lifeaftr | September Intro: The Fields Are Painted Gold

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September Intro: The Fields Are Painted Gold

INTRO LOG: SEPTEMBER

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

The Beach: And the Sun is Coming Through
When you arrive on the archipelago of LifeAftr, it is on the shores of Ensō - turquoise waves dragging through the pale sand of the beach. The breeze carries the tang of salt on the tropical sea spray. The sky overhead is a blue to rival the aquamarine surf. All told, the atmosphere is almost...pleasant. Not far from the cream-colored beach, the jungle beckons.

Above the treetops, however, something seems to be drifting overhead.

Bright spots of color drift on the wind like motes of dust. On further inspection, one might be able to discern what, exactly, is the cause of this lazily wafting, brilliantly colored confetti.

They are flower petals, being funneled up into the sky. Petals of every color and shape imaginable, thickening the air with golden currents of pollen, being lifted from one specific point. They are streaming freely from the Storyteller's Temple, as it happens, though this may not be clear to the newly arrived. The Temple has at last begun to shed the floral trappings that have ensnared it since the end of last month, and the breeze carries this out across the ocean skyline.

There's no mistaking it: it is very beautiful. Unless you have allergies.

Inland: The Trees Are Filled With Memories
This influx of flowers on the breeze, aside from being a potential source of unpleasant reminders to those who died choking on said flowers last month, have had additional consequences. The creatures rescued from Ziziphus flourish in such pollen-rich environments, which has led to a fresh budding of their young. Baby mosslings crawl like lumps of lichen over the trunks of trees, and the loud peeping of arboreali chicks can be heard in the branches above. Most of these creatures are not tameable, but some, such as flowccus, can be kept as livestock.

Just take care, when venturing into Ensō's verdant jungle. If Ziziphus's prey animals have begun to spring forth, then its predators have begun to reproduce as well. Young spindlanks and rootwyrms are not nearly as vicious as their adult counterparts, but you may have a bit of trouble getting rid of them without killing them - you did, after all, bring them here to preserve them.

Most notable, however, are the fresh litters of tigerlilies that have begun swarming all over Ensō.

Tigerlilies can be tamed and kept as pets, though despite their fearsome appearance, they not terribly vicious. They subsist in much the same way any other plant would; off of water and sunlight, primarily, though they might also graze like an herbivore from time to time.

If you're interested in keeping one for your own, bear LifeAftr's companion limit in mind - two per character, and no more. The process of trying to tame a tigerlily is not always successful, either. We recommend use of a d10, with the following guidelines:

Rolling a 10: Critical success! This tigerlily will follow you to the ends of the earth.
Rolling 6-9: Taming and training this tigerlily will be like educating a stubborn housecat, but will be nonetheless successful.
Rolling 2-5: Failure. You get sprayed with soporific pollen, which will affect you for several hours.
Rolling a 1: Critical failure. Not only do you get sprayed with soporific pollen, but the tigerlily in question decides that you're their new cat toy. Tigerlilies are not carnivorous, but their teeth and fangs are still very sharp, and not highly pleasant to contend with.

Bear in mind that these are only guidelines; you are free to predetermine successes or failures as you'd like, presuming your character can sustain the companion! Our discord channel has a room for dice-rolls, if that's your speed.

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 )

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[ A confession? She furrows her brow, not understanding, but...that seems a little too personal to ask about. Maybe something she doesn't really want to hear, not from him, not sitting here like this. Instead she just listens, properly sober and understanding right up until the end when try as she might, she has to bite her lip in a vain attempt to hide her smile. ]

You're named after a flower?

Damn right I am.

[Smiles are fine, smiles are cute. He's too proud to let anyone laugh at his name though. Even in Eos people had learned very quickly not to question the Amicitias on their naming conventions.]

Gladiolus, also known as Sword Lilies. They represent strength, integrity, and generosity. Sincerity and infatuation from a romantic perspective. In a bouquet they mean "you pierce my heart".

[Yeah, yeah the big bad Shield knows floriography.]

[ She's not laughing. It's a good name, it suits him, and the idea of someone as huge and tough as Gladio being named after a flower is endearing, rather than funny.

