November Intro: Red Sun Rises Like an Early Warning

[lifeaftr_mods]

INTRO LOG: NOVEMBER

Who: Everyone!
What: New souls arrive to the archipelago of LifeAftr
When: November 3rd and beyond
Where: Ensō
Warnings: Mark as needed!

The New Arrivals: Hold My Hand
When you wake, it will be to the lapping of waves, frothed with foam...pulling at your hair, your skin, your clothing. The sand is soft and wet beneath you, but it's several inches submerged. And the longer you stay here, the more obvious it will be that the water level of the ocean ringing this strip of island has begun to to rise, and not merely because the tide has started to come in.

And what's more? You can tell that something else about this entire situation is horribly, horribly wrong.

Perhaps you've lost some special power. Perhaps some piece of your memory is freshly and disconcertingly blank. Perhaps you've just discovered that one of your senses is missing, or that you've been rendered unable to speak, or you've been struck by a debilitating fatigue. Not only are you stranded in some unfamiliar place, stuck on a rapidly flooding beach, but you aren't even doing it in full possession of all your faculties.
For those who agreed to put themselves at a disadvantage for a stranger, these are your consequences. If you're unclear as to the handicap your character has been assigned, if any, please check your initial acceptance notice!

All new arrivals will additionally awake with knapsacks, their names stitched to the front. The contents of said knapsacks can also be found in your acceptance notices!

For All: It's a Long Way Down
The water isn't a problem for the newest arrivals, either. It seems that the waters all over Ensō have started to rise, slowly at first, and then with a steadily increasing rate. At first, you might be forgiven for assuming the tide must simply be unusually high, or maybe that the island's begun to sink. But the longer it endures, the more obvious it becomes that neither is the case.

The water has begun to rise. Something is wrong with the island itself, or the being living on it, and now there is nothing preventing the water's inexorable approach as it steadily washes over and over the mainland. In fact, if you listen closely, you might even be able to hear a peculiar sound tearing over the cold rush of the coastal wind; something akin to a desolate wailing.

Either get to high ground - and quickly - or find out what's causing this. But either way, we suggest you hurry...because there are a great deal of newly arrived, very disoriented folk on the beach that could really, really use your help.

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As a final note to those who participated in the Test Drive Meme, bear in mind that 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.

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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

[esper_magic]

[ The last thing she wanted was to worry him, or anyone though. Still he makes the same point Noctis did, and ..she had until now just taken it for granted that her head hurt when she tried to remember things. But no one else seems to hurt when they deal with their memory - just her. ]

Oh.. no, actually. You take one of those petals, [ She points to one. ] And you drop it in the water - when you speak the name of where you want to go, it transports you there.

[onemanstrash]

[Too late he's worried-- Not that he would admit that without making it out like he isn't really worried in the slightest. But yeah.

He follows along to where Terra is pointing, nodding along as she explains what to do when an interesting idea comes to him.]

Let's say... I wanna be transported to someplace full of treasures. Could I say that and get taken somewhere full of treasure? All the bones, all the rust and mould... [Sure the water is still coming in but look this is important. His tail is wagging quickly and everything.] Man... I'm gonna need a rag to keep my drool in check thinking of all the places I can go like this!

[esper_magic]

[ She is silent for the longest time, and surely it's because she's thinking and not that she's nauseated with the mental image that brings. ]

I.. I'm sorry, no, I don't think so. I'm not sure how it works, but you probably shouldn't ..experiment. You might end up inside of something. In the bad way. [ Please don't teleport yourself into a tree, or mud hill or something Keaton. As entertained as she was by the tail wagging, she doesn't want to get drooled on either. ]

[onemanstrash]

For real? Aww... [For a moment he looks genuinely put out to hear this, his tail slowing and everything. Quickly he clears his throat.] It's not that disappointing I guess. [It is.] Wouldn't want to end up somewhere I'm not familiar with, or inside of things...

