lifeaftr | January Intro: I Know the Winter's Getting Colder

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January Intro: I Know the Winter's Getting Colder

INTRO LOG: JANUARY

Who: Everyone!
What: New souls arrive to the archipelago of LifeAftr
When: January 5th and onward
Where: Chol and surrounding waters
Warnings: Mark as needed!

The Overview: New Lands
New arrivals will not be waking in the typical hub of activity; instead, they will find themselves coming to on the small island of Chol. While the island's fringes are little more than an unforgiving spread of craggy, canyon-like rock and coastal cliffs, the island dips down to form a fertile divot of edenic woodland in its center. The people living there will even be helpful and polite to you, should you inquire after them.

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!

Icebreaker: This is the Winter of Our Youth
Unless you're someone with a fondness for the cold, you'll undoubtedly be waking with more than a slight chill in your bones. The appearance of the island of Chol has signaled a coming event of great import in LifeAftr, and unfortunately, the signs of that event's approach have already been set in motion. The temperature has begun to drop as the sun's rays begin to die, faster and faster, leading to an impressive cold snap in the ocean waters - particularly those surrounding Chol.

It is for that reason that you won't be waking on Chol, per se. Instead, you'll be waking on a thick crust of ice that's mantled itself over the ocean waters, freezing solid enough to bear your weight...for the most part.

The ice won't hold forever; it isn't meant to. If you happen to be particularly vivacious in your waking, or especially active in general, thick cracks will start to spiderweb out from underneath those impacts with low, warning chunks and wrenches of fracturing ice. Better hurry to land soon, unless you care to take a little dip into those freezing cold ocean waters.

Mainland: When We Pick Over the Past
Should you make it to the land of Chol, braving the iced-over waters surrounding its craggy shores, you'll encounter something at least as startling - the people who have elected to set up a rudimentary encampment upon its lands. While a bit on the scalier side, the Jormun are nonetheless allied to you land-dwellers, and will welcome you to the island.

Most will be preoccupied with preparations for an approaching siege, but many will comment idly that the cold is a sign of the coming battle. Some may point you to their leader, known to most as Munin, but others will venture hospitality based on the actions of those land-dwellers that came before you, who were successful in allying themselves to this sea-dwelling people.

Those who might have braved the cold a little too fiercely will quickly be offered some rather rough blankets - perhaps more on par with burlap sacks in terms of texture - as well as a hot brew that the Jormun call brrkshavak. Heated to a boil just prior to being served, the drink will be more than adequate in warming your weary bones, though it bodes mentioning that it is both scalding hot and made with a fleshy kind of undersea herb that is akin to crushed chili pepper in taste.

It'll warm you up, all right.

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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A. Free Him

It's.... cold.

This isn't surprising, obviously. What's surprising is how much he's feeling it. As a robot, he was aware of temperatures but he didn't 'feel' them in such a... physical way. It's not like a meter inside his processors, it's not a surface-level sensor. It's... penetrating, he feels it beneath the bark and in the pulp of his wood.

It's actually pretty miserable, bordering on--no, this would probably be considered painful, he's sure.

So, that's.... bad.

And so is the fact that his roots are determined to absorb the water they're treading on. Because as he walks, they come into contact with the ice with each step, and with each step, he feels the ice freeze to that moisture, and each time he lifts his foot--

It's like a thousand needles in his bark, threatening to strip another layer. His bark is designed to shed, but not like this.

Unfortunately, when he stops....

Even more of that moisture freezes, this time deep into the root.

Attempting to move confirms it:

He's stuck.

B. Tree Talker

Inland.

He's avoiding encampments, with their burning campfires and wooden structures. The people are friendly enough, but he isn't feeling well enough to watch the broken bodies of his closer kin turn to ash. Away from that, though, while there's still no sun, he does find rich, sandy soil and healthy trees. Trees who tell him it's not always like this. That the sun comes out, and this cold is unusual.

