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

[whiteas]

That is the opposite of what I just said. I asked beforehand so I wouldn't kill you.

[ She may be cranky, but she's at least responsibly cranky. ]

[chummer]

[ ... A skeptical squint. ]

Yeah, alright. Whatever helps you sleep at night.

But I'm cold-blooded so please don't freeze me. Or, I mean. I was? I'm not sure if the magic changed that. It might have.

[whiteas]

I won't freeze you. I chose a job to protect people, I only wanted to do it if it was going to be a minor retaliatory annoyance. What kind of magic do you mean anyway?

[ It's so weird to her. The concept of magic isn't one that exists outside of fairy tales as far as she knows in her world, so hearing about different magics from other worlds is as fascinating and foreign as space travel. As far as she knows, there are just a bunch of people just like Finley going around being sharky-humany assholes where he's from, too, so that's a little confusing to her. ]

[chummer]

I don't fucking know. I'm not a sea witch! They do all kinds of weird shit. You pay them and they magic shit up. That's how it works.

[ Unfortunately for Weiss, Finley isn't one to question things too deeply. He's honestly never had to. Even when it came to the very magic altering his body, he didn't think too much on it. All he cared about was how much he had to pay to have it happen. ]

[whiteas]

You just signed yourself up for someone to do something to you and you didn't even ask what that was?

[ She's not calling him a moron. She's not gonna do it. She wants to, but that's not how things should ever work. She can't hide the quirked eyebrow though. ]

You know, nevermind. If you don't know, you don't know. [ She just makes a note not to necessarily trust what Finley says about someone else as solid truth. He's clearly not the type to question much. She'll just not remotely trust his judgment from here on out. She needs to change the topic before they start fighting again. ]

Anyway, the offer I made before.. I suppose still stands, provided we can find a good place for a shelter. I want somewhere close to fresh water and.. close to an estuary if you're coming unless you can handle fresh water? Do fresh water sharks exist? [ Look she's not a biologist, nor the type of person who watches shark week. She was busy reading history textbooks and learning fighting techniques and strategy. ]

[chummer]

Sorry that saving our sea was more important than learning how witches do their magic!

[ It comes out a snap, harsher than he even intends. And now Weiss is the first to get a glimpse at the why of his anger. He's usually aggressive. It comes with the territory of being a shark. An inherent trait. Add in the fact that he's a literal royal and was spoiled rotten, too, and you've got yourself a nice brat cocktail.

Still, there's something driving this unusually consistent rage. And there it is. He hadn't left his world in a good start. He's worried, definitely, but he'd rather threaten to punch people in the face and spit curses than admit it. He's aware that he's not the only one eight, but- Frankly? He doesn't care. All that matters is his waters and getting back to Bayani and-

Being stuck here instead in absolutely infuriating, to put it lightly. ]

Fresh water fucks me up. It's like a shock to my sytem, but- Whatever.

[whiteas]

[ She doesn't feel bad for him per se, but she does regret thinking he's a moron, at least. Even if he seems to become harsher, she seems to untense a little. ]

That makes sense. I would've done anything to save Vale.

[ To the point of losing her temper and nearly accidentally killing someone when they'd said Vale deserved what happened to it. It's probably the reason she doesn't seem remotely bothered by Finley's anger about that. She understands wanting to protect your home, even if it's far too late for hers. ]

Estuary it is, then. [ She's settled on it. Despite initial impressions, so far she's determined that Finley isn't as terrible as she thought. Which.. seems to be the case with most people she dislikes, which is why the people she's closest to are usually people she's argued with, sometimes more than once, before coming around to liking them. ] you need salt water, and I need fresh water.

[chummer]

[ He doesn't know what Vale is, but. It's not the response he expected, he'll admit. It helps him relax just a fraction to know that maybe someone understands on some level. Not that he'll ever openly say a such but it's definitely spoken in his body language.

If it makes her feel any better, he would murder for less and has. But it's different in a gam. Only the strongest are allowed to survive when everyone is a predator. ]

Yeah, alright, that's fine. Just let me know how I can pitch in.

[whiteas]

What supplies do you have?

