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

[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.