He lays his clawed hands on their bark, listening to their confident memories of warmer, better weather. He may be listening a bit too closely, for soon Epsilon appears to have all but merged with the tree itself--a brightly coloured (un)natural extension of the natural flora of the island, his vines wrapped in circles around the trees' trunks and entangled with their branches and leaves, his roots buried in the earth.

He doesn't react or look especially cognisant of anyone's approach, but if they walk upon the ground, he and the trees around him certainly are.

C. Wild Card!

[Surprise me!]

It's not like Ginko has a problem with people, generally. And he certainly appreciates the Jormuns' hospitality.

But it's... well, it's a lot of people. And, sooner or later, it was kind of inevitable that his desire for quiet - and to explore - would get the better of him. He was aware, of course, of the likelihood that he would run into someone else out here, and that was fine with him.

He was not expecting to catch sight of a tall, multicolored, familiar form among the trees ahead of him.

"...Epsilon?"

Connor's not walking on the ground, per se, but he is sleeping in one of the trees until he's woken up by the unusual noise of someone wandering around. It would probably be polite to get down and introduce himself, but he's more curious about who the fuck is out here. He sleeps up in the trees specifically because nobody ever comes to bother him unless they need him for something.

People merging with trees is new. Idly, he thinks that if Evan were here currently he'd probably die of excitement so it's probably a good thing Connor's reasonably well-rested. It's not like Evan won't know anyway - Evan is a shitty extension of himself, after all.

Eventually he does drop down out of the tree and come closer before speaking: "Are you, like, a fairy or something?"

Apparently merfolk are real, magic is real, and gods are real. He figures it's about time he got to meet a fairy.

At first Epsilon has a little bit of trouble seeing the human for the tree. The blond hair is a help, though. He smiles faintly, if also a bit wryly.

"No.... faeries are a little smaller."

And usually have antennae. Still, he could see the confusion, at least if you had no experience with either. It's still a bit surprising to meet someone without that experience--he can only imagine how confusing it would be if he were more human in that way. Humans hold onto their frames of reference more stubbornly than robots.

"I'm a nymph. So I suppose that's 'or something.'"

Connor's like 70% sure a nymph is basically just a tree fairy, but he's not about to say that out loud because it's like he told Isette: here is not home, and the rules are different. If this person wants to say a nymph isn't a tree fairy, Connor's not about to object.

"Cool." He could probably say something more than that, but that pretty much covers it. "Did you arrive today? You need a crash course in anything or did they tell you?"

He gestures to the trees in the direction of the main camp, because he's not sure if there was tree talking going on but either way the gesture will mean something.

Mickey feels it is duty and responsibility to check on every newcomer that arrives to their fair islands, so he's been searching every corner of the new island for new faces. And hey, here's one! Mickey was about to wave and run over, but something appears to be wrong with the fellow. He tilts his head, then begins to make his way over, slower this time.

"You all right there, pal?"

Epsilon is not entirely sure what to make of the... little person? Coming at him.

He isn't actually sure what to consider it at all until it speaks, and even then, that answers maybe 2% of his total questions about what's happening and with what or who.

Which makes it a bit more situationally unwieldy to admit that, no, he's not entirely all right.

"I think I'm stuck," he admits, sounding somewhat abashed--but not so abashed that he doesn't follow with, "I'm sorry, but who are you?"

To be fair, Mickey is used to such a reaction, so he glosses over it pretty quickly. Mickey frowns at the situation - stuck? That can't be good.

"The name's Mickey Mouse, and I'm here to help!" He says proudly, with a slap to his chest. "Maybe I can pull you hard enough to unstuck you!"

That gives Epsilon a little pause. Mickey... Mouse.

Well. It's no stranger than Epsilon continuing to tell people he's a robot when he's quite clearly a tree. So he doesn't ask. He's only just aware of what's going on here, but after Ryslig, he's not picky about it--he's reached a point where it's a relief any time he meets someone who isn't trying to kill or eat anyone else.

