January Intro: It Grips Me

[lifeaftr_mods]

INTRO LOG: JANUARY

Who: New arrivals, and you!
What: New souls arrive to the archipelago of LifeAftr
When: January 5th and onward
Where: All over Ensō
Warnings: Mark as needed!

Shores of Ensō: The Sun's a Harsh Reminder Why
As dawn arrives - and with it, new adventurers to Ensō's shores. It appears the Storyteller is not about to allow a repeat of last month. The ever watchful pages that have guarded the shorelines the month prior now begin to move closer inland, circling the landscape in closing, careful arcs. To the particularly astute, their purpose may quickly become clear. Anything foreign to Ensō's natural ecosystem will be met initially with wary hovering, ruffled pages flocking to nearby trees and wheeling overhead. Now and again, a particularly brave little page will swoop down to tap against the top of an unsuspecting entity.

Foreign entities, in this instance, just so happen to include...well, all of you. These partially sentient notes can be found flitting across the entirety of Ensō and the neighboring housing islets, intent on surveying every little nook and cranny of the tropical landscape. While they may little more than a vague irritant, their attitude towards a person they’re surveying can absolutely get worse, depending on the response they receive. Though responses may vary (and creativity, encouraged), the pages are looking for indications of anything that is not only out of the ordinary, but also that which is acting suspicious. Unfortunately, they're not quite experienced in determining what does and does not count as a genuine threat, and thus they might very well interpret even the smallest signs of surprise, anxiety, and (justified) irritation as signs of hostility.

Unfortunately, their response to this is likely to be just as unpleasant as it is abrupt. Those of you who protest a little too vigorously may find yourselves abruptly doused with a viscous black ink - a marker to return and inspect you again in future. Where more aggressive behavior is…noted, you may very well find yourself swept up in a tornado of angry paperwork, only to be abruptly (and not at all comfortably) deposited at the Storyteller's temple. A very weary Storyteller will do their best to apologize as they slowly smooth out the kinks in this new security system.

But surely you agree, dear adventurer, that this sort of security system is indeed necessary.

Ensō, Inland: Who Knows Where Our Limits Lie
Unsuspecting adventurers aren't the only creatures the pages seem intent on harassing, it seems. Across Ensō, the activity of the native fauna will become much more apparent as creatures are driven from their usual haunts by invading paper. From the smallest of snaplings to herds of cariborn, it will take some time for the wildlife to settle down as many disturbed creatures will find themselves displaced miles away from their natural homes, seemingly at random. Unfortunately, this also includes the creatures most would prefer not to have on the move. For the unappraised, Ensō happens to play host to a particularly horrifying brand of wildlife known only as the fustercluck: a large swath of appropriated limbs with katamari-like qualities, if katamaris were more well known for digesting the majority of their victims and using what little remained (usually the hands and feet) to propel themselves towards their next meal.

Despite Ensō being home to two such creatures, very little has been discovered about them, aside from how unfortunately indestructible they seem to be. Magic, guns, bombs - name your poison, and a fustercluck will most certainly be impervious to it, including poison itself. Should you be unlucky enough to wander into the path of a fustercluck, your best option is to run - or lend the fustercluck a hand.

And another hand. And your entire body, since you offered so nicely.

The fusterclucks have a more directed path than most creatures - they can be found moving up and down the rows of G and H until January 10th, when they appear to settle down...unless they're diverted elsewhere first.

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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.

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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

[counterblows]

[No one's asking you to. He bites it back. Pissing off the walking generator is a sure way to find out what the smell of his own charred fucking flesh tastes like. Instead, Wash endeavors to keep his tone as steady as possible, without making it patronizing.]

[No one likes to be patronized.]

If you stop raising a ruckus, maybe they'll decide that you don't need watching.

[maxout]

[He blinks. And then narrows his eyes, looking at the paper again.]

Is that what this is about? They think I need watching?

[counterblows]

They're doing this to a lot of people.

[Wash raises one gauntleted hand, revealing a spatter of ink across the back of it. That's what he got for swearing and trying to swat the things away the first time.]

Every time I tried to rinse it off, another one would just tag me again.

[maxout]

And, what-- leaving them alone got them to stop?

[Ah yes. The one thing Electro would not have ever tried of his own accord.]

