January Adventure: These Days Are Re-Runs

[lifeaftr_mods]

RETURNING ISLAND: MONSUN

Who: Everyone!
What: Monsun reappears...
When: January 10th and onward
Where: Monsun
Warnings: Tag as you go!

So Much of Me Has Changed
As of January 10th, the mana pools on Ensō and its islets will now allow for travel back to Monsun.

The mana pool on E3 is the only one that travelers may access. As this mana pool is positioned on Monsun's eastern side, you'd best start navigating your way to the opposite coast quickly, before all your worst traits surface.

Unfortunately, the island's psychological effects aren't all you have to worry about. From the moment you set foot on a land that should be familiar, it will be obvious that something is wrong. The landscape is twisted, distorted, wrong. Those who might recognize the flowery grasslands of the long-destroyed island of Ziziphus will soon understand why that is; the sweeping, green hills and densely tangled trunks reminiscent of Ziziphus look as though they have been spliced into Monsun's landscape in irregular swirls. In places, the texture of the ground underfoot looks stuttered and glitched. It is as though Monsun and Ziziphus's lands have been awkwardly interleaved throughout each other, with little rhyme or reason.

Things will only worsen the further you progress. Some parts of the map have been swallowed by a voidlike dark that is both ice-cold to the touch and wholly untraversable. The flora and fauna of Ziziphus, hostile and otherwise, pervade throughout both sides of Monsun.

The avatar of this land, if you can find them, was last seen on A1. You'd best find your way there quickly...though there will be a top-level to interact with them below, for those interested.

---

Welcome to the island of Monsun. And for those of you who have been here before - welcome back! Things have certainly changed since you were last here. As the island is now accessible, feel free to create new logs of your own, or use this post as a catch-all for exploration! For further information in regards to the island, or plotting, the following links may prove handy:

[ ♆ ] OOC info and introductory post
[ ♆ ] Monsun on the Locations page
[ ♆ ] Monsun's square-by-square Locations page
[ ♆ ] Search Requests page

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

d2 | closed to legion

[counterblows]

[He's been here once, but only once. The disorientation of arrival was enough to make him snappish and difficult to contend with, even without the psychic impact of whatever influence this island emits.]

[But the island is there, and he's had enough to staying in one place. He doesn't take a party with him. He doesn't have anyone left to call. There's no one in the house with him save for Ami, so he simply suits up and goes. No one's going to miss him, if he doesn't come back.]

[A little bit north and west of the mana pool, he runs into his first roadblock in the form of several tigerlilies that don't seem to interpret him as a threat. Maybe because he smells like one of them, at this point. Wash crouches, offering a hand out to one of them. It creeps closer.]

[The urge to get up and keep moving is there, present, hanging at the back of his mind, but...]

[For now, he can take a minute to offer the tigerlily something approaching comfort, until his mind closes the possibility out.]

[forwearemany]

(Unfortunately for Wash, the moment will soon be interrupted by the sound of an unhappy Tigerlily followed by equally unhappy Geth chatter.

Soon enough, Legion will come stumbling through the bushes, bits of pollen clinging to their chassis ...only to stop when they see the person who helped put the idea to make this failed attempt into their head in the first place.)

Washington-Agent.

(He does not appear to have been attacked by Tigerlilies. Perhaps they prefer fellow organics.)

[counterblows]

[He stills, straightening at once with an abruptness and fluidity of motion that betrays just how on edge he currently is. He takes in Legion with a calm, assessing sweep of his gaze. Stow the paranoia, Agent.]

[It's psychosomatic. It's psychosomatic. Focus on what's present.]

You look like you've run into some trouble.

[forwearemany]

(Given the effects the pollen can have on organics, for once Legion does not shake themselves to get rid of it.

If they notice Wash's distress, they do not comment on it.)

Our skills re: animal taming are poor. The Tigerlilies dislike us.

[counterblows]

I can see that.

[His eyebrows lift incrementally behind the visor as he looks them up and down. Coated in pollen, and...yep. It's a good thing his helmet filtration system, for the most part, seems intact.]

You've never done this before, have you?

[forwearemany]

Though we have prior experience with agriculture and environmental restoration, animal taming was not included. Geth did not keep pets.

(If only Wash knew how trusting Legion is being even mentioning that they have experience in agriculture.)

(More importantly, he is absolutely correct in his assumption.)

[counterblows]

Well, you're lucky these ones are pretty low maintenance.

[The tigerlily he's currently acquainting himself with doesn't seem to find Legion's presence all that unsettling.]

By now, you probably smell like them, which means they're less likely to get spooked. This one doesn't seem to mind you.

