lifeaftr | 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 )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

No, [he says shortly.] It's not.

[Maybe the guy has his heart in the right place. But he's got no clue into the context of Tim's life, and he sure as hell isn't interested in allowing him that window. Not that he allows most people that window, if he can help it.]

You don't know me, pal, and you don't know why I do any of what I do. You got that?

Tim, sir.

[ His tone remains calm. ]

There is nothing to know about someone who made himself empty for the sake of others. [ Yet another sigh. Even Monkey who fought for peace, who was able to save countless lives -- he shakes his head yet again. ]

There is nothing right about it. And it is why you take offense and bring in death and weapons, because there is no righteous.

And there's nothing right about acting like you know a guy when you've really only just met him. Maybe I'm a liar. Maybe I'm not giving you the full story. Maybe I'm dangling a carrot and stick in front of your nose.

[Is he? Not particularly. But those are all traits within his wheelhouse, he knows. He is a liar. He's been lying to some people here ever since he arrived. Most people here, in fact.]

But, hey. What do I know, right?

I do not claim to know you. I claim there is nothing to know about a person who chases death.

[ He shrugs and takes another drink. ] But that may not be the truth for always. I am stating what I believe. For someone who chases death, who lacks the scent of bloodlust yet carries weapons, that is someone who needs to cherish their own lives more.

I do not know you but you have given me nothing to desire to know you. Because you have made yourself empty to me and there is no righteousness in seeking to fill an empty void with someone else's story, like mine.

And that’s a pretty broad statement to make about a whole mess of people you really don’t know anything about. [So the guy thinks poorly of him within about five minutes of meeting him. Fine. Wouldn’t be the first and won’t be the last. Tim lends himself to that. It’s easy.]

You don’t wanna know me? That’s fine. But I might’ve been someone who’d take offense to hearing judgmental bullshit coming from a guy who hasn’t even been here twenty-four hours.

[That’s advice. Take it.]

[ Ox merely hums in turn. It is merely that he pities him, and feels sorry for how his life must have come to decide to live in such a manner to even joke about an empty existence such as living to protect others. Especially from someone who has had the chance to visit multiple worlds.

To joke or lie about living such emptiness is worth some sympathy in his mind and so he says what comes to mind in turn. ]

I do not have to be in a place for a long time to say what is on my mind when someone says something to me. [ He breathes out another sigh, enjoying the warmth of the cider. ] You might have been but in the end, it doesn't matter. If you are angry at how a stranger views your life, you aren't happy with it, either.

More like I’m giving a stranger a bit of friendly advice about thinking on applying a filter.

[Does it matter, in the long run, if one guy finds him pitiable? Not really. The most important takeaway here is that the guy is a self-proclaimed warrior. If he can hold his own ina fight, Tim doesn’t much care what snap calls he’s making.]

[Much.]

Not everyone can take it the way I can.

If it were friendly, you would be smiling. You are just annoyed.

[ Another small shake of his head. ]

Calm down. There is nothing to be upset about because I disagree with what you have told me about yourself. [ A hum. Which is to say if someone were proud of how they lived their life, it wouldn't matter what Ox thought. There would be no pain in it, and no hurt. Which is also why Tim has his sympathy.

If someone adamantly wishes to live an empty life that they cannot be proud of it, that is unfortunate. Once more, he doesn't know what lead to such a decision but it doesn't appear to be the right one for Tim. Thinking again on it might be wise but it seems his advice is being met with offense. Ah well. ]

Yeah, I kinda have difficulty with that kinda thing.

[Anhedonia sure is a pain, huh? He doesn’t even smile so much when he actually is happy. Better reinvent that frame of reference, Ox, before you run yourself over with it.]

I’m pretty calm here. Dunno about you. [He has his nicotine, okay? He’s fine.]

I may not be.

[ But he gets up and offers a small tip of his head. ]

If you will excuse me. [ So he says as he gets up to move.

Ox does not believe he can save everyone and can only save people with his saber. He is not Monkey, after all. And so, he cannot save someone who is drowning and incapable of seeing it. As such, he is not calm and finds it painful to watch a stranger be as he is without realizing what he is allowing himself to be. Even in jest. ]

[Uh, all right, then.]

[Tim doesn’t offer any argument or further insight. The guy might be pretty damn implacable, but apparently something put him off. Tim watches him go, finishes his cigarette, and stamps or out with a sigh.]

[Nice fucking going, Tim. Pissed off a potential ally, as he does.]

[If he’s lucky, maybe he doesn’t hold grudges.]

January Intro: I Know the Winter's Getting Colder

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