lifeaftr | April Intro: Better Get to Digging

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April Intro: Better Get to Digging

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.

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 )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

As those thoughts threaten to engulf Tachibana, they also threaten to engulf Jules. They flash though his mind in bits and pieces, but those bits are relateable enough that Jules has a hard time facing them. His breathing alters very subtly, but otherwise his face remains completely unchanged. He doesn't ever let other people realize when he's in pain.

As Tachibana gets his thoughts under control, it allows Jules the opportunity to do the same. He has to fight down his own memory too and struggles to box everything back up again. Those are memories he definitely does not want to examine.

"That's good then."

"Yeah," Tachibana nodded. "The major benefit to being pulled from one world into another; you get a fresh start at life, if you're able to take it. ... and meet a wide range of others on similar paths," he added, giving Garren a warm pat on his helmet that resulted in a warm, pleased sound from the small Pog.

"Easier than being forced to do it yourself, I guess."

It hadn't exactly been easy for Jules to make a new start on his life when he'd still been somewhere people knew him. Not having anything to his name to help him survive had made it difficult too. And the whole major bounty on his head thing didn't help either.

Tachibana nodded. "Yeah. Never figured out how, back home," he admitted.

There had been too many echoes. Carefully rebuilding BOARD from the ashes, making it be the company he had thought it had been when he had joined it... There had always been some reason-- some excuse to linger in that minefield of memories. It hadn't been until he had been forcibly removed from it that he'd finally be able to even start to see past the events of seeming so long ago.

This isn't an easy topic for him, and he's lost in the pain of his past. He doesn't really think before responding or consider what parts were actually spoken and what he had just heard in his head.

"Echos would have been easy. It's more the blaster shots, death threats, and preconceived hatred that were the issue."

Tachibana paused, tensing slightly. He... hadn't said that aloud... had he?

Garren's mild confusion felt through their bond only backed up the deep, unsettled twist in the pit of his stomach. As much as he had mostly made peace with the Psychic Network back in Liminal, this...

He's unable to help the flashbacks that stirr in the back of his mind, Isaka's smug face, the mocking voice in his head that knew and exploited every weakness--

He pressed his lips together tightly, forcing the memories back, fists tight at his side.

"...you can hear what isn't spoken, can't you?"

The words were a hard and cold accusation, despite every intention to keep them neutral. This wasn't Isaka. This wasn't Isaka. That bastard was still sealed, and would remain so, no matter how in hell he'd wound up reincarnated in Hajime's second life.

...but that knowledge didn't help keep down the mess of emotions that always bubbled up out of control when any psychic ability was used around him.

It's Tachibana's thoughts that slam into Jules far before the words do and make him realize that he'd messed up. Minsid hell, this is one of the reasons why he doesn't hang around other people. Initially he's angry at himself, though his years of keeping his emotions and thoughts well concealed serves him well once again and no sign of that anger comes out.

Tachibana's words, however, and the accusation behind them break past Jules' barriers and he flinches visibly. He's getting far too soft if he can't even take that without showing that it hurts.

"As an unpleasant side effect."

It's only the fact that Jules can still hear what's swirling around in Tachibana's head that keeps him from retorting in his usual sarcastic and antagonistic style.

At the flinch, Tachibana can't help but feel guilty. He was trying to keep his emotions and thoughts in check and not just senselessly lash out (he was better than that, damnit. He should be better than that!) but despite the efforts all of his friends had helped him through, his knee jerk responses were still the same.

"Side effect?" he repeated, trying to focus on what was being said and not the flashbacks of his past and the accompanying well of self loathing. "Of what?"

Jules' own knee jerk responses kick in and his defenses go up. He doesn't trust anybody. Answering that question will be compromising no matter what he says. The question is what answer gives away the least information? What is the least amount of risk?

"A desperate attempt to save my minsid life."

That answers absolutely nothing, but it is the complete truth.

Again, the churn of memories -- the same sun-glassed jerk standing impassively, holding a hand outwards, his calm, almost disinterested voice speaking; 'With my powers, I can do what Karasuma could not. I have what it takes to cure you.'

It wasn't the same. Isaka had lied, told him what he had wanted to hear, and then forced his so called cure upon him when he had refused. There had been no interest in saving him from what the Rider System was doing to his body, just in exploiting that weakness for his own gain.

