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

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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

There was no need to.

[So yes. He had memories of living together...but they're gone. On the island where he's staying is basically just a safer place to sleep and store the items he can't carry on his person.]

But now there is! Infections, insect bites, so on... you have to take care of your body from miserably banal things! Of course, I'm not sure why I remember that either... maybe it's because I'm supposed to know more than you in general?

[ He was choosy with his limits, it seemed. ]

So! Show me where we're staying.

[The Batter's tempted to point out that he still has his healing spells but there's no point. But there's some use to having someone who knows these things around anyway.

So it's a bit of a walk and another trip to the mana pool, but soon they'll be at Shack #5. Home sweet home.

...also the Batter has done basically nothing to the place so it's still rundown. Enjoy buddy.]

... you live like this?

[ It seems he has repairs in his future. Thank goodness for his trusty hammer, which will not be going into his trade pile. ]

Right on the floor? Oh, Batter. [ That's def a judgmental tone. ]

[Look. Can he sleep here when he actually manages to get to sleep? Yes. Can he store all the stuff that he can't reasonably carry? Yes. Good enough.]

It's fine.

[No it's not. Or 'no it's not' for normal people, which the Batter isn't. He's slept on the Save Block once or twice so don't judge.]

It is not fine. How many spiders are you fine with crawling in your mouth in the middle of the night for warmth?

Don't answer that, you don't care.

[ He sets down his backpack and pulls out his assigned satchel. Ah, a trusty hammer. There are some bats sticking out of the bag, too... ]

Dirt today. Bed tomorrow.

[ It's a bit longer than tomorrow, but Zacharie's teleporting helps him amass a bunch of supplies.

A bunch of cyperus papyrus, a slain and skinned sand hydra eleven feet in length, scrubbed dutifully in the ocean and left to dry, lumber, lungblossoms, and a slain tigershark.

The first thing he does is patch up the roof with the sturdy lungblossom leaves. Then, with the timber readily available to everyone, he gets to work.

(There's a lot of fresh meat with that Tigershark and sand hydra, you know, Batter). He slices four even pieces of lumber with his sword, wraps around the hide of the sand hydra to be anchored by the heavy logs, and puts a set of tigershark nails in each one.

He tests it out tentatively. Ah, yes. A nice, wide bed. ]

Well, there's enough materials for a second!

Edited 2017-12-08 06:28 (UTC)

[It's interesting to watch. The Batter had zero skill in crafting but he was strong enough to lug around whatever Zacharie needed when he had his hands full and help out when he could. It gave him something to do and keep his mind off other things.

Productive. And it felt good, he supposed, to be working with his hands again. Although asking the Storyteller for gloves at some point would probably be a good idea. Splinters were still a thing and the Batter refused to waste CP or a healing item on them.

But that's one bed down. One for Zacharie and the next one for him. The Batter personally didn't care where he slept, hence why he did nothing to fix things up prior to Zacharie's arrival. But he's been watching long enough that he should have a decent shot at getting it set up.]

I'll try.

[Wish him luck Zacharie.]

Remember, evenly sliced logs.

[ He hands over his sword, which is sharp to the touch if Batter dares, almost like a razor. ] Then you secure the hide under the logs, then you take the hammer and smash in as many tiger teeth as you can around the perimeter and center. Do-it-yourself bed.

[That's asking to get his hand sliced open due to inexperience so the Batter isn't going to touch the blade. He does, however, mentally compare the weight of the sword to his baseball bat. There is a difference between the two, not to mention the difference of damage a blade could do verses blunt force. He'd never considered alternate weaponry before.

But now's not the time for it. Getting to work, the Batter slices the logs. Due to the aforementioned inexperience one winds up just a little short but that's fine. Next, after handing the sword back to Zacharie, he'll go in with the hammer and tiger teeth. The benefit of swinging a baseball bat over and over made it easier to swing a hammer for quite awhile so this doesn't turn out that bad at all.

There, +2 do-it-yourself beds. And if worse comes to worse the Batter can just sleep under his.]

