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.

---

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 )

Comments

[prettypurpleparlor]

[She tilts her head thoughtfully.]

Well, there's a lot of different uses for magic- it's part of our very beings, as fundamental to us as biology is to you. When it comes to broader categories, they're usually classified by color.

Our most basic abilities all come in white. If you see magic in another color, then they're using something more advanced. More advanced magic comes in seven different types, each with its own associated color.

Bullets, specifically, are a very basic form of magic that all monsters can do. They're white in their usual form, unless you're also using another type of magic along with them, and come in a shape that reflects the nature of the person casting them.

[By way of demonstration, she briefly holds one hand up, summoning one bullet on her open palm. She doesn't send it forward, merely leaves the ghostly-looking white spider there for a moment before she closes her hand and lets it vanish.]

All magic is linked to emotion in various ways, to how one feels. That's part of why bullet patterns are unique to different people. Because a bullet is essentially just casting your emotions out in the form of energy, it can be used either to communicate your feelings and intentions or, if your intent is hostile, to attack.

[She sighs ruefully.]

Unfortunately, since human beings aren't magical by nature and therefore can't absorb energy the same way we do, even a bullet pattern with no hostile intent behind it will still harm them.

[ohnehalfte]

[Newt watches as she summons the spider in the air with a sincere sense of fascination--then continues to watch as it vanishes again, turning his attention back to Muffet herself.] That's a really cool way of using magic? I wouldn't have thought it was all emotion-based. Most of the magic I've encountered so far can be influenced by emotion, but it's core is more mental than emotional. But to have all of your magic connected to your emotion....

Is it an endless supply, then? Your magic?

[prettypurpleparlor]

Hmm... I wouldn't call it 'endless' so much as 'renewable', similar to a human's capacity for physical actions- sooner or later there's a limit, and you'll drop from exhaustion if you push yourself too far, but it's not a hard line.

But yes, magic is essentially energy that responds to the emotions of thinking beings. Sometimes the term 'virtue' is also used, for the seven main classifications.

[ohnehalfte]

Virtue? [THIS IS ALL SUPER INTERESTING THOUGH Newt continues to be very interested alsdkhf] Virtue in terms of...what kind of decisions monsters make? Whether they're good decisions or bad decisions or something?

[prettypurpleparlor]

Not... precisely?

[Muffet makes a noncommittal motion with one hand, and clarifies.]

The seven types of magic are purple, for the virtue of perseverance, blue for integrity, green for kindness, cyan for patience, gold for justice, orange for bravery, and red for... well, it's less common and not terribly well understood, the virtue for that one is still under some debate.

So, they're emotions, but they're also personal qualities. One can both feel patient and be patient, for example.

[ohnehalfte]

Okay so...virtue is more about who a person is rather than an action specifically. [Newt frowns a bit, folding his arms over his chest] I think I get it? I mean it makes sense. Like Hogwarts Houses, but with more colors.

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Muffet snickers.]

You're lucky I even understand that reference- but yes, that works.

[A full boxed set of the book series wound up in the dump once. Judging by all the angry comments scribbled in the margins, someone really hadn't liked the ending.]

I suppose it's even more appropriate for humans than it is for us, considering...

Magic can manifest the soul physically. For monsters, their soul will always appear as the same pale grey-white color as our basic magic.

For humans, however, the soul appears in the color of the virtue that they have the most... mm, I'm not sure how to put it exactly. Most capacity for? Are drawn to most strongly? It's complicated, there wasn't exactly much room for study until recently, what with us all living separately from them.

[ohnehalfte]

[Newt blinks at that. It hadn't occurred to him that what applies to monsters magically might reflect on humans as well.]

Yeah? So can just anyone see the, uh...color? I guess?...of people's souls? Or is it only specifically anyone that can use magic?

[prettypurpleparlor]

Anyone can see a soul once it's been manifested physically, but you can't make it appear without magic- so a human could see what their soul looked like, but they'd have to have a monster pull it out for them, they couldn't make it happen on their own.

...Well, most humans. I've heard there were a rare few that had magic, that's how we were sealed behind the Barrier in the first place, but it's so uncommon as to be nearly nonexistent, especially in the modern day. No one's seen a human mage back home in centuries, at least.

[ohnehalfte]

Have a monster pull it out for them? Does that, like...hurt? Or something?

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Muffet frowns thoughtfully.]

I don't think so? I can't say I've ever asked anyone about it specifically, but it doesn't hurt to summon your own soul, and it didn't feel different to me when I was small and my family was pulling mine out to teach me how...

It would, of course, be unpleasant if someone were to attack your soul while it was out. It's... not exactly something one does at the drop of a hat, in any case- it's not too rare, but you are making yourself vulnerable by putting such an important part of yourself out there, you wouldn't do it to someone without permission under normal circumstances.

[ohnehalfte]

[Newt hums in consideration, far more relaxed once he's told that it doesn't hurt]

So...how hard is it to do that? To pull out someone's soul temporarily?

