July Intro: Upsy-Daisy!

[lifeaftr_mods]

INTRO LOG: JULY

Who: New arrivals, your lif᷆t̕i͗n᷅ģ f̧̞ͅr̡̦̃ḭ̅ͭe̩᷅̂n̟̣̤d̨̬̏, and you!
What: New souls arrive to the archipelago of LifeAftr, and everyone makes a new friend!
When: July 5th and onward
Where: All over Ensō
Warnings: Mark as needed!

Like a Bat Out of Hell
At this stage, the appearance of new arrivals to Ensō's shores is hardly a surprise to anyone but the arrivals themselves. Whatever mysterious force is responsible seems to have taken a vaguely nostalgic route this month, depositing the new and unconscious across the shoreline of the beach closest to the tumbled stone bastion of the Storyteller's temple. At first, that seems to be all there is to it. The arrivals stir to the smell of salt and the summer sea air, and the cycle of questions, searching, and settling begins.

For about five minutes. Perhaps ten.

Almost like an afterthought, something else shows up, plummeting straight out of the sky and landing with a veritable explosion of water some hundred feet from the shore. A large, rectangular shape breaches the surface after a few moments, bobbing, cork-like, in the foam-crested waves before ever so slowly beginning to sink into those aquamarine depths. For those familiar with such objects, it makes for a rather odd sight. That most certainly was an elevator, or you can be...fairly sure it was?

Give it another minute, and you'll be certain. The elevator streaks out from the ocean like a creature possessed. Maybe, in those split seconds prior to its approach, you'll be able to note the elevator's distinct features: a disturbingly smiling face on its doors, and a set of teeth framing a very organic mouth.

Meet Upsy, your lifting friend. In case it wasn't obvious by now, Upsy is far from a conventional elevator by any standards. What's more, Upsy has not taken to LifeAftr as well as some others. Armed with the ability to move in any direction, the rogue contraption takes no prisoners - by which we mean, they take as many prisoners as possible. Upsy proceeds to swoop across the shoreline, combing the beach in the most haphazard and patternless path possible, scooping up anyone slow enough to be caught in their maw. Once you're caught up in their jaws, it comes down to the winds of fortune, in regards to wherever Upsy proceeds to spit out their cargo. While the journey itself will be rough and...sticky, it is not inherently dangerous.

Hopefully, the same can be said for wherever you end up Ensō hosts a great deal of predators, environmental hazards, and worse. Though you could always end up belched into the ocean. Hope you can swim!

When the Metal is Hot and the Engine is Hungry
Upsy’s reign of terror isn't restricted to mere adventurers. Those with livestock or animal companions may be in for a small shock or, perhaps more likely, a very large one, when flying elevator sucks up those cuddly critters with a grin and spirits them off into the great unknown.

Though your phoenix, chocobo, or tigerlily may not be where you saw them last, you can at least be assured that they are still on Ensō. All you need to do is round them up. And if this isn't good enough news, well...at least you don't keep bludrocs.

Whether you're out searching for an animal or not, be careful traversing Ensō for the next three days. If Upsy is empty, they'll most certainly snap you up. And if they aren't? You may find anything from birds to horses spat out at you.

The velocity of these organic projectiles tends to vary. Dramatically. Upsy's reign of terror will end on the evening of July 9th. At that point, the elevator will fly off to greener pastures...and our RNG spreadsheet for potential encounters in future. Sweet dreams.

---

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

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 )

Comments

B8

[prettypurpleparlor]

[While not normally a reassuring sight, compared to what Hector's just been through, a spider lady is probably pretty soothing by comparison. Especially since this one is likely familiar to him. Muffet gives him a sympathetic look, taking note of his disheveled state and putting two and two together relatively swiftly.]

That unpleasant creature scooped you up too, I take it? My condolences on the difficult arrival.

[Muffet appears to be untouched by any wild elevator attacks, but she's carrying a pair of fuzzy bundles tucked into the crook of one of her arms. On closer examination, they appear to be a pair of fluffy, brightly-colored chickens, one pastel pink, the other pale blue, both looking a bit unsettled by their recent elevator adventure.]