[Like say, a cave. A dark, damp cave full of bats. And dust. And-- His tail stops wagging completely as he tries to force the idea of using the mana pool for treasure hunting out of his mind.]

It definitely has to be a petal you throw in, yeah? You can't throw in other stuff. [Like say. A dust bunny. And maybe get teleported to somewhere teeming with dust bunnies as a result.]

[esper_magic]

[ At least if nothing else that tail is very telling when he's thinking about things he oughtn't! The fact that it's stopped meant he put the crazy idea out of his head -- for not at least, right? ]

I think so. I don't think using anything else would work the same way. Or at all. [ Magic is funny that way. ]

...what else would you use?

[onemanstrash]

Gotcha. I was just thinking. [... His tail wags. Just a bit.] What if you threw in other stuff and it took you elsewhere. [Again it wags a little, stopping soon after.] Like a dust bunny.

[It would float on the top or sink whatever right but what if it worked and it took him to some kind of dust bunny lair-- Oh look his tail is wagging at the speed of knots again. Trying to make it stop wagging is always a losing battle.]

[esper_magic]

A .. dust bunny? [ She falls silent a moment. Well the Storyteller was a kind of bunny, but he clearly wasn't made of dust. Were dust bunnies the size of Storyteller? ... ]

Um... well you could -try- but... do you think that would be a good idea?

[onemanstrash]

... Yeah? [Honestly he's the one suggesting it, of course it sounds like a good idea to him.] Buuut I get the feeling you don't. We'll just have to find out after I find some bigger, fuzzier dust bunnies. All of mine look like they drowned after coming here.

[They're all soggy and flat. It's hard to see everything that's caught up in them when they're wet. Plus the smell of saltwater kills the rich scent they had before... They're not actually bunnies Terra please don't worry.]

[esper_magic]

[ But.. but the poor little dust bunnies! She genuinely looks horrified at the thought. ]

.. Oh no..! They drowned? The poor things.. [ She... she can't be serious. ]

I'm so sorry. Were they your companions for a long time? [ Dear god she's serious. ]

[onemanstrash]

[She is. Really invested in the dust bunnies huh.

Well Keaton definitely approves of concern over his treasures!! Oh look, his tail is starting to wag again.]

Yeah, it's pretty bad. They had been growing for awhile now so they weren't little or anything. Some of them were newer than the others, but they were all great you know? [...] Wanna see? [Before he can get a response he's already reaching for one of his pockets.]

[esper_magic]

[ ... D: NO SHE DOESN'T WANT TO SEE DEAD BODIES KEATON WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU. She actually lets out a small yelp and quickly turns away, covering her face with her hands. ]

No..~! Please, I don't want to see that~!

[ Gosh Terra, that distraught response is seriously disproportionate to the death of a dust bunny. Those poor little bunnies ;.; ]

[onemanstrash]

[That's. An interesting reaction. Normally that happens after he's at least shown the treasure off first.]

Huh, for real? You seemed kinda worried so I thought maybe you would. [And yet. He isn't deterred at all.] Look, this guy looks all flat now, but you can still see all the good stuff inside him. Maybe putting him out in the sun will fluff him back up in no time!

[Sure enough he pulls out a lump of dust and dirt that has a bunch of multicoloured threads and debris mixed into it. Drying out the dust bunnies will surely breath new life into them!]

[esper_magic]

It's only natural to be sad if an animal dies.. isn't it? [ She's pretty much just going on guess work here. At least she feels like she would feel bad if an animal died. And.. wait what? Flat? She lowers her hands from her face, slowly glancing over towards Keaton and .. just blinking at the mass of multicolored former fluff in sheer confusion. ]

... what is that?

[onemanstrash]

I guess so. [Though Terra you are talking to the guy who likes dead animals. He knows losing an animal you are close to isn't a fun experience at the very least. But these aren't animals. They are fluff... Actually, it's still sad losing the fluff.]

