lifeaftr | July Intro: Upsy-Daisy!

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 )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[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.]

[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.

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.]

[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.

Edited (picky SORRYYYYYYY) 2018-07-12 01:37 (UTC)

[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.]

[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.]

[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.

[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.

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.]

[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?

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

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

Ay, look at that, we could be neighbors!

[Héctor, no.]

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.

You do?

[Weird as she looks, she acts completely normal. And very helpful. He can get used to seeing five eyes and six arms, sure.]

Eh, we'll see. It could use a few things.

[She's a polite woman, she knows how to be a good neighbor.]

Most of what I can offer is rope, and a bit of wood. ...all of that aside, we might want to get under some cover before that creature comes back here again.

Don't worry about it. Thanks for all your help, Arañita Muffin.

[He knows damn well what he said and he doesn't have much of a poker face! She's never getting away from that nickname now. Anyway, off he goes to his very own home-away-from-home and glorious sleep.]

July Intro: Upsy-Daisy!

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We can probably call this wrapped unless you want to do more with it.

okay but I would love more FRIENDSHIP sometime!