lifeaftr | October Intro: I Think We Should Run

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October Intro: I Think We Should Run

INTRO LOG: OCTOBER

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

Nuidan: Checking that the Coast is Clear
This time around, newest arrivals to the archipelago of LifeAftr will open their eyes to the skies overlooking the relatively recent island of Nuidan. Namely, they'll be waking in the northern quadrant of said island, the region perpetually locked in the season of spring. This means rich fields of gold and green and buff-colored grass and skies swollen with unshed rainclouds. The scent of turned soil and petrichor mingles with the faint, earthy scent of manure.

It's not an unpleasant way to wake. There are doubtless worse places to rouse yourself. But the cloud of dust clotting up the horizon soon suggests that there might be a bit more to the circumstances of your arrival than some nice weather.

And, unfortunately, that's exactly the case. There's a herd of something charging directly for you, and nothing short of a natural disaster is going to sway them from their course.

A thick-packed herd of scaly aptonoth have been spooked, startled, or otherwise galvanized into a panicked stampede across the northern reaches of Nuidan.

Quadrupedal, herbivorous, and scaly, aptonoths resemble dinosaurs in appearance more than they do so in their generally placid nature. They are far more akin to cows in temperament, even if their skin is a good deal more leathery. Even the broad spikes at the ends of their tail or the heavy horns atop their heads aren't terribly dangerous unless the entire herd feels threatened. While aptonoths are typically easily tamed, in this case they are far from amenable to conceding to anyone's interference.

It's probably best to try and get out of their way. Fast.

Ensō: 'Cause They're Already Ghosts
Things are quieter on LifeAftr's mainland. They might seem a little...eerily so, in fact. Today officially marks the day that the Storyteller makes their departure, and seeks out new islands for you intrepid explorers to uncover. The difference that their absence creates is small, at first, and most prominently felt on Ensō itself.

The temple is the most obvious thing. It simply looks...defeated and empty, as hollow and unoccupied as it currently is. That aura of proud mystery is absent, though the Chamber of Glyphs at least remains as it was. But anyone who comes looking for the Storyteller themself at this time will find no one waiting for them. No flower-touched animal, no old, dusty tome. You're currently on your own.

Or...maybe not? The Storyteller was courteous enough to issue a warning last month about the nature of the dream-island of Mu. The effects of that island will start to make themselves evident in small, simple ways: namely, in the way you're going to start seeing things.

Nothing serious, of course. Just...flickers of movement in the corners of your vision. Something about your surroundings just being so slightly off. The color of that rock - it's always been that way, hasn't it? Or was it only always that way five minutes ago? While these blips and hitches in reality are decidedly non-specific, they can be unsettling for those who can't adjust for a bit of strangeness.

The source of these odd quirks in the fabric of reality is easily explained by the presence of clockroaches, one of Mu's wily dream-creatures. You'd be hard-pressed to catch a glimpse of any of them directly; they specialize in the ethereal and the ephemeral, and seldom reveal themselves to anyone if they can help it. But you might, if you're very attentive or very lucky, see some indistinct, silver-misted blur disappearing behind the trunk of a tree in a blink-swift ghost of motion.

But they are, in essence, harmless. At least...for the moment.

As of October 4th, the Storyteller will be unavailable for both IC Contact threads and Item Requests. If you need anything vital backdated, just let us know!

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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[Ray's relationship with religion has always been somewhat contentious (and contemptuous, even) but ultimately practical. She's come to appreciate the temple here--helped by the fact that it's not the kind her mother would drag her to on holidays--for its peace as well as the simple shelter.

She's stepping inside to relax but stops in her tracks when she sees the wary woman inside.]

Oh--it's only me. [She holds up one hand in something that's somewhere between a wave and a gesture of surrender. Look, she's entirely harmless.]

Are you okay? I don't think anything dangerous is in here.

(So it is.