A dust bunny? Look at how fuzzy he is... Was. I'm sure leaving him out to dry will have him back to his normal self. The water really did a number on him, huh. [He gives the lump of damp fluff a poke. Sure enough it really is just dust and fluff. No dead animals here.]

[esper_magic]

[ Well... yeah there is that. Terra furrows her brow a little, but a soft sigh soon slips out. Thank goodness it wasn't an actual animal. Surely Keaton wouldn't make her look at an actual dead animal...

.... she's ... not going to put that to the test. ]

But... it doesn't look anything like the Storyteller. [ Who is the only thing she can compare to being a bunny. It doesn't even look like a Leafer! ]

[onemanstrash]

[Wait until he finds the islands equivalent to bats and finds a dead one of those. She'll be the first to know!

He stares blankly at Terra before looking down at the fuzz in his hand.]

Yeaaah, no. This has nothing to do with the Storyteller? Where did you... [It takes him a second to catch on.] Dust bunnies aren't rabbits or anything like that! They're like all the dust and stuff that builds up smells really good when you don't clean up... There might be rabbit hair in them? [Sniff sniff.] Okay well this one just stinks like the sea, but yeah.

[esper_magic]

[ She can do that too! Staring blankly right on back atcha. Until the explanation is heard, and she ohs, softly. ]

I-I see. I thought... it might have been an actual animal. I'm glad it wasn't. [ Phew. ]

[onemanstrash]

No way, I wouldn't just carry a dead rabbit in my pocket. [Anything dead and he'll just carry it out in the open okay. Some of the bat corpses he's had are way too big for pockets.] With rabbits you hunt them, skin them and cook them up. I've been able to nab a paw before that no one wanted though.

[Is that any better. It's not is it. He's just going to slip the sad lump of dust back into his pocket now.]

[esper_magic]

[ Well, she knows the concept of hunting -has hunted before. She felt bad about killing the poor little animals, but it was either them or her, and she couldn't survive off of berries alone! That being said... she kind of wants to get off the topic of dead animals and fluff. ]

Well.. do you want to try going through the mana pool?

[onemanstrash]

[Tempting as it is to start going on about some rabbit hunting story, they're meant to be here so he can learn about the pools. Ahem.]

Oh, right. Should probably get that out of the way. I'll tell you all about one of my best hunts some other time. [Complete with all the nitty-gritty details of course.] So we make this work by dumping a flower in the water, yeah?

[He's already moving to pick a flower and likely some of the greenery with it.]

[esper_magic]

Oh? Okay!

[ That was harmless enough! She... she has no idea how not harmless it is. ]

OH! No no, not the whole thing. [ Save those for the others! ] Just a petal is all you need. [ She carefully plucks a petal off of one. ] See?

[onemanstrash]

Alright, I hear you! Just one. [But he stills goes to pluck off one of the petals himself even though Terra has one.] Still, even if a whole flower ended up in there it's not like it wouldn't grow back eventually.

[So everyone else can deal!! ... No okay, he'll try and remember to stick to one petal only.]

[esper_magic]

[ What if they ran low on flowers like they were running low on food and water? .. okay that was probably not likely to happen knock on wood so they were probably fine. ]

Well.. probably. [ She didn't sound so certain though. In any case, she was a little worried he might drop the petal in and disappear somewhere else. ]

So, do you think you'll manage all right? [ She's not going to find him halfway in a tree someday is she D: ]

[onemanstrash]

Yeah, I think I've got this. [Just to be sure though he'll go over what Terra said before, since dust bunnies happened and all.] You put a petal in the water. Then you say where you wanna go and you're there. There's no way you can just go find treasure with it, so yeah.

[He sounds a little put out at the last part, despite having it all explained to him already. He gives Terra a nod.]

We just say "islets" and we're good?

[esper_magic]

[ Terra nods as he recounts the procedure, and then nods again. ]

Right. [ Or the naming equivalent of the individual islets as such. ] You've picked up on it quickly. [ Hard to say if she was more pleased about that, or that she was helpful to someone! ]