lifeaftr | May Intro: I'll Be Scrolling Through Your Shrine

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May Intro: I'll Be Scrolling Through Your Shrine

INTRO LOG: MAY

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

With potentially odd dreams connecting you to people you've never met, in addition to the dream-lecture only recently received from a horned rabbit, LifeAftr surely doesn't need to try to be disconcerting upon arrival - and yet, it somehow continues to go the extra mile. While new arrivals will find themselves upon the now (mostly) safe shores of Ensō, there is one, small problem with where, precisely, they've happened to appear.

Chamber of Glyphs: It Was Written On Your Wall
Within the temple of the Storyteller, one may find a very special room. Betwixt the reality of waking and dreams, the Chamber of Glyphs appears to hold many unique features that allow it to appear wherever one may seek it, both in waking and sleep.

It is not, however, a good room to arrive within. Those seeking out the newest members of LifeAftr's adventuring party - and those who are simply looking to draw - will be greeted, upon entering the Chamber of Glyphs, with the most alarming sight. The small pile of backpacks, unattended, might be the first thing you notice, as well as the fact that they all seem to be adorned with names of those you might not know. Or the names of those that you do, but haven't seen in some time. Perhaps you met them in a dream...

And those of you who are newly arrived, you'll be able to see them searching. Unable to break the barrier between you with sound, you might feel the urge to wave your hands for attention, attracting searching eyes to the walls. Walls that you are now a part of. Hopefully this reduction to the second dimension is only temporary.

Those who took part in April's Test Drive Meme may have the benefit of familiarity, for what is etched onto the walls of the Chamber are never lacking life, regardless of the matter used to draw, paint, or sketch those contents.

With maneuverability somewhat akin to a sidescroller - always left or right, up and down, but never outward - the variety of scenes, animals, places, objects, and more are simply all the more to your advantage. Leap to the vantage point necessary to be noticed, as your fellow adventurers may be able to help you out of this predicament with a simple offer of their hand to tug you off the wall. It's an easy solution to your predicament, at least! All they need to do is take your hand to free you from your two-dimensional containment.

If it proves more difficult...well, at the least they know you're there to point out thanks to a very tired Storyteller, who will be certain to let anyone in the vicinity know that you're in need of help within the Chamber of Glyphs, before one of the many, many monsters that have been scribbled onto stone lay claim to you instead.

What kind of monsters, you ask? All of them, of course.

Ensō: Rain Hell
But maybe you don't wake up written on the walls! Maybe you're just relieved to get unstuck from those walls and need a breath of fresh air. Or maybe you don't have any reason to go poking around in search of new arrivals at all. That does not mean, however, that you won't be encountering a new arrival of your own in the interim.

The sky is clouded over and gray, despite the sun overhead and the generally warm weather. The nights are filmed over with a screen of pale dust. This has little to do with the forecast and more to do with the volcanic eruption that occurred just a few weeks prior, on another island in the archipelago. You don't need to worry about the nature of the ash still drifting on the wind currents - aside from the more standard obstruction of sight and airways, it is, at this point, more or less perfectly ordinary. Though if you've got some fragile lungs, you might want to stay out of it as much as possible.

More important is the creature that the hazy cast of ash and dust has coaxed out of hiding. Perhaps you've heard of it in folklore: resplendent with dark gray, furry wings, and glistening red eyes. Or, perhaps, you're less fortunate, and you've no cultural experience regarding the strange monster known colloquially only as...Mothman.

At over seven feet tall and with a wingspan of about fifteen feet, the Mothman makes for far more fearsome a sight than it does a threat. For all intents and purposes, despite the devilish red of its glowing eyes and its large, hairy stature, the Mothman is ultimately quite harmless. It does, however, tend to inspire paranoia in fear in the hearts and minds of those it encounters. And this smokescreen in the air has created the perfect environment for it to hunt.

It doesn't want your flesh, or your bones, or anything so base. It only wants your mind, in a sense; your fear and whatever primal terror it may ignite by preying on your paranoia. It will stalk you, rustling the leaves behind you, snapping twigs to your left, allowing you a glimpse of bright crimson eyes before dispersing into the surrounding, ashy murk. The good news is that once it has you scared, it has no intention of sticking around - and its wings makes it incredibly fast, when it wants to be. Anyone who attempts to attack it directly will discover just how speedy it can be, assuming that the air from its wingbeats don't end up pinning you flat to the ground from the sheer force.

