lifeaftr | March Event: De L'autre Côté de L'eau

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March Event: De L'autre Côté de L'eau

MARCH EVENT: DE L'AUTRE CÔTÉ DE L'EAU

Who: Everyone condemned to the Water, and those who see fit to rescue them
What: A rescue is implemented!
When:Predominantly on March 19th
Where: Ai'tuoh, and the small islet just off its coast
Warnings: Mark as needed!

Just Sing For Me All Night

It's time for your captured comrades to be recovered, and by none other than your fine selves! While the Storyteller will detail the elements of said rescue below, they very notably don't say anything about how they plan for you make it through Ai'tuoh, and then to the islet off its coast.

You have their tacit blessing to make your way there however you would like. Through stealth, through diplomacy, by salting and burning the earth...whichever you prefer. It is, as it turns out, awfully difficult to discern the innocent from the perpetrators when they all look alike.

Whatever course of action you choose, bear in mind that there will be consequences. The Storyteller will be sealing off Ai'tuoh's mana pool once everyone who has been retrieved has come through, but that doesn't mean that the island will be gone forever.

And If I Shout For You, Never Doubt

While the details of the rescue's mechanics can be found in the Storyteller's explanation below, we ask that, if your character was captured and needs to be rescued, please let us know HERE. This will make it easier for other players to account for who might be their focus, and why!

A few guidelines for each of the groups:

[ ♆ ] Group One will be predominantly busy fending away militia, who you can assume will be pouring forth to protect the Water from these intruders at a fairly concentrated rate. Most of the fighting will likely be grouped around the Water itself, leading to a risk of being forced into the Water or slipping in yourself. The militia largely fight with spears, swords, and shields, but are not above attempting to sedate you if they can get close enough, to make it easier to tip you into the Water.

[ ♆ ] Group Two will be serving as the tether, meaning they will be holding onto the thread the Storyteller has provided. This means physically remaining on our side of the abyss and holding onto the thread very tightly, as well as mentally focusing incredibly hard on the Water itself. When the thread is deposited into the Water, it will open a dark tunnel into the surface itself, leading all the way through to the other side. The Water will not take kindly to this; it will attempt to close, and exert a tremendous mental pressure upon your mind to do so. In order for this portal to remain open, your focus must be wholly devoted to keeping it open. It may feel very much like a mental game of tug-of-war, and you may very well feel a very physical tug on the thread itself as well; you must be actively concentrating on bringing everyone home.

[ ♆ ] Group Three will then have to grab hold of the thread in some way or another and not let go as they're swept into the dimension and through to the other side. As long as they remain in contact with the thread, they will be able to make their way back and be immune to the soporific effects of the strange void, as well as detect the opening the thread makes in the landscape of the netherworld on the other side of the Water. If they let go, they will lose their way and be vulnerable to the somnolent effects, and must be drawn back by someone who is still tethered.

Just remember: once you've found who needs recovering, you cannot, under any circumstances, look back at them while you guide the home.

You simply have to trust that they will follow, and that will be what leads them back to you.

Event Timeline

[ ♆ ] March 19th: Characters are taken to the Standing Water, and the rescue is facilitated
[ ♆ ] March 20th: Monthly Storytelling occurs as usual
[ ♆ ] March 31st: Ai'tuoh disappears, and anyone left on it or in the Water will suffer a death

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

closed to Munin

Getting into the city is easy. Having spent the week robbing the place with Taako like a pair of invisible magpies means Lup has the whole grid layout memorized, navigates the streets unseen and with her head down. If she's got her timing right, all hell is gonna break loose over at the barracks and probably some other places any minute now, and she intends to bring her own fireworks to the game.

The library is as ugly and desolate as ever. Like some sort of merciless monument to their hellish laws, their literal outlawing of any sort of joy or warmth or, or kindness, it stands apart from the other buildings, cold and brutal. And it's empty, it always is, because these people already know the laws by heart, they know what they're consenting to every fucking day, not standing up to it. Jailing their kids, sending them off to be executed, kidnapping strangers who never even had a fucking chance to learn their bullshit laws. Jailing other people's kids.

