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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[Asgore can't bear to look up at them for more than a few seconds, dropping his gaze to his feet.]

...of course, my -

[He stops, and closes his eyes as if pained.]

Of course.

[It doesn't make sense to him, really, that they'd need to do that. But he's not going to argue. Maybe they just hadn't wanted Muffet to know they were related to him? Well, that would be their choice.

Frisk, now, who is Frisk? The other human here, he supposes, but...shamefully, he can't be sure of it. He knows the names of the first two humans who fell after Chara, but after that he'd had to stop asking. It had all become too much. Cowardly of him, not to even know what to put on their coffins, but he just...hadn't been able to keep staring that pain in the face.

Maybe it's that last human. Wouldn't that be a sight, them together with Chara?

Asgore hunches a little, worrying one hand in the other. There's more he should say. It hurts, but...he can't just put this in the basement and try to carry on.]

I am...I... [He sighs heavily. As much as he wishes to ask forgiveness, can he, really?] I understand that you and Asriel...and Frisk...have no wish to see me. I will not act against your wishes. Please, just...stay safe.

[He was told they were safe and happy. Much as he'd like to see to that himself, in a place like this...the fact of it at all is more than he could have wished for.]

[If there's one thing Chara is tired of, it's assumptions.

It's not even an incorrect assumption. He's right- they aren't particularly inclined to see him, right now. They aren't particularly inclined to see him ever again, but he speaks for them, tells them what their wishes are, what Asriel's wishes are, and Chara's eyes narrow, unimpressed and ~~they tell themself, over and over~~ unphased.]

Do not presume to know what I wish, sir. Nor do you have the right to question my capability of survival.

[They can't fully suppress their scowl.]

Asriel will likely be more open to seeing you. It is a mistake to assume anything regarding Frisk's response, as well.

[...Asgore can't quite contain his cringe. It's certainly true that he made some assumptions. Reasonable ones, it would seem, yet...did they not come here on Asriel's behalf? Hrm.]

...my apologies. I was told some things - but, it is true, not by you.

[And really he doesn't know what Mickey's relationship with any of his children is at all. Just that he sought to protect them, which on its own is enough to earn Asgore's respect.

He brings himself to look up at them again. He looks like he's been crying a lot, recently? But definitely let's not do that again now! Even if they haven't looked at him in quite that way since they first met, when they still did not trust him or Toriel. He hopes he has not destroyed their faith in her, at least - but she is not here.

Thinking back to his painting, he finds it lacking. Of course. Still, it was similar enough, and red eyes are rare in humans...maybe he should let them know? It isn't at all what he wants to talk to them about, still, but perhaps this is the last conversation they will have, here. And they would be upset to think that he had kept something from them.]

I have a number of friends who may recognize you if they appear. Mostly humans, or human-appearing. I know that they may not come...but I would not wish you to be surprised, if so.

I can only assume it was the mouse, in which case, I doubt there is much he exaggerated.

[As angry as they had been, intent on lashing out at Mickey for making light of such a bittersweet memory-- it's not like anything was said that they didn't mean. Their f- Asgore is, by all accounts, by his own admission, a murderer. They had been witness and fallen prey to his dedication to his people; the resolution he'd promised that he didn't even believe in.

Of course he had been as loose-lipped as they had been. Chara exhales, the discomforting pressure on their shoulders simply growing at the revelation- more people, who would know who they are. More people, aware and suspicious of two children, going by names that were clearly fake.

Wonderful.]

If all were to come, by some manner of chance-

How many?

[Asgore winces, not quite at the confirmation that Mickey wasn't exaggerating - he's thought so all along - but more at the question. It's stickier than it ought to be.]

One of us was host to a sort of...collective...of ninety-seven human souls calling themselves The Risen. They could and often did access our memories at will, so I am afraid they may know everything that I do.

[So that counts as either two people in a single body knowing about them, or sort of ninety-eight? He's not completely sure how to count them, and he's pretty sure a full theoretical discussion about the Risen is not what Chara's looking for from him at the moment. What he's been through is...not for them to concern themselves with. Not anymore.

It's not for anyone here. Why did he only come here after he'd grown used to having friends? His children's hatred would have been just as hard to bear before, but the loneliness at least would have been par for the course.

He realizes suddenly that he's fallen too quiet, and takes a second to rub at his eyes as he starts to think aloud about all the new people he's lost.]

They would probably still arrive within Alex, should she come. And do not worry - they do not have that memory ability anymore. Aside from them, I am not sure everybody would recognize you. Perhaps ten for certain. I trust that they would all keep their silence, if asked.

[They don't quite understand what he means. They don't know who Alex is- he offers no more names. Perhaps ten for certain. Perhaps more. Mostly humans, or human-appearing.

They take this knowledge with the quiet composure of utter exhaustion, a grim set to their mouth that is so unlike the multitude of smiles they so casually equip on a daily basis. Things have changed-- to the point where even their hardest of smiles do not last.

They accept that he is, at the least, giving them the chance to prepare themself for that moment. It is a potential consequence they will have to bear, considering his words and asking a question he may not expect.]

From your description, I would assume it is not illogical for me to conclude you have been to another world prior to this one. Is that correct?

I have, yes.

[He casts them a more apologetic look than usual; he knows that was all probably pretty confusing. It was confusing living through it as well.]

I am told that some others here have as well? [That's how they're familiar with the concept, yes?] For myself, the...situation had been resolved, and we were preparing to depart for whatever worlds we saw fit. Should anyone come here with their world-traveling machines, we might all be able to get out...but I doubt that will happen.

[There's probably a catchier name for those machines that Asgore just hasn't quite caught onto. But between the time-freeze that will keep anyone from noticing he's gone, and just the way these things seem to go, he doesn't think a rescue is likely enough to pin anyone's hopes on.]

[Once again, he assumes- though this time, Chara says nothing against it. The life they have lead these past two years, and everything that occurred before it; they are not his to know, nor concern himself with.

It has been too long since they've considered themself his child for his mere presence to bring more than bitter nostalgia.]

Yes. There are multiple others who have experience with other worlds-- though you are the first to find a way home. [They'd be curious, if their natural pessimism didn't write off the chance that they could compose something similar here.] From what I know of these worlds, we won't be leaving until we have done what we were brought here to do.

...It may be best for you to know; death in this world is not permanent... Obviously.

[From what they know...he notes that, but doesn't say anything. He doesn't have any right to ask them about it.]

...yes. There were those before who had died already. I suppose such things do not much matter, to powers such as these.

[He has less than zero right to observe that he was among those. Part of him wonders if it might make them feel better, that he won't be around to kill children like them anymore. But - he finds he still hopes it would grieve them, and that is just plain selfish.

They were referring to themself with that last part, obviously, but he didn't get the impression that their situation is quite what they meant. Or, at least, not the entirety of it.]

But those who die where here, as well?

No, they do not.

[A god brings a child back to life, in order to add a soldier to his army. An unknown power pulls two children scattered through space and time back together, for reasons completely unknown, but there is one. There is always one.]

Correct. There have been multiple situations that have caused deaths of the people here- they are simply gone for a few days, then back as if nothing had happened... for the most part. At times, memories appear to be missing- certain bodily functions. Never for long.

[There is no escape to be found in death, is the point they do not vocalize. Hopefully, it comes across well enough, though they doubt he is now in a position of motivation to bring harm to anyone who does not strike him first.

In truth, he had never wanted to hurt anyone. That had been a motivation solely of their own.]

...Is there anything else you wish to know?

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January Intro: I Know the Winter's Getting Colder

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