[OPENING] exploration log

[spellbindmods]

Who: Explorers and Co.
Where: Around the island and at the newly discovered house
When: Day 10
Open/Closed: Open to All
Note: Feel free to create your own logs for individual island explorations. A prompt is for house exploring, and you can list off multiple A prompts like A1, A2, etc. for more than one prompt within the house. B prompts (B1, B2, etc) are for exploring the island and may be open to all OR select friends who your character is exploring with.

[It's tough to live on an island that doesn't have many resources outside of the limited food sources and running streams. While Brie is aware of some other minor sources of food, like fish and frogs, one person exploring an island on their own means there are a lot of secret spots left to uncover. Despite adventuring for three years, her time on the hub itself has been much shorter, only staying for days or weeks at a time. Now that there are more people on this journey, covering ground is a lot easier.

Recently she's discovered another large estate -- much larger than her current shared mansion, which might also mean it has some supplies inside. On the morning of Day #, she's called together those who are hankering for more supplies in order to bring as much back as possible. Congrats, you get first dibs.

A. Upon approaching the house, the first thing that's noticeable is its size. It's all one story, but very flat and spacious. There are gardens in both the front and the rear, and upon entering (Brie might have enlisted you to help break the door down, oops) the inside is also quite vast. There are tons of rooms, multiple bedrooms and bathrooms, two kitchens and other rooms that aren't even explorable because they need keys to be entered. Unless you can find these keys, that is?

B. Alternatively, or maybe even aside from exploring the house, Brie's also suggested that you do some exploring on your own. Again, she's one woman with limited time to scout the island herself. What can you find? What resources are there to be harvested? Will you share in this bounty, or keep it to yourself?]

Comments

[rebells]

A1.

[Locks have always been more of an invitation to Jay than anything else; he makes a thorough search of the open rooms, but you're more likely to find him at the locked doors, with his ear against the door as he twists the knob, or carefully trying to force it open.]

If only I had a set of lockpicks on me . . . .


A2.

[Or perhaps you've come upon him sitting on what looks to be a mini fridge, flipping idly through a magazine in a strange language. There's a box of fishing tackle open on his lap.]

Ah, hello, there. You don't happen to have any experience with fishing, do you?


B.

[Jay and company have already been out exploring, and the fruits of that are tacked to the door of one of the purple shacks: a sketched out map of the southeast corner of the island, including several landmarks as well as arrows pointing in the direction of the boar grounds and nearest water source. A note on the door reads,

MAP IN PROGRESS
Have information? Ask for Jay.

Oddly enough, the whole thing seems to be in glitter gel pen.

If you're not the outgoing sort, he may also be knocking on doors in the evenings, a small leather-bound journal in hand.]

Good evening. Do you have a minute to talk? I'm trying to compile some information about the island.

A1

[p_mortem]

Do you know how to pick locks? With... paperclips?

[ Minato looks impressed, watching Jay mess with the handle. He could very easily just magic away the door to remove it completely, but watching somebody expertly unlock a door would be cool to see. ]

[rebells]

That depends on what those are. I don't think we have them in my world.

[But he can pick locks, yes.]

[p_mortem]

Bent pieces of metal wire.

[ Which he hopes Jay knows what it is. But not paperclips? ...Paper? ]

How do you keep stacks of paper together?

[rebells]

. . . Paperweights? Folders?

[Oh, is that what paperclips are for.]

In any case, probably, if they're sturdy enough. Why, do you have some . . . paper clips?

[p_mortem]

No. But I have spiral notebooks. You can have some spiral.

[ He imagines it'd work out the same; he turns to dig through his tiny new kid's backpack and pulls out one of the notebooks and starts undoing the wire to... bend back and forth until it snaps or something idk, but it's reasonably sturdy and he hands it over ]

a1

[actus]

[ -- lock picks. he's very familiar with those. akira laughs, rubbing sheepishly at the back of his neck as he watches jay. ]

I was just thinking the same thing, actually.

[rebells]

[He's got a bit of spiral from one of Minato's spiral notebooks now and is making it into vaguely lockpick-shaped tools.]

Oh, really? Are you a thief, an explorer, or a hobbyist?

