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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[She snorts. Well that's enough to convince her this person's probably their friend as opposed to an actual enemy.]

I've found most of 'em are idiots.

[Any incredible capability aside.]

Wash is here. Don't know CT. Pretty sure he lives out on the islets with most of us. At least five of you armor guys running around though, so there's more somewhere.

[Friend. They had all once been team mates once, but that had shattered. Like a pack of rabid wolves, they had moved against each other. Carolina knows that she had played a roll in that, but she is honoured to be considered that.]

You've yet to meet them all...

[If she thought they were, imagine if she met the Reds and the Blues.]

... five? Who are the others?

[Look, she doesn't know shit, and even if she did they might still be friends. She's hurt people she cares about on more than one occasion, sometimes on purpose and sometimes not. As long as she isn't leading to someone getting fully murdered, it's probably fine.]

Uhhh, well. You. Wash. Really big guy, like-- really big, like orc sized.

[It's Maine. She just kind of figures he's massive in their world too.]

And uhh. I dunno, two or three others? Seen more around here maybe once or twice. Haven't seen 'em a lot.

[Orc sized. She only knows what they are through second hand knowledge from stories and games. What she does know is that they are indeed portrayed as big, which is Maine.

It's just- She gives a little shake of her head, as if to clear it, as if that will make it better, clearer, more focused.

It doesn't.]

Probably not the ones I was with. They... would make themselves known.

[Burn the place down. Tame wild animals. Take on gravity. Be super lazy. Hit on anything that moved...]

Thanks. I'll figure it out.

[See, they're communicating. Frankly, Beau has no idea how many of these people to be expecting-- it was one thing when it was Just Wash, and she could pinpoint him by the armor alone. Now it's getting more complicated, and she knows she's gonna have to up her game if she wants to know what's going on around here.]

There's a decent amount of people around, so. Who knows. Maybe some are moving around without the whole uh, the whole outfit.

[Beau gestures to the armor, as if it needed to be said.]

Wash lives on Islet 4 though. Has anyone told you how to get there yet?

[Wash and CT would have been the answers that Carolina is expecting. After all, the trio lived together in the same residence. The Director had been here, but thankfully only for a short time, and this Dylan person hadn't stuck around long either.]

Directions to the mana pool would help.

[As she knows the way.]

[At least one of the people she actually likes stuck around. It can get unpredictable like that. But Beau is very good at being a guide under that respect, so she can absolutely do this.]

'Ss not too bad to get around. Island kind of looks like a bird foot, y'know, with the three toes? Pool is at the heel. Basically just go towards the bathhouses to the edge of the place and then go up. It's right by a huge temple, too, so that's a good guiding point. You hit the vineyard, campsites, or tea gardens and you're going the wrong way.

[Well, those were instructions. Sort of.]

[She knows little about this island, not familiar with it in the least. She's never set foot on it, and she has no idea how she even ended up here. Carolina will take whatever she can though. She'll explore it later, but at the moment, she does want to touch base with Wash and CT.]

Roger. Thanks for that.

Yeah, sure.

[Beau is sure she'll see her around, if she knows Wash. It'll be fine.]

You should have a stone-- I mean, it doesn't look like a stone anymore. It's a thing you can use to call people. You can probably just call Wash and he'll come get you. Just look for stuff you didn't have before you woke up here.

[Come get her.

It's not even something that has crossed Carolina's mind.

Her feet work fine and she has no qualms making her way there.]

I was wondering why I had a new pack and no stone.

[A coconut, but that seemed to be exactly what it looked like. A coconut. Can't say that she'd ever really been a fan, but she's eaten rations in the army, so if push comes to shove, she'll eat whatever to stay alive.\

[No shame with a little friend pickup if you just wanna lie in the dirt, Carolina. Super good with that.]

Yeah, we got some upgrades recently because of, uh... something or other. The old one started wigging out so the Storyteller redid 'em.

[Cool, close enough. But if this woman has everything she wants, Beau will just give her an approving nod.]

You got everything then? I think he's gonna want to see you.

Just like that?

[There may be a dubious tone to her voice, but she also doesn't press on her half comment half question. She recalls that they had needed to do something to get clothing, as hideous as some of it had been, and that it hadn't just come for free. Then again, it's not like Carolina knows of a handbook for the mechanics of this place. But there seems to be that mental shrug, as it's not like it matters, so long as it doesn't explode or do some other weird shit.]

Ya, I think I might have some explaining to do.

I mean, they wanted some stories or whatever, but I'll spend a few favors to have my dirty laundry stop getting flung around.

[So like fuck it, nothing, really.]

Sounds like you've got enough together though. Try not to walk into the ocean or anything, but I bet you can handle it.

Well, floating isn't exactly what these things were made for.

[Although the pressure wouldn't be an issue. Walk in and walk out. Not exactly a very fun experience anyway.]

Thanks though, for the information.

I mean then try not to die, I dunno, it's free advice.

[Beau nods, but doesn't look like she's mad about it or anything. She's just like this.]

Hit me up if you need something. Not anything, just like, stuff.

[Carolina can probably feel free to go, Beau is... just weird sometimes.]

[Dying is most certainly the last thing on Carolina's mind. It hasn't always been the most pleasant here, but she's got people that she cares for.

Stuff though? Like a couch, or? Not that Carolina needs one, but she gives a nod.]

I'll keep that in mind, but I think I'm good.

Cool.

[She's just really, really bad at explaining herself sometimes. But this is about the extent of her chattiness, so she nods back and then starts to walk off.]

Good luck with Wash!

[And there she goes.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

June Intro: Playing With Your Mind

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wrong thread /head slap

U GOOD, i think this one is wrapped anyway LOL