[JANUARY INTRO LOG | WORLD TWO]

[spellbindmods]

Who: All coven members, especially new folk!
Where: In and around the new world’s apartment building where the coven is staying, as well as the rest of Shehui
When: Day 160
Open/Closed: Open to All
IMPORTANT: While some prompts are newbie exclusive, all characters can tag this intro log!

How did you get into this building? This apartment room? What the fuck is going on? Let's refer back to this page for a semi in-depth, wow so detailed, explanation of your current situation. You'll also have a letter slipped under your door with some explanation about your whole coven situation, as well as info that explains you have magic now! And yet what kind of magic is conveniently left out. Are you up to speed? Great. Now, here's the question of the hour: what are you going to do about all this? A ▢ If you're the sensible sort and want to explore your new digs before slinking around Shehui, you're in luck! You've got easy access to your apartment, and it's luckily not on lockdown right now. Feel free to check out your room, raid the fridge -- oh, and saying hello to your roommates should also be on your to-do list. B ▢ Let's say that hanging out with these people is a little overwhelming...that's fine! There are plenty of things to do in the apartment building without interacting with roomies! There are vending machines to prop up, a leisure floor that contains a totally vacant air hockey table and a nice garden to relax in. C ▢ But ah, there's also venturing outside! Out front is the job board, which is a nice place to hit up if you're looking to add to your currently fat but depleting credit account. The problem is that the jobs are currently disappearing quickly, and those around you aren't giving you such nice looks. This apartment building is a known problem area at this point, and your signet doesn't do anything to settle their fears.

D ▢ With new year's week coming to an end, the residents of Shehui are feeling more celebratory than somber now. A lot of businesses are closed in order to enjoy themselves and ring in the new year the right way. A lot of restaurants and bars are currently offering specials, from free drinks to cheap food in order to pull in the holiday crowd. If you're looking to meet people and socialize in Shehui, this is the best way to do it. E ▢ Also because it's the post holiday season, stores are trying to push out the rest of their overstock merch. One item of note that's being peddled quite often is a cell phone. From tiny flip phones to the latest Orange product, cellphones are a necessity in this modern society. Get yours right now and begin texting right away! There are a few social apps that are installed, so you might be lucky enough to connect with another coven member! They also have Redmolar capability, which will automatically allow you to text those with phones in the area. Maybe send some mysterious stranger texts? F ▢ While you're hustling around Shehui, you may realize that the telepathic messages get stronger -- perhaps the new coven members are near? In general, you may be subject to telepathic messages about current Shehui goings on, random thoughts or requests to meet up at so-and-so location. A.K.A. let's utilize that telepathy...it may not last forever! G ▢ Because the week of remembrance is still going on, flowers are littering the streets, though most of them are dead. Bunches of flowers are being sold, and flower fortunes are a popular activity during this part of the holiday. There are fortune tellers on the street who will give you your flower of the year, but it's more fun to have them read with one another! There are digital cards that you can buy that will allow you to read fortunes on the go -- simply tap the screen of the card and your flower will be decided. Not happy with your choice? Too bad! It won't randomize to something different, no matter how hard you try. H ▢ While a lot of Shehui citizens are trying to avoid the coven members like the plague, a small alien child isn't so much concerned with who helps her, just as long as someone does. She accidentally left her house's door open and her five new kittens are suddenly missing! Where are they? Who knows! But she'd certainly like some help looking for them. I ▢ As the day winds down, snow falls on Shehui for the last time this season. The government is getting rid of their supplies that create the festive weather. This is old hat for older coven members, but for newbies? You better enjoy the snow while you can. After an hour or so, it piles up enough to truly be utilized for merriment...this also means that it's pretty easy to get snowed in if you happen to be in a building during the snow fall, which also creates some interactive opportunities. J ▢ Wildcard! How will your character interact with this new and unusual world?

Comments

[counteracts]

C
[The tall young man has been peering at the job board for a minute or two by this point. With an expression dominated by narrowed eyes and a mouth pressed into a frown, he's seemingly not very excited or impressed by what he has found there. Maybe an orphan from Mars should know better, that beggars can't be choosers, but he's been the boss of his own mercenary company for long enough now that the idea of returning to such menial work grated a bit.

