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

[catpiper]

[Luna, how are you so brave? Is a question Ren's starting to ask herself on a near daily basis. It feels impossible for her to stride forward with her fear keeping her firmly in place, but Luna comes into the water with ease. Plans to go deeper, even, which is a thought that she can't even entertain.

It's bobbing away, still well within reach of anyone who doesn't have a fear of being knocked over by waves, and Ren watches it drift. Then turns to Luna again and-

That gaze is a look she isn't used to. Friends help friends out is what she says. And Ren, as a friend, can't let her go into that water. Not alone, at least. And it's only the knowledge that brave people are rarely dissuaded by words, especially her own, that she relents.]

You can hold this stick. You should-

[Because she's nervous. If anything were to happen to her because she couldn't manage to keep a hold on her bag again-]

You can hold the end and I'll hold this part. I can do that for you.

[SHE CAN DRAG LUNA BACK IF SOMETHING SPOOKY HAPPENS.]

[holdmyhand]

[ she looks at the stick and then beams happily at Ren. Good! Good acceptance! ] Okay! Hold on, I'll grab it for you!

[ and...she does. Wades just a bit deeper, holding the stick more for Ren than for herself, and collects the somewhat wet bag. It's lifted a little with victory!!! LOOK AT WHAT WE ACCOMPLISH WHEN WE'RE TOGETHER MAKIN' DREAMS REAL ]

Okay! There! Do you not like water, Ren? [ she holds the precious cargo out for Ren to take, moving back to the ankle deep water. It brushes against her toes a little bit. What a good feel. ♥ ]

[catpiper]

[The short distance Luna travels in the water is enough to make her heart race 100 miles a hour. Every wave looks huge in comparison to this small girl and it seems like each one could knock her down, drag her further into the ocean and all because a bag that should've been on her back to begin with.

So when she manages to grab it and amble back without that terrible scenario occurring, Ren looks visibly relieved. You brave people are gonna be the death of her. The bag is promptly shoved onto her back where it belongs and she lets the stick drop into the water as she hurries back to shore.]

Deep water is scary.

["Deep" meaning anything past ankle deep, clearly. She's a shallow or nothing kinda girl.]

I don't like it.

[holdmyhand]

[ Luna watches Ren explain uncomfortably, and sweeps her hands in to hold onto Ren's softly, from where she stands in the water. ]

Hey, it's okay! You don't have to like everything...I still think you're amazing! [ it's said with a big, happy grin. No need to be sad, sweetest friend! You're wonderful! ] I can go get stuff that falls in the water for you! Just leave it to me!

[ >:C GO FAITO WIN!!! ]

[catpiper]

[No one's ever said that to her before. Amazing isn't how they described her in the lab. It's not a word that's ever been associated with her. The moon, cats, Seto-that's a word she would attribute to those people. Those types of things.

But her?

Ren grasps her hands back as she repeats the words in her mind. Once, twice and-]

Luna is amazing. That's a good word for you.

[What else can describe a person like her? Who throws herself into danger for her sake? There's a pause and then-]

Because you're brave. That makes you 'amazing'.

[holdmyhand]

[ Luna stares at her for a second and then grins. Ren is so sweet. A good child. A great friend. ]

Then...we can be amazing, together. Okay? And I'll be here whenever you need me! That's what friends do!

[catpiper]

[That's what friends do.

To someone that read picture books to see families and friends-books that showed bears eating together, living out lives she could only imagine the confines of her lab room, and knowing that it was a world she was never supposed to see-

It's amazing. The words shine just as bright as the heart of the girl in front of her. She never wanted friends because she knew it wasn't meant for her. That her happiness was put on the back-burner for a project-that it was her whole purpose was to be a catalyst for it.

So she never wished for it. Not one single time. Because there was no future she could imagine where she would get a friend. Then she met Seto and-

Now she's looking into Luna's smiling face and feeling her warm hands in hers. This future isn't meant for her, she realizes, but she wants to accept it all the same.

She's so happy.]

Okay! I'll find Kitten for Luna because that's something I can do and Seto-

[He's a good bean Luna can't afford to not meet and her hands grasp hers a little tighter.]

Seto is amazing. His heart is like yours. When Seto finds me, he'll be here for you too.

[holdmyhand]

Seto?

[ she tilts her head with a smile. A friend of Ren's? Maybe...maybe he's a cat? A really strong cat-- it certainly isn't out of the question (see: incineroar)...but she nods either way. ]

I can't wait to meet him! We can look for him together!

[catpiper]

[This might be the first time someone that isn't from her world has offered to do more than simply wait with her. She's surprised by it. For the longest time, it had only been her and Seto and now-

She couldn't be happier. A physical description of him might help with this little endeavor, maybe dispel a few ideas about him being a cat, but nah.]

Okay, we'll find him together. We'll find him and Kitten.