lifeaftr | December Intro: Don't Come Home for Christmas

INTRO LOG: DECEMBER

Who: Everyone!
What: New souls arrive to the archipelago of LifeAftr
When: December 3rd and onward
Where: Monsun
Warnings: Mark as needed!

The Overview: Uncharted Waters
Stay alert, new adventurers; instead of the white-sand beaches of Enso, you will instead be coming to on one of two sides of the relatively uncharted lands of Monsun. Most of the information regarding this peculiar land can be found in the informational post linked, but as a quick-and-dirty rundown: Monsun's western side is a hot wasteland of a desert prone of disasters and mishaps, but will affect your character's emotional and psychological state in a positive sense, while its eastern side is a verdant forest filled with endless resources...as well as a tendency to bring out the absolute worst of your character.

To start with, all new arrivals will be showing up in one of two squares that characters uncovered last month! We are leaving it up to player discretion as to which side of the island your character arrives on, but bear in mind the psychological repercussions!

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

Monsun, C4: These Are Your Good Years
You wake to the hot sun steaming overhead, rapidly drying your clothes and belongings, waterlogged from washing upon this desolate shore. The heatwaves shimmer at your vision, distorting your view of the horizon. But if you really squint, it looks like there might be something dark green fringing that pipecleaner skyline, like a lush woodland awaits you on the other side of this desert nightmare. A mirage, maybe?

Whatever it is, you don't get very long to contemplate it. Beneath your feet, the ground has begun to shake as a many-headed horror erupts from the earth. Great streams of pale sand slough from its dry, scaly hide as multiple horned heads unfurl in a hissing inflorescence. The creature's eyes are all pale as grubs; it is quite blind. But that does not mean it cannot smell you.

Boasting both a thick hide and a chitinous coat of sandy-colored scales that blends them perfectly with their surroundings, Sand Hydras sleep several feet under the sand until they sense the vibrations of potential prey aboveground. While they are significantly smaller than their mythological counterparts - they can only span eight to twelve feet in length - Sand Hydras are cunning creatures nonetheless with a number of heads that can vary from one to as high as ten. Their weakness, on the other hand, is simple: water burns them like acid. It seems they may flourish only in any moisture-poor environment.

Assuming your character lasts that long, remember: as physically destructive as Monsun's west may be, your character's most admirable traits will be amplified to their fullest potential by the twenty-four hour mark.

Monsun, D3: Before You Bury Yourself Alive
Those waking on the eastern side of the island, on the other hand, will face a far more pleasing tableau. The temperature is perfect, the sun shines modestly through the canopy of deciduous greenery above your head, and the air is thick and sweet with the smell of fresh fruit.

That's right - within minutes of their arrival, your character will discover several plants laden with fresh wild blackberries.

Should that temptation arrest their attention, should they be vulnerable to the foibles of greed or hoarding or paranoia, your character may very well wish to keep this treat to themself. Or...perhaps not. Perhaps they'd much rather search out a fight, or try to steal someone else's supplies, or embark on a poorly-advised mission to swim out into Monsun's surrounding waters.

For that is, after all, the catch: as physically soothing as Monsun's east may be, your character's most hateful traits will be amplified to their fullest potential by the twenty-four hour mark.

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 )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So that was real.

[Hell.]

I don't know why I'm here. I shouldn't be here.

[She had that sort-of talk with the Storyteller that all new arrivals had, but it was just... it was so hard to believe, and so hard to trust after everything she'd seen and been through.]

Real enough to remember, at any rate.

[Real in the physical sense? That he's not sure about. Short of getting injured there and seeing if it comes back through, he's not sure how you would tell.

He sighs.]

I think that applies to a lot of us, but here we are.

[She chuckles again, the same breathless, sad thing as before]

You don't... understand. I was in a place like this. People from all over, different worlds, universes, all of us.

We just got out. We were just going home.

[And now she's here. Really here, this time.]

[He watches her appraisingly for a minute before saying anything. That explains.. the question he had, sort of.]

I'm sorry.

[It's genuine. If there's anyone who understands almost getting home, only to have it snatched out of your reach...]

[Xion closes her eyes. Stop being so familiar; she knows it's not his fault, he has no way of knowing, but... it hurts. Light, it hurts.]

It's okay. It's not your fault.

[His helpfulness being out in full force probably doesn't, ahem, help.]

Doesn't mean it doesn't suck.

[She can't help herself there. The bluntness is just... so him. On top of being so true. She laughs.]

I can't really argue with that.

[Some things are multi-universal, you know? Even at his best... what is tact.

As it is, he doesn't seem sure how to react to her laughter, though there's a small smile on his face.]

I know there's been people who know each other showing up before... Who knows, you might get lucky.

[His player might also have an ironic sense of humor.]

[Xion sighs. It'd be a lie to say that she wouldn't feel better with them all there, and an even bigger one to say she wants to be here without them, but...]

No... that wouldn't be fair to them. We were all fighting so hard to get home. They shouldn't get stuck somewhere else instead too.

[He considers that, and then slowly nods.]

I guess so. But if life isn't going to be fair anyway, you might as well hope for it to be unfair in your favor.

[The laugh is smaller, before turning into a choked sob.]

S-sorry. Sounds like something they might say, I think.

[Or at least they probably wouldn't be mad at her for wanting this particular kind of selfish.]

[Comforting people is not in his skill set. Help.]

Then it's probably good advice. Come on, we're almost to the camp.

[Or, at the very least, it's the advice he'd give in any incarnation?]

[Some things never change, and in that regard, Xion can't help but grin wetly behind him.

Still, she won't say anything, opting instead to wait until they've gotten to the camp to continue their conversation. It gave her time to wipe her eyes, too.]

[Some things never change, indeed.

The camp is... sparse, and mostly clustered around a fire circle dug out of the sand, now full of ashes and embers. Asch waves Xion to a seat to sit beside it - it's going to get to be dark and cold soon, instead of hot and bright.]

Sit wherever - you hungry?

[She settles herself down on a bit of rock that offers a slightly raised seat.]

A bit, I guess.

[It was actually kind of hard to reconcile - in the Tower they hadn't gotten much to eat for days, in the leadup to the final showdown with Ruana. Meanwhile, with her actual physical body, she'd... been eating ice cream, hadn't she? Then again, she still hadn't eaten much since she woke up.]

[He just nods, and pulls some supplies from his pack - the cactus isn't that great, even grilled, but it's something. And there's some dried mango.]

Here, help yourself.

[It's entirely possible that she's too upset to eat much, though. He plants himself into the sand after handing the food.]

December Intro: Don't Come Home for Christmas

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