lifeaftr | June Intro: Playing With Your Mind

June Intro: Playing With Your Mind

INTRO LOG: JUNE

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

New travelers to our shores are in luck, in many ways - they are arriving on the decadent, raucous island of Io, where the local Avatar of Celebration resides. Here, you can bask in enjoyment of basics such as food and drink, as well as more extravagant affairs, such as sweeping bathhouses, sprawling campsites, rich tea gardens, and verdant vineyards.

Spinning Me Around and Around
If you are just arriving on Io, opening your eyes on the shores of LifeAftr for the very first time, it will be to...a potentially very rude awakening. More specifically, it will be to the sound of loud cracks and booms overhead.

You've arrived at Io's campsite, which has come fully stocked with all sorts of cooked meats, roasted vegetables, colorful tents, drinks of every sort, and, most importantly, fireworks. It seems Io is thrilled to welcome you to LifeAftr in the form of multi-colored starbursts, exploding out across the sky in flares of showering sparks. Particularly once the sun sets, the view will be spectacular.

If you go poking around in the containers and sheds where the fireworks are kept, you'll also find all manner of strange and exciting and potentially unfamiliar variants. You can find all kinds of handheld sparklers, in addition to steel wool fireworks, handheld firecrackers, confetti poppers, and little boxes of pop pop snappers for your general use and perusal.

The message here is clear: Io wants you to celebrate your arrival! So relax! Have fun! Make some noise! Watch some colors and explosions of light, and enjoy yourself!

And try not to set anything on fire.

Just Like a Carnival
It isn't all fun and games, however. Unfortunately, it's about to get a lot less fun around here...or a lot more, depending on who you ask.

After a month or so on Io, the local avatar, Eleu, has begun to notice that a great deal of little things are starting to go missing. Bottles of wine, tents, tea leaves...people seem to be lifting whatever they please from the island and bringing it with them back to Ensō. That won't do at all. For the next few days, if any of the bees buzzing lazily about the island catch you stealing, they will approach you and ask you to stop. They will not, however, take any definitive action to stop you - they can only warn you that what you are doing may disrupt things beyond Eleu's control.

Unfortunately, by now, it's already too late. Out of the corner of your eye, regardless of your place in things - whether you were complicit in island theft, whether you are newly arrived and therefore innocent, whether you only watched on the sidelines, or whether you were totally unaware - you'll start to see it. It will peek out from behind trees and the corners of buildings.

Smiling.

This...entity probably has a name. For the purposes of the games you've been playing with this island, however, you really only need to call it what it is: the Clown Box. Accompanied almost always by the tinkle of chimes and a soft, sinister chuckling, it is unclear how the Box manages to travel about, much less disappear if you try to approach.

For the first week or so of June, be prepared to find the Clown Box lingering all over Io, particularly near the mana pool. If it looks like you're going to try and lift something off the island, something that does not belong to you - the Clown Box may retaliate. This retaliation largely occurs in the form of a hand that appears to be gloved in silky, glittering material and colorfully polka-dotted cloth, slinking out to beckon at you, eerily. It seems unwilling or unable to actually hurt you directly, but it will grow incredibly persistent if you don't acknowledge it, and stop popping up all over Io with increasing frequency.

The Clown Box can be appeased by giving it a gift. What it's really after are perceived thieves: return something you have stolen, and the Box will vanish as quickly as it appeared. However, the Box is also not terribly discerning in what it is given, as long as it is something that did, at some point, belong to you. And, if you give it enough offerings, you might end up with a gift of your own. Those who give the Clown Box multiple offerings may receive any of the following:

[ ♆ ] Rubber Duck: These novelty toys don't seem to do anything in particular, other than be cute and colorful and utter happy little honks when squeezed. But there's a slight chance you might end up with a toy that seems...oddly relevant to your personal life. It might even be designed after you. Best not to question it. Just back away from the Clown Box, slowly, and be sure to thank it for the gift...

[ ♆ ] Snotgun: What appears to be an ordinary shotgun is anything but, as one will find out by firing it, it only shoots blobs of bright green acid capable of melting just about anything. So be careful not to aim it at any of your friends.

[ ♆ ] Silk Handkerchief: There's nothing particularly special about these tri-colored squares of cloth...except that no matter what you do to them, they will not stain, tear, or fade. They can be used to clean just about anything, or even serve as a delightful party trick.

[ ♆ ] A Very Shiny Nose: A bright red foam nose, easily attached to most human-shaped faces. All this thing does is inspire a general proclivity for causing mischief and trickery, though mostly of the light-hearted kind. However, the longer the nose is left in place, the more some pranks may skew toward the downright dangerous...

You are free to RNG any of the above rewards your character gets, or pick from the list above as you like! Bear in mind that the Clown Box is a stingy creature - it will not give more than one reward to any one person, though nothing is stopping you from trading others for any gifts they may have received.

The Clown Box will cease being quite so persistent in tailing characters by June 7th, but it won't go away completely. You can still catch glimpses of it from time to time, waiting, watching, giggling quietly to itself. Even if you try to attack it, enchant it, set it on fire, you'll find that these attacks are essentially useless; it will vanish before any of them connect, and when it returns, it will certainly be to menace you further.

It isn't doing anything other than scaring you, though.

Yet.

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 )

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Regardless of how upset I was [and "upset" isn't even the right word for it, doesn't get to how shaken he was] I was completely out of line, and you didn't deserve to be treated like that. I am deeply sorry for my actions.

[Surprise, Yuri. This kid is actually your extremely polite and well-mannered son.]

( surprise, indeed. again, she has to watches in silence and tries to consider her thoughts before ultimately, and carefully, she comes to rest a hand on his shoulder. )

I can't pretend to understand and I won't try but... I imagine it was a conversation you never saw yourself having. Brings up a lot of feelings when those people just suddenly show up. ( and with that she lets her hand drop and returns to gripping her bag. ) But I accept your apology, Yukio. It's okay.

