lifeaftr | August Intro: All Will Fade and Petrify

August Intro: All Will Fade and Petrify

INTRO LOG: AUGUST

Who: New arrivals, and you!
What: New souls arrive to the archipelago of LifeAftr
When: August 4th and onward
Where: Primarily Umui, though Ensō is also likely
Warnings: Mark as needed!

New Arrivals: Bury Me Alive
When you wake, it's initially to darkness: musty, stuffy, and dense. Your eyes may take some time to adjust, but when they do, something will rapidly become apparent - namely, the fact that you're underground.

Exploring your surroundings will reveal a few more unnerving discoveries. Take, for example, the fact that you're currently trapped in what appears to be a number of buried houses, walls and ceilings compressed against one another thanks to time and pressure. The walls may have held up the weight of the soil above your head for a time, but it'd likely be best not to hold out hope that they'll continue to last. Your supply of air down here is rather limited, after all.

Unfortunately for you, it's not merely earth that separates you from the surface. It's also flowers in rich abundance - an untold, innumerable weight of dead and decaying plant matter, twined around the ancient bones strewn underground along with your sweet self, pressing down from above, peeking through the cracks in the metallic folds of whatever material once comprised these buildings' ceilings, walls, and floors.

Whether it's a mass tomb or something more sinister, you'd better figure a way out, and quickly. If you didn't show up with a shovel or some means of teleporting yourself out, you may very well need to resign yourself to digging your way out or making a lot of noise to attract someone who can, before this becomes a more dedicated grave.

Everyone Else: All Will Change and Calcify
As for the rest of you, well...if you're anywhere near the regions of G5, you might hear the sounds of a not-insignificant number of people finding themselves displaced underground, and requiring your imminent assistance in getting out. Perhaps you'll recognize the place. It is, after all, very well marked. They'll probably be properly grateful if you mind offering the help, and hey - it's a welcome break from the eerie, ever-present silence that clouds almost the entirety of Umui. As long as you don't mind digging around that old cenotaph half-buried in the flowers and scraping through sheets of metal, a lot of flowers, and...oh, yes. The first bones you'd be finding since arriving here.

If you've been hanging around the laboratory near the island mana pool, on the other hand, you'll definitely be getting a break from the silence - namely in the form of ARUM-25, whom a number of you have been devoted to repairing since their discovery, learning that a great deal of their systems have come back online, right around the time that the newest arrivals are properly unearthed.

Including their diagnostic systems.

The warning, repeated shrills will undoubtedly be heard by anyone who passes:

ALERT: STAGE ONE DETECTED
ALERT: STAGE ONE DETECTED
ALERT: STAGE ONE DETECTED
ALERT: STAGE ONE DETECTED
ALERT: STAGE ONE DETECTED

And that's probably fine. Right?

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

[ Wait- he knows that voice. ]

Keith? Keith, it's me, Hunk! I'm down here!

[ If he's got to be trapped underground, at least he knows someone else knows he's there. ]

I've got my bayard, stand back! I can shoot my way out, I think!

If it goes on the fritz let me know! I'll keep digging! [He shouts and rolls to the side to roll out of the way. Keith watches his bayard revert with a sigh. He'd have to trade favors again to get it working all the time.]

I'm clear! Fire!

Gotcha!

[ Hunk sidles a little to the left, eyeing the spot where he'd blasted a hole, then crouches slightly, aiming upwards towards he'd heard Keith's voice.

In short order, Hunk shot again, then, edging forwards, again, angling his tunnel upwards in a somewhat climbable slope.

He makes it to shot eight before he pulls the trigger- and nothing happens. ]

What- Keith! How'd you know my bayard was going to break?

Bayards do that here! [He had seen dirt and bone shift. Hunk had made a good dent. Keith returns to the spot.]

Hold on! [The black bayard flares. He slams the blade down, pulls it back, and uses his Marmora blade. He goes back and forth a few times kicking out at the sides of the hole he's making. He cleans it out and calls out.]

When I yell clear, desummon your bayard, summon your gun again and try again!

[He leaps up out of the hole. Once he's safely to the edge he bellows.] CLEAR!

[ Hunk drops his bayard, then shakes his hand, pulling at the mental trigger to make it change forms.

It changes perfectly, and when he aims, the gun lights up- and it's like it hits some wall, like he's out of ammo. Still, a thin line shoots out- his welding torch.

Hunk frowns, releasing the trigger and dropping the gun to point at the ground, shouting up ]

It won't shoot! I can't get past the welder!

[ Which- probably will still make progress, just a lot slower ]

[Okay. He has to think. The welder will be slower. But progress is progress. Except...could that burn up Hunk's air?

They can't risk that. He leaps back into the hole and resumes digging with both blades.]

Don't risk it! You have limited air. I'm working as fast as I can.

[He keeps an ear out for help as he works. His muscles burn with the effort, but these islands taught him you had to hold onto your friends.

And this shit job of digging through bone, flowers, and metal? It's the job Shiro can't do and Hunk needs him to do.] You're going to have to dig with your hands on your end. We can do this.

[ Hunk grumbles, starting to climb up the hole ]

Climb the hole, Hunk, dig yoru way out, Hunk, wake up in some dark scary tomb surrounded by skeletons, Hunk. Why can't we ever end up somewhere nice, Keith?

[ Still, Hunk braces himself in the hole and starts to dig, using his bayard as a shovel ]

[He actually laughs at that. It's the first laugh he's had in days. Same Hunk he's always known and missed since he left to be a Blade.

Keith takes time to check the sloping hole he's dug. They could carefully climb their way out. Good.]

Part of the 'magic' of space exploration, Hunk. Let me know if you start hearing digging from up above. [So he won't accidentally stab him. No stab friends.]