Lup imagines these are the sorts of people who could listen to some eloquent asshole telling them existence is horrible, and they'd roll with that, too.

She ignites a few books here and there with Firebolts, small flames eagerly eating up the dusty paper. To be honest she'd love to wreck the whole thing all to hell with a Fireball, but she's gonna need her slots today. Better to let the fire grow slowly anyway, so it'll have consumed most of the trash in here before somebody notices. On her way out, she stops, kicks an oil lamp off its fixture on the wall, and shoves it into her knapsack. Dipshits ain't gonna need that anyway.

Back to the docks, she's kinda hauling ass a bit more. But like, not in a suspicious way. There's some sense of unrest in the air now, people trying not to look worried because that's fucking illegal too, but whispering, glancing towards the barracks, some packing up their shit to head somewhere safer. Lup doesn't make eye contact with any of them. She knows, in her heart she knows, the people of Enso are going to shake this place to the core today. And it's gonna suck for these people, a lot. But maybe, just maybe? They can grow something better out of the ashes.

By the time the flames finally burst through the windows of the library, Lup is already outside the city walls near the coast, looking for a ride to the real party.

closed to Frisk

Boy it sure is a shitshow down here. Somebody definitely started the party without her. Lup's pretty dang pleased to see how many people she recognizes holding back the militia, but they're still relentlessly driving people into the water with spears and swords. And the water, it's... it's fucking weird. Impossibly still, glassy and clear, it's almost like a circle of black glass but where her glass has a horrible grim weight to it, this is just, nothing. A total absence. And it fucking, swallows people whole. It gives her the heebie jeebies, as it were.

She joins the fray without hesitation, blasts a path through the mess with her umbrella to get as close to the water as possible. Dodging attacks, fighting dirty with Fire Bolts to people's faces, she keeps looking for a flash of silver hair, keeps hoping Ren is just hiding in the chaos. But the whole thing is being funneled towards the water, the pressure of the guards is relentless and more and more people are stumbling, slipping in. There's no way a small, scared kid like her could avoid it, no matter how good she is at running away. Lup skirts the water's edge, calling for Ren anyway, calling for Taako too, because she's gonna need someone to hold that thread for her. She thinks she spots his hair once but it's gone instantly like he Blinked away. It's okay, he knows what he's gotta do if they can't meet up. For once, she hadn't tried to talk him out of any part of this.

And then somebody knocks into her and her foot finds no purchase in the air above the water.

closed to Shepard

Stepping into the water, thread wrapped tight around her arm, it's like going through the mana pools, only way fucking worse. A biting cold seizes her and she didn't really need the reminder of that time she was bleeding out in the snow, thanks. And then she's falling, that just, super choice feeling of being vored by a fucking puddle pulling her down and down and down. Look, a mana pool is like, a trust puddle, whenever she steps into one she forms a silent contract with the Storyteller to fuckin let her out on the other side. This thing? She can tell it wants to gobble her up and keep her trapped forever and she's not into this on like, so many levels.

But finally she has some sort of ground under her feet and it-- Are you kidding? The Ethereal Plane? Or some version of it, and some version of Ai'tuoh that's even drabber than the real thing. Colorless the way things go when the Hunger cuts a plane off from all its bonds. That's exactly what the laws are for too, isn't it? No connections, no emotions, no companionship through games or clothes or writing. The buildings, everything looks like she's seeing it through tears, and no amount of blinking fixes it. Gross, and creepy, and her heart is hammering in her chest from the fall.

And then it sinks when she sees the bodies. A mass grave of horrifying proportions. Most of the bodies are so small-- Lup can't help but to turn one over, and gasps when she realizes the little boy is breathing. But no amount of jostling and pleading will wake him up. She, she can't help, the rabbit said they have to follow on their own strength. It breaks her heart but she gets up and checks the next body, and the next. She checks in small alleys, in secluded doorways, any place that would-- that would appeal to Ren, for curling up and resting like all the other sleepers here seem to have done. But she's not gonna be too late for Ren the way she is for the other people down here.