[forwearemany]

Acknowledged.

(After a moment, they crouch and offer their hand to the tigerlily.)

D1; closed to bucky + yeager

[ideismo]

[All right, so. Traveling by mana pool is...strange, but it's not really something that Alexei finds too disorienting; honestly, it's preferable to all the aimless wandering these places require otherwise, it's almost like it was for him back in Terca Lumireis, and he'd be grateful for it if he weren't still very determinedly not thinking about Terca Lumireis right now.

But! As it stands he's not, and he sincerely hopes Yeager isn't either – he's been fine with Yeager keeping close to him, as per their agreement upon arrival here, and today isn't much of an exception. What is new is the third, ah, "companion" they've picked up – Alexei has no argument with Bucky, he seems fine and reasonable and a decent person to have on adventures that no one particularly needs to be going on, and as such he was fine asking the man to come with. Because it's rather likely that none of them particularly needs to be going on this adventure at all, but at the same time Alexei is restless and perhaps more relevantly he's tired of feeling unproductive, and exploration seems like a decent way to keep that sort of sense at bay.

So. Here we are, and north seems like a good direction to go; whether it actually is or not is actually pretty questionable given that the woods here are...dissonant, for lack of a better word.

Like, seriously, what the hell is with the landscape.]

...I would say that I want to know what happened here, but I'm not altogether certain that I do.

[scythegun]

[Unlike some people here, Yeager is very used to traveling without any means of teleporting to where he wants to go, so if anything he prefers walking. Not that the mana pools are bad or anything, but he's always going to be a little wary of relying on power that isn't his own. And there's also the matter of being left in the desert the last time he relied on someone to teleport him anyway, but that's definitely not important.

So anyway, we're off on a grand adventure and thankfully(?) this adventure involves an unrelated third party who is probably not capable of teleporting and ditching Yeager, and to be perfectly honest, it's probably good to have a third party here. Alexei and Yeager aren't exactly on the greatest terms, after all.

But for now this is fine, and there are probably bigger things to worry about, given the landscape.]

Oh my, this certainly is strange-looking, ja? I wonder what could have caused this...

[Aer imbalance...? Hmm. Well, regardless of what it is, Yeager's as laid-back as always, seemingly completely at ease with the current situation. He's got his unique weapon on him, of course, because despite appearances he's usually prepared to throw down with whatever monsters we may or may not encounter.]

[semistableman]

[The teleportation is jarring and unsettling, and if Bucky never has to do it again, it'll be too soon. He straightens his shoulders, though, not wanting to appear shaken. Why couldn't people have normal means of travel?

At least the comments on what the location looks like is enough of a distraction for him.]

It looks like someone went a little crazy with collage, doesn't it?

[His comment is as dry as possible.]

You think it's always been like this?

[ideismo]

[Mm. That is a good question, and not necessarily one that he has a succinct answer for, but...]

It's difficult to say. It looks almost as though it may have been caused by something I find reasonably familiar, but I'm not certain that's the case.

[He glances at Yeager as he says it, because...well. Aer imbalance, yeah.]

The forces of nature have a tendency to try to balance themselves out by any means possible, where I come from. If some sort of imbalance is forced by outside means, the result is strange activity in the plant life, among other things.

[He is not going to give this man from whatever a Romania is a crash course in Vesperia science and magic because no one needs that, but that's sort of it in a nutshell.

...He's also not going to get into "the 'other things' I mentioned are, like, hilariously deadly" because no one needs that, either.]

[scythegun]

[Yeager does glance over at that before lifting his shoulders a bit. It's not even a proper shrug.]

That's more or less it, yes.

[It's probably the best explanation there is without getting into aer and everything else.]

But there's no telling what this could be, so I suppose we'll just have to keep an eye out~!

[Not like he's really all that worried, it'll probably be fine. And if it isn't... Well, it's not like he really cares about that either.]

[semistableman]

That so?

[He sure as hell can't understand that, but it does sound like the two men might know each other. Or at least be from the same world.]

I doubt it means anything good. Things like this don't just happen.

[ideismo]

If it is what I believe it to be, then it isn't. But it's as he says - as long as we don't know what this is with any certainty, the most we can do is keep an eye on it.

[...And hope that we don't all just walk into a fucking aer krene and pass out due to sudden oxygen deprivation. Or mutate. He's only seen that latter one once but it didn't go well.]

At least I can't say the effect is terrible. It's interesting, if disconcerting.

[scythegun]

[Hey, you never know, an Entelexeia could show up and save the day!!]

It certainly is a bit odd-looking... but I can't say it's not without its merits! Who knows what kinds of fascinating things we could find here!