Would... [his tongue flicks out nervously, like tasting the air is going to give him some kind of answer for how to proceed.] Would you be all right if... um... if we sort of pretended that conversation didn't happen?

[Wait no that sounds like he's a complete idiot who doesn't know how human interaction works.]

What I mean is, I would like it if we could sort of start over. [HE STILL SOUNDS LIKE A COMPLETE IDIOT WHO DOESN'T KNOW HOW HUMAN INTERACTION WORKS.]

( there's a quiet moment where yuri has to fight the urge to smile. instead listening on with a neutral expression that does give away her fondness or odd surge of happiness in the moment. she's so reminded of shiro, it almost hurts a little. there's still a lot she has to learn about these boys, her children.

but at least this is a good start, right? )

Start off on a better foot, maybe? Whatever works for you, works for me. I'd like if we could start over too.

Thank you. [He's trying not to let the relief show, but some of it comes out anyway.

He tries for a smile, trying not to show too much fang.]

In that case, I'm Okumura Yukio. It's nice to finally meet you.

( and she simply smiles in return, one that is clearly both bright and happy with this development. there is a part of her that does have to wonder who they got their names from was it her... or was it shiro? )

And I'm glad I've gotten the chance to meet you, Yukio. I'm Egin Yuri but you know that already, huh?

[He nods, with a smile that's a little less strained.]

What would you like me to call you?

Umm, well! Yuri is fine with me if you'd like. Everyone calls me by my name anyway.

( it also doesn't help she didn't know what her surname was for most of her childhood. )

Yuri-san then. [He decides, with a nod. Sorry, he's just extremely into calling everyone -san.]

You can call me whatever you like. W-within reason, of course. [Please don't Yuki-chan him.]

You... mentioned you're a tamer?

Yukio... san, then? ( it feels just a little weird knowing that 1) he's younger than her and 2) this is her child. but it's probably for the best. )

O-oh! Yes, I am! I do a lot of work on the demon farm and written a few books even. It's my lifework.

[Well, that sounds awkward.]

If you want.

And that's impressive. I don't have any talent for Taming, but I'd love to learn more about what you do. My meisters are in Dragoon and Doctor, and I've been studying for Aria. [A little bit of Knight too, but that really isn't his strength yet.]

Yuki-san, maybe... ? ( she's mostly mumbling to herself now. )

W-wow! And you're so young too but you said Shiro raised you, right? You didn't live in the Asylum?

... people usually just go with Okumura-sensei. [You know. If she's struggling.

Actually never mind that's worse. This is just all so strange. He shoves past that weird moment and answers her question. Sort of.]

From what I understand, the Asylum program was shut down around the time my brother and I were born. [He saw the files, the bits and pieces of data on exactly what True Cross had always been.]

My brother and I were raised by Father Fujimoto and the other priests at Southern Cross Boy's Monastery. [Yukio isn't sure when his adoptive father really started caring about the whole Catholic priest thing, but he can answer questions as she raises them.] ... were you raised in the Asylum?

Not always, I was raised in Northern True Cross Academy Town from the time I was a newborn up until a fire killed my guardians when I was young. ( it still hurts to think about them and what could have been. it's been years now but she misses them every day. ) I didn't have anywhere to go and ended up finding Shiro's base that he had been living in after running away. He almost threw me out but I guess decided to take some pity on me but not long after was when the exorcists showed up for him. Once they realized I could see demons, I was taken to the Asylum and folded in with the other kids.

... It wasn't easy so I'm glad you and your brother didn't have to live there too.

... he ran away? [Not to turn this conversation to Fujimoto Shiro, but...]

That doesn't sound much like him. [Yukio can't picture it, not with the mental image of the man he's built up.]

Shiro was quite the menace when he was younger. Always causing trouble but such an incredible exorcist. ( she says, nodding along. ) He had been through a lot though so I can't blame him. Once he started making and accepting that people wanted to be his friend and be part of his life, his personality got better.

That sounds a lot like my brother. [Rin and Shiro were so alike. This is just another sign of it, another way that Yukio is somehow falling short. Maybe he's too well-behaved? (no, that's stupid).]

My brother was always getting in trouble when we were younger, but he's doing better now that he's making friends with the other exwires.

I hope he at least had a better attitude. Shiro could be so mean at times. ( she huffs but it's clearly said in fondness. )

And what about you? Studious, training from a young age, a teacher and even a higher rank than me. It sounds like a lot.

My brother has always been a kind person, even when he was getting into fights. [Yukio's the mean one.]

It... is a lot. [and there's that fae honesty, the mental change drawing out things he wouldn't have said before.]

But I... [but he what?] I've done well for myself, by all accounts.

I'm glad. Shiro really raised you both so well. ( and again, it's spoken with the utmost fondness although there is a touch of sadness there. something she hasn't felt before but one she can't bring herself to fully understand why she feels the way she does. )

You really have and that's nothing to scoff at but be sure to take care of yourself too. Sometimes it's good to take a break from the normal not that I would know. I was always hip-deep in my work, the farm, teaching or my books.

I suppose we're similar in that regard. [When has Yukio ever been able to slow down? It's been years. He's always had something to do, a task to complete, a job to finish. He can't afford to take a break.

At least Yuri's similar. He wasn't expecting to hear it, but it's... kind of nice.]

Seems so. Hopefully you didn't get all my bad habits along with my moles.

( she says with a half-chuckle, poking her own cheek lightly. )

[Oh, those. They're even more noticeable now, with the fae transformation.]

I would hope not. [But the better question is, what kind of bad habits does she have?]

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June Intro: Playing With Your Mind

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