He's actually sort of charmed by Mickey's enthusiasm and confidence, and replies with a small, hopeful smile.

"We might as well give it a try."

Thew question is... where do you pull on a tree?

His vines, maybe. Hopefully Mickey won't be too startled when a pair of thick woody vines reach towards him--though they do stop short of actually touching him. Grabbing people suddenly with your appendages is rude, regardless of what kind of appendage it is.

Mickey is albeit a little startled at the vines. He glances at Epsilon to make sure they belong to him. Once confirmed, Mickey rubs his hands together. Weirdness over, helping now!

"Okay, here we go!"

He grabs onto the vines as tightly as he can, and begins to pull! As hard! As he can! With every muscle in his (very tiny) body! "Huuuugh! Errrrgh!"

Epsilon gives Mickey an apologetic look--he knows it's sort of disorienting to deal with him when you're used to four limbs and a head. But Mickey gamely takes hold of the offered vines, and with an almost cartoonish level of investment, gives it his best shot.

Epsilon can feel Mickey pulling, which is something. And, in an attempt to be helpful, he is also pulling, clenching his jaw and fighting to lift his roots from the ice; he even bares his needle-sharp teeth, but--

--well. Mousepower just might not be enough.

"--okay. Okay! Enough."

Mickey keeps trying, but he slips on the ice and falls on his back with a loud OOF, letting go of the vines. He blinks a bit at the sky, trying to find some remaining dignity.

"... Okay, so, we need another idea." Also, ow.

On the list of things that Gabe expects to run into in places like this, a tree man is not one of them. Granted, he's seen some...stuff in his first month here alone, and adjusting to things like having a flesh-and-blood body turned out to only be a fraction of that.

Fish-people one day. Tree-people on another.

Gabe does what is perfectly reasonable for someone to do in this case.

Namely, that is grab the nearest vine that looks like it belongs to the tree-man's body and pull, just to see what might happen.

Well... how reasonable that choice is might be open to debate. It's a debate he'll get to have in a few seconds, in fact!

Epsilon was aware of Gabe, but he wasn't expecting something like that. He sinks his roots into the ground on reflex when his conversation with the tree is interrupted, tightening his vine around the trunk for balance--

But the woody vine Gabe's grabbing suddenly wraps back around his wrists and grabs him back.

It didn't hurt to have his vines pulled any more than it does a human to have an arm pulled; in fact, it doesn't hurt at all, because his body doesn't contain bones that can be dislocated, or muscles that can be wrenched.

But the look on his face when he turns around is somewhere between 'betrayed' and 'disappointed.'

It's clear that Gabe wasn't exactly expecting that.

Granted, he's grown steadily use to regular solidity as concept applied to him, instead of simply to everyone else, but that doesn't mean he's used to having that door swing open to be passed through on a whim. He isn't invisible anymore. He isn't an invisible boy, who can effect change and watch the disaster unfurl from the sidelines.

The not-so-invisible boy gets a twining of vines around his wrists in a fierce, unyielding grip. He starts struggling at once, expression screwing up in an abrupt transition from "curious mischief" to "utter outrage."

"Let go," he says, and promptly begins to kick at the roots of the tree-person, as if that might make him any more likely to regard Gabe as less of a threat or irritant.

..... okay, Epsilon is not a fan of this treatment. He has a great deal of experience with tantrums and meltdowns, but this is a little much.

"Sorry," he says, and he means it, though it's not clear if he's addressing the tree, or Gabe, or both--because as he says it, he relinquishes his remaining contact with his new friend and instead turns his vines entirely on Gabe to wrap him in a manner not unlike a snake in a bid to lift him bodily off the ground.

"....but no."