[counterblows]

Pretty much.

[He shrugs, again biting back the urge to imply that this solution should have been utterly obvious, because it was. His self-preservation wins out. It usually does.]

It might be a threat level assessment of some kind. If you don't mess with them, they don't mess with you.

[maxout]

Great. That's great. Just gotta put up with this and not do anything about it until it just goes away.

[He just wants to blow something up all the more now. Which is why he closes up his helmet, because otherwise he definitely will.]

Already hate everything about this place.

[counterblows]

More than killer robots?

[He watches the helmet slot back. Seems automated. Or...maybe it's a reflex thing. At least no one seems in danger of getting fried alive at the moment, which is a big plus, in Wash's book.]

[Change of subject, maybe.]

Interesting suit.

[maxout]

Well, at least one of 'em blew up.

[He tenses up at the mention of his suit, almost like he's ready to go on the defensive.]

...Right. Sure. What's yours about?

[counterblows]

[Great. Wrong subject.]

[He does his best to sound offhand. Keep the discussion calm, and casual. Not liable to set anyone off. It's fine. It is all fine.]

Basic equipment in my line of work. Mark VI. Not SPARTAN, but it'll do.

[maxout]

[Work, huh. Could mean a lot of things, but it's at least some idea of the deal.]

Mine's so I don't literally electrocute anything and anyone unlucky enough to be anywhere in my vicinity.

So. You know.

[Not that he's bitter or anything.]

[counterblows]

[Sensitivity would probably be a good trait to have here. Unfortunately, Wash has no idea where to even begin. Several puns come to mind. None of them are probably context appropriate.]

It...seems like it's...doing a good job, [he settles for instead, trying for polite neutrality.]

[maxout]

[do not even think about punning, the last thing you want is to remind him of spider-man]

Considering you're not completely fried right now, yeah, guess so. Lucky you.

[counterblows]

The helmet. It's...automated?

[oh my god he's really not any good at this "let's hold a nice and normal conversation and try to defuse the tension" thing at all, is he]

[maxout]

Do you seriously care or are you just... I don't know, stalling or something?

["what the fuck is a normal conversation"

-electro, probably]

[counterblows]

[GOOD QUESTION. Wash no longer has any idea.]

Look, clearly you're...adjusting, so it's in everyone's best interest if I help you do that. [Despite the clear way he's trying to sound authoritative, there's more than a specter of uncertainty as he says it.]

[maxout]

Is that what this is?

Is that what is happening right now?

[If he sounds at all incredulous... it's because he is. Because, really, Wash. Really?]

Yeesh.

[counterblows]

[The urge to snap claws its way up at the back of his throat. He fights it back, breathing in. He has to work to keep his tone as steady as possible, smoothing a veneer of professionalism over the mass that threatens to seethe over.]

It's probably best if we make it through this with a minimum of anyone getting electrocuted to death. I think that would be ideal.

[maxout]

[There's a beat. And then, for a very rare moment, irritation actually disappears completely. Replacing it instead is amusement. He's definitely smirking underneath the helmet.]

You're seriously that scared I'm gonna fry you?

[counterblows]

[Wash's tone is flat and businesslike.]

Look. Zap all the little paper birds you want. [Not that he necessarily advises this, mind.] But the second you start hurting innocent people out of the blue, that's when you make it my business.

[maxout]

Right. And you'd stop me... how, exactly?

[He scoffs at the thought, like he doesn't get stopped by a teenager in spandex on a regular basis.]

I'm not planning on zapping just anyone. If that makes you feel any better or whatever.

[counterblows]

Let's not find out.

[He's visibly armed, but if that doesn't put the guy off - well, maybe shooting him in the head won't be as foolproof a control method as he would've hoped.]

Just the people who piss you off?

[maxout]

The people who've got it coming. Yeah.

[Same difference, it seems, to him. It's a real healthy way of looking at people. Incredibly stable.]

You don't mess with me, I don't mess with you. Seems pretty fair to me.

[counterblows]

I can live with that.

[The words are light, circumflected with a sure no problem sort of pitch that hopefully cements a sense of cowardice and self-preservation that isn't true to Wash's character, per se, but benefits him if someone else assumes as such.]