The Mothman can be killed, most likely...but there are a lot of you, and only one cryptid for an entire island. It's not likely to want to stay in one place if it feels it's outnumbered, or that it's about to be attacked by someone who isn't so easily stricken by the fear and suspicion it endeavors to ignite. Those who wish to escape it can at least take heart in the fact that the Mothman abhors open spaces, largely preferring the sanctuary of woodland and greenery; all one has to do is reach Ensō's shores to be largely safe from its influence.

Though you could try killing it too, of course. If you wanted.

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

You phone friends in all the time!

[They're just. Different. And also not technically friends.]

Oh, gross. Do you ever just consider not saying half of the things that come out of your mouth?

[Because of course Ben understands exactly what Klaus is implying there. He has seen too much, too many times. He does obediently go through his bag though.]

There's a saw, a plastic thing - oh, good. I have a first aid kit for when you do something dumb and get hurt. Also a bunch of rocks.

[Why does he have so many rocks.]

My friends aren't freaking Elder Gods!

[Also, like, Klaus hasn't fully decided what the hammer's going to get used for yet, truthfully. He was just being gross on purpose. You're welcome, bro.

He just also isn't about to go around learning carpentry.]

Does your rock have a TV on it? My rock has a TV on it.

[Klaus also pulls out... a rock. Amazing.]

Yeah, I got one of those and then this.

["This" being the seed that grows a tree. Which actually looks like a gemstone, but in Ben's mind that's just a sparkly rock. There's also the rock candy but he's definitely not sharing that so. He's just not gonna show Klaus.]

This is apparently a tree?

[Klaus... looks at the weird gem seed. And then just shakes his head with a sigh.]

Ben. Ben, Ben, Ben. Did you really forget what a tree is? They're those big tall things with the brown wood and the mostly-green leaves. We can go out and see if there are any and I can introduce you again.

[He is 100% intentionally being a dick right now. This is who you've chosen to live with.

Not that either of them had much choice, but.]

We time traveled and rocks that turn into trees is where you're drawing the line? Seriously?

[He knows what a tree is!!! He's seen trees recently!!!]

I have a portal to another dimension under my skin, you can see ghosts, and our sister just tried to cause the end of the world. A rock that turns into a tree is the least weird thing we've seen recently.

[Wow, don't remind him. As soon as Ben mentions Vanya, Klaus goes from looking like he's stifling laughter to a grimace, rubbing his temple.]

This is a very different kind of weird. This is a fantastical sort of weird that isn't actively killing anyone.

[...Wait, when he puts it that way, it sounds kind of great. Klaus looks back up at Ben, face deathly serious.]

Do you want to see what kind of tree it is.

We can't plant it here.

[Ben's just giving Klaus a Look™, one that Klaus has probably seen before. It's the one that means "You're stupid. I can't believe we're related."]

[The look Klaus is giving Ben translates, in response, to "I fully admit to being a complete idiot and we're doing this now. I have zero regrets."]

You're the one insisting it's a fucking tree! Slap that sucker on the floor! Come on! Let's see it!

[And, since Ben is taking too long in Klaus' opinion, he just marches over and tries to knock it out of his brother's hand to see what happens. DOES IT NEED TO BE BURIED? Who knows, Klaus doesn't.]

You're supposed to bury it, stupid. Don't you remember how plants work? Should I draw a picture for you?

[He says it slightly mockingly, because he's stressed out and Klaus is the only one around to take it out on. Ben does pick it up and shove it into his pocket, though.]

If you'd think with your head for like two seconds, you'd realize we don't have water. You know, the thing plants need to grow.

That's NOT a seed!!

[Klaus isn't giving up at this point, even if Ben is using things like "logic" and "reason", because now he's annoyed and just wants to hassle his sibling. And, like, we're all stressed out here, it's a great time.

So he just tries to violently steal it back out of Ben's pocket.]

It already doesn't work like plants do, apparently!

[Ben forgets for a second that he's, like, solid? Because usually when they fight Klaus goes right through him and so he stands still and doesn't move until Klaus actually bumps into him and then Ben remembers that happens now and reflexively shoves at Klaus. Hard, because Ben still hasn't quite worked out the difference between when he was dead and being alive.

