lifeaftr | February Intro: Stuck in the Sunshine Riptide

INTRO LOG: FEBRUARY

Who: Everyone!
What: New souls arrive to the archipelago of LifeAftr
When: February 3rd to February 9th
Where: Chol
Warnings: Mark as needed!

The Overview: Aftermath
The small island of Chol won't be present for much longer; its fertile center has been singed into a husk of brown-red canyon, and what's left of the rudimentary encampment and defenses set up during the nightly siege from the month prior have started to be disassembled in earnest. The sea-dwelling, serpetine Jormun have already started trickling back into the depths of the ocean below, though some stragglers remain, including the leader known as Munin.

All new arrivals will awaken with knapsacks, their names stitched to the front. The contents of said knapsacks can all be found in your acceptance notices!

Daytime: Dancing All Alone in the Morning Light
Still, the Jormun are doing their best to say their goodbyes with style. Those who wake on Chol's shores may quickly find themselves drawn to the noises of celebration at the island's craggy center.

At the dip in the middle of the island, the remaining Jormun have taken to mourning their dead and celebrating their own survival in the manner traditional to their culture: with a solemn send-off, paired by an exuberant celebration of who the fallen were in life. It does no good for one's final memories of the deceased to be ones of sadness and mourning, and so they see fit to raise their voices in utter jubilation, to sing to those who have passed on that their sacrifice was not in vain.

Newcomers and oldcomers alike will be greeted with a bittersweet joviality and invited to join the festivities. The Jormun's tents have been converted into impromptu picnic blankets upon which much of their unique cuisine has been arrayed: smoked oysters, salads of multicolored seaweed, and kebabs of spicy pickled kelp, to name but a few. Those who arrived on Chol the month prior may recognize the bloodred, piping-hot brew known as brrkshavak, capable of warming you right down to your bones with only a few sips, even if its taste is more akin to liquified chili pepper. Those who prefer something with a little less kick won't be left out, however: they specialize also in a rich, plum-tasting wine known as rakvrhak, as well as moklavarr, which might be familiar to many as a very rich variant of hot chocolate.

The Jormun will also be seen happily picking up some of the charred black-and-red feathers shed by the firebird when it took flight into the sky. Some might even take to threading them to their fins and gills, or offering to do the same to your hair, if you like. They insist it's for good luck, though they'll also be affixing them to round pebbles and pretty shells to give them out as talismans.

The festivities will last until February 9th. At that point, the Jormun will gladly give over whatever supplies they have not packed away at this point - cloth from their tents, as well as the leftover food that they're certain would spoil on the return journey to the seafloor, and warn everyone they see that they really ought to be getting back to the mainland before the next morning.

However, they won't be abandoning you forever. Munin is certain to leave a gift on Islet 4: a Schovskal, which looks to be some sort of large conch shell. Exceptionally large.

This five feet high and seven feet long mammoth of a shell now glimmers on one end of Islet 4, both as a reminder of the alliance struck between Jormun and story-walkers and as a means to call upon the Jormun for aid.

Nighttime: Don't Tap the Glass
Each night, as darkness falls, the Jormun are certain to light several fires encircling their encampment as a precautionary measure. For if you wander outside that protective circle of flame, you might discover that some of the beasts from the week of the siege upon the sun have decided to linger in hope of some easy prey.

Most notably, some might glimpse a Nighthook advancing to extinguish whatever light source might be in the vicinity, a silhouette of a hooked claw of a hand that is more an annoyance than a legitimate threat. Others might see the odd Grimling or two loping about like a deformed, undersea dog. Those who stray into the shallows surrounding Chol will almost undoubtedly glimpse a Murk that will eagerly draw near, hoping that you might relieve it of its burden. And if the plaintive cry of a sobbing child tugs at your heartstrings, you might find yourself lured to the hunched shape of a Rathm, curled up in all its lonely misery, right up until the moment where you, shall we say...startle the Witch, at which point it will stop being so very approachable after all.

Stay in the light, or risk facing a little taste of what January was like; all four of these remaining creatures is more than capable of making your life something of a misery.

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

She knew the elves would be nice to him-there was no doubt in her mind about that, but it's a testament to their kindness that they eagerly ask him about things he likes and offer island homes for him to play with. While they've only known each other for a short period of time, a week? Maybe two? He was the focus of her lonely world for so long that she eagerly blurts out the things Seto doesn't. She'll force this bonding session by making day plans for the next 20 years.

"Seto can make maps for Taako's pretty mongooses. He can draw them nice homes and hallways," There's the house vandalism and as for games-"Hide and Seek is something he's very good at. He can find anyone. He'll find you two, like he finds me. That's how it is for someone like him. We won't beat Seto. He can be the new champion."

Card games and hooligan activities will be covered in a crash course that'll start once she points out Enso's non-ghost dangers and show him the safest path to his new home. For now, she tries to guide The Boy to the ground, hoping to make him sit right by Lup, all the while singing his praises. Yes, The Best Boy. "Seto can do anything. He can run and boil water and find treasures. The cats like him too. They know it's okay to trust him."

Cats like him, he can boil water, can't really ask for more glowing endorsements than that. Taako nods in approval, like this is some kinda job interview and not a picnic or whatever. Do the mongooses need maps? Sure, they do now. That's just how easy-breezy island life can be. Seto's gonna learn. Taako finds himself actually feeling real...anticipation? About not-unpleasant things happening to this kid he doesn't know at all. He didn't even know he could think about the island as a positive. The island, which is definitely the positive influence here.

He has a seat too, helps himself to some of Lup's wine, not like she can fight back or anything. Seems like they might be here for awhile, after all, but he can't really find it in himself to mind listening to Ren's rambling about Seto. She's just so happy it's contagious, even when he really kinda thought he was pretty well vaccinated against that kind of thing, and he finds he hasn't really stopped smiling so far. Things got kinda shitty there, for a bit. Finding people from their old homes is defs not the worst thing to come out of all that mess.

"Yeah, guess if he found you all the way here on stank island, hide n seek probably won't be much of a challenge." Taako has turned a deceptively sleepy eye back on The Boy, new-crowned Champion of Hide-n-Seek. "Card games, though, lotta untapped potential there. Could start with blackjack, that's a pretty easy game." How hard is it to teach children to count cards?

February Intro: Stuck in the Sunshine Riptide

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