lifeaftr | May Adventure: I Want to Go Where Everyone Goes

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May Adventure: I Want to Go Where Everyone Goes

NEW ISLAND: IO

Who: Everyone!
What: Io appears!
When: May 10th and onward
Where: Io
Warnings: The possibility of drug use and alcohol may come up. Otherwise, tag as you go!

Things Are Shaping Up to Be Pretty Odd
As of May 10th, the mana pools on Ensō and its islets will now allow for travel to Io. Though you could always opt for sailing, if you wanted. As we mentioned on the island's introductory post, no exploration is necessary! The island is small enough and easily traversed, and with a minimum of dangers, you have plenty of time to visit each of Io's six draws.

The temple is the easiest place to get in touch with the local avatar, though you can contact them just as easily by striking up a conversation with just about any honeybee you see in the vicinity. The lazy drone of them can be heard all over the island, though they're quite complacent, and not at all prone to disturbing adventurers. The temple itself is twined with grapevines and smothered with inlays of rubies, proud and sparkling. Inside, it smells of honey and wine, and seems to exhibit a naturally contented glow. Just outside, numerous fruit trees sprout all about the temple's courtyard, to be sampled at your leisure.

The bathhouses are located just south of the temple, and are prime locations for some rest and relaxation. Bathe, swim, take a spa day! There are innumerable rooms to do exactly that, and more space than be reasonably filled by some sixty-or-seventy people.

Or maybe you're interested in getting absolutely sloshed instead. The vineyard is perfect for that, located to Io's northeast on one of its long, tapering peninsulas. Rows upon rows of grapevines lead up to the crown jewel of the region: a proud winery with enough goods to satisfy even the most parched.

For those less keen on mind-altering substances, the tea gardens are a far safer bet. They practically emanate tranquility, with their soft paper lanterns, thickets of tea trees, and a tea room with a seemingly endless supply of every supplement to your drink that you could ask for. And if none of the teabags or tea leaves in there suit your preference, you're free to wander about the gardens yourself and sample whatever you like.

The Honeycomb at the island's heart is much more akin to a play structure or jungle gym than anything else, but its interlocking passageways and erratic, hexagonal architecture aren't for nothing. It's an ideal spot for play or exercise, if you're into that kind of thing - or for getting positively sick on honey sticks.

The campsites ensure that you don't truly have to depart from Io, if you don't want to. Tents full of chairs and cushions and blankets make it a wonderful place to spend the night if you're so inclined, and the lockers full of food and drink are assurances that you won't go hungry. And with all these massive bonfires and firework cannons, why would you ever want to leave?

Welcome to the island of Io! Please, enjoy your stay and make full use of this island's many faculties! For further information in regards to the island, or plotting, the following links may prove handy:

[ ♆ ] OOC info and introductory post
[ ♆ ] Io on the Locations page

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Basically, yes.

[That's a pretty low bar.]

We had negotiated with our captors for our release, and we were going to Wesker's world to fulfill our end of the agreement.

Your "end" of the agreement?

[Pardon him if he sounds skeptical. That sounds...uh, not great.]

It was not an ideal solution. But I do not think one existed. It was a little complicated...?

[He shoots Tim a questioning look. He doesn't see why Tim would care all that much about his whole deal, but he's willing to talk about it; fair is fair.]

Hey, I've been dumping my problems on you all this time.

[MIght as well, if it means Asgore can get some of his problems off his chest.]

Oh, no, you have not been.

[He hasn't said all that much, really. At the very least, "dumping" isn't a word Asgore would use.]

There was an...amalgamation of human souls. Ninety-eight of them, trapped in some sort of void and fused together after their deaths. They called themselves the Risen. They were...

[He can see them in his mind's eyes still. It's lucky for the others that they could not witness the souls themselves; they were vast and terrible, a swirling mass of souls and colors that seemed to blend into one another. Like nothing Asgore has ever seen.]

They brought us to Beacon and baited us into killing one another so that they could take the bodies for themselves. They intended to place one of their souls into each one, and find some escape that way. But Wesker had - [Oh, shit, he's thrown Wesker under the bus a little without meaning to.] - access to something that could make clones? Those of us left convinced them to let us bring them there and try that instead. I went so that I could tell if the clones had souls of their own already...

[Some people thought they wouldn't, since they had only been asleep their whole existence, never really given the chance to be a person. Asgore, to be frank, doesn't entirely understand what cloning is? He has no predictions of his own. He just knows that it would've been wrong to wake them up, if they had awareness, just to be someone else's vessel. Wesker made them for exactly that purpose, but Wesker also probably wouldn't have tried very hard to make sure they were empty.]

...though I do not know what we would have...what we will do, if they do.

[A nonviolent solution. That seems pretty characteristic of the Asgore he remembers, from other people's memories - remorseful, and never wanting to commit to a plan that would result in the deaths of innocents.]

[Tim listens, and sips at his tea when he has the chance.]

Look for another way, maybe?

It seems as though there must be a perfect solution somewhere out there, does it not?

[He leans on one hand, fiddling with the handle of his teacup in the other. It's really more of a mug - the actual teacups here were too small.]