But it was similar enough that the anger in Tachibana shifts, focused on whatever it was that had forced something like that to be.

He gives a small, stiff nod.

"Hell of a cost," he offered, not looking directly at Jules as he yet again attempted to get his thoughts under control.

Jules quirks an eyebrow, genuinely caught off guard by that response. He hasn't spoken of his abilities to very many people, but the few that do know about his ability to read minds find it fascinating or incredibly useful. Tachibana is the first one to think otherwise. Except for Trajen and Thraix perhaps, but they both understand since they face the same thing. Of course they also have far more control than Jules.

"You're the first person to think so."

He's right though. It's a hell of a cost and an absolutely brutal side effect, though some of the other ones have come in useful.

Tachibana blinked, eyebrow rising. "How the hell--" he broke off, face screwing up slightly more. "Don't tell me some idiots think that kind of bullshit is something to he happy about."

One did not have to be telepathic to be able to tell what Tachibana's opinion on telepathy was. Even if he had to admit the Psychic Network had been useful, he still hated it and one of the first skills he had learned was how to block it out to avoid flinching every time he heard a voice in his head....

"It's a partially reasonable assumption when you've never experienced it yourself, I guess. They all just think you have complete control."

Which his bullshit. The control Jules has managed to gain took a lot of work, and it's still control over the other abilities more than the telepathy. That part just happens.

"As if control of anything comes easily," Tachibana half snorted.

..unless you were someone like Kenzaki who just seemed to have a natural aptitude for things like that. But he was over that jealousy. ~~Just still a little sulky~~

"Oh not at all."

He can only control what he reveals and how he reacts when he hears something. The hearing it is totally out of his control.

Tachibana nodded again before letting out a long, slow breath.

"...for lashing out like that.. I'm sorry," he apologized, a little awkwardly. To get angry at someone for something they had no hand in and couldn't fully control... it'd be like blaming Mutsuki for everything done under the Spider Undead's influence. It just wasn't right.

Jules glances behind him like he expects Tachibana to be talking to someone behind him. Only no one is there.

"Pretty sure you forgot a few words there. Nobody just says "I'm sorry" to me without something else attached to it. Normally that something else also involves a lot of harsh language."

And an attempt to kill him, though that's not a guarantee every time. Sometimes people would just prefer to eviscerate him orally instead of literally.

Tachibana blinked, eyebrow raising slightly and feeling.. almost a bit insulted. He didn't often apologize, and whenever he did, it was always honest.

"The hell shouldn't I?" he half demanded, a touch defensive.

"Shouldn't isn't the right word. More like doesn't. Nobody apologizes to me. They'd have no damn reason to. At least in their minds. Best I would get is "I'm sorry, did I not beat the shit out of you enough?" or other variances of that."

He's the one who is always expected to apologize, though it's never good enough. Not that he has bothered in more years than he can count. Better just to be an asshole. Then you know why you're being shit on.

"...for something you didn't ask for, that you don't have full control over."

Despite his reputation for shooting first and never bothering asking questions ~~until someone pointed out that he was wrong and then left so he couldn't keep arguing~~ that was a bit much even for him.

"Titana rael. You actually think that doesn't happen."

He made it sound like Jules was kidding or completely insane to think someone would react that way when they knew the other person hadn't asked for it. That's been Jules' reality as far back as he can remember. He's never had to ask for it. In fact, when he was younger he'd done everything possible not to ask for it, and he'd still gotten derision directed his way or the shit kicked out of him.

Edited (yay html fails...) 2019-04-19 01:14 (UTC)

Tachibana shifted awkwardly, looking a touch uncomfortable. "It shouldn't happen," he returned, tone defensive.

..so he was a naive moron. Tell him something else he didn't know.

"This place has a serious lack of containers of any sort."

That probably didn't sound remotely connected at all to their conversation, but Jules is choosing to ignore Tachibana's rosy view of the world and how it should actually work. Instead he's focusing on the thoughts he'd picked up because why not? It's not like his ability isn't already out in the open. And he's a jerk.

Tachibana blinked a few times. "...What?"

"You wanted me to tell you something you didn't know. There is it, so now you know."

Hey, at least he shared something somewhat useful.

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as I just now notice the runaway italics whoops. :D

Been there, done that.

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