[WORLD ONE | OCTOBER INTRO LOG]

[spellbindmods]

Who: The new coven members and old blood
Where: In and around the hub island
When: Day 92
Open/Closed: Open to All

All characters are told briefly what their powers are by Genette -- no extemporaneous details. For instance, if your character has the ability to detect lies, they'll be told as such -- no warning about limitations, repercussions or the like. They'll also be given a variant of this letter so they aren't totally ignorant of the situation -- though of course adapt this letter to the current setting and surroundings of the game.

This setting may be familiar to you -- maybe you caught a glimpse of it when you first visited. Maybe this is your first time experiencing this weird world and the panic is setting in. If you're totally lost, a tall human woman with a long scroll of paper will stop by to give you the run down. She'll also give you a letter, which may give you more questions than answers since the information is a wee out of date. (Maybe someone else can fill in some gaps for you). What is at first painfully obvious is that you're ill-equipped. Any magic or powers you had previously are suddenly replaced with an empty hole in your being. That's not all that's gone, but perhaps that's what's most pressing. Another thing you may notice is that there are others just like you, wandering around and just as confused. If you feel so inclined, you may want to ask around and see if anyone else knows what's up. A ▢ If one of your characters isn't looking to introduce themselves to others, someone's willing to do it for them. Genette is trying to make sure all newbies are accounted for and have a buddy, so she's grabbing them when she finds them and tossing them at the first coven member she sees. "Hi, so-and-so, this is so-and-so! They're new, so show them the ropes -- be friends, okay?" You get the gist. Your character may be paired up with another newbie, a seasoned character or both! Five times, even! Timelines in RPing are weird! B ▢ Let's say that instead of milling about and doing nothing entirely productive, your character has decided to try and venture off to find a way off this huge floating rock. That's nice -- but be warned that the forest is filled with interesting things. For instance, they've happened to find a hollowed out tree that happens to be where a hoard of land crabs are living. They move fast -- run quick! C ▢ Other characters may want to establish shelter before they do anything else -- and that's their right! The problem is that if your character wants to be well-supplied, they're going to have to do things for themselves. There's something of an assembly line set up, but not a lot has been done in way of making things workable. Genette wanted all new coven members to have a little food parcel to take to their hut, but time constraints, you know? If you want any food for now -- or for later -- you may want to cook some of this (poisonous) eel, salt some boar jerky or cut into one of these rabbits. You've also got some berries to eat in the meantime, if you want something simple!

By the time afternoon sets in, everyone should be a little more adjusted -- or, they should at least be a little more aware of the situation. From there, things still need to be done and exploring is always an option! D ▢ For those characters who want to stick around the base camp, there's something worthwhile in discovering the buildings around the area. One such building is the mansion, which contains extra supplies and a renovated kitchen. The kitchen is now functional with electricity and running water, with a few raw ingredients for making whatever your character would like. It's minimal, but also not totally useless. E ▢ If you mill about too long, you'll be put to work. Run into Genette and you'll be sent to pick western part of the island to look for strawberries, wheat and deer (good luck hunting if your character doesn't have the capabilities, but maybe someone else can help?). Run into Genette and she'll offer your character an ax to chop wood with (is this a wise idea? probably not), or a request to go fishing in either a stream or the ocean attached to the island on the eastern side. Or your character can do both if they so choose...? F ▢ With all of these new people milling about, telepathy is on the fritz again. At least, it certainly is for those who are new! Your character may not realize their broadcasting frustrations to the network, or maybe a stupid secret. Their mental filter is certainly broken, but that's at least a great conversation starter. Night finally falls on the exhausting day, and it's time to rest. Thankfully the island is beautiful at night, especially the sky. The night is filled with space worms, relaxing mist and wondrous sights in the stars. G ▢ Adding to the excitement of the beautiful night, Genette has set up something of a...talent show? In an effort to get new coven members acclimated with their magic, she's asked them all to use their magic in some way -- it may take a volunteer, or maybe they can show it off all on their own. In any case, show me what you got. H ▢ Of course, some characters aren't going to be up for this fancy display and will want to go about their own business. There are plenty of places to sit and stew on this island, both private and in plain sight. The stars are spectacularly bright, and the higher up your character gets the less it seems like night time. If they're lucky, they may catch sight of a shooting star, though it's of course much larger than usual. They're directly in space, after all! I ▢ Wildcard! How will your character interact with this new and unusual world?