Yasha relents, embarrassed for having pulled a knife on what looks like an unarmed, young girl. The blade goes back into her pack. The scale is fished up from the ground again, and dusted off on Yasha's pant leg. For a moment, she turns it slowly over, letting it catch the dim light of the temple, and rubs her fingers across what looks like words etched into the underside.

Suddenly aware that she's still being watched, she stows it safely away in her back.)

I am fine, thank you.

(Surely... she should ask too?) Are... are you okay?

[Oh, good, the weapon is gone. Ray isn't surprised that the woman isn't hostile--most people here aren't, in her experience so far--but she's still relieved.]

Yes, I'm fine.

What was that? A horseshoe crab?

[It doesn't look quite right; the shape is wrong, and it doesn't seem to have a tail. But she doesn't have a closer frame of reference.]

(Yasha shakes her head no, and then takes the scale back out anyway. It seems silly to be secretive about it when she doesn't even know what it is, she may as well show it around and see if anybody else has any insight.)

I... think it's a seed.

(Almost. It's a scale, but she's assuming because of its tough outer casing it is a seed.)

Have you seen anything like it before?

[Ray peers at the seed, noting that it's flatter than she'd originally thought too. She shakes her head.]

I don't think so... But maybe you could ask Harv on Nuidan--that's one of the other islands around here. I haven't spoken to him, but I'd assume he knows about all sorts of plants.

Are you going to plant it here?

Okay.

(She'll try to remember that: Harv, on Nuidan. Whatever both of those words mean. Yasha's gone back to the presumed seed, staring at the little markings on the underside of it again. They don't just look like words, they are words. She reads them aloud, slowly turning the scale as she does.)

'Feel my skin... hear my sound. Grind and powder, water and drink.'

(You're... supposed to grind this and drink it? Yasha flips the scale over, looking for more, but that's the end of the little etchings.)

Maybe you aren't supposed to plant it.

Drink it?

[Ray considers the "seed" and wrinkles her nose. It could be some sort of odd medicine... but it also might not be.]

What if it's poison of some sort? Or just tastes really bad?

(All good points. Yasha nods slowly. She probably won't be trying to drink this... whatever it is any time soon. That seems like it would be a bad activity.)

... I think I will ask your friend about it first. In which direction will I find Nuidan?

It should be right over, um... that way, I think.

[She points in the general direction of the island. Just in case, she adds to clarify:]

He's not my friend, just the god on that island. Or avatar? I think they have a special name for it here.

(She nods, understanding. It seems the idea of gods roaming freely about the islands does not perturb her.)

Can I walk there, or do I need to find a boat?

(Funny, how she had been meaning to get herself a boat back at home, take to the oceans. In a way, that wish is being granted.)

[It's interesting that the woman doesn't seem to have much reaction to talking to a god. Even Ray had had to adjust to the idea of them being real and corporeal; she's curious why this woman seems so at ease with it. But she also seems like a woman on a mission, so hopefully she can ask later.

Ray steps outside the temple, beckoning to the woman and shaking her head as she does so.]

You don't have to--you can use the mana pool to get there. It's much faster.

(Yasha follows her after a beat, glancing behind her as she leaves the temple. A little flash of unknown movement at the corner of her eyes makes her follow the girl with considerably more haste. Hopefully the uneasy sense of being watched will disappear as they leave the temple behind.)

... Thank you, for showing me, (she says, and hoists her pack up more securely on her shoulder. At least one of the two of them is in the know, you know?)

[Ray smiles over her shoulder.]

Sure. I'm happy to do it--I don't think I would have lasted here if so many people didn't help me out.

[And then, selfishly, just under the surface, anyone she helps is another chance at having an ally and a friend--like Wei was supposed to be.

When they reach the pool's edge, Ray points out the flowers sprouting nearby.]

All you need to do is throw one of those in and say where you want to go. It's strange, but you get used to it eventually.

(Yasha glances from the flowers to her and then back again as if waiting for more explanation, but nothing comes. That's... that's okay. It seems this will be a kind of trial and error situation maybe. She bends and plucks a little flower from the ground, twirling its stem between her fingers.)

