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.

---

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!

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[growingpains]

No!

[He scoffs and raises his hands back up to fight him off when the fingers touch his ears again.] Why would I tell anything to bully like you! And if it really is that dumb then why do you even care?!

[ungrieved]

Because I’m bored. [Because he’s genuinely curious, more like - not that he’s about to let that slip if he can help it.]

And because if you don’t, I’ll tell everyone that it’s because you skipped your medication. [Does Ritsuki take medication? Gabe doesn’t care.]

1/2

[growingpains]

[growingpains]

[...]

You really are a child.

[He's a child, stubborn and rude. It was only the face of an grown up that fooled him.]

[ungrieved]

[That isn’t supposed to happen. People aren’t supposed to pick up on that unless he tells them. Gabe’s eyes narrow at that, suspiciously.]

I’ve lived longer than any kid you’re thinking of. [For a certain definition of “lived,” sure, but unfortunately, there’s no way to make the words sound anything but sullen.]

[growingpains]

[There's no direct denying, which must mean that he's somewhere close. The annoyance quiets down from Ritsuka's voice, pulling back to sleep inside his small body for now.]

That doesn't matter. You can grow and grow but still remain a child. [There is the difference.]

[ungrieved]

How would you know? [This isn’t right. Why isn’t the kid snapping at him? That was more fun. That was way more fun than whatever this is now.]

[He isn’t certain, but he thinks he might not like it.]

[growingpains]

I know. [Words are spoken with unwavering confidence like they were the absolute truth. He keeps the eye contact, it's strict and knowing. "Power to dominate with words," that was what Soubi had. He could shape the reality with his words. Maybe he could too keep the tables turned around with that same power?]

You were.. You were forgotten, right. Is that why you can't become adult? You can't grow up and become an adult because you have to remind someone that you are here.

[ungrieved]

Shut up.

[The turns have abruptly tabled, and Gabe makes the ultimate decision that he does not like this!!!! He liked this kid way better scared - not eerily knowing, like some part of him peeked onto what Gabe’s non-life was like before - ]

You cheated. You didn’t just - someone told you, didn’t they?

[growingpains]

[His ears droop down a little. He can't say to like this either. The man -- no, a child -- reminds him from something. He's almost like the high school girl who under great distress would deny feeling pain in her body.. The way she had looked at him when he had discovered her secret.]

You told me.

[ungrieved]

[No I didn't.]

[But he did, didn't he? Maybe...he's not used to people being able to read between the lines in that specific sense. He's not used to people picking up on it so quickly, without being showed.]

People can't usually guess.

[growingpains]

People don't usually listen.

[Well to be honest. This person doesn't really do that good at hiding things. The more vague and pressing he tries to be the more he reveals. And well... Ritsuka has more experience with these things than most people his age.]

And people are stupid.

[ungrieved]

Look at that. We can agree on something.

[He stops regarding Ritsuka with the mocking, almost predatory leer that colors his immediate reactions to everyone, letting it blend into something more considerate, more thoughtful. He underestimated him. The ears were a distraction, he's going to decide. It's easier to blame those than it is his own lack of foresight.]

Do you wanna know the best part?

[He tries to grin. It doesn't quite succeed, his shoulders too tense and his body too hunched, as if by curling up around himself he might fend away the phantom shivers that recalling those moments always summon to mind.]

[Or maybe they're not so phantom after all. It is rather cold.]

[growingpains]

[Ritsuka almost wants to ask if he's alright because he sure doesn't look like it. He had claimed him to be a child but his reaction appears to be more complex than that. The tantrum is over but he appears to be more calm despite all the pride than petulant and stubborn.

In a way that seems more adult than before.]

What is it?

[ungrieved]

I wasn’t just forgotten.

[His smile is too bitter to be genuine, too cruel to be intended as anything but a weapon, his eyes glittering with something fierce and so, so alive.]

I died.

[growingpains]

[The expression that flashes on Ritsuka's face is indescribable. It's a mixture of shock, uneasiness, fear and nausea. His eyes are wide while brows form a frown to his forehead, corners of his lips are pulled back so that there's glimpse of teeth. He brings his hand over the other one, fingers ghosting over the irritated skin.

He had liked it better when Ritsuka was scared.. It's not quite the same but.. close.

The look on the stranger's face, it's strong and burning. He can hear his voice, feel the hint of warm air as he breathes. He had grabbed his ears! This guy is hot and full of color -- full of life. He's not cold and dark like a corpse would be. Granted, Ritsuka had never seen a dead person before but he knows what they're like. He knows what Seimei had been like when he was found murdered.

But Seimei was alive, wasn't he? Just like this guy. But who had died, then?

His world is spinning and suddenly it's difficult to tell the truth from reality. It's like a heavy pressure creeps upon Ritsuka's body, taking a hold on his slim shoulders and pulling him towards the ground.]

That's not funny.

[ungrieved]

I think it’s hilarious.

[He keeps grinning eagerly, apparently quite pleased at the effect his words seem to be having.]

I died and no one wanted to remember me. Just shoved me in a little coffin and put me out of sight and out of mind! No one’s said my name in years, did you know? And perfect Natalie, she gets everything I never did. Except Mom’s going crazy without me, and no one wants to admit it. Not even her.

[Not even once she learned what he really was. Why he was still there.]

Great, huh?

[growingpains]

[There he goes again, Ritsuka thinks. He can feel his shoulders grow tense from the discomfort. He had acted this way few moments ago before his secret had been discovered: loud, playful and yet.. sad. Ritsuka did not like it. He'd almost think he's been tricked but he remembers what he had just said himself "you are a child."

They shoved him into a little coffin and forgot about him just like that? The thought of it makes his heart sink a bit. He had asked about death from a priest who had reassured that it wasn't the end -- as long as you remember them. 'Are you stupid, once you're dead you can't do anything!' his mother had screamed at him during one of her fits before attacking him.. She's going crazy without Seimei around -- because of the sadness and suffering she's dealing with.

His eyes wide and full of anxiety, Ritsuka can't help but wonder his brother felt as sad as this person.]

If you're dead then... Then how are you here?

[ungrieved]

Because I'm alive.

[Gabe's complete refusal to distinguish between the literal and the potential metaphor is not great, honestly, but he says it like a boast, like it's an accomplishment. Like he's the biggest, baddest damn kid on the playground.]

Because they tried to get rid of me, so I stayed. Tried to deny me. Never wanted to grieve me. And unless they do, I'm never letting go.

Until they name me, they can't tame me.

[growingpains]

[A warm tingling sensation crawls up along his finger tips to his hands. His heart is beating fast and the more stranger talks the more he wants to press his hands against his ears. He doesn't want to hear him.]

You -- [He starts, voice quiet but full of anger.] You are just saying these things to mess me up. You can't be both alive and dead! That's.. That's not human!

[ungrieved]

Maybe I’m not human.

[He’s getting to him. He’s getting to him, he’s sure of it. Digging under his skin. Sinking nails into something soft and delicate and desperate and ripping the scab clean off. Always the agitator. Always the irritant.]

[Impossible to ignore.]

Maybe I’m just memory. Or maybe I’m more than that.