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.

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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!

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[catpiper]

I'll poke you with this stick and you'll come down too.

[They're more important than a treasure pack, but she understands the Need to know whether your items are safe and sound. If they don't manage to get out by the time she maneuvers across the branches and stabs this pack free, she's going to head for them next. Get ready to be poked free.

After some careful, cautious prodding, the bag wiggles loose and while she tries to catch with the stick's end, it sorta just plops to the ground. Oh well, problem one down.]

[hyperlit]

[The Drifter would prefer to avoid being poked with sticks, if at all possible, but they don't see fit to comment on this at the moment. For now, their belongings appear to be quite safe, and that is the important part. After several moments of impatient struggling, they elect to forgo niceties entirely.]

[Their hard light blade spritzes to life, and a cyan whirlwind begins to shed twigs and branches at a startling rate. With a loud splintering crack, the Drifter drops from the tangle of branches like a ripe fruit, and fwumps to the ground with a snowing of leaves and dirt.]

[They do not land gracefully, but they land, and that is the important thing.]

[catpiper]

[It's alarming to see them spring into action, taking matters into their own non-stick holding hands and free themself with force. Look, she could've poked them out. That seems safer than what just happened!! She wouldn't have aimed for the eyes, promise. A couple stomach jabs and they would've been free in no time.

They're capable and strong-she doesn't think a short drop from a tree could injure them, but she nervously eyes them from the branch she's on.]

Did that hurt you?

[hyperlit]

[They straighten as though it were nothing, brushing dirt and bracken from their cloak. True, they are bruised, scraped, damaged in small and pointless ways, but it is nothing they cannot merely walk off. It is nothing they have not already endured.]

[With very little hesitation, they make their signature finger-smile over their mantle, forefinger and thumb extended.]

will live

[See? Nothing to worry about c: ]

[catpiper]

[If they're well enough to smile, then she doesn't need to worry. With them safe and sound on the ground, Possessed Elevator becomes concern number one again. She glances around from her elevated position-no sign of it. Good.

It takes a second for her to work herself out of the tree, trying to make her drop as gentle as possible. No broken bones today, no sir.]

We should hide somewhere else.

[hyperlit]

[For once, they can agree with that course of action. When one cannot damage an opponent, one waits for a perfect window to act - a window in which they can. For now, their priority is now Ren.]

where were you hiding
before finding me

[catpiper]

In the bushes and by the trees and behind big rocks.

[Getting home is proving to be a challenge and she doesn't appreciate Hard Mode being added to her daily life. She didn't sign up for this!! The only good thing about her slow pace is that she didn't miss a struggling bean in the trees.]

Everywhere. That's where I've been hiding.

[hyperlit]

["Everywhere" is not terribly specific.]

where is safest

[Eventually they'll stop asking questions and just start towing her along somewhere if they can, just to get them both out of the open.]

[catpiper]

The bush. You have to sit very still and shut your eyes and it'll go away.

[Or, more than likely, Upsy has bigger fish to fry. It's not like she can outrun or attack it. Sometimes it gets the best of her, but Be The Leaf has been her longest running and most successful plan so far.]

I'll throw leaves on you. It'll think you're a plant too.

[hyperlit]

[They were thinking more along the lines of the Storyteller's temple but, you know what? That works. If she's stayed out of danger for this long, it's likely that there's something to it.]

[All the same, the Drifter tilts their head to one side, inquisitive.]

not temple?

[catpiper]

I tried to go there.

[The keyword-try. One day she'll go the distance and find her way, but Upsy's presence means she has to change directions more often than not.]

I want to go home, but it's hard, so I've just been hiding.

[hyperlit]

home?

[They're not sure how best to define that, just yet. People tend to refer to "home" as the worlds from which they originated, but in the present context, it doesn't make much sense that she would voice that desire.]

[It's not become clear to them, yet, what "home" means for her.]

[catpiper]

The tent with Taako and Lup and Seto and ESP and-

[How many people can she name in one breath? That's the real q. The small bungalow in the woods has grown into more of a commune. Magnus, Kravitz and Barry are there too and the amount of pets they is on par with a tiny petting zoo.

It's warm. It's safe. And she wants to go back.]

That's home.

[hyperlit]

[Ah.]

