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.

---

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 )

Comments

[journalname]

[Oh, yes, we've probably got to talk about that. Asgore nods.]

In a system of caves beneath a mountain. There was a war, and those were the terms of our surrender. Human mages were more common in those days...they created a barrier which we have not been able to break.

In my time, at least. Muffet says that monsters are free, in the time and place she is from.

[ideismo]

[Yeah, that's sort of what he thought...]

...I see. I'll admit that we've been to war with monsters ourselves; in our case, humanity wasn't - and continues to not be - half so forgiving. Although the war I refer to only ended ten years ago; it's still incredibly fresh in the minds and the hearts of the people, and casualties were heavy for us.

[As he said: if he lost eleven years, he'd be a different person.

That said, however.]

Regardless, I'm aware of how devastating such things are - the wounds inflicted by the brutality of war are difficult to heal, regardless of the time that passes, and terms such as those serve as a constant reminder of both what one had and what one has lost. You have my sympathies, both for your losses and for your people's situation; while I understand that it isn't nearly the same as being in one's own world, I am glad that you've gotten to experience worlds well beyond a barrier of that sort, and likewise that your people will get to experience such a thing in future.

[It sounds...formal, but not unsympathetic or insincere; Alexei is someone who's used to diplomacy and expressing himself on those terms and it shows. Something to fall back on, because what the hell is doing this naturally and like a normal person.]

[journalname]

[Forgiving? It isn't a word Asgore would use at all; is it really kinder to let monsterkind die a slow and lingering death, trapped in the dark? But he's not going to argue the point.]

I appreciate that. It is my hope that our two peoples will be able to start anew, when we do reach the surface. It has been many generations for both our kinds.

[He seems to have raised his own register a little in response to the formality. While things in the Underground are pretty much egalitarian, he certainly has diplomatic experience.]

[ideismo]

[It's not just possible, but it's incredibly likely that Alexei is not the best gauge of what should be considered merciful. Not when he has Dein Nomos, with Astal's soul sealed in it.

It is what it is, as far as he's concerned.]

May the passage of time have been kind, then.

[journalname]

From what knowledge we have, I am not certain most humans even remember us as more than a myth anymore. I cannot say if that will be for the better or the worse, but at least the old grudges will not cause us trouble.

[ideismo]

Are there no such grudges against humankind among your own people, or does the chance at freedom mitigate the desire for revenge to some extent?

[journalname]

There are some, I suppose, but I do not believe anyone would risk our freedom for that reason. I w...well, I suppose the Queen would have the guard be alert, if she thought there was a threat.

[However you look at it, Asgore himself is fairly unlikely to be involved with that anymore.]