...no? No. He's saying no. He - no one says no to him. The vines start to crawl around him with increased vigor, coiling around his body and picking him up, and Gabe's childish fury gets about thirty seconds of transitional processing, his features blanking out in utter shock as to how quickly things stopped being in a vein of his control, before he realizes that there's a name for the hot, crawling prickle under his skin. He felt it only once before, when Mom let herself be wheeled in and strapped to a bed and have electrodes affixed to her temples and he knew that she was going to let him slip away forever, and he wanted to hold onto her and never let her go. He remembers this. He remembers it, now.

It's fear.

"Let go!" It's pitching louder, angrier, and now - far more terrified. "You can't hold me! No one can hold me!"

Epsilon's expression remains firm, his brows knitting slightly as he listens to the change in Gabe's voice. He doesn't like being frightening--he doesn't like the fact that he represents something dangerous, that he, no matter what he does, will always be a threat. The fact that Gabe is terrified is not new to him either as a monster or as a robot, but it doesn't sit well.

However--

"I'm not going to hurt you," he says. His voice is quiet. "You're safe. I cannot hurt you. But I'm not letting you go. Not until you've calmed down."

Not going to hurt him? That's - that's stupid. Nothing can hurt him. He's old as time and forever young and impossible to destroy. Nothing can get rid of him, not forever.

"Nothing can hurt me," Gabe fires back, angrily, and to prove it, he tries kicking out again. "I'm older than time. I'm a perfect stranger. No one leaves me behind!"

Which is exactly why he's throwing a tantrum, like an angry two-year-old.

Nothing can hurt him.

...no. That's untrue. Epsilon doesn't need to know anything about this young man to know that much. Even if he were, somehow, physically invulnerable, he's clearly afraid, and fear is painful. So in that sense, Epsilon is hurting him. But--

"Older than time...?" Epsilon's expression has darkened a little, but he lets confusion creep into his face and voice. His hold on Gabe doesn't slacken, however. Gabe can kick all he wants, but he's too far away from any part of Epsilon to hit him, or at least he is if Gabe hasn't been secretly training to be part of the Rockettes.

Ten metric tons of denial and a severe lack of a wake up call will make a pissy poltergeist-turned-seeming-adult say just about anything, it’s true. He’s been manhandled before, sure, thanks to Keith, but not to this extent - and not to the point where he can’t even get s purchase or a foothold or anything. Why are so many people apparently bigger and strong than he is? It isn’t fair.

“You have no idea what I am! What I could do to you - ”

Except his struggles are getting him decidedly nowhere.

“Let me -go!”

"I don't think you've told me what you are," Epsilon offers by means of reproach. "But I don't think there's very much you can do to me like this."

Epsilon would find this entire thing comical if he hadn't been hoping for Gabe to cool down once he realised he couldn't actually force Epsilon to do what he wants. It's very easy to keep him talking, though, since Gabe is apparently more than willing to use information defensively.

“I’m more than memory. I’m - I’m - “

...solid. Flesh and bone. Oh god, he’s flesh and bone and he’s constrained by his own newfound ability to exist in the physical space. What once was a cause for celebration now strikes him as a bitterly double-edged sword. Just as he can affect the world, so can it affect him.

He needs to...to get out of this. Somehow.

“You can’t do this to me.” It sounds less petulant now and more incredulous that this is happening to him at all.

Edited 2018-01-09 23:25 (UTC)

They watch him walk along from a short distance, eyeing the surely painful steps that cause him to shed- roots, bark, every few seconds. It doesn't look comfortable. If anything, he's very clearly struggling, a factor that has them turning his way and heading towards him as the creature slows, then stops. It's not a smooth halt, as if something has hindered him entirely...

And he's inhuman enough that Chara feels a momentary sense of concern, footsteps loud on the ice as they approach.

An ominous cracking sound has them pausing several feet away, eyes afixed on the ice for several, tense moments before the child looks to the monster in front of them.

"Are you in need of assistance, sir?"

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January Intro: I Know the Winter's Getting Colder

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