Lup tugs on the tangible bond in her hand, reassuring herself of its presence and she begins to wander this ghost town, thinking of flower crowns and chalk drawings, of a floral cape hugging her shoulders and spices in jars. Hearts that feel like the sun, that will call to Ren and bring her home.

Edited 2018-03-26 20:59 (UTC)

They're small. They're just a kid. They know it; they've thought it; they've heard it, time and time again.

This world, that tells children they can't do things and then puts them through even worse trials. It's just more of the same. They won't let it stop them now.

Their knife is out, and they hear someone calling -- not for them, but what do names mean to them, anyway? As a guard dives for them, Frisk feints to the side, lurching around them with the relative ease of someone who's dodged much faster things. Someone else tackles into the guard's side, which gives Frisk ample opportunity not to rise out of their roll --

-- but to slam the blade of their knife into an eroded crack in the stone, wedging it firmly, and letting their momentum unroll their arm towards Lup as she goes careening. Their fingers latch onto some part of her, and the brutal yank of her weight crackles through their shoulders like electricity, but they dig their knife in harder and grit their teeth, pulling back.

The Water can't have her.

Before her mind has even had time to catch up with the gravity of her misstep, Lup is violently pulled back and goes tumbling the other way, hitting the stony ground hard with her knees and palms. Fuck, shit, that was close, too close, what even-- Her eyes land on the kid with a firm grip on her pant leg and a grim expression. And... a knife wedged into the stone.

"Holy shit! Are you-- that was fucking close. Thanks!" she rushes out, still a bit shook, already glancing around to see if they're in imminent danger of being punted by any other assholes. But the mass of people seems to have shifted away and nobody's looking at them down here. Being short has its advantages. "Are you okay?"

Whatever else, whatever the real amount of days Frisk has lived through, they still have the body of a relatively lanky eleven-year old. Twelve, at most; they're never sure. Stopping the fall of a grown adult carves its toll out, the muscles in their shoulders and back screeching in a blur of white, but they simply nod and let go of her pant leg. They grip the wrist holding their knife and yank again, more gently, at an angle so that the knife unhinges from the stone with an unpleasant grinding noise.

Frisk turns to Lup, giving her an assessing look as they wipe the dust from their knife off on their shorts.

"I'm going to help," they say, and even in the loud clamor their voice refuses to raise. The invitation is unsaid; but they look at her expectantly, as if waiting for her response.

No need for them to raise their voice, pricked elf ears are picking up their words just fine. Not I want to help but I'm going to help. A foregone conclusion. Yeah, that tracks. Nothing's gonna stop them from helping, not the fighting and the noise and the bodies three times their size, not the scary weirdass water.

And least of all Lup, who knows better than most what strength of will is being offered here.

She glances around one last time for Taako before nodding at them, just as grimly. "You up for some rope tricks?" This isn't rock climbing, she's not asking them to take her weight, or at least that's not how the rabbit had explained it. All she's asking them to do is to keep the way open, to not let her get lost in whatever hell she'll find down in the water. No big.

She smiles like she's staring into the mouth of a lion. "I'm gonna need an anchor."

They don't return the smile, exactly, but the hard lines around Frisk's eyes seem to smooth down for a few seconds. Then they're hard-faced again, nodding seriously, and tuck their knife away into its sheath at their side. They don't bother to pull the hem of their shirt back over the hilt -- they'll need it again soon for all they know.

"What do you need me to do?"

Shepard has always been many things. Resourceful, clever, a bit gruff and rough around the edges. It's a product of her upbringing and her natural inability to quit. But right now? Shepard is tired. So, so tired. The bodies litter the city. Nothing she does will save them. She knows this. They're too far gone. But as she travels, as she feels the exhaustion pull at her bones and weigh down her lungs, unbidden memories of the Citadel, of her slow and torturous trek through the razed space station emerge from the depths and she finds herself leaning on buildings as she goes. There was so much gore. So much destruction.

