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 )

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It still sounds awful. Just trees? Just in one place? It's not enough. They don't say it- but then, they don't have to. Chara's frown makes their opinion on the matter more than clear... to anyone used to reading emotions, at least.

"These flowers... have a habit of surviving when you don't expect them to." Chara says slowly. Opting for the safer topic, letting their fingers run over golden petals. Some of the seeds cling to their fingers, and they dust them off into the dirt. "If I watch them for a few days, they should be okay after that."

Emotions aren't an unknown to the Batter. Experiencing them, yes, but not reading them and the Batter was nothing if not observant. He can tell it's not an answer they like but there's nothing to be done about it.

So a safer topic it is. He watches as the flowers' seeds cling to the child's skin and stick until they are dusted away. But there's definitely a sort of kindness in giving them a chance to survive.

"Stubborn." Although judging from the Batter's tone (for once) it doesn't sound like a bad thing. And it isn't. Sometimes that's what it took to keep going. "It would be nice if they stayed."

Perhaps it was the state that this half of the island, but the Batter was able to understand, if just a little, why people liked flowers. They were nice to look at.

"Stubborn." They echo, nodding their agreement. He's not the first person to note them as such- undoubtedly, he won't be the last. But it's an observation they wouldn't have expected from him, all the same, and they flash him a bright smile. "If we take care of them, they'll be okay. Like us, flowers... get a little shocked, when you move them. They need a little while, to settle in."

And with that said, they offer Batter their trowel, handle first.

"Would you like to try planting one?"

He never expected to see the child smile in his presence but it seems this side of the island was home for a few firsts.

Like this. The Batter gives the trowel a funny look, or as funny as he can make it. The island could make them a little more charitable towards each other, it wasn't doing anything for his inability to express emotion.

"I have never done so." The Batter admits. But he does take the trowel.

"It's never too late to try something new." And now they're Determined to make him try. Turning to the soil, they point to an unturned patch- under the hot sun, it looks like it's hardened completely. "First, start digging up the soil here. You'll know you've turned it over enough when the soil starts to become damp."

They have a point. The Batter spent his time learning things for puzzles and combat, adding to his knowledge as time went on. That's why his own deaths lessened over time. But in this place he was learning more then just those things. Not all of them for practical reasons.

Seashells and rainbows.

So why not. The Batter moves to the spot that Chara indicates and starts digging. It's pretty blatantly obvious that he hasn't done this before but the Batter is going all in. And once he thinks that he's dug far enough, he'll stick his other hand in the hole to see if it's damp.

"Like this?"

The work is probably deeper than it needs to be- wider, as well. But he is new to this, and this is precisely the reason why they gave him a spot a little ways away from their current patch. Looking his work over, they give him an approving nod.

"That's good. See how the soil has this almost reddish texture to it? And here-" They lean over, picking up what almost looks like a small, grey stone; one that crumbles in their fingers.

"It has a high clay content, which explains the color. This can be a good thing, since it means it's quite fertile- flowers should thrive in it. But the double edged knife is that because of this heat, the soil gets quite hard on the surface. So to establish anything here, we need to turn the soil over before planting, or else there may be some difficulty in achieving growth."

Chara could probably run circles around the Batter on this subject. The only sort of perfection he could claim was in destruction and battle. But it's good, they say.

And it is.

The Batter presses a hand in the hole and pulls it back out, covered in dirt. Maybe it was because of what he was, but the Batter has always been acutely aware of things on his skin and wore long sleeves because of it. It was more comfortable that way. But for once he didn't mind.

For once he was fine with digging in the dirt.

"Something new from the old." Turned ground making way for flowers to be planted. Chara said that these flowers were particularly stubborn when they rooted but that step needed to be taken first.

"What is next?"

"Next is the planting." They shuffle closer to his side, leaning over the hole and using their hands to fill it back in a bit more, mixing damp and dry soil to ensure that there's no dry spots. "I'll hand you a plant- you want to fill in some dirt around them, supporting the stem."

And before they allow him to make an attempt, they'll show him, reaching into their backpack to fish out one of the displaced flowers and carefully arranging it to one side.

"Do you understand?"