Done.

Doesn't that look a lot better than dirt? Congratulations, Amigo! Instead of destroying everything you see, you've made your first thing!

[Given the Batter has slept on the Save Block once or twice and the dirt in this place up until now, his answer was obvious and he's not going to say it. The Batter had fairly low standards for living arrangements.]

Zacharie's other comment, on the other hand...]

I do not feel any different.

[Or feel anything. Tired, but that was perpetually so. No different.]

... now you are just messing with me, Amigo.

[ Zach sounds amicably terse, because he went all this way to get these materials and he doesn't even have the standards to consider it an upgrade. ]

Don't worry, though. You are, unfortunately, my personal project.

Edited 2017-12-08 22:10 (UTC)

[Okay yeah, that time he can understand if it sounded rude. But he can't feel squat and isn't going to say sorry.

Also did you turn into a mad scientist when the Batter destroyed the world?]

Project?

[If it's discovering if Zacharie can re-create his items here without the Storyteller's help and only with what the merchant can find, he's out.]

Revenge, amigo.

[ He sounds so amicable while he says it, that when he turns around and it's the toad king's mask instead of the cat's, it's almost like a change of expressions. ]

It's very painful for someone to beat to death the only thing you care about until it's so expected you don't care anymore. I'm afraid at the end, I didn't mind whether Sucre died or not, your quest was unstoppable. Indeed, because of the programming, there was never a thing to change about you. You cannot be hurt by words, by blades, by death, by righteous betrayal from your own God. You are unstoppable, but for one thing I got to hear from the Queen.

[ Of course, he doesn't elaborate. "They are full of fear." ]

So I'm going to kill you with kindness! You're a man now, not a concept on a screen. You have endorphins and chemicals in your brain. I'm going to teach you how to use them.

[ So you can remember and regret. ]

Edited 2017-12-09 10:47 (UTC)

[There are few things that people can say that stick in the Batter's mind. Lately that's been changing on the island but back home, before it was eradicated, it very much applied.

In Zacharie's case, it was his final words: "Bis Vincit, Qui Se Vincit In Victoria." He who prevails over himself is twice victorious.

And Zacharie is right. There's not a lot that can hurt someone like the Batter. Pain didn't stop him and death was a minor inconvenience at best. The Puppeteer kept him alive and brought him back every single time and apparently you couldn't permanently die on the islands, so that's out too. Words were just worlds.

Until they suddenly weren't. And the Batter has to stop himself from remembering his conversation with Ren a little while back. Instead he just fixes Zacharie with a blank look.

There's no point in asking why when he was already so clear. But--]

It's not going to work.

[This place was failing to do so and for all the kindness a girl was showing him, it failed to imprint. Or maybe it had and the Batter was just ignoring it.

You can't have regrets if you push them away.]

It will.

[ Zacharie's voice sounds looming, even though he's far shorter than the Batter. ]

You cannot live in the darkness created by turning off the switch when there is no longer any darkness. I don't care what feeling I get out of you first-- just know that it's eventually going to be all of them.

[It is...strange to have people invested in what he can't feel. Zacharie was much more blunt then Ren had been but their certainty was in equal measure even if their methods different.

They'd see him express something, one day or another. Or everything. And the Batter probably has no choice in the matter.]

If you can.

[He's not saying it as a challenge. It's clear by his tone that the Batter truly doesn't think it's possible.]

[ Zacharie puts the final anchors on his bed to make sure the logs don't tumble inward when he lays down in it, and eventually does so. ]

You don't remember the zones before it was rotting, did you? You don't.

You don't remember when Dedan was kind to his workers, when Japhet was a kind but studious person who was easy to play tricks on, when even Enoch paid in real sugar, not in sweetened cremated ashes laced with a little addictive properties. You don't remember when Elsen who were hauled off dead weren't looked at with hunger.

It was nice.