[The bludrocs in the old monkey compound aren't technically any one person's, but she had been one of the ones taking care of them and had felt a responsibility to retrieve them once they'd been snatched up. Besides, their eggs were useful.]

[vagabone]

[That she is. He barely blinks at her as he rises to his feet, wearily shouldering the backpack. Héctor's already hit his threshold of weirdness, for obvious reasons, and he's just vaguely grateful to see her. And the colorful chickens. Chickens probably mean civilization, or something.]

You're really... real. Seño Muffin, right?

[prettypurpleparlor]

Muffet.

[She makes the correction without any real annoyance- it's reasonably close, all things considered, and he's clearly been having a long day.]

And you were... Hector, yes? That odd place is hard to pin down, it's rather like a dream, but we do often seem to meet real people there. This island is substantially more solid, if frequently just as bizarre.

[vagabone]

Sí, Héctor. [A beat, as he wipes goop onto the seat of his pants and then decides not to go for a handshake anyway. He's gross and she is not.] I guess we're still trapped? With that mouthy thing flying around?

[He didn't get the best look at it, but it was indeed mouthy. And wet.]

Otherwise you'd... go home.

[prettypurpleparlor]

Regrettably, yes. ...although I admit the flying elevator creature is new.

[She digs around in one of her pockets and pulls out a small piece of cloth, a leftover from one of her weaving projects, offering it to Hector.]

Here, would you like to wipe a bit of... that, off of yourself?

[vagabone]

Perfect!

[Damn right he would. Dirt and sand is one thing, a fresh coat of spit another. He digs out his very own bar of soap from the backpack, waggling it at her--soap, rag, pool of water over there, it doesn't really need spelled out. Good time for a real bath. He can't remember the last time he bothered having one.]

So... do you think you could tell me why we're here?

[Or why him, why her, why a giant flying mouth, why anything. Just why.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

[She hands him the cloth, taking care not to get any of the mess on her gloves when she does so.]

Would that we knew. We've been trying to unravel this particular mystery for a rather frustrating ten months, by now, and appear to have come up with more questions than we have answers.

[vagabone]

[Panic wins out over exhaustion and he begins to pace back and forth, scrunching up that cloth and gesturing with his soap.

Not ten hours or ten days or ten weeks. Months.]

Almost a year? I don't have that kind of time to waste on an island! This isn't even the land of the dead! Who knows if I can be here?

[And his family are all going to think he abandoned them. Again. A demonic elevator is nothing compared to the very idea.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Muffet winces sympathetically.]

That part of the situation is both more and less complicated than that, I'm afraid. According to what we've learned so far, time doesn't quite work the same way between worlds. If we leave here, we return to the exact moment in which we were taken- no time would have passed at home.

People can also be taken from different points in time- someone from the past or the future can show up as easily as someone from the present, from your perspective.

[vagabone]

How do you know if no one's been able to get away?

[That may have come out harsher than he meant it to. Not really fair of him, she didn't kidnap him... and why would anyone want to kidnap this old pile of bones? What possible use to anyone could he be?

He runs a hand over his face and... starts over.]

Okay, fine, let's say I believe you. Now what?

[prettypurpleparlor]

There's a difference between none of us being able to leave under our own power and no one having left, unfortunately. Whatever keeps us here occasionally ceases to do so, and people vanish. The Storyteller can apparently tell that they've returned to their proper place in space and time, but no more than that.

[She doesn't begrudge him the frustration. It's a difficult thing to deal with.]

Well, to start with... I'd recommend that we get somewhere where that unpleasant metal creature isn't likely to keep bothering us.

[vagabone]

['Vanish' is such an ominous word. Yeah, Héctor's seen far too many friends vanish. Maybe this Storyteller fellow is the one he really should be questioning, once he's cleaned up and rested some. Odds are it'll be another long walk to go and see them.

He's quit his pacing back and forth and slapped his friendly face back on, nodding at her.]

Is there somewhere close by that it can't get into?

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Honestly, she'd recommend it- their resident deity can explain the metaphysical aspects of all this better than she can. Her expertise tends more towards the practical.]

