January Intro: I Know the Winter's Getting Colder

[lifeaftr_mods]

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.

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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

[walkietalkie]

❰ even the couple of steps the girl takes out onto the ice have clem's chest tightening with alarm and dread - because she's seen how fast a frozen river can swallow someone up, and she wouldn't even wish that fate on carver, let alone a stranger trying to help her. being swept along, trapped under the ice, so close to the surface but unable to break through.

so it's a huge relief when her would-be rescuer stops short, and as hard as clem listens for that telltale crack, the ice under the girl's feet seems to be holding sturdy. she lets out a breath she didn't realize she was holding, eyes lifting now from the ice to the girl's face. ❱

I can make it back... I think. ❰ she calls back, wary but relatively certain. ❱ I'm not very heavy. I don't think I'll break it. ❰ and sure enough, she's slowly shifting onto her hands and knees, then standing up the rest of the way. still no crack. so far, so good. ❱ I'm coming your way, okay? ❰ it's less to ask permission and more a 'so seriously, don't come out here' as she starts to ever-so-carefully work her way toward the shore. ❱

[shineinside]

All right. Take your time, okay?

[ Yuka can sense the fear in Clem's voice - the last thing she wants right now is make it worse. So, she stays as still as she can, waiting for Clem to cross the ice.

In the meantime, her mind is racing. What will she do if the ice does break? She couldn't just let the girl go under, right? Then again, would it be any better to dive in after her? That could just end up with both of them frozen... ]

[walkietalkie]

❰ but god, this is taking so long, as slow as she has to creep. and as smart as it would probably be to keep an ear out for any sign of cracking ice, she finds herself asking: ❱

Do you think you could talk to me? ❰ to take her mind off of how deep and cold the water under the ice might be. ❱ Like... what's your name?

[shineinside]

Oh, uh, I'm Yuka. [ It's just hitting her now how young this girl is. Of course she's scared (Yuka has no idea just how much Clem's been through before now), so she does her best to keep her mind off the ice. ] I arrived along with my friend Kyouko... I've been here for about three weeks.

Did you just wake up out there after having some kind of weird dream? I bet you have a hundred questions about what's going on here. I know I did.

[walkietalkie]

This isn't Haven anymore, is it? ❰ it's the biggest question she has, but after that dream, she already kind of knows the answer. a couple of steps later, she asks: ❱ Is it always this cold?

[shineinside]

Haven? No, this is an island called Chol... I'm not from here, either. Most of us aren't. And it's winter, but it's colder than normal, even for that... [ She isn't sure she wants to tell Clem about the reason for that just yet. ] ...But we can worry about that once you're safe. Does this ice seem okay?

[walkietalkie]

I don't think it's going to break... But I'm not going to push my luck. ❰ which is why she's going slow. ❱ Haven was like this. Nobody was from there, just brought in. By Yao. ❰ the way she says it, 'yao' is definitely not a good name. ❱

[shineinside]

[ Yuka will remember that. ]

[ She holds out a hand as Clem gets closer. ]

The people I've met here have been nice. I know this is kind of scary, but once you reach land you'll be fine... when I got here, I had to cross an entire desert.

[walkietalkie]

I'd rather have the desert. ❰ okay - maybe not. or maybe she would. she's undecided right now. she just knows how much she hates this in particular. ❱ Wherever this is, it's closer to Haven than North Carolina. I never remember Haven, back where I come from... but I remember it now. ❰ and now that she's close enough, she leans in to take the girl's hand - no, not her hand. fingers slide up to grasp around her wrist, since holding each other's wrists is a sturdier grip anyway.

and finally, she makes one final decisive jump-step and her feet find solid earth.
at which point, she exhales a sigh of relief. ❱ Thanks.

[shineinside]

[ North Carolina, that would make her... American? That would have been her first guess, anyway.

Yuka doesn't even realize she's holding her breath until she lets it back out when they make it back to dry land. Looks like the ice held after all. ]

No problem, welcome to... Chol, for now, I guess. You aren't hurt or anything, are you? [ She doesn't look it, but after Monsun, who even knows what new dangers there are in this place. ]

[walkietalkie]

No, I'm okay. ❰ it's a valid question though. she remembers haven, and how many people showed up there hurt - even on the brink of death sometimes. she herself showed up with a couple of pretty nasty injuries, last time... and she's definitely got some blood mixed in with the grime stains on her jacket, both hers and otherwise.

but no, no injuries this time. meanwhile: ❱ Chol 'for now'? What do you mean? ❰ all the while, she finally slides the pack off her shoulder and crouches down to start to examine the contents. ❱

[shineinside]

There's at least two other islands, Enso and Monsun. We still haven't explored all of this one, so you'd probably be better off coming to one of the others for now...

[walkietalkie]

I can explore an island. ❰ it comes off sounding a little bit defensive — not too much, just a little. she's been brushed off as 'just a kid' enough times by now that she's got a little bit of a kneejerk reaction to anything even remotely resembling it. ❱

[shineinside]

Oh, sorry! I didn't mean it like that, it's just... [ Oops, seems like we touched a nerve there. ] You just got here, right? It would probably be good to get back to the camp and get your bearings. There will be plenty of time to explore later, I think...

[walkietalkie]

❰ well. now clem feels a little stupid for getting huffy. her eyes drift back out over the ice, and she nods. ❱ That makes sense. ❰ then, after a second: ❱ Are there a lot of people? Back at the camp.

[shineinside]

Yeah, it's pretty big... maybe about a hundred people? I guess at that point it's more of a village than a camp.