April Intro: Better Get to Digging

[lifeaftr_mods]

INTRO LOG: APRIL

Who: New arrivals, and you!
What: New souls arrive to the archipelago of LifeAftr
When: April 4th and onward
Where: Cahypdo
Warnings: Mark as needed!

Waking up to the gentle proddings of what appears to be very curious, sentient trees isn't the worst wake up call LifeAftr has to offer. For our newest arrivals, however, it may be a tad…odd.

Situated in the valley between two mountains, Elower is a scenic village filled with the friendly Roaka, tree-like beings that are rather peaceable and happy to assist those who have just arrived. I'’s a peaceful location for one to start their adventures - though, unfortunately, it doesn't stay peaceful for long.

Cahypdo: You'll Bury Me Low
Those who have explored the new island of Cahypdo in the last month will undoubtedly recall the series of quakes that shook the island throughout March. With the arrival of LifeAftr's newest adventurers comes Cahypdo's largest tremor to date, striking without warning and more than enough force to throw even the steadiest and sturdiest of your number to the ground. With a low rumble, the mountains heaped on either side of the island will start to shed an abundance of slag and debris, pouring down their slopes. Anyone who's scaling those peaks risks being flung bodily off them when the outpouring of shale comes roaring down those mountains, and anyone at the mountain bases risks being crushed beneath.

As one might expect, unsuspecting newcomers aren't all that have been shaken up. Though protected by netting and retaining walls, the cliffs around and above the village of Elower can only take so much pressure before giving way - a threshold that has been crossed entirely. With a sound like thunder, rocks fall.

Everyone dies? Only if you don't act quickly. Roaka housing is sturdy in build, enough to protect a decidedly less sturdy body from all but the heaviest of boulders. Hiding inside any of their village constructs built into the sides of the mountains will certainly save you from taking a new weight onto your shoulders. They will not, however, save you from being buried alive.

For those who become trapped inside any of those abodes, your options appear limited. Work to free yourself, or wait for help to arrive. Though, speaking of help, those outside may think to offer the Roaka a helping hand in getting their trapped people - and yours, at that - a few breaths of fresh air.

Before you suffocate.

Cahypdo: Stay Acting Brave
Such seismic activity will also stir up the local wildlife, of course. Those unfortunate enough to come across them will recognize the restless shark-dragon hybrids, hydrac, now prowling across the shorelines, while the wickedly fanged wabbits will also be far more frequent, traveling in larger numbers in the jungle and at the bases of the mountains. Taking care to avoid them would be wise - though another creature may make that venture much more difficult.

Lorbies have been unlocked in the bestiary! A strange mix between owl and serpent, the recent quake has clearly startled these usually reclusive creatures into the open. Alone, a lorby is a rather skittish animal, prone to hiding from most perceived threats. Useless for food due to the toxicity of their flesh, lorbies do have the potential to be tamed...but this comes with its own risks.

A lorby may be prone to flight rather than fight when encountered solo, but in groups, these feathery critters are far more hostile. A defensive lorby emits a piercing cry alone, but a group is an almost ear-piercing experience, capable of rendering the unfortunate unstable on their feet at best, and unconscious at worst. For the days that follow the severe earthquake that so rocked everyone's foundations, any hope for silence is lost in the infrequent bursts of almighty screeching by colonies of lorbies who have so rudely had their homes overturned and disturbed.

While the lorby is omnivorous, it may not think to take a bite at anything so much larger than them. That doesn't mean that conflict with these fluffy creatures won't attract something much more willing to take advantage of the fact that you may or may not have been reduced to a prone sack of meat. If something else does arrive, you best hope that it's a friendly face.