[ Weiss may have limited resources and she may not be camper of the year or anything, but organization and planning is one thing that she is good at. Knowing what supplies are with who is going to help greatly, particularly since Weiss's skills often lie in team support. As an individual fighter, she's probably one of the physically weakest in her group, but as a member of the team, the team is far stronger for her presence and more likely to succeed-- whether it's because she's using the two seconds she could've wasted on a proper landing to cast a support glyph and taking concrete to the face or simply bringing additional supplies like specialized ammunition for her teammates. Applied to this situation, the more she knew about what her "team" needed and had, the better she could do that- whether it was for Finley or others she had met with what Finley could bring to the table. ]

[chummer]

Bees?

[ It comes out as a question because, honestly? Someone else had to tell him that's what the jar of stuff he'd found himself with was. He was just going to trash it, claiming it to be junk but... Apparently, it could be useful. ]

I also got, like, some dried fruit. You can have that, eugh. And some other stuff? I don't know what it all is.

[ He opens his pack, which reveals to Weiss his possession of a hammer, a tarp, and a shaving razor. All of it practically useless in his mind. ]

[whiteas]

[ Well, it is and it isn't useless to Weiss, but only because she already started with a hammer and a razor. ]

I'll take the fruit, but I recommend you keep the tarp close. If it starts raining, it's going to keep it off of you better than any of the trees are. The hammer you should trade to someone who is trying to complete a tool set for something you need. I'm really not sure what sort of things are bc shark man requires so that's up to you. [ she refers to the beads next, pretty sure that's what he was incorrectly naming. ] These are actually called beads unless you're hiding a hive somewhere. Bees are little insects that fly and produce honey and will sting you if you attack them.

[ she can't imagine teeth being much use against bees, so it's best to give him a heads up about that. ]

However, they won't bother you if you don't bother them. The beads can be used to start fires easily though, so if you're starting to get cold, that might save your life, got it? Then that I will happily find something to trade you for because mine isn't going to last forever. [ she points to the razor. Fight against the hairy legs and pits. ]

[chummer]

No, I got-

[ He pulls out this next, which. Looks like a grenade. A bee-striped grenade.

Finley has never seen a grenade in his life, honestly, so. ]

Someone said it looked like bees, so.

[whiteas]

[ This was it. This was the moment when Weiss decided whoever had plopped them down on this island was truly out of their mind. She holds both hands up in front of her when he pulls it a grenade. ]

In my world? That's called a grenade. You pull the pin and it releases a potentially deadly explosion. So absolutely don't pull that unless you're ready to throw it far, far away from you. The bee comment was about the color scheme

[chummer]

[ Look, Finely had decided that like... so long ago.
The fact that Weiss was just getting that meant she was a little behind. ]

Woah, no shit? So I got like a totally awesome fucking weapon at my power here?

[ aka the... one person who shouldn't have a totally awesome weapon like that at his disposal, yeah. ]

[whiteas]

[ Weiss had been trying to reserve judgment until she actually meet the person or people. Giving Finley a grenade was too much to keep that going though. ]

I mean, it's an explosive weapon. I wonder if the colors are meant to indicate an electric component or if someone was just bored.

[ Everything in her world weapon wise uses a substance called Dust for power, including explosives. Weiss's family is the number one Dust producer in the world. Basically, she wants to know because she's a nerd about the stuff- even if she knows it's unlikely anything like her world's technology. ]

[chummer]

Fuck if I know, [ he answers. Obviously, he has absolutely no clue what this thing is or is supposed to do or what the colors mean besides 'bees.' ]

Guess I'll find out whenever I have to use it.

[ He hopes he doesn't though since, well. This place is fucked enough without throwing danger requiring explosives into the mix. ]

[whiteas]

Let's hope that day is some time from now.

[ Please don't explode that thing near her. She's been blown up more than enough for one lifetime. ]

If you do need help, I'm a trained huntress so yell my name really loudly if you need help and I'll come if I can hear you. [ She assumes it will also be obnoxiously yelled if he does, or not at all since he probably has too much pride to call for assistance. But she's also pretty sure dying on a crap island is more embarrassing than calling for help on the crap island. ]