Comments

[lefthandfree]

[The quiet of night settles about them, a soft chorus or nightlife echoing in the distance. He can’t remember the last time he’s felt a genuine ease, the lull of silence between the two of them enough to remind him of late nights whispering stories with a friend. He isn’t sure why it comes to mind. It seems like a childish thing to even recall. Nonetheless, it memory brings comfort, a sense of belonging.

He hears her shifting now and again, to look up, drink in the sky. He makes his own glances discreetly, wondering if the stars are anything like what he grew up to know. He’s come to such a distant and unfamiliar place, but maybe, just maybe, somewhere beyond the sky is the planet he once called home. Not that it needs him anymore.

At her question, he sits back again, hands shifting behind him to support his weight, the scrape of metal making itself known once more. After a few moments carefully selecting his words, he replies dryly,] Not sure if I’ve got the talent they’re wanting.

I’m older anyway. Maybe too old. [A small chuckle slips out at that.] I’d just get in the way of their fun.

[precedents]

What kind of talent do they want?

[ he seems capable enough? everyone has their own quirks and abilities here, he doesn't look like he has nothing to contribute. she does squint at him a little; A2 doesn't know very much about humans, but he doesn't look much older than some of the people below. ]

... How old are you?

[lefthandfree]

[Well, that was blunt. He chuckles softly at the directness of her inquiry and sighs before answering.] About a century old, even if I don’t look it.

They want entertaining things though. Things that...inspire awe. Create cheer. Do you know what I mean?

[precedents]

You don't.

[ but hey, what does she know? maybe humans just stop aging physically once they become adults. but she's still squinting a little. ]

You seem pretty cheery.

[lefthandfree]

[Of course, if he realized what she was thinking, he would likely clarify: humans usually die by a hundred years of age. And they definitely look older than he does.

He doesn't though. So he simply reacts to the observation she makes, brows raising as he chuckles softly.]

Well, I try to be. But being cheery myself doesn't mean it'll cheer others up.

[Something tells him she doesn't really get what how that works.]

[precedents]

[ sorry he's talking to a sad android. ]

Maybe not. [ and she really doesn't get it, nor does she feel particularly inclined to understand. maybe there was a time when those sorts of things did matter, but not anymore. ] But it'd probably make you more approachable. Or something.

[lefthandfree]

What, being cheerful? [He hums, starting to understand that this young woman isn’t quite well versed in social norms.] It definitely makes people think that. That you’re more approachable, I mean.

But the truth is that it doesn’t actually mean anything in the long run. Nothing stops someone from pretending to be that just to get people to trust them. Obviously that’s not really honest either, but how’s anyone else going to really know without being in the other person’s head? And who’s to say honesty matters much if it’s not something that ever hurts anyone anyway?

[precedents]

[ that was not a response she expected. she doesn't even know what to say for a few moments, squint turning into an actual confused sort of frown, not entirely sure what to make of him.

is this human psychology 101? she didn't sign up for this. ]

... Do you usually think this much about it, or am I just lucky?

[lefthandfree]

[Her obvious distaste for his explanation earns a mild, amused laugh, a slight lean forward as he does so to keep from being too loud. It’s followed with a shake of his head before he looks back toward her, good humor lingering in his eyes.]

I told you; I’m old, miss. Being boring comes with the territory.

