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

[want_to_belong]

A cool spritz of water hit Prompto on face and, wrinkling his nose, he groggily shook it away. He winced up at an endless blue sky. He was sure he'd just been on an island somewhere. But now this...

He rolled on his side to check his surroundings. Somehow he was out in the middle of the sea. Iggy wasn't there. Neither were Nyx or Noct. Maybe he shouldn't have expected them to be. Last he remembered he was on his own in the snow, trying to make his way back. That other island stuff must have been a dream - but it had felt so real, and he wanted to be with his friends again so bad.

That would have to wait, though, because it seemed he wasn't alone. They definitely weren't the guys. He didn't recognize either of them. And there was a sack with his name on it. In a daze, he opened it to check what was inside, completely perplexed. Not much that would be of use right now. There weren't any oars in that knapsack.

He took a deep breath. He wasn't alone. There were two women here and he needed to hold it together. As much as he wanted some answers, he doubted they were going to be very forthcoming. Maybe Ardyn was just messing with him. Maybe that whole last thing was just an illusion and this was another one. After all, how could he go from being in snowfields to being in the middle of the ocean? It didn't make any sense.

Gently, he placed a hand on J's shoulder and shook it, almost expecting that these two didn't really exist and maybe they wouldn't respond. Or they'd turn into MTs.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked anyway His gaze flipped between them, looking for signs of movement.

[tenthstreetbred]

Waking up the first time had been odd. Waking up again, even more so. Just as she had been coming up with the theory that the beach and island she had been on was a way for her consciousness to comprehend what, exactly, she had done back home, now she's here on the sorriest excuse for a raft she's ever seen in her life.

She sits up quickly, looking out over the watery expanse, eyes narrowed into a glare that is less because of her mood and more because of the light gleaming off the waves. In the distance there is another island and she knows she's gotta get there. But first she should probably figure out who the other people on this piece of over-sized driftwood are.

Her hands go to her (named??) knapsack and she holds it but doesn't open it yet.

"Yeah. I'm fine. What about you two?"

They both look a lot younger than her. That much is easy to see. They're just kids, really. They're gonna need as much help as she can give them to get them to shore.

As she waits for an answer she starts to dig into her knapsack, trying to find anything that might assist them in their eventual journey back to the shore. Other than some rice, a hatchet, some matches and a toothbrush, there's not much of value to their current situation.

[gentlemenpreferblondes]

It had been the cold drops of water and lingering nausea that had awoken J. Weird, she couldn't even remember falling asleep -- actually the last memory she could recall is her finally reaching the New York.. Which only makes the wake up even more confusing and when she opens her heavy eyelids it takes a quick moment before the reality of the situation hits her. Slamming her hand to cover her mouth, J gasps out loud from the shock and surprise at the sight of ocean.

How the hell is this even possible?!

Carefully with her entire body shaking both from fear and cold she tries move to center of the raft, barely daring even breather out. Only now noticing the two other people that are with her who're seemingly unconscious. For a hot second J observes them with her green eyes wide and fearing the worst. But fortunately her darker thoughts are lifted soon as they, too, show signs for life as they start moving and waking up as well. A warm and fuzzy wave of relief washes through her, making her feel dizzy in the head. This all is just one huge roller coaster of emotions. Now if she only would remember to breathe.

J's pale skin only highlights the redness of her lips and cheeks thanks to the leftovers of her earlier carefully painted makeup. She stays quiet for a good time and follows her raft mates with her eyes. She quickly flinches when a wet hand reaches to touch her tense shoulder, snapping back to the present and finally recalling how to talk again.

"I -- uh," she staggers and blinks her green eyes at the guy. "Yeah. No broken bones, I think."

[want_to_belong]

Oh no. Oh no. The poor girl was shocked. Who could blame her after waking up out here? Prompto had had better days himself. He instantly wanted to fix it so that she wouldn't have to be afraid, though he wasn't sure how.

Without a plan of action yet, he glanced to the other woman. "Yeah, I'm fine."

He said it before checking, rolling his shoulders and bending his body to make sure everything was working as intended. Maybe he had a crick in his back, but beyond that he seemed to be okay.

An island still seemed to be a good distance away from them, but how were they going to get there? They seemed to be lucky that they were even still floating on the water.

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you," he reassured J, despite not exactly being the cause of alarm. He was just trying to say something to make things better.

Wait. What if she couldn't swim? Maybe that's why she was so afraid of the water. His gaze turned up to the shore again and he glanced around for a solution before finally grunting and starting to tug off his boots. His clothes definitely didn't look like he belonged there - the coat and beanie definitely looked more suited for snowy weather. Shoes and socks off, he started shrugging off the overly thick coat to get down to something more normal.

"Don't worry, I'll get us to shore," he said while stripping down, mostly trying to soothe the younger woman. The other woman seemed to be more sorted. "Do either of you have any idea what's going on?"

[tenthstreetbred]

Shock is a completely understandable and reasonable reaction to have to their circumstances. Shepard keeps her own emotions under control, even as the idea of waking up with strangers over a mysterious ocean brings up deeply unsettling memories.

The boy comforts the other girl and Shepard gives a small smile. All right. He seems like a good kid, keeping it together. The girl on her part is absolutely lovely and Shepard feels a little bad that she's in this mess. She looks like a gal that should be living the high life on Illium, not water-logged and stranded.

Shepard watches as the boy starts to strip out of his heavy winter gear and raises an eyebrow at his words.

"You got a plan to get us to shore, big guy?" It's partially teasing, a gentle test of the (heh) waters, as well as a genuine push for information. She figures that the best way to get there is by having them take turns swimming and pushing the raft along through the ocean, but that depends entirely on the strength of those here. Since her injuries from before she ended up here seem completely gone, she knows she's got the physical prowess to do it, though she can't be sure that she'll be able to push the entire time.

"Nah. Something knocked us out and put us out here to fend for ourselves. That's my best guess."

Whether that something has anything to do with the Reapers or their business is beyond her currently. She stands up, a little wobbly with how the tide is, but she steadies herself on the mast and looks to the island a bit of a distance away.

"I'm Comman-"

She stops herself. Despite having no real reason to suspect anything, she also can't assume that these two are safe. Not with everything with the Crucible being so up in the air, so identifying who she is might lead to some problems. She corrects herself and tries again.

"I'm Shepard. What about you two?"

[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.