But they are possessing Alex, a young human girl. That is how they were able to interact with this world in the first place - she heard their suffering and reached out to them. It will kill her if they stay much longer, and if they leave her body, they will return to the void. [Not that they would be willing to do that, but even if they were, Asgore doesn't really consider that a great option. He promised to help.] They are unwilling to take a substitute.

[He'd offered himself as one pretty much the instant he saw them, and saw what it was doing to Alex. He's sure it was a decent plan; monsters can absorb human souls already. Ninety-eight seems like an extreme number, but if Alex could bear it for a while then so could he. But they did not want a monster body, and the rest of the group did not want him to sacrifice himself. So.]

I fear we do not have time to search for a world with something better.

[He can guess why Asgore might know how they don't take substitutes. He remembers (someone else remembers) the act of sacrificing one's SOUL to pass through the Barrier, and go free, because living with the shame of what he's done and what he'd become - ]

[Those aren't his memories. He rips himself free of them, shuts his eyes in an overly long blink.]

Maybe there's a solution here. We don't know yet.

I suppose that's possible.

["A whole lot of functioning, soulless human bodies" seems like a pretty wild thing to try buying with stories. Maybe if they ever worked out how to come and go freely from here. Asgore has nothing better to do than spend however long it'd take to buy that favor from a god.]

I'm sorry, I do not mean to trouble you. [asgore you brushed off literally this exact apology from Tim like five minutes ago]

Yeah, that's what I said.

[The words are wry as he raises his mug to his lips.]

Look, I might not be able to fix your problem. I don't know anyone who could. Literally the least I can do is listen, if you need that.

[Listen. Asgore's lips quirk bitterly for a moment. He needs to stop that yearning for someone to listen. Things seem to spill out of him too much lately, at inappropriate times and to inappropriate people.]

I - you do not need to be so kind.

[Tim is close to Chara and Frisk. He must know that Asgore is the last person whose needs ought to be considered.]

Sure, no one needs to be nice. Maybe I just feel like being less of a dick than usual.

[He's trying, anyway. It's a good skill for someone who's running Denny to have. He's gruff, blunt, socially graceless, prone to stumbling over his words and not knowing what to say. But he might as well try and be a little better.]

Come now, you have never been rude to me! You should be kinder to yourself as well.

[man we like just missed getting Asgore to say the word "dick"]

[Oh, no, he knows he doesn't deserve that either. But he's not about to dismiss that outright.]

I'm not good at this, is my point. This whole...talking...thing.

That is alright. I rather suspect I am not, either.

[A king ought to be, he thinks. He guesses he gives pre-written speeches adequately. But, like most things, when left to his own devices he always manages to say something wrong.]

You're fine. When was the last time someone just sat and listened to you, anyway?

[Is he ever gonna just talk about his own feelings without any prompting whatsoever? Tim would put money on the answer there being no.]

...we would talk often in Beacon. Of a great many things. Secrets, regrets...they were all tools that could be used against us. Eventually it just seemed better to have it all out in the open.

[And it had been. For him, at least. Maybe that's what he's missing?]

Besides, we all lost memories upon arriving. I could not have hidden what I was remembering from anyone. [You don't just remember things like that and go on like before. He'd hidden away, but in such close quarters everyone still noticed. Somebody always came.] But that was a unique situation.

[And that was how many years ago, now?]

Not that memories always stick around anyway. I mean - last month, yeah? [Boy, he doesn't wanna think about that at all. Why did he bring that up?]

Yes...

[He thought we weren't talking about that. There's a lot he feels bad for not following up on appropriately...but he was only a child himself. Bringing Tim home to his parents was the best thing he could think to do.]

I do apologize for causing you distress.

It wasn't on you. I was an easily..."distressed" kid.

[A shrug, offhand, like this could be easily dismissed. It can't, really, because he was entirely too forthcoming with some things that he shouldn't have been.]

[Can't be helped now.]

Nonetheless...

[Asgore doesn't seem quite so comfortable with dismissing it, but it's too late to do anything else now. And as for the rest of it...]

If you would prefer not to discuss it, I understand. I think many people feel that way. [He's fine, for his part; his child self didn't have any secrets to reveal. Probably never gonna talk to Toriel about their encounters though!]

There's not much to talk about.

[That's a lie, of course, but he's never in any hurry to talk about himself. Why crack open that heavy door, pry open that safe, when all that's inside is a long list of things that no one should have to contend with? He couldn't handle it. Why would he expect anyone else to?]

[He's a liar. He's a liar he's a liar he's a liar.]

Not really.

[Asgore just frowns. It seems wrong to just let that pass as if nothing ever happened - but then, there are plenty of things which he does not want to discuss, either.]

If you are sure. I am always around if you ever change your mind.

Hey, same to you. Not like I'm a registered therapist or anything, but I guess I'm an all right listener.

[When he's not bulling off trying to make things better, anyway. When he's not fucking things up by trying to make them better.]

Of course.

[Asgore smiles wryly, looking down at his teacup. Neither of them is very well off, are they? He hopes Tim is doing better overall than he himself feels sometimes.]

I know...I know they have only recently come back. But are the children doing well?

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