It's quiet here. Just as it was then. At least the bodies here are in one piece, lying on the ground as if to just take a quick nap. Just a little rest. That's all they needed. And as time passes, she feels like she needs it too. Her steps are heavy, every motion forward both aimless and herculean. Why is she bothering to fight? Her crew isn't here. There was no one to grab her when she fell. There is no one here who could get her out. She is, as always, alone.

She pushes onward towards the inner parts of the city, slowly passing buildings as this world presses down on her. She keeps moving even as she slows. She takes one more heavy step down a street- and slips, a rock, unnoticed or unheeded, whichever, making her lose her stride. She collapses to one knee and shudders. God. She could lay down right here, right now and just... rest. There's nothing and no one stopping her.

She doesn't stand back up.

It's just so fucking depressing, is the thing. The bodies like, like fucking mummies, eternally preserved. The washed out buildings, flat and gray like the Hunger is about to descent from the featureless sky and devour everything. And worst of all, the silence, not even a stirring in the air from the breath of the hundreds of sleepers around her. The void of life is deafening, constricting her like the pressure at the bottom of the ocean.

She can't wake any of them. Maybe that's the worst part, actually.

Lup stalks through the city, uncomfortably hushed, longing to see a shock of silver hair or a purple barrette. Or just, anyone she knows, anyone she can still have hope for. Like-- Shepard. Shepard, in the middle of the road, deep asleep like she fell and just didn't get back up. Like that's a thing Shepard would do! This is messed up! This place stinks!

She drops to her knees beside her friend and rolls her over, grips her shoulders and starts shaking her. "Shepard, wake up! All aboard the train to wakesville, chop chop!" She's just gonna keep saying dumb shit, so might as well give up on nap time right now. This fucking city of the dead can't have her. Lup bites her lip, almost furious. "Come on, chica."

A woman's voice. She doesn't recognize it. Accented. Unusual.

There. On the monitor. Something's wrong.

A brief pause. She shifts. Body, sinews, move. They shouldn't be moving. She's not. She's not actually alive, is she-

A man's voice. She doesn't recognize him either.

She's reacting to outside stimuli. Showing an awareness of her surroundings.

She breathes. Blinks. Turns her head.

Oh my god, Miranda. I think she's waking up.

A white woman with black hair and a bald white man looking down at her. There are machines all around with the sterile white and grey of a hospital room. Shepard struggles weakly where she lies. Her breathing quickens. The woman is saying something, something about how she's not ready yet. She doesn't know what that means. Everything hurts, why does everything hurt? The woman opens her mouth again but the voice that comes out doesn't match to what she heard before. No light and airy accent; it's different. Louder now.

...wakesville, chop chop!

She shifts again. There's no pain now. Just exhaustion, pulling at every point of movement on her body. Where is she?

Come on, chica.

She stirs more, eyes finally opening after what feels like a million years. Her eyes dart around, trying to focus. White. Grey. Tall buildings. Chica.

"...James?" she mutters weakly. He was always the one to call her that, when it wasn't Lola. Her eyes rove again and then settle on ears. Long, pointed ears. She reaches up for a second, arm heavy with the weight of the world, to touch. She manages weak fingertips against a warm cheek and blinks again. No. No this isn't James it's...

"Lup. What're you doing here?"

A breathy murmur but a glad one.

It takes like, honestly way too fucking long, but finally Shepard's eyes crack open. She's struggling to focus, murmuring a name from a dream or something, but even that is better than silence, around here. She's getting there, and a relieved smile wipes away the sharp worry and outrage on Lup's face.

The touch is a bit startling, even as vague and heavy as it is and something hitches in her chest, a hand lifting like instinct to meet Shepard's and hold on. Like hell is she gonna let go, now that she's got her. And like, if she wanted to keep her fingertips there, for a moment longer, that would be fine too.

