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

[postictal]

[A regular Little Mermaid, huh? Or so Tim would say so, if he had the capacity to make that reference - and he doesn't. His childhood didn't involve learning to be part of anyone's world, largely because he was too wrapped up in his own.]

[People don't like it when freaks think they can mingle.]

[Tim blows out something approximating a sigh from one corner of his mouth, snicking away curls of wood from a chunk of driftwood seized at random.]

Guess you'd better get used to living on land. And fast.

[chummer]

[ The reference would definitely be lost on him. A lot of the pop culture talking abouts have flown right over his head thus far,
but... ]

Hey, man. Don't think I'm too bad so far.

But I'll take any lander pointers from a lander himself.

[postictal]

[Oh, he doesn't think he's too bad so far. He almost drowned himself. That earns a skeptical lift of Tim's eyebrows, but he elects to say nothing to that effect. He's guessing here, but he's finding it pretty likely that Finley's not the type to admit to perceived weaknesses, or personal failings at all.]

I dunno if "sea legs" really apply when you've never had legs before. You need, like, access to water or something?

[chummer]

[ Oh my god, Tim, let it go... That was so long ago. (It was earlier today, you brat.)

Also, his guess is entirely accurate. Look at that, how much they're learning about each other. Well. How much Tim is learning about Finley, since the Shark-Man doesn't much care to learn too much about others if he can help it. ]

I don't need it. At least, not for a while. I'll probably figure out how long I can go without being in the water someday.

[postictal]

Good, 'cause places like these don't like to let people leave. I don't think swimming would take you that far.

[He's tired.]

[Can you tell? He's tired, down to his very bones. Nothing he does will ease that weight on his chest (on his soul), and he's still here, no matter what. Despite everything. Still stooped over the embers of his own fire. Waiting for the other shoe to drop.]

[chummer]

[ He squints at that. For as unobservant and apathetic about other people's sensibilities Finley might be, he still catches some things. Sometimes. The things that seem important for him, too. Because he's always thinking about himself first. ]

What do you mean, 'places like these'?

[ He can see his exhaustion. He doesn't care but it'd would definitely make more sense if this isn't his first rodeo. ]

[postictal]

Something grabs you from your home and tosses you someplace else. There's probably some...big old god or ruler or corporation in charge of everything that knows why we're all here.

[Pronounced dully, flatly, without enthusiasm. Because good god, he's only done this once and he's already sick of it. Can't imagine how shitty this must feel for the people who've done this twice, let alone - god forbid - a third time.]

[chummer]

Fuck them, [ he practically hisses. ]

I've got my own shit to deal with. Whatever they think they need, they can fuck right off.

[postictal]

[That gets a huff of air through Tim's nose. It's not exasperated - in fact, he finds himself agreeing wryly with the core sentiment, layered in derision as it is.]

Point is, none of us really have a choice. If we don't play along, there's not much of an alternative.

[chummer]

So, that's it? You all just fucking- You give up?

[ It isn't as accusatory as it actually sounds, honestly. Finley just can't wrap his head around not fighting back in some way. It's practically coded into his DNA. ]

[postictal]

[Tim shrugs. Giving up is pretty much what he's best at. He's long since stopped fighting the undercurrents of whatever tosses him about and deposits him in someone else's cosmic backyard. It's simpler.]

You see another choice?

[chummer]

[ Tim, that is like. The worst thing to be good at? Finley feels like it is, anyway. He could probably be better at so many other things if he tried. ]

Uh, yeah. Punching whatever force is at work in the fucking face.

[postictal]

Do you see that force hanging around anywhere?

[He doubts it would make itself a very punchable being, in any case. And please, please don't try and form a compromise by punching Tim's face instead.]

[chummer]

No, but it's got to be around somewhere.

[ The deities... existed. Audiences could be had with them if you knew the right channels to go through. ]

[postictal]

Well, when you find it, lemme know.

[...chances are Finley make it obvious that he's found it regardless, just based on who he is as a person. He doesn't exactly strike Tim as someone who does anything quietly.]

I wouldn't recommend punching it right off the bat, though.

[chummer]

Yeah? Why not?

[ Inquiring minds want to know, Tim. ]

[postictal]

'Cause it might be the only thing capable of putting us back.

[Not that he necessarily wants to go back. But other people do, so that's a valid point there.]

[chummer]

... Shit.

[ As if he literally hadn't thought of that, until just then.

Spoilers: he hadn't. ]

So, then- What's the fucking point, man?

[postictal]

[Good question. Too bad Tim's probably the exact wrong person to answer it.]

...keep going as long as you can. Try not to die.

'Cause sometimes these places can bring you back.

[chummer]

That's the least motivating shit I've ever heard, man. 'Try not to die.' That's what we do every day.

[ ...tho say wut. ]

What do you mean 'bring you back'? [ He doesn't know much of zombies due to no human media in his life. ]

[postictal]

I mean sometimes death isn't really the end. 'Specially if there's something else this place feels like it can get from you.

[He got stabbed in his very literal soul and woke up here. So any doubts Finley might have he might need to start packing away in earnest.]

[chummer]

[ So he's learning. That's a lot easier said than done when you're doubting just about everything. ]

So, what, they keep us alive to use us for something? That's all kinds of fucked up.

[postictal]

Never said it wasn't. Just...that's the kind of stuff you learn to deal with in places like these.

[Some god or organization or another has a new run of test subjects or bits of cannon fodder to toy around with for the time being. Par for the fucking course.]