[precedents]

[ her frown deepens. he's one of those types, then. like 9S, like pascal. it grates on her, sends a spark of familiarity through her circuits at the way he leans forward, the way he still has that smile on his face. so good and kind, always giving and giving until they had nothing left to give, until there was no choice for her but to take and take because there was nothing else she could do.

"i... i cannot live with this heartbreak inside me--"

"not right, Number Two. we're all here... chose to be here--"

"-- i need you to delete my memories... and if not, i need you to kill me."

"thank you... for giving meaning to my life."

how many more will suffer? how many more must she destroy?

she sets her jaw and something hardens in her expression before she looks away. ]

I didn't say it was boring.

[lefthandfree]

[He chuckles again, the defensiveness ringing strangely familiar even though he can’t quite put a face to why.]

You say that, but I doubt you find it interesting.

[Though he hasn’t any clue how she’ll really reply, his mind feels the distant echo of a response, a huff followed by, “Don’t tell me what I like, Buck. I said it’s not boring.”]

[precedents]

I don't need you to tell me what I like.

[ her tone isn't as harsh as her words would suggest, despite the lingering frown still on her face. she rests her chin on her raised knees, wrapping her arms loosely around them. ]

You all just make things more complicated than they need to be.

[ but she supposes that's what makes them different from humans. they're capable of so much more: doing more, feeling more, learning more, and they change and adapt accordingly.

no matter how much they resembled humans, they could never break through the same vicious, destructive cycle. ]

[lefthandfree]

[He doesn’t expect her words to match so closely with what his mind seemed to want to feed him. The incident is jarring, enough that he needs to look away for a moment, and he inhales slowly to calm the sudden race of his heart. Idly, he nods, the meaningless sort where you’re not really agreeing with someone rather than indicating you’re listening. Except it takes a few moments for it to register for him that she referred to him as a “you all” and not something else.]

Wait, “you all”? [He turns back to look at her then, drinking in the positioning of her figure more consciously this time. She looks quite small positioned the way she is, withdrawn, as if to separate herself even beyond her words.

The image spurs him to add on,] Who all?

[precedents]

Humans.

[ she turns her head to look at him, cheek resting against her knees. a breeze brushes past just enough to lift the ends of her hair, exposing more of her chassis. ]

That's what you are, right?

[lefthandfree]

[It’s only then that he starts to notice the small things that make her inhuman, the way her skin connects like patterns pressed together to form something coherent, how the angles of her body are sharp, not from training or exercise but an inherent design.

Like Vision.]

Yes. I’m— [the arm weighs heavy against his shoulder] —human. Mostly.

[He nods to the bionic arm, Hydra’s fist, Zola’s masterpiece. It reflects the starlight dimly, uncaring of what brought it to be.] Obviously that’s not so normal.

[precedents]

[ yorha battle models were designed with efficiency in mind, carrying themselves with grace, certainty, and precision. they were melded together as intricately as his metal arm, programmed to perform at their peak. even an older model like her, battered and worn from years of living on the surface, is still capable of the same.

she has a feeling that the same could be said for him. ]

What's normal? [ she breathes an amused sort of huff, too soft to really be a laugh. her expression softens, turning a little wry. ] Your arm's metal but the rest of you isn't. Doesn't make you any less human.

[ it probably sounds strange, coming from her. but A2 knows what he is; even without the blindfold that 9S and 2B wear, she knows there's still blood and flesh and bone beneath his skin. she can still hear his heartbeat.

that's more than any yorha model will ever be. ]

[lefthandfree]

[The reality of the fact is grim, but especially without her understanding his circumstances, what she says is likely the nicest thing anyone’s actually said to him in decades. Not that it convinces him any more of the fact. Especially now that he knows she isn’t actually human, it makes the observation feel so limited, inaccurate. With the events back on Earth still weighing heavy in his mind, he doesn’t know how to see himself as anything but a monster.

He smiles a bit sadly, giving her another once-over before responding.]

