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 )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Good! That makes things a lot easier. Let's go sit down, huh? [he takes a sip of the iced tea I totally didn't forget he had until just now] There's beanbags, right?

[completely clueless!! Rin peeks into some of the nearby tents and finds an unoccupied one, then he goes in and beckons for the rest to follow]

[SHE DIDN'T TELL HIM

Instantly, Yukio decides that Yuri probably has a good reason for not telling Rin, and that he probably shouldn't bring it up. That doesn't mean he doesn't shoot Yuri a look as he follows Rin over to the beanbag chairs.]

What did you want to talk about, nii-san?

( OF COURSE SHE DIDN'T. hi rin, i'm your mom??

nevertheless she follows with a tired sigh. sitting, yeah, sitting sounds nice even if she's sitting with her future sons. god, this was weird. probably weirder for them to be sitting with their dead mom. ugh. maybe she should have grabbed something to drink back at the tea house too? something strong to help her through this. )

[she did NOT tell him!! Rin lets his glamour fade, and he gestures with both his hands and his wing-hands as he speaks]

Um, mostly about this island, this world... I'm no good at portal magic anyway, so I guess... are we stuck here? You've been here longer than me!! [Rin frowns at Yukio] But this whole "free party" thing... I don't trust it...!

[Yukio can do this, this is easy. Just... ignore the elephant in the room.]

It should be safe here, unless we do something to upset the local god. [Demons are easy.] From what I've been able to determine, they just want people to... celebrate. The demons in charge of each of these islands want something, but they're fairly benevolent. As long as we don't offend them, the danger should be limited.

Then we should be fine as long as we play nice, right?

( okay, as the elephant in said room she can't help casting a glance between the two. there's no way she can keep silent now. she had figured it might be easier on rin to hear it from his brother but-- )

But... I'm going to have to be the bad guy for a minute and not play nice. Rin, I told you that I knew Shiro... right? That, in a way, I knew you and Yukio too. Did you ever wonder why if you've never met me before now?

[Rin's ears and headfeathers droop] "Just want us to celebrate", huh? geez... that sounds familiar... and the last time something like that happened, we ended up getting ambushed by demon vampires...! Eugh....

[he blinks and looks over at Yuri, tilting his head] Huh? ... Well... [Rin looks down, a sad expression on his face] I... figured maybe you died when we were real little or something. I mean... being an Exorcist is a dangerous line of work. [he looks away, rubbing the back of his neck] But I didn't really want to give it much thought... You're such a nice person, I... .... b-but I guess... even nice people pass away....

[Well, good try Yuri. Time for Yukio to make an attempt.]

Did you notice how much she looks like you, nii-san? [Sorry, Yuri. Only one of your sons inherited his parent's smarts.]

( she sits up a little more and offers rin a smile, a soft but obviously fond one. )

Something like that... but your brother's right on the nose. The two of us have the same eyes, don't you think?

Eh...? W-well.. now that you mention it... you both have a lot of moles.... and... stuff... like.....

[the gears are turning, and suddenly it seems like they grind to a halt. Rin's eyes go wide and his face flushes, the feathers in his hair sticking straight up and his tail resembling a white-blue bottlebrush]

N... n-no way....! Yuri is....?!

[That sure does sound like Rin figured it out. So Yukio just confirms it.]

Yuri-san is our mother. [He glances over at Yuri.] I'm surprised she didn't tell you.

( at least that cat is out of the bag. )

I'm sorry I didn't say anything but I thought it might be better to hear it from Yuki-san or at least have him with you. ( she can't help rubbing the back of her head, chuckling. ) After all, I'm still just a stranger at the end of the day.

[Rin just sits on the beanbag looking stunned. His eyes dart between the pair of them ]

I... I can't believe it....

[he scrubs his face with his hands and runs his claws through his hair, then stands up, heading for the tent flap]

...need some air.... [he mutters as he leaves]

[There goes Rin, and Yukio follows. Someone has to talk Rin through what's happening, and it really shouldn't be Yuri.]

[Rin is sitting by an unoccupied campfire, his glamor back in place. He has his knees up to his chest, arms and chin resting on them as he stares into the orange flames.

He does not seem Happy about this development]

[Yukio sits across from him, quiet for a moment as he tries to think of what to say. It's weird, and Yukio hasn't really gotten used to it yet. There's a good ten or fifteen seconds for Rin to start talking as Yukio gathers his thoughts.]

[surprisingly, especially for the King of Mouth Diarrhea, Rin is completely silent. He looks at Yukio for a brief moment, just acknowledging his presence, before looking back into the fire with his brows furrowed. He picks up a nearby stick and pokes at the embers]

I yelled at her. [Yukio says, watching Rin play with the fire. He kind of wants to scold Rin for running off but... he isn't sure what would happen.]

I knew who she was when she introduced herself, but I didn't know what to say to her, so I just said something stupid.

[Rin listens silently for a moment, looking more sad than contemplative now]

That doesn't surprise me. You don't handle stuff like that well.

[he says it without a hint of judgement -- droll, stated as a fact, like the weather or the color of the sky]

...... I didn't want to know. I liked her better when she was just this... vague shadow person who I never met. [poke poke] It... doesn't seem to matter... No matter how hard I try to keep pushing forward... the past just keeps coming back.

I didn't really want to meet her either. [He just wanted to know more information.]

But you can't just walk away. You can't ignore the past. It's going to come back no matter what you do.

But why?! Why can't the past just stay in the past where it belongs?! I just want to move on with my life, not... not get caught up in things... these things I can't change! Things that don't matter!

Things don't stop mattering just because you don't want to deal with them! You can't just decide that the things other people care and worry about aren't important because you don't like thinking about them.

Oh yeah? You're one to talk, Mr. I Ignore My Feelings Until They Go Away. You're a hippopotamus.

[the bite of his words indicates he probably meant hypocrite.]

At least I worry about things that matter right now!

Hip-- hippopotamus!? That's not--- are you trying to say hypocrite?

Edited 2019-06-07 18:28 (UTC)

No! [blink] ... Wait. Is that... is "hypocrite" the thing where you say one thing and do the opposite?

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