[actus]

A thief. A Phantom Thief.

[ he says it calmly, cooly, hands in his pockets as he continues to watch. ]

[rebells]

[Jay smiles more widely, seemingly unfazed by the attention.]

You say it so easily. Should I be watching my pockets?

[He finishes shaping the makeshift lockpicks--one hooked, one straight--and slides the hooked one into the door, turning it. He's very obviously done things like this before.]

[actus]

No. I'd never steal from a teammate.

[ is he joking? about any of that? who knows. either way, akira tilts his head more to the side. ]

So that's how you're doing it. I see.

B

[andsobelow]

[ She approaches to add to the map, she motions to the north of the camp. ]

There's a host of unmarked graves to the north, embedded in a copse.

[rebells]

Ah, thank you. Was there some other indication it was a gravesite, or did you dig?

[There's no judgment--at least not evident judgment--in that question. He adds a mark where she's indicated.]

[andsobelow]

[ The quirk of a dark smile. They didn't bury their dead in the Underground. They were left out in piles to be consumed by those insects which ate flesh. Graves, as they were, were mass affairs, piles upon piles of bones... But she knows what the Sol-folk like to do with their dead. Let them rot, like they let their living rot in the sun, meat spoiled with magic. ]

Graverobbing is dirty business.

[ A non-answer. An obscured allusion to the differences between rotting corpses and cleanly pits filled with skeletons. ]

[rebells]

[A small smile. She's being cryptic, but he doesn't mind that, precisely.]

It wouldn't have been robbing if you left everything where it was, I don't think.

[andsobelow]

There was no need, the ground was too hard packed to have been dug up.

[ Which meant there was nothing buried there anyway. ]

Perhaps the markers denote something else.

[ A shrug. She was reporting what she found, she's not sure she cares what it is she found. ]

A2, or I'll just do this instead.

[girasole]

[You know what? Exploring is a great distraction. So. Minifridge. A suspiciously familiar voice but given what happened the last time he pried into coincidences he's going to leave that coincidence alone. At least until it becomes too obvious to ignore.]

None. And given what happened with the crab...honestly, I'm a little concerned about fish.

[rebells]

[Jay recognizes that voice, but is going to pretend he didn't. Nothing to see here! Just two near-strangers having a normal conversation!]

If the people here before fished for food it was clearly edible . . . although that doesn't mean we can eat it, of course. Still, we can't survive on boar jerky forever.

[girasole]

[If he knew what Jay had decided for a fact he'd say, "Thank you for not pulling that thread and unraveling how we're really secretly connected, that's been the last couple of days for me, and, my god, it's sucked. It's really sucked." (Except in Caesarese.) Except that would...sort of defeat the purpose.

...

...but hey, it's the thought that counted.]

Of course. I think if I had a choice between surviving on boar for the rest of my years and...

[...what's a good way of putting it...] ...the tender mercies of seafood I'd take the latter. Then again, that's easy for me to say: the worst I can do is glow.

[Opposed to set beds on fire and shit like that.]

[rebells]

That's your power? Glowing?

[One might get the impression that he's keeping a list.]

[girasole]

[...he might be kicking himself a little for just saying it, having gotten that impression, even though he has literally no reason not to have just said it. It's just a knee jerk reaction that comes from having a stupid power combined with the fact that people keeping a list of things like this tend to have a reason for it.]

To put it simply. [And this is the point he leans against...who knows, some bit of rubble, a wall, something along those lines.]

b

[secrowtary]

[He inclines his head in a greeting once Jay opens the door. There will be no comments on glitter pen...probably.]

Good evening. While exploring the forest, I've stumbled upon something alike to what might have been a sacred place, maybe even a shrine.

[rebells]

[He's immediately intrigued, and it shows on his face.]

Oh? What makes you say that about it?

[secrowtary]

[He needs to clear his throat and rethink the answer.]

I've found some objects that may point to that theory. Some...ritual objects, I assume. It's supposed to be a fertility shrine, I'd say...

[He's turning from pale to red in a matter of seconds.]

That's all I know.

[rebells]

A . . . fertility shrine. With ritual objects.

[Man, you are really embarrassed about this, huh.]

What kind of objects?