It has been like five minutes and they could not keep it together long enough to figure out where they are. Ben is alive again and they're just immediately getting into a fight. This absolutely scans and yet. And Yet.]

[Klaus has all the constitution of a wet noodle on his best days, of which this is decidedly not one. Ben, meanwhile, isn't exactly Luther, but he doesn't have to be. Klaus flies backward, falling prone on the stone floor of the temple.

Already keyed up, he just kicks at Ben's ankles from the floor. He doesn't, like, plan on actually hurting him? But he also isn't planning anything else in particular, as usual.

Really, he's just acting out at this point.]

[It's been a pretty bad month for Five, all things considered. The whole scavenging thing was really the least of his worries, once he'd found the Denny and learned there may not be any coffee, but there is a steady supply of alcohol available. Having frustratingly vague ideas on how to factor a whole entire new universe into his calculations is another big one and he's been running out of space for his thoughts since pretty much day one.

But no, turns out losing his entire family again was going to be the main drain on his sanity.

And then a goddamn volcano erupted, choking the air with ash for weeks on end. The first few days were a blur (literally), but eventually he'd managed to determine that no, he wasn't the last person left alive around here, and all other concerns had taken a backseat to trying to wait it out holed up in his hideout.

Of course, now that Dolores is here, she's kicked him out immediately to make himself useful and that's why he's checking out the general ruckus that seems to be happening in the temple. Despite the tropical heat, he's dressed protectively in some of the remnants of the clothes pile - actually sensible if too large trousers, a jacket that doesn't make him look like an escaped Hogwarts student, and something that used to be a leopard-print tshirt covering most of his face.

He hears Klaus' petulant voice from somewhere within the ruins and almost doesn't dare go after it, could be a trick of acoustics, he'd barely known his siblings' adult characteristics, probably just some other loud annoying idiot he doesn't want to deal with.

But realistically, when is he ever wrong?

Though he definitely wasn't expecting the two-for-one bargain. Not only is it very much, very appallingly Klaus, there's also Ben looking considerably more solid than the last time Five saw him.

You'll forgive him for feeling slightly like he's seeing not just one, but two ghosts.

In fact, he's shocked enough he watches their entire toddler-tier squabble play out from the doorway. Oh, how he hasn't missed this. The shoving is where he draws the line and he pulls down the cloth from his mouth to shout at them.]

What are you-- Stop it, you morons!

[Thank god nobody will ever know he was happy to see them for an entire 2.5 seconds there before they ruined it.]

He started it!

[In some part of Ben's brain he's like barely 17 and "he started it" is a valid excuse for being stressed out and wanting to go home. He always wants to go home. Ben's easily stressed out and he doesn't like new situations and he doesn't like that he's alive and solid but his body is all weird and wrong.

And you know, telling Five that Klaus started it is the first thing all day that's felt kind of normal.]

[Klaus has evolved to just, like, kid-wrestling his brother, basically. He's attempting to get Ben into a headlock. He's not doing very well.

But hearing Five's scolding voice is still an immense relief.]

Five, thank God you're here, you need to time travel Ben back into a ghost, you've accidentally made him insufferable!

I-- What?

[Hold on, it's been long enough he's almost forgotten that trying to parse anything Klaus says is absolutely pointless. He sighs as if trying to center himself amidst a storm of idiocy.]

You sure you want to be throwing stones in that particular glass house, Klaus?

[Next he glances at Ben, who is-- or at least used to be, slightly more informative.] Where the hell did you guys come from?

[If anyone was expecting him to physically break up their baby fight, fuck off, he's not the damn nanny.]

[Ben just shoves at Klaus again. But like. Softer this time. Like a baby shove.]

Where - you're the one who brought us here! [This isn't funny, Five!!] You said "let's all time travel" and then we all agreed because Vanya shot the moon and the options were agree with you or die and - ok I guess I'm already dead so that wasn't a huge concern for me, but it was for you guys.

[Ben would like to go home now, thanks.]

[Yeah, Klaus is getting too distracted now to keep up the fighting. He vaguely shoves back, with even less force than Ben did.]

Excuse me?? I had nothing to do with this! I can make Ben solid sometimes, yeah, but none of that involves him actually having to breathe and have a beating heart and... He's alive right now! I know you've never time traveled a ghost before!

[It's great that Five is now here because Ben and Klaus now have someone to yell at that isn't each other. Always good to see your family again, right Five.]