She listens with interest to his explanation, nodding in approval of how fitting it all is - right up until he gets up to the part about romantic infatuation and her stomach drops right into the ground, her head snapping down as her cheeks burn like the sun.

Fuck. Fuck. She should never have let him find her here. She should have made some excuse and escaped right away. ]

Oh.

[He's had to defend his name from very early on. He could recite this in his sleep. It honestly takes a moment for him to figure out what happened.

And then amber eyes go wide and he actually legitimately face palms.]

Fuck.

[Why does he have to be so stupid sometimes.]

S-sorry, Cee... [Uuuuuh DISTRACTIONS GO!] My sister, Iris, hers means gratitude. Faith, valor, friendship. Which is pretty fitting, I think you'd like her. She's pretty badass, too. And takes no shit from me or any of the Hunters, either.

[ It's too late, the damage is done. She barely hears what he's saying about his sister, nodding rotely because he's talking to her and she's supposed to acknowledge it, but her mind is already churning with mild panic and the need to get out.

She shifts her legs, trying to extricate herself from Leo pressed heavily against her thigh and the younger cat with its head still flopped in her lap. But her new companion apparently isn't quite done with her yet, throwing a heavy paw down on her ankle when she tries to move and letting out a soft, warning growl.

She's trapped. CT freezes, staring down at the cat, her mild panic now in danger of turning into something full-blown. ]

[It takes him a moment, usually he's very good at catching these things but he's awkward and maybe blushing a little, rambling to try to steer away from uncomfortable topics.

And then the kitten grumbles at her and he actually looks at her again. Leopold rolls onto his feet, rumbles a low warning growl at the kitten, lips curling slightly. Then he steps in closer to CT, thumps his head into her shoulder, he rumbles at her, licks her face, headbutts her again.

It's all behaviors Gladio has shaped and rewarded for himself and Ignis both. When things got too bad, when the nightmares took over or something makes them lose the thread of what's real and what's memory, Leopold was quick to pull them back, to remind them with touch and sound and persistence that he was there and therefore they couldn't be back in Altissia or trapped in the Long Night.]

Hey... you're alright Cee. [And Gladio knows the fight or flight all too well. He moves to put his hands on the youngster, keeping his protected right hand closer to striking range as he physically drags her off CT's lap. Giving her room to run if she needs it.] No one's going to hurt you.

[ Gladio pulls the tigerlily off her lap and as soon as she's free CT instinctively scrambles back a few feet, Leo following her, still nudging at her and trying to lick her until she turns her face uncomfortably away.

She doesn't know what Leo wants. She doesn't know what Gladio wants her to say, or what she's supposed to do, but he's talking about infatuation and piercing hearts like it's no big deal and now he's got his hands on her cat that's not hers yet as all and she's just as trapped as ever.

She can't leave, because if she does she'll never see the tigerlily again, and maybe Leo will attack her if she tries to leave and he thinks Gladio doesn't want her to. She can't stay, because everything is awkward and messy again and she feels sick. He'll want to talk about it or maybe he won't and it'll just build up inside her, bottled up feelings growing more and more painful and overwhelming until she explodes, and she doesn't know which is worse.

Nothing here belongs to her.

She laughs, short and despairing and bitter, and just shakes her head. ]

I'm not.

[ All right?

She's the farthest thing from all right. ]

[The fact that she immediately backpedals only makes him certain that giving her space was the correct action, even if it does mean putting hands on her kitten. He tsks sharply at Leo when she backs up and he doesn't follow her, just sits abruptly, looks back at Gladio, and then lays down, muzzle tucked between his outstreched legs like he might still be able to remind her of where she is if he just... reaches out a little further.]

Leopold. [Low, warning.

She needs space and he knows that, knows that going to scoop her up in a hug isn't going to do a damn thing to help. But it's still what he wants to do. To just tell her it's going to be alright.]

Can I help? [Because he doesn't know what to do for her now, doesn't know what might ease her concerns, make her feel better about all of this but that's all he wants.]

[ God, he must think she's pathetic. She can't even hold a conversation with him without freaking out.