If you're interested in keeping a lorby for your own, bear LifeAftr's companion limit in mind - two per character, and no more. The lorby is omnivorous and can survive off of most odds and ends: insects, fruits, berries, critters it can dig up in the sand, and more. However, the process of trying to tame a lorby is not always successful. We recommend use of a d10, with the following guidelines:

Rolling a 10: Critical success! This lorby will love and adore you, and may even feel comfortable enough to drape itself along your neck like a beautiful, furry scarf, churring softly all the way.
Rolling 7-9: This lorby will prove high-strung and timid, even if safely befriended, and will take several weeks to warm up to you. But once it does, it's yours!
Rolling 2-6: Failure. The lorby enters a state of distress and starts screaming. Hope you brought earplugs, or you'll be snoozing for several long hours for your efforts.
Rolling a 1: Critical failure. Not only does the lorby start screaming, but its panic attracts a colony of its friends, and they all start screaming too.

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 you prefer.

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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

Agent Texas ★ OTA ★ Will match style

[a_shadow]

Arrival—

Tex awakens, immediately alert, but not a bit alarmed to realize she's been awakened by a walking tree. After inquiring of the roaka who had awakened her, she learns of the recent earthquakes. She finds the knapsack with her name on it and other associated effects, and begins carrying them. Unlike many of the new arrivals here, Tex had recently been in another world similar to this, traveling on a spaceship called the Moira. She doesn't realize she's been ported to yet another universe—she thinks this is just another planet the Moira is passing by. Though she doesn't know why she awoke on the planet and not in the ship. Nor why she's in her armor, as she hadn't been wearing it when she fell asleep.

When Tex encounters people who weren't on the ship, that will probably pique her understanding of what has happened. Meanwhile, she's keeping a sharp eye out. People who are familiar with current and former Freelancer residents of LifeAftr will probably recognize her armor, and register the fact that black is a brand-new color around these parts.

Bury Me Low—

Tex is protected when the rocks begin to fall, her armor being a sturdy shell in her defense. In addition, when they begin falling she's able to start running on their tops, leaping from rock to rock and even making her way up the slope to get out of the reach of the most danger. Eventually the rumbling stops, and the rock slide comes to a halt. Tex is tired—this human body she was given when she arrived on the Moira is recovering from a recent injury, and she tires more easily than she would like. But she's strong enough to press on and run into the village, calling out to those who are trapped in the houses.

"Anyone in there?" she shouts at a roof line or dormer window. "Everyone okay?"

Wildcard—

(( Think of anything else you'd like to do with Tex? Tag in or run it by me at texelations! ))

bury me low

[counterblows]

Armor makes for decent protection, but that doesn't mean Wash is willing to chance it. He made for one of the houses as soon as the telltale rumbling started, barely made it into one of the wooden structures in time. The roof is partially caved in, more or less trapping him up against one of the walls, but at least he's in one piece.

Breathe in, slow, and try not to think of the Invention going down on Sidewinder. Glass blown in over the infirmary, red emergency lighting everything in an infernal glow. His heart, galloping in his ribs. The certainty in his lack of certainty, his mind spinning off from its fragile cables.

This isn't then. This is now.

Wash shakes his head to try to clear it. Tries to place himself, and in placing himself, places the voice calling out to him.

Is that -

"Texas?"

Re: bury me low

[a_shadow]

Definitely not the response she'd expected. But somehow, it's not at all surprising that she's hearing Washington's voice. After all, she had just awoken from a dream featuring him. She finds a spot on the house's eaves where a rock had smashed against it, lifting the roof line, and peers in.

"Well, you being well enough to tell who I am means you're all right, I guess," she says. "Lucky you."

She studies the breach for a moment, then puts more pressure on the rock, but sideways, so that its movement will jut the roof further off its foundation on the building's wall.

"Can you get out of that?"

[counterblows]

Lucky. That's one word for it. Another word is confused. He remembers her - remembers dreaming her. Does she remember him? Do androids dream? Do split halves of binary A.I. dream?

He's getting distracted. Focus. Focus, focus, and he starts seeing if he can wriggle forward. His armor scrapes up against the rock with a low grinding sound as he starts wedging himself through the gap now available to him, but he doesn't seem to mind if his chest plate gets a bit scratched. That'll be the least of its worries - and his - if he gets out.