His attention is gradually distracted by occasional looks he's been getting. Since security detail was one of his wheelhouses, a sort of natural paranoia made them stand out like beacons in the dark — he returns one or two with a stern gaze before drifting away from the board, walking back towards the apartment building.

It all gives him a profoundly bad feeling.]

Doesn't seem to be a lot of love lost between the people of this city and us. [He'd noticed how they seemed to seek out the hollow of his throat, looking for something, though the scarf he was wearing had denied them the ease of it.] Anyone know who kicked whose dog?

[Only a figure of speech, of course.]

G
[Orga squints at the handful of flowers he had been handed. Red, yellow, and purple, the clustered blossoms don't really mean anything to him. Despite having named his company after one, there weren't many flowers to be had on Mars. He wouldn't know where to start in identifying one for its meaning.]

Hey, but what do they — [He's asking the fortune teller, though he looks up to find that in his short moment of consideration, she'd already started distributing flowers and fortunes to a group of girls.]

Mean. [The rest of the question falls a little flat, the moment passing.]

I
[They'd seen snow on their way to Edmonton, though the situation had been dire enough that using it as a source of entertainment hadn't really been anywhere in their minds. With trappings of sedition and warfare removed from his mind and the snow beginning to pile up in drifts throughout the afternoon, he decides to pursue a whim.

First he builds a small wall, testing how well the snow stuck, and, satisfied, he continues in a circular pattern around himself, building onwards and upwards. Unfortunately, the snow underfoot is all used up after some time of construction, and there's just this one hole in the northern wall he needs to fix...]

Oi. [Sorry, fair passerby, but it's just your timing. He gestures you over.] Give me a hand, would you? Just need enough snow to fill in this hole in the wall here. [He holds his hand over the one remaining empty spot in the otherwise solid fortification.

He'd step out to get the snow himself, but it's about waist-high by this point and he'd probably knock it all over prematurely...]

J · WILDCARD!
[Let's work something else out!]

i

[soulcomet]

[what in the blazes is going on here.]

[oh well, Madoka is never one to turn down someone in need, even if it's helping someone building their own snow ... prison? she grabs a handful of snow and stands up on her tippy toes to try to pat it in place.]

Here you go! Are you building a fort?

[counteracts]

[Listen... when snow's pretty never much been a part of your life up until this point, you just kinda go with whatever your first impulse is.

And this, for some reason, had been Orga's.

Maybe he should've waved over someone a little taller, but the girl is able to for the most part fix the final bit of the wall. Whatever parts need smoothing over, he does himself, and then... it's finished. Whatever the hell it was.]

Thanks. [Said with a broad, warm smile.] Something like that. I, uh... [and he sits down onto the damp ground, completely disappearing from the young girl's view.] Just felt like building something like this, I guess.

[He just keeps talking from his place inside the fort.] This something people usually do with snow? We didn't get any of it, where I'm from.

[soulcomet]

[Orga has built himself a magnificent fortified snow battle station. it'll serve him well until the government packs away winter for the rest of the year.]

Ehh ... I think you're on the right track! People like to build forts to protect themselves during snowball fights — and I definitely don't think anybody's going to be able to hit you when you're in there.

[she says, as she gives the fort an affable pat.]

I take it it's usually really warm where you're from?

G

[bulletbiter]

[ Julius had gravitated towards any place with nature, so he happens to be within earshot. He too has been ditched by the person who pressed something into his hand, so that makes two of them. ]

What did you get?

[ As much as he likes flowers, they kind of all blend together in a singular streak in his memory. ]

[counteracts]

Uhh. [He has a few brightly-colored zinnia in one hand, though he would probably be lucky to tell a daisy from a rose - or whatever he was holding or what the other guy held in his own hand. Back on Mars, most of these things were more metaphorical than literal.] No idea. That's what I wanted to ask -

[He's turned his attention away from the person he was talking to and back to the fortune teller's booth. While the attendant was still focused on the gaggle of girls and giving each a certain flowers to varying emotional responses, he's noticed something else on the table: a small group of metallic cards labeled with a piece of paper that read their purpose.]

Oh. [He looks back to the other young man.] Looks like we can buy one of these things. They can apparently tell you the fortune of whatever flowers you're given.

[...What a money-making scheme.]

[bulletbiter]

[ In contrast to the zinnias, Julius' given flowers are much more subtle. The rosemary smells quite nice, though he doesn't know what it is. ]

Would you?