'Close' is... something of a relative term. I've built a home here in this world, and the creature doesn't seem to enter closed buildings. The actual location is fairly far away from where we are now, but nearby there's something called a mana pool. They allow us to travel very quickly.

[They're one of the first things he ought to learn about here, anyway, so that he can get around the place. Teaching him and getting to shelter means she can kill two birds with one stone.]

[vagabone]

[Pool, water, travel very quickly... is he going to have to jump into a magical whirlpool and get himself sucked away somewhere else.

Oh, well, that's fine. He won't drown! And he'll come out clean!]

You are definitely the best spider I've ever met. Come on, let's get going before it comes back.

[prettypurpleparlor]

That's very kind of you to say.

[Muffet looks amused, but agrees wholeheartedly with leaving before the elevator can catch up with them. She motions for him to follow her, and sets off towards the nearest mana pool. It isn't terribly far, and they should be seeing the green glow of it before too long.]

[vagabone]

[No Mouthyvator swoops down from the sky at them on the way. Looks like they'll actually make it.

And when they do, he simply stares into the pool for a few moments. Kind of plain. And it isn't a whirlpool. He won't have to smash against the walls of the pool, hurting his poor brittle bones. (Which he absolutely would do, of course.)]

You first.

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Muffet smiles wryly, but doesn't comment on his apparent suspicion. Wanting to make sure it isn't a trap is fairly reasonable, all things considered. She plucks one of the white flowers growing around the edge of the pool and turns to him.]

The mana pools all connect to each other- one mana pool can take you to any of the other active ones in an instant. You picture your intended destination clearly in your mind- in your case, think of following me since you've never seen it before- and then...

[She drops the flower into the mana pool and it flares up with a brilliant white light. She gives Hector a reassuring smile, steps into the pool, and vanishes.]

[vagabone]

[It wasn't so much suspicion as being totally clueless as to how anything works. And that's frustrating as hell. Flowers being part of it makes sense to him though, for a change.

Blossom goes in. Héctor goes in. Héctor comes back out on the other side, clutching his backpack close and immediately looking around for her.]

Anywhere on the island, but not home, eh?

[He was listening to her. He was! And yet... for a moment, there was a glimmer of hope.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Muffet is standing just to the side of the pool, having stepped back a bit so Hector would bump into her if he came out somewhat disoriented. They're both on islet three, now, where she's chosen to make her home here.]

[She gives him a sympathetic look.]

Not unless your home has a mana pool in it, I'm afraid.

[vagabone]

[He wobbles a bit, but keeps his footing. Yay, an even smaller island. Burying the unhappy thoughts with all his other troubles, he shakes his head.]

Nope, just swimming pools.

[prettypurpleparlor]

Sadly, not connected magically. My house is this way, if you'd care to take shelter there- or you might try setting up in one of the empty ones someone hasn't claimed yet, if you'd prefer.

[She gestures, indicating the proper direction. It's probably not hard to tell which house it hers- there's a normal roof over half of it and a glowing purple spiderweb over the other half. Around it is a lovely garden of various edible plants, several scattered palm trees, and what looks like a fired-ceramic-and-stone oven.]

[Of the other houses, most of them are in various states of disrepair, and few seem to be occupied.]

[vagabone]

[That's actually funny, worth a genuine grin. Give a spider a normal house and she spins a web on it. Maybe he should paint skulls all over his to keep with the theme.

(Sadly, the state of the unoccupied 'houses' is pretty much what he's used to. Barely worth noticing. They just need a few personal touches and maybe some lights strung up to make it more cheerful.)]

Which ones are empty?

[prettypurpleparlor]

That one and... those two, I believe.

[She indicates the houses in question, including the one right next door to her own.]

[vagabone]

Ay, look at that, we could be neighbors!

[Héctor, no.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

Why not. I certainly could use the company.

[Look, she knows he's not the kind of skeleton she's familiar with from back home, but she still kind of misses having more monsters around, so it's nice to see someone who looks at least a little like one of them.]

I suspect you'd rather rest first, after what this day's been like, but if you'd care for some help fixing things up there later I'd be happy to pitch in.