Is it, Keith? Or are we just really unlucky?

[ There's a moment as he digs, then, suddenly ]

And why aren't you down here, anyway? How come I'm the one surrounded by skeletons?

Because you just arrived!

[He cuts and digs with speed now that he's found a working rhythm. He's going to sore as hell tomorrow but. That's for him to worry about in the future.]

I don't think you want to trade being down there in the dark with running from sand hydras.

[Actually that hadn't been too bad. They really hadn't expected him to throw his knife at their eye. Or half of the other things he did.]

Dunno about our luck. I'll get back to you on that.

Wait.

[ Hunk breaks off of digging, squinting at the dirt above his head ]

What do you mean I just arrived? I just saw you- [ Hunk breaks off, not sure how to measure the time it had been since he'd last seen Keith. They'd been on the bridge, but, he'd just woken up, right?

....weird. ]

How long have you been here?

[ Hunk resumes digging, wanting to be out in the light ]

[Keith goes quiet as he thinks about it. How long had he been here? He hadn't actually counted. Life had been a blur of one fight to the next. One secret dug up and more questions....but he can definitely say.]

Months. The time between here and our reality is different! I think I'm almost to you. I'll explain in person.

[He had carved through bone down to metal. Past that is dirt. He really should have just brought a shovel.]

Remember any dreams?

Uh, yeah? Kinda- there was this rabbit, and then the rabbit was talking, and I was making burritos? Man, I could go for burritos.

[ While he's talking Hunk keeps digging, each stab of his bayard in time with the cadence of his words. ]

So, wait, if you've been here for months, am I the last to show up?

Fourth. ...there’s three of us here. I can’t find Shiro. [He pauses, shutting his eyes. Then he redoubles his efforts. He has to focus. Hunk’s survival depends on him.]

Gonna have to wait a bit for burritos. Unless you make them yourself.

[For Hunk a black white-edged blade tip scratches against his Bayard. Keith freezes.]

....Hunk. You see anything?

Edited 2018-08-05 03:36 (UTC)

[ Keith's response is a yelp as Hunk throws himself back down the hole and away from the sword ]

You didn't tell me you were digging with your sword!

[He watches the bayard revert and punches the hole, widening it. He shoves at the edges and drops down into the space beyond it with Hunk.

His Blade armor faintly lights up their surroundings. He taps the front of his mask.]

Sorry, didn't have anything better on me at the time. You good to go?

We should move fast. More diggers are on the way to help. They need to know it's new people down here.

[ Hunk frowns at the armor- but, honestly, that's less concerning than the mass grave ]

Not like I want to spend more time down here!

[ Since Keith has his mask- somehow, and the fact that Hunk is missing his helmet is so unfair- Hunk feels no shame in shuffling past him, and bolting up the hole again, scrambling up into fresh air and sunlight, and away from the endless skeletons ]

[He clips the black bayard to his belt and follows after Hunk up the sloping path he dug. Once they're out in the open air he snatches his pack up from the edge. Keith yanks his hood back as the mask disengages.

Compared to how Hunk saw him last, he looks a little older and more slightly more toned. He shoulders his pack and pauses.] Hunk. Did you find any sort of pack near you with your name on it? There should be one.

That rabbit you dreamed about is real. Seems like they leave these packs, [He jerks on the strap of his.] To help us.

[ Hunk looks at the bag, then at his hands

and then back at the hole, letting out a short whine as he starts trudging back towards the dark and dank and bones. ]

I'll be back.

[Keith reaches out to catch his arm as his mask snaps back into place. He leaves his hood back as he lets go and heads back for the hole.]

No, stay out here. I'll get it. [What Arum had said still rings in his ears. Better he the more than likely infected one go down there.]

Back in a minute. [Without giving Hunk a chance he dives in, moving with precision. He emerges a few minutes later with the pack. He holds it out to him as he climbs back up.]

Lance is here too.

[ Hunk takes the bag, slinging it over his shoulder ]

Lance is here, too? That just means we're missing Pidge and Allura!

[ That cheers him up, and he grins at Keith, patting the bag to make sure it's secure before looking around ]

So what's with the armor? That part of being here, too?

[The mask flickers and vanishes as he stares at him. Oh no. He holds up a hand. They're not going anywhere until this gets sorted out. He won't make the mistake he made with Shiro and Lance.]

Do you don't recognize my armor? [Ulaz had worn it. Is he from that far back? His eyebrows raise up and he draws his knife, showing the glowing mark on the hilt.] Remember Ulaz and the Blades of Marmora?

Wait, Ulaz? That Galra guy?

[ Hunk stares at Keith in confusion, then nods slowly, he'd only seen the guy for as long as he'd been on their ship, and Hunk had been more concerned with the 'galra' part than the 'armor' part, but he could see how it looked similar ]

I mean, yeah, I guess it looks the same- why're you wearing his armor, though? He here too?

[If he were anyone else he'd have stared into the middle distance. Here he goes. At least this time it will be...slightly less awkward.]

This place connects to all timelines and realities. My mother is a Galra, one of their order. This is her blade.

[He puts his knife away and starts walking away from the memorial. He really hopes Hunk didn't catch the sickness. He'll explain it soon but, he covers his mouth and coughs.]

From my point in time, I've been with the Blades figuring out things only they can teach me.

...huh.

[ Hunk squints at what he could see of the knife ]

So, what, you're half alien? How does that work, like- was your dad human?

Wait- if you're a Galra, why aren't you purple?

August Intro: All Will Fade and Petrify

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who fucked up the timeline? i fucked up the timeline. OH WELL, LET'S ROLL

I mean he just got out of a dead people hole so, I'd forget shit too

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