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

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 )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Someone calls out eventually, apparently unused to the sight of a drifter such as they. Or perhaps simply unaccustomed to a drifter's general appearance. Their occupation, after all, may not be obvious to one not heralding from their world.]

[They skid to a halt, about-facing swiftly to face the addresser. Their companion whizzes to their shoulder, a small, vaguely holographic rectangle of projected light blinking a line of text across the generated HUD.]

mapping.

[Ok, so this person is displaying some higher tech than she's seen in awhile and it is actually a bit of a comfort. It's comparable to home, with them having an assistant drone with communication and the HUD reminds her of an omnitool. She visibly relaxes.]

Mapping? Like, plotting out the area around here?

[That's not a bad idea actually. In fact, it's a great one. The more anyone knows about the structure of this island, the better the resources found and the faster they can find out how they got here in the first place.]

[They nod their head to the affirmative. Doing their best at it, in any case - though it's not going well. They'd checked the coastal cliffs sloping into the water and the broader, slightly reddish ones rising along the other side of the little cove they've landed in, and there's no way out. Not by those trails, anyhow.]

mobility limited
cliffs blocking most routes.

[Shepard looks off into the distance, observing the cliffs mentioned and after a moment nods.]

Yeah, I can see why that would be a problem.

[She looks back to them, now observing them a bit curiously.]

Do you want any help in trying to get past them? I'm not sure how much I can help but if you need it, I'm here.

will find a way.
always do.

[They don't mean to be curt, but they are intent on finding a way around this island, for the sake of mapping it out if nothing else. That would be best for everyone.]

why?

[Determined. She likes that.]

Because the sooner we have a map of this place, the better idea we have of what's on hand and what we can use. It's important.

[Besides, it potentially gives her something to do in finding out what the hell is going on with this place.]

[Another nod of their head, this one a bit more alert. She sounds like someone with similar priorities to their own - something they can not only appreciate, but value.]

as quickly as possible
no map?

[She doesn't appear to have one. Not of their particular technological persuasion, anyhow.]

[She sighs, rubbing the back of her head.]

No. My omnitool got destroyed before I came here. All the tech I have is the amps and cybernetics inside my body.

[She doesn't know if they will completely understand what she means but on the off chance they do, it's worth mentioning.]

tech?

[They don't see any tech...but then, what one civilization might define as technology, another might call magic. It's dubious which her category is.]

[Some people do call biotics space magic. It's kind of a weird thing, all in all.]

Yeah. Uh.

[How does she explain this? Or show it, even? Without her omnitool, all the tech that is left on her is, well. In her.]

As I said, everything else got destroyed before I came here, but I still have my bodily upgrades.

[...at least, she thinks she does. She turns away from her companion then, facing some of the trees nearby.]

Let's see if they are still working right.

[She concentrates. The familiar feeling of dark energy and mass effect fields fire up, rippling up her spine and manifesting in a shimmery blue light all around her body. Decades of practice and training make this flow as natural as water and she throws out her right arm, releasing a series of explosive biotic power that bobs as it makes it way to its target.

Rapidly it slams into the tree she aimed for, almost toppling it over and shaking everything out of its leaves which falls to the ground with a bit of a commotion. She straightens up then, the light show subsiding, and rolls the shoulder of the arm she used to center the shockwave. Huh. It came out just fine but it feels... more tiring than before.]

Yup. Still working.

[The Drifter watches with the same expression they wear typically - which is to say, flat curiosity. The tree trunk shudders at the impact and a flurry of leaves and loose branches rattle to the ground from the impact. Akin to a dash in execution, but with far more power behind the blow.]

[That could be useful.]

[She's undoubtedly a combatant, but they're not in the habit of making observations aloud - or, indeed, in any easily perceptible sense at all. So instead they inquire as to her occupation; a reasonable assumption, given her apparent skillset and application of technology.]

drifter?

[Shepard looks at them, a bit confused. Are they asking her name?]

No. Shepard. You?

[Not a drifter. A shepard, then - whatever that may be. They accept that after a moment's consideration. Evidently her world deviates from theirs in some fashion. Unsurprisingly.]

drifter.

Drifter. All right.

[She nods. A name that clarifies a purpose. It reminds her of Legion and how they named themselves because they, well, were legion.]

It's good to meet you. Now let's see how we can get around those cliffs.

alright

[They are nothing if not businesslike in their approach, immediately turning their attention back to the cliffs and trotting forward to examine them a bit more closely. The conversation might as well be over, if she'd like.]

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

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