[ Even if it's a money-making scheme, it's actually not very expensive. If Orga doesn't, Julius might as well do the honours so they can figure out what these are supposed to mean. ]

I.

[armigers]

[ This is maybe the 9th or 10th time today Noctis has found himself unwittingly passing by some strange scene, making him wish he'd just stayed under the covers today, but he actually had to go out and get food before resorting to eating tea packets or something else desperate. Unfortunately, he's caught in the middle of an industrious endeavor by a stranger building...er- ]

What are you even making?

[ It looks like some kind of a fort. He used to build those with blankets and pillows when he was a kid, so he sort of gets the impulse. But isn't this guy a little old for that? Why yes, he is judging him as he does grab a chunk of snow because Noctis is a good guy sometimes, or maybe is just hoping his cooperation will breed an answer to this current curiosity.

The snow is plopped onto the wall without much grace or care, dumped in a way that makes bits of snow around in cascade downwards and undoes some of the hard(?)work this guy has put into it. ]

Good enough?

[counteracts]

[He only asked for your help, Noctis... not your judgment on how he decides to spend his time...

For some reason, the question seems to stump him for a moment. Like he's just been building without really thinking about what it is he was working on.] A wall, I guess. [Brief pause.] A fort? A base? Something like that.

[He is a little old for it, sure, but he's never really been exposed to snow like this before. Well, that's not true, but he had other things on his mind the last time. Regardless, the whimsy of it exacerbated childish impulses.

He beams at Noctis when he brings the asked-for chunk of snow.] Great. Thanks. [He helps mold into place and... it's done. Whatever the hell it is.]

Yeah.

[By God, he looks so proud...]

Alright. Do you want to help me do the honors?

[Maybe at some point he'll learn a little specificity.]

[armigers]

[ He is giving him judgment regardless, though he guesses the guy built... something all right. Not a fort really but it's getting there? Noctis is pretty sure he himself built some craftier forts in his day, but he also had the luxury of his father's wealth and a large supply of fancy blankets and pillows at his disposal.

The fact that this guy is so proud of his wall makes it all the more amusing and awkwardly endearing, as though Noctis really is dealing with someone younger than his appearance suggests. At the question, however, he blinks a little owlishly before his eyes follow one end of the wall to the other. ]

Do the honors of what?

[ He assumes he's not being asked to knock it down, though he almost impulsively wants to. But he has a feeling that won't go over so well with the stranger, so he'll refrain. ]

c

[sluggard]

[Frankly, Python would rather eat dirt than keep coming back to the job board, but. Well, what can you do?

He glances over at the guy, raising an eyebrow.]

Eh. Who knows, it's been an exciting few weeks. Maybe they're jealous?

[counteracts]

[Give Orga another day or two and he'll probably join you in that sentiment... on sediment.

He might not've put together that he was speaking to the young man standing nearby if not for the rather obvious glance. This whole telepathy thing took time getting used to, you know?

His mouth twitches into a smile.] Oh, yeah. I knew I was ready to fight the next guy for the chance to get flung across the universe so I could help a witch with her chores.

[Paraphrasing.]

Exciting, huh? I just showed up. Sad I missed the fun.

[sluggard]

[He huffs out a laugh. Oh, that's one way to put it.]

What? You trying to tell me this isn't the vacation of your dreams? Can't imagine why!

[He shrugs, never mind the people around him.]

I don't know though. It wasn't really the exciting haha kind, you know? If you don't like this vacation, you'd probably have hated it.

G

[osuni]

[There's something funny about the image of Orga standing there with a bunch of flowers without anyone around to answer his questions, tbh. but Okuni takes pity on this poor soul by sweeping on in,]

Hmm! I know that the red one means -- a great, passionate love affair! Ooh, how exciting. And the yellow is... disaster strikes if you continue to wear the same style of clothes -- better get on that! And the purple means marriage, unless you turn them upside down -- then it means avoid birds.

[HELPFUL OKUNI HERE TO SAVE THE DAY, with these manufactured fortunes that just slip right off the tongue, AS IF THEY'RE TRUE]

[counteracts]

[Bless you, Okuni... though he might regret this blessing soon enough.

It's a lot of information to have pressed into his hands at once, highly reminiscent of how he'd been handed the small bouquet in the first place. Orga rocks back on a heel at the suddenness of her barrage of words, eyes wide, trying to keep up with each word that tumbled along after the last.

