lifeaftr | November Intro: Red Sun Rises Like an Early Warning

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November Intro: Red Sun Rises Like an Early Warning

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.

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.

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 )

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[Muffet correctly interprets the look and laughs slightly, a surprisingly sweet sound for her sinister appearance.]

Quite odd, yes, I know- in my defense, I'm not the one who made it. You'd have to take that one up with the Storyteller.

[She nods, expression determined. Oh, she will. She's got a lot to take up with the Storyteller.]

[Yeah, there's a queue forming for that one.]

[Muffet keeps walking, leading her to the temple. Just as she said, there's a small pool of glowing green water sitting just outside the wall. She delicately plucks one of the narcissus flowers growing around it and drops it in the water with an expression of concentration, causing the light to flare brighter.]

I'll go first, shall I?

[Given Maka's understandable wariness, it seems polite to prove it isn't a trap by demonstrating.]

[Maka nods, then taps the side of her head with a questioning expression. Should she be focusing on something when she steps into the pond?]

[Assuming that Maka wants more details, she explains:]

I've primed it by picturing the islets, so we need only hop in like so...

[Suiting words to actions, Muffet steps neatly into the pool and vanishes as she touches the surface of the water.]

[The pool has to be primed, directed at a certain location, and that's an important detail to know. Muffet steps in and is gone, and Maka takes a deep breath and copies her.

It's probably magic. She should probably hate it, should destroy it, but she's gotten a little bit more used to magic now.

The setting has changed around her, and Maka looks around to assess the situation before turning to Muffet and giving the spider a thumbs up and a grin.]

[The islets seem much as Muffet described them, a series of smaller pieces of land high enough to be safely out of the water, connected to each other by rope bridges in varying degrees of repair. Houses, also in varying degrees of repair, are scattered around at irregular intervals.]

[Muffet giggles at the gesture, and returns her thumbs up with one of her own hands.]

Last I checked, a few of the houses were still unoccupied, although I admit that was before our latest sudden batch of new arrivals. I can get you some food, though, if you're hungry.

[This is a little more familiar, a little more like the ruined towns of the Box.

She takes a deep breath, and looks around, expression gone a little somber. Another house, another set of repairs, another attempt at setting up her own space and finding her own sort of home underneath another wrong sun. Here she is again. Time to start over.

But Muffet's question gets Maka's attention. Any mention of food would get her attention, that's what prolonged periods of near-starvation do to a kid suddenly thrust into it. Yeah, she's hungry. She's always hungry. She nods cautiously, not willing to take food away from someone just because she's hungry.]

[Muffet doesn't know quite enough about humans, even now, to pick out the physical signs of starvation- but something in Maka's expression tugs at her nevertheless, and firms her resolve to get this girl a decent meal.]

I'm a baker by trade, back in my home world, so I do a fair bit of cooking here to keep in practice. I still have a decent amount of stew left over from yesterday, if I recall correctly- assuming you don't mind potatoes.

[Maka's been living off of stew for over a year now, but she certainly isn't going to complain, especially when potatoes are involved. She smiles, and gives another thumbs up.]

[Muffet smiles cheerfully.]

Then you can follow me, if you'd like to eat at my house- or you can wait here and I can bring you some, if you'd prefer.

[She doesn't want to strain Maka's clearly fragile new trust in her by insisting that she come into her house instead of an open area that she can easily escape from, but she also doesn't want to seem cold by not allowing her into her home, so letting her choose seems the most reasonable compromise.]

[She'll follow, but not all the way into Muffet's house. Maka just hangs out outside, and pulls her cat out of her backpack while Muffet goes inside to grab the soup. When the spider comes out, Maka will be sitting on a log and playing with something that is.... probably cat-like. Pumpkin is a pretty purple-grey sort of color, very obviously a cat with the requisite head and ears and fur and meows, but also with very obvious octopus tentacles instead of any kind of appendages.]

[Muffet returns fairly quickly, carrying a wooden bowl full of warm, pleasant-smelling carrot stew in one hand- and, in another, a small bundle of coconut cookies. This girl seems like she could use a treat.]

Here we are- oh my, what a dear little creature. A friend of yours, dearie?

[She's assuming that they're not a threat, given how Maka is playing with them- which means she has no problems with finding this thing completely adorable.]

[Maka nods, and holds Pumpkin up for Muffet to see. He has no real interest in being seen, and he wraps his tentacles around Maka's arm.

With her free hand, Maka takes the stew and starts drinking. It's really good, and she's extremely hungry, so her table manners suffer somewhat.]

[Muffet spends a moment cooing over the cute little octokitty, but she doesn't get any closer- both out of respect for his personal space and that of his owner.]

[She's not offended by the lack of proper table manners, even if she herself wouldn't eat so messily if she could ever avoid it- she keeps to her odd, polite little mannerisms because she enjoys them, not because she insists on them for everyone.]

[Besides, it's always good to see someone enjoying her food.]

[Once Maka is done with the stew, Muffet holds out the bundle of cookies for her to take.]

Here, dearie, these are for you, too.

[Maka sets the bowl down and takes the cookies. That's... it's kind of amazing. How long as it been since she's eaten any kind of homemade cookies?

She takes one, and eats it slowly. The others get carefully placed in her backpack for later.]

[They're coconut cookies, still fresh and tasty thanks to the (literal) magic of monster baking, with a delicately sweet flavor.]

[Muffet isn't aware of just how long it's been since Maka's had some good home baking, but she's still happy to see that she likes them.]

I do hope it helps, at least a bit. A decent meal can't fix everything, but I find that it's a solid start.

[It takes a lot to not just shove all the cookies in her mouth, but no, she has to save them.

She writes in the dirt by her feet, so Muffet can see.]

Is there anything I can help you with?

[Muffet tilts her head, reading Maka's written reply- and smiles gently, shaking her head.]

I appreciate the thought, but I'm doing well enough at the moment. Just take care of yourself and send anyone in need my way, and I think we can call it even.

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November Intro: Red Sun Rises Like an Early Warning

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Probably wrapping soon?

sounds good!

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