But he calls Leopold off, and CT just stays still for a moment, sitting back on her heels, face turned away and hidden by the fall of her hair as she tries to pull herself back together. Can he help? No. What could she even ask him that he could possibly give, that would fix anything?

Leave me alone.

Tell me I'm important to you.

Be someone else.

Finally, she looks up again, lifting her chin just enough to try and maintain a hold on her dignity. When she speaks, it's stiff and formal and tightly controlled. As if she's afraid that he'll say no. ]

Please give me my cat.

[He doesn't think any such thing and she damn well knows it. Or at least she will when she's not in the middle of a panic attack.

The way she speaks though, clipped and determined reminds him so much of Ignis, lost but carrying on with all the dignity one can muster. He simply nods, nudging the kitten towards her gently.]

I just... wanted you to be able to move if you needed to.

[This is entirely on her, what she wants to do, if she wants to do anything. He's just going to wait on another cue from her.]

[ For a moment she's afraid that the tigerlily won't move when Gladio lets her go, that she'll stay right where she is. Choose him over her.

But she gets up as soon as Gladio nudges her, coming right back over to CT and rubbing her cheek against her before dropping back half into her lap with a purr. CT leans right into her, putting her arms around her and just holding her for a moment, hiding her face in her fur.

But it can't last. Eventually, she raises her head a little, nodding without meeting Gladio's eyes. ]

...I know.

[ He'd been trying to help. She knows that. She's not mad at him, just...frustrated. Uncertain. Lonely.

Mad at herself, for screwing everything up yet again. ]

I don't know what to do.

[ And then she looks up at him, a challenge in her eyes. A challenge and a desperate need to understand. ]

Why are you here? Why are you talking to me?

[ He knows how she feels. Wouldn't it be better, safer, to keep his distance? To just...stay away? ]

[He's a little startled at the questions, the challenge, the way she holds herself like she's expecting something awful. It's enough to have his expression move from worried to hurt, ever so briefly. And to have Leopold pick himself up and come over to do the same thing to Gladio he'd just done to her. The lily moves behind his master, headbutts his shoulder insistently.

Only once he's gotten a scritch of acknowledgment does he flops back down, laying against Gladio's back, watching his six.]

Because you're my friend? That's what you do with people you care about?

[And the way he emphasizes that makes it very clear that he's suddenly wondering if he'd misread everything. If he was just a stand in for her man and now that she'd fessed up to it she didn't want him around anymore. That it was never about him and the friendship he'd thought they were building was all... for naught.]

[ She's not so caught up in her own emotions as to miss the look of hurt that flashes across Gladio's face, or the bafflement and uncertainty in his tone. CT flinches, feeling even worse than before. Here he is, just trying to be there for her when he has every reason not to, and she's throwing it back in his face. ]

I didn't mean...

[ She trails off before she can finish, looking away. Didn't mean what? Didn't mean to lash out at him? To push him away, try to make him hate her like he should and leave her alone to wallow in self-pity and self-reproach?

Isn't that exactly what she'd meant to do?

She stares down at the tigerlily in her lap, not really seeing it. ]

I don't know if I can be your friend.

[ The words are quiet, miserable. If she's lucky, maybe he won't hear them, and she'll get a second chance to fix this before it's too late. ]

[Didn't mean... what? To imply that she hadn't been just confused and upset but actively using him without giving him any sort of consideration for his own merits? It stung but if it was then he'd, well he'd get over it... eventually.]

Do you want to?

[Because in his mind that answers the question once and for all. If she wants to be his friend then she will and that's that.]

Yes.

[ There's no question there. Hopefully some of his own insecurities are eased by how quickly she answers, and the certainty in her tone. But she knows what Gladio must be thinking, and she hurriedly continues before he can say anything. ]

It's not that easy, though. I can't...

I don't want to...mix you up with him. Or.

[ She swallows, her throat tight, and looks away. A part of her still doesn't understand why he hadn't gone running for the hills the moment she'd confessed. ]

What if I can't...stop feeling this way? What if it gets worse?

You're not going to, Cee. If you were mixing us up you wouldn't have said anything. You wouldn't be so upset right now.

[C'mon CT, give yourself a little more credit. He understands but he's also not willing to let her just run away from him.]