Edited (wtf happened there) 2019-05-10 07:34 (UTC)

[Yeah, it's positively heartwarming. Too bad Five is a little more concerned with absorbing the actually relevant information hidden within a bunch of immature chattering. He throws up a hand at Klaus in an obvious Shut Up gesture, pointing at Ben, though his gaze doesn't quite go all the way up to his face.]

Wait, you're saying you just got here? From the end of the world? [He huffs out an incredulous, relieved laugh. This is great news! It means he did manage to pull his siblings out of the apocalypse, they just got a little temporally misplaced on the way.

And of course the fact that he's wearing different clothes and probably looking like he's gone fully feral is totally lost on both of them.]

What about the others? Did you see them?

[His brain helpfully reminds him of the ownerless knapsacks he'd already subconsciously noticed so nevermind actually, he can just check them for names himself.

It seems the whole Ben being alive part of the equation ranks a little lower on his list of priorities right now than trying to account for the rest of his family.]

I thought you would know where they are.

[To be fair: Ben being alive ranks fairly low on his own list of priorities for a different reason. He's stressed out about it, sure, but he figures Five will eventually just tell him it's a side effect of time traveling as a ghost. What's actually concerning to him is that Five is implying that their other siblings aren't here. Which means that this wasn't part of the plan.]

Are you saying we're the only ones here?

[Klaus has never been able to be described as observant, especially when he's distracted and feels like he's been drawn and quartered slowly for the past, oh, 48 hours or so.

So yeah.]

You lost everyone else!?

[And that incredulity lasts about half a second, because now is the time he chooses to notice the new outfit. He pinches at the leopard print shirt Five is currently using as a head wrap.]

Oh, but at least you're looking good. Finally changing up the look, huh?

[He's definitely... going to "borrow" this later.]

[You know what, the last thing Five needs right now is Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum judging him for the thing he's been making a spirited attempt at drowning himself in alcohol over for the past month, okay. Actually, scratch that, the very last thing he needs is Klaus getting handsy. He slaps his brother's hand away with some tightly wound force.]

I told you it was gonna be messy! You think we were just taking a leisurely stroll down the timeline? The variables involved in accounting for all of you were insane, I-- [But what's the point in trying to explain himself, they won't get it anyway.] Just be glad you're not thirteen again.

[Having checked all the remaining bags and not found what he was looking for, he throws the last one back on the ground and pulls out his notebook to mark down the time and location of his brothers' arrival. Any data point he can get his hands on.]

They'll show up. You being here proves it. [It proves that he did manage to hold onto them, even through universes.]

When you said messy I thought you meant more like. [He motions guts spilling out and makes a little "blegh" noise.] For the record, though, I'm still technically like sixteen. Maybe?

[He kind of looks at Klaus for confirmation. Literally Ben doesn't remember because Klaus has bern making him age and it's weird but Ben thought it was a coping mechanism so he never brought it up.]

Time's just generally fucked for us, I think.

[Ben is looking at him, and Klaus is just squinting back.]

Don't be an idiot, you're not sixteen.

[Translation: it's the world's most convenient and most subconscious coping mechanism, manifesting in the least self-aware manner imaginable. Current editions of the Guinness Book of World Records are being rapidly updated by panicking archivists as we speak.]

Okay. So they're just late to the party. That sort of makes sense.

Thank you for not making me thirteen, by the way, I'd rather die.

[You know how decent people know not to tell someone "I'd rather be dead than be like you." Well Klaus isn't one of those people.]

[Well today is Klaus' lucky day, because on this they agree. Five flashes him a bitter, tight-lipped smile.]

Yeah, you're welcome.

[He tucks his notebook away, briefly considering his next step in this turn the day has taken. He glances at Ben again with a slight frown. Sixteen. Vanya hadn't skimped on the family secrets in her book, but she'd kept the details of Ben's death notably vague. He has questions, but none of them are immediately relevant to the situation. Or would benefit from Klaus' presence, probably. His brother is both older and more alive than he should be, and they're just going to have to deal with that.]

Alright, so all we have to do is keep you two alive until Luther gets here to babysit you. Should be easy! [This is his sarcastic voice.] Come on, let's get out of here. [Walk and talk, chop chop.]

May Intro: I'll Be Scrolling Through Your Shrine

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