I had a little sister. You can't tell from the mask, but I'm a lot older than her...! Heheh. Sucre was a fighter from the moment she was conceived! She wanted to fight and dance with candy. I let her take lessons from Dedan-- and who knows where he learned it! But the only way he could unwind his clock was with music and dance.

[ Zacharie is inserting small truths into big lies. ]

I was the Hero, but I wanted to be a simple merchant back then. It supported Sucre and her lessons, it put meat on the table. But just like you're a purifier, I can't ignore the call of the hero.

Zone XX is where the Toad King lived, with his frogs under his oppressions. Flies were rationed from windowsills and nobody was happy! People were starving, children before their parents, and so on... so I ran the gambit of several zones to slay him myself. I gained boons along the way like your Alpha [ He raises one wing. ] your Omega [ He raises the other. ] And my blade, Icarus. [ It appeared in his hand, easily. ]

He wasn't hard to kill. 1 HP. That's because he was pampered and didn't work at all. People were free to eat all the flies they wanted, the fresh kind. I bid them adieu and went back to my own zones.

Sucre had started calling herself Sugar. Suddenly, she couldn't get enough of it. I kept hiding it from her, but she found it every time. She'd get it from other people. She'd grown a lot in my absence, as well... and I realized what she was eating wasn't sugar.

First, though, I brought the head of the Toad King to the Queen. She said she would use it to reward me and immortalize me.

Then, she gave me the worst news of my life.

Edited 2017-12-09 16:34 (UTC)

[ this asshole doesn't say anything after that. ]

[Zacharie probably knows this, but since he's out of a video game and in reality, the Batter could walk away at any point when he's talking.

But he doesn't.

It answers a few questions. The Batter had read the book in the Library, the story of the Toad King. Slayed by a man in a mask and there was only one person in their world that wore one. Certainly the Batter had no way of knowing how old the tale was but Zacharie seemed ageless in a way. Maybe it was the way he talked, sometimes.

And here is a full conformation. The Batter feels a twinge of curiosity but the merchant moves on.

The Room had allowed the Batter to relive some of Hugo's memories. While he did not know everything about the Guardians, he had an idea of what they were like before everything decayed. What was and what could be.

And then it didn't. And then it didn't and the world called for pity. And now...]

...what did she say?

[He...can guess. But he may be wrong or very right.]

Do you deserve to know, Batter? So many things it could've been.

[ He closes his eyes. ]

Take all the possibilities and ask yourself. I'm the only one who knows the truth.

[ Back when they were a story, before they were a game. Enoch had Sucre taste-test his new brand of less-expensive sugar. Japhet was missing. Dedan was no longer kind.

"And soon," She twisted her arms around herself in fear. "We will be more than a story. He's coming." ]

[Take a guess, hun.

Well it is an obvious answer. When he left the Room, he left without a word but with the knowledge of the coming storm. The holy wrath he was going to bring down on the world of corruption and, not just wipe the slate clean, but completely destroy it. Wrapped himself in darkness and waited until the Puppeteer came.

"There's nothing but the void after me."

Yeah. It's an obvious answer.]

Me.

[It doesn't matter if Zacharie gives him an answer. It's him. That's the only thing this can mean.]

Dirges of decay and corruption, as well, as if your siren song was rung like a bell.

[ The rhyme is almost deliberate. Zacharie doesn't remember being made. Just that he preferred being a story. He was... more of a person then.

He pulls his mask off. It crackles with static electricity, a vantablack void that anyone would think was staring straight into them. ]

If you program a sprite with a certain face, that might as well be its face. Therefore, my face only exists masked. Tearing this away is like ripping off my skin.

I can only imagine what's within you.

[The Batter stares at Zacharie, where he's assuming where his eyes are. His lack of a face doesn't come as much of a surprise as it does. It seems in their world, the more human you look the more there was something wrong with you.

The Batter himself was a perfect example of that.]

Does it matter?

[A human, a monster or both. Aside from which one is triggered by someone's perspective, does it matter what he was?]

December Intro: Don't Come Home for Christmas

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cw for mild suicidal ideation

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