After a quick moment's parse, his expression turns a little dubious.]

Don't some of those kind of contradict one another? Or is the fortune really that specific? [He thinks about it a moment before continuing,] That, if I go shopping for some new clothes, I'll get whisked away into a whirlwind romance that ends in marriage. Just so long as I keep an eye out for unlucky birds. Just in case.

[Actually, when put that way, maybe??]

[osuni]

[Oooh, so he's clever, huh... That almost makes it less fun, but Okuni appreciates the Challenge.]

That's exactly it. Isn't it good that you're so quick on the uptake? [Points for withstanding her BARRAGE OF LIES, ORGA.] And you're lucky, too! That lady handed you a wonderful fortune.

[SO LUCKY, ORGA]

I can't imagine getting married in an entirely new world, but you look like a lonely bachelor who's never had a lover... So, congratulations!

[sharpestsword]

[ It feels good to be back at the apartment after a long day of deliveries. Here she can kick off her shoes and flop down on the couch. She notices that her new roommate has gotten there first so she nods in acknowledgement before she sets her bag of takeout aside and sprawls out practically on top of him. ]

I don't feel like cooking tonight. You can have some if you want.

[counteracts]

[And here's Orga, the freeloader, still without any kind of job detail or assignment. He's... sorting through his (incredibly lackluster) options, and he'll probably settle on something menial to do for a few hours every couple of days soon, but for now he's taken to acclimating himself both to the city and to the building they were to be living in for the next few weeks.

It'd been a pleasant surprise to find the young woman he'd spoken to on his first day here to be a flatmate of his. There was a kind of clipped nature to her speech that felt a little odd at first, but he found out soon enough that it was attributed more to her mien than her disposition towards him.

That, and she's the kind of person who would bring food back enough for the two of them? Oh, Juli, you know the fastest way to any young Martian man's heart is through his stomach. As soon as it's offered, a gigantic grin spreads across his face, infecting him with a loose positive energy.] Juli! You're a lifesaver. Thanks.

[Literally. Orga can't really cook at all. There's a reason he hired Atra to do it for him.

He grabs a plate and is fixing a... moderate portion. She said some, and he would respect that.]

Hey, [he continues, remembering something,] I got someone coming by to visit later this evening. That alright?

[sharpestsword]

[ And she will take the rest. She'll get on his case if he doesn't pull his weight eventually but for now she'll let him get settled. She learned years ago that providing food was a good way to make herself useful. Since she knows him, she doesn't mind. It was a nice surprise to have him here after they met earlier. Saves her the trouble of introductions. ]

No problem. Just the one right?

(wildcards in here)

[deusex]

[ Outwardly on the streets of Shehui, there aren't that many changes in effect in accordance with what happened during the Sunsu festival - people are still going to work and to school, spending their days as normal as they always have - but the questions and the curious staring gaze is more obvious now, enough that even Mika feels it . Even in a place like this, as carefree as it was, there are invisible lines drawn across that cannot be crossed. Here, still, they are strangers yet again.

Their stay here is only but temporary, that much Mika understands - the island that he was briefly introduced to before is the origin for Qri and her servants, their home, but it's nothing more than a brief, hazy series of images and half-memories. That's not their home either. What they are seeking is somewhere ahead of them, just out of reach, or maybe they just need to trace their steps backward to those crooked dirty streets. Simple human warmth, maybe, an idea that it could be something more.

The earth is warm too as Mika carefully works the spade into it, concentrating on digging up the flowering plant without damaging it so that he can transfer it into the pot sitting nearby. The weird atmosphere of the city doesn't deter him from going to his assigned detail, and maybe it's some kind of dedication but also it's partially out of rare, personal interest. Ever since Geir introduced him to this particular garden, he hasn't missed a day once - and Orga being here now doesn't necessarily mean that he would stop now, unless the other boy said differently.

The ground is soft enough for his knees to sink in where he's kneeling down, different from the hard, downtrodden ground of Mars - it's a stark contrast to the dusty soils that he's used to back home.

Finally, the transferring done and the peony bush settled securely into the pot, Mika straightens up and tilts his head to glance sidelong to where Orga is, presumably waiting. ]

Orga, are you bored?