Are... they magic?

(Maybe she should keep it.)

I assumed so--otherwise, I'm not sure what would make them work.

Does that matter?

[She's become accustomed to just going along with the flow of stuff like this, so it hadn't occurred to her that someone might find it strange or unsettling.]

No, not really.

(She's more than used to magic, but she's not sure she's seen a magic flower before, so... she puts the one she picked into her pocket, and then bends to take another. Surely that's okay. She'll toss that one into the little pool of water; she watches it float on the surface for a moment, trying to remember the name of the island she had been told to go to.)

... Nuidan? (She says, more like a question that a command. But the pool still hears her, still bubbles into life, the water beginning to swirl and rise. Yasha simply stares at it in wonder.)

[Ray watches as the woman stows one flower away--why? She's curious--and nods when the water stirs.]

That's perfect.

[Ray hurriedly throws in a flower of her own when she realizes she should probably go along to show the way to Harv, even if it's not that hard to find him. She'd hate to be left alone all of a sudden in a strange place, so better safe than sorry.

When they're on the other side, she'll take in a deep breath of air to try and quell the uneasy sensation of the sudden transportation.]

What do you think?

(Similarly Yasha looks slightly perturbed, one hand lifting delicately to cover her mouth... just in case. But the sick feeling passes just as suddenly as it arrived, leaving her back to normal again. Perhaps it has something to do with the travel method. She glances back at the pond, but the water has gone very still again.

And they are in a whole new place she has not seen before.

She's silent as she takes it in, slowly turning in place. They'd stepped out into a sort of oasis, bordered by very tall trees. Their trunks are very long, unobstructed by leaves: the foliage grows at the top like a plume. Yasha has never seen anything like it before. The sand underneath of her shoes is yellow-white, and crunches satisfying underneath of her feet as she turns.)

It's beautiful, (she says eventually, and stops when she notices the temple. Weren't they just here?)

[Ray nods, smiling as she watches the woman inspect their surroundings.]

This island is my favorite so far.

[Flower death island doesn't put up a good fight. But there's something else about Nuidan: the sense of industry and purpose and, ultimately, freedom. There's so much to do to shape it into what they want.

She follows the woman's eyes to the temple. As if in answer to the unasked question:]

I think all the islands have one of these, but I haven't seen that for myself. This should be where Harv lives.

How many are there...?

(There's so much exploring to do... she'll probably see a lot of things that she's never seen before. Yasha isn't used to islands. She's used to swamps, and marshes. Hot and muggy weather, a very... uh, basic colour palette. A lot of brown.)

Okay. Thank you, again. (Then, she pauses, realising she has no idea who she has been thanking all this time.) What is your name?

Apparently they come and go, so that answer won't always stay the same. We have Enso, Umui, and Nuidan right now.

[She ticks them off on her fingers.]

You can call me Ray. [She doesn't stop to think much on how she's hardly even given her family name to anyone here. It doesn't seem to matter anymore.] What's yours?

(They come and go? What does that mean exactly, that there will be more in the future, and sometimes less. How are islands supposed to do that?)

We are on Nuidan, (she confirms, glancing at Ray,) and we came from...?

(So only one left to set foot on!)

Yasha, (she supplies, and, after a beat, holds out her hand.)

Enso. It seems to be the main one, as near as I can tell.

[Ray meets Yasha's hand quickly with her own; something about the gesture makes her feel helpful and grown up.]

Nice to meet you.

(Yasha just nods. She's going to head to the temple now in search of this 'Harv' person, but lingers for a moment after they've had their handshake.)

If I see you around again, I will tell you about the seed... if you would like to know.

I do!

[No hesitation there. This seems like a mystery of the unthreatening variety: interesting but ultimately not personally connected to her, and therefore unlikely to reveal anything unpleasant.]

Thanks.

[With that, she'll see Yasha off with a final wave before wandering off into Nuidan.]

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October Intro: I Think We Should Run

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