You gonna let a couple of what ifs keep us from being friends?

We'll work on it, Cee. We'll make it work but to do that you gotta talk to me.

[Maybe making it into some weird kind of challenge isn't the best way to go about it either but if it helps her get over this fear then it's worth it.]

[ That's exactly why she had said something, though. Because she was already letting the line between Varric and Gladio blur. Because she'd already been reacting to him with that same eager hopefulness that had characterized her every meeting with Varric until they'd both finally confessed how they felt.

But she knows what he's driving it. And it's true. She had said something to him. She's trying to fight it, even though it would be so easy to just...not. To accept his friendship and that warm, familiar feeling of safety and affection that came with it, and never examine it too closely.

To let herself pretend.

She drags her eyes back up to him, searching his face. He's right -she has to talk to him. She has to say something, but even she has no idea what she's going to say until she actually says it. ]

I'm scared.

[It's not much but she's not running so he'll take it as a win. Even if it hurts a little, he doesn't want her to be so upset, of course, and the fact that he's the cause of it just...]

I know... I'm sorry, I'll be more careful about opening my stupid mouth next time.

[Because he hadn't thought before he spoke, at all. This whole mess could've been a lot less painful if he'd been more careful with his words.]

It's not your fault.

[ It's an automatic response, but also, she means it. How is she possibly supposed to be friends with Gladio if he has to watch every word he says around her?

CT sighs, pushing her hair back from her face only for it to immediately fall back into position. ]

I just...

I don't want to ruin everything.

[ Their friendship. Her relationship with Varric - indefinitely postponed though it may be. Her own sense of basic human decency.

If she betrays him, she'll never forgive herself. ]

[He's not going to watch every word but going on about the romantic meanings of his name was... less than brilliant. There's being paranoid and then there's just not being an idiot. And sometimes he's just an idiot.]

There won't be anything left to ruin if you keep running away.

[At least as far as their friendship goes.]

C'mon Cee, at least lemme help you with your kitten, yeah?

[ He's...got a point, and it's enough to make her smile a little, a quiet huff that's almost a laugh. ]

I didn't run away.

[ This time. But it's quiet, rather than defensive, and after a moment she nods hesitantly. ]

...I've never had a pet.

[ Military life hadn't exactly been conducive to adopting a furry friend, and neither had been being dead. ]

[It's only because she's not being defensive that he doesn't actually call her on the running away thing, though he does raise a brow and give her a Look for it.]

Well I guess that's the first question. You want her to be a pet or you want her to pull her weight? Cause lemme tell you these guys are notoriously lazy.

[He shifts a little, turns to stroke a hand down Leo's side. For as relaxed and sleepy as he seems though, he is working, he's doing his job, making sure no one comes up and startles either of them, his weight a reassuring pressure against Gladio's back.]

You should see Laurent's boy.

[ CT ignores that look. She could have run away this time, she almost had, but she'd resisted. She deserves some credit for that, dammit.

She frowns instead, stroking the young tigerlily gently. She hadn't considered the possibility of a working animal, and honestly, she's not sure how she feels about the idea. ]

I...what would she even do?

[She'd resisted.... and thought Leo was going to eat her.

If she decides it's mean to make animals work they're going to have so many more problems.]

Leo helps me hunt. They're not carnivores but they're big and they have the tools to defend themselves. They're cats, they like playing with things. I've spent months turning his natural play behaviors into commands.

He drives prey towards me so I don't have to go tromping through the jungle chasing the little shits down.

[And she's seen some of Leo's other tasks but... talking about those tasks means talking about his PTSD, and Iggy's, so that might... wait a bit.]

[ She doesn't think it's mean. CT's never been a bleeding heart. She'd just...been looking for a pet, that's all. A companion. Not necessarily anything else.

After all, a companion is maybe what she needs the most right now.

What Gladio says makes sense, but she can't imagine herself actively hunting either. Much less with a tigerlily by her side. She eyes Leo, still leaning heavily against Gladio's back. ]

He's a pet, too, though.

He lives with you. He has a name. [ They're snuggling right now, for pete's sake. ]

September Intro: The Fields Are Painted Gold

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