[counteracts]

[Once his eyes had been opened to it, he saw the lines of tension that ran invisible beneath the seemingly-benign surface of the streets of Shehui. It was a subtle thing, a kind of nervous energy, like how one subconsciously holds a breath before they fear something surprising was about to happen. He read the cultural anxiety in this, in the way people's eyes swept with concern and suspicion over those leaving their building. That their eyes kept pointedly falling on strangers' throats. Upon seeing this, he had quickly made the strategic purchase of another scarf, thinking it best to remain incognito - or as much as he could be, sticking out as a newcomer as much as he did.

Orga remains without a work detail, though he'd set a deadline to find something to do by the end of the week. The credits he'd been given would last until then, fairly easily... and it freed him up to tag along with Mika to see what he was up to during his work days.

It'd been a good decision.

With Mika preoccupied by the careful work in the garden, Orga's free to beam at him with a look of obvious warmth and pride, something so bright and fervent it might've been visible from several dozen paces. He caught himself like this a few times back home, too, from the few times he caught Mika working on Sakura's farm or on his own projects, trying to get something other than corn to grow in the arid Mars soil.

It is just... nice to see him show interest in something that didn't involve mortal danger. Orga was under no illusions - he knew that Mika was integral to Tekkadan, their strongest weapon against those who would do ill to them or for their own goals, but... he's also a boy he'd known since childhood, one he wants to see happy in other things, as well.

He reigns himself in by the time Mika looks over to him; his gaze is still warm but maybe a little less sappy.]

Mm? [He seems almost surprised by the question, cracking a smile.] Nah. Having a blast.

[His tone is lightly joking, but he's not lying.

He leans forward, away from the wall he'd been leaning on, taking a few long strides over to where Mika was crouched. He looks closer at the plant he'd just transferred from the plot to the pot, curious.] What's this one called? Do you know?

j, because I do what I want— though if this doesn't work, let me know and I'll change it! \o/

[fixdown]

[When Josuke answers the door, it was clear he was in the middle of something, because his hair is loose, still wet from a recent shower, and there's a comb in his hand. Still, even though he'd prefer not to answer the door like this (that is, with his hair a mess—totally uncool), he's as polite as ever when he does and sees Orga standing there.]

Hey. Can I help you with something?

[It's not a face that he recognizes, but that's okay. He figures he's probably here for someone else!]

wraps josuke up in my arms

[counteracts]

[The person who answers the door is most certainly not Mikazuki.

Tall (though not quite as tall as Orga, mind), broad-shouldered, and seemingly fresh from a shower judging by the state of his hair, Orga is for a moment thrown off of his conversational groove.] Uhh, [said as he shoots a glance to the nameplate over the door, double-checking. Yep. Right room. Just the wrong person. Or, well, one he hadn't met yet; he'd met Mika's other roommate, and she was just about as opposite from this guy as you could get.

He recovers.] Hey. [He manages a smile. It's mostly working.] I'm a friend of Mika's. I was supposed to meet him this morning.

[Supposed to, at least. Maybe Mika had forgotten? He probably should've messaged him earlier with the, you know, telepathy thing...

He extends a hand.] Name's Orga.

C.

[sigfried]

[ Siegfried was no stranger to prolonged, suspicious gazes. Though it didn't mean he found them to be any more desirable than any new arrival. ]

I would chalk it up to people being wary of strangers, among other things. I haven't been here long enough to make a more accurate guess.

[ He's standing in front of the job board, looking at the limited options as of now -- a brown-haired male in dark armor that might stand out already amongst the crowd. Who can say, with how many that have arrived? ]

[counteracts]

[Yeah, the armor was definitely weird, but he's seen seen all manner of strange costumes, people waving swords around, and the like. It was enough to make him consider the theory a little longer than he might have usually; gut instinct causes him to find these stares a little sharper than simple aversion to strangers might. Xenophobia was one thing, and something Orga had experienced enough of to be familiar with it, but this...

He can't put a finger quite on it. It felt a little more specific than that.]

I haven't either, but I feel like there's something to those "other things." We're getting a little more of the evil eye than others.

[He'd spent a fair amount of time observing these people while wandering around the city, and despite a fair diversity of creatures living here, he hadn't seen something like what he was seeing now.]

But I definitely think being foreign is part of it. That we aren't from here is plain enough.

[Standing in front of a job board near a building full of all manner of strange people... Might as well set up a neon sign.]