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

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Oh hell yes. Tim, you are officially her new favorite.]

I'd be delighted. I've been figuring out how to work around any missing ingredients, but it's so much nicer to have proper supplies on hand.

[She pushes the jug of rubbing alcohol over to his side of the fire with a smile.]

[postictal]

[Makes sense, doesn't it? He passes the sack of sugar over with the closest Tim perhaps ever gets to a smile - a lift to his eyebrows, a small twitch to the corner of his mouth. He can't pay her back for dinner - but he did let her share his fire, which might be the closest thing to an exchange he could've managed on short notice.]

[He accepts the rubbing alcohol, sniffing at the stoppered top before wrinkling his nose - yep. That's the medical stuff, all right. Satisfied, he stows it away in his pack and pulls out a couple oyster shells he fished out from the water earlier. Whoever or whatever ate the fleshy insides left the shells behind, but without much else to go off of, the man left over from the days of living off gas station food, day by day, recognized when it was best to start picking at the remains, just in case something might be useful.]

And look at that - plates.

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Muffet accepts the sugar and stows it in her pack with care.]

Ah, very resourceful.

[She picks up the pot.]

Hold it out and I'll pour some onto it for you, should be a bit less messy than trying to scoop it out.

[postictal]

[He's had to learn, hasn't he? You always learn when you're own the run - and now more than ever those skills are going to be useful. He hands her one of the shells and steadies his own obligingly.]

Pretty shallow, but it'll do.

[prettypurpleparlor]

I'd say it's about big enough for half of this, anyway.

[She tilts the pot carefully and manages to pour a decent portion of the food into his shell, then takes the other shell and does the same for herself.]

[The food turns out to be fairly decent, if simplistic with a nice mixture of sweet and salty flavors. More importantly, eating it results in feeling physically better almost immediately, though the magic of home cooking.]

[And also literal magic.]

[postictal]

[He's not tasted magic food before, and the difference between that and the sort of gas station shit he's used to is palpable. It fizzes in his mouth and feels like it dissolves on the way down, to the point where nothing is really hitting his stomach at all. Different, but - not unpleasant, he decides. And he'll hand it to the spider lady: she's a good cook. Pretty damn good.]

[It's not like he's experienced an abundance of home cooking in his lifetime, but turns out eight legs really is an asset when you're a chef by trade.]

This is, uh - it's really good.

[prettypurpleparlor]

[She brightens up at the compliment- sure, she already knows she's good at it, but it's still nice to hear that people like your cooking.]

I'm glad to hear it. I tend to focus more on baking than on cooking, since pastries and the like are most of what I sell back home, but I try to keep myself from getting too specialized to manage other things.

[postictal]

[It's a shallow dish, which helpfully reduces the need for utensils - he can sip at the contents. True to his pronouncement, it's pretty damn good.]

Well, you're talking to someone who tried to boil cheese once.

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Muffet giggles lightly, amused but not mocking.]

I believe there are a few dishes which use that particular method, but I think it's more of a topping than a meal in and of itself.

I'm fairly certain I've seen it in mashed potatoes, people will put just about anything in mashed potatoes for some reason.

[postictal]

Turns out college isn't exactly the best place to learn to cook.

[Or rather, it can be, but he failed in pretty much every capacity. Unsurprisingly. That's just kind of his default state of being.]

What about you? Self-taught?

[prettypurpleparlor]

Largely, yes, although my family did teach me the basics of it when I was younger. I kept up with it on my own as the years passed.

I actually did go to college, but I majored in economics- useful, when you're planning to start your own business.

[postictal]

Lemme guess - bakery? [He's going off on a limb here, but he's pretty sure it's an educated guess, all things considered.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

[She smiles, and replies dryly:]

Why, however did you know?

It's been fairly successful, so far- humans seem to like trying something unusual every now and then.

[postictal]

You know a lotta humans, then?

[He's guessing, based on what he knows of her world, no. But then again, she did say humans plural. Which would indicate that she has more experience with them than just the one.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

Not until relatively recently- up until the Barrier was broken a year ago, we were all sealed underneath a mountain. We've rejoined humanity on the Surface since then.

[postictal]

Huh. [He has a cursory knowledge of that point in her world's history, but most of what goes unsaid he can piece together, just by virtue of knowing a little too much by osmosis.]

Guess this is kind of an adjustment then, huh?

[prettypurpleparlor]

To say the least- when it comes to climate above the ground, I'm used to temperate forest and cliffs every five feet. I've read about other environments, of course, but I was a bit too busy to take a vacation.

[postictal]

And now you've got more vacation time than you know what to do with.

[Does he know the feeling.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

Does it count as a vacation if I didn't actually intend to go? The scenery and company have both been lovely so far, but I can't say I find the situation terribly relaxing.

[postictal]

[All right, fair.]

Change in scenery, then.

Pretty sure this isn't gonna be the relaxing break from it all a vacation would be, anyway.

[prettypurpleparlor]

I suspect you're right. I suppose I'll just enjoy what pleasant moments I can find, in between the stranger parts.

[postictal]

Those might get to be pretty few and far between.

[He's anticipating the arrival of an omnipotent asshole, to borrow Newt's terminology, any moment now, set on making their lives difficult.]

Just as a warning.

[prettypurpleparlor]

[She nods wearily.]

I appreciate the warning. It would be nice if the situation was better than we're expecting, but if it isn't... well, no sense going in unprepared.

[postictal]

...just in my experience. Could be wrong.

[Buuuut he's not exactly optimistic. He's never been one for optimism, least of all in situations like this. But if you keep your expectations low, you're seldom disappointed.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

I hope you are, but I'm not expecting that to be the case, let's put it that way. Besides, it's looking increasingly unlikely that this was in any way accidental, and anyone who'd commit mass kidnapping on purpose...

Well. I won't say there's no way they couldn't have ultimately benevolent intentions, but it's certainly not the option I'd put money on, and even if they do I think I still want to spend some time yelling at them.