"Almost...there..."

[a_shadow]

"Hey, now. Stop."

She works the stone even further to the left, wriggling it under the roof line, and gives it another good, hard shove. That should afford him another 6 or 8 inches or so.

"Give me your hand."

Between the extra space and her help, now, Washington should be able to clear the gap without damaging his expensive experimental armor.

[counterblows]

The hesitation is brief, but it's there. But if their memories are synced up, then she genuinely doesn't mean him harm. Which is...its own strange pill to swallow. Not a bitter one, necessarily, but it's a far cry from being something he's used to.

Still, he's not so stupid to refuse help when it's offered to him. He takes her hand, gritting his teeth behind his helmet, and starts moving again with considerably less internal friction.

"This place drains power the longer you...use it."

Arrival

[forwearemany]

The arrival of new entities is like the workings of a machine: precise, consistent, and easily predictable.

Legion comes to the newest island early, and though they are uncertain of the precise location that the influx will occur, they stay near locations of interest, and will eventually find their way to the village of Elower.

The figure in armor is familiar and yet unfamiliar, and they immediately approach.

"Greetings." The voice is mechanical, the expression curious, with a slight headtilt, lifted flaps, and an eye flicking in various directions as they examine her.

Given what occurred last time new people arrived, they're quite well armed as well.

Re: Arrival

[a_shadow]

Well-armed indeed. Thankfully Tex doesn't feel on the defensive since the weapon isn't being pointed directly at her. She nods lightly.

"Hey," she replies. "You act like you were expecting me or something."

[forwearemany]

"Influx of new arrivals follows a set schedule."

They were, in fact, expecting someone, even if not her specifically.

Their head tilts again, and their headflaps move rhythmically.

"Your armor resembles that of multiple allies."

[a_shadow]

"Allies of yours?" she asks. Hm. That's curious. This is starting to look more and more like she's been brought to yet another universe, separate from her life on the ship. She had already suspected it, what with finding the knapsack beside her when she awakened, anyway. But this is something less expected.

[forwearemany]

"Yes."

Is she from the same world as Washington-Agent?

Perhaps, they should ask.

"Are you familiar with Washington-Agent?"

wildcard

[motherfucking_ghost]

[Church isn't necessarily that used to things like...schedules. You wake up, you spy on the Reds, you start trying to run drills until something distracts everyone, eventually you go back to bed. Here, he has to make it a point to take a catnap by one of the mana pools that he's finally figured out isn't weird for any other reason other than magic. There's no piss. It's actually water and not a substance people have merely suggested is water.

He still rests, in the evening, sometimes with a tigerlily and sometimes not. But he knows it's time to recharge when he genuinely starts to feel tired. Like a bone-deep exhaustion, only without bones. He might want to invest in a calendar of some kind.

Imagine his surprise when he goes to the pool for charging only to see a familiar black shadow already there. He freezes. And stares.

Because for once, he's starting to wonder if what he's seeing is real.]

[a_shadow]

[ Tex is exhausted. The main problem with dealing with this organic body in the time since the coma and recovery is that she's still slowly regaining her strength, and she really shouldn't have worked as hard as she had with the disaster recovery as she had. So when she had arrived at the mana pool that Washington had described to her to help her recharge her armor, she hadn't bothered to strip off her helmet or anything else, simply stepped bodily into the water to allow the recharge to happen, and waited.

When Church approaches, her eyes are closed. She wouldn't normally be in an unfamiliar place dozing like this, but she'd worked so damn hard earlier. She'll let herself drift a bit for now, and later she'll take her helmet off and have a bite to eat and drink some water. ]

[motherfucking_ghost]

Y'know, I've been told you don't have to actually get in it for it to work.

[It's the best opening he can come up with that isn't blabbering or repeating her name several times with increasingly insistent inflection.]

