lifeaftr | August Aftermath: Make Me Okay

AUGUST AFTERMATH: MAKE ME OKAY

Who: Everyone!
What: After the harrowing events of mid-month, it's time to process what you've been through
When: August 24th and onward
Where: Ensō and/or Nastrandir
Warnings: Discussions of violence, injury, forcibly altered mindsets via magical influence, and character deaths. Other than that, tag as you go!

Nastrandir: Can I Fight When I Don't Know How
The morning of August 24th, the day after a Storytelling that was notably later than usual, you will wake to the restoration of your average selves, barring any extenuating circumstances due to recent deaths. The dead will rise again on Ensō, at the Storyteller's Temple, while everyone else will simply wake where they last laid themselves to rest. There's nothing left to do but, perhaps, try to come to terms with all that's just happened.

You've probably witnessed some terrible things, over the past few days. There's a very good chance that you were the one doing the terrible things. Whether you were responsible for the slaughter of a fellow adventurer, watched the fray from the distance, or suffered the spontaneous combustion that seized everyone who hadn't managed to shake away their false memories in time, it's at least all over now. Or...mostly.

Any stray sirens that haven't been smashed by the event's end are still shrilling away, though their dangerous effects seem to have been rendered inert without the aid of the broken merotome spilling its memories into everyone else's heads. Likewise, a handful of automatons still wander the island of Nastrandir. Those that have not succumbed to mud and rust and irreparable damage are still capable of firing upon hostiles. Anyone who may have fought by their side before will discover that they're now far less friendly, and will treat former members of the Red Team just the same as they would with any other intruder: with deadly fire.

So you can pick yourselves up off the ground and clean up what remains, or you can say to yourselves: Fuck That, and instead head back to Ensō. Or you could elect to keep exploring Nastrandir, if you're truly a glutton for punishment.

Ensō: Am I Bleeding From the Neck Down
On Ensō and its accompanying islets, it's begun to rain.

It's not a genuine downpour, but more of a gentle, melancholy drizzle. The rain is cool and likely refreshing, particularly if one is just coming away from the humidity of Nastrandir.

Potentially as a form of apology, anyone who goes digging through their belongings will discover that one of the following has ended up in their packs:

[ ♆ ] If you were a member of the Red Team, you will discover that you now own a rather awkwardly-shaped object, about three feet in length. A set of written instructions will inform you that this is known as a redsword, and that, upon placed upon any wet area or body of water, will drain and dry it out over the course of five minutes. This item is single-use, and only works for a ten-foot radius.

[ ♆ ] If you were a member of the Blue Team, you will discover that you now own some very fetching footwear. A set of written instructions will inform you that these are called skip-skops, and can be used to walk on water or wet land without sinking or getting wet. Standard limitations when crossing between islands or attempting to go beyond LifeAftr's limits will still apply. This item is single-use, and will dissolve after one hour total.

[ ♆ ] If you were Neutral, you will discover that you now own, er, this. A set of written instructions will inform you that this object is called a furball, and that it works as a sort of miniature, diminished version of the sirens you spent all that time destroying on Nastrandir. Once planted, it will rapidly grow into a tall, screaming tree full of lorby-like creatures that automatically causes all natural animals in the vicinity to become aggressive for one hour, maximum. This item is single-use.

It's not much, but it might make some of the hell that you suffered through over the past few days worth it! Almost, anyway. In the meantime...relax, lick your wounds, and try and forgive yourselves for what's happened.

Please remember to let us know if your character perished in this event! Remember also that death penalties will be reduced following this event; characters will only need to contend with them for a week, and participation in Non-Compulsory AC will not be necessary in removing them.

If you're interested, the following links may prove handy:

[ ♆ ] OOC Event Info and Plotting Post
[ ♆ ] Nastrandir's Intro
[ ♆ ] Nastrandir's Locations Page
[ ♆ ] Search Requests Page
[ ♆ ] Deaths Page

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Michael leans forward, listening attentively. This is his shit.]

Yeah, killing a person will lose you points. You gain some back if you saved someone else's life by doing it, but I don't know if your own counts. That's all Accountant work.

And that's the least of the problems with the system. Humans are held accountable for every eventual consequence of their actions, even ones that they couldn't possibly foresee. It's very difficult to buy anything these days without the money going to some evil corporation somewhere...the only real way to avoid point deductions is through complete isolation, but then you'll never be able to gain enough points to get into Heaven.

What? That's bullshit, then it has nothing to do with morality! Morality's about the things you do, consciously and personally. If I donate to save the fluffy bunny rabbits but actually the money gets pocketed by a soulsucker of a person or company, then I didn't do anything wrong--I was in fact doing what I thought was morally right.

So you gotta gain points to get to heaven, you lose points and go to hell, and everyone starts off with a balance of zero, but even unforeseen and unintended consequences make you lose points, so...what, does everyone end up in hell?

Everyone for the last 521 years, yeah.

Then not only am I not convinced you guys have a heaven, but, spoiler alert, your system is completely bust--

...What happened 521 years ago?

Honestly, I have no idea. Just the last person to get in, I guess.

[He kinda doubts there was a specific event? Frankly, Michael isn't convinced that a great number of people got in before that.]

And I know that! I'm working on it - I'm the only person who is. The angels obviously don't care.

How sure are we that the angels are actually angels and heaven's actually heaven?

That's...just what they're called. That's the definition of what an angel is. Those things.

[How do you know that a human's a human? How is anything anything? Aaaaaaa, philosophy!]

Rrrrright, right, but like, what's the difference between a demon and an angel in this case?

They're...huh. I don't know how to explain it in English, but they do look different in higher dimensions.

Anyway, I don't know if beings can really be inherently evil or inherently good, but if anyone can, it'd probably be us. That's not to say they're doing good things but as long as I can remember, we always...

[Mmm. Michael doesn't exactly like where he's going with that "we". He's gonna back off a little.]

Demons are sadists. Angels don't do any harm directly - they just discard everyone who's not up to their standards, and tell themselves that the rest deserve it. They're hypocrites. [Michael shrugs.] Maybe the difference is just that they kinda care about the concept of goodness, and demons don't at all.

Theoretically attainable goodness but not attainable in practice, at least for over 500 years. Cool. [That in no way sounds cool.]

You seem shockingly enlightened for a demon, and if I were to ever go to some kinda afterlife, which...[He waggles a hand.] Eh, is unclear on several fronts, then you'd be someone pretty cool to be in charge of my immortal soul.

...thank you.

[Michael would normally preen over a compliment, but he just sort of lets that one settle for a moment.]

It's only because of my human friends. Not like I was always some kind of softie. [Different, maybe. His interest in humanity was always a little weird. But never too far out of bounds - never enough that he questioned hurting them.]

Oh, no, I fully believe you were super about torture and torment and all that good stuff, but like, it got boring, right? And humanity's interesting, if flawed. Or, interesting because of the flaws.

Exactly! Man, nobody else in the office ever got that! They were happy to just keep flaying people for the rest of time - I mean, once you've flayed a few people, you've flayed them all.

August Aftermath: Make Me Okay

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