[...yeager's taste is pretty terrible in general though, so.]

C3 | closed to foster and ed

[bitch4bitch]

God Erika hates this place. She couldn’t even say if it’s her own opinion, or just the effects of this stupid-ass island pissing her off even more than the places they end up here usually piss her off. And that’s without even taking her present company into account.

The river ahead of them, and the barren landscape on the other side, is one of the most welcome things she’s seen in some fucking time, if only because it means that it won’t be much longer until they can justifiably call it quits and get the fuck out of here. She lets out a loud, pointed groan, kicking sharply at a tuft of grass that happened to be sticking out just a little too much. “Fucking finally. Now we get to get wrecked by our surroundings instead of our own goddamn brains! Fan-fucking-tastic.”

She shoots a glare at one of the big leafy cats hanging around nearby. “The hell are you looking at.”

balance | ota

[thankgods]

[The temple is nowhere to be found, unlike before. A shivering lake, constantly shifting from warm to cold, from solid to liquid, greets those who would approach Monsun's god.

Approaching the ever-changing lake will spread fragmented, scattered images throughout your mind; half-rusted scales, sick koi, shivering butterflies, wilting pink larkspur. The god that appears in response to your presence, a pair of koi fish swimming through the air, is...somewhat frantic, to be honest.

They circle hurriedly, rapidly, no longer in perfect sync. They are clearly not their usual calm self today. ]

[fireindreams]

[This island, like many, certainly has its pros and cons. As soon as Grimm became aware of what changes were occurring within him due to the negative side of the island, he moved away. The God overseeing this place would likely not be too happy if that side was burned to a crisp, after all.

But it appears they have far more to worry about then a God of Nightmares.

Warm and cold, solid and liquid. Images that flash within the Troupe Master's mind, old and broken things. Butterflies.

(Something is wrong. Something must be fixed.)

Grimm bows even if it is likely Balance will not notice before speaking.]

Greetings. You and your island appear to be...out of sorts, to say the least.

[thankgods]

[ The god chases themself through the air, erratic, slow and fast in equal measure in a way that is impossible to describe. The words bounce back and forth from two different, opposing voices. ]

We a̷̡r̢͡e̴̶

It ̵i̡͟͝s̨̧͝

Balance. Unbalance. Making, unmaking. Life, death.

[ And in a sudden unison: ] It must be fixed.

[fireindreams]

[He attempts to watch the twin Gods swim in the air with the grace of a headless chicken. Balance, they were called but that is clearly not the case at the moment.]

What has caused this change within you? [And the obvious question.] And what must be done to fix it?

[Grimm cannot assume that vision was given for simply a laugh. If it meant there was something wrong with the Gods of these lands...

Well, he knew what happened when these things went unchecked for so long.]

[thankgods]

[ "What has caused this change?" the visitor says, and they swim in tighter, yet still uncoordinated circles.

Even gods grieve, as Grimm knows full well. ]

Rapsho. Rapsho. R̡͟a͡͞p̷͜s҉̕͞ho҉̛͠.̨͝

[ The white fish speaks: ] Something saved.

[ And as if to reply, the black fish murmurs: ] Something lost.

Those days will remain. Those days can never return.

[ What must be done to fix it? There is an answer, of sorts. ]

Balance. Your lights, your shadows.

[fireindreams]

[Oh he does know. Grief comes to all as reliably as nightmares do. More so if denied.]

I am sorry for your loss. [It may not mean much, but Grimm does know what happened in that place from others and regardless of Bliss's choice, they were still lost.

Choices, as much as Grimm loved them, came with their own consequences. In order to not die both Bliss and the residents of the island made a choice. It seems these are those consequences.]

What do you mean by shadow and light?

[thankgods]

Rapsho, [ they sigh, in perfect unison. Whether the apology is comprehended or not is uncertain at this time.

They swim in tighter circles, then begin to slow. It seems talking about this is calming them down somewhat. ]

Your hearts. Your minds.

What you must accept. What you cannot accept.

Your light. Your darkness.

Victory, peace. Failure, unrest.

Balance.

for kravitz, barry, and lup

[deathfindsaway]

[Kravitz has never been to this place. When Monsun arrived previously, there was little time as Ziziphus fell, and he'd never been acquainted with Balance beforehand. But while he and Lup were trapped in those challenges, Barry had an encounter that pushed them here. And now he needs to figure out what's going on.

At least they made it through the bad side of the island without ripping each other apart, and as they approach, they seem to actually be working together.]

I believe it's this way--

[The images are... concerning, to say the least. But he gestures the other two forward.]