Maybe to you, but I can promise you that most humans won’t really think it the same. [He holds out his arm, flexing the fingers, palm up, as the mechanical plates shift and click to create the conscious movement.] I can’t really feel any of this, and the human thing is to feel, isn’t it?

Besides. It’s made for killing. Does so better than my other. [He nods toward his right arm lightly at that.] That’s not something that ever sits well for humans. Or most fully sentient beings, for that matter.

[precedents]

Is that all there is to being human? Feeling?

[ his smiles don't reach his eyes, she notes. there's something in that expression that she doesn't really understand; she sees it in a lot of other humans since her reactivation, and maybe it's fundamentally a human thing. being able to put on that kind of face, even when the circumstances would call for otherwise. ]

Anyone can kill. Animals, androids, Machines. Humans, too, right? Might not sit well with us, but it happens anyway.

[lefthandfree]

[He wants to say there’s more nuance to it, that being human is several different levels of survival, expectation, motivation, and comprehension. But after a moment of thought, he realizes that at the base of it all, what people call “human” is always just that, feeling.]

Maybe it sounds kinda dumb, but... That’s how it’s seen. Obviously not literally, but humans aren’t so complicated. They really only just want to feel happy and secure.

Which is all the more reason why regardless of how much death and killing is a fact, they like to turn away from it. The not sitting well part, humans don’t like feeling that. Not for long, anyway. Sometimes they’ll feel sympathy or empathy because of it, but ultimately, the more they can distance themselves from tragedy, the more they will.

It’s a kind of survival. Not the same as in the wild or anything, but emotional survival.

[precedents]

Isn't that what you want? Feeling happy and secure.

[ androids were programmed to feel pleasure from fighting; convenient in an endless war. but A2 had grown weary of it over time, tired of the mindless destruction and the constant anguish that overrode those chemicals. yet she can never turn away from it, no matter how exhausted she is now, not when it's become the definition of what she is. ]

Must be nice... being able to choose to distance yourself from it.

[lefthandfree]

[He wishes he could feel either of those again, regardless of the degree. Seemingly, it’s not in the cards though, so he makes do. For him, it hasn’t been a choice in decades, and he has come to terms with it, even if on the surface it never seems to be the case. For those who can’t see through the ruse, anyway.]

Yeah, I’m pretty envious myself sometimes. [Said knowing she means to distance herself from humanity while also knowing that humanity really isn’t what seems to think it means.] I don’t know if it’s all it can be chalked up to be though. There’s that saying, after all: Ignorance is bliss.

[precedents]

Ignorance is bliss, huh?

[ she thinks about it for a moment. about yorha, about the network; about 2B and the secrets she kept, killing 9S over and over and over again, the pain she carried with each new cycle. she thinks about 9S and the secrets he learned, and how he would willingly keep them from 2B forever if he could.

and maybe, just maybe -- if pascal hadn't taught the machine children everything he knew, if he hadn't taught them what fear was, would they have still been alive? would she have still needed to erase his memories? ]

Guess that's true.

[lefthandfree]

Doesn’t mean it’s better though. [He feels he has to say this, in case she gets the wrong impression; being blissfully unaware can be as damaging as it is beneficial.]

Just means that it’s easier to be happy when you don’t know things. But. Well. [He shifts, drawing up a leg to prop the ankle to the opposite knee and sitting forward again to keep his balance.] There’s not much point to existence if you don’t know things, is there? You’d just kinda...exist. Or whatever. No purpose if you don’t know what purpose means, y’know?

[precedents]

[ no purpose if you don't know what purpose means.

she wonders what her purpose is here. if she will follow, or ultimately carve her own like she did three years ago? ]

Yeah.

[ "i mean--" ]

... We all need something to fight for, don't we.

[lefthandfree]

[He looks back to her then, smiling gently, words following suit.] Yeah. Exactly.

If we don’t, all we’re doing is just surviving. And...surviving isn’t bad; being able to is good. But if you aren’t surviving for something, then. What’s it all really for?