"Saving your ass, duh," she breathes, relief obvious despite the teasing. "You kinda picked a, a real shit place for a nap here, homie. One outta five stars. Let's get you home and put you in like a hammock or something if you're that hard up for sleep, okay?" This choice roasting is only a little ruined by the utter warmth and gladness in Lup's voice. Shepard is the first one she can actually save, is the thing, and it's kinda a huge weight off her heart.

Her hand does lie there against Lup's cheek, her palm moving to cup it as Lup grabs onto her. She's warm, warmer than everything else around her. It's nice to have her here. Though where here is begins to flood into her memory quickly. The gentle smile at the sight of the elf quickly hardens into seriousness.

"I basically slept for two years straight. I shouldn't be tired now."

Her hand drops and she sits up, shaking her head.

"The Water. Did you fall in?"

Shepard can already feel the pull of this place on her again but she remains focused on Lup. "Are you ok?"

Lup leans into the touch on instinct and it lasts just long enough for her to notice how warm it's making her feel before Shepard gets herself together and sits up. She pulls back to give her space, and her soft smile is replaced by one of her more usual boastful grins.

"I'm fucking great, now that you're done snoozing. Also, I went into the water on my own two feet, actually?" She holds up her hand with the red thread wrapped around it, smug like that explains everything.

"Listen, I know the way back out but once we're off I can't look back at you? Some godly shenanigans, the rabbit explained, whatever. It's gonna be fine cos I know you're not gonna like, run off to do something dumb, right?" She laughs like that's a funny joke, ha ha who would go try to rescue anyone else instead of being rescued herself, fucking ridiculous. But also maybe just say you got it, Shepard, before any further rescue steps are taken here.

It's really done a world of good on Shepard to see Lup here. She feels more energetic than before, more vibrant, like she can see more colors. When did everything get so gray?

Regardless, Shepard looks at the red thread with interest.

"I'm guessing that tethers you to the outside, huh?"

She stands up, legs protesting as she does. This world is still so heavy on her bones, but she stands anyway, trying to resist the urge to lie back down again. It's easier with a friend around. It's a good distraction.

"Lup, there are other people here who are trapped. I have to find them."

It's as simple as that. She won't leave if others are still in danger.

"If you know the way out, I can find more people for you and you can get them. I'm fine here."

Are you Shepard? Are you?

Standing up's a great start, defs in favor of all that and Lup joins her quickly. Aand just as quickly wraps her fingers around the other woman's wrist, pretty much on reflex? At the words out of her mouth. Not fucking cool, Shepard. Nobody's running off to find anyone, for fuck's sake she only just found you!

Realizing that her reaction may have been just a bit intense, Lup offers a little sympathetic chuckle, and definitely doesn't let go. "Look, I get it? Believe me, I do. But that's not how this is gonna work. I mean, okay, so I don't really know how this like, does work? But if there's a chance you running off to round up more people means you're lost the next time I see you, then-- nah. Ain't gonna happen, babe." Please tell her she's put her foot down enough on this one.

"You can run defense when we get out? There's a hell of a fight happening upstairs that could use some professional ass kicking."

The grip on her wrist is a surprise but Shepard tempers down the immediate impulse to yank herself away. This is Lup. It's ok. She's a friend.

"Lup, I hear you, but I can't stand idly by while other people are in danger. It's not what I do. If I can help them, I will."

She shakes her head.

"Running defense is what got me in here in the first place. Might as well do something useful here while trapped, right?"

Munin is no stranger to the scent of war. It hangs heavy in the air over the two islands, as thick as the smoke that rises to the sky. There is another scent still, but for all its similarities to skirmishes and conflict, there is something else she cannot define.

It has, after all, been such a very long time since the Jormun have required a revolution.

