as well.

"J," she offers sternly as an introduction, her stomach dropping at hearing the woman's theory. "I- how, why." She stutters while trying to make sense of all this. It all goes way past her and makes her head spin and stomach turn nauseously. No, at the moment why isn't the question that needs to be asked.

"D-do you have any ways to get this thing to shore?"

[want_to_belong]

"Yeah." He smiled despite himself. It's not like he was the group strategist, he just only saw one way they could do this if they didn't have something to paddle with. "I'll push it to shore."

Try as he might, he was too shaken up to truly come off as a guy with with a lot of confidence. Spirit, maybe. No doubt someone like Shepard could probably see through the false bravado, a lot of which he was putting up right now to try and make J feel safer. And maybe he kind of wanted to look cool in front of the girl. She looked like an Altissian model or something with the make-up and the cute curls. As far as he was concerned, it was his job to get her to safety right now.

Which was why he was taking things off. The last thing he needed was to jump in the water in a big heavy coat. Or to have gross squishy socks.

He did pause when he got to the vest and tank top. He was physically fit by all appearances, but he hadn't always been that way, and he was stripping in front of two women here. After considering leaving his top on for a few seconds, he finally pushed aside his worries and pulled it over his head. The less clothes he got soaked the better.

Shoes, socks, handgun, coat, top... he had it all there sitting on the raft, but like hell was he going to take the pants off. As he stacked his things into a pile he answered, "I'm Prompto." He started talking to both, then leaned towards J a bit. "It's okay. I'm one of the Crownsguard. I won't let anything happen to you."

And with that he stood up shakily, barely balancing on the raft as it swayed, before jumping gracelessly into the water. Had he talked big? Yes. It was still a long ways to the shore and he was just a 5'8" guy, and not a heavy hitter. Fighting the ocean to push the raft all the way to shore was going to be a hell of a chore. But if nothing else he was determined. Hands on the back of the raft, he started pushing, fighting through the rolling waves. Progress was slow as the sea seemed to do with them what it felt like, but bit by bit it moved closer. Still not close enough for his feet to touch the sand.

Shepard might need to help out her new recruit if she didn't want him to drown.

slides into here way late sorry guys!!

[tenthstreetbred]

Well that's about the same amount of plan she had and she's a bit impressed that he jumped straight to it without much dithering in thought. She's a lot less impressed by how much of an act it seems that Prompto is putting on to be confident here but before she can comment on it he starts to undress. Undress more than before, really. Shepard is no young flower embarrassed by any signs of nudity but it does drive the fact home that he is very young. She grins and shakes her head a bit.

"Crownsguard? What's-"

Then Prompto jumps right in and her eyes widen a bit in surprise. His efforts clearly aren't in vain, however, as the raft begins to move with purpose and less the ups and downs of the waves. She watches him for a bit and then turns to J.

"All right. He's not gonna last long down there, so while he's playing hero, I gotta ask- do you have any idea how to move a sail on a ship?"

She nods towards the one sail on the raft in the middle. It's a small and simple thing but it's better than nothing.

"When I switch with him, I can push the boat forward and if you can, you can turn the sail to catch any wind to make it a bit easier to get us to shore. If you can't, hand it over to sparkly eyes over there. I think he'd appreciate being able to do that for us."

With that she makes her way to the edge of the raft where Prompto is putting his all into moving them forward.

"Hey kid. You ready to come back up?"

The moment he shows any sign of slipping too low below the waves she's gonna pull him out.