[In retrospect, they suppose it ought to have been obvious. She lives with the elves, and has since she arrived here with the rest of them. It would be home.]

[The Drifter crouches, and holds out a hand. They know how much she likes to have something to hold, and when it's her - when it's her, needing an anchor, they suppose they do not terribly mind it themself.]

i will take you there

[catpiper]

[Drifter always comes through. She had been lamenting her inability to get home for awhile and hadn't thought about asking for help in this dangerous, trying time. But they easily extend their hand and she takes it just as quickly, gripping it tight. They had their chance to escape from her and now they're perma-trapped in her grasp. A fate worse than death.

She would ask if they're scared, but if the previous island trials didn't shake them, it's unlikely a talking elevator would be the thing to terrify them.]

Okay, we'll go together and you can take a nap there. It's safe.

[Non-negotiable!! Even if the safety of an Enso based camp might be called into question. It's fine. They have traps.]

[hyperlit]

[A nap? Ridiculous. Straight after they take her home they're probably going to head out again and try and see if they can locate the elevator on their own time, because rest isn't their priority at any time. They'll rest, after all, when they're dead.]

[They straighten, and start to thread their way through the trees in the vague direction of where they recall the camp being located.]

stay close
i will guard against whatever there may be

[They have it before, to others.]

[They meant it then, and mean it now.]

[catpiper]

[It Is Law. Naps Are Law.

The dangerous parts of Enso are places she avoids at all costs, so being thrown into the wilderness with only the slightest idea of what path to take is horrible. All her nervous energy is dampened when she squeezes Drifter's hand though-yeah, no problem. She's staying close. Don't worry about that.]

Okay, I won't leave-I'll look out for scary things too.

[Mostly [1] scary thing, even if there are far more dangerous creatures about. Her eye's on that Upsy Boi.]

We'll stay together and we'll be okay.

[hyperlit]

[There are no cats about to inform them the safest course of action, alas. The Drifter will have to make their way without the assistance. That will be fine, even if they do miss the black streak of the jackal receding into the distance, time and time again.]

[They'll not let go of her hand unless they must.]

your cat
he is ok?

[catpiper]

That elevator took him away once, but I found him. I said 'you have to stay here and play with Hot Boi and Lobstar' so he's okay.

[This is a nice distraction, even if the conversation still involves demonvator. It's also about her cat and she's always happy to talk about the goodest boy.]

Do you want to pet him?

[hyperlit]

[Now that's a name they haven't heard.]

lobstar?

[They at least have been around long enough to know who "Hot Boi" is, even if they likely get the spelling wrong every time, because of who they are as a person. But the elves seem to be accruing both children and pets at previously unheard-of rates, and they're not entirely certain whether "Lobstar" counts as the former or the latter.]

[catpiper]

Lobstar is a lobster. It lives in a bowl and has-

[Her free hand goes up to make a pinching gesture. Clomp, clomp.]

That thing. It's like a turtle, but it doesn't have a colorful shell.

[Lobsters=turtles. They are the Same Thing.]

[hyperlit]

[A blink, brief and curious: the sole indication of their uncertainty. It is not the lobster that confuses them - that evidently confuses Ren, who must not have seen very many lobsters in her time if this is enough to leave her drawing parallels between two sea creatures that ultimately have very little in common.]

[It's more the...how.]

when did you get a lobster

[catpiper]

It was on the island with those mean people. It felt Taako and Lup's kind heart and found them, so they brought Lobstar home.

[No need to reflect on that terrible place. It's over and done with. Everyone's alive and nothing that bad will happen ever again. Even the lobster has a chance to forge its own path in life now, though the original intent was to have it for dinner. Too bad she made eye contact with it before that could happen.]

They rescued it.

[hyperlit]

["Mean people" is not very specific. Thankfully, there are not many islands that house creatures that can be readily definable as people, and there are only two options.]

[And the Jormun do not particularly fall in the category of "mean people," which narrows it down to exactly one, and...perhaps, in that case, it does count as a bit of a rescue.]

not for eating?

[catpiper]

You can't eat Lobstar. It escaped and it wants to live so we have to be nice to it. Steven would be very sad too.

[No one touches the lobster!! Unless it's for lobster pets, which she doesn't have the courage to try. Those pincers look painful.]