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.

---

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 )

Comments

[creditless]

... 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.

[unpurify]

[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.]

[creditless]

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. ]

[unpurify]

[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.]

[creditless]

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.

[unpurify]

[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.]

1/2

[creditless]

[ 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.

[creditless]

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

[unpurify]

[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.]

[creditless]

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." ]

[unpurify]

[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.]

[creditless]

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.

[unpurify]

[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?]

1/2

[creditless]

The fact that you would even ask means it matters so terribly that there's almost no hope for you.

[ He sits up, rubs his eyes-- where they're supposed to be, anyway. There's a fain line of teeth and circles at his cheek that seem to emerge whenever he emotes-- it's a frown. He's putting his mask back on. ]

[creditless]

Unfortunately, there is, and as long as a slim margin exists, I'll take it and stretch it to even odds. No, perfect odds. Nothing is holding my parameters back now.

Think of me as both your friend and enemy. I am your friend, because that is the nature of mercantile characters and the player character! I am your enemy, because I literally just told you I'm going to put feelings inside your dead cold nervous system if it's the last thing I do and you're going to hate it soooo much, you don't even know.

cw for mild suicidal ideation

[unpurify]

Wouldn't killing me be better?

[It's...probably an odd suggestion when Zacharie already said his revenge was going to be putting enough emotion into the Batter that he could feel some regret.

But to the Batter...killing him was better. Easier. The merchant wouldn't have to go through the trouble of what the purifier thought impossible. And it...it was...]

We cannot die here permanently. You could kill me until you were satisfied.

[And...it kind of sounds like the Batter would let Zacharie do it.]

[creditless]

[ He yawns. ]

You don't deserve that kind of mercy. Is that why you're pleading?

[unpurify]

No.

[But if he can't go beyond the rainbow, then...he can't. The Batter will continue, as always.]

[creditless]

I wasn't born with the same aggression as you, thinking killing something fixes it, like throwing out a broken toaster will ensure you'll still have something to toast your bread. I have no desire to kill you.

You are reborn. Accept it, deal with it, learn pain and grief and then you can appreciate joy and contentment as well.

cw continues

[unpurify]

[The Batter almost asks a certain question. A question that would give credit to Zacharie's claims of the purifier being his own man now and not a toy with ties to the deluge myth.

"But what if that's what I want?"

But he doesn't. Not in his conversation with Ren and not right now. Zacharie can probably make a good few educated guesses about his mindset if the merchant wants to, but that's on him. Instead the Batter has a simpler response.]

Okay.

1/2

[creditless]

Liar.

[ He summons Icarus once more, and points it towards the Batter. ]

You're practically yearning for this. Because then the conversation can be over and I won't have anything to do with you changing at all.

[ He stabs Icarus into the ground, where it fades away. ]

You have a want.

You've learned to want.

[ Zacharie laughs. ]

We have already gotten started.

[creditless]

You think you can make your debt up to me by dying? You died every time at the end! Dying is like candy to you. You reload a save and you try, try again.

The moral of the game is the puppeteer could have stopped you by turning the game OFF and they never did.

The game is OFF.
The Batter is now ON.

Where's your switch, now?

[unpurify]

[That seems to strike a cord in the Batter...but not in a good way. He's not looking at Zacharie anymore. Or at anything, really.]

It's not here. I'm not here.

[He's been feeling less and less real the more time passes here. The Batter didn't keep track of the time, did the bare minimum to keep himself alive and threw himself into everything because he wasn't meant to exist without a purpose. Without it...

Without it 'the Batter' was just a thing he watched outside of himself. The monster within the Batter was terrifying and powerful but only existed when others saw it. The man was just a shell to give himself shape, filled up with purity and nothing else. And thinking about it too hard made him feel like he needed to scrub his body clean again. Reborn, reanimated, try, try again.

He wanted permanence. He wanted to stop. Something was screaming within him but like always, it was all in his head.]

I'm not here.

[creditless]

[ Wordlessly, Zacharie reaches into his pocket to take out the music box. He winds it up, and it begins to play. Immediately, this is a tune the Batter should recognize from home. Something about the ambiance. It is a pocketed piece of their world.

It sounds discordant and awful to anyone else who hears it, but to them... ]

You're here.

You're a person.

Neither of these things destroy the fact that you are The Batter.

Nothing could erase you. Not really. You cannot curl up and die from starvation again and again and again. You cannot let boredom and loss decide whether you are alive or dead.

I do not hate you, le Batteur, but the only way to make you realize your reality is through pain, because pain is the only language you speak so far.

[unpurify]

[The music pierces the fog in his mind, silences the thoughts long enough that he can slowly breathe again. Everything that the Batter has expressed up until now seems to be vanishing under that blanket of nothingness once again, but it is also telling that he has to sit down.

His world was a world composed of pain and nothingness that spread to reality. He destroyed the slate because it was better to completely start over rather then try making something from the old.

And it wasn't that the Batter hadn't looked. He dug through the dirt and found escape was impossible. Pain was behind them and before them. So the only option was to send everything back to the Nothingness.

If you love something and know them at their best...you do not let them suffer at their worst. Never again.]

...I don't know how. I've never dealt with this before.