He watches intently as the child demonstrates the next few steps. It stands to reason, in a place where flowers do not seem to be able to survive without help and a stab of stubbornness, that there would be many steps.

Or maybe it felt like there was many steps because he's never done this before. Yes, that was probably the correct answer. But these were steps in creating one life that could grow into more lives, so to speak. Definitely not something the Batter has done before.

He closes his eyes for a moment before nodding. "I understand."

For the moment, the Batter understands. Probably more then what the child may realize they're teaching him.

They know, from what they've seen of him, that nurturing hardly seems to be his strong point. That's as far as they can grasp, however; he is willing to attempt it, and that makes a difference. They look at him quietly for several moments, before nodding and pulling another flower out of their pack, holding it up for him to take. "Your turn, then."

And as he takes the plant, as he tries, they quietly confess something that, under normal circumstances, they wouldn't.

"When I was younger, my adoptive father used to let me garden with him. There is a technique known as dividing- where some types of plants need to be separated from each other to thrive." A small quirk of their lips. "Sometimes, they require a little more space than what they allow themselves to grow. That's what he said."

And at the time, they'd been certain- he wasn't really talking about the flowers.

They aren't, either.

No, it's not. For all his attempts here may be, the Batter was not made for creation. That fell to the Queen and hands that could turn clay with the expertise of a master. Not a being built for destruction.

"Yet you're here." Says something in the back of the Batter's mind and he resolves to....not exactly ignore it. It may be a simple byproduct of this place, but the space he allowed himself to have was a little bigger. Ironically.

"Why do they need space?" He can pick up the message behind what their adoptive father was saying. But that doesn't mean the Batter is talking about Chara.

No, this isn't a real question, much more asking to expand things.

"Because even if they're small above the ground, beneath it, their roots are going to grow and spread." They press their hands together, spreading their fingers and flexing them outwards to provide a visual of some kind. "And when they're too close together, they begin to compete. You either end up with two or three that kill off the rest, or a patch of sickly flowers, with none of them able to get the resources they require.

"It's a natural occurrence...but when you're just starting them out somewhere new, it's important to keep in mind."

The visual demonstration helps his understanding and the Batter watches Chara's hands. Physical things were easier to understand, even if he was a being made up of metaphors and perspectives.

But there's something that that...sticks out to the Batter. "So they are separated so they do not...become sick."

The odd note in the Batter's tone is probably just in Chara's imagination.

"That is correct. Flowers cannot determine how the paths their roots take shape will affect others- without that space, they interfere with each other in a manner that is often detrimental." A pause, and a shrug. "Though there are some plants that have a symbiotic relationship with each other."

Symbiotic relationship, hun?

"I guess some things are meant to be." It may be an odd thing to say and there is something in the Batter's tone that sounds almost...nostalgic. Wishful, even.

Thinking about something that was long gone, by his own hands. Yet here he is, right now, making more life.

...she'd probably laugh and then try herself.

"Are these ones like that?"

"When they're used to the soil, sort of. They won't help each other, but they won't hinder, either. Allowing them this initial space to grow will let them spread as they will, until you cannot step without placing your foot on them."

They had coated the ground on their grave, so thick, you couldn't see a single stem. Coated the throne room, and the stain of Asriel's dust that had littered across the ground.

Wouldn't it be nice, if the place they coated wasn't so closely bonded with death?

"Spread and cover this world with flowers colored yellow. Like the sun."

Like her, something the Batter half-remembered. He had been losing memories of the Queen, someone who's appearance relied on someone looking at her and with her death...she would vanish. Not from existence but from memory.

...hahhah. Hahahha.

Quiet.

"....how long will they survive?"

"Something like that."

They are certainly very bright; it shouldn't be surprising, to hear someone liken them to something even brighter. Whatever Chara reads in his expression, currently, they keep to themself.

"If they successfully take root? Potentially until the end of time itself. Or at the least, far longer than either of us will be around."

"However long that may be."

Perhaps it's due to the island's effects on people, but the Batter actually sounds tired when he says that. Continuing here....it's not exactly something he's looking forward to. For many, many reasons.

But he's moving on fairly quickly.

"What other kinds of flowers are there?"

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December Intro: Don't Come Home for Christmas

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