But hey, if you wanted to go hot tubbin', you should've said.

[a_shadow]

[ Tex's eyes snap open. He's here. She hasn't seen him since the second time he appeared and disappeared from the Moira but she's arrived here and he's here.

She doesn't let her surge of gladness show, though. ]

Hey, it seemed like it could be fun.

[ She rises and approaches him, feeling momentarily much less tired. ]

I guess this is the part where we go over what we each remember about where we came from.

[motherfucking_ghost]

...It is?

I-I mean. Yeah. I guess...it is. [That's Tex. Straightforward and blunt. Usually straight forward through an obstacle using her blunt fists, but this works, too. He rubs the back of his head for a moment. God. She's here. And they're both dead. A couple times over, if Wash's story pans out.]

You do remember Blood Gulch, right? And the ship you and Omega stole with Wyoming's helmet and Andy and Junior? Are we both clear on that point at least?

arrival!

[lesbeau]

Beau doesn't actually come here looking for new arrivals. Caphydo hasn't given her much in the way of excitement, but there's a lot of plant life here- so much so that there's a lot that's been left alone by the Roaka ripe for the taking. With the recent earthquakes, lots are being revealed, so she's here to find stuff that's been shaken loose. She doesn't expect to find more armored people wandering around with backpacks, and without even thinking, she addresses Tex with a sigh.

"Another one? Man, don't tell me we have more people turning up with fancy guns and future shit." It's a great first impression, to be sure, and Beau realizes she should probably attempt to say something not to herself in this process. "Are you new or did I just miss you until now?"

[a_shadow]

Tex just stares at Beauregard until she's actually addressed.

"I'm new," she says, her tone dry, not offering any other information.

[lesbeau]

She doesn't seem to be put off by the flat tone, just crossing her arms, giving them an up and down. "Cool. Well, a bunch of your friends are here. Or enemies. Only your world has those big uh, those armor things. Makes you stand out."

Beau hasn't really picked up on the politics-- just the ones she knows. "Found anyone yet?"

[a_shadow]

"I haven't, but I sure have had a heads-up." Tex tilts her head a little. "If they are enemies I suppose it would be a good thing for me that I keep getting told. But I think they're all friends. Or...as friendly as we ever got where we came from."

[lesbeau]

Beau just shrugs, missing a lot of the necessary context there. "Hell if I know. Better if they're not gonna shoot you in the back. Hey, did you turn up with one of those huge guns?"

Priorities, apparently. She had gotten one off of a fake Wash months ago, but tossed it into the ocean out of frustration at the man. If there's a lot more of those in here, she should be keeping track.

arrival

[semistableman]

Bucky has seen people in the strange uniforms more than interacted with them, with the exception of the man he met the day he arrived. That had been hell, and he's glad the worst they've got going on currently is... well, admittedly. A lot of earthquakes that are managing to really rattle him with their frequency.

He hasn't seen this exact set of armor before— he's pretty sure, anyway. So it's probably a reasonable question when he approaches, making great care to make it clear that he's completely unarmed, even as a creature that looks an awful lot like a sheep covered in plants trots alongside him like the world's most bizarre dog. "You new?"

[a_shadow]

Tex has already run into a few people with this question. She's getting a little annoyed with needing to explain herself. Still, no point taking it out on this guy.

"Yeah. Just woke up here all of a sudden."

She looks at the creature next to him and gestures at it.

"This yours?"

[semistableman]

He glances down at the sheep for a moment, who has taken the opportunity to eat the grass nearby. "Yeah. Her name's Petunia." ...No points for originality there, but it definitely appears to be a serious name for the sheep covered in plants. He motions at her armor in a way that makes it seem more like he's trying to make light conversation.

"You military? I've met people with similar armor."

[a_shadow]

"Paramilitary. A force called the Freelancers. I've been told there are a few of us already here."

She looks at Petunia, smiling faintly, not that Bucky will see.

"Petunia's got a cute name. It fits."