December Intro: Don't Come Home for Christmas

[lifeaftr_mods]

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.

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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

[attheclocktower]

[She snorts humorlessly, not actually act Noctis, though it's probably hard to tell and just as probably rude either way. But Light, doesn't that all sound so familiar?]

Of course their isn't. I was hearing the same thing for nearly two years. The only difference was that it wasn't here.

[She really is right back to square one, isn't she.]

[noctanotheroneout]

[Mid sentence Noctis was already planning his get away. He didn't owe this girl a single thing, and he was wasting time. However, the last sentence she spot, had him stop mid turn.] What?

[He was going to need some clarification on that. Not here? Stuff like this happened before? No matter what sort of state Noctis was in, despite Monsun, it didn't change that fact that his curiosity was peaked.] What do you mean not here?

[attheclocktower]

[She lifts her arms to indicate the forest around them. The despair is well and truly leaking its way into her voice now.]

You think this is the only place like this? There are other nexuses. Other places where people are taken from their worlds - all kinds of different universes - and trapped. Places where they have to fight with everything they have just to get the chance to go back home.

[This may only be the second she's been to, but between Hinoto-Ri, and the other nexuses she's heard about from various others... she's heard of a good half dozen at least. Light, she should have realized this could be a possibility. A good half of the Keyblade wielders from Hinoto-Ri had come from another nexus before then. A good handful of people from Animus had as well. Why had she never thought she might be intercepted on her way back too?]

[noctanotheroneout]

[Well, wasn't that an overwhelming amount of information. So there was a chance he wouldn't even be able to get home. That was bull crap! His fist clenched tightly. What a waste of time.

And yet. . .

He was at least here with his friends. With Lunafreya, alive. Well, if they didn't starve to death. . . I gotta go. [He began away from her again, but once again stopped.]

Look, if you can make if off this island, or find a pool with flowers around it, it can bring you to Enso or the islets that we've sort of colonized. None of us actually live here. We're just low on resources.

[attheclocktower]

[She doesn't move to stop him. Doesn't have the will to do much of anything, after that outburst.]

Thanks.

[For... almost nothing. She supposes the bit about the habitable islands is useful, but... it doesn't change their situation. It doesn't do anything to lift the weight dragging her down.]

[noctanotheroneout]

[Damnit. Noctis stopped and rubbed the back of his neck. He wish he wasn't a nice guy, but that ....hopelessness in her voice struck a heart string. He knew that place. He'd been in that place. Even at Noctis's worst, he wasn't heartless.]

Hey, you going to come with me or what?

[attheclocktower]

[There's a self-deprecating bitterness in her voice when she replies.]

Thought you said you already had enough people to worry about.

[Okay that wasn't... exactly what he said, but she's finding it hard to care right now.]

[noctanotheroneout]

I do. [He insisted.] But that doesn't mean I'm going to leave a kid out in the wilderness to fend for herself. I'm hungry, not a monster.

[attheclocktower]

[The only thing keeping her from lashing out further, digging herself deeper into this hole is that hopelessness he noticed. That awful sinking feeling, that voice asking herself, repeatedly, what was the point? Why fight, why try, why... anything? Whether it be against admins or storyteller gods or even just to make a stupid point. Look where it got her here. Not home, no way back to the people she cared about in either direction.

Her Keyblade vanishes from her hand in a flash of light, her head bowing in defeat.]

Fine.

[noctanotheroneout]

Hey, how'd you do that?


[That ability to just, have weapons appear and reappear out of thin air, where he was from it was magic that was exclusive to his family's blood line and their wards. Who was this girl? Was it possible that she was from his own world?

Not that there were giant keys in their known arsenal.]

[attheclocktower]

Huh?

[For a moment she's confused, and too apathetic to put much thought into what he's talking about. Then does end up clicking.]

My Keyblade?

[noctanotheroneout]

The magic. [He pointed out.] Where do you store your weapon? How? [Who was this girl? Where was she from?]

[attheclocktower]

I...

[It's enough to shake her a little bit out of her apathy. A bit. Though now she just feels flustered instead. Three years, and she still doesn't really know how this weapon works, despite how important it is.]

I don't know. I just want it to go away, or come back, and it does. It's how the Keyblade works.

[noctanotheroneout]

[She didn't know? Was it possible she was from his world's past and even ...related to the crystal? Being apart of his future was pretty much impossible, unless his father had some illegitimate children running about, and that didn't sound like his father at all.

Or it could just be she was just from somewhere else entirely and and that world just had similar abilities. Gods, this was confusing as hell.] Check it out.

Noctis held out his hand and appeared his engine blade in the blink of an eye. Maybe it sparked something from her. An answer to his question? Probably not, but it was worth a shot.]

[attheclocktower]

You can do it with your weapon too.

[It's... been a while, but she remembers vaguely that the rest of the Organization members could do it, though she didn't know much of anybody else. So it wasn't exactly common back on her worlds. But all the same, what was he expecting her to do with this?]

Is... that important?

[Especially for right now.]

[noctanotheroneout]

In my world it is. So, I'm just trying to figure out if you're like, from my home or not. [It was a slim chance. It was possible that she was similar to Terra, where they were parallels with their worlds but not the exact same place.]

[attheclocktower]

Oh.

[Well, it's not like she wants to be a disappointment or anything, but...]

... probably not.

[Well... almost definitely not, but it's not entirely impossible that his world is among the multitude of ones she could find.]

[noctanotheroneout]

[He shrugged. There were so many answers that still needed to be figured out. About this world, about the story teller - but with them constantly just trying to not starve or battle the elements, those answers were hard to come by.] Whatever, let's go. Someone's bound to have made camp somewhere.

[attheclocktower]

Yeah. Sure.

[If he doesn't really have much more to say on the subject, neither does she. She'll follow obediently enough, at least.]