Her people's place in this one is simple; to assist their land-dwelling brethren in arms to cross the ocean faster (and safer) than they are capable of, though she itches to take a part in the fighting. Connor had been insistent, but there is little glory to be found in playing ferrymen...

Familiar faces, however, seem to be in ready supply. A fanged grin is obscured below the waterline as she approaches the edge of the docks, her elven kin-sister awaiting- not so much her, but that hardly stops Munin from leaping out of the water in one, glorious arc of 10-foot long snake--

Only to come down with a large splash, purposefully aimed in Lup's direction.

"The water does not bite, land-dweller! Come; there is a battle to be won!"

Hey boo how u doin.

Given the fact that Lup was kinda expecting to see her oceanic uber coming, this whole turn of events is quite the shocker for sure. Majestic as fuck, for one thing, sunlight glinting across this absolutely ripped snake's whole body as she leaps into the air in one powerful, heart-stopping moment.

And then an entire wave of sea water hits Lup in the face, cooling her right the fuck back down. If only she was carrying something typically used for protection against water, like a big shield or something... too bad there was literally nothing she could've done about this but stand here dripping and staring like a dumbass.

Oh but she'd know that fanged grin anywhere. Hell fucking yes. "Well that's one way to get me wet, babe!" she hollers because shame is for losers and Lup's just like that. She pushes her hair back, now owning the dampness like some sort of beach model. If she's about to live her dreams of riding her scaly warrior friend like a water slide, she better be making it look fucking great. "So how're we doing this, like, do I just... get on?" She does have the decency to ask before catapulting herself at somebody's muscular shoulders, at least if that somebody is an actual queen and not just like, Magnus.

Honestly, she's just lucky Munin doesn't understand land-dweller anatomy, otherwise she'd be forced to ask Lup to fight her to the death, which- would be a shame, really? A darn shame. As it stands she's still caught in the throes of her own amusement, nodding her approval as Lup owns being a beach babe in the same way a Jormun would.

"Do what you must for you- I will hold steady." Abruptly taking on the weight of one, tiny land-dweller isn't even remotely a problem, though she does ensure that her body is closer to the water's surface. One game is enough for the moment, when battles call them onward.

Don't think Lup missed that nod of approval there, and don't think she won't treasure it until the end of time itself. Fuck yes, the big snake thinks she looks good in a wet shirt. Note to self, Fabricate a bangin' bikini and invite Munin to hang out just for fun some time, without like half the population of Enso being in mortal danger.

Speaking of which - let's roll. That's all the permission Lup needs to run up to the water's edge and vault over the waves between them without hesitation. It's not like she was gonna do something lame like climb on or something. Nah, she's gonna grab at Munin's thick neck, nearly lose her entire footing because her arm is just recently out of the sling and still noticeably weak, before finally finding purchase between these punk as hell spikes and scales. Way cooler, clearly.

"Alright, I'm good!" she whoops, appreciatively patting Munin's shoulder. What an absolute unit. "I know the main event is happening over on that islet, but there's something I've been burning to do for a while now. You don't like, happen to know where the fucking Fun Police keeps their boats, do you?"

But Lup a lack of mortal peril is boring? The hell is she supposed to do with that, relax? Munin jostles in the waves as Lup's form collides with her back- too small to have too much impact, but enough to require some give. She waits patiently for Lup to settle, head turning to the side to listen keenly.

"Oho." A low rumble of delight, lips curving up until a full row of sharp teeth can be seen. "I do. We shall deviate our course and intrude there first; hold fast, land dweller."

Ever been on a jet ski, Lup?

Because Munin's way faster than one of those bumpkis pieces of junk. It's a good idea to sit up, otherwise, the amount of spray the Jormun leader is kicking up will make seeing a darn thing pretty much impossible.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

March Event: De L'autre Côté de L'eau

Lup | closed

ROLLS IN DAYS LATE WITH STARBUX

MMM DELISH

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0w0

what's this? it's gay

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hello, is it me you're waiting for?

hello from the otter slide

hop on beach we're gonna start a war

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