[WELP GUESS WHO'S CURIOUS NOW]

[prettypurpleparlor]

It's not particularly difficult to make it manifest, it gets harder if you're trying to actually do something to it beyond simply making it appear visibly- especially if it's something the proper owner doesn't want you to do.

[ohnehalfte]

[Still considering over here. But it doesn't last long because lbr, he's too curious now to leave this alone]

Do you think you could manifest mine?

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Newt. Seriously, you met this woman maybe a day ago and you're willing to have her grab your soul and yank it out of you? She's impressed at your dedication to information-gathering, but also a little concerned.]

I... could do that if you wanted, yes. Are you sure you'd be all right with that?

[Somehow, she has the sneaking suspicion that she already knows the answer, both to her question and the question of what his soul looks like: if this man isn't orange, she will be genuinely surprised.]

[ohnehalfte]

[Muffet, five minutes ago you learned that this idiot linked his brain up to an alien hivemind. What were you expecting, exactly??? Newt only grins at the question, though.]

I mean, yeah? You said it didn't hurt, right? And as long as nothing attacks it, I'll be fine? So yeah, I'm totally down!

I'm deliberately leaving it up to you to pick the actual soul color.

[prettypurpleparlor]

Well, yes, by all logic it should be perfectly fine- I just want it known that I suggested caution, on the off chance something bizarre and horrible happens.

[Like, if things were being totally normal and reasonable today, she wouldn't even be on this island in the first place.]

[But still, she raises one hand and focuses...]

Brace yourself.

[And with a strange fluttering sensation, as much a sound as a feeling, a small, heart-shaped light forms just above Newt's chest.]

THANK u were pretty much spot on with the orange tho

[ohnehalfte]

[Newt can't help but suck in a breath at the strange tingling, fluttering sensation as she raises a hand towards his chest. There's a mild bit of panic stirring in the back of his mind, but it's one that's quickly overridden by fascination as an orange light curls and glows into being just in front of his chest, and Newt blinks, reaching out a hand to gently cradle it--though he doesn't actually touch it himself]

....woah. That's....this is my soul? [holy shit though. Holy shit.] This is so. Cool.

Bet you Hermann is cyan. They're a matched set.

[prettypurpleparlor]

Orange. Somehow, I can't say I'm surprised.

[Muffet can't help but smile at his enthusiasm. She carefully avoids ACTing on the soul at all, just keeping it out without doing anything else to it.]

Yes, it is. That's what they always wind up looking like to us, when they're manifested. You should be able to get it to move around a bit, if you will it to.

[ohnehalfte]

Yeah? What was orange again? [Newt glances away from the heart and at Muffet, briefly--before he blinks, expression lighting up as he looks back down at the heart in his hand]

Seriously?! I can move it? [....and now he's frowning down at it, eyes narrowing, concentrating, trying to make it move] Do I just, like...think at it or something?

[prettypurpleparlor]

Bravery, dearie. Orange is the color of bravery.

[Fortune favors the bold, right?]

Essentially, yes? I believe one just wills it to move in the appropriate direction- not thought so much as feeling, but basically the same principle.

[ohnehalfte]

[Bravery. There's a pause, but it makes the corner of Newt's quirk upwards]

Fortune favors the brave, huh?

[...there's an irony in that statement that makes his expression dim a bit. He doesn't feel like fortune has been favoring him for a while. But...well, he's holding his freaking soul in his hands, so now really isn't the time to be dwelling on that. Newt shakes his head, briefly, refocusing on what she's said about moving it, and he frowns again--before sucking in a breath of air and blowing it out slowly, as if to focus himself. It's... an odd sensation, trying to find how his soul "feels." It's not exactly something he's ever had to do before. And yet...somewhere, on the edge of his consciousness, there's the feeling of something like...a phantom limb? Newt frowns, trying to reach for it--but the more he does so, the more it slips away from him. The line between his brows deepens in concentration, and he doesn't realized that he's closed his eyes in an attempt to focus better.

But somehow that helps, because it seems in losing one sense (sight) he's gained another. He can feel it much better now, the edges of something different. It's still faint but absolutely more solid now--and he just...tries to make it move upward????

It's not much of a movement, really, but the orange heart does shift about two inches higher. Newt cracks an eye open, glancing down at it...before over at Muffet]

...did it move?

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Muffet notices the brief change in his expression, but doesn't comment.]

Yes, it went upward just a bit.

Seems like you're getting the hang of it- although, do let me know when you'd like to put it back where it belongs.

[She'd just... rather not leave that out there forever. For safety's sake.]

[ohnehalfte]

[Newt grins widely, feeling rather accomplished when Muffet reports that it moved]

Ah, yeah...that's probably enough for the first time, huh? Can I practice it more another time, though? [HE IS V INTERESTED IN GETTING GOOD AT THIS]

[prettypurpleparlor]

[She laughs softly.]

If you'd like, dearie.

[She raises a hand again and there's a brief sensation of something untensing, relaxing. The little orange light disappears back into Newt's chest, and the glow dissipates.]

[*Right where it belongs.]